‘Tut tut, didn’t your grandfather teach you any manners?’ she glinted. ‘Well, let’s just show him what happens to little feral cats who forget their manners!’
I could sense movement from Grandpa’s bed and caught my breath. This was the moment she had planned.
‘Talia?’
Grandpa’s faint voice perforated the tense air, and Octavia looked down with a titter of delight. ‘Now then, shall we play a game?’
She reached into the waistband of her black tunic, and pulled out a slim, white Diasord. The tip shone with a brightness that dazzled momentarily, and I had little doubt she held the most lethal weapon in Pantheon in her hands. She pointed it at me, and then at Grandpa spitefully.
‘Who will tell me where the Book of Arafel is first, in order to save the life of the other? Oh I do so love games!’
She levelled her gaze at me and at once I was back in the forest, facing the wild black cat, only this one knew nothing of the laws of nature. Eye to eye, breath to breath, there was nothing else except our beating hearts: one black, one free. Her eyes narrowed and as she jerked her Diasord up. I jumped as if my life depended on it, catching hold of a jointed metal support in the ceiling and swinging my feet to run along the opposite wall.
Flinging a look over my shoulder, I saw the Diasord had released a bright ball of light, which was burning perfect sphere in the ground. It sizzled rapidly, releasing a small spiral of smoke, and Octavia’s maniacal eyes lit up as she laughed.
It was swiftly followed with another burning ball of light, then another and another, each blasting the walls just behind the heels of my feet as I ran and leapt using the metallic prop to anchor my weight. The heat of their impact singed my heels and the backs of my legs, but I just leapt higher and faster, my muscles aching with the tension of holding my body taut.
I threw a desperate look at Grandpa. His eyes were open and he was looking straight up at me, his lips moving, forming words. Familiar words. I frowned. And then I understood. He was telling me he loved me.
I watched in horror as he lifted his head with one massive Herculean effort and, as Octavia threw her head back with hysteria, looped his life support tubes around her neck. He dropped back again instantly, twisting the tubes tightly, and yanking her slim body from its chair onto the floor beside the bed. Her hands flew to her throat, and then started groping for the fallen control pad. All at once I could see what she was going to do.
‘Nooooo!’ I screamed, my fury and terror combusting. I leapt down onto the base of Grandpa’s canister and, using it as a springboard, leapt directly for Octavia.
My hands reached her throat as her fingers closed over the oblong box, and as our bodies crushed together, she depressed the black button. The machine above Grandpa’s head registered the instruction immediately, and as I jerked my head up, Octavia whispered. ‘I always win, Talia; you should have learned that by now.’
Each word slid out on the back of a rasping breath as I grabbed the slim controller and pressed the black button repeatedly. Octavia lashed out, choking, before her face twisted into a look of abject horror.
Instinct took over and I rolled swiftly onto my back, just in time to see the griffin rear up above us, teeter, and then crash the entire weight of its colossal golden body onto Octavia, its carnivorous beak burying itself in her heart.
‘Oh I did,’ I whispered, ‘but feral cats never play by the rules.’
Swiftly I jumped to my feet and ran to the opposite side of the canister. Grandpa’s eyes had closed, although his grip on the tube around Octavia’s neck was still tight.
He was breathing, barely.
‘Talia, is that really you?’ he whispered, his eyes opening a fraction to reveal the pale blue beneath.
I ran my eye frantically over the equipment. There were no blue and red tubes to guide me this time, only a mass of black tubes protruding from the metallic plate on the side of his head.
‘Leave it, child, and come here.’
My senses swam and I wrapped my arms around his frail body to steady myself. His warmth and scent were almost overwhelming.
‘Yes, Grandpa,’ I whispered, trembling, ‘we’re going home.’
‘Eli? Max? The others?’
I could see how much it was costing him to talk.
‘They’re alive, in Arafel, waiting for us.’
He smiled faintly. ‘Bless them all, and if they are there, why then, child … are you here?’ His eyes shone with a mixture of love and confused despair as they rested on me.
‘I came to rescue you. I could never leave you here,’ I fired back.
His eyes wandered beyond me to the floor, before he gripped my wrist with a surge of strength, worry suddenly etched all over his face. ‘You aren’t safe here, Talia, escape while you can, protect the Book of Arafel!’
‘The Book of Arafel can burn, Grandpa; it contains nothing but nightmares!’
His face lit up with a gentle smile. ‘There’s my spirited girl, always ready to fight. But when Thomas discovered the cipher … he unlocked the blueprint for beasts that once graced nature. Arafel is the guardian of that knowledge … and it isn’t down to us to choose whether it exists … Our role is to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
‘Now go home, take care of your mother … protect the Book …’
‘No!’ I responded painfully. I could see the light was ebbing from his eyes, and started pressing all the machine switches in sheer desperation.
‘Talia …’
And I knew, in that one breath, even with the whisper of my name still resting on his lips, that he was leaving me. I stifled the aching sob rising up my throat and threw myself back across his familiar warmth, wanting to hold on and never let go.
I stayed like that for as long as I dared, and then slowly, from somewhere else, there was a voice telling me what I had to do.
Gently, I lifted his heavy body into a sitting position and pulled his thin, wasting legs out of the canister. Octavia was still at our feet, her head lolling disjointedly to one side, while her blanched stare was twisted into something much more real. The griffin stood meekly by as I stared down at the woman who had stolen so much from so many, a small trickle of scarlet blood pooling around her back. I cradled Grandpa’s slumped body. I had to get him back to the forest, before any of the guards realized Octavia was dead.
Heaving him up to standing, I stumbled back out towards the balcony. As we reached the windows, I lashed out with one almighty kick, shattering the glass from top to bottom. Another kick pushed the window out and as it fell onto the floor outside, we were engulfed in the sweetest gust of outside air. We shuffled out onto the balcony, with the griffin padding meekly behind.
‘Tal? For the love of Nero! Let me help!’ August’s deep voice resonated from the entrance of Octavia’s rooms, and relief rippled through my screaming muscles.
‘August?’ My voice broke strangely in the gloomy corridor. ‘No guards?’
I didn’t trust myself to say more. Grandpa was gone, and August had to detest me.
‘Not any more,’ came the blunt response.
Seconds later, his swarthy, anxious face materialized out of the shadows and despite our parting, I felt my chest swell with emotion.
‘Your grandpa?’ he asked gently, one swift glance being enough to tell him all he needed.
I closed my eyes briefly and felt him carefully shoulder Grandpa’s full weight before lifting him onto the waiting griffin.
‘How did you …? When did you …?’ I exhaled shakily.
‘Only a few moments ago,’ he reassured me. ‘I knew exactly where you were headed, only the stubborn satyrs wouldn’t cooperate. I had to wait for Unus to wake to get back through the tunnels. I nearly went mad when I saw you chance the old tunnel! You could have come across anything in there, and you must know I wouldn’t have let you face Octavia alone. Where is she anyway?’ he added, in a voice of foreboding.
I pushed my nails into the flesh of
my hands to ease the throb in my chest. ‘Grandpa and the griffin gave her a little of her own medicine. I don’t think she’ll be bothering too many Pantheonites any time soon,’ I whispered.
August’s eyes suddenly lit up with something more than the reflection from the stars, and he stared down at me speechlessly.
‘Come with us?’ I added, knowing he wouldn’t. Knowing he couldn’t.
He eyed me sadly, before reaching out to tuck a loose hair behind my ear.
‘From the moment we met I’ve been fighting to breathe,’ he whispered. ‘You’ve turned everything I’ve ever known, or understood, upside down. You’re unpredictable, stubborn … and the most life-affirming little feral cat I’ve ever had the luck of the gods to know. When you left earlier I felt suffocated and not because I was underground. I would give everything to forget Isca Pantheon, to start again … with you.’
He ran his fingers through his hair, distress contorting his proud Roman features.
‘But my life was never free, Talia, and if what you say is true, I’m needed here more than ever. There will be a chance to change Pantheon, to work towards the society Thomas originally envisaged.’
I caught his hand. It was warm and strong, and the throb inside my tight chest fireballed. I tried to speak, but it felt as though I was falling so fast I might never catch my breath again.
With Octavia and Cassius gone, he would be one of the most senior Equites left. It made perfect sense. He was strong enough to influence the Senatore, to help build a real future for the people and creatures of Isca Pantheon.
My brain felt suffocated, and I could hardly speak. ‘But what about …?’ I stumbled.
‘Us?’
‘The Voynich?’
Our voices crossed in confusion.
‘You think I came after you … for the cipher?’ he answered roughly. ‘Don’t be a little fool. I told you what I’d do with the Voynich if the Senatore agree.’
I flushed and was grateful for the cover of darkness. I knew exactly why August had come; it was for the same reason I had left.
‘Tal, if I leave, others will follow. Arafel will be in danger … you will be in danger. I can’t have that. I can’t protect you there. There’s no point in living if something happened to you.’ He leaned down and whispered the last words so lightly they felt like leaves caught in a breeze.
Blindly, I groped for the griffin’s thick plumage, forcing my limbs to make the decision my heart couldn’t.
‘Wait!’
The unevenness in his voice stayed me, as he stepped up close. I felt his breath first, and then his lips gently grazing the back of my neck. It was the softest sensation, like the breath before a promise. Then he caught hold of my waist and lifted me gently behind Grandpa.
As I looked down, I felt myself waver. I wasn’t sure I could breathe either.
‘I’ll always be right here, if you need anything,’ August muttered in a hoarse whisper, reaching out to brush my hand.
I nodded wordlessly, and dug my heels in. The griffin shook out its flight feathers and August took a step back.
‘The whole damned world is waiting.’ His whisper was barely audible, and the pain contorting his dark face said everything. My heart felt as though it was in danger of shattering into a million icy crystals.
Then the griffin gave a final call to the wind, and raking its sharp claws along the stone floor of the balcony, soared up into the starlit night where we turned and flew towards the forest silhouetted on the horizon.
It was a place where life still held value, a place where nature found its own path, and a place where I could run free. Home.
Epilogue
I buried Grandpa at the foot of the Great Oak that night. He always told us how he used to climb the tree as a young boy, and that they had grown old together. As soon as we dropped down into the whispering night-time forest, his body seemed to relax, almost as though he’d been holding on for just that moment. And I knew by the smile on his face that he was happy.
I stayed with him until dawn, watching the sky melt into soft arcs of light that stole down like pale angels.
I’d spent my whole life wondering how we’d survived in Arafel, but the real question was why? Isca Pantheon, Octavia, Cassius, Aelia, Unus, manticore, molossers, strix, Cerberus, August … they were all pieces from the same jigsaw, only I hadn’t seen it before.
Octavia had lifted the lid to Pandora’s box, and destroying Thomas’s knowledge or the Voynich wouldn’t reverse anything now. If anything, the blueprint for mythical creatures had only become more precious. It was life, in all its past glory, and our place was to protect it.
Come what may, nature finds a way.
Grandpa’s words echoed softly among the whispering trees, and a tiny purple and black butterfly landed inconspicuously on my outstretched hand.
I smiled. This feral girl had only just begun.
TERMS/DEFINITIONS (in order of text appearance)
Arafel: Hebrew word meaning ‘fog’ in reference to the Apocalypse
Hades: Greek word meaning ‘underworld’; also refers to the god of the underworld
Isca Pantheon: Isca Dumnoniorum – also simply known as Isca, was a town in the Roman province of Britannia at the site of present-day Exeter in the UK
Pantheon: one of the best-preserved ancient Roman temples (now a church) in Rome, with a famous circular domed ceiling
Aquila: the standard of a legion; the aquila (eagle) was a symbol of a Roman unit’s honour
Proletarii, Senatores, Equites, and Patricians: social classes of ancient Roman citizens
Equite: sworn mounted noble Roman knight; singular: Eques
Haga: name has Byzantine origin although the two-headed eagle is believed to have started as a Roman mythological creature
Molossus: (plural: molossers) ancient, extinct breed of fighting dog commonly considered to be the ancestor of today’s mastiff. The Romans trained the Molossian dog specifically for battle, often coating them in protective spiked metal collars, mail armour, and arranging them into attack formations.
Manticore: early Middle Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a lion and a human head with three rows of sharp teeth. It may be horned, winged, or both, with the tail of a dragon or scorpion.
Cerberus: a giant three-headed hound that guarded the gates of Hades, to prevent those who had crossed the river Styx from escaping
Strix: (plural striges or strixes) a bird of ill omen; a product of metamorphosis, which fed on human flesh and blood. They have red wings, four black legs (all with clawed feet) and yellow, round eyes without pupils.
Cyclops: (plural Cyclopes) a member of an ancient race of giants with a single eye on the forehead; stubborn, strong, and displaying abrupt emotions
Satyr: a creature like the faun – half-man, half-goat – who roams woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing.
Vigenère and Caesar ciphers: mathematical tools for encrypting text
Caesar cipher: named after Julius Caesar who used the method to protect messages of military significance. Each letter of the alphabet is shifted along some number of places. In a Caesar cipher of 3, A becomes D and B becomes E and so forth.
Vigenère cipher: (French) a method of encrypting alphabetic text by using a series of interwoven Caesar ciphers based on the letters of a keyword; a form of polyalphabetic substitution
Flavium: the original Latin name for the Colosseum in the centre of Rome was Amphitheatrum Flavium. It was estimated to hold between 50,000 and 80,000 ‘spectators’.
Unus: from old Latin oinos, meaning ‘one, single’
Talia’s journey isn’t over yet!
Book two in the Book of Fire trilogy is coming soon!
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other fantastical stories from HQ…
Copyright
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
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London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2017
Copyright © Michelle Kenney 2017
Michelle Kenney asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © August 2017 ISBN: 978-0-00-827154-1
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