Chapter 4
The Return
"Cutting it close, dinner's almost ready," Dad said as he came out of the kitchen wearing a Kiss the Cook apron… It was a gift from Rell on his last birthday.
"You set a place for her," I said, nodding toward the table.
"Of course. She'll be hungry when she returns."
"How can you be so sure? You said so yourself that most people don't survive their Trials."
"I said most people with standard infections don't survive. Your sister is… quite special."
Before I could ask what the hell that meant, we were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Could you get that, Fish?"
When I opened the door, a woman in an SDC uniform stood in our hallway. She was short, compact, with close-cropped black hair.
"Fischer, I presume? I'm Inspector Hoffman. Surge Defense Corps." She flashed a badge.
"We didn't report anything," I said, blocking the doorway.
"I'm not here about a report. I'm here to see Mikkel. Your father."
"Inspector Hoffman. You’re right on time. Please, come in. Dinner's almost ready." Dad's voice came from behind me.
"You were expecting her?" I asked, closing the door.
"Of course, I called her when Rell's infection manifested."
Hoffman removed her jacket, revealing arms covered in silver lines.
"Your father and I are old colleagues." She said, taking a seat at the table
"Old colleagues… but Dad's just a research consultant."
"Ha! Is that the fairy tale we're going with, Mikkel? Research consultant? It's a shame. A mind like yours is wasting away in this apartment..."
"I left the SDC for a reason. Don't push me in my own home."
"And yet here we are. You've been using SDC prototypes to monitor your daughter. Stabilizers that cost millions to develop. Technology that could save countless lives if it were available to everyone."
"Dad? What's she talking about?"
Before he could answer, a sound erupted from Rell's bedroom.
Hoffman was on her feet instantly, hand dropping to the weapon at her hip. "She's returning. Already?"
"I told you she was special. Fish, would you get the door? Your sister will be disoriented."
I moved toward Rell's room. I could see flashes of light around the edges of the door frame.
I turned the handle and pushed the door open.
The room was… filled with swirling silver mist. And in the center of that mist, Rell was taking shape.
Her skin had become ghostly, revealing silvery veins. Her hair, once the same deep red as mine, was now streaked with white, floating around her head as if she were underwater.
She floated in the center of the mist, arms outstretched, her head tipped back. Her eyes snapped open, looking directly at me, and she smiled.
"Fish, you kept your promise."
The silver mist began to dissipate, reality returning to normal. Rell's bedroom materialized around her.
Her feet touched the floor, and she staggered slightly. I rushed forward to catch her, but she straightened on her own, waving me off.
"I'm okay, just… adjusting."
Behind me, I heard Dad and Hoffman enter the room. Dad pushed past me, taking Rell's face in his hands, examining her.
"Extraordinary, no signs of rejection at all.”
Rell pulled away from his touch, something like wariness crossing her face. "I passed," she said simply.
"Tell me, what did you face in there? What form did your trial take?"
"I don't… I don’t want to talk about it."
Dad opened his mouth to press further, but Hoffman interrupted.
"The SDC will want a full report; an Origin of this level is exceedingly rare. You'll need to register with us immediately."
"She'll do nothing of the sort, not until she's had time to rest and adjust. The registration can wait."
"The agreement was—"
"The agreement was that you'd be informed when it happened. And here you are, informed. But she's my daughter, not your lab rat."
"What agreement? What the hell is going on?"
"Just a bit of politics, son… nothing for you to worry about. Hoffman was just leaving."
"For now. But the SDC will be closely watching her development. Origins like hers are… valuable."
"I'll see myself out. Congratulations on your return, Miss Marrell. We'll speak again soon."
After she left, the three of us stood in awkward silence. Rell looked exhausted, shadows under her strange new eyes.
"Dinner's getting cold, and I imagine you're starving."
Rell nodded. "My god am I ever. The Trial… it took a lot out of me."
"So, SDC scientist, huh? When were you planning to mention that?"
Dad sighed, setting down his fork. "It was a long time ago. Before you were born. Before I met your mother, even."
"And what about the equipment Hoffman mentioned? The prototype stabilizers?"
"Monitoring tools, nothing sinister. They help track Sacred infection progression, predict Trial timing, that sort of thing. I used them to make sure Rell was as prepared as possible."
"They helped a lot, actually, the Trial… it was exactly like you described it would be."
"You want to see what I can do?"
Without waiting for an answer, she held out her hand, palm up. The air above it rippled, and then a tiny figure appeared. A perfect miniature Rell, no bigger than a doll, stood on her palm.
The mini-Rell curtsied, then did a little dance, twirling like a music box ballerina. It was both adorable and deeply unsettling.
"I call them Marionettes. I can create as many as I want, and they're all… me. Extensions of myself. They see what I see, know what I know."
"Absolutely fascinating," Dad breathed, leaning closer to examine the tiny duplicate. "A form of consciousness division? Or remote projection?"
"Both, I think… say hi, Fish." Rell held her hand closer to me.
"Uh, hi," I said, feeling ridiculous talking to a tiny version of my sister.
The mini-Rell waved, then blew me a kiss. Its movements were fluid and natural, nothing like those of a controlled puppet.
"That's just the start, watch this."
She closed her eyes, concentrating.
Her form blurred, and then there, sitting in Rell's chair was… me.
"What the fuck," I said, staring at my own face.
"Language," my duplicate said in my voice, perfectly mimicking me. Then it laughed… Rell's laugh coming from my mouth.
Rell was back, grinning widely. "I can become anyone I touch. Take their form, their voice, even access some of their memories."
"Masquerade…" Dad murmured.
"I can create duplicates to spy for me, assume identities to infiltrate places, gather information..."
"You've thought about this quite a bit."
"The Trial gives you time to think… Lots of time."
"How long was it for you? It's been less than a day here."
"For me, it was… years? It's hard to tell. There's no day or night there."
"The subjective temporal dilation varies based on Origin complexity. The legendary Origin would naturally take longer to fully manifest."
"So you knew about all this? The SDC, the prototypes, the Origin prediction?"
"I had my theories, based on my research, yes. But nothing was certain until it happened."
"And you never thought to mention any of this to us? That you used to work for the SDC? That you had equipment that could monitor Sacred infections?"
Dad sighed, looking suddenly tired. "There are aspects of my past that aren't… pleasant to revisit. I wanted to protect you both from that world."
"By lying to us?"
"By giving you a normal childhood, by letting you grow up without the weight of my mistakes hanging over you."
"What mistakes? What did you do that was so terrible you had to hide it from your own kids?"
"That's a conversation for another time. Tonight is about celebrating Rell's return and her extraordinary accomplishment."
"You always do this, every time we ask about your past, about Mom, about anything before we were born, you change the subject."
"Because the past is the past, what matters is now. What matters is that your sister has survived her Trial and returned with a remarkable Origin. Everything else is just… history."
I turned my head to find the mini-Rell sitting there on my shoulder, having somehow crossed the table without me noticing.
It leaned close to my ear and whispered, so quietly I could barely hear it: "We can’t trust him. He's been planning this for years."
I jerked in surprise, nearly knocking the tiny duplicate off my shoulder. It steadied itself, putting one doll-sized hand against my neck for balance.
"Something wrong?"
"Just… still processing everything," I said, trying to keep my expression neutral. The mini-Rell patted my neck once, then vanished in a puff of silver mist.
Across the table, the real Rell was watching me, those copper-crimson eyes unreadable. But there was something there… a warning? A plea? I couldn't tell.
Dad raised his glass. "A toast, then. To Rell's successful return. To new beginnings."
We raised our glasses.
"To new beginnings," Rell echoed, her voice steady but her eyes still fixed on mine.
I drank deeply; the wine was sweet.
My sister had returned from her Trial transformed. My father was apparently some kind of rogue scientist with a mysterious past. And now the SDC was involved, watching us, waiting.