~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 13-Searching

Ralya was dreaming again. But the dream had changed. She saw herself, fighting against an enemy she could not see. She saw the faces of all the people, many clearly dead, but some not dead but not alive, like Aruna Ni was now. She cried out in her sleep. She couldn't bear looking at them any longer.

But then she realized that she was not one of the dead, nor one of those who hung in limbo...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ralya woke in the middle of the night, and jumped out of bed. She realized what a fool she had been. She had been selfish, worrying about her own life when the lives of so many others were in danger.

She went straight to the computer, hoping to find something that might give her a clue as to what an anigari was. Somehow she knew that if she found out that one thing, she would find out everything else.

Unfortunately, it proved to be the hardest thing to find.

She was still fruitlessly searching when Brekk came up behind her. "Hello," she said without turning around.

"You're up early this morning," he replied.

"Yeah, well, I had another dream."

"And?"

"We have to find out what an anigari is. It's the key to save everyone from dying, or ending up like Aruna Ni."

"Ralya, that's..." He paused. "That's what I came to tell you."

"Tell me what?" she asked.

"This morning, they found someone else dead."

"What? Who?"

"Lyss."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why Lyss? Ralya thought. Why now?

"I almost know how to stop this," she said. "All I need to know is what an anigari is. Why did Lyss have to die?"

"Wait...what do you have to find out?" asked Brekk with sudden
interest.

"An anigari. Why, have you heard of it?"

"I think so."

"So what is it?" she shouted in excitement.

He sighed. "I wish I knew."

"What do you mean?"

"It's something dangerous--"

"We've established that fact," said Ralya drily.

"I read something about it once. It was the product of a genetic engineering experiment. No one knew exactly what it was or what it did, but there were people who would kill to get their hands on it." He looked Ralya in the eye. "Those people were enemies of the Jedi."

"How do you know this?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "I read things that no one else thinks are interesting enough or important enough to bother looking at."

"So what does an anigari do to a Jedi?"

"It causes some kind of disturbance in the Force. Possibly--"

"...one that could kill a Jedi," Ralya said, finishing his sentence. Suddenly she realized something. "But what about the ysalamiri? In order for the anigari to create a disturbance in the Force, they had to be where the Force was. But Dashana was near an ysalamir, and Lyss..."

"Lyss was too," said Brekk.

"So how could they create a disturbance in the Force when they were in an area where there was no Force?"

They must be an enemy far more formiddable than we thought, Brekk thought, or else there's still something we aren't getting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~