A Matter of Forever (18 page)

As my father’s body slumps against the metal bench, I will another body to appear next to it, one that appears exactly as he showed me he looked, right down to every single strand of hair. It’s not a living body, not like mine, but it’s good enough to put his life essences into.

Zthane and Kellan don’t say a word, they’re so taken aback by what I’ve done.

Bios doesn’t need an invitation; the black smoke slams into the new body so hard it convulses. While I wait for the twitching to stop, I bend down next to my father’s body.

“You can rest now, Dad,” I whisper, and then I will it out of existence.

“Just what the hell did he tell you two?” Kellan asks Jonah. “What could he have said that would ever warrant either of you to condone such a thing?”

Bios continues to twitch, as if in pain. But when the spasms slow, I say loudly, “If you think you’re going to run around here in that see-through diaper, you can think again. You’re going to have to wear clothes just like every other person, even if I have to make those for you, too.”

I look around the cell, at the plain walls and metal bed. Within seconds, we’re standing in the room Jonah and I’d inhabited earlier, complete with a window that looks out into a valley so scenic it hurts to gaze too long at it. When the twitching subsides, Bios gets up and goes to stand by it. And I can’t be sure, but I could swear a tear falls from one of his kaleidoscope eyes.

“You want to explain to me why that killer suddenly gets a body and cush living quarters after everything it’s done to our kind? The Métis? Shit, J, for all we know, it could have been the one who killed Joey! And yet you just stood back and let its murderous ass have whatever it wants?”

We’re back in our room, having been dragged there by a livid Kellan. Thankfully, he slammed the door behind us, but I have a sneaky suspicion everyone can hear each one of his shouted words just fine.

“I—” But Jonah cuts me off. “If I thought he was the one who killed Joey, he would not still be standing, Kel.”

“Well, how reassuring.” Kellan’s silent for a long moment before exploding with, “What kind of excuse is that?”

“Um,” I try, but they are off and arguing immediately in that maddening way they do, where half their words are out loud, half inside. I eventually sit down because it’s too exhausting try to figure out what it is they’re actually talking about.

Kellan yells, “All bets are off then, right?”

Jonah levels him a long look, which only serves to infuriate him some more. “Pardon me,” he snaps. “By all means, if it’s only out to snatch her, then we ought to roll out the red carpet for the bastard.”

Jonah says angrily, “This is rich, coming from you. I wanted it taken out immediately.
You’re
the one who insisted we keep it around.”

“To interrogate! Not welcome into the fold!”

Okay. This has gone on for long enough. I hate when they argue, even more so when I know it’s because of me. “Can’t you just surge, Kellan?” I snap. They turn in surprise toward me. “Get Jonah’s memories so you can see why we made the decisions we did?”

“If I could, I would,” he throws back.

It’s my turn to be surprised.

“How nice of it to make sure that whatever hallucinations you two experienced are for you and you alone,” Kellan says between gritted teeth.

Fantastic. “Fine. Then sit down and listen while I tell you what we learned from Bios.” Jonah opens his mouth, so I point at him, too, and say, “You sit down as well.”

“No matter what it told you, how are you sure you can trust the information?” Kellan sits, but he’s practically bouncing out of his seat, he’s so antsy. “I mean, for one, it said you two would simply look lifeless. It didn’t clarify that you two would actually
die.
”

“Hibernate,” I correct, offering the term Bios had thrown out before we’d left his room. “When animals hibernate, their heart rates go way down.”

Scientific explanations apparently mean nothing to Kellan right now.

“Look,” Jonah says. “I get why you’re upset, and if I’d been in your place, I’d be at the front of the line with my anger. Frankly, I’m not thrilled with finding out I’d been without a pulse, either—”

“Reduced pulse!” I pipe in with.

He ignores me. “But at least hear us out with what he’s requested.”

“Let me guess. Silk sheets? Caviar? Water from a spring found in the Elvin Southern Hemisphere? Oh, wait. It’s already requested those things.”

I can’t help myself. “What! Are you serious?”

“You didn’t know?” Kellan asks me. “Oh, yeah. Your pet Elder has requested plenty of ridiculous things at an escalating pace. Just last night, it asked me if I could fetch three virgins over the age of sixty for it to enjoy.”

Okay. Both Jonah and I kind of laugh at that one.

“Funny for you two,” Kellan scowls, “but not the rest of us who have to put up with its shit during Q&A time on a daily basis. Bios handles Chloe here with kid gloves. The rest of us are barely scum on the bottom of its metaphorically pricey shoes.”

“Well,” Jonah says, “rest easy, Kel, because he’s put in a request for Chloe to obliterate him and the rest of his family as soon as we get aboveground or when his orders change. And I’ve been tasked to ensure she follows through, if she weakens at the last moment.”

“When did he say that?” I ask. And then, “Also, thank you guys for using some complete sentences here. Can we continue the rest of this conversation this way?”

They’re both a little sheepish. Jonah eventually says, “I don’t know how to explain it, but he froze the moment in the memory walk and asked me to do it.”

“And you
believe
it?” Kellan asks incredulously.

“Actually, yeah, I do,” Jonah says. “Because he was absolutely sincere. He’s wanted to cease existing for some time now. Besides, I told him that if he steps one toe out of line the rest of the time down here, I’d encourage her to go ahead and do it sooner rather than later.”

Kellan crosses his arms. “Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Jonah says. “Bios is no saint. Far from it. But the Elders are different than we are. They don’t conceptualize right or wrong the way we do. They simply
were
and now
are
. He’s taking a huge risk right now by talking to us, because he’s pretty much signed his death warrant. In his mind, though, he’d prefer to go out by Chloe’s hand rather than Enlilkian’s.”

Kellan throws himself down in a chair. “Fine. If you say it’s sincere, I’ll believe you. What else did it tell you of consequence?”

“Kel, he’s been telling us everything we need to know for weeks now,” Jonah says quietly. “He’s let us know that the Elders are not a cohesive unit, at least ideologically. They’re held together by fear of punishment. Without Enlilkian, they pose no real threat to us. And if Enlilkian loses some of his biggest weapons, i.e. Bios, then he’s going to be hampered in his efforts.”

“You think a death wish is for the common good?” Kellan asks skeptically.

“I’m not sure,” Jonah admits. “I just know it’s real. And Bios seems to feel that, if he’s out of the picture, it’d be a blow to whatever his father’s mission is.”

When Bios strolls into the dining room for breakfast, the entire table goes silent. He’s wearing a very tight t-shirt and jeans that show just about everything, but at least I’m grateful he followed through on dressing. His long hair is tied back into a messy ponytail, and other than resembling a statue of Adonis, he looks like he ought to be on a beach.

I turn to Zthane, shocked. He let Bios out of his cell?

For his part, though, the head of the Guard is just watching Bios carefully.

“Oh my gods,” Iolani whispers to me. “This is what the guy looks like?”

Bios drops down into the chair on the other side of Kellan, right across from me and Jonah. Kellan doesn’t bother disguising his revulsion, but Bios doesn’t mind. In fact, I’d even go as far to say that he rather enjoys needling Kellan.

This cannot end well. Even though I know he’s on his best behavior, none of this feels like it will end well.

“Do you eat?” I’m acutely aware that I’m the only one speaking at the moment. Every other person is watching Bios in fascination.

“Occasionally.” Bios’ eyes drift over the communal plates on the table. “If the food is delectable enough. But it’s not necessary, not like it is for your kind.”

“Oh, so sorry we couldn’t get that random fish you ordered,” Kellan mocks.

Bios doesn’t sense the sarcasm. “I informed you where you could fetch it for me.”

Kellan then gives me a look that basically screams,
Are you kidding me by humoring it?

To me, Bios says, “The lodgings you modified are much more tolerable now.”

“Well. What a relief.” Kellan’s scorn is practically tangible. “We wouldn’t want somebody who’s gone out of their way to murder our kind the last few decades to be uncomfortable.”

“Murder and survival are two very different creatures, are they not?” Bios lazes back in his chair. “From what I can tell, your kind murders beings all the time in order to consume them.”

“Animals,” Kellan stresses. “Not people.”

“Interesting distinction,” Bios shoots back. “Are you saying that because they cannot speak, their lives are somehow less important than yours?”

Zthane asks mildly, “Do you not see the difference?”

Bios studies him carefully. There’s still a lot of contempt there, although maybe muted just a hair with this small taste of freedom. “As a matter of fact, I do not.”

“I’m sure those you have stripped of their souls and essences might disagree,” Kellan says. He has long since stopped eating.

“Perhaps,” Bios agrees. “But, would you say that any one of the animals you eat might not feel the same?”

“Tell me,” Kellan presses, “when you attacked our kind—you personally, not your band of fellow merry murderers—did you target whatever powerful Magical was around, or did you hunt out exactly the right one you needed?”

Bios says nothing.

“Kellan, don’t,” Jonah suddenly hisses. “Not now.”

“Why not?” Kellan asks. “Shouldn’t we all be aware of what’s sitting at our table?”

I’m uneasy with his hostility. “What are you talking about?”

He ignores me, as does Jonah. Instead they launch immediately into one of their silent conversations. Minutes go by before Kellan opens his mouth and says, voice as cold and hard as ice, “Cannibalism is a nasty thing.”

“What’s this about cannibalism?” Iolani asks. Her fork is on the plate, too. Seems nobody is interested in bacon any longer.

Bios meets Kellan’s gaze dead on. “To answer your question, Empath—yes. When I consumed someone’s essences, it was always for my own benefit.”

“How many Shamans do you think you’ve killed or wounded?” Kellan asks carefully, and then it hits me.

Cora. Bios is the one who attacked and nearly killed Cora back when we were in high school.

“I don’t remember,” Bios says, yawning. “I have no need to tally such a thing. Do you tally the numbers of fowl you consume? Or the ones you have inspired to march into death unknowingly?”

Oh my gods. Cora.

My vision blurs hazy red. I can’t even begin to think straight.

I feel myself being helped out of the chair. Jonah says something, but I’m not hearing him. I’m thinking about my childhood friend, on the verge of death, her essence—what makes Cora
Cora
—stripped away until she was nearly dead. Of how she’d been left on the side of the road, bleeding out and unconscious. Of how she’d been a message to me:
We can find you. We can take what you love.

And Bios had been the one to deliver the message. Here he is, my gift.

Enlilkian must have known we’d figure it out. That I’d discover the person, no,
thing
that protects me was responsible for nearly destroying the closest person I have to a sister. Cora had been there for me all my life, giving love and understanding, when my parents failed to do so. And because of me, she’d nearly lost her life. How did I repay her? By rewarding her would-be murderer with his old body, a replica of his home, and the promise of a swift and merciful death.

Every glass on the table explodes.

People are shouting, wondering what in the hell is going on, but I round on Bios immediately, fury pulsing through my veins.

“Chloe,” Jonah is saying, “you need to calm down. Take a breath. Count to ten.”

Bios holds his arms out wide, offering me no resistance. And then, as if he thinks better of it, extends one arm out to me, palm open. Like he simply expects me to take his hand and erase him.

It pisses me off like there’s no tomorrow.

He totally deserves it. He does. But ... I hesitate once more.

Disappointment swirls through his eyes. To Kellan, he says, “You may escort me back to my room now. I do not think I will join you at your table any longer.” He stands up, then says quietly, “Enlilkian’s rage must be overwhelming by now. Do not let others suffer. You know what must be done.”

And then he leaves.

“What the fuck do you think that accomplished, Kellan?”