Gaius
I stood to move toward the bathing room after Charlie’s footsteps had faded out of earshot. He’d left the front door open. It creaked gently as it moved with the wind.
I looked to Tane and gave her an affectionate smile, but was disturbed when it was not returned. I resumed my sitting position in front of her and stroked her hand, inquiring silently what made her expression so wistful.
She seemed to stare directly through me, and I resisted the instinct to confirm that I was actually there. Tane gripped my hands, telling me that she was trying to find the words to convey her thoughts. I waited in silence.
I was inexplicably relieved to hear her soft voice begin in our language. “Tell me of the prophecy of the Last Fall,” she requested softly. I frowned, the relief falling away. “I would have myself well prepared for our return to Fismuth.”
I nodded, reluctant, and attempted to start from what I knew. “As your will,” I said, consenting with a common phrase used in Fismuth. “A Septar prophet had a vision of the end of Fismuth. He claimed the last days would be overcome by war and the skies would weep over the blood of the Prestigious.” Tane was silent; her eyes were closed as she shut out everything but my voice. “As the prophecy is told, there will be a Prestigious One dragged late by the hand of the Septars. A girl, though her Sense was not specified. She will be cast down and will be corrupted, tainted by the humans. On her return to Fismuth, she will mark the beginning of the end of Edent.”
I swallowed, not wanting to continue. I knew how the news of this prophecy must have sounded to Tane’s susceptible ears. I pushed myself to go on.
“It is said that she will be protected by humans, workers, and Prestigious alike, rendering her invincible. She will not die until the prophecy has run its full course.”
I fell silent. Tane’s hands lay lifelessly in mine. I did not want to believe that Tane was the Last of the Fallen. She could no sooner bring destruction to a blade of grass than she could an entire civilization. Her body was tense but her breathing came normally, naturally.
“And what is its full course?” she asked, her tone tentative.
I closed my eyes then and lowered my head. “The Septar prophet said he saw Fismuth itself falling from the sky.”
Tane gave a tiny gasp of what sounded like despair. “It cannot be me,” she whispered. “Palleman and the Septar Council would not have chosen me if they believed me to be the beginning of such tragedy. Gaius, you were cast down after me, so I could not be the Last of the Fallen.” I shook my head and stroked the negative into her hand. Her voice became more panicked. “Why not?”
“The Last of the Fallen is only a term. It means she will be the last of notable earthbound Prestigious Ones,” I countered, regretting saying it as soon as the words had fallen from my lips. “You will not bring destruction, Tane. You know that.”
“Who?” she asked, ignoring my words. Her voice was a trembling leaf in the latest days of autumn. I did not understand. “Who was the Septar prophet?”
I bit my lip only for a moment. “Azurael,” I whispered.
Tane started at the name. “The traitor!” Disbelief laced her voice.
I nodded. Azurael remained the only Prestigious One to ever come from a worker pairing. Born with large black wings and ice blue eyes, he had the Gift of the many. A true Septar. More than that, he had been a Septar prophet, only slightly less rare than his winged and Prestigious birth. Septar prophets were Septars with the keen propensity to have intricate visions of absolute certainty.
No matter what decisions were made, no matter what actions were taken against the outcome: it would happen.
The phenomenon was not overlooked. Azurael’s parents were told to produce more such children. They attempted, but the next two of their offspring were simple workers, nothing more. Azurael was taken into training at five years of age.
Azurael served his purpose well when he was so inclined. He was said to be quiet and introspective with no wish to wield his ability otherwise. Azurael became the favored son of Edent until he tried to convince the Septar Council to banish Palleman—an already victorious solider and effective trainer.
A worker came forward and informed seeing Azurael and Palleman in heated discussion in a historical records hall. The worker said that she’d heard Azurael threaten Palleman’s very life.
The next day, when he would not deny the worker’s claim, Azurael had been banished to Abannon. At the Dardon Wall, Azurael screamed out his last prophecy. It was never recorded, but was still regarded as if held in the highest—and lowest—esteem.
I opened my eyes and looked at Tane. She was almost completely still. “You have never told me of this prophecy prior.” I could not process the grave, uneven lilt in her voice. It just hovered in the air between us, uneasy.
“No, I have not.”
We were silent, but it was not like it should have been. It was not comfortable or even contemplative. Tane’s eyes were calm and steady and heavy. I could not look away from her.
“What if the humans aren’t wrong?” she blurted out quietly. I was confused. Before I could press the question into her palm, she was talking again. “What if their trial and error system is how life is supposed to be lived? What if we are meant to fall to weakness sometimes and to feel emotion and to think for ourselves?”
Tane took a deep breath and winced, her hand hovering over her upper arm for a moment. She bit her lip and, concerned, I moved to take a look. Was she injured? Tane shifted her arm away from me.
“What if there is more to life than just preservation?” she pressed, keeping her arm out of my reach.
I was speechless, and as we sat not a breath away from each other, I felt her slip away from me.
Charlie
I knew what I needed to do. I needed to just not think anything. And if I couldn’t stop the thoughts, I’d only think unimportant things.
I pushed my way into the café. It seemed overflowing with people. Talking people. Eating people. People who held no real meaning to anything. I tried to look for Mike, but I couldn't find his tangled yellow hair or his busboy's apron anywhere in the crowd. I sighed and navigated through a couple of coffee-enthusiasts to get to the counter. I squeezed in between two occupied wooden stools and shook my hair out of my eyes. It was getting long. I'd need to cut it soon.
The smell of coffee was comforting and familiar. I didn't even really want to stay in the café that day. I wanted to buy some coffee and take it back to the house where I knew Tane would be. I closed my eyes while I waited for Mike or another employee to come take my order. I understood what Tane meant when she said there were too many people in the café.
It was overwhelming. A man laughed obnoxiously behind me while a much smaller laugh coupled the lighter harmony.
A boisterous woman was recapping how her cousin's car had flipped over three times on the highway. How it had been a Honda. How they weren't supposed to flip over. Not three times.
The person on the stool beside me stirred her coffee and every time the spoon would clink on the side. I tried to block out the sounds. It had never been so hard before.
"Hey, Charlie." I opened my eyes and saw Mike. Relief rushed through me. "The usual? Black coffee and a bagel?" He looked busy. I shook my head.
"Just the coffee, thanks."
He tapped the table twice and spun on his heels to fill the order. Maybe if I sat outside it would be easier to concentrate.
I wondered what Tane and Gaius were doing and as soon as I felt my fists curl up of their own accord, I stopped wondering what Tane and Gaius were doing. I couldn't keep building up these feelings. And that kiss. I groaned, thankful that the sound was drowned out in the busy place.
I was getting a headache and everyone in the coffee shop had no bigger worries than their cousin's Honda or their milk properly mixing with their coffee. All the while, angels were descending from heaven and camping out in my basement. My head felt like it had its own pulse and the heart was right between my eyes.
The smell. I'd missed the smell. The coffee was the only thing keeping me grounded.
"Charlie?" an accusing voice came from behind me. I whirled around as fast as I could to see who was addressing me. It was difficult seeing as I was smushed in between two oblivious café-goers. I saw Dethany's small, round face and tensed.
She'd dyed her hair again. Something different than the usual purple and brown. Now it was blue and black. Her eyes were tired-looking but very bright. I smiled at her in that awkward way that feels obligated. She smiled back and hers looked just as forced.
"Where have you been lately?" she asked like she already knew.
"Uh, nowhere really. Around." Three times. "I've been helping Tane as much as possible." Clink, clink. I blinked away the noises around me to no avail. "You know."
Dethany nodded and shrugged a little. "I guess I do."
I got the feeling that she didn't. But I nodded and pushed myself off from the counter and toward her anyway out of more obligation.
"How have you been?" I asked, looking down at her. I'd almost forgotten how short she was. Her hands were on her hips and her toothy grin was a memory I wasn't sure if I'd only made up or not. Reality was something twisted and uncertain.
"I've been good." Without you, her eyes seemed to add. She was angry with me. I probably should have been ashamed, but I was just amused. It was as if our days of verbal sparring had never ended."I heard about Felix."
"I'm assuming from Felix." The duo of laughter rang out again, and I zeroed in on Dethany's face even more to give her my complete focus. "Nothing happened, D."
"You believe her?" she asked, unconcerned with the other people in the café. Again, I felt a sober kind of amusement at her staunch anti-Tane stance.
I hesitated and pushed my hands into my pockets. "D, do you want to sit or some—"
"Do you believe her?" she repeated, not budging. An iron dam that girl was. I couldn't shake my head no. "And you're sure she's the real thing and you're not just going blind to the fact that she sounds insane because she's pretty?" I didn't dignify that with an answer. I could hit Felix. I couldn't and wouldn't hit Dethany. She shrugged off the question anyway, so it really didn't matter.
Mike tapped me on the shoulder twice just like he'd tapped the counter and handed me my coffee. The cup was warm, even with the sleeve on it.
"I'd better get back," I said, pulling a five out of my pocket and handing it to Mike. "Keep the change." I walked out of the coffee shop and even in the blistering heat of the peak of summer, I drank my coffee.
"Hey, you can't do this alone, you know!" Dethany called, tripping over the threshold of the door and jogging after me. "Hey, are you listening to me?" I nodded and sipped my coffee. "What is this girl doing to you?"
I gave her a sidelong glance and then continued walking. Around my gulp of caffeine and I said, "She's changing me."
Dethany didn't follow me for a while, but by the time I'd gotten back to the entrance of my neighborhood, she'd caught up with me. She was out of breath and it looked like she'd fallen and scraped her hands. I smiled a little. At least the world around me wasn't falling down the rabbit hole with the rest of my life. Some things stayed the same. It was a comforting thought.
"Is it because she's different?" she prodded, situating her hands back on her hips while she walked, heaving air like it was on sale. "Because there are plenty of girls—"
"Not like her." Was it so bad to feel like I was less alone when I was with her? To not be the kid with the crazy mom for once?
Tane felt the way I felt. Out of place. Not special. Even if it was a world away. Tane never left me. Even when Felix and Dethany weren’t there, Tane was. And I’d only known her for two days. I stopped myself from pointing that one out.
I didn't want to talk about why I liked Tane. I just wanted to like Tane. I opened my mouth to speak but I closed it again. Did I want to like Tane? I knew that she was going to be gone soon. That she was going to leave and not come back. And I still went around doing things like kissing the girl and poising myself for a fight every time her half-sense was around. Even though it was all too clear the problem wasn't Gaius. The problem was that Tane did not belong on Earth. That she didn’t belong with me.
"Not like her," I repeated, finally turning my head back to Dethany. She looked like she wanted to say something. Or, knowing her, scream something. But she remained silent and walked beside me. I could feel sweat beading on my forehead. I could smell Dethany’s latest last cigarette.
"Why are you still hanging out with me?" I asked, taking a sip of my coffee and relishing the heat it sent flooding into my mouth then down my throat then somewhere I could track only to my upper chest before I lost the threaded heat. "If you think she's crazy. If you think I'm crazy, then why are you even bothering right now?"
Dethany snorted and then smiled, as she ran her fingers through her colorful hair. "If you want me to believe you so badly, show me proof."
I winced a little at the notion. "I would," I said honestly. "But we burned it."
Dethany's eyebrow shot up inquiringly; I ignored it. I bit my lip. I really wanted another human with a sane logic process to be on my team. Dethany was my only friend since Felix had all but sworn to kill my firstborn in our last encounter.
I looked at her and her shirt caught my eye. There was a pair of angel wings on it. They were feathered and white and in the middle of them, instead of a person, there was a band name. I'd never heard of them, so they'd have to be pretty obscure. Had Dethany gone to a concert without me?
"Look, Charlie. We're friends, you know? If you say something's real—” she took a deep breath, “—I gotta give you the benefit of the doubt."
I smiled wide at that and took her hand. "Okay, then let me give you proof," I offered.
I started jogging down the street, dragging Dethany along with me and grinning like an idiot. Belief was so close. We got to my house and the front door was open. A strange twist in my gut brought a vile taste to my tongue. I swallowed it and bit my lip harder than I should have.
"Tane?" I called, uneasy and not too willing to walk into the house. No response. I timidly tried out the name again. It was cold in the house.
"Tane!" I was recognizing the beginnings of a freak-out in my mind. I dropped my coffee cup without thought. I pulled Dethany inside and ran to the kitchen, bolting down the stairs. Dethany slipped and I tried to catch her, but the worry blurred my vision and she fell hard.
"Tane!" I called again. Tane was on the floor, eyes closed, her face the epitome of calm.
I took a breath as every muscle in my body relaxed. She was fine. She was safe. "Tane," I tried again. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw me. She breathed my name and stood.
“I heard you the first time,” she said, her eyes grazing over Dethany before landing back on me.
"Gaius. Where is he?" I asked, not letting go of Dethany's hand.
"Bathing," she returned. I nodded. Of course he was. I must not have shut the front door all the way when I left. "You look disappointed. You specifically told me not to bathe with him, did you not?"
Dethany stood behind me with a certain smirk on her face that I realized I definitely hadn't missed. She was looming from two feet behind me even though she was at least a head shorter than me. I could feel her smugness rolling off of her in waves.
Tane tilted her head to the left and looked at us with a blank stare, and I could finally hear the shower in the bathroom because it cut off abruptly.
Tane was still when she spoke. "Dethany, you return for what purpose?"
"My own fucking sanity," she replied, and I laughed softly under my breath. Tane did not seem amused. Dethany shook her hair out of her eyes like I was so used to her doing, and Gaius emerged from the bathroom. He was naked. I turned my head away and grimaced.
"Dude, cover that," I said. He did, but not nearly fast enough for Dethany not to get a good, long look.
"D, that's Gaius. He's Tane's half-sense. He's helping us," I introduced.
Tane moved to him and took his hand immediately. They were always holding hands. It felt like when I wasn't looking they would always communicate with touches and shapes. I couldn't really have done anything about it. No matter how much I wanted to.
And I'd thought of some pretty violent ways to hurt Gaius. I would consider myself creative even, if nothing else. I had thought about decapitation, castration, strangulation, drowning. Even death by lawn ornament.
It was only comforting to know that Gaius heard or saw everything that I was thinking. He was always in my mind and I was going to use it to its full advantage.
"I would extend my greetings to you, but I was not formally introduced," he said, his condescending, deep voice a low murmur in my room as he addressed Dethany.
"I'm, uh, I'm," Dethany stuttered trying to find her words. I looked at her incredulously. There was no way she was lusting over an angel. "I… my name is Dethany." Oh no. I knew that lilt of her lips. She was about to go on a rant. The one she could never control when she was around someone attractive.
"It's spelled like Bethany, but with a 'd' at the beginning. A little morbid, I know. But I didn't choose it, you know what I mean? I think my name was supposed to be Bethany, but I was born on a small island in the Philippines with only one hospital, and the birth certificate was hand written. My bet is on the fact that a nurse had to write it and happened to have horrible penmanship. But maybe not. I don't really know, I guess. It's just one of those mysteries." She giggled nervously and batted her eyelashes. I almost vomited on the floor in front of me.
"Yeah, so now we all know each other and we can get down to business," I stated. Tane smiled at the sound of business, and I couldn't help smiling back. I wish I could have though, for the look Gaius shot me.
"Gaius has found out what room she was in. He has discovered her name as well. Kelsie Marx. We still don't have any way to get her out," Tane said.
Dethany watched Gaius like a dog watches bacon being cooked. Gaius looked at her oddly. Oh, right. He could read minds. I nudged Dethany with warning, but her eyes were already too busy embarrassing themselves as they made their way down his body. Gaius turned to face her fully.
"Miss, I would kindly ask you to restrain your carnal thoughts and direct them toward a more welcoming target," he said smoothly as his abs just happened to flex.
My jaw dropped. Had he just dissed Dethany? I gave Dethany a sidelong glance. Her mouth drooped with a mixture of emotions. Yes. Yes he had.
I'd never seen her so red. Which was definitely saying something, since Dethany had had her pants yanked down last year in the middle of the gym during a school pep rally. Dethany blinked furiously and turned her head away. I heard mutter a weird, modest apology.
Gaius looked at Tane as she stood beside him, expressionless. He took her hand again and pressed a couple of weird symbols into her palm and on the back of her hand. From my distance, I couldn't tell if I knew them or not.
Tane nodded and looked at him, her blank face softening into one of soft reverence.
Dethany turned away completely and then gasped.
"What is it?" I asked, already whipping around, my eyes darting all around the room.
"What is that from?" she cried loudly, pointing an accusing finger at the floor. I glanced down. Oh. The Feeder's blood stains. "Charlie, what the hell is that from?" Her voice just kept getting louder and louder.
"A Feeder," Tane answered. I closed my eyes, repressing a groan. That probably wasn't the best time to be one-hundred percent honest. Tane tilted her head and shrugged as if to say 'what?' Dethany needed to be eased into these things. Tane didn't seem to get it. "I killed it and had to store it here before the burning of its body."
Dethany opened her mouth to let out a scream. I jumped behind her and covered her mouth. "Shh, shh, D. It's okay. It's okay," I said in what I hoped to be a comforting voice, not letting go of her even the tiniest bit. "Dethany, I want to let go of your mouth, I really do. But you need to cooperate with me here, okay? No screaming, no running out. You wanted in, you're in. Got that?" Dethany was still and silent for a long time, but she eventually nodded. "Good. I'm going to let you go now." I did.
She was tense and quiet. She didn't turn around as she spoke. Her shoulders were hunched and stiff. "I thought you said Feeders didn't exist on Earth."
I was still slightly confused on that part as well. Tane answered from behind me. "It is my belief that the Feeder fell with me and landed in a separate location, later tracking me down, and consequently, Charlie as well. Fismuthians have a finer taste to the Feeder, closer to divine blood. If there is one close, they will choose the Prestigious over the human every time." Gaius nodded to validate her statement.
Dethany stepped away from the blood stain. As long as she didn't try to go into the closet she would be fine. It was a challenge to find an inch on the carpet in there that wasn't drenched in blood.
Gaius pulled Tane closer to him and spoke softly. "Dethany, would you do us a great service? Tane tells me much of your intelligent, deductive qualities." Dethany spun around slowly, giving Tane an incredulous look. It was just like her to not understand how someone could think highly of her if she didn't think highly of them. "Tane and I—and I'm sure Charlie as well—would benefit greatly from your ideas on how to retrieve the Septar."
Dethany was quiet for a long time. I couldn't tell if she was thinking about how to break Kelsie out, or if she was still stuck on the fact that Tane had sung her praises to her half-sense. There was the possibility that she was stunned by the sight of the Feeder's blood. But I'd had to get over it pretty quickly, and Dethany was tougher than me. She was tougher than anyone I knew. She gradually relaxed and nodded.
"I'm gonna need some paper. And a rough layout of the asylum."
Tane
We all sat around Dethany. We restlessly orbited her and her scattered papers. She continued to crumple up unworthy ideas, and the noise itself was enough to make me shiver.
Crinkling his nose, Gaius looked down over Dethany's head. He would point out inconsistencies every now and then. She did not seem to appreciate the criticism.
“Well, what do you want me to do? Huh?” Most of her retorts were of this nature. “You say we're too young to impersonate orderlies.”
Gaius nodded and his hair shielded his eyes as he leaned over to examine her plan. “Not only is age a factor, Miss Dethany, but the asylum is obviously too small for the general employee not to notice four young new ones. Your logic is flawed. Try again.”
Dethany huffed, closing her eyes. Charlie sat on the floor in front of a large glob of a chair looking up at me with dull, exasperated eyes.
I gently reached out and touched Dethany's shoulder. I could feel the warmth through her wear. “Try again,” I whispered encouragingly.
“It would be helpful if you came up with something,” she said. I silently agreed with her. “What about the ventilation system?” I did not know what that was. Gaius narrowed his eyes and listened to what her mind told him it was. Almost instantly, his expression smoothed back out into one of removed disappointment.
“No.” Gaius shook his head and sat on the bed next to her.
“No?”
“No,” he reiterated. “The woman here,” he pointed to the entrance of the asylum, “she oversees everyone who walks in and walks out. There is no back entrance as is standard for most buildings of this purpose if I have heard correctly. There is a fire exit but there is no way to get through or around the building to escape. Even if we managed to simply pass Tess—that is her name, Tess—it would not aid us in finding a way out. There are no vents in individual rooms. There are vents in the hallways and the recreational lounge.”
“So why can't we just use those?” Dethany asked.
Gaius held a paper up to Dethany's face, showing her the list he'd made. He read, “Recreational lounge. Employees and healers roam as well as patients, easily seen and regarded.”
Dethany impatiently waved the list away from her face. “Fine. Basically, you're telling me we need a massive distraction.”
“Yes,” Gaius, Charlie, and I agreed in unison. Dethany stood up and started pacing. She bit her nails as she did so.
“Okay, okay. What are our assets?” she asked, not looking at any of us. Charlie pointed to me and Gaius. “Specifically.”
Gaius said, “I can read minds. Tane has a rudimentary sense of the trait as well.” His contribution took me by surprise. I had yet to tell Gaius of my newfound ability. In fact, I was not sure why I hadn’t told him. Perhaps for the same reason I yet hid my wounds from him.
“Is that true Tane?” Dethany asked, briefly pausing in her worried stride. I looked to Gaius but nodded curtly at Dethany's inquiry. “Okay. What else?”
“We are very fast.”
“What about Kelsie?” Dethany asked.
“No,” Gaius and I both said.
“Isn’t she, like, extremely blessed in the gift department? She could be a huge asset to us,” Dethany continued to press. I shook my head.
“Her abilities are undeveloped,” Gaius informed her, “It would be unwise to press her to our advantage. I am under direct orders to have her gifts remain unused.”
I was not aware that Kelsie was capable of more than a Septar’s touch. I looked to Gaius, who avoided my gaze as if I were not even in the room. As if I were not holding his hand.
“She can create realities. New ones, like a delirious dream or a mirage. We do not know how well she can control her ability, though she has demonstrated her gift to me. It is jarring, to say the least.” His voice was almost mechanic, like he was calculating each word that fell from his lips. I dropped his hand.
How could he keep such a secret from me? Hurt stung in my chest, not to mention the prominent throb of my wounded arm. It tingled with pain and did not fade. I ran my fingers through my hair to push it away from my face and took a seat on Charlie’s bed.
I pulled the guitar onto my lap and idly found notes to soothe my mind. The plucking of the strings helped me focus on the goal and not the secrets. Gaius was my half-sense. He would not withhold anything from me if it had not been ordered of him. Surprised at the surge of sadness that had gripped me, I forced myself to calm down.
The four of us went on listing our strengths until Dethany held up her hand and instead demanded our obstacles.
“Obviously, Tess and the other employees,” Gaius mused. I nodded in fervent agreement. I wished to avoid conflict. “And we cannot lie.”
“The gates,” Charlie said. I glanced in his direction. “The gates are controlled by the security guards in the observation room. If they see us running amok all they have to do is push a button.”
I frowned at that news. I did not like it. Dethany looked down at her fingers and repeated 'running amok'. Then she stared at Charlie for what seemed like minutes before she snapped her fingers and snatched a piece of blank paper off of the bed. She pulled a pencil out from behind her ear and started scribbling fervently across the page.
“D,” Charlie prompted, standing and moving towards her, “you have it, don't you?” He was excited. I could tell by his unabashed grin. She ignored him. “Dethany.” She heaved a sigh in response and waved him off. Charlie turned to Gaius and me. “She's got it.”