“I
get them from the meds,” Asta said, “And now you’re thinking that I’m right
about that but you won’t admit it.”
“Listen,” Bren said, “Can I propose a better
test? If Asta tells me where… My glove is… and I find it. Can you believe her?”
“How am I to know you don’t know where it is
yourself?” Dr. Cook asked, “You could be in on this too.”
“It’s a very valuable item,” Bren said, “If
I catch whoever stole it, I’ll be turning them into the authorities. You can
check the police report for confirmation. I’ll turn them in a week from today
for sure,” she said, “Will that be proof enough?”
“I suppose,” Dr. Cook said, “But it still
sounds like you’re encouraging negative behavior. You shouldn’t let her
continue to think she has some special… power.”
“Doctor,” Dani said, “With, like, all due
respect, I think you might not understand this situation fully.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?” He
asked.
“Nothing except for maybe you aren’t as,
like, knowledgeable and wizardly as you think you are,” Dani said, “There could
be things you, like, don’t know about!” She leaned forward, “Did ya think about
that? Hmmm?”
“Ok,” he said, “Fine. Asta… conjure up
the location of this item.” He leaned back and crossed his arms.
Asta thought about closing her eyes, but she
knew it wouldn’t make things any easier if she did. She thought about Bren, and
then about Bren’s right hand. She thought about gloves, Bren, and things being
stolen.
She saw a woman pretending to be a man,
walking down city streets confidently. Asta saw a tower atop a hill full of
graves, and then a massive burial mound. “A grave,” Asta finally said, “Maybe a
graveyard.” The images were accompanied by silence.
“Can you… get more descriptive?” Bren said.
Though Asta could no longer see them clearly, she could still hear the room.
“There’s like a hundred graveyards around here.”
“Come on Astrid,” Dani said, “You can do iiiit!”
The graveyard was in a city, a town, Falling
Rocks. Asta heard a river, saw a bridge, a recessed entrance to a cave, “By the
river,” she said, “In this town.”
“Wait, a graveyard by the river?” Dani said,
“I’ve never heard of one.”
Asta heard something breathing. It replaced
the noise of the river entirely. It began to drown out the room, “Someone
sleeping. In a grave,” she said. She heard chanting, incantations, a circle of
men and women, “Worship,” she said, “Worship of the thing in the grave.”
“A sepulcher?” Bren asked, although Asta
could not hear her very clearly she understood the meaning of what Bren said.
“Yes,” Asta said, “But it’s one of the
worshippers that has your glove.” She could see it on the woman’s hand, “A
woman who pretends to be a man.”
“I’m still not entirely clear,” Bren said.
“Maybe it’s not literal,” Dani said, “Maybe
it’s, like, symbolic?”
“Oh, damn,” Bren said, “The Scanners. They
must be behind it. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. The
Strifepalms and Grays don’t need it because they already have their abilities,
and the Bricklayers have long since given up artifacts. The Scanners need
something to augment their power.”
“Aren’t they the ones,” Dani said, “The ones
with Seymour?”
Dr. Cook sighed. He
was quite unamused with this presentation.NEXT PAGE
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