Jason

Another day on the road.

Jason supposed he was getting used to it. He was used to the linecar track above them, silent and still like the monorail at an abandoned amusement park. He was used to Kelsam making pleasant conversation while Esar sulked and Naomi ran and jumped like a hyperactive toddler. He was used to the alternation of forest and farmland, the monotony broken occasionally by a village or town.

But he’d never seen anything like this before.

“What the hell is that?” Jason asked. Straight ahead of them, a wall of golden fog stretched across the horizon, like a curtain of mist drawn across the sky.

“That is the barrier between us and the Asprai enclave,” Esar said.

Jason tried to make sense of that. “It’s just . . . there, huh? And there’s people living on the other side?”

“Presumably,” Esar replied.

“So what happens if you touch it?” Naomi asked, no doubt because she was itching to try.

“Nothing happens. You just can’t get through. Not even you, Naomi. Do you think that people didn’t try everything they could when those barriers showed up? There were Rispara back then, too.”

“How long ago was that?” Naomi asked.

“About six hundred years ago,” Esar said.

“Seriously? Those things have been there for six hundred years? And nobody’s come through?” Naomi asked.

“How do you know anybody’s still alive in there?” Jason added. It just didn’t add up, that there were these strange islands cut off from the world around them on the map.

“Because people have come through,” Kelsam said.

“Rarely,” Esar added. “There’s the official gateway for when they can’t avoid dealing with us, and they exile people to live among us as a punishment for certain crimes. I’ve also been told that there is a thriving black market in the Enclaves for certain Elorhan appliances. I met a father and daughter who were making a handsome profit smuggling various items into the Enclave down in the Pardrials. The border wardens are a bit more . . . relaxed in the mountains, especially if you make it worth their while to look the other way.”

Jason shook his head, squinting up at the misty golden wall. They’d come as close as they would to it, now, as both the road and the linecar track curved to follow around the perimeter. The forest had been cut away from the barrier, leaving a wide open space to either side.

Something large swooped out of the trees to his left. It flapped over the road and veered to avoid the golden mist, and the sunlight caught its feathers, making them ripple with iridescent light.

“There’s another one of those weird birds,” Jason said, pointing.

Everyone turned to look, watching it fly on ahead of them as if it, too, was following the road to the same destination.

“That’s not a bird,” Esar said. “It’s a construct.”

“I’ll follow it,” Naomi cried, dashing off after the construct bird.

“A construct?” Jason’s stomach turned over. One of those monsters, here? They all quickened their steps, though they had no hope of catching up with Naomi, and Jason really thought they ought to have been running in the other direction.

“Are you sure? It doesn’t look—” Kelsam began.

“I’m sure,” Esar said. “It’s not one of the sealed creatures, but I am certain it was a construct. They’re all made of that same pseudophysical material.”

“What’s it doing here?” Jason asked.

Esar didn’t answer his question, but fired another instead. “Did you say another weird bird? You’ve seen one before?”

“Back in Norana,” Jason said. “I thought it was just a bird. All the birds look weird here, how was I supposed to know—”

“Come to think of it, I might have seen it too,” Kelsam said. “I didn’t think it was a construct, either, just a big raven.”

Naomi came running back, not even winded from her sprint. “It flew way up in the sky and got away. But—”

“It didn’t attack. It must be watching us.”

“Esar—”

Esar scowled. “Did you see it too? Has everyone seen this bird following us except for me?”

“Yes, but—” Naomi began again.

“Why would it be watching us? Is someone controlling it?” Kelsam asked.

“Listen to me!” Naomi shouted. “Something’s on fire up ahead, look! You can see the smoke!” She pointed to where a trail of smoke rose above the trees.

“Just because it didn’t attack us doesn’t mean it didn’t attack someone,” Esar muttered. “Let’s go.”

Kelsam, Esar and Naomi all ran ahead. Jason couldn’t keep up with their supernatural pace, and wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do when they arrived anyway, so he barely quickened his steps. Just when he thought he’d made peace with his situation, some monster had to show up and make things even worse. It was going to take a miracle for him to make it home at this rate.

What was that sound in the woods? Jason looked around, trying to see what was coming toward him, crashing through the brush, crunching leaves and snapping branches. There was nowhere to run, he was up against that weird misty wall, and Naomi and the others were already so far ahead. Would they even hear him if he screamed?

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Jason braced himself for something out of one of Esar’s worst nightmares. It wasn’t a creature that came running at him, though.

It was a girl.

But was that any cause for relief? She was headed straight for Jason, and though she appeared to be fleeing in terror it felt a little too much like an assault. The fact that she was wearing a hooded cloak, concealing everything but her face, seemed rather suspicious. But Jason was too shocked to step aside until she collided with him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

“I’m so glad I found you!” she said breathlessly, looking up at him with wide blue eyes. She was probably about his age, maybe a little younger, and . . . was that blond hair underneath her hood?

“Me?” Jason stammered, not sure how to react to this sort of greeting.

“Is it you?” She took a step back and squinted at him, tilting her head. “It looks like you. I think it is you. But we can figure that out later. Your timing is terrible. The Knights of Galibasti have followed the rebels to this town. The rebels have moved on but the knights are still here and they are very unhappy.”

There was something odd about the way she spoke. Jason could understand her, the attuner translated her words, but the cadence and phrasing were unlike anyone else he’d ever heard.

And he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “Knights? We saw a construct—”

“A construct?” She shook her head. “There is no seal nearby. This is human destruction.”

A whiff of smoke reached Jason’s nostrils. More destruction, and more death. Could he make it home before it caught up with him?

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Oh! I suppose you wouldn’t know that, would you? My name is Tlaya.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Right now? I think we should go to the Sanctuary to get help. They will need healers. I know a shortcut, follow me.”

Jason looked back at the rising smoke. That way was danger, and probably nothing he could do. They had been planning to spend the night at the Sanctuary anyway. If this mysterious girl was actually leading him there, and not into some kind of trap . . .

That was stupid, though. Why would anyone want to trap him? He wasn’t of any value to anyone. Naomi was the important one. Nobody cared what happened to him, except maybe Kelsam.

Jason followed Tlaya into the woods. She didn’t dart away too quickly, as if she knew that Jason couldn’t keep up with a vitricity-boosted pace. But how could she know that? Why had she come running at him and hugged him like a long-lost friend, when he’d never seen her before in his life?

“I . . . think maybe you mistook me for somebody else,” he said. “Who were you looking for?”

“Someone who could help me,” Tlaya said. She hopped nimbly over a fallen log, then waited for Jason to climb over it with far less grace.

“I don’t know how much help I can be to anyone,” he said.

“Because you don’t have vitricity?” Tlaya asked.

“How did you know that?” No one else had guessed that Jason had no vitricity. He hadn’t thought it was something people could detect just by looking at him.

“Because you’re not from Elorhe, are you?” she said. “No one has vitricity where you’re from.”

“Hold up!” Jason stopped in his tracks, and Tlaya turned back to try to drag him by the arm.

“Come on, we really should go get help—“

“You can’t—just—say things like that and expect me to trust you and follow you wherever you’re going!” Jason’s breath came faster. He looked back over his shoulder—could he find his way back to the others, or was he already lost?

Tlaya made a face. “I know, I know, it’s really bad timing. I’m sorry. But it is important that we go get help, really.”

“How do you know who I am and where I came from?” Jason demanded.

“I’m sorry!” She waved her hands in front of her, blushing. “I promised my dad that I wouldn’t tell you—I promised that I would keep some secrets. So I’m not really sure what I can say and what I can’t. I hope I didn’t say too much already. I didn’t realize you were going to ask me so many things.”

Jason stared at her and tried to figure out what she was up to. Was the whole flustered and embarrassed thing just an act to make him feel sorry for her, or what? But his brain kept getting stuck on how strange the encounter was, how strange Tlaya herself was. Even in a world full of strange people and things she was so, so strange. Maybe even stranger than Naomi. What is it about me that attracts all the weird girls?

Tlaya seemed to wilt under his gaze. She squeezed her eyes shut—holding back tears?—then opened them again to look up beseechingly at him. “It is important. You have to believe me. I will try to figure out what I can tell you to make you understand but right now we need to get to the Sanctuary and get help.”

“Fine. To the Sanctuary,” Jason said. “You’d better be taking me to the Sanctuary.” Or what? It wasn’t like Jason had any way to back up his unstated threat.

But Tlaya brightened a bit. “Okay then, come on! You’ll see, it’s not far.”

“Do you know my name?” Jason couldn’t stop himself from asking. So many questions were churning in his brain as he followed Tlaya through the woods.

“Um, why don’t you tell me?” she asked.

“I want to know if you know it. Since you know so much about me already.”

“I . . . don't . . . know,” she said, a little too cautiously. “At least, not for sure. But . . . I think . . . it’s Jason.”

Jason cursed. “What the hell?! You can’t—this is too creepy!”

How could she know? How could this girl know, when Esar, the bloody prophet or Tresuan or whatever who could see the future, hadn’t even seen him coming?

“Listen, okay? I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to tell you, but I want you to know. I think you should know. So just—just promise me that you won’t tell anyone else, okay? You have to keep it a secret.”

“I don’t want to promise that when I don’t know what the secret is.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” Tlaya said. They’d come upon an overlook, where the ground sloped away to where a stream trickled below. “Look, see? This stream leads to the Sanctuary of Rhadasy. We’re almost there, and then you’ll see I wasn’t lying to you. I’m not a bad person. I just need help.”

“I don’t think you’re a bad person,” Jason said. Maybe he was a fool to feel sorry for her, but he didn’t think she meant him any harm. She was just . . . well, something wasn’t adding up.

He followed her alongside the stream for about half an hour, and though he’d built up some endurance in his travels on foot, trekking across the uneven terrain took more out of him.

“You have a different idea of what ‘almost there’ means than I do,” he said.

“But now we really are almost there!” Tlaya replied cheerfully. “Look, there’s the path, it goes right into the garden. Thank you for coming with me.”

At least she’s polite. I guess.

The woods turned into a stately garden, much like the one back in Norana. The Devoted sure did love gardening. It might have been nice to see one of those gardens when he was in the mood to appreciate it. Now all his attention was focused on not flying into a panic.

“Now, will you promise? Will you promise not to tell anyone?”

“Why can’t I tell anyone?”

Tlaya bit her lip. The girl’s mood could flip in a heartbeat from cheerful to deeply troubled. “Because if . . . someone . . . finds out I told you, they’ll hurt them. They’ll hurt my parents.”

Jason winced. “That sounds like a bigger problem than I can handle.”

“I know,” Tlaya said. “But, you don’t have to handle it!” She brightened again, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud.

“All right, I promise. I won’t tell anyone.” He had to know, and he didn’t see any other way around it.

Tlaya looked around, as if checking for eavesdroppers. She even looked up to check the sky. Did she know about the construct bird, too?

She spoke in a whisper, keeping her wide blue eyes fixed on his. “Okay, Jason, you see . . . I need your help because my dad is in trouble. And my dad—this is what you really must not tell anyone—my dad is your dad, too. His name used to be Matthew Nagy. But right now, there are other people who need our help more, and sooner. The hospital is this way.”

Jason barely heard what she said after his father’s name. He was sure his heart stopped beating for a moment. Could it really be true? Could this girl be his half-sister? That would explain her hair and eyes. Matthew Nagy had been a blue-eyed blond, and Jason hadn’t seen any other blondes in Elorhe.

But he had a much better reason to believe her than the way she looked. Because just now, when she told him they shared a father he hadn’t needed the current to understand her. She’d said it in English.