Interference (ON HOLD)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Davey flopped down onto her bed, stomach delightfully full. A wave of warmth washed over her as she crawled further onto the bed, her eyes closing before she could make it to the pillow. She knew that she should probably be making a plan to deal with what was happening with Carly, but there was still so much she didn’t know, and this body was so tired. She didn’t even bother getting undressed before she let herself drift off into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.

When she woke up, the room was still lit by the glow of the chandelier. The numbers on the clock indicated showed it was not nearly time to wake up yet. Her first couple trips into a human body, she’d just allowed herself to get up if she woke during the night, not understanding the toll it would take on her body later in the day. Now, she allowed her bodies to sleep as long as they would allow. Sleep and hunger were the two sensations that made her feel the most human. She stumbled over to the wall, eyes barely open, and jammed down the switch to turn off the lights. She slipped down the zipper of her dress and let it fall to the floor. Her boots were too much trouble so she kept them on as she climbed back onto the bed. Sleep was just about to overtake her, when a bright white light broke through her dreariness.

She pulled the covers up around her eyes, blocking it out. She was sure that she’d turned off the light, but maybe that had been a dream. A really boring, mundane dream. She curled herself into a ball and pulled the blankets tighter. The skin of her arm brushed against the skin of her stomach. The fabric of her dress was gone, so that part hadn’t been a dream. As much as she wanted to just keep sleeping, a niggling thought at the back of her mind told her that she should probably find the source of the light. She kept her eyes closed and tried to just drift away, but that no longer appeared to be an option. Davey slowly opened her eyes; the room was dark except for a glow coming from the end of the bed. It wasn’t overly bright, but in the darkness, it shone like a beacon.

“What the hell?” She muttered, crawling over to pull her purse from the bench at the end of the bed. When she pulled the top open, the light brightened noticeably. She blinked as she scrounged around inside the bag. There it was. The source of her sleep disruption. Her totem. The white cube that housed it glowed a steady, even white. It had never done this before. She quickly opened the case and pulled out the pulsing flower. Settling it into her palm, she stared into the centre, where the light was brightest. She had no idea what to do. What she was supposed to be trying to access.

The longer she stared, the more the room around her began to fade. She felt the pull of the transport cocoon beginning to form around her. Her instincts were to pull away; she wasn’t ready to return yet. The job wasn’t done. She wasn’t even sure when or how Carly was supposed to die. She’d never been pulled from an assignment before. But in the end, she did the only thing she knew how to do and allowed herself to be drawn back to The Commune.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself seated in a chair back at The Commune, but instead of her real body, she was still in Davey’s form. It felt foreign and wrong to be in this place but look different from the others. She reached up a hand to brush back her hair, but her fingers met a misty substance instead of strands of hair.

“You’re here only as a projection.” A voice spoke from across the room. D looked up to see two people standing across the room from her. Their black uniforms and eyes signaled the rank of Master Veil. D’s breath caught, or at least it would have if her body had been substantial. She’d never seen the Masters before. As they moved towards her, their bodies seemed to slink across the room, rhythmic and purposeful.

“Why am I…? What is happening?” D’s voice was shaky. No one went before the Masters. No one. At least not that she knew of.

“We needed to speak to you in regards to your engagement.” The one on the left crossed its arms over its chest. It wasn’t possible to tell if they were male or female, so uniform were their appearances.