Welcome Home (Alternate Worlds Book 3)

by Leigh, Taylor

  Her lips pulled up in sad relief. ‘I thought perhaps it was a coincidence…I have longed to speak to another soul…and yet…you…you are different…What are you?’

  ‘Human. Why?’

  She gave him a curious look. ‘You poor, strange thing.’

  Andrew shook his head, ignoring her nonsense. ‘Who are you? Why are you here? Why did you wake me?’

  The ghost stared down the hall into the darkness. ‘So many questions…Why do you want to know?’

  Andrew walked round to face her again. ‘Because I do not understand.’

  She grinned. ‘I was curious like you, once.’

  Andrew smiled grimly. He fought with his brain, trying to come to terms with what he was doing. ‘And what happened?’

  She sighed. ‘I died.’

  He wrinkled his brows. His mind didn’t want to accept that. It wasn’t a logical possibility. ‘That…is impossible. Death—’

  She smiled thinly. ‘You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you? Everyone has their own views on the afterlife…some think of paradise, other of torment…others…like you, of nothing.’

  Andrew tore his gaze from her and squeezed his eyes shut. He willed her to be gone once he opened them again. She wasn’t.

  ‘So,’ he continued cautiously, ‘what are you implying, then? That somehow…the…for lack of a better word, soul somehow survives after the body expires and it lives on, drifting about the earth as energy? Is that what you are?’

  She dipped her head. ‘But…I do not believe it is meant to be this way. I can feel that I am not supposed to be here. I feel lost. I cannot find the Light that is calling me home.’

  Andrew scowled. ‘What is this light?’

  Her countenance grew distant. ‘It is the final resting place for souls…we’re not meant to wander, strange boy, we’re meant to have a home.’

  Andrew ran a hand through his hair, wondering for the tenth time if he was going mad. ‘Well, what’s wrong with you? Why can’t you find it?’

  She laughed bleakly. ‘Oh, of all the psychics I could meet I meet the one who knows nothing!’

  Andrew growled. ‘I’m not a psychic.’

  ‘Why are you talking to me, then?’

  ‘I don’t know. Why did you wake me?’

  Her grin grew. Andrew puffed his breath impatiently. ‘So, the light. Care to explain?’

  The ghost sighed dramatically. She drifted towards the window to look out to the desert. ‘How do I best explain it to someone like you? It’s an…energy, pulling me in. I can feel it, so distant, but I cannot see it. It is there…but it’s hidden in a dark fog.’

  ‘So there’s some other energy source out there. You call that…what then? Paradise?’

  ‘Peace. Peace from this endless wandering and constant fear.’

  Andrew laughed hollowly. ‘Constant fear? What do the dead have to fear?’

  She turned back to him with wide eyes. ‘The fear does not end for deceased souls who are lost. There is still something out there…in the dark…moving steadily closer…Stronger now than it was. Even the souls of the dead are food for others.’

  Andrew tried to shake her words from his head but couldn’t. He didn’t want to acknowledge that creeping, slinking feeling he hadn’t been able to throw from his shoulders since he’d arrived. There was something dark here; something hovering just out of the reach of his perception.

  Yet it wasn’t possible. It wasn’t logical!

  He opened his mouth to reply, to argue, but at that moment there was a commotion down the hall. The ghost, eyeing him in for the briefest of seconds, broke into a cloud of smoke, abandoning him.

  He followed suit, skipping back into the shadows, eyes after the noise. Someone was approaching, moving quickly.

  The figure hurried past. It was the guard—Marus—and clearly upset: muttering under his breath strange words that certainly weren’t Scrabian.

  Andrew dropped his brow, intrigued. He’d heard that tongue before…his brain ticked through the different languages he was familiar with—and the ones he wasn’t—and it clicked: He’d heard Tollin speak it.

  Tollin had killed that beast—the Guardian—he’d been playing at some rubbish, claiming he could understand the animal, that it was speaking a language…what had it been? Andrew shut his eyes; it had been so ridiculous at the time he hadn’t much bothered with remembering…Dra….Dragoonian.

  Andrew nodded. That was it. And it was what Marus was now mumbling under his breath, in what sounded uncannily like curses.

  The man rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. Eagerly, Andrew pushed himself off the wall, weaving a bit from vertigo and jogged after him, fervently wishing he had brought his cane with him.

  Marus was moving at a quick, easy clip; reminding Andrew a little of his own brother—Thedric. Andrew, having plenty of experience tailing Thed, could manage a safe distance whilst running over his facts.

  Here Marus was, in the dead of the night, hurrying down a hall, speaking a language few understood, with a clear mission in mind.

  Andrew’s lips twisted up into a wry grin. This could possibly be interesting…

  Andrew hadn’t been over the entire palace yet. It was a structure which defied logic: all twists and turns and odd little staircases and narrow passages that most couldn’t squeeze through. Yet, he could make an informed guess: Marus was headed towards the lower levels of the palace. Dungeons most likely, servants’ quarters, guard rooms…and yet those hardly fit with Marus’s demeanour.

  Andrew ducked under a low-hanging arch and arrived at the bottom of the stair. Marus was loping ahead, down the hall, looking this way and that, then very suddenly stopped dead. Turning slowly on his heel with an air of apprehension he faced one of the empty doorways.

  ‘I was wondering when you’d come,’ a familiar voice drawled from inside. ‘I knew I sensed one of my kind.’

  Marus bristled. Andrew sank down the stairs as quietly as possible, skin prickling. Something down here was off, like the rest of this bloody planet. A thrumming, so faint it barely pierced his notice, rattled in his ears.

  ‘How could I stay away?’ Marus stepped out of sight, into the room. ‘Such a mystery…What are you doing here? No-one’s heard mention of you in ages. We thought you perhaps had died.’ His tone was hostile.

  Andrew’s curiosity sparked. So, they knew each other. Interesting…he edged along the wall till he rested just outside the door.

  ‘Impossible to resist a place like this,’ Noel crooned. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have the pleasure of knowing your name.’

  Andrew rested his head against the wall. Perhaps this was nothing more than one of Marus’s many lovers. But no…this man had been wandering the desert like a madman…A stranger. This had to be different.

  Marus let out something close to a growl. ‘Marus. I’ll ask again, why are you here? Last anyone knew of you, you’d gone missing on an assignment from the Elders with one of the Council. Since neither of you came back it was declared a failed mission.’

  ‘Is that what they told you?’ Noel sighed dramatically. ‘Oh, I was bored…life in banishment can be so…dull. But then, of course, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?’ He didn’t wait for Marus to respond. ‘I was locked up on my own private island for a while. Got stuck there after that assignment. Do you remember the father, Marus?’

  Marus puffed his breath and Andrew felt a subtle shift in his manner. ‘I remember a legend about a pathetic old fool. Nothing more.’

  Noel let out a bored moan. ‘Oh, of course. You’re young, I forget.’

  ‘So how’d you manage to get free from wherever you were?’ Marus grunted. ‘What got you locked up?’

  ‘A misunderstanding, nothing more. And as a result…trapped for as long as time itself. Trapped until a beautiful, golden girl set me free. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding and I couldn’t stay there longer. Could have done great things. Still plan to.’

  ‘What?’ Marus s
napped irritably.

  Judging by the shadow, Noel must have waved a hand. ‘Never mind all that. Did you like my entrance? I thought that was good. Must have given all these savages quite a scare. Wasn’t entirely intentional, but I’m still enjoying it. Always better to make accidents seem planned, don’t you think?’

  ‘Get out of this Realm, Noel. I’m warning you—’

  Noel let out an almost drunken laugh. Andrew edged closer. It certainly would help to see their faces. One could tell a good deal from expressions…

  Noel’s laugh ended on a dark note. ‘You’re warning me? I think you’re forgotten your place, Marus! You may have been top predator on this Realm, but that was before I came along. It’s time someone reminded you of your place. This Realm…this Realm is up for the taking, Marus! It always has been. This is one of the Forgotten, one that was abandoned. But I…I was made to see the potential here. I’ve watched from afar. These people, they don’t know what’s out there, Marus, they think they’re the only ones in the whole bloody universe; well, I’m here to help usher them in to a new age. An age of transformation! And I know how. You might say I crashed directly into it.’

  Marus chuckled, but Andrew detected an edge to it. ‘And how exactly are you planning on accomplishing that? No matter how powerful you think you are, there’s still only one of you. How’s pretending to be a madman going to help with that?’

  ‘These people are stupid. They are children. They will see me as a god, coming down in a blaze of light from the heavens. And already I’ve found what I was looking for. A name that’s been spoken through the ages. Echoing back from my banishment. The Traveller is here. And he’s going to help me.’

  Marus blew out a breath. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. The Traveller? You’ve got things all wrong, mate. You’ve been locked away too long. He’s not going to help you, trust me on that.’

  Andrew darted across the hall into the black shadows, casting his gaze into the room beyond. It gave him the view he needed—just in time to see Noel suddenly throw Marus up against the wall, making it crack. Marus grunted as the air left him. Andrew was impressed by the force. He wouldn’t have thought it possible to throw the man about like that.

  Noel was grinning malevolently. He moved his face in close to Marus’s, lips almost touching his cheek.

  ‘Unlike you,’ Noel breathed slowly, ‘I’ve got a powerful friend.’ He chuckled and leaned back, licking his mouth. ‘And it’s chosen me for this.’

  Marus straightened his tunic front. ‘Oh? Why?’

  Noel watched him slyly. ‘No…’ he groaned after a moment. ‘I’m not going to tell you.’ He laughed. ‘But if you even think of getting in my way, Marus, so help me I will tear you to pieces.’

  Marus started to protest but then Noel did something fascinating. He fixed Marus with a stare so fiery that the man actually began to cower. He let out what could only be called a submissive whine and lowered his head like a scolded hound.

  Noel towered over him for a moment. ‘Learn your place,’ he breathed quietly. ‘You’re not the alpha here anymore. Now back down or I’ll make you. Which way do you want it?’

  Marus swallowed, still keeping his eyes lowered. He took a step back. ‘Just…don’t hurt these people. They’re good…’

  ‘I’ll decide that. Now leave me; I’ll summon you if I require you again. Do not try to disobey.’ That thrumming feeling was back. It was coming from Noel, Andrew realised. The man was…emanating some sort of signal. How very peculiar.

  Marus still did not meet his eyes. He ducked his head and backed from the room. Only when he was clear did he slow his quick pace. He straightened and cast a hateful glance over his shoulder. ‘You think you can just jump here and tell me what to do? Is that it?’ He bared his teeth and snarled. ‘Well, we’ll just see about that, Noel. We’ll just see…’

  And then he marched off.

  Andrew couldn’t keep his delighted grin from spreading. He didn’t quite understand what he’d just heard—admittedly, he understood very little—but he’d just witnessed something delicious. Now, all he had to do was figure out what to do with it.

  Chapter Nine

  Sam didn’t know how long she’d stood there, staring at the now dead screen from behind which Tollin had disappeared. She just knew she’d been there ages, resting her head against the freezing glass, as if she could somehow will him back into existence.

  Of course her mental pleading hadn’t worked. Nothing had come of it. The glass had remained dark. That’s all it was, really. Just glass. A viewscreen to a different dimension. A screen which could just as easily show her any other Realm. Any other time. Billions upon billions and seconds upon seconds of combinations of Realms and times, all jumbled together in one huge mess and she was somehow supposed to pinpoint one tiny person in one speck of time on one dusty Realm.

  ‘Well, Sam, I suppose you’ve got all the time in the world,’ she muttered to herself, tucking her hair behind her ear. She’d finally managed to pull herself away from the glass, after any hope of seeing Tollin again had finally abandoned her.

  Being alone now on a strange Realm was a new, not pleasant experience. She wanted to curl up in a corner and wait for him to come and find her, but that wasn’t going to happen. And if she didn’t do something, she’d never see him again.

  Tollin’s instructions to contact someone in the past were far beyond any knowledge of her. After all, she didn’t know how to work the damn machine. The last thing she wanted was to cause any further harm, but she didn’t see what choice she had in the matter.

  Considering the weak connection, it didn’t seem likely she’d speak to him again any time soon.

  She dashed back to the crystal machine and after a bit of experimenting, figured out how to speed up the Realm selection. As Tollin had said, it didn’t take her that long to find Scrabia. A perfect representation of the globe on the display above her. Sam pulled the red crystal free of its stand and heard the portal flash to life; then went tearing back the way she’d come, trainers squeaking against the floor.

  When she finally pulled up to the portal, breathing hard, her heart sank. There was nothing of value on the other side; nothing but crumbled, broken rock and darkness.

  She let out a frustrated cry and struck the glass. There was nothing there! How the hell was she supposed to find Andrew when she had all of time open to her and no clue how to work it?

  She’d heard of Andrew, of course. Tollin had been knocking about with him in the few brief months he’d left her. Yet though they all seemed to run in the same circles, Sam had never met him. She’d only heard of him—and how incredibly arrogant he was. Why he was now in the past was just another confusing layer to it all.

  Spinning round she went back to the panel and stared down at the baffling dials and levers frantically. As she ran her fingers over the language etched across the surface she knew with heavy certainty there was no way she was going to figure it out. But…that didn’t mean she was out of hope. If she’d learnt anything from Tollin, it was that if you wanted to figure something out, you had to look around, poke about. She wasn’t finding the answers here. The room with the viewscreen didn’t seem to be offering her any clues, but that didn’t mean the rest of the Realm wasn’t helpful.

  With some reluctance, Sam left the temple and stepped back out into the cool air. She wrapped her arms around herself as she surveyed the lonely landscape. The pink trees swayed slightly in the breeze. A few waves lapped against the rose-coloured stone.

  She cast her gaze down the path to the more important objects. There were still three other islands with buildings she hadn’t yet explored. Perhaps somewhere there was an alphabet, or a time table or instructions. Anything that could give her some clue as to how to work the device. Surely other people came here and needed help! She couldn’t be the only one…

  It was just discouraging that the island was so very quiet, so desolate. On her many adventures with Tollin, she was, at times, separated
from him. Sometimes it was intentional, when they needed to split up for investigations or problem solving. At other times, it was unintentional: the odd kidnapping, disaster or unexpected circumstance that often arose in their time together. But this was different. Not since the beginning had Sam been separated from Tollin as completely as they were now. She didn’t have his guidance or comforting hand to hold. She couldn’t even sense him in her head, as she always did. And she didn’t know where to start. It was frightening.

  She took a moment to compose herself and think. What would Tollin do? He would explore. He’d poke about without any fear or hesitation. He’d comb over every inch of this island till he found something that could help him.

  Well, Sam didn’t know what she was looking for, but she supposed she could manage that.

  The island was small. From Sam’s point at the top of the stairs she could see everything. It was fairly circular in shape and flat. A stone path circled the main island, making a walk that would take perhaps thirty minutes if one went slowly. Dotted here and there on the island were other curious structures and other bits and bobs that Sam couldn’t begin to guess at. On each smaller island were structures much the same as hers: tall, square, with columns and smooth steps.

  It was just ahead where she did not want to look, for that ugly black tower, so very different and misplaced, stared back at her. Her eyes skipped over it quickly. Tollin hadn’t been keen on investigating it straight off, it could wait.

  She decided her best course of action would be to follow the path circling the island, go over every inch of it and the others and explore every structure and device she came across. That is what Tollin would have done.

  It was easy going and the air was pleasant and sweet—enjoyable; even if she was alone and the prospect of her failing and leaving Tollin abandoned in a distant Realm hung in the back of her mind.

  Sam went slow, working over every device she passed. It didn’t matter how much she investigated, she couldn’t figure half the contraptions out. She began to wonder if they did anything at all. Or were they simply here as bizarre decorations?