The Foretelling of Georgie Spider

by Ambelin Kwaymullina

“I don’t believe you.” He gave me a slow, considering stare. “I’ll bargain with you. We’ll have prisoners, by the end of today. I’ll let you save one of them. One innocent life, rescued because of you. As long as you tell me where he is now.”

  He really wanted Terence, and I couldn’t understand why. For the minions? But they might not even know he was dead. “I told you, he’s gone.”

  “He can’t be completely gone!” Neville snapped. “He is immortal!”

  And I suddenly got it. I heard it in his voice, in the longing when he spoke the word “immortal”. Jules had said Terence didn’t deal well with anyone who wasn’t under his complete control. I’d be willing to bet this was how he’d controlled Neville, with the promise of living forever. Except it had been a lie.

  Only Ember, Delta and Hoffman understood how to build bodies and transfer a consciousness into them. But Neville clearly didn’t know that. He probably didn’t even know there were other aingls, or he wouldn’t be so focused on finding Terence. And I never wanted him to find out.

  “He’s gone,” I repeated, and remembering what Terence had feared, I added, “I used my ability to make a reality where he doesn’t exist.”

  Neville eyes narrowed. He wasn’t sure if I was telling the truth. I lifted my head and met his gaze, doing my best to give nothing away. Finally, Neville said, “Perhaps you did. Or perhaps you didn’t.” Gleeful anticipation flashed across his face. “I wonder how many people I’m going to have to hurt in front of you before I find out?”

  I bared my teeth at him. “You can hurt as many people as you like. I can only tell you the truth.” And was pleased to see a flicker of uncertainty in his expression.

  He opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by movement at the tent opening. The Blinker poked his head through. “We’re ready to go, sir.”

  Neville nodded. “Come inside.”

  The Blinker came into the tent and five other people followed him. One I recognised – the Electrifier. The others I didn’t, but they were all young. Minions. Two – the Electrifier and one other – were in enforcer-black.

  The other three were dressed in the khaki colour of the Tribe.

  “You and your group of friends left some clothes behind in Gull City,” Neville said. “We thought we’d use them.”

  Well, that wasn’t very smart. Did he truly believe the Tribe wouldn’t recognise an impostor? Only … Neville was smart. Which meant I was missing something.

  Neville strolled over to the minions. “Why don’t I explain our plan to you, Ashala?” He gestured to the Electrifier and the other one who wasn’t wearing Tribe clothes, a short, dark-haired girl. “Aaron is going to take these two to your grasslands, and your Firstwood. I fear your Tribe is not going to have a good day.”

  Two minions. The Electrifier was incredibly powerful, and the other one could be the Firestarter. Connor wouldn’t be able to put out those fires again … My heart was throwing itself against my ribs like they were a cage it was trying to escape. I tried to send my feelings out to Connor. Danger! Danger coming! But he was a long way away, and I had no idea if he’d picked up on my emotions or if he’d be able to interpret what I was warning him about if he did.

  Neville moved on, gesturing to the three in Tribe clothes. “These three, however, are going to the centre. How long do you think it will take people to realise they are impostors?”

  Long enough. Even a few seconds of hesitation on the part of the enforcers or ex-detainees at the centre would be enough for the minions to inflict enormous damage. And they’d hesitate. They wouldn’t attack until they were sure the minions weren’t members of the Tribe.

  “Terence is dead, you know,” I told the minions. “I killed him myself. You’re doing this for nothing.”

  The only response I got was looks of contemptuous disbelief. They thought I was lying, and I had no way to convince them otherwise. Neville adopted the same expression, playing with us all, and I glared my hatred at him. Then he smiled his false, pleasant smile, and said, “I wonder if you’ve discovered that abilities can be more powerful when combined?”

  I tried to keep my face blank but I obviously didn’t succeed because his smile widened. “People with the same ability can use it in conjunction with others to great effect. Like three Boomers together, for example.”

  One minion Boomer had brought down half the station. Three Boomers, with abilities that were more powerful when combined … I swallowed. “It won’t work. You’ll be caught.”

  “I don’t think we will, especially when your Tribe is going to be distracted dealing with other things.” The Electrifier smiled a cold smile. My stomach roiled at the thought of what waves of electricity would do to the Tribe, the trees, the animals … And the other one has to be the Firestarter. Everything was going to burn. Again.

  Neville waved at the Boomers, and continued, “I think you’ll find that they’ll do exactly what they’re supposed to. Detention Centre 3 will be destroyed with Prime Willis and all her government inside.”

  The centre was huge – they couldn’t possibly cause an explosion that big! But I wasn’t sure of that. Especially when it suddenly made sense why he’d knocked down the wall around the gates, creating a giant pile of debris that would stop him from getting into the centre. If what he was telling me was true, he didn’t need a way in. But he’d stopped everyone else from getting out.

  And any witnesses who survived the attack would have seen three people in Tribe clothes carry it out.

  Neville watched me process the implications and said, “It’s a good plan, don’t you think?”

  Yes. I wasn’t going to say it. Instead I leaned back, pretending an unconcern I didn’t feel. “It’s okay, I guess. Only you’re not even sure it’s going to work, or you wouldn’t be sending an army as well.”

  “I’m afraid you still don’t understand.” He shook his head in mock sympathy. “I’m not sending an army. Those trucks making their way to the centre are empty, apart from the drivers. My enforcers are still in Gull City.”

  That couldn’t be true. It couldn’t possibly be true.

  Except it could.

  If Neville thought he could blow up the centre, then the trucks could be … a ruse. A distraction. And while everyone was preparing for them to arrive, the real danger was sneaking in with the Blinker. Wearing Tribe clothes.

  We’ll beat them. We will. Only I didn’t know how many of the Saur Tribe or my Tribe had been hurt in the fire. Ember was … sleeping. Hoffman was buried under a wall. Wentworth was dead. Connor couldn’t use his ability. And I was captured. I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter, that we’d beat them anyway.

  But I couldn’t seem to stop two voices from echoing in my memory. First Wentworth’s: You two really are extraordinary.

  Then Hoffman: No one can be extraordinary enough to account for every variable.

  THE BEAN

  GEORGIE

  The Firstwood was burning.

  The animals were fleeing and so was the Tribe. Above us were crows and hawks and mudlarks and yellowcrests, around our feet were lizards and pebble mice and hoppers, and all of them were crying out their fear. Helper was clinging to my hair, and we were running for the big rock ledge above the Overhang, because rocks didn’t burn and there was water there too.

  We tore through the forest with the Tribe dogs sprinting alongside, herding the little ones when they wandered out of line. Then Daniel pointed behind me and shouted, “Georgie! Look!”

  I looked. The fires were out. The trees and the ground were charred and smoking but nothing burned any more. I kept looking in case the fires came back. But they didn’t.

  The Tribe yelled and laughed and hugged each other. Jaz’s voice sounded inside my head. Georgie? Are the fires gone there too?

  Yes! What happened?

  Don’t know. The fires just … went out. I haven’t seen the Blinker and the Firestarter in a while, either – pretty sure they’ll be back, though. Anyone hu
rt there?

  No, we’re okay. Your Tribe?

  We’re good. I’m gonna try to find out what happened to the fire!

  There was silence in my head and I said to Daniel, “Jaz said the fires on the grasslands are gone too.”

  “Good. Did they get the Firestarter?”

  I shook my head.

  “We should still go to the ledge then. In case the fires start up again.”

  We hurried through the forest and up the rise of the ground to the big ledge and the deep pools that dotted the orange rock. Daniel began to organise the Tribe into groups, pairing up different abilities and getting them to keep a watch on each other and on all the forest that we could see from here. The fires still didn’t come back. Jaz’s voice did.

  Georgie, the Blinker took Ash! No one knows where she is – Connor’s going crazy!

  I’d never heard Jaz sound frightened before, not even a little bit. He sounded a lot frightened now. I was frightened too. We have to find her!

  I know! I’m getting the saurs to check the grasslands – watch out for the Blinker there!

  “Georgie!”

  Daniel was standing in front of me and holding my shoulders. “What is it? You’re shivering!”

  “The Blinker has A-a-a-ssss-hhh …” I couldn’t speak any more because my teeth were chattering too much to make words. Daniel wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly until the chattering stopped. I still wasn’t warm all the way and I knew I might never be again. The blizzard was here and it wanted to eat the world.

  Someone tugged at my hand. I looked down, but there was nobody there. Then I realised it wasn’t a person who wanted my attention. “The bean!”

  I stepped back from Daniel, reaching into the pocket of my pants and taking out the taffa bean that Starbeauty had given me. It was the time of the bean, and if it was the time of the bean when Ash was missing, maybe the bean could help her.

  I put it in my mouth.

  The world grew bigger and bigger and then it broke. Now it was many worlds, a thousand possibilities that were forever changing and being changed by each other. I could See more than I ever had before, and I knew that I would be able to until the bean dissolved in my mouth.

  I Saw a future.

  There was a broken barricade, and a camp, and Ash! She was sitting on a chair in a room with Neville Rose. He was hurting her.

  He killed her.

  But that was a future and not the now.

  I called out to Jaz, I know where she is!

  How – actually, never mind how, where?

  At the barricade, in a camp, with Neville Rose.

  Got it!

  I tried to See Ash some more, wanting to know if I had made a difference, but the bean took me away from her futures and to another what-would-be.

  The Blinker appeared with the Firestarter near the edge of the forest. The Firestarter raised her hands, and the grasslands burned, and the Firstwood burned.

  Jaz? The Firestarter’s going to be at the edge of the Firstwood where the Traveller leaves the trees. She’s going to be there very soon.

  Hatches-with-Stars and Tramples-my-Enemies and me are on our way!

  Possibilities shifted. I had spoken a warning and changed what-was-to-be, and a different future came to pass.

  The Blinker appeared with the Firestarter near the edge of the forest. The Blinker disappeared. The Firestarter raised her hands and a fireball hurtled towards the forest. Then it swerved back over the Firestarter’s head and into the hands of someone who was approaching from behind her.

  The Firestarter swung around.

  Jaz was perched on the back of Hatches-with-Stars, tossing the fireball from one hand to another.

  “Think you’re a pretty good Firestarter, huh?” Jaz bared his teeth. “Think again.”

  The Firestarter snarled and sent flames shooting towards Jaz. But Hatches let out a defiant trill and Jaz threw up his hands, drawing the flames into his body. The flames burned brighter and hotter, and Jaz began to tremble. Then a huge black shape flashed across the grasslands. Tramples-my-Enemies extended his neck, bit down on the Firestarter’s middle and hurled her through the air into the Traveller.

  There was a sudden, blazing inferno in the water. The Firestarter was dead.

  I saw a new image.

  I was looking at some of the Tribe only they weren’t the Tribe. They were wearing Tribe clothes but they didn’t have Tribe faces. Three of them came out of the forests near the centre, stepping out from the trees and onto the gravel between the centre and the grasslands. They mingled with the Menders and enforcers and ex-detainees, moving towards the rubble at the front that had been the main gates. When they reached it, they joined hands.

  Everything exploded. Everybody died.

  I called out, Boomers are going to blow up the centre. Three of them – dressed like the Tribe – they'll come out of the forest and walk up to the main gates. You’ve got to warn everyone! Tell them they can’t let them hold hands, it does something to their ability. Makes it bigger.

  I’ll get Pepper to tell ’em. And however you’re doing this, Georgie – keep it up!

  A different future unfolded, and became what was.

  I was looking at some of the Tribe only they weren’t the Tribe. Three of them came out of the forests near the centre, stepping out from the trees and onto the gravel between the centre and the grasslands.

  Enforcers raised their streakers and one of the enforcers spoke, demanding their surrender.

  The minions reached for each other’s hands.

  The enforcers fired.

  The Boomers were dead, and the centre did not explode.

  I had made new futures. But I hadn’t seen whether I had helped Ash, and the bean was almost gone. There was only a tiny piece left under my tongue and it was dissolving into nothing. I could hardly look ahead at all; what I was seeing was moving closer and closer to the now. The last piece of bean was almost gone when I glimpsed one final future.

  The Blinker blinked. He had the Electrifier with him and they Blinked in and out of the trees, searching for a target.

  They found the Tribe gathered together on top of the rock ledge with no shelter around us. The Blinker left the Electrifier on the rock. Electricity sparked, hissing out in vicious waves, and there were screams from the Tribe as some of them died.

  Except it wasn’t a future. It was a now.

  I had no time to warn the Tribe. I had no time to do anything other than turn and hurl my body towards where the Electrifier hadn’t been a second ago but was now. Her eyes widened and she sent a stream of electricity shooting at me. In the same moment Helper leaped from my hair, his grey body soaring through the air onto her neck. He bit, and the Electrifier collapsed.

  The electricity was still in the air, arcing towards me, and I knew I hadn’t Seen this in time. Only it never struck me.

  It never struck me because someone moving very fast materialised in front of me and it struck him instead.

  Daniel collapsed onto the rock, twitching and shaking. I fell down beside him. Jaz! We need a Mender! Where’s Stella?

  Mending Jasmine – I’ll send her. Where are you?

  On the rock ledge above the Overhang.

  She’s about half an hour away.

  Daniel was still now and he seemed to be hardly breathing at all.

  “Stella’s coming,” I said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  He stared up at me out of green eyes that were hazy with pain. “Georgie … it’s all right, you know. Starbeauty told me I might die.”

  “She never told me!”

  “Asked her not to. She said … you couldn’t See it … too close. She said … I could have been the sixth person whose choices mattered.”

  I didn’t see how he could have been the sixth. Hoffman was the sixth. But I wasn’t going to argue with him about who was sixth and who was not.

  Daniel coughed a horrible cough that made his whole body shudder.

&
nbsp; Jaz, Stella has to come really fast!

  She is. Gnaws-the-Bones is bringing her and she’s coming as fast as she can, I promise.

  Daniel’s hair was falling over his face. I smoothed it back. “Stella will be here soon.”

  “No, Georgie … listen. I told Starbeauty … I wouldn’t be the sixth. She let me choose because … because I am of cat. She said you would be in danger too, and … if I had been the sixth that would have meant being near Ash. Not you.”

  He tried to reach up to me but his arm was too weak. I took his hand in mine and Daniel said, “I chose you, Georgie.” His voice was getting softer and softer, as if he was walking into the distance.

  “You have to stay with me,” I said. “You have to stay.”

  “So sorry. I don’t think I can. Love you. Always … always with you …”

  I kissed his hand. “I love you always and forever and in all the futures I can See and the ones I can’t.”

  Daniel smiled. Daniel smiled at me a lot. Then his face went still and his eyes didn’t see me any more.

  Georgie? Stella’s about twenty–

  It doesn’t matter. Daniel’s dead.

  Oh. Georgie. I’m sorry, Georgie.

  It was the Electrifier. She’s dead too.

  Is anyone with you?

  Daniel’s with me.

  Um … anyone else?

  I don’t know. I heard a chittering and Helper scurried over, crawling up my arm and into my hair. He kept on chittering. Look, look …

  I looked around. The ledge was filled with people.

  The Tribe is here.

  That’s good, Georgie. I think you should let them take care of you now.

  Jaz?

  Yeah?

  Daniel’s dead.

  I know. Georgie, I know. But Daniel would want you to let the Tribe look after you, so that’s what you should do, okay?

  Okay.

  The Tribe did take care of me. They stroked my hair and spoke softly and when I began to cry they all gathered around and held me tight.

  I Saw no more futures.

  I saw nothing.

  THE SIXTH

  ASHALA

  The Blinker had taken all the minions now, and I couldn’t bear to think of what they were doing to the centre, and the grasslands, and the Firstwood, and the Tribe. I couldn’t bear to think of Wentworth, or Ember either, even though Em was only sleeping.