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Fetch nodded. “And do you understand your powers brother?” he asked. “We cannot have a dangerous repeat of last night.”
“Maybe you should be speaking to my creator since I’m yet lacking my full fetching and fathoming skills. He surely took long enough to act.”
“He said your defenses hacked the chill chip to prevent shut-down,” Fetch said, still amazed over that one. “But...perhaps he was actually distracted with his own female. They can become larger than life and death.”
“Can’t say I fathom it.”
“But you will. Have you spoken to her since?”
“No. But she’s next in the que.”
“And you’re not thrilled,” Fetch discerned.
“I can easily live without fetching and fathoming my own things, but I can't seem to handle it with her.”
“The female,” he whispered, his body responding as thoughts of Rowan began to sing through his blood. “She is indeed a remarkable being. Fetched by blood and bone and only partly fathomed while finishing. Each day holds another puzzle. And you think you fathom this puzzle, but no, no, no. That would be amisfathoming. Every puzzle is different.” He lolled his head to Kaphas, grinning. “I fetch a little excitement has cropped up in your blood.”
Kaphas stood and paced as Fetch discerned exactly what it was. The same consuming fire in his brothers.
“How much have you tasted?”
“I want to tear the world apart for one drop of what she holds for Handy. And every second I’m alive, I despise him more for it. That’s how much I’ve tasted.”
Fetch stood now too, hearing Pain heading their way with a very anxious Butterfly. “Your company is here. But before I go, I need to impart a littlegiftthat I fathomed.”
****
KAPHAS WANTED THISdestined meeting done so he could get on with his issues with Celeste. He didn’t know why this meeting was required but everything in his memory bank said it was. This woman played a pivotal role in his evolution and the faster he learned how, the quicker he could get on with that evolution. He had one more death, and the countdowns were becoming excruciating.
Once he was fully grown, then something else would begin. He didn’t know what, but within him was an eagerness to do whatever it was.
He heard the outer door open then a soft knock on the glass. He came around the room divider and made his way over to the door of his room, opening it.
The second their eyes connected, something in his mind opened. Those drawings on his eyelids returned but they weren’t strange now, they were symbols that defined her. Shewasa key. And he knew her better than he knew his brothers and himself.
“Butterfly.” The word barely carried on his breath as they stared at one another.
“Handy?”
His head shook but it lacked his earlier conviction as her voice sparked every neuron in his being.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Kaphas.” Her small smile stirred him in ways he needed to understand. “That’s a...reallybadass name.”
Her smile grew and he stepped aside to let her in, eager for what he felt coming now.
“Thank you,” he said, watching her as she entered. He shut the door, realizing. “You’re not afraid of me.”
She looked over her shoulder and turned, smiling. “Why would I be?” Her gaze moved over him, and her smile grew. “Wow.... look at you.” A breath rushed out as her eyes glistened back on his. “You finally got your very own body.”
What he’d done to her came to his mind and for the first time, he felt the full meaning of his actions. “I had to hurt you,” he whispered. “It was the only way.”
She nodded a little at him, her forehead pinched over clear blue eyes. “Pain told me.”
He held her gaze as memories connected to events. “You were supposed to be for him.”
She smiled more. “I sure was. And now Iamhis. That woulda been the deal with or without that pregnancy. But I know Quantum required it. I understand. Even though it hurt like a muthafucka.”
He angled his head, realizing something he hadn’t once considered. She wasn’t angry over his lie as much as she was hurt over... “You wanted the baby,” he marveled, wondering why he never imagined or thought such a thing.
