Chapter #48The First Examination by: Seuzz   You pull the door shut again, as quietly as you can, and turn to stare back into the bedroom. It seems unreal, the thought that one of the Stellae might just slice your head off without anyone's permission. But you don't know how this secret society works; and Joe sounded very serious. So where are you going to hide that mask?
Behind you, the door flies open, hitting you in the back, and you jump and squawk. Miko is standing there, a hard, glittering look in her eye. "Holy--!" you gasp, and put a hand to your chest to still your heart. "Hi there." You swallow.
It feels like she's slicing and peeling back your mind layer by layer and reading it. You tell yourself you've nothing to feel guilty about--you weren't eavesdropping--and return her stare as levelly as you can. You gain a little strength when you see Kali appear behind Miko.
And maybe you've blunted Miko's piercing gaze. "Are you all unpacked?" she asks.
"Yeah," you say. You look back into the room. "I feel like I've forgotten something is all. But I always feel that way when I travel."
"If you've forgotten anything, Will, I'm sure we can supply the deficiency," Kali trills.
"Thanks. It's a nice room."
"Then perhaps you can join us," Miko says. She brushes past Kali, and you hear her murmur "We'll talk later" to her.
* * * * *
Kali's residence is a very large--even expansive--apartment on an upper floor of a luxury building. Aside from the bedrooms--of which there are three--she has a living room that opens out onto a balcony, a dining room, a kitchen, a large office, and a laundry room. The décor is spare and elegant, with lots of blonde wood and glass. The two women sit on a large sofa. Kali relaxes into it and crisply crosses her legs; Miko surprises you a little by curling up girlishly with her legs beneath her after kicking off her shoes. They both turn to you after you've taken a chair opposite them, and look at you brightly but with contrasting expressions. Kali's is warm and inviting; Miko's has a touch of frost. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Will," Kali says.
You fold your hands and bounce your thumbs together nervously. Your biography is dreadfully dull up until the point that you found the Libra, and after that-- You flinch a little as you glance at Miko. What will she say--or do--when you tell her you worked briefly for a black magician?
"Well, I'm originally from Saratoga Falls," you start.
"Where's that?" Miko asks sharply.
"It's a little nothingburger town--" you start, and freeze as Miko takes out an emery board and starts sliding it across a very sharp fingernail. "East of here," you gasp.
"The whole country's east of here," Miko says. "Hawaii is east of here, if you travel far enough in the right direction."
"Well, it's not in Hawaii," you nervously laugh.
"What does your father do? Or your mother?" Kali asks.
"He's an engineer, works for an aerospace contractor--"
"Do you have a sibling?" Miko asks.
"A brother."
"Why isn't he here too?"
You look to Kali for help, but she just continues smiling. "I don't know," you say. "He didn't get mixed up in things."
"Is that the only reason you're here? You got mixed up in something?"
"I guess."
"You don't want to be here?"
You tug at your ear. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition, you almost say. "I wasn't sure that 'wanting' was part of it."
"Why are you here?" Miko demands, and scrapes a little harder at her nail.
"Well, Kali here called--" You shoot a worried glance at her, wondering if she'll resent the way you seem to be shifting the blame--it sure feels like Miko is blaming you for something--but she continues to look serene. "And she invited me out."
"Do you accept every invitation you get?"
"Well, no--"
"So why did you accept this one?"
You look down, and notice that you've crossed your legs and folded your arms, and you can't seem to unlock them. "I didn't know what else to do," you blurt out. "Joe told me I had this gift or power, and if I was going to join your group--"
"Do you want to join our 'group'?" Acid drips off the latter word.
You look to the side. It's suddenly much clearer what she's on about: She wants to know exactly what your motives are in coming here.
And you've no answer. As your mind races back over the events of the past few weeks, you see your progress as a lot of drifting from one place to another. You drifted into finding the book; you drifted into Blackwell's acquaintance; you drifted into meeting Frank and Joe, and working with them; you drifted out here to LA. Even your final fight against Blackwell and the possessed Frank was more a matter of immediate expedience than deliberate desire.
You're very quiet for a long time, and after a few minutes you look up nervously, expecting to see impatience or even contempt on Miko's face at your silence. But she is just very still--except for the scrape, scrape, scrape of the emery board--and looks at you neutrally.
"I don't know," you say, and the peace that descends with the answer tells you it's the right one for you, even if it's the wrong one for them. "I never asked myself that question. I never asked myself what I wanted. About this or anything else."
Miko's expression doesn't change. "That's no answer."
Kali smiles, but it seems a private one. "So tell us more about how you came to be here."
* * * * *
It's a long, hard, and exhausting interview that follows. Miko picks at every detail of your biography. You gulp when the subject of the Libra comes up, and she jabs at every detail about your career with it: Why you bought it; why you tried returning it; why you took the job with Blackwell; why you chose to work with him. You tremble as you describe each step of that adventure, and wonder if she's got that sword hidden behind the couch, and if Kali is capable of stopping her if she whips it out. (You doubt it.) But Miko accepts each revelation in the same coolly pitiless manner. At only a few points does Kali step in, and you're grateful for those, for they allow you to elide certain mysteries: What happened to you when you passed through the Libra, for instance, and how it changed you. If Miko notices, she says nothing; but then, she seems fixated on your motives at each step. And to that you can only offer variations on the same excuse: It seemed like the easiest thing to do at the time. When it finally comes to relate your confrontation with Frank, you're too worn out to pretend any boastfulness over it, and it too comes across as a desperate improvisation on your part.
The sun has set and Kali has turned on some lamps by the time you're finished. You are also ravenously hungry, but can only murmur polite thanks when she offers to order up some food, and you don't cavil at the suggestion that it be sushi.
You eat with them in the living room, keeping silent the whole time. They talk to each other before and during and after the meal about people and events you don't know or understand, in an easy and familiar way. You do notice that Miko pushes Kali around almost as mercilessly as she had you, but Kali seems able to laugh it all off. They don't ask you to help clean up, and you remain in your seat as they move off into the kitchen.
You are exhausted and utterly miserable. Is this what it's going to be like, these people pushing you around, challenging you, making you feel bewildered and unwelcome, an object of suspicion? They certainly have grounds, and you can't bear the thought of Miko watching you, waiting for a slip on your part as an excuse to strike your head from your shoulders. You sink deeper and deeper in the chair, and soon give up fighting the waves of self-pity that wash over you. All your life you've drifted on currents, and now they've washed you up here.
You raise your eyes briefly at footsteps, and see Miko swing through the living room. She glances around, but her eyes don't even fall on you, and she disappears through a doorway without pausing. A few minutes later Kali also appears, to also glance around without speaking, and follows her. You sigh. All that, and it's like they've forgotten completely about you now.
A few minutes later Kali comes back out, and now she stands behind the sofa, facing you with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. But her glance is distracted, and as you watch she mutters something under her breath. And then her eyes lock onto yours, and she gives a little start.
"Gracious, child, have you been here the whole time?" she asks.
You blink. "Yeah," you croak.
She stares at you. "Remarkable," she murmurs. She starts to say something else, then catches herself. "Yes," is all she says, and then gathers herself up. "Well, what would you say to a hot bath and some hot tea?"
That would be nice, and you say so. With a wide smile she leads you to a spacious bathroom, shows you the towels and sundries and a big, fluffy bathrobe, and leaves you to it.
* * * * *
You come out an hour later, feeling totally drained, and pad into the bedroom. You have to flinch a little when you see Kali in there, sitting on the edge of your bed. "Shut the door, child," she says. "And speak softly. I should like to ask you a few questions before you retire. Are you up for it?"
Great. Another interrogation. But Miko's not here. And if Kali wants to ask them privately, maybe it's best to accede.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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