Chapter 526: What Happened To Meira?
Another cell, this one big enough for all of us and not all that cell-like, really. I got the impression not to many people just showed up on the doorstep of the Node like we did. As in, none.
I turned to Theridialis, needing to focus on the task at hand and not my unconscious sister lying a few feet away. "I take it they aren't prepared for something like this?"
Theridialis shook his head where he sat on the floor with his back to the wall, sorrow and guilt still weighing him down. "The Node monitor's oath is sacred," he said. Swallowed hard, wiping at his sweating forehead with a shaking hand. "No one has ever broken it."
Shocking for a bunch of power-hungry demons. "Never. Ever."
"I know you find it hard to believe our people have honor," Theridialis said with so much dignity I felt badly for pushing him. "But when it comes to the safety of our planes, Node monitors are absolutely loyal. Only we understand how very fragile our existence is."
I nodded, relented. "So how secure is this place?" I waved my hand over my head so he'd know I meant the room.
"Secure," he said. "But not, I imagine, against a combined assault." His eyes drifted to Tara who sat with her head on Ram's shoulder. Theridialis sighed. "And yes, if we break free, I'm certain we will be able to access the Node. We've passed the main protections. But if we're going to act, we must do so before they decide to remove us back to the surface."
First things first. I paced as Sassafras and Avenesequoia murmured over Meira, unable to look at her. She wasn't my kid sister, not the sweet, kind-hearted, spunky preteen I loved with my whole heart. The monster created with nectar and Ameline's influence through Sekaniphestat didn't even feel like Meems, not really.
But I couldn't run off without knowing if she'd be okay.
Sassafras, tail twitching, finally looked up and met my eyes. "She'll be all right, I think," he said. "Most of the nectar is out of her system now. But I fear things will be worse before they are better."
"Agreed, brother," Avenesequoia said, stroking Meira's face with gentle fingers. My sister looked older than me now, more mature, the body of a woman developed where an eleven-year-old girl's had once been. I choked on the need to sob, to hug my sister and find a way to fix her, keeping myself rigid and under control instead. Thankfully, the need to keep Ahbi's power from driving me insane with agony was enough to distract me from my failure.
Meira was my sister. I should have been able to protect her.
She chose that moment to wake, eyes sliding open, meeting mine. For a second, I thought Sass was right, that Meira was going to be okay after all. The innocence I remembered was still there. Not naiveté. Never that. But Meira always carried a softness about her, a caring tied to a feeling of freshness I adored and leaned on even when I knew it wasn't fair to do so.
The look only lasted long enough to break my heart. Shuttered anger closed in around her edges, cutting me off, bitterness burning behind her gaze as Meira groaned and sat up.
"Where are we?" She refused to look at me then, at anyone, hugging herself as she began to shiver. It was so surreal, to hear my sister's voice come from a grown demon's mouth, to try balancing what I knew to be true and what now was into a whole I could accept.
I turned away so I wouldn't have to look at her, brain churning, avoiding reality as she moaned behind me while Sassafras answered.
"The Node," he said. "Meira, what happened to you?"
She was silent a long time while I stared at the wall and chewed my bottom lip and ignored the look of pity on Ram's face as he tried to reach for me. I dodged him, pacing again while Meira spoke.
"She said I could help Syd." Meira's voice dropped, lower and deeper than the girl I knew.
"Who 'she'?" Sassafras's soft purring told me he was doing his best to soothe her. But I felt the vibrations in her power, the fight inside her as her body battled the need for more nectar as I cursed Ameline and swore I'd take Meira's suffering out on her hide.
"Sekaniphestat," Meira said, sealing Sassy's mother's fate along with Ameline's. How could I forget the evil demon's plans to steal my father while betraying my grandfather? Okay, so not steal. He wasn't Mom's anymore. But no way was I letting him mate with a snake like her.
And Henemordonin was no angel.
Still.
"You were worried about Syd?" Sassafras's gentle prodding seemed to do the trick.
"No," Meira snapped. Then, "yes. I was really afraid. When we crossed over, you left to be with Dad and I was just there." A soft sob escaped her. "I felt useless, Sass."
"No you weren't," he said as his mind locked on mine. This is my fault.
It wasn't. Wasn't.
"I just wanted to save Syd," Meira wailed. "Then Sekaniphestat came to see me, said there was a way I could find Syd and no one else would know. I could save her and fix everything."
Like Ahbi's death? Right. I wished.
"So you agreed," Sassy said. "Meira, what did she do?"
"I was in a lab." She groaned again, so loud I turned at last, with a firm grip on what remained of my heart, refusing to run to her, unable to give her what she needed. Knowing I'd failed her.
"My dear," Theridialis said, "were you underground?"
Meira nodded. She shook violently a moment before stilling, rubbing her arms and legs over and over. Withdrawals. Her skin paled as she swallowed three or four times. "Underground," she repeated.
Theridialis rose from where he'd slumped on the floor to watch, Tara snuggled up beside him. The girl followed as the portly demon then knelt next to Meira and touched her forehead. "She gave you nectar to drink." Not a question as his eyes met mine.
"So awesome." Meira actually perked up, hope crossing her face as she reached for Theridialis. "Do you have some? I'd really love to have some."
"I don't, I'm afraid," he said, ever so gently and Meira fell back with a scowl so dark it scared me. Her power lashed outward at him, bouncing from his shields to hit her, making her squeal in pain.
"Hate you," she hissed. Met my eyes, her adult face full of fury. "This is your fault."
Meira spun, then, her back to all of us, forehead pressed to the stone wall, shaking and muttering and moaning to herself. Theridialis rose, came to my side, taking my hand as his mind connected.
I knew she was running experiments, he sent. But I never expected... Sydlynn, forgive me my former mate's ambitions. The nectar she gave Meira not only expanded her power, it spurred her evolution and tied her to the addiction so tightly I don't know if she'll ever be entirely free of it.
And the susceptibility to control? Normal nectar made one loose in the tongue and pliable.
Once Sekaniphestat had Meira addicted, he sent sadly, she would have done anything for her.
And Ameline, through association. I sighed, pinching the inside of my arm to keep from crying. I had to stay focused. Yes, this thing with Meira was a mess. Yes, I was a terrible big sister who would burn in hell for not keeping her safe. But I couldn't worry about her right now.
And I couldn't believe I was telling myself so.
We need to get out of here. I slammed the thought into Theridialis, making him grunt. But he nodded in agreement, turning to gesture to Tara. She joined us, looking sadly over her shoulder at my sister before taking Theridialis's hand.
"It's time to go," he said with a smile, restoring Tara's good mood.
"To the Node?" She almost jumped up and down in excitement.
"Exactly." He gestured for me to take her other hand. "Together, pay attention now."
I focused on his mind, watched as he carefully called up the part of him still connected to the Node. Tara mimicked him perfectly while I struggled a little, but finally uncovered the hum again.
They are shielding it, he sent. So we can't find it. But we know it's there, don't we? He felt around the edges of the shielding, along the floor, the walls, the ceiling. Stopped in the top corner. A crack. The faintest hairline thread. You feel it? Excellent. He sounded like a schoolteacher, but I was drawn in by his patient, calm tone and felt myself relaxing into it. Now, through here and a little pressure... the three of us pushed ever so gently, parting the shield, peeling it back and away from the wall. It dissolved at last under the push of our power, leaving the metal wall exposed and ready.
"No more screwing around," I said, releasing Tara. "I'm going right to the Node."
"And I with you," Theridialis said. "And the little one." He turned to the others. "You must remain behind."
Sassafras was the first to protest, but Ram was the most upset.
"I didn't escort you," like any of this had been an escort, "all the way around Demonicon just to have you put yourself in danger where I can't protect you." And I needed protecting since when? He'd only gotten me in trouble, as far as I remembered. Chose to remember. "I'm coming with you."
So much stubbornness in one demon face. I caught myself smiling, touching his cheek with one hand. "You can't follow." I knew it instinctively, through the power Theridialis gave me.
Sassafras silenced Ram when he tried to hold me back. "Just get this the hell over with," my Persian said. "So we can go home."
"Watch for the guards," Theridialis said. "They won't be able to harm you, and I doubt the threat of death was real." Doubted? "But just in case, be prepared for anything."
Now I really didn't want to leave the others behind. But I didn't have a choice, did I?
Did I?
I drew a breath and met Sassafras's eyes. "Take care of Meira." Before he could answer, I shoved Ram aside so he couldn't reach me and dove for the wall, the touch of my hand dissolving a door and letting us through.
I spun the moment Tara and Theridialis were free of the hole and touched the wall again. Ram glared at me through the rapidly recovering metal, his eyes not leaving mine until the door finally sealed him inside.
I was going to pay for this. I just knew it.
This way. Theridialis pulled us along, Tara between us, hurrying toward not the wall before us, but another just down the way. Three doorways later and I felt the Node's presence growing, my whole body tingling. Theridialis paused at the final wall, this one's metal pure white, the hallway glowing softly as though the Node itself fed through the barrier.
Last one, he sent. Be ready. If she's here, we won't have much time to stop her.
I already knew she was here. Ahbi was positive of it. And the moment I touched the wall to dissolve it, I felt the first tremor in the ground beneath my feet, Shaylee crying out in pain as the earth magic she controlled reacted to the sudden imbalance in the Node keeping the planes together.
Ameline had begun whatever she had planned. Hopefully I was just in time to stop her.
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