Emblems

Chapter 32: Doubt

"It's more like putting part of the mind into quarantine," Daniel continued from there. "You isolate it, close it off, like the way you would if there was a..." He blinked once, twice, then sat down hard. "A virus." The word slipped past his lips like a breath or a prayer. 

"What?" Calida frowned at him. 

"I... I did it, didn't I?" he asked himself slowly. His hands had already pulled the shuriken out of his  pocket, turning it over and over in his palms, avoiding the sharp edges with a familiarity borne through having cut himself countless times before. 

The Delegates had never told him when they'd found Amber. They'd never shown or told him anything that hinted at finding her at a specific location. And being confined in the Athenaeum under the guise of being trained, he'd never seen the place she'd been overwhelmed by Demons with his own eyes. Only the Delegates had. 

Seeing Amber in the med bay, talking to her about the Delegates, about being an Emblem, it had been like having his own words chucked back in his face. Their roles had been reversed from all the times he'd spoken to her before. He'd looked at her and seen someone blinded by faith. And then came the doubt and that niggling feeling that said this is wrong, is this me? Is this what she thought of me the other times we talked? When he'd looked at her he'd doubted every single word that had come out of his mouth in the Athenaeum. The contentment, the smiles, the gratitude towards people he didn’t even know and yet trusted. And now... Now when he thought of Amber’s fake smile and her contentment and her gratitude, when he thought of her snarling and sneering and being suspicious and wary, he was doubting the Delegates themselves, doubting the we’ll help you, Daniel and listening to Amber’s feral growl and thinking was she right all along?

Leone had said that they were just going to have a little mental spar with him. Janna would set up the mind link and give him a simulation mind to work on. There'd be a virus he would have to get rid of. Just isolate it. Close it off. Just like what had been done to Amber. He didn't know what Janna was capable of, just that she could manipulate emotions. He'd never asked any further than that. But even that much should've given him a clue. If only he'd—

"Christopher!" A kid burst into the room without even knocking. He put his hands on his knees, panting heavily. Daniel recognized him as the Fire Adept Amber had almost killed. "The... The Delegates,” he wheezed.

"They're here?" Christopher stood up when the boy nodded in response. In a flash the Daron twins were striding out the door. Calida tried to get Robert to sit back down, but he insisted on getting up to follow them. The kid led them to the training grounds, where the Delegates had apparently teleported to. Young Adepts that had been training there were herded to the walls of the room, whispering among themselves and staring in the fashion of passers-by.

The Delegates hadn't escaped the Demon attack unscathed either. Not one of them didn't have scratches or bruises covering their skin, but it looked like no one was severely injured. He should've expected that – they were professionals, had been given a job in the organization for a reason. But he kind of wished that their numbers had been significantly reduced. Would've made what he felt like doing a lot easier. 

When their entrance was noticed, one of them tapped Leone on the shoulder. She turned from where she was watching Felix getting healed by a Fire Adept and he got a good look at her face. A Demon had probably slashed her across her face, just over her left eye. There were bruises all along her skin, and he could see a faint red stain through the bandage wrapped around her right forearm.