Chapter 49—Earth

“Jesse Woke last night.” I grit my teeth and force the next words out. “When one of them planned to rape me, but it was too late.”

“What happened, exactly?” Kahn shifts on the edge of the bed, clearly uncomfortable. “If you don't mind telling me.”

Of course I mind, but to have a hope of escaping, I need him to believe me, and the best lies wrap around the truth. “Jesse attacked them, but one of the men hit him in the head. He must’ve pulled everything down in the same instant, because that's the last thing I remember.”

“That's all you remember? The two men we found under the rubble were some of Amun’s top agents.”

“Wait, two?”

Kahn glances at the camera. “We've never seen damage like we saw in that alley. Two full-grown men crushed by hundreds of pounds of concrete. Chunks ripped from the ground and tossed around like confetti. Dumpsters full of trash crumpled up a hundred feet away. We need to know what happened and who exactly was present.”

“How many bodies did you find?” I barely grind the next words out. “Not including my brother’s.”

Kahn's brow furrows. “Two.”

“Who were they?” I need to know.

“One man controls the elemental form of water—and he specializes in ice. His name is Phillip Sangrini. The other man turns into a bear. His name is Dmitri Volki.”

Ice powers and man-bears? It’s like a cartoon, a very bad cartoon. “We’ll have to come back to that—elemental form? A bear?” I pause and refocus. “What about Devlin Rochester? Or maybe you call him Declan Rosenbaum. I don't know what his real name is. He posed as our social worker.”

Kahn's eyebrows rise. “Devlin Rochester’s body was not found. He's the leader of the Telekinetic Branch of the Followers of Amun.”

Huh?

“Wait, was he present last night?”

I nod.

“His name is Devlin Rochester on Earth—I’ve never heard of him using the alias Declan Rosenbaum.”

He must save that for when he’s being a freaking creeper who follows and harasses little girls. I leap to my feet. “You didn't find his body?”

“We did not. He's a very powerful telekinetic, Alora, maybe the strongest on Earth, but if he did what we witnessed last night, his power is growing. I have no idea how or why, but it’s nothing good.”

I know Devlin’s power isn’t growing—I did what they’re worried he did. Jesse thought I was paranoid, and I tried to trust better and look where that got me. Instead of fighting it this time, I lean in. Let them think whatever they want about Devlin. I don’t owe them anything.

“We want to help you, Alora.” Kahn stands up, too. “You don't have to be alone anymore. I know we never should have put you in a cell, but we didn't know what had happened or how that damage occurred. Can I take you to a hotel? Or anywhere you think you’ll be safe? Tell me what you need.”

“I'm not sure I want help.”

“Devlin's still out there, and you're surely his top priority. You may not be Awake, but as you learned last night, they see that as a challenge.”

“If I didn’t Wake when they killed my brother, nothing will work.”

Kahn holds my gaze for a moment before sighing heavily. “I'm not the enemy, Alora. I think you'll eventually see that.”

Maybe.

“You seemed interested in the bear man and the water elemental.”

I am, but compared to getting out of here and figuring out how to try and save Jesse—it’s not my top priority.

Kahn sits down again. “One of the most valuable things I can offer you is knowledge.”

“I won’t stop you from sharing.” I fold my arms, rumpling the dumb nightgown they put me in.

“There have always been four main powers on Earth. All humans were born with one of them, in varying styles and strengths. The telekinetic branch included the macro power of Lifting and the micro power of Healing. Elementals control the elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. Renders and Reapers have the power to change into animals that are either prey or predator. Assimilators are very rare and a little confusing. They take strength from other living things and inspired the legends of vampires. Think of them as power vampires.”

In spite of myself, I’m avidly listening. It’s as if my whole life has been spent inside a lockbox. . .and he’s dangling the key.

“Each group had related subcategories, of course, and there were leaders of all the groups. Ra was an Assimilator. Power passes from woman to child, you see, which meant that Ra, as badly as he might want to—”

“He couldn’t pass his power along.” That’s why all the children born to women on Terra. . .are born in Terra. “All those little telekinetic children are born in prison.”

Kahn nods. “Yes.” He clears his throat. “And it was all thanks to the women that Ra was defeated and the powers were locked away. Under Isis’s direction, the women came to a consensus: the power imbalance was a problem. They sacrificed their powers to create a prison for everyone else. They named the prison T.E.R.R.A. Telekinetics, Elementals, Renders and Reapers, and Assimilators.”

“Thousands of years ago, they named it Terra? They didn’t even have English.”

Kahn laughs. “You’re supposed to be an orphan—no formal schooling.”

“You shouldn’t conflate uneducated with dumb.”

“Fair point,” Kahn says. “They had a different name—many names in fact. But we came up with the English name based on the names we arrived upon for the component parts.”

“But on Terra, they say Terra.”

“Do they?” Kahn lifts his eyebrows, and I realize he’s right. On Terra, they speak Terran. My brain simply translates it into English, the way I translate everything.

I need a nap. My brain hurts. “So it’s a mirror of Earth.” I tap my lip. “But there are only Telekinetics. What about the rest, the other three categories?”

“They’re imprisoned too, but they were segregated. Think of them like cells. The Terra you know imprisons Telekinetics. For someone with the ability to shift into an animal form, their prison world is full of animal shifters.”

“But if you die on Earth?”

“You die on Terra, but that takes time for some reason. Something about an energy lag or a soul residue—we aren’t sure. No records about that really make sense. There’s a couple day lag. They have a name for it, but I can’t remember what.”

The Wasting. “And if you die on Terra?”

He scratches his chin. “You die on Earth, too, only much quicker. A few minutes later, as I understand it. Massive heart attack, usually.”

I think of Robert, whom I almost certainly did kill. I shudder.

“It’s unfortunate—like we all need more ways to die, right?” He shakes his head. “The creation of the prison cost the women their powers, eliminating all their abilities in either place. In exchange for their sacrifice, the women can see into the prison worlds and make sense of what happens there, no matter what native tongue they speak on Earth. They're Terra’s keepers, sort of. Some of the men were very angry, and they quickly found a. . . loophole.”

“The Followers of Amun,” I say.

He nods. “They were furious at the defeat of their leader and the loss of their powers. In their brutality, in attempting to exact their revenge, they discovered that powers can be unleashed here on Earth, with much smaller capacity, and only after a huge trauma. They began to Wake everyone they could. The attacks were. . .brutal.”

“The Followers of Isis worked to stop them.”

“And the attacks only firmed the resolve of Isis to oppose them. Amun still wants to destroy Terra and bring their powers back to Earth fully.”

“They think the Warden can accomplish it. They think I can destroy Terra.”

“I don't know whether you can, but they believe it, yes. They also believe you can resurrect Amun-Ra somehow.”

“Excuse me?”

“The prophecies about the destruction of Terra almost always reference his return.”

A terrifying sense of unease slides down my spine.

“I’m sure it’s not possible,” Kahn says. “But Amun has justified their brutality in Waking members for millennia because it was the only way for them to maintain their power and influence. They think you can bring an end to all of the suffering and augment their power at the same time. That makes you a high priority.”

“What if I run?”

He shrugs. “We won't stop you. Isis believes in agency, the power to make choices for yourself, but I should warn you. If you Wake.” He swallows. “We can’t risk you tearing down the prison walls. Or bringing back some psychotic God-man.”

So much for Kahn’s alleged misunderstanding. Ignoring the pen he flung at my head may have been the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Because.

“If I Wake Up, you’ll kill me.”