In the backyard, Pan shifted from foot to foot. She felt nauseous. She hadn’t known there was a reaper test.

Now, the Complex’s population of arcanes – those not embroiled in work – stood in the garden, penned in by the stone walls. The mentors waited with their charges, also to be tested. Arcanes that lived outside the campus received notices to report. They could be with their lovers, caring for their kids, or just living with some roommates in Pittura. Because of Pan, they all had to come and prove their singular power.

Somewhere in space, Sotir and Aria would also receive requests to report. They had important jobs, so they would complete those jobs first. Then, they would return and be tested. In their place, Pan would be pissed.

The outcome of her plan was spectacular but a bit more than she bargained for.

Her group chattered around her, but Pan ignored them. She remained quiet, like Spy, Chara, Brynn, and Kat. Though they stood beside her, Pan ignored the mentors too. She crossed her arms and watched activity at the center basin.

A man climbed the steps of the ancient bowl. He got inside and walked to the center. He dipped a bit lower, but the basin wasn’t deep. It rose high enough that all could see this man in the empty ceremonial bathtub.

He raised his hands and got silence. “In light of this morning’s news, we’re going to submit to an investigation. Everyone will be questioned and examined by doctors and police. You’ll wait out here till your name is called.”

Pan’s heart beat fast. Examined by doctors and police? The doctors would perform the test. The police would take her away. What a perfect setup – if they could prove her status as reaper.

Remei shook. “Uda. Uda. I can’t do this. I hate examinations. What do you think’ll happen?”

Uda opened her mouth but said nothing. She tapped Pan on the shoulder. Uda and Remei both cozied up. They stood close to Pan, providing her with some much-needed warmth.

Pan would rather do without. She suspected they might desire comfort. Not Pan’s job. Pan searched for their mentors. She might redirect her teammates. Unfortunately, the mentors already soothed others. Pan sighed softly.

Uda asked, “Hey, what do you think will happen? You do police work and see a lot of doctors…”

Pan gave Uda a glance. “I don’t know.” She rubbed her arms. “It’s a bit cold today. Whatever it is, I just wish they’d get it over with.”

Remei shivered. “Is this a blood test? I do bad with those.”

Pan narrowed her eyes. Softly, she said, “I don’t know.”

All around, others panicked about the nature of the exam. Pan caught snatches of the conversations. Some predicted a lie test. Others predicted truth serum – if such a thing even existed. A couple of boys spoke with more knowledge and talked about the locators on the ends of their names. Pan tried to hear.

Another tug pulled at Pan’s sleeve. She jumped.

Spy smiled. “Glad to see you can still be surprised, dear.”

Pan couldn’t smile back.

The male mentor’s voice boomed once again. “When testing is finished, you will remain away from the courtyard. No one is to re-enter, until everyone’s test is complete.”

Pan’s heart beat even faster. This is too much…too much.

Spy said, “Come on.” She waved them closer. “Let’s all huddle. It’s chilly, and we’re going to be out here a while.”

“What’s going to happen?” Remei asked again.

Spy shook her head. “Nothing too bad. They’re going to review our family histories and talk. Then, they’ll send us on our way.” Spy gave Remei a sidelong glance. “I hate to tell you this, honey, but there’s a blood test. They have to confirm your heritage against the one you had done as a newborn.”

Pan knit her brow. “We had blood tests when we were born?”

“Yes, and again when you became arcane. Sometimes the results can be slightly different. Interpretation mostly, but arcanemorphosis itself might have some effect. All we know is that locators can swap places, and new locators can pop up. It just makes sense to test again,” Spy said.

Interesting. Pan’s locator – of Grau – suggested that she most resembled the people from Grau. Most of her genes came from there. Of course, some Scaldin did move around. They lived on a planet with a single continent, and although they prized rural lifestyles, urban values crept in. Pan had other locations attached to her name. She didn’t know them. Today, she would find out, and she’d find out if they’d changed.

Kat growled. “We’ve all been through arcanerty. They have our updated locators. I don’t know what they think they’re doing. They won’t find the reaper this way. Aside from a link to Glyptik, reapers test no different than other arcanes, and I doubt the family records will bring up anything consequential.”

Brynn smiled. “Bad mood Kat. Conjure a fire. We’d all be better off. If you won’t do it, maybe Uda will.” Brynn glanced at Uda.

Uda didn’t conjure the fire. “So, this test isn’t going to find the reaper? How will we figure it out? Why are they doing it?”

Chara shrugged. “We have to let the authorities – non arcane authorities – perform the test. There’s a bit of distrust, considering what lengths reapers have taken to escape in the past.”

Pan thought there might be some missing history here. Something she would have liked to know before she took such a disruptive approach to finding her reaper killer.

“We’ll think of something,” Spy assured the group.

Remei seemed pale and a touch blue. “Will they give us truth serum drugs?”

Spy shook her head. “Oh no. No, they won’t do that. Now, if they find some likely suspects, they might subject them to truth serum, but that doesn’t work how stories suggest.” Spy waved a dismissive hand. “People who are used to lying will just fool the serum. I think a reaper would count as used to lying. Unfortunately, we have no arcanes who can detect a lie. Not anymore.” Spy narrowed her eyes. “Maybe Aria. What do you think?”

Chara shrugged. “Maybe, but Aria isn’t here.”

Again, Kat growled. “No, we sent her away.”

“It won’t work,” Brynn said. “A reaper is used to lying. A reaper lives a lie. Aria would see nothing.”

Pan dropped out of the conversation. She looked at the ceremonial tub and hoped for an update. No one stood in the basin, so there would be no update.

Brynn was right. Pan lived a lie. She didn’t know if she could beat truth serum, but she’d already bested Aria.

Spy touched Pan’s arm. “I’m really worried about you, honey.”

“Why?” Pan felt her mouth twist with disbelief.

“Well,” Brynn said. “You can talk to ghosts. Any reaper would want that. You can find long dead bodies of arcanes. That power in the hands of a reaper, would allow him or her to get very powerful, and all without the usual methods.”

Pan covered her mouth. She’d never realized. She could have been doing that all along.

Spy put a hand on Pan’s shoulder. “You have to be careful.”

Pan nodded. In silence, she waited with her group. She listened to frightened chatter about reapers and who’s powers would be much coveted.

Pan just stood by.

 

It wasn’t long before Pan’s turn came. She took a deep breath and entered a mentor’s office.

A couple of doctors and a detective borrowed the space. Two carts sat on the side of the room. One looked like a refrigerator. The other held supplies. The detective sat at the mentor’s desk. He looked comfortable and stereotypically steely.

The detective gestured to a chair. “Please sit.”

Pan glanced behind her. Police guarded the doors. They wore anti-power cuffs on their belts. Once secure around a pair of hands or an ankle, the cuffs would shock any arcane who used his or her power, at least, those that could be shut off. The cuffs couldn’t affect the soft powers, and the soft powers weren’t dangerous as they affected only their user. The cuffs were a win-win for non-arcanes everywhere.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t my idea to interrogate young women, but here we are. Please sit.” Again, the detective indicated a seat across from him.

Pan approached and sat. She knew she looked scared. If they decided to whip out the truth serum or a lie detector, she wasn’t sure she could fool it. She lived a lie, but she didn’t think she told enough.

A doctor came to her side. “We need to take some of your blood. Try to relax.”

A nurse prepared Pan’s arm for the blood draw. She used the left, without Pan saying. These people might be able to look at Pan’s file and know she was right-handed.

“Look away if it bothers you,” the nurse warned.

Pan set her wide eyes on the detective.

He smiled. “I’ll distract ya.” He touched his chest. “I’m Detective Casimir Baum of Tela.” He showed her his badge. “We’re just going to discuss your medical records and family history. That alright?”

Pan nodded.

“Good.”

The second doctor sat next to her. He fiddled with a screen embedded in the desk. In a couple of swipes, Pan could see her medical records on display.

“Now, these are your records of your time in the ward,” the doctor said. “We’re going to discuss how that went for you.”

Again, Pan nodded. She felt a prick but ignored it. A small part of Pan feared she might cry. Some reaper, she thought.

“You entered the ward on 13-19-2258, a month after your twelve birthday.” The doctor pointed to a date on the record. “Do you agree with the date?”

Pan nodded. Though, she had been very sick, she had vivid memories of the event. It was winter. Just after dinner, she sat upstairs in her room. She felt awful and went downstairs, where the rest of her family, sisters, father, mother, and grandparents, gathered in the kitchen. She announced to the gathered family that they had better take her to the doctor. She really hadn’t wanted to tough it out as usual. After a moment of silence, they got moving and took her where she asked.

“You spent twenty-four hours unable to walk due to muscle weakness and pain. You never entered a coma. Your symptoms improved markedly within the next day, and you were back on your feet by 13-21-2258. Is that correct?”

“I don’t remember the exact date. I wasn’t really concerned with it at the time.”

“It’s alright. Just tell us if you agree with the record.” The doctor gestured to the date.

Pan nodded. “I agree.”

“Okay, now you took some time to figure out your power. About forty-eight hours. Is that true?” The doctor looked at Pan with penetrating eyes.

The nurse cleaned up her arm and bandaged it.

Pan looked at the desk and her record. “I guess so. I don’t remember the exact timing. I’m a ghost seer. No ghosts happened to wander by, until then. Actually, the first ghost I saw was another arcane.” Pan’s hands rested in her lap. They shook slightly.

“That’s alright. It’s perfectly normal. You’re far from the only person to take that long to figure out her power. Up to a week can be normal.” The doctor laid his hands on the desk and folded them.

Pan nodded.

Detective Casimir spoke, “The first ghost you saw...she was arcane? Can you tell us about that?”

“I got up in the middle of the night. I just couldn’t sleep.” Pan glanced up. “I wanted water, but I didn’t want to ask for it. I’d had enough of it all – the attention, the procedures. I didn’t use the sink in my room.” Pan shrugged. “I didn’t have a cup, so I went outside.” In reality, Pan wanted the dying girl. Her thirst had nothing to do with water. “I saw someone else in the hall. Another girl. She looked at me for a long time. Then, she went back into her room.” Pan took a slow breath and basked in the lie. “I followed her. She was there, both laying on and standing by the bed. I realized that they were the same girl.” Pan had really touched the girl first and then saw her ghost. “I got scared and called for help. She was dead.”

Detective Casimir nodded. “Do you know the name of the girl who died that day?”

Pan shook her head. “I never asked.”

Casimir got up. He circled the desk and sat on the edge. “You don’t work a lot with other arcanes, do you?”

“No.”

“Mostly you work at the hospital, in-homes, that kind of thing. You’ve helped some of my friends a bit.”

Pan looked up at Detective Casimir to find him smiling slightly. She did help a fair number of detectives with their murder mysteries, but she didn’t see why he would mention it now. She stared at him with suspicion but didn’t say anything.

“Maybe, someday you’ll help me out,” Casimir said.

Pan narrowed her eyes further.

The detective just smiled and gestured to the doctors. “We just need to go over your family origins, and you can be done.”

A doctor pulled up the file of her heritage. Pan saw her family tree on the computer screen.

Casimir resumed his seat. “Now, we don’t have genetic samples from the original reapers, but we do have samples from their more distant relatives. We also have a detailed family tree and the precise locators of the subsequent generations. More importantly, we have yours.” Casimir tapped the screen, and it showed a map. “The reapers were from Glyptik. They have genetics from other places, but most of their makeup can be traced to Glyptik. You were born in Grau, and that matches your dominant locator.” Casimir tapped the screen again. This is your full locator.” Areas of the map lit up, and Pan’s name appeared across the top.

Ghost Seer – Panphila Ithir of Grau...

Pan was familiar with her title, name, and main locator, but the string of locators that followed was a shock. 

The doctor tapped the screen. “These are your locators compared. The top one came from your test at birth. The second one came from your test during your arcanemorphosis.”

Pan leaned close and studied both versions of her name, especially the locators. Both began with Grau, and they contained all the same place names. She saw Glyptik at the end. In her first test, it hovered right at the tail. In her second test, it had jumped a few places.

Casimir leaned across the desk. “You see Glyptik in there. But, don’t get too worried. It just says someone in your family was from that area. A lot of people have Glyptik in their locators, plenty with more dominant Glyptik heritage than you.” Casimir made a gesture as if pushing something away. “Yours is way back there.”

Pan nodded, but she didn’t know about that.

Casimir held up a finger. “Now…here’s the problem. We’ve got a situation where people tried to hide their reaper heritage, whether they were arcane or not. They changed their surnames. They moved. They purposefully mated with people from areas with dominant features. And, this kind of thing happened a lot. People from Glyptik didn’t want to be known as people from Glyptik. You understand?”

Pan couldn’t find her words. She just nodded.

“Good. You’ve got a piece of Glyptik in you. We just need to trace it back to the person you got it from. We can decide if they were a likely source of reaper heritage.” Casmir smiled. “Of course, you know if you’re a reaper, so this only matters to us.” He seemed to joke.

Pan just couldn’t smile. She bet most arcanes didn’t laugh or crack a smile for him, not if they found themselves under examination.

Casimir pointed to the on-screen map. “Now, your path – like many others – is a little broken. We can blame that on a couple of people in your family line.”

Oh no.

Casimir changed the view again, and Pan saw her family tree. She saw herself, her mother, father, two sisters, and of course, people from further back in time. Two names were highlighted.

“We don’t have a place of origin or a locator for your great uncle. He dodged the initial tests. But not to worry, he’s not genetically related to you.” Casimir moved on to the next highlighted name. “We also don’t have a place of origin for your great grandmother.” Casimir pulled out a personal tablet. He gave it to Pan.

As she held the tablet, she inspected a woman’s picture. She imagined the woman to be her great grandmother. She had to admit she resembled the woman at least a little, minus the white hair, associated with Glyptik.

“I never met her. When you say you can’t find her place of origin, you mean she never took the test?” Pan met Casimir’s eyes and waited.

Casimir nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean. She never got a locator. She changed her maiden name. It doesn’t even show up in the records. With that white hair, she’s a stereotype of suspicion. Now, at the time, Scaldigir had just instituted the new record keeping measures. She may have just fallen through the cracks. A lot of people did.”

Pan looked at her lap. “What does that mean for me?”

“Probably nothing. There are other relatives with Glyptik heritage in your family, unsuspicious sources. They could account for all of the Glyptik in your makeup. But, we have to be thorough.” Casimir sat back in his seat. “I’ve got about seventy-five cases of this. Yours is not the only one.” Casimir wiped her records from the screen. “We’re good for now. You can go. We’ll see if our researchers interpret your test differently, but I doubt it. Your locator stayed very stable between birth and arcanemorphosis. It has even less reason to be different now.”

Pan nodded.

Casimir got out of his seat. “We’ll probably be able to check you off in round two, but I have to inform you that you’ll remain on the suspect list.” Casimir rounded the desk and gently pulled Pan from the chair.

She stood. She moved slowly towards the door. She felt trapped in a dream. She just had to make it through the doors and those guards. Then, she would be free – for a time.

“Oh, one more thing. The mentors think you might be able to help me. You see ghosts; you can question dead arcanes. If we have a reaper, it makes sense that the reaper will kill.”

Does it now?

Casimir raised an eyebrow. “I want to bring you on investigations to speak to some of these dead arcanes.”

Pan froze. “You can bring suspects on investigations now?”

Casimir smiled. “Desperate times…”

Pan frowned. She hardly saw the scenario as desperate, but she had more information than the rest of Scaldigir.

Casimir put his hands in his pockets. “Reapers have a pretty large effect on Scaldigir. They tend to create a lot of collateral damage, but I think this one is going to start with some quiet killings. It won’t look like murder, but there’s a good chance that any dead arcane in the next few months, will have been murdered.”

Pan looked away, through the doors. “Wait, I have to question every arcane that dies? I know we’re rare, but we’re not so rare that I can give every dead arcane a send-off.”

Casimir chuckled. “I realize that. We’re going to do our best. So, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

“What if they die far away from here?” Pan asked.

“I’ll drive you out, but I don’t think we’ll be going far.” Casimir shook his head. “The messages were in Pittura. We’ll concentrate our search around this area.”

Deep in her secret thoughts, Pan swore with all her might. To make matters worse, she probably was related to the other reapers, and once they compared her genetic material, they might discover that her path traced back not only to Glyptik but to the reaper family.

“I can see you’re not happy about this.”

Pan looked at Casimir. She tried to wipe the frustration out of her eyes. “I don’t want to do it, but I will. I just…can’t imagine how many people die a day. I don’t see how I can keep up with this – How much time it’ll take.”

Casmir smiled. “Afraid of a little work?”

Pan glared at him. “No.”

Casimir raised an eyebrow. “Okay. That’s good. Don’t worry. I’m not gonna run you ragged. It’ll be alright.”

Pan bet his idea of a full day was more involved than hers. Detectives worked a lot of overtime. She could handle the hard work. She didn’t fear it, but she needed some downtime to research the reapers and find the real murderer. She also needed some time to work on Sotir and keep him where he couldn’t out her. Most of all, she might need time to think of a backup plan, just in case they found her out.