Phantasia

“Neither of you show up on scans,” said John, “I thought it might be some kind of glitch at first, then maybe anti-scan field, but nothing about that adds up. You also passed through a window when that gestalt attacked, with no visible distortion that would happen if you were a holographic projection,”

“You think we didn’t notice anything?” added Andromeda, “We’ve seen you walk through things, float in the air, escape Godhand’s manor unscathed after it was bombed and half disintegrated…”

“And if you try to deny all that, we’ll just have to ask Katrina for hard evidence,” said Phoenie, “Her auragraphs show you with an inhuman aura and she told us you stood up against demons that controlled Godhand!”

“Heh, looks like youse two can’t be hiding any more,” said Lyra, “Takes the pressure off me for sure,” The others looked at her with shocked expressions, chanting their surprise and disbelief in unison. Lyra rolled her eyes. “I’m a tribal girl. Ye think they don’t talk about these things out there in the wilderness? You should be blaming Godhand for youse guys not being told this shit yerselves. Figured the staff were scared youse’d be getting yerselves tried for heresy if ye knew too much,”

“And we were…” said Kaori, slipping into sad thoughtfulness.

Our options are limited, said Faye.

“This is awesome!” said Phantasia, knowing too well her handmaiden would be thinking quite the opposite. Before she could say anything else, Faye stepped forward and gave each and every human a cold, stern glare that sent froze even Theseus in place.

“Our identity is not the issue,” she said, her monotone voice filling the room and pulling all attention her way, like receding waves dragging pebbles down the beach, “I would advise all of you to cease in your investigations immediately. You have neither the skill nor strength to face the challenges that would confront you should you continue. It would be wise to leave this situation in the capable hands of your teaching staff,”

At first, silence. Phantasia was expecting either a composed argument from Phoenie – or for the Veritas editor’s mood to flip into a sudden outburst of frustration. The last person she expected to argue with Faye was Theseus.

“Fuck off,” he said, “I may not be sold on this whole ‘faerie’ thing, but I sure as hell know those lot ain’t gonna do shit about this until it affects them. We put ourselves on the line to save Kat and the others from Godhand, they did fuck all ’til shit hit the fan and they had no other choice,”

“My old man’s staff here and even I’m with these guys,” said John, “I don’t know anything about ‘magic’ – its all just crazy nanotech if you ask me – but I do know the staff here have got their own things going on. Dad calls it adult responsibility, moans about grown-up politics and stuff,”

“If they were going to deal with this situation, they would have done already,” said Phoenie, “It’s all up to us now,” The bonds between Veritas surrounded and supported her, cradling her aura and preventing an emotional outburst. Whether it was friendship, love or something else, Phantasia didn’t know, but she was reminded of Queen Thetis’s words:

Depend on one another, work to cover each other’s weaknesses and enhance each other’s strengths.

They may not have come to the right conclusion, but had they not worked together and pooled their strengths and resources, would they have come to any? Like the flickering barriers of mental protection that now helped spare them from Titania’s illusions, it was a start.

***

Chapter 46
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