Budding Star

by Annie Dalton

  As I slid and slithered from room to icy room, I started ranting to myself. Well, it was more to Jessica Lightpath.

  “I know you’re the don of soul-retrieval, and I know we’re supposed to watch and wait and it’s all a totally beautiful cosmic dance and whatever, but that’s for people who are already DEAD! Tsubomi’s not supposed to die. Not now. Not yet. Those kids on Earth really need her, Jessica. But I don’t think she can do this on her own.”

  Reuben found me in the state bedroom, still ranting.

  “Hi,” he said cautiously. “Just wondered where you’d got to.”

  Sorry, this place is making me a bit wiggy,” I explained.

  He pulled a face. “I’m not surprised.”

  “I thought we’d use this room,” I told him. “On account of there are no frozen sleeping beauties, plus there’s a stove, if you think you can light it?”

  “What do you mean ‘if’?” he said cheerfully. “I’ve been lighting fires since I was in preschool! Ask Miss Dove!”

  “She must have loved you!” I called, as I flew out the door.

  By the time I came back with a pale, exhausted Tsubomi, my fire-raising buddy had got the stove working a treat.

  That bedroom HAD to have belonged to a princess! Everything was either gold or silver, or encrusted with pearls. It’s true the bed was carved out of wood, but it was v. expensive looking wood carved with dragons and other fabulous creatures.

  Reuben and I stripped off the frozen covers, and remade the bed using two cosy fur-lined robes instead of sheets and blankets.

  Tsubomi climbed into the huge dragon bed, and turned her face to the wall, looking like a fairy-tale princess who was having a really bad day.

  “Night night,” I whispered, but she was already fast asleep.

  I joined Reubs by the stove. It was really pumping out the heat, but in such a vast space it made virtually no difference. We experimented with moving pretty paper screens to shut out the draft, but our teeth were still chattering from the cold. At last, in sheer desperation, we both wrapped ourselves in Reuben’s robe and gradually stopped shivering.

  He gave me a mischievous look. “If this was Orlando you’d be a very happy bunny!”

  “Shut up! I got over him ages ago.”

  “Yeah, right!”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t even know him, Reubs, not really. I made up this ideal boyfriend in my head and made him fit the picture.”

  We were sitting too close for me to see his expression. “The first crush is the deepest,” he said softly. “Isn’t that what they say?”

  “What about you, Mr Dark Horse?” I teased. “You never told me you’d been in love!”

  Reuben suddenly sounded defensive. “Who said I had?”

  “You did, you nutcase! We were climbing the volcano, and you said it was just like being in love.”

  “Oh, that!” he said carelessly. “That was the phoenix vibes talking. I didn’t know what I was saying.”

  “You little devil! You don’t want me to know who it is!”

  “No, I don’t, so drop it, Beeby.” Reuben’s voice had a warning vibe. He changed the subject. “Any more ideas about who’s running this game?”

  He had virtually told me to butt out of his private life. I was SO hurt.

  Typical boy, he didn’t seem to notice.

  “I haven’t smelled a whiff of a PODS since we’ve been here,” he went on. “Have you?”

  “Haven’t thought about it,” I snapped. “For all I know, Tsubomi’s creating this entire imaginary scenario from her hospital bed.”

  We stared at each other.

  “No way,” I whispered. “No WAY!”

  “We’ve got to wake her up now and tell her,” Reuben said.

  I shook my head. “Not a good idea.”

  “But she thinks this is all real.”

  “Exactly. You’ve seen how fragile she is. It could be really dangerous, like waking a sleep walker.” I stiffened. I’d heard what sounded like a muffled sob coming from Tsubomi’s bed.

  She’d had a nightmare. She was too upset to tell me what she’d dreamed about but it had obviously shaken her to the core. “I don’t know what to do, Melanie,” she sobbed. “I know I’m supposed to do something really important. I just don’t know what.”

  I held her and stroked her hair, but when someone’s been sad and lonely almost her whole life, making “there, there” sounds doesn’t seem like enough.

  I think that’s why I did what I did next. I mean, it’s not like my singing voice exactly has healing powers. But I did, I sang to her, I sang her a lullaby.

  I couldn’t seem to remember any real ones, sadly, so I just pulled soothing-sounding words out of the air, and randomly strung them together. It wasn’t as embarrassing as you’d think. In a funny way, it felt like I was singing to myself; like Tsubomi and I were suddenly one person.

  And it worked, that’s the amazing thing. After a time, Tsubomi stopped crying. She sat up in the huge dragon bed, her breath making white clouds in the air and her eyes were full of wonder. “My father used to sing that song,” she whispered.

  I could feel Reuben silently sending vibes on the other side of the room. We both knew that if I did the wrong thing, Tsubomi’s progress might be put back aeons.

  All the same, I had to tell the truth. “Your dad really sang that song?” I said softly. “I thought I was just making it up!”

  She shook her head. “I was scared of the dark when I was small. Dad would hear me crying and come in, and he’d raise the blind so I could see the night sky through the window. He’d say, “Don’t be afraid, Mi-chan. Even on the darkest night, when we can’t see her, the Moon Lady is watching over you, and he’d play his koto and sing that song.”

  Tsubomi sniffed back her tears. She looked around, as if she was seeing the frozen palace for the first time. “This level isn’t supposed to be ice,” she said in a dismayed tone. “It’s supposed to be water. I’ve got to change it back, and you guys have to help me.”

  “We’ll do it in the morning,” I said gently. “When you’ve had some rest.”

  “The casket,” she said urgently. “What happened to the casket?”

  “It’s safe. Look.” I placed it in her hands. “Tsubomi, it’s late, and this journey must have been a strain, maybe—”

  “No, I have to open it now,” Tsubomi insisted. “There’s something inside, which will melt the ice. I know there is!”

  Reuben looked alarmed. “Tsubomi, we don’t know for sure what’s—”

  But it was too late. She’d already raised the lid. Angry red rays came streaming into the room, touching everything with a familiar Martian glow.

  I’m not sure we were supposed to mix up magical objects from different levels, because the phoenix egg looked ominously different on Level Three. It was huge, around the size of an ostrich egg, totally filling the casket. Its colours were ominous too; hectic and much too bright, like you see on poisonous plants.

  I heard Tsubomi gasp in dismay. Before she could slam the lid, there was an ominous CRR-ACK!

  When I saw that bedraggled chick trying to struggle out of its egg, I knew this wasn’t going to end prettily.

  OK, even phoenix demons are cute when they’re babies, but this one wasn’t going to be cute for much longer. The fledgling opened its beak to give a baby screech, and I saw the startling bright pink tunnel of its throat. Its eyes changed to an ominous flaming amber.

  Oh-oh, I thought. Our sinister little cutie-pie was going to morph into a seven foot high lady demon any minute, and I knew for a fact we were all out of peach stones.

  Luckily my inner angel knew exactly what to do!

  “SING!” I yelled, like a character in a bad musical. “Sing like crazy!!”

  “Mel, this is not the time,” warned Reuben.

  “It IS. Unless you want to be fried like fritters! They love music, remember?”

  I started desperately warbling my moon lullaby. After the
first couple of bars, the others joined in slightly more tunefully.

  “Now we’re going to walk out of the palace, OK?” I commanded, “and no one’s going to make any sudden moves, and we’re going to sing ALL the way.”

  Ever tried singing in a palace full of frozen royalty? Luckily I don’t think we sounded anything like as scared as we felt. By the time we reached the bridge, the baby phoenix was completely blissed out, blinking happily into my eyes like a hypnotised kitten.

  “Tip it over the bridge,” I hissed. “Quick-smart before it morphs!”

  Tsubomi shut her eyes. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, little chick,” she gabbled, and she upended the box.

  A spark, that’s all that came out!

  One single gold spark, no bigger than a teeny tiny onion seed, and extraordinarily bright, as if all the fire demon’s humongous power had been concentrated into one tiny spark-sized package.

  Now, I’m no scientist, OK? But if you add an entire fire demon to a seriously frozen world, you can pretty much guarantee a HUGE amount of steam.

  WHOOSH!!! The palace, the fairy-tale bridge, the weeping willows, instantly disappeared under a thick blanket of fog.

  I groped for Tsubomi’s hand. “Are you OK, babe?”

  I felt an answering squeeze.

  “Reubs?” I tried hopefully.

  He didn’t answer.

  “Reuben!” I said in a panic.

  I felt his arm go casually round my shoulder, and Reuben’s warm, amused voice said, “Ssh! Isn’t that the loveliest sound you ever heard?”

  Wasn’t it just! A fabulous symphony of gurgling, trickling and splashing, as the lakes, streams, fountains and underground springs of Level Three, shook off their robes of snow and ice, and began to flow once more.

  “Guys, we did it! This world is coming back to life!” Tsubomi sounded ecstatic.

  No, YOU did it, I wanted to say. You created the whole thing, Tsubomi. You’re STILL creating it, and I want you to stop now before it’s too late.

  There was a brief swirling gap in the fog, and for just a heartbeat we were all visible again.

  Tsubomi gave a gasp. I saw dawning realisation in her eyes. “Omigosh, you’re ange—”

  With a chime of magical music, the dripping thawing world of Level Three dissolved, and the invisible game lords sent us zooming up to the next level.

  Chapter Eight

  We were on the summit of a snow-capped mountain, looking down at the world far below. All of us were dressed in flowing white robes. Tsubomi’s face was utterly peaceful. “If I’d known it would be like this,” she said dreamily. “I wouldn’t have been so scared.”

  It was the kind of view the old-style Japanese gods must have had; a vivid green patchwork of rice fields, little bamboo houses, streams and willows.

  Clouds flitted past, white and woolly as new lambs. I kept expecting them to block my view, but they never did. You could see forever, and with total god-like clarity. If you wanted to see or hear something far away, you focused your attention, and - abracadabra! -you zoomed in for a special close-up on whatever it might be; children skimming stones across a stream, an old man snoozing in the sun, bees inside a flower. I could hear a woman singing miles below, as she stirred a pan of soup over the fire.

  Reuben was standing close beside me. “You can see up as well as down.” The vibration of his voice made pretty coloured trails in the air.

  I looked up experimentally and got a major head rush as I zoomed in on a fizzing whizzing cosmos of stars, comets and constellations.

  “Wow, this is SO cool!” I breathed, and to my delight, my words left pretty trails too.

  We’d come up through three levels, defeating demons and absorbing their energy, so according to game logic, we were now seriously powerful magicians.

  Mr Allbright once told us that when we get really advanced in angelic studies, we’ll actually see human thoughts spreading through the Universe in ripples.

  Maybe this is also true of advanced magicians? Because on Level Four, magicians seemed to be the only people around; no lute players, or ladies in wicker carriages, just pure magicians. There weren’t even too many of those. Occasionally you’d spot one stalking about in the distance, looking scornful in his robes.

  Level Four magicians don’t tend to exert themselves more than necessary. This is the Air level, the level of thought power. They just think themselves where they want to go, and bosh, there they are!

  I found it rather stressful, frowning magicians popping up among the clouds without warning. Absolutely nothing in this world seemed fixed or solid. Houses, furniture, magic banquets, simply appeared when they were needed, and vanished when they weren’t.

  OK I’ll own up! I might have been wondering about magicking myself a BLT, but Tsubomi repeated in that dreamy voice, “I didn’t know it would be like this, or I wouldn’t have been so scared of dying.”

  Reubs and I exchanged alarmed glances.

  Level Four might physically resemble a small kid’s idea of Heaven, high among the clouds, but it was actually a hive of v. dodgy magic.

  “You’re not dead, sweetie,” I said firmly. “Trust me, Heaven is nothing like this.” I gestured at an arrogant-looking magician, symbols glittering on his robes. “These guys are just power-tripping.”

  She looked as if she might burst into tears. “You’re angels, I know you are! Why would I be hanging out with angels if I’m not dead?”

  Trapped inside this bewildering game of changing levels and landscapes, Tsubomi badly needed something to cling to. Now I’d taken away her nice Heaven she was lost. Somehow we had to help give her courage without actually fibbing.

  “We were sent to help you,” I told her truthfully, “with a really crucial mission.”

  “We did all that,” said Tsubomi in a scared voice. “We stole the phoenix egg and we thawed the ice world. Is this going to go on forever?”

  I was talking about your real mission, I wanted to say, but Reuben got in first.

  “It could go on forever, or not,” he said softly. “It’s up to you.”

  After dropping this major cosmic hint, we daren’t say another word. Tsubomi would have to figure the next part out for herself.

  There was a long silence. I could feel the tension building inside her.

  She swallowed. “I never do anything right.”

  “Yeah, you do,” I began.

  “I don’t! I can’t even DIE right.” Tsubomi’s words sent a storm of angry coloured lights through the air.

  I suddenly felt like I couldn’t remember how to breathe. Was this that moment Jessica had talked about? That miraculous moment when all our watching and waiting paid off and the human finally opened up? Because I’m sorry, it was too painful.

  “I was too weak, that’s what they said.” Tsubomi seemed to be talking to herself.

  “Who told you you were weak?” asked Reuben gently.

  “Mum, Miss Kinsho. Other girls would have killed to get where I was, but I couldn’t take it. Walking out on that stage night after night, dancing, singing, smiling, scared they’d see I was falling apart inside.” Tsubomi took a shaky breath. “I was so scared, all the time. It got so I couldn’t eat or sleep. I was cracking up - I was—” She shivered. “I had this delusion that I was being stalked by creatures from some evil dimension.”

  My jaw dropped. “Tsubomi, that wasn’t a -”

  “I kept seeing these - they looked like normal pop fans, but they weren’t. They weren’t even real. They’d appear out of nowhere and just stand there watching me sing.” She shook her head, to banish the picture. “And their expressions - it was like they literally wanted to destroy me. I started seeing them everywhere I went. TV studios, hotel lobbies. No one saw them but me. They wore these creepy sunglasses, but when they took them off, their—”

  “Don’t think about them!” I said quickly.

  “I can’t HELP it!” Tsubomi’s words sent jagged forks of lightning whizzing into the little fluffy wh
ite clouds. “Angels can control their thoughts, ordinary humans can’t, OK?”

  Reuben kept his voice soft and steady as if she was a scared animal. “You can control them, Tsubomi. You’re a musician. Think about your music.”

  “I’m NOT a musician! Real musicians live and breathe music. They wouldn’t just do whatever some agent or promoter told them!”

  I tried to make my voice calm like Reuben’s. “You had no choice. You were still just a kid. You had to do what they told you. Maybe you weren’t as strong as you’d like to have been, but your music really touches people, Tsubomi!”

  “My music is total garbage!” She sounded exhausted. “I wanted to do something amazing, you know? I wanted it SO badly. But I just don’t have what it takes.”

  I’d never been as scared for her as I was at that moment. In a world of magicians, just thinking about something can make it come true. If Tsubomi thought she was too weak to fight, she was. If she thought her life had been pointless, it was.

  This was the moment the Dark Powers had been banking on; the moment of unbearable loneliness and despair which would finally sabotage any hope of Tsubomi returning to complete her Agency mission.

  She swallowed. “Have you ever heard my first record? I’m just a fake. You guys have been great, but you should go back to Heaven now and stop wasting your time on fakes and losers.”

  Her magician’s robes were melting away as she spoke. Underneath she wore the normal teenage uniform of the twenty-first century: jeans, trainers and a hoodie. She pulled the hood over her shiny dark hair, and trudged off across the clouds.

  Somewhere in a viewing suite in the Hell dimensions, PODS agents were howling in triumph and stomping their feet. The battle for Tsubomi’s soul was over. They’d won.

  In that terrible moment, I felt myself splitting into three angels. One watched Tsubomi walk away, totally convinced that everything was lost. A second angel stood sorrowfully beside a hospital bed where a dying girl was just about to be unplugged from a life-support machine.

  But the third angel knew it was time for Tsubomi to know the truth.

  I made my robes dissolve too. I’d had enough of disguises. “Mi-chan!” I called after her, deliberately using her family pet name. “Don’t you want to know who’s doing this to you?”