Chapter 20: Chapter 14.1: Secrets, Lies, and Adelie Penguins

Vell stood ankle-deep in the cold water as Harley did some calibrations on her machine. He checked his phone again and saw no updates from Lee. He grumbled about the circumstances under his breath. The one time they had an ocean-themed catastrophe, and their resident hydromancer was indisposed.

The marine biology lab had pulled off another idiotic apocalypse. Somehow they had opened a spacial rift connected to the antarctic, and now the frigid waters of the South Pole were slowly flowing out of a small portal in the labs. A pool of water had accumulated in the experiment room and was now flowing out the door. A janitor bot had helpfully placed a “Wet Floor” sign nearby ten minutes ago, but it had since floated away. Vell watched a small chunk of ice and some small fish drift past his ankles as the water continued to flow.

“Fucking marine biologists,” he muttered under his breath. Harley nodded in agreement.

While many among the staff and students were trying to find a solution to the portal problem, only Vell and Harley were on site. Since the Einstein-Odinson College was situated in a tropical climate, only the Loopers had any cold-weather gear on hand, in anticipation of such frigid calamities. The heavy boots and parkas did keep the worst of the arctic chill at bay, but Vell was still shivering in his boots.

The portal lurched, and grew slightly larger. The flow of water grew stronger, and a few large fish slipped through the gap, flopping helplessly in the shallow water. As they thrashed, Lee surfed forward on a wave of icy water. She attempted to dismount the wave, slipped, and splashed into the icy water below, floating on her back in the frigid pool.

“You good?” Harley asked.

“Physically, yes,” Lee sighed. She stood and used her hydromancy to remove the freezing water from her clothes.

“Sorry I’m late,” she huffed. “There was an RA meeting and it dragged on forever thanks to-”

“Could you apologize on dry land, please?” Vell begged. “I know I’m going to die sometime today but I’d like to die with my toes warm, at least.”

“Oh, yes, my apologies,” Lee said. She waved her hands and pushed the icy water away, surrounding the trio with a short fence of ice that would keep the cold water at bay. Vell gratefully shook the last bits of water off his boots and shivered slightly.

“Thank you,” he stammered.

“Unsurprisingly, our Texas boy can’t stand the cold,” Harley scoffed.

“No, I can’t, and I don’t care who knows,” Vell pouted. “Cold is the fucking worst and anyone who lives north of Missouri is fucking insane.”

“Does that include Missouri itself or does it start at the top?” Harley asked.

“It starts at the top,” Vell said. “People who live in Missouri are also crazy but for different reasons.”

Harley laughed and went back to measuring the portals frequencies and whatnot. Vell tucked his hands under his arms and walked up to Lee.

“Sorry for being snippy,” he said. “I’m just really fucking cold.”

“Apology accepted,” Lee said. She shivered a bit and mimicked Vell’s attempts to huddle close to himself for warmth. “I have to say I’m right there with you. I never had to deal with the cold much growing up either.”

“Yeah? I thought it got cold pretty often in England?”

“I’m not from England, Vell, I’m from Egypt,” Lee corrected. She’d been raised there, at least. She didn’t consider it home by any stretch of the word.

For a second the cold was the last thing on Vell’s mind. The frigid air quickly reasserted itself, but Vell’s curiosity managed to hold it’s space in Vell’s head.

“Uh, what?”

“The accent, I know,” Lee huffed, self-consciously trying to stifle her overwhelming British accent and failing quite spectacularly. “It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time,” Vell suggested.

“If it’s all the same to you I would rather go back to complaining about the cold, darling,” Lee said. Harley looked up from her calibration and gave Lee a dirty look. She was being pointlessly secretive again.

“Yeah, there’s more than enough to complain about,” Vell said with a shrug. “Just standing around puts a chill down your spine.”

A shiver ran through Vell’s body. It tingled all the way through -especially around the rune at the base of Vell’s spine. He pursed his lips. Every time he caught himself resenting Lee for keeping secrets, he got a reminder that he was keeping secrets of his own. So far, only Harley knew about the scar, the rune, and Vell’s resurrection. Harley was just about to speak up about their mutual secret keeping when she got a blip on her tablet that pulled her attention away.

“Oh my god,” Harley said, any frustration about her friends secrecy blasted out of her brain. The portal quivered for a moment and grew wider. Lee and Vell stepped forward, trying to match Harley’s vantage on the portal.

“What do you see?”

Harley dropped the tablet she was taking measurements on and threw her hands up in the air.

“Penguins!”

At Harley’s exuberant cry, the flow of water intensified, and carried with it several Adelie penguins. The misplaced waterfowl fell to the ground, bounced once, and then stood, looking around the laboratory with confusion. Their brief moment of distress ended when the penguins saw a nearby fish, and took advantage of the easy meal. They started snacking, and were entirely unperturbed as Harley stood over them, staring down at them all with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Oh my god!”

Harley stood frozen in place, staring down at the penguins, until they finished their fishy feast and started waddling off. Harley followed them every step, squealing with delight as they made their various penguin noises.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god,” she chanted. “Vell, Lee, you do the measurement taking thingy, I’m the penguins mom now.”

“Harley!”

“Don’t talk me out of it Lee, they’re my children now and I love them,” Harley said. She picked up another displaced fish and tossed it to the penguins, who devoured it with gusto.

“Harley!” Lee shouted again. Her voice shifted from scolding to whining in an instant. “I want to play with the penguins too.”

“Okay we’ll take turns, ten minutes,” Harley said. She giggled as a penguin waddled in a circle around her legs.

“Five minutes,” Lee insisted. “And I’m setting a timer!”

Lee picked up the discarded timers and set aside the complex records of spacial distortions for a moment to set a five minute timer. As soon as she was done, she turned to Vell, a bit red in the face.

“Sorry, I suppose that was a bit childish,” Lee said.

“Do I get a turn with the penguins too?” Vell asked.

Harley walked in a circle around the icy fence, leading a penguin parade behind her. Lee and Vell watched jealously as she paraded around them, flanked by her waddling horde.

“I’ll make sure you do, Vell,” Lee said. “Barring the end of the world, of course.”

The ever-present risk of the daily doomsday thankfully did not prevent Vell from getting his turn to play penguin baby-sitter. After taking several turns each varying between portal-monitoring duty and penguin babysitting, the trio had collected all the data they could possibly collect and abandoned responsibility all together in favor of playing with the Adelie.

The portal widened significantly as the penguin playtime continued. Vell took a moment to be slightly concerned about that before shifting his focus to picking up a penguin and pushing it down an icy slide that Lee had made. The penguin, which Harley had named Bonkers, squawked with delight and returned to Vell to go for another round.

“So, uh, do we have a plan for the portal on round two?”

“I know enough to close it down if we gotta,” Harley said. “Or I can just seduce Michaela into never opening it in the first place.”

Harley watched one of her adopted penguin children hop across a series of icy platforms.

“Can we leave it open long enough to let the penguins through again?” She pleaded, looking in Lee’s direction. “Please?”

“I’m afraid not, dear,” Lee said. She was lying on a bed of ice, with a sleeping penguin cuddled up close to her belly. “These penguins need to be in their natural habitat. We shouldn’t even be playing with them, really, but this’ll all be erased anyway.”

Harley let out a low moan and patted the nearest penguin on the head.

“I’m going to miss you most of all, Wiggles.”

Wiggles lived up to his name and wiggled, an act so adorable it nearly brought a tear to Harley’s eyes. She sighed and looked up at the portal.

“Shit’s getting pretty big, now that you mention it,” Harley said. “You think a polar bear could fit through yet?”

“Polar bears live on the north pole, dear, this portal is connected to the south pole,” Lee explained.

“Oh. Huh. I sort of figured a bunch of polar bears were going to come through and maul everybody. Seemed like the most likely way for this to end.”

“Unfortunately the natural habitat restrictions of Ursus Maritimus renders that impossible,” Lee said. “The way I see it we’re all going to drown when the water flow gets strong enough to flood the island.”

“This is an artificial island, right?” Vell said. “It’s got to have some way to prevent flooding or sinking. I figured an iceberg was going to come through, break the island in half.”

“Ah, a reversal of the Titanic scenario,” Lee said. “Given the universe’s tendency towards irony, I believe you might be on to something, Vell.”

“Thanks.”

“You know, it’s real fucked up you two can have easier conversations about how we’re going to die than about your issues,” Harley said. Vell and Lee looked up from their penguin playground to stare at Harley. She shrugged at both of them.

“I’m just saying,” Harley said. “You guys act all friendly but you keep playing chicken with your secrets. Could you just talk to each other so you can actually be friends?”

“Harley,” Lee said, her voice laced with shock.

“Sorry, my penguin babies got me feeling all maternal,” Harley said, as she cuddled a squawking penguin close to her chest. “But seriously. Vell, I know you have genuine concerns about your whole deal, and Lee, I know you’d rather no one knew about your family stuff. Neither of you are wrong to be hesitant, but I know both your secrets and I know both of you. You can trust each other.”

Harley held Wiggles aloft triumphantly. It gave a soft squawk.

“Rip the bandaid off! Honesty is the best policy! Wiggles and I command it!”

Wiggles squawked in accord. Or possibly displeasure. Either way, Harley set him down and stared intensely at Vell and Lee as Wiggles waddled away.

“Well, I was not expecting to be put on blast like this today,” Vell noted.

“Certainly not in front of the penguins,” Lee said. “You’ve upset Gregory.”

Gregory gave a squeaking huff and hopped off Lee’s chest as Harley put her hands on her hips.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Don’t bring the penguins into this,” Harley said. “You-”

She was interrupted by a surge of energy as the portal hanging over their heads widened. Moral lectures were put on hold as a shadow approached the portal.

A deep, resounding bellow hung in the air as the shadow emerged. Also hanging in the air was a fully grown killer whale.

“Oh, that’ll do-”

The whale came down.

----------------------------------------

Vell woke up safe and warm in his bed. The warmth was welcome, though he did sort of miss the penguins. He stretched out weary limbs and checked his phone.

HARL33:

crushed to death by a whale is a new one lol

Lee:

Indeed. We’re accumulating quite a list of odd deaths.

HARL33:

ya!

speaking of odd deaths

i meant what i said

im gonna go slut it up with michaela and get her to fuck up making that portal

i expect u 2 to have a talk!

be friends! >:(

Vell looked away from his phone, towards his stomach. The thick red line of scarring still sat around his waist like a macabre belt, and he knew that if he checked the mirror that strange ten-lined rune would still be etched into his flesh. Neither of those marks were going to go away. Vell stared at his phone for a moment. Lee had yet to respond. Vell decided to take the initiative.

vharlan03:

shes right

you can be as private as you want, that’s your business and I respect it

but I figure you should know whats going on with me

do you want to meet up after class?

Lee:

I have the RA meeting we discussed on the first loop.

vharlan03:

right

Lee:

But after that is good.

vharlan03:

okay!

see you then

bye

Vell put his phone down and stared directly at the ceiling for ten straight minutes. He then checked his phone, saw he had no messages, and set it aside to stare at the ceiling once more, this time for only four minutes. A cumulative fourteen minutes of ceiling-staring proved to be enough, and Vell got up to go about his day.

Logically, it should have been an easy explanation. Considering what Lee and Vell had been through together so far, a single resurrection would probably barely raise an eyebrow. He’d told Harley about it after just a few hours, and he’d known Lee for weeks now.

But Harley had seemed carefree. Disconnected. Willing to simply shrug and accept the fact that Vell had been cut in half and resurrected through mysterious means. Lee took life seriously. She would want to understand, and she would ask questions. Questions Vell didn’t have answers to.

Vell was, of course, completely wrong on most counts, and he should have known that, but he’d never let logic get in the way of a good anxiety trip and he wasn’t about to start now. He went through an entire day of classes riddled with anxiety, imagining every possible doomsday scenario for his coming conversation. Vell’s definition of a doomsday scenario had expanded a lot in the past few weeks, so he ended up in some weird places. The distraction of his phone buzzing was a welcome respite.

HARL33:

hey vell do u and joan wanna go on a double date w me and michaela

she wants a date and if I have to spend a whole date alone with her im gonna strangle her

no wait strangling is relatively painless

something worse

i think i still have a gun that turns people inside out in a closet somewhere

vharlan03:

please keep that in the closet

HARL33:

fiiiiiiiiiine

but only if we do the double date

vharlan03:

idk if Joan’s going to be available

she said she’d be super busy with something important all day

Vell took a quick glance at the empty seat next to him. During the first loop, Joan had texted him that she was “almost done” shortly before he’d been crushed to death by a whale. Hopefully he could find out what she’d been up to later today. For now, Harley demanded his attention.

HARL33:

okay well u gotta get me out of this date somehow

or im getting the inside-out gun

vharlan03:

no!

ill come up with something

give me a bit

Harley responded with a thumbs up emoji and that was that. Vell added “sabotaging a date” to his list of things to worry about. At least he had some experience in ruining dates. It’d be almost fun to ruin someone else’s date for once. Vell contemplated a few dozen avenues of sabotage as a way to distract himself as the day stretched on. It worked -for a time. Eventually the hour of reckoning drew near, and Vell’s mind turned once again to the impending secret swap.

----------------------------------------

Vell sat on the bench and waited. He and Lee had agreed on a place to meet, and Vell had gotten there early. Lee, on the other hand, was running late. Vell had been waiting for about twenty minutes by the time she showed up.

“Sorry I’m late, Vell,” Lee stammered. “I remembered how the meeting went the first time, so I tried to streamline it, and that backfired.”

Lee sighed as she sat down on the far side of the picnic table.

“I get it,” Vell said. “I wonder if, you know, anyone here is studying that? How meetings can never get shorter, only longer.”

Lee gave a polite chuckle.

“Right. I’ve certainly been in enough to know that’s an absolute truth.”

Lee rested her elbows on the tabled and leaned forward as Vell leaned slightly back. A bird flew overhead and chirped once.

“So.”

“Yeah, we should, uh,” Vell began. He looked around at the surroundings, and the bird overhead. “Is this a bit open? Do you want to, I don’t know, go to a dorm, or something?”

Lee shook her head. While they were outdoors, nobody was around, so there was little risk of their conversation being overheard.

“In my experience it is better to have these sorts of discussions outdoors,” Lee said. “We retain our privacy, but the open air keeps us from feeling like we’re hiding things. It strikes a good balance.”

Try as he might, Vell could not contain a slight frown of concern. He didn’t like that Lee was so experienced with secrets.

“So, uh, how about I go first? My story is...a bit weird.”

“If you want to. I’m more than prepared to share my own if you would rather wait,” Lee assured him.

“No, I think it’s only fair,” Vell said. “I told Harley like, the day we met, so it’s just kind of stupid I haven’t told you at this point, right?”

“Well, Harley’s also known my story for a while, so, well, all even in that respect.”

“Yeah, but you’ve known Harley for like a year and I, uh…” Vell started hesitating, for different reasons than usual. He pursed his lips and looked up at Lee. “Are we stalling?”

“I do believe we are, dear,” Lee agreed.

“Right. Well, I guess I better just get to it then,” Vell said. “Did you hear the news about that big maglev train crash that happened in America about a decade ago?”

“I don’t know the specifics, but I think I’m familiar, yes,” Lee said. “Something like a hundred people perished, is that right?”

“One-hundred and seventeen, to be exact. I know because I was one of them,” Vell said. “And then I wasn’t.”

Lee stared forward for a moment, dumbstruck, and then shook her head clear.

“I’m sorry, you mean to say you died and came back to life,” Lee said. She pointed around at the campus. “Before this? Before any of the time loop business?”

“Yeah. And there wasn’t any time travel stuff either. Like, when we die in the time loop stuff, it happens, but then it gets undone, right? So technically we never died in the first place. But I, uh, I like ‘died’ died. I got cut in half.”

“Oh dear,” Lee said.

“Luckily, well, as luckily as anything like that can be, it happened so fast I didn’t even feel it,” Vell said. “All I remember is a really loud bang and getting flung forward, and then I woke up inside a body bag.”

Lee put a thoughtful hand to her chin.

“So you were somehow resurrected, yes? But not by lichdom, or the revivification methods that create zombies like Undedison.”

“Yeah, it’s nothing like that,” Vell said. “Those guys, they go through, well, basic stuff changes, like their hair and fingernails stop growing. I’m still fully alive. I think. Legally speaking I’m in a bit of a grey area, but just physically? I’m alive as you are. Uh, I assume.”

“I have every reason to believe I’m alive,” Lee said. The moment of levity passed, and her concern returned. “Do you have any idea how your resurrection occurred?”

“Almost none,” Vell said. “The only clue I have is a rune on my back, but I’ve got no idea what it means. It’s more complex than any rune anyone’s ever seen.”

Lee crossed her arms and bit her lip. Vell had seen that expression before.

“Do you want to see it?”

“If it’s alright with you,” Lee said. “Though, wait, where is it? It’s not, well, below the belt, is it?”

“It’s sort of belt-adjacent,” Vell assured her, as he gestured to his waist. Lee was conflicted for a moment, but her curiosity overcame her discomfort. A mysterious rune with the power to resurrect the dead could not be ignored, no matter how close it was to Vell’s butt. At a nod from Lee, Vell rounded the table and sat at the end of the bench Lee was sitting on, with his back to her. After double-checking that nobody was nearby, Vell hesitantly lifted his shirt.

Lee had been planning on maintaining a polite distance, for several reasons, but the sight of the faintly-glowing rune made her lean forward. Just as Vell had said, the ten-lined structure was more intricate than anything Lee had ever seen. She didn’t understand anything about the rune itself, but she did understand she now felt a very strong, almost single-minded urge to do one thing.

“Vell?”

“Yeah?”

“May I...touch it?”

“What?”

Vell let his shirt fall back into place and turned around. Lee tried to lean back suddenly, to not look she’d been staring so closely at his back, and ended up falling backwards, banging her head on the bench seat. Vell gave her a moment to recover herself and rub her bruised head.

“Ow. I just meant, well, it’s purely practical, you know, simple academic curiosity. I happen to know a lot about magic and mana and charging runes and, well, things related to that, so I was thinking I might be able to do...something?”

“Oh. Uh, well, if you think so, I guess,” Vell said. He had resisted a lot of attempts to have the rune poked and prodded over the years, but he trusted Lee enough to play along. “What are you going to do? I don’t know much about this thing, but I know there’s a lot of magic in it. It’s dangerous to mess with.”

“It should be fine,” Lee said. “I’m going to sort of ‘echo’ the magic, not really interfere with it directly.”

That explanation satisfied Vell, and he once again turned his back to Lee and lifted his shirt. She eyed the scar on his back for a moment, out of curiosity and as an excuse to hesitate in touching the rune. Eventually, Lee mustered the courage to tap the glowing rune with her fingertip. Vell felt a tingle run up his spine, and then Lee pulled her fingertip away.

Vell heard a faint buzzing noise and turned around to see Lee holding a small globule of magical light on her fingertips. She was staring at it in awe, watching the sphere of light vibrate in her grip. Her magic usually manifested as a deep blue color, but by mimicking the energy of Vell’s rune, she had conjured a spark of pure octarine light.

“Fascinating,” she whispered. “It’s completely pure. Raw, unfiltered mana.”

“Is that, uh, good?” Vell asked. He knew that it was good when drugs were completely pure, he wasn’t sure if the same principle applied to magic. Mana usually had very little in common with cocaine.

“It’s...notable. Not particularly good or bad,” Lee said. “Mana usually loses energy and color-shifts depending on the processes used to extract and channel it. Even a machine couldn’t concentrate mana this efficiently.”

“Oh boy, more questions,” Vell sighed.

“I’m not done yet, dear,” Lee said. She pinched the globule of octarine light between her fingers. “Are you well-versed in the details of magikinetic sampling?”

“Not really.”

“Well, alright then,” Lee said. “Since mana is a form of living energy, it is quite impossible for a machine to analyze anything about it, so I just want to assure you what I’m about to do is completely normal procedure.”

Lee did not give Vell any time to ask questions. Without a word, she took a firm hold of the octarine sphere and placed it in her mouth. Vell stared silently as she chewed the magic like a gumball.

“Hmm. Very complex flavor profile,” Lee said. “Usually with runes you get something a little stony, very solid, but this is...hmm...I don’t know how to describe it. It tastes...unknown?”

“I can imagine,” Vell said.

“No, not like that, Vell, dear, I mean it tastes like the concept of unknown,” Lee said. “Or maybe curious is the better word. Interesting?”

The more Lee talked, the less Vell understood.

“So...the mystery rune is actually a literal mystery rune?”

“Not necessarily?” Lee stammered. She swallowed before continuing. Talking about a complex topic was hard enough without a gumball of pure magic in your mouth. “The profile of magic is heavily affected by what the person using it intends. Magic used for violence will taste harsh and bitter, magic used for healing will taste pleasant, and so on and so forth. What I tasted just then was very complex. Curiosity dominated the others, but there were a lot of flavors at play.”

Vell put his elbows on the picnic table and rested his face in his hands. That just raised further questions. The rune on his back seemed to be tingling, which Vell forced himself to believe was just a side-effect of Lee’s magical examination.

“So. Whoever resurrected me did it for a lot of reasons, but mostly because they thought it would be interesting.”

“Possibly. As you might imagine, chewing on a magic gumball is not an exact science.”

“Right or not, there’s probably a lot more to it than we’re seeing,” Vell sighed. “You know, this is one of the reasons I hate talking about this resurrection shit. It gets more and more complex every time.”

“Well, you can always count on my help if you want to understand it more,” Lee said. She put a hand on Vell’s shoulder. “I’ll do everything in my power.”

“Thanks. And thanks for not being weird about all this.”

“It is a curious situation you find yourself in, but I’ve seen you die several dozen times now, Vell, what’s one more?”

Vell nodded, and Lee pulled her hand off his shoulder. The moment of camaraderie faded, and Lee drew in on herself. The air of awkward silence returned.

“Well. Unless you have anything else to say in regards to your rune?”

“Not really,” Vell said.

Lee sucked air through her teeth and braced herself for the literal moment of the truth.

“Then I suppose it’s my turn, isn’t it?”

The vibration of a phone gave Lee a very welcome reason to hesitate. Vell held up a finger, telling her to pause, and then answered his phone. It was uncommon for Joan to call instead of texting, so whatever she was calling about had to be important.

“Hey Joan,” Vell said. Lee waved slightly. “Lee says hi too.”

“Yeah, hi to both of you too,” Joan said. She sounded out of breath. “It’s good she’s there. Am I on speaker?”

“You are now,” Vell said as he pushed a button and laid the phone on the picnic table.

“Good. Vell, Lee, do either of you want to be part of a lawsuit?”

Vell and Lee looked at one another, then back down at the phone.

“A what?”

“A lawsuit, Harlan, a formal proceeding in which I file a legal complaint and a giant asshole gives me money,” Joan said. “It’s part of this big class-action thingy that’s being filed against Roentgen. I got to prove that I’ve been caused ‘significant emotional or physical distress’ by Roentgen and I need somebody to back up my testimony.”

Vell racked his brain for a minute. Lee pulled away from the table, similarly deep in thought, but for very different reasons.

“Uh, forgive me if I’m forgetting something, but, why have you been distressed by Roentgen?”

The silence that followed was long enough that Vell double-checked his phone to make sure the call hadn’t dropped.

“Joan?”

“Sorry. Just realized I never told you, is all. Look, short version is: Roentgen is the reason I don’t have eyes. So, yeah, I’m pretty fucking emotionally and physically distressed. Come help me testify so we can make them pay, alright?”

Vell looked up at Lee, who refused to meet his gaze. She stared down at the table’s surface, as cold and quiet as the grave.

“Uh, does it have to be soon, I’m a little bit in the middle of-”

“I’m fine, Vell, go help her,” Lee spat.

“Soon is better, please and thank you,” Joan said. “I don’t want to interrupt, but this is kind of a big thing, so please come to my dorm and help me out?”

“Right, okay, I’ll be right there,” Vell said. He hung up and tucked the phone back into his pocket. He stepped away from the table, but turned to check on Lee before he left. She was still staring straight down for some reason.

“Uh, I’ll text you later, we can pick this up, uh, soon, I guess?”

“Just go, Vell,” Lee whispered. Vell hesitated in place, considering his words, before realizing Lee didn’t seem to want to talk. He chalked it up as yet another problem that would have to be resolved later, and continued on his way. Lee stayed behind, feeling a colder chill than the arctic waters of the previous loop, and without even any penguins to accompany it.