Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.

  ~ C. S. Lewis

  A shockwave of heat, sound, and invisible force slammed into Sarah like a runaway truck. The impact blasted the air from her lungs in an explosive gasp that ended in an eruption of blood as her chest caved in. She felt ribs shatter, bones in her limbs snap, and organs squash into jelly in a weird slow motion that allowed her to feel everything with terrifying clarity.

  The impact catapulted Sarah all the way down the aisle between tall rows of soul coffins until she crashed into a perpendicular stack at the very end of the row. She struck the metal shelves with such force that her spine cracked in several places.

  At impact, a searing blast of pain speared through her entire being. Then most feeling was snuffed out when her nerves severed. Barely conscious, she dimly registered herself falling into the middle of a jumbled pile of broken soul coffins.

  Her mind slipped away from her body, a strange feeling, like someone was pulling her face away again. She watched herself fall, as if from a great distance. She could not hear anything, feel anything, or smell anything, and her vision was darkening to a hazy tunnel.

  ‘Maybe throwing that soul mask hadn't been such a great idea.’

  It was her last coherent thought before darkness settled over her mind. Dimly, she felt her body dying, her mind shutting down. Was this what death felt like?

  A floating blue screen popped up in front of her like the weird waking dream visions she'd had a couple of times before. This one was covered in text that flowed past her eyes, consuming all that remained of her vision.

  A strangely-comforting female voice spoke directly into her mind in an unusual accent. It honestly sounded like Natalie Portman, but speaking with an unusual middle eastern accent. Kind of Egyption, or something. She couldn’t place it, but that weird association distracted her foggy mind for a second before the words registered.

  Fatal damage accrued. Soul fragmentation severe. Death imminent.

  Death imminent.

  That thought triggered a boiling rage, and that same defiant spark that had risen in the face of Mai Luan's glare rose again. She did not want to die, could not die like this, not now, not so close to getting her body back. She raged against her fate with all of the strength of her failing soul.

  It wasn't enough. She'd been hit too hard, suffered way too much catastrophic damage. Her life force bled away even as she grasped at every last vestige of her strength with all the waning force of her will.

  She fought on anyway, struggling to move, to grasp anything that could help her survive. In that strange half-dead state, with her mind feeling detached from her body, somehow she connected with something, like fingers of thought extending from her mind.

  A shock of energy jolted through her, helping to clear her vision a little. In that moment, she became aware that she was not only lying in the midst of the broken pile of soul coffins, but she was covered by many of the soul masks that had been locked inside of those tiny prisons.

  Her impact, or the magical explosion, had wreaked far more damage than just to her. Those dispossessed souls were cracked and broken, with tendrils of rainbow smoke drifting away from them like the last vestiges of their dying souls.

  It covered her body with a shifting, ethereal blanket, and was seeping into her broken body and mind. It was one of those tendrils that had connected, shocking her awake.

  Sarah was not sure how she did it, but she seized upon the energy of those broken and dying soul masks scattered across her body, and pulled. Rainbow smoke flowed into her, faster and faster, filling in the broken parts of herself.

  An icy cold rippled through her entire body, followed by a searing heat, as if parts of her were fusing together. It was painful but also invigorating in a way she'd never imagined.

  It could not be good, but it was something, anything, and that was better than dying, so she redoubled her efforts, opening herself to the power of those dying souls. It seemed to help, because her mind became more awake, and all of a sudden she felt her body again. Something popped deep inside of her, and a wave of absolute agony shook her.

  Every limb rattled, every bone and sinew and muscle shook, and she tried to scream. Her voice did not work yet, but she convulsed among those broken soul coffins for what seemed like an eternity.

  Then all sensation stopped in an instant, the pain vanishing, her body going numb, as if she'd been immersed in freezing water for an hour. Time seemed to stop around her, and another screen appeared.

  Your ancestry is no stranger to adapting the power of other souls. You have proven worthy of connecting with that heritage. Do you wish to take the power of your heritage and unlock your bloodline, or do you choose to surrender and die?

  Sarah had no idea what was going on, but that was a stupid question. With every ounce of willpower, she screamed her answer into the void, focusing on that strange blue screen.

  ‘I want to live!’

  A new screen appeared.

  Bloodline Heritage Unlocked. Soul Evolution Initiated.

  Warmth flowed through her body and mind, drawing her thoughts back inside of her skull. Her entire body sagged with relief as the pain drained away.

  Every part of her clamored for attention, almost like when she had first reconnected with her body after the transfer from the doll, except this time she felt things more deeply.

  Her body was healing. She could feel the damage from that explosion repairing real time, almost as if her body was being rebuilt from the ground up. It was a bizarre, mind bending, and invigorating experience that she struggled to understand.

  Since she was still waking up from nearly dying, it was hard to tell if she was really awake, or just caught in a final fever dream before death claimed her.

  Another screen appeared, and this time it looked more like a character sheet from a video game.

  Name: Sarah.

  Level 1 (1% Bloodline Unlocked)

  Rank:

  Spirit: E1

  Talent F3

  Body: F6

  Body Stats:

  Strength: F6

  Toughness: F6

  Agility: F7

  Willpower: F7

  Health Points: F8

  Sarah stared at the screen trying to puzzle out what she was looking at. This was so weird. Were all of those stats somehow related to her? In the past, the weird screens she saw in her half-waking dreams had only include her F-factor rank.

  Now there was so much more going on, and she didn't understand any of it. How could she have three different ranks, and where was her F-factor? Not to mention that slew of body stats?

  She had no point of reference, no way to understand what was going on, and honestly it didn't matter. In the moment, all that mattered was that it seemed she was still alive.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  As Sarah's eyes cleared, she took in her surroundings. She was lying on her back in the midst of a jumbled pile of collapsed soul coffins, all that remained of that wall of coffins she'd crashed through. Her body felt surprisingly good though, and when she surged to her feet, she was shocked that she could actually move.

  “How in the world?” She muttered to herself.

  She just died, or nearly died. Had all that stuff she'd experienced been real, or had the explosion only knocked her across the vault and given her some kind of crazy dream concussion? The screen with her weird stats disappeared as she looked around, trying to orient herself.

  Shaking her head to clear the last vestiges of that weird dream, she banged the heel of one hand against her head to try to knock the ringing out of her ears. It didn’t help much.

  She felt weird, like she was in shock, but even though she checked herself over carefully, she did not find any actual wounds. So strange. Then she remembered Mai Luan and glanced back toward what had been the terrifying woman's glowing, rune-filled circle.

  It felt like a long time must have passed, but maybe it had only actually been seconds. Far in the distance at the other end of the aisle, Eirene and Tomas were standing.

  Worse, Sarah was shocked to see Mai Luan stagger to her feet amid a pile of blackened rubble. The stacks on either side had buckled, the bright steel surfaces charred.

  With how intense that explosion had been, Sarah had expected to see nothing but burned remains of the slender woman, like a soldier who had jumped atop a live grenade in a movie. Somehow Mai Luan had managed to survive the blast, although her long, black hair was tumbled about her head, with chunks missing, and a few shortened ends still smoldering. She wore a grimace on her blackened face, and she hunched, as if she’d torn muscles in her back.

  Just as Mai Luan managed to stand fully erect, Eirene dove through the drifting smoke that still covered the area in a thick haze, and tackled her back to the ground. The two rolled over each other, shrieking like cats, and grappling for each other’s faces. Eirene’s hands began to glow purple. Despite her revulsion for the face-removing magic, Sarah silently urged the woman on.

  Mai Luan’s hands began to glow too.

  The two women surged to their knees together, glowing hands locked around each other’s faces and, for the first time, Eirene’s confident expression was replaced by a look of surprise, which quickly morphed to one of open fear.

  Not good.

  Mai Luan grinned and hissed, “Didn’t expect a cui dashi, did you?”

  The purple fire ringing Mai Luan’s hands spiked in intensity, and Eirene cried out in pain.

  Sarah didn’t know what cui dashi were, but she understood enough to know it would be bad if Mai Luan won the struggle. Shaking off her lingering daze, she rushed forward to try to help. She spotted her tazer lying nearby and scooped it up as she sped past.

  Mai Luan rose to her feet and easily lifted the struggling Eirene into the air. She looked stronger than she had just a moment before, as if she’d already shed the effects of the explosion.

  How was it possible?

  Then Tomas lunged through the smoke and plunged his knife to the hilt between Mai Luan’s ribs.

  Sarah skidded to a stop in shock at the brutal blow, and then gaped. Instead of screaming and falling dead to the ground, Mai Luan only grunted, looking more annoyed than anything.

  She dropped Eirene, who scrambled away on hands and knees, and back-handed Tomas before he could withdraw the blade for another strike. The blow knocked him several feet back with blood spraying from his nose and lips.

  “No way,” Sarah breathed, more terrified than ever. What was that woman?

  With the dagger still stuck between her ribs, Mai Luan stalked after Eirene. “I think I’ll just take your head off.”

  “I don’t think so,” Sarah snarled from behind her.

  She fired the taser.

  The little barbs struck Mai Luan at the base of the throat just as the slender woman turned. Finally, something surprised her.

  Mai Luan’s body convulsed under the jolting electric current, and her startled expression was priceless. The taser seemed a lot more powerful than normal tasers, but Sarah wasn’t complaining.

  Mai Luan’s eyes crossed, she mumbled something incoherent, and then collapsed to the ground where she lay twitching.

  Sarah rushed past the fallen woman and helped Eirene to her feet. She breathed a sigh of relief to see Tomas rise on wobbly legs not far away.

  “Get . . . get back here.”

  Sarah spun at the sound of Mai Luan’s voice, and was shocked to see the woman struggling to her knees. Her eyes still looked unfocused, but her face was locked into a snarl of rage. One hand grabbed the handle of the knife and yanked it out.

  The terrifying woman groaned at the self-inflicted pain, and collapsed again as blood sprayed from the wound. But almost immediately she started trying to rise.

  Tomas kicked her in the head. She fell and he kicked her again, but she grabbed at his feet, forcing him to dance back out of reach.

  Eirene called, “Come on!”

  She led the way back toward the vault door at a run, with Sarah and Tomas close behind. Tomas glanced over, worry in his eyes.

  “Are you okay, Sarah?”

  “I think so.”

  He scanned her quickly, not hiding his surprise and relief. “That was a major hit. Most people taking a rune explosion to the face would not have survived.”

  “I got lucky, I guess.” It wasn't time to describe the weird experience she'd had of almost dying, then those screens talking about heritages and bloodlines.

  She had no idea what just happened, and until she sorted it out, she could not imagine how she would describe it. Besides, they had more important things to do, like running.

  Mai Luan’s shaky voice clawed at them from the darkness. “You cannot escape.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Eirene muttered.

  When they reached the vault door, Sarah was surprised to see the three convicts still standing uneasily by the entrance. She had expected to find them already gone.

  The thick-necked fellow called out, “What happened?”

  “We’re leaving,” Eirene said curtly. “I thought we were just dealing with a random hekha, but we cannot defeat this enemy.”

  Without waiting for a reply, she scooped up Jill’s face and placed it over her own. Jill’s mask attached to her face, and skin flowed up to cover it, sealing it into position.

  Sarah blinked a couple times in surprise, but she’d seen too much, suffered too many shocks to her system. She found that the sight of a woman wearing Jill’s face over her own failed to generate more than a mild surprise.

  The convicts retreated, muttering curses, but Eirene ignored them. As soon as the flesh sealed around Jill’s face, Eirene led the group out of the vault.

  Sarah exclaimed, “I thought we couldn’t go through.”

  “We can with every soul incorporated into a body. Now, run!”

  The urgency in her tone, coupled by another angry shout from Mai Luan was more than enough to get them all moving.

  Sarah pushed the gurney carrying the still-sleeping Marilyn after. With the convicts following close behind, Tomas pushed the unconscious Mr. Fleisher after Sarah, and the entire group ran for the elevators.

  After only a dozen strides, Jill cried out, “What’s happening? Why do I feel so strange?”

  “Stop fighting me,” Eirene shouted through Jill’s lips as she staggered into a wall.

  Sarah decided not to think about how crazy that exchange sounded.

  Jill spoke again. “Tomas, did I snap? You said I’d be all right for one more transfer.”

  “You’re fine,” Tomas assured her. “Just calm down.” He gestured to two of the convicts, and they picked her up by the shoulders and resumed their run for the exit.

  They reached the elevators with Jill and Eirene still arguing. It was a testament to Jill’s open-mindedness that she was willing to have the conversation at all and not just start screaming, or faint.

  Then again, Sarah wasn’t sure if Jill could make them faint, or if Eirene controlled that part of the body.

  When the elevator chimed and the doors swung open, the rest of the group rushed in, but Sarah hesitated. What would happen if Mai Luan recovered enough to trigger her deadly magic while they were trapped in the elevator?

  What would happen if she didn’t get in?

  She couldn’t abandon Marilyn and her body, and she certainly couldn’t carry the sleeping woman up the stairs, so she took a deep breath and pushed the gurney into the elevator. It was a tight fit, but they managed it.

  While she waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the ground floor, Sarah asked, “What happened back there?”

  “Your quick thinking saved our lives,” Eirene said.

  Had it? Sarah had so many questions.

  “Who are you?” Jill asked through the same lips.

  “Take it easy,” Sarah reassured her. “I’ll explain everything in a bit.”

  Tomas squeezed Sarah’s shoulder and gave her a tired smile. “You did well back there. I wasn’t prepared for her to be that strong.”

  He was back to his unassuming, friendly persona. She still shuddered to think how he’d so casually beaten down Mr. Fleischer. It had looked like he enjoyed hurting the man.

  Not that Sarah cared about Mr. Fleischer, but her mind was still reeling with all the insane revelations. Who was Tomas really? Who was Eirene? Had he recruited her for some other reason than just to help her?

  She pushed her whirling thoughts and questions aside and asked, “How could she keep fighting, even after getting hurt so bad?”

  Before he could answer, the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened. The group rushed out into the wide main corridor that was eerily empty. It took Sarah a moment to remember that everyone had evacuated due to the false fire alarm.

  At that moment, a deep rumbling began far below, and the elevator started to rattle. The floor under their feet groaned and began to flex slowly upward.

  Sarah shared a terrified look with Tomas as Eirene shouted, “Run!”

  They all bolted for the exit. Sarah ran, expecting any second for the entire building to blow up, or for Mai Luan to rise through the floor like the devil incarnate.

  Despite additional booming noises echoing up from below, and more groaning from the floor, they reached the exit doors and fled out into the parking lot.

  At the site of the unconscious people on the gurneys, emergency personnel rushed to meet them, followed by police and reporters. Before they covered thirty feet, every window in the building behind them exploded simultaneously.

  Everyone dove to the ground, covering faces from flying glass. Many people screamed from terror or pain, and reporters shouted, “Tell me you got that!”

  Before their cameramen could respond, the central building of the Alterego corporate facility imploded, as if sucked in by an invisible giant. A raging fireball blossomed in the center of the mass of rubble and consumed the entire devastated area.

  Heat blistered their exposed skin, and everyone ran for the far end of the parking lot. The roaring of the flames drowned out all conversation, and a deadly hot wind whipped in from every direction, blowing dense clouds of black smoke over everyone.

  After an impressively brief moment of surprise, firefighters scrambled to respond. Trucks that had been turning to leave wheeled around, disgorging firefighters like bees from a disturbed hive.

  Everyone else retreated from the dense smoke and heat. Police struggled to maintain control, while reporters scrambled for the best positions to record the disaster.

  Alterego personnel either stared in shock at their shattered workplace, wept with relief that they were not trapped inside, or tried to reassure the many renters that everything would be all right.

  Eirene and Tomas pulled the unconscious form of Mr. Fleisher into one of the nearby ambulances while the crew was distracted treating minor burns and smoke inhalation. The three convicts were wise enough to disappear in the confusion.

  Sarah waited beside the sleeping form of Marilyn in the center of the chaos until Eirene, still wearing Jill’s face, emerged from the ambulance again and motioned her around the vehicle.

  “Where’s Tomas?”

  “He will be occupied for some time. For now, let’s set you straight.”

  “I have so many questions. I don’t even know where to start.”

  “I know, dear, but now is not the time. I’ll explain when I can.”

  Jill interrupted. “After you get out of my head, psycho!”

  “Actually, you’re in my head.”

  “I want out.”

  “Soon, Jill. Very soon.”

  “Sarah, just tell her to transfer me back to the doll. That was a lot more fun.”

  Sarah smiled. Jill would be fine. “The TV’s busted.”

  Jill sighed and Sarah added, “Just do what Eirene says. It’s the fastest way to get out.”

  “Alterego is toast,” Jill muttered as they turned toward the fire.

  “They have great insurance.”

  “Good. I’d better get a huge check after all this.”