It was another few hours of driving before they finally reached the rest stop before the camp itself and Keira chose to share another room with Naima. She was unsure of how Kheka would approach her again, so she had resigned herself to keep an eye out all night until he showed himself. Or until the chance that he was just trying to get under her skin someway got too large for her to ignore. Though it turned out that she hadn’t need to wait long, as while they were moving across the campus to get food she saw a small orange light in the corner of her eye. He was braced against one of the building walls, cigarette in hand, and still sporting the sunglasses despite the fact that the sun had long since set. He smirked and gave a little wave when he noticed Keira staring and she stopped. Unsure of whether she could separate from the group that easily.
“Keira! We have to stay as a group!” One of the leaders called out to her and she turned her head to respond.
“Coming!” When Keira looked back to where Kheka was, he was gone. She frowned. Previously she had thought that it would either be an honest proposition or someway to mess with her. But Kheka, much like all of her other encounters, seemed intent on doing both. Fortunately he didn’t rear his head for the rest of the time she was eating or on the way back to their accommodation. Keira was becoming increasingly more concerned that he was just going to lurk just out of sight for the entire duration of her trip. Then as she was talking to Nadia, who was sitting on her bed next to the window, she saw a small orange glow in the dark. Keira was unsure whether that meant he wanted her to come outside, or whether it was an intimidation tactic, but she didn’t feel comfortable leaving her backpack unattended with him in the area.
She picked it up from where it was leaning against her bed and then turned to Naima.
“Hey Naima… I’m suddenly feeling a little queasy. I’m going to go find a leader to get some painkillers.”
“Oh no! Do you want me to go with you?”
“It should be fine. Just stay here and hold down the fort.” And then Keira burst out the room and took the stairs two at a time. It wasn’t dead quiet as she left the building they were staying in, as there were still other groups making their way back to the accommodation, but it was still empty enough that a suspicious man would’ve stood out. Yet again, however, he was nowhere to be seen. Keira began walking towards the spot where she last saw him to look around, but as she got closer, she saw an orange glow tucked down an alley between two dormitory buildings. She began to walk closer but then it disappeared again.
It seemed as though Gastele wasn’t the only one that was keen on playing these sorts of games, though Kheka was slightly less annoying about it because he didn’t appear behind her once they were in an adequately quiet area. He was just leaning against a lamppost on the edge of a completely abandoned car park. When Keira got close enough, he dropped the cigarette onto the ground and then put it out with the heel of his dress shoe. The he flashed her a wide smile that seemed a little off, maybe it was because it was too wide, or maybe because it was the stiffness. Keira still returned it though, and with it she pulled out her newly acquired knife.
“What do you want.”
“A pleasant conversation! Is that too much to ask?” Keira kept her distance. “Come now. You know that’s not going to do much against me. Not only am I not beholden to the same squishy laws of biology, but I also know what they say about bringing a knife to a gun fight.” With that he reached his hand behind him and then pulled out a hand gun.
“Oh.” He smirked at Keira’s reaction before tucking the gun behind him again, with Keira following suit tucking the letter opener up her sleeve. He then clapped his hands together.
“So glad you could make it Keira. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Kheka’s tone was more than a little sarcastic, but Keira couldn’t find it in herself to be bothered by it.
“You wanted to talk to me. Specifically.”
“I know. I was playing a little game, being a tad coy. It’s something you should learn to do very well if you hope to get out of this operation in one piece.”
“Right… So, you know about what I’m supposed to do then?”
“Of course! While Gastele may be forbidden from giving out such information to anyone, the same cannot be said for me.”
“Oh, so she’s allowed to tell anyone but me the full story? That’s fun.”
“Now, now. Don’t get too upset. It’s technically a handicap more for others than for yourself, and it is only one of many she has set up in this race.”
“Excuse me, is this a race?!”
“Did Gastele not mention it? Ah, well. It doesn’t matter too much. You’re on a fairly tight time frame, and while your enemy may have the advantage of being there longer and more familiar with the supernatural, you do have some significant advantages over them. Not to mention that those handicaps are nasty.”
“She did not mention any of that. Only that I have to get something for her and the only clues I get are these!” Keira held up the crumpled piece of paper Gastele gave her. “And apparently literally anyone could fill me, or the opponent, in on the missing information.”
“Gastele isn’t allowed to give any information out; in fact you have our roles reversed. This was originally my… request.”
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“If you have all the information, and this was your idea, then why do you need me to go and do it for you?”
“Please. You should be grateful! If it weren’t for me, Gastele would have you on a far nastier mission. And I didn’t need you specifically, I just needed someone to nip into the fey realm, get what I wanted and then get out again. Gastele was my original choice, but she’s persona non grata there. Hence.” Then he made a circle gesture around Keira.
“You still haven’t told me why you don’t go and get it yourself. Is it that hard to get into the realm?”
“No. Due to its nature it’s the easiest to access out of all of them, but it also makes it the most awkward to access for me, personally.” Keira waited for him to elaborate, but it seemed like he wanted her to prompt him. She sighed.
“And what nature would that be?”
“Great question! Tell me, what do you know about Morsemt’s Lotus?”
“The lotus is the symbol of Morsemt, who represents death. The afterlife according to Furdanism is a stream that leads to a vast oasis populated by lotuses each representing the memories and experiences of humans past. So I would guess it’s the lotus that holds Morsemt’s memories.”
“Close enough. The main point is that it’s a very powerful artifact that the fey are currently using to maintain they’re little realm. However, it’s not enough to make it another plane of existence entirely. It’s balanced precariously on top of your own and as such changes to the whims of your own… and anything really. Planes like that are extremely fluid. Very powerful fey can stop the movement and set up their own little empires and courts, like weights on moving fabric, but the in between is downright impossible to navigate without some assistance. More importantly, it puts them on the fragile side. Some of them can act quite well as intermediators between some of the more solid planes of existence, like a piece of cloth stretched between two cliffs. Even though I might damage their reality, I can travel there. Now the fey plane isn’t a bridge between two others, it’s like a flag that waves freely in the wind. If I were to travel there, not only would I fall straight through it, I would probably take the entire plane with me. And while that would be hilarious, I’m enjoying the current status quo.”
“Okay. So, the clue I’ve gotten is ‘reach into nature’s heart’ and given how much you’ve talked about the fey realm I’m guessing it has something to do with that. Does it have a centre where the flower is kept? And how would I get to the fey realm?”
“To get into the fey realm would usually be difficult for non-fey, however the stars have quite literally aligned and the fey realm’s main connection with ours, Junein Forest, is currently undergoing a massive ley line convergence. Merely going off of the beaten path would likely result in a few wayward souls if certain measures aren’t in place. As for where the flower is kept… It’s not the centre in a traditional sense of the word. As I have mentioned before, the fey world is fluid. So while the place where Morsemt’s Lotus is kept will remain solid due to the sheer amount of power there, the path there will be ever changing. Fortunately, you are more equipped to navigate it better than usual due to your…” Kheka tilted his head down to Keira’s hand, “situation.”
“I don’t know how to use it, and I also don’t want to use it. You know that if I start to it will slowly corrupt me.”
“Oh please. No one cares about that. And depending on who you are as a person, it might be a good thing! Think about it. The more it infects your soul, the more power you can wield. Doesn’t that sound like a fun time?”
“I like my humanity! I want nothing more that to be rid of this and the sooner the better.” Kheka snorted.
“Boring. You’re just another pawn in the game, then. Focus on completing your task first, then maybe you’ll find a way to remove that little blemish. In the meantime I wouldn’t shy away from giving a few nudges with that power. It takes a lot to corrupt a human soul, especially with something so similar in nature. You’re purposely shooting yourself in the foot for no reason if you don’t use all of the tools at your disposal.”
“I’ll think about it. If that’s everything-“
“Not quite. You’ve got a little something in your bag, haven’t you.” Keira frowned and then took off her backpack. She rummaged around, taking out a few things like her hoodie and the block of wood belonging to Darian Moss so she was able to get to the things she tucked away at the bottom. Kheka snorted when she took the block of wood out, but other than that he stayed blissfully quiet. Until she got to the wooden box that contained the little black marble from the small, decimated village. He immediately took it out of her hand and gave it a once over.
“You could sense that?”
“Of course. While the box hides it well, it still wasn’t designed for whatever is inside it.” With that he then grabbed the lid and before Keira could say that it was locked for everyone but Gastele, it flipped open with a crack. She stared speechless as Kheka took the small marble from its rest and rolled it over his fingers. “Hm. It does have similar elements though, no wonder Gastele thought it an appropriate temporary solution.”
“How-“
“Shush now. I’m working.” He then lifted the box and Keira watched in horrified awe as the markings around the outside shifted and the box made pained creaking noises as the etchings drifted into their new positions. Once he seemed satisfied with the results he hummed and then put the marble back into the box and clicked it shut.
“What did you do?”
“Well the first major change of this new and improved box is that now you should be able to open it whenever. The second is that I’ve completely masked the power that it gives off. You’ll be going into multiple hostile territories soon, and all of them would have been able to tell what was in there and paint a target on your back.”
“What about this?” Keira gestured to the mark on her wrist. “Won’t this put a target on my back too?”
“While that is more advanced than it would be had Palotl not used your body as a conduit, it is still weak enough that I was barely able to pick it up. When I say you don’t have to worry about little usages of power pushing along the corruption, I was being serious. It takes a long time. They won’t pick it up as long as you keep the mark hidden. Or tell everyone that it’s a tattoo.”
“I’m underage. There’s no way they’d believe me.”
“I’m sure you’ll come up with a better excuse. Now, while it has been mildly disappointing talking to you, we will be meeting again in the future. Enjoy your camp.” He then gave her a dismissive wave and walked down the road that led from the car park to the main road. Keira sighed and opened her phone to see multiple worried texts from Naima. There were a few issues in terms of opportunities for properly executing this plan. There was a permanent buddy system rule in place when they were on camp, and Keira didn’t think she could get away with sneaking out every night to do her searching while going around the camp with Naima. Scratch that, she didn’t even know where she should be looking. Would it be best to just treat it like a vacation until something came up? But what if she ran out of time?
These were the sorts of thoughts plaguing her mind as she walked back to the shared dorm and gave some half hearted explanation to Naima on how she was feeling better. One thing remained certain in Keira’s mind however, Naima couldn’t know.