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And now here she was with Endelle and waiting for the other shoe to drop. She repressed a sigh.
Her Supremeness folded her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. She held Havily’s gaze and didn’t hold back her sigh. “Alison tells me you pulled Parisa into the darkening and saved her life.”
“Yes,” she responded, but she felt uneasy. “Crace was ready to … break her neck.” She described the event in detail. The whole time Endelle kept her eyes narrowed and nodded several times.
Endelle surprised her, however, because an odd expression overtook her face and she smiled. She smiled and nodded. “Well, ascender. This is a big f**king deal, you know. Darkening abilities are considered Third abilities. Even Alison can’t go into the darkening. Aren’t you just a little impressed with yourself? I know I am.”
Havily couldn’t have heard right. Endelle was impressed with her? Impossible. But even if she was, Havily didn’t exactly feel grateful. Instead, she lifted her chin and let a fair dose of sarcasm flavor her words. “Well, how nice that you actually think I might be worth something.”
But Endelle only laughed. “What the hell do you care what I think anyway? The warriors know the truth. The war stripped me of my humanity at least two millennia ago. You need thicker skin, Morgan. Now let’s get down to business. Take me into the darkening.”
Havily lifted a brow. “I have no idea how to do that.”
“How did you take Parisa?”
Havily shrugged. “I really don’t know.”
“Well, then,” Endelle murmured, her eyes narrowing. “Looks like I need to teach you, and we’re going to start right now.”
Havily did not like the look in the woman’s eye … at all. So that’s why she was here, to receive a darkening tutorial from the worst teacher in the world. Great.
The next moment, she stood in a space that resembled Endelle’s office in essentials. She could detect the presence of her massive marble-topped desk, the north and east walls constructed of plate-glass windows, the west wall bearing a rarely used fireplace, the south wall solid except for the door, but the edges of the space melted away to a thick darkness.
Havily planted her hands on her hips. She frowned. “I know now that this is the darkening, but where exactly are we?”
“Nether-space, like the Trough. This might even be a space between dimensions. Nobody really knows.” She huffed a breath. “All right, ascender, I brought us here. Now you take us back out.”
But all Havily could do was stare at her and once more shrug. She looked Endelle up and down and realized they were both standing with hands planted on hips.
“Well, that’s just fantastic,” Endelle drawled.
The next moment they were back, but Marcus stood in a different place, near Endelle now, and said, as though in mid-sentence, “… like tangerines. I think it’s the weirdest part of the whole process.”
Havily didn’t exactly understand but Endelle turned and winked at her. Then she understood. “You were in both places?” Havily cried. She took a step back, a big one. Because of Endelle’s regular use of obscenities and because she seemed so normal in ascended terms, she often forgot the level of her power.
Marcus glanced from Havily to Endelle. “You took Havily into the darkening and continued talking to me? You were in two places at one time? What the f**k?”
Endelle smiled at Marcus. “Did I seem very different to you? My speech patterns were pretty good, weren’t they? I can’t hold the position very long. Usually, to split-selves I have to recline, as I do in my meditation chamber, and the primary self remains quiet and relaxed.”
“Shit, Endelle,” he cried. “How long have you been capable of talking while in two different places?”
“About a century.” She turned her attention to Havily. “But I was able to do a split-self almost immediately after learning I had darkening abilities, and for whatever reason, Morgan, I need you to learn that and be quick about it. My ill-formed clairvoyant abilities are ringing right now. Apparently for you it’s a real matter of life and death that you learn to split-self, so let’s get on it.”
“Now? But it’s so late.”
“So the f**k what? Oh, that’s right. You need your goddamn beauty sleep. Well, princess, them days is ovuh. Get used to it.” Endelle then descended on her, both hands outstretched as though she meant to cup her face.
Havily batted them away. “What are you doing?” she cried. She also had a bit of prescience going on and she could suddenly see her future, bound ankle-and-wrist to Her Supremeness. The last thing she wanted was to get caught in that trap.
“Morgan,” Endelle growled. “Get your ass over here. All I’m going to do is download a couple of my experiences straight into your head. You have a disconnect between your gift and your rational mind.” Endelle lifted her hands, ready to place them on Havily’s head.
But Havily blocked her again, striking at her forearms and once more backing up. “Hell, no,” she cried. “You’ll fry my circuits.”
At that, Endelle laughed. “I’m not an idiot. I’ll go slow. Oh, and just so you know, you don’t have a f**king choice. I don’t run a goddamn f**king democracy, remember?”
Havily released a punchy sigh. She knew better than to argue with Endelle. The woman had a bee in her bonnet and the truth was Havily could also sense her need to learn this skill as quickly as possible.
“Fine,” she said. She huffed another sigh and closed her eyes. She really didn’t want to be looking into the ancient eyes of her Supreme High Administrator while the woman shunted memories into her head. God help her.
Endelle’s hands were warm on her face, and the warmth increased. Release your shields drifted through her mind. How strangely gentle the tenor of the words were, not the usual thing for Endelle.
Havily sighed again and let the mental shields back away, like a big piece of machinery in reverse.
Nice, Endelle murmured, again, inside her head. The memories will come at you fast. Just keep your mind loose. Don’t fight and don’t try to make sense of it. Got it?
Yes, she sent. She sort of understood. Maybe.
Basically, she stopped thinking, and before she knew it Endelle withdrew from her head.
She stared into the bark-lined eyes once more. She stared and weaved a little on her feet. She felt the strange whooshing sensation and she was in the darkening alone. She had taken herself there because she had Endelle’s memory of how to do it. She thought the thought and allowed the whooshing sensation to return. She faced Endelle once more.
