With a swish of wind, the group was whisked away. They found themselves, to their surprise, back at the Applebus home, in the high, open foyerway of what was commonly thought of as the front door.
       "Is Gavin's father here?" asked Naomi in surprise.
       No, Illuminati replied. I apologize--I was not sufficiently clear. You will spend a few days here before the next stage begins. Those who have been tested may rest--you have been sorely tried, and most likely wish to think and confer. Those who have not been tested should prepare, for I fear the same brand of hardship is ahead. Rāspia and Reûic may have been somewhat subdued, but the difficulty will not decrease--their leader will find subtler ways to make your tests more taxing, or may personally intervene.
       "Hm, good luck--you'll need it," said D'rai, glancing over at Piyteur and Aubrey, who were already casting each other uneasy glances of their own.
       Illuminati fixed a form of sharp gaze upon him. You are not exempt from the testing, Emphi D'rai. And yours may be the most difficult of this new series.
       D'rai's eyebrows shot up in shock and indignance. "What? Why?"
       You are not part of the original agreement I made with Rāspia and Reûic and their overlord--or underlord, if you prefer. I cannot intervene on your behalf. I have no knowledge of your test, as I did--and do--of the others', and I cannot protect you from anything, as I could them. A part you will play, of that I have always known...but I do not yet know what. I cannot counsel. I can only watch.
       "But...but that means I could be killed or something!" D'rai protested, real fear apparent in his features for the first time in all of the Applebus crew's dealings with him.
       I doubt it will come to that, Illuminati replied. The force of darkness is powerful, but I am powerful, too. He knows that if any of my charges are killed, the information he seeks will not be given to him.
       "But if he knows he'll be defeated, he could kill me in spite, couldn't he? And even if he doesn't, I could get...get beaten, maimed, tortured, have my eyes torn out!"
       Again, Emphi D'rai, I know nothing of your test. Any damages sustained in completing it I will most likely be able to repair, as Daphne's were--and Ananda's, though she has not yet shared her story with all of you--and I am nearly certain that you will not die...but I cannot promise anything. Fear and pain awaited them, even with the limitations I had set.
       "And mine has no limitations? They won't kill me, then--they'll torture me, bring me right to the brink of it, and they won't let death come to take me from it!" D'rai's pale blue eyes flashed, his fear turning to fury. All at once, his eyebrows plunged, his face flushed, his fists clenched themselves, and--to everyone's shocked surprise--he took a step toward Illuminati's semisolid form and began to roar out protests at the being, his bellows echoing in the main hall of the Applebus home. "That's not fair! Why couldn't you protect me if you knew I would join the crew? Why do I have to be tested so hard? ...Because I tried to kill Daphne? Because I was a bounty hunter? You knew all the time, didn't you, that mine would be hardest? And you brought me here!" His hands and arms flew, gesturing as he yelled. "Why pander to this--this dark force, anyway? What favor are you trying to get? This--this is all your fault! All of this!"
       D'rai whipped around to face the others. "Listen to what this--this thing is saying! Don't you see what he's doing, making us his pawns in some sort of power struggle? He knew all this would happen--he arranged it, and tried to pass it off as good! He lied to you! Come on, why don't we get him out of here? Break all this off--it's not too late!" He stared at the silent, shocked Applebus crew, his eyes wide and hands spread--then stamped his foot like an angry child when he got no response, turned back to Illuminati, and exploded in a full-lunged scream. "Why don't you do your own fighting and leave us all alone?!" He whipped back around to face the Applebus crew, speaking to them all. His voice dropped. "And I don't believe what he says. Someone's gonna die before the end, and maybe it's not even me. What if it's you? Gavin's father might be dead already--" --his voice rose again, though not to the volume it had before-- "and we'd be next!"
       A silence fell and held for a second as D'rai's echoes died away. The Applebus crew stood still, stunned, wondering who would speak next and how Illuminati would react. Gavin, however, instantly burst into tears, horrified at D'rai's idea. Teraa, her face so clouded over in rage that one could almost swear to a faint darkening of her skin, sprang forward at D'rai as though to attack him, only to be held back by Satoru and Neo, one at each arm, Satoru presumably raising a mental shield to protect D'rai from psychic wrath. "You're the liar!" shouted Teraa. "How can you scare Gavin like that, after all that's happened? ...Look at him! Look what you've done!" She motioned to Gavin, who was crouched on the floor, his head buried in his arms, Naomi already on her knees to comfort him, and Blake not far behind.
       "Well, why trust that being? He dragged us into this. Do you really think he cares whether we live or die? He just set limitations to have a share of power--just so his enemies couldn't control everything."
       "I don't think you're right," spoke up Daphne. "And--and even if you were, I wouldn't be so quick to resent that limitation, D'rai. It took his help to get you through the Indilani nets, and his help to save me from the lava. You'd be dead already if it wasn't for him, and so would I."
       Daphne hadn't meant the last part as a pointing of the finger, but D'rai, already accused by Teraa and feeling singled out by Illuminati, was further stung. "And so would I...oh, yes, Daphne, he saved you from me...but who will save you from him? He only saved you to use you later!" D'rai replied, now in a low, menacing tone.
       "That's not what I meant when I--" Daphne began.
       "Didn't you hear what he said about you?" D'rai shouted over Daphne. She fell silent. "He said he repaired the damages you sustained in your test. Repaired the damages, not healed the wounds. Does that sound like a human, or more like a machine? ...He brought you there, to my cell. He made you do it."
       "Nobody made me do it," Daphne argued.
       "Oh, no? You told everyone about your test not so long ago. Remind us, Daphne," --this with a smooth, subtle accent on Daphne-- "what were your choices there? My cell or what else?"
       "A door. One leading out." She threw a quick glance at Illuminati, wondering if he was still there--he had not spoken. He was there, but standing silently.
       "Yes," D'rai continued, "one leading out. A quick decision, wasn't it, between instant failure and a lesser unknown? Why didn't you pick the door leading out?"
       Daphne looked uneasily surprised. What was D'rai getting at? "That would have ended it. I would have failed, and that would have hurt Gavin."
       "So you chose my cell because..."
       "...I wanted to help him."
       D'rai's eyebrows raised into an arch. "That's not the real answer, is it, Daphne?"
       "Yes, it is!"
       At that, D'rai sprang verbally, like a snake attacking. "Then tell me, Daphne, as you looked down the gauntlet at everyone who was gathered there to beat the wrong person--and as you found yourself being kicked up the stairs afterward to what was to be your death at the Low Tower--and as I held you over the lava and told you who I was, and you thought then that you were to die and your efforts were to come to nothing--tell me, Daphne, if you had been offered a way out at any of those times, would you have taken it? No matter what happened to Gavin? No matter what Illuminati said?"
       Daphne's face grew terrified, then began to waver. Her response was barely audible. "Yes." She clapped her hands over her face and stood for a few seconds, stifling sobs--then, like Gavin, fell in tears to the floor.
       As it had been with D'rai's attack on Illuminati, the others could only watch, shocked at the words, but wordless themselves. Maik, as Naomi had done, crouched to comfort Daphne, but could only stare at the young man who seemed somehow to tower above them all.
       D'rai, meanwhile, nodded with an air of wisdom. "So much for love. It was fear that led you when you had a choice--fear of coming back empty-handed, fear of failure--and once the door opened, you had no choice. Love never was your motive, was it, Daphne? And you, Maik?" Maik looked up from the floor, his arm still across Daphne's shoulders, and his expression a mingling of anger and dread. "Haven't you fallen for this being's lies, too--equating success with love, and feeling that you'd proven yourself, instead of realizing that you simply took the path that the being set you on? You cannot get out alone, he said. Did you even try? It wasn't love for Gavin that started your plan, it wasn't pity for me that led to our alliance, and it wasn't your efforts that led to our success--the being had to bring the two of us back just before we failed--just like he did with Daphne. Yes, you're included in his life-saving, too, though Daphne seemed to forget that. He saved you both from failure and called it success. Why? Because he had taken a liking to you, because he valued your efforts--or because he knew that you'd all see what he really was if one of you died? If he really has any regard for us, why did he let us suffer when he obviously had the power to save Teraa already?" He turned back to Illuminati with a look that mocked the being as much as he dared. "Why don't you defend yourself? Aren't you gonna punish me? Don't you want to say I'm wrong?"
       The mental voice finally spoke--and, to the Applebus crew's relief, it was the same Illuminati--clear, firm, and instructive. I don't have to, Illuminati said. You don't truly believe the words you say--your argument is as much about convincing yourself as convincing the others. And everything you accuse them of, you are guilty of yourself. You tell Maik that he equates success with love--you play the same game, equating fear of failure with lack of love. But fear and love, Emphi D'rai, can coexist, and they did. Fear attended them, but it did not lead them. Daphne was given a choice and told that she would not be given a choice later. That did not make her torture easier. You told us of your fear of testing--that you could be tortured, and death could not save you from it. That is lack of hope, and Daphne had to overcome that, also. And in any case, the tests were all passable...that is, taken into account was the fact that humans cannot do everything. Yes, Daphne would have taken a way out then...but consider that she had never done such a thing before. She had never willingly given herself over to pain. One does not make a child shoulder the load of an adult, Emphi D'rai. But she has grown. She could not give herself over by choice at such a point before, knowing what was to come--she can now, and she may, before all is finished. And Maik, knowing about you, had to ally with someone who had hurt one he loved. Not all could do that. Had Daphne died during her test, he could not have. Since she had not, he could--and, though Daphne is alive, there may later come a time for him to ally himself with someone who has hurt one he loves--and likely someone other than Daphne--much more than temporarily.
       Building needed skills occurs in small steps, and readies one for what is ahead. Dark forces cannot be overcome without such skills, and the demand upon them has been and will be great, and will stay so until evil is finally defeated. I am not a god, Emphi D'rai, and should not be mistaken for one. I cannot see what is ahead, but I know that defeating the opposition cannot be done without such skills as they are gaining--and that applies to their real home also, whether such abilities stay with them when they return--which is unlikely--or not. And your test will be difficult, in turn, but that is not only because I have little control over it. It is also because you are capable of much evil--but also of much good. You are the oldest of the group by some seven years, and have had a difficult life. You are capable of much. And preparation may still be given you, Emphi D'rai...I cannot see that either. It cannot come from me, but it may come from another.
       The Illuminati's mental features suddenly fixed a look upon D'rai, not angry, but with so much authority and severity that it turned D'rai's stomach cold. As for your words, they bring their own punishment. I am unhurt by them...but Gavin, Teraa, and Daphne, as you see, are not...and they love and are loved by, defend and are defended by the others. You have hurt them all in some way, and have awakened doubt that will hinder you all. Those things will be punishment enough.
       With that, Illuminati disappeared, leaving D'rai alone with fifteen different stares, some pitying, some angry, some fearing. D'rai could only stand silently, his eyes on the floor. Never had he been so accurately read...or felt so exposed. He felt like a scolded child.
       Finally Maik spoke. "There's a garden kinda thing outside...if you wanted to step out and take a walk, you could...somethin' about those plants, y'know..."
       D'rai nodded meekly and followed Maik's pointing finger out of the Applebus home. Maik then turned to Teraa, Neo, and Satoru. "There oughta be rooms for the bunch'a'ya...follow us and we'll go see." The group left. Myki, last in the throng, cast an angry glance over his shoulder as they did so, mumbling under his breath a quiet tirade in which the only two audible words were "snake" and "coward" until Ananda laid a calming hand on his arm. The two of them stopped where they were.
       "Don't," she said. "D'rai had one good point--we're all guilty of fear. We'd have thought some of the same without Illuminati to protect us. D'rai could die, and he knows it going in. I didn't."
       "You--?" began Myki with a gasp.
       "Yes. It was a lot like Daphne's for me--right to the edge of death," she said. "If I had known that..." She paused a minute, thinking. "...I guess I'd have gone still, but...I don't know. I trusted Illuminati--and I still do--but..."
       "So you do trust him still?" asked Myki quietly.
       Ananda nodded. "Yeah. Do you?"
       Myki sighed. "I think so. Just...some of those questions...maybe D'rai was scared, but he must have been scared longer than we knew, to think all that out. Some of those questions are...well...they kind of hit home, y'know?"
       Ananda took Myki's hand. "He appeared to you long before this and told you about the first tests--the easiest ones. Those ones went off well enough. We have reason enough to trust him. He hasn't given us any real reason to think he's anything but good."
       Myki nodded. "Yeah, I know. Just...it's so strange...and dark. We didn't want this. How'd we get caught in this?"
       Ananda smiled gently. "Love for Gavin, Mickybabe."

Chapter Notes
Conversations, suspicion, confessions...