Vision
28. Darkness
Idhikkire left the barracks in the pre-dawn darkness, with no goal in mind except to get away. She wasn't going back to sleep, and doubted anyone would. Without a moment's hesitation she plunged into the scrubby growth, taking the most direct route up the island's peak rather than the path that gently wound around the slope. She needed to get away quickly, away from the Dancinglight, away from--just away.
She stopped, finally, when there was no hill left to climb. Gasping, she fell onto her hands and knees, then wrapped her arms around herself and huddled. It was cold, but the chill came from inside herself. Not far enough.
25. Possess
What a fool she had been to come here. Her entire life she'd spent escaping the one who had killed her father, who wanted to steal her. And what had she done? Left a safe place, and trapped herself on a tiny island with that very same one. The other protos thought they had captured him. But how could you capture someone who could jump from one mind to another? He could become any of them, at any moment; he might even have already planted himself into--
Idhikkire sprang from her crouch, down the far side of the peak. She ran; when she tripped, she rolled; she got to her feet and ran again.
3. Abandoned
As the dawn warmed, the sun's early rays lit the towers of the abandoned Eddy. By the time the sky had lightened to pale gray and the birds were screaming over the ocean, Idhikkire was racing across the gravel field to the Gate Tower.
The finished Eddy was meant to be an impressive structure, soaring up from the island's southern shore. As a shell entangled in scaffolding, it more seemed like a dead creature trapped in a net, and Idhikkire a fly crawling up its side.
26. Abyss
She pulled herself up the workers' footholds, stopping only once to pry the shoes off her feet. With her toes free, she was able to keep a steadier grip. The ground vanished under crossing beams and braces. When the footholds ended, Idhikkire kept climbing the thick vertical support, and when that reached its top, she put her foot onto one of the girders that joined the half-finished towers, followed with the other foot, and walked out past the edge of the scaffolding, over the gap to the outer towers.
5. Misfortune
The cold wind struck her three steps out, whipping the scarf from her head and tugging her clothes. Idhikkire bent into the gust, her footing steady. Then she shivered violently, and her legs crumpled. Already half-crouched, Idhikkire fell down more than out. Her right leg slipped over the girder and she threw herself flat, arms reaching forward for anything to hold onto. Her fingers wrapped around the edge of the girder, yanking her fall to a painful halt.
30. Tear
She hung numbly, half her body swinging free, and then flailed her dangling arm around the girder, gasping as the rough metal bit into scratches in her exposed skin. With agonizing progress Idhikkire shifted her legs and then her arms until she had rolled herself atop the girder. There was no strength left for standing. The wind had slackened, but still she shivered, clinging to the beam and crying. Precipitated by her near catastrophe, every moment of anxiety she'd lived through since coming to the Eddy came spilling out. It was a long time before she could draw enough breath to speak words aloud. "I have to get away from here!" she choked. "Medi, I want to go back! I hate it here!"
18. Spirit
As a child, it had been comforting to talk to that imaginary friend. Medi had kept her company, listened to secrets, sung her to sleep, soothed away tears, filled her loneliness. Now there was no answer, only hollow silence. It was another reminder that she was alone. Or worse--not alone. That realization jolted her out of her misery. Idhikkire wobbled to her feet, feeling down to the ground for the presence of organized water.
15. Mist
With the wind gone, the fog breathing in from the ocean stacked itself higher, grasping its way up the Eddy's incomplete towers. Still, it wasn't thick enough to completely hide the human aura waiting below. It could only be one of the other protos, but which one, and why were they down there? It would be too much of a coincidence for another proto to happen to come to the towers for solace; it had to be someone who knew where she was-
11. Escape
He's coming for you. He'd taken over another mind. Possibly all the protos--then counted and found her missing. If you stay here, you'll be next. Idhikkire took a step back toward the tower, but froze. Not that way--he's there. She pivoted. The other towers--she'd climb down one of them. Into the ocean, if she had to. A step forward. You have to get away. Quickly! The next step turned into a leap, and before she knew it she was bounding recklessly along the girder.
10. Broken
And then the girder ended. Broken or unfinished, between one stride and the next it was gone. Instead of running Idhikkire was plummeting, and still trying to take another step because she was too surprised to understand what had happened. The thick cloud hid her surroundings, and except for the passing air, she might be motionless. With a strange calm it dawned on her I am about to die.
1. Portrait
Tipping her head back she saw a shape growing deep in the fog, a figure standing on the ground, becoming clearer as the distance between them shrank; it was Lysiddea, of all the protos the nearest to her friend, staring up and realizing she was about to be crushed; it would be the last moment of Idhikkire's experience, Lysiddea's open-mouthed face, framed in mist, rushing up at her-
21. Shatter
A crushing pressure around Idhikkire's torso jerked her out of the fall. The image splintered, scattering shards of fog, leaving pieces of a scene that seemed unreal. Bright daylight. Rushing water. A man writhing in midair, screaming incoherent insults. Her hand around his ankle. A cry from above: "Haul her in!" A sudden increase in tension. Her grip slid, and without a thought she yanked her other hand free of the safety harness and held the man tighter.
20. Unquiet
Back on the bridge, a team of medics swarmed them both. The shouts, the questions, the instructions all blurred together. Idhikkire heard none of it. She sat motionless in the middle of the chaos, dizzily staring at her shaking hands. That isn't what happened. Lysiddea had climbed the tower, talked to her, and they had gone down together safely. But if she hadn't... It could have happened. It would have...
"Iki!" Her beat partner's voice startled her out of her thoughts. "Is something going on? They said your vitals are fine, but you weren't saying anything. Was it another one of those visions? What did you see?"
How could she explain? "I'm sorry, Ganni--I can't talk about it."
"Not patroller business, then?"
"No, this one was...very personal." It wasn't a lie, but it felt like one.
31. Drown
"You know, you're not looking good," Ganni observed with typical Galternene bluntness.
She laced her fingers together to still them. "I need a break."
Their senior partner came over just in time to hear this. "Agreed. Another day like this one and we'll all three go under. Hand up?"
"Thanks, Vaird." Idhikkire stood up with the offered assistance and surprised herself by not immediately falling over.
"This whole month has been too much of a load even for an experienced trio. Central's got no right drowning a rookie like you in it, Water Seeker or not. But, you know," Vaird added thoughtfully, "after today's rescue--and you nearly stopped my heart, by the way--I'm pretty sure you could trade in some of your value for a sabbatical."
"I hope so."
16. Whisper
As she followed them to the beat runner, Ganni noticed her trailing and dropped back. "Hey," he said quietly, "it's over now, right? Your first try didn't work, but so what? Thanks to you, the guy is alive. He'll get treated, not buried. When we do our best and it's enough, that's a good day."
Idhikkire nodded but didn't answer. Best? He wouldn't be saying that if he knew what she'd really done. They'd been called to the bridge to stop an apparently hallucinating man from throwing himself off it. Like every patroller, she had been trained in responding to such situations--but instead, out of earshot of her colleagues, she'd goaded him.
They're closing in.
You're not safe here.
Hurry, before it's too late.
He had jumped, and she was as much to blame as if she'd pushed him.
13. Haunt
Idhikkire leaned back in the runner's seat, closed her eyes, smoothed her breath, and settled into the depths of her mind. It all felt familiar, comfortable. There wasn't the slightest sense of a foreign influence. It was possible, after all, that she was just tired. Overworked, pushed to exhaustion, and taking it out on a vulnerable innocent. Possible...but not certain.
She would never be sure.
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