Tempest Reborn (Jane True) - By Nicole Peeler Page 0,15

gifts.

‘Is there anything in your history?’ I prompted. ‘Or your legends, that we could apply?’

Caleb shook his head. ‘I can’t think of anything. In terms of the Red and the White themselves, we’ve only ever attacked physically. And I can’t think of any other tales of souls, or spirits. We don’t even believe in ghosts, as humans do…’

My dad and Tracy glanced at each other when Caleb said the word ‘ghosts’. But they didn’t speak up, although they probably thought all of this talk was crazy. I turned to our big gun.

Creature?

[I’m listening, Jane. You want to ask your tall friend. The human.]

I looked at Grizzie. She still looked curiously blank, and she was rocking back and forth. Tracy had noticed, and was watching her partner with worried eyes.

‘Grizzie,’ I said, ‘you all right over there?’

Grizzie was obviously not all right, for Grizzie began to glow. It was just a faint, soft luminescence, but it was definitely not normal.

Instantly, we supes snapped into action. First Caleb was there, dragging Tracy to safety. Iris pulled my dad back, to join Tracy, and Daoud joined his shield with Caleb’s to keep the two nonmagicals safe behind their defenses.

Meanwhile, Ryu, Nell, and I fanned out in front of Grizzie. Ryu and Nell had mage balls ready, but I refused to pull a weapon on my friend. Yet.

‘Grizzie,’ I said. ‘What’s going on? Can you hear me?’

‘She can hear you, child, and she is safe. Do not fear.’

The voice that spoke from Grizzie’s mouth wasn’t hers. Instead of the usual husky, dark tones I was used to, this voice was resonant. It carried power, and although it wasn’t that loud, it felt as if it were booming.

‘And who are you exactly?’ I asked.

Grizzie’s form laughed, a rich chuckle that sent shivers up my spine.

‘I am all, my child. I am everything.’

We all stared. ‘That’s not very helpful,’ I said, frantically calling the creature’s Bat Phone.

[Hush,] was all I got in reply. [And listen.]

‘What have you done with my wife?’ Tracy yelled, struggling where Caleb held her in a tight grip.

‘I have done nothing to this vessel,’ Grizzie intoned, casting those eerily blank eyes on Tracy. ‘Your children will have its mother, have no fear. Both of its mothers.

‘I needed a mouthpiece, and this one was perfect. So open, so free, and so fluid in her identity.’

Were we about to have a lecture on Judith Butler? ‘Look, can you hurry it up?’ I said, losing patience. ‘Who are you and what do you want?’

The creature tsked in my brain, but I didn’t care. But neither was I ready for the response when it came.

‘I represent the universe,’ the voice said, the glow encompassing Grizzie pulsing faintly.

‘The whaaa?’ I asked, completely nonplussed.

‘You humans are so small,’ it marveled, causing me to stand at my full (not at all impressive) height. ‘Do you have any idea what surrounds you?’

‘Apparently not,’ Ryu said, doing his ‘humble supplicant’ voice. He was good at these kinds of games, while I wasn’t.

‘You are part of something greater. You must know this after everything you’ve seen.’

I made a face. This was getting far too religious for me.

‘What do you mean, something greater?’ Ryu said so I didn’t have to. The Friend Formerly Known as Grizzie ignored him.

‘Forces must be balanced. There may not be good or evil as you know it, but there is power. And power must be aligned, or all will fall.’

I made a face. ‘What power?’

Grizzie’s blank eyes stared directly into mine, and my whole consciousness swam. ‘Power, child. Power. The power that propels the world!’

That last bit ended in a boom, and Grizzie’s glowing form shone even brighter.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘And?’

‘You must restore the balance.’

What the fuck is going on? This is like being lectured by the Sphinx, I said to the creature. It sent a warm wash of thought through my brain, as if to comfort me, but I wouldn’t accept it. Tell me what’s happening, I demanded.

[I am exactly what I say,] came a voice in my head. But it wasn’t the creature’s, it was the same voice pouring out of Grizzie. My heart beat faster in my chest, but I tried not to panic.

But what is that? I asked silently.

[I told you: I am the universe!] With that, it took control of my vision.

I saw the birth of the worlds, the coming together of powers that exploded, rocketing outward. I saw the creation of first light and then matter – gases becoming solid, solids glomming