I shake my head in disbelief. "I was contacted by the Red Eagles earlier."
"They've confirmed as well. So have many of the smaller groups. We've got our meeting, man," he roars, clasping Zorin on the shoulder.
I flinch at the unlikely moment. "You two are getting along."
"We talked," says TR.
I wonder if he shared how much he cares for Trix. I could hear it in his voice earlier. He would die for her.
Carter enters with a tray of beverages and snacks. "Splendid to see you well, miss. I prepared a Life Force green tea to aid in your recovery."
"Thank you, Carter." I try a sip, enjoying the taste. A message appears on my eGlass.
Hey, you need to get back to school. My father arrived early. They're having an official greeting ceremony and Initiates have to be there.
-Corinne
My new hand trembles, dropping the cup. The glass shatters, spilling red all over the floor.
"Are you alright, miss?" asks Cater.
"Yes. I'm fine. Sorry. I'll clean that up."
"No, allow me, miss." Carter bends to one knee and begins collecting the pieces of glass. "Miss, can you move over…"
I stand frozen, barely hearing him. How can I face my friends again? How can I face Varian?
"N?" asks Trix.
I don't respond.
I am still, and everyone is silent. Their faces tighten in concern. But not Zorin. He looks at me calmly.
And I remember what he said and step toward the door. I will not let fear stop me.
***
I know I should hurry. Corinne made this ceremony sound important. But my mind is filled with plots and questions, and it's hard to motivate myself to walk faster through the busy New York streets toward the subway that will take me to Castle V, despite my earlier resolve. Sure, I could fly. But I need the space to think, to shift from Nightfall to Scarlett before I get back to school.
Being two people isn't always easy.
In fact, it's never easy.
I'm lost in these thoughts, meandering toward the subway, when I hear the shriek of a cat. It's obviously in pain, but no one around me seems to care. A man in a business suit walks by talking on his eGlass. A woman pushing a stroller doesn't glance up when the cat hisses and meows pathetically. The sound is coming from behind a dumpster by an Italian restaurant.
I push through a gaggle of noisy students and find myself face to face with a homeless man leaning against the brick wall. He has a shopping cart to one side filled with the kinds of treasures only those without any belongings could possibly value, and he's covered in brown and beige layers of recycled clothing. His eyes are a dull brown, and his face is shaded by dirt, sweat and too many days and nights spent on the street.
I feel an initial tug of sympathy for a man so invisible to the world, until I see what he's doing. He has a scrawny black cat trapped between his feet as he zaps it with electricity from his fingers. He laughs as he watches the cat squirm, hiss and howl in an effort to escape the torture.
He's not tagged as a Zenith. He lives outside the system, off the grid. This is the kind of man Nightfall and the Dark Templars are supposedly fighting for, and yet right now all I want to do is sink my teeth into his neck and drain him until he's a limp rag for what he's doing to that poor cat.
The vehemence of my thought, and the thirst it produces, scares me. I shudder, take a deep calming breath and touch the man's exposed calf, who only just now notices me.
He's about to say something, perhaps hit me with his para-powers, when I'm in his mind, my powers seeking out his thoughts and controlling him.
I'm hoping to see that this is an aberration. That he's stuck in something deep and the pain is leaking out of him in dangerous ways, but it's not who he is at the core.
I'm disappointed. More than that. Disgusted. This isn't the first animal he's tortured. I watch a memory of him killing his dog out of gruesome fascination, enjoying the fear and pain in its eyes as it died. I cringe, bile rising in my throat, as I issue a command before pulling my hand away. I can't spend any more time in that man's brain. I'll have to scrub my frontal lobe for a week to undo the damage twenty seconds in his has caused me.
I scoop up the cat, who looks more like a lanky teenager than a full grown male, and pet him soothingly to calm him even as he digs his claws into my arm. "It's okay, kitty. You're safe now," I coo as my final instruction to the psycho in front of me takes effect. He's calm as he stands and walks onto the busy sidewalk. Finally, people notice him, but only long enough to shirk away from his unwashed body.
A few minutes ago I would have judged them for being so blind, so careless to others around them, to their own humanity, but I'm still too haunted by what I saw in his mind. So I wait and watch as he finds the nearest Inquisition Officer and turns himself in for failing to register as a Zenith, for animal abuse and cruelty, and for one other crime, a heinous assault that wasn't against an animal but a human. He confesses to everything and they secure his wrists and arrest him.
Now, I just want to get back to the Castle and away from all these people. I feel dirty, repelled by this city and the darkness that lives within it. I tuck the shivering cat under my coat and make fast time to the subway.
While underwater, surrounded by flora and fish, I think about what just happened. How life isn't as black and white as I'd thought. And if I'm being honest with myself, it's not as black and white as I'd hoped. That would be too simple.