Sunblind Serpent: The Zodiac Without A House

Marek remained inside the learning center longer than he originally planned. Since he had finally found a place where Mara had actually stayed for more than a few minutes, he decided to read every transfer note connected to her before leaving.

Fortunately, there were only three.

ARRIVED WITH EXTERNAL GEMINI CUSTODIAN.

OBSERVED MINOR ECHO INSTABILITY.

DEPARTED VOLUNTARILY.

Marek stared at the first entry.

’Custodian?’

”Who wrote this?” he asked.

The registrar pointed toward a medical office farther inside the building.

Marek went there.

The nurse inside remembered the woman in silver-white clothing better than she remembered Mara. Apparently, what caught her attention was the woman’s Gemini Mark. According to her, whenever the woman used whatever ability she had, her Mark did not simply become brighter like the other awakened people she had observed.

Instead, parts of the Gemini geometry appeared in pairs along both of her wrists before disappearing again. Moreover, the nurse felt like she was talking to a being of a high stature. Her accent felt very perfect but at the same time, quite strange. Her clothes also screamed royalty.

The nurse had even tried counting the geometry along that woman’s wrists. Unfortunately, she somehow could not.

Marek wrote that down. ”Did she call herself a custodian?”

”No.”

Marek stopped writing. ”Then why did you put that?”

”We did.”

”Why?”

”Because she was responsible for the minors.”

”According to who?”

The nurse looked at him with a tired expression, probably already annoyed by how many questions he was asking. ”According to the fact that all of them listened to her, and she knew what was happening to their Marks better than we did. Moreover, it’s not that we trusted her with the minors. She just seemed amiable and easy-going. Plus, she seemed intent and eager on helping these Gemini bearers.”

Marek looked at what he had written.

’So competence became authority. But authority is not outwardly exercised. From the nurse’s account, it seems like she’s not a bad person at all.’

He understood the part where competence could become authority.

After Day 367, people had become much more willing to listen to whoever seemed like they knew what they were doing. In some cases, that was probably the only reason entire facilities were still functioning.

The nurse glanced at his notebook. ”You’re the brother?”

”Yes.”

”She talked about you.”

Marek’s pen stopped. ”Mara?”

”Yes.”

”What did she say?”

”Mostly complaints.”

For some reason, relief came before Marek could stop it.

’Sounds about right.’

Apparently, Mara had asked whether anyone coming from the Exhibition Center had registered there. She also asked if their registry network could send a message without revealing the location of whoever sent it. Unfortunately, they could not.

The nurse remembered that the silver-white woman had answered Mara before the clerk could.

”She told your sister not to use the registry network,” the nurse said.

Marek frowned. ”Why?”

”Didn’t explain.”

’Of course she didn’t. Could be something related to finding locations. If so, why?’

Marek closed his notebook.

The information was useful, but the situation around Mara was becoming stranger the more he followed her.

She was apparently travelling willingly with the silver-white woman. She knew Marek might be searching for her. She had even been relieved after learning that he had not registered there yet.

And now, she had apparently tried to find a way to send him a message without revealing where she was.

’What exactly are you trying to tell me, Mara?’

Unfortunately, there was no answer written anywhere in the records. Marek returned to the car.

The next stabilization facility was north. Another one was east. A third had been established inside a community college near the river district, although according to the old map, the actual river no longer passed anywhere near it.

Marek visited all three.

At every facility, he parked several streets away before entering the visible perimeter. He stopped the engine, removed anything that might easily identify where he had come from, and approached on foot. He was just lucky the car’s tank was full. Otherwise, he’d be forced to find another one. Not to mention, finding the right keys to start their engines was much harder.

If he heard government radios, he used another entrance. If too many officers were checking registration records, he spoke to civilians permitted to go outside the facility’s perimeters instead.

The method took more time than simply walking inside and giving his name. But at least nobody could easily report his location back to the Exhibition Center.

’Better slow than detained. But I need to find how to patch things quickly. I need to find Mara as soon as possible. There’s clearly something wrong with the woman she was with. Although Mara is hard to fool for a kid, she can still be fooled. After all, that woman might be very powerful if people could not stop her from leaving facilities. How the hell is she able to tag along so many Gemini minors anyway?’

He was still cautious about how to deal with that woman in silver-white clothes. He had fooled Mara easily, so many times, that he knew the limits of her understanding of things. For example, when he sensed Mara had something to do, he lied to her that he’d go to the university for something and that she’d be left alone for a while. He confirmed that there was really something wrong when she seemed so eager for him to go.

So, he went outside and pretended to walk to a nearby bus station. He could still feel Mara watching him from the windows. The moment he felt like he had already walked very far, he turned in another direction that would still lead him to their house.

Apparently, when he arrived there, he caught her calling someone ”love”. She was even giggling so much. He was peeking through her room’s window and immediately teased her out of nowhere. ”Your brother doesn’t have a girlfriend yet. Don’t try to outrun me.”

Well, Marek already knew what happened after that.

’Really so hard to fool, but can still be fooled, I guess.’