Helen

No, I had not completely lost all of my senses.  In that brief second my situation had rather dramatically changed.  One moment I was sitting in the principal’s chair of shame.  The next I was lying naked, but for a small, hot towel barely covering my round butt, on a cushioned massage table.  A sibling had just forced me into a transplaner quasisubstantial projection.  This required an enormous expenditure of power and who was responsible but one of my favorite brothers, Gavin.  It was my sincere hope at the time that I did not echo the “what the fuck are you doing?” statement back on the Würdtalent Earth because it’s been known to happen (and of course I did because Gavin monopolizes all the luck when he’s about).

“Ah, sorry about that,” Gavin said, in a low bass tone from a voice without human octave limitations.  He stepped into view.  It was a nice view.  Gavin clad only in a towel himself, the bulge of a porno star (impossible for a man his size but since we of Eden can choose our endowments it was as real as it seemed).  He tried his version of my smile but with much less success because while every man in our family ties for “the most beautiful man in all reality” title, I knew Gavin.

I peered at our surroundings.  We were in a steam room.  There was little to see.  The vapor clouded my senses so it wasn’t water.  Some kind of magical perfume?  It smelled like roses crushed under the hooves of a musk deer being fed vanilla seeds.  I could vaguely sense a pool nearby but I totally missed the other occupants of the room.  “How dare you!” I said.

Gavin’s shoulders sagged at my statement and his head stooped in shame.  But I remembered well my sister Delilah’s description of him. “When I think of Gavin,” Delilah said, “I picture strong, nimble fingers deftly shuffling a deck of cards.  Those blue eyes of his, half-lidded, assess his hand instantly and then place the cards face down on the table.  His handsome mouth twitches in excitement and you’re certain he’s tipped his hand.  But he cannot manage a poker face, really, because all parts of Gavin, even his face, must constantly move. 

“I imagine the game continuing and Gavin loses a few hands because of that tag of his.  So he gets serious, supposedly, shrugging out of that leather jacket and tossing it carelessly away.  He’s wearing a white, short sleeve tee shirt, revealing his swimmer’s musculature.  No doubt he draws stares the women in the room.  Gavin winks back at them, reflecting smiles, seemingly disinterested in his poker game. 

“Another hand is dealt and Gavin is again excited.  The other players fold quickly.  Soon, the game turns around and Gavin’s pile of money that had been disappearing now grows steadily.  Because Gavin may be animated but he’s not stupid; he has no tags.  His poker face is merely more subtle than most—or more cunning.”

Delilah is a lot smarter about people than I am.  Because I constantly erase my maturity, I am easily swayed by a man’s appearance.  A handsome face tizzies me.  Thankfully, my own beauty at least matches my brothers so continual thoughts of sex confines us all to the same incestuous playground.  So, reason and Delilah’s warnings, assured me he was up to something.

“Whatever you want, the answer is no,” I said.  Then I said, “Eek!” followed by “Ooh!” Because a pair of strong hands forced me down into the table and massaged my tense shoulders.  “What the Hell is this?” I asked.

“I assumed you’d need a massage,” he said.  “You’re always so tense, little sister.”

“Don’t try Delilah’s tricks,” I said.  The masseur was good and I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know he was young, burly, mostly unclad, and stupid.  Just the way I like my men. 

“Did you sense it?” he asked.  “You must have, you’re closest.”

“Sense what?” I asked. 

“Come on now,” he said, stepping to the side towards his own massage table.  On cue, two topless girls bounced to his attention and he let them coax him to the table.  He beamed at one of the girls massaging him; her whole body became more flush than a hand of Gavin’s cards.  Soon prone with girls massaging his back, Gavin tilted his head towards me and served me his “is this living or what?” grin. 

I returned a “cut the shit, asshole!” glare.

He volleyed back a “I’m wounded that you don’t trust me” pout.

I backhanded a “your time is running out” bang on the table.

He rallied with a “do I not love you?” blown-kiss.

I killed the conversation with a “tell me now why I’m here or I’ll castrate you,” spit.

“That’s very rude,” he said, finally making an attempt at verbal communication.  But he quickly added, before I could bring my castration threat to fruition, “There’s been a Transcendence.”

“Really?” I said, my raised eyebrows hiding under my blond bangs.

“In your neighborhood.  You really didn’t feel it?”

“No.  You should probably look into it.”

“It would be some time before I could cross that many planes,” he said.  “You’re closest.”

“Didn’t feel a thing.”

“That’s odd, isn’t it?  The closer you are the more intense the sensation.  That’s what Father says.”

Father?  “Like Dad knows?  When has he ever been close to any of his children before they’re old enough to molest?”

“Delilah says she had a headache for days because of my Transcendence.  She’s the one who found me, you know.”

“No I didn’t,” I said.  “You’ve never told me the full story and you really should someday.  You might visit me on the Würdtalent Earth when you’ve the time.  But right now, I must return there…”

“Delilah and I would consider it a personal favor if you looked into it,” he said.  Oh, really?  The crap had hit the fan and the game was over and I was taking a bath but someone had just tossed a couple of piranha into the water.  “What’s going on here?”

“Apparently someone transferred a Greater Legacy to one of our siblings so she Transcended to full Regal State.  And no, she wasn’t living as one of siblings; I have no idea where Eve was keeping her on ice.”   

“I guess a Legacy could do that if it matched the our Sovereignty,” I said, a little surprised.  I guess this conversation is just too jargon filled.  We Edens control the keys to the universe reflected in our Sovereignties.  At the time, mine was Hunting and Accordance: which means I slay demons for the family and also kept the planes distinct by slaughtering anyone or anything that would blur the boundaries between them.  We had acquired these keys from the angelic princes who had stolen them from us—true story—but each of us Transcended in a different order and often in strange parts of the universe.  It could leave us disoriented and since we were on paper now gods, it could be extremely dangerous.  What a headache.

But most of us were full Regals now and who could have expected we rediscover a sister who had been lost to us since the Garden?

“Who told you about this transfer anyway?” I asked.

 “Naomi,” he said.  Now another piranha was nibbling my extremities.  I should have guessed.  This almost had to involve a wizard.  Not many could force a projection.  “She said she could sense the Legacy transfer.”

“Wow!  Someone with experience should look into this.”

Now this was my favorite ploy and often very effective.  You see, at the moment I was an honest to God virgin, sixteen-year old girl, who had played around sexually but never “done it”.  At some level, I knew that I have had sex, of course, about a million times or more but I could remember none of those experiences.  My virginity and the innocence were absolute; a unicorn would happily bear my naked ass.  What I felt for Jack back home was not in any way jaded by experience.  I wasn’t using him.  For all practical purposes, I was in love with a high school boy and changing States would never change that.

When Gavin looked at me, he saw only a very young daughter of Eden and he was asking a favor reserved for the very old and experienced. 

“Démia thinks you’re ready,” Gavin said, and we’d move from piranha straight to sharks and sharks really can’t fit in baths.  “She recommended you for the job.”  Christ!  How did all these family members communicate so quickly.  Time must be crawling in my part of the universe and that always sucked.   Or maybe time didn’t move at all.  I don’t remember what Démia said about this subject, only that I didn’t sleep that night trying to get my head around it.  “Father agrees with Démia.”

Oh, that bastard!  I meant Gavin.  He just wanted to lay the cards down slowly, one at a time, so I’d wince as each card spelled my doom.  Now I had piranhas, a shark, and a killer whale in my pool.  Well, hah!  There wasn’t enough water in it and I was getting out and I hoped they drowned with no water to breath and that will teach them to get mixed up in my messy metaphors—

“It’s more serious than you think,” Gavin said.  “We believe the person that transferred the talent was Darren the Black.”

“Shit,” I said.   

“You’re too young to remember,” Gavin said, “but he’s the one—”

“That killed the magus Toth.  I’ve heard the story.”

“Delilah said he had a hand in the death of the magi Zheng as well.”

That wasn’t true.  I was certain that Zheng was alive and well. 

“I guess that means that that rat bastard Darren is dead.  What’s the problem?”

“His powers were pure evil,” Gavin said.  “He was a living weapon of the darkest demons.”

“Oh? Oh. Oh!”

“Oh, indeed.  Father thinks you’d better attend to this immediately.  Put down whatever you're doing and find that girl!  She’ll probably be stewing with horrible thoughts and desires, dominated by Corruption.  The more she kills with those dark powers…”

“I got it,” I said.  “You rat bastard.  You set this up just so you could you watch me squirm.”

“Well, I had time for theatrics.  But when I put you back they’ll be no time.  Think of the demons and Diabolists that will move on her.  If she becomes allied with them…”

I understood his message entirely.  Moving through the planes is a slow business and I was clearly the closest and would reach her first.  Unless, of course, one of any fifty-thousand planer travelers was closer—and someone almost had to be—in which case I’d be running second, fifth, tenth, or worse.  

“Démia’s heading your way and so am I—Hell, everyone is drifting your way, except Delilah.  She’s on the Godsplinter Earth.  She’s strong there so Dad told her to stay put.  Try to reach her with the new girl.”

“Got it,” I said.  “Can you come back with me?”  I already knew the answer was no so I exhaled and plunked my cheek against the cold metal of the massage table.  Sometimes, a projection can serve as a gateway between planes.  It happens infrequently—maybe one time in five.  Démia understands some of the ins and outs of the whole problem, at least enough so that she can tell the strongest possible contact points.  Gavin was chosen, not for his persuasive abilities, but because he had the best chance of joining me. 

“How much time have we really lost?” I asked.

“On your end, only an hour.  On our end, maybe a full day.  Every Coreal in the universe could converge on our new sister.  You’d better get there first.” 

Damn!  Just my luck to pick a remote plane and get nailed just when I was trying to escape.  “Well, if there’s no more time to spare,” I said, waving off my masseur. 

 “Good luck,” he said.  I hoped that statement held more than words.  “I’ll try to get there as soon as I can. For god’s sake be careful.”  He looking genuinely concerned.

“I’m gone,” I said, finally interrupting his advice.  “Find me fast.”

“I will,” he said.  And his comfortable reality faded…

…And I returned to the immensely uncomfortable reality of Principal Nielson’s office.  I blinked a few times to adjust my eyesight.  I moaned aloud missing the strong hands rubbing my shoulders.

“Well, I can see your lapses of concentration don’t prevent your ability to swear to authority figures, do they?”

Gone were thoughts of masseurs.  My hand slapped my forehead.  Nothing to be done, now.  “I must go,” I said.  “I’m feeling sick and I’m going home.  I’ll have my mother call you.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am,” I said.  But as I started to rise from the chair I glanced at my right hand and saw a white, rune-covered ring on my hand.  He’d slipped a power suspension ring on me while I was under!  Without my powers I was stuck in this plane. 

“The only place you’re going young lady,” he said.  “Is back to class.”