Chapter 62: Unexpected Encounter

  The first thing that crossed my mind after hearing Dad’s words was that Mom had been approached by Dolos too – just like the Primarch and Prime Security.

  The second thing was this: if she’d known about today – about Erebus – seventeen years ago, could it be that she had been the one stringing Valdemar – supposedly Owen – along and not the other way around?

  But then again, the End of the World was happening because of Valdemar and Libra. Why was Mom helping him if her sole goal was preventing it?

  Unless…unless she already knew back then what Owen would become. And knowing she wouldn’t be able to stop him from drowning in revenge, she’d decided that teaming up with him was the only way to - at least - “contain” him.

  And then she died.

  And with no one left to keep him in check, Owen lost his breaks. Now, he was driving the tram that was Solvane into its final destination: finality.

  Of course, it was just a theory. One that relied heavily on Owen being Valdemar – which, at this point, was far from being a fact.

  But I needed to find out.

  And to do that, I had to find him. Or at least find Mom’s other friend – Sam.

  The problem was that I didn’t even know their last names. They might’ve even changed their legal names completely and I wouldn’t know.

  But I had to start somewhere…and so, I chose their orphanage, hoping they kept past records.

  ***

  I took the trams to South Orlinth.

  On the way, I received an essay from an unknow sender. It was about something called the Aetherprint. It was a nice read to pass the time even though some of the things sounded like a stretch.

  At the end, the sender signed off with the letter V and left a question: Have you ever wondered what would happen if you fed your COG an Aetheris?

  It was an odd one, that’s for sure. I had no idea what Valdemar – I assumed – wanted from me. And after a long internal debate, I decided I didn’t want to test out his question.

  At least, not yet.

  I arrived at S-Plaza at 12:37.

  S-plaza was probably Orlinth’s most impressive square…in the distant past.

  It had once been a lively public hub – a massive open space that was always decorated for holidays, with a great fountain at its center and enough area to raise a full stage and hold performances for thousands of spectators.

  Now, the fountain had been dry for years. Its statues and stonework heavily vandalized by gangs and the terminally bored. The ground was stained, filthy, never cleaned, and cracked and shattered in many places.

  No one passed through here anymore unless they had to. And the only reason to come here was the building at its heart – the largest structure in Orlinth – the Census Archives.

  The Census Archives building was House Civics’ base of operations in Orlinth. It handled everything: documents, marriage statuses, ownership warrants, registration issues, and many more.

  It also stored blood samples from most of Solvane’s population – even Skyhaven citizens.

  The only exceptions were the oligarchs, their families and close friends, and…any Skyhavener wealthy enough to pay to have their sample stored closer to home – somewhere in Skyhaven.

  Being the civic backbone it was – and being in Orlinth – Libra constantly targeted the Census Archives.

  In a way, this was one of the main reasons the plaza had grown so deserted.

  But anyway, I wasn’t here for the Archives. I was here for Mom’s orphanage.

  A sudden thought struck me.

  I had to check something.

  I activated Afterimage.

  [There is no afterimage to run in this area]

  Phew…It was my first time here during the time loop. Good.

  Feeling calmer, I turned away from the plaza and went looking for that orphanage.

  ***

  After half an hour of searching, I managed to track down my parents’ old high school. From there, it was fairly easy to find the orphanage.

  The problem? It didn’t exist anymore.

  Even from a distance, I could tell the three-story building had been abandoned for years. The painted-over windows and scaffolded sides suggested it was undergoing renovations – just like the rest of this mostly vacant neighborhood, which now – according to the many plaques around – seemed to fall under Carol Lang’s Owls.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  But what really caught my attention wasn’t the building or anything about it.

  It was the girl pacing out front.

  She was maybe in her late teens, dressed too good for a place like this: a high-collared, corseted light-blue dress layered over a long-sleeved white shirt and leggings, knee-high boots with bronze clasps. But what’s stole the show was her unnaturally pale blonde hair, pinned up with a crystal pin. The black coat folded neatly over her arm did little to hide her gold COG underneath it.

  She looked like she belonged to Skyhaven. Which was probably the case…

  But seeing someone like her here wasn’t even the strangest part.

  She noticed me when I was about ten steps away, and froze, eyes locking on me.

  Her expression shifted rapidly – worry, then frustration, then a frown, then a full-on pout.

  “Took you long enough,” she said.

  I blinked.

  What…?

  Instinctively, I glanced over my shoulder, thinking maybe she was talking to someone else. But the closest person was at least two buildings away.

  “Don’t play dumb,” she said, her voice rising. “It’s not funny. I did what you asked. I even transferred the money already. Now tell me what you know!”

  I stared at her, completely lost.

  “I have no idea who you are…” I said, scratching the back of my head.

  Which…wasn’t entirely true. Déjà vu kept ringing in my head, reminding me that I did in fact know her. But, of course, I couldn’t remember.

  Still, the most logical place I could’ve met her in previous loops was the Divine.

  Was she an inventor?

  “It’s not funny,” she said again, voice cracking. Tears welled in her blue eyes, and she reached her free hand to wipe them away. “You said you’d tell me the truth.”

  Seeing her like this made something in my chest twist.

  I’d always been a sucker for crying people. Couldn’t stand seeing people cry. Especially cute girls.

  “Listen,” I said softly, trying to reason with her and clear the confusion. “It’s probably just some misunderstanding. You probably mistook me for someone else. I was just passing through here for my own reasons.”

  “B-but,” she stammered, “you match the description you gave me.”

  “What?” I asked, blinking.

  She navigated through her COG, then read aloud.

  “Black hair. A wolfcut.”

  I instinctively reached up and ran a hand through my hair.

  Well…yeah.

  “Tired eyes. Cheap Orlinth attire.”

  I glanced down at my clothes.

  Kinda stung…but fair, I guess.

  “And you said you’d meet me here!” she shouted, drawing the attention of a few passersby. “So it has to be you!”

  I slowly shook my head as the realization sank in.

  The other looper…He had set this up.

  I had to react fast – before she caused a scene. She was already attracting too much attention just by…well, being her.

  I raised my hands in a calming gesture, a plan already forming in my mind.

  “You probably won’t believe me, but I actually got called to this place by some unknown sender.”

  She blinked, taken aback. “W-what? No – y-you’re lying.”

  I quickly brought up my COG and showed her the screen. “See? Look at the sender of the last message I received.

  “This person’s had me running on a wild goose chase across all of Orlinth,” I added, spinning the lie with as much frustration as I could fake. “I started my morning on the west side of the platform, then Central-East. Now I’m down here.”

  Her confusion deepened. It seemed like she was starting to consider my lies to be possible. I pressed the opening.

  “What did he send you?” I asked. “What did he say you’d get from me?”

  “He…?” She frowned, puzzled. “How do you know it’s a he, if the sender’s unknown?”

  Oof. I was too hasty. Well, there was no backing down now.

  “I don’t know for sure. He just sounds like a guy,” I said quickly. “And besides, I’ve got a list of suspects for who it might be, and they’re all men.”

  Her eyes widened. “You know who it might be?” She stepped forward and grabbed my arm. “You have to tell me. Please!”

  “Wait – “ I gently pulled my arm back. “You first. Tell me what you know. How you got here, and what he told you.”

  She hesitated for a moment, then straightened her back and recovered her grace.

  “Fine. Is there a quiet place here we can talk?”

  A quiet place in Orlinth? Good luck with that.

  Still, this neighborhood looked quieter than most.

  I glanced at the orphanage’s door. It wasn’t locked with outer locks. It just had a faded sticky note across the seam that said the building now belonged to the Owls.

  I stepped closer, then glanced around, making sure no one was watching.

  I gave the door one shoulder bump. It creaked but didn’t open. Yet.

  “W-what are you doing?” she muttered. “That’s trespassing!”

  Ignoring her, I bumped into the door again, and this time it swung open, tearing the glued notice in half.

  I gave one more glance over my shoulder, making sure no one saw that. If anyone had, they seemed to hide it well.

  I stood at the entrance and gestured her in.

  “The quiet place you’ve been looking for,” I said. “After you.”

  She shook her head, eyes wide with fear. “Y-you should go in first.”

  Thinking she was just nervous, I nodded and stepped inside.

  Mistake #1.

  The door slammed behind me.

  Before I could turn, I felt her leg hook around mine and her palm shove between my shoulder blades. I stumbled, crashing face-first onto the dusty floor.

  She landed on me hard, pinning me down. In one swift motion, she twisted my right arm into a nasty lock, applying immense pressure and pain.

  “Tell me what you know! Now!”

  I misread her. Completely and totally misread her.

  She wasn’t some soft, delicate girl who was terrified from being too far from her Skyhaven home. No. She was nuts!

  “Get off me!” I shouted, squirming under her painful hold. But every time I tried to push her off, she torqued my arm harder, sending sharp bursts of pain through my shoulder.

  “What? You thought Casten didn’t teach me a few things? Thought you could just blackmail me?!”

  Casten?

  Déjà vu rang in my mind again. That was Prime security, right? Casten Vorrick? Valdemar mentioned his first name in the Memory Fragment.

  If she was close to Prime Security…then she was my enemy.

  “Okay, okay, okay – you win!” I gasped, feigning surrender. “I’ll tell you everything I know. Just release me!”

  I might have misread her, but one thing I was certain of – she was actually as agitated and erratic as she seemed. That was real. Whatever happened to her, whatever the second looper told her, she was barely holding it together.

  “Speak like this!” she snapped, not easing up. “You think I’m foolish enough to let a Libra scum like you a second to breathe?!”

  Once again being flagged as Libra…damn…

  At least this time I could use it in my favor.

  “You think you scare me more than Valdemar?” I growled through clenched teeth. “Either you release me and we have a proper talk, or you can kill me. Whatever punishment I get from Valdemar would be much worse than what you could do.”

  It worked.

  She hesitated.

  I could feel her grip loosen slightly.

  Then, wordlessly, she checked my body for weapons.

  Unlucky for her, I had none on me. Everything was stored in the Inventory.

  She stood up and stepped back, still glaring. “No funny ideas,” she warned, standing over me. “Or I’ll beat your ass again.”

  “Sure,” I muttered, rising to my feet and swinging my arm to get some feeling back.

  Then, as I turned, I summoned a handgun. It materialized just as my arm leveled toward her.

  That was when I detected Mistake #2.

  Her hands shot out in a blur, wrenching the weapon from my grip and turning it back on me without the slightest effort.

  Her eyes burned with fury and hatred.

  She was about to shoot.

  kind of forgotten about her or her backstory, I recommend rereading chapters 4, 10, and 11.