THE OPEN SPACE AROUND US was a din of voices and their echoes. Loudest was my mother’s. “Great? Savior?” Mirim snorted. “As I thought. Jarad’s filled your head with his nonsense. My grandmother was bitter and Power-mad!”
As Jacqui responded furiously—something about ignorance and lack of scholarship, which drew more ire from the rest—Ruti offered me her hand. Meeting her earnest gaze, I accepted the help to climb to my feet, unsurprised to receive an urgent warning. Some believe Perversion is a way for ghosts to be reborn. Don’t let them do that to your baby, Sira!
I squeezed her hand before letting go. However tempted I was to shout at the rest, it wouldn’t improve matters. It appeared the more academic Clan were accustomed to arguing, loudly. So instead, to everyone but Andi, I sent what I hadn’t yet shared.
My grief. At losing so many.
At losing Rael.
Silence fell, utter and immediate. Tle covered her eyes. Ruti pressed herself to Barac’s side. He gave me a nod, his face working.
“Remember why we’re here,” I said very quietly. “The M’hiray will end if we fail.” I looked at each in turn, waited for their nods before continuing, “Mother, explain to me how that—” I gestured to the crystal. “—can be of any help.”
Jacqui made to speak, then closed her lips.
“This isn’t only about our quest,” Mirim said, her voice heavy. “If we don’t act, you’ll both die.”
DIE?
Easy, I sent my alarmed Chosen, unsurprised my reactions were bleeding through to him. Let’s hear them out. “What do you mean, ‘cannot be born’?”
“Birth Watcher.” Andi looked up; Holl silenced her with a gentle touch.
Jacqui swallowed, but answered. “Babies decide when to be born. Once ready, they loosen their link to their mother, allowing separation. Birth Watchers reassure them this is good and necessary.” She paused; I’d the feeling I wasn’t going to like what came next.
I was right. “An empty Vessel has no wants. No abilities. No way to let go. If it’s not somehow filled before birth, the mother—” Her eyes evaded mine and she dropped her voice to a mutter. “There’s no way to be sure. Such a thing hasn’t happened since Stratification—”
“And won’t happen anytime soon,” Tle broke in. “What’s urgent is to find the Origin. Naryn di Su’dlaat can tell us the way.”
>HERE . . . herehereHERE<
Having a name to go with the eager voice made it no less horrifying. Long-dead relatives belonged that way.
Unless, I conceded reluctantly, they could be of use. “To ask, you need—her—in here.” I put a hand on my abdomen. A round of mostly relieved nods. “How is it done?”
A disconcerting pause.
Barac laughed without humor. “There’s your answer, Sira.”
Wonderful. “Then we’ll do this another way.” I stepped on the platform. “Coming?”
Sira. Our link tightened until we might have been one mind. I held up a hand to stop the others, taking in what Morgan had to tell me. Bowman’s in action. Keep away from windows and doors. I’m coming to you.
Do you want me there? Even as I asked, I felt his discomfort. What’s wrong?
Stay where you are.
“What is it?” Barac, his breath on my cheek. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” Jason.
I’m bringing a few things.
As if we packed for a trip incountry. As if everything were fine.
As if I believed any of it. Jason?
Almost done. Morgan closed off everything but the words. I’ll be there soon.
Then I lost all but the faintest sense of him.
“Bowman’s here and making a move,” I told my cousin.
His hand dropped to where I knew he kept his force blade. Ruti stepped close. “What do you want us to do?”
“I—”
All at once, Mirim’s face grew ashen and she sank to her knees. As the others exclaimed and hurried to her, I sent, What is it?
Her eyes met mine. There was horror in their depths.
“Change!” Barac was leaning on Ruti. “Stronger. Worse than before.”
I didn’t let myself doubt—or feel. Morgan wanted us away from windows and doors. Some weren’t. “Barac, Ruti, Jacqui. Go to the lab. Get everyone down here, along with what supplies you can. ’Port them.”
It was a sign of my mother’s dismay that she didn’t try to argue.
“What will you be doing?” Barac demanded.
“Finding someplace safe,” I replied. “Safer. Go. Tle, you, too.” She didn’t pretend to misunderstand; whatever her group believed about the M’hir, Tle di Parth used it as willingly as any other Clan.
“Wait!” Mirim and her people averted their heads, covering their eyes. Andi did the same.
Ruti gave them a shocked look. Go, I sent impatiently.
Once they’d winked out of sight, I stamped on the platform. “Let’s go.”
Mirim, Deni, and Holl, with Andi, joined me. Leesems nodded to his Chosen. “I’ll wait for our sons.” He put his hand in the wall to access the panel. “Ready?”
In no way, but I made myself stop thinking of what might be happening above. “Yes.”
Making the mistake of focusing instead on how old the platform was, just as it began to drop.