by Kim Falconer
‘Save your questions, daughter. I’ve got something for your visual consciousness. Give your mind a rest.’
‘Pardon?’
Nell put her arm around Rosette’s waist and led her to the edge of the pool, where they stood together. ‘Lean over with me. Have a look.’
‘There’s something in there, right?’ Rosette whispered. ‘I knew it! I felt it before; it was just like in Los Loma. Something dangerous.’
‘There was never anything dangerous for you in Los Loma.’
‘You weren’t there, Nell. It was plenty dangerous…’
‘Are you certain?’
Rosette frowned. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Just look. Look with me.’
Rosette scanned the clear surface of the water, containing her emotions for a few seconds before bursting out. ‘What am I supposed to be looking at, Nell? I can’t see a thing. Are we fishing for eels?’
The eels are delicious, Maudi.
Not helping, Dray.
‘Give it a moment,’ Nell replied. ‘Let the ripples settle.’
The water darkened beneath them as a cloud moved across the sun. Rosette squinted, peering at her reflection. She thought she looked a bit tousled, but not too bad considering the shipwreck, near-drowning and marathon swim. She gingerly touched her sun-cracked lips and brushed the damp hair out of her eyes.
‘Rosette,’ Nell whispered, bringing her daughter’s attention over to her side of the image.
Rosette stiffened and bent closer, springing back from the edge. It wasn’t her mother standing next to her, arm around her waist, leaning over the water. The person that looked back at Rosette from the limpid pool had short, pale, spiky hair and a wicked smile.
‘I know you!’ Rosette pulled further away, reaching for the sword that wasn’t there. She started to weave a banishing spell.
Maudi? What are you doing?
It’s Kreshkali, my captor from Los Loma. Why didn’t you warn me?
‘Calm yourself, Rosette,’ she heard Nell’s voice speaking as the words flowed out of the other woman’s mouth. ‘And put your hands down. This doesn’t call for an expulsion. Do you want to shake the island apart?’
‘Jarrod?’ Rosette shouted, ignoring the woman, ‘Jarrod!’ Her voice rose above the sound of her pounding heart. ‘It’s…’
‘Kreshkali, after all,’ he said. Jarrod smiled at Kreshkali, the witch standing in the place where Nell had been seconds before. ‘You keep the surprises coming, don’t you?’
Rosette backed away, reaching for Drayco.
What’s wrong, Maudi? Why are you afraid of Nell? It’s just one of her glamours.
‘It’s not! Can’t you see?’ She grabbed her familiar’s scruff and gave it a shake, pointing his nose at the woman. ‘Are you all enchanted? It’s Kreshkali, queen of the underworld!’
She backed into Jarrod. His hand came up to steady her.
‘Why are you just standing there?’ Rosette asked. ‘Can’t you see the witch?’
Kreshkali stepped towards her, palms open. ‘No-one’s enchanted, daughter.’
‘I’m not your daughter! What have you done with Nell?’
‘Rosette, listen. I am Kreshkali. I’m also Nellion Paree—daughter of the daughters of Docturi Janicia.’
‘You can’t be!’
Kreshkali smiled. ‘I am.’
‘Clever,’ Jarrod murmured. ‘I didn’t detect it.’
‘Nor did any of the trackers,’ Kreshkali said.
Rosette searched their faces. ‘I don’t understand what you’re talking about.’
‘I’ve been living in two worlds for some time now, Rosette.’
‘Living in two worlds? What two worlds? Where’s Nell?’
‘Right here, sweetheart. I’m Nell. I’m Kreshkali. I’m your mother. I’ve been in two places at once, doing the work of two witches. I had to. There was no other way to keep you hidden from the trackers, watch over Passillo and continue the work on Earth.’
‘Earth?’ Rosette put both hands over her mouth. ‘My dream,’ she whispered. ‘I just remembered my dream. I had it in the cave that night. There was a portal. Another world,’ she gasped. ‘How is this possible?’
Kreshkali pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow.
‘I know: nothing’s impossible.’ Rosette took a deep breath. ‘Just tell me, if you’re Nell, why was Kreshkali—why were you—hunting me?’
‘I was never hunting you, Rosette, but guiding! Guiding and protecting. The real threat is from witch-trackers. They’re who we’ve been running from.’
Rosette crossed her arms. ‘A little communication would have gone down a lot better!’ She glared at Kreshkali. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me what was going on? You’re as bad as Nell…ugh.’
‘For that, I apologise. For not raising you myself and not passing on the knowledge of your inheritance sooner, I apologise also. It was too risky. The witch-trackers were hounding us. After Jaynan…after the Matosh murders I had to keep everyone in the dark.’ She glanced at Jarrod. ‘They nearly got us all that time.’
‘That time?’ Rosette said.
Jarrod rubbed his neck. ‘I think I’d best get the horses. You two have some catching up to do.’ He turned to the temple cat. ‘Do you know where they are?’
Drayco rubbed his cheek on Rosette’s thigh before following Jarrod downstream. You’ve got witches’ business, Maudi. I’ll be back soon.
Rosette watched her familiar walk away. If he said Kreshkali and Nell were one and the same, then they must be. He wasn’t alarmed. She took that as a good sign.
Kreshkali sat in the shade, patting the grass beside her. Rosette sat an arm’s length away.
‘You’re the first one of us to be born in another world.’ Rosette opened her mouth to speak, but Kreshkali waved her quiet. ‘Let me finish the explanation before you jump in.’
Rosette snapped her mouth shut.
‘You were conceived here, on Gaela, not Earth, but you’re of both worlds—you had to be. Only an Earth child from the line of Janis Richter can carry JARROD’s quantum CPU in her DNA, and Gaela was the only place I could hide you from ASSIST’s witch-trackers. They were stamping us out, one by one. They killed my mother and I swore they would never find you. I had to keep you in this world, and still be in both at the same time to carry on with the research.’ She brushed the sand from her hands and ran them through her hair. ‘That’s basically it. Now, do you have any questions?’
Rosette’s eyes were wide. ‘Huh?’
‘Questions, Rosette. Can I make it any clearer? We’ve got to get moving. Time’s short and everything’s at stake.’
Rosette straightened her spine. A warm tingling sensation started to course through her body. The feeling she’d had before—as if she was about to faint—was replaced with a hot flash of energy.
‘One question comes to mind.’ She stood up as she spoke. ‘What in the demon pit of souls did you just say?’
‘You’ve got very special DNA, Rosette. You have…’
‘Losing me again, Kreshkali,’ she interrupted. ‘What the spit does DNA stand for?’
‘Deoxyribonucleic acid.’
‘Oh, that just helped me a lot…’
‘You have special proteins in your blood. Think of it as a spell—the spell—only, on Earth, your other world, it’s called technology. It’s linked implicitly to Jarrod.’
‘Jarrod? What’s Jarrod got to do with it?’ Rosette’s face was flushed, her pulse pounding.
‘Rosette, I’ve wanted to tell you.’ Jarrod came striding towards her leading Wren. Drayco followed behind, lead rope in his mouth, the mountain horse in tow.
‘Wanted to tell me what?’
‘I’m not exactly the boy next door.’
‘You aren’t?’ She looked at him, her eyes narrowing. ‘I feel like I’m going mad. What are you people trying to say to me?’
‘Not mad, Rosette. Just uninformed,’ Jarrod said.
�
��Then inform me. If you aren’t the boy next door, who then?’
‘He’s not anything you’ve got a word for, Rosette.’
She closed her eyes. Drayco? You’ve been in his mind. What is he?
I told you, Maudi. He’s like no other. The temple cat dropped the lead rope at Rosette’s feet. She picked it up, stroking the mare’s neck.
‘This is a portal,’ Kreshkali pointed her arm towards the waterfall. ‘A door to other places, and you’re right, it is just like the one under Los Loma. It can take us straight to Corsanon, where the split-apart Entity wanders. With any luck, the lost guardian will follow us through and we can reunite the thing. Are you ready?’
‘Am I ready? Are you kidding? I feel like I’m falling apart.’
‘Get a grip, dear. The sooner the better. Trackers are onto us. That storm was no accident.’
‘It wasn’t?’ Rosette looked at Kreshkali, understanding little of what she had said. Then her eyes found Jarrod. The proximity to him sent more waves of adrenaline coursing through her body, a strange mixture of fear and excitement. She thought she might explode. ‘You’re not human?’ she whispered.
‘My body is, and your bloodline and I are linked ceaselessly through time and space—through the portals and the corridors to the many-worlds.’
‘My bloodline…’ She took a step back. ‘Have you always known this about me?’
‘That’s the surprising thing. I haven’t. Must be your Gaelean half.’ He touched her hand. ‘Come. I’ll explain more on the way.’
They followed Kreshkali, skirting the lagoon until Rosette stopped, pulling Jarrod to a halt with her. ‘What about me?’
He cocked his head to the side. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
She searched his face. ‘You don’t, do you…Never mind.’ She clucked to the mountain horse and moved on. Drayco, do you know where we’re going?
As long as there are no boats and no oceans, I don’t care.
I wish I could say there won’t be, but how else are we going to get off this island?
Portals, I suspect.
Rosette let out her breath. ‘The shipwreck was no accident, you say. What was it?’
‘The storm was natural enough, a blessing really,’ Kreshkali said.
‘A blessing? I doubt the rest of the passengers and crew think so.’
‘There was a witch-tracker on board, Rosette, scanning for your signature. When you released the spell to calm the seas, they had you. The spell backfired to save your life.’
‘You talk like the spell itself was sentient.’
‘Everything is sentient, Rosette. No exceptions.’
She held the mare back, letting Drayco lead. The trail was narrowing, crowded on both sides by dense palm fronds and flowering hibiscus.
‘I brought it on myself? All those people…’
‘What you did saved them,’ Jarrod said as they wound their way to the back of the waterfall. ‘If the trackers were to get us, everything would cascade.’
‘Cascade?’
‘The many-worlds, like a stack of cards.’
‘Seems like there might have been an easier way,’ she said. ‘Like simple detection. I would have spotted the tracker, if I’d been informed, and we could have paid the captain a few extra coins to drop a dinghy over the side and set them afloat. That captain’s dead now, by the way. Remember?’
‘Rosette,’ Kreshkali said, her eyes bright, not hearing her comments.
‘There’s more?’ She felt like she would be sick.
‘Remind me to give you back your sword when we get to the next portal.’
‘You’ve got it?’
‘Of course. And An’ Lawrence says to try to keep track of it this time.’
‘The Sword Master knows?’
‘He does now.’
The portal behind the waterfall shimmered at their approach.
‘How long will it take to get to Corsanon?’ Rosette asked. Purple light reflected off the edge of the entrance as she passed, sending tingles through her fingers.
‘We’re going to Dumarka first.’
‘Dumarka?’
‘I’m not leaving the horses here, and where we’re going, they can’t follow.’
Rosette nodded, strapping on her sword. When she looked up, Jarrod and Kreshkali were leading the horses out into the Dumarkian Woods, slipping their halters off and setting them free. Jarrod lingered a moment, speaking softly to Wren before the mare shook her head and nickered.
‘Now, to Corsanon,’ Kreshkali said, brushing horsehairs off her cloak.
‘That fast?’
‘You’ve got some things to learn about time, don’t you?’
Rosette closed her eyes, opening them to an expansive view of a pastoral valley and gorge she’d never seen before.
‘Passillo?’ a voice howled desperately from the distance. ‘Passillo!!!’
‘I think I’ve been discovered,’ Rosette said. She felt her blood pulse through her body in an orgasmic rush. ‘I’m here, lost one,’ she answered instinctively before the others could speak, linking empathically with the sundered Entity. ‘Passillo is here. Rosette is here. Come to me. This is where you belong.’
Rosette stepped out of the portal into the rocky alcove above the Valley of Corsanon, and the dissipated energy of the Entity flew to her, embracing its other half as she realigned the portal with her presence. Warmth flowed from the walls around them, and a humming sound echoed as if the entire mountain was singing.
Rosette took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her face glowed.
‘That was easier than I thought,’ Kreshkali whispered to Jarrod. ‘Come on, Rosette. This is only the beginning. You too, Jarrod.’
‘Where?’ Rosette asked.
‘Earth.’
‘I can’t,’ Jarrod said, stepping back from the portal. He blanched. ‘The worm.’
‘We’ve got a plan for that, trust me.’
Jarrod paused a moment before following them in.
They emerged in the sewers beneath the crumbling city of Half Moon Bay. The air was thick and difficult to breathe, like smoke from a burning rubbish heap.
‘This is like my dream,’ Rosette whispered before she started coughing. ‘I feel like I’ve been here before.’
‘We call that déjà vu,’ Kreshkali said.
‘What’s the horrible smell?’ Rosette wrinkled her nose.
Drayco sneezed and wiped his face repeatedly with his front paws. Death, Maudi—the world smells of sickness and death.
‘It’s not a pretty place, Rosette, but we can change that.’ Her face was set, firm and direct. She looked at Jarrod. ‘We don’t have long, and we have to keep you hidden.’
Jarrod nodded. ‘No argument there.’
‘Why hidden?’ Rosette asked.
‘Because, in this world, he’s a wanted Entity.’
‘Entity?’
‘A Juxta-quantum Arranged Rad-Ram Operating Determinate, to be accurate,’ Jarrod said. ‘There’s a worm out to get me. I’d say we have thirty-six hours, wouldn’t you, Kali?’
‘Sounds about right.’
Rosette went pale. ‘I don’t know what you said, but I think I’m going to be sick.’
‘When we shut down the solar shield, we can start thinking about widespread hydroponics, ion-based energy sources and reforestation, but we’ve got to resuscitate the oceans first.’ Kreshkali stared at the figures in front of her, speaking her thoughts aloud.
‘That, and balance the O2 so we can establish mass water purification systems,’ Jarrod added.
‘The trick is getting clean water into every home. How do we do that when it’s been the only currency for the last hundred years? People don’t think of it as natural or free.’
Jarrod lifted his face. ‘We have to take the charge off it. Get people thinking, knowing, that there is enough to go around, enough for everyone.’
‘Can you do that?’ An’ Lawrence asked. ‘Change the way people think a
bout it?’
‘It’s up to them, but we can lead the way. Show them how,’ Kreshkali said.
Rosette tipped her cup towards herself, looking at the last few drops in the bottom. ‘I don’t understand half of what you’re talking about.’ She looked at Drayco. If he’d been the least bit hesitant, she’d have snuck out to join Zero in sword practice hours ago, but her familiar was relaxed, calm and curious. She trusted that. She could get this.
‘It’s a lot to take in, I know, but we can’t wait for your cognition. We have to start right now.’ Kreshkali reached out her hand. ‘Come on.’
‘Where are you taking me this time?’
‘Not far. A little trip to the sea.’
I’ll wait here, if you don’t mind, Drayco said without moving, his eyelids opening halfway as he dozed by a rat hole.
‘We won’t be long.’ Kreshkali tossed Rosette a cloak.
They made their way down the metal fire-escape to the abandoned street below. Looking both ways, Rosette followed Kreshkali to the seawall, the roiling swell crashing on the rocks in front of her. She gagged as she inhaled the fetid mist rising from the wave.
‘What now?’ she asked, holding her hand over her nose.
Kreshkali drew a black-handled dagger from its sheath. The blade glinted blue when the lightning flashed.
‘We need a bit of DNA, Rosette, and a bit of the spell.’
‘We do?’ Rosette took a step back.
‘Just a few drops.’
‘How many’s a few?’ she asked, clasping her hands behind her back.
‘Thirteen will do. One for each lunar month.’
‘Lucky thirteen?’
‘Let’s hope so.’
Rosette raised her index finger. Kreshkali grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the wall when the next wave crashed. ‘Stay close. I don’t have to remind you what would happen if you fell in.’
‘Stripped to the bone, I think, is the phrase you used.’
‘Just keep it in mind.’
‘I am.’
They dashed forward as the sea pulled back. Kreshkali pricked her own finger and then her daughter’s, and they counted together as the drops fell silently into the sea.
‘This is crazy. How can such a small amount have any effect at all?’ Rosette asked as they ran back to the wall before the next wave broke.