"Okay, you''re ready?"


    I didn''t really need to ask; Katrin was practically vibrating. Errod, meanwhile, had decided to skip the visit to my mind palace - he said it was because of the Granch, but I was sure it was something else. Maybe I should have been suspicious, or concerned, or... something. But really I just didn''t care. I took Katrin''s hand, and we stepped into the bedroom.


    She immediately started poking at everything, examining not only the various trinkets I''d taken from memories to decorate the place but the - rather plain - architecture. I mean, it was just a room. But no, she was checking the baseboards and the window and the doors... all of it appeared to be fascinating to her. "And this is typical for a bedroom on Earth? What is this thing? What''s it made of?"


    "Uh, yes. That''s a Rubik''s Cube, it''s a puzzle and it''s made of plastic."


    This went on for a while, with her trying the bed (which she very much approved of) and finding the creepy statue in the closet (which she seemed bothered by). She played with the television for a bit even though it would only show static - it was the old boxy kind from before the screen just went blue, with actual dials on it - and spent twenty minutes staring out the window at the slightly indistinct residential street. Finally she was ready to explore the other rooms, but when she opened a door she was tackled by the weird anime-looking me that was seemingly carved from amber.


    "Oh, right. Her. She''s harmless, I think she''s just really excited to see you." She was also naked and a big fan of hugs, which was a bit awkward, but I was able to pry her loose and shoo her away. I''d decided that everyone who had shown up in football jerseys were the oydirme that Professor Yanipliss had told me about - basically spirits that played the part of figments in dreams sometimes. They had presumably been right up against the barrier of my domain here in Ematse, and when I''d tried to invite people in they''d tumbled through. It was the best theory I had, anyway, and it meant I could maybe assign one of them a role and have an assistant.


    "Okay, you want to see Earth. What memory could I... oh! Duh! Come over here, let me just center the memory in my head. I was eleven - Earth years, I don''t know what that would be off the top of my head here. Almost ten? I think? Anyway I ran away and got on a train."


    "A merchant train?" Katrin asked.


    "A... wait. What do you think a train is?"


    "A long string of wagons?"


    "Okay, no. It''s... well, kind of, but they''re hooked together and they run on a track, it''s... I''ll show you later." I tried to get the memory back to the forefront of my mind. "Things had been a little better at home, but I could tell my mom was headed for another... episode... and so I wanted to get out of there." I guided her out into the Long Haul Hotel but kept talking so she couldn''t pepper me with a million questions. "My goal in the short term was to make it up to this place I''d seen in movies a bunch of times, and in the long term I thought maybe I''d stay there forever and never go home. Turned out to be a real pain in the ass, you had to buy tickets and take multiple elevators and... you don''t know what I''m talking about. Anyway. I just snuck past people by acting like I was with someone further ahead and eventually I made it."


    I took a deep breath and opened the door, and we both stepped out onto the observation deck of the Empire State building.


    Katrin looked around curiously before walking to the metal bars and seeing New York City stretching away from her. The smile disappeared from her face. Clinging to the bars so tightly her knuckles were white, she went hand over hand to the corner so she could look in another direction. Her face was blank, but slowly a tinge of panic crept in. Finally she stumbled back, shaking her head, and just as I thought she was going to say something she saw an airplane flying by - I wasn''t actually sure if that was a part of the city planes could fly that close to, but like all my memories of Earth it wasn''t totally accurate. The airplane seemed to be the final straw, and she bolted through the door back into the hallway where she collapsed to the floor.


    "Sorry. Sorry, that was just... it was..." She took a deep breath, and tucked away some hair that had gone wild. "I knew you were from another world, I believed you, but that was... we were so high up! How high were we?"


    "Uh, rounding to something that''s a multiple of six for you, hang on. I don''t know exactly, call it twelve hundred feet? Is that a round number? No. Twelve hundred... ninety-six? Oh, also your feet aren''t the same as my feet so... fuck it, it''s like a hundred stories up."


    Katrin was almost hyperventilating. "That''s impossible. Even with alchemical metals, or magic, that would... and it just keeps going! I could see city all the way out to... oh, gods. How does that even work? Where are the city walls? And everything was... I don''t know, just all that glass and the lights and... it was too much."


    "Shit, Katrin. You''ve been so unflappable about this whole thing, I just never thought you''d have trouble with it. I figured I''d show you something really impressive, and... anyway, sorry I guess."


    She shook her head, and took a another breath. "No, it''s stupid. I feel silly now, I think... maybe I don''t like being high up, and it was just a lot to deal with all at once. I... I can go back. I think."


    I took her instead to a similar but less dizzying view, the top of South Mountain in Phoenix. It was still an endless expanse of city the likes of which Katrin could never have imagined, but we were standing on natural dirt and stone - and since it was Phoenix the buildings were mostly one or two stories. We sat there for a while, just chatting, and then she needed a break and we hopped back out to the real world. Despite the panic attack I considered the whole thing a success.


    Another day dawned without Hammersmith showing up, but I''d finally heard from Hugh in the form of a note. He wanted to meet, and had left a time and an address - it was within my permitted zone, so he probably knew about my restrictions. I headed over first thing, going the long way across the university grounds at a stroll - I expected to be waiting around for at least half an hour at my destination - but as I approached I saw Hugh already there. The address I''d been given turned out to just be a random street, and Hugh gestured to me to follow as he went into what appeared to be a vacant building.


    As soon as the door closed behind us, he was all smiles. "Calliope! I''m sorry I wasn''t able to see you sooner. You are all healed up, yes?"


    "Yeah, good as new. Thanks, for... well, for almost getting killed fighting the Behemoth. Or, Henden? Was that what you said his name was?"


    Hugh sighed, and nodded. "Yes. I was friends with his brother - Halenvar and Erathik share a border, and we were not always at war. But no need to thank me for fighting, I should be thanking you for giving me the opportunity to pummel him a bit."


    I sat down on one of the two chairs, and glanced around. It was a sort of office, though the bare interior confirmed it wasn''t in use. "So... why did you want to meet here? We could have gotten lunch somewhere." I had started to imagine the worst, Hugh being a pod person luring me into a trap or something.


    "Privacy. This room is warded, yes? It was obvious you had been interrogated, and there are some things we need to discuss."


    "Oh. Yeah. No, nothing too bad there. I blurted out the thing about the wild mage helping us, so we can''t use that again. But assuming Hammersmith - "


    "Lord Protector Hammersmith."


    "Assuming she hasn''t really discovered a secret new portal into Brinkmar we''re good. I made up stuff, convinced him I''m just one of several fakes and the real me doesn''t even look like this anymore."


    Hugh nodded. "Very impressive, to hold up against interrogation so well. But they have identified a body that was there in the basement with you, and they say he should have been able to view your memories - apparently he worked for the government here, doing not only that but assisting at trials and disputes by ensuring those who give testimony can only speak the truth. Interesting, yes?"


    "Yeah, he seemed pretty reluctant though, and when he saw they''d been torturing me he refused to do it so they killed him. It was..." I trailed off, trying to look traumatized and immediately realizing that I was, actually, feeling pretty fucking traumatized by the whole thing. In fact I could feel myself getting all worked up.


    "Terrible, I am sure. But only moments after you were rescued you were checked for lingering curses or enchantments and you had, in fact, been recently touched with thought magic."


    Could they do that? Was that a thing? But I couldn''t call him out on it, because then if it was real he''d be sure that guy had tampered with my memories. "I have thought magic, Hugh. And I put mental defenses in place."


    Again he nodded. "Of course. Very good, always protect your head in a fight, yes? You have become very skillful since we first met, Calliope Smith. And all this without the use of your gifts," he said - and with a loud click he placed the Dumine lock down on the table. "This was still on you when you were rescued."


    "Oh! Yeah, of course. They put it in the wrong place though, I have a decoy Dumine."


    "Yes, of course you do! An excellent precaution. Very useful, in this sort of situation, since the cheaper locks cannot tell the difference."


    I knew what Hugh was going to say next.


    "This, of course, is a null badge - a type of lock created by the old Empire, possibly the Clockmaker himself."


    "Okay. Well, I have a divination thing that can validate my memories. So, it''s fine. I''ll double check them right now if you want."


    "A perfect solution," he said, and held out his hand. "I believe you were able to let Katrin see for herself last night, yes?"


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    God damn it, he''d been spying on me again. My hand started shaking again under the table, and I was suddenly tempted to just tell him everything - not only because being questioned and needing to lie was about to bring on a panic attack, but also because... well, Hugh had been cool. Mostly. Apart from the poisoning. And even that was... well, I respected it. He already knew I was from somewhere strange, and he knew I was somehow involved in something with fate magic, and thanks to him getting nosy back on the boat he probably suspected something was strange about my gifts - although I had a whole story prepared for that, involving an artifact we found deep in the Necropolis.


    Really it was the time travel, the end of the world, and the extra Dumines. Oh, and me not being human. And Hammersmith already knew most of that, and would probably know about the Dumines the second she collected me. So none of it was going to be all that secret, in the long run. But I never just gave up when Hugh was kicking my ass, and honestly there was some part of me that said if I could fool him then I could get away from Hammersmith without being locked up and experimented on. Somehow.


    I popped into my mind palace and found the memory before pulling Hugh in, so he wouldn''t see anything else. I was going to have to prove I hadn''t been tampered with to someone now that the question had been raised, and if it did go poorly Hugh was the safest option. He noticed when the divination kicked in and everything got crisper - I''d considered trying to fabricate things, but I hadn''t practiced and I couldn''t really picture it fooling Hugh.


    With a deep breath I mentally hit play, and the man placed his hands on my head. "Okay, she has to tell the truth now."


    "First of all," memory-me said, "I''m not Calliope Smith. I''ve talked to her a few times, but I don''t really know her. The other woman that looked exactly like me, the one that stabbed Telen during the attack in Theramas and later killed him? That also wasn''t Calliope Smith. Our faces, our bodies, were magically changed to look like Calliope Smith - you might remember that your trackers said there was more than one person somehow. While you were chasing the two of us around the actual Calliope Smith was playing her own game. I told you I was just bait." I sounded a bit more manic and desperate than I''d remembered.


    I stopped the memory, and forcefully shut down the divination. "There. See? Did you think I got a bad decoy? Really, Hugh? You think I would spend the money on a fake Dumine - on something I was going to have magically grafted to my chest - and go for the cheap shit?"


    He had an insufferable smirk plastered onto his face. "Calliope, you should use this wonderful ability to see your reunion with Katrin. She was so very worried about you."


    "Well I''m low on mana, but I''ll put that on my to-do list."


    "No need. I can tell you, yes? She saw the healers running for you and shoved right up among them so she could contribute. It is good she has learned a healing spell, though from what the healer said when I asked him later it was not a particularly good one."


    "Yeah, well. It''ll save you from dying of blood loss."


    "Very true! Any soldier would welcome a quick and ugly healing job. And besides, sometimes scars can be good reminders. But. While I am sure Katrin had reasons for not healing her brother instead - possibly she was worried about making it hard to re-attach his hand - it is strange that, according to the healer, she just healed the back of your head."


    "Well that''s where I keep my brain, Hugh. It''s kind of important."


    "And then, rather than continuing to heal you, she braided your hair."


    "Okay. I''m sure it was getting everywhere at that point and yeah, you caught me, that''s where my actual Dumine is. I guess she was being a good friend and keeping it secret in case I had to pull the same trick on Ham... on Lord Protector Hammersmith, okay? Or do you think the Behemoth was slipping her notes in my hair?"


    He just raised an eyebrow. "I know the one on your chest is not a decoy, I had it tested while you were recovering. I told them I was worried it was damaged, yes? Checking the one on your head was harder, but worth the effort as it turned out. After that I could have given up, assumed I knew your secret, but I asked some careful questions... I know everything, Calliope Smith."


    Even in my memory palace my hand had started shaking. "I... god damn it, then why did we even have this whole conversation?"


    "Your chest, your head. And where is other one?"


    Fuck. Fuck, he knew. Or. Wait. No, I just wasn''t thinking clearly. This was Hugh being... Hugh. "Other what? I have no idea what you''re talking about." Had I already reacted? Had my stupid face given it away? Probably. I could pass it off as being some other secret, or...


    The memory skipped forward, and I was slumped forward with blood everywhere and Pogue getting out the thing that looked like a garlic press. It was too much. The questions, the constant prodding and poking and worrying about Hammersmith. I pinned my shaking hand under my armpit and shoved past Hugh out into the hallway. It felt like there was still blood running down my legs. "You know what? At least just... admit you were fishing, and totally full of shit."


    "Admit that it worked," he said, but his voice was gentle.


    "Almost worked. I could have just denied it."


    A hand rested - hesitantly - on my shoulder. "Denied what, precisely?"


    Fighting until the end. "Oh, right, you need me to say. Because you don''t know. Because you were fishing, and bluffing, and totally full of absolute horse shit."


    Hugh smiled. "I am always full of shit. We have that in common, yes? I know... that your gifts make no sense. And I suspect you have too many. And if I am right, then Lord Protector Hammersmith will soon know anyway, yes?"


    I wandered into the bedroom. I didn''t even care if he saw that bedroom from Earth anymore - it wouldn''t mean anything to him, wouldn''t answer his questions. "Fine. I don''t know why I didn''t tell you already. No, that''s a lie. It''s because part of it would make you want to hand me over to Hammersmith, and some of it just on principle I shouldn''t be telling to people. But, whatever. Here goes. Full disclosure.


    "That memory? That part wasn''t actually even helped by my mental defenses. That shit was all technically true. I''m not Calliope Smith, because I''m not even human. I''m a fucking Sargher and didn''t even know it and that''s why I''m here. The human kid I replaced yanked me here to... to kill me, I guess, though I still need to clear up exactly what the plan was. That''s the wild mage. But the first time she did it... uh, not the first time but the same time...


    "Okay, so there was another version of history. Which I know sounds crazy. And you weren''t sent for me, and things all happened differently, and the war lasted longer, and I helped Hammersmith get into Brinkmar but not until the day of the Grand Alignment. And it was too late, and they used a device there to... to destroy everything. The whole world, all the planes, everything. And another guy who had been working with Halenvar, I think he wanted to use that opportunity to go back in time in a way you wouldn''t be able to otherwise? But I killed him, and kinda did it myself. That version of me, I mean.


    "And she came back to the day I arrived, and she gave Hammersmith every bit of intel she could possibly ask for - and that''s why things have gone so well this time around. And she made you come get me because you were friends and she trusted you, but Hammersmith broke a promise - I see that look, and yeah, fine, I''m sure from her point of view she didn''t on some technicality - and so we bailed. But the other version of me died killing Telen, died twice because as part of training to stop the doomsday thing she learned to go back in time a little.


    "And I was wearing her Dumine when I got mine, and since we''re the same person it just attached to me, and it pulled the necklace it was on in too and it hurt so bad, so without really understanding I burned it out to go back in time a little. Inside the Duminere. So I got a third, too. And anyone that finds out is going to want to lock me up and experiment on me or something. So yeah, I don''t want to go back to Hammersmith, especially because she knew I wasn''t human and didn''t tell me. And she knew my memories had been tampered with, that a whole year of my life had been covered up, and she said nothing. I was having dreams, and getting confused about what was real and what wasn''t, and... she could have just told me."


    Hugh looked very serious. "This is not a particularly believable story, yes? But... it would explain why Lord Protector Hammersmith is so eager, and... my friend, if I take this on faith it still means the fate of the entire world is at stake... I will set aside for now that you said you would tell me the secret you were keeping if it impacted my safety and yet somehow did not think that the world ending qualified... but are you not at all worried? Surely you do not want to take the risk, yes?"


    "With Ulren dead and the war basically over it should be fine. They never had time to set up whatever they were doing. And anyway, is going with Hammersmith that much safer? I almost died right next to the fort, she only came out to chase Telen away when we were both in danger - I think she was perfectly willing to let me die so long as she had a backup. Then we broke out with literally just one person helping us, which doesn''t say a lot for her security. Plus, the version of me that had already saved the whole world? She could have done anything she wanted, but she helped out - and did Hammersmith tell her the truth?"


    Hugh shrugged, looking as uncertain as I''d ever seen him. "Possibly she... was not sure..."


    I pointed at the television, and somehow it came on. It was the same scene we''d just watched - well, a few minutes later. The man was still holding my head, and looking back at the Behemoth. "But I can see - anyone could, it''s extensive - there has been memory modification done. Years ago, most likely, it needs maintenance and repair."


    "Oh! And before that! I didn''t understand what he was saying at the time, but..."


    I gestured at the television again, and the channel flipped to show an awkward angle looking up from under a bed in the Bloody Boar Inn. A man with a pinched face was whispering with an important-looking woman. "I didn''t need to pry to see the... inconsistency. I don''t know if it''s trauma or state secrets or something else, but I''d like the chance to do a more thorough examination."


    "No, I''m sorry. She''s under the protection of the Endless Empire, if she knows something they want kept secret we can''t risk angering them right now. The war will be over soon, and we want things to go back to the old quiet trade agreement. They could sweep up half our cities as they march troops home if they really wanted to."


    "She needs professional intervention. There''s maintenance that needs to -"


    "No. That''s final. Now... wait, where did she go?"


    Again, I made the television change channels to show the tracker from Halenvar. "Sahrger have been known to copy others, it could even explain the interference if she were younger and the original were still alive, but the Empire wouldn''t use one. And it wouldn''t explain what I saw. There... may be something else. Edited memories, and some possibility of a colony of Granch."


    I gestured one last time to turn the television off, but it only changed the channel to some commercial for a diner so I reached over to hit the power button instead. "See? They said it, it was obvious. She had to know. Plus, Hammersmith is going to have someone examine my Dumines and I know some people can tell what you''ve got. Hugh, I have one nobody else could. Is she going to let that go? Or will she decide that - however distasteful it is - she needs to keep me locked up so I don''t fall into the wrong hands?"


    "Is this about fate? You mentioned the thread of fate from the wild mage, the... human Calliope Smith... but what I overheard on the boat implied there was more than one."


    In reply, I stepped us out into a view of the real room we were in - whatever wards Hugh had mentioned didn''t prevent it - and turned on my view of the fate threads so he could see them. Hugh just stared at them for a long time.


    "I don''t really like trusting authority figures, and I know it''s not fair, and you''ve been amazing, and logically I know Hammersmith is right to want me not running around but... but I don''t trust her in particular. And I don''t even know what to do about it, because I can''t just keep trying to run away... but I can''t go with her either."


    I kicked us out of my mind, and Hugh nodded a few times as if he was thinking to himself. "I... cannot justify letting you leave, Calliope. Not if it means the whole world is at risk, not even if that risk is low as you think it is. Lord Protector Hammersmith will be here in the next few days, I would think. Do not attempt to run."


    I stared blankly at the wall as he stood and left. I felt some very nasty thoughts building, but they didn''t have any force behind them. He''d been ready to let me go my own way, ready to trust me, but I''d been keeping the full truth from him. And he was right. It was selfish. Hell, Errod had said the same thing. How many times had I nearly died, kept alive only through unreliable probability magic or last minute miracles?


    I sat there feeling vaguely sorry for myself for a moment, but as I finally stood I saw that while Hugh had taken the lock, he''d left my lost gold nose ring in its place.