Grail of the Summer Stars (Aetherial Tales) (35 page)

Mist drew back, rubbing his temple. “Forgive me. Go on, tell me what happened.”

“The Felixatus was dazzling, a globe of crystal full of stars. It was all held together by the most beautiful metalwork, with cogs and gears like the most perfectly engineered mechanism you could imagine. It was exquisite.”

“I saw it, too,” said Mist. “I think its purpose was only understood by its creator, who was long gone. I assume my father and Veropardus would eventually have told me what they knew, but events overtook us before they had a chance.”

Stevie paused, arrested by vivid memories; the simple room with its polished marble floor and crystal dome, and the Felixatus sparkling in all its jeweled mystery. Rufus’s hand on her arm; her inner panic as she wondered how to escape him …

“I went to the Felixatus and touched it. Even Rufus was shocked by that. Did you know that the inner sphere was full of Felynx soul-essences?”

Mist frowned. “Not at the time. Later, Rufus told everyone. While we had Frances’s carved object, I could still feel their energy, even in the base.”

“Well, it was my fault.”

“What was?”

“That the truth came out. As soon as I touched the sphere, I knew. Hundreds of voices flooded into me, crying for help. And I told Rufus. I couldn’t help myself. I was overwhelmed, and didn’t realize I was telling him something he didn’t already know. Later, I told Aurata, and she was equally shocked. I’d have told you too, if I’d known you better.”

“About the Spiral?” Mist prompted her, as she stopped for breath.

“Yes. The voices spoke of another realm, kept secret from the Felynx because of a long-ago conflict. I don’t think the Tashralyr knew, either, since it didn’t mean a great deal to Fela. I don’t remember anything being said about other realms; we just lived quietly around the lakes and forests. It obviously meant a lot to Rufus, though.”

“I remember him raging,” said Mist. “How dare our parents conceal the truth about the Otherworld, our true home? Who was this Malikala, who dared forbid the Felynx to enter? He confronted our parents, who insisted they’d done what was best. The Felynx couldn’t reenter the Spiral without risking a war, so we sealed ourselves off. But there it was. Because Poectilictis favored me, and kept secrets, Rufus decided to bring down Azantios. Being accused of killing Fela sealed his decision.”

“But that wasn’t the whole of it.” Stevie gripped his arms to make her point. “Aelyr and Vaethyr souls alike, when their bodies die, are set free drift wherever they choose. I think the same applied to the Tashralyr. But the Felynx weren’t free. The Felixatus was being used to capture their soul-essences. They were all drawn in like, I don’t know—like insects into a sundew plant.”

“I know,” Mist said stiffly. “Our father and Veropardus were forced to admit it. But there was a reason. Since we weren’t allowed into the Spiral, they said, we were being gathered into the Felixatus until the Otherworld was reopened to us. It was only a matter of time. The Felixatus was meant to keep our spirits safe until then.”

“Well, someone was lying.” Stevie’s voice rose. “Didn’t you guess? The Felixatus wasn’t a refuge. It was a prison.
Someone
wanted to keep control of the Felynx forever.”

“No.” Mist turned as pale as the blue-white lilies swaying in Virginia’s garden. “We heard rumors, but Poectilictis would never have allowed such an atrocity.”

She let her hands fall. “Well, you know your father better than I did. He was a good man.”

“Yes, he was.”

“Veropardus wasn’t, though. What if he was capturing souls in order to seize power? I believe that’s why Fela was killed,” she finished. “She knew too much and, after all, she wasn’t Felynx, only a marsh dweller.”

“Rufus never said that the knowledge came from you.”

“Well, he wouldn’t. But it did. So it was my fault—his rebellion, the fall of Azantios, everything. All Fela’s fault.”

Stevie ran out of words. She felt drained. Where could her embryonic relationship with Mist go now? As strangers, in the guise of modern humans, they’d met as equals. As Aetherials, though, they’d been utterly different. Mistangamesh had been a prince of fire, Fela a creature of the wild. She might have adored him in secret, but she’d had to accept that nothing would ever come of it.

“No,” he said. “It was all Rufus’s doing. And ours, for being negligent. But absolutely not your fault, Fela.”

“Don’t call me that!” she flared. “I am not Fela. I have her memories, but I’m different now.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?”

“Of course. I lived as Adam for a century. Even with Rufus constantly in my face tormenting me, I couldn’t rouse the slightest memory of being Aetherial. I know how it feels.”

“All right, I can’t argue with that. But I’ve no experience of being
born
human. All I recall is lurching out of a woodland, fully grown but mindless. I was only half a person.”

“You will feel complete again. It takes time.”

“I don’t know that I want to. I’m Stephanie Silverwood now. I don’t want to be Fela, I want to be complete as
Stevie
.”

Mist, still pale, spoke without emotion. “Fela did nothing wrong.”

“All the same—been there, done that,” she retorted.

“Why are you angry?”

The question made her more furious. She controlled herself and tried to explain in a rational tone. “You didn’t see the Tashralyr as equal. Why should you? The Felynx were the elite. You didn’t care that we’d made a peaceful home on Vaeth eons before you arrived.”

“We could be arrogant. I can’t deny it.”

“Oh, not you personally.” She paused and spoke more gently. “You were different, Mist; you seemed kind, but we still never had a chance to make friends. I’m thinking of Rufus and his cronies, loving us for our entertainment value. Aurata was Fela’s patron, as in
patronize
, or whatever word we used in a language I can’t remember.”

“I agree. Aetherials have no excuse take such attitudes,” said Mist. “Yet why should we be egalitarian and perfect in a way that humans aren’t? We’re not angels. We’re simply a different race.” He lowered his eyes. “But I swear, I never looked down on the Tashralyr. They were magnificent beings. If I’m honest, I was a little envious of Aurata for having your companionship.”

“Envious?” She was startled. When Mist didn’t expand on the remark, she went on, “I don’t know if this means anything but sometimes … Aurata would talk in her sleep. She’d say Veropardus’s name, and mutter about being trapped inside ice, and needing to break barriers. I had no idea what it meant. Usually I’d be booted out of her bedchamber long before she fell asleep.”

Mist exhaled, and spoke at last. “I’m not denying there was exploitation. The Felynx were like pampered cats, basking in the sun. However, I know how hard my mother and father worked to maintain that state of grace, and I was so afraid that, when my turn came, I wouldn’t have the wisdom necessary to sustain it.”

Stevie half-smiled. “I’m sure you would have. What would you have done about the Felixatus, though?”

“I don’t know. It’s academic, since it was lost when Azantios fell.”

“Yes, it was gone, but it’s come back to haunt us. I know how self-centered this sounds, but is it coincidence that I met Daniel, and suddenly all these fragments of the past are spilling out and
someone
is trying to suppress them?”

He met her gaze. His face and eyes, luminous in the sapphire gloom, contained a mass of thoughts she couldn’t fathom but which she was sure were deadly serious. “You dived into Meluis, were lost for thousands of years, and emerged at a precise point in the modern world?”

“Give or take the ten years that I needed to acclimatize.”

“It could be the Spiral pushing us around, or some deeper knowledge inside you that sent you where you needed to be. So no, Fela, I’m sure it’s not coincidence.”

“Great,” she said thinly, “but if you call me Fela one more time, I’ll kick you into that bramble hedge! I’m
Stevie
!”

A wedge of light fell out of the cottage. “Guys?” came Sam’s voice from the doorway. The edges of his hair were a spun halo. “D’you know we can hear every word in here? How about you come inside and tell us all about it?”

*   *   *

“… Meluis itself was a dream. Green glass, fading into nothingness. And then the Spiral spat me out.” Stevie completed her tale, now dry and dressed and basking in the delicious heat from Virginia’s fireplace. “All I remember is clawing my way out of a swamp, clinging onto tussocks of moss and tree roots. There were thin pale birch trees all around me. I dragged myself up off the wet ground as if I’d just been born. I had a human body, and I was soaked, with only my hair to cover me—that and a layer of mud. No memories. I slipped between the trees like a dryad, hiding when aliens in strange clothing went past. I realize now they were just ordinary people out walking. Some had dogs, and if the dog wasn’t on a leash it would come bounding towards me—but the humans never saw me.”

“You must have been terrified,” said Rosie.

“And completely disorientated. I came to a field with a gate onto a lane. Someone had left a pile of garbage in the gateway—a horrible mess of truck tires, rubble and old clothes and furniture—and there was a dress: grubby white cotton with little flowers. I put it on and I started walking along the lane until the police picked me up.”

Sam asked, “What did you tell them?”

“I had nothing.” Stevie shivered at the memory. “Not even my name, age, where I was from, nothing. They took me to hospital, where I was washed and fed and examined. They questioned me for hours, then passed me to social services. I was put on a psychiatric ward for a few weeks, then into foster care while they tried to find out who I was, if I’d been attacked or drugged or suffered some trauma to account for my state. I hate to think about those days. All these strangers making a fuss over me, even though I was nobody to them. I started speaking after a few weeks, picking up the language and mimicking their behavior until I sort of fit in.”

She briefly described the families who’d tried to care for her, but found her too disturbed. “I was obsessed with water, and kept leaving taps to run, playing Ophelia in the bath, and not really understanding why they freaked out when I caused a flood. I also had a habit of taking household equipment to pieces. I’ve only recently realized it was my way of trying to understand how the world worked. No wonder they kept taking me for psychiatric assessments!” Stevie grinned, amazed to find she could suddenly laugh about it. “I was pretty violent, too. Sometimes there were older boys in the family who would try their luck with me, not realizing how hard I could hit. The bruises were impressive enough to get me moved, at least four times.”

“Wow, it sounds like a nightmare,” said Rosie.

“For them as much as me.” Stevie smiled. “In the end I ran away. I found a job and lodgings, and that was when I met Daniel. Everything changed then. He was someone I could talk to. He made me feel I was
real
, that I had a personality and identity after all.”

As she spoke, it struck her powerfully that her companions accepted everything she was saying as though it were perfectly normal. Virginia seemed the archetypal wisewoman—a more down-to-earth Persephone—who’d heard scores of such tales. Dive into her waterfall and emerge transformed? The most natural thing in the world.

Virginia asked, “So, although you forgot your Aetherial past, Daniel picked up images from you?”

“Apparently, but not only from me. He’s painted scenes that Fela couldn’t possibly have known about, because she was gone by then.”

“There’s a name for humans who can channel Aelyr energies,” said Virginia.

“
Naemur
,” said Rosie.

Virginia gave her cool smile, tempered by a wink. “Thank you, Rosie. Now I know who to call if I need a quiz team.”

Lucas asked, “Could Daniel have once been Aetherial?”

“I don’t know,” said Stevie. “It’s a nice thought, but if he was, I’m sure I’d feel it inside. All I remember sensing from Dan was … humanness. I think he’s exactly that: a wild, visionary
naemur
.”

“And someone,” said Rosie, “possibly Rufus, saw Dan’s work and perceived it as dangerous because it would reveal Aelyr secrets. So they’ve won his trust and kidnapped him. Right?”

“That’s how it looks,” said Stevie.

Sam said, “Mum, have you picked up any insider knowledge? Is this anything to do with why Lawrence went to Tyrynaia?”

His mother shook back her crinkly hair. “I don’t think so. I’m attuned to my little patch of Elysion, but the Spiral’s deeper currents don’t reach me unless they’re extremely powerful. If you were attuned to every stirring, you’d go mad.” A pause. “I often feel and see things that are … disturbing. But that’s common, it’s all part of the ebb and flow.”

“Spiral weather,” said Lucas.

“Quite. So I’m here to do what little I can, if only to offer shelter.”

“You’ve done far more than that,” Stevie said warmly. “Did Rosie tell you, we found an address? I don’t know if it’s genuine or a trick. And it’s in Nevada, and I’ve got no passport and not much money.”

“But like I said,” Lucas interrupted, “why would Aetherials need passports?”

“Well,” said Virginia, “because it’s usually easier for us to hop on a plane than struggle through the coils of the Otherworld.”

“Doesn’t have to be. There are shortcuts.”

“Oh … You’re thinking
antilineos
?” Virginia’s eyebrows rose. “I should get out more. I’m not aware of any path that leads from here to that part of the States.”

“I’m not just thinking it,” Lucas said with a grin. “I’ve got the route all mapped out. All we need to do is get to the edge of Melusiel and away we go.”

“Luc’s actually rather good at this sort of thing,” Rosie said with clear pride.

“Well, that’s what I’m here for.” Lucas smiled. “Trust me, I’m a Gatekeeper.”

15

Melusiel

The landscape of violet mist was more water than land, with placid lakes edged by reed beds, distant hills vanishing into the pastel softness of the clouds. The sky was low and full of rain, with no sign of the wondrous cosmos Stevie had seen in Elysion. Instead the Spiral turned fluid, awash in amethyst, lavender and grey: mournful shades that made her feel like crying, as if she’d come home without knowing it.