Joan Ascends

Chapter 8: About damn time

When I finally return to consciousness, I find myself in one of the beds in Flo's clinic. Next to me, goo is draining from the Incubus. My body is still weak, but the pain in my head and muscles is much better. Flo must have used the machine to heal what she could.

Justus is pacing next to my cot. He freezes when I reach out to grasp his fingers with my own.

"Aft, Kat, Brie...the team...they're okay?" I ask, though some part of me already knows the answer.

"They're fine, thanks to your tipoff. A group of men calling themselves the 'neighborhood watch' showed up at my dad's door with baseball bats and a couple of knives. They were pissed about the verdict in court about the Annex. Who knows what they would have done to dad if he didn't have anyone there to protect him. Tell me what the hell happened."

"That's something we all want to hear," Harriet says, entering the clinic with Sun and Marie on her heels.

I take a deep breath. The time for half-truths is over. "I had a vision today, of Aft being hurt by a group of men. And this voice told me it wasn't too late to prevent something terrible from happening if I took action."

Harriet and Justus look at each other, and then back at me.

"You're saying you saw the future," Harriet says, her tone giving nothing away.

"Yes."

"And a voice is speaking to you, telling you what to do," Sun says, his brow furrowed like he's in the middle of a particularly intense game of chess.

"I know it sounds crazy."

"It sounds like Lexi is accessing the chip in your brain, sending you images or vids. This has to be Strand's latest way of controlling you," Marie says. "It's the only logical explanation."

"We left logic behind the moment that my vision saved Aft's life," I argue. "I saw him get beaten up, and that never happened in real life."

"With the proper vid editing software, she could have fabricated that."

"Not with the realism I saw," I insist.

"There is one more explanation," Justus says. "She's cloned from Joan of Arc. These visions are her legacy."

I already know what I believe. The voice I heard wasn't sent by Strand or Lexi. The urgency and intensity packed into every word was authentic, and some unshakable part of me believes in the pure intentions of that voice.

The only goal was to save a life and do what is right. If I believed in God, the answer to what is happening would be easy. After all, the original Joan believed she was visited by saints.

As my mind tries to sift through the possibilities, a familiar darkness blots out my sight.

I'm in a part of the city that I know well. In front of me is a building that plays a starring role in many of my nightmares. The Chrysalis. In spite of the violence that occurred inside those walls, the outside looks as it always did. Tall, with mirrored sides that shine in the sun.

The building should be deserted, designated to be torn down by the city. But my instincts scream that there is more inside those walls than broken furniture and bloodstains.

I scan the building, floor by floor, until my eyes pass over a missing pane of glass on the second level. It stands out like a missing tooth. Inside there's a flash of color, like someone passed by the window.

Your destiny is waiting for you. Go and meet it.

"Joan! Joan!"

"It's happening again!"