Blue Dome (The Blue Dome Series) (21 page)

Justin stared blankly at
the hearth in front of him, as Bede waited for him to continue. But no words
came. In the light of the fire, Bede could see the gleam of tears forming in
Justin’s eyes.

“You all right?” asked
Bede.

“Yeah, fine,” said Justin
defensively, as he wiped his face with the back of his hand.

“So, what happened?” said
Bede.

“They killed him,” said
Justin. “Killed him right while I was standing behind the wall, saving my own
skin.” He looked away.

“Hey, what could you
possibly have done?” said Bede. “There were eight of them. You would have ended
up dead as well, no two ways about it.”

“It wasn’t the gang that
killed him,” said Justin quietly.

“What?” said Bede. “I
don’t get it.”

“The gang didn’t do it.
They’d gone by then. It was Morana. I watched her do it, the whole thing.”

“Morana?” said Bede in
disbelief.

Justin nodded. “Vince and
the gang were still doing the ‘fighting talk’ thing when Morana and Stanley
suddenly turned up out of nowhere. For some reason the whole gang scattered
instantly. It was really weird to watch. Vince would have known those two from
Demarge’s place though, so he stuck around. Probably figured Demarge had sent
them to look after him.” Justin rolled his eyes derisively. “Anyway, I saw
Morana come up close to Vince with these fingernails that suddenly looked more
like talons.
It all happened so fast, but it was like she just swiped
them across his chest and he fell...” Justin was now making no attempt to hide
the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.

“Hey, it’s okay,” said
Bede, putting his hand on Justin’s arm. Justin shook it off.

“Nah, it’s not okay. You
wouldn’t believe the nightmares I’ve had since then.

Sometimes I wake in the
middle of the night with voices in my head saying, ‘it should have been you,
coward’. And the worst part is, I know the voices are right.”

“But if you’d stepped out
you would’ve been killed as well,” said Bede.

“Yeah, but at least Vince
would have known that he wasn’t alone,” said Justin. “I didn’t even try to stop
Morana, what kind of friend am I?”

Bede sighed. “Well, I
guess you feel the way you feel, and no one can really change that. But, maybe
some things aren’t just about ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Maybe some things depend more
on whether or not you can understand why a person has done something? I kind of
think what you did was pretty understandable.”

“Yeah, well it still
feels pretty wrong to me,” said Justin.

“So did you think about
going to the cops or anything?”

Justin shook his head.
“No, I was way too freaked. Besides, who would have believed me? “Excuse me
officer, I just saw a woman kill my friend with her bare fingernails.” I don’t
think so. I figured the best I could do was make an anonymous call and then
make a run for it, back to Demarge’s.”

“You went back to
Demarge’s after seeing that?” said Bede.

“I had to,” said Justin.
“He was expecting me to turn up for a job later that night. At the Cathedral as
it turned out. I had to make him think that I hadn’t seen what had happened and
that I was still loyal to him. At least until I’d worked out how to get myself
out of the mess.”

“So how come you’re
here?”

 “Well, I think I can
safely say I’m on Demarge’s blacklist now,” said Justin.

“What did you do?” said
Bede.

“Well...” Justin paused.
“You know how I said I knew your sister…” He proceeded to explain the series of
events leading up to the escape in St Bartholomew’s Cathedral. By the time he
was finished, Bede was shaking his head in disbelief and anger.

“So you knew that Clare
was in danger and you played along with it?”

“You’ve got to believe
me, I didn’t realise that Demarge actually wanted Ecoli to snatch her. It was
never part of the instructions. Even without Vince’s death, any plan to harm
Clare was going way too far for me. So, when Eredus was about to leap at
Clare’s friend I dived in to block him. I hadn’t planned on my back getting
torn up but I was hoping Demarge would think I was useless and let me go. I
didn’t bargain on him realising that I’d done it deliberately to mess things
up.”

“So who were the people
that Clare was with?” said Bede.

 “I don’t know,” said
Justin. “A woman and a boy. I didn’t get a good look at them though. One thing
I do know is that they all disappeared somewhere that neither Demarge nor Ecoli
could find.”

“What, in the Cathedral?”
asked Bede.

“Yeah. It was really
strange, one minute they were all racing up the stairs towards the Murmuring
Gallery, and the next they were…gone.”

Bede looked at Justin,
shaking his head.

“It doesn’t make any
sense.”

“I know. But at least you
know Demarge didn’t get her. Otherwise she’d be in here with us.”

“That’s something I guess,”
said Bede. “Still, it doesn’t explain where she is now. I really need to get
out of here and find her!”

I knew it was selfish,
but the thought of Bede being in danger made the troubles of the Slipworld pale
into insignificance. I’d already lost my parents, the last thing I needed was
to lose my brother too. He was the only connection I had left to my family, my
old life, my sense of normality.

“So when do we leave?” I
said to Min and Thomas, checking that I still had money in my pockets.
Everything seemed in check. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready,” I
said.

Thomas looked at me,
gnawing the corner of his lip awkwardly. I could tell that he wanted to say
something, but didn’t quite know how to put it. I could also tell that it
wasn’t something I wanted to hear. He glanced at Min uncomfortably.

“You need to stay here,
Clare,” she said. “It will only be Thomas and I who will go back.”

“Whoa, hang on a minute,”
I blurted. “The only reason I agreed to come here in the first place was on the
condition we’d go back for Bede afterwards. “You
promised
me.”

“And we’re keeping that
promise,” said Min calmly. “We’re going back now and we’ll find him.”

“He’s my brother, Min,” I
said, pleadingly. “You’ve got to let me come too, I’m begging you, I can’t just
sit here and wait.”

“Clare…” said Min gently,
before pausing to take a deep breath. “As we’ve explained, you are in extreme
danger at the moment if you go back to your world. Demarge will be scouring the
planet for you and he won’t give up. I know it’s hard but you have to stay
here.”

“But…!” I began, before
Min interrupted me.

“Trust me,” she said in a
tone that clearly said “conversation over.”

“Min, Thomas, you will
both need to be very careful,” said the man dressed in red who had been
standing silently beside us. “Demarge will be only too aware that we know he is
close to finding the entrance to the Slipworld. He will also have guessed that
we will be shutting down the Wiltsdown entrance and relocating it as soon as
all the Shards are back safely. No doubt he will make it particularly difficult
to rescue them so he has more time to thoroughly inspect the Cathedral.”

“Of course Daden, you’re
right,” said Min, turning to Thomas. “Do you know all the prisons Demarge has
in Wiltsdown?”

“Most of them,” said
Thomas. “But you know Demarge, he changes things all the time. There’s simply
no way of knowing if we have them all covered.”

“We may need back up,”
said Min, turning to the man in red.

“Okay. Freya and I will
remain here, close to the entrance,” he said. “Take Hester with you. She can
report back if further help is needed.”

As he spoke a sparrow
flew across the courtyard and into the library. It landed on Daden first,
chirped a couple of times, then jumped across onto Min’s shoulder.

“Hello Hester,” said Min.
To my surprise, the bird chirped back a response as if it had fully understood.

“You must go now,” said
Daden, ushering Min and Thomas into the courtyard.

“
Please
let me
come with you,” I said one last time. I knew I was seriously pressing my luck,
but I had to try.

Daden slowly shook his
head.

“No, I’m sorry Clare,
Min’s right, it’s much too risky. It would be dangerous enough in normal
circumstances, but given how little time there will be between rescuing the
Shards and closing the portal, it would be inconceivable to allow you to go.”

“But…” I stammered.

Daden placed his hand on
my shoulder. “No,” he said firmly.

I glanced imploringly at
Min and Thomas.

“I understand that you’re
worried Clare, but Daden’s word on this is final,” said Min. “You may come with
us as far as the
Valley
of
Flowers
, but then you must stay here until
we return.”

“If it’s any consolation
we can at least fly you back to the entrance,” said Thomas, smiling at me
slyly. I was still annoyed, but it was hard to stay mad when he was looking at
me like that.

“Okay,” I said
reluctantly.

Min and Thomas looped
their arms in mine and I felt my stomach lurch as my feet left the ground. I
took a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting the wind brush my face and the
delicious scent of pine, then flowers, wash over me. For a few seconds I felt
like I was a kid again, playing on the swings, except that this was the best
swing in the world. Then, all too soon, my feet hit something solid and I
opened my eyes to find that we were now back in the
Valley
of
Flowers
.

“You know how to get back
to the farmhouse again, don’t you?” said Thomas.

I nodded. “Yeah, thanks,
I’ll be fine.”

“Try not to worry Clare,”
said Min. “We’ll have Bede back as soon as we can.”

I nodded as I watched her
fingers starting to comb the air for something. It looked as if she was
stroking an invisible curtain.

“What are you doing?” I
said.

“Finding the seam,” said
Min. “Ahh, here it is.” Suddenly her hand disappeared, then her arm, straight
into thin air. Her body quickly followed, and with a final twitch of her brown
hair, Min had disappeared.

“Is Min back in the other
world now?” I said.

“Yes.” Thomas leaned
forward and kissed me on the forehead and I felt my knees jellify. “We’ll be
back soon.”

By the time I’d come to
my senses again, Thomas was gone and I was standing alone among the flowers. I
turned slowly back towards the farmhouse, the long grass grabbing at my legs as
I reluctantly drew my feet through it.

Why shouldn’t I go
back and help look for my own brother?
I thought to
myself angrily. “It might be dangerous, but I’m easily as strong as Min and
Thomas when it comes to running around in my own, I mean,
Demarge’s
world.”

I paused and glanced back
at the vacant patch of air where I’d last seen Min and Thomas. A curious
thought suddenly struck me.

I wonder if I could
find that seam myself?

Another thought quickly
followed.

No, you couldn’t, and
besides you’ve been expressly told not to even try, so don’t.

But it’s not fair
, I snarled inwardly.
I want to find my brother!

Well you can’t, you’ve
just got to wait
, I growled back.

That was it. The final
straw. No way was I going to let ‘self-righteous Clare’ stop me from doing what
I knew was the right thing. Bede was the only family I had left and vice versa.
If the police got hold of him – which it sounded as if they were highly likely
to – he’d be tried for murder and could end up spending his life in jail. I had
no choice – if I didn’t at least
try
to help him I’d never be able to
live with the consequences.

I turned around and took
a couple of steps forward, reaching out to feel the air between my fingers as I’d
seen Min do. There was nothing. Not even the faintest hint of anything, let
alone the gateway to a whole other world. I started to laugh.

Man, I must look like
a real idiot
, I thought.
Standing in the middle
of a field, feeling about in the air.

I quickly glanced behind
me to make quite sure no one was watching. Phew. I was still alone. Having seen
Min find the seam so easily, I was now determined to see if I could too. I
tried again. And again. Still nothing.

Maybe I’m just doing
it wrong,
I thought to myself.
Or maybe it’s
only Aeons who can do it?
I suddenly remembered what Min had said about
Shards needing to be shown the entrance to the Slipworld before they could come
in. But surely this was different? It was only a few minutes ago that I’d been
shown exactly where the seam was. So why couldn’t I now find it myself?

I was getting more and
more frustrated, cursing the seam under my breath, when all of a sudden, just
as I was about to give up, my fingernail snagged something. I stopped and
backed up, very slowly. There it was again, the edge of something, faint but
distinct, like a thin piece of cardboard. I spread my fingers and ran them down
the air in a vertical line. They were now all resting on some sort of invisible
ledge.

Wiggling the heel of my
palm forwards, I hooked my fingertips over the seam and they disappeared
instantly. Freaky! It was like watching an optical illusion being performed in
a magic show, although instead of feeling annoyed at not being able to work out
how the trick was being played, this was incredibly addictive. I inched my
fingers further into the seam, up to the first knuckle, then the second. Within
seconds I was staring at my handless wrist.

“This is so weird,” I
muttered to myself.

Now my right arm was in
the seam up to its elbow. A shoulder slipped in, then half my body. I could now
feel the rim of the two worlds resting on my nose, with one of my eyes staring
at the flowers and the other looking down the spiral staircase of St
Bartholomew’s Cathedral. It felt as though I’d become two separate people. I
was virtually all the way through the seam when Daden suddenly appeared in the
sky. I watched as he made a running landing and started tearing towards me.

“No Clare, no!” he
shouted.

Somewhere in the
background I could also hear a softer voice.

“Daden no. It’s far too
dangerous.” A tall woman with long hair the colour of honey and ice had now
grabbed his arm and was pulling him back.

Then everything went
quiet. I was back in the Cathedral, standing on the middle step. It was almost dark,
except for a shaft of soft, grey light that had spiralled its way up the
stairs. Daden’s plaintive “no!” was still ringing in my ears and I was starting
to feel mega-guilty about having deliberately ignored my instructions to stay put.

On the other hand though,
maybe it’d be okay. If I could find my way out of the Slipworld, then surely
I’d be able to find my way back in again? All I needed to do now was find Bede
and bring him to the Cathedral and it would all work out fine. Just to double test
the theory, I leant against the wall at exactly the same place that I’d just
come through and waited for the rubbery sensation to kick in. Oddly, nothing
moved. I took a step back from the wall, before leaning gently into it again. By
the third time I simply threw my shoulder at the solid surface.

“Ooch!” I breathed. The
wall was still as rigid as the day it had been built. I looked at the plaster
accusingly.

“Come on, I
know
that’s where you let me out,” I said, automatically followed by “great, now I’m
literally talking to a wall.” I pressed my hands against it and pushed. Nothing
even twitched. I kept pushing and prodding until my hands were sore, but it was
no use.

“I can’t believe this,” I
muttered to myself.

I now felt like the
world’s biggest idiot, times a million. Min and Thomas were already likely to
go crazy when they found out that I’d left the Slipworld, let alone that I was
too stupid to find my way back in again.

They may not even want
me back in the Slipworld after this
, I thought.
And
who could blame them? I wouldn’t want some dizzy girl in there if I was running
the place.

I sat down on the stairs
and stared miserably at the marble, determined to feel sorry for myself. After
a couple of seconds I realised there was really no point.

The only thing you can
do now is pull yourself together and get on with what you came to do in the
first place.

I knew I had to find Bede
before Demarge handed him over to the police.
I stood
up again, brushed myself down, and began walking slowly down the stairs. I had
only taken a few steps when I thought I heard something, or someone, moving
around on the stairwell just above me. My stomach did a back flip of guilt. Had
Daden followed me after all? If so, I at least owed him an explanation for why
I’d left the Slipworld.

I grabbed the banister
and began quickly winding my way up the spirals. I was concentrating so hard on
balancing on the thin end of each step that it took me a couple of seconds to
notice that the noise above me had stopped. It was only as I was rounding the
final corner, to arrive at the middle step, that I caught the glimmer of a
black hem slide across the marble. My pulse stopped mid-beat.

“Demarge!”

I started backtracking
down the stairs, slowly, softly, using only the balls of my feet.

You’re okay, he didn’t
see you
, I tried to reassure myself.

Suddenly I heard
footsteps coming towards me, growing steadily faster and faster. The time for
reassurance was over, I knew I was in serious trouble. I turned and began
pelting down the stairs in a blind panic. My boots clattered like hailing rain
against the marble, but I didn’t care. As I rounded the final corner, the
square doorway to the atrium loomed in front of me. I leapt through it and
began running frantically towards the huge wooden doors of the Cathedral.