"Shallow artifice begets suspicion, and like a cobweb veil, but thinly shades the face of thy design, alone disguising what should have never been seen, imperfect mischief." William Congreve

West Edmonton Mall appeared on green screens around us. Swimmers played in the artificially generated waves on the other side of an observation window, children at the candy store pleaded with their parents for treats, and a family were in the process of selecting western colonial costumes for a photo shoot at the old-times photoshop. Casper nudged his chin ever so slightly at a robust woman who was holding a rose-pink, floor-length gown in front of herself. "That's a great one," the little girl next to her said.

The woman blushed and said quietly to the girl, "I'm afraid it isn't big enough to close in the back."

"The picture only shows the front, so it doesn't really matter," the girl said. The woman seemed relieved, probably because she'd come to the conclusion there wasn't anything bigger to put on.

As I walked up behind the woman, the girl flashed me a friendly smile; turned rictus a moment later as I sliced a knife across her mother's throat. Unable to remember what I was told to do next, I froze with the knife in my hand, dripping blood onto the floor tiles.

"Cut! Rory, you were supposed to drop the knife and run away. We'll have to start over from the top." An odd smirk passed over Denovo's face as he watched me wipe the corn-syrup blood off my hands. He enlightened me on the cause by saying, "That dead look you get in your eyes helps sell the scene."

It wasn't the first time someone had pointed out my dead-pan face or my vacant eyes. They usually missed the fact that these were symptoms of being overwhelmed. One of the things that bothered me the most about this video project was the fact that the people who'd eventually see it would probably be told about I was autistic, and they think the things they saw somehow related to this revelation as if murder and autism went hand-in-hand.

Once the set was cleaned and reset Casper, and I picked up the scene from the start. This time I remembered to drop the knife and run. It hurt to know that running wouldn't help me in real life. I had nowhere to go.

"That's a wrap. We're on a tight schedule," Denovo shouted.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping he didn't have any more scenes planned.

"We have an engagement, Rory. As for Casper, there is a window of time to send him where I have planned, and it's quickly closing." Casper was staring straight forward as if he didn't see the man beside him. My gut told me he was staying silent for my sake. I couldn't do the same.

I kept my tone as calm as I could as I said, "Our deal was that you wouldn't hurt Casper. Where are you planning on sending him? What's going to happen to him?"

"I plan on keeping my word, Rory. I have no intention of hurting Casper, but I also don't plan on running a question and answer session. Get in the box," Denovo commanded Casper. My stomach clenched as he held up the device I knew could be used to deliver shocks. Casper obediently walked to the cell. I could see in his eyes the same concern that I'd be hurt in his place as I felt when I thought about Denovo torturing him on account of any of my actions.

"Your turn," Denovo said to me. He put a hand across my chest as I took a step toward my cell. "Not there." He tipped his head toward the outside door. "The two of us are going for a ride."

It occurred to me that I might never see Casper again, once those doors closed behind me. Far from home, we'd at least had each other. Now it felt like the end. Casper must have felt the same way, because he shouted from his cell, "We've done everything you've asked. Please, don't hurt Rory."

Denovo stroked his finger down my cheek before turning to Casper to say, "You shouldn't be wasting your energy worrying about Rory." Denovo pushed the button at the center of the device that was nestled in his palm. Casper screamed and dropped to the floor of his cell. Denovo didn't allow me an opportunity to see if he got back up again. He put his hands on my shoulders and propelled me through the outside door.

Denovo kept pushing me forward as my eyes struggled to adjust to the brilliance of the sun. I stumbled on a curb and fell forward onto the seat of a vehicle. "Don't worry. I plan on making this easier on both of us," I heard Denovo say from behind me. I turned to see him pull out a long needle. He injected an icy liquid into a vein on my neck.

~ ~ ~

My mind was wide awake even though my body, bound to a chair made from black metal that was secured to a platform floating in the center of a sphere, was still numb from whatever Denovo had injected me with.

Hidden heartbeats fibrillated the fabric of the darkness. Shapes lurked in the shadows. It was hard to identify them as human, in the absence of the usual buffet of human odours. A sharp metallic aroma filled my nostrils, reminding me of the time Grandma had forgotten to take ribs out of the oven before leaving for the Batoche Days celebrations. Ozone machines had to be set up in the house for a month to remove the acrid aroma of burned bone. Oozing from the dark shapes was the unmistakable smell of ozone.

Many voices conflated into a mechanical murmur as my eyes adjusted to the dimness. Slowly, I began to make out layered tiers of seating. Judging by the appearance of the space, it seemed like the building might have been a theatre or a lecture hall. Everything was black—seats, clothes, acoustic panels on the walls, and cloaks that covered everything except for smooth circles of white that hid the faces behind them. Black souls encased in porcelain.

I felt like a sacrificial lamb upon an altar, awaiting my executioner's knife. These weren't brave people. These were people who felt the need to tie a scared girl to a chair as if she was the threat. Recognizing their cowardice didn't make me feel better.

Cowards have committed some of the worst atrocities in human history. Feeling superior wasn't much of a comfort either. I watched them move like ants along the tiers, filling the empty seats. They fell silent as Denovo's amplified voice rumbled through the empty vertical space until it reverberated off the high ceilings.

"We lived long, productive lives before the infection. Now we're forced to waste our abbreviated years playing witness. As if having to be constantly barraged by their worthless existence wasn't bad enough, our lives are cut short by their malice and negligence. Even if they live to be old, we never get to know how long our natural lives might have been. We are killed by their hatred and inability to produce cures for the most basic illnesses. We know the real reason so many of them die of diseases isn't due to not knowing how to prevent and cure them. It's the result of hoarding medicine for those who can afford to pay. Overpopulation, starvation, pollution: It all kills us. If this is punishment for our past sins, when will it end? When will our debts be settled?"

A snarling sound surged through the swarm of masked figures, making it easy to imagine them as a vicious dog pack. Suddenly Denovo appeared in front of me, grasping a circular railing for stability as he stood on a disc hovering in the air. He kept his eyes fixed on mine as the disc swept upward. His eyes weren't like the sun as he rose over the crowd. They were like an eclipse: Threatening to steal your vision forever if you looked into them.

"Some people believe communicating with humans is the elusive key to making them keep memories of our side. If we could suddenly talk to them, those same people would call it an opportunity to teach humans how to lengthen their lifespan. I believe it is time for all Incepterrians to understand that humans already possess the ability to perceive us. Rory Lyon certainly does." Denovo twisted my name as if he was choking on the sounds. Dressed in a black robe, he looked like the Grim Reaper, pointing his finger as if marking me for death. All that was missing was a scythe.

"I am positive each of you has had at least one experience of speaking to your second self, confident it was like communicating with a corpse, only to later hear them repeat pieces of what you said. Isn't it remarkable that when this happens, they only seem to recall the golden nugget sparks of inspiration? While they reject any memory of information that might not benefit themselves, they honour us as their muses. These humans only care for themselves.

It's time for us to smash our bonds and rid ourselves of this disease."

As a cheer rose like water crashing on rocks, I berated myself for how I hated Denovo with every part of myself, except for the small part that believed he was right. The porcelain dolls seemed to transform into a sea of undulating waves. Denovo's floating pedestal glided over them like a boat cresting the swell of each tier. He carried on saying, "People like my brother would keep us in chains. If we were to gain longer lifespans, they'd still want us to waste our additional years on humans. They'd say Penitence has brought us the reward of bridging our worlds but would ask us to give our gifts to humanity."

Denovo cut off the thunderous rumble rolling through the room with a motion of his hand.

"We only need to look at our folk stories to see the evidence. According to these tales, we were once fooled into expending energy and lives to cross over to their world. The resulting increase in human lifespans was used by them to find new ways to kill each other. We have been told this bridge was a venture that could only be attempted once. I don't believe it. How could it be true when we have the evidence of the lie here with us?" Denovo's podium descended until he hovered in front of me. He looked me directly in the eyes as he said, "Letting them carry even vestigial fractions of our DNA is repulsive—pearls before swine, as one human expression goes. There's only been one person we know of who it has made a difference with, and that's Rory Lyon. She is living proof of the lie we all have been told. Gemini is among the most faithful of the Penitents. He believes his unique relationship with Rory is a reward. Imagine the arrogance it takes to think that as a child, you were being rewarded for something people spend their whole lives chasing. His faith is a disguise for his lie. Gemini knows the real secret hidden inside of Rory Lyon."

'Aren't we a special snowflake?' I couldn't help thinking about this phrase that Mom loved to repeat. It rang in my ears, but the words had warped into something perverse. All the times I'd told myself she was right that there was nothing special about me, hearing Denovo contradict her for the worst reason imaginable was enough to make me throw-up. Denovo slid his finger along the line of my jaw. The futile effort of trying to move didn't help me get away from his touch, which he let linger until sweat trickled around his finger.

"Rory Lyon, scion of the Incepterrian legacy on Earth, tell us the truth about how you arrived on Incepterrene."

Scion was a word that meant heir. It made no sense for him to call me that. How could I be the heir of the Incepterrian legacy on Earth? The look in Denovo's eyes was a command to get on with my recitation of the script he'd instructed me to deliver after he'd said these perplexing words. Suddenly seconds slipping past seemed like hours; a hesitation which might cost Casper his life. The thought was enough to spur me into saying, "I came to Incepterrene on my own, to finish what I'd started on Earth."

The crowd roared in response. What I was supposed to have started on Earth was still a mystery. I hadn't asked Denovo for an explanation, afraid to push any button that might jeopardize Casper's safety. The noise of the crowd made me think they understood what I supposedly did back on Earth better than myself. Denovo was careful to give me a more explicit confession of the threat I represented to the future of Incepterrians. I breathed in a deep breath and said, "I came here to Incepterrene so I could attack your Parliament, with the help of my second self, Gemini of House Jeni, along with the full resources of the Penitent Movement at our disposal."

The crowd screamed, "Traitors! Traitors! Traitors!" Over the noise of the group, a high pitch whine caught my attention.

Nobody reacted. It felt strange to be reminded of my older sister in a moment such as this; to be reminded of home when I had no hope of seeing it again. Milly liked to tell me I had the nose of a dog. I'd thought she was trying to call it cold and wet the first few times she'd said it. It took a while for me to figure out that she'd been referring to how sensitive my sense of smell was.

Maybe the same was true of my hearing. Perhaps the reason nobody was reacting was that I was the only person who could hear the incessant whining sound. It took a beam of natural light illuminating my face, followed immediately by a small drill-like device piercing through the top of the dome and dropping into the room to hover above me, to bring up shouts of alarm from the assembly. These shouts quickly were replaced the screams of anger as the machine began to screech. I gritted my teeth as a pulsing vibration thrummed through my core, but couldn't help noticing how everyone else in the room seemed to be affected differently. They'd stopped moving as if they'd really turned into the glass dolls they resembled. Part of me resented playing the role of an outsider to yet another group experience, but it was a feeling that had no time to take root. Doors burst open and figures clad in beige gushed through. Although none of them held anything I recognized as weapons, most wore combat fatigues. Gemini stood in one doorway, parting the waters like an island in the center of a swiftly flowing stream.

~ ~ ~

Gemini's blue eyes sank like anchors into my gray seas. An invisible chain seemed to hold him in place. An older man leaned toward him and whispered in his ear. Moments later, I could almost see the fetters fall away. He rushed to the railing, opened an instrument panel, and pressed a button that made a set of stairs extend upwards until it interlocked with the platform where I was trapped. Within seconds he rushed up the stairs and dropped to his knees in front of me. "Are you alright?" He said.

I expected him to immediately untie me, but he hesitated. "Why are you waiting?" I said a little more churlishly than I'd intended.

Only then did I notice his hands were shaking. He extended a trembling hand to touch my arm and let out an explosive breath when it made contact. "I was worried my hand might pass through you," he said.

"I guess that means I'm real," I said.

"Like Pinocchio? Is it my desire that turned you into a real girl?" Gem spoke quietly, as if to himself. Then he fell into silence, working at untying the knots around my wrists. Finally, he dropped his hands as if giving up, only to reach into his pocket for a knife. "I forgot I had this," he said. The ropes fell away as he cut through them, leaving us separated by centimetres. It might as well have been kilometres.

"Look, Gem. No marks." I held out my limbs to show him I wasn't hurt.

"But he did hurt you, whether or not there are marks to prove it," he said.

I let my eyes fly around the space in search of distraction. Gem's anger was too intense to meet head-on. Light saturating the room revealed all the details previously cloaked in darkness. The hovering stage platforms appeared able to be moved around the dead space in the center of the theatre. I had to force myself to look away from the people frozen in peculiar positions along the tiers of seats.

"What's going on here? How did you find me?" I asked Gem.

"We were given a tip about this rally. The Ministry will step in soon. There's no way we can keep this from them."

"Is there something wrong with them finding out?"

"The Ministry will probably decide we've violated prisoner rights and let everyone go. We want a chance to interrogate them before that happens," Gem said.

"So, the Penitents have something against civil rights?" I gasped at the unexpected vehemence of my words. After everything Denovo had done to me, I found myself surprised that I still cared about things like due process.

"Not normally," Gem said.

"So you only ignore people's rights when it's convenient for you?" I said, unable to stop myself.

Gem frowned. "You always have had a tendency to see things like justice in black and white. Would knowing Denny might be one of those prisoners they set free help you to recognize the shades of grey?"

"I don't care about black, white, grey, or beige. All I care about is Casper," I mumbled, knowing it couldn't be true so long as

Denovo was so closely linked to Casper's wellbeing. Casper's fate might have been sealed the moment Denovo was taken into custody, yet the possibility of Gem's brother walking free was terrifying.

"I can't bring you to Casper right now," Gem said, casting his eyes for a moment to his brother, who was frozen on his floating pedestal. Before I could say anything in response, we heard the older man who'd spoken to Gem earlier call to him. As he approached, I noticed the etching of his face by age gave him the appearance of authority. He looked dressed for battle—beige combat trousers and a hooded fleece under a bullet-proof jacket. In the middle of his chest, there was the image of a person kneeling before a radiant light source.

"My name is Pastor Dani of House Doral," the man introduced himself to me.

"Are you similar to Catholic priests, or more like an Anglican Pastor?" I blurted, instantly recognizing my mistake by the crimson of Gemini's face. This was another example of the kind of thoughts you weren't supposed to say out loud. There was no doubt in my mind Gemini understood enough about Earth religions to know that I'd essentially asked Pastor Doral about his sex life. If Pastor Doral realized the same, he hid it well. Perhaps he'd decided the best course of action was not to make the situation any more awkward by commenting on it.

"We didn't believe Gemini when he came to us in a panic. After all, how could you be on our side of the membrane?" Pastor Doral said.

"Why would you doubt him? If Gemini said he saw me, why would you think that was a lie?"

"The reason for Partner Gemini's panic was that he couldn't see you. He seemed very certain his brother had somehow brought you to Incepterrene, but he had no evidence or idea of where you might be."

"We were with Denovo for over a week. You're telling me it took Gem that long to convince you to start looking?"

Pastor Doral shook his head. "We couldn't find you. Our undercover Severant informants had trouble solidifying a lead."

It's not like Denovo had moved us all around the countryside. We were kept in one location—a film studio of some kind. Then again, Incepterrene likely matched Earth in relative size, which meant it must have just as many places to hide. If not for his decision to bring me to such an exposed location, Denovo might have been able to keep us hidden forever. It seemed like an amateur mistake for someone so calculating.

"Pastor Doral, I would like permission to take Rory back to my quarters to rest. She has been through a lot," Gem said.

"Only to rest. The Ministry won't take long to figure out what happened. We can stall them until morning. Much longer than that, we run the risk of appearing to be intentionally obstructing Ministry business. I will have security posted outside your quarters. You must bring Rory to the Penitentiary by 09:00. Rory, I know that on Earth, that word refers to a jail, but here it is what we call the main place where Penitent leadership is concentrated."

"Thank you, Pastor," Gemini said.

"Dismissed," Pastor Doral said, walking away to resume his duties.

I watched for a moment as one man screamed profanities at us while being lead past us by a Penitent officer who guided him through the outside doors. "Why bother unfreezing them? Wouldn't it be easier to move them if they weren't fighting you," I finally asked Gem.

"It's not good for them to stay frozen. Besides, the Ministry will come for them soon. It would be hard to explain why we left them like that. Let's get out of here."

Gem lead me toward the same outer door the guard had just taken the screaming detainee through. On one side of us, a boy with eyes that burned with the passion of youth was being propelled through the same exit. We blinked in unison against the brightness of the sun on the other side. He turned toward me, and I did my best to smile, only to have the boy spit in my face. As one of his Penitent

Partners led the boy toward the back of a large vehicle, Gem wiped the spit away from my face with his sleeve.

The youth was soon secured in the back of the vehicle, and we were alone on the curb. Gem nudged my shoulder in the direction of a bullet-shaped car on the curb without commenting on the incident. The metallic skin of the vehicle was streaked with neon lights. A guard who I could only assume was assigned to our security detail stood next to the open door, while several more sat astride motorbikes propped on kickstands in a line to the rear. Each was enclosed by a translucent shell that was barely visible, like a shimmer on a bubble blown from a child's toy. Gem gave me a hand into the vehicle, sat across from me and pressed a button to make the door slide shut. All four seats faced the interior of the car, and there were no visible controls. I couldn't help remembering

Travis talking about machines taking over the world. Experience College Week already felt like it had happened in another lifetime. "There was a boy I met on campus who was paranoid about technology like this. He thought we put too much faith in machines. He may have had a point," I quietly commented.

"Maybe. Based on the number of accidents that happen on Earth, I have to believe these are a better option. Huge exterior airbags go off if there is the slightest impact." He pointed at a tiny button and said, "Driving it yourself is a press of a button away. Right now, the steering wheel is hidden."

The motorcycles flanking our vehicle pulled away from the curb at the same time as us. We drove in silence for a few minutes before I finally said, "How did you find us? I know Pastor Doral says it was because of informants, but they only notified you of the rally? Who'd you figure out where to find Casper?"

"I couldn't see you. I've always been able to see you if that's what I wanted," Gem said, not really answering my questions.

"Did you know it was your brother who took me?"

"I remembered your comment about how the man who frightened you in the observatory made you think of me. You also said the necklace he wore had a slightly different symbol than the one I wear. It made me suspect you might have seen someone wearing a Severant symbol. When I remembered how Casper said the person would have to hate you a lot, I realized nobody could hate you more than my brother. That much has always been clear to me."

"You could have stopped all of this if you suspected the truth before any of it happened."

"There was no way I could have predicted what's happened."

"Gemini, your brother took away mine." It came out monotone, but Gem's reaction was anything but flat. The look on his face reminded me of the big-eyed stuffed toys Horizon always covered her bed with. Part of me wanted to snuggle him, but mostly I lacked the energy to serve Gem's needs, whatever they might be. Instead, I turned to the window to look at the scenery.

"When can I see Casper?" I asked after a couple of minutes.

"Tomorrow." Gem's voice cracked. I shifted my eyes to him just long enough to see that he also was staring sadly out the window.

As the scenery passed, I lost myself in comparisons of this world to Earth. If I were to hold a globe of Earth and Incepterrene side by side, would they look the same? Even if the two worlds were mirror images of each other, there wasn't any reason to think Gemini lived in the same spot as myself. I didn't need to see the whole city to know it was bigger than any in Saskatchewan. I didn't need to observe the lake passing on one side of the vehicle to be sure it overshadowed the size of even the largest lakes in Saskatchewan. Cargo ships anchored past the mouth of the bay made that much apparent. There was a good chance this qualified as my first glimpse of an ocean.

Few people would envy Saskatchewanians for our brutal winters, but many are jealous of our seasons. Nature's last gasp before the long slumber of winter, the colours of autumn almost made up for the cold to follow. Watching the kaleidoscopic trees lining the streets, a small part of me resented the idea that these people might have the benefits of our autumn glory without having to pay the price later with the small death of winter.

Triangular buildings rose in three successively shrinking floors along both sides of the streets. Balconies on each floor appeared to be communal. Some had pool tables, while others had fireplaces as their centrepieces. Art easels lined balconies of one building. Perhaps everyday needs and interests of tenants were considered from inception when it came to the construction of the housing units. It would be a step toward peaceful neighbourly relations, but not a guarantee. Eiffel tower-shaped buildings at the city core continued the triangular theme.

Comparisons between the populations of the two worlds proved a more perplexing question than how the geography of the worlds matched up. Supposing trans-dimensional pairings were rigidly one-on-one, it would mean an Incepterrian would get pregnant every time a child was conceived on Earth. It might even mean spontaneous pregnancies. If that were the case, it would be easy to understand why Incepterrians might hate humans. Denovo said human deaths caused the instantaneous death of their Incepterrian counterparts, which should mean the population of our worlds would be precisely equal. If the population of Incepterrene turned out to be larger than Earth's, there could be many Incepterrians who would never get a second self.

Gem spoke again, just as the silence between us reached the stage of being bearable. "Peace on Incepterrene balances on the head of a pin. You have no way of understanding how troubling what happened today is. It proves my brother's obsession is gaining traction among the population of Incepterrene. It's something we hoped would never happen."

"What exactly is his obsession?"

"He's part of something called the Severance Movement, although I suspect he might be more than an ordinary member. I think you can guess where the name comes from, and what they'd like to cut away."

I imagined a thin, invisible, and unbreakable string running between my heart and Gem's. A picture popped into my mind of using bolt cutters imbued with magical strength to sever this connection. In my mind, Gem dropped dead before the string fell to the ground.

"He doesn't have to kill Incepterrians to break the bond. Denovo told us that Daniel's death proved his theory."

Gem's eyes widened. "Did he say he's ready to use the results of his experiment on a larger sample? Has he already used it on himself? Or you?"

"Maybe Denovo was lying. It seems like there'd be an easy way to know."

"You mean we'd know if Daniel's Sentinel was still alive. He's missing. It doesn't surprise me Casper's Sentinel has also dropped off the grid. It's not like Denny to leave anything to chance."

"Can you please stop calling your brother Denny? It makes him sound too innocent."

"Denovo didn't count on me finding you, or on himself ending up in jail." During our brief time together, I'd learned Denovo was always thinking ahead. Being arrested must have been a possibility he'd considered. I knew I should tell Gem about the videos his brother had forced me to help create. He might have some insight into how they connected to everything else, but on the other hand, I'd never had to option to withhold something from Gemini. It suddenly felt essential to know it was possible, more important than telling him the truth.