Chapter 28: Friendship Prison (2/2)
”Oh geez, uh…” I blink, not having considered that. “I want to, and if you need me I probably can, but I promised to head back to the guild cuz there's a lot going on? Can we head down below maybe?”
”Uh... yeah, sure,” Lyn says. ”You okay, kiddo?”
”Down!” I insist. ”Down, down, down!”
I hop down the ladder, a concerned Lyn following. It's not that much of a drop, but it's really cool that I can just jump now and not worry about hurting myself. Rowan is already down there, and he turns and flashes a huge grin at me when I drop in.
”Vita! Hey! How are you doing?”
”Really weird!” I answer, running up to hug him.
He grabs me and returns the hug, spinning me once.
”Weird how?” he asks.
Lyn finishes closing the hatch and drops down afterwards, looking thoughtful.
”Well... do you guys think I'm not empathetic?”
”Uh… well, I wouldn't say that,” Rowan hedged. ”But I do think you have a very different worldview than most people. You tend to filter things through that.”
”That's totally normal though,” Lyn adds. ”Everyone does that. Why are you asking?”
”Well, the parasite who lives in my brain and has access to all my memories says I'm not empathetic enough.”
There's a beat of silence.
”I mean, normally I would just assume she's being a bitch,” I continue, ”but she'd probably know, right?”
Rowan and Lyn look at each other, as if to confirm the other was feeling just as confused and horrified as they were.
”...Vita, what did you do?” Rowan asks.
”Nothing!” I protest. ”Okay, technically a lot of things, but… okay. Look, so like, on our way back from the mission, Penelope and Remus both got infected by these mind control slimes that are only as smart as whoever they're controlling, right? The one in Remus is a huge jerk that tried to infect me, but the one in Penelope was super nice and helped heal the kids and stuff. So when I found out they were all slimes I didn't want to kill her, but she has to be in somebody's body, and being trapped in her own body was a waking nightmare for the real Penelope so I had to let her hang out in mine. Her name is Penta, because she's like an amalgam of me and Penelope's heads. Also, if anybody else finds out about her she'll probably die. Wanna talk to her?”
”Sure!” Lyn says, deciding to embrace the crazy.
Penta takes full control, smoothly altering my posture to be more like how Penelope carries herself. She didn't normally; perhaps it was for Lyn and Rowan's benefit.
”Hello, you two,” she says. ”I know a lot about you, but it's nice to finally meet in person.”
”Hello... Penta,” Rowan says slowly. ”What are you, exactly?”
”I am a translucent pseudo-liquid approximately two inches in diameter when condensed into a spherical shape. I am capable of permeating flesh and integrating with a body's nervous system in order to read and spoof commands. In other words, 'mind control slime' about covers it.”
”And you can just... do that?” Lyn asks.
”To anyone, yes,” Penta says. ”At least so far as I know. Although you don't have to worry. If I attempt to leave Vita's body, she will kill me.”
”So for now, we're taking turns!” I chime in.
”Which is to say I’m mostly just hiding. Vita's natural abilities make me a non-threat to her, as for some reason she can still use them when I'm in control,” Penta finishes.
”You know,” Rowan says, ”just when I think I can start to relax about you, Vita, you always find some way to make me utterly terrified again.”
”She's a teenager,” Penta says. ”That's how fathers are supposed to feel.”
Rowan chokes on something and starts coughing. Hey! Rowan isn't my dad!
”Vita, Rowan could not possibly be any more your dad. Just like Lyn is—”
Lyn's face twitches dangerously.
”—your big sister,” Penta finishes, not missing a beat.
Lyn grins, suitably mollified.
”Welp, I like her!” she says.
”This is betrayal!” I protest. ”Lyn is totally my mom and you know it!”
”Can we stop arguing parental lineage and address the fact that you have a slime from outside the walls living inside your head?” Rowan asks, exasperated.
“Yes I’m going to need a place to hide, I suspect,” Penta says.
“Will you?” I ask. “Biomancers can’t even detect you, right?”
“I was lying through my teeth about that,” Penta explains. “I could absolutely detect myself with Penelope’s spells. I wouldn’t be surprised if the hunter’s guild has other ways to deal with Nawra as well, since they’re aware of us.”
“But where would we hide you…?” I murmur, glancing at Lyn and Rowan.
“Hell no,” Rowan says firmly, holding up his hands. “Vita, I love you to death, but the fact that you somehow managed to make yourself even more existentially disturbing is both impressive and not something I want a part of.”
“Yeah, please don’t put your parasite in anyone, honey,” Lyn says. “No offence to Penta, but that’s… not going to fly here.”
I frown, but nod. That makes sense, having my body controlled by a slime wasn’t exactly the most fun thing in the world.
“Sorry,” Penta murmurs.
It’s fine, I think back. I knew it would be like that when I took you in. But now we’ve got to figure out how the hell to hide you. How long can you live outside a body?
“Not long,” Penta admits. “I’ll start to starve after a few minutes without a host. Knowing what I know now, I think my body starts to consume my soul for energy to survive that. I think that’s what causes me to lose memories.”
I frown.
“Interesting. So you can eat souls too?”
“No. Not like you do at all. But you’ve seen that sick and dying creatures have strained souls, right? My species is always strained outside of a host. Our bodies aren’t designed to function on their own. Yet instead of dying like we should, we consume our very beings for fuel.”
“So can we just put you in a rat…?”
“It would certainly help, yes. But a rat’s brain can’t do what I need a brain for anymore. My soul is too big. I’d probably still start to lose myself after a while.”
“I thought Penelope was disproving the whole brain-soul link.”
“I have my own theory,” Penta said. “We can use you to confirm it. But later. Surviving the day comes first.”
I glance at Lyn and Rowan, their faces placid as they wait patiently for me to stop babbling to myself like a crazy woman.
“I’m honestly surprised you don’t even question the mind control slime,” I tell them.
“Eh, it’s less surprising than the animancy thing,” Lyn says, shrugging. “By the way, we got you another rat bucket to celebrate your return.”
“Oh, sweet!” I cheer, grinning.
“Told you she’d like it,” Lyn says, nudging Rowan. He puts his face in his hands.
“Watcher, why is my entire family insane?” he asks ruefully.
“Cuz you like ‘em crazy,” Lyn purrs, running a finger down his cheek.
Gross. I retrieve my bucket of rats, happily tearing out a handful of souls. The rats screech in terror as their kin die in droves, trapped in a pile of soon-to-be corpses, unable to escape. I toss their souls in my mouth like popcorn. Yum.
“Save one for me to hide in until we get a better plan,” Penta insists, halting my hand. A flash of fury passes through me at the takeover, but I take a breath and let it pass.
“Okay. Good idea,” I admit. “I also wanna see if we can use one of the rat corpses to make a me-slime Revenant. You know, of the Nawra that Remus put in me? I’ve been hanging onto that soul since I figure it’ll probably have good information.”
There’s a long pause before Penta responds.
“...Well, go ahead,” she answers eventually. “I had no special attachment to her, and she might have good information.”
“Woah, hold on!” Lyn says. “You wanna make a zombie in the house?”
“No,” I say. “I wanna make a Revenant in the house.”
“Is that safe?” she asks.
“Vita controls them,” Rowan says. “I’m not sure if the Templars can detect that, though.”
“There aren’t any nearby,” I reply. “Everyone within two hundred meters is way too small-souled to be one.”
“Still, it seems like a risk,” Lyn says hesitantly.
“Eh, if the Templars can sense soul weirdness we’re probably fucked anyway. I think mine’s about to hatch.”
“Hatch?” Rowan asks. “What does that mean?”
“I have absolutely no idea.”
I pluck a corpse out of the murder-bucket, nabbing Slime-Vita’s soul as well. Putting the two together, I find that this time it sticks just fine. The rat looks around in confusion, and squeaks.
“Hey there,” I tell it. “Can you understand me?”
The rat nods. It looks around rapidly, then scurries over to a dirty part of the floor, starting to scratch something into the ground. I’m not a good reader, surprise surprise, but I’ve slowly picked up the alphabet and can sound out small words. The ones here, I understand.
HI MOM!
...This must be how Lyn feels.