Chapter 13: Retribution

Teebs woke up with a massive headache and drenched with sweat. He stepped onto the deck and lifted his hands. Then he dropped them, a splash of water landing on him. The wind picked up around him as he started to walk to the nose of the ship.

Was it just a dream? He thought, or was he actually there?

“Are you okay?” Shards said, appearing out of nowhere.

“Don’t do that!” Teebs said, grabbing his chest, “We talked about this.”

“Oh, sorry,” Shards said.

“It’s fine. You just spooked me. And I’m okay, thanks for asking,” he said.

Shards walked over and sat on the rail smiling.

“Have a bad dream?” she asked.

“I think I did,” he replied.

“What happened?” She said, sitting criss-cross.

“Uh…. I was in this hallway lined with doors, each one had a number on it. Simon was looking in a door marked with a red ten on it. It seemed real though,” he said.

Shards gasped and ran to the cabin. She came back with a book, flipping through the pages quickly.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a book about dreams… or something like that. It has information about how dreams work and what each kind mean,” she explained.

“Sounds like a short novel,” he replied.

“Not really,” she said, finding the page, “Read this.”

“‘A dream in a hallway, or a ‘Hallway Dream,’ is a step into your subconscious or your memories. If the doors are labeled with numbers from zero to your current age, then it’s your most notable memories of that year. If a door is marked with a red number, then the most notable memory is bad or traumatizing,’” he read.

“And you had a hallway dream?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” he replied.

“And Simon was there looking through the doors?” she continued.

“Yes. What are you getting at?” he said.

“Simon could be using one of his new abilities on you,” she said.

Teebs thought about it. His first new ability was to read minds, but he hasn’t had it long enough to do that.

“He seemed confused. As if he was there by accident. Does the book explain anything about that?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to read up on it. But for now, go back to bed. It’s still early,” she said, walking back to the cabin.

Teebs scratched his head and leaned on the rail. Looking out to the sea, he thought about what Simon saw. Seeing his sister like that… and his family too. Sorrowful really. But Teebs hadn’t felt sorrow in years, not since that day.

When this is all over, I’ll kill him myself, he thought, No witnesses, no mercy.

He walked back to the cabin of his ship with a new hatred towards Simon.

Later that day, Teebs put wind in the sails and looked at the map. He was heading to Zenith, Northern Zenith to be exact.

“Hey, are you okay?” Shards asked.

“Yeah, why?” Teebs replied.

“You’re crying,” she said, wiping one of his eyes.

He rubbed his other eye and saw that he was crying.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she said.

“Yes! I’m okay!” He said, wiping his eyes with a sleeve.

Shards went into the cabin and started reading, looking up from her book only occasionally to check on him. They finally got to Northern Zenith, the wind in the sails dying down. Teebs tied the ship to the dock and walked to a map.

Where is he? He thought, scanning the map.

“Hello, sir. May I help you?” A woman said from behind a counter.

She was wearing something that looked like a guide outfit, but it looked different somehow. It wasn’t the same shade of blue as the other ones. Teebs brushed it off, mostly because guide uniforms differ from town and country.

“Yes, actually,” Teebs replied, “Can you tell me where Simon lives?”

“Simon who?” the guide asked.

Teebs looked at Shards to see if she knew his last name.

“Emrich,” Shards said.

“Simon Emrich… Here he is, just a block away from here,” The guide said, looking on her computer.

“Thanks,” Teebs said, leaving without a reply.

He turned back around and asked, “Which way is it?”

“Just north of here,” she said, pointing behind her.

“Thanks again,” He said, going north.

“Hey, is he single?” the guide asked Shards.

“Why do you want to know?” Shards replied, giving her a suspicious glare.

“I think he’s kinda cute,” the guide said, “You’re lucky.”

“How so?” Shards asked.

“Well, you get to travel the world with him. Are you two dating?” the guide said.

“What?! NO! That’s weird! We’re just co-workers! Friends even!” Shards said, blushing.

“Oh… Do you want to date him?” the guide asked.

“... Kinda. He’s annoying, but he does have some perks,” Shards replied.

“Like?” the guide continued.

“Well… wait, why am I telling a guide what I think?” Shards said.

“Because you have nothing better to do?” The guide suggested.

Shards grabbed a nearby chair and sat next to the guide’s booth. They had a long conversation and Shards learned a lot about her. Her name is Sal, she’s the same age as her, she’s a Sylan, and she has learned everything about everyone in the town.

“What’s it like being a Sylan?” Shards asked.

“Well, I get angry extremely quick and occasionally set things on fire, but other than that, it’s about normal,” Sal said.

“What is a Sylan anyway?” Shards asked.

“A Sylan is a person who has a Sylin heritage. The Sylin heritage is kind of weird though. We’ve basically been fused with the embodiment of rage itself, thus explains the short fuse,” Sal explained, “We’re able to turn that anger into physical energy like strength and fire. It’s actually kind of a cool trade off for the short temper.”

“Ohhhh, I think I’ve met one of you before!” Shards said.

“What do you mean ‘One of you?’” Sal replied.

“I mean Sylan. Didn’t mean to be racist,” Shards apologized.

“Oh, okay! And don’t sweat it, Sylan’s don’t get offended by small things like that,” Sal said with a smile.

“Okay, like I was saying, I think I’ve met a Sylan before. He tried ripping my head off, but he was nice and apologized for it afterwards,” Shards said.

“Okay. Where’s your friend?” Sal asked.

“He should be at Simon’s house by now,” Shards said.

“What is he going to do? He seemed pretty ticked about something,” Sal said, “Hopefully he doesn’t hurt him.”

“Teebs hurt Simon?” Shards asked.

“No. Hopefully Simon doesn’t hurt Teebs,” Sal said.

Teebs walked into Simon’s house and looked around the room.

Where is he? He thought, moving to the next room.

“Excuse me, who are you?” Yuelia asked.

Teebs turned around and saw her. She was holding a book and looked like she was about to do some harm.

“I’m Teebs. Do you know where Simon is?” He asked.

“I’m not telling,” she said.

Teebs rolled his eyes and walked past her, going upstairs. Yuelia mumbled something and Teebs froze where he stood.

“Tell me why you want to find Simon,” She said, standing in front of him, her eyes glowing yellow.

“He saw something he wasn’t supposed to,” he said.

Why did I tell her? How is she doing this?! He thought.

“What was it?” She asked, sitting on the step behind her.

“What happened to my family when I was ten years old,” he said.

“And that is?” She continued.

“They were killed,” he said, “What are you doing to me?”

“I’m using Psycogic on you. Whatever I tell you to do, you will do it, whether you want to or not. Anymore questions?” She said.

“No, ma'am,” he replied.

“Good. When you find Simon, do not hurt him. Got it?” she said.

“Yes, ma'am,” he repeated.

“You can move now,” she said, walking away.

He unfroze and continued to walk upstairs.

Psycogic? Never seen that before… weird, he thought.

He looked in the room closest to the top of the stairs and found Simon. He reached for his sword, but something was keeping him from grabbing it.

DO NOT HURT HIM, rang inside of his head like bells in a church.

He put his hand down and walked over to a seat at the desk.

“Hi,” Simon said uncomfortably.

“Hey… Do you remember the dream you had last night?” Teebs said.

“Yeah. It was kind of weird,” Simon said.

“That wasn’t a dream, those were my memories. I would like to keep what happened between you and me, okay?” Teebs said.

“That’s understandable,” Simon said, “But can you answer me one question?”

“Sure,” Teebs said.

“Why was my mother with your family when you were two?” Simon asked.

“I’ve never figured that out,” Teebs said.

“Oh, okay. Did you just come here to tell me something?” Simon said.

“Pretty much,” Teebs said, standing.

“Okay. So you’re not going to try to kill me this time?” Simon said.

“No. We’ll do that later,” Teebs said, leaving.

Teebs walked out the door and to the dock. Shards was still talking to the guide when Teebs untied the ship. She said her goodbyes and joined Teebs.

“So, what did you do?” Shards asked.

“I just talked to him,” he replied, taking his sword out of its sheath on his back.

“That’s all?” she asked.

“Yeah. I didn’t try to kill him,” he said, swinging the blade.

The sword was an odd shade of yellowish green with symbols seemingly carved into the blade. Teebs whispered something that caused the symbols to glow a purple shade much like the whisper magic Shards used.

“What are you doing?” Shards asked.

“Giving them something to remember us by,” Teebs replied, an insane look in his eyes.

“And that is?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ll see,” he said, pointing the blade at the town.

“You shouldn’t be using whisper magic like that,” she said, a little worry in her voice.

“Why? You were the one who taught me to use it,” he said.

“Yeah, but only in tense situations, not like this,” she said.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to do,” he said.

“And you do?” she said, crossing her arms.

He whispered something and swung the blade. He put it away and walked over to the sails.

“What did you do?” Shards asked.

“You’ll find out in time,” he said, commanding the wind into the sail.

Shards looked back at the town with an uneasy feeling filling her.

What did you do? She thought.