The Misfortune of Distorted Truth

Shining Star

Erhiaganoma Nenge was a mess.
He was living freely in his own little place, an independent man of Nigeria, avoiding people at all costs. The only person he wanted to be around then, in the year 1993, was Kasarachukwu Umburter.
But the power had been cut again last night, so he'd left to go for a friend's help. For some odd reason, the generator hadn't been working. And he'd forgotten to restock the water cooler. Erhiaganoma could not have possibly imagined how Kasa put up with him until... she had left.
Apparently, she couldn't put up with him.
The man drove home the next day, having the solution to the generator problem in the seat next to him. Traffic was awful. Erhiaganoma was not reluctant to slam his hand down on the horn for a good long time, no matter how much it annoyed the people around him.
"You sure you can fix it?"
"Yeah, man," Erhi's friend said, waving his hand casually. "I got dis, don't worry!"
"Alright." He sighed, just thinking about how Kasa would react if the power stayed out any longer. They were both young, both crazy, and power was a necessity. Erhi couldn't help but smile, though, because the thought of his girlfriend did that to him no matter what. He couldn't believe he even had a girlfriend. Sometimes, in those rare moments when he realized it wasn't all a blissful dream, he would go sit under the big tree that was planted in his yard for a few hours and just praise his God for the blessings. Kasa didn't like it much when he did that. She wasn't a fan of religion; she thought it tied people down.
The car rumbled up to Erhiaganoma's house after a while, struggling over the gravel and loose dirt. He hadn't gotten around to paving a sort of driveway.
"Thanks, man. Generator's in the shed for ya, I'm gonna check on my girl, a'ight?" The man in the passenger's seat nodded and hopped out without another word, so Erhi went on up to the house.
It wasn't the fanciest place in Nigeria, but it most certainly wasn't the worst. Erhi was grateful that he had a roof to live under at all; he wasn't one to complain. The house was just one story, cream-colored with white trim, and had two rectangular windows at the front that currently offered no view to the inside because of the heavy curtains over them. What Kasa and Erhi both were most proud of was their little garden, anyway. It started with a few bright green shrubs wrapping around the walls that led one to the backyard, where beautiful things such as Erhi's favorite tree - the Worship Tree, he called it - waited to be admired. In the backyard, they grew Calla lilies, cacti of all shapes and heights, climbing ivy, and West African piassava palms. There was a fantastical array of colors there that simply transported the visitor into another world: a world where everything was perfect.
But when Erhi stepped up to the door with his keys at the ready, his dark hand hovered by the lock.
The magic was gone. Something wasn't right.
"...Kasa?" he called out, warily. Erhi quietly inserted the key into the lock and twisted it, pushing open the door and entering the dim hallway. "Babe, where are you?"
He paused to kick his dusty boots into a corner and peel the grungy grey socks off of his sweating feet. It was a mild relief in the sweltering August summer weather. But the man didn't much notice the cool air on his toes, because he was more appropriately focused on where his girlfriend could possibly be.
"She wouldn't have gone home," he told himself; yet he wasn't really sure. Kasarachuku had been living with her father until May of that year, exactly one month before her seventeenth birthday on the fourteenth of June, and that was when she'd proclaimed that she would run off to live with her boyfriend instead. Erhiaganoma had only seen her father once, and had learned he wasn't someone to trifle with from that sole experience. As a single dad, Mr. Umburter was very overprotective of his only daughter and certainly didn't approve of her affairs with a Christian man. Kasa had been raised up in the Muslim religion - though she had never taken care to following it - and so her father was not one to support interfaith romantic relationships.
But maybe Kasa had changed her mind? Had Erhi been doing such a terrible job taking care of her that she'd go back to her father? He knew his girlfriend loved her dad, but she loved him even more from a distance, and so that was what made it so unbelievable to him that she could move again.
Trying not to panic, Erhi walked forwards as casually as he could in the direction of Kasa's bedroom. She's listening to her Walkman, he thought, sitting on her bed, oblivious to outside sound, lost in the world of music. Yeah, that was it. Hadn't he come home to a quiet house before to find Kasa doing just that in some room of the house, curled up comfortably waiting for his return? Erhi didn't know why this time felt so different.
"Kasa," he tried again. Nothing. When he found himself standing in front of her door he hesitated as he had before, his hand an inch from the knob. She'd be on the other side, like always. So Erhi turned it and pushed the door in, striding confidently inside, prepared to be greeted with a smile and a kiss, if he was lucky.
But Kasa wasn't there.
Erhiaganoma covered his dark face with his hands, stretching out the skin in frustration and disbelief, and moaned. "No, baby, no. Where are you?" She's gone for a walk! the reassuring voice of reason inside his head insisted, but he shook it away. He knew. He knew she was really, truly gone, he was positive now. It was an intuitive feeling he had sometimes that always turned out to be right, so the man figured this would be right too. Who was I kidding, thinking a seventeen-year-old girl like Kasa would want to be with an eighteen-year-old guy like me? She probably... she probably wants an older guy, or some hell garbage like that.
Erhi sank to his knees, and closed the door. He leaned his head against it, shut his eyes, and wept for the love he'd lost, so unexplained, so suddenly, for a long time.
Hours had to have gone by when a finger tapped Erhi's shoulder. He didn't think much of it, not lifting his head, assuming it was his friend. "Kasa's gone, man, what do I do?"
"I hardly think that's my problem," a haughty voice sniffed back at him. Erhi leaped to his feet, his hands protectively in front of him, and looked into the eyes of a complete stranger. They were odd... pinkish, the irises were, like the color of merlot wine and rouge.
"How dah hell'd you get in here?" Erhiaganoma shouted, grabbing the man's right bare olive-skinned elbow roughly. He flinched. "Where's my girl?! What'd you do with her?!"
"I have no idea whom you are referring to, Mr. Nenge. What I'd like you to do for me right now is take a good look in the mirror and tell me what you see." The strange man combed his fingers through greasy black hair that had been forcefully tamed with copious amounts of gel, and that was when Erhi noticed the index finger of his left hand was missing. But he took no notice of Erhi's natural curiosity and pointed impatiently behind him to the mirror beside the bed, having to twist his right arm free in order to do so for obvious reasons.
Despite his evident fear at the appearance of someone who had left no sign of breaking and entering, Erhi couldn't help glancing over to the mirror. It was in a plain wooden frame, nothing fancy, and there were a few smudges and tiny scratches here and there. Still, Erhi could see his reflection quite clearly. He was taller than average for a Nigerian man at five feet and six inches. He smiled thinking of Kasa and how she was even more unnaturally tall at her height of five feet nine inches, making him look like a fairytale elf beside her. But Erhi was quite handsome and would have been no matter his height, with his smooth, rich dark skin, wavy black hair, and his golden eyes.
Yes... that was it... something inside him drew his eyes to meet those of his reflection's. The irises gleamed an unusual golden like the sun peeking over the horizon at dawn, shrouding light and glory upon those witnessing it. Kasa was always telling Erhi how gorgeous his eyes were and he'd always silently, humbly agreed, forever wondering where in the world he could have gotten them from. Both of his parents had muddy brown eyes themselves.
The experience felt familiar somehow.
"You see them?" the olive-skinned man asked, and Erhi slowly nodded as he swayed slightly where he stood. "Good. Based on my research on you, this is the most efficient way of getting you to Fortunia. I hate to be so quick and blunt upon a wondrous occasion, my friend, but we shall celebrate on the morrow. Oh-ho, believe me, Erhiaganoma Nenge, my experience was very different when I was summoned rather personally, you know, being the exceptio - ah, I'm just blathering on, aren't I. Hurry! And I'm Valen, by the way." Apparently trying to make up for his rushed explanations, Val flashed Erhi a fast but dashing little smile, then seized him by the wrist. He snapped his fingers and the house was empty once again.
.........
Erhiaganoma's eyes snapped open to be met with a bewildering sight. He was standing in a vast, dark cave surrounded by solid grey statues, and in front of him were two people. There was a young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, whose own eyes were brilliant violent and shining with excitement. Next to her was a tiny Mouse with long silvery fur, her black eyes the size of moons, and her slender hands poised gracefully towards him. Out of her fingertips a thin golden light danced into the air, surrounding his body.
He screamed.
"No, shhh!" the little Mouse begged him. "I am sorry if i' 'urts!" Erhi stared down at himself and watched open-mouthed as a stony substance faded away from him to reveal dark flesh, and feeling he didn't realize he'd lost was returned to him. The second that he found he could wiggle his fingers, he lifted them to his face and stared even harder, watching them move.
"Thank... you...?" he murmured as his vision fully cleared. "Where am I? Where's Val? What's going on?"
The human girl's round brown face was full of sympathy. "You're in the Rock, in Fortunia. Valen Marinos was with the Eyes last I saw him and I guess he was the one who put you here." Suddenly, her saddened face broke into a wide smile. "It worked! It worked! Ohhh, I can't believe you're here and you're alive and Asagwara and Ka-"
"Huh?" Erhi interrupted. "I'm sorry, When was there a question to my state of not being alive?"
The girl squealed and darted forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders as Kasa had, not too long ago, though those same shoulders had been stone cold then. "You're Erhiaganoma Nenge and there is a cure to the Rock! I can... I can..." She seemed out of breath. "I-I can save Asagwara!" Her excitement was nearly contagious, so Erhi smiled.
"Who's Asagwara?"
And then the girl's grin was fading again. "Oh. I'd forgotten." She turned to the Mouse, as if she were expecting assistance.
"Ya called 'im, yeah?" the Mouse whispered, almost inaudibly. Erhi leaned closer. "I though' I saw ya doin' the mind shtuff and all. Will 'e be 'ere soon?" The human girl muttered something even more quietly into the Mouse's large ear that he missed.
"What?" Erhi said loudly. "I'm still confused!"
There was a clattering not too far away, closer to the entrance of the cave where the dim lighting of the gemstones outside broke into the deep shadow. A woman and a boy, their figures blurred in the distance, had just come in. The woman had the boy by the hand or the arm as far as Erhi could see as if leading him, and the woman must have dropped something to make such a ruckus. The clatter was followed by a scream; Erhi looked wildly around to see where the danger was, but saw nothing.
"Erhi!" the woman was yelling joyously. She dragged the boy into a run with her and the name had only just registered in Erhi's brain when he too realized the identity of who was racing towards him. "Erhi!"
He held out his arms wide and there was the woman leaping into them, her dark skin so familiar and yet so unfamiliar on his own, so warm and yet so cold. The boy drew back, in a daze.
"Kasa," he sighed. He held her close, simply breathing her in, feeling the curve of her body against his, the soft sweet smell of her short curly hair an echo of lost time, and tender kindness of her hands. When Erhi looked up again he saw that the Mouse had her hands out one last time and the golden strings of light were now swirling around the boy that had entered with Kasa, the stone that had been covering his young face dissipating. Once he was free, as well, the brown girl came forward and embraced him tightly, and the two children rocked together. Erhi did not know who they were, nor did he know what had led to this moment, but it warmed his heart and the most out-of-reach depths of his soul.
The last thing he remembered before the present was what had happened with Val.
The memory had faded like the stone, though not completely, as if it had been years ago. All Erhi could remember was his friend arguing with him about Duygu; Erhi had wanted to stay home permanently, as he had been going in and out of Fortunia for about a decade, and he no longer wanted to participate in Duygu's madness. He had thought the torture of the Mousen and the entire system of Wedhn was awful and still did. So what had gone wrong? Where was Val? And how had Kasa found him here?
A thought came to his head. It was very recognizable to him, as it seemed... well, hadn't he had that thought recently? Erhi was thinking about Val's poem, which he had always considered quite silly and pointless, and he could have sworn...
But his memory had been wiped nearly clean as an effect of Mouse magic.
"Baby, how did you find me?" Erhi voiced his wonderings aloud. "Where... did you go?"
"Ohhhhh," Kasa groaned, and she squeezed him more tightly. "I'm a terrible person. I love you, I love you so much, and I know I never said it but I'm saying it now because I love you and it's true. I... in August that year, the year I left? '93?"
He nodded curtly, pursing his lips. She buried her head in his chest and continued in a muffled voice,
"I left because I was scared, Erhi. We fooled around... I got pregnant. I got scared. A-and - and, so... so - I left for America."
"You didn't tell me," he whispered harshly. The girl and boy pair behind them were paying attention now, and so the couple lowered their volume further.
"I know," she murmured. Kasa pulled away from him but gripped his hand in hers, instinctively touching her stomach with her free one.
"And... and the baby?" Erhi was nervous to ask at all, but the question seemed to brighten Kasa's spirits. Her greyish brown eyes were wide and hopeful as she looked at him, and his heart melted. She turned and put her arm around the dark boy's shoulder.
"Our son, Asagwara."
.........
M was feeling happier than she had in days, if not weeks, because finally, something good was happening. She watched with a joyous feeling bubbling in her heart as stone melted from Asagwara's face to reveal the smooth dark skin she'd known before, and the unique silvery eyes wide open with shock. M hugged him tightly and he let out a sharp breath, but she was much too busy rocking with him. Perhaps it was less friendship that led her to feeling so right in Asagwara's arms, and more the fact that she had been severely missing the male companionship she was used to.
M kept on holding him until Kasa was putting her arm around her boy's shoulders, and saying, "Our son, Asagwara." The young girl released him and stood back, quietly relishing the ecstatic expressions of love in the faces of a once broken family.
The man next to Kasa, that M knew now to be Erhiaganoma Nenge, broke into a nervous grin that quite reflected hers. He was darkly handsome, like Asagwara was in a boyish youthful way, and almost like Kasa was herself - M thought with amusement that it must have been a natural family trait. And then M saw the bright golden eyes that were Erhi's, and gasped, as she hadn't fully realized that of course he was a Wedhn as well. She hadn't know Wedhn could be so close together in a family; after all, she was the first to be given the Gift in several generations of her family before her.
"R-really? Ours?" Erhi was stuttering. He kept glancing from his son to his girlfriend in disbelief, as if thinking she had lied to him as a practical joke.
"Ours," said Kasa. She put her other hand on Asagwara's shoulder and went behind him to push him gently towards his father. "Sweetheart... Oh..." She wiped a tear from her eye and touched his cheek, now brown and soft. "Thank you, Miss - uh, Miss Mouse. I can't ever thank you enough." She turned from him briefly to address Selah, who was still standing awestruck in the Rock with her hands up in the air.
"Ya thankin' me?" Selah blinked. Her slender silver hand went to her heart and she couldn't suppress a smile of her own. But it twisted back into a frown after only a few moments of united jubilation. "I... I don' know wha' to say. I-I-I, I, well, I wish I could 'ave somethin' like this. It's so nice."
As Kasa talked with gratitude towards the Mouse who had rescued them, Erhiaganoma and Asagwara were left to face each other alone. M watched as both darkened even more in the cheeks.
"You're really my dad," Asagwara murmured, scuffing his dirt-caked shoe on the stone. He couldn't meet his father's eyes.
"Yeah," Erhi replied. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Did... you miss her? Mama?"
Erhi nodded and bit his lip, trying not to cry. M could hear his mind telling him firmly to be a man for his son and her mouth tilted sideways a bit, again sympathetic for him. "I did. Very, very, much, uh -"
"Asagwara."
"I know." Erhi shoved his hands deep into his pockets. His jeans were stained with neutral paints, dirt, and other mysterious substances M didn't particularly care to know about. "When's your birthday, kid?"
"April 7," Asagwara said hesitantly. "1994."
"Seriously? You only, what, ten years old then?"
"It's October of 2006," M spoke up, confused on behalf of both children.
Erhi's black eyebrows shot up to the highest reaches of his forehead, and he stared at his son, befuddled as the rest of them. "No. No, it can't be. It's 2004." He glanced down at his hands, reimagining the stone fading away from them. "You mean to say... I was trapped in some stony hell for two years?"
"It's not the worst that could happen," Asagwara and M piped simultaneously. The two of them shared a laugh.
M could tell her friend was uncomfortable and most certainly anxious, so she tapped Kasa's shoulder to call her over. The tall woman, towering over all of them, returned eagerly to embrace her boyfriend and son so that they nearly toppled over.
"This is, um... going to take a while to get used to," Asagwara mumbled, searching for comfort in his mother. There were so many thoughts and emotions whizzing through his brain that M couldn't latch on to just one, so she gave up trying to figure him out. She couldn't imagine how it felt, meeting his father for the first time so suddenly, especially when it seemed like he was probably gone for good.
"I understand," Erhi said. And he truly did.
Selah recommended shyly, "I 'ate to be the one to break up an 'appy reunion, bu' I think we should all ge' ou' of 'ere." Her head moved in the direction of the entrance so that the silvery fur covering it glistened in the jeweled lights. I can feel them coming.
"She's right." M reached for Kasa's hand instinctively but quickly retracted it again. She felt silly... The girl was beginning to think of the woman as more of her mother than her birth mother was. Asagwara, sight restored to his eyes at last, tipped his own head to the side at her curiously so that his uncut dark brown locks flopped cutely over with it, like a puppy whose long ear had fallen across the top of his noggin while he was making a show of begging. M giggled; the boy, hearing her thoughts, made a face at her.
Kasa, however, was alarmed. She squeezed Erhi's hand as well as her son's and her eyes became nearly as large as the little Mouse's were naturally. "What's wrong? Is it Val? I swear if that evil son-of-a-bitch comes near my family again I will slap him so hard he ends up in Nigeria with my dad. And that is the worst punishment he could get." She let go of Asagwara to point her finger threateningly at the tunnel outside the Rock, as if she expected Valen to appear at any moment. M knew her well enough to assume her declaration of intention to harm was not being exaggerated.
"It's no 'urry, Mistress, it's jus' tha' me magic can sense tha' Duygu and Val and the like know Sir Er'i - Er'eeag - Eh-r-iagah -"
"Yes, me, me, go on," Erhi interjected impatiently.
Selah blushed. "They'll be knowin' you've been rescued. Duygu can sense when any magic is used 'ere as well as when any o' their trophies are transformed back to 'uman. They can only do tha' 'cause they steal the Gif'."
M sighed, thinking, Of course that's one of our powers too, and of course Duygu has to have it.
"So... now that me and my..." Asagwara paused. "Now that me and my dad are saved Duygu can tell, since with us restored to Wedhn, that stole a bit of their power back to give to us?" He touched his face by habit.
Selah nodded grimly. M gestured quietly, insistent that the group move on, and no further conversation was exchanged as all five of the current party exited the Rock. "To the Sorrowturtle," she whispered to Asagwara, and added, where we can plan our escape. Her friend gave her a thumbs-up, all the while keeping very close to his parents. M felt a twinge of jealously that she was immediately ashamed of. There's no reason to be envious of Asagwara with all the stuff he's been through. She tried to clear and block thoughts from her mind as she traveled along the tunnels for what was now definitely the umpteenth time, ignoring the furtive glances the boy was shooting her.
Luck continued to be on their side, and they came to the Sorrowturtle's healing cave without any trouble such as hungry Mousen or angry Vals.
There was a dramatic increase in volume the moment that M and the others stepped inside as Joshie, Howell, Kenji, and the Sorrowturtle herself drowned their explanations out with their own frantic inquiries and shouts of relief.
"Where have you been?!" Joshie yelled in M's ear, and she winced. She took her friend's tan hand and dragged her off to the side away from the din of the crowd, trying to think of the words she wanted to say. The memories were already flooding back of the fight that had happened before M had left with Val to be led down a false trail. She was still fuming, remembering how he'd ended up lying to her after all.
"I went to Val to see the Eyes just like we planned, you knew that," M said savagely. She let Joshie's fingers slide out of hers and glared at her feet, her face burning. "Sorry. Are you still mad at me?"
Joshie's nose scrunched up and she blew viciously at a few strands of perfect blonde hair that had moved from their positions tucked behind her ear of their own accord. "I'm not mad, Lyra, obviously. I... I was trying to keep you out of trouble and that arse didn't listen to me!" She looked away too as M flushed red.
"I was stupid." M turned her eyes to Asagwara's family, watching the boy's silver eyes light up with happiness as he introduced his dad to the rest of their friends. Of course Howell and the Sorrowturtle both knew Erhiaganoma from before but were quite relieved to see him in human flesh form. "I'm sure that's what you want to hear, that I was wrong and you were right. And it's true!" she added hurriedly as Joshie opened her mouth to fire back. "I'm not being sarcastic. I went with Val thinking he'd pay off his debt, but I guess whoever sent me that thought message was wrong about any human decency in him. Then I almost got eaten by Mousen. On the very bright side, I can say I assisted in the rescuing of Asagwara's father!"
"You almost got what?" Joshie's orange eyes glittered with a terrifying excitement. M decided to take it as a thrill of the occasion, not of the prospect of her near death. "Also - excuse me, what message?"
"I met Howell's parents and they were going to help me heal Isaac because they thought I meant he was only injured, then they turned against me and chased me away. Selah saved me and brought me to Erhiaganoma. Apparently..." M's spirits fell as the idea sunk in for good. "Apparently, Mousen magic can't bring back the dead." She pinched the bridge of her nose, catching salty tears with her brown fingers. "And the message. I know it seems far-fetched, but I swear a Wedhn hinted at me telepathically that the poem would be useful. He or she must have thought Val would honor his debt then, right?"
Joshie's mouth opened again but she was interrupted as Kenji dashed over, followed by the rest of the gang - Asagwara, Erhiaganoma, Kasarachukwu, Howell, the Sorrowturtle, and Selah. "M!" The Asian boy hugged her quickly and tightly, and when he pulled back his glasses were lopsided on his face. He straightened them and smiled crookedly. "We were all worried. Especially Howell! You should have heard him."
"Awww... nah, she don' need to 'ear abou' all tha'..." Howell said, almost threateningly. Kenji scooted away from him, laughing.
"That's sweet, Howell." M shrugged, as if everything that had happened in Fortunia could just slide casually off her shoulders. It couldn't. "I'm alright now. We really, really need to get home."
"I don' know," Howell replied solemnly. "Duygu and Val and them aren' so 'appy with the Wedhn right now and they wanted ya to stay 'ere, Joshie, Lyra, Asagwara. All o' ya." He scratched guiltily at the stained bandages on his forearm, and tugged at his big grey ears. His tail raised up high into the air and Selah's short silver one raised, too, curling around his protectively.
"It doesn't matter," said Joshie firmly. "I've been here longer than both of these two and I've had enough of this sick trash as anyone, and I say we're getting to the Bright Land today. I know a guy." She grinned knowingly. "He'll be delighted to assist us. Maybe his advice didn't work out so well for you, Lyra, but he has other ways of helping."
M nodded eagerly. She was already hopefully imagining home, even standing in a damp cave hundreds of feet underground with a number of people who hadn't showered in weeks. She thought about Tully, his cute button black nose wiggling as he hunted for dog treats in her pockets; she thought about her parents, and how they would be overjoyed to see her again after - what was it, eleven months yet? And reluctantly she thought about the Darrows, as well, her wonderful neighbors across the street who would lack a third member of the household for eternity because of her. Her image of home at once seemed a lot less enticing and her mouth twisted into a grimace.
"What's wrong?" Kenji asked, the first to notice M's expression. He shoved his glasses up his nose as they slid downwards. His question called attention to the girl and she trembled slightly under their expectant, concerned faces.
I don't deserve this. "Nothing is." Everything is. What did I do to earn ten amazing friends in this short amount of time, more friends than I've made collectively in my entire life?
Just wait, Lyra. Asagwara wasn't looking right at her, but something had changed in his eyes. M's brow furrowed as she saw guilt written all over him.
For what?
He shook his head, locking the silvery door inside his mind and inclining his head slightly towards his parents to tell her they couldn't talk now. Of course, that only made M desire to know what was bothering him even more.
"Are we going to see Ehmohree or what?" Joshie announced, nudging M's shoulder cheerfully. She flipped her blonde locks behind her shoulders and extended her arm towards the cave's one entrance.
"I will see you all again," the Sorrowturtle said to them. The statement was not one made with a hopeful tone, but rather a serious one.
M shuddered. She didn't even look back as she made to leave, not wanting to meet the cloudy blue eyes that suddenly seemed frightening. Kenji and Joshie walked on either side of her, with Howell and Selah in front of them, and Asagwara's family leading the way. M wasn't sad at all to be saying goodbye to the familiar walls that had been more of a burden to her than what she had used to consider so terrible in her regular world, like Populars and math homework.
It was happening. It was really happening. It seemed so unlikely that they could get again get to their destination without being caught, but nothing disastrous occurred. M, however, could feel that pit in her stomach becoming heavier. Even when Ehmohree's cave was right there, the green curtain so happy and inviting, M didn't feel a bit better. She knew something was wrong; so why did no one else know it?
"Goodness, my dear children, it's been too long," the Teahdee greeted when Joshie rapped smartly on the grey stone wall. His voice was as kind as always, but... M immediately saw a change in him. His butterfly wings had tears in them, slashed by dagger-sharp claws. He was missing fur on his muzzle that showed the pale skin underneath. And here and there along his body M could see where dried blood was gathered, some in great lines on his slim belly or by the ankles of his paws.
Joshie was not so blind that she would disregard the wounds, and spoke up before M could. "Ehmohree, what happened!"
"It doesn't matter," he said weakly, his happy expression dropping. "I see you have Erhiaganoma, I'm so glad. I understand you're trying to make a fast escape which I will eagerly provide for you. Go. All." Ehmohree's big eyes narrowed slightly as they passed over Selah and Howell, and with a start M remembered the distrust that was shared between most Teahdeean and Mousen. Hadn't he mentioned his Mouse friend who had concealed the secret tunnel for him, though?
Selah whimpered under his stare. "Is somethin' wrong?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.
"No, no." Ehmohree's eyes went wide again and he shook himself. "I'm sorry, my dear, I've not been myself. You have to go to the Bright Land too; you and Howell Cohrbihn Hare need to accompany these people for your own safety as well as theirs. Inside!" He ushered M and her companions into his cave and she gasped at the sight she beheld. His table was split jaggedly in two, the pieces thrown to opposite sides of the room; the dining chairs' legs had been broken off and were nowhere to be seen, while the rest of them were piled messily in a corner. A mysterious heap of something that looked like ashes was sitting close in proximity to Ehmohree's own bedroom, and part of it was strewn untidily around the cave.
His face told them clearly not to ask.
"Wai'!" Howell exclaimed, his nose twitching furiously with nervousness and anticipation. "Wai', sir, 'ow will we live in the Bright Land? We are... we are gian' mouses!"
"Mice," M heard Asagwara correct him under his breath.
"I was thinking about it," Ehmohree began, "and I believe Selah could transform you both into humans; it may be temporary, but it could work. If she were able to make a potion the effects might last longer."
"I' is no problem for me!" Selah's silver chest puffed out boldly. "I 'ave practiced the shape-shiftin' before! I already know how to turn into - I will show ya!" She lifted her hands dramatically above her head and a shower of golden sparks shot out of her fingertips like fireworks, raining down on her body. For a moment M couldn't see her at all as a misty golden cloud fell over the little Mouse, but when it disappeared, so had she.
In Selah's place was a small Teahdee, smaller than Dehllah, who was thin and silver with jet black hair. Her butterfly wings were strangely big in comparison to her body, yet they were gorgeous, much more beautiful than the wings of any of the three Teahdeean M knew. This tiny Teahdee's wings were silver fading into pure white, speckled with black, and her huge eyes looked just like two identical moons. Her eyelashes were rich and long and black.
Ehmohree was delighted. He clapped his hooves together and smiled widely at the Selah Teahdee, cheered up by the show of magical talent. "Brilliance, Selah! You look almost like a perfect Teahdee. How did you learn?" He seemed to have forgotten the hurry they were in in his thirst for knowledge; however, M didn't mind if it meant he was pleased.
The silver Teahdee blushed shyly. "There's a cave in the Mousen par' of Fortunia tha' is completely abandoned because we are no' allowed more than two livin' caves now. I used to sneak away to practice my Talent in private, and I've always been fascinated by shape-shiftin' and transfiguration. I can do all the creatures 'ere except the 'umans, 'cause we Mousen do no' usually see Wedhn. I be' I can figure i' ou', though!"
"Will you be able to turn yourself and Howell into humans without mirroring any of us?" Kasa questioned worriedly.
Selah nodded. "When I turn into somethin' I usually still sor' o' look like meself." She raised her hooves and the sparks appeared again, and in a flash the young Mouse girl was back and the Teahdee gone. "Gimme a momen'. Ya can star' up the tunnel if ya wan', ya know!"
Ehmohree gestured to the hole in the ceiling and offered his hoof to help someone up. Erhiaganoma looked uncertainly back at Selah, but his girlfriend and son were both clambering up without second thoughts. M understood their desperation to escape but had no doubt she would stay to make sure Selah was alright. When she turned her eyes from the little Mouse she saw that only Howell and Kenji had stayed. Ehmohree glanced at M and gave her a reassuring nod to tell her that the others had made it into the tunnel safely.
M kept her gaze focused on Selah and watched as the girl's hands went to work in the air, the golden light coming out in strings again and wrapping around her body. Her face was determined, her pink tongue sticking slightly out of her mouth and sweat dotting her forehead. "'Umans are so complicated!" she remarked good-humoredly, and with those words she vanished under the golden mist a second time.
It was a few minutes before the results could be seen. The three others besides Selah in the cave gasped when she reappeared, flaunting a new and flawless human body.
Without comment, Selah smiled and flicked her fingers at Howell so he was then enveloped in the cloudy gold. Her human form looked to be about eight or nine years old. She had long, platinum blonde hair that fell straight down her back and almost to her thighs, which covered the ears on either side of her head which were slightly bigger than normal (but not unattractive!). Selah's eyes were not as large as usual, making her surprisingly different in appearance to M, but they had coal black irises and long silver eyelashes to go with them. M was also impressed to see she had created her own human clothes: the former Mouse girl had a long black skirt on tied to her waist with a pink sash, and a white button-up top that was tucked into the skirt. Selah even had a pink heart necklace and matching earrings to go with her ensemble.
"Wowza," Kenji said, and M felt there wasn't much more to say. She grinned encouragingly at Selah, who was beaming so that her pale skin went pink in the cheeks like her jewelry, and then M glanced at Howell.
His transformation was already complete. He seemed to be sixteen or seventeen in age, with hair that had a high fade with loose pompadour. Howell's hair, unlike his natural Mouse fur, was dark brownish-auburn, and Selah had made his eyes a striking hazel. He was almost nothing like himself anymore; he didn't even have the scars on his now arabesque flesh body that really marked him as Howell. M frowned just a tiny bit, wondering why Selah looked a lot like herself but had made her friend so different. Howell didn't seem too enthused himself.
"I did i'!" Selah cried, as if she didn't believe it was possible. "Come on... we can go to the Bright Land, 'owell!" Her pale hand grabbed his and she yanked him towards the tunnel where Ehmohree was standing. He looked Howell up and down, confused.
"Why am I like this?" Howell asked her. He was handsome, and unmarred, but M felt like she was seeing a stranger. She already missed the Mouse Howell she knew.
Selah frowned at him and let Ehmohree hoist her into the hole, releasing his hand to grab at the walls and pull herself up. "I' is only temporary," she explained, and her tail disappeared inside.
"We can have her make you look more like yourself, Howell," Kenji tried, but the Mouse-turned-human was shaking his head.
"I always told her when we were littler that I'd like to be beautiful, like the Teahdeean." Howell stared morosely up after Selah, waiting for her to get farther ahead so he could go next. "She was doin' me a favor and I don' wan' to be 'urtin' her feelings. I guess I didn' realize... I would miss myself if I was gone." He held his hands up in front of his eyes, inspecting the flawless skin, and then allowed Ehmohree to help him up too. M sighed, unintentionally.
"What's up?" Kenji stepped quickly back from the hole. "Ladies first, of course."
"It's not that," said M. "I don't care if you go before me. It's just..." She examined his face, deciding if this boy she hadn't know so long could be a friend. She didn't really have a doubt, when Kenji was so sweet, but she was feeling defensive. Maybe it was that she felt like she'd be replacing Isaac. "It's just... It's just that... this is it. Isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" The Asian boy took off his glasses and wiped them clean with his shirt, then replaced them. He kept glancing from her to the tunnel and back again.
"I mean that so much has happened!" M cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation. It wasn't Kenji she was frustrated or angry with, though. He shrank. "I... sorry. These have been easily some of the toughest weeks of my twelve years. I was kidnapped, I was trapped in an underground kingdom ruled by a ferocious beast, I... I lost Isaac." She sniffled. "I can't believe we're really leaving now. That's all."
"I'd have a word with Asagwara," Ehmohree advised gloomily, but when she turned to him he wouldn't meet her eyes. Hesitantly, M stroked his green mane, and he sighed ruefully, too. He uttered nothing more.
"What am I gonna tell Mum and Dad?" M rubbed her face with the hand that wasn't resting comfortingly on Ehmohree's neck. She could feel the dirt, grime, sweat and tears that had built up over the days and longed for the showers she had taken for granted in her own home. M groaned.
"We'll figure this out together," said Kenji firmly, and he nudged her forwards. Howell was far up the tunnel, now, so M gripped the dirt and lifted herself in as well, ever so ready to be above ground again. Kenji was right. They'd figure this out.
.........
The sun was perhaps the thing about the outside that M had missed the most. The second she clambered out of the hole in the ground it hit her directly in the face, warming her skin despite the cool October air. This was it. She was really free at last.
Right?
M got to her feet and ran, letting the stress roll off her shoulders for real, pumping her legs as hard as she could to go faster and faster. She raced around the wide expanse of field with her arms up in the air, tossing her black waves of hair back into the chilly winds and hooting for all it was worth. The girl ran until her heart was exploding from her chest and she had to stop to catch her breath, so she jumped into a pile of damp autumn leaves without a care.
"Someone's excited!" Kenji called, jogging over to her. He collapsed onto the dying grass beside her and lay on his back, squinting into the bright blue sky. "I see why the Fortunians call our home the Bright Land."
Howell was following, his chest heaving from the exhilaration of climbing and running. "Aye... we... wow... I can'... believe... ya 'umans can... stand this ligh'." He gulped for air and fanned himself with his hands, as if that would serve any help whatsoever. His eyes were practically closed.
"You need some... sunglasses?" M panted, lifting her head to see him better. It feels so good just to run without being chased by somebody who wants to eat and/or kill you!
"Nah," Howell responded. "If I'm gonna live 'ere for a while until it's safe again I'm gonna 'ave to ge' used to this. Where should I go, Mistress?"
"Okay, new rules." M's heart ached a little at the words she was planning to say, but she thought Isaac would understand if he knew. "Uh... Howell, you can live with me for the time being. You can be my new guardian. Like Isaac was when he was... here. And we're gonna tell the Darrows that he..." She paused, unsure of where to go from there. What would she tell them? That he ran away? That he... committed suicide? That he was kidnapped? She couldn't tell them he'd really died, or they'd need to know how. Where was the body? What happened? Who? Why? When? It was true that he was kidnapped but then the police would be searching for a dead person who wasn't even in the same world!
"That he what?" Kenji sat up and snatched a leaf from M's pile, tearing it until he only had the stem.
"I'll tell them that Isaac decided he needed some alone time and... is gonna live somewhere else for a while? And his parents shouldn't try to contact him and that they shouldn't be worried either? And... that Howell is Isaac's friend who agreed to care for me until he gets home."
Kenji moved closer to M and put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Lyra... That can't be forever."
"Just for now!" she protested. "Just until I think of something better. Look, I need an excuse, Howell needs somewhere to stay, and while I'm at it, so does Selah! She can be your little sister, Howell, okay?"
Howell nodded, looking back and forth between the two of them. Then M followed his gaze to a couple dozen feet away where the others stood conversing, probably having decided that whatever M was talking about was meant for only the boys with her. She was Joshie smiling and laughing with Asagwara, Kasa and Erhiaganoma embracing, and Selah exploring the trees with wide eyes full of wonder. M felt suddenly, terribly alone.
.........
The sky was quite cloudy that day, the big grey puffs streaking the colorful horizon as the sun went lower and lower. It was pure blue, but as one's eye fell to the grand mountains that appeared purple in the distance, one could see how the blue melted into pink, and the pink into fiery red, transforming into fantastic oranges and golds and violets alike. M marveled at how a cloudy day could still make such a beautiful sunset. Yet it seemed inappropriate.
This was not a happy ending.
M didn't believe in those, anyway.
She was walking along the streets of La Cuvette, her hands shoved in the pockets of a jacket she'd borrowed from Kasa, alone and not alone. Her eyes were to the sky, as she thought they'd nearly always be now, for with good reason she was constantly worried that the Eyes would appear there again. Most would say sensibly, watching her from nearby, that M was appreciating nature, if they were to make any such comment at all.
But no. No, she was watching because she was frightened. M could no longer remember a time when she wasn't, because like she'd already told herself: this was not a happy ending.
She made the familiar turn onto her street and a chill went up her spine - that chill that told her she was being watched. And wasn't she always? M instinctively glanced behind her only to see exactly whom she expected, those people being Howell, Selah, and Asagwara. She had heard the Wedhn boy telling the former Mousen to quiet down, leave M to her thoughts, probably thinking M would be grateful for it.
Honestly? She wasn't.
She had said goodbye to Joshilynn Hafner, Kenji Tokei, Kasarachukwu Umburter, and Erhiaganoma Nenge a while ago, when they had all been able to catch buses where they needed to go. Thankfully the field by Ehmohree's tunnel hadn't turned out to be too far from La Cuvette or Fishertown or wherever Joshie was living. Asagwara has decided on his own he wanted to accompany M back to the Desjardins mansion; this, she was grateful for.
But M longed to talk. Though she was too proud and too afraid to say what she wished she could say, M only wanted to spill the contents of her heart out to the friends it had taken her almost thirteen endless years of her life to find. When would she see Joshie or Kenji again? Would her parents be waiting for her at home, and what would she tell them about where she'd been? When would she see Isaac again? All these urgent questions M hated herself for being too much of a coward to speak aloud, like they were embarrassing.
"Look, Lyra." Asagwara's voice broke through the night, seeming. He was uncharacteristically jubilant - perhaps that was because he did have a happy ending. M had had to bite her tongue all evening to avoid lashing out at him for no good reason, because truth be told, she was beyond jealous. "There's your house. Are... are you ready? Should I walk you to the door?"
M glared at the porch, whose lights were glaring back at full yellow intensity, casting pools of shadows over the dark grim yard. The mansion was so tall and foreboding that it was uncommon for the late sunshine to meet the grass and flowers that hungered for it. M's heart almost stopped when she came to the realization that her father's red Bugatti Veyron had been moved from the garage and was out in the driveway again, like old times. "Wait, Asagwara, no," she blurted, and she whirled around to face him.
The boy's silver eyes stuck out in the oncoming darkness, like headlights in the blackest of nights. The effect was strange and made M even more frightened than before. "'No?'" he repeated.
"I'm scared." There. She'd said it. M was literally shaking in her boots, and not from the cold autumn weather.
Asagwara smiled sadly at her. "I know," he said in an attempt at a consoling tone. "I... I know you're probably a bit frustrated with me, too, Lyra. But this isn't the end! There's..." He shifted awkwardly, gritting his teeth. "There's still a chance, you know... y-you... you know."
"I don't understand."
"Look, just tell your parents that Isaac brought you with him to his new place for a while, and that he'd forgotten their numbers. Then say you and him are both fine now and you're so happy to see them! Pretend, Lyra -" and Asagwara was pleading with his eyes - "pretend everything is okay. It's very important. Then explain about Howell and Selah! Simple. Answer all their questions. But don't be finicky."
M frowned severely at him. "Yeah... I'll see you, Asagwara." She gesticulated towards the mansion for Howell and Selah, who were quiet and nervous behind the two Wedhn.
"...Bye."
And with that, M stepped into the yard with forced confidence, hoping to be brave. She didn't look back at Asagwara; no, she just listened. She heard the crickets chirping a merry song, preparing for sundown; she heard the sound of the grass rustling beneath three pairs of feet; and she heard distant clatters, bits of conversation, low voices inside.
"I'm sorry abou' wha' 'appened wif Valen," Howell whispered, rubbing his arms in the cold that felt like knives on furless skin.
M sighed, "I don't care much anymore. Maybe that message I got about the poem meant something else. Maybe it meant nothing at all. I still... love it. I do." Her voice had become shaky. She reached for Howell's hand and he took it, as did he take Selah's, and M felt a bit of bravery inching up inside her, ready to take action. Howell's hand was warm, and soft, and kind, and M knew already she would trust him with anything. Perhaps he didn't look the same, but appearance didn't matter as long as he was still him.
In that moment it was as if Isaac was alive again, holding M's hand instead, helping her prepare to see her parents. It would be like meeting them. Like Asagwara seeing his father for the first time.
Awkward, and scary, but so, so wonderful.
"'Ow could ya love i'?" Selah met M's violet eyes with her black ones, blinking curiously. Her free hand moved out to touch the wood of the railing as the three of them stepped onto the porch. "Val lied to ya. I'd eat 'im."
M laughed despite herself, then covered her mouth. The low chatter had gone away. Were her parents going to bed so early, or had they heard her before she was ready? But in another beat it had resumed, and M breathed a heavy sigh of relief that she wasn't sure meant she was glad they hadn't come to the door or glad that they hadn't abandoned her outside. The two were polar opposites but M wouldn't have liked either one.
So was it time?
M imagined what Isaac, her very best friend she'd ever had, would have done if he had been with her here. She pictured his pale, happy face, his reddish blond hair tousled and perfect, his green eyes echoing the grin on his lips; and somehow it didn't make her sad. It made M feel quite, fantastically better. Her heart warmed like Howell's hand in hers and she could almost feel his presence with her again.
"The poem might have been a useless warning from my idiotic, narcissistic ancestor," M murmured, smiling softly, "but it meant everything to me coming from my Isaac."
And she knocked.