The Lightning that Jumps Between

Twenty Three

After the hammer fell, a veritable explosion rocked the clearing, and Karl's boots slid backward several feet across the stone. He righted as dirt and pebbles rained down. The mold had once again been effectively scorched; amid the summer rain, the smell of ozone rose up around him and Karl inhaled deeply. He'd love to pretend it was the charred remains of Miranda he smelled burning, and relish the fantasy, had he not been so preoccupied with Ethan.

The engineer felt a ringing in his head as the magnetic field fell. He put his palm to his forehead and pressed there, grinding his teeth against the pain. After he'd released the burst of energy across the rocky expanse of ground, the rain lessened, turning to a soothing whisper against his ears as it bounced from his hat and shoulders. He shook his head, trying to will away the stinging pain.

The cadou was dying, there was no doubt about that. Old and broken, just like him. Just like driving along any older vehicle, hearing its telltale engine sounds, nursing it to get as many miles as possible out of it. Now Karl had become that engine. He couldn't complain, as he'd lived far longer and with far more powers than most. But Ethan and Rose did complicate things–Karl now had to consider the others' futures with the lack of his own, and he wasn't quite sure how to navigate that yet.

So, he'd stop thinking about it. Simple.

Karl slung the hammer over his shoulder and peered into the darkness, as if seeking for his brother one last time. He was both furious that Miranda had, as he'd always assumed, been responsible for Jochen's disappearance–and he was relieved to see him anyway. Now he had to navigate the difficult conversation around reviving his brother along with his former "siblings"...to a man who had watched his wife suffer, die, in front of him...for maybe the hundredth time.

Life wasn't fair.

And yet even in this despair, Karl's heart soared when he remembered Jochen's words. The dreams were real. It was true. He turned back toward the manor, seeking but not seeing the tree that he knew was in the back garden. A tree his mother had planted long ago. He could keep hope. Over the course of these months, he'd come to see himself as a patriarchal figure–certainly a more fun one than his own father, and still a few nuts short of a sundae, but Karl saw it as his personal mission to take care of the family he'd ended up with in his care. Maybe now he had a shot at being there to take care of them.

Regardless of what came of it, nothing made him prouder than to know that his brother was just as much of a rebel as he. That his brother had spent years evading and defying Miranda from inside the Mold's consciousness. It was heartening.

Before he left the ceremony site, Karl donned his electrician's gloves and gently picked up the fragments of Mia's crystal that lay scattered where Miranda had stood. He opened the hinged hip flashlight he always wore on his utility belt–a light that had no working bulb-and placed the pieces in the metal container. Karl could not handle the objects the way Ethan or Eva did; he got an unpleasant burning, buzzing sensation from them, and the cadou always screamed as if it were being electrocuted.

But these pieces of blueish purple didn't hurt him; they were empty, hollow. Nothing remained.

—--------------------

The house was quiet when Karl returned; he hesitantly paused at the darkened room where, hopefully, Ethan slept. Karl wanted to be in his makeshift workshop; after a 'wash the Miranda away' shower, he had work to do. He thought to call out to Ethan, see if he was okay, but after a moment's full and heavy silence, Karl sauntered past the door and to his former quarters.

Past the master bedroom was the magnificent master bath that he'd set up for Ethan at the start of summer; the couple still used the bath intermittently. There was a separate shower, however, and this is where the engineer chose to go. After he stripped down, the eerie silence of the house was drowned out by the sound of the shower. Karl intended to use a full bar of soap just to scrub the night's visuals away. Well, everything he'd seen other than his brother.