“Does Maki know?” Foster asked.
“No,” Aedre said.
“Actually, sweetheart, he does.” Akachi scrubbed a hand over his face.
“What?” Aedre wrinkled her freckled head. “You told him?”
He held his wife’s hand. “Crowleen did.”
“How?”
“When we gave her the last key, she sensed it and asked me. I showed her. Maki saw, of course.”
“How did she sense it?” Foster shook her head.
He shrugged. “Said it was because she’d been the Keeper of Key’s for so long.”
Foster bit her bottom lip. “The magic must be profound, then.”
“All the more reason not to delve into it,” Aedre said.
“Well,” Akachi rubbed his hands on his knees. “We’ve made the pact. Let’s stick to it.”
“Maki’s going to be upset we kept it from him,” Aedre said. “I’d better talk to him.”
Foster wondered if they shared her strange dreams.
YuFu
YuFu pressed his palm against the Biluglass shell outside Z’Das’s office. He entered when an arch dissolved.
Z’Das reclined behind his desk, vaping leaf from a pipe. The old man’s orange face looked haggard around bloodshot eyes. “YuFu, YuFu. Sit, sit.” He took another puff on the disc-shaped device and blew out steam. “Now, you understand the magic has gone, yes?”
“Of course.”
The whole of Plan8 was on the brink of war, since commoners discovered how to travel and shape-shift at the speed of intention. But blocking river and rain travel didn’t stop questions circulating about the meaning of life or whether it was some kind of computer simulation.
Z’Das steepled his fingers. “Before you became an RRT agent, you had no training.”
“That’s right. I only used the river and rain transport system to achieve my goals.”
Z’Das leaned forward. His cheeks sagged when he nodded. “I’m sorry. Because the magic has gone, I must let you go.”
A comfortable warmth came into YuFu’s face, and he tapped a loose fist against his chest. “Hey. Don’t worry about it. I never wanted to work for the Mayleedian Secret Service. I can finally retire peacefully with my family.” And keep my brother from sniffing around my wife.
“That can’t be the case, either.” Z’Das pursed his lips. “Tanmixan wants you to complete your contract there.”
“Fishing from Tushing?”
Z’Das nodded.
YuFu’s body tensed. His voice dropped in tone. “Tanmixan ruined my life.”
“Tanmixan is powerful and rules the government. It’s always given your family their expensive lifestyle.”
“Can’t I just retire on my secret service pension?”
“None of us could have predicted my RRT division would dissolve.” Z’Das scrubbed a hand over his face. “Metaphysical transportation was too good to be true.”
“What are you saying?”
“MSS can’t afford to give you any more money. But Tanmixan can. It needs you. You were the best fisher.”
“What if I refuse?”
“Tanmixan will wipe your memory again.”
His sweat turned cold, and his muscles quivered. His laughter had an edge. “And replace it with that maniac’s memory?”
“No. You’d remain YuFu.”
He struggled to find words as he thought it over. At least he’d finally forget all the people he’d killed. Forgetting his wife’s affair would be kinder to his mentality. But he’d forget his friends and their superhero rescue missions, too. He also needed money. “How can Tanmixan play with people like this?”
Z’Das shrugged.
“How long do they want me?”
“Just five years.”
“They already took six years of my life.”
“Can I give you some advice?” The old man’s amber eyes glinted in the lamplight like a cat’s. “Don’t hold on to grief and anger. It is what it is. You can’t go back and change it.” He chuckled. “Well, you could have changed it, but the time portals are closed.”
***
YuFu sank in a pit of disappointment as his six kids and wife talked around the kitchen table. When he looked down at his empty plate, he couldn’t even remember eating whatever Xuxu had laid out.
In bed that night, YuFu told Xuxu what Z’Das had said.
She swiped away the movie from her airSphere and pushed herself higher against the bed board. “No. You mustn’t go back and work there.”
He gave a distracted nod. “It won’t be much different from working as a secret agent. Four weeks away, three weeks home.”
“But you weren’t even a proper spy, just an amateur.” She ran yellow fingers through her strawberry-blonde hair. “Harvesting diamonds from Tushing’s atmosphere is much more dangerous. What if you get sucked in one of the storms?”
“Come on. Did you forget I was the best damn diamond fisher in Tanmixan?”
She glared at him. “No, I didn’t. I thought you were a methane rig worker on Tai. And your kids still think that. Aren’t you sick of all this lying?”
His chest tightened as he spoke through teeth with forced constraint. “It’s not as if I enjoy lying. It’s confidential government information. What would you expect?”
She crossed her arms and cut him a stare.
He swept an open hand around their large bedroom, carved within a chalk cliff. “How do you think we can afford all this? On your teaching salary? Tanmixan gave this to us. As you said, I was an amateur agent.” He sighed.
“What are you telling me?”
“MSS cannot pay my pension.”
Xuxu shuffled closer and lifted his hand into hers. “We can move. We can live in a smaller house. We don’t need so much money. Can’t you retire? Be with your family, like you always wanted.”
“We won’t have enough.” He didn’t tell her that Tanmixan would wipe the last seven and a half years from his memory. She’d probably want it.
“Don’t let money rule us. We don’t need to be rich. Please. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“Listen. I don’t have a choice. Baba and Mama won’t live in that retirement home if I don’t take up Tanmixan’s offer. Anyway, it’s only for five years.”
“You could die.” An angry gaze sliced her face. “Five years is
