"Hokey smokes," Joe says as he traces the new sigil with his fingertip. "I realized the bit about our anima needing a better merger with our brains. Well, with Frank and Joe's brains. Nice solution, by the way. Except I don't follow this little bit here."
"I don't follow any of it," Frank grumbles. He's looking a lot less excited than Joe.
"You wouldn't be able to," Joe retorts.
"I mean any of it," Frank says, and his frown deepens as he starts ticking items off his fingers. "First of all, I thought we came back home so we could practice our techniques at Westside."
"I think this gives us all the technique we need, Frank," says Joe.
"The technical machinery, maybe," says Frank. "I'm talking about the skills to use 'em and get away with it."
"Nobody's saying that we tackle the Stellae all at once, immediately," you say. "We could just infiltrate, lay low, watch, plot—"
"And go crazy with boredom, spring the takeover prematurely, and get blown all to hell when the Stellae hit back," says Joe. He looks up from the sigil. "Sorry, I'm just articulating what Frank would struggle to say. Personally, I think it's a keen idea."
"And, typically, my brother is moving too fast," says Frank. "Look, I think we're wasting our time here in town, but I'm not eager to jump into the big game right away."
You don't want to be argumentative. "We could ease into it," you say. "Maybe only one of us returns to the Stellae in disguise. Or maybe we sneak up on one of them and take them over with the anima we used on Rick."
"If we do that, we could take over two or three more," Joe says.
"And that's my second point," says Frank. "What's the point of us infiltrating the Stellae when we can just use anima? We could be doing that already, but decided not to. What happened that now it seems like a good idea?"
"Don't you want a second pair of ousiarchs?" Joe asks. "Quick training with them too, since we'd have the imago of the people who had 'em originally."
"But we could still get that in a couple of years, after we've practiced these other skills," Frank says. He speaks more slowly; it sounds like he's becoming convinced.
"And what opportunities would we miss in the meantime," asks Joe. He's heard the same shift in Frank's voice, for he continues as though the decision has been made. "The first one to catch, obviously, is Kali. Then, based on what she knows—"
But Frank reacts as though he's been slapped. "Why Kali? I mean, I guess I can see the advantage, but—" He starts to turn red. "You're actually hot to get inside her skin!"
Joe lowers the sketch of the new sigil and turns to stare at his brother. "It's only logical that it's me who gets her. As the only one here with a real education—"
"Oh, bite me," Frank snarls. "Besides, you've already got Arbol as an ousiarch—"
"It doesn't matter. What matters is the blending of the pair. So I've already got Arbol and Viritrilbia as a blend, Arbol and Perelandra are a different blend."
"So I could take another Malacandran when I double up," Frank asks.
Joe freezes. "Well, I'd need Malacandra myself at some point—"
"Oh for fuck's sake, that's so typically you. A grabby little—"
You've been trying to get their attention all this time, waving your hand and shouting "Hey! Hey!" to no avail. Now you jump in, grab Frank by the face, and kiss him hard on the mouth. He and Joe stare at you slack-jawed. "Now that I've got your attention finally, will you stop arguing so we can talk about it rationally? Who's this Kali person?"
It takes Joe a second to recover his voice. "Kali Valentine," he stammers. "Our teacher, Frank's and my teacher. She teaches all of us, at least at the start, teaches the basics. Then we go on for specialized training with others. She's very senior, very high up—"
"She's an old lady?" you ask.
There's a long pause. "She takes real good care of herself," Joe says, and he turns a little pink. "She's still real attractive. Why, does it really matter?"
"I'm thinking of what happened when we caught Rick," you say. "Whoever gets Kali, you or Frank or me, if we just use anima, has to be happy there."
"I've already volunteered," says Joe. "And we really should take her anyway. All the newbies go to her first."
"Why's that important," Frank asks.
"Because any new Stellae will be another good avenue for infiltration," Joe says. "No one knows them, so there will be less chance of a slip up."
"I'm still nervous," Frank says. "Especially about targeting Kali. She's so close to Dad, and I want to stay as much out of his sight as possible."
"But we have perfect disguises," Joe says. "You said so yourself."
"Famous last words," Frank says. "What about targeting the Akshardham, or the Sages instead? There's no Glundandrans there to worry about."
Joe snaps his finger at Frank. "Malaika. That's another natural one to—"
"Who's the Akshardam?" you ask. "The Sages?"
"Guys like us," Frank says.
"Exactly like us," Joe interrupts. "Same stuff, same philosophy, same goals. Just a different organization. The Akshardham is centered in India, the Sages in China and the Pacific. The Stellae come out of Europe and the Middle East, cover Africa and the Americas these days too. We all cooperate, of course—"
"And there aren't any Glundandrans in these other groups?"
"Nope. There can only be two Glundandrans at a time— Wait, shouldn't you know all this?"
"If you don't want to explain it to me, Joe, let me use you as a puppet." You raise your hand to your face.
"No thanks!" he hastily exclaims. "So, there can only be two Glundandrans in the world at a time, and the Stellae have both of them now. They also have the heiress apparent, Malaika, which is why we should target her too. So we can take over the Stellae when Dad finally dies."
"We have another Glundandran with us," Frank says. To you: "I can't believe you left it to me to point that out."
But Joe shakes his head. "Problematic, bro. Deeply problematic. Chelsea's too old." He turns to you as you start to sputter. "See, most Stellae, even the ones living out in the boonies, get discovered real early. Like, five or six or eight years old. Ten years old is about the latest. The reason you and Rosalie went undiscovered is because you had Sulva as your second ousiarch."
"But I've still got— Oh, that's right." You make a face. "I recombined Glundandra with Eldibria."
"Exactly. You'd have to get yourself the imago of someone really young, like five or six, which is I think is how old Malaika was when they found her, if you were going to be 'discovered' and enter the Stellae that way."
"Would it be more believable if the Sages discovered her?" Frank asks. "Maybe they could have missed her until she was this old?"
Joe looks even more dubious. "Maybe," he says, his voice dripping with skepticism. "But the real problem in that case isn't her age. It's her looks. Chelsea Cooper is very beautiful, but she's the wrong kind of beautiful for someone who was born in China."
"Will couldn't use Chelsea's face anyway," Frank says. "What I mean is, we go to China or Japan or Korea, someplace in the Sages' sphere, go undercover there, and let the Sages find Will."
"What's the advantage of that?" you ask.
"First, there's no Glundandran in the Sages, and those are the really scary ones to try to fool. Second of all, if we place a Glundandran in the Sages, and also do as Joe says and add Malaika to the team, then we'll have control of both the Stellae and the Sages. Eventually."
"Nice," says Joe. "In that case, we should use anima to get Malaika. You and I could split up. You could partner with Malaika, and I could partner with Will."
"I'm not sure I want us splitting up," you say. "I'd rather we were together, so we could coordinate closely, back each other up."
Joe and Frank mull this. "In that case," Joe says, "I think we'd be best concentrating on the Stellae. We want Malaika regardless. And then Kali really needs to be another one."
"Where would Will fit in?" Frank asks. "A new Glundandran? Or would he hide somewhere else?"
Joe shrugs. "Kali would be the best one to answer that."
"How hard would it be to get to Kali?" you ask. "To make a change?"
"She's a designer and decorator, caters to millionaires and billionaires," Joe says. "She wouldn't be hard to get to, if we pretend to be rich. Not that she's mercenary," he hastily adds, in an oddly struck, defensive note.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
