Next History: The Girl Who Hacked Tomorrow (54 page)

Clay cuts into her thoughts. “How do yo
u know they will tell the truth?”

“About what?”

“The vote.”

A
polite knock at the door.

“You can win,” Clay says over his shoulder.
“If not, change the rules.”

O
n his porch stands Lylit, embodied as a garden fairy. She’s the second-loveliest woman he’s ever seen. Her graceful wings are transparent, edged in iridescent gold and fine purple streamers. Vines of tiny pale flowers wrap legs and hips.

“Good morning! I hope you slept well. As if sleeping is what you two were up to.”
Lylit’s laugh is musical.

She
folds her wings to enter the doorway. Bomber looks at her with head-cocked interest. She walks over and strokes the cat’s neck. On the sofa Tharcia’s sketchbook, open to her drawing of Clay. But now in the picture is Tharcia, a filmy gown like the goddesses on her wall, standing in front of Clay, her back to him. Her arms are extended so that they clasp hands, her face lifted to his.

“Nice
dream,” Lylit says.

Clay comes over. He hadn’t
seen. The two together on that page are beautiful, courageous, impossible.

“You do have hope
,” he whispers, half to himself.

Lylit
faces Tharcia. She’s taller, filmy wings brush the ceiling.

“We have a little time. Lian is nearly ready.”

“Let’s bounce and get it the fuck over with.”

“Tharcia, my sister. You have so much to look forward to. While we are waiting, you once asked Lian a question.”

“Which one?”

“You asked him why I have enemies.”

“Because you betray people like you betrayed me!” Tharcia’s eyes steely blue.

“
Yes Tharcia, I have. You are right. But I was vilified and pursued because of the lies about me. Angels fear me because I am awake. Angels can be unimaginative. Powerful, but not so original. I am like Lian, he is alert and creative. As are you.”

“Sure. So what?”

“There is a wisdom in being mortal. Lian and I lived it last night, it was revealing. We’re alike, Sister.”

“Could we just get on with it? I’m not ready for any chilling this morning.”

“Soon. But you need to know some things about Clay.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Clay.”
Her eyes flash a warning.

“Ah. Do you know what I was doing here? Why I met him as Lillian?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“You do, more than you think. Y
ou need to know why I was attracted to Clay. You both do. I saw right away I did not need to nurture him. His survival would not depend on me. Tell me you don’t see that, Tharcia.”

Looking from Lylit to Clay, Tharcia
gets it that she is right. Clay does not need her, except in the ways she needs him. He is fully grown, as soon she will be.

“
There is something else, Tharcia, something women will want to hear from you.”

“As if I get the chance, after today.”

Lylit laughs. “A little self-confidence would help. Tell them that Lylit accepts no less than their individuality, who they are at their core. I call out to those who are secure, who do not need to falsify themselves for acceptance.

“
Tharcia, for all your life, you sheltered me. I thought I was safe to come out, when Lian was finally here. But misguided angels still hunted me. The desire to live as human was too strong. I’d been silent within you so many years. I wanted to taste life, human life. As Lillian, I found Clay because of you.”

Tharcia takes two quick steps and slaps Lylit hard across the face. Lylit’s mouth open
s in surprise.

“That is another way you betrayed me! First by selling me out to Lian so you could be with him. Then you bagged the only
man I have ever loved.”

“Oh! So that’s what it feels like.” Lylit
’s hand to a crimson-printed cheek. “Jealousy. I hear it works wonders, sometimes.”

Clay looks from one to the other. “Jealousy, Tharcia? Love?”

“It’s too late.” Lower lip out, she’s not looking at him.

“
What’s too late?”

“I’m going to leave and never come back.” Her sorrowful reply.

“Tharcia, dear Sister. Please have faith. It is not what you think.”

“Yah, right,
” Tharcia says hotly, “it’s not what it looks like. You weren’t really fucking him.”

Lylit stands before her, takes both her hands. “
Tharcia, you are the small pebble that first pulled away from the dam, to start it crumbling. The forces were in place. But you started it.”

“What if was
some other idiot pebble?”

“Oh it would have happened, just not quite so soon.”

Tharcia is marginally interested. “So, later. By how much?”

Lylit considers, her dark eyes take on a mischievous cast. “I’d say about twenty-four minutes.”

“Holy shit,” Tharcia says angrily, “for that I put my ass in the wringer? We’d be doing the same thing?”

Clay laughs
, can’t help it. It’s all too much. Tharcia gets the grand absurdity, shakes her head. “Thanks loads, bitch-sistah.”

“I owe
our mother a big debt too. I have paid it.”

“
With what?” Tharcia sneers.

“When we see Lian, he will tell you.”

Tharcia’s heart sinks at the thought of that final throwdown. “Are we ready to bounce? This waiting is too hardcore.”

Rather less abrupt than Tharcia’s previous arrivals,
she and Lylit descend toward the Pentagon in a long glide. This time, she holds hands with the most sublimely lovely human form she has ever seen. White hair, long like her own, blows out behind, Lylit’s gossamer wings above them. Doesn’t matter. Tharcia is still angry.

“You need to know
about your father,” Lylit says into Tharcia’s silence.

“It’s Clay. Not that Porterfield idiot.”

Lylit shakes her head. “No. Tharcia, do you remember where you and I first saw each other?”

“
That dream. The secret sister one.”

“That was no dream. Do you recall who you met there?”

“Your friend. Some different name.”

“His name is
Raziel. He loves you. Your life had already begun, with your mom. Raziel then slept with your mother, and I hid within the second embryo.”

Tharcia can only stare. It is too much. The vision that
drove her to her knees. Two cell-islands adrift in darkness, impossibly small, calling out for one another.

“Our m
om made love with an angel,” Lylit smiles at her. “She must have been a little okay for that to happen.”

From a great distance they see Lian,
an unreal form jutting from the horizon near the Potomac river. Around them on their descent, pillars of smoke rise up as far as eyes can see, the horizon is a gray smudge. The massive beast sees them twenty miles out, the wings lift, reach out from his shoulders to span two thousand feet. As they get closer, Tharcia sees that something else is unfurled as well. She curses.

“He could have avoided showing me that!”

Lylit laughs. “Get over yourself, Sis! He’s just reminiscing about our first night together.”

Tharcia turns red in the face
. She too has things to remember, with Clay. As they glide down, Lian shrinks to normal size, pulls himself back into human form, neatly clothed. The Pentagon courtyard looks as though battle tanks drove through it, trees and benches scraped back to the inner walls, deep-scarred impressions from Lian’s huge clawed feet. Lylit and Lian hold tight. Tharcia hears Lylit’s whisper, “It’s almost over.”

Tharcia’s mood shifts
. Beyond the outcome of the vote, whatever fate awaits her, she gets it she will miss them. Walks to where they stand, wraps herself close.

“I don’t want you to go. Either of you.” Her eyes brim.

“Sorry, Tharcia. The longer I stay the worse the damage. It’s the leakage.”

“Figure it out! Please stay. You
are my best teachers yet.”

“Wise child
,” Lylit laughs. “I am glad you said
yet
.”

“Okay then, can we get it over with? Just give me the bad news.”

Lian and Lylit stand close, radiant in joy to be together.

“Alright
,” Lian says. “I first have something to tell you. You need to remember that my ultimate intention is peace and unity among mortals. I wanted to create a superior reality. I thought that the Creator’s original reality was imperfect and therefore sought to change it. That is my shame. I have changed my mind about some…”

“Dear Lian,” Lylit cuts in. “
May I? Tharcia, I was responsible for counting the votes. My demons. It was closer than I can tell you. But too many people are afraid and…”

“Hold it,” Tharcia says.
Clay’s words repeat in her head.
Change the rules.
“Was my vote counted? Was Clay’s?”

“Of course,” Lian says
, searching Lylit’s face. “Vardøger was responsible.”

“We didn’t go to sleep.
Besides, Vardøger wasn’t there.”

Lylit gives Tharc
ia a conspiratorial look. “She sent him away, Lian. She didn’t want the little jerk leering at her while she was with Clay. I can certainly understand that.”

“Well then…”

Tharcia squares off on Lian. “I just gave you two examples of votes that were not counted. How many others were missed? Lian, how can you prove to me that Lylit’s count is accurate?”

“Tharcia, you know that Spirit beings
are…” Lylit begins.

“
Save it. Both parties have to be equally informed about the process and results for the outcome to be binding. Our bargain is null and void.”

“What!” Lian’s face goes red. For a moment there is a flickering image of the scaly lizard-thing
but he controls it, keeps himself in human form. Puff of steam from both nostrils.

“She’s right
Lian,” Lylit says. “You and I know how it was decided, but we can’t demonstrate it to her.”

“
There’s something else we have to settle. Clay and I were talking...”

“
You had time for talking?” Lylit laughs.

Tharcia ignores her.
“Lylit, you told me that the Sumerian priests made up harsh stories to discredit you. And all women. It’s all based on lies.”

Lylit
nods agreement. “Lian and I discussed this.”

“Lylit
, you told me that women were once honored for our ability to create life. What the hell happened? Religions talk about God the Father. Isn’t that a psych that males are superior? This is what you should absolutely fix.”

“It was part of your bargain,” Lian says, “but
it is nullified.”

“Why, because you and
she can’t show me proof about the vote? Lylit’s spell and this bargain were totally set up to get you two back together. I got sucked into it by chance, because of your boy Raziel. If you want to give as good as you got, give me what I asked then go play your games somewhere else. You can’t be the only beneficiaries after all this calamity.”

“What do you want?”

“Things I said before. For women and men to see themselves as equals. Make our egos work right so there isn’t so much aggression. Make it so everyone can experience the Creator directly. Make the dream state focus on gratitude. Teach that killing is not okay for any reason.”

“
Absolutely not. That is everything you asked for, without a contest.”

“That is
so not right! I am not the one who controlled the voting. And look what happened out there, thanks to you both. So much destruction, so many deaths, all that fear. All because you, Lian, think you are such a teacher. You are the energy source of the patriarchy.”

Lylit
, standing close, flattens a breast against his bicep. “Lian, she has a good point.”

“In fact Lian I think the patriarchy revolves around your ego. As much as I like you, we’d be better off if you just left.”

“How can you say you like him, if you want him to leave?”

“It’s complicated.”

“This problem is insoluble,” Lian says.

Tharcia shakes her head.
“In a male view it is. Me and Lylit are trying to bring everyone’s needs into it.” Her voice is strong, the most hopeful in days.

“She’s right, Lian. It’s how
we girls roll.”

Tharcia
shoots her a puzzled look. “Since when do you speak street?”

“I have a very excellent teacher.”

“The bargain we made, Tharcia, is nullified” Lian says. “But all is not in vain. You have achieved something finer.”