The Plane’s Children – Chapter Nine – Emersli1

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7 Minutes

It was a grim, tired group that gathered two days later for their morning debrief.

Despite their best efforts they hadn’t found anyone in Mallie Vernon’s life in the past four years who had anything but positive feelings towards her.  Tony felt almost scraped raw, his untrained empathy stretched uncomfortably as he tried to get a read on people, while his sense of hearing was strained from trying to catch nuances from those he interviewed by videocall.

He had sent agents to San Francisco to talk to some of those people in person, but he didn’t really expect much.  There just didn’t seem to be anyone.

“Maybe we’re looking in the wrong place?  Maybe it’s Matt’s life we should be dissecting?”  Emmet Jackson ventured the question.  “I mean, we’ve hit a wall with Mallie so maybe …”

Jim shrugged.  “Worth a try.  Better than spinning our wheels another day…”

Suddenly Alone screamed and vanished.

“Oh no.”  Blair looked devastated.  Bethany Parker looked ready to cry in helpless fury.

And Tony felt sick.

“Tony, try to follow them!  Drop into meditation and reach.  You might be able to find them on the Plane.”  Blair had been trying to teach Tony to shift quickly into the deeper states of meditation, but it was slow going.  Now … well, now he had incentive.

Dropping to sit on the floor, Tony dove into his own mind … trying to follow the link between him and his spiritmate.

Hanging on grimly and fighting his way through the dark of the Void, Tony reached the Upper Plane with a crash.

He barely noticed all the people gathered around.  Because Alone was down on the ground and in their arms …

Tony didn’t know the person lying there, but the fury filling him didn’t seem to care about that.  Whoever they were, they had been mauled to the point of non-existence.  One arm was missing, half of the face seemed to be hanging by one small strip of skin.  Blue blood was pouring out everywhere, Alone and two or three others frantically trying to stop the inevitable.

“Please Hidden, please!  Don’t go!  We’ll fix it.  Give the Plane time to fix it.”  But it was clear to Tony that nothing could fix this … at least not fast enough to sustain life.

As though his thought had brought it about, the being in Alone’s arms suddenly shuddered and … dispersed.  A choked off scream sounded from one of the people standing in the crowd, and Tony automatically turned to see if there was a second victim.

But there was only a person, standing there with a very familiar kind of grief and disbelief in their eyes.  Others standing closer to them than Tony gathered the person in their arms as they rocked together in their sorrow.

Suddenly someone appeared next to Tony, crashing to their knees.  He automatically knelt next to them as Alone looked up.  “Seeker!  Where are you?  In the lower plane, where are you?  We’ll come!  We’ll come find you and your spiritmate.”

Tony put a hand on the person’s shoulder in support.  “Tell us anything you can to help us find you.”  This must be the victim’s crossmate.

“I … I don’t know.  It’s dark, most of the time.  A small room, the door won’t open.  Hidden … they were scared.  They weren’t with us, but they were more and more scared.  There was a monster in our dreams … chasing them … chasing us.  But it really only wanted them.  I tried … I tried to draw it away.  But it only wanted Hidden.”  

Alone stood, reaching out to the shaken soul.  “I know you did everything you could.”

“How?  How can this even happen?  This isn’t supposed to happen!”  Seeker was swinging wildly between grief and fury.  “We are the children of the Upper Plane.  The lower plane isn’t supposed to be able to hurt us!  Did we do something?  Is the Plane angry with us?  Have we displeased the One that they would abandon us?  Why did this happen?”

A heavy presence seemed to heave around them all.  A Voice, audible to everyone as the Plane responded.  “You are my beloved children.  I could never be so angry with you that I would do something so evil.  Flicker was loved.  Hidden was loved.  They are with me now, and beyond all pain or fear.  You are loved.  Steadfast is loved.  I have not abandoned you.  I will NEVER abandon you!”

The Plane reached out to their children in a way they never had before.  But the need was great.  The children must know that this was not a punishment visited on them for some slight or disobedience.  “Quicksilver and Morningstar will find the answers for us.  And they will defeat this monster who stalks my children through their dreams.  Return to your spiritmate.  Comfort and sustain them.  Walk beside them, until it is time to come home to me.”

“Wait!”  Tony interjected.  “We need to know the name of your spiritmate, and where you were living.  We need to focus our search.”

Seeker looked at Tony with an intent gaze that seemed to penetrate to his bones.  “My mate’s name is Jason Ramsey.  He lives with his guide Velma Travers in a place called Little Rock.”  The being’s gaze seemed to turn inward for a moment.  “He lived with his guide.”

“I understand.  We will come.  We will find you.  Stay strong.”  Tony watched as the person disappeared, then turned to his spiritmate.

Alone was astonished to see their spiritmate here.  No spiritmate had ever come to the settlement.  None of them had ever been able to find their spiritmates on the Upper Plane, though they had known they were here somewhere.  But now Tony was standing right in front of them, where he should not be able to be.

“Quicksilver, how did you get here?  Spiritmates have never been able to come here before.”

Tony shrugged.  “I followed you, mia stella.  There is no place you would go that I would not follow.”

Sighing, Alone looked down at their clothes.  “I need to clean up before we go back.  It will only take a moment.”

“Alone, wait.  Who is this?  What is happening?  Can you tell us anything?  Anything at all?”  Sage came over, urgently asked for news.

Motioning Tony on towards the little dwelling almost hidden in the trees, Alone stopped for a moment to speak with their friend.

Tony entered the small house, built much like a log cabin, and looked around curiously.  A tidy living space with a food preparation area at one end.  Doors leading to a bedroom, a bathroom, and two empty rooms.  Everything clean and well-cared for.  The only anomaly was a discarded tunic, thrown over the back of one of the chairs in the living space.  

Tony looked curiously at the only thing out of place.  The tunic seemed to be stained with something blue … oh.

“I was wearing it when Flicker unbecame.  I could not bear to …”  Alone choked on their words.  “Three people.  In so short a time he has destroyed three people.”

“Three?  How did we miss one?  Did they not make it back to the Plane before unbecoming?”  Tony was concerned about a missing victim.

Alone shook their head.  “No.  Shadow rejoined the Plane.  Two days ago.”

Seeing that Tony didn’t understand, they explained.  “When the children become, one of us is drawn to each child to shelter them through their maturing.  Shadow sheltered Flicker.  And now another has lost the child they sheltered.  Fidget and Shadow have borne a loss we have no preparation to endure.  I am worried that Fidget will seek to follow their child into the Plane’s embrace, as Shadow did.”

“I’m so sorry mia stella.  We will go to Little Rock.  We will find Jason Ramsey.  And we WILL find this monster.  Together, we can do anything … anything we have to, to keep our people safe.”  Tony had never felt a territorial imperative before.  Not in his years as a latent or his short time online.  Blair had concluded that perhaps as both sentinel and guide he didn’t have a specific tribe.

But now Tony knew better.  These were his people.  This was his tribe.  And in a way, perhaps all sentinels and guides were his.  Because they were the spiritmates of his people.

And he would defend them to the death.  He had never just planned on killing someone before.  He believed in the rule of law, and that everyone had the right (whether they deserved it or not) to their day in court.  But whoever this monster was … he was too dangerous to live.

 “I’m ready to go.”  Alone had put on a fresh tunic and rebraided their hair.  Sorrow and determination warred in their expression.  “We have much to do.”

Tony nodded in agreement, and then realized something.

“Um.  I don’t know how to get back.”