by Sharon Sant
And in the darkness, from across the universe, she detected something else, the first spark glowing ever so faintly in her consciousness. Ioh was returning, and there was no way she could stop him now.
Makash appeared almost at the same instant.
‘Did you block the signal to Astrae?’
‘I think so,’ she replied uncertainly. ‘I think it was too faint for them to notice anyway.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Makash said calmly. ‘You and I have greater abilities; we would most certainly detect it before anyone else.’
‘What does it mean?’
‘It means we must act quickly to get you accepted on Astrae. It means that the time for patience is at an end. Karo is making slow progress and Trego continues to fight him at every turn. We cannot rely on Karo’s help any longer.’
‘But what can we do now? You said that they take forever to decide things and they love tradition. If Ioh comes back, I’ll never be Watcher.’
‘No, you won’t. We must make sure he never comes back.’
Alex looked doubtful. ‘I can’t finish it like this now, he’s gaining strength by the minute; I can feel it.’
‘I feel it too. But the people of Astrae do not have to. We continue to block that connection and get you installed as soon as possible. By then it will be too late for him or them to do anything about it.’
‘Do you think he will let that happen?’
‘You forget, Kya, despite accepting the title, Ioh has never really wanted it.’
‘But he still won’t let us just take it. I’ve been in his head; whatever he wants in his personal life, he won’t abandon Astrae…’ What she meant was that Jacob wasn’t going to abandon her, even though his concern was unlooked for. And the images of her dream still haunted her. It meant that there would be a final battle; Ioh wasn’t going to go without a fight. It wasn’t something she was about to share with her uncle, though.
‘We will deal with Ioh when the time comes. For now, you must prepare to leave while I take care of other matters.’
The fleeting moment of optimism turned to doubt. ‘I’m not ready. I haven’t trained enough, I don’t know how to be Watcher…’ she said quietly.
‘And that is why I will be at your side… always.’
Alex could hardly prevent the shiver that ran down her spine.
When Ellen arrived at Jacob’s house the following morning, Phil was out in the front garden talking to the neighbour over his fence. As she drew nearer she could see the lines of fatigue etched in his thin face, the worry scoring every feature. He glanced at her and gave her the vaguest wave before continuing his earnest conversation. As she pushed it open, the gate knocked into a large heap of cement, scraping it across the path. Ellen looked down at it with a frown. A glance up the path revealed more dusty chunks, and shattered tiles littered the frosted lawn. Her attention turned to the roof. She squinted beyond the white glare of the winter sun and saw that many of the slates were missing. Looking back at Phil and seeing that his attention was elsewhere, she stepped over the debris and made her way up the path to the door. It was unlocked; she pushed it open and called into the hallway.
‘Maggie?’
Maggie appeared at the top of the stairs. She looked exhausted again. ‘Come up, Ellen.’
Ellen made her way to the spare bedroom where Maggie had returned without waiting for her. ‘Let me guess what happened to the roof…’ she began, looking at Jacob.
Maggie gave her a thin smile. ‘Well it certainly wasn’t windy enough to blow them down last night. I wondered if that freak storm we had loosened them somehow, but I’m sure that it didn’t last long enough to do any real damage.’
‘What time did it happen?’
‘About three. I was asleep in the chair. There was an almighty rumble from the top of the house that woke me up. We checked all around the inside of the house, but at first we couldn’t work out what it was. Geoff, from next door, knocked this morning to complain that there was a load of our roof in his garden.’ She sighed and pushed the heels of her palms to her eyes. ‘I’m not sure how much more of this we can take. We’ll either have no house left or we’ll both be in the loony bin.’
Ellen glanced over at Jacob. The violent shivering of the previous day had returned and a layer of sweat covered him that even Maggie had been too tired to wipe off. Noticing a towel draped over the end of the bed, she grabbed it and mopped his face clear.
‘I’ll sit with him for a while. You need to go and get a drink.’
‘I need a stiff drink, that’s for sure,’ Maggie gave a bleak smile as she rose from the chair and left them. Her reluctance to argue over leaving Jacob showed Ellen just how close she was to breaking.
Ellen watched him quietly as he trembled. The sight should have been distressing, but somehow it wasn’t. It was like there was a fire raging inside him, like he was beating at the door of whatever prison was holding him. Her gaze travelled the room. The window had been boarded up now, and the loose wallpaper had been glued back up again to cover the scorch marks. In the circumstances, she reflected wryly, perhaps falling masonry was the best they could have hoped for. Slightly safer than balls of lightning.
Her attention was suddenly drawn back to Jacob, certain that she had seen a definite movement, just in the periphery of her vision. She looked more closely. Other than the jerking of his fever, he was still.
She picked up the towel to mop his brow again. His forehead contracted into a deep frown, a look of pain.
From nowhere came a high pitched, solid hum. It was followed by a bolt of white energy that radiated from Jacob. Ellen let out a squeal as she was thrown across the room.
Maggie rushed in. ‘What happened?’
Ellen turned to her, dusting herself down and beaming. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Why are you so happy then?’ Maggie looked in confusion from Ellen to Jacob and back again.
‘I really don’t know,’ Ellen repeated, her smile wider still.
Eleven: The Audience
‘Now that you look the part…’ Makash observed, circling Alex in her fresh tunic and trousers, ‘perhaps you can start acting it.’
Alex wrinkled her nose, looking down at her outfit with distaste. The pure, clean white of her tunic accentuated the luminous gold tones of her hair and heightened the blush across her flawless skin. She didn’t approve.
‘How does a Watcher act? Forgive me, but there wasn’t a local Watcher school in downtown LA where I could brush up my skills.’
‘That is exactly the kind of insolence that marks you out as unsuitable. One comment of that nature at the Council meeting and they will dismiss you in an instant. We are already in a tenuous situation. I will not have this opportunity thwarted.’
‘Opportunity? You mean yours or mine?’ Alex sniped.
‘Ours.’ Makash stopped directly in her eye line and stared at her. ‘Have you got the Ioh situation under control?’
She shifted uneasily. ‘I think so. He’s tougher than you think, though, I can feel him reaching out all the time.’
‘It should not be for much longer. Make sure he does not reach anyone on Astrae and your work will be rewarded.’
Alex looked away. Now that the time was drawing near, she was becoming increasingly uncertain that she wanted it at all. She ran a shaky hand through her hair. ‘How can we be sure the Council will agree? What if they have me arrested or something?’
Makash arched a sardonic eyebrow. ‘Do you really think they could contain us, even if they tried? They fear us because our power is so much greater than any of them possess. Why else would they have agreed to this meeting? Despite their protests, they dare not refuse us.’
Alex sighed. ‘When are we leaving?’
‘Karo has gained the favour of the Council to grant us an audience at today’s meeting. We leave immediately.’
Alex tried to hold her head high and look as contemptuous as possible for her surroundings. But for all her p
retence, the sights that greeted her on her journey through the cavernous atrium and into the Council chambers filled her with awe.
‘Ioh’s design,’ Makash said in a low voice as he noticed the attention she was paying to a cabinet containing a shrunken head.
She glanced at him, suddenly not quite so appreciative. ‘The Watcher gets to make this place look like anything they want?’
‘Yes. Although they usually choose something more traditionally Astraen than this as their template.’
‘How do you think they’ll take Disney Princess?’ she whispered.
Makash turned to her, his face splitting into the first genuine smile she had ever seen on it. ‘I’m sure they will hate it more than they hate this.’
The high doors of the chamber swung open to admit them. Alex squinted as she was washed in the dusty sunlight that slanted through the vast windows. Every mouth was immediately hushed and every eye on them as they entered. Alex felt the invasion of their thoughts as they weighed her up, trying to see the colour of her soul. She blocked them out. This was her mind and nobody was gaining access unless she allowed it, prospective Watcher or not. Makash bowed to the room. Alex stood awkwardly with her hands swinging at her sides, wondering whether she ought to do the same, but in the end deciding to adopt a posture of defiance.
The Chief Elder called the meeting to order and waved the visitors to take centre stage and make their case. Makash strode out onto the honey-stoned floor and Alex followed, feeling almost faint under the burning gaze of the Councillors ranged along all sides of the large quadrangle of tables. She strengthened the barriers of her mind to keep them out. Hold it together, she told herself, and jutted her chin resolutely.
Trego watched carefully as Makash and Kya were admitted. He regarded Kya with a mixture of interest and apprehension. Her resemblance to Ioh was uncanny; he had never seen two siblings more alike. Makash was everything he remembered him to be only, somehow, the calm demeanour made his presence feel all the more malevolent. Trego had been very young when Makash had first been banished and Dae had taken the mantle of the Watcher; Trego’s own parents had still been alive at that time and spoke of it often. The memory of these experiences heightened his already fraught emotions. Of all the days the Council could have chosen to finally admit them to a meeting, this was the worst one.
While he didn’t have the full import of the prophecy worked out, he felt he might have enough to save his friend from abandonment for a second time by his people. He was eager, but also frightened, to share what he knew with the Council. Karo’s warning, despite trying to convince himself not to take it seriously, still echoed in his ears. Surely, though, now that Makash and Kya were out in the open, they wouldn’t dare attack him, whatever he revealed to the Council? He could only hope that was true. For now, it looked as though he would have to wait for his chance to find out.
‘You are all aware of the reason for our audience. I would like to know your verdict.’ Makash scanned the room as he addressed its occupants.
‘You are here at Karo’s request.’ A woman with waist length, snow white hair stood up. ‘I, for one, do not see why we should trust you any more than we did in the past.’
Makash bowed in acknowledgment. ‘This time I do not present myself, I present Kya, the rightful Successor to Ioh’s place.’
‘But it is no secret that you mentor her?’
‘Indeed, as she has no other. In the normal circumstances she would have the current Watcher to perform that duty. As we are all aware, normal circumstances have been absent for some years.’
‘Yes,’ another man rose from his seat, ‘a situation that you began.’
‘No,’ Makash fired back, ‘the Council began it when they took two Successors to be trained together.’ His eyes flashed black for an instant before he regained his smooth composure. ‘Mistakes were made on all sides. It is a lesson that we can learn from.’
‘It still does not alter the fact that we have a Watcher.’
‘With respect, you do not. At least,’ Makash glanced at Kya confidently, ‘not one as worthy of the title as Kya would be.’
Karo spoke, his presence immediately making the room feel much smaller. ‘Ioh is lost to us now. We must make an uncomfortable choice, but sometimes these things are done for the greater good.’
‘You have always hated Ioh,’ said the woman with white hair.
‘I have never hated him, Naim. I do not let personal feelings cloud my judgment. But Ioh does and that is why he has led us to the situation we face now.’
The room lapsed into a vast, echoing silence. Then Naim spoke again.
‘What does Kya have to say?’
All eyes turned to Alex and she fought to keep the flush from her cheeks.
‘What do you want me to say?’
‘How you feel about the challenge of Watcher,’ Naim said with more kindness in her voice. ‘It is a great responsibility. Not one to be taken lightly.’
Alex glanced at Makash. He nodded slightly.
‘I want to do it,’ she said quietly.
There was a ripple of low speech through the room. The Chief Elder waited for it to subside before speaking. ‘As much as it pains me to say this, you are all aware of the dangers our world currently faces and Ioh is out of our reach for now. Thousands of years of tradition could not have prepared us for this situation; nevertheless, we face it now. You have heard what Kya has to say. We must reach a decision.’
Trego dared not wait any longer. If the vote went in Kya’s favour, nothing he had to say would make a difference anymore. He shot from his chair.
‘Might I speak?’
All heads turned to him. The Chief Elder nodded for him to continue. Trego took a steadying breath.
‘There is still the prophecy to consider. We cannot ignore the possibility of what it foretells.’
‘The prophecy is nonsense,’ Karo cut in, his voice ringing out across the silent space. ‘Must we continue to listen to this?’
‘But what if it is not? It tells of the two halves of the moon falling into darkness. Dae and Kaleb both considered it truth. Dae separated Kya and Ioh on the strength of its portent and Kaleb lost his life…’ He flushed as both Makash and Alex glared at him. ‘Dae was the Watcher, an experienced one, his wisdom boundless and ageless. He would not have acted upon something that he did not consider a real threat.’
‘And I have said before,’ Karo cut in, ‘that there is nothing in the prophecy to suggest which one of the twins is light and which is dark. Perhaps it has come to pass. Ioh has fallen into darkness and Kya is here among us, ready to take his place and lead us back from chaos and into the light.’ He stared hard at Trego. ‘There is your prophecy!’
‘But there is the second half,’ Trego insisted.
‘You have failed to decipher any meaning from the second half,’ Karo fired back.
From the corner of his eye, Trego saw the edges of Makash’s lips twitch into a smile. ‘I need more time,’ Trego began weakly, ‘but I believe I might be able to provide the answer shortly…’
‘Time is one thing we do not have…’ Karo began, but then his eyes widened as he was stunned into silence.
The room was suddenly hushed as the jolt reverberated through every one of them. Alex clutched her stomach and she doubled over, a bolt of adrenaline coursing through her like the first breath of birth, long forgotten but dragged to the surface now. It passed in an instant and she looked up to see shock on the faces of everyone else in the room, even Makash’s. She gazed up at her uncle with a question on her lips, one that she didn’t need to ask. The look he returned was one of anger. The Chief Elder stood and addressed the room.
‘A new Successor has been born.’
Twelve: The Symbol
Makash grabbed Alex by the wrist and they both dissolved from the room. She hated the way it felt when he transported her like this, it was like fighting for air under water, but at least it was brief and she was back in the tower with her
black-eyed and raging uncle.
‘We were so close,’ he growled.
Alex stared at him. ‘Surely it doesn’t matter? It’s just a baby; they still need me, right?’
‘They will wait now. They will see it as a sign that order will be restored. In the days of old, this was how it always was: one Watcher, one Successor waiting to take his place.’
But they don’t have a Watcher.’
‘They will be more determined than ever to cling on to him. You must kill him.’
‘Will that make any difference?’
‘They will have no choice but to accept you then. And Trego will have to be persuaded to abandon this ridiculous quest for truth, there’s no telling what he may uncover.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me about the prophecy?’ Alex narrowed her eyes. ‘It’s about me and Jacob, isn’t it?’
‘It could be about anything.’
‘Then why hide it?’
‘I didn’t. I merely neglected to mention it.’
Alex paused. ‘What did Trego mean? About Dae separating Jacob and me because of it?’
‘It was conjecture, nothing more. Nobody knows what was going on in that simpleton’s head when he abandoned you both on that rock. It is not important now.’
‘It’s important to me,’ Alex pouted.
‘What is more important is what we do now.’
‘I don’t see what we can do if they’re so stuck in their ways. Won’t they just wait for the baby to get bigger? How long do they have to wait? Jacob was only fifteen when he became Watcher, can they be younger still?’
Makash’s stare was calculating. ‘Much younger than that if they’re talented enough. We have yet to see what sort of child it will be.’
‘What happens?’
‘The child will be evaluated. As soon as they’re ready they will be taken away to begin their training. The problem here is that Ioh himself should be responsible for that.’