Allie's War Season Three (134 page)

Wreg made a 'more or less' gesture with his hand, exhaling.

"Yes," he said. "That is right. So? Are you saying he contrived to make his light leave his body? That he created a body double of some kind? Pulled some kind of Barrier trick to convince a dozen or so high-ranked seers that he could shoot himself in the roof of his mouth, blowing out most of the back of his head, and somehow survive this thing,
ilya?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but Revik cut me off.

"I felt it," he said, looking at me. "I felt him die, Allie. I may not have been there, but there was no mistake. I
felt
it."

Even so, something in Wreg's words seemed to hit at Revik, too, enough that I caught him staring off, a different layer of meaning coloring his clear eyes. I could almost see him thinking through everything I'd said and everything he remembered, as if mapping a different scenario somewhere in another part of his mind. I wanted to ask him what it was, but I didn't dare, not yet. I could tell he didn't want to talk about this...parts of this, anyway...at least not in front of Chandre and Wreg. Maybe not with me, either, at least not yet.

"Are you saying Menlim wasn't capable of a Barrier trick of that kind?" I said, my voice cautious. I aimed the question at Wreg, but my focus remained primarily on Revik. "I can think of a few things we already know he was experimenting with back then, that might have aided him in something like this..."

"The host body cannot die," Wreg said, impatient. "If he did that corpse-riding trick of Terian's, he couldn't kill his original body."

I didn't answer that, either. Even so, I found myself watching Revik again, seeing him frown as he stared at the metal floor.

There was another silence. Through it, all of us seemed to be looking at Revik, but he didn't look at any of us. I watched him go somewhere else, still staring at the far wall, his hands in fists under where he had his arms crossed over his chest.

"You're the only one who would have known for sure," I said to him. "You were already gone, baby...Galaith had you, along with the Adhipan. You would have been on your way to the Pamir by then, so you couldn't have verified that he'd really been gone."

"Allie," Revik cut in. His voice held that hard note again. "I went over the Barrier records meticulously. If you think I would risk making a mistake about something like that..."

"No, Revik,” I cut in. “I don't. I really don’t...not intentionally. But," I reminded him, my voice quieter again, more gentle. "...He would have known that, too. Right?"

"So? You're saying he managed to..." He trailed, shaking his head angrily, but I saw a hard coil of energy leave his light, bright enough to make me flinch, brighter than anything I’d seen him emit, at least without using the telekinesis. “...It’s bullshit,” he said, controlling himself with an effort. “It’s bullshit, Allie. Even
he
couldn’t have pulled this off.”

"You’re probably right,” I said, still watching his face. "Except for one thing, Revik. You've been worried about this before. I know you have. This isn't the first time it's crossed your mind that he might be alive. You went after him in Argentina without a second's hesitation. The
instant
that mirage appeared, you tried to kill him. Why wouldn't you assume it was a trick, if you really believed he was dead?"

At his deepening frown, I hesitated again, adding softer,

"...You told me once, that you had doubts,” I said. “You said that a part of you never quite believed that he was gone."

"Because I was
afraid
of him, Allie!" he snapped, staring at me with his pale, colorless eyes. "That was
trauma,
not logic...
gaos
...to use that against me!"

"I'm not using anything against you! Jesus, Revik..."

"The
fuck
you're not..."

"Isn't it better to know the truth? Whatever it ends up being?"

"I know the truth! He's
dead,
Allie!”

Silence fell in the room again. None of the rest of us looked at one another, but I felt nerves shiver off Wreg and Chandre’s light, too, as they watched Revik. As if he felt some of that himself, Revik exhaled in frustration, running a hand through his black hair.

“He's been dead for almost a hundred years,” he said, his voice more subdued. “If you think I'm going to question that because of something
Feigran
said, you're out of your fucking mind..." He trailed again, as if running out of words, his eyes as hard as glass.
"Gaos..."
he growled.
"Di'lantente a guete
...ends of the darkest earth, and this is what I'm considering. Like we don’t have enough
crap
to deal with right now...!"

Gripping his hair in one hand, he muttered a few more phrases under his breath, that time in a language I didn't know. Even so, his eyes never lost that faraway look, as if he were arguing more with himself at that point, or maybe someone I couldn't see.

In any case, gauging his eyes, I didn't answer.

Chandre and Wreg didn’t say anything, either.

I saw Wreg frown, as if thinking. I saw his eyes blur faintly, too, and I wondered if he was going over his own memories of what had occurred, trying to frame them in this new light, even through the painkillers. After another pause, where Revik wouldn't look at any of us and Chandre watched Wreg, I let out a sigh of my own.

"Anyway," I said. "We don't
know
anything. And you’re right. It was Feigran. Terian. So maybe me telling you this doesn't actually bring us any closer to the truth about Shadow, but I thought I should tell you anyway. Given everything, I thought the rest of you should at least look at it." I watched Revik's face, but only for a breath. "It bears looking at, right?” I said. “I mean, if it's actually
Menlim
we're dealing with...in terms of this Barrier-based network thing, we need to know. Especially if we’re talking multiple anchors in the physical. Didn't you and Wreg say they'd have to be really highly-trained seers to act as anchors? Adepts of some kind? What if it was him and Salinse and this Xarethe person Balidor told us about? Would that be enough, do you think?"

I tried to make my voice businesslike that time, in the hopes of engaging Revik's more practical, strategic side, I guess.

It almost worked. At least it got him to glance at me. I could see him thinking about what I'd said. A few seconds later, his frown deepened, but that look I'd seen building behind his eyes seemed to have faded into the background.

"Yeah," he said finally. "We can try a few more combinations. The most we'd gotten to were three, though, and it still didn't work, Allie. There are still too many structural instabilities without a framework like the Pyramid for sharing light." His eyes met mine again, and briefly, the expression I saw there clutched at my heart. The dead look behind his eyes made it difficult for me to breathe for a few seconds. "...We'll need to get 'Dori to look at this," he added. "...and maybe Varlan, Tarsi, anyone with a high enough actual who would have been active back then."

His jaw firmed as he continued to take in my face almost warily.

"...You were convinced by this, when you spoke to Feigran?" he said. "Something in you and Terian's connection made you believe it?"

I nodded, stifling the impulse to walk over and touch him. Whatever he was feeling, he was keeping it locked behind his light's shields, but enough of him leaked through the connection we shared that I found myself fighting tears.

"Yes," I said, clearing my throat.

"Then we'll need to do scans on you, too, Allie. We'll need to see every second of each interview...all of them, all right?"

His voice grew less hard towards the end. Seeing his expression soften as he looked at me, I nodded again, wiping my face with my hand.

"Of course," I said.

Looking around at Wreg and Chandre, I fought my voice clear.

"...I hope I'm wrong," I said. "I hate that son of a bitch more than I can possibly put in words. But that's all the more reason to be sure. If there's even a small chance that Feigran picked up on something real..." I glanced at Revik again. "I want that bastard dead. It has to take priority. Above everything else. Even Cass."

I saw something in Revik's eyes relax, right before he nodded.

"We need to know," Wreg agreed, decisive. He looked at Revik, too, as if measuring his reaction with his eyes. "...I'll round up everyone who fought with us the first time," he said. "See how many knew that fucker's light well enough to track him...and who else might have been there when he died. For some reason, I'm thinking Deklan was there, too. For the death rituals, at least. Neela was with me when we found the body..."

Revik nodded again, once. His eyes were still harder than usual, but clear, I noticed; I could see him there again. His shoulders and arms had relaxed somewhat, too. Enough that I could feel some of the tension leaving my own body.

"We'll pull a meeting together when we get back," Revik said, sounding like the military commander he was. When he looked at me that time, I saw a faint apology in his eyes. "...But first, we'll conduct preliminary scans on Allie, Jon, Chan, Maygar and whoever else. Hopefully, we can get something of a composite on Feigran's light during that time, too." Briefly, his mouth turned grim again, even as his eyes hardened. That time, it wasn't aimed at me. "...At least we know now, one possible reason they might have been so determined to get their hands on Feigran. If his ability really did give him eyes into Shadow, he probably could have helped us map the network, too. He could have seen this thing coming with Cass..."

"Oh!" Chandre said suddenly, making all of us jump.

We all swiveled our eyes, staring at her.

"I forgot,” she said, her voice more subdued. “...Perhaps he did. Perhaps there are diagrams of this mapping already? I am told there are drawings, correct? Feigran seemed quite concerned about these...about his drawings back at the hotel in New York.”

Wreg was already shaking his head, though.

"I’m sorry to say, those were almost completely incomprehensible, sister," Wreg said. "I had my people look at all of them. Feigran didn't so much as doodle a smiley face that we didn't double-check for imprints or anything that might gain us some intel. On 90% of it, there was nothing."

"But you didn’t know what you were looking for back then,” I pressed, looking first at Wreg, then at Chandre and Revik. "You didn’t figure out this network thing until we got to Argentina. Maybe you wouldn't have realized what you had, if he only drew parts of it? I mean, you didn't have Revik look at most of those, did you?"

"We gave him a few," Wreg said, but he looked at Revik, too. His eyes narrowed as he seemed to be thinking about my words.

"You would have given him the ones that resonated with the old network, under Galaith," I said, pressing once I saw his expression clear. "You wouldn't have thought to give him just the random Barrier diagrams...the ones that made no sense without the context of this new design you and Revik have been mapping recently. Most of your people on that detail were younger, right? They wouldn't know how to look for anything to do with Menlim or World War I. They wouldn't have even picked up on the resonance. Most of them, I mean..."

Wreg's frown deepened, but he looked at me, a faint gleam in his dark eyes. The look there turned briefly into something else, a near appreciation.

"Damn, your girl is smart, Nenz,” he said.

I snorted involuntarily, folding my arms. "His
girl?"
I rolled my eyes, even as Wreg grinned at me. "I believe that’s ‘Esteemed Bridge’ to you...peon Wreg.”

"None of this matters," Revik said, gesturing for us to cut it out. Learning his weight on the exam table on the opposite side as Wreg, he looked at the other male. "They took all the drawings, right? You said the books were all gone the night Feigran disappeared."

"The recent ones, yeah," I broke in, before Wreg could answer. "But he gave Jon, what? Four or five of the older books, at least. They wouldn't have known to take those."

"What?" Wreg's previous amusement dimmed. "That piece of shit was giving my boyfriend
presents?"

“Boyfriend,” Chandre muttered, looking between the three of us. She didn’t look all that surprised, but I saw a frown touch her lips anyway. “...Ah.”

I laughed, I couldn't help it. "Feigran had a huge crush on Jon, Wreg. Don't tell me you didn't know that?"

"I didn't know that scrawny freak gave him
presents."

Revik held up a hand to silence us. His eyes remained hard as glass.

"Does he still have the drawings?” he asked me. “Jon.”