My body is my own again. This is what, like the third- fourth time I haven’t been able to control it? Well, even once is one too many. The first time was with Stupid Boy and his puppet strings, and the next few were because of this fuck face who is leering at me right now. Leeches are seriously the worst.

This dingus is sitting on a tall silver stool at the end of my bed. Not beside me like a normal person. I know I’m in a hospital but I’m not a diseased person. Ya jerk.

Hm, actually, considering the angle, this must be a power move. He’s sitting as if he’s perched at the head of a very long dining table, the kind that rich people have, to fit all their store-bought friends. But it’s not a dining table though, it’s just a bed. Old habits die hard, I guess.

He’s not treating me like I’m diseased, he’s just treating like I’m worth less than he is.

Wow. That’s, that’s so much better.

I hate this guy.

Ugh, whatever. Let’s focus on what’s important. If I overheard their little scuffle right, I was in a coma for two weeks apparently? Are you serious? Aw, man. Just how much shit did I miss out on? I have’ta call Chayla later. And was I really falling in that weird place for two whole weeks? I know it felt like a long time, and I knew it was a long time, but that takes the cake.

Honestly I’m surprised I wasn’t assassinated in my sleep. There’s no way these morons would be able to protect me from the baddies that long on their own. That must be why Nana was here.

Good job, Nana! Che-yeah! But why didn’t you take me with you..

Sigh.

One thing I’ve decided is that I hate not being in control of my body. I think that’s pretty normal. Also, not something the average person has to think about, but this is me. So it is.

All I know is the next person who tries to control me in any way is getting added to my Shit List. I will hate them for life. No exceptions. No forgiveness. Straight. On. The. List.

It’s been a few minutes already since Spencer said we had to talk. But my bodily controls came back slowly, and this vamp hasn’t said a word. It’s a little awkward? I guess he’s being polite and waiting for me to get situated. My, how pleasant. The epitome of an English gentleman.

Not.

My pillow is propped against the metal headboard, and I’m propped up against that, but there’s still a chill from it running down my back. My legs are still tingling, and I don’t think I could hold onto anything very well right now, or walk with any dignity, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m back. Which is a very good thing, because there are a lot of things I need to do. There’s literally so much. Even without the additions from Mister Key there was still so many things. Now there’s even more.

Not the least of which is-

“Kara.”

Hm? An irritating voice calls out from in front of me. The voice sounds as irritated as I feel. What does he have to be mad about?

“Are you paying attention?”

“Huh? Were you talking?”

Oh, I guess he wasn’t being as polite as I thought. You’d think someone who’s lived a long time would have more patience with patients. Nana did call him an Ancient Bane. Whatever that is. I think it’s a fair assumption that this freak is pretty old. Ancient even.

Get it? Cause-

“Did you hear anything I just said?”

Interrupted again. I hate that. Go away.

“Sorry, I wasn’t listening.” What’s a good excuse? “I was trying to imagine you with a personality.” Yeah, that one’s good. Excellent job, me.

Yikes. One his creepy, black eye veins just bulged a little. That’s so gross. Why are Shifters so disgusting? First that Ice Doctor and now this? If I become one of these freaks properly, am I gonna have some gross thing like that on my face? Heavens forbid. I think I might rather die.

No, scratch that. I like living. Plastic surgery. There we go.

Ah.. I don’t think he liked my clapback. I don’t think he likes me at all. Ugh, then why is he always hanging around? It’s too bad Mister Key can’t recharge by how mad I make other people instead. His juice would never run out.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I doubt you said anything important. Hey, speaking of important things we could talk about, what’s the story between you and Nana? And is she really gonna start a war because I’m dying?”

“There’s no story there. As I was trying to say-”

“No, no, no, don’t fuck with me, Spencer.” Another vein bulges and his nostrils flare because I didn’t call him a Lord and bruised his ego. “See that? Exactly that, you were calling Nana by her first name, and she called you by, I guess that was your first name, and you didn’t do the whole angry vampire face thing when she disrespected you. So don’t go telling me there’s ‘no story.’ I thought you freaks wanted me to trust you? Then you gotta stop lying, for starters. We’ve already gone over this. I really really don’t like repeating myself. You know I still have a throat injury, right?”

He blinks, slowly, twice, before speaking again. He appears calm as ever, but I think I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

“The story isn’t between me and your grandmother. It is between her husband and me. And it isn’t my story to tell. If you want to know about it so badly, then you can bother him about it.”

“Uh, my grandfather is dead. Super dead. Like, died before I was born, dead.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Then how do expect me to- never mind.” I’m not going to get anything out of him about that, it appears. I’ll just ask Nana when she comes back. Hmph, think you can hide your dirty past from me? Think again, loser. “So… are you freaks really okay with Nana starting a war?”

He… he tsked. This bastard just tsked at me!

“Your grandmother has always been a little… intense. The truth is there won’t be a third world war- Now, now let me finish- there won’t be a third war because the second war never ended. To be fair, technically the first one never did either. And the first wasn’t the first at all. All that is happening now is a… ramping up, as you kids say. This war of ages is reaching a critical point, a climax if you will, and the ending to the conflict will eventually, finally, be realized. Our denouement.”

Uh… the first war never ended, and it wasn’t even the first war? Did he just say that? So what, humans have been fighting each other since the dawn of time? Pfft, who would believe-

Oh. Yeah... Okay, I guess that tracks.

Ugh. He just fucking- he just snapped his fingers at me like I’m a waitress and his ketchup is missing. This fucker-

“Don’t wander off. Focus. I have a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it before the others discover you’re awake.”

Uh… why does that sound kinda ominous?

And the fact I just now noticed how he keeps glancing at the door is not helping dissipate this ominous atmosphere.

“Now, because of all… this, alliances are shifting, old enemies have been defeated, new ones are emerging, and many things that were once hidden will now be brought into the light. These words probably don’t mean much to you right now, but you can’t remain ignorant forever. The most important thing for you to understand is that the war never ended. It is only changing. And don’t worry, it won’t have you as an epicentre. You are a little more important that I thought you were, but not that important.”

My back is steadily getting colder. I haven’t been enjoying my more recent conversations with people. I should go back to never talking to anyone. Those were the days…

“You’re wandering again.”

“And you’re monitoring me again. Thought we’d discussed this.”

“I don’t need to use my abilities to know when you get lost. You have a stupid look on your face when you get distracted.”

You- your whole face is stupid! Your whole families’ faces are stupid- stupid head!

Breathe, Kara, Breathe. Hoo…

“What you’re telling me is that all these decades of peace were just fake?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Yes. And the brief time of relative peace that you’ve grown up with is going to end soon. We are going to enter another long period of strife.”

“But we just had strife. Seventy years ago. Wasn’t the second war said to be the war to end all wars?”

“A lot of things were said back then. Many of them untrue. Your current predicament is proof of that.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that, at least to the regular lucky people who don’t know any of this bullshit, my Nana is going to start World War Three and you didn’t even try to stop her.”

“Madame Delores is merely one of may moving pieces, and part of only one small battlefront. This war won’t be as simple as any previous. There are… new players this time. The revolutionary flames would have still been lit if your Nana wasn’t so hotheaded. Someone else somewhere else would have lit the same match.”

“You say that but you didn’t even try. How could you just give up on peace like that?” It’s peace, damn it. Doesn’t everyone want that?

“Naïve. Childish. This world has never known true peace. And it never will.”

Woooow. And I thought I was a pessimist.

“Make no mistake, no one can stop this war from coming. Not even me. It has been the destined ending since the beginning of everything.”

“Um, Mister Spencer Lord Sir, are you seriously trying to convince me that a bunch of angry jungle cats rebelling was predicted from the birth of the universe?”

Because I just don’t buy it. No can do.

“Not from the birth of the universe. Just from the birth of us. From the moment of Advent, when the fate of two worlds merged and their original destinies diverged and collapsed, there were only ever two possible endings for this world. For both worlds.”

Okay. Whoa. The feeling of the room just changed. And his eyes are scary. But they’re not angry. His gaze is hard, not sharp like it is normally. It’s a difficult to describe feeling. He looks like a man who fought many battles only to walk away after realizing he was just punching cotton, or screaming pointlessly at an incoming tide, the entire time. A stubborn defeat.

Okay, maybe it’s not so difficult to describe.

The look in his eyes is scaring me more than almost anything has before this.

Because that’s the look of inevitable hopelessness.

Just what kind of war is coming, exactly?

And why does it look like we’ve already lost?

“You-” my throat suddenly went dry- “You said there was two. War is just one. What’s the other ending? And why didn’t that happen?”

Really now, so unlucky.

“You misunderstand. Both endings would still result in this war. It’s what comes after that, if anything, that is still up for debate.”

Then why is your stupid, unnerving expression saying ‘oops, looks like fate has already been decided.’

If there’s only one real ending, then just fucking say that. It’s not hard. It’s even less words. Idiot.

This- this emotionless robot just sighed. Only I’m supposed to do that. Oh god, the world really is ending-

“Defeat and acceptance can often appear similar. I wouldn’t expect a Lost One such as yourself to understand any of this. Not right away. You may have been born into this world, but you were not raised in it.”

“I was raised just fine, thanks. I’m glad I was raised human.”

“See that. That is part of your problem. You’re still thinking in terms of us and them, with your ‘us’ being human, and your ‘them’ being Mutants. But this battle isn’t going to be fought between humans and Mutants.”

“But both of those wars were between humans and Mutants, weren’t they? Don’t tell me even that is wrong. And you even said that the two worlds-”

Wait. Two worlds. Advent. Merged. Shit. He was never talking about-

“You said the Advent changed the fate of two worlds, but I’m getting the feeling you weren’t talking about humans and shifters and their ilk.”

“You do catch on quickly; I’ll give you that. That is correct, Miss Lowe. Because in this war Shifters and ‘our ilk’ will share the same fate as ‘humans’ because, like many Sapiens, you seem to have forgotten, we are human.”

“Right. Yeah. Of course. I’m not a racist. You know what I meant. But um, just for clarification then, what did you mean?”

“I was talking about Earth and Pangea. Obviously.”

Oh fuck. I knew it. How did I forget about a whole other planet-dimension-thing? Oh shit this is so much bigger and worse than I thought.

And despite rudely dropping so many bombs on me outside of direct combat this guy is still as calm as ever. He’s even crossed his legs and folded his hands casually over his knee while looking at me like he’s looking at a child. An annoying child.

I’m not a kid. I’m a minor. They’re not the same.

I really hate this guy.

“How much do you know about the Advent? I’m not current on the modern Sapiens curriculum.”

“Ha. Ha. You realize I’ve lived here for two years so at this point any failings in my education are completely the fault of the Council of Evil, on which you serve. Particularly since you’ve been spying and manipulating me the entire time.”

I shrug and smile at him, but I’m not smiling.

“There’s no need for one of your tantrums.”

Man, this chat is taking forever. When he said ‘we need to talk’ all cryptic-like before I didn’t realize just how much talking he was gonna do. Why can’t I ever get him to talk this much about stuff I actually wanna know? Dick.

“I just know that Earth and Pangea collided ten thousand-ish years ago and that caused all the supernatural things to happen, Mutants, Beasts, and all that other stuff. The collision thing or whatever is called the Advent.”

“Interesting and accurate word choice. Some incorrect information in there but it’s workable. Now, let me ask you this: in your, admittedly limited experience and knowledge, when two objects of equal force collide as you put it, under great and equal force, what do you suppose would happen?”

I don’t want to answer that because that would require thinking about that and I don’t wanna.

“Think about it. Would those two objects escape unscathed, or would there be some degree of damage? How about long-term effects?”

I don’t like any of the words he’s using nor the order in which he’s arranged them. First Mister Key, and now Spencer. Can people please stop pushing the fact that the apocalypse is imminent in my face?

How am I supposed to ignore it, then?

“Just what are you trying to say?”

“I’m explaining to you why I didn’t try. I’m explaining to you why it is completely pointless to do so. For me, or you, or anyone. What do you think Bubbles are, Kara? They’re wounds. Grievous, bleeding, wounds. Both of our worlds have been slowly but surely falling apart for ten thousand years. Ever since the collision. The Advent can’t be undone. The only way for our two worlds to survive is for only one world to survive. End the collision. Clear a path. It was never Sapiens versus Mutants. It has always been Earth verses Pangea. And Earth was never as well equipped to handle supernatural elements. Magic was in limited supply here and was never meant to be so prevalent. It’s a common misconception that there was no magic at all prior to Advent. Worlds can’t exist without at least a little magic. Now. Since I’m sure you were paying attention, do you know what all that means?”

“Um… bad… things?”

“It means that if I were a betting man, Miss Lowe, I wouldn’t be putting any money on us.”

Great. Awesome. Wonderful. I have only entered Mutant society for less than a month and it’s already a sinking ship. Fucking nine hells.

“How is there not any panic about this?” Or cults? You’d think there’d be a cult or five.

“Because this information is limited by hierarchy.”

“Uh.. then why the fuck do I know about it?”

“You shouldn’t.”

“I ask again: Why. THE FUCK. Do I know about it?”

“Because I told you.”

I’m gonna hit ‘im. Just once. One good clocking. Right to the noggin. Just one time.

Breathe. You can barely move right now. Breathe. You can kill him later. There’s plenty of time.

Well, not plenty because the world is ending and apparently, I needed to know that. But there’s enough time for murder. There’s always enough time for murder.

“You seem pretty chill about all of this. Apocalyptic bullshit aside, do you honestly believe this Third Eye gang is just gonna give up their authority? Just like that?” I snap my fingers annoyingly at him as payback for earlier and look at him dubiously.

There’s no way this doesn’t all blow up in our faces somehow. Mostly my face. And I like my face.

“Of course not. But the world is a very different place than it was seventy years ago. Whatever happens it won’t be as dramatic as you’re thinking of.”

“Get out of my head, Spencer.” God how long has he been reading me? Since I woke up? Asshole. Didn’t I literally just say I don’t like repeating myself? And I know I’ve said this before.

“I’m afraid, for the time being, I cannot abide by our earlier agreement. You might be feeling fine right now, but your body is not stable. And your mind is not stable. To prevent another medical emergency, I need to monitor your condition, and provide immediate intervention when necessary. If not me, then another member of my family will need to. There aren’t many who can do this for you. While I am not intentionally being intrusive to your private thoughts, as I said before, you are very loud.”

I sneer at him. “Don’t blame me for your lack of ability.” I adjust the blankets on my legs. It’s such a thin blanket, yet it feels heavy. Or maybe that’s just my heart. “If you lack the capability then I won’t be holding up my end, either.”

“That is your decision to make. I can’t force you to do anything.”

I laugh lightly. It doesn’t hurt my throat anymore. It seems I healed a lot during my… nap.

“Our interactions in my Dreamscape would suggest otherwise.”

“That was education. And it was much milder than what other Mutant children would experience from the time they are aware of the world around them. Your training is late, and lacking, and without it you won’t survive.”

“Aren’t we all just gonna die anyway?”

“I was under the impression that despite that you would want to live as long as possible and die on your own terms. Hence the education you’ve received.”

“Don’t be a smartass. This isn’t education, it’s brainwashing. You’re all trying to make me conform to your principles, but they aren’t principles I share. I’m not evil.”

Spencer suddenly laughs. It’s light, and cold, and rather than being joyful, it sounds vexed. Exasperated. And forced. As with any show of emotion from him. Very forced. His eyes are looking down on me, and not because he’s taller.

“You have no idea what true evil is. You are ignorant, rude, willful, and stubborn. Even if you feel justified in your actions, what does that matter if those actions get you killed? Or endanger those around you? You’re delusional- claiming you want to live, and then pushing away and insulting the only people who are able and willing to secure that life you’re so desperately clinging to.”

His voice is as cold and monotone as ever, but his words are more… spirited than I’m used to. But I don’t care. How dare he call out my attitude after all I’ve experienced at the hands of these freaks and their evil cronies?

“That’s not fair, you have no right to criticize anything I do. Not after what happened to me. You bitches all owe me. Why should I have to ‘make nice’ with the very people who-”

“Life. Is not. Fair! Fairness is not one of the universal laws. Nor is justice a pillar for existence. The only assurance we have in life, is death.”

I’m stunned into silence. I’ve never heard Spencer raise his voice. He always talks in a steady, droning tone, with no emotion. Even when he emphasizes a word it is subtle. There’s nothing subtle about this.

Before I’ve recovered from this new development, and the realization that Spencer has a normal vocal range, he suddenly stands.

“Get up.”

“What?”

“You require further education.”

I brace myself for whatever torture he’s decided to punish my insolence with but when I open my eyes again Spencer is now standing at the door to this ward. His arms are crossed, and his eyes are narrowed.

“Get up and follow me. You have five seconds. Or I will assist you.”

Fuck.

“Five. Four…”

Shit on a stick.

“Three-”

“I’m coming!”

He’s seriously gonna fucking puppetize me. I’m gonna kill this bastard someday, I swear it. I will.

Moving is slow and difficult. My whole body is stiff. As if I have long wooden boards tied to all my limbs. But I somehow manage to get my feet on the ground and move forward…

…To wherever it is this man is taking me.