Hoffman gave a sorrowful shake of his head, and continued, “I should never have left you all by yourselves to guide humanity in the new world.”
My mouth fell open. That was exactly what I’d said to him, inside his mind when he’d asked me to prove I wasn’t him by saying something he’d never say to himself. Oh, you bastard. You remembered all along.
“But you did leave,” Terence pointed out coldly. “Don’t be fooled by this, any of you – he always leaves! What makes any of you believe he’ll be any different this time?”
None of the aingls were paying attention to Terence any longer. They were all staring at Hoffman, transfixed by this new version of their father. Hoffman stood with his shoulders bowed, staring back at them out of pain-filled eyes. He looked humble. Vulnerable. Sad.
“I haven’t done right by any of you,” he said quietly. “I’d like the chance to make up for it, if you’ll give it to me.”
“Of course we’ll give you a chance!” Katya said. “We love you, father!” She flew to his side, and every aingl but Terence, Ember and Leo followed.
Leo folded his arms, watching as the aingls embraced Hoffman one by one, and murmured, “Even for father, this is quite the performance.”
Ember whispered back, “It could be real. Some of it could be real!”
“Believe what you wish, little sister. But anyone who puts their faith in our father is doomed to disappointment.”
“I don’t believe that. I can’t.”
I wished I could tell Em that Leo was wrong and she was right. I wasn’t sure. Hoffman was … complicated.
There was a strange hissing, whistling noise coming from somewhere. Someone was breathing heavily and fast, sucking in air past their teeth. Terence. He lurched towards his brothers and sisters and burst out, “I’m the one that kept everyone safe! It was me! All these years, it’s been me. Not him. Never him!” He rounded on me, his thin chest heaving. “And you … you should be dead. You should be dead with the others!”
Others?
“What others, Terence?” Hoffman demanded sharply.
“The other ones who could hurt us! The ones I’ve saved you from. There’s been a few, over the years – a Liquefier boy about a decade back, who could make anything melt – I protected you all!”
He’s killed them. Dead, with the others. I was chilled in a way that had nothing to do with the wind off the rocks. The other aingls were gaping at Terence; they hadn’t known this. Ember hadn’t known this. I cast an anxious glance at her to find that she was staring at Terence, and she looked suddenly … old.
She spoke in a harsh, accusing tone to her brother. “You said Liquifier boy, Terence. A child? Were they all children?”
He shrugged irritably. “Not quite children, but they were young, of course. That is when you have to act.” He took a pleading step in her direction. “You taught me that, sister. You said when we created detention that we had to target the young. They wouldn’t resist, wouldn’t be able to use their abilities as well as–” He broke off. “Why are you crying?”
Tears were winding down Ember’s face in silent streams. I’d never seen anyone cry without making a sound before. I reached out to put my arm around her. She threw me off, moving away from me and towards Terence. She stopped right in front of him, staring up at him out of a face that seemed to have aged ever further within the last few seconds. Ember had become as old and weathered and layered as the stone that surrounded us, and when she spoke, her voice was as unyeilding. “Terence, you are my brother and I loved you once. But something went wrong with you, and you are bad, and you are never going to stop. Unless someone stops you.”
Ember pulled the paralyser weapon from her pocket, and fired.
Terence went down, slumping limply to the ground.
In the same instant, Ember did too, her eyes rolling back in her head as her body twitched and jerked.
The weapon burst into flame. I tore over and kicked it out of her hand. Then I dropped to her side, hovering uselessly. Leo arrived on her other side and the two of us exchanged frantic glances. I didn’t want to touch her for fear of causing her more pain, and I didn’t understand what was happening. The aingls couldn’t kill but Em had only paralysed Terence, she shouldn’t be reacting like this! Maybe something had gone wrong with the weapon and it had hurt her as well?
She went limp. “Em?” I shook her. “Em?”
Then Hoffman was there, bending over Em, pulling back her eyelids to stare into her eyes. He let her go and went over to Terence, doing the same thing to him. When he straightened, his face was grey.
“She’s killed him,” he said. “And probably herself.”
That wasn’t right. It couldn’t be right, because Ember couldn’t die. Hoffman had misunderstood. “No, she’s – that weapon, it only knocks someone out temporarily. Terence isn’t …”
My voice trailed off. Hoffman was shaking his head, gazing grimly at the melted goo that was all that remained of the weapon. “I don’t know what she told you it did,” he said. “But I can assure you, Terence is gone.”
She’d killed someone. Only Ember could do that as long as she thought the death was justifiable. “Then – she just needs time! To resolve the death.”
There was a big hand on my arm. Clasping it gently. Leo. “Ashala? She isn’t moving. That means she isn’t fighting any more. If she’d resolved it, she would’ve come out of it by now.”
I glared at him. “You’re wrong! She just needs more time.”
And Katya said, in a small voice, “Daddy?”
The aingls were huddled together. They were staring at their father out of wide, shocked eyes and very definitely not looking at Terence or Ember. In fact they’d backed up, right to the edge of where the rocks rose upwards and as far away as they could get from where Terence and Ember lay. Death. The aingls’ oldest fear.
“You must go home, my children,” Hoffman said. “Go to Spinifex City, to my house–” He glanced at Leo. “I presume it is still there?” Leo nodded, and Hoffman continued, “I will deal with the … with the bodies. Then I will come to you in Spinifex City, and we will be a family again.”
Leo’s hand tightened on my arm. “I’ll go with them and make sure they do go to the city. You look after Ember. Don’t leave her with father.”
“I won’t. The Tribe won’t.”
Leo bent to press a kiss to Ember’s cheek, just as he had with the other Ember, the dead Ember – no. This Ember wasn’t dead. She wasn’t. Then he rose, striding towards Maleki, Katya, Nova and Delta. They were trying to climb onto the flyers but they seemed to be having difficulty, like they’d forgotten how to do the simplest things. Leo began to help them one at a time, speaking in a low, reassuring voice, “Come on now, put your foot there, that’s it. We have to go now. We’ll be together, all of us together, and Father will come.”
I wasn’t sure he believed that. I wasn’t sure I did. But the aingls seemed to, or were in too much shock to argue. I turned my attention back to Em, holding on tightly to her hand so she’d know I was there. For a second I thought she was moving and my heart leaped in hope. Then I realised it was me; I was trembling so badly I was shaking her.
Something soft brushed against my arm. Starbeauty. She didn’t say a thing, simply pressed against me and purred, a deep rumble that vibrated out of her body and into mine. The rumble of the purr seemed to absorb my shaking and carry it away, out of me and into the ground below. Then she stalked off, padding over to Leo who scooped her up into his arms.
The aingls began to fly. One after another they hovered upwards over the rocks, heading away from the Firstwood and out of the Steeps. Leo stepped onto the last flyer and joined them. The moment they were out of sight, Hoffman grabbed hold of Terence’s shoulders and began to drag him across the ground.
“We’ll conceal him in the rocks,” he said. “I can retrieve him later. Too difficult to carry the both of them now, I think, and it isn’t as if he’s going anywhere.”
I didn’t answer him. There was nothing to say. Or there was, but not to him. I have to call Pepper. I had to tell Connor and Jules to come. But maybe Ember would wake up. Maybe she’d wake up in the next second. Then I could tell them that she was okay. I could tell Jules that she was okay.
Then there was an anguished sound from behind me, and I knew. Jules was already here. I twisted to see him tearing down the rocks with Connor behind him. Of course they’re here. They would have started heading in this direction the moment Connor sensed my distress.
Jules crashed to the ground, cradling Ember’s head in his hands. “Wh– how?”
“The weapon,” I said. “It killed. She killed Terence.”
“She killed? Then – she just needs time! To resolve the death.” He pushed her hair gently back from her still face. “It’s all right, Red. You did it to save Ashala. You did it to save a life, and I’m right here. You just need time.”
“That’s what I said,” I told him, pleased to finally be talking to someone who understood. “She just needs time, and, and not to be alone. She can’t be alone.”
I glanced up at Connor, hoping he understood too. Only he was looking at Hoffman, who was shaking his head. Hoffman was a very stupid man. Ember was going to be fine.
Connor walked across to us, crouching down to clasp hold of my shoulder and reaching over Ember to grip Jules’s arm. When he spoke, his voice was as gentle as the fall of a leaf to the forest floor. “Let’s get her back to the Firstwood.”
THE BATTLE
ASHALA
It had been almost half an hour since Ember di– no, I wouldn’t say it. I wouldn’t even think it. Fell asleep. Ember was just asleep, that was all, and she’d wake up eventually. I knew she’d wake up. She had to wake up.
We were soaring along the road, back towards the centre. Hoffman was on a flyer – Leo’s, because Leo had taken Terence’s and left his own at the top of the rise. Connor was carrying Jules and me through the air, and Jules was holding Ember in his arms. Jules hadn’t stopped speaking to her since we’d left the meeting place, and his voice was growing hoarse, but he kept on talking. Mostly he was saying the same thing, over and over, Wake up, Red. You have to wake up. Behind us were the crows, dipping through the sky and calling, caw, caw, caw … Ember hadn’t stirred, not for Jules and not for the crows either. Oh, Em. He wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth you.
I should have known what she was going to do. All the clues had been there. I just hadn’t understood them. The way she’d been talking about Hoffman, for a start. She’d been telling me to let him stay so I’d have someone who could do the same things she could after she was gone. Her smile, and how she’d told me she wasn’t sad, letting me know she was happy with her choice. And the crows, of course. They’ve come to be with me. They’ve come to be with me when I … I stopped my thoughts. I wasn’t ever going to complete the sentence that Em herself had never said, at least not out loud. I suddenly, desperately wanted Georgie here to help me make sense of this. To look into her futures and See that Ember was going to wake up. To tell me this wasn’t the real world.
Hoffman stopped his flyer, waving to the rest of us. “Everybody on the ground please. Now.”
We drifted to the earth. Jules immediately carried Em over to the rocks and sat down, still talking to her and ignoring the rest of us. Connor and I turned towards Hoffman.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Perhaps nothing,” he answered. “Quiet for a second, please.” He tipped his head to one side, tapping at his temple, and frowned. “There’s something … I need more power.”
He stepped off the flyer, and kneeled to yank a panel off the front, revealing a mess of wires inside. Then he pulled one of the wires free and shoved it into the flesh of his arm. I gasped as blood spurted out.
“What are you doing?” I started towards him but he waved me back.
“Stay where you are. This is nothing.”
He closed his eyes, sitting there with blood dripping off his arm and spattering down against the white rock. He must be using the flyer as an energy source. I’d had no idea he could do that, and it must be hurting him – or perhaps it wasn’t. Hoffman had made his children so that they’d experience pain exactly as an organic being would, but I wasn’t sure if he’d done the same with the body he’d built for himself. After a second, he opened his eyes and said, “There’s a signal. I think it’s coming from Terence.”
“He’s alive?” I exclaimed.
Jules looked up from Ember, his face alight with hope. “If Ember didn’t kill him, she’ll–”
Hoffman shook his head. “No. He is most definitely not alive. This signal is some kind of deadman’s switch.” He noticed my confusion, and added impatiently, “A device that automatically activates if someone dies. His body is sending a signal out to whoever has the appropriate apparatus to receive it. Someone knows he’s gone.”
Connor and I exchanged glances. “Neville,” he said grimly. “Or the minions. If they know he’s dead …”
I nodded agreement and called out in my mind, Pepper! Any trouble where you are?
Nope. Everything’s quiet.
We think the minions might be on their way. Warn everyone.
I strode over to Jules, kneeled down beside him, and said, “I need you to stay here, Jules. With Em.”
He gazed at me out of sunken, hollow eyes. “I can help you.”
“You can’t do that and take care of Ember, not in a fight. And if we’ve got any chance of getting her back, she can’t be left alone.” Because being alone was the thing that sent Em spiralling into bleakness, and knowing she wasn’t was what tied her to the world. I brushed Em’s curls back from her face: “You understand that, Jules. Because you understand her.”
From behind me, Hoffman said, “Your place is here now, lad. Don’t worry about your friends. I’ll be with them.”
I wasn’t sure I would have found that particularly reassuring but it seemed to make Jules feel better. He shifted, holding Em awkwardly with one arm as he reached to pull a streaker from his pocket. He and Connor were both carrying the ones we’d brought home with us from Detention Centre 1.
“Here. You might need this.”
I took it and embraced him and Em both. Then I rose, turning to find Hoffman was jamming the panel back on to his flyer. He climbed on it, gazing at me expectantly, and I looked at Connor. “Let’s go.”
“Brace yourself,” he warned. “Because this is going to be fast.”
We shot upwards and hurtled through the skies, so fast the skin was pushed back from my cheekbones and I had to shut my eyes against the sting of the wind. Then Pepper’s voice sounded in my head. Red flag, Ash!
The barricade had been breached. Whoever was coming was still about two hours away. Pepper, we’re flying. Tell Connor. I knew there was no point in me trying to communicate with him; the wind would steal my words.
Silence, then: Told him, Ash. He says, they must have been on the road before. Which totally doesn’t make sense, but he said you’d understand.
I did. There hadn’t been enough time since Terence had died for any kind of army to get here from the city, not if they’d left after he’d been killed. They had to have been on the road before then. Which meant Terence had been going to attack regardless of the outcome of the Conclave – or, no, I supposed it was possible he’d had some way to turn them back if the Conclave had gone his way. But the only thing that would have satisfied him would have been my death. He was always coming for us. I could see, in my mind’s eyes, the convoy of trucks rolling towards the centre and the grasslands, each one filled with enforcers … and probably minions … I have to get there before–
Pepper’s voice screamed into my mind. Ash, Ash, Ash, Ash! The grasslands are under attack!
My entire body went ice cold. How did they get there so fast?
It’s not the enforcers; it’s minions. The Blinker … and he’s got a Firestarter with him – I have to go
!
The silence in my head was suddenly deafening. There was a Firestarter on the grasslands and I wasn’t there and nor was Connor. Anything could be happening. Anyone could be dying. I tried to suck in air but it was too thick and tasted strange. Smoke. I was inhaling smoke. Something was on fire. The centre, or the grasslands, or both, and I wasn’t there!
It seemed like forever before we plunged downwards to the earth. I stumbled as my feet hit the ground, and righted myself. I was standing at the front of the centre, near to the main gates. Connor and Hoffman were with me, and ahead was the long flat stretch of gravel between the centre and the grasslands.
Beyond that was fire and chaos.
The grasslands were a nightmare of smoke and heat. Saurs were screeching and rolling, trying to put the inferno out, and I could smell flesh burning. Only it couldn’t be the lizards, because their armoured scales protected them from fire. It was people who burned. There were still forms lying to our right, but they must still be alive because they were being swarmed around by Wentworth and Shona and other red-robed Menders. As I watched, Bran came tearing from the grasslands, running straight to Wentworth with a small burned body clutched to his chest. Small enough to be Pepper – no, it wasn’t her. She was standing on the gravel at the edge of the grass with her head tipped back to the sky above. She’s trying to make it rain. Pepper was a powerful Skychanger, but it could take a while for her ability to have an effect and anyway, rain alone wasn’t going to fix this.
I screamed out in my head, Nicky, help, help, help! I need to Sleepwalk! There was no response. Then Connor made a choked, hurt sound, as if someone had struck him in the chest. And I knew why because I smelt it too. There was a new scent mixed into the smoke. Eucalyptus.
The Firstwood was burning.
I surged forwards only to be yanked back by a powerful hand on my shoulder. Hoffman. He’d abandoned his flyer and was standing right behind me, and he was still holding on. “Let me go!”
The Foretelling of Georgie Spider Page 22