A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (54 page)

Kai noticed with interest that in the
hundred yards they walked from the gate to Sculler’s Crossing to
Northern Avenue, the unspoken sense of fear she’d felt had dropped
away considerably. There had been a sudden release of tension in
her shoulders and temples that she hadn’t noticed until that
moment. Ashan had sensed it as well, looking over his shoulder.

Did you feel that?
she asked.

Ashan nodded, his worry giving way to
curiosity.
It’s like…a barrier.

She looked back herself. Surely she wouldn’t
be able to see anything…? But there they were, dark shadows falling
across the sidewalk they had just traveled down, fading into light
just a few yards away. She dismissed her thoughts just as quickly,
knowing that made no sense. They were on the edge of the storm
cloud, the late afternoon sun peeking just past the edge. She
looked up into the sky, confirming the much more logical reason.
The shadows along the sidewalk were just that, nothing more.
Unless…

“The hrrah-sehdhyn,” Ashan said, mirroring
her next thought.

She closed her eyes and sensed. She dared
not use her Lightseeing, not after her brother had been nearly
blinded looking directly at the Rain of Light. But standing this
close, she did not need to see, because the difference in energies
between where they had been and where they stood now was
unnervingly stark. She could almost visualize a demarcation line
cutting across the street.
It is no longer cold
, she said
within.
I no longer feel the dread, the anger…the pain. You’re
right, Ashan. It is a barrier. It’s keeping the pain within. It’s
gathering…which means…!

She hid a gasp, turning away from him before
he could notice. “We have little time,” she said quickly, hiding
her sudden wave of fear, and turned back ahead. She didn’t want to
say anything, not right now. But they needed to get in position
right away, before it was too late. They ran quickly to the end of
the block and weighed the options in front of them. Ashan pointed
to an eight story office tower a block and a half away. She nodded,
already heading that way. “Can you sense Alec and Caren?” she
asked.

“Checked in on them a few minutes ago,” he
said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Caren’s close.
Too
close. Alec’s four blocks south.”

It took Kai a moment to catch what he’d
meant. “They split up?”

Ashan shook his head. “Call it fate. Maybe
she was meant to be at the warehouse…to be with Denni after
all.”

There was nothing she could do or say to
that. It was too late to adjust their plans. They had to make their
way up to the roof of this building in the next few minutes and
prepare themselves for whatever Alec threw at them. She had little
worry in Alec keeping his part of the plan, she knew that much. He
was making his way to the apartment of the former ARU agent they
spoke of at the Crest, and presumably she was to be their Diviner.
As for Caren…

Goddess…she’d never been able to accurately
read her, so she had no idea what could happen with her. She held
herself so close, so guarded, that no one had been able to pinpoint
her true self. Not even Alec fully understood what she might be
within. She felt a stab in her heart every time she thought of her
like this. She could only hope…

Peace, Love and Light, Karinna,
she
said within, hoping she heard.

*

Peace, Love and Light, Karinna.

The voice stopped her in her tracks and sent
a shiver down her spine. She managed to stumble under another
awning before she realized it was not Denni who had spoken, but
Kai. She had just blessed her…what had she done? Was there not
enough time? She glanced at her watch; she had another ten minutes
to reach the warehouse, only two blocks away. She had more than
enough time. She’d make it there in five. She’d spoken with Ashan
on her comm right after she’d finished talking with Poe, and had
shown little concern aside from making sure this insane plan
actually worked. Why had Kai blessed her…?

The question quickly faded from her thoughts
when she saw the lone man standing under the next store awning,
fifteen feet away. He was young with long dirty blonde hair tied
back in a tight ponytail, and his features were plain. He looked to
be somewhere in his early to mid-twenties. He was taller than her
by about five or six inches, but his build made him look shorter
than he actually was. He was standing there, humming to himself and
holding two large umbrellas. One he had open and held aloft, the
other closed and pointing down, the tip resting on the toe of his
right boot. He twirled the handle of the second umbrella around,
mindlessly playing a balancing game with it. He seemed to be off in
his own little world despite the chaos unraveling around him.
Eventually he looked up, straight into Caren’s eyes.

The effect was instantaneous. She stared
right back at the young man and caught her breath. She knew him
intimately. Goddess, she knew this young man as if they’d been
friends and lovers for years! Her brain refused to believe at
first, but her heart immediately knew. It was the exact same
connection she’d made with all those people she knew she’d never
met before on Trisanda. And this was the man who had brought her
there, in that dream. A dream that had only been days previous, yet
seemed so long ago…

He was a connection. An anchor.
Her
anchor. Yes, that was it.
You’re…

He smiled at her.

A…Anando?
she said within.

His eyes. His eyes were magnificent shade of
brown, warm and inviting. He had willingly opened up a portal to
his soul to her, reaching out with gossamer tendrils that reached
straight through the thickest, most impenetrable wall she had built
within herself. No one, not even Poe or Denni, or even her parents,
had been able to tear that wall down so easily. His spirit touch
felt so…
alien
, yet so familiar.

So familiar…

Anando,
she said again.

His spirit touch felt like
love
. An
uncompromising love that went beyond anything she’d felt ever in
her life. It was beyond family, beyond physical and emotional. It
was
pure
.

“
Somfei cho-shadhisi eilee
,” he said.
Hello, my dearest love.

Caren stared at him, mouth open but no words
coming out, but every single wall of defense she’d ever built in
her life came crumbling down all at once. Years of anger and
frustration at the world…years of physical and emotional pain she’d
endured…the hurt and sadness of the loss of her parents, the terror
that she’d lose her sister. She felt another shudder as he nodded,
a nervous giggle escaping his lips. It was the simple lopsided
smile of youth and the loving glance of someone she’d known
throughout all her lifetimes, who had always been there for her.
And would be forever more.

Lifetimes…
she thought. She knew him
from some other life, some other time, some other
universe
…it made no sense! No one ever fell in love — no one
ever
knew
love this easily! This could not be possible. And
yet at this very moment, they were standing a half-block away from
her little sister…the most holy and revered One of All Sacred, the
one who would save the worlds and protect them from harm. Maybe it
could happen…? Her mind reeled. She felt some deeper connection
with Anando, some unexplainable attraction that went beyond
physical and emotional. She was so sure of this connection she
dared not question it. She was Mendaihu, and her spirit had never
lied to her. And at this very moment, it
sang
.

Somfei Anando…cho-shadhisi eilee
, she
said. Cho-shadhisi…he had used ‘twin’ in his Anjshé. Not dearest
love, but soul mate. And she had answered the same, knowing it to
be the truest thing she’d ever spoken. His smile widened, his dark
eyes looking down on her with such a radiant love she found herself
shivering.

I…
she started.

No need to explain, dearest Karinna
,
he answered.
I understand.

He held out the opened umbrella to her,
covering the gap between the two awnings. Wordlessly she took it,
her hand brushing up against his. She walked out from under her own
awning, under the umbrella, and immediately into his awaiting
arms.

She felt her own spirit dance…gossamer
tendrils of her own making, slowly rising from the shell that she
had kept closed all this time. It was the spirit dance of one who
has found pure peace within and with others…and she had found it,
at long last. The source of this peace was so mundane, so
unexpected she had reason to doubt it. Surely there was more to
love and inner peace than this! Still in his arms, she gazed up
into his eyes and into his soul. A soul that so perfectly
complemented hers, though she still could not imagine how.

“Goddess…” she said, her voice but a
whisper.

Anando…lifetimes have passed. I have
forgotten it all…
She held him as tightly as she could, not
daring to let go. She felt tears welling up and forced herself not
to show them.
I wish I could remember!

With a flick of his wrist, he opened up his
own umbrella and directed her towards the warehouse.
We will
have all the time we need to rekindle those memories,
he said
within.
Come. Denysia needs you now more than ever.

She nodded silently, wrapped an arm around
him and walked with him the rest of the way. Their link was
forever, that much she remembered. If she had to wait a day, a
month, another
eternity
to bring back those memories, so be
it. For now she rejoiced in knowing she would soon be with two of
the small handful of people she loved more deeply than anyone and
anything else in the universe. And together, they would protect
Earth.

Mendaihu Gharra,
she thought.
I
shall protect the Earth.

And I shall be there beside you,
he
answered.

*

“Poe to CJ, do you copy? Where the hell are
you?”

Poe cursed after calling her name for the
third time. He stood outside the storefront on Haden Street, under
the awning, holding the comm up high and swiveling in place in the
distant hope that her lack of response was actually a bad satellite
connection. He tried once more to no avail and gave up, reclipping
the comm to his jacket. He stepped into the small storefront
office, sparsely decorated with office furniture and exactly one
large painting of the Bridgetown skyline, and knocked on the
doorframe as he passed it. “Hello?” he called out.

“She has found another way,” Christine said,
stepping out from behind a beaded curtain that hung across the wide
arch of the back hallway. “She will dispel these inner demons with
and without your help. Make no mistake: you are still important to
her. There is nothing personal in her decision.”

“Hello to you too,” Poe said, smiling at
her. “Goddess, it’s great to see you again, Chris.” She stood at
the doorway, white towel in hands, briskly drying her rain-drenched
blond curls. She looked at him with stunning blue eyes, one brow
arched higher than the other in amusement. Poe’s pulse quickened as
he saw her, and remembered all too clearly how beautiful she
was.

“Alec Poe,” she nodded. “Just the person
I’ve been looking for.”

“It’s been too long,” he said, and gave her
a tight hug. “Listen — we’ve got an emergency, and I need your
help. We have about ten minutes to kickstart a Gathering using a
Benjamin’s Key. You up for it?”

Christine burst out laughing and pushed him
away. “Are you kidding? Is that what you came up with?”

Poe winced, and pointed upwards with his
thumb. “Best we could, given the situation. The weather is going
nuts out there, and it’s not slowing down. You were the first
person I thought of, plus I heard you were looking for me. We have
two Mendaihu as grounders out on Northern Avenue if we need to
redirect.”

Her amusement died a quick death and she
glared at him. “You aren’t kidding.” She studied him for a moment,
thin arms crossed in front of her. A moment later she turned and
retreated to the back of the store again. “Hold on a second.”

Immediately Poe felt guilty. This was a
woman he hadn’t talked to for over six months, since she took a
well-deserved break from soul divining. He could have come over to
visit her at any time, and yet it hadn’t occurred to him. And here
he was, throwing a life-threatening emergency at her as if it was
nothing.

A moment later she returned wearing a black
B-Town Saints ball cap and a dark green overcoat and carrying a
large briefcase, which she pushed into his arms. She smiled at him
as if she hadn’t minded his sudden rush; in fact, she looked as if
she was looking forward to it. She closed and locked her office,
and led him to a rear stairwell. She bounded up the stairs so
quickly that Poe nearly had to run in order to catch up.

“So what are we looking at?” she asked over
her shoulder.

“The Rain of Light,” Poe wheezed. “Pashyo,
will you slow down? You know I still smoke.”

That elicited a laugh from her. “Then quit,
Alec. Rain, huh? Sounds like corruption. Anyone I know cause
it?”

This time Poe laughed, though his was laced
with a bitter taste. “Haven’t you been watching the news,
Christine? This is a spiritual war we’re fighting here. That thing
was awakened by a Mendaihu and corrupted by a nuhm’ndah.”

“I know,” she kidded. “Just wanted to make
sure
you
were up on things.”

He shook his head. “Knew I could count on
you.”

“Damn straight.” She rounded the last flight
of stairs and stopped just short of the roof access door, waiting
for Poe to catch up. She placed her hand on it, but did not push it
open. “Let’s get one thing straight, Alec,” she said, not facing
him. “Any other Agent, any other day, I wouldn’t think twice about
kicking their sorry ass back out the door. You…” She took a deep
breath, then another. “You’re like an older brother to me, Alec. I
can’t forget that.” Finally, summoning up her courage, she turned
and flashed a forced grin at him. “Besides…I kind of figured you’d
be looking for me anyway. Consider me hired. Adjust your collar and
let’s go.”