“Why did it appear now?” Anna asked the others, looking for their opinions. “What has changed within the last while that would have encouraged something like that to make an appearance?”

“The Albrights?” Second guessed with a smile.

“No, and don’t even go there. This is so far beyond them, it’s not even funny. Now be serious.”

“Another three portals went solid black on their power markers yesterday. It’s part of what I was taking care of before I came here. Whatever is changing them is becoming faster, and a more serious problem. Already the country is down to only a mere handful of portals that the corporations and travelers are willing to enter.”

Second scowled, “Why didn’t I hear about any of this?”

“Probably because we were busy with other things,” Anna sighed. “First with the Albrights, and then coming here and waiting. We could have brought some paperwork or something to do if we had known it would be so long.”

Zack shrugged. “No one asked you to bug the teddy bear you gave my sister. That’s kind of low, by the way.”

“Why did you bring the bears?” Jean wondered aloud.

“They’re comforting and I like them!” Zara poked her head out from behind her brother to answer the question somewhat timidly.

They couldn’t exactly tell them the real reason; the puppeteer class was an aberration one. It was one more piece of information they could use to barter with in the future. Nothing remained secret forever. At least with them at the helm, they could decide when it came out.

“In any case, I think this is sufficient evidence that the girl needs to be protected.” Anna stood straight and pulled a heavily decorated medallion Zack didn’t recognize from her waistcoat pocket. “As one of my last acts as the King’s hidden advisor.” Jean inhaled sharply. “Close your mouth dear, I’ll be announcing my retirement from the position as soon as this business with the Albrights is taken care of. That is personal.”

She flipped the medallion into the air, where it hung, spinning with a hum. “As has previously been discussed Zara, younger sister of Zack, has been granted the crown’s special scholarship and early admittance to the Albion Travelers Academy, effective immediately. All rights and protections afforded a member of the crown have been bestowed upon her, until such time as the scholarship is either removed, or she has graduated.” Anna snapped her fingers, and the medallion stopped spinning. A deep bass note burst forth from it before dropping into her hand.

Second smirked at them. This is what he had mentioned before, back at the base of Faluers’ Fist.

Zara was shivering against his back at the implications the scholarship represented.

“You can’t do that! You can’t force her to attend classes with those people!” Zack shouted forcefully, stepping back from them. “Do you have any idea how hard of a time she has just talking to people? You didn’t see her at the Fist’s base yesterday, or whenever it was. How do you think she…” He squeezed his eyes shut; his fists clenched tight.

“What do you think I will do to any student or teacher who causes her further pain?” He knew this was a good thing. It was a step that would help her in the long run. If they had told him at the same time he was accepted, he probably would have jumped for joy. Now, the memory of her shivering and talking incoherently to herself in a panic was burned fresh in his mind.

Anna held up a placating hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out. She’ll have the use of tutors to help her, and we’ll work with you both. This is mainly to keep her safe, and to keep others from getting any ideas. As a plus, it will also allow her to enter the portal with you during the academy training sessions.”

Jean sensed the woman was done talking and clapped her hands. “It’s already done, and it’s for the best. Now, let’s get you and the bears cleaned up some, and then get you back to the dorms.” She hurried out to fetch the rest of the soldiers that had been ordered away.

Zara gathered up her courage and stepped out from behind her brother to look at Anna. “Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it and promise to make the most of it that I can within my limitations.” She finished speaking and bit her lip, meeting the eyes of the monster only she could see.

She did her best to ignore the blood dripping from its talon-like nails, or the fangs poking through its lips. A moment later, the nails retracted, and fingers with too many joints grew to take their place as misshapen affairs. She knew the monsters she saw weren’t real. The real ones didn’t change their form or shift like those she saw. This was a result of what had been done to her, and what she believed all or nearly all humans to be now.

It was something she needed to face everyday, and with everyone but her brother and those she was close to.

Jean walked back in with some soldiers at her back lugging a thick water hose.

“Your lives are about to change,” Anna told them kindly, an odd expression flickering across her eyes. “Come on, you old goat. I have some paperwork to fill out. You can keep me company and tell me about the days before the portals arrived.”

They walked over to an elegant vehicle the likes of which the siblings had never seen before.

“You like that?” Jean whispered, seeing them eye the sleek machine. They nodded. “It’s apparently a limited run, collaboration piece between Vortex and Alberitas. Only a hundred of them were made. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

Zack was the only one to nod this time, while Zara merely shrugged. It was nice looking, but she was more interested in what it would feel like to sit inside it than the outside. Surely, with an exterior like that, the interior could only be decadently comfortable.

“Now come over here, and let’s get the two of you and those bears, not washed up, but at least sprayed down with water.” The Specialist ordered them about, moving them away from the portal they had remained near the entire time.

“What was the information you received that you found so disturbing in nature?” Zack asked the Major who was standing to the side as they were quickly sprayed down. His shirt and pants almost disintegrating completely under the spray.

Jean tossed him a spare uniform she had someone hurriedly grab from a vehicle to wear. While Zara looked away, pointing a sopping and much cleaner, Zelda directly at him as a result.

“A certain healer birdy whispered in my ear, the full extent of your injuries.” Zack felt like releasing a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding when the man told him that.

“We had always known they did experiments on the both of you. We even knew they had succeeded on you. Congratulations on hiding the secret about your sister, by the way. You did well with that one. Too many people would have been tempted if they heard about her, or you.”

The Major felt at his pockets and cursed when he couldn’t find whatever it was he was looking for. “I had to submit a special report to the king and queen’s eyes only regarding you. The rest of the information went into the normal report without an issue. Your existence was problematic in a lot of ways. You don’t have to worry from what I know about that scholarship, which isn’t a lot as it is rarely used. She will be protected. This is the best outcome for her, for both of you, really.”

Zack nodded mutely and used the remains of his shirt to scrub his hair and body down before dressing.

“When Leigha came to visit me and rather tearfully relayed what she had learned about you…” The Major paused and studied him, taking in the scars before they vanished under the ill-fitting uniform. A trace of emotion entered his voice as he continued. “Healers don’t cry boy, they forget how after a while. Eventually, they’ve just seen too much, that nothing shocks them anymore. What she saw inside you, it shocked her, it almost broke her. It was all she could do to get away from you without showing it. It’s a bigger taboo than most realize, to ever let the patient realize you care.”

Zack wasn’t sure, as the noise from Zara getting sprayed down was rather loud, but he was positive the Major had thrown in a few expletives he was going to have to look up later. Construction workers could apparently learn something from the military in that regard.

“She was sobbing the entire time she was in my office, and still going strong when she left. I admit, even I got chills when she described some of the procedures they would have had to do to you to get those scar patterns.”

The Major stilled Zack’s hands on the buttons of the shirt and looked him square in the eye. “I don’t apologize for much; I don’t often feel the need to. The truth is, when I listened to her, I felt the need to apologize to you and your sister. That we didn’t make those researchers, guards, and everyone else involved in that facility suffer more before their deaths. The truth is, they were all to a one, executed rather cleanly and painlessly, and for that I am sorry.”

“But-” Zack croaked and swallowed before trying again. “But they were all executed, right? None of them got away, or were rescued by whichever organization ran the place? They are actually gone?” He was staring past the man towards his sister as he asked. “She used to be so afraid that one of them would randomly stumble across us on the street and follow us home.”

“She doesn’t need to be afraid of that, not for a while now, and especially not once her protections come into place.”