by Opal Edgar
“Get out of the way, girl,” the Papua said. “I have no grudge against the ones that leave our land.”
“I won’t move,” she said. “If I hadn’t run away, my father would be safely sleeping.”
Please save him, Ina suddenly prayed.
“That father of yours, who burned half the forest of my ancestors for barren land? He’s gonna get the spirits to curse us. Already half the birds are gone. Lord, strike him!” Machete said.
I rubbed my temples. That was it, I had lost: this was a pit of snakes. Everyone had things to blame on the other. From every corner sprung a new problem. I certainly wasn’t the only one collecting disasters. I still held the machete up with my hands, not daring to let go in case I really was influencing the situation, but I felt for Ina. What could she do?
She dropped to her knees as I stared.
“Sorry. Sorry for all the harm we have done to the forest and its spirits. It was our ignorance. We are sorry. We came here and we forgot to pray to this land. It is foreign to us and we have made mistakes. We stayed attached to our gods, forgetting to introduce ourselves to your ancestors, your spirits. We did things like at home, even though nothing here is like home. We are to blame, but please forgive us.”
We were all dumbfounded. Ina’s father hid his face and dropped down to his knees too, circling his daughter’s shoulders. Machete brought his blade back down to his side. He patted his thick black beard.
“You never even introduced yourselves to us. And making a mess in your corner is wrecking everyone’s lives. Why don’t you ask us to show you?”
She’d done it.
She was saving their lives and solving the food problem. She was amazing. She kept her head low. Her father had to take the next step. And he did, he apologised too. The men talked, they nodded, they smiled and they parted ways. No one but me noticed Ina’s white knuckled grip on her bag and her shaking shoulders.
On the way back the silence was light. The forest smelt green and sweet. The bats were whistling again. Ina walked at the side of her father. But the marriage threat was still there.
“Tomorrow, I’ll arrange a meeting for you to meet the boy. You’ll talk. You’ll tell him about your faith and we’ll see if you two can agree or not. If you can’t then … well … we can’t have that, can we?”
Thank you, Ina thought very hard.
My wrist pulsed and the words faded. The path blurred. The night brightened intensely. Was that it? But I’d done nothing, had I? Had I helped her? Was my debt cleared? The palms shredded down to wispy willows, the bats gave way to birds.
I didn’t feel like a hero. Ina was the one who’d helped me, once more. She had shown me the way. Running was never an answer.
Bramble caught on my trousers. Ina and her father were gone, replaced by nasty caped silhouettes. I took a step backwards. But they circled me.
“I knew he’d pop back. Bloody bastard managed to get summoned by the living,” a power thief said.
They had chains and clubs. They had taken Elise’s world over and had made it their own. Running away was never an option. It was a pit of misery. I had to face my battle, just like Ina had. I had to take action. The heavy capes of the power thieves swished as they moved. Some of their faces were hidden behind masks and others had hoods opening onto black bottomless pits. They were the ultimate faceless cowards. They were all those who did nefarious deeds in the dark, behind walls and in anonymous letters because no one would ever know. It was war time, again. I hated them. I was going to save Elise.
I brandished my sword.
Chapter 26
Broken Heart
I ran at a demon mask, yelling. My sword rang against a shield. The mask vibrated under the shock, arms straining, but he didn't move backwards. The circle of power thieves tightened round me. I hit again and was blocked by a steel bar. The power thieves lifted their array of weapons, sword to club. I wasn’t scared of a beating. This was my fight.
I had fists and feet, and I kicked and hit and bit. There was no empty space, every square centimetre was a body. I couldn’t parry. They tightened some more, closing over the last space between our skin and shirts. I couldn’t move. Bartholomew’s sword clattered to the ground. Chains snaked round me.
It had taken them seconds to subdue me. When they parted, I looked as smart as a sausage in an aluminium jacket, and about as useful in combat. At least I wasn’t in a tank. Blood dripped from my brow into the dust.
“Let’s hurry: she’s waiting!” one of them said.
So the one leading this tireless attack on me was a woman? I was finally going to know who to direct all my hate towards.
Six caped men heaved me over their shoulders and jogged. The trees didn’t part for them. The birds did not sing. The sun did not warm my skin. Warm fruit scents did not fill our lungs like a sinful meal. It was, and at the same time it wasn’t, Elise’s world.
The cottage came into view. The tanks were already in the garden. I looked in amazement at the trees round us. I couldn’t believe I’d seen them topple and crush the cute network of treehouses woven in their branches. There were houses again up there, and zipping silhouettes between them. But they weren’t the colourful hubs they had been before. There were no banners or streamers or wind chimes. The houses were almost indistinguishable from the trees, playing with the colour of the foliage. If I hadn’t looked for them, I’m not sure I would have noticed the dark bridges linking the trees, or the capes hovering over them.
A pillar of a man stood in front of Varhoura’s tank. He had broad shoulders and no waistline, just a pure muscle mass in indigo. That’s right, his skin was an amazing brilliant blue. My captors dropped my sword at his feet. But he didn’t care. He smiled like a shark at Varhoura’s aquarium. She didn’t gratify him with a glance.
“I told you we’d never part,” he said to the glass.
His teeth were long fangs, and a vindictive smile tugged at his lips. Varhoura shivered, but kept her eyes closed. Was he the power thief Merlin had hurt? Was he the one seeking vengeance? If Merlin had separated him from Varhoura, I would never blame him for all the trouble I’d gone through. I sighed and thought about Ina and her arranged marriage. I hoped she was fine. But then I caught myself, of course she was fine: she had saved herself without anyone’s help. She was smart and strong and resilient, and didn’t need anyone’s pity. It was me that needed to learn from her.
“It took me 175 years to find you,” he whispered. “But you see, I’m still here for you.”
What a creep. Varhoura had gone to the bottom of the sea to get away from him. And he’d hunted her down. He couldn’t win. And he couldn’t be the mastermind now that I thought about it. He might have been waiting, but he definitely wasn't a “she”. In fact, he was anything but a “she”. So who was the “she” mastermind?
The shark-man brought me back to earth hard with his next chilling declaration, “I overturned heaven and hell, and sold my soul to the devil, but I got you back.”
He patted the cold glass of the aquarium and I shuddered.
“Let her go!” I yelled.
He turned to me with daggers for eyes. If evil could be written on a face then he wore its print. But I’d been punched with real fists and I’d been killed with tangible kicks, so no look could stop me. I was still mummified on the shoulders of the power thief bunch, but I wasn’t scared.
“You won’t get away with this. I—”
“It’s thanks to you I’ve got her back. That was the deal I cut. Your hide for my long lost love,” he cut in as he walked towards me.
I slumped. I’d been wrong. That hurt more than a real punch. Of course Varhoura had been caught because of me.
“I’m afraid you don’t have much of an existence left. I don’t envy your fate. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Nothing personal.”
But I wasn’t looking at him as he talked. As soon as he’d turned away, Varhoura waved her arms at me and plucked a pearl from her hair. Not the usu
al cream ones woven there, but a slightly smaller pink one. Of course!
Unlike Alpheus she didn’t have a lid on her tank, there was no need for one. Not only couldn’t she walk on land, but her soul was floating in the sea water. Maybe Kemsit could trace her with it. I had to distract the shark-man.
“What are you going to do to me?” I asked.
“Absolutely nothing, I’m finished here.” He then barked to his crew, “The weapon goes with the tank. He goes in the house.”
Varhoura’s pearl flew up, glistening. The arc was perfect. I had no free hands, so I closed my teeth over it. The shark-man swore. He angrily turned to Varhoura.
“Enjoy those last minutes of flirting, he’s vanished meat anyway,” he growled.
The pearl exploded in sounds in my head, “You have an incoming call from Ester Pieterson. Do you accept it now?”
What?
I almost spat the pearl out as I tried to figure out what was happening. Then everything clicked.
Pieterson! That was Elise’s family name. This pearl wasn’t a tracking device at all. This was the favour I’d asked for Elise. And if Poseidon hadn’t been listening, Varhoura had. This was Elise’s mother contacting her.
This call wasn’t for me to take. “No!” I thought very hard, and the yelling voice of the pearl petered out. Even now, Varhoura hadn’t thought about herself at all. I was the one that had destroyed her death. I wanted to scream my frustration, but then I would have lost the pearl and wasted her gift. I clamped my teeth furiously.
The shark-man nodded at the cottage, never taking his eyes from Varhoura. The power thieves under me started forwards again. This was it. I was about to meet our tormentor, my tormentor, someone willing to destroy everyone in her way.
She was in the house. And I was about to get thrown at her feet all packed up like a Christmas present.
The floor slapped me hard. The footsteps receded and the door slammed shut, leaving me alone in the sun basked house. Ropes of steel dug into my flesh when I pulled. I rolled onto my stomach, I had to get Alpheus out of the tank: he could get the power thieves to tell us where Elise was.
“Sir Tosho, I’m so happy to see you! Don’t move, please, I’ll come down.” Came from the back of the room.
I almost jumped out of my skin, which would have been just the thing to get rid of the chains. But I stayed tightly bound as footsteps shuffled softly towards me. I stared with disbelief at two cute feet wrapped in cerulean satin. My heart raced. Elise was freely moving in her own house? I felt her light touch on my back and shivered.
“’Tis only me,” she said.
Something squirmed over my arms and my hands, coating the chains round my wrists. I felt dead cold.
“You’re free!” I exclaimed, letting the pearl roll out of my mouth. It rolled onto the floor.
“Of course I am. Did you believe me in danger, silly?”
The world cracked. A yell grew in my throat. Why was she free? Why was she walking casually round? What in God’s name was that thing touching me, brushing my ankle now? I thrashed. She jumped backwards.
“Sir Tosho, I will ask you to hold still, please.”
My heart raced and pumped so loud I could barely hear anything else. The realisation hit me harder than a wrecking ball. She had never been in danger! The pearl bounced off Elise’s foot, and the irony bloomed into tears running down my face. Varhoura had given the most beautiful gift possible to the very person who had sold her out.
The yell, fully matured, escaped me. All this time, the mastermind had played the part of the very best friend I had ever wished for.
Chapter 27
Good Night and Good Curse, Baby Zombie
I kicked with all my strength, flailing pathetically like a fish out of water. I had been such a fool. I would have given her everything willingly, without anyone needing to suffer. I would have!
“’Tis time to calm down!” her angry words lashed out.
My blood froze as the chains tightened unbearably. They felt heavier, denser, I couldn’t twitch a muscle. My heartbeat echoed within the rope prison. They snaked everywhere – they weren’t metal but vegetal ropes sprouting from the ground. I looked at them with horror. She had fooled all of us.
“Why?” I asked.
The betrayal hurt so much, as if my heart had exploded into millions of shards and shredded my innards. How could she have turned on us? All the children?
“’Tis my power. Now stop moving.”
The chains popped and scattered to the floor. The vines pulled me up. I felt like a toy soldier: leaded, propped and powerless. This was too much.
I couldn’t take it.
I hunched. My head was a mess. I couldn’t think. I didn’t want to think. I closed my eyes and retreated inside, where it was empty, where an evil Elise did not exist. I just had to let go of this world. It was easy. Sleep sucked me in faster than a blink.
***
I floated in a void.
There was nothing round me. Nothing up, nothing down, nothing left or … actually, there was something to my right. It was in the distance: square, red and oddly familiar. Before I gave the order to my feet, I was already walking towards it. It was more ochre than red. It was also bigger than I had first appraised. It was a cube tall enough to contain me if I stood inside it. The walls were made of bricks.
I tapped it with my knuckles, no hollow sound. This was a nice expensive double brick container. I climbed on the wall. It was easy, I just had to put my feet on the surface of my choice and the world adapted. Now, the brick cube was below and the void was above. A beetle ran between my legs. It surprised me. I followed.
We walked to the edge of the cube. Another beetle joined the first one and crawled down the side. My inner world paused. In front of me the wall dropped sharply. I didn’t have Velcro feet, if I took another step I would fall. I extended my leg forwards, tentatively. The cube turned. The sloping wall moved up to meet my foot. Or maybe I was the one rotating round it. I wasn’t sure – I didn’t care. I followed a third beetle joining the party. They were all a nice royal blue. We reached the next surface of the cube. Another handful of beetles crawled over.
I was ready to turn round and round forever, but it seemed my insect companions had a schedule. They scattered to a little hole in the third wall. An electrical line ran out of it. They squeezed round the cord and disappeared into the hole. I was alone once again. I pulled on the cord, but it didn’t give. This was disappointing. I pushed my finger through the hole. The bricks crumbled. Not much, but enough to encourage me in my destructive mood.
I dug frantically. I had no idea why. I couldn’t stand the inactivity. Digging made sense, somehow. The mortar wasn’t great quality, the more I dug the more it looked like plain old sand. The bricks scattered round me. The more came off, the faster I became. My fingers were swollen and painful, rubbed raw. The throb was distracting. I liked that, it made my chest feel less hollow. I kept digging.
The ceiling was off. Bricks floated about the cube. Inside was a freestanding mirror surrounded by a pool of blue beetles. They liked mirrors in the afterlife. You were meant to take a good look at yourself here, I guessed. But appearances lie – people lie. My heart throbbed. I didn’t stop breaking the wall. Stopping meant letting my mind recall my grief.
Must keep digging. Don’t think.
I looked down at my hands and concentrated on scratching the mortar, pulling the bricks and dropping them away. When the last brick left my hand, my throat knotted. There hadn’t been enough. My chest hurt. It hurt so much. I guess I deserved it. I mean, what had I expected? Elise to love me?
Really?
What kind of fantasy was I imagining? I was the spawn of a monster. I didn’t get a happy ending. I didn’t get a retry. I got power thieves chasing me down like a dog, and the person I admired the most had turned into my tormentor. Why the hell had I been resisting oblivion? Everyone agreed they were better off without me.
The electric line ran
past my foot and into the mirror I had freed from the brick cube. It went right through the glass. I glanced at my reflection and frowned. This wasn’t me. The boy in the mirror frowned too. We were the same age. Same haircut and clothes. He was slender and his suit was a few sizes smaller, but except for that it was the same suit. Wait. I wasn’t wearing the suit anymore. The long flowing shirt Sedan had given me had replaced it. This was the shirt I’d been wearing when I’d died.
The whole suit thing started to make sense. The shadow corridor showed everyone the way we had died. I had never understood why I was wearing clothes I’d never seen before. But I wasn’t alone in my body, was I? Someone had abandoned his death and had been born again in me.
I observed the reflection more thoroughly. Spring-green eyes pierced the middle of his sharp face. Merlin looked like he spent most of his time running under the sky and sleeping under the stars: his skin coloured by sun, wind and salt. He had long agile fingers that would have been as comfortable tying a fly to a fishing rod as playing the piano. Earthy hair topped it all.
I lifted my arm and so did he. I took a step towards him and he towards me. I waved and he waved back. Things definitely weren’t the same on both sides. He had a rotary dial phone next to him, that’s what the cord was for. But I had nothing. I checked over my shoulder. When I looked back, the beetles had crawled all over the surface of the glass and left no reflection. I brushed them off. His movement echoed mine. This was unsettling. His grimace was my own. I took control of my face and tapped the mirror with one finger. Our indexes met. Once. Twice.
Grab!
A mouse-like squeak escaped me. He took hold of my wrist with his other hand and pulled himself out. As soon as his face was on my side of the glass, he smiled. It wasn’t a smile I'd ever worn. It was so satisfied. I pulled my wrist away. He was as insufferable in the flesh as I expected from his voice.
“I stuffed up, Merlin,” I said.
“Oh yes, you did.” He snorted. “You’re checkmate, bunny.”