Chapter Eight: Double Vision

"When I hear someone sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’"

—Sydney Harris

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

—Confucius

7:34 PM, SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 6118 AD, V.E.O. ACADEMY, NEO TOKYO, JAPAN

Jerik strolled down the hall, studying the doors. C-680 was Tyra… C-682 was Lethya, and that one he really didn’t want… There it was, C-685. Good thing he’d programmed the door to let him in whenever he wanted in; mechanics happened to be his specialty, so it had been no great feat. He hit a few buttons on the keypad and the door whisked aside. The hallway was dark, but there was a steady thumping rhythm coming from within. Jerik wasn’t surprised.

As he took a step inside, the door closed and Tai flew up to him, wings beating at the air to keep him aloft. "Daddy’s real mad," he said matter-of-factly.

"Surprise, surprise," Maigo commented.

"Hey, Ander?" Jerik walked into the living room, only to find Ander beating the stuffing out of a punching bag. His eyes, unsurprisingly, were a sullen orange flecked with red. "Ander?"

"What do you want?" Ander snapped, eyes never leaving his target.

Jerik noted with interest that all of his blows were landing on one specific spot on the punching bag. Suspicious, he strode over, waited for Ander to stop pummeling it, and turned it to face him.

On the rough canvas surface was taped a sheet of paper bearing a stick figure holding an enormous soda and a goofy smile (the tongue and a tooth stuck out.) A few short lines were all the misfortunate scribble had for hair. Over its head was written, ‘BINKERY’.

"That’s sweet," Jerik remarked. "Actually, you know, that’s sort of an insult to the stick figure. And the pony."

Ander scowled. "So what." It wasn’t a question.

Suppressing a sigh, Jerik shifted his weight from one foot to the other. If they didn’t find a way to get Ander to apologize, the chances were that the lights would keep flickering over Lethya’s head as they had all through dinner. She hadn’t eaten with them either, another bad sign. On Jerik’s Scale of Likeliness to Smite Them and Bring Down Burny Pain, she was still a solid nine out of ten, and until that went down to about a four or five, he knew he wasn’t going to be sleeping well.

The trick would be getting Ander to apologize. He, Tyra, and Maientra were a few steps from sacrificing Binkery, making burnt offerings, and pouring libations at her door, though he’d pointed out that filling her room with smoke that smelled like burnt Binkery probably wouldn’t go over so well. But Ander…that was another matter entirely. In Ander’s opinion, Binkery was—apart from a ratty little weak-spined crap-for-brains mud-sucking nobody—entirely to blame, whereas he was guilty of nothing but playing the knight-in-shining-armor to Lethya and saving the Fair Damsel in Distress from Sigof, whilst the cowardly cur Binkery had been quivering in fear. Not only was Ander just the tiniest bit biased, but his memory was also just a teensy bit selective in that a) Binkery had been knocked out and b) Lethya was no Fair Damsel in Distress and could have blown Sigof up if so she had chosen.

But if there was one thing Jerik had learned in all of his years of friendship with Ander, it was that if Ander had made up his mind about something, he was right, curse it all…until he was forced to admit he was wrong. Frankly, Jerik had been surprised that Ander had accepted Lethya so quickly. Of course, it didn’t keep them from getting into arguments, and while them fighting was quality entertainment, he wasn’t too thrilled at the prospect of being smote.

"What…what are we going to do about Lethya?" he finally asked, voice tentative.

Ander’s eyes flicked over to him briefly, then went back to the stick figure he was pounding into oblivion. "I don’t know," he said darkly, "and I don’t care. It’s not my problem." He didn’t want to talk about this. At all. It was becoming clear to him that his feelings for Lethya were more than inconvenient. The notion of losing her to Binkery had only fueled the fire inside, and it was the fire itself that spurred this anger, because whenever it grew, it meant that it was easier for him to be burned.

As much as he hated to admit it, Ander was scared.

"But she kinda…hates us right now," Jerik pointed out. Great. Ander hadn’t even considered that they might have been in the wrong. This was going to be interesting.

"Why should I care?" he muttered.

Very rarely did it happen that Jerik spoke before thinking. Unfortunately, this was one of those times. "Because you’re in love with her."

Ander froze. Jerik paled. Tai and Maigo looked at them for a second, then hid under the table.

Very slowly, he turned to face Jerik, eyes turning blood red. "If you ever say that again, I will kill you," he said softly. "If you ever even hint that—"

"It’s true, and both of us know it," Jerik interrupted. Now that that was out, the only way to survive this intact was to make Ander own up to it. "You’re jealous, you idiot, that’s why there’s a picture of Binkery stuck on your punching bag—"

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"—for God’s sake, Ander, it’s not like it’s a horrible crime!"

"If you say one more word—"

"You’re not doing anything wrong, you imbecile! Laise’s gone and it’s time you moved on!"

In one swift motion, Ander seized Jerik by the front of the shirt and had him shoved against the wall, their faces only a few inches apart. "Don’t make me hurt you," he said, voice near a whisper. "But if you bring this up ever again, I swear I will."

"What are you so afraid of?" Jerik countered.

Ander stared at him, then let go. "Get out," he ordered, voice heavy as he turned away from Jerik. "Just go away."

For once, Jerik held his tongue. Maigo flew after him, and silence was left after the door opened, then closed again.

Only when the scent of his own blood stung his nose did Ander realize how tightly he’d been clenching his fists.

8:03 PM, SUNDAY, JUNE 6

Lethya looked up from her pile of notes, then pushed out her chair, got to her feet, and walked over to the door. "Who is it?"

"It’s me." That was Maia’s voice.

She glared at the door through the mediocre light of the narrow hallway. "Go away."

"Lethya—look—I’m sorry, alright?" Maia sounded frustrated. "I know we shouldn’t have followed you, but—can I come in, so I’m not apologizing to a door at least?"

She heaved a sigh, opened the door, and planted her hands on her hips. "Talk."

Maia took a step inside. "Remember all the times you bugged me and my boyfriend?" she asked. "You, Akio, and Rye wouldn’t let us have a second alone."

"But this is different!" Lethya argued. "You’re old! You’re supposed to know better!"

Maia, who had coughed at the implication that she was a fossil, now raised an eyebrow. "So were you, and that didn’t keep you unholy terrors from dumping buckets of ice water on us if we even held hands."

"All right, we’re even, then," she said grumpily. "But if you follow me again…"

"What, Binkery asked you out again?" Maia demanded, astonished. "The little runt’s got more nerves than I thought!"

Lethya looked sheepish. "Actually, um… I don’t think he’s going to ask me out again. Ever. The doctor said he lost three teeth from Sigof—they got them back in, though—and he’s pretty much avoiding me now." She didn’t mention that he had, in essence, bolted from the hospital room once he woke up, but she couldn’t blame him.

"You’re saying this like it’s a bad thing." Suddenly Maia straightened up. "That reminds me—school gets out in a week, and it won’t start up until September fourth. The refugee kids will be staying here, and anyone else who doesn’t have a home, like Jerik and Tyra and Ander, can stay here. Most of the teachers go home, because we hire another staff just to keep things under control over here."

"Where do you go?" Lethya asked curiously.

"That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve got an apartment near the Imperial Palace…" She paused, looking uncomfortable. "It’s not that big, but I’ve got a guest room…and if you want, you can come stay with me for the summer."

"Really?" Lethya blinked, surprised. "Yeah, that sounds great!"

"It does?" A grin spread across her face. "I thought you might want to stay here with your friends—"

Lethya snorted, face turning stormy. "Yeah. No."

"Hey." Maia leaned forward. "They weren’t trying to be mean, Lethya."

"Well, obviously they have no respect for me!" she exploded. "As if leaving me all alone so he could go play tonsil hockey with Laise wasn’t enough, he can’t even let me go out with someone else in peace!"

Maia looked at her strangely, then felt her forehead. "Are you coming down with something, kid? You just said Ander left you for Laise, and as ugly a reality as it is, she’s dead."

Lethya shook her head, nerves beginning to fray. "No she’s not, she’s alive. I—I don’t know how." The memory itself made her sick to her stomach. "I know she was supposed to have died a year ago—and even if she was reincarnated, she couldn’t have aged sixteen years in one—but I saw her—when I woke up on Saturn, Jerik was asleep in my room at the hospital, I went to go find Ander, and he was on the roof kissing Laise!"

"Lethya…" Maia began doubtfully.

She got an idea. "Look, there’s that spell we learned back in our time, the Witness spell, right?" It was a spell that allowed psymancers to create a visual representation of someone else’s memory, so everyone could see it. "Use it on me—just do it, I wasn’t wrong, I know it!"

Maia looked like she still didn’t believe her, but touched the side of Lethya’s head anyway. Lethya thought of that terrible moment, and slowly, a picture began to form between them. At the sight of Ander and Laise wrapped around each other, she averted her eyes, part out of embarrassment and part out of uncomfortable jealousy. It wasn’t right that Laise always got the one Lethya wanted.

"Oh my God," Maia said, dumbstruck. "She is back." For a moment, she could only stare at that image; then her eyes jerked to Lethya. It occurred to Maia, as she had already seen what was happening between Lethya and Ander, that this was most likely a less than cherished memory. "Lethya…"

"It’s fine," Lethya said, her voice flat but the tremors in it giving her away—that and her eyes were bright silver, dotted in dark blue. "When—when I—she doesn’t feel right, there’s something wrong—" She bit her lip, tears beginning to form, and when she looked at her older sister, she only saw understanding. It completely undid her; she buried her face in her hands, shaking. "It’s not fair!"

Maia put her arms around her and let Lethya cry into her shoulder. "I know," she said, not sure what to think. Laise was back, true, but like Lethya had said, something was painfully not right about it. And it was certain that there would be many more problems created by her reappearance, particularly if she were—tainted, or corrupted, or whatever was wrong with her. Not only would there be a struggle over Ander himself, but in the end it would be Ander who decided where his loyalties lay, and that in itself would inevitably be a disaster. Lethya and Laise had never openly competed, or even shown any jealousy in front of each other—they had always gotten along very well for sisters—but the truth of the matter was that they both resented each other in more ways than one, and while in appearance everything would be fine, deep down the tension between the two would simmer. "We’ll figure it out, okay?" she said, talking to both herself and Lethya. "We’ll work it out."

Lethya shuddered, and Maia winced. This wasn’t right; she wasn’t even sure if she wanted Laise to be back, not if she still remembered what had happened to her before she’d died. And it was clearly going to kill Lethya if she was forced into Laise’s shadow again.

"She’s going to ruin everything!" Lethya sobbed. "She’s going to take it all away! Why did she have to come back?"

"It’s okay… it’s going to be okay, Lethya…" Maia grimaced and looked up, thinking, Mama, what am I supposed to do? All three of Lianai’s daughters needed her; how cruel could the fates be, to take her away from them and leave them in a world that made them fight tooth and nail for every inch of progress they made?

After a few minutes, Lethya quieted, and she remembered something she’d wanted to tell her little sister. "Hey—I’ve got good news and bad news."

"Good news first," Lethya said raggedly, pulling away and scrubbing at her face with her sleeve.

"You get to get to miss the first half of the day—including Sakfas’s class—tomorrow."

"I do?" That brought a watery smile to her face. "What’s the bad news?"

"You’re missing his class so you can go to a session of the Grand Council via VidScreen. It’s a short session, and Lorry told me it’s just so you can get official ‘permission’ to start using your powers again." She snorted. "They know you could zap them into the afterlife if you wanted to, but it’s good for their egos to think they can still order you around."

Lethya gave a somewhat choked little laugh and mumbled, "Thanks." They both knew she wasn’t talking about the comment on her powers.

"No problem, short stuff. How does the homework situation look like?"

She shrugged. "I got the notes from the people in my classes, and everyone’s excused the work for the week except—" She made a face. "—Professor Sakfas. But I finished that Saturday night."

"Then finish your notes quick and use a sleep spell. You don’t want to show up in front of the Council with raccoon eyes and looking like a zombie, or they might reconsider…though it won’t do them much good."

Lethya nodded mutely. Maia frowned and put a hand on her shoulder. "It’s going to be all right, Lethya. I promise."

She gave her a weak smile and said, "I hope so." But they both knew it wouldn’t be the same.

When Lethya went back to her bedroom, the pile of notes awaited her like a jailer holding out a ball and chain. It didn’t take long for her to elect to do things the easy way, and a moment later, the pencil was scribbling across the notepaper of its own accord while she sat down on her bed, feeling drained. Asa, who was curled up at the foot of the mattress, blinked sleepily and chirped. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing," she said bleakly. "I’m just tired."

Asa looked at her for a second, then said, "Mother, how come you don’t look like me’n Tai?"

She froze, then remembered how her mother had handled such questions. There were two options, tell her to ask her ‘father’, or the one she’d particularly loathed. "I’ll tell you when you’re older."

"’Kay." The dragon went back to sleep.

Lethya stared at the wall, mind jumbled and feeling overused. Why did Ander have to be so horrible about her and Binkery? He had kept glaring at her during dinner, and he’d been acting like he’d done nothing wrong and she should be sorry! It wasn’t like he could be jealous—the display of hormones between him and Laise was more than enough proof—so what was his problem?

And that was another thing. What happened now? Was Ander going to search for Laise? If he found her, how much time would he spend with her? What if she was enrolled into V.E.O. too in case she was also a great pilot? Would Laise start outdoing her and taking all the attention? Would she fade into the background once more? Would she lose Ander entirely? What if he completely forgot about her? She’d take him being horrible instead of losing him entirely, if that was the case…

But there was no way she was going to even hint this to him. It wasn’t like he’d understand.

Even after she went to bed, she spent an hour pondering an idea that had begun to form before remembering to spell herself to sleep.

11:34 AM, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 6118 AD, V.E.O. ACADEMY, NEO TOKYO, JAPAN

"If you put one toe out of line, you will be in Psirons for the rest of your life, little girl," Hestheon Cadreal of Uranus said viciously. "Do you understand me? You can’t play around anymore."

Lethya felt Maientra stiffen next to her, but Emperor Loraeth cut her off before she could give her opinion of the Representative of Uranus, which was stuffed with obscenities. "I’m sure Alethyis is fully aware of her responsibilities towards her powers," he said firmly, "just as we are all fully aware that there is solid evidence that she was being possessed by the Dragon’s Eye when she lost control over her powers. And that, since she is no longer in contact with the Dragon’s Eye, if she loses her temper it won’t be able to possess her again. Is that right?"

Smile and nod, Maia willed her silently. Lethya was already doing so—or at least nodding with a serious look on her face. "I—I have a request," she said slowly.

"I don’t think you’re in the position—" King Toju Hokusai began.

Lisaoli interrupted him. "Hear her out."

Lethya paused, then said slowly, "Actually, I guess it’s kinda like two requests—" Hestheon snorted derisively. "—but…um… the first one… I was thinking…. If the Dragon’s Eye did all this damage, maybe it—it could reverse some of it. So… I would like permission to use it to rebuild as much of the city as I can."

"And the second request?" Lisaoli asked smoothly. The rest of the Council was too surprised.

"In my time, there was a thing called a Witness spell that allowed a psymancer to create a visual representation of someone’s memory exactly as it was," she said carefully. "I think I can combine it with the past-viewing spell so that not just I can see it…and I’d like… well, I think I need to find out who killed Laise. And if I do it, I’d like witnesses so no one can say I’m making up what I see."

After a moment of silence, Emperor Loraeth said, "I think we can arrange that. I’ll be a witness, if you don’t mind." When Maia and Lethya’s eyebrows both shot up, he withheld a grin at the similarity between the two. "Anyone else?"

Lisaoli, Solerad Jaain of Pluto, and Whyiran Ethadre of Neptune raised their hands, and Maia managed a nod, glancing at Lethya out of the corner of her eye. "Perhaps—" Pheyarel of Venus ventured, and gazes turned her way. "Perhaps…should we bring Ander Tientas?"

"No," Lethya and Maia said at the same time. "No one should have to see that after what he went through," Maia finished. Lethya stayed silent.

"Agreed." The Emperor looked around. "Any further words? Otherwise, I believe the witnesses should meet at V.E.O. at one o’clock." No one spoke up, and he nodded. "Then this meeting of the Grand Council is adjourned."

The screens flickered out, and after a pause Maia asked quietly, "Why are you doing this, Lethya?"

Lethya grinned feebly. "Well, it’ll get me out of the second half of the day too…" She scuffed her toe on the floor. "It may tell us why she’s back, for one thing…but if anything ever does happen with…" She blushed. "…with me and Ander…I know he never could have killed her, but not everyone knows that. If anything ever happened between us, there would always be this…this thing hanging over our heads. People would say stuff like ‘I wonder if he’ll kill her too’ if they knew, and he’d always be worrying about the same thing happening to me. If we can find out who did it, and catch that person, then maybe some of that will go away."

"But you don’t want to tell Ander that you’re doing this."

She shook her head. "I think he’d get mad. And…" Lethya trailed off, then stared at the ground. "Even if I’m not happy about him following me and Binkery, I understand why he did it." He obviously was worried about her sharing Laise’s fate, like she’d said, and who was she to blame him for that? "If he knows that the person who killed Laise is taken care of, maybe he’ll relax a bit."

"What about Laise being back?"

That made her swallow. "I…just don’t think it’s as good as it seems," she said with difficulty. "I think we’ll find out more once we’ve…seen what happened… but I… I’ve got to hope that she goes back eventually. I don’t think she should be alive now, and I’m not saying that just because I’m jealous. Reincarnation is one thing, but she’s really back from the dead, and there’s something wrong about her."

Maia nodded. "It does seem too good to be true. There’s nothing we can do about it now, though, other than find out why she’s back and if she’s damaged goods, and if we can fix her. If not…"

The silence only spoke what Maia herself didn’t want to say, and what no one wanted to hear. If Laise was damaged beyond repair and was only going to hurt people, it would fall to them to solve the problem, and that could mean killing her.

"I’ll go get ready," Lethya said lowly, and headed off to her room.

1:09 PM, MONDAY, JUNE 7

Ander was at lunch, busy gulping down milk when Tai’s voice rang in his head. "Hey, Daddy?"

"What?" he asked, choosing to use his mental voice as his mouth was currently full of cow juice. Jerik and Maigo were watching him with interest from across the table.

"Y’know that lady that looks like Mother? Asa says Mother’s gone to find out who killed her."

Ander sprayed out most of the milk, choked on the rest, and coughed frantically, eyes streaming. Lethya had—she was—but she—

"Thanks, Ander," Jerik said dryly, face dripping, as Maigo let out a snort and shook milk from his ears. Tyra, who hadn’t heard the mental exchange, watched with interest. "Really. I’ve been wishing you’d spit milk at me for a long time now."

"Tell Ishiyama I got sick," he ordered, naming their FST professor. A moment later, he was gone; Jerik heard him calling for Tai, and a second later both of them were gone.

1:12 PM, MONDAY, JUNE 7, IMPERIAL PALACE, SEAT OF NEO TOKYO SENATE, AND CONJUNCTION HALL, NEO TOKYO, JAPAN

Lethya stood at the top of the Imperial Palace, wind whistling around her. This wasn’t the roof of one of the wings, or the lower observation deck: this was the very top. On either side stood a statue; on her right was a man, on her left a woman, who were holding hands, their free arms stretched out. Four iron rings were kept in constant motion by very old, very powerful psymantic spells, and every so often one would cross in front of her with a metallic, ringing groan. To get any higher, she’d have to stand on one of the statues, but this was quite enough height for her. Asa sat at her feet, watching her curiously. Maia, the Emperor, Lisaoli, Solerad, and Whyiran were flanking her, waiting for her first move.

From here, she could see all the damage she’d done to the city with agonizing ease, but she was going to fix some of that, at least. They’d already moved everyone out of there, and the buildings stood silent, broken.

Lethya took a deep breath. There was no spell she knew for rebuilding a city, but it couldn’t be that complex. Her power alone wouldn’t cut it, though, and they all knew it. Fingers shaking, she drew the Dragon’s Eye from its bag in her pocket.

In her fingers, it blazed, but she swiftly clamped down on the power it was more than happy to throw out. Not now, she willed. We’re doing things my way. It seemed to sigh grumpily, but waited anyway.

Another deep breath washed in and out, and she emptied her mind. Without a spell, it would be harder, harder even than casting more than one spell at once; she needed to concentrate as hard as she could.

The wind slowed around them, then stopped entirely. She didn’t stop to wonder why, but began to lay the pattern.

Guidelines were laid, running over buildings where the metal supports had shrunk away or writhed like they were alive in the time it took her to pass. They ran over the heaps of rubble still piled in the streets. They raced over the shards of glass littering the ground, and outlined the indent in the pavement where her feet had fallen. Lines traced the path of where the magnetic highway’s stabilizing chargers had formed a ‘pavement’ to keep the transports on track, and left tags where they had been. Lethya realized there were spells she could use, but it would be even more difficult than she’d imagined.

When all of the area she’d destroyed was overlaid with bright lines creating paths for the power to go to, she bit her tongue, realized she might bite through it if she got distracted, released her tongue, squared her shoulders, planted her feet firmly, closed her eyes, and tapped into the power of the Dragon’s Eye.

White light shot through her, gleeful at its newfound freedom, but she immediately reined it in and sent it on its way. She’d outlined a spell to reassemble broken things on that path. As more power flowed through her, she sent it down lines that would put it into more reassembling spells that would reform the walls of the buildings. Another wave of power was herded into channels that rammed through metal, pulling whatever it touched back into its proper form and proper place. More power was hustled off to pull the remnants of the magnetic chargers back together, down to the tiniest fragment, and restore the spells that kept the floating ones in place; the pavement was rippling, leveling out the dent running down it.

Once that was set in motion, she let it run on—it would take some time for all the spells to finish—and turned her attentions on the three skyscrapers that had collapsed. The rubble there had been left alone, other than the removal of human remains. Unconsciously mirroring the statues, she raised one arm and directed the power of the Dragon’s Eye through it.

Slowly, giant metal beams rose from the wreckage, some twisted and mangled beyond their original cast, others merely buried under tons of debris. The bent ones twisted like giant, thick snakes, then stiffened until they were as straight as their counterparts, while more levered themselves from under the wreckage and fought to straighten themselves as well. From the other two mounds where the buildings had stood, more metal was doing the same. Chunks of concrete and piping began floating around, reforming the systems they’d been in. Wiring, the first to knit itself together, began crawling up the metal skeletons that had just finished reconnecting, bolts flying to lock the beams into place. Carpeting formed floating mats that lowered onto a finished floor; fractured mechanica, computing devices, desks, and chairs floated through empty transport shafts and stairwells and, once on their proper floor and in their proper place, began to fit themselves together. Crumpled papers smoothed out and filed themselves away, light bulbs fixed themselves into the ceiling, and tiles laid themselves down. Potted plants—which were thoroughly watered from a broken pipe before it too was whisked away to where it was needed—were replaced on desks and in corners of rooms; office supplies and personal items were returned to drawers; VidScreens rebuilt themselves and tucked themselves into panels in the walls. Heating systems flattened the dents and situated themselves again; windows formed a transparent film over the open holes where they had been.

Maia tore her gaze away from the sight of three skyscrapers erecting themselves again and glanced at Lethya. She was shaking, sweat rolling down her face, but the Dragon’s Eye still burned brightly in her free hand and still pumped its strength through her. All that power—if she lost control of it—

She had to be concentrating so hard that once this was over, she would have a monumental headache. So much energy was running through her right now, it would be like trying to harness a tsunami… but if anyone could do it, it was Lethya.

Ander stood in the middle of the now-flat street, watching in amazement. Far away, a tiny white light blazed at the very top of the Imperial Palace, white fire only psymancers could see roaring up around the parts of the city Lethya had hit. His psymantic sense was reeling, the effect on it the effect of staring at the sun would have on his sight, but he couldn’t look away now.

Lethya was doing this? He saw her brand of spellcasting in every strand of power that was weaving nets in the air, around the buildings, over piles of rubble; was this her way to make up for at least some of the damage she’d inflicted?

The world around him rocked and moaned, as if reluctant to let itself be warped again. Steel sang, concrete rumbled, and the whorls of psymantic power provided a rhythm for it all to follow. It was like months of rebuilding with no one to do it and compressed into ten minutes. And with three skyscrapers and parts of buildings for ten blocks, not just one structure.

If she wanted, Lethya could have a real future in construction, Ander thought grimly, lowering himself until he rested on his knees, one hand touching the ground for extra stability. Tai was at his feet, squeaking for the first time in weeks, and all Ander could get from him was "Loudscarynoisemoveshakingscary!" and the like. He didn’t think anyone in the school was as sensitive to psymantic power as he was, but it would be like a sonic boom to Jerik and Tyra at least, and anyone else would certainly pick up on it. Psymantic power had long since been incorporated into everyone’s genes, but not everyone had enough to use it. How ‘loud’ it would be depended on how powerful a psymancer they were.

He saw lights begin to go on in some of the lower stories of the skyscrapers; then more turned on as the wave of reconstruction slowed, until everything was restored and lights were on in every window. Wind swooped in, whirling around the buildings almost in delight, and silence rolled like thunder.

Lethya had just done all of that. She had to be a mess.

He picked up Tai and sprinted towards the Imperial Palace, worried. If she wore herself out again—she probably hadn’t even told anyone what she was going to do, and had passed out at the very top of the palace, it was just like something she’d do—

Once at the foot of the palace, he paused, then pushed off, rocketing into the air. To his astonishment, blue-silver light was forming a wide sphere where Lethya had been.

Lethya, who was still shaking after channeling all that power from the Dragon’s Eye, wiped her brow and stuck the dim jewel back into its bag in her pocket. Using any more of its power would risk using it up entirely, and she had no intention of doing that as long as it could be used against Jaegar.

Some of the Dragon’s Eye’s power had stayed in her, though, and she let it bolster her own power. She couldn’t use the jewel to do what she needed to do now. "I think it’d be best if we teleported," she said, trying to hide the tremors in her voice. "It may be a bit uncomfortable, and Maia, I need you to picture the exact location, but it’ll be lots quicker."

The others nodded, and Lethya cleared her mind again, then built the constraints. The spell would take anyone who was in the sphere; she linked the location to Maia and waited, letting her power well up in the air enough and completely fill all the requirements. At the same time, she tugged a bit on the others’ essences and locked them into the spell, so there could be no mistake about who all would be coming. Normally anyone in the sphere would be taken, but locking them in guaranteed against any slip-ups.

Just as the power reached the breaking point, she let it loose. Perhaps it was part of the spell, or perhaps it was her imagination, but it felt as if someone had entered the sphere at the last second; those thoughts were dashed away when the world shattered, sending all of them hurling down a tunnel of brilliant, shrieking black and white and gray for only a split second.

Then it was all gone, and she was standing outside an alley in a place she’d never been. "Is this it?" she asked quietly. Her vision faded just a bit, but she bit the inside of her cheek until things fell into focus again.

"Yeah," Maia said, voice devoid of any emotion.

Lethya steeled herself. This wasn’t going to be pretty in any way: no matter what, Laise was her twin sister, a sister who might have been too perfect but always her sister, and she was going to have to watch her last moments truly alive. But this was what had to be done.

"I’m starting," she announced, trying to keep her voice steady.

Ander found himself in an alley that was all too familiar, with voices he recognized echoing down it. He’d never wanted to see this place again, but the terrible need to know what had happened kept him in place. He somehow knew what Lethya intended to do, though he didn’t know why.

Light blossomed at the entryway of the alley, forming a misty cloud. Lethya’s determined, slightly fearful voice whispered the date and half an hour before the time of Laise’s death—she must have found them in the public records—and he heard her blow on the mist. It dissipated, then formed two glowing, transparent figures. One was Laise, standing at the mouth of the alley. The other was a woman lying on her side, crying weakly for help.

The ghostly Laise hastened over and knelt by her side. "I can help you," he heard her say, voice wavering.

"I know you can." The woman smiled at her, seized her forearms, and sprang to her feet, hauling her deeper into the alley where the dark was thicker. As they moved, the woman’s form shifted, one fluid hand wrapping around Laise’s mouth. The rest flowed into a humanoid shape, sprouting claws. Laise’s eyes widened, and she managed a spell that blew off an appendage pinning her arms to her sides.

"That’s not nice," the Muteran said, and it wrapped chains that reeked of the same spells in the Psirons around her wrists, then threw her to the ground. Red-brown hair sprouted from its skull; its eyes turned long and narrow, the pupils ringed in more black.

They were eyes Ander knew too well.

"Like this?" Jaegar asked, showing Laise a flick of Rintyran dancing around his fingers. "Reminds me of someone, but I just can’t think of who…" He traced a line down the side of Laise’s face, leaving a thin crimson mark. "Oh yes… Ander."

With that, he dug his fingers into her arm, and she screamed against the hand still covering her mouth. "Such a pleasant little fellow, isn’t he?" Jaegar asked pleasantly. "I know you’re particularly fond of him… Now, let’s play a little game, shall we? Let’s pretend I’m him." And he reached for Laise.

"No!" Ander ran at the illusion, losing himself completely. For a moment, he was back to that horrible moment when he’d found her. This was too much like how his mother had died. He’d been too young to understand it then, but now he knew why Jaegar had killed his father first. "NO! NO!" He tried to strike the incorporeal Jaegar, even though part of him knew he was acting crazy, but it was too much. The images vanished into smoke. He fell to his knees, wanting to yell his frustration and pain until his vocal cords were worn into muteness. It would have been a senseless tragedy if it had been some random lunatic. It wouldn’t have hurt so much to know Laise hadn’t been targeted because of him; it wouldn’t have been so excruciating if he hadn’t seen it before.

Lethya was there suddenly, and she was crying. It was one of those times when all the petty arguments they’d had didn’t matter anymore; his arms went around her as hers did around him, and she hid her face in his shoulder. He wanted to shield her like this forever, make it so Jaegar never came close to her again, even if that meant dying at Jaegar’s hands. He wouldn’t live if Jaegar claimed her, killed her too. He wouldn’t let this happen again, not to him, not to her.

Maia stood a little ways away, eyes shining with tears. None of them had known how hard this would be; they had just seen Lethya’s attempt to clear Ander’s name for good. Lisaoli’s hand was covering her mouth, though the vision had faded long since; Whyiran’s eyes were closed; Solerad had turned away, shoulders slumped; and the Emperor had bowed his head, hand over his eyes. None of them had expected Ander to be there, which somehow added to the pain.

Ander didn’t know how much time had passed when he realized Lethya wasn’t crying anymore. She wasn’t awake anymore, for that matter, worn out by the succession of channeling, casting two spells at once on her own strength, and the shock. He shifted his grip so he was carrying her and stood up, her head resting on his chest. Maia saw the look in his tortured yellow eyes and nodded to the unspoken speech. "Let’s go home." Suddenly she turned to the others, who hadn’t entered the alley. "Is this enough to clear his name?"

Only Whyiran could speak. "Yes," she said tiredly. "It is more than enough."

10:53 PM, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 6118 AD, V.E.O. ACADEMY, NEO TOKYO, JAPAN

Lethya woke, still drained and exhausted and in her own clothes, in her own bed and with Asa curled up on her stomach. It was rather uncomfortable. But that wasn’t why she was awake.

Five stories above her stood a presence, one that was calling her. If she hadn’t just woken up, she wouldn’t have gotten out of bed, stumbled out into the hall and down to the transportation shafts, and gotten in. If she’d been more awake, she would have listened to Asa’s whistles and actually replied to the inquiries in her mind.

But she was still quite sleepy, and so she did indeed make her way first to the transportation shafts, and then to the roof. When she stepped out, rubbing her eyes, she was still too groggy to be surprised at the person she saw, and too groggy to remember all the emotions and complications attached to that person.

"Laise," she yawned. "Wha’re you doing here?"

"Where’s the Dragon’s Eye?" her twin sister asked. Somewhere she’d found a pale blue blouse and black skirt; her hair was a perfectly straight, thick blond braid. The lights of the city threw her into harsh relief.

"The Dragon’s Eye?" Lethya asked. The cold night air was slowly to bring her around. "What do you want that for?"

"I just need it," Laise said impatiently. "Where is it?"

Lethya yawned again. "Um… I dunno. Can’t I go back to bed? It’s cold up here."

Laise took a step closer, eyes flashing. "Lethya, I need the Dragon’s Eye, and you are going to give it to me."

"Sure I am," Lethya said amiably. "In the morning, ’kay? I’m tired." She turned around to head back.

"Lethya!" Laise seized her sleeve. "Get me the Dragon’s Eye! Just get me the Dragon’s Eye, and you can go back to sleep!"

"O…okay." Lethya ambled over to the transportation shaft and was about to step inside when she turned around. "Why do you want it?"

"I just do!" Laise said irately. "Go get it for me!"

Lethya crossed her arms and scowled. She wasn’t entirely out of it, but her instincts were sounding a harsh alarm. "I’m not gonna get it until you tell me why you want it," she said stubbornly.

Laise lost it, stalked over, and slapped Lethya across the face. "Why?" she hissed, her face inches from Lethya. "You want to know why?!"

Lethya was finally woken up all the way from the sting of the slap, and stared at her sister with wide eyes blue-purple with surprise. Weakly she lifted a hand that glowed blue, trying to push Laise away, but the light flickered and died. "Let me go," she whispered, eyes swiftly lightening to pale purple in fear.

"Give me the Dragon’s Eye," Laise ordered icily.

This wasn’t Laise as she knew her. Laise, when she was mad, could be nasty, but this was so wrong... "I don’t have it," she fibbed.

"You’re lying," Laise snapped, and dragged her away from the transportation shaft. "Don’t you get it?! I never died. I was stuck in a half-working Preservex, slowly dying, I sent my soul out to try and find help, it got raped and murdered, and now that I’m out I need to get it back, you idiot! If I have the Dragon’s Eye, I can get my soul back!"

Lethya’s wide eyes were locked on her sister. She was…soulless? But the Dragon’s Eye was only energy, and nothing could bring back a soul that had been—had Laise’s soul been destroyed? It was dead… or was it another entity? Did it exist anymore? Had it gone on to the afterlife, while this empty husk roved the earth searching for something it could never have? But somehow whatever Laise was now could still love, as evidenced by its feelings towards Ander—even if she got a hold on the Dragon’s Eye, when she discovered it wouldn’t work and went into a rage, would she be possessed by the jewel like Lethya had? She couldn’t let that happen again—but what of Ander, and Laise—what if somehow it could bring back Laise’s soul?

Nothing can do that, a cool, rational voice whispered in the back of Lethya’s mind. Once a soul has moved on, it cannot return to the same flesh. And Laise, soulless as she is now, cannot be trusted with the Dragon’s Eye.

"I don’t have it," she repeated. "You saw what happened when it took me over, you think they’d trust me with it now?"

This isn’t my sister. Laise is gone. This isn’t my sister.

"Stop lying to me!" Laise said fiercely. "Damn you to hell, Lethya, I NEED IT!"

"I don’t have it!"

"Then tell me where it is!"

"I don’t know!"

"TELL ME!" Lethya heard a hiss from the pale Silver dragon nearby—not Asa, it felt cold and distant in her mind.

"I can’t!" she said desperately. She had no strength left, physical or psymantic, and fear was beginning to make her heart pound.

Seething, Laise pulled her over to the edge of the roof and psymantically lifted her up, then over so her feet were dangling in thin air. "You’re going to tell me where the Dragon’s Eye is now," she said venomously.

Lethya clenched her fists. Enough people had died because of her, in one way or another. She couldn’t let it continue, even if it cost her life. "I don’t know."

The spell released her for just a split second and she dropped a foot, a small scream escaping her lips. "I don’t want to kill you, Lethya!" Laise said angrily. "Even after all you did to me—"

"All I did to you?!" Lethya shouted. "You always had to beat me at everything! Everyone thought you were perfect—"

"Which is why Mama always spend time with you—"

"—you knew I liked Akio, and you went and took him away anyway! You took up all of his time!"

"He was too good for your little group! He was a genius, and all his talents were wasted on your stupid little pranks! And no matter how hard I worked, everyone liked you better and you didn’t even try to let me make friends! You always got to them first!"

"You’re so full of crap! If you didn’t want the spotlight, why the hell did you always push me out of it?! I could fly twice as well as you and I didn’t tell anyone but Rye, just so you’d look better! I figured that I was never going to be perfect like you, so why even try? It’d be easier to let you look like the best at everything!"

"I was the best at everything and you’re lying!" Laise’s voice had risen to a high-pitched shriek. "You didn’t even try! It’s not my fault! You’re just greedy, wanting to keep Akio back for your own precious little immature tricks!"

"He wasn’t even sixteen! Not everyone needs to be perfect like you—he needed time to have fun!"

"You’re jealous!" Laise’s eyes were flashing dangerously like an avalanche. "You’re jealous that I got to him first, just like I got to Ander first! You don’t want me to have the Dragon’s Eye so I won’t come back! You want to have him all to yourself!"

"You’re crazy!" Lethya yelled back, but she felt as if she had been hit in the stomach. What if that was true? What if she was deluding herself so Laise wouldn’t take Ander away?

She couldn’t be—she knew what would happen if Laise got the Dragon’s Eye— "I don’t have it, and I don’t know where it is!"

"I can feel it, you little bitch!" Laise exploded, face contorted in fury. "I know it’s somewhere close! You’re so selfish!"

Lethya hadn’t even heard Laise. Her eyes had moved away from her sister’s face when she’d caught the flash of the transportation shaft’s door opening, and now they were looking desperately towards Ander. His eyes were wide and a stunned yellow-orange. Asa and Tai were at his side, and Asa screeched, flying over to Lethya.

Laise heard the screech and turned around. The hate in her eyes went out, replaced with shock, and the beginnings of dismay, when she saw the Levitator. "Ander…"

He’d seen her at her true nature, with no soul to guide her. He’d thought she still was who she had been, that her death hadn’t changed her, but now he knew. She saw it in his eyes: he was beginning to realize something was terribly wrong with her. And who wanted someone with no soul?

The spell slipped again, but she didn’t react in time to catch it. Lethya fell.

"Lethya!"

Ander flew past Laise and leapt over the roof.

Lethya plummeted towards earth, on a free fall for the second time in her life. Last time, it had been off the top of Halisyen. Now it was off the top of V.E.O. Well, at least she’d fallen off both buildings, so no one could say that it wasn’t an equal-opportunity death.

If she died, what if she gave her soul to Laise? Maybe it would work, because Laise already had all her own memories, as well as a soul, and since they were identical twins… It made sense that the Avatar of her soul everyone knew in this time had had no memories of her past, it was all stored in her mind… If Laise had survived in a half-broken Preservex this long, was it possible Maia had too? What if Maia was an Avatar like Laise had been an Avatar? What if she was an Avatar? No, she remembered coming out of the Preservex…And her body would have been in there…

She was going to die, obviously. Ander was most likely too moonstruck by Laise’s appearance to notice she’d dropped, much less the fact that Laise had been dangling her over the edge of the school. They were probably making out right now. She closed her eyes. Was it going to hurt? Sure, being stabbed to death had hurt, but this was falling off of a building. Who was going to take care of Asa? Would Ander be upset? After all, she might be dead, but Laise was still there for him.

Maybe if she tried to veer over a little she’d hit someone’s balcony and get away with a broken leg or two.

Nah… it wasn’t likely.

The ground was probably very close now, but she didn’t dare open her eyes and find out. Instead, she shut them tighter.

Then there was a thump and she came in contact with something, but it sure didn’t feel like the ground. Instead, it felt like a pair of arms holding her. And then she wasn’t falling anymore, she was rising. Opening her eyes, she found Ander had caught her once again.

She didn’t say anything, and neither did he.

When they got to the roof, Laise was standing about eighteen feet away, watching them. Ander’s sharp eyes saw the glitter of tears in her eyes; his ears caught her whisper. "Is she really that much to you?" she asked, though Lethya couldn’t hear. Ander set Lethya down, though his arms still protectively encircled her.

Laise didn’t need an answer. She called up a birdlike shape of psymantic power and let it carry her and her Silver dragon away, eyes still lingering on the two.

Ander watched her go, not even thinking about what his actions towards Lethya meant. There was something truly wrong with Laise. The Laise he knew would never dream of threatening her own sister, would never call her a bitch, all over something she wanted. It took a lot to make Lethya afraid, and the look on her face had been pure terror. He didn’t know why Laise had wanted whatever she’d wanted, or why Lethya wasn’t letting her have it. But something was wrong with Laise, and somehow he knew it would never be right again.

Lethya’s eyes were on the figure swiftly disappearing among the stars. She knew she’d just been added to another hit list. She knew Laise would stop at nothing until she got the Dragon’s Eye. But the other new knowledge she had was the worst.

She wasn’t sure if she had the strength to do it. She didn’t know if she’d forgive herself; if Ander would forgive her; if she could even do it. If she would live through it.

Someday it would just come down to Laise and her. They could no longer coexist without conflict, and the knowledge that Laise no longer belonged among the truly living would have to help. For she now knew that, once it was just her and Laise, only one of them would walk away.

8:50 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 6118 AD, V.E.O. ACADEMY, NEO TOKYO, JAPAN

"It’s been two weeks since Lethya Fanyathe was possessed by the Dragon’s Eye," the newscaster said tonelessly. "While it has been proved that the damage done to Neo Tokyo was in no way intentional, after receiving permission to use her powers again from the Grand Council, Ms. Fanyathe made a strange request."

The debris and metal flying back into place looked much more impressive from the angle the camera had captured it. "Using the Dragon’s Eye, instead of being used by it, Ms. Fanyathe single-handedly undid all the destruction caused by the events of the twenty-fourth. While the lives cannot be brought back, and the memories will never fade, perhaps this is the first step in the healing of Neo Tokyo."

Lethya turned the VidScreen off, stood up, and left with Asa to see if Ander and Jerik were ready to go get breakfast.

So this time around, we caught some errors, killed off a character, brought a character or two back to life, and basically scarred the entire cast for life.

All in all, I’d say it’s been a good run.

Let’s see if I can answer some questions…

Q: If your soul determines the color of your aura, shouldn’t Laise’s aura be white now?

A: Not unless she was born soulless. Auras can change on the physical state of the person, such as  bloody or healthy, or their emotions, like happy or sad, but the base of it stays the same.

Q: In chapter thirteen, did you mean to put ‘demon’ in there?

A: You know it. And so does your mom. ...Wait, what?

Q: How the heck do you pronounce the names?

A: Tyra Sorogeni: Tie-rah Soh-rah-jen-ee

Anderian Tientas: Ander-ee-an Tee-en-tas

Alethyis Fanyathe (Lethya): Ah-leth-yis Fan-(as in electric fan)-yath (rhymes with bath); Leth-yah

Jerik Schyler: Jair-ick Sky-lur

Maientra Rensaris: My-ent-trah Ren-sahr-iss

Jaegar: Jay-gar

Aralaise (Laise): Air-ah-lays (like plural of ‘lei’); Laise = ‘Lays’ or ‘Leis’

Any others, just let me know.

Q: Will you be doing the cover design, or hiring someone else to do it?

A: That’s more the publishing company’s deal, but I’d definitely like to have a say in it. If I can, I’d like to either have the first book have Lethya on it, the second have Ander, and the third have both of them; OR have the first book be Ander, the second be Laise, and the third be Lethya.

Q: If Tyra was raised in a community of all women, wouldn’t sex-ed be unnecessary and therefore she wouldn’t know anything about it or boys?

A: Not necessarily. For one thing, they knew that, when Tyra had to leave, the rest of the world was surviving with psymancers. Why wouldn’t they know that someday they wouldn’t be Amazons on their island and thus prepare each generation in case they actually had to leave the village? And for another thing, I’m assuming the methods of storing information are far more advanced in the future, so there’s no reason for them not to have the information, particularly if the village was founded by geneticists (and thus biologists) in the first place.

Q: What happened to the sheep comment? (This was something in the first version, for those of you who’ve just jumped on board recently.)

A: Well, for something that’s supposed to be appealing to the masses, I didn’t think the sheep comment would work. I mean, imagine some little ten-year-old reading this and wondering why Jerik wasn’t to be trusted with a sheep and asking her mother or father. Now put that scenario in the middle of a Bible-thumping town. See the problem? I see the book going up in flames. Granted, if it’s not blasphemous enough already, that may or may not have pushed it over the edge.

Q: Once upon a time, you were going to do a story called ‘Mirror Images.’ Is it ever going to make its way over to Fictionpress?

A: Possibly, yes, but it’d need some serious overhauling and…I’d…um…actually kinda have to finish it. Heh. And not until I’m done with TAD.

Q: What now with Ander seeing auras and crap?

A: He can see trails of auras that people leave behind. I suppose you could say it’s like someone with a lit cigarette walking around, but the smoke would stay around longer and be more like energy. Some people can see auras, but not like Levitators can; Lethya and others can sense them, and see psymantic auras and whatnot, but Levitators are the only ones who can reliably see them.

Q: Remember me?

A: Of course I remember you, Jakarta! You rock my socks, dude! Glad to hear from you again!

And that’s about it. So far, most-loved character is Jerik. Most-hated character is Laise. And most soon-to-be-dead author is me, because you’re going to hate the first chapter of the next story, which I am about to post. Though it will clear up lots of unanswered questions.

Ta ta till later, loves. And thank you all for the reviews!