The Four Chimes

Chapter 10 - ARI

"You didn't know him!"

There was an expression on Kurie's face I had rarely ever seen before. It was pain, yes, but I had seen Kurie in pain many times before. It was just par for the course in his job as a healer. Any healing he did reflected back onto him as pain. It was Magic 101. But underneath all the pain, I sensed that he was more scared than anything. Just like when Dad died.

"I... I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Kurie pushed past me. I got up.

"Hey, Kuku," I said, pushing through the crowds. "Wait up."

I pushed past a tall, bearded man with an intricate dragon tattoo, a raven-haired woman who gazed at me with icy daggers, and a lanky child who I could only assume was a pickpocket. "Kuku! I'm losing you."

Kurie pushed on forward, as if I didn't exist.

I entered the bathroom. The music sounded dulled and faded in here, as if we were underwater. Kurie stood at a sink and splashed cold water on his face, shivering as it ran down his cheeks and onto his neck.

"Not now, Ari."

"He was my dad, too."

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because... I agreed with them."

"You what?"

"They make a good point. And I know they don't know Dad. But I do. And if there were something wrong, he would want us to fix it."

"But how can we fix it? He's dead."

"But we don't know how deep this goes. We don't know how many other people have been 'replaced'. Or how many people have yet to be replaced. We have to do it for them. Because then we're also doing it for him. Dad would want us to do this. You know he would."

"I just... If this goes so deep, then wouldn't Dad want us to survive? If this... Select killed Dad, how are we supposed to kill it?"

"I wish I knew. But you've always said--"

"'Good will prevail.' I know. It's just a lot harder doing it than saying it."

"If we don't do anything, who will?"

Kurie looked down at the sink, seeing his reflection distorted in the faucet. "No one. But maybe someone else will. Someone who isn't just a bunch of young, hopeful, foolish faces fresh out of the Academy."

"We can't count on that."

"Don't get me wrong. I want to believe. I want to believe that we can change things. But how could we?"

"I don't have the answers. But maybe together we can find some."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

We walked back to the booth, Kurie standing taller than ever.

Tanta got up. "Hey, Kurie, I'm sorry--"

"It's fine. You were right."

"Sometimes there are more important things than being right."

"Well, I'm with you now."

"Glad to hear."

"So what's the plan?"

"What plan?"

"The plan. For getting to the bottom of all this."

"We don't have one."

"Well, then we need to make one."