Page 49 of Made

“That’s okay because I don’t really care what you are, who you are, or where we are. I could slap myself for bothering to ask. Send me home. Please.”

Araxinthe’s voice was smooth and extraordinarily pleasant. Esme couldn’t place the accent, but it was somehow familiar. Consonants were softened. Vowels extended. Her words coated Esme’s anxiety with calm, like drops of slow summer rain landing on warm skin and sliding away.

“I suspect that to some you’re quite entertaining.”

“Not what I’m known for.”

“What are you known for?”

“I’m not interested in supplying information for my dossier. I’m interested in getting out of here.”

“As I said, we’re Cardinals.”

“I’m sure that’s nice for you. As I said, I don’t care.”

Araxinthe continued as if Esme hadn’t spoken. “That means nothing to you? We’re the monitors of physical conventions. We make sure the planet’s rate of spin remains stable. We supervise such things as direction, gravity, time, and perhaps most importantly… fate.”

Esme looked around, feeling momentarily intrigued. The answer to her question about the identity of her captors sparked an interest in hearing further details, but she resisted curiosity and continued to press her case.

“Let’s skip straight to the ‘why’?”

“Very well.” Araxinthe kept her spine straight in a way that looked uncomfortable. “Allow me to explain by telling a story. Bear with me and I’ll refrain from tedium when possible.”

As Araxinthe began her tale, Esme felt her eyelids closing, like the first stage of sedation. “Wait,” she said. “I don’t want to…” She didn’t complete the sentence or the thought before she was sound asleep. But she found herself in a state that was more altered reality than dreamscape. She could still hear Araxinthe clearly, but saw the story play out visually, almost as if she were an observer at the scene.

“This is a story about you, but mostly about your mother. She was one of us. A daughter of destiny. One of the essential weavers of fate. A keeper of time. A supervisor of physics and what some call scientific principles. We’re tasked with maintaining the operations of governing rules, but we can make exceptions when necessary or grant the ability to make exceptions. That is a principle all its own, which humans call magic.

“Your mother’s true name was Vaxingthe. Though one of many, she is missed. Her absence created a void that disturbed the delicate balance of… everything.

“One day, as she worked her shift, weaving strands of fate, she happened to see a human hunter in the land of the Prettanic Isles. The Cardinal rules regarding mingling with humans and leaving our collective are absolute. None of us had ever before defied that particular dictate. Since the inception of this order, which began with the creation of the universe, she was the first and only one to do so.

“Vaxingthe saw a handsome carefree hunter laughing, as he passed before the vision room that was her workstation. She was instantly cursed with love, which led to breaking notone, but two rules. She pierced the wall that keeps us secret from lesser beings and mixed her divine blood with that of a human.

“The affair was interrupted by Vaxingthe’s declaration of pregnancy. The hunter’s admission, as he left her burdened with the greatest of all vulnerabilities, was that he was already married with children, and had no interest in taking on another obligation. Our sister was unable to either undo or correct her mistake because, by breaking our laws, she’d rendered herself almost as helpless as a human, trapped in the human dimension. When I say ‘almost’, I mean that some of her divinity clung to her changed state. Something akin to residue.

“Her capacity for godlike oversight was partially crippled, but she was resourceful. As her belly grew fuller by the day in a time that was notably cruel to unmarried women with children, she learned how to survive and navigate human life. Vaxingthe learned about the demands of human bodies like hunger and shelter and found that her innate weaving skills could be useful. She supported herself and you, her beautiful daughter, although modestly, until the day she was brutally murdered for suspicion of witchcraft. You knew her by the human name she adopted, Avice. The name meant she would see her enemy coming.” After a lengthy pause, Araxinthe said with unmistakable sadness, “She didn’t.

“When Cardinals leave the protection of our ethereal realm for any reason other than official directives, we leave immortality behind. We become as susceptible to disease, aging, and death as the lowest of creatures.

”It was a few hundred years before it came to our attention, accidentally, that Vaxingthe had born a daughter. A gifted daughter at that. Surprising since you’re half human.

“Your mother did not have permission to procreate. So, she hid herself and you, using a very old and elusive spell. Whether successful or unsuccessful, spellsalwaysexact a price. In her case, the price she paid was lack of protection. Once your existence became known to us, we immediately made plans to send a recovery team to bring you here, where you belong. But there was something else that needed to be done.

“Death became Vaxingthe’s destiny, but the gruesome brutality of that death could not be overlooked. When we learned what had happened, a tidal wave of rage crashed over the Cardinal collective. Since time is fluid to us, it made no difference that it had been hundreds of years since your mother’s death. The first impulse of the sisterhood was to level the town and its occupants with a theatrical purge that would teach humans a proper lesson. Cooler heads among the body managed to mitigate the desire for revenge by pointing out that humans would not make the connection between the event and the punishment. No living human had a hand in what happened to Vaxingthe. It wasn’t even written into history. Witch burnings didn’t rise to that level of significance in the minds of humans at that time.

“Nonetheless, something had to be done in the name of justice. In a final compromise, we charged the demigoddess of weather with the task of sending a freak hailstorm. The modern town, which might better be called a small city, was pummeled with balls of ice so large they damaged everything not under the cover of concrete. Cars, roofs, people, and pets if they did not find shelter soon enough. It went on for hours. There were twenty-five deaths. Not enough to satisfy the anger that smoldered in the hearts of the Cardinals who’d known and loved Vaxingth, but it wasn’t nothing.”

As understanding congealed in Esme’s conscious mind, her eyes flew open wide. “This isn’t a kidnapping! You don’t plan to let me go!”

Araxinthe looked surprised. “Of course, not. You’re obligated to take your mother’s place. Have you not been paying attention?”

Esme felt her jaws lock, but tried to discipline herself to remember one can’t be in control when emotions are out of control. After a deep breath in, she spoke carefully and deliberately.

“Yes. I have been paying attention. My mom had a job here. She left. You found out about me and abducted me against my will. You want me to take her place. Thanks. I’m flattered but not interested. I already have a life. Send me back. Now. Please.”

“Aren’t you even curious about the contribution you could make with your talents?”

“No.” Esme shook her head. “Not in the least. I’m happy with the contribution I’m making with my talents now. Send me back. Now. Please.”

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