A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (30 page)

“Look, I’m sorry if this bothers you, Poe,”
she said softly. “I never meant to keep it from you like that.”

The corner of his mouth curled up into an
uneven smile. He let out a short laugh, and touched her hand. “No,”
he said, grinning. “I should apologize for being the bratty kid
here. I admit it, Caren. You’re right. Maybe I’m jealous, I don’t
know…” He reached into his jacket pocket for his cigarettes,
thought better of it, and placed his hand back on the steering
wheel. “Seriously, nyhnd’aladh. I do apologize for that little
outburst. I don’t know why I do it…I’ve been way too defensive
lately, it’s even bothering me.”

Relieved, she squeezed his arm before
letting go. “So…?”

“So I’m thinking…” He glanced in the
rearview mirror then at her, before returning to the traffic ahead.
ARU lay a half-mile away; she saw its cream-colored polycrete
peeking above the other buildings of Branden Hill. “So I’m
wondering
, that is, about the scope of your abilities. I
know it’s all new to you and Denni and everything, but I’m just
curious if you’re able to, well. See the city like Ashan and Kai
can.”

She let out a quick laugh. “You’ve got to be
kidding, Poe. I’m not that good.”

“Actually, I’m not,” he said. “When they
stepped into that other reality, however you want to call it…it
just felt so damned easy to them, like second nature. I know,
they’ve got years of practice and their genes are closer to
Meraladhza than ours, but still…how hard can it really be?”

She thought about that question, and why he
had asked it. Was he planning something? Or was he merely curious?
“I really don’t know. I haven’t tried,” she offered. “I wouldn’t
know how. One needs to be tested and trained for it, it’s not
something you can pick up overnight. I know that my parents were
tested. Their results came up negative — neither of them could
step, not without assistance. Except…”
Except Dad
did
jump,
she added to herself.
Mum couldn’t. Or
wouldn’t…?
“Except they could do nearly everything else,” she
finished. “Soulhealing, reading, hearing, but they couldn’t
Lightwalk.”

He nodded, letting that sink in. “Would you
be interested in being tested?”

She blinked, surprised that it had never
crossed her mind. “I’d have to think about it.”

He hastily amended his question. “I
understand if you don’t want to, or if you think Denni…?”

“If I were tested, no question I’d have
Denni tested as well,” she said. “It would be a mutual decision. I
can’t see a reason why I wouldn’t want to include her.”

Poe nodded quietly, and drove the last few
blocks towards the ARU building. Crossing the last intersection,
Ormand Street, he stole a glance past Caren, northward towards his
own neighborhood. Nearly four miles away, nestled in between the
offices of southern McCleever District and Branden Hill’s
marketplaces, was St. Patrick’s Church. Caren could see the hurt
and the confusion on his face. It went beyond their sometimes
barbed words this morning, she knew that much. Something last night
bothered him, something beyond the awakening ritual and the church
attack. It was something inside him, something so intensely
personal it invaded his everyday life, keeping its presence known
somewhere in the background and reasserting itself at the most
inopportune times. She knew well enough not to try sensing anything
from him for the time being; it felt like an invasion of his
privacy. All she could do was be patient with him and hope he was
in a lighter mood once they met at Yoshi’s up the street.

In the back of her mind, though, she had
already made the decision, the one she had made last night as she
spoke within to Denni as she slept. She
would
be tested. She
would
bring Denni to be tested.

It was too important not to.

“…and here we are,” he said with no emotion
as he pulled the car into the front driveway and into the side
parking lot. “The wondrous world of the Ay Are Zoo.”

“Yeehaw,” Caren said with an equal lack of
excitement. “Punch me in, will you? I’ll be up in a moment. I have
something I have to do first.”

“Sure thing,” he said, knowing well enough
not to ask.

*

Kai dreaded the thought of having this
conversation with Caren and Alec, and she was sure Ashan felt the
same way, but at this point, not having it at all would have made
even less sense. As she and Ashan drove the circuitous route to
Branden Hill District by way of one of the outer arterials, then
eastward to ARU Headquarters, she found herself wishing she didn’t
have to put the two through this, especially Alec. He was not
Mendaihu — though he sometimes acted exactly like one — and he was
unfamiliar with the ways of the Spirit. But that wasn’t entirely
true, either. He was no less familiar with the One of All Sacred
than anyone else, and the phrasing Mendaihu kin used to describe
those uninitiated sounded elitist. She knew from the Mendaihu
hear
that it was not meant that way, yet each individual’s
speak
contained their own nuances that could still be taken
any number of ways. She could
speak
as honestly and
spiritually as possible, yet there was always the chance someone
would misinterpret her words. Such was the way of the Anjshé
language. She only hoped Alec would understand.

“You are intrigued by him,” Ashan said,
cutting the near-silence inside the car as he drove. “Aren’t
you?”

Kai felt her face redden unexpectedly. She
lifted a hand to hide it, but thought better of it. If she were to
be honest with anyone, it would first be with her brother. “I admit
there is an attraction, Ashan,” she said, a hint of a smile darting
across her face. “His spirit is haunted, yet it seems so…” she
stopped, searching for the right words.

“Trisandi?” Ashan mused.

Kai’s eyes widened. Trisandi! That had not
occurred to her at all! Perhaps he was what the human race
sometimes quaintly referred to as an old soul, wise beyond his
years and not entirely comfortable with such wisdom. An old soul
that was more ancient than it appeared. If his spirit were in fact
from their ancient and shared homeworld of Trisanda, he could…he
would
be more important to the Awakening than anyone would
have expected. She did not answer to Ashan’s question, continuing
where she had left off instead.

“I think he understands more of the
Awakening than he lets on. He even hides it from himself at times.
There’s something in his aura that makes me think that he’s still
afraid to confront it.”

Ashan nodded quietly.

He is more than human, Akaina,
he
said within.
Yet he is no less an ancestor of Trisanda than you
or I. Follow what your spirit sings to you, Akaina.

She nodded in return.

“And so…” he started, and let out a grumble.
Clearly he wasn’t looking forward to this meeting either, but for
very different reasons. “And so the students begin their studies,
eichi. It is time for Alec and Caren to know the full truth.”

“Yes, but what truth, Ashan? Of their
histories? Of their destinies? Of their True Selves?”

Ashan gave her a weak smile. “Most of those
questions they’re capable of answering by themselves. Nehalé’s
ritual did affect them, after all. I could tell during our last
meeting. No, the truth we tell them is this:
dehndarra Né hra
nyhndah
. We tell them that the only truth is their own, the
truth they find within themselves.”

Kai winced at him. “They won’t know where to
begin!”

“That is why we are here,” he added coldly.
“We are here to set them off on their road. From there on in,
they’re on their own.”

“But —”

Ashan glared at her. “They’re on their own,
Kai. There is no other way.”

“Eyes forward!” Kai yelped, pointing
ahead.

He turned away, shaking his head. “We can’t
coddle them, Kai. You know that. We’ve gone over this already. You
can show him who he truly is…but it’s up to him to perceive it…and
to embrace it or withdraw from it.”

Goddess…she hated it when he talked down to
her, doubly so when he drove recklessly in the process! She closed
her eyes tight and shook her head. “You think he’s figured it out,
don’t you,” she said quietly.

Ashan pulled up to a stoplight and turned to
her again. “What are you talking about?”

“Alec Poe. You’re the one who’s afraid,
aren’t you?”

“I’m not afraid,” he said defensively.
“Concerned, but not afraid.”

“Of course you’re concerned!” she exclaimed.
“But he’s been Awakened, Ashan, you just said it yourself. They’ve
all been affected in some way…everyone in that conference room, in
one way or another.”

“So what’s your point?” he asked, and hit
the accelerator a little too quickly as the light changed to
green.

Kai sighed, tiring of this game.
He is a
reality seer, Ashan,
she said to him from within.
One of the
strongest and most feared. He is Mendaihu Gharra. If he is not
trained soon, there is a chance he could become kiralla…or
nuhm’ndah.

“One of the faithless…?” Ashan said aloud.
“There’s no possible —”

“It is possible,” she said, touches of anger
and sadness in her voice. “The nuhm’ndah are not exclusively
Shenaihu or Mendaihu, you should know that.”

“Of course I do,” he said, equally angered.
“But…I just didn’t think Alec Poe, of all people…”

Cho-nyhndah,
she said.

Ashan did not answer right away. He drove in
silence for quite a long time, at least until they made the last
few miles to the public parking garage near the ARU building.

“Are you sure?” he said eventually. All the
tension had drained from his voice.

“I’m positive,” she said. “I just need
proof. I’ll bring him into the Light again today.”

“Be careful,” he said. He reached out a hand
and touched her on the arm.

“I will.”

*

Poe stood close to the ARU lobby entrance,
squinting at the clouds and hoping the rainstorm would go south of
the city and out to sea. He took a drag off his third cigarette of
the day, mentally cursing himself for being the smokestack that he
was, and wondered why he had been so rough on Caren on the drive
in. Her admission of being Mendaihu had come as a bit of a
surprise, but his first initial reaction…why had he exploded like
that?

He remembered what Ashan had said about
emotions, and he now found himself overly self-conscious of his
actions towards others, especially with Caren.
Humans, on the
surface, show reactive emotions quicker than true emotions,
he
had said. Were Meraladians purer in emotion than their distant kin?
Or was it simply that they had a firmer grasp on how they felt
spiritually?

“You’re not going to get answers looking in
the clouds,” he said aloud, took the last drag from his cigarette
and threw it away. He turned and went inside, fighting his way
through the bustle of morning shift officers coming in, late shift
officers going out, and those that held early morning appointments
upstairs.

He began heading towards the elevator when
he stopped in midstride. A young businessman stood between two of
the doors, leaning up against the wall and fiddling with the
netwatch on his wrist. The man looked up just as he approached, and
gave him a wide smile. Matthew Davison blended in so perfectly with
the other civilians in the foyer that no one else had even bothered
notice him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he said.
He glanced at the fine cut of his suit and the professional
slick-back-in-ponytail look of his hair. “Look at you in that
get-up. You could pass for a KJS programmer, Matt.”

“Very droll, Poe,” he said in his
recognizable gravelly voice. “Do you have time and a private place
to talk?”

Poe caught the anticipation in his voice and
nodded. They had an hour or so to kill, and had him signed in as a
guest. It didn’t occur to Poe until they were in the elevator that
Matthew, ever the resourceful hacker, had given the lobby security
a fake identification.

Caren was already in the office and talking
with Denni via comm when they’d arrived. Surprised and distracted
by Matthew’s presence, she finished her call and continued staring
at him. It wasn’t often that the kid visited them here, and she’d
never seen him looking this handsome in a tailored Jake Byrne suit.
“Goddess, Matthew,” she smiled. “If you weren’t such a liability
and so damn young, I’d say you look A-one sexy in that get-up.”

Matthew nodded graciously. “Taftika, Ms.
Johnson, but alas, I am not here to impress. I merely wish to pass
on some pertinent information regarding your case.”

“By all means,” Poe said, amused by the
charm he was so obviously pouring on. It was so like him to put on
an act when the situation was serious. “Have a seat, kid. What do
you have for us?”

Matthew took Poe’s desk chair. He placed
both hands upon the desk and began rigidly tapping his thumbs
together in slow, measured beats. “I should say this is more a
‘heads-up’ than a lead,” he said evenly. “Your case, as I’m sure
you’ve guessed, is being watched over like Tigua Space Station
watching the Tower. Governor Rieflin has a keen interest in it as
well.”

Poe frowned at him. “It would only make
sense, considering.”

Matthew waved a finger in the air. “Yes, and
I would have thought that as well…but I believe there’s something
more. I’m not completely sure what it is yet, and to tell the
truth, Governor Rieflin’s not sure either.”

Poe bit his lip and glanced at Caren. She
looked back at him with a cocked eyebrow, her patience slowly
fading. He grabbed another chair and sat down next to her. “So what
are you saying?”

“He’s not entirely convinced the Tower was
the main target, and that’s worrying.”