Galloglass

by Scarlett Thomas

Leander nodded in a pale, vampiric sort of way. It seemed as if his mind was elsewhere entirely. He kept looking down at his hands and sighing.

  ‘The what?’ said Wolf.

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Effie.

  ‘The Flow? You’re not allowed to mention the Flow to anyone who hasn’t been in it. Because then the first time doesn’t work . . . But after that you can always tell when someone has been in. Why do you both look so blank?’

  Effie suddenly went from looking blank to looking like someone who’s solved a difficult crossword clue.

  ‘Hang on,’ said Effie. ‘The Flow. That’s the thing that’s been bugging me. That’s what was different about the older translation of the poem . . . The one I put in the Great Library yesterday.’

  ‘What?’ said Pelham sharply. ‘I thought you said you put the history of the Diberi back in the Great Library?’

  ‘I did,’ said Effie. ‘But that was ages ago. Just before the Sterran Guandré. That must be what brought the Diberi here from Europe. They’d been frozen somehow since the worldquake. When I went into the library yesterday to take the book out again I didn’t realise I had another book in my bag. The poem “Galloglass” – but a different translation than Jupiter Peacock’s. The library took it.’

  ‘Are you seriously saying that you put a copy of Galloglass in the actual Great Library?’ said Pelham. ‘Why hasn’t anyone told me about this? Cosmo must be furious.’

  ‘Wait,’ said Effie. ‘Listen to me. I think you’ll understand. Leander? You listen too. You’ll know what I mean, I’m sure. The translation I put in was different from Jupiter Peacock’s. In the original version there’s a mention of the Flow – whatever it is. The reference is removed from Jupiter Peacock’s version.’

  ‘What would the Flow have to do with galloglasses?’ said Leander.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Effie. ‘Maybe if someone told me what the Flow actually is . . .’

  While Effie and the others had been talking, Wolf had been fiddling with his lapis lazuli ring. Being in this chapel was like returning home after a long journey. Everything about it made him feel calm and powerful – and not at all like listening to words or sentences about earthly things. The smell of incense, the candles . . . He wondered what would happen if he lit a candle and tried to meditate. Raven had told him the basics the night before. It didn’t sound difficult. You just shut your eyes – or even kept them open, if you were a Zen Buddhist – and focused on your breath and tried to clear your mind. How hard could it be? And then cleric’s prayers, when you got to wish for things that would come true. You were supposed to start with small things, but what if . . .?

  Pelham now seemed to be telling Effie that he shouldn’t be able to talk about the Flow to someone who didn’t understand it. Was she absolutely sure she didn’t know what it was? But their voices faded as Wolf slipped easily into a meditative state, a state from which all magic is possible and . . .

  And he took the piece of string from around his neck and . . .

  Before he knew what was happening, the ring was on.

  Bells. Beautiful light. The smell of sandalwood and silence.

  Wolf passed out again.

  The yeti looked at this new human with interest. She was completely different from the other one, although the yeti wasn’t experienced enough in dealing with humans to understand what the difference might be.

  His arm still hurt from the trap he’d been caught in. He started rubbing it, making a sort of mewling sound. And his right leg was bleeding, quite badly.

  ‘Hang on,’ said Lexy. ‘Let me just get my crystals out, and my new bracelet, and my knife . . . We’ll sort you out first, and then we’ll escape.’

  As soon as Jupiter Peacock had left, Lexy had snapped out of her weak maiden routine. What was it Wolf had said about strategy that time? Always let your enemy think you are weaker and more stupid than you are. There is no greater weapon than surprise. And JP was certainly going to be surprised when he realised how he’d underestimated Lexy.

  He’d been sleeping very well lately, mainly because of the valerian, lime-flower and fiveweed mixture that Lexy had been putting in his food. All she’d had to do was add the mixture to the pepper grinder. JP loved pepper and added it liberally to everything. And since Lexy wasn’t allowed to eat anything other than Turkish Delight she was hardly going to be contaminated herself.

  Because JP had been sleeping so well, Lexy had been able to sneak downstairs late at night and eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches and make her plans. She’d charged all her crystals in moonlight – not quite as strong as the full-moon, but it would do. She got all her herbs in order.

  And she read as much as she could about being an alchemist.

  Yes, JP really had chosen the wrong person to mess with. He had no idea that he and Lexy shared an art – alchemist – which meant that she’d been able to steal his most valuable boons in order to use them against him. This morning she’d pretended to have forgotten the small pearl earrings she was supposed to wear for the ceremony. He’d sent her upstairs to get them, while charming her parents by offering to give their daughter a lift to the university.

  That was when she’d done it. She’d gone into his room and taken everything she needed. His Orlov’s Viper necklace, used by high-level dark alchemists to control the weather and create explosions. His travel cauldron, enchanted in such a way that powerful concoctions could be brewed in it, but which shrunk to the size of a ring when not in use. And the biggest prize: his Alchemist’s Knife, a solid platinum blade set in a walnut handle studded with black obsidian stones. There was also a thin gold bracelet with the same stones set in it. Lexy hadn’t actually left many of his things behind.

  That evening when her parents had gone out to celebrate their anniversary and he’d made her go into his room, the objects had awoken something in her: her alchemist art. But this was not the sort of light alchemy that her aunt Octavia did; it was something darker that had been lying dormant.

  Lexy took all these objects from where she’d hidden them in a pouch under the waistband of her white cotton skirt. She put the bracelet on and felt dark alchemical power rippling through her. It was big for her, so she pushed it up her arm where it fitted perfectly as an armlet. Now all she had to do was use her healing crystal to create a cure for this poor creature, and then concoct something in the cauldron to blow away these doors so that they could both escape.

  ‘What on earth?’ said Pelham Longfellow, as Wolf slumped, unconscious, on the pew next to him.

  ‘Wolf!’ said Effie. ‘He said this happened the last time he tried this ring.’ She eased it off his finger, then quickly put it on the makeshift necklace and placed it back around his neck. Wolf didn’t wake up immediately; he seemed to be in a very peaceful sleep.

  ‘Where did he get it?’ asked Pelham.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ said Effie. ‘He was a Last Reader. That’s when he found out that he’s a cleric. And this is the boon the book gave him at the end.’

  ‘Great,’ said Pelham Longfellow. ‘So he’s getting into the Flow by accident just because he’s got the Ring of the Enlightened Cleric, but he doesn’t know what to do with it. And you’ve been in the Flow, what, once? And you don’t know how to use it either. Leander? How are you with the Flow?’

  Leander shrugged. ‘I don’t find it that easy to get in,’ he said.

  ‘Right,’ said Pelham Longfellow, rolling up his sleeves. ‘We need to wake him up and then I’ve got to find a way of training both of you to the next level of cleric and teaching you how to use the Flow to help us.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Leander.

  ‘Higher level clerics can unbind people,’ said Pelham. ‘It takes a lot of magic, but you and Wolf might just be one of the most useful resources we have at the moment. Unbinding takes two clerics working in a pair.’

  ‘What can I do to help?’ said Effie.

  Pelham sighed. ‘If only you could get in the Flow properl
y you could help power them. But there probably isn’t time for you to learn how to do that. You’re supposed to be the most powerful of us all – potentially, at least. But you’re blinded somehow. I see you’re still not wearing your ring.’

  Effie touched the Ring of the True Hero that hung around her neck. It was there in case she needed it for a serious battle but wearing it had become so complicated she didn’t even remember to put it on half the time. She didn’t even wear it for tennis any more.

  ‘It just drains me,’ she said.

  He sighed. ‘All right, look. For now, I need some sandalwood incense, and a book of warrior cleric’s prayers. Can you go and get them? If we can just get these two ready in time, then the Guild won’t be able to stop us any more. And we’ll have a better chance of preventing whatever the Diberi have planned for tonight. But we don’t have long.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Maybe seven hours. That’s not a lot of training. And with one asleep, and the other . . .’

  Leander was still sighing a lot and looking down at his hands.

  ‘OK,’ said Effie. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

  She left the chapel and hurried into the main part of the university, and then set off in the direction of the library.

  A book of warrior cleric’s prayers. The only place Effie could think of going for that was Special Collections. She just hoped she’d be able to find where such books were shelved. Being trained as a cleric sounded exciting: more exciting than going to the library for a book. But Effie reminded herself that they were all one big team, and it didn’t matter how small her role was going to be in that team, she was proud to be part of it. For a moment, Effie’s entire being was swept into this sensation of being a tiny molecule in a vast magnificent whole and . . .

  That feeling again. The one from the market. This time it seemed to start at Effie’s feet. It moved up her body in a wave of warmth and beauty and acceptance, like getting into the most perfect bath after the most terrible day, or drinking a mug of hot chocolate in the snow – but multiplied by a thousand, no, make that a million. It was the best feeling Effie had ever experienced. She thought to herself how clever she was to have found a way to get back to the feeling. Ha! She’d show—

  The feeling disappeared. The world became crisp and cold again. So the trick was not to acknowledge it while it was happening, and not to be afraid of it either. And not to be pleased with oneself for finding it. A bit like the meditative state, which also fell away when you acknowledged it. But this was different. This was much more intense than the meditative state.

  Could this be the thing they called the Flow?

  21

  Raven flew as fast as she could to Lexy’s house, troubled by her friend’s absence. Why had no one checked on Lexy earlier? It wasn’t like her to disappear like this. She was always so friendly, so helpful, so communicative. And why had no one noticed that she’d been sharing a house with a Diberi for the last few days?

  Raven kicked herself – well, she tried; it wasn’t easy to kick yourself when travelling by broomstick. For their great spell the Diberi needed a hundred live cats, Effie’s consciousness and the blood of a pure maiden. Raven suddenly had a horrible idea of who the pure maiden was going to be. She pushed the broomstick harder, over the roof of the Old Rectory and the large park behind the Mrs Joyful School. She landed and folded up her broomstick as quickly as she could and put it in her school bag.

  She knocked on the door of the Bottle house. Both Marcel and Hazel Bottle were at home today. Marcel didn’t start his yoga teaching until the evening on a Monday and Hazel was working in her yurt at the bottom of the garden. Marcel opened the door.

  ‘Raven,’ he said, surprised. ‘Aren’t you meant to be at school, or university, or whatever it is you’re doing this week?’

  ‘Is Lexy here?’ said Raven.

  ‘No,’ said Marcel. ‘I thought she was with you. Aren’t you all sleeping over at the university tonight?’

  ‘No,’ said Raven. ‘We’re not. We heard that Lexy was ill. We haven’t seen her for days.’

  ‘Well, she hasn’t been quite herself lately, but she’s not ill. She was certainly well enough to go with JP this morning to—’

  ‘Wait, you let her go with Jupiter Peacock? Are you mad?’

  ‘Raven, I don’t think you should speak to me like—’

  Buttons the kitten had realised that there was a witch in the house. Before anyone knew what was happening, he’d used his little claws to climb up Raven’s leg and torso and now sat on her shoulder, speaking urgently into her ear.

  ‘Buttons!’ said Marcel. ‘Get down! You can’t just climb up on anyone who—’

  He moved to take the kitten from Raven’s shoulder, but she held up her hand to stop him. Marcel had never seen a witch and an animal in communication before. It was the strangest thing. He realised he was powerless to stop them. And he started to worry. Raven was usually so polite and placid. What on earth was going on?

  ‘I see,’ Raven was saying to Buttons in Kitten language. ‘No, that must have been dreadful. And they really didn’t notice?’ She sighed. ‘Yes, he’s been very clever. It’ll all be OK now.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ said Marcel.

  ‘I suppose you didn’t realise that Jupiter Peacock has been abusing Lexy the whole time he’s been in your house?’ said Raven.

  ‘What?!’ All the colour drained from Marcel’s face. ‘Lexy? JP? No. Oh my God.’

  Hazel Bottle came in from the garden looking pleased with herself. One of her inventions was actually going right for a change. All she needed was a nice strong cup of—

  ‘What’s going on here?’ she asked.

  ‘I think you’d better hear this,’ said Marcel. ‘We’d all better sit down. It looks like we’ve made a dreadful, dreadful mistake.’

  Marcel took Hazel’s arm gently and they both went and sat on the sofa. Raven followed them but remained standing, with Buttons still on her shoulder.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ said Raven. ‘But Jupiter Peacock has been psychologically abusing your daughter ever since he’s been in this house. And possibly worse; I’m not sure. He’s threatened Buttons, and told Lexy that if she didn’t do what he said he’d hurt him. Buttons doesn’t understand much English, but he sensed that Peacock made it impossible for Lexy to tell you anything. I don’t know how he would have done that. Do you have any idea?’

  ‘Oh God,’ said Hazel, tears beginning to run down her face. ‘The stupid competition. I was so determined to be Host of the Year, I drummed into Lexy that she had to do whatever JP wanted. He was our honoured guest and she had to make him welcome and not upset him in any way . . . But she wouldn’t have taken all that seriously, surely? She must have known that her safety was more important than anything . . .’

  ‘Lexy never likes making a fuss or troubling anyone,’ said Raven. ‘She probably thought you’d be cross with her, or wouldn’t believe her. Coach Bruce gave a talk the other week at school and he said people who’ve been abused don’t want to upset the people they love by telling them something so horrible.’

  ‘If I’d known . . .’ Marcel Bottle also now had tears in his eyes. ‘I’m a peaceful man, but I would honestly have ripped him apart. My little daughter! My beautiful, innocent—’

  ‘Well, now he’s taken her somewhere,’ said Raven. ‘And I think he intends to use her as a human sacrifice. We don’t have much time. We have to find her.’

  Lexy opened the locket and took out the dried remains of the Orlov’s Viper. No doubt JP had had bigger plans for this extremely rare magical artefact, but he should have thought of that before locking Lexy in a stable and threatening to kill her.

  In recent days, Jupiter Peacock had insisted on reading Lexy most of the introduction to his translation of “Galloglass”. It had been boring at first, but eventually it had started to make an impression on her. Maybe there was something to be said for acting in your own interests. It had to be better than agreeing to be a
maiden sacrifice, anyway. So Lexy would use JP’s precious objects entirely selfishly to free herself, and she wouldn’t care in the slightest about the consequences for him or anyone else. The thought was extremely liberating.

  Lexy put the Orlov’s Viper into the cauldron with one of the obsidian crystals. The baby yeti watched her the whole time she was doing this. He seemed to understand that Lexy was trying to help him. But his breathing was becoming laboured. Lexy had a horrible feeling he was more seriously injured than she thought. The pool of blood at the back of the stable was growing larger. Lexy realised she had to do something about that before she could try to move the baby yeti. She ripped off the bottom section of her skirt and made it into a makeshift bandage and did what she could for the creature’s leg.

  Then she returned to the cauldron and began saying the spell that would turn it into a bomb. She added one of her own hairs to it. The whole thing started glowing red.

  ‘Brace yourself,’ she said to the baby yeti. She ushered it into the back corner of the stable and threw the makeshift grenade at the stable doors. She put her fingers in her ears, and the baby yeti copied her. They both closed their eyes. The explosion blew the doors completely off. They were free.

  There was a large bang from outside as Effie hurried down the corridor towards the entrance to the University Library. Was it lightning? Someone in the Funtime Arcade had said something about a big storm approaching tonight.

  A student was walking quickly towards Effie, balancing a great pile of books, folders, a pencil case, a glasses case and, on top of it all, a pager. Since Effie had been in the Flow this time she almost felt as if she was experiencing the world in a kind of slow motion. Or, not slow motion exactly, more like higher definition. No, that wasn’t quite it either.

  Whatever it was, it meant that she could see the student’s pager begin to slip from the pile and start to fall towards the hard ground, where it would surely shatter. It was a strange sensation. Just for a second – not even that – Effie could see the future and the past at once: all the pieces of the broken pager, its insides, its history, what it was made of. In a split second she knew everything about it. She could see it broken and whole. Its beginning and end. After all that, it seemed very easy to just give it a magical nudge back onto the pile.