POV: Charlie.

  The orphanage had still been filled with Children, though only half of the total number. Everyone below the age of 9 had been left behind to fend for themselves, while the others, boys and girls alike, had either managed to flee to the town or had been taken against their will.

  I ground my teeth thinking of them. Of what they must be going through right now in the mines. My fists clenching as all the blood drained from them. Turning my knuckles white.

  “I’ll kill them.” I whispered as I hugged some of my siblings. “I’ll kill them all.”

  “Whoa there friend.” Henry said from the side. “Let’s not get too hasty now. I’m sure we can get the kids back without resorting to murder.”

  His own symbiote wasn’t doing much for his body, given how much he was sweating. His eyes darting nervously from me to Luigi to Sully. The former having pressed his lips into a thin line as he saw some of my sisters and brothers as they came out of hiding. The latter smiling like an idiot.

  “Hey there kids! Who wants some candy!” He asked. Pulling a whole feast out of his storage ring and setting the food down on the table. Pulling plates off somewhere before I noticed.

  “Eeek!” Gildi squealed in terror.

  “Charlie! Help!” Ronnel echoed. Hugging my leg tightly and squeezing with all the strength he could muster.

  “Hey!” Sully protested. “That’s a bit mean of you kid. I just saw that you’re hungry and wanted to help. It’s not like I’m acting out of character or anything. I love helping people!”

  He turned his head.

  “Right Charlie?”

  ‘Yeah.’ I thought. ‘Helping people to their graves.’

  Another man might have balked slightly. Recalling all the genuine help that Sully had given free of charge. But that was just it. Sully helped people, but the people he helped couldn’t be called people after he helped them.

  Yes, they lived.

  Yes, they were healthy and generally free of worries.

  Yes, they were happy. Happier than they had ever been.

  But the people Sully helped were not themselves after he helped them. They were always dreaming of him. Of the events they saw in his memories and of the fate that had awaited them without him. More importantly, they felt each other. Far more than humans were normally capable of.

  They stopped being a billion people with a billion minds and they instead turned into a single mind with a billion bodies. And all those bodies would share in the tranquility that followed.

  I had felt it myself. If only briefly. Feeling my mind trying to take in all the power that Sully gave off and that same power sloughing off me due to having received it prior to the events on the island city. Hong something or other.

  ‘That’s no way to live.’ I kept telling myself. ‘That’s no different than getting blind drunk and forgetting everything around you. Yes, the beer will warm your heart and warm your belly. And it will fill your heads with a happiness of sorts. But it’s not natural. It’s a lie. It isn’t yourself thinking about how to make your own life better. It is the shadow of Sully trying to make your own life better. His memory overpowering the person you used to be.’

  I gave thanks to Saturn himself that I hadn’t been exposed for long and that my first time was when he was still deluding himself. That could have gotten very ugly, very fast.

  “The food is good enough to eat.” I told my siblings after banishing those thoughts. “Have as much as you can and stay put here. We’ll get the others back in the meantime. Pack up your things and get ready to move. It might get ugly.”

  I turned to the others.

  “I’m going to need one of you to stay here and help keep the kids safe and out of trouble.”

  “Well Charlie, you hardly needed to ask so harshly.” Sully said with a warm smile.

  “Not you.” I snapped. “I want you standing where I can see you. I meant either Luigi or Henry.”

  Sully nodded along. Seemingly considering the query without taking offense.

  “I see. Not an issue then. Just ask them both a question. How far would they be willing to go in order to defend the kids in the orphanage?”

  He arched an eyebrow to Henry and Luigi.

  “I mean… I’ll keep them safe.” Henry said quickly enough. “I guess I’m bulletproof now so I could take down a few soldiers or gang members or whatever without hurting them too much.”

  Sully’s eyes gained an evil glint.

  “Oh? Is that so? Then might I ask what you’d do in the event that one or more of the children were to find themselves in trouble? Say, if a guard or gang member took them hostage?”

  “I, I guess I’d stop them?” Henry answered without much in the way of confidence. “I’m pretty fast and I’ve got Projector abilities now so I could maybe hold them in place while I… wait a second.”

  He caught himself. Narrowing his eyes.

  “Why would a guard take any of the kids hostage?”

  Sully laughed in his face. So did a few of the older children for that matter.

  “Charlie, is this guy one of those rich kids who don’t know anything?” Ronnel asked. Whispering so that the others didn’t hear, but not realizing that everyone around him heard him regardless.

  “All right. That settles it. Luigi stays here to watch the kids while we go out and get the others back.” I said, ignoring Ronnel and pushing against him so that his hands left my leg and hips. Then I turned him around and looked him in the eye.

  “Now listen here. You know I’ve been gone. I’m not happy about it, but it wasn’t something I could help. I’m here now and I’ll be gone again soon. So I need you to step up and keep the others in line while I’m out getting everyone back. This guy I’m leaving with you…”

  I pointed my thumb back to Luigi.

  “Is not the brightest candle in the room. But what he can do is keep you all safe if anyone tries anything funny. So it’ll be up to you to explain who is good to go in peace and who needs to get their (Gnome) kicked. Can you do that for me?”

  Ronnel looked confused.

  “Why did you say gnome?”

  “(Gnome) me, Ronnel. Don’t ask me that. I’ve got no idea where to even start.”

  I heaved a sigh.

  “But I still need you to promise me that you’ll stay calm and trust this Luigi fellow here until I come back with Sister Nina and the others. Can you promise me that?”

  Ronnel finally nodded and I hugged him tightly. Moving on to hug five others in quick succession.

  “I promise everything will be okay.” I told them again.

  “I mean, I could make everything okay right now.” Sully piped in again. “Wouldn’t even take a second really. Or a lot of effort on my part. I could just snap my fingers and make it all go away.”

  Ronnel looked afraid again.

  “Charlie, is this the guy that killed old man Whitmer?”

  I shook my head.

  “No, he isn’t. He’s just a friend.”

  Ronnel looked even more alarmed.

  “You’re friends with this guy!?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t he be?” Sully asked.

  In a way that really didn’t help. Also, he could say what he liked but I was almost sure he was still using his [Limited Omniscience] right now to spy on everyone’s thoughts.

  “Because you look like a bad man who pretends to help people, but instead gets them hooked on drugs.” Ronnel answered at once.

  “Huh.” Luigi spoke up with a surprised face. “Smart kid. Only, it’s not drugs. It’s superpowers.”

  “What are superpowers?” Ronnel asked.

  “Never mind that.” I snapped. “We need to get going.”

  “Now hold on a second Charlie. I really resent that implication. I don’t get people hooked on anything. Why, everyone I help is always extremely happy to see me.”

  “That’s literally what Whitmer said to honest constable John before he set him on fire.” Ronnel answered at once.

  Then he looked a bit sad.

  “I miss old constable John. He gave us sweets and didn’t beat us when he saw us on the streets.”

  “Yeah. I miss him too.” Another voice called out. And then the sentiment was echoed once more and then again and again and again.

  “Well then…” Sully spread his arms. Donning a singularly disarming smile. The kind Sister Nina donned before she whacked me over the head with a rolling pin for coming home late into the night.

  “What would you kids say if I told you I could make it so that no good people ever had to suffer a beating or a murder ever again?”

  He stepped closer and his shadow lengthened with him. The bottom of his false shoes looking as if they were leaving oily black footprints on the creaky old boards.

  “What would you say if I could give you all loving homes where no one would ever think to beat you ever again? What would you say if I told you that none of you would ever need to know what it was like to be hungry. To be hunted. To be afraid.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  I was about to snap at him, when I noticed him gazing over to me through the corner of his eye.

  And suddenly, the man seemed twice as tall as he had been a moment before. His physical bulk looming over me like a living mountain of bone, muscle and sinew.

  Sully’s post-Shifter body had always been tall and broad-shouldered of course, but he never carried himself in a way that made the changes stand out. He always felt, smaller. Less intimidating than he should have been. To the point where people like Prudence, who were not stupid by any means, felt comfortable talking down to him and calling him all sorts of names to his face.

  ‘Fool.’ I reminded myself. ‘You were just degrading him in your head a second ago. You let yourself forget too. Fool. Bloody fool. Remember what happens to the people that get in Sully’s way.’

  I swallowed a lump in my throat and it felt like I was trying to swallow an entire desert all at once. The million, million little grains of sand feeling like white-hot pincers burning my tongue.

  ‘No.’ I reminded myself. ‘He won’t do anything to me. He wouldn’t. That isn’t who Sully is. He’s trying to make a point.’

  That became evident enough when he started speaking.

  “Tell me, how do you feel when someone overlooks you?” He asked. “How does it feel when you’re going through the day and you see the children who have wealthy families going to their school? How does it feel to see them walking by in their nicely pressed shirts and pants and skirts when you have to make do with the rags and old clothes that Sister Nina has to sow and re-sow for you all those times? How does it feel to have to go up and down a chimney to clean it up and get stuck? To scream and have your screams be ignored? How does it feel to know that the guards don’t see you as people? That the people on the street in this town you grew up in avert their gazes when you pass by?”

  Everyone went quiet.

  “I bet it doesn’t feel good.” He continued. “I’ll bet it doesn’t feel good to catch a fish and then have other, bigger children steal it from you, right Ronnel?”

  Ronnel shivered. His hands moving to his arm. Only then did I see the bruises.

  “How did you know about that?” He asked nervously.

  “Oh, I know about a great many things Ronnel. Charlie knows and he can attest to that. I know how bad it felt when the boys from the school came down and kicked you. I know how you lashed out and broke the lead bully’s nose. I know his father had guards coming and searching the docks for you after the fact. I know what would have happened if they had found you. Just as you yourself know. I know it isn’t fair and that the bruises hurt. I know you wanted to sell that fish to pay for a new dress for Gildi. I know that it wouldn’t have been enough. I know you knew that as well, deep down. I know you never went back to your favorite fishing spot after that and I know you always wondered if they would be waiting for you if you did.”

  Sully gave him his most empathetic smile.

  “The answer is yes, by the way. I know what you have felt, Ronnel. I know how you cursed Charlie in your head for abandoning you all. I know you swore to yourself you’d be different. I know about the coin purses you’ve been stealing.”

  I whirled towards Ronnel and saw that his eyes went wide as dinnerplates.

  “Oh yes. Ronnel. I know what you’ve gone through. Better than Charlie in fact. Better than my friends Henry and Luigi. Who stand there looking stupid while judging me for the things I have had to do.”

  He pointed at both of them.

  “Henry lived in a mansion, you know. Not a very large one, but he did. He had three large rooms all to his own and every meal was made of only the finest foods my own world could produce. In fact, I recall him being a bit chubby when we were young. Before he got into the habit of exercising. Henry could snap his fingers and pull out a little tablet called a phone and his parents let him order anything he damn-well pleased with the magic tablet all he liked, whenever he liked.”

  Henry did not even have the decency to deny it.

  “He lived like a king. All day, every day. And so he feels that I go too far. That the problem of children starving isn’t bad enough to justify my methods. Go ahead and show him your ribs, Ronnel.”

  It wasn’t a command. Not one that used Psy. But Ronnel did it anyway.

  I knew what they looked like of course. Mine had poked out the same way not too long ago. But the sight of them landed on Henry like a fist to his stomach. His body almost doubling over as if struck.

  Luigi was not much better.

  “And I can make it all go away. I can make it so that bullies never hunt you or anyone else again.”

  He stepped closer and a chill spread through the air. The hairs on my body standing on end as they had when we were on that frozen world.

  “Not just for you either. I can do that for every single little boy and girl in this entire world. I can make it so that they never go to bed with bruises again. I can make it so that they never go to bed hungry again. I can make it so that people like those bullies repent. Truly repent. I can make it so that they know what they did was wrong and I can make them and their parents and even the guards apologize. I can do all that and more. Oh I can do so much more Ronnel.”

  I looked back at his shadow and saw two heads there instead of one. Eyes shining like diamonds in the night.

  “I can make you strong. Strong enough to bend steel with your bare hands. I can make you fast. Faster than the horses and the coaches they carry about. I can make you tough. Tough enough to never have to worry about anything from nature ever hurting you again. I can make it so that you know what other people are thinking. I can make it so that you are never alone and that you always have friends to call upon in your hour of need.”

  Little hands spread out from that shadow. Reaching for the shadows in the corners and beneath the furniture. Those little hands belonged to little boys and those little shadows were smiling just as Sully was. Their incorporeal suits crackling in and out of reality as purple sparks flew from the wooden boards.

  “I could make it so that you could fly, Ronnel. Like a bird. I could give you the power to fly, high above them all. To go wherever you wished, whenever you wished. And I could do it, just… like… that…”

  I let out a breath and only then realized I had been holding it. The air misting in front of me. Ronnel too didn’t move. Neither did Gildi or any of the other children. Their own bodies shaking so violently that they seemed to be spasming.

  “I know what you’re thinking Ronnel. You and Gildi and all your other siblings. You think I’m some manner of evil wizard. That I’ll call dark forces and spirits to take you away. That I’ll ask for a terrible blood price for anything I give you.”

  He pointed to me.

  “But that’s not true. All I ask is that Charlie let me help. That’s all. I already want to help you and all the other little children in the world. I want to do justice. Real, lasting justice. I want you to not be hungry anymore. I want you to stop being afraid. And all it would take is a few words from my friend here.”

  He waved over at me.

  “Just a few words, in exchange for your life. For a chance at a real life. For all the other children here and out in the great wide world beyond the waters to have an honest chance at genuine happiness.”

  Sully blinked once and the power fled from the air. The shadows vanishing like the remnants of some terrible nightmare upon waking.

  “Give it some thought, would you?”

  And with that, Sully bowed and left the building. Humming to himself as he stopped only long enough to close the door behind him.

  I had been forced to waste valuable time after that. Trying to explain to the others that no, Sully wasn’t an evil spirit come back from the depths of Tartarus to steal all their souls. And that yes, he was technically telling the truth.

  However, when I explained why I told him to keep his creepy little powers to himself, Ronnel and Gildi and Ned and Hedra and all the other children had called me mad.

  “They took Sister Nina away! You dumbarse!” Hedra had shouted at me. Her pigtails swaying as she shook from anger.

  “If he wanted your soul, that’d be one thing. But all he wants is for you to tell him he’s right!”

  “Yeah!” Ned echoed her. “Fuck you Charlie. I’ll go out there and tell him he’s right right now!”

  “It isn’t about who’s right and who’s wrong!” I’d yelled at them. “It’s about what happens afterwards! Would you want to spend the rest of your life knowing you’ll never be as happy as you were when you were around him?”

  “Yes!” Ronnel had shouted over me. “I got my arse handed to me Charlie! I didn’t say anything to that creepy guy but he didn’t tell the whole story! One of those boys pressed a knife to my ear and said he’d cut it off and then feed it to the fish! He was crazy! And now you tell me you could stop people like that whenever you wanted!? Without having to fight the guards or get shot!? You’re the crazy one here! Not him!”

  Gildi was crying.

  “One of them men… hick…. They hurt Sister Nina. They…. They…”

  I hugged her and consoled her for as long as it took. All while the other children told me to tell my evil spooky friend to get the others back.

  “I’ll do it myself.” I assured all of them. “I’ll do it the old fashioned way.”

  “But the guards will kill you!” Ned shouted again. “Or they’ll kill us all when you leave! Which you said you had to do! What are you smoking to think this is a good idea!?”

  I didn’t have an answer to that. And the only thing I could do was to hug him tighter and promise that it would all be okay.

  When I finally did leave with Henry in tow, the man looked like he’d been beaten worse than Ronnel. His face was blue, almost like some of the bodies in the corpse wagons. His eyes moist and full of tears.

  “I… it’s not like Sully said man. I care about people. I… we donated to charity all the time. Me and Sully had to do 80 hours of volunteer work for the community to graduate high-school and we went to food banks to help needy families. It’s… It’s not as if I ignored what was happening man. I’m not a bad person.”

  “I never said you were.” I told him bluntly.

  “I mean… yeah. We had a big house. But mom and dad had to work their (Sully)es off for that house man. They had to slave away really long hours. We worked for what we had. It’s not like they didn’t earn it. And yeah we went on vacations a lot when the Rifts weren’t too bad. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t care about people. I donated food every single food drive and I gave to children’s hospitals whenever I could. There’s this foundation. SickKids. We donated all the time. We did. I swear we did. I never bullied anyone either man. Sully knows I always shared whatever I had with anyone who asked. I’m not a bad…”

  “Henry shut the (Gnome) up before I (Gnome) you up.” I snapped at him. Although I felt terrible about it a second later.

  “I’m not blaming you for anything. I’m trying to keep my thoughts in check. I know you didn’t beat the (Gnome) out of my brother and I know you’re not the kind of guy to do that. I’m not angry at you. If there’s anyone we should be angry with it’s Sully for… for…”

  “Telling the truth?” He offered as he deflated. “I mean, holy (Sully) man. I never saw it that way. When I saw that kid’s ribs I… something inside me broke. I’ve been giving Sully all kinds of (Sully) this whole time. But now I feel like (Sully) for not really thinking about the people he’s been helping. Even back home, when we came back, the first thing someone did was offer us food when they thought Vince was hungry and when he saw Luigi starving.”

  Henry looked torn.

  “I’m starting to feel like an (Sully)hole man. I’m starting to think I had this all wrong.”

  “Oh it isn’t about being wrong Henry.” Sully said from behind us. Descending from above on pure white wings.

  “I’m also not stupid or anything. I know what my help looks like. I know that some people have funny reactions. Especially collectives that get merged together when it happens. [Omniscience] ain’t easy to handle and I’m not expecting anyone else to do it as well as me. That’d be silly of me.”

  He chuckled to himself with far too much self-satisfaction for my liking.

  “I’m only presenting you with the reality you didn’t see beforehand, my dear friend. You knew your coffee was harvested by slaves. Even back home. But you…”

  “Hey! I only ever drank fair-trade coff…!”

  “Picked by slaves.” Sully spoke over him. “I can show you their memories, if you’d like to see them for yourself. In fact, I can show you every single point of view along the supply chain that made all the coffees you’ve ever drank possible. From Paula, the little Colombian girl that first picked them up with her sore little hands, to Pedro, the overseer who beat her and her brother when they didn’t work fast enough. To Hector, the manager who yelled at Pedro because he was behind schedule. To Edward. The company representative who was inspecting the farm that day, before then moving on to inspect another farm in Florida after his flight. A single unbroken chain of misery and despair, with each person suffering their own ills. Would you like to see it Henry?”

  Henry paled and shriveled up within a second. The large, strong man looking like a callow boy who’d just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  “I… no… I… I’m…”

  Sully laughed his concerns away. Smiling a simpering smile.

  “Why, there’s no reason to feel ashamed my good friend. You did not know. There was no possible way you could have known. Edward, like all the other inspectors, lied on his report. If he hadn’t, he would have been promptly fired and replaced. Or worse. And he himself had a sick mother that needed caring. And a daughter of his own, whose mother had sadly passed. I do not judge you, Henry. No more than I judged Edward. People are fallible and evil sprouts in all manner of small ways before cascading into the forces I’m describing. Small sins turning into mountains as they pile up. Second by second. It is not your fault.”

  He turned that smile on me.

  “However, you could be the one to stop it. Charlie. You could be the one to stop all such abuses, all over this world of yours. Like I said. All I need is your consent. Speak the word and it shall be done. Give me a yes, and no child on this Earth need ever go hungry again.”

  The temptation ate at me. Eating into my skin like a cold steel sword. Biting away at the corners of my mind.

  Without him even saying it, I saw Ronnel being beaten. I knew the type to do it, after all. I’d been beaten too. More times than I could count.

  I pressed my hand to my cheek on reflex. To the spot where the worst bruises had been that night when Whitmer senior killed my dog.

  “No.” I said. Hoping against hope that my voice was not as shaky as it felt.

  “I won’t agree to it. Not yet.”

  “Not yet.” Sully pounced on the words. “And what would it take for you to change your stubborn mind I wonder?”

  I shook my head, but he surprised me by grabbing my shoulder. Pulling me close until we were almost hugging.

  “Open you Excursion window Charlie.” Sully whispered. “Tell me what you see.”

  I did so. Seeing the now hundred people who had lost their lives.

  “I could save the rest.” Sully reminded me. “Their children need not be orphans. I could save them all Charlie. I could keep families alive and together. I could keep their little ones from feeling that way you felt. The way your brother felt.”

  I drew in sharp breath and pushed him away once more.

  “Just think about it will you?” Sully called after me as I ran.

  “That’s a lot of lives for such a low price. After all.”