Chapter 39

The Nurse gave a heavy sigh as she checked on the two patients in the far end room. Both of them were in a pretty sorry state right now and a part of her couldn't help but feel as though it was her fault somehow; if only she hadn't let Mai to get up like that. With everything that had happened after Mai had revealed the identity of the poor girl in the other bed, all the Nurse could remember was the fact her first name was Téa. She'd passed this information onto the doctors and the police, of course, but with no last name to go on they still weren't much closer to finding her family.

She felt so useless and it was a feeling which refused to go away no matter how many people told her it wasn't her fault for forgetting. Well if it wasn't her fault then whose was it? Nobody else had messed up twice in such a short space of time. And she had messed up twice; nobody could tell her she hadn't. Somewhere in her mind she knew this was her own sense of guilt and self-persecution talking, but she didn't care. She deserved to persecute herself for this.

A heavy sigh escaped her as she rubbed her weary face. It had been a long day. Too long. But he shift was almost over now and soon she would be at home, tucked up in bed and sleeping as deeply as these two patients were right now. Only her sleep wouldn't be caused by any mysterious unknown. Her sleep would be natural and deep and refreshing. At least, that's what she hoped. Guilt worked its way through her body as she finished her checks and made her way out of the room. She cast a final glance back at the two young women and prayed with everything in her they would be okay. Because she knew in her heart she could never forgive herself if they weren't.

Divide and conquer; it was a strategy which had been used for generations. One almost as old as conflict itself and Gan should know, after all Gan was the one to come up with it. Gan was the original antagonist, the creator of wars and conflicts. Even in a broken down and thinly spread out state Gan had been able to influence so much mistrust and animosity it was almost a shame the darkness had to reform.

Still in all the generations which had passed since Gan's genderless form had been destroyed, one thing remained a complete and utter truth. All bonds, no matter how strong they appeared to be, could be broken. Even those between sisters. In fact Gan took a great deal of pride knowing the truth behind the rivalry between the First and the Pure. The underlying issues pushed and pulled at, leading to the inevitable conflict which had left the Pure completely and utterly powerless.

Mortality had been the final and unavoidable clincher. It had severed the bonds of trust between them and without trust the sisterhood was easy prey. Perhaps that was why the Face of Friendship had fallen under their control. After all, she was the weakest link and without her sisters there to take care of her... Gan couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Still there were other things to focus on right now. New bonds to break down and sever and there wasn't the luxury of time to do it with.

Gan's new target was Win. That annoying pest of a creature who's loyalty to the Mistresses was matched only by his intense strength and determination. Win was a tricky foe and his bond to the Mistresses would be impossible to sever in such a short space of time. Unfortunately for the Mistresses the reverse was not also true; because what woman could truly be happy sharing a husband and not be racked with jealousy? Women were far more jealous creatures than men and now that Gan was one, she understood exactly how to get under their skin. It was part of the reason why the three of them had remained Glamoured, despite reclaiming the child. Because even if this strategy wasn't to her siblings taste, it was most definitely to Gan's and a challenge like this was going to be fun.

SK didn't wear a watch, but from the second the sun had started setting he had this strange feeling like it was too early somehow. He wanted to bring it up with the others but he didn't want to look or sound stupid, especially if it was just in his head. After all, neither of them had reacted to it. But then again their attention was rightfully captured by the sound of an approaching people. When they came into view SK's tongue skated back and forth across his lips several times in disbelief.

Mai, holding a fussing baby Crovell, and Catilin entered the area of the Sacred Huntay. Both of their faces were plastered with smiles far too cheerful given the fact they should have been lying unconscious on a bed somewhere. SK could feel his insides tense; something wasn't right here.

'You have a very clever son you know Joey,' Mai's voice was light and almost singsongish, 'he managed to find me and bring me here all by himself. I think we're going to need to watch out for him; he's clearly going to be trouble, aren't you little man?'

Joey's eyes studied Mai long and hard for a few moments. He then glanced toward Heart, before shifting his gaze back towards Mai again.

'How are you here?'

'I told you, Crovell brought me here.'

'No,' he shook his head, 'I mean, how are you here and conscious? What's going on?'

'What's the matter hiet braysta,' Catilin pouted, 'aren't you pleased to see us?'

'They are you,' Joey indicated toward the Voices.

'Don't be silly, they're not us, we're us,' Catilin giggled, 'are you under some kind of spell hiet braysta?'

'Spell?'

'Uh-huh, when I woke up I could sense the air tingling and buzzing and telling me something was wrong. I think it was telling me you were under some kind of spell hiet braysta, why else would you believe they're us when we're us.'

'Because we saw Soul come out of Mokuba,' Joey's voice was firm. 'If they're not really you how do you explain that?'

'Mokuba has power too,' Catilin pulled a face, 'maybe he used his power to create all this.'

'Why?'

'I don't know, maybe he's a bad Mokuba. Maybe we didn't get the real Mokuba back after all. Maybe he's the bad Mokuba trying to trick everybody. We haven't seen him in ages and ages, so how do we know it's not?'

'I don't believe for a second Mokuba is capable of any of this,' SK's tongue skate across his lips as he took a step towards her, 'my cousin was traumatised by what happened to him...'

'Well then maybe that's why he's doing all this,' Mai cut him off. 'Maybe he's insane.'

'No, no you're the ones who are insane if you think we're going to believe any of this,' SK shook his head, 'who are you really?'

'Mai Valentine and Catilin Ashmar,' Mai met and held his gaze, 'who else would we be?'

'And how did you say you got Crovell again,' Joey eyed her up suspiciously.

'He just appeared out of nowhere next to me.'

'And what about Covo?'

'I haven't seen him,' the expression on her face was filled with a faked level of worry, 'why, is he in some kind of danger?'

'And it was Crovell who brought you here?'

'Yes and when I arrived at the entrance of Kama Traydon, Cat was there waiting for me.'

'I'd only just arrived too,' Catilin grinned.

'I see,' Joey's eyes flicked back towards Mind and Heart, 'and you're saying these two aren't parts of either one of you.'

'Of course not,' Mai smirked, 'does she look like a part of me?'

'Mokuba's gone all funny in the head hiet braysta, you can feel it in the air,' Catilin held her arms up and span around a few times. 'I don't think he's trying to trick you on purpose, but... maybe he's dangerous,' her eyes slid to one side, 'and maybe so are they.'

'I see,' Joey focused his gaze on Mai. 'If I asked you to hand my son over to me, would you?'

'Of course,' Mai's voice was as unnaturally calm as her expression was tight, 'he is your son after all, do you want him?'

'No, I want you to hand him to Duke.'

'What?' She laughed in surprise. 'But don't you think Duke spends too much time with him as it is?'

'Yes, I do and the bond they share does worry me, but that doesn't mean I don't trust him.'

'So you want me to hand your son over to Duke then?'

'Yes. You don't have a problem with that, do you Mai?'

'No,' her voice was slow and curious, 'of course not.'

With an almost cocky kind of confidence SK had never seen Mai use before, she made her way across the Huntay to Duke. Once there she handed Crovell over to him and turned round to face Joey, striking a pose as if to say happy now? Joey's eye gave her a slow once over and SK's tongue skated across his lips several times as he waited for Joey to call her bluff.

'Mai, would you come over here please?' Joey's voice revealed nothing.

With the same cocky little walk as before, Mai did as she was told. When she arrived in front of him Joey pulled her into a hug.

'I'm sorry Mai, can you ever forgive me?'

His words caused Heart's face to fall in horror. Her eyes turned towards Mind who simply shook her head as though she simply couldn't believe what she was hearing. Anger spread across Soul's face and he jumped onto Mai's back and attempted to prise her away from Joey.

'Joey, help me,' the fear in Mai's voice was so fake it grated on every single one of SK's nerves.

'Of course,' Joey flicked an energy ball into his hand and threw it at Soul, causing him to fall off Mai and reel in pain. 'SK,' he turned his eyes towards him, 'I need you to help me tie them up.'

'Tie who up,' SK's tongue skated across his lips, 'Mai and Catilin, or Heart, Mind and Soul?'

'Heart, Mind and Soul of course.'

'You can't be serious.'

'I am.'

'But…?'

'Do as you're told SK, this is a direct order so you're not allowed to disobey.'

'Joey, you can't be serious,' Duke stared at him. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'

'Nothing's wrong with me Duke, I'm simply doing what must be done.'

'I can't believe I'm hearing this.'

'Neither can I,' SK took half a step back. 'It's such an obvious trap; how the hell can you fall for it?'

'SK I thought I asked you to help me tie them up,' Joey met and held his gaze. 'You're not disobeying me, are you?'

'I...' SK shook his head, 'I think I have to.'

'Are you sure?' Joey cocked an eyebrow at him. 'You know I'll have to punish you if you are, right?'

'I don't care. I'm not going to help you walk into such an obvious trap.'

'Okay, then I guess I'll just have to tie you up too.'

'What's wrong with you? How the hell can you allow yourself to be manipulated so easily? You're not an idiot and even a child wouldn't fall for this, so why are you?'

'You know you really shouldn't insult a Mistress like that SK, just like you shouldn't disobey one,' Joey folded his arms. 'You may not always agree with us, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't trust our judgement. We always know what we're doing. And we always trust our instincts.'

'And right now your instincts are telling you to trust these imposters?' SK swallowed hard. 'I don't even know either of them half as well as you do and I know they're fake, so why don't you?'

'You know, just for that I think I should gag you as well,' Joey rolled his eyes, 'your lack of faith is bothering me and I'm not sure how else to correct it right now.'