The larger phoenix leaped into the air and then landed in front of Julie. It stood tall enough that they stared each other in the eyes. Darren would have pissed his pants, but Julie didn’t twitch.
“I’ve time walked to when your people first found this world. We were here. Most worlds—the inhabitants can’t reach the spirit plane. You came through to Earth because you were interested in us, the first shamans. The ones tied to our planet, and you found every living creature on Earth has magic.”
Darren stepped in front of Kavon, or his body did. He felt his limbs jerk forward like a marionette, but he had no control. “Perception. Affection. Curiosity.” The words fell out of Darren’s mouth tonelessly, and a sense of power swallowed him. Anzu cried out piteously, his armored beak clacking, and with every movement, the cut along his face bled more. Maybe it wasn’t real blood, but Darren felt sympathy for the creature’s suffering. Or maybe he channeled Bennu’s feelings. Bennu landed near Darren and gave a warbling cry.
Turning her back on the phoenix, Julie faced Darren. “We are the memories of our world. We can spirit-walk back to that day. We know you came here wanting adventure, that you didn’t know that we would change each other.”
The phoenix screamed and then words fell from Darren’s mouth. “Exploration. Ignorance. Correction.”
Kavon’s temper blew, and the bond came open so Darren was flooded with indignant fury and impotent rage. The old guide still had control of Darren’s body, but he tried to send calming thoughts back through their bond. It didn’t seem to help much. “Correction?” Kavon demanded. You killed thousands of people. You created fear and hatred that lasted thousands of years. Anzu is a monster, but Butler was right about one thing. You’re monsters too.”
“Agent,” Julie said. She tried to put a hand on his arm, but he jerked it away.
“Native people might revere shamans, but do you have any idea what it’s like in most of the world? Do you know the suicide rate? In Egypt, families abandon their children for having magic. And that all started with the damn purge. And they’re calling it a correction.”
“I know,” Julie said. “I’ve time-walked to the purge. I’ve seen the carnage.”
Familiar and gruesome images of people strewn about the blood-soaked ground like so much garbage filled Darren’s mind.
“That’s their correction. What they did—” Kavon stopped, his jaw clenched and fury pouring out into the spirit plane like fog.
“This isn’t about you,” Dave said, and that was the wrong move. Kavon whirled around.
“Don’t you start, old man. My own parents didn’t know how to talk to me, what to say. My classmates tormented me out of fear, but you... what excuse do you have?”
Dave drew himself up. “I taught you.”
“You used me,” Kavon shot back. “You saw Bennu, and that was your chance to make your mark on the world, but why couldn’t you change the world without Bennu? Is it because the world is so prejudiced that you couldn’t? And who fed that hatred?” Kavon gave the phoenix his coldest look.
“They did their best,” Julie said. Again, she caught Kavon’s arm, but this time when he tried to jerk it away, he failed. She clung and the power she had on the spirit plane prevented his escape. “They don’t exist in the same linear fashion we do. They tried to put us back the way they found us, but they don’t understand that our world is a pond, and every stone you drop in it creates ripples that cannot be stopped.
“Correction!” The word flew from Darren’s mouth, and then Darren was free. He fell to his knees, and Kavon leapt to his side, kneeling next to him. Meanwhile, the phoenix gave a raucous cry and flew into the tree, its long tail feathers dragging across the ground.
Anzu made a pained noise and brought his wings up into the air. Already, he was starting to heal, and Darren struggled to his feet before Anzu could attack again. “Kavon!” Darren said. Kavon brought his hand up, ready to protect them, and his guide trumpeted his anger. The bull was becoming fond of his mastodon form.
Pochi darted into the air, blasting the spirit plane with fear and rage and confusion. And then Detective Johnson from El Paso appeared. He wore basketball shorts and a confused expression. Pochi landed on his shoulder and sent out another blast.
“Um... Okay?” Johnson seemed confused. “Hey guys, what’s up?” This casual response made Darren laugh, despite the tense atmosphere or perhaps because of it.
“Welcome to the apocalypse,” Darren said. “On your right you have Anzu, a monster who—”
“Yeah, I know him,” Johnson interrupted. “I’ve been getting technicolor visions of what he did last time. Pochi is not a fan.”
“We got that.” Darren glanced toward the tree and wondered if all the ifrit felt that way about Anzu. He knew the other birds were suspicious of Bennu and his willingness to get involved, but how did they see one of their own trying to destroy Earth? Almost as if the phoenix and others could hear Darren’s thought, the birds all started to cry out.
Ice shards began to grow up from the ground, and the other hummingbirds darted to the near side of the nascent wall.
“Wait,” Kavon said. “Your lock failed, so you just build another lock?”
“The lock will fail again,” Julie said. “There’s too much magic on both sides of the barrier for it to hold. But that’s the nature of the old ones. The only reality that can exist is the one that already does. There is nothing new, and they exist in a loop. They can only choose which section of the loop to recreate.” As she said that, warm sands rose up to engulf the ice. After a second, the mound started to sink back into the ground.
Anzu sat up and raised his head to the sky and gave an unearthly scream. All the birds in the tree began to call back, creating a wild cacophony of cries. Anzu beat his wings, scattering the sand Julie had conjured and blasting all of them. Darren turned his head away and shielded his eyes.
Kavon pulled Darren behind him and wrapped his arms around Darren until the wind finally stilled. Darren blinked, his eyes stinging and watering. Kavon turned around to face Anzu. “Kill him,” Kavon said. His certainty was a blue stain on reality.
Darren looked at him. “What? Are you sure?” In all the years Darren had known Kavon, he had never known him to make a quick decision or to suggest violence as a solution. He had used force, and had even killed. He had held Darren’s hand when Darren had shook so hard from pulling the trigger on his own gun that Darren couldn’t control himself. But he had never gone into a fight expecting to use force, much less deadly force.
Kavon huffed. “No. I’m not. I wish there were a rule I could hold to, and I really wish this wasn’t the path Dave has asked me to take.” Kavon glared at the older shaman. “But if we want to protect our people, we have to stop the threat here and get out of this loop his people have created. We have to kill him before he kills us.” Anzu screamed and clacked his jaws. He was recovering.
