Blessed gods! Melissa never feared death. She had cried out to him-to say goodbye? To call him into death with her?
No-Melissa was a giver of life, not a taker.
But her cry had been an appeal, not a leave-taking. She had called on him for help-and he had let her die! Just as he had let Detrus die-!
It was not Melissa’s time to die. He suddenly knew that as positively as he knew any of his other prophecies. And if it was not yet her time-
What if she is lost among the planes of existence?
“Zanos! Astra!” Torio exclaimed. “We must have a healer-and Melissa needs my help!”
“What?” Zanos asked in confusion.
“Make Melissa’s body live!” he said. “You can do it-make her heart beat. Make her breathe!”
“Torio!” exclaimed Astra. “Have you gone mad? That is what Maldek did to create orbu. You do not want Melissa condemned to that!”
“I’ll bring her back!” he said. “She died Maldek’s death, not her own! That’s what the prophecy meant, I’m certain of it. It is not Melissa’s time to die. I’ll go among the planes of existence and find her-unite her spirit with her body.”
“Torio,” said Astra, “no one has ever done that.”
“Yes they have!” he insisted. “/ did it-along with other Readers and Adepts. We brought Master Clement back when he was lost on the planes of existence. Zanos, Astra-Melissa may be lost the same way. Please-bring her body back for me!”
Zanos and Astra stared at one another. “I don’t think we have the power-” Zanos began.
“All you have to do is start her heart, keep her breathing. Please!”
“Torio,” said Astra, “what if you are wrong? No one has ever found the plane of the dead… and returned.”
“Astra, I have to try. You’d do it for Zanos, wouldn’t you?”
She looked at her husband, and Torio Read the agreement pass between them.
Carefully, they brought Melissa’s body over to the fire. In the freezing temperatures, it had not begun to decompose. Her extremities were frozen- but if Torio was right Melissa would be able to heal herself, and then Cassandra, of any damage.
Together, Zanos and Astra had the strength to start Melissa’s heart, to make her lungs expand and contract-but unlike Cassandra’s, Melissa’s body did not take up the established rhythms on its own.
They did not know Maldek’s secret for making orbu do so.
At least, if Torio failed, Melissa’s body would not be condemned to that half-life.
He lay down carefully before the fire, Gray curling up protectively against him as if the dog somehow understood that his master’s body required protection.
Then Torio was out of his body, light and free as always-free of the painful, penetrating cold.
For a moment he looked down at himself, then at Melissa. She appeared to be asleep; only a Reader could tell that she was dead.
But now… how was he to find her spirit?
There were many planes of existence. What Readers called the “plane of privacy” was undoubtedly a different place every time one went there-or perhaps a different place for each person, since one had to lead the other when two Readers sought a private conversation, and no other Reader could follow at a later time.
The plane of privacy was empty. Readers were warned not to come here alone, for the emptiness could drag at one’s being just as the cold fire had sucked up energy-
At the thought, Torio was suddenly aware of-
It was a trace of that cold fire! Dead now, cut off from its source, it had nonetheless left its impression.
Torio followed it, and dared at its core to tilt into another plane-where again he found that slight trace of the dissipated power.
Never had Torio been more than two planes of existence from his physical self. It was possible to be lost even on the plane of privacy-but he could not stop now!
Again he followed the trace of dead energy, and found himself under a night sky filled with stars.
No-not under-in the middle of. He was out in the midst of space, stars off in every direction to the very edges of the universe.
How marvelous to remain suspended here forever, reveling in such beauty-
But Melissa was not here. He must go on. Again he Read outward, seeking that trace of cold fire, harder to find here amid the hot fire of stars, the cold ice of comets.
Just as he feared the trail was lost, he found it again, ashes of exhausted power. Again he put his “self in its center, and shifted to another plane.
Winds howled and groaned. Astral forces ripped Torio from the “place” where he had entered, whipping his presence about helplessly, disorienting him.
In the moaning, weaving wind, though, he sensed again the expended power-somehow found the current that would take him to where it alone hung suspended in the center of the storm-and there he shifted planes again, into more wailing-
But these were people wailing! Spirits lost on the planes of existence-helpless, hopeless, gone mad with their inability to find their way either back to their bodies or onward to the plane of the dead!
“Melissa!” Torio projected, both hoping and fearing to find her here. “Melissa-come back with me!
We need you, Melissa-/ need you!”
He was answered by mocking howls. “Mellllisss-ssaaaa! Melllisssaaa! Mellissaa!”
Incoherent beings surged around him, challenging his presence.
Minds grasped at his-twisted minds that echoed Maldek’s power-madness. Minds that rejected death.
And out of the chaos one mind he knew-
Not Melissa!
Another mind, recognizing him, bent on destroying him as he had destroyed her-!
“Portia!” he identified. The corrupt Master of Masters who had died in the earthquake at Tiberium!
“Torio!” she challenged. “Lenardo’s minion! You tried to kill me-but you killed only my body. I’ve been waiting for you-all of you, Lenardo, Aradia, Melissa-”
“Melissa? Is she here?” Torio interrupted, terrified that the evil woman had Melissa trapped in this place of madness.
“Yes!” she told him. “Melissa is mine, now. Come, Torio-enter our company if you wish to find her!”
But Portia no longer had the control of a Master Reader. Torio Read clearly her surprise at his question, and her spontaneous, opportunistic lie. In truth, she had not seen Melissa.
“You are lying,” he told her flatly-but he was unable to conceal his disappointment.
Portia answered him with angry laughter. “You’ve lost her, have you? Well, you’ve gained me, blind Torio! Still alive, aren’t you? Stay here with me awhile-and then when I have properly trained you, I will send you back to do my work. I left far too much undone, thanks to you!”
As Torio remained conversing with Portia, the chaotic mass of garbled minds drifted out to surround him-would trap him here if he did not escape.
As they could not escape-
He dared not go in such a way as to show them how, to spread their madness throughout the planes of existence!
He was trapped here, as effectively as Portia!
But he had learned something about manipulating those who could Read thoughts-from Maldek, of all people.
“Yes, Portia,” he told her, “you did leave too much undone. Teach me how to wield power. I am searching for Melissa to learn both Reading and Adept powers. But you can teach me to rule better than she can. Show me, Portia-show me how you, a Reader confined to the Academy, gained power within the Aventine Empire next only to the Emperor’s own!”
Her mental laughter was sarcastic this time. “He only thought my power was second to his,” she replied. “A few more years, and I would have ruled the empire, the Emperor merely my puppet. You wish to learn this, Torio? Yes, I knew you sought power when you fled the Academy. You will work well for me. Let me show you how I rose to power, that you may do the same.”
And her mind began to conjure up images of the past, of a royal child identified as a Reader, condemned-as she perceived it-to the poverty and powerlessness of the Academy, where she grew into the most powerful Reader within memory.