Crowned (24 page)

It’s happening. The spots of blue in his eyes are growing slowly. In my peripheral vision I see faint blue sparks along the edge of his jaw. His breathing is laboured. His mind doesn’t quite believe the thoughts I’ve planted yet, but his body does, and that’s all that matters. The sparks on his skin are brighter now, and I can hear them crackle.

He reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing so tight he’s almost crushing me. I grit my teeth against the pain, but keep my focus on his mind. He’s trying to conquer me. In his desperation he’s forgotten that he can’t absorb energy from a gifted.

Now
, says that soft voice inside me, and I attack, launching energy at Senzo’s murky barrier. His head fills with green light, banishing the darkness. He gasps and clutches his head in agony, then drops to the ground. I can see everything.

I see a dark hunger for something neither conquering nor the bond can give him. It’s what drives him, what keeps him moving back and forth like a spoiled child kicking up dust everywhere he goes. But I see more than that. He has something in his blood, like the Puppetmaster said. Too much energy. Too much desire.

I look into his frightened eyes, into the mind beyond, and from the depths I retrieve a memory. He’s small, five or six, and playing alone in a field. The grass is dry and high. His brothers are not far, but he has wandered off, distracted by some curiosity. He senses something that shouldn’t be there. He runs towards it – stops, confused. And then he looks down at the ground and, reckless, innocent child that he is, sends his gift into the earth to uncover the mystery. Blue light penetrates the earth, going down, down, down…and hits something. Senzo kneels, excited, but instead of the earth parting to reveal its secret, it sends up a shower of sparks that throws him backwards. He’s not hurt, but his power feels different now, and he’s afraid. He gets to his feet and flees.

I release the memory. I know what it means. That’s how he got his extra psychic energy. He reached out for something in the ground, and it reached back. But there’s more. There’s something coating that memory like varnish on a piece of furniture. Fear. Senzo was terrified when this memory happened, but he’s even more frightened now. This memory means something to him. Something important. Something bad.

Enough.

My gift withdraws like a cut wire, snapping back into my head with such force that my head jerks backwards and I stumble. For a second I’m annoyed that Connie Who Knows thinks she has the right to control my gift, but then I take in my surroundings and the annoyance dissipates instantly.

The amphitheatre is dead quiet. I stare at Senzo, lying on his back on the ground, his chest heaving, then raise my gaze to the stunned faces around me. Now I know how Maria must feel. Everyone is looking at me as though I’ve sprouted an extra limb. I never thought I could feel like a freak among other freaks.

The silence is broken by the sound of Serame’s heels clicking against stone as she approaches. I turn slowly to face her, terrified, but there’s not a trace of censure on her face. Instead she looks impressed, and – unless I’m delusional – pleased. She doesn’t spare a glance for poor Senzo. I do, before looking back into her twinkling eyes. Suddenly I get the feeling that Senzo’s high energy wasn’t the only reason he was chosen for this task. I think Serame not only expected me to break him – she wanted me to.

“It appears we may have underestimated you,” she says smoothly.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead. “People do that a lot.”

Then she does the last thing I expected her to. She laughs. I don’t know whether to be afraid or amused. I know one thing, though – I like this woman.

“Get up, Senzo,” she drawls. “You should be embarrassed – being beaten by a teenager.”

He pulls himself up, glares at me, and slinks away to nurse his pride. I look to the audience. Rakwena’s grinning. I turn towards Ntatemogolo. He’s frowning thoughtfully.

“Congratulations,” Serame says. “You passed the test. We will need some time to make preparations, so you and your grandfather will leave for D’Kar first thing Wednesday morning.”

I open my mouth to tell her I have work on Wednesday, then think better of it. I get the feeling Serame is used to having her way. “Yes, ma’am.”

She smiles. “Call me Serame.”

* * *

Ntatemogolo barely speaks to me as he drives me to his house. When we finally sit down I feel the force of his gaze on me.

“Is there something you want to tell me, Connie?”

“You mean besides the fact that I’m a great telepath?” The joke falls flat.

“That was
not
you!” he roars. Ntatemogolo doesn’t normally raise his voice. He snaps, snarls, growls and glowers, but he doesn’t shout. “You have been keeping things from me, my girl, and I am struggling to understand why.”

I bite my lip, flooded with guilt, and say nothing.

“I saw a wave of energy leave your body and enter Senzo’s with such force that you could have killed him. I have never seen energy like that.” He leans forward, his hands gripping the armrests so tightly I’m almost afraid he’ll break them. “That energy did not belong to you. I didn’t recognise it. No one in that place could have recognised it. Do you know why? Because it was not human. It was something else entirely. It was
green
.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I was confused and scared–”

“And yet the girl I saw in that meeting today did not look the least bit scared. She knew exactly what she was doing.”

“I didn’t have a choice! They were going to excommunicate me!”

He takes a long, ragged breath. “Connie, tell me what is going on. Where did you get that power? Was it the Puppetmaster? That puzzle box he gave you?”

I shake my head. “I haven’t opened the puzzle box. It’s not him; it’s
her
. The girl from the dream. Connie Who Knows.”

He’s quiet for a long time. “The girl with the green eyes?”

I nod. “She’s part of me. I mean, I thought she was. I thought she was my subconscious or something, my intuition guiding me. But today, when I felt that power come out of me, I knew it was something else.”

“And you used it anyway.”

“I wasn’t going to lose Rakwena! I didn’t ask for this power. I needed it, and it came to me.”

Ntatemogolo drops his gaze and sighs. His silence is long and excruciating.

“Ntatemogolo, please say something.”

“I know what you are thinking,” he whispers.

“What do you mean?” The innocence is feigned, and we both know it.

“You think you are the Ultima.”

The world skids to a stop. My head starts to throb, my pulse races and I feel an unholy mixture of fear and excitement stir inside me.

“You think you are the vessel the Puppetmaster has been seeking all these years, the vessel that embodies her. The Definitive. But you don’t believe, as I do, that the Ultima is figurative, a metaphor for a state of being. You think she exists. And you think she is inside you. You think she is the reason you have changed.”

It sounds insane when he says it out loud, but I can’t run from it any more. Yes, that’s what I think. It’s what I’ve been afraid to think, but after what happened today I don’t see how I can avoid it. “The Puppetmaster believes it.”

“Believing it does not make it true.”

“Actually, I think it might.”

He frowns. “What does that mean?”

I don’t know. I seem to say a lot of odd things lately, things that make no sense to my brain but make perfect sense to that other part of me that’s causing all the trouble.

He rests a hand on my shoulder. “Listen to me. The Ultima is a myth. The Puppetmaster must have seen this ability in you, this…whatever it is. Perhaps you have unlocked some power from an unknown source, but it is not the Ultima. She is a metaphor. Don’t allow him to persuade you otherwise!”

I nod dumbly. What else can I do? Try to convince my grandfather that I embody an ancient supernatural principle that wields fierce green energy? Of course not. That’s madness. I know it is. And yet…

“Don’t worry,” he says gently. “Now that I have seen what is at work here, I can help you get rid of it. It might be linked to everything else that has been happening – the kidnappings, the Loosening.”

It’s more than linked to it. It’s the key to everything. He’s looking at me with pity and concern, like I’m losing my mind. Maybe I am. Maybe I’ve finally fallen prey to the Puppetmaster’s machinations and it’s only a matter of time before I turn into his prize zombie foot soldier. But I don’t think so.

“It has been a long day,” says Ntatemogolo. “Come. I’ll drive you home.”

I get to my feet and follow him without a word. My grandfather is the wisest man I know, but this time he’s wrong.

* * *

Rakwena comes over just before six. I’ve been home alone for a few hours, too weary to eat and too wound up to do anything else. He finds me sitting curled up on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV. He takes my hand and pulls me up, and I step into the circle of his arms. I’m not thinking about conquests or drifter codes – I just soak up his energy and pretend we’re the only people who matter.

“Are you OK?”

I shake my head. “Something’s happened to me.”

“I noticed.” He releases me and looks down into my face. “I’ve never seen you do anything like that. There was a strange light in your eyes, like the one I have when I get upset, but yours was…”

“Green.” I sigh.

“What does it mean?” He sits and pulls me down beside him, and at last I tell him all I know about the Ultima. When I’m done he frowns a little. “Is the Puppetmaster right? Are you the Definitive?”

“According to my grandfather, no.” I give him a weak smile.

“And according to you?”

I hesitate, then nod.

His thick eyebrows are drawn together. He licks his lips, trying to find the words. “But the Ultima…it’s not real. You said it was a metaphor.”

“People say so. Maybe it is.” I slump back in the sofa, exhausted from all this thinking. “I guess it’s like religion. Some people believe one thing and others believe something else. You only know what rings true to you, right? I don’t know if she’s real for everyone else, but she feels real to me. Her voice is so clear. Sometimes it’s not even a voice – it’s a feeling. It’s just…knowing.”

“Is she in your head? Like the Puppetmaster?”

“No, not really. It’s more like she’s part of my body, if that makes any sense.”

He gives me a pained look. “It doesn’t.”

I shrug helplessly.

“The clan is still talking about you.” He starts tracing lines across the back of my hand, sending delicious tingles up my arm. “Half of them are impressed and the other half are scared to death.”

“And your brothers?”

He smiles. “You’ve just become the coolest person on the planet to them. Elias is telling everyone he always knew you weren’t an ordinary mind reader.”

I manage a weak laugh, then remember what I saw in Senzo’s head. “Hey, is there anything suspicious going on with your dad?”

He frowns. “Everything about him is suspicious. Why?”

I tell him about the memory.

“He
has
been much quieter than usual,” he muses. “He spends a lot of time whispering with his cell. I thought it was just because he’s in trouble and trying to lie low.”

Something occurs to me. “You said he went to Durban, right?”

“Ja.” He looks at me. “What are you thinking?”

“One of the Loosening markers is in Durban – that’s what’s causing the energy surge. What if the energy your dad came into contact with as a child was the marker? What if he figured it out, and that’s why he went back?”

“That can’t be right. The Loosening strips gifts, it doesn’t increase energy. And if it hadn’t begun when he touched the marker, nothing would have happened.”

He has a point. I rub my temples. “
Ag
, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just looking for connections that aren’t there.”

Rakwena falls silent. I know this must be a lot for him to digest. It’s a lot for me to digest, too. I feel as though I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and now I have no idea where I am, but I have to keep walking.

“Has he said anything?” he asks finally.

“The Puppetmaster? No.”

“But he must know that you know you’re the vessel. And if he’s been waiting for you to realise it, it’s only a matter of time before he comes for you. For us.”

I nod. “Not yet, though. I’m not ready.”

“I don’t think he cares.”

“I don’t think the Puppetmaster’s going to make a move until I’m able to wield the Ultima’s power as easily as I wield mine.” It’s such a relief being able to speak about her instead of trying to run away. I’m tired of being afraid. I’m tired of living in denial. I believe Connie Who Knows and the Ultima are one and the same. Deep down I think I believed it from the moment I first heard of the Ultima.

“So what do we do?” asks Rakwena. “Try to find his hideout and stop the Loosening?”

“We can’t stop the Loosening without the Ultima.”

He stares at me in amazement. “How can you possibly know all that?”

I shrug. “Like I said, sometimes she tells me things without talking.”

“You are the weirdest girl in the universe,” he murmurs.

“Tell me about it.”

Dad comes home soon afterwards. He seems relieved to find Rakwena here – it means I’m safe from the Puppetmaster, for now. Poor Dad. I should probably fill him in on what he’s missed, but he’s been so calm that I don’t want to rock the boat.

Then again, fate has never taken my feelings into consideration. I’m walking Rakwena to the door when we hear a loud, rapid knock.

“Dad, are you expecting someone?” I call out.

“No,” he calls back from his room.

I frown at Rakwena, and he shrugs. When I open the door, the first thought to strike me is that I’m too late. It’s Emily, and I’m convinced her presence means the Puppetmaster is summoning me and Rakwena at last. But a moment later common sense kicks in. He wouldn’t send Emily for something so important – he’d do that himself. She must be here to invite me to our third and final meeting.

“Welcome back,” she says to Rakwena, as though they’re old friends.