Unity and Destiny Pt. 03

She knew she was distracting herself from Benjamin again, pushing down those horrible feelings the way she'd done after her father's death. Esther didn't care. Heedlessly she plunged her senses forward, trying to touch Javier, her rock, the person who would always be there for her, no matter whether she deserved it. And she found him, sleeping curled naked against Nicola, one hand protectively on her breast, his lips against her shoulder.

Well, of course they would have. Hadn't Esther been pushing for something like that? She really shouldn't care about it, just because she'd wanted to be the one holding Nicola so intimately. Was she growing a petty, jealous streak now, to add to everything else? She shuddered, needing an escape from herself, and so she Looked into otherspace, her vision already focused far ahead on the sleeping couple.

They were beautiful. Bundles of glowing geometry, connections wrapping everywhere between them in the way of humans so physically entwined. And connections trailed from both of them back towards Esther's body, which she knew would be a similar glowing bundle nestled among the others in the truck.

She knew it, but she hadn't looked back. When she centered on herself in otherspace, she could see parts of herself, but never the whole. And she'd never looked back from afar, not once. What was she afraid to see?

Reverse her senses onto herself. See her body from the outside in. With an immense struggle, she forced herself to turn her vision.

She was there, just as she knew. One human bundle amid the other four in the truck, and the abstractions of everything around them. Alike, and utterly unlike the others.

Esther glowed like the sun, the intensity making it difficult to look. Loops of connections formed bright between her and everyone else. Everything else. Solid tendrils and gossamer strands, extending through trees and rocks and dirt and skin and air, beyond her furthest vision. They swirled and crackled and she suddenly realized they even wrapped around the edges of this ancient place's own strange geometry. She still couldn't understand it, but she saw the way the geometry drew her own attention, the way it was beginning to tug at Mark's senses as well. And from this perspective it was possible to fold back or nudge a few of those tendrils. Enough of them, she hoped.

With a sudden sense of vertigo she let herself snap back into her own body, and she opened her eyes.

The truck had stopped moving, and the others were watching her nervously.

"I've done it," Esther said with wonder. "I've shaken off this place. I think I can weaken its effects on Mark and Selena as well. I hope it's enough that they can at least stay focused when we get closer."

Mark smiled. "I know it will be enough. I knew you could do it, Esther. You can do anything."

Esther felt a horrible pang at his confidence, but there wasn't time for that. She realized they'd already reached the end of the road, and now Mark and Selena hopped out to put together their packs. Grace and Kat took their spots in the front of the truck, and Kat turned on Raj's homebuilt two-way radio. She did a quick Morse code test with Raj, who by now should be parked far away along the compound's entrance road. The speaker soon buzzed with a glitching reply.

"Encrypted and overpowered," Kat said. "Who knew Raj was secretly a pirate? We'll be here to coordinate if you split up, so Esther doesn't have to do that along everything else. Don't have all the fun without us."

Selena, Mark, and Esther took their handsets, tested them one more time, and said goodbye to the pair. The three of them would have to run slowly, for Esther's sake. She needed to be able to hide all of them, particularly from the invisible woman. But as Esther moved through the woods, she felt better than she had for days. They were moving, and every step took her closer to Javier and Nicola.

* * *

Nicola open her eyes and frowned. She looked grumpy. Surely that was a good sign.

"Javier," she mumbled.

"José," he quickly whispered.

She looked confused for a moment, but she nodded. "It's a good name. This is a different place, isn't it? Who knows what kind of people we could be. We could be good people here, José."

She wasn't back. This was still zombie Nicola, and they were nearly out of time. She would say something that would make the elders suspicious, or maybe she'd just reveal it to all of them in Unity. He still wasn't sure how that worked exactly. As they ate breakfast he wondered how much Esther and Mark understood about this creepy place.

Eventually Nicola dressed in her blue robe and waited for someone to retrieve her.

"You sure you can't spend more time with me today?" he asked.

"Soon, I'm sure," she said. "Most people don't go to services all day like this. There's stuff to get done, after all. And I bet they'll let you come to devotions too. They're so beautiful. Unity is only a piece of it."

The knock came soon enough, and the two women arrived. To his consternation, Eva stayed when Nicola left with the other one. The bolt sliding shut sounded louder than usual.

"Hey Eva," he said. "Are we going to go out together today?"

"Oh, Louise said I could keep you company this morning while you're stuck in here. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah," said Javier. "It's pretty dull being here by myself, no matter how good company I think I am."

Great, Javier thought, as Eva laughed far too loudly at his joke. Was this some kind of weird test? And if so, what would be the right way to pass? Did they want to test his commitment to Nicola, or his open-mindedness instead? He wished Esther would get on with things, but who knew how long it would take her to get close. They had to be careful.

"What was it like out there?" Eva asked. "Was it really as violent and unharmonious as we're told?"

"I'm starting to think so," said Javier. "But it was all I knew. It's taking time to get used to it here."

"I can imagine," Eva said, smiling in sympathy. "You know, I bet you'll find a lot of things look different here. Even the women."

"Mmm," Javier said, not sure what the right response was. "You all looked pretty good to me out in the water. But I guess I haven't seen many women that way."

"Yeah," said Eva. "You know there are only four guys of age here who aren't practically Bound already? I mean, aside from the really old ones."

Javier hated to think what Eva considered really old.

"Even Eddie thought I was a little young. But at least he was willing to do it with me. I know how it works, Javier."

She stood up and unceremoniously took off her robe. Javier had been expecting it, but it was still hard not to lose his cool. And now she was looking at him as though he was obviously overdressed.

"You're beautiful, Eva," he said truthfully. No, he was sure, now. The right thing to do from every angle was to try to refuse her kindly.

She sighed and sat cross-legged on the bed next to him, leaning against his shoulder.

"I thought you were the most handsome man I'd ever seen, right from the start," she said. Javier smiled nervously.

They'd encouraged her, he suspected. To see how he'd react, or maybe what he'd reveal without meaning to. Someone was watching, because unless this girl was much stronger than she seemed, he could hurt her, and they couldn't possibly trust him this much yet. Not Diana, anyway. And of course Eva had no idea she was being used this way. It made him angry. There were a hundred ways he could hurt her without even wanting to.

"Eva," he said slowly. "I'm getting an idea that sex is really no big deal here, at least before you get Bound. The thing is, it's a lot more complicated outside. And I've only been here a couple days. It's going to take a lot longer to get my head around how everything works here."

Her face was starting to fall as she realized what he was telling her.

"I like you, Eva, and I'm positive sex with you would be amazing. But that's not enough for me, not with how I grew up. And the truth is Nicola and I are very close to being Bound ourselves. Maybe that will change, but I don't think it will."

Eva seemed to be struggling not to cry.

"Damn," she said. "Damn, of course Maura was right. Just like always. And now we're stuck here together, and I feel like exactly the idiot everyone's always saying I am."

"You seem pretty smart to me," said Javier. "Why don't you tell me about school? Or what you like most about things here, or, hell. The latest gossip. I don't know anybody here, so you're my inside woman. Give me the scoop. And I'll answer whatever you like about the dingy, depressing world out there."

Ten minutes of inane chatter later, he finally got word from Esther. It took a lot of concentration to keep track while Eva gossiped, and he missed an occasional letter. Luckily Eva seemed to be have an endless store of social drama despite the tiny community, and she seemed content with his monosyllabic encouragements.

<< We're in the woods now, close as I could get to the lodge. Selena, Mark, and me. Grace and Kat in the truck miles away across the lake. Doubt we can get Mark and Selena out that way, so Raj waiting to come down main road. But I am safe from this place. See you perfectly from here. Fingertips fine for response. >>

Javier could only imagine what she thought Eva was doing sitting naked with him. But he hid his right fingers under his other hand and replied to Esther. The whole group was here. They'd get him out, and Nicola too.

* * *

Esther shook her head. "There are a lot more armed guards than I'd realized. Spread all around the lake, not just at the gate. Mostly in pairs. Mark, I don't think you could take them all out without someone noticing. They're probably looking out for you."

"I could try," he said. "Carefully, even in pairs. If you helped my stealth, I might be able to do it."

"Some of them seem pretty strong," said Esther. "And there's the sheer distances you'd have to cover. Many miles. Plus I still can't find the invisible woman. I know she's not really close, and I'm sure she doesn't sense us either. But it makes me nervous."

"Ask Javier about her," said Selena, and Esther nodded.

After a few seconds he began his response. He was slow and making a lot of mistakes, but it was obvious why. Esther wondered who the naked girl was, and what exactly was going on, but Javier didn't seem particularly interested in her. Esther translated aloud as he went, letting the women in the truck listen as well.

<< Her name is Diana >>, said Javier. << Scariest one here. Nicola said she was often away on missions, but I bet she is still here somewhere. Esther, she can call to people with her mind, like you. From close by at least. >>

"Better and better," grumbled Selena.

Nicola was with a group in the large front room of the lodge. Sitting close, singing softly together. Devotions. Esther was being very cautious about probing that group until she knew everything Javier did about how Unity worked, and he kept getting distracted in the telling. But finally the door opened, and the red-faced young woman put her robe back on and left. After that Javier began to tell things as quickly as he could.

"That's a weirdly specific apocalypse scenario," said Grace. "The San Francisco part, anyway. Do you really believe they could be predicting the future? Not just creating a story among themselves?"

Esther had actually wondered that. But she couldn't get past Benjamin's tale, and the prediction that led to her entire childhood. Benjamin had believed it, certainly. But could he have been deluded himself? No, she'd felt a frozen version of those canyon visions in Abuela's sculpture. The visions were real, and the timing matched.

"I don't know," Esther said. "I think we have to take it seriously. But given all we've heard, this group doesn't seem as terrible as we suspected. They're only trying to save themselves from what they think's coming. They picked this place to be a fortress in their desperation, and now they're trying to get as many allies as they can."

"By brainwashing," Selena said. "It doesn't matter how happy they seem from the limited view Javier's gotten. They've all had their minds monkeyed with, most from the moment they were born. This place shouldn't exist, Esther."

"I know," she said. "But it does. So what are we going to do? Burn it all down, the way Nicola said in her delirium? What does that accomplish? If we ripped anyone else out of there, would they appreciate it? Do we just end up with more broken people like Benjamin?"

"We can't fix everything," said Mark unexpectedly. "You told me that, once. We get Nicola and Javier and try not to hurt too many people."

"I'm with Mark," said Kat. "Let's start figuring this out for real."

* * *

Javier sat at lunch, trying to keep up an amiable conversation with Henry. The older man had guided Javier over to sit with Eva, which certainly ruled him out as the one assigned to eavesdrop on them earlier. Henry wasn't mean-spirited.

Eva blushed horribly, but a single smile from Javier was enough to make her beam. Well, their romance would be over soon enough. He hoped he didn't seem half as agitated as he felt.

The escape would be that afternoon. Nicola had said they did the skinny-dipping every day, and aside from the middle of the night, it was the best opportunity: children safely separated with their teachers, and the bulk of the adults distracted and cold. And he couldn't imagine even this group would be quite as excited to fight while naked. Unfortunately the people on guard duty seemed to dress appropriately enough, but Mark was supposed to take care of them.

He had to get invited to the skinny-dipping, because he was supposed to make a vital distraction. He didn't fully understand the plan after that, but apparently Esther had a crazy outfit and was working on a power display that was going to help convince the group to let him and Nicola go. He wasn't sure it made sense, but Mark was going to be subduing guards before this, so their backup plan was to grab Nicola and run as far as they could, hoping Raj could meet them soon enough.

That afternoon he played soccer with the kids again. Mateo was guarding him this time, and he looked pissed off at the assignment, but apparently he still had his orders to play nice. Esther gave him a few more details of what they hoped to do. She said she'd tried to help Nicola a bit, but she wasn't sure if it had done any good, and she was too nervous to try anything else. The last thing they needed was for Nicola to inform the elders Esther was there.

He was apparently cleared for skinny-dipping, and this time he and Mateo were waiting for the others when they came outside. To his annoyance Mateo clung nearby even as he tried to stay near Nicola. Well, he supposed he might switch to plan B. Plan A had been an all-out naked sprint around the water's edge. He was pretty sure he could make a good chase of it. Plan B was picking a fight, which was looking better all the time. There were rocks scattered on the beach, and he mentally selected one that should fit his hand well.

The robed group gathered on the beach while the old man worked his way towards the front. But Nicola was suddenly in motion. He turned just in time to see her toss aside her robe early and make a sprint into the water.

What was she doing? Did Esther know?

<< Wait. >> Apparently Esther did have an idea.

Nicola dived under the water, coming up with a mesmerizing grace and turning naked to face the rest of them. There were murmurs among the group, but no one went after her. Where could she go?

She was dripping wet, standing in water just above her knees. The sun reflected off of her, as if to accentuate how Blessed she was, and there was a strange expression on her face. Not zombie Nicola. Something more familiar, but transformed in this stunning moment.

Nicola opened her mouth and began to sing.

He'd heard her private voice, and a few times he'd heard her hum one of her weird melodies. He had no true idea what power she had. The Chosen stared as one, transfixed by her appearance and the unearthly sounds coming from her. She raised her arms high and the tones of her voice split further, part of it climbing above his hearing. There was a strange shimmering to the sunlight reflecting from her skin, and then he realized: she was doing something to the water.

Droplets hung in the air, and then a mist began to form, wreathing her faintly and refracting the light. A dim rainbow halo appeared, and there were gasps. The water around her knees shimmered and danced. And then she let her voice fade, until she stood silent, swaying with fatigue.

There was a muffled shout behind him, and everyone turned.

Selena had appeared, next to a terrifying figure in black that must be Esther. Mark was jogging down to join them, and under one arm he was carrying a struggling Henry as though the large man was a sack of potatoes. In his other arm was a bag, and when he neared Esther he upended it. A dozen broken, twisted guns fell out. There were murmurs and shufflings, but no one moved towards him.

Suddenly Javier realized he did have a role to play. Part of the prayer the man had sung yesterday sprang into his head. He didn't try to sing, but he managed to keep his voice steady.

"A singer's breath,

A child's laugh,

These are the ways of harmony.

A path discerned,

A peace renewed,

These are the ways of Unity."

Margaret was the one to break the silence. Javier was impressed with her nerve.

"Who are you? Why have you broken into our home?"

Nicola was shivering and wading out of the water, but just then something caught Javier's eye, and many of the others were already murmuring. Rapidly approaching along the beach was a dizzying form: Diana, running at a speed Javier couldn't even recall Mark matching. And then the owl-headed figure raised its black hand.

Diana simply stopped, her boots carving out furrows in the sand. She'd been reaching for a rifle on her back, and now she grimaced, staring at Esther's strange figure in horrified bewilderment. But she was frozen, and the entire group saw it.

Mark jogged easily down the beach towards Diana, still carrying the protesting Henry, and took the rifle from her, carefully crushing its mechanism with his free hand. He set Henry down almost apologetically and sprinted back towards Esther, who lowered her hand. Javier could see how much Mark wanted to move to Nicola's side, but Nicola seemed not to have noticed him. She'd stopped a few feet from Javier, staring at the ground.

Diana began walking briskly towards the larger group, with Henry following. Javier hoped Esther knew what she was doing, because Diana looked furious. And now Selena finally spoke.

"The Way does not belong to any of us," she intoned, and this time Esther raised both hands. In quick succession, the Chosen went still, eyes closing. Including Nicola's.

* * *

It was easier than Esther expected. As she thought, Unity was similar to her sense sharing with Nicola, and all of these people were practiced at it. Moreover, they craved it. They couldn't resist Esther's power, and once she'd gathered enough of them to her, the rest followed on their own.

The more difficult task was to resist their combined power. Esther was prepared, but the chorus of believers had a frightful combined strength, and Nicola was swimming in stride with them. Esther forged further into otherspace, desperately holding herself slightly apart from the brilliant mass of connections among the Chosen. Even Benjamin's rituals couldn't compare to the mesmerizing power of Unity. She felt Mark and Selena being drawn in from the edges, and she hurriedly brushed aside the tendrils questing in their direction, trying to push the two of them away. She relaxed when the pair began to distance themselves from the large group. If only it were so easy with Nicola. Javier had her hand, and he was trying to separate her from the group. But she resisted him at each step, holding firm to Unity.