Flies past Mathers illusions

I flew, back into the darkness.

The shadows swam around me. It was vertigo-inducing. Slimy.

The darkness faded. A slice of light, reflected off the ceiling, down into a column of space which had no darkness at all.

My cue. I flew hard that way.

The darkness faded, and I was face to face with Christine Mathers, staring into her eyes.

I stabbed her eye with the needle. The plunger jolted, and it fired like a gun, the fluids spurting in.

Images all around us faded. Scenes peeled away. Things the Simurgh had lifted. Dust clouds.

So much of it had been fakery.

We hadn't heard the screaming for how long, now?

Mama Mathers had the ability to screw up our senses if we saw her. It had to extend to more than sight, because she was amped up.

The Simurgh wasn't here. Hadn't been here even when I'd entered the room. Many of the victims weren't even present.

I noted Imp. Still gone. Chastity. Cassie.

I spat.

People were patching up wounds. Sveta approached me, to hold a bandage to my shoulder.

"Is she already…"

"She skipped ahead. We thought we had a bit longer," Tattletale said. "She jumped to going after Fortuna ten minutes early. We didn't do enough for your plan."

"No."

I looked.

Dinah had spoken. Now she pointed, one hand held to her head, grimacing.

I looked, and I saw the syringe, empty.

I grabbed it.

There was only one valid target.

The thin Mathers Giant turned to look at me, eyes wide and vacant.

I went blind. Deaf. My skin sloughed off, multiplied, liquefied again. I was an ocean.

As an ocean, I flew.

This time I hit the plunger.

The veil fell yet again. This time for real.

The screaming picked up, faint at first, and then a roar. It was all an illusion. All a mind-fuck.

She was here, perched. Fucking with us all the while.

Still on schedule.

Last chance.

Go!

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