Down to the Bone: Quantum Gravity Book Five

by Justina Robson

  She could barely move. With effort she pulled her hands in front of her. She saw human skin, and her own fingers and thumbs. She pushed up to sit, a slow and painful business that made her head spin. She heard whimpering but it was the elves that Xaviendra had enslaved, hiding in the stacks.

  ‘You sit still now,’ said an unfamiliar, business kind of voice and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She saw a dwarf standing beside her looking concerned, his chubby hand patting her with fatherly ease. ‘You’ve had a big scare.’

  She looked around for the others. Everything was black. Then she realised everything was coated in ash and soot. ‘Who the hell are you?’

  But the dwarf had gone off and was busy pulling at a sack. She saw that it was Zal. Beside him a beastman, all fangs and claws, was on his hands and knees, panting in a fixated, self-controlled manner. Malachi.

  ‘Don’t . . .’ she started to say but then she realised that under the dwarf’s persuasion Zal was moving.

  ‘Fire, I said it didn’t I? I said it. Fire is the path I said,’ the dwarf was muttering as he hauled Zal into a sitting position and began to pat his hands. ‘One good turn deserves another, don’t it, boy? Come on now. Come back to Mr V.’

  The wind howled and Lila winced. She looked for Teazle, or a sword. Nothing.

  Under the dwarf’s ministrations Zal began to babble, ‘Does it stand for Value?’ she heard him say, his cracked lips smiling. ‘Is it Vain-glory? Is it Visible?’

  ‘No no no, ’t’ain’t none of those,’ the dwarf said briskly.

  Zal opened one eye, looked for Lila, saw her and let it close again, lying flat. ‘Vermiform.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Vanquish.’

  ‘No. I wish it were though, lad. There. You’ll be right now.’ The dwarf moved back and dusted off his hands. He glanced at Lila and for a moment his eyes might have been slitted and glowing gold, his skin a scaled green. Just for a moment.

  ‘And it’s definitely not Unloyal,’ Zal rasped.

  ‘That was just a cover.’

  ‘Nice.’

  ‘Rather have me eyes.’ The dwarf stood back and surveyed them. ‘You’ll do. I got to go.’

  ‘Wait,’ Lila held up her hand. ‘Are you . . . Mr V, the dragon?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ the dwarf said. He lifted an imaginary hat. ‘Good day.’

  She saw him walk out of the doors. Her head hurt. ‘Zal?’

  ‘Still here,’ he said and groaned.

  She dragged herself across the floor to him and lay down beside him. He felt warm, and solid and alive. Mal lay down with them and they all slept for a short time. This time when Lila woke she saw light, very bright. ‘Teazle?’

  But then she heard a dog bark and the figure that came towards her from the light wasn’t the demon but a tall elf with blond hair. His clothing was white and his face was younger than she’d ever seen it. ‘Ilya,’ she said, realizing what this meant.

  He crouched down beside her and she reached up to him and saw her arm, suddenly translucent, fading as she watched it rise towards him. To her surprise he pushed it back down and held his hand out towards her. His eyes were clear as crystal; she found them compelling to look at, so pure . . .

  ‘Lila,’ his voice brought her back to the moment. She looked at his opened palm. A single snowflake lay there and then there was a smaller, darker and more impatient figure bending next to him.

  ‘For heaven’s sake!’ Sassy said. She grinned at Lila and gave her a thumbs up. ‘Look, you found my mirror!’ She held up a pink plastic compact with a white daisy printed on the back of it, which Lila had picked up in the empty land beyond Last Water just before they were flung here. ‘How did you do that? Lost for ages it was. Anyway, what he means to say is that you can go back if you like.’

  Lila peered slowly at Sassy. Yes it was the same girl.

  Sassy flipped the mirror shut and slid it into her jeans pocket as Lila watched. Lila looked at the snowflake in Ilya’s hand. It hadn’t melted. In the crystal surface she saw her young self, her father, her mother, Max, the dogs, Zal, but they were just fragments. At the heart of the flake something shone with a steady, cool light. ‘Am I . . . dead?’

  ‘Surely,’ Sassy said. ‘I mean, if you want to be. But who’d want that?’ She reached down and picked something off Lila’s destroyed clothing with interest. It was a small card from a tarot deck of the elves, but Lila recognised it – Queen of Cups. ‘Like, aces win over queens any day, right?’

  In the girl’s fingers the card moved, the colours changed, the picture redrew itself and became a single shining cup, overflowing. ‘Ace of Cups. Look at that!’

  ‘Is this . . .’ Lila began, realising her mouth wasn’t moving and that confused her. ‘Are you . . . ?’

  ‘A one-time offer,’ Sassy said. ‘Yes. But no strings attached, ring my heart and hope to lie.’ She made a circling move with her hand over her chest. She grinned at Lila, an unstoppable, toothy curve. ‘I won big today. Big.’

  Lila could see around them all, she realised. She saw herself from above – a crumpled, broken, blackened shape. Zal beside her, not much better but breathing, only sleeping. Beside them Malachi also lay. He was prostrated flat on his belly in front of Sassy like the worshipper of an ancient god. Ilya knelt at their heads and the single snowflake from the soulfall lay in his hand.

  ‘Come on,’ Sassy said, getting to her feet. ‘No more games. I promise. Only on your terms anyway. Probably. What do you say?’

  Lila looked away from the challenging gaze of the faery queen into Ilya’s clear eyes. She thought of the flicker of a possible future that she’d seen a moment before – a phase gift courtesy of the quantum flux.

  Under her cheek she felt Zal’s heart beating.

  Lila listened for a few moments to its steady rhythm that paced out the measures and the memories and bound them briefly to the world.

  What else could she say?

  ‘Yes.’

  EPILOGUE

  ‘Of course strange things can happen to people who’ve crossed over,’ Sassy’s voice was saying. ‘They don’t always see straight.’

  Malachi growled something.

  Lila frowned and crossed her booted feet on the table, looking at the cards in her hand. ‘Stop trying to cheat, Sass, I count cards you know, and you ain’t got no fours.’

  Sassy stuck her tongue out. ‘Where’s that angel got to?’

  ‘Here,’ said Teazle’s voice from the kitchen. He emerged, looking very much like his old self, Zal trailing him carrying both their drinks and saying, ‘Yes I did go back for her, what, you think I was gonna forget and leave her on that island for the rest of her life?’

  ‘The dragon should have gone.’

  ‘Yeah, he should have but librarians weren’t his thing, apparently.’

  ‘It’s your go,’ Lila told Teazle.

  They sat down with the rest of the group. Teazle pulled his hand of cards out of his sleeve and looked at the betting. ‘I’m out.’

  ‘Me too.’ Max threw her hand down carelessly and picked up her beer before getting up to go outside onto the decking. It was early evening and the temperature was blissfully cool. Cicadas burred. Below them and across the lake the glittering lights of Bay City were bright and the moon was full and low over the sea.

  In the middle of the table, amid scattered plastic chips and inside a pool of spilled whiskey, a grass doll held court, its own tiny set of cards in hand. ‘Myeh,’ it said. ‘I see your pathetic four and raise you ten. Eat that, shortcakes.’

  Zal pushed all his remaining chips forward. ‘I’ll see those cards.’

  ‘Me too,’ Sassy said, pushing her stake in.

  ‘Out,’ Malachi muttered, tossing his cards onto his chair as he got up. He smoothed his sleek fur and became cat to curl by the log fire.

  ‘Hey, Lila,’ called Max from the deck. ‘He’s here.’

  Lila got up, flipping her cards together and putting them face down on the table. She
pushed her stack of chips forward to the grass doll. ‘Seeya,’ she said, and went to answer the door just as she heard soft footsteps on the stairs leading up from the drive. As she passed Teazle he got up too, a man getting off his chair and a wolf as he started walking beside her, one step behind. She put her hand on his head. ‘It’s all right.’

  He still followed her as she picked up an oblong parcel from the kitchen counter and then went to open the door before the knock. She found herself facing Sarasilien in the porch light, the moon behind him like an onlooker. Moths circled above him and then, casting dust, blundered off into the darkness. For a moment they just looked at each other.

  ‘I said she didn’ wanna see ya,’ said a voice from behind Sarasilien’s back, and there was Mr V in his socks, sitting on the porch rail.

  Lila smiled and stepped back, holding the door open, ‘Come in.’ She left it open and padded back into the candle and firelight of the house’s big interior in her bare feet. Teazle’s claws tacked on the wooden floor as he followed them all, circling around. He sat down pointedly in the middle of the rug.

  At the table the grass doll began laying out its cards.

  Sarasilien and Zal shared a look, of recognition and wariness. Lila held the gift-wrapped object out to Sarasilien. ‘For you.’

  Mr V slipped past them and took a beer off the side table on his way to the fireside. Their only recliner was free and he climbed up into this and sat there, producing a pipe from somewhere and beginning to fuss with all its tools and accessories.

  Sarasilien took the present and looked at it awkwardly. It was clear that after the invitation he’d expected to find Lila alone, but since everyone carried on regardless of him and Lila was watching him expectantly he eventually pulled off the blue ribbons and carefully undid the seals on the glittery paper. He stared at his present for a few minutes, holding the cheap frame with his fingertips and then looked at Lila over the top of it with a puzzled frown and the smile of someone who detects a joke but isn’t sure where it’s being played.

  ‘It is a picture of dogs, in a bar, playing snooker.’

  Lila nodded and her smile at him was shy. ‘Nobody in this family ever had any taste. I thought you’d be needing it.’

  His expression became unreadable and he was about to speak but she waved him off with a sniff and then beckoned him to the table. ‘Look, card game’s finished. Let’s see who won.’

  ‘. . . the Knight of Barbarians and the King of Diamonds!’ the grass doll said triumphantly. ‘I think that concludes the—’

  ‘You haven’t seen Lila’s cards,’ Zal said, putting his hand out and slapping the table just as the doll reached towards the large pile of chips.

  ‘Right . . .’ Sassy said, leaning across to turn Lila’s cards face up. ‘And look. Six of Furies, Three of Elves, Nine of Dragons, Nine of Fools, Ace of Conundrums, Prince of Dark Gods, Ace of Blind Walkers, Ace of Ruins, Ace of Spades. Charmed Flush. She wins.’

  The doll stamped a fraying foot. ‘Hell’s teeth have no fury like a damn bad hand!’

  ‘Pay up,’ Lila said. ‘You promised one question, one answer.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ it flung itself down in its whiskey slick. ‘Shoot.’

  ‘Who are you?’ Lila asked before anyone else could speak, although they’d been thinking of questions every night for months just in case they ever got to win.

  Suddenly every eye in the room, even Mr V’s, was focused on the table.

  The doll lay back with its head on its arms and wiggled its feet as if swimming in a luxury pool. ‘Heh, always the easy ones,’ it said, and cleared its throat. It raised one arm and made a few conductorly sweeps of its malformed hand. In a rich and husky voice that made the whiskey shimmer it began to sing.

  ‘There may be trouble ahead . . .’

  Then without pause, the white wolf opened his mouth and sang, ‘But while there’s moonlight . . .’

  ‘. . . and music . . .’ Zal added, looking startled.

  ‘. . . and love . . .’ Lila sang, equally surprised.

  ‘. . . and romance . . .’ Malachi purred, batting at his own mouth with his paw.

  ‘Let’s face the music and dance!’ sang the doll in its stolen voice, leaping up and bowing deeply around to everyone. It laughed. ‘I da Hoodoo. Hoo you? Hm? Hoo you? One answer, one question. Debts paid and rest laid. Adios, Maestros!’ It leapt up and fell apart into shreds and pieces of old, drying grass.

  ‘Nat King Cole,’ Lila said, sharing a look with Zal who returned her gaze with affection and remembering.

  ‘Dar loved Nat King Cole,’ he said.

  ‘Who doesn’t?’ Malachi sighed.

  Sassy was looking at the grass pile. She poked it with her fingertip. ‘Never saw it do that before. Usually you have to pull its head off.’

  A rich smell of pipe tobacco furled across the room just as a car pulled into the driveway.

  ‘Not too late am I?’ called a loud, male voice as feet came stamping up the outside stairs. There was a chink of bottles as a case of beer was put down and then they saw Temple Greer come in, accompanied by the nearly silent grey form of Bentley.

  ‘Never too late,’ Zal said, and hooked Teazle’s chair by the leg to offer him a place at the table. ‘I’ll deal. Poker your game?’

  ‘It is now.’ Greer sat down and took an inventory of all the faces around him. ‘You wouldn’t know anything about these vigilante reports happening all around town now would you?’

  Lila shrugged. ‘No.’

  He peered at Sarasilien but the elf just raised his eyebrows and showed Greer his picture.

  Greer winced. ‘What the hell is that? Dogs?’

  ‘Playing snooker,’ Sarasilien said. ‘In a bar.’

  ‘What’ll they think of next?’ Greer looked at the grass, the chips, the drink. ‘Come on then, let’s see what you’re made of. Who’s in?’

  In the end only Mr V did not play. He said that cards wasn’t his thing.

  Later there was music, and food cooked by Max, and the moon fled across the sky and slipped behind the sultry veils of clouds at the horizon. Zal and Lila found themselves overlooking the city and the stars, Teazle at Lila’s other side in his most human form, his tail almost hidden in his robe.

  ‘Three never works out,’ Teazle said conversationally.

  ‘Three’s the heaven number,’ Zal replied.

  ‘Three’s the charm,’ Lila said. ‘Let’s get married again. Only this time, we stay here. I mean, it’s not like we’re ever in at the same time anyway. Zal has his music. You’ve got . . . what you do. And I . . .’

  They both turned to her and asked at the same time, ‘Yes, Lila, what is it that you do?’

  ‘Me?’ she shrugged, made an innocent face. ‘I mess around with bikes.’ She pointed down to the driveway where, next to the inert forms of the taxis parked there for various return journeys, sat the unearthly form of a genuine original parts-made V-Rex.

  ‘Just one seat,’ Teazle said, admiring the machine.

  ‘Yep.’ Lila held up her hand and the keys jingled on her finger. ‘One seat, one key, one ring, one ride.’ With a smooth motion she put her hand to the porch rail and hopped over, landing silently on the drive some thirty feet below where she turned and hollered up to them, ‘But I’ll let ya ride it if you’re sweet to me!’

  They saw her spring, light as a feather, into the saddle. She turned the key and the thing growled into life with a deep bass tremor that made the porch support vibrate.

  ‘She looks like a faery on that thing,’ Teazle said, referring to the fact she was wearing only a short sundress. Her bare legs and arms were pale in the porch light. She flicked her wrist and the monster roared.

  ‘You’d better thrash it before I crash it!’ Zal yelled down to her.

  ‘See you in the morning!’ she called back and blew them kisses with both her hands. ‘Byeee!’ and all the way down the mountainside, through the woods and into the city they heard her roar.

&n
bsp; COPYRIGHT

  A Gollancz eBook

  Copyright © Justina Robson 2011

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Justina Robson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  First published in Great Britain in 2011 by

  Gollancz

  The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

  Orion House

  5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane

  London, WC2H 9EA

  An Hachette UK Company

  This eBook first published in 2011 by Gollancz.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book

  is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978 0 575 08911 2

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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