Judgment by Sean Platt

Author:Sean Platt [Truant, Sean Platt and Johnny B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone

CHAPTER 32

The big black dog ran ahead then sat in front of the wall, waiting for Clara, his tail wagging.

Clara’s memories of the Heaven’s Veil viceroy’s mansion were clearer than her mother liked to believe, and it struck Clara now how similarly they’d been constructed — on the inside, if not out; in the details, if not the overall scheme. Heaven’s Veil had been like a Roman palace, and this place was a fittingly Ancient Egyptian one with a kooky modern interpretation, but both were stone and wood, and the wood was always elaborately carved, sconces on the wall distinct but similar enough to have been born from the same basic mind. The floor plans echoed each other (Clara sometimes still walked the Heaven’s Veil mansion in her mind; she’d read once about a memory technique called the “memory palace” and used their old home as her place to mentally place things she ought not forget), and the room sizes were too consistently repeated to feel like coincidence. To Clara, the echoes felt like two places designed by the same architect using distinctly different styles: an artist could change her mode but never hide her own, innate voice.

Two mansions created by the same mind.

Which, considering what Clara could see in the Astral collective (not much, but she caught a sense the way she did with most things), made perfect sense. They had many bodies, and one shared mind.

It was different from the way humans had many bodies and one shared mind. But, like the mansions, similar at root.

The wall where Nocturne had sat himself was wood-paneled, carved and polished, bookended by crown molding and a five-inch baseboard. The floor was hardwood, not tile like much of the rest of the house or carpeted like others. They’d descended a flight of stairs, and windows vanished from the walls. But even without looking out into the dark, Clara’s internal compass told her she was a breath below ground, in the part of the house facing the Ark’s courtyard, way across on the far end. Viceroy Jabari had given them that virtual tour, showing them around the local area without actually needing to show them around. Clara knew the others found this suspicious — being shown around while still inside. Clara could feel by probing at Ms. Jabari — it was true, they weren’t permitted to leave. But she also sensed conflict inside the viceroy, and it was ordinary, everyday discord like Clara felt coming from her mother. Mom sometimes forbade Clara things she wanted because it was best for her, not because she wanted to be mean. Viceroy Jabari’s feelings were like that. Clara liked the viceroy and believed even the parts of what she said that Clara, by tuning in, couldn’t objectively prove true or false. She wouldn’t lead them into danger no matter what Mr. Peers might think.

Nocturne was still sitting by the wooden wall, his tail slapping the floor. The hallway died at the wall, and Clara knew that when she reached it, she’d have to decide between right and left.

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