Suture (The Bleeding Worlds) (20 page)

Slash, leap, slash, parry, a dance of intricate, beautiful destruction. Her movements returned her to where her father stood.

The tendrils rose up on all sides of her. She hesitated, afraid she would injure her father.

"Dad," she gasped. "Please, stop this. I can fight these off, but I don't want to hurt you too."

He looked at her with the same quizzical expression he got when seeing a new problem to be solved. The tendrils hung in the air, wavering, waiting for the final command to destroy her.

"You're not like the others," her father said. His hand reached toward her spear, but hesitated far from touching it. "For a long time, I've spent every night in this funeral parlour, having the people I love ask me question after question. Every night, I watch them die. None have ever fought back—they seem to enjoy me watching what my defences do to them. But that spear… Do you remember what I told you about its name?"

"You said, 'when a piece of your soul tells you its name, that is for only you—tell no one else.'"

He smiled, satisfied with her answer. "Have you ever told anyone?"

"No. I… You made it sound like you'd be disappointed if I did." That was the second thing defining how she'd lived her life—pursuing Katsuro and trying desperately to never disappoint her father.

He stepped closer, the tendrils melting back into the shadows. His hand raised, brushing his fingers along her cheek with a gentle, breeze-like pressure.

"It's…you, isn't it?" he asked.

Her voice caught in her throat.

"I mean…" He laughed. "Of course, Angie. I should've put that together earlier. I'm getting slow."

"Dad… I…"

"No, no, don't explain. I don't know whether you're here by accident or on purpose, and I don't care. I'm glad you were here."

"Then tell me the truth." She held back a sob. "
Did
you take my powers somehow?"

"Now's not the place or time," he said. "They never stop listening, even when they aren't in the room. Just understand this—what I told you about the name of your spear, it's more important than I ever knew. Do you understand?"

She nodded, though she didn't. Apart from being rooted in a spiritual belief, what difference did it make? After all, didn't she know the name of several people's Veil weapons? Did it somehow lessen their powers?

"Fuyuko, beware those questions—about your brother or your powers. The past will remain as it is." His eyes pleaded with her to ignore his words. "Studying every small detail will change nothing."

"But…" Who was listening? Why couldn't she know more about her brother's death? What happened to her powers? "Can you tell me anything?"

He pulled her into an embrace and walked her toward the door marked 'exit'—only one door was now marked that way. She hoped it would be the one to return her to Angie.

Her father whispered in her ear. "Suture can not be trusted."

Pridament clamped his hand on Gwynn's shoulder, holding him fast to the spot. Gwynn tried to shake him off, looking toward Sophia.

She's here. I don't know how, but thank you God, she's here.

In the moment Pridament forced him to hesitate, Gwynn caught her eyes, and realized there was no recognition or love for him there. His shoulders sagged and Pridament helped prop him up.

"I'm so sorry, Gwynn," Pridament said. "Everything happened so fast and you had so many questions. I should've been more considerate. This is Sophia, from
my
Earth. She was rescued by the Fenrir after they received intelligence a seer was being used to discern their movements. I had arrived and managed to convince them she might prove to be a powerful asset."

She took a step closer toward him. Another Sophia, from another world, and yet she resembled his own so much. She even had the same smile.

"Is he injured?" she asked.

"No," Pridament said. "You just resemble someone he once knew. He…lost her."

Her eyes widened.

"I'm sorry. Should I go? I don't want to hurt him."

"No," Gwynn whispered. "Please, I'll be fine. It was just a shock."

He stood a bit straighter, relieving Pridament of the burden of his weight.

"So you're a seer?" Jason asked. "And you had a vision of our capture?"

She nodded.

"Then I'd like to say thanks. I'm not sure we're out of the fire yet, but it's good to be out of shackles and not getting kicked."

She smiled and it clenched down on Gwynn's chest.

"So you never really explained, why were we taken to begin with?" Gwynn asked.

"I think I'll answer that."

The new speaker wove through the crowd. He didn't push his way through, nor did the people part like he was royalty, but he moved with a deliberate grace that spoke of being the leader.

"Gwynn, Jason, I'd like you to meet the leader of Fenrir, Ka—"

"Katsuro," Jason breathlessly exclaimed.

The man, Katsuro, stopped and studied Jason's face.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Jason looked from Katsuro to Sophia and then to Gwynn. He shook his head ruefully.

"Damn. Looks like we're both getting visited by ghosts from the past," he said to Gwynn. Turning to Katsuro, he said, "I knew someone on my own world who was probably a version of you. He was my friend and mentor."

"You say 'was,'" Katsuro said. "Then you lost this person too." He looked from Gwynn to Jason. "Two young men already with so much loss, which is exactly the reason we need to fight Woten. He has—"

"Whoa, whoa," Jason put his hands up for emphasis. "What do you mean, Woten? He's a good guy. I mean, without him our world would've been destroyed by tears in the Veil centuries ago. You must be talking about some other Woten, right?"

Pridament shook his head. "No, Jason, I'm sorry, but he does mean your Woten. As it turns out, he means the
only
Woten."

"No. Bullshit. I won't stand here and listen to this."

Jason turned to leave, but Gwynn grabbed his arm.

"Gwynn, we've been friends. If you want to keep it that way, let go."

Gwynn didn't release his grip.

"He's my grandfather," Gwynn said. "I don't want to believe he's doing anything wrong either. But we'll only find out the truth if we listen to both sides of the story. The man was about to tell us why we were taken. At least hear that out, it might explain a few things."

Anger flared in Jason's eyes, but he stopped pulling away from Gwynn's grip.

Katsuro took the cue to tell his story.

"We have a few agents placed in the halls of Valhalla. They told us that Woten's grandson was being moved from one plane to another to protect him. At first, we weren't sure how to use that information. To be honest, our initial thought was to use you as a bargaining chip. Then Sophia had a vision and we realized that getting your help was far more important than that."

"If it was just to protect Gwynn, why did they take me?" Jason asked.

Katsuro shrugged. "You were with him. I suppose they figured it would be hard to convince Gwynn this was for his own good if they started things by killing one of his friends."

"Oh yeah, they were real careful not to kill me," Jason scoffed.

"In any case," Katsuro continued, "as we understand it, Woten had reason to believe Gwynn was in danger and would be better protected on Asgard. However, Sophia's vision suggests Woten is planning something you might be able to help us prevent."

"What could he be planning that I could possibly stop?"

"I'm…not sure," Sophia said. "It was very vague. I just know whatever it is will be bad, and if we're to have a chance, you have to be there."

"Gwynn, you can't be seriously listening to this," Jason said.

"I don't know. I mean, they seemed intent on bringing me here, and they could've killed us if they wanted to. Who else would bring me here to be safe?"

"Safe from what?" Jason's voice got loud and ragged. "I mean, he still sent you on missions where you could've been killed. So what the hell is so terrible that he would have you kidnapped and brought here to protect you from?"

Gwynn's hand wrapped around Alice's amulet.

"The Bogeyman," he whispered.

Jason stopped, his eyes widening. Pridament stepped closer and kept his voice low.

"Do you mean the Anunnaki who is one of the first ones?" he asked.

Gwynn shrugged. "I don't know. When I first arrived at Suture, I had dreams where it felt like someone was…reaching out for me. I told Woten and they just stopped. Then, on the subway out of Suture, it happened again. Alice gave me this." He pulled out the amulet from under his shirt. "She said it would keep the Bogeyman away. Last night, it did. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the only thing I can think of."

Jason snapped his fingers. "Angie. That's why she was in your dream the other night. She's been shielding you. She can control and manipulate dreams. She just kept you shut down so he couldn't find you. But why would he be after you?"

"How am I supposed to know? Until Fuyuko told me about him, I didn't even know he existed. Like I said, it's the only thing I can think of that Woten would want to protect me from."

"What exactly are we talking about?" Katsuro asked.

"A legend…or myth," Pridament said. "Or so I hoped. Gwynn, if this man truly exists, I can guess why he's after you."

"Why?"

"He's the one the Fallen claim is their leader. I myself never faced him, but I've heard stories—an Anunnaki so old that he predated the final evolution of humankind. Almost every dark figure in mythology has its roots in that one man. It's been so long since I've heard of him being seen, I assumed either the stories were pure fiction, or he'd somehow been destroyed. I'm sorry, Gwynn. It seems my plan hasn't been as effective as we thought."

"Does any of this sound familiar?" Katsuro asked Sophia.

"No, nothing like that has entered my visions."

"What about dragons?" The words escaped Gwynn before he'd even properly thought them—as though it was the one question he'd waited the entire time to ask.

Sophia gave a slight gasp. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth before anything else escaped. Her hand trembled. Behind that hand, she took several breaths. Seemingly satisfied she could contain herself, she lowered her hand.

"I've had a number of dreams about dragons," she said, as though admitting her deepest secret.

Gwynn's heart beat erratically, but his mind felt calm and clear.

"In your dreams there's a dragon who is evil, and one that is good."

She nodded, her expression full of bewilderment. "How could you know that?"

"The Sophia in my world told me. At the time she…" His mind filled with images of Sophia, bedraggled and mad, rambling words he thought were nonsense. If only he'd known. "…she couldn't really tell me all the details."

Katsuro and the others looked at Sophia expectantly.

"It's like that, but not so clear. I mean, there are two dragons. In some dreams, one of them wins, and it seems like a good thing. Sometimes the opposite happens—the other wins and the world looks like a horror movie. So I guess one could be seen as evil and the other good, but the more times I have dreams with them, I don't know if it's as simple as the good one wins and everything is perfect."

Katsuro sighed. "This gets more complicated by the minute. When were you going to tell us about these dragons?"

"I wasn't." She looked to Gwynn. "Until he said something, I thought they were just dreams. Not everything I dream is a vision."

"Enough." Anger and frustration masked Katsuro's face. "What we know for certain is Woten wanted Gwynn here and the Aesir are about to do
something
that
might
be bad for us." He spun on Pridament. "You came here, promising us aid. You deliver us an oracle who you say will be able to help us, and all we end up doing is chasing shadows.
Now
we've kidnapped Woten's grandson on her say so. We're risking serious retaliation and for what?"

Pridament held up his hands defensively. "Please, Katsuro, I understand your frustration. I assure you we are on the right path. Your own informants have confirmed what Sophia has told you regarding some grand plan. This other information isn't something we should consider right now. Instead, we stick to our original plans and we'll address whatever comes after."

"I hope all this is worth it," Katsuro stabbed the air with a pointed finger. "Because if my people die for nothing I'll hold you just as responsible as Woten."

Katsuro stalked back the way he'd come, pausing only long enough to smash a fist into a crate that flew several feet and crashed against a wall.

Pridament's shoulders sagged. "He has a point—we're working off too little information. I'm sorry, Sophia, for what he said. I know you can't control what visions you have."

Sophia looked ready to cry. She nodded a small thanks to Pridament, turned, and walked-ran away.

"What about those of us who were innocent bystanders?" Jason asked. "Is there any train to take me home?"

"You have three options. You can stay here, you can join us on our mission tomorrow, or eventually someone might be available to drive you back to the crossroads and you can hope one of your friends comes with a tether that'll allow you to return home."

"Or you could just take me across the Veil back to my home," Jason said.

Pridament's eyebrow raised. "Really? You'd cross the Veil? I thought that was against your rules."

Jason shrugged. "Desperate times."

"Huh. Well, you can hate me if you like, but I'm not taking you across the Veil. I need to be here, and I won't risk having some kid go mad on me during the trip. If you want to wait until after this operation tomorrow, I'll try with you then. You know the risks."

"Either way, it sounds like I'm stuck here for a while," Jason groused.

"Yes, or you could join us and see the truth for yourself."

Jason's jaw worked, grinding against his indecision.

"I'll sleep on it."

Pridament showed them to a single-storey, concrete building lacking features except a few grimy windows. The rooms they were assigned shared the same bare concrete walls as the exterior and were decorated with a single twin bed, set of drawers, and no curtains on the windows. Gwynn realized the grime wasn't dirt, it had been intentionally smeared on the window to provide some level of privacy in lieu of the curtains.