Conspiracy

Subject: Mia | Classif.: Barzakh

Just because Lynn was correct didn’t mean she was right.

The car was indeed “noisier” than before. But to Tim, this was “music,” apparently. Mia shuddered, thinking about how she was forced to become the tiebreaker between the two adults earlier. Why ask her when they could ask the all-knowing building for its opinion?

But the moment has passed. Pris was now miles behind them. Sitting in her usual spot in the car, all Mia could do was look outside the window, imagining the facility’s diminishing size as they drove off. Was it odd to miss a building? Her house in Pitstop was her home for years; that was normal. But she only spent two days inside the talking building. And yet, deep down inside her, she felt a connection to the place, one that she couldn’t put into words.

“Dad, is ‘Pris’ short for Priscilla?”

“No, it’s short for Prison,” he answered.

She asked again. “But that’s not its real name, right?

“If I told you Pris’s real name, your ears would start to bleed.”

Aberrations are weird, she thought. Pris called dad by a different name, too. Ewantree. She had heard everyone called him different things, from “Mortimer” to “drunkard,” but that one was new. Or old, since they knew each other from long, long ago. Was that his real name? It sounded more like the name of some plant, which felt appropriate, since he liked gardening so much.

But just when the image of a tree popped up in her mind, it appeared before her very eyes. Not one, but an entire grove of them.

It was like she teleported. One moment, the car was on the ocean floor of the Holographic Sea, riding across the sand. In the next, they were in a dark, unlit wooded area. Unlike the forest outside of Pitstop, this place had a proper tarmac road. That much she could tell from the car’s bright headlights shining the way forward. But beyond the immediate conical edges of the beam, visibility was almost zero.

As the vehicle sped forward, the vague shapes of utility poles flashed past. Mia stuck her head out, looking closer at the power lines sagging on the top of the poles as her ashen hair fluttered in the wind, a streak of silver in the dark. Thanks to the scarf her Dad gave her, wrapped snuggly around her neck, the breeze brushing past her skin wasn’t too cold. The icy wind wasn’t harsh enough to stop her eyes from tracking where the power lines went.

There were no poles in the Holographic sea. Putting aside Pris, which she had no clue how it ended up there, there were no other signs of civilization where they came from. So what did the lines connect to?

She squinted. Face scrunched, eyelids trying to squeeze as much dim light into her vision as possible while shielding it from the blowing wind. And as she looked back, the lines simply stopped. One end held up by the closest pole, the other suspended by nothing. It was as if an invisible border sliced across reality, separating the sea from the woods. And they just went past it.

“Where does this lead?” Lynn’s voice pulled Mia back inside the car.

“Mount Harlow. Past that and we’re officially in The Mids,” Tim said.

“How far would that be from Spireforge?” Lynn asked once more.

“We’re not going to Spireforge.”

His answer seemed to have stunned the princess. Taken aback, she responded with disbelief laced in her breath.

“What do you mean, ‘We’re not going to Spireforge,’ that’s right under the kingdom! The culprit could escape to anywhere else in The Mids, but we know for a fact he had to pass through there first!”

“I know, but plan’s changed.”

“What, did that witch tell you to run an errand for her instead?”

“Kinda. We’re going to Anterey.”

“Are you serious? The Exiled Haven?! What is wrong with her?” Lynn’s shock was so palpable, it might even be able to recharge the car’s battery. “Vita and Oleous are dead. Now’s not the time for a vaca—”

“Oleous’s not dead. Technically.”

Lynn gasped. “What?!”

Mia hadn’t really thought much about where they were going, but she was starting to get invested in where this conversation was headed. If she could choose a snack to eat right now, it had to be popcorn. No need for drinks. This was already juicy enough.

“Don’t tell me the queen never told you?” Tim asked. But as Lynn frantically mumbled out an unintelligible answer mixed with an excuse, he continued. “Let me guess. You two started ganging up on her before she could explain anything.”

Mia felt her Dad’s gaze searing onto her skin while shame burned beneath it. She should have been more careful before jumping into a fight right away. She already learnt her lesson. Still, she didn’t like the judgmental look aimed at her. Her lips pouted as her eyes drooped, countering his side eye.

Her Dad folded immediately, diverting his attention back to the road, unable to maintain eye contact. This method always works, she thought to herself. Pride swelled in her chest, but she kept it hidden.

He sighed. “Alright, alright, I’ll play messenger and fill you in. Oleous’s dead. But before he bit the dust, he transferred his consciousness into one of his Steambots.”

“Wha—How?” Lynn swung her arms, almost hitting the window.

“How? You never met him before, haven’t you?”

She paused. Mia saw the dots connecting behind her eyes.

“Only his Steambots…”

“Figures. He’s already more machine than flesh, anyway. I’m more curious how our bad guy even found which cave he’s holed up in.” Adjusting the rearview mirror to have a better look at Lynn, he continued. “Our resident mad scientist set it up so that his thoughts and memories will be sent to one of his bots in case he dies. Don’t ask me why, but hey, at least we have our first witness.”

“But I fail to see the connection between that and Anterey…”

“The whole Council is gathering there.”

She fell silent. Her dropped jaw clamped shut as she bit on the nail of her thumb. She had the look of those mob bosses in Pitstop who just found out their plans had been foiled. Mia knew this princess wasn’t just concerned with catching the murderer.

Everyone, from the queen to her Dad, seemed to be using this investigation for their personal gain somehow. And this didn’t sit right with her. Cleaning out a bad guy was always straightforward. So why were all the adults trying to complicate things so much?

Lynn wondered aloud. “I understand why they'd choose not to meet on The Surface. With two of them dead up there, their immortality wouldn’t make a difference regardless. Still, if they’re choosing Anterey, then…”

Tim replied, “Makes our lives easier anyway, since we’re a lot closer to Anterey than Spireforge or the kingdom.”

“No.” The princess didn’t seem to be talking only to him, but also to herself. “Anterey is the only remaining tributary of the kingdom in The Mids. The Council meeting there isn’t just to review the progress of the investigation. With two members dead now, there’s a pretty strong case to consider all-out war against the rest of the Spire.”

“What?!” Mia and Tim blurted at the same time.

How did it come to that?! In her heart, Mia couldn't care less about the politics and scheming, but war? Why did the hunt for one bad guy potentially escalate into something that would involve so many innocent people? That didn’t make sense!

“Think about it,” Lynn continued. “Ever since you left, the kingdom has never launched another invasion. Without you or the king, no Immortal is going to risk their life to fight outside the kingdom just because the Council is scared. But the Exiled? Have you seen the crowds at the Grand Elevator, begging to return to The Surface every day? There would be more than enough soldiers willing to throw their lives away for a chance to regain their immortality.”

Mia couldn’t stay silent anymore. “But what about your crest? Why can’t the kingdom issue more to their own troops instead of dragging another country?”

Her Dad answered, “Noble Crests don’t work that way. The last time a king handed them out to his army, hoping to extend their immortality beyond The Surface, half of them just deserted.”

“Now they’re limited to one per Grand House.” Lynn was more than happy to chime in. Her ego only seemed to balloon as she continued bragging. “Only the most elite and loyal of the kingdom’s agents get to bear this crest.”

No wonder the queen could be killed, Mia thought. But she disagreed with the Immortal’s explanation, especially the “loyal” part.

Lynn added, “If the Council was willing to send Glacies of all people just to send a message to you, then they’re definitely desperate enough to consider war. Think, Mortis. You’re the only one in history who came closest to conquering the Spire. Do you honestly think they want to meet you just to have you share a measly status report?”

Mia felt awful looking at her Dad. He was hiding it pretty well, but she could tell whatever he was feeling inside was a lot worse than hers. If he wanted to have a smoke, she wouldn’t blame him. He really looked like he needed one.

“That’s not what the queen told me,” he said, defiance and denial deep in his voice.

Lynn shrugged. “This is why I don’t bother talking to her. Sure, even I don’t consider her to be the warmongering type, but I can’t say the same for the other Council members.” Her voice changed as she leaned forward. “Before they sent me, whispers of an invasion were already brewing within the palace. This murderer—no, assassin is the perfect excuse to start one.”

Tim replied, “This is ridiculous.”

“I can already see what they’ll propose to you. Either lead the army like before, or they’ll just use Exiled meat shields. Either way, they’re willing to hold an entire city-state hostage just to force you out of retirement. I can assure you of that.”

“B-But what if we caught the bad guy first?” Mia suggested. “Then everything could be avoided, right?!”

“If.” Lynn stressed. “And since Oleous’s Steambot is the only lead, we have to head to Anterey regardless. Snooping around in Spireforge would take too long.” She sighed. “They’ve set up the perfect trap.”

Tim’s finger tapped like a drumstick on the steering wheel. The number of wrinkles on his forehead seemed to almost double just from thinking. His eyes were on the road, but they hardly seemed focused. After a long pause of intense mulling, his face warped to a pained expression, as if he arrived at an unsavory conclusion.

“Then we’ll need to find that bot and get it to spill its testimony before the Council meeting.”

“How?” Lynn asked. “You said yourself the whole Council’s gathering there. You’d think they’ll let their bait go unsupervised?”

Tim answered with a heavy heart, as if it killed him to say his next words. “The only way out I could see is having Mia shapeshift her way in.”

Mia was stunned. Sure, she infiltrated countless gangs before to get them to turn on each other, but if each of the Council members had abilities as broken as Glacies, getting exposed meant certain death. She never hesitated in dealing with bad guys in her entire life. Until now.

Lynn blurted, “T-That might actually work. Risky, but that might be our best shot. It’ll be a race against time, but if we intercept the delegation before they reach Anterey, find out what we need from Oleous, then we can skip the meeting altogether and get to finding the—”

“No,” Tim said. “I need to be at the meeting. That’s the only way to drag out the war talk as long as possible.” Uncertainty and pain forced him to pause. “Sorry, Mia, but I—”

“I understand,” Mia answered. “You’ve never asked me to shapeshift in my entire life. So since this is the first, I’ll make sure you won’t regret it.”

Her voice was firm, but her heart was not. She had plenty of experience stopping gang wars. But a world war?

She had a feeling she wasn’t in Pitstop anymore.