"Whispered on the Stars" by Launa Sorensen

[Launa]

Introduction: So I have been thinking about posting this and a few other stories a lot lately. As life has taken me further from the forum than I would like, I have missed contributing to this world. And, though life can fill my time, it can not take my mind off MG3K and I write short stories quite often (I try for every night) to express these thoughts. Finally I cracked and decided to post this.

Discussing Homidus religion and hearing of Guine's character Hydra made me think of my love, pre-unification Hom, and I can not think of pre-unification Hom without returning to Chariklo e'Irivale and his mothers, Eliena e'Irivale and Lynor e'Irivale.

So this piece is simple and not the best writing in MG3K by far as I doubt anyone will find it particularly new or inspiring, but I enjoyed writing it and I want to share something about the characters I love with the community. It is a fanfiction piece for my character, Chariklo e'Irivale and a tribute to EJ's world-hopping characters from "Reihom h'Hom." It takes place after the short story in EJ's book "The Beas."

Thank you for allowing me to explore in this universe.

~*~

Chariklo stared up at the sky. The clouds were heavy with rain that would not fall, but it did not matter. He could feel the stars above them, singing in the heavens. So many creatures, humans and homidus alike, seemed to forget the stars when they were hidden. Not that they existed, but how they sparkled. The patterns they made. The way they moved. But Chariklo did not need to see to feel.

He walked a few paces and glanced down. The circus glowed like a gem far below, sandwiched in a small town nestled within the hills. He was supposed to be performing. He did not feel any guilt as he turned his back and walked away, returning to the darkness of the night.

The grass grew tall, rising just above the knees of his human morph. He had journeyed farther than the humans traveled. He sat and leaned back until the grass rose up over his head. Grass and stars. That was his world. He did not have to close his eyes to travel into the flow of nonlinear time. The images and emotions were not even in his mind. They were spun through time and whispered on the wind.

Eliena ran her fingers over the crystalline surface of the cavern wall. The stone, like glass, was smooth and rigid at the same time. She had never felt anything quite like it. She memorized the surface with her fingers, a soft smile on her True Form face.

Her body was still weak from jumping to another world too soon. Too weak even to morph. The memories of the Beas still haunted the corners of her mind, but she was finally returning to her former strength.

She knew Lynor was there even before she heard her footsteps. She had landed gently above the cavern mouth, still in the winged morph of the native inhabitants of this new world. Eliena let out a soft sigh as she felt her réian shift back into True Form and climb down the mountain side.

Eliena ran her fingers over the skin of her arm. White. Pure white. She was deviod of glyphs or markings. On Hom she had been ugly. Only Lynor made her feel beautiful. She thought of Lynor's skin, deep green and blue, ocean and earth. She was life. She was beautiful.

Eliena shuddered. It had been so long for them. Lynor had been going through the native rites of passage, the ceremonies that would ensure them both a place in the local tribe. It had been ten dawns. Ten dusks. There was only one sun, but the rotation of this planet was far slower than the one before. In the last month Lynor had only spent a handful of days at Eliena’s side.

Lynor stepped quietly into the mouth of the cavern and set a small, crimson sphere in a crystalline bowl near the door. A new story sphere. Lynor brought them every time. They told legends, myths and memories of the people who inhabited the planet. Treasures and gifts to keep her comfortable while they were apart. But Lynor knew that Eliena did not crave stories. She did not desire gifts. With every dawn, all she wanted, all she needed, was her Love. To have Lynor close enough to hear, sense, share with, speak to, exist with. To open her heart to. Her other half. Her fellow soul, traveling the endless universe. All she needed was Lynor.

Eliena did not turn as she felt Lynor’s eyes on her. They stood apart, but Lynor could see the way Eliena’s skin loosened and shifted, beckoning her lifemate without a sound.

:::How are you feeling?::: Lynor questioned.

Eliena smiled. :::You know how to find out.:::

Eliena could see without turning the glowing blush around Lynor’s face, how it traveled down her body. Lynor was often shy after returning from a long time away. Eliena wondered if she was as shy as she pretended or if she just knew how Eliena loved her blush. Eliena never asked. She never would. It was a mystery she treasured.

:::I am much stronger, Lynor. Thycian iru.:::

Lynor made a small sound of relief. :::I hate being away from you.:::

:::I hate you being away.:::

Lynor's voice in her mind was soft and tentative. :::Do you think of me, when I am away?:::

Eliena smiled again and rested her head against the stony surface. :::Rigim h'emyn e'iru?:::

:::Sometimes, when people are far away, it is easy to forget. To question. To assume feelings have changed.:::

Eliena ran her thumb over one of the ridges along the wall, letting her finger catch each rise and fissure. She hid her amusement from Lynor. :::Obcere ut. Sometimes too much thought when one is alone can be dangerous.:::

:::And what do you think when you are alone?:::

Eliena could not suppress her soft chuckle. :::I do not think when I am alone. I do not seek danger.:::

Lynor sighed once and Eliena shuddered as she stepped up behind her and ran her fingers over her shoulder.

:::You are teasing me.::: Lynor stated, the message more emotion and memory than words.

:::You were tricking me for a poem.:::

Lynor chuckled. :::I was inspiring.:::

Eliena silently reached up and gently slid Lynor’s hand away. Her hand shook as Lynor pulled back until they were no longer touching.

:::I do not need your touch to feel you near. I do not need your smile to remember my heart. I do not need your scent to feel you within my skin. I love you and no force in the universe can change my heart. Love is not ours. It is not a power we can wield. It is a living force, instilled in our beings, woven into every molecule, every spiraling arc in the nonlinear flow of time. It has existed and will exist forever. I will always know exactly how I feel for you. I will always carry you with me.::: Eliena turned around and finally faced Lynor, sliding her eyes over every memorized curve and angle, letting the scent of her drift between her lips and over her tongue. She reached out and took Lynor’s hand and kissed her fingertips. :::But yes, my life, I think of you. Because I do not need you near to know my own heart, but when you are not with me, when the half of my soul you carry is far away, I am truly and absolutely incomplete.:::

Lynor’s eyes sparked and she sighed softly.

:::Iru miha kalos spondere.:::

Eliena pulled Lynor closer and sank her fingertips into her sides. Lynor moaned. Eliena kissed her. :::You are inspiring.:::

Chariklo drifted back to his own time. He laid in the grass and rested his head on his hands. He clung to their memory, absorbing it into himself. The stars were holy tonight. He imagined that the memory was whispered to him from his mothers, hidden somewhere on the planet, but still beneath the same night sky. Their love, traveling through the universe to connect them, no matter how far.

He crossed his ankles and let his human morph dissipate until he rested under those stars in his True Form.

“Good night,” he whispered aloud and in his mind, letting the message drift to the heavens. Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

[Admin]

:::I do not need your touch to feel you near. I do not need your smile to remember my heart. I do not need your scent to feel you within my skin. I love you and no force in the universe can change my heart. Love is not ours. It is not a power we can wield. It is a living force, instilled in our beings, woven into every molecule, every spiraling arc in the nonlinear flow of time. It has existed and will exist forever. I will always know exactly how I feel for you. I will always carry you with me.::: Eliena turned around and finally faced Lynor, sliding her eyes over every memorized curve and angle, letting the scent of her drift between her lips and over her tongue. She reached out and took Lynor’s hand and kissed her fingertips. :::But yes, my life, I think of you. Because I do not need you near to know my own heart, but when you are not with me, when the half of my soul you carry is far away, I am truly and absolutely incomplete.:::

Very beautiful, and very moving. Thank you for sharing this with us, Launa. After reading your piece in Immortal Waking, it's incredible to see more into the life of Chariklo, and of course, his mothers Lynor and Eliena.

[Launa]

Thank you very much, Brianne. Your comment means very much to me. I think I have never read of a more romantic couple than Eliena and Lynor in "Riehom h'Hom." Their love is without drama or tragedy or all the other things I usually rely on in stories to make romances interesting I love to write about them. They warm my heart. And, of course, I love to write about Chariklo as well.

Again, thank you very much.

[Admin]

Are you going to write more about them? Here, on the forum, I mean?

Brianne

[Launa]

Yes, I will I have some ideas surrounding Chariklo's compeer that I want to explore. I find Celestials hiding in a circus eerie-cool. I didn't originally plan to make this story any longer, however, so I am just working out where I want to go with it.

Thank you for your encouragement.

[Admin]

No prob

[Launa]

And... let's go a bit darker

~*~

She ran her hands over the crystal ball. It was firm and cool beneath her fingers. Lead crystal from Germany, perfectly clear. She lifted it into her palms. It was heavy and smooth. As she touched it colors swirled from her fingertips like dye in water. Lights wove between the colors, spinning like ribbons. The women gazed in wonder. She smiled.

“You work with small children, yes?” she questioned. The woman before her smiled and nodded. Her friends giggled. “The spirits whisper of an organized setting… a daycare… no, preschool.”

“How did you know?” the woman asked.

She ran one hand over her brow, touching the red silk scarf tied around her head, holding back full, dark hair threaded with beads and feathers. The costume was over the top, but the patrons did love their dramatics. “I did not know. It was whispered by the spirits. And they say that you are in for a very pleasant surprise tied to your career, though be warned that someone in authority will try to delay your progress.”

“Oh, I told you Principal Shimerman had it out for you,” a friend whispered.

“Please, do me next!” one of the friends called. Her blonde ponytail bobbed as she sat across the table.

She placed the crystal ball gently back on its stand. She reached out her hands and the woman held out her right palm. She ran her fingers over the lines of the woman’s hand. Lifeline. Head line. Heart line. She felt the woman’s life in her palm. Every splintered fold and crease in her skin told a story.

“You want to know about your love life,” she chuckled. The woman blushed and shrugged. “You have a dark-haired man in your life that you care for very much. But he does not know it yet?”

The woman’s blush deepened and her friends gasped. “Maybe,” she muttered and squirmed on her cushion.

She smiled and folded the woman’s hand closed. “He may know more than you think,” she assured her. The woman smiled, her eyes misty and her friends cheered.

From the other side of the tent a bell rang. Their time was over.

“Thank you!” the women proclaimed and they shuffled out of the tent, laughing.

She sighed as she watched them go and the gazed at her crystal. The colors grew more vibrant. They danced around each other. She smiled and traced the shapes with her fingers. They flared beneath her touch.

“I wonder what your human patrons would do if they knew your crystal was a menagerie of spectral warrior birds from another dimension.”

She glanced up. Chariklo leaned against the entryway support of her tent. Her smile disappeared.

“You did not perform tonight, Chariklo.”

“I did not,” he agreed.

“If you miss performances, the owners will make us all leave. This is a successful circus. Widely traveled. We need these jobs.”

He didn’t answer. He stared out the doorway at the stars. She folded her arms over her chest, a gesture of frustration learned from decades of living with humans. She respected Chariklo’s introversion. She didn’t need to know his mind. A small part of her even found it endearing in a childish sort of way. But regardless of his own agenda, it was necessary that he respected her authority.

She shifted. Her human face disappeared, replaced by a living mask of deep purples and greens. Her gypsy silks sparkled and rippled, as much a part of her body as her face or hands. Her eyes glowed.

:::Chariklo,::: she called telepathically, the word filled with her natural Lead ability and the strength of her learned Presence. He looked at her. :::Do not do it again.:::

He watched her for a moment and glanced back up at the stars. “Of course not, Mamitu.”

The sound of children laughing grew louder. Chariklo looked over his shoulder. Mamitu shifted back into her human morph. Eshu passed by, walking on his hands. His curly, light brown hair nearly brushed the ground. The marks on his mask shifted with amusement as a cluster of human children followed him. They wore balloon hats and carried balloon swords and dogs. Eshu always had a following.

Mamitu walked to the doorway of her tent, holding her shawl tight around her arms. “I thought you were working at the petting zoo, Eshu,” she called.

Eshu flipped forward onto his feet. He turned to his compeer. His hands moved with his telepathic words. :::I am. But there are Terrapyres here tonight. Raws. Here for the thrill. The funhouse is next to the petting zoo.:::

Mamitu felt Chariklo stiffen. Sensed Eshu’s discomfort.

She nodded. “Entertain the children, Eshu. Leave Nue alone.”

:::I always do.:::

Eshu continued on. Chariklo glanced at her.

Mamitu turned away from Chariklo and ran her hand over the crystal ball. Her pets vanished. “Do you have anything more to say, Chariklo?”

She didn’t hear him leave, but she knew he was already gone.

~*~

Chariklo strolled toward his tent. He glanced at the humans but cast an aura of disinterest so they wouldn’t stare back. Most didn’t even look at him. He didn’t need to be noticed.

“Come on, Katie.”

“Does the word coulrophobia mean anything to you, Jacob?”

“Huh?”

“Fear of clowns, man.”

Chariklo paused and turned. The Terrapyres Eshu had been talking about were standing before the funhouse. There were four of them with one human companion. They were extremely raw. Adolescents. One of the Terrapyres, Jacob, rocked back on his heels, his arm around his human girlfriend’s shoulders. Katie chewed her lip. Chariklo could feel that she had no idea who her boyfriend was.

“You’re afraid of clowns? For real?” Jacob questioned.

“They’re freaky! With their painted on faces… I mean, what’s under those smiles anyway?”

“Nothing,” a short, blonde boy joked. Katie looked at him curiously.

“Dude, bad luck,” another Terrapyre chuckled.

“Leave her alone. She doesn’t have to go in if she doesn’t want to,” the only female Terrapyre grumbled. “I’ll wait with you, Katie.”

Katie glanced over her shoulder. “Thanks, Shane.”

Shane shrugged, her hands in her pockets. The beads strung into the dozens of braids in her hair clinked. “No problem. Spiders wig me out anyway.” She nodded toward the tarantula painted on the sign.

“Aw, I bet they’re just plastic,” the blond Terrapyre announced.

One of her Terrapyre friends crept up behind Shane and ran his fingertips over her shoulder. She shouted in surprise, flipped around and punched him. He fell back with a groan. Her friends laughed.

“Do it again I’ll break your fingers,” she growled. Her arms were covered with goosebumps. She suppressed a shudder.

“Come on, guys. They’re no fun tonight.” The blond Terrapyre walked toward the funhouse. His friend pulled himself off the ground, still holding his stomach. Jacob kissed his girlfriend and pulled away.

“I wouldn’t go in there,” Chariklo called. They all turned to look at him and fell silent. The blond chuckled nervously.

“Yeah, House of Horrors, right? We’ll survive,” Jacob called back. He didn’t sense anything. He strolled inside. His friend followed. The blond held Chariklo’s gaze a moment longer. His smile had faded. His pupils dilated for a moment in fear. He followed his friends.

Shane didn’t take her eyes off him. She put her arm around Katie’s shoulders tightly.

Katie glanced over her shoulder at him. “He works here, right? Like, he’s supposed to say things like that?” she whispered.

“Uh huh,” Shane muttered. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced back at the funhouse.

Chariklo sighed lightly and turned away. He had warned them.

[EJ]

Every time I read more about Chariklo....

Thank you for posting, Launa. This is excellent.

[Launa]

Katie shifted uncomfortably. Shane picked at the grass next to her sneaker and stared at the entrance to the funhouse.

“They’ve been in there a long time,” Katie muttered.

Shane clenched her jaw. It had been too long. She pulled herself to her feet.

“I’m going to get them. I swear, if they jump out at me…”

“Can I come too?” Katie questioned. “I don’t want to stay out here alone.”

Shane glanced back to where the albino circus performer had been. She reached down for her friend.

“Yeah, sure.”

Katie followed close behind as they entered. Shane ran her fingers over the Christian fish charm on her bracelet.

The lights dimmed and wicked laughter and thunder boomed over a raspy speaker. Fake skeletons and zombies loomed around dirty corners. The hallways were narrow and zigzagged around each other. Katie clenched Shane’s hand and huddled close to her shoulder. Shane grumbled uneasily. It was so cheap… but every time she turned a corner she tensed, waiting for one of her friends to jump out at her.

They rounded another corner. A pile of fake corpses rested beside a sign that pointed to a maze of mirrors. Shane wrinkled her nose. The bodies smelled.

The lights began to dim. Slowly they went out behind them. Katie whimpered.

“Jacob? Jacob if that’s you it’s not funny!” she shouted.

“Come on. I got you.” Shane pulled Katie closer and continued on toward the mirrors.

“Shane?” Katie muttered.

They turned the corner. A narrow corridor lined with mirrors stretched ahead of them less than a yard before turning. Shane glanced around. Distorted reflections of herself stared back at her.

The lights went out completely behind them.

“I feel something,” Shane muttered without thinking. A cold in the pit of her stomach. More than fear. More than intuition. Something bad was coming.

Black mist pooled out of the mirrors. Katie jumped and huddled closer. Shane walked forward, curling her free hand into a fist. They had to reach the exit.

They turned another corner and the pathway forked. She turned to the right. It was just a little funhouse. It couldn’t be that hard and she was sure every path eventually doubled around. The mirrors shimmered.

Katie screamed.

Shane whipped around and took a step back in shock. Staring out of one of the mirrors was a Celestial.

She had never seen one before, but she knew what it was. It wore long, black robes and a gold and white mask with a long, jagged scar across its cheek. Its eyes burned like fire. The cackle of an evil clown sounded over the speakers. Katie was shaking as Shane dragged her away, running through the maze. They turned another corner and nearly ran into the Celestial a second time. It reached out one hand and grabbed Katie by the hair, pulling her into the mirror. Shane held onto her hand but she wasn’t ready for the strength of the Celestial. Her shoulder nearly popped out of its socket as Katie was ripped away from her.

The Celestial disappeared. The lights went out completely. The floor fell out from beneath her. She could hear Jacob shouting far away. She reached out in front of her but felt nothing but dirt. Then she felt something furry and brittle. She pulled her hand away. She felt something crawling up her leg. Something heavy dropped onto her shoulder.

Shane shrieked and brushed them off, but she was surrounded. Dozens of them. She felt a sharp pain on her ankle. She was shaking. She couldn’t breathe. She curled into a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks. And she screamed.

[Jennifer]

It's the story we needed for Halloween! Love it. Keep up the great work, Launa.

[Launa]

Alright, friends, here's the end of it I've decided to keep the name "Whispered on the Stars for the beginning section with Chariklo and his mothers. This story, beginning with the scene in the gypsy tent, is called "Funhouse."

Thank you all so much for reading and your support.

Chariklo stared at his small, white tent. The air was stiff. He couldn’t relax. He couldn’t even fall back in time.

He didn’t enter his space. It was there that he meditated and drifted in and out of nonlinear time, in search of clues about his family. With his mind so muddled, he didn’t dare enter such a holy place.

He could hear their screams on the wind. No one else could. No one else would. Nue was very thorough and careful. Bodies would be found much later far from the circus, if they were found at all. Mamitu wouldn’t humor his hobby if they could ever be traced back to him.

Just like a Gwandii, to be so obsessed with fear.

Still, the torment of the young Terrapyres, so near being literally scared to death, always disturbed the world. Chariklo imagined he could hear the rage of the angels in Heaven. Chariklo had no real war with the Terrapyres. He could care less about the Holy Grail. He harbored no love for them. He had been attacked more than once. But the deaths of creatures so young seemed frivolous. His mothers would never have stood for it.

Chariklo turned and walked back toward the funhouse. Nue had erected a telepathic barrier around the entrance to keep the humans from entering. They walked past almost without seeing the building. The vibrations of terror and pain were deafening. Humans were blind to reality. Chariklo stepped through the barrier without thought.

The hallways were dark, the electrical lights destroyed by Nue’s presence. But still he could hear the rasping sounds of the hidden speakers playing cheap carnival screams and lightning crashes. Chariklo’s nose wrinkled. He knew what was fake and what was real. Little trophies hidden among the props, draped in Nue’s illusions to keep them hidden or from being recognized. The scalp on the witch. The pieced-together hand on the skeleton. The eyes in the zombie. The blood-stained boots on the worktable. He paused for a moment before a pile of bodies. Not even Nue could hide the stench of real death hidden amongst the plastic.

The doorway into the hall of mirrors shimmered. The speaker sounds had faded. The screaming here was real. Chariklo took careful steps. His human heart pounded. He stopped and stared down at the dirt floor. The ground vibrated. He shifted back into his True Form and thrust his hand through the illusion of a dirt ceiling and the lid of a coffin, completely real to the young Terrapyre trapped inside, and pulled him out.

His face was wild, his fingers bloody from scratching at the coffin. His eyes were blank, looking without seeing. Chariklo morphed into his human form and crouched before the boy.

“I will come back for you. Run, if you can.”

Then he continued on. He felt a pang of guilt at leaving the Terrapyre. If Nue found him, he would die. But There were others in more immediate peril. Terrapyres could not die of fright. They could come to the brink of death, their hearts could pound and shudder more than any human heart, but it would not burst. Nue tormented them until he had heard enough of their screaming and then he killed them. Time was running short.

Nue turned another corner and nearly walked into another of the Terrapyres. He leaned back against the mirrors, gasping for breath. He glowed. A faint gold light surrounded him like a halo, the Terrapyre cross at his neck was nearly blinding. It was the boy, Jacob. He had prayed. He had power. It had burned away Nue’s illusions but not his fear.

He pulled a knife out of a sheath on his back and pointed it at Chariklo. His hands shook.

“Get away from me,” he hissed.

“I’m here to help you,” Chariklo stated calmly.

“You think I don’t recognize you!” he shrieked. “You think I don’t know what you are?”

“One of your companions is near the entrance to this maze of mirrors. He is paralyzed. He needs your help. If you linger here, he will die.”

“Alive? Still alive? Which one? Who…” Jacob muttered under his breath. His eyes shifted and Chariklo saw in them his torment. The terror of any true leader. His illusions had been of death. All his friends, his lairmates, slaughtered over and over again.

Chariklo took a step forward but Jacob’s muscles tightened and he thrust his knife out again with new intensity.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jacob’s eyes burned, flashing brown and gold for an instant. He ran past without another glance at Chariklo. Chariklo memorized his face.

There were three more. The ground grew softer beneath his feet until it was churned into mud. He looked down. A pit with a heavy grate over it. It was filled with water. Real water. The Terrapyre’s fingers were still curled around the grate, his face pressed tight against the small holes for air. But his blood mingled with the water. He was already dead. Murdered.

Chariklo’s jaw popped as he clenched it. The boys hands were small for his size. He was so much a child.

He reached down and lifted the grate off the hole and pulled the boy’s body out of the water before moving on.

He walked faster. He caught the faintest sound. Screaming. More screaming. He broke into a run and stopped before a deep pit. The girl Terrapyre, Shane, was crouched in the corner, weeping and screaming as hundreds of spiders crawled over her body. Many of them glowed. Created by Nue.

Chariklo returned to his True Form and immediately morphed into a new creature. He did not know the creature’s name. He had acquired it on a distant planet, pursuing a memory from his mother Eliena before remembering his home on Earth. The creature was tall and glistening red and green, his arms long and there were short spines on his feet for climbing.

He dropped into the pit and pulled the girl close. She struggled weakly in his grip but it didn’t take him long to climb back out. He turned back into his True Form and brushed the spiders away. They disintegrated with his will. Her arms and neck were covered with bite marks. She didn’t move, still curled into a ball, her face in her hands.

He ran his fingers gently over her hair, some of her braids loose from the fall. He remembered his mother, Lynor. He remembered watching his mother Eliena braid her love’s hair. He wondered who had braided this girl’s hair. She looked up at him, her eyes swollen from tears, her cheeks bleeding from bites and her nails. Chariklo pulled back slightly. He was not disguised by his human morph. He was exposed. No one was to see his True Form.

“Please don’t kill me.” The words were barely a whisper, falling from her lips without thought. Chariklo’s panic faded and tears came to his eyes. He shook his head and changed back into his human morph.

“Never, little one.”

He picked her up in his arms and he knew there was one more left, but this one he could not risk leaving to Nue. She would live. As she sank into his arms, no longer able to move, but still tentatively trusting him, he knew she would live.

They passed the body of the Terrapyre boy and she struggled to sit up. Her eyes grew wide and her heart sped again in her chest.

“Sam?” she called. Chariklo continued past and she fought to look over his shoulder at her friend, but she was too weak and he would not let he see. “Sam! Sam!”

Her shrieks echoed through the maze as she went limp in his arms, the last of her strength gone.

As he left the maze he paused. There. His lips curled back against his teeth. He rarely felt anything for the present. His love was fixed in the past. But he knew this emotion. Rage. Fury. Fixed on the Celestial before him.

:::You do not need a prayer to see::: Nue had cornered Jacob, holding a black hand-mirror before the boy’s face. The blond Terrapyre was unconscious at his Lead’s feet. Jacob was hypnotized, Nue’s illusions driving him mad.

“Sam?” Jacob whispered. He looked up at Nue, his face twisted in rage. “You’re lying!”

:::Am I? How can you be sure? Are you even sure you’re out of the pit, boy?:::

“God wouldn’t let me go mad.”

Nue only laughed. Jacob collapsed back against the wall, his eyes locked on the mirror, his hand going instinctively to his heart. “Katie.”

Chariklo sat the Terrapyre girl on the ground and walked toward Nue. With a burst of psychic energy that made his human mind burn, the mirror shattered in Nue’s hand. Chariklo felt blood drip from his nose but the pain was all human. Irrelevant.

Nue spun around. :::Chariklo?::: he hissed.

“God, please no… Katie,” Jacob muttered as he ran back into the maze.

“Enough, Nue,” Chariklo growled.

Nue stepped toward him, glowering down at Chariklo. He was taller, but Chariklo was far older. And he was not afraid.

:::This is not your affair.:::

“I said enough.”

:::You are not Mamitu.:::

“How long until your barrier dies away and the humans come sweeping in here?”

:::They have seen nothing.:::

“You killed her, didn’t you? The human girl?”

:::What does that matter?:::

“Humans are off-limits. Not even Mamitu will pardon you. Humans have human legalities. Her parents will not consider her death a random Celestial attack. They will not be too proud or consumed with personal vengeance to use the law. There will be investigations and trials. You have put our jobs in danger.”

:::Do not spout trivial rules at me, Chariklo. You know I have killed humans before. Do you feel that out there? Among the humans? Terrapyres. More of them. The dog you freed prayed for their help. You have put us in danger. Not me.:::

Chariklo took a step closer to Nue and looked up at him, his face blank, his chin cocked in a silent challenge, his voice barely audible. “Did I take your toys away, Gwandii? Try to take them back.”

Nue glared down at him but he didn’t move.

Jacob stumbled out of the maze, Katie in his arms. Her eyes were wide, but her body rigid. Her heart had burst. Jacob collapsed on the ground, cradling her in his arms, weeping into her hair.

In that instant Mamitu swept into the room. Her arms were shifted out of Ornate Form and in her True Form. She placed her hand on the blonde’s head and a flash of light beneath her palm wiped and suppressed the boy’s memories of everything that had happened. She then traveled to the Terrapyre girl. She knelt before Jacob and he glared up at her, his face feral, barely a trace of humanity left. She took his head indifferently between her hands and he fell unconscious. She pulled Katie out of his arms and carried her back into the maze.

Nue looked at Chariklo, a smug aura surrounded him.

:::Now there is no danger.:::

Mamitu stormed out of the maze and punched Nue. He fell back against the wall and she grabbed his face. Her glyphs burned against her Ornate Form and her rage crackled around her like flame.

:::No more. You will dispose of the bodies. The Terrapyres will be placed far from the carnival. They think they were caught in a fight in the forest. I would have you kill them, but they are being looked for and I will not have our mission jeopardized by this.:::

:::Chariklo…:::

:::That girl is a human! There is no excuse. Now do as you are told.:::

She threw him toward the doorway to the maze. He paused, his glare fixed on Chariklo, but Mamitu took another step forward and he turned away. Mamitu turned to Chariklo.

:::That was foolish, Chariklo.:::

Chariklo watched her for a moment. She was furious. He didn’t care. He picked up the Terrapyre girl, pulled the location of the fake ambush from Mamitu’s mind and, as he turned the last corner toward the exit to the funhouse, shifted into True Form. He cloaked the Terrapyre in a psychic shield that would make people forget her the instant they saw her and then he Vanished and carried her back into the night.

~*~

The carnival was asleep. The tents closed and the carts locked away. A young man staggered through the trails beaten by the feet of excited customers. But he barely saw the world around him. His mind was wild. Memory warred against memory. It had been months since the ambush. Months since he and his lairmates had been attacked on the way to the carnival, claiming the lives of his best friend and his love. Months since Peter had been admitted for his nightmares. Months since Shane had started painting, every canvas white on white. But as he grabbed at the cross around his neck, whispering prayers, he felt his mind splitting. Blood. Water. Dirt. Screaming. White eyes.

He fell to his knees before a rundown funhouse. The entrance was boarded. Closed. Jacob’s eyes danced wildly.

“Katie.” The name was spoken like a prayer. “Sam.”

In his hands he flicked open a lighter. Rage. It welled in his heart without reason. He shook. He held the lighter beneath the boards closing off the entrance.

“For our God is a consuming fire.”

And he watched as the flames ascended to the sky and he hid from the carnival workers and stared transfixed as the building was reduced to ash.