“Tell me what you see, girl.”
Pax nodded as she stared into the handheld mirror that Vincent had given her. He had promised that he would help her to hone her prophetic dream technique so that she could see future dangers at will.
“Don’t nod, you idiot!” Vincent hissed. “You need to focus to control this technique, or else you are useless to us. Do not move. Do not breathe. Do not think. Just look into the mirror and channel the latent power of your subconscious mind into that circle of glass.”
“Channel the wha-wha into the wha?” Amara asked in confusion as she wrinkled her brow.
“Dammit, Mara,” Vincent said with frustration. “I told you to be quiet and let her focus—or else go play with your dolls or something.”
“Daddy, I’m not—” Seeing the death-glare her father sent her, Amara clamped her lips together tightly. “Fine.”
Pax did not even hear their exchange as she tried to follow his instructions and allow her mind to direct its hidden knowledge into the glass. She felt a tiny prickle of electricity and a coldness along the back of her neck, as though ice were dripping down her scalp and along her vertebrae. She frowned when the metal mirror in her hand began to heat up, without her even willing this to happen. The frame around the glass became instantly so hot that it began glowing red, and the glass inside the mirror began to shimmer with an ethereal opalescent quality.
Her gloved hand tightened around the handle of the mirror, even as the smell of burning leather reached her nose. Pax’s eyes widened when she finally saw a face in the mirror, and it was not her own. She gulped down a bit of alarm when she recognized the beautiful woman with the white hair from her deepest nightmares, and from her worst moments of being awake.
Suja, she mentally stuttered.
Hello, lovely. It’s been a while. I told you we’d meet again.
Pax’s hand began to shake as she gripped the mirror. Why am I seeing you?
Because I want you to see me, dear girl. I have missed our little chats.
Gritting her teeth, Pax glared at the demon queen. There’s a person with really immense prana somewhere in the universe. Do you know anything about that?
Of course, darling. Why wouldn’t I align myself with the most powerful man who ever lived? In fact, I’m proud to say that I’m almost single-handedly responsible for his recent ascension to supremacy.
Pax sighed. What are you doing, Suja? You don’t have to do any of this crap. Just come home and go to Sakra’s Point, and make things better with your husband. You don’t have to wage war against him.
Suja’s flawless, porcelain-like face paused thoughtfully in the glass. You’re right as always, sweet thing. I don’t have to wage war against my husband. I only have to destroy everything he has ever treasured and loved, and leave that gorgeous little ball of mud barren and wasted so that he has nothing left to protect or cherish. Only when the last speck of life is burnt to ashes, only when the last microorganism keels over in death will he understand what he did to me and my family.
Chewing on her lip in discomfort, Pax frowned. Okay, I understand a lover’s quarrel as much as the next gal, but don’t you think that’s a little extreme?
Oh, yes, sweetheart. You are one to tell me about extreme measures of revenge. All the world’s a stage, and all the gods are merely writers of a fine tragedy. Suja reached through the mirror, her pale arm gleaming as though it were made from burnished alabaster. I have a secret I’d like for you to tell your little blonde friend, Paxie. Will you whisper it to her for me? Suja’s arm continued to creep through the mirror until it nearly touched Pax’s cheek. Pax could feel the warmth emanating from the Asura woman’s fingertips. Suja’s voice was a soft, snakelike murmur. The message is simply this: I have a brother too.
As she said this, her fingertips collided with Pax’s cheek, giving her a vivid visual of a towering man with forest green hair. He was standing very still as though listening for a distant sound. His angular chin and chiseled, olive-skinned face sat atop a muscled neck and colossal shoulders. Pax had never been afraid of someone’s mere size, for she knew that there were many other factors which determined a person’s power. All the enormous bodybuilders she had ever seen were more show than strength; she could have tossed them clean across the state with a flick of her finger. Not this man. She knew from the way his prana felt that there was an incredible bite to go with his bark. Suddenly, he cocked his head to the side, fixing Pax with a pair of stormy violet eyes.
She gasped and dropped the mirror, shattering it into a dozen sharp shards. As she did so, the vision broke, and she found herself panting and shivering as Vincent and Amara stared at her with odd looks in their faces. “Did you see that?” she asked them nervously. “The arm—did you see her arm reach out of the mirror and touch my face?”
Amara shook her head to indicate the negative. “No, dude. We just saw you freaking out about how ugly your own reflection is. I told you to wear some eyeliner—maybe a splash of lipstick?”
Pax would have normally laughed at this or tried to form a clever retort, but she was too shaken up from the vision to be clever. Vincent cleared his throat loudly to get her attention.
“I’m done with you, Pax. Leave so I can train my daughter.”
Nodding, Pax left Vincent’s quarters, intending to exit the Kalgren Compound. Only after she had taken several steps did she remember that her leg was broken. “Damn,” she cursed, looking down at the physical damage Vincent had done before he had decided to mentally mutilate her by forcing her to practice her prophetic technique. Changing her direction, Pax headed for the east wing of the building where the Kalgrens kept a private infirmary.
She removed her clothing down to her underwear and lowered herself into a tiny chamber that would create complex imaging of her leg, similar to an MRI. Hitting the button to begin the scan, she tried to breathe deeply and think about what the vision with Suja could have meant. Who was the green-haired man? Thinking of him caused her to shudder, and she knew she needed to remain still during the imaging process. Closing her eyes, she tried instead to forget all about him. This hardly worked.
Pax hadn’t realized that closing her eyes had caused her to drift off to sleep for a few minutes. When a beeping sound indicated that the scan was over, she blinked in surprise. She certainly did nod off to sleep a little more frequently than before. It was probably a side effect of Para’s constant heavy sedation. Climbing out of the chamber, she placed her bare feet on the cool tiles as she retrieved her scans. She examined them carefully and cursed.
“Of course, Vince. You couldn’t just break my leg cleanly. You had to shatter my bone into countless crappy fragments. Thanks.” She groaned and turned around to toss the pictures into the trash. “And you wonder why I’m not rushing to become your daughter-in-law and suffer more of this so-called well-meaning abuse?”
“Pax!” said a voice behind her. She immediately feared that it was Thornton, having felt his prana in the building earlier, even while she was asleep. That was her immediate thought, but as her head snapped around and a white shape came hurtling at her chest just as she recognized the voice, the fear was replaced by delight. She instinctively held out her arms to catch the object.
“Bree miss Pax! Bree miss Pax very much!”
“I missed you too,” she said softly as she gently squeezed the robot puppy against her chest. Although his love for her was just a bit of Rose Kalgren’s artificial intelligence, he reminded her of her childhood. Pax found her knees bending as she sunk to the floor, lowering her face to press a kiss against the robot’s forehead. He was just who she had needed to see at that very moment. If she had ever needed anyone. She found herself suddenly fighting back tears. “He activated you? Why on earth would he activate you?”
“Bree. Bree. Thorn activate Briar Dog Model-10428 because Thorn is Bree’s friend. Bree keep Thorn company when he is lonely.”
“Of course you do,” Pax said with a frown. “Did he tell you to say that to me?”
“Bree keep all promises and secrets. Never tells. Bree, Bree! Pax is leaking. Is Pax no longer Bree’s friend?”
“We’re friends. We’ll always be friends!” she whispered to her puppy. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been around. So much has happened.” Her tears slid down Bree’s white contours just as they had done when she had been a lonely little girl of fourteen out in space.
“Bree know Pax is mad at Thorn. Pax does not like Thorn anymore. Pax does not like Bree too?”
Pax let out a sound that was half laugh and half sob as she tightened her arms around the robot and put her cheek against his cool surface. “You silly robot. I love you to death.”
“Why is Pax never around Bree?”
She sighed. “It’s painful—you just remind me of another time. The way things were. Who I used to be.”
“Bree does not compute. Explain conflicting data. Pax is not Pax anymore?”
“No. I’m different. I don’t like being myself anymore. I made a lot of mistakes.” Pax was so focused on explaining the situation to her little robot friend that she didn’t notice a large figure step into the doorway. She mumbled softly as she stared off into the distance. “Things are bad, Bree. I keep having these awful nightmares, and now I’m learning that they’re not nightmares. They’re visions of the future. I can’t even allow myself to believe that these things are real—that they’re really going to happen.”
“Bree. Bree. Pax prevent bad things from happening!”
“Usually, I can. I’m not too sure this time.”
“Bree believe in Pax.”
“Thanks, little guy,” Pax said softly. “You’re probably the only one. I know you’ve heard me say this a thousand times, but now more than ever, I really wish my mom was still around.”
“I believe in you too,” said the voice from the doorway.
Pax looked up, startled. “Thorn. What are you doing here?”
“Have you forgotten so soon, Paxie? I live here.”
“I meant specifically the infirmary.” She hadn’t even noticed his energy signal moving closer, having been so preoccupied with discussing her troubles with a small mechanical canine. She cleared her throat, realizing that she was sitting on the floor in her underwear before him. And it wasn’t nice underwear either; it was the basic sports cotton she wore for training sessions. She released Bree from the tight hug she had held him in, and shakily rose to her feet. One of her hands moved quickly to her side, where Para’s ‘bullet hole’ would have been, but she relaxed in relief; her body had already completely healed the injury. Turning around, she grabbed her fire-retardant training clothes and tugged them back on, beginning with her shirt. She paused in tugging on her pants when she felt a hand on her wrist.
“Paxie, your leg is swollen and black and blue. And purple and yellow and green…”
She shrugged, pulling away and tugging on her pants. “Your dad did a number on me. I was just about to teleport to India and ask Sakra for a quick heal.”
“Okay. Sorry for stopping in like this if it makes you uncomfortable. I just got home from work and felt a disturbance in your prana. I wanted to come and take a peek to see if you were okay.”
“Thanks. I’m fine, really. It’s good to see you again, Thorn.” she said before turning to leave.
“Pax!” called out Bree, moving to block her exit. “Don’t go! Make friends again with Thorn. Bree miss Pax!”
Pax felt an ache in her chest as she reached out and caressed the robot lovingly. “I have to go, Bree. I’ll see you soon. I promise.”
“Would you like to keep him?” Thornton suddenly offered. He had found it painful to say the words, for Bree was his dearest companion, who incessantly reminded him of the pleasant past. It was Bree who had kept Thornton sane through some of the toughest moments of this breakup, when he had been sitting alone and questioning everything. But it seemed like Pax needed Bree as much as he did.
Lifting her chin, Pax looked at Thornton carefully. “Are you sure? You would… let me keep Bree?”
“Yes, of course. Technically, he’s your robot. Mom made him specifically for you,” Thornton said, forcing a smile. He had felt his heart breaking when he entered the room and saw Pax sitting on the floor and hugging Bree and whispering to him. Just as she had done so many years ago. He had also felt a small amount of jealousy. The same jealousy he’d always felt when Pax connected so deeply with Bree instead of with him.
“Thanks, Thorn… I don’t know what to say…”
The two stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. “Just take care of Bree for me. He’s my favorite little snowball,” said Thornton affectionately.
“Bree is not snowball! Not snowball! Bree. Bree.”
Pax felt her lips break into an involuntary smile. The nickname had been established the previous year during the winter holidays when Layla’s girls had decided to dress the puppy up in their infant brother’s clothes. Olive and Nyssa had carefully placed one of Oren’s diapers onto the dog, cutting a hole for his wagging tail. Then, they had chased the dog around for an hour and struggled to get him into a onesie while the grownups drank downstairs. For the finishing touch, Nyssa’s brilliant idea had been to carefully place four of Oren’s baby shoes onto the dog’s metal paws. They had been unable to find one of the matching pairs, so the shoes on his front paws were different colors.
When Pax and Thornton had finally seen the robot-puppy, they had both laughed so hard they cried. (The spiked Christmas eggnog had helped to enhance the hilarity of the situation.) Bree had not been amused—it was not in his programming to find such an event amusing.
“Help! Pax, help! Children torture Bree with anthropomorphic accessories!”
This had caused Pax to spew out her eggnog in a fit of giggles. “Bree, they’re just playing with you. Relax! They don’t mean any harm.”
“Why do you call him Bree?” Nyssa asked in confusion. “He needs a better name. Something cuter.”
Olive looked around frantically, and found a snowman ornament on the tree. “Snowball!” she shouted.
“Yeah, Snowball!” Nyssa shouted.
“Bree is not snowball!” the robot had insisted hysterically. “Bree is not snowball!”
“Oh, dear,” Rose said with a sigh. “He’s an older model and he doesn’t respond well to nicknames—he can only understand metaphors or similes.”
“Data does not compute! Snowball is comprised of frozen water. This will cause rust and corrosion for Bree! Incorrect data!”
The two girls had taken this as incentive to spend the rest of the night teasing the frustrated robot and singing songs about snowmen as they danced around him. Bree had spent the evening looking dolefully at Thornton and Pax with his best rendition of a robot-pout.
It had been a memorable winter. Now it was bittersweet. Every happy memory was tainted with the sting of loss.
Thornton cleared his throat. “Remember to store him away from any moisture or salt. No excessive heat, Pax! That means you better watch those hands of yours.”
“Good Sakra, Thorn! You think that after a few months of not living together, I’m suddenly going to forget how to take care of our robot?”
“Well, it’s been a bit longer since we deactivated Bree for his repairs. And you were in the vector zone for the equivalent of something like four years. It’s been a much longer time for you,” he explained hesitantly. “You and I have drifted apart, so I just figured maybe there wasn’t any room in your heart left for either of us.”
“How dare you say that,” she whispered. She clenched her fists. “I should ask Bree whether you even checked his circuitry in the past month!”
“Bree. Bree. Thorn still forgets! Thorn still forgets!”
“See!” she said smugly.
Thornton smiled. “Well, you’re his mother. It’s your job to remind me when he needs a tune-up, or bug me to fix him when he malfunctions.”
Her face fell when she realized how awkward it was to be talking about Bree in these terms. In a way, however, they were like Bree’s parents. The concept gave her an idea. “Why don't we work out a joint custody arrangement?” Pax suggested. “Bree can come live with me, but visit you on the weekends.”
“That sounds good to me…”
“No! Bree love Thorn and Pax! Bree want both! Live with Thorn and Pax together! Like before. Bree. Bree.”
The former couple looked at each other in surprise and Pax felt a blush creep into her cheeks as her eyes drifted to the ground. “No, Bree, you don’t understand.”
“Just take him, Pax,” said Thornton sourly.
Pax suddenly realized that if she kept Bree, the curious little robot might find out about Para and accidentally reveal them. As much as she missed her companion and the sidekick of her teenage years, she couldn’t risk it.
“Well, Thorn, how about this,” she said, lifting her eyes to meet his again. “I am still staying with Mara, and you know how she has a weird problem with Bree…”
“Bree. Bree. Amara is scared!”
Thornton grinned. “That’s mom’s fault. She used to tell Mara bedtime stories about artificial intelligence taking over the world, and it frightened the daylights out of the poor girl. But I highly doubt she would scream at the sight of Bree like she used to.”
Pax chuckled. “You’d be surprised—she still has to leave the room or change the channel if there are marginally clever robots on TV.”
“Can you imagine?” Thornton asked with a smirk. “She’s part-goddess, and she’s terrified of talking robots.”
The two began to laugh together, and it felt too familiar—too comforting. Pax backed away, knowing that this innocent laughter was more dangerous than anything else Thornton could possibly throw at her. She felt her insides pulling toward him, and she wanted to throw him down on an infirmary bench and have him, broken leg and all. Even with Bree watching and complaining about the confusing data. She bit her lip and waved her hand as if it would toss these visions from her mind. She cleared her throat.
“I probably shouldn’t invite Bree to live with me while I’m staying at Mara’s. Why don't you keep him for a bit longer… and then when I get settled with my own place, he can stay with me for a little while?”
“Of course,” he said, somewhat relieved that he wouldn’t be losing Bree in addition to Pax. At least not right away. “Just let me know when you want him.”
Pax nodded at Thornton, thanking him with the classic Burnson smile. She saw a look in his eyes which suddenly reminded her of the sweet words he’d said to Para just a day before. Her smile disappeared, and her eyes fell back to the ground as she moved to leave.
“Paxie…”
“I have to go.”