Chapter 33

'And I thought my brother's timing was odd,' Jo's eyes turned up towards the strange girl almost before she'd even finished materialising.

Her comment caused Crovell to shoot her an odd almost displeased look; clearly being Order for so long had diminished his appreciation of the perfect timing. Smirking to herself, Jo refocused her attention on the girl. She was at most only a year or two older than they were and short enough to make Jo feel tall for her five foot seven stature. She was dressed in an odd arrangement of clothing, which were almost fashionable but not quite, as though she were in the habit of picking and choosing her own style amongst the popular trends.

Next to her Crovell got to his feet. It was clear he was more than a little intrigued about their visitor and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

'You look like Catilin Ashmar,' his voice was calm, 'or at least a younger version of her.'

The girl said nothing. Instead she continued to just stand there as if she were waiting for something.

'You're the kid who's been playing Doppelganger, aren't you,' Crovell continued almost heedlessly. 'You have the power to look like anyone, so why a younger version of Catilin?'

Still she remained silent, her eyes moving towards Jo, as if expecting her to know the answer to that.

'If you're not going to tell me why you look like that, can you at least tell me why you're here,' Crovell pressed, 'the curiosity's killing me.'

'She's here to put things right,' Jo brimmed with a strange kind of confidence, 'aren't you?'

'There needs to be a Prince on the Throne of Chaos and a Queen on the Throne of Order.'

There was something in her voice which sounded different to their Catilin's, although Jo couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

'You mean you're planning to switch our natures?' Crovell stared at her.

'There is a lot which needs to be done right now and I cannot complete my mission alone; I need the help of the Prince of Chaos. But it's more than just about what I need, it's about what the new chain requires.'

'New chain?' Crovell frowned.

'You will come to understand what that means in time; everyone will.'

'And what about Jo?'

'What about her?'

'Don't you have some use for her too?'

'She already knows the answer to that.'

'She already… How?'

'Because she understands what the new chain is, oh Prince of Chaos.'

'And what is it exactly?'

'I told you, you'll come to understand what it means in time.'

Carefully wrapping the bedclothes round her, Jo got out of the bed and moved towards them. There was something about this girl Jo liked and loathed at the same time. She'd certainly made things interesting since she'd arrived on the scene, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

'You oppose Ni,' Jo kept her voice plain and steady.

'Of course.'

'And you're goal is in aiding us and the version of events which would benefit us most?'

'There might be a little selfish desire in there somewhere, but yes.'

'Are you doing this by your own choice?'

'Why else?'

'I don't know; someone or something might be forcing you to do this.'

'Spoken like the true Queen of Order,' the girl smirked, before slowly making her way around the pair of them. 'You know, neither of you lost your true lilt of speaking. The words you choose to say might be different now, but you sound the same as ever you did.'

'What would you know about the way we sounded,' Crovell eyed her up suspiciously.

'What don't I know about it?'

'You've been spying on us?'

'It's what I've been trained to do. And not just you, but everyone. I've been keeping my eye on everyone.'

'Why?'

'I told you,' she arrived before them again, 'it's my job.'

'You're a Writer,' Jo smirked.

'You say that as though you've been spying on me.'

'Only since you first arrived.'

'Aye,' she folded her arms, 'I know. But that power of yours would be better used for Writing.'

'I'm not a Balancer,' Jo shook her head, 'why would I need to perform a Balancer's Task?'

'Because the new chain will need to learn from the old; isn't that why we're trying so hard to protect it?'

'Are you sure you don't just want someone else to do your job for you?'

'You've only just met me and you're already thinking so little of me?'

'Give us our natures back,' Crovell suddenly interrupted. 'I mean, that's why you're here, isn't it? To give us back our true natures.'

'Who says I'm not doing that already,' she smirked at him. 'I am on the same power level as you Crovell.'

'No you're not,' he shook his head, 'almost, maybe, but not quite. Not yet anyway. I've no doubt you will be eventually, when Jo and I reach out limits, but you're not yet.'

At that she tilted her gaze thoughtfully away and began examining their room.

'Even if you're not more powerful than either of us yet,' Jo remained calm, 'you have started to reverse our natures, haven't you?'

'And what makes you so sure of that,' she tossed Jo a casual look.

'I can feel it,' Jo placed a hand over her chest, 'something feels different in here.'

'It is an unusual process, one inspired by someone close to me, so I know it will get the job done. But it did require me to wait for the sun and the moon to be in just the right positions…'

'Wait, someone you know has done something like this before?' Crovell gawked at her.

'Not exactly,' she shook her head, 'but something very similar.'

'Is this anything like my brother was planning?'

'In a way perhaps, but I guess we'll never know for sure.'