Chương 153: B3. 8.2 - An Unexpected Date

(I'm strengthening myself to help you,) swiftly explained the Core. (Only your best interests, I hold. I didn't tell you my plan to avoid awakening the invader.) Oh, I'm the invader now? I've been here since the beginning. Spooky Erind controlled my arm to continue slashing the filaments because I had stopped to listen to the Core. I got dragged by the gauntlet as it swooped to shave the longest tendrils. Don't let it establish contact! They'll know about us.

"They? Who are you talking about?" I glanced at the four balls of lights coming closer. Many remaining tendrils reached for them. If those were the Cores of the hero wannabes, then there should be five of them, right? Maybe someone was too far away to link with? Or this could be something else… Actual fucking Corebrings. You got that right. Get to work! My right hand slowed down. Spooky Erind might be having trouble controlling me. I willed my arm to slash at the tendrils, faster and faster.

I wasn't going to let my Core alert Corebrings to my presence, even if it were telling the truth that it could help me. Corebrings would kill my Adumbrae ass! Even if I wasn't an Adumbrae, the Corebrings wouldn't appreciate that I had an artificial Core. And that was an understatement. Were they in the city or somewhere further away? Hopefully, they didn't come to the city because my artificial Core called for them. Unexpectedly, all of the tendrils burst into sparks.

The lights slowly faded, returning the space in between the balls of light into darkness.

"What the…?" I had nothing to slash. The four Cores, or whatever the fuck they were, stopped coming closer. Their light gradually dimmed, and they grew smaller. Were they moving away? Even the light of my Core grew less bright. Turning around to see what was happening, I found that I could directly look at it now. It was shrinking, turning into some form. Were those arms and legs? It looked humanoid. This is your strategy? Such mimicry isn't flattering.

"You're… Me?" From a blindingly bright ball of light— not sure if that counted as a rhyme —the Core took on the shape of my body. It was like an ethereal Erind.

"You could've formed some clothes or something." My naked clone swam through the darkness with the grace of a mermaid. Her hair, filaments of light, eerily waved as if she were underwater. Her skin was gossamer blue silk, and her eyes were bright gold. Spooky Erind was spooky. This Erind was… glowing. Glowy Erind? (Perhaps this form will put you at ease,) said Glowy Erind. (I mean you no harm.)"If you didn't do that connecting shit, then I wouldn't be not at ease. What's the opposite? Uneasy.

Yeah, I won't be very uneasy if you didn't try connecting to other Cores." (I need to tap into their power to save you.) Glowy Erind reached out to touch me. (Together, we will recover your body from this invader.) My golden arm swatted away Glowy Erind's hand. Spooky Erind took control again. Don't third wheel here, she said. You're a temporary tool for our survival. (I'm your only chance of keeping your own self, my child. You know that.) You're choosing not to talk to me, huh?

(The intruder is using you as a tool. Your body changes as it's wrested from—)"You two are like the devil and angel on my shoulders," I said, getting supremely pissed. Was this what Deen experienced when her Guardian Angel constantly talked to her in dangerous situations? I had two talking voices!

"But both of you are the devil. Spooky Erind, I don't want my body getting taken over. Glowy Erind, I don't want to get splatted by the real Corebrings." (In time, you'll know that I care for you,) said Glowy Erind. Spooky Erind quickly chimed in, You're not fooling anyone with—"That's enough! Fucking annoying. I know that I won't get a straight answer from either of you. Just roundabout answers and hidden truths. I'll go back to sleep." I closed my nonexistent eyes and concentrated on tuning out any voices.

A dramatic walkout. A symbolic one, anyway, because these two were still in my head. Spooky Erind and Glowy Erind could fuck each other. None of them were on my side, and I didn't want to deal with their shit. I just wanted a full English breakfast. It was also a good feeling to be the one leaving the dreamland this time. I shouldn't let Spooky Erind dictate when a conversation was over. Silence. Darkness. I couldn't sense anything. Did they leave me alone? I peeked to check what was happening.

"Whoa!" I sat up in the darkness. This wasn't Glowy Erind's dimension. I was back in my room. It was morning. A tiny hint of the sun's light lined the bottom of the heavy curtains covering the window. I gauged it to be dawn. Same as the aftermath of first meeting Glowy Erind, my Core was searingly hot, like live coal. Hotter than the last time. I winced as it burned my skin and flesh around it. My shirt had a singed outline of my Core. Lucky that nothing caught on fire while I was asleep.

Steadying my breathing, I waited for my Core to cool. Regeneration patched up my burnt chest.

"That was not… a good dream…" As the Core's heat subsided, I noticed the uncomfortable coolness of the air-conditioning hitting my drenched clothes. Sweaty Erind. Even the bed cover underneath me was damp. I wasn't going to get a cold from this—Adumbrae regeneration for the win—but I also didn't like the sticky feel of drying sweat. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I hopped off the right side of my bed and stripped on the way to the bathroom.

A warm shower while I processed everything that had happened, and might as well get ready to go to my classes. Fortunately, I didn't forget my dream about the Core this time. Are there Corebring around? I wondered, facing up at the shower head with closed eyes. The stream of water massaged my face. What else could those other lights be? If they were the Cores of the hero wannabes, then those guys should've mentioned visions like mine, right? I'd ask Deen about this later.

It wouldn't be surprising for Corebrings to sneak into the country, bypassing the Washington Protocol. Not following treaties and agreements was a thing that the US did on the regular. Fair game for it to be done to us. There were too many concerning events in La Esperanza that the Hive would surely notice. Possible that Corebrings were sniffing around for trouble. Should I tell Dario about the Corebrings? His concern came true.

All of that secrecy around artificial Cores was for naught because I made everything worse. Not worse.

'More exciting' was a better way to put it. And I was proud of myself for the shenanigans I had cooked up. I was also proud to use the phrase 'for naught.' Sounds old-timey. Speaking of Dario, that asshole promised to give me more pills. He was supposed to hand them to Johann early today. Johann would pass them to Myra, and I'd meet Myra on campus. But… should I take those pills? They were supposed to strengthen my Core to counteract the bodily changes brought about by seeding.

However, the pills might also help my Core overcome Spooky Erind and succeed in linking with other Cores. I didn't quite get what Glowy Erind was doing. Was she calling for help from the Mother Core? Wouldn't the Corebrings just destroy all of us to stop humans from mimicking their powers? I buried my fingers in my hair and massaged my scalp. Too many things to think about. Every choice seemed to be a bad one.

"I'll just balance Spooky Erind and Glowy Erind…" I muttered, streams of water running over my lips. After heavy usage of my Adumbrae powers, I'd pop a pill. That was an okay compromise, wasn't it? Limiting the seeding's effects was my new goal. But I shouldn't favor my Core. My current state was alright, I guess. Mostly human-looking. The only real problem was my right hand. I'd press Dario for help. A fake skin glove or something? I turned around to let the water hit my back.

Blanking my brain, I enjoyed the peacefulness of the shower. After I was done, I stepped in front of the mirror above the sink.

"It has grown," I said, tracing the outline of the Core. Not only has it expanded, but the tendrils under my skin have become more pronounced, reaching out an inch or two from the Core's edge. Previously, the Core had trouble rooting in my body because of my superhuman durability and regeneration. I checked my right palm. No changes.

"Maybe I shouldn't take the pills. I'm not really sure—huh?" My phone was ringing. I wrapped myself in a towel and rushed out of the bathroom to find my phone. It was Deen. My eyes flicked to the top of my phone screen—the time was 6: 41 A. M. Why was she calling this early? Did her own Core act up?

"Hi, Deen," I said.

"Good morning and all that."

"Is that all you're going to say?" Deen asked.

"What? I don't—""Happy Valentine's Day!" Right. It was February 14. And Deen didn't have a vision of her Core, or that'd be the first thing she'd say.

"Uh, Happy Valentine's Day to you, too. Shouldn't that greeting be for couples?"

"We're a couple of best friends. Valentine's Day counts for all your loved ones. Don't forget to greet your mother."

"Yeah, I will. Um, thanks for the reminder." I thought of telling Deen to greet her own parents, but I wasn't feeling very bitchy this morning with all the stuff to think about.

"I'll be picking you up."

"What? Why?"

"I have chocolates I want to give you. Or would you rather that I give you these at law school? I promise I'll make a big show of it and draw attention to us." I groaned. The thought of everyone looking at us, maybe gossiping that we were more than best friends, was horrifying. As if being an Adumbrae wasn't hard enough.

"You drive a hard bargain. I'll wait for you." After Deen's call ended, I stared at my phone. Wasn't I a dutiful daughter? I texted Mom, 'Happy Valentine's Day', overcoming the mounting hesitation in my heart with a press of the 'Send' button. I followed it up with an, 'I love you.' I was grimacing as I typed the message. Lying was as natural as breathing air for me. I'd lie even if there was no gain other than my amusement. Actually, I'd do it just for the sake of it.

So, it was very weird why I couldn't just shower Mom with 'I love you' and the like. Should be no biggie. My theory was that I unconsciously cared for her more than I'd admit, and I didn't want to express it. A show of vulnerability that I'd rather avoid. In the middle of choosing my outfit of the day, the call that I dreaded the most came. I sighed before answering it.

"Hi, Mom. What is it? I'm preparing for school."

"I just wanted to hear your voice, dear. I'm also confirming that you're still you. Quite unexpected that you greeted me with a 'Happy Valentine's Day.' You haven't done that before."

"Deen told me to do it," I nonchalantly drawled.

"And I'm really me. Not like an Adumbrae had taken over my mind."

"Well, thank you for the greeting. I love you, too. How about we have lunch later? Bring Deen along. Unless she has a date. Do you have a date?" I rolled my eyes.

"No dates for us, Mom. We're law school girlies through and through. But we have something to—oh, cancel that. We're free to have lunch with you." Deen and I were supposed to have lunch with the hero wannabes and plan for tonight's mission. Absenting from today's meeting could lessen suspicion that either of us was a spy. Also… I wanted to spend time with Mom before she leaves the country. Was the Core affecting my personality? Would my old self agree to this? Probably. I was a dutiful daughter, after all.

The expensive chocolate I received from Deen lessened my grumpy mood caused by Spooky and Glowy. Unfortunately, Deen started to mope like a five-year old because I didn't have any chocolates to give her. I held back my explanation that a gift giver shouldn't expect one in return, instead inviting her to lunch with Mom, making it sound like it was my idea all along. Myra was waiting for us at Cresthorne Law with the pills. We told her that we were skipping the lunch meeting.

"Let's see if Dario will assign me to tell you about the details of the plan," Myra said.

"I think he's starting to suspect that I have a connection with Red Hood. He's asking a lot of questions about me, according to Johann."

"Maybe he's just a big fan of you," I said.

"Oh, here. Want some?" I took a piece of chocolate from the heart-shaped gold box that was Deen's present. Deen visibly jolted but didn't say anything. She glared at the chocolate that I gave to Myra so intensely that I wouldn't be surprised if she manifested laser vision. Myra was oblivious to Deen's seething.

"Taste's really good!" Myra said as she chewed.

"A Valentine's Day gift? Who gave it to you?"

"A secret admirer." The right side of my lips curled into a sly smile as I winked at Deen.

"Anyway, is… you-know-who ready for tonight?"

"She is," said Myra.

"It's going to be very dangerous, but she convinced me that we need to do this to fool Dario. Whether the plan will have an effect or not—" Myra lowered her voice "—Kelsey probably just wants to stretch her legs."

"Dario will likely split us up into at least two groups," said Deen.

"One as a lookout, which will include me. Another is to dig. You and Reo will definitely be part of the digging team."

"The ideal scenario is that Dario will be with your group," I said, nodding at Myra.

"He'll probably assign Everett to be with Deen and I. We'll figure out Pino's dramatic entrance."