Chapter 7 #2
Overwhelmed, I rubbed my nape, too many thoughts swirling inside my head.
But even then, I already knew that I would do whatever was in my power to help him.
This woman genuinely believed that he was in distress, and that I could tip the scale.
As she stated so accurately, I was well-connected.
If whatever was affecting Kayog was medical in nature, we would find a cure.
“Are you in touch with him, or do you see him?” I suddenly asked.
She nodded, hope shining brightly in her dark green eyes. “Yes, I do.”
“Then the next time you speak to him, tell Kayog he still owes me dinner.”
She gaped at me for a few seconds before bursting out laughing, all tension bleeding from her shoulders.
Then the warmest wave of gratitude emanated from her and slammed into me.
Whatever doubt I might still have had about her feelings for him faded in that instant.
Isobel truly loved him like a brother, or even in almost a motherly fashion.
“I can see why he loves you. Thank you for giving me hope of his imminent salvation. The Maker sent you.”
She gently caressed my arm in a gesture that combined friendship and gratitude before turning around and walking away.
Ipaced my living room restlessly, glaring at my vidscreen every other second as if it was responsible for my nan not calling me.
My impatience was unjustified as we were still four minutes away from the agreed time.
One thing that could always be relied upon was Nana Arika being exactly on time, not a little before or after, but right on the dot.
And yet I couldn’t help but inwardly curse the clock for not moving faster.
Right on cue, an incoming message popped on my screen at exactly 5:30 PM.
I all but threw myself onto the couch as I accepted the call.
My grandmother’s gorgeous face immediately appeared.
I was her spitting image, except that where I was completely white with a few dark specks on the fluffy down feathers of my chest, my nan was completely black with white specks.
We often joked that she was the Ying to my Yang.
And yet, our personalities were disturbingly similar.
“Hello, my darling,” she said in that loving tone that always felt like a warm blanket.
“Hi, Nana,” I replied affectionately. “I’m so sorry for bothering you while you’re in the middle of that big mandate, but I really need your help.”
“Regarding that Kayog Voln?” she asked in an overly nonchalant tone that didn’t fool me in the least.
I stiffened, my mouth gaping as my mind raced to figure out how she already knew about him. I hadn’t spoken a word yet regarding Kayog as we didn’t officially have any kind of relationship. And then it hit me.
“Did Colin say something?” I asked.
She shrugged her left shoulder, her face still noncommittal while her blue gaze, identical to mine, remained intense.
“Maybe,” she replied in a mysterious fashion.
My temper instantly flared. I knew this was her professional instinct kicking in to draw as much information from the other party without giving away too much of what she knew. But right now, I needed an ally, not a prosecutor.
“What did he say?” I asked in a clipped tone, annoyed that I couldn’t read her emotions through the screen.
She narrowed her eyes at me, my reaction making her even more suspicious.
“You know that I’m not one to reveal what has been confided in me. However, you got yourself an interesting friend, if a little violent,” she replied in a neutral tone as she studied my responses.
There was no question my nan also wished she could read my own emotions right now.
“He’s not violent,” I replied firmly, shocked by my own conviction as I spoke those words.
This very morning, I’d been uncertain how I felt about the brutal display he’d put on just yesterday. But that one conversation with the priestess had completely flipped everything on its head.
“Really?” Nana Arika asked, her dubious eyebrow reflecting the disbelief in her voice.
I nodded. “I know how it looks,” I conceded.
“Truth be told, I had some reservations about him. But he was in fact protecting a victim against three bullies. Clearly, he had the strength and skills to inflict grievous damage to all of them, but he didn’t.
That said, I’m not calling you about that incident but to request some medical help and your word that it will not be discussed with anyone we can’t fully trust.”
This time, my nan straightened, and the slightly distant expression that screamed careful reservation faded. I never made this type of request, so she knew something serious was happening.
“Of course, sweetie. You have my word.”
“Thank you,” I said with sincere gratitude. “The reason for this request is that Kayog is suffering from some kind of rare condition. I don’t have all the details yet, except for him telling me that the one time he consulted a Temern doctor, his life and welfare were endangered.”
My grandmother recoiled, and a troubled expression flitted over her features.
“A Temern doctor wanted to hurt him?” she insisted, her majestic wings stiff with tension.
I nodded then proceeded to recount everything that happened since meeting Kayog, including his song, everything he said while we shared breakfast, the incident with the bullies, and Isobel’s revelations.
Seeing my grandmother almost slump against the backrest of her chair as if in need of support had every single one of my senses going on high alert.
Her eyes flicked from side to side as her mind raced, countless conflicting emotions pushing and shoving each other over her face.
My tongue burned with the need to question her, but I didn’t want to break her concentration as she sorted out all that I had confided in her.
“How old is your friend?” she suddenly asked.
“Kayog is twenty-seven,” I replied, my back stiff with anticipation and nervousness.
She frowned and shook her head with an air of confusion.
“What?” I asked, getting aggravated. “What are you thinking?”
She shook her head again as if unable to make peace with the thoughts bubbling in her head.
“I know of only one specific situation where Temern doctors would want to kill one of us, and in fact be expected to,” she mused aloud, still seeming to struggle to reconcile whatever was going through her mind.
“Expected to?!” I exclaimed, outraged. “Whatever happened to their oath of doing no harm?”
“Like I said, there is a very unique situation that warrants it. But Edals are never that old.”
“Edals?” I echoed. “What is that? And what could possibly warrant murder?”
“Edals are Temerns who suffer from an extremely rare mutation,” Nana Arika explained carefully. “It’s a case of madness where the child is born rabid.”
My blood turned to ice. “Rabid? But how? Why?”
“They have abnormal pineal glands, which is what controls our empathic abilities,” she replied.
“And that gives them powers, like that glowing energy around Kayog’s hand?” I asked, my mind reeling.
She shook her head. “I can’t say whether they do or not.
From what I read on the topic, their EEG readings are through the roof.
Most of them die in the womb or are terminated the moment they’re diagnosed as Edals.
The rare exceptions who make it through birth show absolutely no visible sign during gestation.
Then the moment labor starts, it seems to trigger some sort of activation of the mutation within their pineal gland, and they just come into the world screaming non-stop.
They claw at everything and everyone, including themselves.
They have to be restrained not to severely self-harm.
In most cases, they die from an aneurysm or full-on cerebral hemorrhage. ”
I clasped my hands in my lap to keep them from shaking as I replayed my conversation with Kayog in my mind.
When he first told me about his story, I wondered what kind of monstrous parents would just put their newborn in stasis, stuff him into an emergency pod, and ship him to a species that knew nothing of his anatomy just because they couldn’t handle his crying.
Now, I couldn’t help but wonder if they had in fact sent him away to give him a chance at life and spare him from our doctors’ euthanasia.
“What is the oldest Edal recorded?” I asked in a whisper.
“If this is what your Kayog is—and so far it sounds like he might be—then he undoubtedly is the oldest. They usually die within twenty-four hours. The oldest on record passed away within a week of sheer agony. They never make it to twenty-seven.”
“Maker!” I breathed out, pressing my palms to my cheeks before giving my nan a confused look. “How come I’ve never heard of Edals? This seems like such a tragic and extreme condition that it should be broadly talked about.”
She shook her head. “Like I said, it is an extremely rare condition, and we only have one or two cases every century or so. As the solution is quite controversial, it was deemed better to keep it a secret and only address it with the parents.”
“But why? Killing the fetus or newborn child seems a bit extreme. With all our technological advances, surely something could be done for them? If I had an Edal child, I’d want them put in stasis so they don’t suffer while doctors work around the clock to find a cure.”
She gave me an indulgent smile. “Like I said, Edals are an extremely rare occurrence. Based on our history, such a defect would be deemed very harmful to a house’s reputation.
The family would want to keep it a secret so that the entire bloodline wouldn’t be shunned for fear they might taint others.
This guideline dates back centuries ago.
It was never updated since there was no reason for anyone to believe such a child could be saved.
And we don’t know that your Kayog is an actual Edal. ”
“If he’s not an Edal, why else could a Temern doctor possibly want to kill him?
And either way, a child self-harming shouldn’t be a justification for such extreme measures.
Plus, in Kayog’s case, he was already much older and not self-mutilating when a Temern doctor found out about his existence. So what other motive could there be?”
She shook her head. “I cannot think of any other reason for them to do so. At least, nothing that I am aware of.”
“And what if he is an Edal?” I challenged.
“Then he will have single handedly changed everything. We need him examined by our top doctors as soon as possible,” she said in an imperative tone.
“I will not have him turned into some sort of lab rat. He’s a person, not an experiment!” I said sternly.
She chuckled and her gaze softened, even though I didn’t miss the serious glimmer that still lurked within.
“Before we speculate further, we need to find out more about him,” my nan said in a factual tone.
“Based on the security recordings of the campus, Colin confirms that Kayog’s hands and eyes definitely glowed.
They also recorded a significant kinetic power surge.
Whatever he is, your boyfriend is something else we’ve never encountered. The question is whether he’s a threat.”
“No, he’s not,” I said with a finality that had my nan raise her eyebrow with a hint of amusement. “Tala said that he is extremely protective of people.”
To my surprise, my nan nodded. “That is indeed what his record states. But we also have very strong reasons to believe that he is the vigilante striking on Mazeria, or at least one of them. In which case, he might be a psychopath who channels his need for violence that way.”
That gave me pause. While my gut screamed that he was not a violent person or a threat to society, it would be completely irresponsible for me not to at least consider that possibility.
Feeling a little defeated, I glanced at my grandmother with an almost pleading expression.
“I like him, Nana. I really, really like him. No one has ever made me feel the way I do around him, and every fiber of my being says that he’s a good male who desperately needs help. But I’m scared and confused. I don’t want to make bad decisions based on emotions.”
She gave me an affectionate smile. “You were never reckless, my darling, and least of all the type to go boy crazy. I have concerns about that male, but your affection for him tells me that he must truly be an exceptional person. The Enforcers are heavily investigating him to determine if he is a danger or an asset. I will do everything in my power to protect him, but he must come in for tests. We have to know whether the power he displayed on that campus is all he has, or if there is far more that could be used as a weapon of mass destruction.”
“I understand, but I will not let him be turned into a lab rat,” I reiterated.
“Honey, if he’s an Edal, he will have no choice but to volunteer to be one, if we ever want to find a cure.
But it can be done in a respectful and empathetic way.
What I can promise is that so long as he is not a threat, I will see that he is afforded the same freedom of choice any other civilian would when it comes to their healthcare. ”
Although it wasn’t the answer I had hoped for, it was honest and reasonable. I gave her a stiff nod.
“Be careful sweetie. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Nana. And I promise I will be.”