Gesturing through the sprawling lab with all its clutter and machinery, Leni led the way through a side-arch to a smaller room dominated by a massive machine of swirling water with an unknown liquid metal moving through the core. At the center was a white beacon, glowing softly. Stepping to a touchscreen computer interface, Leni tapped a few times, then glanced at the core. It began to pulse, emitting a sound frequency so low it made Layla vastly disoriented. She felt like someone had swamped her with the entire North Sea as she reeled and was steadied by Reginald. Shaking her head, she felt like her skin was not her own, sliding through darkwater with a slippery sensation. Unaffected, Leni tapped the touchscreen again and the hum ceased, as Layla regained her equilibrium.
“Sorry for the discomfort.” She glanced over with a wry smile. “I forget sometimes that the magic-tech combo affects people who aren’t Royal Sirens. Ok, this way.”
Leading them back out of the small lab, Leni went to the bank of computers with their three screens. Tapping on the keyboard, she brought up a visual array of what looked like sound waves generating a mapping of the harbor floor and island.
“Ok, see here.” Leni spoke, lowering her glasses and pointing at various contours on the screen. “This is Deep Harbor, as scanned by thesonar-mind. The invention is modified from magical frequencies Royal Sirens can emit, kind of like whale sonar. This tech is based off Fury’s magic, and it’s scanning all the time looking for cracks in the sea bed, new fault lines and vents, that sort of thing. But I modulate it periodically to scan for tears in the space-time fabric that runs between the Twilight Realm and other realms, to scan for new natural portals that sometimes open up in the oceans. And look what I found from this week’s scan.”
Pointing to the screen again, Leni indicated five areas where it looked like the sound-topography was riven with ragged black cracks. “These are five tears in space-time around Deep Harbor that we’ve known about for thousands of years, thin spots where sailors accidentally cross through from the human realm and return with wayward tales about Mermaids and sea dragons and such. But look here.” Pointing to a spot that was clearly on the island rather than offshore, which showed a small, round disturbance, Leni glanced to them. “This spot is an anomaly in space-time. And see my scan from yesterday.” Tapping a few keys on the keyboard, she showed a different scan, the same as the first except the black spot was now in a different place on the island. “Now that anomaly is in a different location. If you go back through the last week’s data since I started doing this scan, you’ll see that black spot is moving around.Abovewater.”
“Something is ripping space-time on the island?” Reginald frowned, dark.
“And it’s moving regularly.” Leni spoke, glancing at them from over her glasses now. “Only a few creatures in the Twilight Realm can rip space-time and make portals, and those generally are all recruited by the Intercessoria. So either we have an Intercessoria agent hiding on the island,” she glanced at Layla, “or we have something else that can rip space-time and appear or disappear at will, moving between Realms as it likes.”
“Hunter.” Layla’s blood ran cold, thinking about how he’d just suddenly disappeared into thin air beneath the Hotel once. “I’ve seen him disappear, but not use anything to aid himself. Like he created the portal inside his own body, he just suddenly flashed out.”
“Which would be consistent with these findings,” Leni continued, eyeing Layla knowingly. “It’s like someone’s carrying one of those little gold Intercessoria cubes around with them that can teleport people – or we have something among us that can create a portalinsideits body, even as it walks around.”
“King Falliro Arini described Hunter as avoid,” Layla spoke quietly, “because when Hunter shifts personas there’s a moment Arini couldn’t smell him on the winds, or sense him. What if this is Hunter, walking around on the island? What if manifesting this void inside himself helps him shift visages and disappear at a moment’s notice – ripping the fabric of space-time to allow his sudden movement?”
“It makes sense,” Reginald growled, and Layla felt his magic surge all around her, fierce like a raging tide. “Leni, can you tell what areas of the city thisvoidhas been in?”
“It’s been all over.” She sighed with frustration. “The restaurants of East Bay, the swimming halls of South Deep. The royal catacombs and galleries and suites. It’s even been in the throne hall, which limits our possible suspects to about three hundred individuals, but that’s still far too many for a reasonable search.”
“Where does it rest at night?” Reginald growled deeper as a terrible blackwater sensation heaved all around him.
“I don’t think it does.” Leni spoke, frowning deeply now as she put her glasses back up on her head. “It doesn’t stay anywhere from scan to scan. I run the equipment on an hourly basis, but any more than that and it overheats and shuts down for twenty-four hours. Plus, this tech currently only has a fifty-mile radius of focus, so if the void leaves Deep Harbor, we’ll lose it. I’m sorry. I can’t predict where the void will be, or tell you where it is right now. Even when a scan is recent, the window of error is about two hundred feet. I’m trying to calibrate it tighter, but…”
“Even if we get a scan and send guards immediately, the individual could be in an adjacent hall, and slip away or shift visages before our guards can catch them.” Reginald sighed. Running a hand over his lips, he massaged his jaw. “Send your scans from the past week to my personal laptop in my room, Leni. I want to go over where this thing has been and look for patterns.”
“Sure, but I tell you, it’s been everywhere.” She eyeballed him as she tapped through a string of commands on the keyboard then hit enter. Layla saw a status bar flash, then disappear as if she’d just sent Reginald the data. “I’ve had the computer analyze it for patterns, but it can only give me statistical data on the greatest likelihood of places where itcouldbe.”
“Send those to me also, I’ll have a look at them and consider extra guards.” Reginald spoke with a dark thoughtfulness.
“Sure.” Leni tapped through a few more commands, hit enter, then pushed the keyboard away as she straightened. “But you know there is a better way to solve this, Reginald.”
A deep pause stretched as the two half-siblings shared a long glance.
“Fury.” Reginald sighed at last, putting his hands on his hips and closing his eyes.
“Fury.” Leni agreed with a wry twist of lips. “This tech is based on a resonance he can produce with his magic, Aldo. He imbued it into the machine personally. If the tech is able to pick up this anomaly… then Fury could probably do it in real-time, like a bloodhound on the scent. I think you need to go see him. See if he’ll cooperate; if he might be able to hold himself together long enough to come back to Deep Harbor and search for this void with his power.”
“It’s been a long time since Fury cooperated with me on anything.” Reginald spoke quietly, and though his voice was tight, Layla sensed sadness in it.
“That’s because you got out. He couldn’t.” Leni spoke. Reaching out, she clasped Reginald’s hand. “Fury will help, I know it. I haven’t told anyone what I’ve found, except him and that message I left Adrian.”
“Keep it that way.” Reginald spoke darkly. “I don’t think I have to tell you what a deep security risk this is right now. Both to Layla and our people, if Hunter is among us.”
“I understand.” Leni spoke, holding Reginald’s dire gaze. “Should we tell the King?”
“Not yet. I’m Clan Second, security breaches on the island are my concern.” Reginald spoke briskly, and Layla perked to hear about some of his duties. “I’ll analyze the data and see if I can find a pattern. Layla, from now on you are to wear my pearls at all times so I can find you anywhere on the island, and keep mind-contact with you. Leni, see if you can calibrate the machine to a tighter range of error, or figure out a cooling system so we can scan more often. I’ll call Adrian and let him know what’s going on.”
“I still think you need to go see Fury.” Leni spoke firmly.
“I’ll think about it.” Reginald answered, though his voice held an edge now. “I have a lot to do for father with Beltane approaching and Layla visiting.”
“Fine.” Leni gave him a stern eyeball. “But as Clan Second, you really should do everything in your power to investigate this security risk, Aldo,beforethe Beltane celebrations tomorrow. Not just for you and Layla, but for our entire clan. From what I’ve heard, Hunter spares no one in terms of collateral damage. Our people are at risk. And Fury may be able to help.”
Drawing a deep breath, Reginald closed his eyes as if willing himself to patience, then nodded. “I’ll go see Fury; talk to him and see if he’ll help. If he’s stable enough.”
