by Tim Lebbon
That place was not at Mallian’s side.
“So sad,” Angela said, startling Lilou from her thoughts.
“Kin often die in the human world,” she said, as if in response.
“So what now?”
“Now we split up,” Lilou said. “Make it harder for Mallian to stop us.”
Angela didn’t object, though Lilou had thought she would. She had to know that it made sense.
“And what about Meloy?”
“We move Meloy without killing him.”
32
As dawn broke across the wild hillside, Sammi knew she was running out of time. Gregor forced her ever onward, and the rising sun didn’t bring the usual sense of peace and anticipation. Back on the Cape she would have been preparing for another day of swimming or kayaking with her father, meeting up with friends, wondering what the future might bring.
Here, her future was short and dark. But though exhausted and afraid, still she was determined to fight. She would not let this monstrous man win.
“The Fold’s that way,” she said pointing.
“Shut up, kid.”
“Suit yourself.”
They continued climbing. He made her choose the route, remaining behind her. That way she couldn’t surprise him again. She felt his eyes on her back. The heavy string that stretched between them meant she sometimes had to pause while he caught up, and she used every moment to catch her breath. She was hungry and very thirsty, but requests for food and drink had been met with silence. He didn’t care about her. He cared about what was at the end of this journey, at the Fold, whatever the hell that was.
“I told you, I’ve seen a Fold before, I know where it’s likely to be, and on top of this mountain isn’t the place.”
Gregor tugged on the string, bringing them to a stop, then looked past her up the long slope they were climbing. Sammi looked, too. She couldn’t see very far because trees, undergrowth, and rocky outcroppings blocked her view. The only certainty was that the slope was steep.
“You haven’t seen one before,” he said. “No one has.”
“How do you know? You don’t even know what it is.”
“Just shut up and keep moving!”
Sammi started climbing again, but she didn’t shut up. She was getting to him, and she needed to keep him annoyed, unsettled. That way his guard might slip. He wouldn’t kill her as long as he thought he needed her.
“It was on the Cape last year,” she said, “just after my mother died. Dad and I were on a sailing boat. He doesn’t sail, but his friend Glenn does and he took us out. We were going out to see if we could spot porpoises, and the Fold was about half a mile along the shore from where we moored for a beach picnic. It was just sort of… there. We all looked, amazed. None of us knew what it was at the time, of course. Just like a… thing.”
She grabbed a tree and hauled herself up and forward, and Gregor followed. He no longer told her to shut up. She hoped it was a sign that he was uncertain about her story, and not that he was preparing to use the knife.
“But later, someone arrived to tell us what it was. He wasn’t as big as your friend Mallian, but he was just as weird. Very strong, taller than anyone I’d ever seen. He walked along the beach and had a couple of burgers and a fish from our barbecue. And he came from the Fold.” Sammi thought that was inspired. She even heard Gregor catching his breath. “He told us it was lovely there, and if we wanted a look—”
“Shut the fuck up!” He slapped her across the back of the head, a solid impact that made her ears ring. She grimaced but didn’t react. “Keep walking.” She obeyed.
The rise turned even steeper, and she had to lean into the slope to continue. At the top they emerged onto a flatter area of hillside. To the right was a sheer drop, a bowl in the slope that might have been the result of old mining activity or some ancient cataclysm. Across the other side of this wide, deep ravine, on an area of hillside almost stripped of trees and scattered with boulders and scree, something was… wrong.
Sammi rubbed at her eyes, thinking that sweat might have dripped into them, or exertion had misted her vision. The thing she saw couldn’t be described. It had no real form or substance. It was an uncertain area, a blurry smudge on the firm landscape of this dawn mountainside. She couldn’t tell how far away it might be, but she guessed not more than a mile.
“Keep moving,” Gregor said. “We’ll go up to that ridge, cut across the top of the ravine, then back down to it.”
Sammi obeyed, scrambling upward and glancing frequently across the wide open space at the strange thing. Was there a faint glow coming from it? Or were its surroundings simply darker? She couldn’t tell. All she knew was that it was amazing and terrifying, like nothing she had ever seen or even imagined. Nothing of this world…
“Fold,” Gregor breathed.
“’Course it is,” she said. “I’ve told you, I’ve seen one before.”
“No one would have offered you a look into a Fold!” Gregor shouted. He stopped walking. “You’re making this up to—”
Reaching for a tree to pull herself upward, she wound the string twice around a broken branch, held onto the stump, braced her other hand against the ground, and kicked back hard with both feet. She felt the impact, heard Gregor’s surprised “Oof!” As he fell to the ground she felt and heard the string snap.
The release of pressure on her wrist was instant.
She didn’t have time to enjoy it.
Scrambling up the slope, she risked a single glance behind her.
Gregor had fallen onto his back and slid down the slope, coming to a halt against a large tree root. There was a splash of blood across his lower face, and she hoped she’d mashed his lips and knocked out some teeth.
He was already trying to roll over and regain his feet, but his movements were slow, confused. The shock and pain might give her another couple of seconds.
This was when Sammi hoped her youth and fitness would give her an advantage.
Grabbing onto trees, shoving hard with her feet, trying to keep her breathing slow and easy, she propelled herself up the steep slope toward whatever might await them up above. There was no going back now. If he captured her, he’d make sure this wouldn’t happen again. He’d already said that he only needed her alive, not whole. Maybe he’d cut off her foot, gouge out her eyes. She wouldn’t put anything past him.
“Come back here!” he roared, as if that would make her obey.
Using her hands and feet to drive herself on, she closed her left hand around a loose rock the size of her fist. She hefted it and turned, leaning back against the hill and not out where she could fall into space.
Gregor was already coming after her, face down as he concentrated on climbing. She threw the rock at him. All those hours playing baseball in their back garden returned to her, along with her dad’s advice about picturing exactly where she wanted the ball to go. The rock struck Gregor’s left shoulder.
Damn.
He grunted and paused, looked up. His face was splashed with blood, lips split from her kick.
Sammi started climbing again.
“I’m going to hurt you!” he bellowed.
She didn’t respond. Every breath he used to shout was one less available to climb.
“And when you’ve got me into the Fold, I’ll kill you!”
Whatever the Fold is, I’m not going there with you, she thought.
Something snapped.
Sammi shouldn’t have let it stop her, but it did, and as she tilted her head to listen another snap came from the distance, echoing from the hills.
Gunshot! she thought. She glanced back at Gregor, and he was listening, too. He grinned up at her.
“That’ll be the woman who came for you, having her head blown off.”
Aunt Angela!
Sammi started moving again. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was hunters. These forests were huge and wild and seemed endless, and there would be other people out here enjoying the wilderness, rathe
r than dreading it. But this early in the day, and this close, she couldn’t help thinking the gunshots had something to do with them.
After a couple more minutes of climbing, breath burning in her chest and sweat stinging her eyes, the ground leveled. She came to a narrow path that ran along the steep hill’s side, glanced left and right, chose right, and started running. This was when she had to take full advantage of her head start. If she could get out of Gregor’s sight, then she might give him the slip. Double back down the hillside, perhaps. Or slip up the slope and gain ground. Maybe she could even find somewhere to hide.
Despite the lack of food and water, adrenaline gave her renewed energy. She leapt over a fallen tree that spanned the rough trail. The forests were alive with birdsong now that the sun was up, and the heat was building. It was going to be another scorching day. She only hoped it wouldn’t be her last.
* * *
The blood from a fairy’s second heart, Gregor thought. That was his focus, the focus of his entire life, and he was so close that he would let nothing steal it from him. The girl was his passport into whatever the Fold was, but the fairy was his true target.
He’d heard of fairies, but never seen one. Some stories said they were hard to kill. Others said they were immortal. He didn’t let any of these thoughts trouble him, because he had come too far to be halted by a story. He was making his own.
The blood from a fairy’s second heart.
Combined with the relics he carried in his backpack, it would form the end of the Script and the beginning of something else. The ingredients for the rest of his life. His transmutation into Kin, something that would embrace those small horns and tattooed eyeballs he’d suffered as a younger, more naive man. Perhaps he’d have a choice over what he would become, or maybe the ritual would choose for him.
Either way Mallian, the creature he had once known as Jace Tan, would guide him on his way.
He had no doubt that Mallian would be following, along with those other Kin who accompanied him. The gunshots didn’t trouble Gregor. Whoever went up against the Kin would be stomped into the ground, flesh and bones turned to mush.
The end of his journey was so close, the anticipation so high, and he couldn’t entertain the idea of failure. He had to catch the girl. Nothing else mattered.
Ignoring the pain in his arms and legs, the burning in his chest, the blood on his lips, Gregor pushed on until he reached a level path. He glanced right and saw Sammi disappearing over a fallen tree.
She had maybe twenty seconds head start.
Once he caught her, he’d make sure she could never run again.
33
Everything feels so close.
He experiences no doubt. He hasn’t for a long, long time. No doubt at all that this must be the way of things. Now that he’s taking action, rather than planning, his certainty is greater than ever. Soon he will be back in the Time where he belongs. A new Time, a precious Time. A Time of reality risen from myths, and new stories that will be told for ages to come.
It’s good to be out in the open again, moving without fear of being seen. It’s too early to reveal themselves fully, yet Ascent is on the rise. Once he has the fairy on his side, there will be no reason to hide anymore.
He has practiced the rite many times over the centuries, since obtaining the Script long, long ago. Each practice, however, has been in his head. It’s too risky a spell to try before the time is right, too dangerous to reveal, even to those who profess to follow him.
Besides, until now, he hasn’t possessed the necessary ingredients for it to work. The gullible human has almost finished gathering those ingredients for him. Perhaps he could have sent one of the Kin, but he liked the idea of using a human to bring closer humanity’s subjugation. Besides, Kin needing to travel so far would have taken much longer.
Half a human lifetime has been no time to wait.
It was difficult to be so close and let the ingredients go again, but that final gamble will gain him what he wants. The relic hunter will obtain access to the Fold, because of the child he holds prisoner. And Mallian will be close behind.
His only doubt—and the greatest disappointment—lies with Lilou. He is furious at her, yet sadness overrides the rage. They have spent so long together that being apart leaves an emptiness within him, a void which he struggles to fill. If she was with him now he would probably strike her down for her betrayal. But it would be with love, and tenderness.
He has no wish to see her suffer.
* * *
She senses someone approaching one of the entrances to her Fold.
This might be the last of them. Nineteen deniers have been brought to the Fold by nineteen wraiths, and soon she will be ready to perform the final spell, closing off this new world forever. Twenty Kin will be sufficient company for her. She could find more out there, send more bolts, draw more to her new home, but she has no wish to wait any longer.
She hasn’t felt this fresh and alive in a long, long time. Almost like a child facing the big wide world, wide-eyed and optimistic at the future. The arrivals have made themselves at home. Most have embraced their heritage, and denied their denial. None of them are ashamed, because they have survived, and being deniers has meant that they can now move on to this new place and Time.
She wanders the valley. This is a big, wide space, and the longer she spends here the larger it seems to be. Perhaps the Fold is growing in some unexpected side effect of the glamor that formed it. Perhaps not. Either way, she revels in this new world she has created.
Yes, there is definitely someone drawing close.
Perhaps she will go to meet this final new arrival.
34
Meloy screamed as they heaved him up onto Baylor’s back. It was a horrible sound. Vince had always seen Meloy as strong, hard, invincible. His reputation in the London underground was solid, and more than once Vince had avoided trouble or confrontation because someone discovered who he worked for. Fat Frederick’s reputation preceded him, and to see him suffering didn’t fit into a worldview that made any sense.
Vince glanced at Angela and saw the same expression on her face. Her experience with Fat Frederick Meloy was far different from his, but he knew that despite it all, she respected the man. That he could suffer such pain brought reality crashing home.
“We split up,” Lilou said. “Gregor’s got something, is doing something, that benefits Mallian, so he’s our priority. We have to stop him reaching Grace. If he does that, he achieves something that Mallian wants. And by definition, that’s something we don’t want.”
“My priority—” Angela began.
“I know who your priority is, Angela,” Lilou said, cutting her off. “Capturing Gregor saves Sammi. So we split into two groups and pursue them both. That gives us twice the chance of stopping him.”
“We’re running blind,” Vince said. “We’ve no idea where Mallian and his supporters are, or even how many he has with him. There’s no saying we saw them all back at the road.”
“What do you suggest?” Lilou asked.
“Splitting up might weaken us.”
“And staying together presents a single target. If we get ambushed again, we’re all held up for longer while we deal with it. That is, if we aren’t all killed.”
“She’s right,” Angela said.
Vince raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“It makes sense,” Angela continued. “If Mallian’s sent them out to stop us, they’re running blind, too. Otherwise they’d have come down on us by now. So if they’re waiting out there in the forest, we’ve got more chance if we’re in two groups.”
“So how do we split?” Jay asked. “’Cause, you know, your crippled friend here won’t be much help.”
Meloy groaned. Vince wasn’t sure if it was a conscious response, or just another moan of pain.
“Baylor’s the strongest of us,” Vince said, hating the doubts he was feeling. Maybe they should leave Meloy behind, at least until this was
over, one way or another.
“I can move just as quickly carrying him,” Baylor said. “If there’s trouble, I’ll dump him until it’s passed.”
Angela nodded.
Vince agreed.
“Angela, Tah, Ahara, come with me,” Lilou said. “Vince, you go with Baylor and Jay.”
Vince didn’t want to be split from Angela, but it made some sort of morbid sense. If one of them died, at least the other might still survive to take care of Sammi. The chances of both of them being killed were increased if they traveled together.
He doubted that was Lilou’s thinking, though. All of her focus was on capturing Gregor and stopping Mallian from gaining whatever advantage he’d come all this way to achieve. Taking control of the fairy would give him terrifying power, and Gregor was part of that.
“We need to stay in touch,” Vince said.
“No reception,” Angela said, holding up her mobile.
Vince checked his own. The battery was dead.
“We can help,” Tah said. She looked at Baylor and nodded. Baylor smiled, nodded back.
“What is that?” Vince asked.
“Something Kin,” Jay said. “Don’t worry about it, you won’t understand, but the two of them have been close for a long time.”
A dozen questions jostled in Vince’s head, but he asked none of them. He’d got the impression that Jay and Tah had some sort of relationship, but he couldn’t pretend to understand anything so complex within the Kin. He was only just beginning to understand people.
Angela came and embraced him. Though afraid, he felt strong and determined. They hugged tight, squeezing as if to mold themselves together, one person not two.
So much had changed, and while their love still burned fierce and strong, everything around it—their support network, the comfort of routine and civilization—had been burned away by the heat of pursuit and the simmering mysteries of the Kin. But they still had each other, and his world still felt strong.
“Love you,” he whispered into her ear.
“Yeah,” she said. She kissed him beneath his left ear. “Don’t leave me again.”