The winds howled over the tents, shaking the fabric like the souls of the damned were on Organ’s side. Glowing screens stacked along one wall showed a plethora of satellite imagery, drone footage, and telemetry data from the battle. Staff members of all different organizations moved about, giving orders and rushing to deliver fresh intel. All in all, the command center was a sensory nightmare. No matter where you looked, you would be accosted by incomplete snapshots of the chaos taking place kilometers away from us.
I worried for Nick who was in the midst of it.
But all of that distracting noise was easy to ignore when I had a clearer picture than perhaps anyone else on our side or Organ’s. How could I describe what my Witch-given sixth sense felt like without being reductive? It was like hearing smells and feeling heat as physical waves, just utterly alien and impossible to explain. I’d tried describing it to Graham on multiple occasions but his followup questions intended to gain clarity had only muddied the waters more.
The battlefield was a sea of stars, each one a source of life, pulsating in waves of light and heat, changing in tune to the threats around them, clashing against those threats. Stars would flicker or become dull as their life was diminished by the violence.
Death was hard to quantify for me, it always had been. Because even dead stars still smoldered with energy. Life lingered, in some form, after a person lost their consciousness and their body began to break down. And as they rotted, new life took its place, mold and insects repurposing all that potential into new shapes. I had learned to recognize the tells of course, the way that I started to lose grip of things after they died, like a statue crumbling to sand it became harder and harder to Shape biomatter that had lost its form.
Stars all over the battlefield were dying out. People. Just the same as those I shared a bus ride with or exchanged the briefest of conversations at the library. It didn’t distress me. That kind of empathetic reaction was a part of human normalcy I would never have. Organ had made sure of it.
Which is why I took satisfaction in throwing my weight around the battlefield. I struck where I was certain I wouldn’t harm the united forces, using plant life and even corpses to disturb the enemy from key positions they were holding around the manor.
“Nell.”
I refocused on the interior of the tent. One of the commanders was standing in front of me, a tall woman with gray streaks in her slicked back hair.
“There’s a Shaper tearing up the east flank and making it hard for us to reinforce that position. Put your focus there for now, see if you can do something.”
I nodded. They turned and left and I glanced around.
There was a male Witch wearing a dress shirt and tie seated next to me who had his eyes closed. Supposedly he specialized in assessing, enhancing, and maintaining mental clarity.
Across the foldout table was a Cast with a Shape that allowed them to isolate conversations easily as well as some enhancement to the speed at which they processed information. They were typing rapidly on a laptop, eyes jittering.
Near the screens, Tom was talking to the Director. He noticed me looking and gave me a tight smile and a wave. The Director was not in fact directing this operation. They had been delegated a support role, ensuring that disputes were resolved quickly so as to not interfere with the mission.
I quickly got back on task, however, locating a particular target with sixth sense alone was difficult. Each star had its own unique texture but it was hard to figure out more than a general vibe without directly grasping the star and manipulating it to discover its purpose.
I stood up and walked over to the Director and Tom.
“Do we have any Wolves on the east hills?” I asked.
“Yes, two,” the Director answered. “Daria and another one from the States.”
“Can you tell the American to fall back for a second? I’m trying to locate an enemy.”
The Director glanced over to the head table where the commanders were deep in discussion. “They’re resistant to my suggestions.”
“I’ll give it a shot,” Tom said. “It’s interesting that they keep giving you all these tasks, eh?”
The Director nodded, looking a little concerned.
“Anyway, in exchange, can you give me a little leafy friend to keep me company?”
I tilted my head as Tom flashed me a characteristic sneaky grin. “Uhh, sure?”
“Extra on the leafy please.”
Tom strode over to the commanders and gave a comically exaggerated military salute. The commanders had wary expressions on their faces. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I could see how some of the tension diminished and eventually Tom gave me a thumbs up as an assistant hurried over to the radio operators to pass on the new order.
I gave him my thanks in the form of a little wisp of a plant on the back of his hand and then I walked back over to my station.
The Witch had his eyes open and was watching me as he cleaned his glasses. Once I sat back down he closed his eyes again without a word.
Weird…
I decided to leave it unaddressed for now and flung my awareness over to the eastern side of the hills. Witches were invisible to the sixth sense but Wolves were different. They could be grasped, but they could also be evasive, becoming slippery to my influence by altering their own biology. I had no doubt that any Wolves on the battlefield were on high-alert for any enemy Witches’ meddling. But I could make that work in my favour.
Daria was easy to find. I recognized the signature bold patterns of her star, confident and warm. I admired her strength, in more ways than one. I loved how secure her and Neve’s relationship was.
Embodying that inspiration, I flexed my powers and sent out a rippling change across the entire east hills, disregarding the distinction of friend or foe. It was a small, meaningless change, a little daisy grown on the leg. But it gave me what I was looking for. Aside from Daria, two stars had slipped through my attack unchanged.
I brought the full weight of my powers down on them.
One of them didn’t change fast enough and I caught them in my grip and started to turn their circulatory system into weeds.
The other sprung away, traveling at inhuman speeds. But they were far from the edge of my influence and the moment they paused to rest, I hit them again. They had entered the forest, so I used the trees against them, locking them up in a prison of flexile trunks that slowly crushed in on them, like a cage made of anacondas. I could feel their Witch fighting back, but I was stronger and more experienced. I could change tactics quickly and brute force my way past any Shapings they attempted.
“Nell.”
Someone was shaking my shoulder. I looked up at the commander in annoyance. It was a different one this time, a middle-aged man who had so many military badges pinned across his breast that it was comical.
“We need you protecting the southern approach. We have intel that there are ambushes that are waiting for the main force.”
“I just finished cleaning up your other problem on the east flank.”
The commander didn’t congratulate me, not even a thank you. “Just get it done. We need a clear path if we are to send support to the front lines.”
I glared at the man as he walked away. Like I don’t know that.
Looking around, something felt off.
“Hey…” I said to the two Shapers at my table. “Where did Tom go?”
The person typing at their laptop didn’t even look up.
I tapped the male Witch on the shoulder and he reluctantly opened his eyes. “Who?”
“Hunch. The intuition Cast. I thought he was to stay close to the monitors.”
“They had him removed.”
My heartbeat sped up. “What? Why?”
“Unprofessionalism. Distracting people who have jobs to do,” he said, looking at me pointedly like he was making some profound statement.
“But they knew that about him. Why now? We’re in the middle of the assault.”
He shrugged and leaned back, crossing his arms.
I huffed and spotted the Director. There were four soldiers standing around them in uncomfortable proximity. I stood from the table.
“Stay here,” the male Witch said. “You’re causing a disturbance.”
I stared at him incredulously. He met my gaze coolly.
“You wouldn’t want to be removed as well, right? So get back to work.”
I ignored him and stormed towards the Director. The soldiers were grabbing the Director’s shoulders and seemed to be escorting them away from the command center.
The Director met my eyes and shook their head.
I stopped.
What? You don’t want help?
The soldiers escorted them away and the Director gave me one last knowing smile. It seemed to say, I’m leaving this in your capable hands.
I pulsed Nick with a warning and he pulsed back in agreement. Something fishy was going on.
Turning back to the table, I saw that the Witch was talking to a soldier and they were both looking furtively in my direction.
People began entering the tent and taking over positions around the radio and the screens. Replacements for the tired staff, it wasn’t unusual. But wasn’t that Witch supposed to keep people’s minds fresh to prevent us from needing such a disruption?
“Nell?”
A familiar, comforting voice sounded behind me. Graham watched me with a soft expression. “You look distressed. Is everything alright?”
There were so many people milling about the tent. Some of the displaced staff looked confused, lost, like they hadn’t expected the staffing change. Soldiers were pushing through the crowd, heading towards me.
I pulled Graham down so I could whisper in his ear. “I need time,” I said. “Buy me some time to figure this out.”
He nodded sagely and straightened, stepping in front of me and spreading his arms. “Give us a little space, please. Important work is being done here.”
I shut my eyes and began to search for Tom. Did I recognize his signature? I couldn’t be sure. Where had they taken him?
Then I remembered that I had formed a little leafy sapling on his hand. Plants weren’t like people, they didn’t have the same intensity to their blaze, but they were stars too. And I knew plants better than I knew people.
After sweeping my awareness over the surrounding area, I found him. He was staying still, but to my relief he was unharmed. I used flowing grass to discern the outlines of the structure he was in. Four points elevated him from the ground. He was in the back of a vehicle. Two people remained outside of it, standing guard.
Imprisoned?
The soldiers were getting close and Graham stepped forward, holding out his palms to keep them at bay and force them to speak with him.
I kept my focus on Tom. It wasn’t as easy to communicate at a distance as it was with Nick. How could I reach him? I Shaped the plant on his hand, growing it larger to at least give him a clue that I knew what was happening. To my surprise, Tom immediately seized the new growth and pulled, not with enough strength to rip it out entirely, but as if he was trying to guide the plant outward. I allowed him to lead me and he slowly led the growing stems into a square shape, with plenty of leaves filling out the middle.
It was starting to make sense. I enhanced the leaves, adding microstructures that would detect pressure and making sure that they were all within my awareness when Tom started to drag his finger across the leafy surface, spelling out words.
“TAKEOVER AT ALL LEVELS.”
The soldiers were shouting something at Graham in the periphery of my awareness.
“NEED TO MOVE QUICK.”
My skin crawled as I realized how many eyes were directed my way.
“YOU’RE THEIR FOCUS.”
I tugged on the back of Graham’s shirt. “Get me out of here. Please,” I said.
“BEFORE THE TRAP SNAPS SHUT. ONLY WAY OUT IS FORWARD. DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME.”
Tom quickly drew a penis before starting to rip out the leaves.
Graham swept me up in his arms and started to push his way through the crowd. I searched for a way out. People were standing from their stations. Whispered words were exchanged. Suddenly it felt like I was back on the other side of an observation window, where faceless eyes watched me with equal parts hunger and fear.
Oh? You’re afraid? Good. You should be.
“Halt!” a soldier in front of us shouted, raising his gun. “You are to be detained for suspicion of collaboration with Organ. Don’t make any sudden moves!”
Graham lowered me to my feet and advanced on the soldier.
The soldier’s eyes went hard.
Before he could shoot, I’d hit him with my influence. I’d turn his marrow into mud before I let him shoot Graham-
The gun went off. Graham’s head jerked and he slumped forward on top of the soldier.
My blood turned cold. What? My grip had faltered on the soldier. I whirled to see the male Witch at the back of the room, his glasses reflecting the light of the monitors. He shook his head slowly.
Soldiers closed in all around me, readying tranquilizer guns. No no no no no. My legs started to give out. They had it all ready in advance. They were just waiting for the right time to drag me back to Organ. I would never be free.
Graham made a garbled sound and pushed himself back to his feet. He swayed and reached out for me. Relief swept over me and I grabbed his hand and held it.
“‘s fine,” he muttered. Blood spattered onto the ground from the hole in his head. I could feel his Shape rearranging things inside, creating new redundancies, making sure he would stay standing. “Dullahan Graham will hold the line.”
He pushed me against the wall of the tent as tranquilizer darts sank into his chest and neck. Then he fished around in his back pocket and procured a swiss army knife. He tossed it to me. I let it fall to the ground.
I had played along for long enough. The Director had tried to make it work, but compromising had just led to this moment, where we were powerless to stop the subtle shift in power.
If I was being truly honest, I wasn’t a good person. I didn’t care that much about people dying. My friends were what mattered.
My outrage flared. And you won’t go unpunished for hurting my friends.
I let out my power, releasing it over the entire tent. The opposing Witch couldn’t keep up as I Shaped everyone at once, growing roots inside of everyone’s legs. They bulged out like veins as people cried out and toppled to the floor where the roots anchored into the ground, affixing people to the earth.
It wouldn’t hold. There were Shapers of all sorts here.
Sure enough, they started to reveal themselves, using hidden spines and malleable bodies to slip free. Even some of the more impassioned soldiers were quick to use their knives, their eyes flashing with the indignation of the perceived betrayal, unaware that their forces were already compromised. Or maybe they’re in on it.
Graham turned and picked up the knife, slashing through the tent with a deft stroke. He ushered me through into the biting cold wind.
I turned to him, eyes tearing up.
The bullet hole was above his left eye, right at his brow bone. He looked fondly at me like he didn’t feel it at all.
“I promised Nick you’d be safe with me. But I think you better get moving. It was wrong to separate you two. You’re safest together.”
I gave him a hug, forgetting just for a moment where I was, who I was, what I was.
“In another life,” I murmured into his chest, “you’re my dad and we have such interesting discussions together about moss and stars and stories and gravity.”
Graham coughed and patted my head. “That sounds lovely. Now get going. I’ll go find Tom and get us out of here. I’ll do what I can to whistleblow about this to anyone who will listen.”
“He’s locked in a vehicle. There’ll be two unconscious guards outside of it.” I’d incapacitated them moments before.
He nodded and then we parted ways. He headed to the south while I moved north towards the manor.
The moment of vulnerability passed. I headed out at a light jog, something I could maintain without running out of steam. Nick was my northern star, he shone brightly no matter where I was, and I headed directly for him.
The hilly terrain made the journey slow and my calves were burning while my ears and the tip of my nose ached from the cold.
At the top of a hill, I looked back. The Witch with glasses was following me. Every so often I would see him, his loosened tie was a startling red amidst the gray hills.
He stopped and I heard a gunshot.
A plume of dirt erupted halfway down the hill. He wasn’t a good shot.
I pressed onwards.
The occasional bullet whizzed past but I ignored it. Bodies began to adorn the hills ahead, friend and foe alike killed in every way imaginable. It was different seeing their pale faces caught in expressions of surprise and fear. Death was closer here.
Yet I could still feel the power that lingered in their bones. A plan began to form in my mind as I thought about what could be at the end of my journey. I began to prepare.
—
Two hours later, the wind had scoured my skin to the point of numbness. At some point the gunshots had stopped harrying me.
I was beaten and bruised. Organ’s remaining forces were zealous, even when they knew what I was capable of. None of them had let me pass unchallenged. Their Wolves were cunning and their Witches were experienced. Every step had to be earned and I had not won unscathed. My arm throbbed where I’d been hit by some organic projectile I’d failed to detect in time. Luckily it didn’t seem to be broken.
The manor loomed and I dragged my tired feet towards it, driven forwards by something unknowable. There was not a soul in sight or sense.
Just as my feet touched the blackened, burnt grass of the entrance there was a guttural noise behind me.
I whirled around just as the man made one last desperate lunge, finally reaching me, pulling me down into the grimy ash. He towered over me as lightning lurked in the clouds above. He bared his teeth in victory and straddled me before he laid his hands around my neck.
I scratched at his face but his arms were too long. Tighter he squeezed, flexing his fingers into a firmer grip. My lungs started to burn.
I kicked up, trying to use the techniques I’d been taught to deal with someone heavier than me, but I couldn’t buck him.
He grinned, secure in his immunity to my Shaping.
His fingers felt like a steel trap, cutting off my head inch by inch.
The only way out is forward.
My fingers found his dangling tie and I pulled on it, not too hard, just enough to bring him closer. Soon his glasses slipped off his nose and I was looking deep into his filthy gaze.
My teeth found his nose and I bit down.
He screamed and tried to pull back but I just grinned and bit down harder. He bled, wetting my parched throat and his grip slackened. I pressed in, reaching for his holster while spitting up blood into his face.
My hand settled into a familiar grip. Practice and training took hold as I rolled away and took aim.
Three shots was all it took for me to drop him.
I let the gun fall to the ground, staring at the man who I hadn’t even known the name of.
Whatever. More fuel for my plans.
Roots and thorny weeds wrapped around the body, bundling it up before pulling it into the earth. I rubbed my neck, feeling the sting of raw skin.
To my sixth sense, the body that I buried deep into the earth was preserved, glowing with potential energy. It joined the thousands of other stars I had already buried, the recently deceased of the battle. When sensing such a vast multitude I felt comparatively insignificant, to the point where sometimes I didn’t understand how anyone could talk to me when there was so much there that wasn’t me.
I reached out and pushed down more seeds into the dirt, amassing them to a central point. I drew in the roots of all the plants and used them to accelerate the process, breaking down nutrients and materials, consolidating them, using them to Shape something new.
I paused as something in the dirt drew my attention. A large strip of life that wasn’t part of my plans. It burrowed like a worm, deeper and deeper, but it was too large to be a worm. I reached out and constricted it in my roots. It struggled and changed Shape, melting and reappearing at a different point along the tiniest extension of its being. A Shape that allowed for a kind of reallocation of mass along its length.
I changed tacts, positioning a star of bundled energy below it where the worm would be uprooted once I began.
Checking far behind me, I felt for Tom and Graham, ensuring that they had slipped his pursuers.
My physical body, clumsy in comparison to the nuance and articulation I had through my powers, pushed open the doors to the manor.
Nick was here and they had sent me a very unmistakable emotion. They’d found her.
It wasn’t usually that easy to read him. Or them. Or her.
They didn’t want to talk about it most of the time and how could I explain what I saw within Nick?
They were a hot ball of gooey emotions, melting around and changing with such speed and complexity that I found it dizzying. They were always like that. I had to analyze the waves coming off them, check their temperature, attune their muscles, how they shifted and held taut. Memories came to me that intersected with emotions at such an integral level that they were inseparable, shards of different material forever fused. They were a flower set ablaze, each time the petals burned away and a new colour peaked through.
It was frustratingly impossible to know how to treat Nick. They felt like a part of me, a second heart that beat to its own rhythm, yet they were their own person, with nebulous boundaries that I tried hard to respect, even with such access to the most vulnerable bits inside of them.
I loved Nick.
It hadn’t been that way at first. They’d been a curiosity, a window through which I could experience the world I thought I didn’t deserve. Then they had become my lifeline, a rope thrown to me, letting me escape even though I didn’t deserve to.
Then a confidant, someone who knew me, who knew the wrongs I had committed and stayed with me regardless. Then a friend. A true one. My first.
Nick was afraid of me. They couldn’t hide it, not while they were my Wolf. But everyone was. Nick overcame that fear everyday and spoke to me as an equal. Slowly, I began to believe that was true, I deserved to be an equal.
I found my way through the manor, using memories I’d kept buried for a long time. Eventually I arrived at the library. It was a familiar place. I’d been allowed to take books from here back to my room.
It felt like that had happened in a different lifetime.
Nick was speaking to her through an intercom, flanked by Kay and a soldier.
“You mean… that Lacuna is what’s controlling the Aberrants?”
“Loosely,” she answered through the speaker. “When we tried to intentionally make an Aberrant that could communicate with us we found that it babbled nonsense. The Lacuna, just one of the two, mind you, channels emotion through the Aberrants.”
“Then the Lacuna hates us,” Nick said. “I’ve encountered so many Aberrants. Their eyes are always the same. They want our destruction.”
“Curious, no?” Why would such a hateful being also send us the means to defend ourselves, giving us the opportunity to utilize Shaping as it does?”
“Perhaps it is just seeking connection,” I said.
Kay and the soldier looked back at me, noticing me for the first time. Nick acknowledged me more slowly, sifting through his thoughts first. When they finally looked up at me, their eyes were soft.
“What happened?” they asked.
“I escaped and fought my way here.”
Nick’s expression… or maybe it was everything else, told me that they knew I was planning something.
“Ah, you’re here,” she said. “Perfect, I wanted to speak to you and I wasn’t sure if I would get the chance.”
To my sixth sense, Nick ignited into flame, resonating with the memories I had shared of my past, feeding off those experiences. “I don’t think you should,” they growled. “After all, we’re here to kill you.”
“I think you will find this quite illuminating as well. Although I’m a little perplexed that I have to spell it out at all. What do you think the Lacuna is?”
“You’ve been dancing around it the whole time!” Kay shouted. “If you want us to know then stop being so fucking smug and just spit it out!”
“Connect the dots, make a deduction. An alien wouldn’t hate us like that. A God? Well, to me, the gods are just reflections of humanity, spun out into fables and myth.”
I sat down quietly on the steps.
Her next words fell like axe strokes, sinking into my heart.
“Only humans hate humans like that.”
“You’re telling me a human is in there?” the soldier asked in disbelief.
“Have you ever seen a Witch lose their Wolf? We’ve observed it. Recorded our findings. Some unattached Witches can move on and find new Wolves. Others, the ones who have steeped their being into the other’s existence, they can’t just move on. They lash out, clinging to anything, drawing it to themselves, trying to fill the hole. Interestingly, it’s a semi-instinctive process. It seems that Witches, when pushed to the brink, will trigger this desire to draw everything to themselves, like a black hole for organic matter. We at Organ haven’t observed any fruitful results in this behaviour. The Witch dies, burns out, gives up hope before the process is completed. But I believe we have examples of what happens if the instinct results in a success.”
“It’s a Witch. Up there in space,” I said, confirming what I already suspected.
“Yes. But that isn’t the main discovery. What is the point of such an instinct? As with all instinctual things, it is at its core an attempt at survival. But how could this be? By gathering a ball of life and condensing it, you Shape away its current role in our ecosystem. That seems antithetical to continued life. But what is created in its place is a primordial material.”
“Waiting to be repurposed,” I finished. “The Lacuna is a womb. Waiting to be born again.”
“At the cost of the old life,” Nick murmured in horror.
“Yes!” She exclaimed. “Isn’t that incredible? The chance to create new life. We could reshape our very essence into something new. I can’t fathom a greater treasure than that. And isn’t that what you would want, Nell?”
“Don’t speak to her!” Nick spat.
She persisted, “Doesn’t that sound wonderful, Nell? A chance to remake your parents? To change how it all played out? To make a world that would accept you and all Shapers? Aren’t you tired of this one?”
I squeezed my shaking hands between my thighs. All the people I had to kill just to get here and sit on these steps, doubting what the way forward was.
“Nell,” Nick said.
I met their eyes. They radiated trust like a warm fire. They were waiting for me, with full confidence that I would do the right thing. Or perhaps they didn’t care? Maybe, whatever I did, they would support me and be my hands to set my will in motion.
I stood from the steps.
“What is your answer, Nell?” She asked hungrily.
The colour went out of Nick’s face as they realized what was about to happen.
My lips parted. “I’m going to rip the top off this can of worms.”
I reached out and touched the stars that I’d clustered at the base of the manor. Seeds of the dead, repurposed into new life. Destructive, beautiful life.
Emulating the force of a tree cracking pavement, magnified and sped up a hundred times, the force uprooting the very foundations of the manor as a tree erupted like a volcano from the earth, tearing the manor asunder.