“Let Mira go,” Cole said. “Let all of us go.”
“Do you see what I’ve been telling you?” the woman said. “You resist killing them, but all they want is to destroy you! To destroy me! They were strangling me! You have to fight fire with fire!”
“Stop yapping!” Jace yelled.
“Be polite!” fake Mira commanded, pointing at Jace. She glared at the woman in the chair. “Quima, I’ve told you not to pressure me to kill.”
“This Quima woman lacks full control over Carnag,” Liam said in Cole’s ear. “There’s at least some resistance.”
A tunnel opened opposite from where Cole had entered. It angled downward.
“Great,” fake Mira said. “Like it wasn’t hard enough to concentrate already.”
Mira came racing up the tunnel. She had no tendril attached to her. Cole felt pretty sure that meant she was the real thing. The tunnel closed behind her. The little room rocked steeply to the side, making everyone stumble and crouch. The room swayed the other way, then steadied.
“Who is this guy bothering me?” fake Mira asked. “He’s the best shaper I’ve come up against. Not more than I can handle. Pesky, though.”
The real Mira stormed over to the woman in the chair. “Who are you?”
“Mira,” fake Mira said, performing the introductions, “this is Quima. Quima, Mira.”
“We all need to settle down,” Quima recommended.
Fake Mira scowled. “I can’t get ahold of this guy. He’s slippery. I’m trying to unshape his flying pad, but it’s really resistant.”
“Let’s call a truce,” Mira suggested. “Miracle, tell Liam you want a truce. Tell him I want him to stop attacking so we can talk.”
Cole heard the big Carnag voice offer a truce to Liam. Almost immediately, the confined room became more stable.
“He agreed,” fake Mira said. “But the truce only lasts as long as I choose.”
“That’s how every truce works,” Jace muttered. “And it goes both ways.”
Fake Mira scowled at him. “Get that rope away from Quima. If you hurt her, I can’t be responsible for how I’ll react.”
The rope shrank to its smallest form, and Jace held it behind his back.
Fake Mira walked over to Mira. “You didn’t have to force this discussion. We would have talked soon. I just wanted to put the others with my collection first.”
“The other people you’ve taken are all imprisoned?” Cole asked.
“Would you rather I killed them?” fake Mira asked.
“Miracle, this is crazy,” Mira said. “What has Quima been telling you?”
“Quima is the one person on my side,” fake Mira said. “I didn’t collect her. She came here on purpose. She wants to be here. She wants me to be free. You want to destroy me. Who would you trust?”
Mira was at a loss.
Cole jumped in. “Quima might not be your friend. She might have helped take you from Mira.”
“Then I thank her for my existence,” fake Mira said.
“You existed as part of me,” Mira said.
“Not like this,” fake Mira countered, laughing softly. “I’m whatever I want to be now.”
“And what is that?” Mira asked. “A pile of dirt and tree stumps that kidnaps people?”
“This is just the beginning,” fake Mira said. “The next step is for me to become truly free of you. Completely. Quima will help us achieve it. You’ll have to help too.”
“Dream on,” Mira said.
Fake Mira’s laugh had a menacing edge to it. “You’ll do it. Or you won’t be free either. Ever. You or your friends.”
“Mira, your shaping talent is flowing to you like never before,” Liam said, his voice soft in the earpiece. “I don’t know if it’s because you’re surrounded by your power, or some other reason, but try to keep Carnag talking.”
Mira closed her eyes and took a breath. Cole knew she was pretending to think while listening to Liam. When she opened them, she spoke calmly and earnestly. “They stole you from me. My life has been a nightmare ever since. You were with my father. You know what he put me through. Now you want to steal yourself from me too?”
Fake Mira frowned. “Do you think I like you? Do you imagine that I owe you? Do you think I’m sorry I’m free? I don’t feel like part of you, Mira. You aren’t my missing half. If I came from you, congratulations for making something wonderful. But I don’t belong to you anymore. I never will again. Until you cut all ties with me, I’ll make sure you won’t be free either.”
“Your power wants to be with you,” Liam coached Mira. “It’s the mind of this semblance that stands in the way. You have to defeat her. Don’t give up. Carnag still has the vast majority of your ability, but more escapes to you every second.”
“What will you do after you’re free from me?” Mira asked.
Fake Mira glanced at Quima. “Whatever I want.”
“Whatever you want?” Mira questioned. “Or whatever Quima tells you? You’ve been a tool for my father. How do I know you won’t just become a tool for her? Do you even know what you want?”
Fake Mira paused, glancing nervously at Quima. “I want to be me. I want to be myself.”
“You keep saying you want to be yourself,” Mira said. “Who is that?”
Fake Mira faltered. “Someone independent of you.”
“You’re my shaping power,” Mira said. “You became a self-shaping semblance. You know why we call them semblances, right? Because they resemble living things. They’re not, but they resemble them. Think of the semblances you make. They seem like they have identities. But they don’t. They’re whatever you make them.”
“I’m different!” fake Mira exclaimed. “I’m what I make myself.”
“Then why do you use my name?” Mira asked. “And why do you look like me?”
Fake Mira fell silent.
“Don’t bother her with dull questions,” Quima said. “You’re her prisoner. You’re only talking to her by her permission.”
Fake Mira held up a hand. “We’re talking so I can convince her to set me free. Mira, I look like you out of habit. It’s convenient. But I can look however I want. There are many names I could use. Carnag is one.”