To be honest, I sensed that he was no longer a danger, but decided to get anything he might find useful out of his reach. With that in mind, I teleported my badge, his amulet, and the two relics into my hand for the nonce. Beyond that, I simply waited for someone to come take charge of him. (I suppose I could have teleported him, but didn’t want to deal with the aftermath if a sudden change in scenery did something to his already-altered mental state).
Eventually, Mariner showed up. After seeing him looking like a winged bird earlier, I would have expected him to have his arm in a sling, but he appeared to be completely able-bodied. (Obviously, I kept forgetting how tough Incarnates were, such as when he had taken a knife in the eye.)
I left Static in his care, along with the crystal relic and amulet. Keeping my badge and the prism with me, I then teleported back to my quarters, at which point I immediately flung myself into the shower. After the lavender light had vanished, I’d found myself no longer covered in the red dust Static had dumped on me, but I’d still felt foul. A long shower went a long way toward making me feel clean. Afterward, I got dressed and then stretched out on the bed and got some much-needed sleep.
*****
I awoke feeling incredibly refreshed. Bearing in mind that physical needs were at a minimum in Permovren, it was pretty clear that the rest I’d gotten had benefited me mostly on a psychological level. (Apparently rooting a killer out of your midst does wonders for your mental health, including allowing you to sleep like a baby.)
Nevertheless, although the murderer had been caught and the threat eliminated, I still had some lingering questions. That being the case, I decided to finish up my research in the castle library.
Once there (and with the librarian’s assistance once again), I was easily able to pick up where I’d previously left off. From that point, it didn’t take me long to find the information I was looking for. However, I’d barely finished (and had almost no time to reflect on what I’d learned) when Rune and Endow showed up looking for me, saying that we needed to talk.
Chapter 59
We ended up in a sitting room in Endow’s chambers, probably because it seemed to be an area designed for three-person conversations, with a trio of exquisitely comfortable easy chairs arranged around a triangular table.
“So,” I began after everyone had taken a seat, “is this the official debrief?”
“Not exactly,” Rune said. “There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened here. At the moment, each of us three probably has a piece of the puzzle, but if we put them together we can probably see the big picture.”
“Okay,” I droned. “But what pieces are we talking about?”
“To begin with,” Endow noted, “there’s the information that you’ve gleaned from investigating the murders. Then there’s what I’ve gathered from talking to Ursula, and what Rune has been able to get from Reverb.”
“Ursula and Reverb?” I repeated quizzically. “What’s their connection? Aside from being mind-controlled and almost killed, that is.”
“I don’t think Static realized Ursula has a telepathic ability,” Endow said. “So, when he took control of her body, even though she couldn’t do anything physically, she was able to see what was in his mind.”
My brow furrowed as I contemplated that. “So she saw everything that happened when she attacked me?”
Endow nodded. “She saw it. She just couldn’t do anything about it.”
“But the real takeaway there,” Rune insisted, “is that she was able to get some things out of Static’s head without him knowing she was there.”
“And Reverb?” I asked.
“He spent fair amount of time with Cerek,” Rune stated, “who had a treasure trove of background information.”
“Yeah, but how’s Reverb even alive?” I asked. “I thought his effigy crumbled.”
Endow sighed. “It’s complicated. But maybe we should just start at the beginning.”
“First though,” Rune chimed in, “let me say that you did great, Jim. It’s not everyone who would have been willing to take on an Incarnate, let alone beat him one-on-one.”
“Except Static’s not an Incarnate,” I countered. “He never was.”
Rune and Endow exchanged a glance, and then the latter asked, “When did you figure that out?”
“Not soon enough,” I replied, “although I got enough hints.”
Endow gave me an inquisitive look. “Like what?”
“For starters, all of the contrasts between him and the rest of you Incarnates,” I stated. “For instance, I could always read him emotionally, but not the rest of you. When I was invisible, he didn’t seem to be able to see me, but the other Incarnates could. And then, there was the fact that he mentioned being roused.”
Endow frowned. “What’s the significance of that?”
“Because for normal people, sleep is generally a necessity,” I explained. “Even in a place like Permovren, where your body doesn’t require it. We need the break, the ability to recharge our mental batteries.” I paused for a moment to let that sink in, then asked, “Didn’t you guys notice that he slept more than the average Chomarsus?”
“He did have a history of sleeping relatively often,” Endow admitted.
“I just thought it was related to the fact that he was incredibly lazy,” Rune added.
“Anyway,” I said sheepishly, “I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on those things sooner. Looking back on it, even his name was a giveaway: aside from referring to a type of electrical charge, ‘static’ also refers to something that’s fixed or doesn’t change.”
“Gamma gave him that moniker,” Endow noted. “In her own way, I guess she was telling us that he hadn’t become an Incarnate.”
I groaned in frustration. “I can’t believe I was so slow in putting all that together.”
“Don’t blame yourself for that,” Rune insisted. “We spent ages around him and never picked up on it. The fact that you homed in on it during a much shorter period is a
