The Triad of Finity (15 page)

Good
. Oliver found her smiling at him, and smiled back.

Emalie produced a metal square with a convex crystal dome in the middle. Inside, a needle moved over a shimmering map of stars, planets and worlds. “Nexial clock,” said Emalie, holding it out. “Kind of like a sundial. We have about two-and-a-half days until the Great Radiance, it looks like.”

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed. “It’s Tuesday night.”

“Okay, then we should get moving.” Emalie started across the room toward the door.

Oliver and Dean naturally fell into step behind her.

“Where are we going?” Oliver asked.

Emalie didn’t answer at first. She opened the door and stepped out onto the walkway. “Wow,” she said, leaning over and taking in the shimmering waterfall, the space below, the endless doors. “This is amazing.”

Oliver stepped to the railing beside her and watched her take it all in, the spirit lights shimmering on her face.

“Be free, little spirits,” said Emalie. She turned to Oliver and Dean. “I’m not sure.”

“Of what?” Oliver asked.

“Where we’re going. But I know who we’re looking for.”

“We’re looking for a who?” asked Dean.

Emalie nodded. “The one who knows what the Triad of Finity is. The only one who ever actually spoke of it firsthand.”

“Who’s that?” asked Oliver.

“Her name is Theia. She’s the oldest Orani, almost three hundred years old, we think. None of the living Orani have ever actually seen her, but we know she’s out there. We can feel her presence. We were trying to locate her, but Illisius arrived before we could figure out where she was.”

“I don’t understand,” said Dean. “If this Theia person is Orani, like you, why wouldn’t she want you to know where she is?”

“I’m sure she wants us to,” said Emalie, “but she can’t. She’s a prisoner of Half-Light, and has been for a couple hundred years. And nobody knows where they’re keeping her. She’s not at the Asylum Colony in Morosia. We were able to probe the minds of some of the employees. We know that she used to be there, but they moved her to another lab, somewhere hidden and top secret.”

“So,” said Dean, “we have to find her to figure out what the Triad is.”

“She’s the only one who knows,” said Emalie.

“Well,” Oliver began, “but, how did Selene find out that there even was a Triad, if nobody knows what it is?”

“When Selene was in the Asylum Colony, Theia was still there. And so Selene could hear her thoughts, almost like a radio—Orani are connected like that; it’s like how I used to see visions of my mom’s journeys through time—and so Selene heard Theia going on and on about this Triad, and how it was the key to undoing the prophecy, but she couldn’t decipher exactly what it was. Selene says that Theia didn’t sound well.” Emalie’s tone darkened. “She’s been experimented on for centuries, at this point.”

“How are we going to find her, then?” Dean asked.

Emalie shrugged. “I think our best bet is the Yomi. There’s got to be some demon down there who doesn’t want the world to end and would help us. Orani knowledge is always valuable.”

“Hey,” said Dean, “speaking of: What happened to the rest of the Orani, back in Arcana? Illisius didn’t … get them, did he?”

Emalie closed her eyes for a moment, almost like she was searching around in her head. “They’re okay,” she said. “Once I was gone, they got out of there. Sounds like there were a few injuries but nothing too bad.”

“So where are they now?”

“Safe,” said Emalie, “and getting ready to meet us in Nexia.”

“And what about Illisius and Désirée?”

“Don’t know,” said Emalie.

Hearing all of this filled Oliver with excitement and newfound energy. He was ready to get moving, to get back to the action of undoing his prophecy, but the mention of injuries had just reminded him of another wounded friend. He looked seriously at Dean. “Jenette.”

“Oh … yeah.” Dean nodded solemnly. “We should go see how she’s doing.”

“What happened to her?” Emalie asked.

“Where to start …” said Dean. “Okay, so, we were headed to the sewer clubs last night. …”

As Dean recounted the story, Oliver closed his eyes and spoke slowly. “
Revelethh … lucenthh … persechhh
…”

A dot of light appeared, growing into a disc of pale white, forming arms and legs, a body, and then Nathan was standing before them.

Where have you been
? he asked worriedly.

“Lots happening,” said Oliver, waving a hand toward Emalie. “Can you take us to Jenette?”

Nathan nodded.
Yeah … but Oliver, it’s not good
.

“Okay.”

Everybody hang on
. Nathan reached for Oliver’s hand. Oliver in turn reached back for Emalie’s, and she took Dean’s.
Ready?

Oliver felt Nathan tug his arm, and then he felt like he was sliding forward. The black of the cliff faded into gray fog, and the roar of the waterfall was replaced by the raspy sound of waves sliding over rocks at the Shoals. Fog hung low, erasing the top of the high sand dune as well as the ocean just beyond the rocky shore.

They walked along the beach. Oliver spied Nathan’s little driftwood house. He longed to stop inside and take a look at the sunny street where his human parents lived. How were they doing? How was little Peter? It would be nice to just sit and watch them for a while, going about their humdrum human lives, having no idea that their world might soon end.

Where are all the wraiths?
asked Dean, looking around.

Up here
, said Nathan.

Ahead, Oliver saw them—his quick-counting brain estimated over fifty just that he could see—all huddled together. With their mostly human appearance here, they looked like a crowd around an accident, and Oliver’s gut twisted with worry.

The crowd parted, letting Nathan and the trio through. Oliver found Jenette lying in the sand, her head on a dirty, blue-and-white striped pillow. Her eyes were closed. She looked so little, lying there. Her frog pajamas were stained black around her sternum, where the blade had hit her.

The four kneeled around her.

Hey Jenette
, said Oliver.

Hey
… said Jenette weakly. Her eyelids fluttered open, the gray spaces behind seeming deep and dark.
Where have you
—she spied Emalie—
oh
.

Hi
, said Emalie.
Sorry about what happened
.

We came as soon as we could
, said Oliver.

How can we help?
Dean asked.

You can’t
, said Jenette. Her voice was thin, weak.
That blade was advanced force technology. Crevlyn was aiming for Nathan … but you need him, Oliver. And you’re both my closest friends.

Thanks
, said Oliver.

So
, said Dean,
what? You can’t be cured?

There’s got to be an enchantment
, said Emalie.
I could—

No.
Jenette reached up and her little hand grazed Oliver’s wrist, then settled in his palm. She squeezed. Oliver squeezed back.
My mom slipped into a coma two days ago. She’s going, Oliver, and so am I.

Jenette, don’t
, said Oliver.
We need—

Me?
Jenette seemed to laugh.
No, you don’t, Oliver.
She nodded at Emalie, and the slight pout was detectable in her voice when she said:
You have her.

That note of jealousy just made Oliver sad; he hated how he’d gotten frustrated by such little things in the past, instead of being kinder. Maybe it was just having Nathan around, but he didn’t want to lose Jenette. She was a friend. And she’d suffered so much. Oliver wanted to scream at the Architects, at Half-Light, at the Gate itself. How was this fair?

And Dean and Nathan
, Jenette went on.
You have them, too. You’ll be fine. …
She groaned, a small, hollow sound.
Now listen, remember what I told you, about a wraith? We can be freed if someone agrees to take our grief. I had to choose someone, perform the ritual. You remember how I said that?

Yeah
, said Oliver.

To choose someone, you mark them
, Jenette continued.
Then, if they are still in your sphere after at least twelve moon cycles, they can choose to accept your grief.

How do you mark someone
? Dean asked.

With a kiss.

Huh
, said Oliver. Then he saw Jenette looking at him.

And then he remembered.

When Jenette had rescued him from the Brotherhood in the Space Needle years ago. … She’d held him safely in the Shoals until Sebastian and Bane and Half-Light arrived. They had been standing there and just before she sent him back, she’d leaned over and kissed—

You KISSED
? Emalie exclaimed, reading his thoughts.

What?
Oliver turned.
No! I mean, not exactly. She kissed me, just on the cheek. I didn’t—

Emalie huffed.

Oh relax, Emalie
, said Jenette, her attitude sharp despite her weak state.
He’s always been yours, but
… Her grip on Oliver’s hand tightened.
Oliver, you and Nathan are the only person I’ve ever known who seemed like a real friend, someone I could trust. I—I knew you’d be strong enough, so I chose you to take my grief, if … if you don’t mind. I know it’s a burden.

It might only be until Tuesday, anyway
, Dean pointed out.

Dean
… Oliver snapped. He blinked hard. Jenette was dying because she’d saved Nathan. And now she needed his help to be free. …
Okay,
he said.
I’ll do it.

Jenette smiled.
Thanks
. Her other hand reached up and took his.
The wraiths will administer the transfer when I say the last part of the ritual.

Right now
? said Oliver.

Jenette seemed to sniffle.
Right now. This wound isn’t going to heal. It hurts so much. … And besides, you guys have a world to save, remember?

Yeah
.

But, Oliver,
said Jenette,
remember what I said about my grief. It has power, too. It binds. You can use that power to attach something to you, to keep something close, for forever even, if you want.

Oliver nodded.
Okay
. He fought the urge to look at Emalie, and tried to shove the thought out of his mind before she could hear it.

If you ever want to use that power,
said Jenette,
the incantation is: Contenethh. Don’t forget that, okay?
She seemed to glance over his shoulder as she said this—maybe she was guessing what he’d just been thinking about Emalie—but then she gripped his hands with surprising force and pulled him close.

Okay, time to go. Just one more thing …

Sure
, said Oliver.

Jenette smiled. Her smoky eyes blinked, as if phantom tears were falling.
Miss me, okay?

Oliver nodded. And without thinking, he kissed her cheek.

He thought Emalie might comment, but she was silent.

That was nice
, said Jenette. She seemed to take a deep breath.
Release
… she said slowly.

The wraiths held out their hands. Jenette’s body began to glow, orange light growing from within, consuming her, the outline of her face, her hands, all becoming light, blinding Oliver’s vision.

Then the wraiths screamed at once, an ear-bursting high-pitched wail of sorrow that would have shattered windows were there any nearby.

Jenette’s body vanished, and the light rushed up Oliver’s hands, up his arms, and sank into him.

As it melted through his clothes, into his skin, it felt like blocks of stone were being lowered onto his chest, onto his arms and legs. A lump formed in his throat, and he felt his head sag. His insides seemed to have grown colder, damp, like the chill of a rain-swept dawn. He could feel the grief settling into his hollow spaces, tucking into his joints, huddling, heavy in the bottoms of his lungs, and he wondered if he would ever be quite as happy again, not that he’d ever been very good at that to begin with.

You’ll be okay
, said Nathan, rubbing his shoulder.

Oliver wanted to agree, but he could barely lift his head to nod. He gazed at the sand. It was charred black in the place where the little ghost girl had been. She had saved him from peril more times than he could count.
I will miss you
, he thought, and reached down, grabbed a fistful of the blackened sand, and placed it in his pocket.

Then, he struggled to his feet. The wraiths were drifting away, one by one, to take up their lonely posts and stare out at the starry sea.

Emalie touched his shoulder gently.
We should go
, she said.

Yeah
, Oliver agreed. He turned to Nathan.
I’m not sure when we’ll see you again.

Summon me to Nexia
, said Nathan.
You’re going to need all the help you can get
.

But—
Oliver began.

But nothing
, said Nathan.
If the world’s going to end anyway, I want to be there, to fight with you. There’s no point trying to keep me safe anymore.

You can fight?
Dean asked.

I might have a few tricks up my sleeve
, said Nathan.
Remember, I’m connected to Oliver, so I can channel his fighting skills, I think. If not, I’ll fight Illisius with skipped rocks.

Okay
, said Oliver. He turned to Dean and Emalie.

Is the Yomi still the plan?
Dean asked.

Better than going home
, said Oliver. He could imagine Mr. Crevlyn waiting there for him, ready to interrogate him. …
Wait a minute.

What’s up?
asked Dean.

Oliver looked at Emalie. A thought had occurred to him.
You said Half-Light has Theia
. He couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to him before.
I think I know someone who can tell us where they’re holding her.

Who
? Emalie asked.

Mr. Crevlyn. He was in charge of the Asylum Colony. And he ran their demosapien tests, like on Selene and others.