244 - The Island

As the Ferris wheel froze to a stop, waiting for riders to disembark, Lexie held out her hands to prevent both Dewie and Xena from getting off.

“Let’s do it now, Dewster,” she said. 

He was already gripping the turnstile, but he relaxed and nodded, while Xena looked between the two. “Do what?”

Lexie inhaled. “Dewie saw something when he touched my mother's gem."

“He did?” she hissed.

“Keep it down,” Lexie said. Though the bodyguards were invisible, she could sense their relative locations and didn’t know if they had enhanced hearing. She didn’t want this to get back to Vacek just yet. 

She decided to talk telepathically instead. She reached out and activated her link card, connecting to both of her friends. 

Can you both hear me? Lexie asked.

Dewie nodded, but Xena frowned. 

“Are you talking in my head?” she wondered.

Yes, now talk to me in your head, too, Lexie responded.

Oh, hell no. Can you read my thoughts? All of them?

Yup, and now I know your deepest, darkest secret.

Xena paled instantly.

Just kidding. I can't actually read thoughts that you aren't actively thinking, and I can't see images in your head, at least not right now. Now listen. Dewie said Vacek wanted my mom to kill someone, and after my mother said no, Vacek threatened her. There was some other stuff too, but our dear Sun couldn't describe it. So I wanted him to think about what he saw, and I'll reflect that in both of our heads, so we can all take a look and figure out what it is.

You can do that? Xena's eyes nearly popped out of her head, and Lexie gave her a flat look.

Of course. Dumb question. But that's insane. Why would the head of the association order your mom to kill people?

Probably because she was an assassin.

This made both Xena and Dewie jerk, and Lexie gestured for them to calm down and control their reactions. She didn’t want them to make it so obvious that they were communicating telepathically. Sorry, I didn’t tell you before, but it’s kind of a deep, dark family secret. She used to be an assassin for the Krawlin in District 8, but she got out of it when she was young and became just a normal civilian. Then she started working with Vacek, and he used her to assassinate bad people.

There was a lengthy pause.

Huh, Xena finally said. I don’t know how I’m supposed to react to that.

Try not screaming, Lexie suggested.

Right. Right. She waited a beat. It's kinda cool, I guess.

Cool? You–Ms. Has-a-hero-slogan-and-wants-to-eradicate-all-the-evil-Eldritch-from-the-world–thinks my mom being an assassin is cool?

Yeah. I mean, you said she only killed bad people, right? People who were too powerful to get rid of legally?

That’s what Aiden told me. He said she was okay with doing it, and even admired Vacek because he technically saved her from life in prison. So I’m wondering who Vacek wanted her to kill that she refused to. My guess is that it’s a political enemy who's not necessarily a bad person. Or someone that my mom was close to.

While Dewie pursed his lips to think about it, Xena got it almost immediately. Wait, you don’t think–

That’s exactly what I think. 

Wait, I'm lost. Dewie interjected. What are we thinking again?

Lexie thinks Vacek sent her mom to murder the Firebringers. Xena answers. Right?

Lexie nodded subtly. Yes, but I have to be sure before I tell my dad anything. I mean, we’re pretty sure Vulcan, the bad guy Vacek’s hunting, planted that gem there so that we would find it. He probably wanted you to see it and tell Aiden. But I don't trust it. What if it's a trick? Bottom line, I want us to see if we can find a clue in Dewie’s visions that can point us in one direction or the other. 

Do you want me to touch the gem again? Dewie asked.

Lexie had brought it with her for that very reason, but she shook her head. Not right now. Let’s try this way first, and if we don’t find anything, then we can try it the other way.

They both nodded, and the Ferris wheel started revving up for another whirl, its cogs beginning to turn.

As the ride began, Lexie held hands with her friends and delved deeper into Dewie’s mind.

At first, all she got was a chaotic string of thoughts, but she directed him to push his visions to the forefront of his mind.

Of course, his recollection probably wouldn’t be as good as seeing the vision firsthand, and he might have forgotten or misrepresented details, but this would do for now. She didn't want to risk his health if she didn't need to.

Dewie initially pushed the video of Vacek arguing with Lara, his voice cool and collected, while she seemed agitated. 

“This wasn’t the plan!” she was saying.

“It’s necessary, Stella,” Vacek was saying. “You know it, and I know it. You’re the only one who can do something about it."

"The answer is no."

Why would Vacek say that only Stella could do something about it?

Was it because of her skill set? Or because she was the only one who could get close enough to the Firebringers to assassinate them?

The image changed, and the argument continued exactly as Dewie described. Some of the wording was different, which might have been due to Dewie’s own recollection being faulty, but the essential idea was the same.

Then they saw the other stuff, throwing knives, nunchucks that had been polished to shine, the painting; she saw Aiden and a smaller Lexie running around the bedroom playing while Lara laughed.

Lexie inhaled sharply. She didn’t want to see that. 

"That’s it,” Dewie said outloud since their minds were too preoccupied to communicate. “That’s all I saw. And I think I’m going to be sick.”

Lexie opened her eyes. Dewie did indeed look green.

She offered him her coat pocket so that he could throw up in it.

He shook his head. "I can hold it."

However, Lexie wasn't so sure after the Ferris Wheel started moving faster, and Dewie clutched her hand so tightly that it cut off circulation.

This time, Xena didn’t scream even as her long hair was slapped in her face. She was preoccupied with what they'd just seen.

“Whoa,” she said. “That was intense.”

“Yeah." Unfortunately, it hadn’t shown Lexie anything she could recognize or use. She waited for the ride to stop again, and this time they dismounted.

As they shifted to the side, where they had some privacy, Dewie asked, “Can I touch the gem now?”

“Okay,” Lexie said reluctantly. “But only for a short time, okay? And don’t strain yourself.”

"Okay," Dewie said.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Lexie saw Aiden sitting on a bench, but he was chatting with the hot dog guy and not looking their way.

“Xena, stand right in front of Dewie, so my dad can’t see us."

Xena obeyed and shifted, her tall form blocking Dewie from view.

Lexie retrieved the gem from her inventory and gave it to him.

Dewie took it and tucked it into his own pocket, closing his eyes.

With the three of them still physically connected to him, the images flooded them all at the same time.

It was disconcerting. Lexie could see why Dewie had issues because some of it came in flashes of images, and others came in disjointed video and voice conversations.

Lexie saw multiple images of her and Aiden. Then there was a huge tentacled monster, bursting out of the sea, but Dewie immediately made that image vanish.

Lexie didn't want to make him look at it if he didn’t want to, even though she would rather have seen it. It might have given her a clue as to what Lara's last days were like.

“Try to focus on the ones with Vacek,” Lexie told Dewie,

“Yeah, I know. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

The ones with Vacek were numerous; sometimes, it was they in his office. Sometimes they were eating at a cafe.

In one of the latter, Lexie was there. It reminded her of the dream she'd had when her mother had been getting her ready to meet her 'friend'. Lexie had been supposed to keep it a secret. 

Why? If Aiden already knew they were working together, then why was Lexie not supposed to tell?

She saw Lara laughing with other people, possibly guild members. There were a couple of images of her with Max. One with Cece. One with other people Lexie didn't recognize.

Eventually, Lexie heard Dewie’s labored breathing and said, “That’s enough.”

She pulled herself out of it. Xena looked queasy, and Lexie herself wasn’t feeling good about that either. She had so much to process. Dewie had sweat on his brow, and Lexie let him lean on her for strength.

"I don't want to eradicate all Eldritch by the way," Xena clarified out of the blue. "Just the ones who aren't a part of my best friend."

That only made Lexie feel marginally better, but she smiled.

"That's good to know, Zee," she said, while Dewie finally gave up the fight. He bent over and hurled on Lexie's shoes.

***

Much later that day, Vacek called to tell them they’d tracked down even more of Vulcan's safehouses. Also managed to track down more people in his network of associates across the world, including the leader of the militia in the Burel's Shatters. They were bringing them in one by one.

"We're close," Vulcan said. "Extremely close. With Lexie and Dewie on our side, he can't hide with his usual shenanigans, and it turns out he doesn't have that many strengths apart from that."

With Monty's help during the questioning, they were finding out more about the intricacies, but Vacek was nervous. They needed to find him soon.

Lexie told them about her leftover dugeonpoints, but Aiden thought, with her current system integration problems, she might want to hold off on assigning those yet. Yes, it might help to beef up her constitution to the points, but it might also hurt in other ways.

"I agree," Vacek said. "On the bright side, the Sultan has returned to the negotiating table against the rest of the insurgents. We're keeping control of the region currently using Lexie as a threat for both sides to maintain a tentative treaty. Apparently, that was sufficiently persuasive."

"Glad to be of help," Lexie said.

After their talk with Vacek, Aiden and Lexie had the next night free to attend the promised dinner.

To get to the island, they took a ferry from the capital city, although "ferry " didn't seem like an appropriate word for what they were on.

It was more like one of those luxury megayachts that Lexie would see on TV. It was totally overkill, seeing as how there were only three people on board.

Four people, including the captain, a human named Florian, who was pretty much silent throughout the whole trip. Ryn had let Lexie know that there were other self-driving boats, but they thought the presence of the human would make the guests more comfortable. 

It didn’t.

Florian was quiet and had the countenance of a gloomy ghost. 

Regardless, Lexie was enjoying the trip and the complimentary snacks on board. She was getting a taste for food again, even though it wasn't necessarily a physical need; it was a mental pleasure.

“Do the Fae really need this much space?” Lexie wondered aloud. “This yacht is obscene.”

“Please,” Tate said. “On their planet, this thing is probably considered a busted dinghy.”

“Have you been to the Fae planet, Dad?”

Aiden shook his head. “Never got the chance.”

“You've been to other planets, though, right?"

"Yeah. The orcs. That was brutal and not half as nice. Also, they don’t have an ocean, so no boat.”

Lexie tutted. "That's too bad. They might have been less angry and bloodthirsty if every once in a while they could eat cheese puffs on a mega-yacht."

Aiden chuckled, and Tate smiled as they drew closer to their destination. There were three sets of shimmering forcefields protecting the Island, and it really only came into view after you passed the first one.  

The island rose from the sea, and it literally glistened under the moonlight, like everything had been buffed to perfection. The sand on the shore glittered like it was diamonds, and the colors in nature popped just a little stronger than usual. A romantic mist hung over everything, making it look perfect.

Almost too perfect.

It really was being transported into a fairy tale. The largest building in the distance, the golden castle, was supposedly the ambassador’s headquarters where they slept. They were smaller castles where guests often stayed when they visited. Not to mention the museums and cultural sights that humans could visit to learn more about the Fae planet.

When they crossed the final threshold to dock at the shore, a glowing prompt appeared and said, Welcome to Ronan Fae Ambassadorial Island, Phase 2. 

Lexie had been hoping she would feel different on the Island, due to the Fae system. She opened her inventory to see if it had made a difference, but nothing had changed.  

She still wasn’t incorporated into the human system, so she'd been hoping the Fae Island wouldn't recognize her as a human and might even accept her use of their system.

After all, Eldritch were a class on the Fae planet. So maybe if she increased her Eldritch, the system would acknowledge her and incorporate her.

Or more likely, they would detect her and try to eliminate her. She didn't take the risk.

“Does the Fae oath work the same way as a soul contract?” Lexie asked her father. 

“No,” Aiden responded. “A contract is a contract. Oath magic, from what I understand, is far more powerful. It’s essentially a binding force of reality. It changes whatever entity it applies to, and that entity is forced to conform to the oath's reality. So all the creatures under a certain oath must live by that oath."

"So like voluntary mind control."

"Something like that, though it doesn't feel that way. It’s like a law of the universe. You can break a contract even if it has consequences. You can’t break an oath."

"Except with an oathbreaker."

"Yeah. Except for that. Or unless the conditions of the oath are fulfilled, or all parties to the oath agree to dissolve it. But even then, it's difficult. Fate does not like the dissolution of oaths."

"Huh." Lexie was suddenly glad she had kept the oathbreaker on her. It seemed like it would come in handy one day.

She wondered if it could help her with anything in her current predicament. 

As they bid a silent goodbye to their grumpy ghost pilot, the three stopped and found that there was another vehicle waiting to take them there. This one was indeed self-driving, and it took them to the entrance of the main castle, outside of which Ryn and her brother were waiting.

“Thank you for coming," Ryn greeted as they disembarked. “We’re very pleased to have you here and –” Her eyes froze on Tate, and she said, “It’s you. The angry boy.”

“Angry…" Tate ruffled his eyebrows. "Do you know me?”

“Yes. From…what was it, again? Saint Juana’s prep?”

Tate's reaction to that was so worth surprise. His face went slack, his jaw dropping to the ground.

"I'm sorry?" He sputtered.

“It's him, right?" Ryn asked me. "The one who sees demons? I did not mistake him?"

Tate paled.

"Yeah," Lexie said. "It's him."

Aiden looked confused, but Lexie told him with her mind that she would explain later. Meanwhile, Tate shot her a suspicious look.

"I didn't tell her anything if that's what you're wondering," Lexie put her hands up defensively.

"Then how does she know?"

"Because she met you. Or at least an alternate version of you. I told you one of the levels in the dungeon had a Tate from another dimension."

"Oh, right. That's...weird."

"Imagine how I felt."

"This is my brother-cousin," Ryn introduced. "As you can probably tell by the resemblance."

Lexie actually couldn't tell. They looked alike, sure, but in the way that all Fae looked alike.

"Sure," Lexie answered, and they were invited in and led through a grand ballroom like the one in Cinderella.

It was a tedious dinner.

Ryn’s brother was even worse at human communication than Ryn was, and so much of the conversation left the three of them bewildered.

Ry often had to translate:

"He says he has heard so much about you."

"He says he’s grateful for your saving my life."

"He says that you are very small for a human your age."

"She’s actually in the thirty-fifth percentile," Aiden responded.

"That's almost average," Tate parroted with a smirk that made Aiden chuckle and Lexie glare at both of them. 

The good news about Ryn's brother's long-windedness was that it gave Lexie a long time to examine the system at play.

She used DECODE on herself, specifically on her own interaction with the system through her system code.

It was hard to interact with something immaterial, but Lexie had done it at the tower, and she could do it here. It would just take her a while.

Slowly, she began to sense that even though the System here hadn't incorporated her into it, it did affect her in some way. She couldn't tell how yet, but she sensed the power behind it, hints of mist that drifted in the air every now and then that no one else could see.

Eventually, it became clearer. It was symbols, almost like runes and hieroglyphs, that were swirling all around them.

Huh. Was the Earth system like that? She didn't know. She probably should have checked earlier.

The runes seemed to be leading somewhere, drifting and swirling out of the dining room. Where was it going? Perhaps to a control room?

Time to explore that.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Lexie said.

"Of course," Ryn said. "I shall escort you."

"No need. I'll figure it out." She hurriedly left the hall before Ryn or anyone else could answer.

She followed the runes down the hall and around the corner. Everything looked so nice and shiny, and the carvings on the walls seemed to move. The paintings, too.

Lexie wondered if they were watching her. If they were spying on her.

If they were, she would pretend that she simply got lost searching for the bathroom. After all, they couldn't see what she could see.

She took a sharp left turn at the end of the hall.

There was only one door there, a large door that reached the abnormally high ceilings.

Lexie approached the door and touched it, using DECODE on the lock, but it was a system she had never encountered before.

DECODE at its current level didn't even know where to start.

"Lexie Sparrowfoot."

Lexie didn't jump as the disembodied voice sounded around her.

She calmly turned around as Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan walked through the walls to regard her with a cool expression.

"Oh, hi," Lexie said, like she was greeting an old friend."Good thing I ran into you, Ambassador. I was just looking for the bathroom."

"No, you were not," he responded, and Lexie got the sense that he was radiating satisfaction. "I believe I just caught you trying to infiltrate our system."