Crowned (21 page)

I nod. “Right. You missed a lot.”

“I read your email over and over again, trying to fill in the gaps.”

I scowl at him. “There were no gaps.”

He laughs and ruffles my hair. God, it feels good. “There were
huge
gaps. It was like a synopsis from a TV guide.”

“Hey, I did my best under severe constraints,” I protest.

“Sure.” He brushes my hair back, and his touch sends a jolt through me. I close my eyes, revelling in the sensation, then remember I’m supposed to be playing it cool. “Seriously, what’s going on? Have you spoken to him since then?”

I open my eyes. “I’ve met with him twice. And, um…well…we communicate telepathically now, so we talk regularly.”

His hand freezes against the side of my face. “What?”

Oops. “It’s not a big deal. It just makes it easier to talk.”

“You let that crazy bastard into your head
regularly
?”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

“How should I put it?” He lifts his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I leave you alone for five minutes and you make friends with the guy who’s trying to ruin your life?”

“You’re being melodramatic. And you left me for more than five minutes.”

He falls silent, and I feel guilty for saying that. It’s not like he wanted to leave – I made him go. He
had
to go.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m glad you went. Honestly, you were a huge, obnoxious thorn in my side.”

He rolls his eyes, then takes my hand. “I was worried about you. After all the things you said about the Puppetmaster watching us, and keeping your tooth, and pretending to be your grandfather… I didn’t know what I’d find when I got here.”

“I’m fine.” I cling to his hand, then let go, then cling to it again. “I’m good.”

He looks into my eyes. “Tell me about these conversations you’ve been having.”

I nod and take a deep breath. “Well, the first thing you need to know is that the serum isn’t to blame for your weirdness. You have a genetic mutation.”

He frowns, opens his mouth, and then closes it again.

“I know. Just wait till you hear the rest.”

I tell him everything that’s been going on, taking care to leave nothing out. When I get to Thuli’s tattoo he gets so worked up his eyes burn blue, and then I start to tell him about the Loosening.

“I knew it!” he exclaims. “The clan has been buzzing with rumours that something big was going on in the gifted world. That’s why the council had so many long meetings. Temper wouldn’t tell us anything, though. Serame insisted they wait until they knew for sure before making an announcement, but we could tell it was bad because they issued a travel ban. No one was allowed to leave their city. My father broke it and now his cell is under supervision.”

I frown. “Supervision?”

“They’ve been moved into the big house with Serame. Where she goes, they go. It’s usually a punishment for youth cells, so it’s pretty humiliating,” he adds. There’s no missing the slight note of satisfaction. I guess he and Senzo won’t be winning any father-son bonding awards.

“Have your gifts been growing, too?”

He shakes his head. “Mandla thinks the stability of the clan keeps us insulated. When we’re all together and strong it’s more difficult for things that affect other gifted to touch us.”

I take a deep breath. “Well, there’s more. The Loosening isn’t any ordinary ritual.”

“Obviously not – apparently it has the widest range of any known spell in history.”

I nod, then explain to him exactly what the Loosening is for and how the Puppetmaster has already begun to use it.

“What?” he bellows, cutting me off. “How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know. It’s an ancient ritual.”

“But that’s…” He blinks and shakes his head, his features twisted in horror, sparks gathering on his fingers. “You’re saying the Puppetmaster can remove someone’s gift without killing them? That’s like cutting someone in half!”

I nod.

“And they’ll still be fine? Healthy? Sane?”

“So it seems. Jafta was devastated, but Marshall’s fine. Never better.”

He looks at me, and in his eyes I see the dismay I felt when I saw that Jafta had lost his gift. “How, Connie?”

I shake my head. He squeezes my hand. His energy has accumulated to the point that it sears my skin. As much as I love Wiki and Lebz, there’s something to be said for having someone in my life who really understands. We sit there in silence for a while, my gift absorbing his until his emotions are in check once more.

“I have to go,” he whispers. “They’re expecting me back soon.”

I start to protest. I haven’t even told him about Connie Who Knows and the Ultima. Then I remember that he has a family now. I have to share him. We get up and walk to the door, falling into step with each other. We stand on the front step. I look up into his face. His expression is solemn.

“This is a lot to digest,” he says.

I nod, then smile sadly. “Remember how it started? A bunch of girls with bewitched necklaces. That was the biggest problem we had for months, and now it’s one thing after another and I feel like you’re the only person who gets it.”

“We’ve been in this together from day one.” He pulls me into a hug. “No matter what the cell says, we’ll always be in this together.”

I sigh into his hoodie. “You didn’t come here for me, you came to find out about your origins. That’s important, too.”

“Are you joking? Of course I came for you.”

My heart does several cartwheels in my chest. Is it selfish of me to be pleased? Yes, but so what? I’m only human. I look up at him. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Clearly I do. Making nice with the Puppetmaster, getting chummy with Thuli – you’re more of a magnet for trouble than ever.” He raises his eyebrows. “You need me.”

Yes, I do, but I’ll be damned if he ever knows that. “Go home, Cinderella.” I step away reluctantly and shove him towards the gate. “Before your Isuzu turns back into a pumpkin. We’ll talk in the morning.”

He takes a few steps backwards. “Good to see you, North American Weed.”

I smile. “Good to see you, Lizard.”

I wait until his car is out of sight before locking the gate and the front door. I soak the dishes in the sink for tomorrow, turn off the lights and walk to my room. Dad’s snoring already.

I open my door to find my crystal glowing happily. I change into my night clothes and stare into the crystal until I fall asleep. For tonight at least, it’s bright enough to dispel all the shadows.

* * *

My eyes flutter open as the persistent buzz of my alarm permeates my sleepy haze. Something’s different about today. I blink into the darkness, trying to figure it out. Oh, yes. A warm glow spreads through my chest. Rakwena’s home. Well, not home – home for him is South Africa now – but he’s within driving distance.

I turn over onto my side so I can savour this fact for a few minutes, but something disrupts my joy. It’s that now-familiar prick that indicates an unwanted visitor.

Morning.

Oh, for goodness’ sake. Can’t a girl have five minutes to daydream about a boy any more? What kind of world is this?

Don’t you sleep? Is that one of the first things to go when you become almost immortal?

The Puppetmaster is amused, as always, by my feisty spirit.
I’m surprised you could sleep at all, what with last night’s excitement.

I sigh and roll onto my back again.
What do you want?

Just to share in your joy. I owe your grandfather a debt for making the discovery that brought the clan here.

I sit up slowly.
Why? What does the clan have to do with anything?

They provided a pretext for Rakwena to return, and that’s good for us.

Us? There’s no us – there’s you on the side of the Depraved Lunatics and me on the side of the Regular Decent Folk. And just so you know, Rakwena will never let you use him. You might be able to get into my head, but he’d die before helping you.

He sighs.
How many times must I say it? This is not about me. It’s about destiny, and you can’t fight destiny.

I wish he wouldn’t say things like that. His words make fear go scampering across my back, leaving a dense, heavy feeling all over my body.
Stay away from Rakwena.
I mean it.

But he’s gone, and I’m sure he’s laughing. I fling back the covers, my good mood evaporated. Rakwena and I have always made a good team. We’ll find the warehouse and stop the Puppetmaster, somehow. As I snatch up my bathrobe and open the door I recall the conversation I had with Rakwena about the Loosening.

Just thinking of it makes my insides squirm, as if my gift is slipping away and I’m trying to hold on to it. I’m sure the people who came up with such a ritual believed it was a necessary evil, but I can’t agree with them. Separating gifts from their bearers is wrong. We can function without our gifts, but something will always be missing. I’ve whined about my gift for years. People whine – it’s what we do. We hate our legs or our eyes or our elbows, but the minute we lose them we realise how vital they were.

Rakwena calls while I’m having breakfast and we arrange to meet later. I can’t wait to see him. I wish I could staple him to my side. I’m about to send messages to my friends when my phone rings again. It’s Wiki.

“Are you home? We’re on the way over.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Who’s we?”

“Me and the girls. We have important news. Don’t move!”

He hangs up without giving me the opportunity to protest. News, huh? That sounds promising. The three of them arrive an hour later, and Lebz and Kelly head straight for my room to “fix their clothes”. I stare at their backs, then turn to Wiki.

“OK, what on earth was that all about?”

“I have to tell you something,” he begins, and experience has taught me that’s never a good way to start a conversation. “Kelly knows you’re gifted.”

I exhale. That’s all? “Of course she knows; she’s not an idiot.”

“What I mean is, ahem, she knows everything. She read the File.”

This is what happens when you go rescuing ungifted girls from the inappropriate advances of rogue drifters. They start thinking too much and putting pieces of the puzzle together. I sink back into my chair. “Spill it, Judas.”

“Hey! I didn’t give it to her. She read it while I was out of the room!”

“Does she check your phone, too?”

“She was just curious. It was bound to happen; we all knew that. Besides, she’ll make a great sidekick,” he adds.

Gifted are secretive – we have to be. People don’t like things they can’t understand, and in a community as steeped in the supernatural as ours, someone who can do strange things is more likely to be reviled than revered. I’ve had my share of parents telling their kids not to play with me. It took a lot of work to graduate from flat-out creepy to slightly odd. Kelly was among those who thought I was weird and gave me a wide berth. Before we became friends I thought if she found out my secret she’d make my life hell. Now I know her bratty popular girl routine is just a persona.

I heave a long, theatrical sigh, just to make Wiki sweat a little. “This is a serious betrayal.”

“I’m sorry, Connie, I really–”

“I’m kidding,” I chuckle, and he glares at me. “To be honest she’s saved us an awkward talk. We can upgrade her clearance effective immediately.”

He beams. “Thanks, Connie. I hated keeping things from her. I want us to have an honest relationship.”

Geez. Wiki’s such a sap.

“Oh, by the way, you were right about that journalist,” he says with a frown. “She called all three of us. We didn’t tell her anything,” he adds hastily.

Damn, that woman is persistent! “Don’t worry about her. As long as we keep quiet we’ll remain nothing more than helpful bystanders.”

“OK, then we can move on to the good news,” he breathes. “Can I call the others?”

I nod. He goes to fetch the girls, and when we’re all comfortably seated he opens his bag and takes out the File. I glance at Kelly. She looks excited. I regard her with a new level of respect. When Wiki and Lebz first figured out that I was gifted, they were more disturbed than excited.

“We found it!” Lebz declares. “Well, Wiki found it, but Kelly helped and I offered moral support.”

“Sure you did,” I reply wryly. “What did you find?”

“Evidence that the Ultima has been embodied before,” says Wiki, opening the File.

A surge of panic swells in my chest. “What do you mean?”

“This must be what the Puppetmaster learned, what made him sure she wasn’t a myth.” He flips through the pages, finds what he’s looking for, then holds it up. “Look.”

I look, then glare at him impatiently. “It’s in hieroglyphs!”

“Cuneiform, actually. There’s a translation below.” He lowers the File. “It’s the story of a young couple who lived in a time of great distress. They had a gifted son and people were afraid of him, so the family fled. They would settle in one place, get found out and have to run again. They travelled quite a distance, moving south.”

I sigh. “A real tear-jerker.”

“There’s more,” says Kelly, practically bouncing in her seat.

Wiki nods. “There’s a story from the Gold Coast, which of course is now Ghana. It’s an account from the diary of a traveller, about a family with a strange son. We think it’s the same bloodline. Listen: ‘He had no friends, save one old man, who was as odd as he and as eager to avoid the company of others. They would disappear together, and the people grew afraid.’ And all this was happening at a time when the gifted were in trouble. See, here it says: ‘There was a cloud over the world, for something dark had come to devour the gifted. Those who could See lost their Sight, and the people of the Power fled from the darkness, but could not hide. It was the boy and the old man who saved them, for the boy could take away their pain, and the old man could make them stronger.’”

“The boy was a drifter!” Lebz blurts out.