Soul(s) (24 page)

31: SARIAH

Ajani and I worked easily together. He was
surprisingly good at cooking and took to it quickly. Him and Luke
struck up an easy rapport, which was surprising. Ajani had always
seemed so introverted.

I was a clumsy waitress. Luckily all I had
to do was shadow another waitress. I eventually snuck to the
kitchen to do the dishes. It was easy and repetitive. Plus I didn’t
really feel like talking to anyone. It was as if Ajani and I had
swapped personalities.

I was waiting for the machine to finishing
washing the last load I’d put in when I heard Ajani behind me.

“
Can we talk for a moment,
Sariah?”

I sighed. Knowing what he wanted to talk
about.

“
Just hear me out,” he
said in response to my exhale.

“
Fine,” I said turning
around. I crossed my arms defensively over my chest. I wasn’t mad
at him, but this whole ‘we’re meant to be together’ game had to
stop. I refused to play anymore. My choice had been the same from
the beginning and I refused to tolerate him trying to make me
stray.

“
I’m not going to pursue
you anymore. I shouldn’t have from the start. I’m just envious, I
realize that now. I’d never mean as much to you as Keegan does—and
I’d—I’d rather be your friend than nothing at all.
Alright?”

I was stunned, but before I could response
the back door in the kitchen that led in from the alley way sprang
up and pounded loudly against the wall.

“
What the hell?” Luke said
from the front of the kitchen.

“
Sariah!” Keegan said
rushing to me. “We’ve got to go. Eliza’s father is here early.
He’ll be here any minute! We need to go back the apartment and wait
for Eliza. She’s got a plan to get us back to
Second-Plane.”

“
What?” All three of
us—Luke, Ajani, and myself—said in bewildered unison.

There’s no time to explain. I had to go all
the way around the park so they wouldn’t see me. I’m just glad I
made it here before they did.”

As if on cue the front door to the diner
dinged and tall middle-aged man walked through. Keegan’s voice must
have caught his attention because his eyes sprang immediately to
through the cooking window back to me. Our eyes met and he gave me
this look of recognition that frightened me. How could he know me?
His face whitened a little as he continued to stare at me as if I
were a ghost. I pried into his mind, breaking my own rule, and what
I found shocked me. He remembered me from when I was alive on
First-Plane.

“
Dad,” Luke greeted
nervously. “We need to talk.”

The man ushered for the others with him to
sit down and he made his way directly to where we were. Luke began
to talk, trying to introduce us but his father raised a hand
silencing him.

“
I know what they are, and
frankly this was bound to happen eventually. Under any other
circumstances,” Eliza’s father stated, “I would have killed you
today. The Aura might know about the portals but they’ll never be
able to control them and you’re outnumbered here in First-Plane.
But, lucky for you, the Banguri and the Aura are going to need to
become fast friends or we’ll all be extinct.”

“
What are you talking
about?” I asked urgently. “What’s happening in
Second-Plane?”

“
It’s being attacked by
other beings that we’ve never seen before.”

“
Another Aura race?” Ajani
asked.

“
Possibly; at first we
thought they were coming for us, but they’ve pillaged at least ten
outer cities already. Lucky for us the time shift between
dimensions is to our advantage here in First-Plane.”

“
Time shift?” I
asked.

“
Every day here is only
one hour in Second-Plane.”

“
Then barely anytime at
all has passed since I left,” I calculated.

“
What are you planning?”
Keegan asked.

“
We can’t move that many
Banguri that fast. We’ll have to get however many we can and hope
they never discover the Portal-Maker. At least that was my plan
before I knew we had three Aura’s living amongst us.”

“
What do you want?” Keegan
snarled defensively stepping forward. “If they’re attacking Aura as
well, then using as a tool won’t aid you.”

“
Easy,” said Eliza’s
father, “we’re not a naturally vicious race. What I see in the
three of you is opportunity for a renewal of the peace between Aura
and Banguri. If the Aura will house as many Banguri as we can
reasonably fit in the mountains north of the Light City, we will
fight by your side. Together we might have a chance.”

“
What will happen after
the war?” I asked quietly. “Things will need to change.”

“
Yes, but hopefully having
fought a common enemy will create a path for the evolution of our
people’s relationship. For now, I’d be content with knowing less of
my people are dying.”

“
If what you’re saying is
true,” Keegan added, “we’ll need to leave. Can you control where
the portals open?”

“
Yes, Ursula will open one
in about an hours’ time in the alley hind us. She’ll get as near
the city as she can and then you’ll have to do the
rest.”

“
How will we get back in
touch with you?” I asked.

“
You’re telepathic aren’t
you? Find Ursula and she’ll contact me.”

“
What’s your name?” Keegan
asked.

“
Erick,” he answered
offering his hand. Keegan hesitated before taking it but he did and
our pact was made.

“
I’d like to come back,”
Ajani said directly to Erick. “There are some Low and Middle
Bangrui we saw go through the portal and they’ll need to be rounded
up if you want to continue to co-exisit with humans on First-Plane.
When we’ve taken the care of our current problem, I’d like to help
in any way I can.”

“
There’s only supposed to
be High-Banguri going through the portals. We’ll need to
investigate how this is happening and if you survive our current
situation I’ll take you up on your offer to help.”

I was shocked. We’d just met Erick and Ajani
had told him about what we’d seen at the portal. I was even more
surprised that Erick didn’t know, he didn’t seem to be lying
either. Why would Ajani want to come back? Maybe he was telling the
truth and did want to move on. Perhaps distance from me would be
the only way to do that as well.

“
Now, go change back into
your suits. We don’t have much time.”

32: KEEGAN

We headed back to our room and quickly
changed. We were always given a glimmer of normality and then we
were rushed right back into the turmoil. At least we were stronger
than humans, at least the powers we had gave us a chance. But even
so, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.

Keegan,
Sariah’s voice called to me. I turned to her,
surprised we weren’t speaking out loud since we were
alone.

I don’t remember him but, Erick was somehow
there the night I died.

“
You’ve got to be joking,”
I said as I desperately tried to reel in the emotions welling in
side of me. I sat down beside Sariah on the edge of the bed,
waiting for her to continue.

I looked into his mind. I know I said I
wouldn’t do that, but the way he looked at me when he came into the
back kitchen—it just happened. I saw the recognition in his eyes
and I had to know. He saw it all. It was right here in front of the
lobby entrance.

“
Do you remember him
trying to help you?”

“
No,” Sariah said sadly.
“He feels guilty about that.”

“
Why wouldn’t he have
helped?” I raged.

“
Maybe it would have
mucked things up? No one is supposed to know they’re even here,”
Sariah reasoned.

Are you okay?
I asked. Knowing she probably wasn’t, but at this
point, what else was there to say.

I don’t know.
I saw it all, but it was odd watching yourself
diet through someone else.

Do you want to confront him about it? Why he
didn’t save you?

No. I thought I would, but I don’t. It seems
so insignificant now.

I wrapped my arm around her pulling her
close to me and she sighed as she turned into my body.

“
It’s just so disturbing
to be able to see and do what I can,” she whispered.

“
I’ll always help you
anyway I can,” I promised.

“
I’m going to have to kill
when we get back to Second-Plane,” she told me.

“
We’ll all have to fight,
but you don’t have to kill people. Just—incapacitate
them.”

“
I don’t want to be naïve,
Keegan.”

“
You could always do
something else besides fight.” I stroked my hand down her back
soothingly. “There will be plenty to do if we can convince the Aura
to join forces with the Banguri.”

“
No,” Sariah said suddenly
sitting up. “I have to be stronger and I don’t want special
treatment. I’ll fight, and we have to stay together we’re both
stronger that way and I can’t let anything happen to you. It’s just
that when I kill, I feel it all.”

“
The pain?” I
asked.

“
No, their
emotion.”

“
We’ll figure it out,
Wats. We always do,” I reminded her. I dipped my head down brushing
a light kiss on her lips.

We can talk more as we
move, okay? But we’ve got to head out now.
I thought to her.

We met Ajani in the lobby, all of us suited
up again with our dekus ready to take on whatever we found once we
were back in Second-Plane. We walked as a group out the back exit
of the complex and made headed towards the ally way behind the
diner. I realized as we walked through it, that it was the same
alleyway where Eliza had found me. She wasn’t with us but frankly,
I was okay with that.

The back door of the diner swung open
sharply and Erick stepped out.

“
She’s almost there,” he
told us “it’ll just be a few more minutes.”

“
How are you communicating
with her?”

Did Eliza tell you
how
we create the
portals?”

I shook my head no even as I remembered how
she had made that small portal in the water. But, clearly that was
an anomaly. I didn’t think that was how it was normally done. My
body stiffened as my senses heightened, I wasn’t sure where he was
going with this but I was ready.

“
Relax,” Erick said evenly
watching me closely. “Banguri bond very closely to their mates just
like the Aura do. We don’t have powers like you do but we have an
intense connection. Our people were dying and there was nothing we
could do about it and then suddenly there was. Ursula and I became
the portals. We don’t know how, but we were together one night and
then we woke up apart but we could still communicate. We realized
we weren’t on the same plane anymore, and like you we have enough
of an impression of First-Plane to recognize it. The rest, well, we
just knew. We can each create portals. We work together to find
good areas for her to send people too. But we can never go to the
opposite plane. She can’t come here, and I can’t go home. I tried
once and, I’d walk through only to appear right where I was before
I’d gone through the portal.”

“
You’ve sacrificed your
own lives to ensure your race lives on,” Sariah
exclaimed.

“
Willingly; it’s worth it.
Ursula and I cannot be together physically, but we can save many of
our people that would have died otherwise. I think it is worth the
price.”

“
Why have you sent low and
middle-banguri here? You must know they’ll hunt humans.” Sariah
said.

“
That isn’t us. Ursula and
I only move through High-Banguri anything else is too
risky.”

“
There must be others like
you, how else would the low and middle Banguri be getting to
First-Plane?” I asked.

“
Same conclusion we came
up with. But we don’t know who. Ah, it’s time-stand
back”

How did I fall through a
portal then without them knowing?
I
thought.
Eliza can make small ones on her
own—she showed me today.

I don’t think it’s
her,
Sariah said assuredly,
that doesn’t make sense.

We need to know who
eventually. Maybe Eliza’s mother did it?
I
theorized.

For now, it’s enough that we know it’s
possible.

For now—yes—but there is something they’re
not telling us.

He knelt down on the ground. His body turned
sliver like mercury. His eyes, his hair, his skin, everything
turned and then he melted into the ground spreading out until he
was the size of a six foot ratios.

“
What do we do?” Ajani
asked. “Just walk right through you.”

“
Yes, I’ll know when
you’ve passed and I won’t close the portal until then.

I looked at Keegan, “Do we trust him?”

“
We don’t have a choice,”
he said wearily.

He took my hand and we stepped through.