The Enlightened (Mind Dimensions #3)(64)

“Thank you for your warning, by the way,” I think at him. “My mom would be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m truly glad you were able to save her.”

“What is this place? Where are you? And what the hell is going on?”

“Oh, come on, Darren. You already know. I gave you the necessary clue the last time we communicated. If not that, then think of what your aunt told you.”

I suppress my panic to reflect. And then it hits me.

“I remember now,” I think in relief. “When I asked what would happen to you in the long term, after the Joining was over, you said you’d phase into the Quiet, to what I, after talking with Hillary, call Level 2. This is the other tier, a deeper version of the Mind Dimension.”

If this revelation is true, the implications are truly unfathomable. It would mean that I did it. I am what my Enlightened grandparents wanted to breed—but a generation earlier than they had thought possible, thanks to my mom’s super-long Reach. This is just as Hillary suspected. After a number of close calls that felt like I was hitting a brick wall, I finally phased into the Quiet—while already being in the Quiet.

“Correct,” he thinks back. “My phasing in was a success, and so was yours after the threat of going Inert, as well as other stresses, finally allowed you to phase into this place as I knew you had the capacity to do. Though I must add that I loathe the term ‘Level 2.’ If nothing else, this is tier three of reality, as you began in the real world.”

“Okay, but what exactly is this? Where is everything?”

”The short answer would be that everything is here. The longer answer would take longer and sadly, like the last time, we must keep our conversation brief.”

“Why?” I think disappointedly.

“Because I have no idea how long you can stay here.”

“Does Depth get used up quicker here?”

“Yes, or at least, we suspect it does,” Mimir thinks at me. “Though since you’re the first and only person I’m ever going to meet here, the theory is not testable.”

“Why am I the only person you’re ever going to meet? Aren’t there Guide Elders who can phase into Level 2?”

“When someone is in a Mind Dimension, it’s their own personal space, not a shared place—”

“But you’re here,” I interrupt. “So either I’m in your Level 2, or you’re in mine.”

“No. The situation is a little stranger in our case. I’m a part of you, remember? So where I am, you can be, and vice versa.”

“So, in theory, if my grandparents could phase in from the Quiet, you would be in the same Level 2 as they are?”

“Yes, but it’s only hypothetical, since they don’t have the required Depth. Which is why I stated that you’re the only person I’ll ever interact with.”

“And yet you don’t think I have a lot of time here.”

“Affirmative.”

“How much time do I have?”

“That’s hard to say. To start, we don’t know how much Depth you’re currently using up. Even if we did, we don’t know the limit of your Depth, even in the regular, Level 1 version of the Quiet. The furthest you’ve ever Read someone was Lucy, and you went a couple of decades back—”

“Wait, how do you know—”

“What you know, I know,” Mimir thinks. “I thought that was obvious by now.”

“Right,” I think. “You’re part of me.”

“The reverse. You’re a part of me. Knowing what our subparts—you and the others—are experiencing is one of the rare forms of entertainment my kind and I have. Which reminds me, please protect your grandparents and their Enlightened friends. I know you hold a grudge—”

“Your kind?” I interrupt again. “You mean there are other beings like you, here on Level 2?”

“Time,” he reminds me. “We don’t know how much you have.”

“You’re just dodging the question,” I counter. “I think every time the Enlightened do their Joining, one of you turns up, and you can probably all hang out here because you have parts in common, or rather, people that make you up in common.”

“It’s an interesting hypothesis.”

“If I’m right, is there a version comprised of me and Caleb here someplace? Since I Joined with him?”

“There is. Every Joining produces one of us, but the resulting beings can only Split into this realm when the cumulative Depth of the Joining participants that make them up is strong enough. The other cases are rather cruel twists of fate for the thinking creations that—”

“Wait,” I think. “What’s this Caleb/Darren thing like?”

“The dumbest among us, but a good lesson in human nature,” he thinks. “But seriously, we might not have too much time...”

“Can you at least briefly tell me what this place is? What’s the nature of Level 2? Why is it this way? How does it relate to the regular Quiet? And most importantly, what am I supposed to do?”

“You can be very amusing,” he thinks. “You’re treating me as though I’m omniscient.”

“Meaning you don’t know?”