2.10 The Veil

“Titus, let’s kill this monster.”

I readied my blade, but when Esther looked at me in exasperation, I felt reluctant to deliver the first blow. When I searched myself to find out why, I realized that despite Priscilla's accusations, everything about the Night Terror screamed that some shred of her humanity remained. Perhaps it was the weary look on her face, the eyes of someone who had seen too much in too short of a time. Or perhaps it was the way she carried herself, a poised warrior had once known power but was now past her prime. I probably couldn’t know for certain without consulting the monocle, but Esther did not strike me as a mindless monster.

“Maybe we should check first-”

Priscilla immediately raised her right hand and fired a deadly feather at Esther’s head, much to my surprise.

The force of the blow sent the Night Terror reeling down the stairs, knocking her onto the ground flat on her back. The six javelins encircling her vanished before they came into contact with the floor. The Night Terror lay still as a stone and did not move. She did not flinch or cry out in pain.

"I thought she was your friend!" I cried in horror.

Priscilla looked at me like I was a crazy person.

“I’m not taking any more chances.”

"What are you talking about, isn't that your friend, Esther?"

"She's not my friend!"

Priscilla lowered her arm and moved it in my general direction as if she was thinking about shooting me next. When she realized what she was doing, she snapped her arm away from me. It all happened in the blink of an eye, making me wonder if I had imagined the movement. She didn't have any reason to shoot me as well.

Get a grip, I told myself.

I looked at Esther, wondering if the feather had finished her off where the metal spikes could not. The barbed projectile had embedded itself deep into the Night Terror’s forehead, though not a drop of blood fell from the mark.

"She's dead," Priscilla sighed, clearly relieved.

"Do you want me to confirm-?"

"No! We'll be gone soon, if Marlette keeps her word. No need to risk our lives doing something stupid."

I sat down on the ground and leaned against the altar I clung to.

I had just witnessed Priscilla murder a former colleague without checking to see if she was really a monster.

"Mind explaining why you shot her without checking to see if she was human?"

"Are you kidding me?" she snapped. "She is so clearly a monster!"

"It's not so clear to me."

"Well, you better start trusting me, because you're not the one who was stuck in this nightmare! Listen to me, you can't trust anyone that isn't 100% on your side!"

I began to wonder if I was 100% on her side.

I closed my eyes, knowing she wouldn't listen to a word I had to say.

What was I missing?

Was giving anyone the benefit of the doubt something you weren't supposed to do? Was it something that got you killed in the nightmare? I tried not to think about how my absence may have contributed to this change in my friend because the Priscilla I knew would have preferred to talk things out, at least for a moment, before resorting to violence.

Only thinking about yourself, even now, I heard a voice say.

Shut up, you're not helping!

When will you admit that you can only make things worse? You are a curse to everyone around you, the most cursed individual in a nightmare full of the accursed.

I had no answer to the voice inside my head.

I opened my eyes again, hoping to see Esther still alive, even if just barely. I had so many questions to ask her, things Priscilla wouldn't tell me. There had to be another side to this story, and I had to know what was being kept secret from me. But Esther did not stir from the ground.

Who am I kidding? I thought. She just got shot by a Seraph.

Just when I wrote her off for dead, Esther calmly picked herself off the ground and brushed the dirt off her charred duster as if nothing had happened. Esther leered at Priscilla, unimpressed. There was not a hint of fear in her eyes, just a dead look. She looked disinterested in the entire situation, as if she was familiar with such treatment.

A look of utter horror filled Priscilla's face. She held the altar horn in a vice grip. The horn did not yield under her immense strength.

"I always knew there was something off about you," Priscilla blurted out. "When were you planning to show your true colors, you monster? You were waiting for us to let our guards down, weren't you?"

Esther ignored the question. Instead, she raised her hand to her forehead to remove the feather from her forehead.

“It’s poisonous,” I yelped, almost releasing the altar in my haste.

Esther flashed me a thumbs up before pinching the base of the feather between her thumb and forefinger, but instead of collapsing onto the ground as most people did when touching a Seraph feather, she stood there still as a statue as she tried to remove it. The toxin, when activated, could render an elephant unconscious instantly, but it was apparently ineffective on her.

Nothing works in the nightmare, I thought in dismay. Not my time magic, not Priscilla's toxins.

Esther sighed as she painstakingly removed one barb from her skull at a time while we watched, neither of us certain of what we ought to do.

It was clear now that Esther didn't feel pain at all, not after everything she shrugged off.

And yet...

“You’re human, aren’t you?” I said.

Esther looked at and smiled knowingly. She even looked pleasantly surprised, as if I had figured out some great mystery. I thought I even saw her nodding yes.

“I told you, she’s not!” Priscilla said frantically. “Weren't you listening? Esther is the phantasm that tried to kill me three years ago, the one whose leg I broke?”

I frowned.

“I thought you didn't know who the phantasm was.”

“I just found out,” she said, gritting her teeth. “Now, help me get rid of her like you swore to do!”

"Why do you want to get rid of her so badly?"

Then it occurred to me that perhaps Esther had something to say that Priscilla didn’t want me to hear about.

Stabbed in the back, I realized in alarm. That's a serious accusation.

“Something’s not adding up,” I said. "Esther-"

Priscilla grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face her. She was fuming like a bull ready to charge.

“Why don’t you believe me?” she said coldly.

“You told me monsters lost all sense of reason in the nightmare and attacked everything on sight," I said curtly. "But clearly Esther still has her wits about her. So what is it, is she a monster or not? Is this the real Esther?”

Priscilla seemed flustered and took a moment before responding.

“This is her," she said quickly. "Esther’s a special case. I’ll explain later, I promise. She’s been-sick for a while. Just help me get rid of her for now!”

She had avoided answering the question directly, not a good sign. But before I could press her for more information, Priscilla raised her wing again and fired a volley of feathers at the Night Terror, six of which pierced her left arm. The rest pierced the backs of the wooden pews, causing them to explode in clouds of sharp splinters. When the dust settled, splinters covered the red carpet of the chapel-like maggots in a crypt.

Esther didn’t bother to remove the feathers this time, although her arm hung limply at her side. In fact, she seemed quite amused at Priscilla's inability to hurt her. And the wider Esther's smile grew, the more apparent my Priscilla's discomfort became.

“Say something!” Priscilla screeched. “Don’t pretend like you did nothing wrong!”

But Esther stood there, silent as the grave. Her throne of javelins had reappeared, though she refrained from utilizing them against the woman who had just broken her left arm. The Night Terror seemed to be waiting for something to happen, though I wasn't sure what.

Despite my initial fears, nothing about the Night Terror's actions since she had removed her mask seemed out of line. It was everything Priscilla had done that shook me to my core. Up until now, I suspected that no one had told me the entire truth about the situation I was in, not Iris, not Gordon, not even Priscilla. It was possible that the Night Terror was merely trying to throw both of us into confusion through some grand scheme, but the level of fear she commanded in my lord told me that Esther had dirt on Priscilla. And if there were dirt to be uncovered, who would be more willing to shed light on Priscilla's secrets than someone she clearly wanted dead?

Priscilla's hiding something, I thought, more certain of it than before ever before. Something I need to know about.

But I had to hurry.

Iris could wake us up at any moment now.

“You said my lord stabbed you in the back,” I called out. “From what I heard, you volunteered to stay behind in the observatory to save the others. Why would she lie about such a thing?”

“Titus, I swear-” Priscilla growled.

“Let me talk!” I protested.

“No! She’s trying to turn you against me! Both of them are! They are lying to you!”

At that moment, I knew I could no longer take Priscilla's words at face value.

The nightmare had changed her.

Perhaps she didn't trust me the way I trusted her.

I took a deep breath.

“Then I will compare the lies that have been spoken to me and decide for myself who is telling the truth,” I said, looking Priscilla dead in the eyes. "Is that fair?"