by Marita Smith
The taser jolted across her wetsuit, and her wobbly legs spasmed. Atlantis’ song echoed in her mind as the darkness rolled in.
She woke in an unfamiliar van. A woman sat on a crate, watching her.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Ariana’s head pounded and her throat was dry. “Water,” she rasped. She tried to reach forward, but a rope around her wrists held fast. Tied up; that was bad.
“It’s not worth struggling.” The woman uncapped a canister of water and offered it to Ariana. Ariana lapped greedily at the liquid as the woman tilted the bottle into her mouth.
“What do you want?” Ariana said, yanking at her wrists. The rope must have been tethered to the floor of the van, because she couldn’t make any headway. Ariana froze. She recognised that face. “Fang.”
“Yes, we’ve met before. I’m glad you remember me.”
A shadow at the door blotted out the light. Ariana squinted in disbelief. “Derek?”
Fang crossed her legs. “You see, we need you.” She waved a piece of paper in the air. “We know where to find the others, and how to activate them.”
Ariana stared at the paper. “You gave her the list? Why would you do that?”
Derek wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Ariana, your brother is gone. Terence is dead.”
He seemed to speak in slow motion; Ariana saw the words forming on his lips, the whisper of sound as it curled through the air. No, Terence couldn’t be dead. He wouldn’t leave her like that.
“You’re lying,” Ariana said through gritted teeth.
Derek lifted his head, and Ariana choked on a sob. She saw the truth plastered all over his face.
“The vector we made … he didn’t survive it.” Derek turned to Fang. “We have to co-operate with the MRI if we’re going to stand a chance of working this out. It’s the only way.”
Tears streamed down Ariana’s face. Her mother, her brother, both gone.
“It’s what Terence would have wanted.” Derek’s words pierced her mind like a knife.
“You don’t know the first thing about what he would have wanted,” Ariana spat. “He sure as hell wouldn’t have wanted you to team up with her. She’s a monster.”
“It’s unfortunate you feel that way.” Fang turned and lifted a steel-barred cage.
Jericho.
Ariana couldn’t feel him; a flaring wall separated them as she reached out with her mind. It was only then that she registered the lump at the back of her neck. No.
“Just a little something to ensure your co-operation,” said Fang. Jericho lay motionless on the floor of the cage, but Ariana saw the black chip embedded at the base of his skull. Closing her eyes, she tried to cross over to the spirit realm, but the pain was blinding. She gasped, yanking at her restraints.
Fang toyed with a receiver.
“High-frequency electromagnetic radiation. Your display in Beijing was impressive, but it can be neutralised … with the right equipment.”
“You don’t understand. There’s not much time, we have to –”
Fang pointed the box at her, and Ariana’s eyes rolled back in her head.
Fletcher and Catherine stared at Robyn in disbelief. She stretched her neck, feeling stronger than she ever had.
“Are you sure you don’t want to sit down?” asked Catherine, hovering near her elbow. “You’ve been out of action for four days, Robyn. You’ve barely eaten anything.”
“You’re okay,” Fletcher stammered again. Robyn felt the thrumming aura that surrounded him. It resonated around her like a veil, pulsating in her chest. In the back of her throat, she could taste the humus-rich scent that clung to Eva’s shaggy fur.
“I’m fine,” Robyn said. They stood on the patio. Her body seemed to have reknitted itself into something new, something stronger. Robyn pivoted as a new wave of scent assailed her; it was as if she could sense the others coming. She turned to the door as Eli, Sara and Jacob burst outside in a rush, shielding their eyes against the glare. Ming and Una looked different to Robyn; shimmering, like a mirage.
Poppy buzzed up from Jacob’s hair and erupted into a swirling bronze mass. A hive. Jacob stared at her, wide-eyed as if he’d seen a ghost. Robyn blinked and then it was just Poppy again, russet fur catching the sunlight.
Kara and Kate jostled each other through the doorway.
“Robyn?” said Kara, her voice uncertain. She lifted her laptop. “We finally found the MRI. They’re in Bulgaria, some big new shiny research facility.”
Kate butted in. “They’ve got the list, Robyn. The hundred people you found. Every last one.”
Catherine closed her eyes. “Derek. It was Derek.”
“And there’s something else.” Kara tucked her laptop under her arm. “We lost contact with Ariana.”
Fletcher twitched, and his body slumped to the floor. Kate screamed and jumped backward, but Robyn reached out and grabbed his arm. The scar on her eyelid burned and light clouded her vision. Different resonant frequencies clashed together as the block in her mind disappeared. Red, green, blue. Three parts of the whole. A humming noise filled Robyn’s ears as her feet left the ground, tugging her into the brightness.
The white light faded, prickling her skin like hundreds of needles. Robyn opened her eyes. Clenching and unclenching her fist, she felt energy zinging through her veins. Rich scents filled the air, frequencies of sound merging into mesmerising melodies. She knew without needing to ask that this was the spirit world.
Fletcher pointed at her, his face pale. “Robyn?”
Robyn blinked, taking in the copse of tall, ancient trees. Light danced along their trunks like stardust.
“This isn’t possible,” said Fletcher.
A flash of red light filled the glade. Eli tumbled onto the grass, his eyes wide. “It’s you, you’re the guide,” he choked out.
Robyn looked down at her hands, glazed in white.
The guide.
A boy in orange robes appeared in their midst. He hurled himself at Robyn’s feet, muttering a string of unintelligible phrases. Robyn caught a name. Liro.
“Ariana, are you there?” Fletcher yelled into the trees. “Ariana!”
Eli stepped towards him, but Fletcher pushed him away. “I can’t reach her,” Fletcher spluttered. “She’s gone. Terence is dead, now Ariana is gone. Fang probably has the vector by now. This is all your fault, Robyn! How can you be the guide? How can you have let this happen?” Fletcher punched a fist into one of the ancient trees. Light skated upward from the impact site. Green light rocketed out across the sky as if the tree canopy had struck a chord with the atmosphere.
Robyn pulled Lenti to his feet. “Derek has her,” she said, her voice strangely calm. “But we’re going to get her back.” She turned to face all three of them. “Together.”
Robyn closed her eyes and felt the white light engulf her. Spinning, she hit solid ground with a thump. Fletcher and Eli’s slumped bodies stirred by Kate and Kara’s feet. Catherine stared at her as if she were a total stranger. Robyn looked upward, following Sara and Jacob’s shocked gaze. Green light filled the sky, the atmosphere flickering in an otherworldly network of flashes.
Epilogue
“She’s as good as you said. Better.”
“I told you we had to let this play out. Robyn is the one you’re looking for, I’m sure of it.”
“Three years, Brock. Three years, and they crack it in under two months. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“That we bet on the right horses.”
“It means it’s time.”
“Vulcan has the vector. The entire population will be exposed to it within weeks. Mandatory flu vaccines roll out this year. He’s spliced it in, Miranda. Now Derek is back – ”
“– I still can’t believe he’s back in the fold –”
“– now he�
��s back, Vulcan has names. He’ll swoop in on these people, and you know it. You have to come back.”
“Soon.”
“Soon it will be too late.”
About the Author
Marita Smith is a freelance editor and gourmet mushroom grower based on the South Coast of NSW. She has a PhB (Hons) in Science from the Australian National University and considers chemistry a language in its own right. She spent several years as a paleo-biogeochemist, splitting her time between Australia and the Netherlands, before travelling through Europe to work on small farms. The first story she can remember writing involved being able to speak to her donkey, Mindy.
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