Six | Billie

With Tessa finally out of the picture, things are finally starting to look up again. I’m officially off the hook for everything that transpired the other night, although Mom’s told me to keep an eye out for Dr Mela and her ragtag band of unreliable interns. Speaking of, she’s got me watching them like a hawk. I’d honestly think of fifty other things I’d rather be doing right now…

“We can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done, Bilara,” Dr Edwards beams as he takes his hands in mine. “When we got the phone call from Director Carta, we were worried we wouldn’t have a gift for the ninth Magna Carta!”

“Oh, it’s no biggie,” I assure him with a smile of my own. “I know how hard you and Mela have been working on the project.” From her overcrowded desk of papers and parcels, Dr Mela’s ears perk up.

“It’s a shame about Miss Dolton,” she admits to us, twirling a screwdriver in her hand. “Of all the people I’d expect to sabotage the project, she was far from my first guess.” Shovelling her goggles back into place, she turns to face me. “You say she knew about this?”

“Apparently you knew too.”

“Ha! The nerve of that girl!”

Even though it’s Tessa slinging around those accusations, I can’t help but to wonder if there’s any merit to it. After all, Mela does have a track record of stepping out of line…

“We can’t trust anyone these days,” Dr Edwards agrees as he scratches at the nape of his neck, “especially when it comes to projects on a scale like Lola. I’m just glad the other interns are falling into line!”

“I dunno, Jace, have you seen some of their work lately? We’ll see about that.”

And with that, Dr Mela returns to her tinkering.

Dr Edwards leans over his new lead intern’s shoulder and peers at the sleek interface displaying Lola’s coding. I’ve heard of the kid in passing, the youngest nephew of some big shot water tycoon all the way out in Nilli Fossae. With an inheritance like the one he’s projected to score, I’m shocked he’s even considering work as an option. And to think he’s got nine cousins in the picture, too! Even with two parents in the Magna Carta, my sister and I won’t be expecting as much as a cent when they finally—

Lola’s gone. Again.

“Where’s she gone now?” I ask the duo, leaning against a concrete pillar.

“…you’ll need to transfer the protocols from Dolton’s account…”

“Where is she?”

“…I tried, but all her files are locked behind two-factor authentication!”

“Then override it!”

“Excuse me,” I frown. “Lola.”

“Eh?” Dr Edwards frowns, his eyes fixed to the screen as he leans over the keyboard and begins typing in his own credentials. “What about her?”

“She hasn’t gone wandering off again, has she?”

The intern leans back in his chair and lets out a rather dramatic sigh of contempt.

“Didn’t your mom tell you, Bilara?” he scoffs. “She ordered Lola to accompany Lady Hines in search of the ninth Magna Carta.”

“Huh…she didn’t.”

“Well,” Mela pipes in, “Letty’s not exactly renowned for her open book nature, is she now?”

“Speak of the Devil…” Dr Edwards murmurs as he jolts a thumb over his shoulder towards the courtyards.

Overlooking the sprawling courtyards central to our headquarters, the floor-length windows allow us to see Lady Hines approaching the granite fountain with the Treatise of the Magna Carta in her hands. Mom and Lola both follow her at a steady pace; somehow the Solacian is acting more robotic than the literal android.

“They found anyone else yet?” I ask.

“Can’t answer that one, I’m afraid,” Mela admits in a sing-song tone that just pisses me off. Even Dr Edwards is rolling his eyes. He steps back, conveniently blocking her from my sight.

“It’s only been a day, Bilara,” he reminds me. “These inaugurations can take weeks, if not months! After all, it is a very important decision on the Mother of Worlds’ part!”

“But surely an omniscient, all-seeing deity would already know who she wants, right?”

“There’s some questions even I can’t answer for you, Miss Carta.”

“Why don’t you just ask?” that stupid lead intern taunts from his seat. “You’ve got two parents who’ve been through those trials, you know countless others, and you haven’t even bothered to ask any of them?”

“Fine,” I mutter back. “I guess I’ll ask.”

I spin around on my heel, slinging my rucksack over my shoulder and taking off towards the elevators. Stupid Daryn. Maybe he’ll grow bored of this line of work like a respectable upper-class citizen and chill out somewhere in the tropics with his stupid inheritance. Actually, I hope he does. Third time’s a charm, right? It has to be. Perhaps the tech department will finally get a lead intern who isn’t a neurotic control freak or a self-absorbed, arrogant prick.

- - -

“It was the right thing to do,” Mom mutters to Lady Hines under a veil of mist from the fountain. “If it was anyone else, Thomas would have demanded I fire them on the spot.”

"I’m not so sure Thomas is the one you should be worried about, Leticia,” she admits, tucking a ruby lock behind her ear. “Orpheus was sure Teresa’s place in the agency would be advantageous to the Magna Carta’s operations, that we’d get critical insight into the Occuli we couldn’t otherwise obtain!”

Mom wrings her hands, clearly frustrated at the thought.

“Lord Vates isn’t stupid,” she murmurs. “He never would have allowed it if he suspected we were using her to uncover his secrets.”

“Regardless of whether or not he knew,” she argues, “it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s made it perfectly clear he’s going to distance himself from anyone affiliated with the Magna Carta, IHA included—”

“Good afternoon, Bilara.”

Startled by Lola’s observation, Lady Hines’ eyes widen.

“Oh!” she yelps, spinning on her heel. “Billie! What are you doing here?” She frantically swipes her palms over her skirt.

“Just here to update Mom about the new intern,” I promise Hines.

Her shoulders relax as she realises I mean no harm.

“What’s his motive?” Mom frowns, raising an eyebrow. “Spying? Sabotage? Something else?” I glance back towards the laboratory, where Edwards is frantically typing away at the terminal. Daryn, God bless his stupid soul, is leaning back in his seat with his head in his hands.

“If he’s after the IHA’s secrets…” I decide, “then he’s not doing a very good job of it. No, I think he’s just after a break from his family.” Hines blinks.

“I don’t know if we did the right thing, letting her go…” As Hines crouches down by the fountain, she sets the Treatise of the Magna Carta on the ledge by her side. She glides her fingers against the surface of the water, watching the ripples as they ebb after her. “The relationship between us and the Occuli is already fragile. And, well…it was an accident.”

“She failed to follow protocol,” Mom argues. “It’s as simple as that.”

“Ugh,” I scoff, “why don’t you two focus on your job? The ninth Magna Carta isn’t gonna find itself, you know…”

“She’s right,” she promises Hines. “There are greater matters at hand. What’s done is done.”

“I…I suppose.” Her eyes fix on her reflection in the water. I catch a glimpse of her pained expression, the look of disappointment and shame that lingers within. She always sees the good in others, even when they’ve committed unspeakable horrors against the world. "When I joined the Magna Carta, I swore I’d do everything in my power to protect the peace. I…have to wonder if she was acting against everything we stood for—”

“Lady Carta! Lady Hines! Watch out!”

Lola’s quick to pull Hines away from the fountain’s ledge, ushering the three of us behind her. Mere moments later, a violent eruption of jet-black smoke billows out from the centre of the fountain, plunging the world around us into darkness.

“What’s going on?!” I demand. Mom’s coughing everywhere as she desperately tries to wave away the smoke.

A blood-red glow emerges from the waters. Its surface warps and warbles, fixing to the point above the fountain’s central sculpture. Two golden rings encase this glow; with a flash of brilliant light, a shadowy figure makes himself known to the world. I squint in an effort to make out its features and almost wish I hadn’t.

A deep sable cloak, torn at the edges as it flickers in the air like the smoke that surrounds it.

A hood that obscures the face completely, save for two bloody pinprick irises.

A belt buckle, proudly displaying an inversion of the Magna Carta’s emblem.

And a golden medallion depicting an eye in its centre.

There’s only one man this can be.

Occulus Terra Vates.

“What are you doing here?!” Mom clenches her fists as she pushes past Lola and I. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with the Magna Carta!”

Occulus doesn’t answer, instead opting to raise his gloved hands in front of him. Heavy smoke twists and twirls from his fingertips.

“If this is about Teresa,” Hines assures him, “I—”

“Enough.”

His voice, deep and commanding, sends chills running down my spine. As a Solacian, I was raised to exercise caution around the Occuli. After all, it was their actions that sparked war all those centuries ago. But I do have to admit, I’ve never seen it first-hand. The Occuli I do know tend to keep to themselves, staying out of trouble.

So why is their leader flaunting his power all of a sudden?

“My daughter is as much of a traitor as the rest of you,” Occulus decides. “She’ll meet her demise in due time. But for now, there are far more pressing matters at hand.”

“Like what?” Mom demands. His eyes narrow at the very idea.

“For far too long, I have allowed the Magna Carta to do as it pleases. But let it be known, Leticia Carta, let it be known that I no longer stand for you or your pitiful games. You’ll pay for the deaths of my soldiers, you and anyone else who had anything to do with that cursed project of yours!”

“Project?” She gestures to Lola. “Is this what you’re talking about? Because I can assure you nobody has died during its development.”

“Perhaps that is true…but what of the countless lives she has claimed waste to?!”

“It was you,” I murmur. Hines grabs my forearm and pulls me away.

“Bilara, whatever you’re trying to do, don’t—”

“It was you, wasn’t it?!” I demand, yanking myself free from her grasp. “You were the one who destroyed Lola the other night!”

“She attacked my soldiers,” Occulus sneers back at me. “For years now, they have been abducted in hordes against their will. My niece, Teresa’s cousin, was among those who have gone missing.”

“Dr Vates?” Mom murmurs. “But…but I spoke with her the other night!”

“I’ll find out what you’ve done with them all, one way or another,” he declares, clenching his right fist. “But for now, you’ll see what it’s like to lose something close to you!”

A vortex emerges within the waters beneath his body. As its turbulence spreads, the water loses any semblance of colour or light…nothing but crackles of lightning and smoke remain as it swallows the fountain’s contents whole. Mom rushes towards him, her arms outstretched as she leaps over the ledge.

Gravity sets in, and she falls through the void.

“No!” I scream. Hines wraps her arms around me, trying her best to keep me back as Occulus sinks within the confines of his manufactured prison. Already, the vortex is closing and the world’s light and life is restoring to what it once was before his intervention. I thrash and kick around, desperately trying to break free. “Let go of me!”

Lola takes a step back and bows her head. With a movement as swift and graceful as the wind, she then vaults in over the ledge.

Straight after Occulus and my mother.

As the overseer of the planet Earth, Occulus Terra Vates is the driving force behind the Magna Carta's immortality. Few have seen his true face...but all know the horrific power he possesses. Dominion over the Occuli forces, control of all light and shadow...not to mention his ability to project illusions of smoke.