--==Chapter 57: Evil Child--==

Hands had talked about his experiences as a Dolphin before the world ended and the capabilities of echolocation to share memories as discrete objects. It was out of this natural ability that he'd learned to store visualizations on the memory crystals. My previous attempts at creating visualizations were fine but were ultimately more like doodles than photographs.

Rather than creating a visual that expressed all the important information, I should be able to store my memories directly. Memories were far from a perfect recording system. However, they would still contain more information than any visualization I made from scratch, especially details that might not seem important to me.

Mother and Father snored loudly across the patch of dirt from Nia and me. I smeared the doodles and pictionary-like attempts to ask Nia about my Shadow and her Sister. Placing all but one of the crystals in my pocket, I drew a simple face and set the third on its forehead. From his head, I drew a thought bubble containing a happy little tree. Beside the smiley, I drew a second smiley, moved the polished crystal to its forehead, and drew the same thought bubble and tree.

That should be clear enough to show her how to view the contents of the memory crystal, but I gave her a meaningful look and tried to gauge her understanding.

"Ok?" she said uncertainly.

Sharing her uncertainty, I picked up the rounded crystal and pressed it to my forehead. Rather than craft a visualization, I instead focused on remembering as much as I could about my first interaction with 'Titania.'

I'd been terrified, trying desperately to escape Slender Hopper's onslaught. Nia'd interrupted the assault, but not in time to save me. I was bleeding out and afraid I'd be the cause of her death as well. Then, my fear for her turned into awe as she bodied the leaping monster using my backpack and practiced timing.

After crushing its limp body with one of the lobby chairs, she'd gone to check on Maebe. Then she came over to comfort me and lament the deaths and her own isolation in facing the day.

Again, something about that memory tugged at my attention while remaining out of reach, like the details in a half-remembered dream. Hopefully Nia would have more insight into what I saw. I tossed it to her gently. She used both hands and her body to catch it and still nearly dropped it. Suddenly growing most of a foot probably played hell on her coordination. Then again, maybe she just wasn't athletic, though my memory of her crushing Slender Hopper made me doubt it.

"It's so pretty," Nia said, awe in her voice as she stared into the polished green gem. I supposed she was right; they were pretty. The swirls of light and shadow frozen within were stunning, especially when polished and not covered in gore.

I mimed placing the stone to my head and looked meaningfully at the picture I'd drawn. I'd tried not to include too many gory details in the visualized memory, but there was no escaping that the contents would be rated at least PG13.

"Oh, right, sorry," Nia said, crossing her legs and closing her eyes like she was going to meditate. It wasn't necessary, but it shouldn't hurt either. She pressed the stone to her head, and a shiver went through her. I didn't remember shivering myself, but then again, she probably wouldn't either, absorbed by the memory as she was.

It was over quicker than I expected. It was only moments before Nia was lowering her arm again, tears welling up in her eyes. She tried blinking them away, but more welled up and rolled down her cheeks as she tried to speak.

"I- I didn't know. I didn't know I'd been like this before. I didn't mean for it to happen." She said as though pleading with me to understand. "I just wanted to remember. I didn't want people to keep getting hurt because of me. I didn't know I'd- I'd- I'd."

And then Mother was there, up from where she'd sprawled in the dirt. Her dusty arms enclosed Nia's head and neck in a hug that proceeded a sob breaking free.

"Oh, oh, oh," Mother rumbled softly, petting Nia's hair and pressing her face into her equally dusty shoulder. "Is ok is ok. Scary, scary, scary all go away. Mother here."

Nia cried harder, and between one breath and the next, Mother was in her giant form, sitting beside Nia. She laid Nia's head in her lap and continued to soothe her.

I was left awkwardly staring on, unsure I had any way to comfort her.

Mostly, I felt guilt.

In the memory, I'd known I shouldn't be asking a child for help in this nightmare. I'd known the contents of the memory wouldn't be fun to watch. In my desperation, I'd forgotten. Maybe it would have been fine in other circumstances, but she was struggling with body image hell after an apocalyptic puberty, and that was likely the smallest of her problems.

I stood up. Mother would take care of her. I needed to stop indulging my pain and fear; it was spilling over onto those around me.

I walked over, put a paw hand on Nia's head, and patted Mother on the arm before turning to walk away.

"Wait." I heard Nia say before I'd made it more than a couple steps. "I um," she started. "Alice is— or I mean, I think she might be in trouble."

I stopped walking and turned around, waiting. Nia had sat up but was still looking down and blinking fast. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to get the words out.

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Mother came to her rescue again by picking up the polished memory crystal that Nia had dropped when she'd been overwhelmed. Mother gently held it out to Nia. "Hard thoughts fit here," Mother said.

Nia nodded slowly at first and then more confidently as she picked up the crystal and pressed it to her head again. I hadn't shown her how to craft the visualizations, though, so I took one of the other gems from my pocket, planning to do just that.

A soft and sharp crack came from the crystal Nia held, and a green light burst from it in a small shockwave.

I was impressed. It wasn't that difficult a process, but even watching me, Nia wouldn't have felt the internal effort of pushing the memory or visualization into the stone. She offered the stone up to me, and I crouched down to take it.

My fingers touched the crystal, and the world froze. Colors inverted, and I saw Sori's silver eye form floating between us. A tendril of light connected him to the crystal. Two more tendrils connected the crystal to my and Nia's heads.

I didn't have time to question what was happening before the world vanished, and I found myself looking at my reflection in the window of the patrol car.

Well, not my reflection. Instead, Nia's shocked face looked back at me. I felt my arm reach up and watched her probe the horns protruding from her skull. She leaned in to get a better look at her green cat-like eyes before moving on to inspecting her wings. She didn't seem to have control of them. They twitched and spasmed when he tried moving them, but she couldn't stretch them.

I could feel her surprise, but there wasn't any of the distress in her emotions that she'd just shown.

"Cool," she whispered, using her hands to stretch her wings out. She wrapped them around herself like a cloak, but when she let go, they pulled back behind her again. She shrugged her shoulders up and down while looking at the sky, and I could tell she was trying to fly. After a few seconds, she sighed. "It probably takes practice." She said to herself.

Then the scene changed, skipping forward in a way I hadn't considered when I'd made my visualizations. She was sneaking through a hospital hallway I didn't recognize. Ahead, she saw the door to the chapel, and I felt her relax a little.

"Made it," Nia said under her breath. She paused at the door and crossed her fingers before opening it cautiously.

"Mom?" she asked, cracking the door open slightly.

"Nia!?" A voice called back. Nia opened the door wider, relief and dread filling her simultaneously. There was so much she had to tell her mom, and tears started filling her eyes.

"Mommy!" Nia sobbed, beginning to rush forward.

The gasp of several voices could be heard as Nia became visible to others in the room.

It was the first time I'd seen Pastor Kay, Nia's mom. Her aura was the strongest I'd seen yet, but it wasn't something Nia was registering. It wasn't just a glow; it was like a living flame. Flickering green tendrils lashed about her in agitation, casting the world in an eerie lighting.

"You!" Kay shrieked, her rush coming to a skidding halt as rage overcame her expression. "YOU! Let go of my daughter, demon filth! Kill it!" The last was directed over her shoulder at people kneeling on the ground.

Kay pulled out a long butcher's knife from her pocket, and I heard a gun cock a moment before a gunshot rang out. Wood chips flew from the door frame, and Nia screamed in fear, adrenaline flooding her veins.

"Mom, it's me! She said, stumbling back and turning to run. She was out of the doorway and out of sight of the shooter—Buck, I was pretty sure, though Nia hadn't been looking at the others in the room.

"Stay here," Kay said to her congregation as she closed the door. Nia had run as far as the nearest intersection before turning back.

"Mom, please, it's me. It's Nia. I'm not a demon."

"Liar. Thief. Evil child. I'll eat your heart. God curse you, swallow you in blood." Her motions were jagged, and she swayed side to side in twitching movements, gripping and regripping the blade in her hand. She looked utterly unhinged.

Nia was crying, and I could only look on in heartbroken disbelief and fear. I'd be lying if I said it didn't resonate with me in more ways than one.

"Hush now. Mommy will cut out the rot." And Kay leaped forward, knife slashing.

Nia shrieked and stumbled back before turning to flee. She hadn't been cut, but the wound was deep.

The memory faded, and I found myself standing at the rail of my stone ship, but not before I noticed a darkness at Kay's feet. A shadow danced and writhed in a reflection of Kay's aura.

"Fuck." I swore, at a general loss for words.

"What?!" A disoriented Nia said from behind me.

"What?!" I repeated in surprise, spinning to find the source.

"What?" Sori said, sounding more exasperated than anything. "Anyway, we need to talk."

--==