The Stolen Child (53 page)

“You ruined my life to keep
her
safe,” Rachael hissed through clenched teeth, climbing to her feet.

“Yes.  
To keep my
daughter
safe
.  How could I have chosen any differently?”

“It wasn't right,”
s
he said, taking a step back, bringing herself closer to the
pedestal, and the bridge beyond
.

“Of course it wasn't right,”
h
e cried, his voice somewhere between a shout and a sob.  “Do you think I ever imagined, for
even an instant
, that it was right?  I am not a good man, Rachael.  I will spend my whole life bearing the weight of my sins.  Why do you think I came for you?  Why do you think I went through all of this, trying to keep you safe?  This blood is on my hands.  It's all that I can do.”

She could see the pain there, plainly written on his face, but she didn't care.  It was his pain, his way of pretending to be righteous,
and
she couldn't feel any sympathy for that.

“It's not enough.  You don't get to just... Just buy it off.  Like it's something you can put right, like there's some way back.  My dad walking out, because he couldn't stand that his daughter was crazy?  My mum trying to care for me alone, with everything falling apart?  
And all of it just... Just because of what you
done.  
You think you can fix any of that?  You can think you can make that up to me?”

For a moment there was silence.  She saw the looks in their eyes as they watched her with horrified expressions.
 

“I can't change those things, Rachael,”
he said, his voice heavy.
  “I can't ever undo them.  But I can try to make it better for you, if you'll let me.”

“Because you feel bad,”
she screamed.
  “Because this is the way you tell yourself you're OK.  It's not about me.  It's not about what you've done.  It's just about telling yourself that you're trying to make it better.”

She took another step back,
brushing the edge of the pedestal.  As she steadied herself with one hand, she felt the hard black crystal of the Seed.  As soon as she touched it, she felt the warmth within.  The pulsing heartbeat
.  
It seemed so easy.  Like she'd done it before.  She felt the Seed answer, as she reached out to it.  There was a warm, tingling sensation in her arm.  A feeling of something moving under her skin.
 

She saw their expressions first, the surprise and the fear as the swirling leaves that surrounded the gateway slowly turned to dust.  Only a shimmer remained in the air.  The link had been broken.  
When she raised her hand, she saw only a thin covering of rust on her palm, but where the black crystal had nestled on the pedestal there was only an empty niche.  She saw the horrified look in the professor's eyes.
 

“
Rachael...  What have you done?” he said, his tone hushed and fearful.
 

“Manindra was right,”
s
he said, scarcely bothering to look at any of them.  “I'm nothing.  I was just... Unlucky.  The rest of you were always telling me I was special, that I had some kind of... Destiny.  He was the only one who told me the truth.  I never mattered to anyone.  I was just... Useful.”

The
edge of the chasm was barely a few feet away
.  Past that, the p
linth
and the gateway.  
She could feel a connection to it, beating inside of her.  
It was like a hole in the world, reaching out to nothing.  A
road
with no destination.

Slowly, Arsha
took a step towards her
.  Justin
moved
with her, hovering like the faithful protector that he was.  It was so strange, seeing that devotion turned towards someone else.  She felt it twisting inside, desperately longing to be the one person he wanted to
care for
.  But some part of her saw now what a lie it had all been.  It had never mattered who stood in that girl's place.  To Justin, it had never been about her.  He just needed someone, anyone to protect.

“You're wrong,” Arsha said, looking her in the eyes.  “You do matter.  You matter to me.”

Rachael shook her head.

“You think that, but it's not true.  I never gave you anything that someone else couldn't have.  I was just
c
onvenient.  For both of you, that's all it ever was.”

She took another step away, and Arsha's eyes widened in surprise.

“Rachael... Your hand.”

The change was as sudden as it was natural.  
She felt the
pulse of the Seed quickening inside of her.  It was like something drawing breath.  She no pain at all, even as
the blades burst through her skin.  
J
ust a sensation of coldness as the rusted iron gauntlet formed itself around her hand, the
S
eed pulsing red at its heart.  She held it up to the light, flexing her fingers, surprised at how easily it moved.  Set in the palm was
the glistening black crystal, seeming to glow from deep within
.  
Somewhere in those inky depths, she could feel the Seed pulsing with life.
 

“Rachael, please.  You don't know what it is you're playing with,”
t
he professor said.

“Yes I do,”
s
he
said, the words coming as a surprise, even to herself.  It was so easy.  Almost as if she had done it before.  She touched the ground lightly, the tip of one gauntleted finger brushing against the metal.  Where she had touched, the rust began spreading like fire.  She turned to run.  
The bridge
was ahead of her
, and the
n the
gate
way
.  She ran, feeling the iron grating of the bridge
twist and moan as the rust consumed it
.  
She could hear other footsteps, shouted cries as someone gave chase, but she did not look back.
 
With a terrible sound of crumpling metal the bridge fell away behind her.  
The heat haze of the gate erupted around her, growing wider, opening up to take her in.  She reached out a hand and felt a ripple in the air.

And then she was gone.

It was Arsha who moved first,
dashing out onto the narrow bridge, barely a few yards from Rachael's heels
.  Justin
tried to follow her, but as he reached the bridge it was already falling away.  As the surface collapsed beneath Arsha's feet she threw herself forward, barely landing on the edge of the platform
.  The gateway rippled with a blaze of burning light as Rachael passed into the shimmering haze and disappeared.  Arsha
rolled to her feet and
threw herself towards the
gateway
without any hesitation,
as it began to shrink in on itself.  Justin felt a howl of rage explode from inside of him as Arsha's outstretched fingertips connected with the
haze,
and then she too vanished.  
From across the chasm he could only watch the empty space in the air where the gateway had been.
 

He was only dimly aware of what was happening around him.  He
turned to
watch as Rakesh sprang to his feet, catching Micah across the jaw with a solid
blow
that dropped the man to his knees.  He saw the professor turn to level his pistol, even as one of Manindra's guards took aim at
him
.  The man's finger had barely t
ouched
the trigger when a bolt of lightning arced out from Ilona's hand.  The guard staggered back, even as his companion smashed the butt of a rifle hard into the woman's guts.

It all seemed so distant.  So empty.  He couldn't understand it, how they could be so focused on their own pathetic squabbles in the midst of all this.  The anger began to rise in him.  
He could feel the blood pounding in his ears.  He could feel the wolf in the back of his mind, snarling, howling to be let loose.  He
felt it strain against
the binding,
like chains wrapped tight around him.
 

Then he remembered.  High halls, a roof of woven branches.  A mask of leaves, hiding a beautiful face.  A delicate touch, one finger caressing his cheek.  The smell of her, like the freshness after the rain.  The change.  The way that it had first come over him, how he breathed in as a man and breathed out as a creature.  How he had first seen the world through different eyes.  How he had known, truly known every cadence of the wolf's cry.  How the scent, the deep, true scent of everything had opened up for him.  But most of all he remembered the overpowering hunger.  The urge to hunt and kill.  The savage power of it, the way the smell of blood made the stomach growl with expectation.
 
He felt the bindings strain ever tighter, but in that moment t
here was only the howling of the wolf
as the memory overcame him
.  It tore through the binding,
snarling and howling
.  He changed without a thought.  The distance to the first of the guards vanished in the blink of an eye.  Then there was only the smell of fear, the sound of a scream and the taste of blood splashing across his tongue as his teeth sank into the flesh and cartilage of the man's throat.  Too soon, too quickly the man's body fell limp.  The second guard bringing his weapon to bear, at his master's insistent urgings.  Too late, too slow...
T
oo human.  The thunder, the acrid smell of burning, the ripple in the air as the bullet passed over him and then the soft meat of the man's thigh, parting so easily around his fangs.  The clatter of a fallen weapon and another scream of pain.  It was all so easy.

A flash of light as the lightning passed inches from his face.  The change came quickly, his thoughts flowing so effortlessly from the wolf to the hawk.  Small, swift, sharp.  The air rippling around his wings.  The lightning
streaking past,
too slow, too slow.  Then the woman's face before him, the perfect moment when her eyes widened with fear.  Her eyes, so pretty, so sweet.  He let talons flick out, scoring soft skin.  Saw her reel back as he beat the air.  One eye
was
a river of blood.

The smell of it brought the wolf out once more.  He felt the cold iron of the floor beneath his feet.  The man in
the red coat
darting forwards
with
bright steel in his hands.  The ringing sound as the blade cut the air, passing through the space where he had been barely an instant before.  Springing to one side, darting, circling.  From the corner of his eye he caught the shape of the gun as the professor brought it to bare.  Another side-step, fast and low.  The thunder rang out but he was too swift, and the man in
red
made an easy shield to put between himself and the professor's gun.

Steel flashe
d as
he darted forwards, jaws snapping at empty air as the man in
red
stepped back in a sliding motion.  He felt the cold sensation of the blade as it bit into his flank, pain flowering along the length of the wound.  Not deep, a scratch, too little to slow him down.  Another side-step, darting in
to
snap at the man's heel.  Again the blade flashed, but this time he was expecting it.  The slightest twist of the neck to close his jaw around the hand that gripped the blade.  The man's cry of pain, overtaken by the ringing of the steel as it bounced across the iron floor and span off into the emptiness at the centre of the chamber.

Once more the thunder rang out.  He felt the bullet pass, close enough to tear a ripple of fur in its wake.  In an instant he turned towards the sound.  The professor.  He could smell the man, a smell that made his stomach churn in anger, in hatred.  
The man had one
eye closed, sighting down the barrel of his gun.  Too slow.  Hind legs coiled and sprang, the air flowing so easily around him.  Jaws wide, longing to taste the man's flesh.

He felt the moment when it all changed.  Felt the hate peel back, unveiling the senses it had clouded, to reveal the professor's faithful companion hurling his body into the way.  With one hand Micah threw the professor back, as his other arm darted into the space where the hated man's tender throat should have been.  Jaws closed around cloth
and skin
, teeth sank into the flesh beneath and a cry of pain rang through his ears.  Muscles tightened as he sank his teeth deeper.  If he couldn't have the professor he would take this instead, would make the man suffer for stealing his prey.  He could smell the adrenaline rushing off the man in waves, hear the cries of pain as he twisted his head back and forth, rending the flesh caught in his jaws.

When the thunder rang out once more, it seemed as if the whole world rang like a bell.  For a moment everything seemed to stop.  Then the fire exploded through him, the searing bursts of pain as each shot tore into hi
s body
.  He tried to run, tried to change, tried will some movement into his own limbs, but his body did seem to be under his control.  It was as if all his strings had been cut.  The floor was hard and cold as it came up to meet him.  
He slid, rolled, and for the briefest of moments he was aware of the edge of the chasm.
 
Then, spinning, tumbling down.  The gentle lightness of freefall embraced him, as the world began to fade into blackness
.

Half glimpsed through one eye, Ilona saw the wolf crumple as the first shots struck true.  Even as the body hit the ground, Rishi did not stop firing until the impact of the last shot had sent the bloodied grey form tumbling over the edge of the chasm
.

Rishi
lowered the revolver, a cloud of gun smoke slowly parting around him as he moved towards
the edge of the chasm
, every muscle tense with caution.

She could feel the coldness of the metal beneath her cheek.  She felt the ground shudder, as a tremor ran through the building.  One side of her face burned as if it had been set alight.  She reached up with fumbling fingers to wipe the blood from her eyes, but as her fingertips brushed her face she felt the loose edge of the skin and the surging fire seemed to explode across her body.