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No, that's not disconcerting. I love walking through creepy creaking gates that lead to a creepy, empty castle. As we cross the threshold, a chill sweeps over my skin, like a ghost has passed through my body. Maybe it has. Sefton Stainthorpe might have died in the mortal world, but he left his Echo here, a man called Will, which must mean he left something of himself, or at least his magics, inside this building.
Something is keeping the Brain going. It has to be those leftover magics.
Hand in hand, we shuffle across the vacant courtyard. The place feels unnervingly quiet and empty. What happened to the bodies of the creatures who died here? My friends hadn't perished in the courtyard, but we had taken out several of our enemies in this place. We continue toward the doors to the castle and find them hanging slightly ajar. I gently nudge one out of the way so we can sidle through the opening into the entryway.
No bodies here either.
I suddenly realize I'm gripping Sarah's hand more tightly, though she doesn't seem to mind. She grips my hand firmly too. We move at a faster pace as we go down the hall to the throne room. The doors should be closed, but instead, they stand wide open. Inside, I see nothing but the throne sitting on its raised dais.
All the bodies are gone. The remains of all my friends have vanished, as if they never existed.
"This makes no sense," I say, speaking in a hushed tone because this feels like a mausoleum. "Who got rid of the bodies? I was the only left in here after the battle."
"Are you positive of that? Could someone have sneaked in without you noticing?"
"I suppose that's possible. But it doesn't explain what happened to the bodies."
Sarah releases my hand, approaching the dais. "Maybe someone dumped the bodies over the cliff."
I hope that's not what happened. To think of my friends being discarded like trash… It's my fault they died, and it will be my fault if it turns out someone destroyed their remains.
Sarah stretches out an arm toward me, holding her palm up. "Come here, Gabriel. You need to see that it's only a chair, and the demons in this room are all in your head."
But they're not. Real demons murdered the only family I'd ever known.
"Take slow, deep breaths," she says, still offering me her hand. "And come over here. You're almost hyperventilating."
Am I? My chest is heaving, and my ears have started to ring. So yeah, I guess I am almost hyperventilating. Gazing into Sarah's eyes, even from a distance, does more to calm me than any breathing exercise. So I walk over to her and slip my hand into hers. The sensation of her soft, warm fingers threaded with mine relaxes me even more. This connection between us used to scare me, though I would never have admitted it. The time we spent in the stronghold changed things between us so profoundly that I can't even describe how it feels. Magic didn't do it. Sarah was the driving force behind everything inside me that has transformed.
But I still don't know if I can do what she believes we need to do—become one with the Echo's brain. Yeah, the idea of merging with a magically created brain that used to belong to a mad man is kind of…disconcerting. But it's the idea of merging with Sarah that terrifies me. I haven't told her that. Don't know if I can tell her. It sounds weak and pathetic, especially after all the years I'd lived and fought in the Echo. How can having a deep connection with one woman make me feel this off balance?
Right now, here with her, holding hands…maybe I don't feel quite so off balance anymore.
"Tell me about your friends," she says. "The ones you fought with here in the castle. What were they like?"
"Our little army didn't have any training. I didn't either. But when I got thrown into the Echo, I had to learn a lot and learn it fast. Every good Echo being I met became an ally first, and a friend later. It takes time to forge a bond with a stranger." I realize what I just said, and it spurs me to look at Sarah. "But not with you. I felt a connection the instant I first saw you, though I fought it hard."
"I felt the same way." She turns toward me and slips her arms loosely around my waist. "But I'd like to know more about your friends, please. They clearly meant a lot to you."
"Just like your friends mean a lot to you." I can't resist the impulse to slide my arms around her too, linking them at the small of her back. "I never had anyone to start with, no friends or family, just coworkers and women I slept with. In the Echo, that changed, slowly. I couldn't protect myself alone, so I had to ally with anyone I could find who wasn't hell-bent on killing any living things they saw. I met Kai first. He was just a kid, eighteen years old and scared to death. But as we got to know each other and fought together, we forged a bond. Then we picked up more allies along the way, when I decided to explore the entire world of the Echo to understand what was happening."
"Do you understand it now?"
"Not as well as I'd like. But I figured out that the castle on the cliff must be important somehow, and my team agreed that we should check it out. We came back to the Capital City to search for clues. It is Sefton's city, after all. We couldn't find much, so I suggested we should try to breach the castle."
"What did you hope to find there?"
I shrug. "Didn't really know. But after the convulsions in the Echo recently, it seemed like we needed to take drastic action."
"Yeah, the convulsions were what made Grant and Erin decide to go into the Echo. Everyone was afraid it might be the start of something much worse. I wasn't living in Sanctuary then, and I don't remember any of that. It's what my friends told me."
I remember too much, and she has no memory. I still think that's strange. Is it a coincidence? Or does the dichotomy mean something? I should talk to Sarah about that, but first, I need to tell her more about the Echo beings who became my family. "Kai and the others, they were the bravest people I'd ever met. Even when they were scared, they kept going, kept fighting, kept trying. I was proud of them, especially at the end when they refused to give up despite knowing they were about to die."
Sarah wraps her arms around me more firmly, with her cheek on my chest. "I'm so sorry you lost them."
"I didn't lose them. The Echo took them from me. I spent my whole life as a loner, except for the three years in this world. But even with my friends here, I didn't share everything with them. I held things back. Maybe I deserved to be alone again."
"You're not alone, Gabriel."
