Prophecy of the Sisters (27 page)

But I do not have to say aloud any of these things. Sonia looks into my eyes and sees clearly the plan that is written there.
“It isn’t me she means to risk.”

Luisa shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”

Sonia pulls her gaze from mine and looks at Luisa. “Sittings are not the only way to make contact with the dead.”

“My father is in the Otherworlds, Luisa. Isn’t that right, Sonia?”

She nods. “Somewhere. Yes.”

And now Luisa understands. She shakes her head, her brown eyes wide. “No! No, no, no. You will not travel
willingly.
” She jumps to her feet. “Didn’t you hear what your aunt said just last night? It’s dangerous, Lia. For all of us but most
of all for you. No. It is simply out of the question. We cannot risk your discovery by the Souls. We’ll have to find another
way.”

Sonia sighs as if feeling compelled to say something she does not really want to say. “Only… there might be a way… a way in
which Lia could find her father quickly and avoid the Souls.”

If there is a way to find my father and determine the location of the list, any way at all, I will do it. I meet her eyes.
“Tell me.”

“There are rules to traveling the Plane, and one of them is that no soul can occupy more than one of the seven Otherworlds
at once, though all may travel freely among them. If you can locate your father in one world while the Souls remain in another…
well, it may be possible to obtain the location of the list quickly before you are detected and detained.”

Something she says makes me stand up straighter. “But why only seven worlds? I thought you said there are eight?”

“The last world is reserved for the dead. Once one’s soul crosses into the final world, there is no returning to this one.”

I shudder at her words. “Is it even possible, then, to meet my father in the Otherworlds since he is dead, and I am not?”

Sonia nods. “Your father has not yet crossed. We would not have been able to speak to him if he had. Those who wait willingly
in the Otherworlds do so for a reason. Your father must be waiting to help you. Once he crosses, you will not be able to speak
to him again until you join him in the final world. But the other seven worlds are… in-between places… in-between places in
which you can meet.” She stops, looking at me kindly as if wanting to ease my disappointment before the words are even spoken.
“But… you are as yet untrained, Lia.”

“I know, but this is our only hope. We
must
find the names of the two remaining keys. We cannot go any further without them, and the only way to find them is to first
find the list.” I ponder it a moment more before making my decision. “It is the only way. You said it is possible to control
one’s travel, didn’t you? That one can fall willingly into the Otherworlds? You can help me get there, Sonia. You can help
me find my father. You can
tell
me what to do.”

She doesn’t want to agree. Her nod comes slowly and with effort. “But you will be taking a grave risk. The Souls are waiting.
Samael himself is waiting. He is waiting for you, Lia. He will try to detain your soul in the Otherworlds. If he should succeed…
if he should succeed, he will take you to the Void and you will be Samael’s prisoner for eternity. Do you understand what
that means, Lia? You will never be able to cross into the final world. Never.” She shakes her head, coming to a decision.
“No. You must not travel alone. Not yet. I will go with you. ”

But her words do not sway me. I have made my decision.

I shake my head. “No. I will go alone.”

A half hour later, I lie on the leather sofa in the darkened library, the drapes pulled against the afternoon light. Sonia
kneels beside the sofa, her eyes earnest and worried.

“When I say, close your eyes and empty your mind of everything but the place you wish to go, the face you wish to see. We
will count together until I say stop. Try to hear your own breath, to feel the beat of your heart. I know it sounds… well,
it must sound mad! But that’s what you must do. Reduce yourself to the workings of your physical body while you empty your
mind of all but that which you desire to see.” She pauses before continuing. “Be careful what you think about while traveling.
Thoughts have power, Lia. Especially in the Otherworlds.”

I store away this new rule for later use and feel a moment of panic as fresh questions arise. “Wait a minute. Must I travel
through the worlds in some sort of order while searching for Father?” I remember the dead field where I met Alice. “And what
if I find myself in the wrong place? If I cannot find Father, or worse yet, if I arrive in a frightening place altogether?”

“You may travel anywhere you like, though it will take some time to gain control over your destination. Because you are unpracticed,
you must try to… to call your Father to you. He will feel your presence on the Plane. This knowledge, this… energy will bring
you together in the right world. He will find his way to you if he can. And if he doesn’t, you are in the wrong world and
must leave immediately for another before the Souls detect your presence.”

“What if… what if the Souls find me? Or Samael? How will I get away?”

Sonia chews her lip, thinking. “You will have to set your feet on solid ground at the first possible moment. We are always
vulnerable on the Plane. It is not our natural place. But we are most vulnerable of all when flying. Those who live in the
Otherworlds know its ways. They know how to navigate its terrain, how to locate the things they seek. And how to bring harm
to those they view as intruders. If you become trapped by the Souls, or Samael, or anyone else —”

I prop myself up on my elbows in protest. “Anyone else?”

She places a warm hand on my arm. “The Otherworlds are full of spirit beings. Some will seek to help you, others to make simple
mischief, and still others to do real harm. Even experienced travelers must be wary on the Plane.”

This new knowledge serves only to spur me forward, anxious to have the deed done so that I may return to the safety of Birchwood.
“All right. Tell me how I can protect myself then.”

Sonia’s brow wrinkles as she searches for words. “All living things give off energy of some kind, and this includes those
whose spirits dwell in the Otherworlds. When they seek to cause you harm, they do so by harnessing the energy they have. To
protect yourself, you have to do the same.”

I nod, thinking of the Souls that swirled above Alice and me in the dead field, the force of them, the power that made me
weak-willed and complacent. “How do I manage such a thing? To… harness such energy?”

She taps her fingers nervously on the sofa. “That is the part that’s so difficult to explain. I’ve been doing it since I was
small, so it isn’t an easy thing to name, but think of the energy you harbor as a seed, a tiny seed lying at the very center
of your being. The seed is small, invisible even, but within it is more force, more strength, more light, than you can imagine.
When you feel threatened, you have to see the seed unraveling, opening to reveal the living thing within.”

I don’t want her to know that this seems very fantastical. That the idea of an invisible seed protecting me against the force
of the Souls seems farfetched in the extreme, and that is putting it quite nicely. Instead I nod, opening my mind to her words,
reminding myself that I would not have believed any of it — the mark, the medallion, the prophecy — a few short weeks ago.
And yet it has all proven true.

She continues as if she can hear my disbelief. “You mustn’t simply think it. You have to see it, all right? You have to envision
the seed opening, allowing your energy to flow outward from it, creating a barrier that will allow you time to escape.”

“Is that my only hope then? Escape?”

She nods. “For now. You’ve not the strength or skill for anything else. Just finish the task at hand, Lia. Find your father.
Ask him where he hid the list. And then come back without delay.”

“Eleven… twelve… thirteen… fourteen… fifteen…”

Our voices make ghostly music in the emptiness behind my eyelids. They work together — mine, Luisa’s, and Sonia’s — creating
a whispery backdrop to the darkness into which I will myself to fall.

And then they fall silent, privy to some cue I cannot see.

“Lia, you will let this world go. Allow yourself to fall into the blackness toward the Otherworlds.” Sonia’s voice is deep
and soft before it goes quiet, and I am left to the empty world of my mind.

At first it is difficult not to think. It is difficult not to wonder when Aunt Virginia will be home, whether the servants
find it strange that I am behind closed doors with my friends, and whether I shall be able to find Father.

But my mind covers this small area quickly, and soon I am left with nothing else to wonder. With nothing else to do but think
of Father’s face, hear my breath, at first shallow and then ever slower and deeper. I picture the soft and fragrant world
of my sea flight, the endless sky stretched smooth above me. I smell the salty air of the sea and imagine Father’s face.

All at once, there is a flash, a blinding light that leaves me not in the darkness of sleep but in blazing sunlight through
which I cannot see. The sound of my heart beating is magnified, thudding insistently in the background as flashes of memory
come more and more rapidly. Birchwood. The faces of Sonia and Luisa, Alice and Henry. The river, James lying by its side.
And then I am let loose of the constraints of my body with a great, freeing tug, coming to consciousness flying over a wood
I don’t recognize.

The ground below me is dense with trees, a thick green carpet that looks smooth and soft from the air. As I move through the
sky, the smell of salt becomes stronger, the trees below me thinning until they are lost completely to a far-reaching meadow
swaying with long, green grass. I hear the sea in the distance. It grows louder and louder, and soon I am over a beach of
sweeping sand, an azure sea lapping at its shore.

It is here that I will myself to touch the ground, remembering Sonia’s instructions to avoid flight where possible. My feet
sink into the sand. I feel the coarse roughness of it even through my boots and marvel at the sensations that seem stronger
each time I travel.

I am not sure how to go about locating Father. According to Sonia, he will be looking for me, but even still it does not seem
wise to stand so exposed on the beach. Especially since I cannot yet be sure that I am in the right world.

Spectral rock formations have created caves that make it impossible to see beyond the beach. I am relieved that I don’t have
to worry about protecting myself in an open space, but I avoid looking too closely at the darkness beyond the mouth of the
caves. I focus on the path in front of me, picking my way along the stretch of sand and stepping around stray boulders as
I go.

“Well, hello, there!”

I almost jump out of my skin at the sound of the voice coming from the caves, alarmed that I have company in a place so deserted.
A gentleman walks toward me, avoiding the many craggy rocks as he goes. He is young, dressed in trousers and a waistcoat.
The formality of his dress is comical on the untamed stretch of beach.

“H-Hello.” I take a quick look around, wondering if there are others nearby.

The man comes closer, and I see that he is quite handsome. His hair is fair, like that of James, his face slightly tanned.
He is not much older than myself, and the gleam in his eye is entirely friendly. I relax my guard just a little.

The man bows before me in mock seriousness. “Michael Ackerman, at your service, Miss. I thought I should wander the beaches
all day without company, but I guess I’m in luck! To what do I owe the pleasure of such lovely company?”

“Well… Uh, Mr. Ackerman —”

“Oh, you must call me Michael. Mr. Ackerman is my father!”

“All right, then… Michael. I’m looking for someone, you see. But I’m not sure where he is and I don’t… well, I don’t know
my way around as of yet.”

He nods knowingly. “I understand. You’re here for your father, aren’t you?”

I tip my head, surveying him with renewed interest. “Why… yes. Yes, I am. How did you know?”

He waves into the salty wind. “Oh, it is not difficult to know things here. You might say it’s a small world, eh?” He laughs
at his joke.

“I suppose. Do you know where I might find my father, then?”

He nods with authority. “Yes, yes. Of course, I do! He sent me to find you, as a matter of fact.”

“He did?”

“Yes, indeed. Told me to look for a lovely girl of about sixteen and to bring her to him at once.” He takes hold of my arm,
propelling me forward down the beach.

I pull my arm from his. “Oh, wait one moment, please! I’m not sure I should be leaving with anyone. You see —”

“Nonsense!” He takes hold of my arm, more firmly this time. “I know just who you’re looking for, and I shall take you right
to him.”

But I only take a couple of steps before I see the strange shine in his eyes. It does not seem helpful anymore, but something
more sinister, and I hear Sonia’s voice across the worlds.