A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (38 page)

Denni smiled, amused. Amna was certainly an
odd character who defied any mental image one might have had of
her. She was half-Meraladian on her mother’s side, her clan’s trait
of good-natured belligerence running rampant in her blood. She may
be small, but her spirit was far greater than any room she
entered.

“Goddess, that reminds me,” she continued.
“I’ve got a term paper for religious history class coming up next
month. I’m thinking of writing about the Mendaihu. What do you
think?”

Denni tried not to frown. “It’s…uh,” she
stumbled. She made herself look her friend in the eye and tried to
keep her voice even. “It’s not a bad idea, Amna, but the Mendaihu
aren’t really a religion-based culture.”

“Of course they are,” she countered. “Name
me one Mendaihu who
isn’t
part of some religious movement.
They’re all tied into one spiritual thing or another, Den. No
questioning that.”

“There’s a difference between religion and
spirituality, Amzi…a
big
difference.”

“Says you,” she said, sticking out her
tongue.

Denysia!
Denni twitched, the voice
much louder and forceful than earlier. She muttered under her
breath in response:
Not now! Please, not now!

“Den?” Amna frowned at her, a hand on her
shoulder. “You okay over there? Something I said?”

“No, no…I’m okay,” she said unevenly,
forcing a smile and waving off concern. “Just a weird night last
night. Caren came in late again.”

Amna nodded. “Ah. Those five riots,
yeah?”

No tact, that girl. “Yeah. It’s taken a lot
out of her. Lot of weird stuff going on.”

“NewsComm was scant on the details, but that
doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “They’re not saying who or what
started it, but I’m sure you can imagine the press is having a
field day with speculation.”

Denni had to laugh at that. If only they
knew the truth! “Yeah, I’ve heard some really stupid things in the
last twenty-four hours. Religious extremists, anti-religious
extremists, Vigil…I think my favorite one so far is the guy on NC5
who’s convinced it’s all a government conspiracy to cause some sort
of war between humans and Meraladians.”

“Hey, could happen,” Amna said, pointing at
her with a self-satisfied smile. “You never know when the day will
come when I’m going to grow thirty feet tall, grow a tail, and come
over to your house, honey. I’ve been savoring the day I can finally
beat your ass but good.”

Amna’s comment was so over the top and
unexpected the two girls broke out in a giggling fit. She had so
needed that levity right now! She playfully punched Amna on the
arm, daring her to make good on her threat, which led to more
outrageous boasting and laughter. They ignored the stares and
continued to talk through the rest of the period about countless
different topics, from school to music to politics, each subject
flowing seamlessly into the next one. For the time being, Denni’s
life was back to normal. She heard the disembodied voice a few more
times during the study period, but chose to ignore it. It had no
intention of leaving, but wasn’t too adamant at wrestling her
attention away, either. She would respond when she could, and hoped
that whoever was on the other end could understand that.

The period soon ended, and with her
still-unfinished homework tucked in her satchel and burning a hole
in her conscience, she made a quick plan to meet for lunch with
Amna and her other friends before dashing off to Meraladian History
class. She felt guilty for not getting the homework done, but at
the moment she didn’t feel it was that important. Instead she
focused on Caren, wondering where she was at that very moment, and
if she was doing okay. She thought she could reach out and touch
her sister’s spirit from across the city, and for a brief second
thought she felt the gesture being reciprocated. It was only her
own spirit that made her fully believe that their wordless
affection over such a distance had actually taken place. She smiled
and hummed quietly to herself as she walked to her next class.

*

Denysia!

The voice reverberated within her head with
such unexpected force she let out a quick yelp that she barely
contained in time.
Denysia!
Again, seconds later, with equal
force.
Please, answer me!
It had started up again, this time
calling her with increased frequency and urgency.
Enough!
she cried at it.
Leave me alone!
But still it came a fourth
time, then a fifth, all in quick succession. She let out a shaky
breath and wiped away tears that had started welling in the corners
of her eyes. Goddess, when was this going to end? She glanced
around the room, but all eyes were on the teacher except Amna’s;
she’d been watching her for the past five minutes, unspoken concern
on her face. Denni waved her away. The last thing she wanted to do
was get someone else involved.

Denysia!

“Ow, damn it!” she hissed. She shot up a
hand and asked to be excused, blaming it on a sudden case of
nausea, and headed for the bathrooms on the third floor. At this
time of day, only a handful of teachers were in the rooms up there,
readying themselves for their midday classes, and no other students
would be nearby. She sprinted up the two flights of service stairs,
out of sight of everyone, and stepped out into the quiet hallway.
The women’s room was down the end, near the faculty lounge. She
would have to make it past there without being seen.

Denysia!

“Right,” she mumbled to herself while
mentally cursing the voice, and headed towards the restroom. She
had to walk past three other rooms before she got there, and
stopped to peer around the doorframe of each one. The first two
rooms were dark and empty, shades drawn and teacher’s desk
completely clear. The third room had its lights on, though after a
few minutes she gathered up her nerves and looked in. A tall
Meraladian sat at the desk, engrossed in the large vidmat he had
displayed out before him. His brows were deeply furrowed, his
complete attention devoted to his work. Exhaling, she tiptoed past
the open door, skittered past the faculty lounge without attracting
attention to herself, and darted into the restroom.

Denysia!

She chose the end stall and locked herself
in.

Fine,
she thought with all the angry
energy she could muster, and aimed it directly at the source of the
voice.
I’m here, whoever you are. I have your attention, what do
you want?

Denysia!
At last we speak.
The
voice took on an unexpectedly warm tone, much quieter than before.
She could now recognize it as a woman’s voice, and again she knew
she’d heard it somewhere before. It was definitely the same voice
she’d been hearing and avoiding over the last few days.
I am
emha-sehndayen-ne Eprysia,
the woman said.
Or em’prysia. You
may call me Ampryss if you wish.

“Empress?” she blurted aloud, not meaning
to.

Ampryss with an ‘a’, my Dearest One,
the voice laughed.
Surely I am not royalty. I am merely what you
might call a Priestess.

Denni cocked a curious eyebrow. Why would a
priestess be going to great pains — mostly her own — to reach her
via soulhearing, and doing it so badly at that? She had a feeling
the woman was an overzealous Mendaihu, but she kept her guard in
case they ended up being someone altogether different.
Gotcha,
she said
. Who and where are you, and what is so
important about getting a hold of me? I don’t mean to be rude, but
your beacon has been giving me one hell of a migraine.

Ampryss gasped in surprise and apologized
profusely.
Nyhnd’aladh, dearest. I was unaware of how far your
awakening had progressed, Denysia. My ‘beacon,’ as you call it, was
my own doing. Sa’im nyhnd’aladh…again, I apologize. Now that we
have connected, I no longer need to reach quite so far and so
strongly.

Denni willingly took the bait.
Exactly
how far are we talking about?

That depends on your point of view,
Denysia,
she said with a touch of amusement.
If we’re
talking spiritually, I am just a few minutes away by Lightwalk.
Physically? I am on Trisanda.

“Trisanda…?” Denni exhaled, impressed.
“That’s one hell of a distance.” To Ampryss she added,
that’s
what, one-twenty or so parsecs away? How are you able to do
that?

I can sense your uncertainty,
Ampryss
said.
I expect it. But you can visit me any time you like,
dearest one. I will show you there some day. Perhaps soon.

Denni shivered with nervous excitement mixed
in with a tiny bit of skepticism. Was she really talking to someone
not even in a local CNF star system? Was that even possible? She’d
heard extraordinary things about soulhearing before, but nothing as
expansive as this. One hundred twenty parsecs! Even for
Lightwalking that was an immense distance. A significant number of
Mendaihu had that ability both spiritually
and
physically,
and apparently Dad had been one of them. Could she have inherited
that ability as well?

Her curiosity got the best of her.
Why
did you contact me?

I had to, as soon as you had
awakened,
she said.
Our connection is very important,
Denysia.

“What’s the big deal with me awakening?” she
said, more to herself than to Ampryss. She wondered if any other
people going through this had to endure these offworld voices.
There was also the nagging feeling that Caren wasn’t the only one
who knew about it.
Why me,
she asked,
and why
now?

The door to the restroom swung open, a
woman’s heels clicking against the tile floor. Denni gasped and
caught her breath, and pulled her legs up above the door. She
cursed inwardly and hoped that she hadn’t been heard. Thankfully
the woman had only entered to wash her hands and fix her makeup,
but she remained cramped in that odd position for close to three
minutes perched on the edge of the toilet until the woman left.
Ampryss must have sensed all of this tension, as she had not
answered yet.

“Denni?”

Oh shit!
Her heart jumped at hearing
her own name echoing against the walls and she nearly fell off the
rim. It was only after hearing it a second time that she realized
it was Amna, come to retrieve her. How did she know she’d gone all
the way up to the third floor? And how did she get in without
hearing her? “Amna?” she mumbled in the best nauseous voice she
could muster. “What are you doing up here?”

She laughed in response. “I should ask you
the same question, kiddo. And you can cut the performance. I know
you’re not sick.”

Stiff from the odd position she’d been
sitting in, she was happy to stand and stretch now, and let out a
quick grunt as she did so. She swung open the stall door and
stepped out, a sheepish grin on her face.

Amna was leaning up against the tiled wall
waiting for her, arms crossed. “Who were you talking to?” she
asked.

Denni frowned. “I wasn’t talking to anyone,
just you.”

She huffed and rolled her eyes at her.
Inside, Den. Who was talking in here?

“Oh
Goddess…
” she gasped, startled by
her friend’s voice inside her head. “You…you heard?”

“Every word, kiddo…” Amna shrugged as if it
was no big thing. “Don’t worry. You were in a…well, what would you
call it? A strange
frequency
, I suppose. I doubt anyone else
heard it aside from me. So who was it?”

Denni evaded the question. “Wait a
minute…how long have you known how to soulhear? And why didn’t you
tell me?”

Amna looked away in frustration. “About
three years. It’s not something you want to advertise, Den. You
know how people are here — they expect you’re listening in on
everything.”

She had a good point. She was annoyed that
she hadn’t shared this secret with her before, but she understood
her reticence. The last thing she wanted to do was infringe on
someone’s privacy. “Okay,” she said. “It’s…good to know.”

“Thanks,” Amna said, and turned back to her,
flashing a lopsided smile at her. “You didn’t answer my question.
Who was that woman?”

Denni weighed her options before answering.
How much could she tell her friend? How much could she trust her?
“Some Mendaihu, I think,” she said finally. “Very distant relative,
wanted to talk to me, apparently.”

Amna frowned at her. “Come on, I know you
better than that. You know who she is, girl, I could tell. She was
a lot more than some woman, wasn’t she?”

“I…” she shivered. “I know who she was, but
I can’t remember…”

“No need to remember, Den,” she said. “Think
of the name and follow the instinct, that’s what I’ve always done.
If anything, you’ll know where you’ve heard her voice before.”

Denni thought about that for a moment, and
closed her eyes. She focused on the sound of Ampryss’ voice, the
familiarity of it. It somehow reminded her of a garden of roses and
other flowers, and a long and flat stretch of green lawn stretching
towards a line of trees. She knew this place, she’d been there
before, talked with Ampryss many times, in her dreams. She knew
this place, knew this woman…

Dennise Johnson…Denysia…
she
heard.

Denni stopped cold.
Oh goddess,
she
thought, with a sudden chill.
I
do
know that
voice…

Denysia,
it had said the night of the
Awakening ritual, the night she had woken Caren up. It was not the
voice that had said
awaken
— that had been Nehalé Usarai’s —
but the voice that had spoken within immediately after. She had
heard it in her waking consciousness, thinking it had been Caren at
the time. She had completely forgotten that the voice had been real
and
not
Caren at all, but the soothing voice of Ampryss. Of
Ampryss awakening her spirit.