"You think it will work?"
Anomaly shrugged. "No reason it shouldn't. So long as Kierto keeps his mouth shut."
"And why would he?" Jenny looked at her.
She shrugged again. "I… had a little talk to him. He might actually be one of the good guys now."
Jenny rolled her eyes. "I doubt it."
Anomaly glared at her. "Look, JENNY. I can still arrange a one-way trip home. All you have to do is ASK."
Jenny looked at her for a minute, then sighed. "All right. I'm sorry."
Anomaly nodded, the incident already forgotten.
Steven looked at the paintbrush in her hand. "Is this really necessary?"
Connor smiled. "I think it'll be cool."
Anomaly smiled as well. "I'm sorry, Steven. But it IS necessary. My people are a little… scared by those in other cities."
Steven sighed. "I'm closing my eyes." He muttered.
Anomaly looked at him. "Just give me your arm."
The dye was convincing. When Anomaly was finished, Steven had a pattern of sharp points decorating his arm. Anomaly smiled. "That should do it." She turned to Connor. "Con?"
Connor stepped forward. "You need yours on your face. Arm patterns are rare, but I thought Steven needed some sense of dignity." She smiled.
Connor closed his eyes. He found it hard to keep from laughing as Anomaly painted the blue substance across his face.
His pattern was simpler than Steven's, but covered more space. Half of his face was completely blue, cut off in a wavy line down the center. The other eye had a circle around it.
Jenny's was more delicate. A faint pattern made of small lines, forming a more intricate shape. It went up her right cheek and around her eye to her forehead, like small ribbons dancing in a breeze.
Abby's was similar to Anomaly's. An intricate, swirling pattern that went around her eye and diagonally upwards. However, her other eye was also covered, in a design that spiked outwards around it.
Cutter's covered his entire cheek, under his left eye, but curved upwards on the side of his eye. It traveled down to his chin and ended in a simple, curved line.
In short, everyone had changed.
Anomaly smiled and put down the brush. "I'm sorry about that." She shrugged. "You wanted to get involved."
Abby nodded. "I don't mind it." She said with a smile.
Anomaly's smile widened. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She disappeared in a blur of speed.
She returned a few minutes later. "You'll need these."
She unwrapped the cloth, and inside, seven sharp, gleaming silver knives shone out. Three had jeweled handles. The other four were simple, but looked completely lethal.
Anomaly smiled darkly. "I collected these over the years. I figured they'd be useful." She held them out for the others.
Steven took one without blinking. Abby and Jenny each took a jeweled knife, and Anomaly took the third, handing her own to Connor with a smile.
"It's the smallest." She explained. "I think you'll be able to use it better than I can."
Cutter pulled out one for himself, looked at it for a moment, then slid it into his belt.
"I don't think these are exactly company issue…" Jenny said.
Anomaly rolled her eyes. "Give me a break."
There was silence for a long time.
Finally, Abby spoke up. "Anomaly…" She sighed. "I don't want to ask you to do something you don't want to. But… if we're going to help, it may do some good to know what we're doing. What we're fighting for."
Anomaly looked down. "Connor?" She asked, her voice cracking.
Connor nodded slowly, then told everyone what Anomaly had told him, so long ago.
They all listened in stunned silence to Connor's account of the events that had unfolded in Anomaly's life. A single tear streaked down her face, and purple ink began to drip down from her pattern.
Abby's face paled. Steven's eyes widened with shock. Cutter listened in silence, taking in every detail. Jenny looked at Anomaly in horror. Anomaly sighed.
When Connor had finished, she picked up where he'd left off. "But it's more than that." She sighed. "I take it you want to know what happened when Sam died."
Everyone nodded slowly.
Anomaly sighed, cleared her throat, and began.
"No… Sam…"
Anomaly's mind barely registered the fact that Abby and Connor were now only a short distance away. Her eyes were locked on her brother, blood pouring from a wound on his back, and other wounds on his arms and face.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"Sam whispered. "You were right. You were right…"
Her eyes widened. "NO! SAM, NO!"
His eyes landed on hers. "And you never forgave me?"
Anomaly felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. "NO!" She protested. "Sam, I forgive you! Please, I forgive you!" She started to sob, uncontrollable tears streaking down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, so sorry…"
Sam's eyes were beginning to glaze over. "What's happening to me?" He asked; panic edging his voice, terror seeping into his face.
"Sam! SAM!" Anomaly was getting desperate. "NO! SAM! Don't die! Don't die…" Her words broke off into sobs, her heart scattered into shards of fragile glass against the floor.
A light, sad smile drifted across her brother's lips. "You forgive me…"
His eyes glazed over, and his head fell limp into her arms. Anomaly began to sob harder, not caring that his blood was seeping into her shirt, dyeing her skin red.
She lifted her eyes away from Sam's body, her eyes blazing with hatred. She stood up, gently laying Sam's head on the ground. She walked the short distance to where the anomaly was, the one that led back home.
"You can't run." She said darkly. "You can't hide. There is no place in the whole of time and space where you can be safe from me."
She stretched her hand out, in a fist, before opening it, the anomaly shimmering in the palm of her hand.
"SO HEAR ME NOW!" She cried. "You killed my BROTHER!" Her eyes darkened. "Now I'm coming for YOU."
"And you can no hide. You can not run. You can do nothing. I will find you, wherever you are. I will do whatever it takes! If I have to follow you through the whole of time and space!"
"THROUGH TIME AND THROUGH SPACE!" The war cry made the anomaly shimmer and dance. It responded to her determination, to her fury, dancing around her. "THROUGH TIME AND THROUGH SPACE! THROUGH TIME AND THROUGH SPACE!"
She cried the phrase over and over, until Abby came next to her and called out as well. Anomaly couldn't have been more grateful. She had someone else there. "TE TOLIO ETORA! THROUGH TIME AND THROUGH SPACE!"
Even Connor joined after a minute, as the cry was sent through space and time to the one person it was meant for…
"The Council Member." Connor clarified.
Anomaly swallowed. "Yes." She replied, her voice cracking. There was still one secret she could not share…
Everyone looked at her, the shock obvious in their faces.
Anomaly sighed, keeping her eyes locked on the floor.
"This is about REVENGE?" Jenny demanded.
Anomaly's eyes darkened. "This is about FAMILY." She corrected. "I told you that you didn't need to get into my business. Next time, maybe you'll LISTEN." She spat.
Jenny glared at her. "But you never SAID ANYTHING!" She snarled.
"HEY!" Abby stood in between them. "Look, Jenny. We agreed to help. And this man killed her brother. Now, I'm not too big on revenge either." She faced Anomaly. "But anyone who doesn't like it can go home. Understood?"
Jenny continued to glare at Anomaly for a moment, then nodded. "So long as no one gets hurt." She snapped.
Anomaly nodded. "No one but me. That's a promise."
Jenny's eyes narrowed, and she whirled around, walking away from her.
Anomaly sighed. "Thank you, Abby."
Abby nodded, and for a long time, there was silence.
The Council member smiled coldly. So, the Rouge Child wanted to meet him. Fine. But he wouldn't come alone.
He ran his foot over the sand, covering up her message. Outside the wall. NOW.
He chuckled humorlessly. Rouge Child didn't seem to have time for subtlety. Fine.
"Kierto." He whispered. He was at the Council Member's side in an instant.
"Sir?"
He smiled darkly. "We have some business to take care of. Bring the guards."
Kierto nodded once, then disappeared.
Anomaly's eyes were dark as the Council Member came out from the walls.
He smiled darkly. "Artalis greets you, young one. Though it recalls your banishment well."
"Save me the speech." Anomaly spat. "I have no use for it."
He raised an eyebrow, glancing quickly at the others with her. "And these people are…?"
"Friends." Anomaly replied, then hurriedly translated for the people behind her. The language sounded… old.
He chuckled humorlessly. "I will not give you a second chance, Rouge Child."
"Spare me!" Anomaly snarled. "Spare me the speech, spare me the lies! I'm not listening to them, and nor should your men."
He smiled coldly. This should be good. "And why not?"
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. The council member found himself taking a step back in spite of everything. "You murdered my brother." She said darkly.
The Council Member shrugged, trying to blow it off as she continued to translate for those behind her. "He was trying to steal the Law Book. There had to be consequences."
"Consequences?" She asked, and a shiver ran down his spine. "CONSEQUENCES?" She demanded in a snarl. "Where are the CONSEQUENCES for YOUR actions, SIR?"
He smiled darkly. "But what actions of mine are so terrible, Rouge Child?"
"MY NAME IS ANOMALY!" She spat. "And you will treat it as such."
He rolled his eyes, and Anomaly's teeth locked together. He smiled. "You didn't answer my question."
Anomaly began to tick things off on her fingers. "You kept a cure for a plague hidden. You killed my brother in cold blood. You experimented on empaths. You changed the Law Book." Her eyes locked on his, dark shadows dancing in them. "Need I say more?"
He smirked. "These are false accusations, young one. Where is your proof?"
She smiled darkly. "Right here."
She stood to the side and two snarling Florlics came up from behind her. Their heads were held high, triumph radiating around them.
"Meet Setra and Nortor. Both victims of your cruelty." Her eyes locked on his. "Sir."
The Florlics growled deep in their throats at the sight of the council member.
His smile was smug, but he was obviously less sure of himself. "Florlics can't speak, Rouge Child. They can do you nothing."
She shook her head slowly. "Ah, but they can feel. Ask enough questions…" She smiled. "And you'll get your answers."
He smiled, but still looked a little weak. "I'm afraid that won't do you anything, Anomaly."
She glared at him. You've figured it out. Her eyes whispered. You know who I am. And you're terrified.
She took a deep breath. "It's good enough for me."
He continued to smile as Anomaly started walking back and forth in front of him.
"But you see, sir, you killed my brother. You killed my FAMILY. That is one line…" She turned to face him. "You CANNOT cross."
He smirked. "It was your brother's fault."
Anomaly screeched, and a bolt of electricity sizzled the sand next to him, melting it into glass. "Don't EVEN GO THERE!" She spat. "NORTOANOMALY!"
He took a step back. Anomaly had promised, so long ago, that she would never again say his name.
But now, here she was, speaking the forbidden word. Which meant…
She'd figured it out. The Council Member's face paled, turning white in front of everyone. A knot planted itself in his stomach and in his throat.
She knew. She knew. Oh, no, she couldn't! But she did. She knew everything.
The Council Member took an involuntary step back. She knew everything. She would never have spoken if she didn't.
She knew everything. What his last name, Nortoanomaly, meant to her, meant to her entire family. What he was. She knew everything, impossible though it may seem. But then again, impossible was everyday. It didn't matter that he was years older than she was. Nothing mattered. She knew. SHE KNEW.
She knew that the Council Member, the man she despised with everything she was, the man she'd spent years fighting, the man who had taken everything from her, was her son.
