Free Origin of the Body by H.R. Moore Page A

in it.’
    ‘But that was the night of the fire?’ asked Alexander, keen for knowledge of his own parents.
    ‘Yes,’ said Helena, reaching for another cylinder, ‘but again, it’s best if I show you,’ she said, the cylinder unrolling and jolting them uncomfortably into a new memory.
    They were at the alter in the Body Temple, Clarissa huddled forward, Anita’s infant self sat spiritedly on a step, looking as though she were having a whale of a time, excited to see what would happen next.  Clarissa pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly until she heard the thud of footsteps behind her and spun around to see who was there.  Clarissa was confronted, not with Peter and Gwyn as she had expected, but with Austin and Tobias, Austin an exceptionally good looking younger version of his current self.  Clarissa’s eyes went wide, knowing without doubt their intention, pushing her daughter behind her and barking at her to run and hide.  The young girl’s features contorted, the careless joy of moments before chased away by confused fear as her mother shoved her away.  She looked up, begging for Clarissa to scoop her up and hold her tightly, to tell her it was all a joke, that it was all going to be okay, but was met instead with a stone wall of icy resolve, Clarissa directing all her energy towards propelling Mia away.
    Austin and Tobias approached Clarissa menacingly, slowly, making sure there was nobody else in the Temple to get in the way.  Mia finally turned and ran, the toddler out of breath from panic before she even started, Clarissa turning to square up to the Mind Descendants, forcing herself to drag her eyes from her daughter, resolving instead to buy her as much time as she could.
    ‘Clarissa,’ said Tobias, triumphantly, bloodlust in his eyes as he came ever closer, ‘we’ve been wanting to chat with you for quite some time.’
    ‘Oh?’ she replied, trying to force her voice not to shake.
    ‘And you’ve been nowhere to be found,’ he said, a terrifying savagery behind every word.
    ‘I’ve been in the Wild Lands,’ said Clarissa, eyeing Austin, who was tracking Mia’s course, ‘with the man who’s just had an affair with your wife,’ she forced the words out, hating the confrontation, every instinct in her screaming not to enrage them further, but the need to protect Mia surpassing all.
    It worked.  Austin’s eyed snapped round to look at Tobias, to watch what his father would do next, surprise plastered across his features.  Without warning, Tobias stepped forward and punched Clarissa in the face, a right hook that sent her reeling to the ground, her head hitting the cold stone floor with a sickening crack.  Mia stopped in her tracks, turning at the sound and crying out when she saw her mother on the ground.  Clarissa’s eyes found her daughter, a jolt of horror hitting her when she saw she’d stopped.  ‘Run,’ she screamed, as Tobias stepped forward to finish what he’d started, Mia sinking to the floor next to a stone bench, crawling underneath and huddling against its side.
    Tobias pulled out a knife and put it to Clarissa’s throat, effortlessly swiping aside her frantic protest as he took her life, Austin pursuing Mia rather than look at what his father had just done.  He’d almost reached her, now backed as far under the bench as it would let her go, tears streaming down her face, when he heard a loud thud behind him.  He whirled round to see, to his astonishment, his father face down on the floor, a knife protruding from his back, blood seeping from him.  Austin desperately scanned the Temple to find the knife’s owner, Anthony stepping forcefully out of the shadows towards him.
    ‘What have you done?’ he questioned, reaching Clarissa’s body and feeling no pulse.  ‘You’ve killed her,’ he half whispered.  He turned his head expectantly towards Austin, a look of mistrust and disbelief across his face when he heard Mia’s sobs, his eyes flicking around to