Chapter XIX: Old Wounds, New Complications

Josip Duančić followed a man through the breaches in the Veil, diving beneath its cover and walking so softly that not even a matter-shifter could sense his approach. Was it indeed his true calling – to serve the Red Bond and the Red Leader? Josip desperately wanted to acquire all the talents that he lacked, while ignoring the one strange gift that nature had bestowed upon him. He was silent. He could sneak around without making a sound.

Noiselessly, he tracked Tomislav Drašković to the University library, watched him exchange words with his son Ante and followed Ante to an apartment building not far from the botanical gardens. Josip knew Zagreb well enough not to reveal his presence. He was surprised to see Ante's tall figure disappear into the basement instead of the courtyard: was that where his brother worked?

The rusty door was no obstacle for Josip's clever fingers armed with a lockpick. Discreetly, he entered a dark space that smelled of alcohol and metal. A long corridor led to dimly lit rooms filled with empty vials, peculiar devices, metal racks and long tables. Josip felt his heart skip a beat. He hid behind an old locker, peeking out to see Ante and his brother Fabijan stop near an aquarium with dead rats inside. Ante spoke.

"I hope you have good news. Father will be very disappointed to know you have not made progress with your… main subject."

Josip leaned forward to get a better look at them. Fabijan swirled his thick moustache with short fingers. After a minute of silence, Fabijan snorted.

"He is exhausted. What else can I do? I know, they are abominations, but I am not an abomination. Why should I do this?" He spat to the floor with revulsion.

"Do you think I like it?!" Ante almost shouted. "All that horror will be worth the trouble once we achieve the goal! Father will finally treat us the way we deserve! Don't you want that?"

"Do you still believe he will ever look at us the way he looks at Gordana?" His voice trembled with bitter anger. "He never will! We are nothing! He won't ever accept us as equals!"

"Father trusts the Glasscracker. And he expects your subject's blood to yield the necessary result, to produce a suitable blood fusion for his enhancer," Ante said solemnly. "If he succeeds, we succeed as well. We will finally occupy the place that has always been rightfully ours as leaders of this realm. The Psychics will lose this time, the Veil will be whole again, and we will return to the Ancestors." He paused, as if trying to convince himself. "Energy-twisters appeared because Greek time-masters meddled with our Enhancements. One Psychic disease spread another. We were outnumbered, we were outmatched. But we can correct this."

"Couldn't you correct it without me?" Fabijan coughed and sent an empty vial flying into the corner, almost hitting Josip.

"You could at least pretend to care!" Ante hissed at his brother.

"Why?" Fabijan retaliated. "You will never be the heir to the family! Gordana will take your place. And everyone knows how she hates you!"

Josip could almost hear Ante grit his teeth.

"She does not hate me… She… does not hate me!"

"Dream on! She will befriend the Byzantine Basilisk before she ever looks your way!"

"She will not!" Ante's long slim body curled over the table. "The Glasscracker has informed father that he has the Basilisk cornered. You may soon get whatever you need from her. Her blood will solve the dilemma!"

A long silence stretched between the brothers. Josip peeked out once again only to see them staring at each other with a strange mixture of relief and confusion in their eyes. Ante was lanky, long and colorless. Fabijan had a shaved head, square face and golden mustache. Both looked too young for their actual age.

"You know what it means, don't you?" Fabijan's voice seemed hopeful to Josip. "There will be no more experiments! I will just let that boy go!"

What was he talking about? Was it his test subject, or an unfortunate victim of Tomislav's ludicrous obsessions?

"No, you won't," Ante said with grim finality. "You will have to kill him. Death is better than captivity."

"Better…?"

Josip did not hear Fabijan's whispers, peering from his secret corner. He barely had time to withdraw, when his light projector chimed in the pocket of his jacket. There was a limit to his luck, and he did not intend to stretch it. Quietly, he glided into the corridor and hurried back to the street. Whatever his uncle, the Glasscracker and Tomislav were planning, he was not sure that the Red Bond alone could stop them. The light message that reached him contained his new assignment: he had to travel to Athens. Red Leader knew things that Josip did not understand yet.