Shadow in the Empire of Light
Page 25
“They were not supposed to,” he said. “We have rules about these things, too.”
I stopped and looked at him. “I don’t really know anything about you, do I?”
His mouth was tense. “I am not trying to deceive you. It has just been… We have been busy.”
“Yes, I know that… Can you at least teach me your language?”
He laughed. His laughter sounded relieved to me. “Sure, if you are brave enough to try.”
“I already know one word. Bullet.”
He pulled a face.
“Oh, and another. ‘Wilk.’”
He laughed. “That’s a swear word. Do you want to start with some swear words?”
“Definitely. Always useful. And yours sound really vicious.”
He pronounced a couple: they were about shitting and turds, like our swear words. I did my best to pronounce them as he did. This was not going to be easy. I would have to start writing them down and practising them. But it could be worth it.
“Do you think, if I can learn your language, I can come to your country one day? Maybe I could find out for myself what happened to my mother.”
He tensed up again. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I do not really have the authority for that.”
“Authority?” I asked.
“The way our government works is very complicated. Best to wait and see.”
He doesn’t want to take you, said Katti. She pressed her head into my hand. Maybe it’s dangerous.
I watched the ghost’s strange straw-coloured hair bobbing away down the path ahead of me.
I couldn’t see how he could stop me if I really wanted to go. All governments have loopholes. But maybe it was too dangerous. After all, it had killed my mother. Still, wouldn’t it be amazing to go somewhere no one else had gone?
“I could became an expert on all things ghost,” I said to Katti. “Consulted by the government and everyone else important. Now that would be good. We could wind up eating the finest salmon, you and I.”
I might never have to talk about mangle-wurzels again.
The End
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’d like to thank my agent John Jarrold, my editor Kate Coe, and all the other great people at Rebellion Publishing who made this book possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JANE ROUTLEY has had a variety of careers, including fruit picker and occult librarian, and once lived in Germany and Denmark for a decade. Now she works at a railway station and is a keen climate activist. Jane has published six books and won two Aurealis awards for Best Australian Fantasy Novel. Her short stories have been widely anthologized and read on the ABC. Her current ambition is to visit an active volcano.
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