While the others discussed the defence of the Hall of Knowledge—ways to sabotage the remaining gargoyle at the entrance to drop on attackers, whether a group of wizards working together could possibly stand against Plavistalorik, and more—Akna sat by herself.

Mostly by herself, at any rate.

“I count as a person, don’t I?” Chica asked.

Akna looked around the room. Everyone else was too engaged in their planning to be looking in her direction. She looked at phantom Chica.

“Don’t think of me as a phantom. Please.”

Akna spoke as quietly as she could manage. “You’re a hallucination. A product of my mind.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’re even picking up on things I’m thinking. Or course you’re a product of my mind.”

“You believed it was me when you saw Zandrue earlier.”

Akna shrugged. “It was a hallucination.”

“You still believed because you knew it was possible I was still alive. You have to come find me, Akna. Only you can save me. The people here, they don’t want you. You’re just in their way. You know where you have to go to find me, don’t you?”

Akna shook her head. “No, how could I know that?”

Chica smiled at her. “Oh, come on. Of course you know. Think about it.”

Akna stared at her.

Chica ran her hand along the side of Akna’s face and behind her ear. “You’ll figure it out.” She stood up. “I have faith in you.” She walked across the large room towards the doors, nodding to Pedrin as she passed. He nodded back and then she was gone.

Akna buried her head in her hands. She couldn’t take much more of this. Never sleeping. Endless reminders of everything she’d done wrong. She wasn’t even sure how she’d managed this long.

Anita. That was how.

But Anita wasn’t here. Neither was Meleng.

And Chica…

Akna jumped to her feet.

Pedrin had seen Chica! He’d nodded to her.

Akna ran to where Pedrin was standing near the door. He was watching and listening to the others’ discussion, but not participating much. “The woman who just left. You saw her?”

“You mean Granita? Yes, of course I saw her. Why?”

“What does she look like?”

Pedrin squinted at her. “You saw her. She was talking to you.”

The woman was actually talking to her? “I was hallucinating again. I need to know what she looks like, so I can go after her and...and apologise.”

“Ah.” Pedrin scratched his neck. “Middle-aged Eloorin. Not very tall, though a little taller than you. Light brown skin, brown hair.”

“That describes a lot of people outside,” Akna said.

Pedrin grimaced. “Yes, sorry. If you’re quick, you can probably catch her before she leaves the building.”

Akna nodded. “Thanks.” She hurried out the door.

Akna found her in the entrance hall. At least, Akna assumed it was her. The woman still looked like Chica. She was walking towards the exit, her long hair lifting just a little in the draughty room.

What had this Granita person actually been saying, and what had she thought of Akna’s nonsensical responses?

“Hello?” Akna called out.

The woman stopped and turned. “Akna?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to apologise for sounding so odd. I don’t know what you know of me, but I’ve been suffering hallucinations. I thought you were my dead friend. You still look like her.”

“I am your friend, Akna,” the woman said.

Akna smiled and approached a little closer. Why couldn’t she see this woman for who she was? “That’s kind of you to say. My words must have been very strange to you. I thought I heard—”

“Akna, it’s me. Chicahua.”

Akna laughed nervously. “I’m still hearing her—the hallucination’s—words, not yours. Sorry.”

Chica—the woman—lowered and shook her head. “I’m glad, at least, you’re looking for me. You know where I am. You’ve just forgotten, but it’ll come to you soon enough.”

Akna put a hand over her mouth and looked away. “Gods, Chica, I wish that was true.”

“See you soon,” Chica said, and faded from view.

The hall was empty.

Akna choked. But there had been a real person behind the hallucination! Pedrin had seen her. What the fuck was going on?

* * * * *

Akna sat in the Council Chamber again, staring at the floor. Corvin was sitting beside her, a hand on her arm, but she was mostly ignoring him. She was trying to ignore everything.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Granita left Quorge...had to be ten years ago,” Ezmelda said. “We haven’t heard from her since.”

“That’s right,” Pedrin said. “But I could have sworn…”

“And you didn’t think seeing her was a little odd?” Zandrue said.

“I…” Pedrin was quiet a moment. “No, I didn’t. But…”

“Yes?” Zandrue prodded.

“I was thinking of her just a few minutes before. Something Ezmelda said during the discussions reminded me of her.”

“And this mentalist, whoever they are, drew on that thought,” Ezmelda said. “Such power. To appear as one person to Akna, another to Pedrin, and to hide from the rest of us.”

“But why appear as anyone to Pedrin?” Zandrue said. “Why not hide from him, too? If Nin-Akna is the target, why appear to anyone else?”

Akna looked up. “Because they’re playing with me. They’re trying to drive me crazy.”

Zandrue shrugged. “Yes, but—”

“What does it matter?” Akna pushed Corvin’s hand away and stood up. “They’re pretty much succeeding at it.”

Zandrue sighed. “I’m just trying to understand this person. The more we understand them, the more we can predict their next actions.”

“I’m much more concerned by the fact they just walked right in here,” Ezmelda said. She shook her head. “Such power.”

Zandrue began to pace back and forth. “Then we have to make uncovering this person one of our top priorities. We’ll never be able to defend this place otherwise.”

Akna rolled her eyes. “No kidding.”

Zandrue waved her hand. “True, it’s obvious, but sometimes, you have to start at the obvious to reach the unobvious. Now, we know this person must be a mentalist, but there are no mentalists remaining in Quorge—not openly, at least. This person has targeted Felitïa and Nin-Akna. Why? Let’s start there. Reasons to target Felitïa?”

“Because as a mentalist herself, Felitïa would be most suited to unmasking them,” Ezmelda said.

Zandrue passed Ezmelda and nodded. “Yes, but it’s also probably something to do with the whole Will-Breaker thing. Okay, what about Nin-Akna?”

“Less apparent,” Ezmelda said, “but probably something to do with her association with Felitïa.”

“She’s Felitïa’s friend,” Corvin said.

Zandrue circled around Corvin and Akna. “Exactly, and if we assume Felitïa is the primary target—no offence, Nin-Akna, but she probably is.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Akna said. “She probably is.”

“Assuming Felitïa’s the primary target, Nin-Akna is also a target because she could protect her somehow.” Zandrue stopped pacing. “But Nin-Akna’s a warrior. This is all mental stuff.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Ezmelda said. “Friends, particularly close friends, are more likely to get through to her, help her get past whatever’s been done to her.”

Zandrue nodded. “Makes sense. But why only the two of them? Felitïa has other friends here. Corvinian’s powers probably protect him, but what about Agernon?”

Agernon harrumphed.

“This person is powerful,” Ezmelda said, “but even powerful wizards have their limits.”

Zandrue smiled. “Okay, so is there any way to push this person beyond their limits? Wizards can burn themselves out, can’t they?”

Ezmelda nodded. “They can.”

Agernon chuckled. “A wizard that powerful isn’t likely to be tricked into overexertion.”

“Fair enough,” Zandrue said. “But it’s always something to consider. We still have to figure out who they are. They can’t be living in total seclusion. They must have contact with someone.”

“Doesn’t mean anyone they have contact with knows what they are,” Ezmelda said.

Zandrue groaned. “True.” She threw her hands up. “There has to be a way to find this person!”

They stood in silence awhile.

Chica wanted Akna to find her. Maybe that was what she should do, but not in the way Chica—or whoever she really was—meant. Maybe it was time to take direct action, rather than sitting around waiting. They’d wasted so much time over the last couple months, studying when they should have been acting. That was Felitïa’s mistake, and Akna’s mistake for going along with it.

Akna walked up to Zandrue. “There is a way.”

“Go ahead,” Zandrue said.

“Whoever it is was here today. Right?”

Zandrue nodded. “Seems like it.”

“Then we wait for it to happen again. I’m pretty sure most of my hallucinations are just that. I thought you were Chica, Zandrue. I thought Felitïa was Chica once. I see her at night when I sleep. But this person must be set up in some place where both Felitïa and I were regularly, which means the palace. Yet I’m here now, and have been for a while. That puts me far away. Mentalism doesn’t have an unlimited range, does it?”

Ezmelda shook her head.

“So this person must have to come to me from time to time to make sure all their spells or whatever are still functioning, or renew them, or something, right?”

Ezmelda nodded. “That would make sense.”

“Then someone needs to stay with me every minute of every day, and I will say when I’m having a hallucination. I will tell every bad dream, everything that looks weird. The other person can then tell if someone else is there and call the alarm.”

Zandrue stroked her chin. “Nice idea, but couldn’t our mentalist friend just hide themself from your watcher like they did with people here? They walked right into a room full of wizards and went completely unnoticed.”

“You said it yourself. There’s one person who is probably immune.” Akna took Corvin’s hand.

Zandrue smiled.

“But Corvinian didn’t notice anything just now,” Ezmelda said.

Agernon laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Ezmelda said.

“Because Corvinian spent his time napping while we were discussing defence, didn’t you, boy?”

Corvin lowered his head. “Yeah, but it was really boring and there was nothing for me to do.”

“Think you can stay awake for this, Corvinian?” Zandrue asked.

“If I have to, yeah.”

“You’ll need to be with Nin-Akna every moment, no exceptions. Never leave her side. Of course, you’ll need to sleep sometimes. It’ll have to be when Nin-Akna’s trying to sleep. We’ll figure out something to do then, but otherwise, no exceptions. Always by her side, even in embarrassing moments like when either of you have to pee. All the time.”

“I understand.”

Akna squeezed his hand. “What do you say, Corvin? Want to be my watcher?”

“You bet!”

“Corvin,” Zandrue said. “Cute. I like it.”

Akna took a deep breath. She hoped this worked, because if it didn’t, she feared she was going to go mad.