The Disappearance of Ember Crow

by Ambelin Kwaymullina

Connor flung open the door and threw himself into the front seat. He grabbed hold of a small black device connected by a cord to the dashboard, and spoke into it. “Leo, it’s Connor. Ember’s with Jules. Is someone coming our way?”

  It seemed an eternity before Leo responded. “Not to where you are now. But there’s going to be some kind of attack on that detention centre near your forest.”

  I grabbed Connor’s wrist, pulling the radio between us so we could both talk. “When?” I demanded.

  “During the Adjustment for the former Chief Administrator.”

  The Adjustment. Neville, and the hill of death … I shivered, calculating how long it would take us to get to the centre. We were going to have to leave in the next couple of days to make it in time.

  “Do you have any details about the attack?” Connor asked.

  “I fear my information is sketchy. I’m getting this from the Yowler boy – he’s woken up, and is being surprisingly cooperative, except he doesn’t know much. He seems sincere, although I suppose it’s possible he’s lying.”

  Connor raised an eyebrow at me.

  “He’s telling the truth,” I said. I trusted Starbeauty to make sure of it. “What about Terence, Leo?”

  “Escaped.” Even through the radio, I could hear the snarl in the Lion’s voice. “And Delta appears to have been rendered unconscious by some kind of weapon. All I can tell you right now is that Terence has sent three of his Illegals to the Adjustment. The ones Jules calls ‘minions’, although I have no specifics on exactly which ones. Oh – and you do know the Adjustment has been moved up?”

  My heart jumped. “Moved up to when?”

  “It begins on the sixteenth. They announced it a few days ago.”

  Three days away. Too soon … I should’ve paid more attention to what was happening back home, only no one in Spinifex City had been talking about the Adjustment. It wasn’t big news here the way it would be in Gull City.

  “I thought it better to warn you immediately, but I’m afraid I have nothing else at present,” Leo said. “My people are searching Terence’s house. If I discover anything more, I’ll contact you again. Tell Ember I want my car back.”

  The radio crackled out.

  I shook my head. “We’re too far away!”

  “Not with your ability, we’re not,” Connor pointed out. “You can Sleepwalk us home.”

  Of course I could. I’d gotten so used to my ability not working that I’d almost stopped counting it among our resources. How hard would it be for me to get us home? Not that hard. I couldn’t make myself perform complicated missions when I Sleepwalked, because a set of three simple instructions was the maximum I could follow in a dream, but three should be enough. Only problems were, firstly, it would be a bit of a test, because I hadn’t used my ability on purpose since it started functioning normally again. Guess I’ve got to try it sometime. Secondly, it was a big distance to cover, which meant I’d be using up a lot of energy. And when I got too tired, I woke up. If I did that at the wrong time …

  “You realise I could accidentally land us in the middle of saber territory?”

  “If you do, I’ll fly us out.” He didn’t seem a bit concerned about the prospect of finding ourselves surrounded by ferocious people-eating cats. “We can do this, Ashala.”

  We could too. Because we are warriors, we are partners … I beamed at him. He leaned across to kiss me, a quick, fierce kiss that left me breathless and fizzing with happiness.

  “You get the packs,” I told him. “I’ll go tell Ember what’s going on.”

  I found Ember sitting on the floor next to the stasis chamber, cross-legged and still. Her eyes were closed. I shook her shoulder. “Em?”

  She blinked up at me. “Ash?”

  “Leo called, on the radio I mean, and–” I stopped. She didn’t seem to be focusing on me.

  I kneeled down in front of her. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m programming nanomites. It’s difficult. What did Leo want?”

  “There’s going to be an attack on the Adjustment. Also, Terence got away, and Delta has been shot, probably with the same weapon Jules used on you. Plus Leo wants his car back.”

  “What kind of attack?”

  “He doesn’t know. Just that three of the minions are going there.”

  “Minions? This is bad, Ash.”

  “I know–”

  “No, listen to me. I always knew Terence had some bigger plan, and this could be it! Or at least part of it. He might be trying to derail the reform movement by having the minions disrupt the Adjustment, or, or assassinate the Prime, or Neville …”

  “Neville? Why would he do that, when they were working together before?”

  “My brother doesn’t have friends. He doesn’t even really have allies, not ones he won’t eventually betray. And we don’t know how much Neville knows or has guessed about Terence. He could be a loose end, someone Terence wants to silence.”

  True enough. “Well, I can’t say I’ll be sorry to see Neville dead.”

  “Yes you will!” she snapped. “Don’t you see what this could mean?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Obviously not, or you wouldn’t be yelling at me.”

  “Sorry. It’s just – one of the reasons the reform movement has so much support is because a lot of people don’t see abilities as a threat. But if Prime Willis, or Neville, or anyone else gets assassinated by someone using an ability …”

  “Every Illegal becomes a potential killer.” And I did see what that could mean. I could gaze into the future as if I was Georgie. It wasn’t only a matter of the Citizenship Accords not being revoked. It was about having them made much worse. More detentions, less Exemptions, or no Exemptions at all. Enforcers everywhere. And the governments of the seven cities throwing everything they had into destroying the Tribe and all the other groups of Illegals hiding out in the countryside. Not only that, but if Illegals killed someone so close to the Firstwood, the Tribe would be immediate suspects. We’d be the first ones the enforcers came after.

  It would be the world Terence Talbot wanted, and Neville too, if he was alive to see it. Was this what the taffa dream was about? Could all that death come from Neville himself dying? I didn’t know.

  What I did know was that it was only going to take one calculated act of violence, orchestrated by Ember’s lunatic brother, and Illegals everywhere would be paying the price for decades to come.

  I drew in a shuddering breath. “I get it.”

  “And you’re the only one who can stop this. Those enforcers at the Adjustment don’t stand a chance; they’ll only have swords now the government’s discontinued the use of streakers. It won’t be enough.”

  “They’ve got rhondarite swords,” I protested, “they’ll stop an ability–”

  “Only once they’re in contact with someone’s body, and the enforcers will have trouble getting close enough.”

  She was right about that. Enforcers were used to dealing with Illegals who were ashamed of what they were and had little control over what they could do. They’d never have encountered anything like the minions. “I’ll stop it, Em.”

  She gave me that same look she always did, the one filled with so much faith that I never felt I could live up to it. “Go.”

  I raced back out to where Connor was waiting. He was wearing his pack and holding mine; he handed me a flask. “I’ve mixed in the herb with the water already.”

  I resisted asking if he’d made sure it was the right herb; I knew he would have. We both carried a small selection of useful Firstwood herbs with us whenever we left the forest, including the one that helped me to sleep. And the one that stopped me dreaming, but that obviously wasn’t what I wanted right now. I drank a few mouthfuls of the mixture, then handed the flask back to Connor and lay down on the ground.

  Closing my eyes, I began counting backwards, letting the world recede until I’d reached a state somewhere between sleeping and not-sleeping. This was the point at which I cou
ld give myself instructions, so I imagined a blank piece of paper in my hand, and thought about what I needed to do. Take Connor. Get home fast. Don’t let anyone see you. There probably wasn’t anyone to see us out here, but we might still be close enough to Spinifex City for someone to spot me doing whatever impossible thing I decided was a good idea. I repeated those three commands over and over until they appeared on the paper, crisp and black and clear.

  As soon as the instructions were there I let the note go, allowing myself to sink into sleep.

  I was floating among stars. Moving stars. They clustered together and exploded into blinding light. When the light finally faded, there was a girl where the stars had been. A brown-skinned, curly haired, bright-eyed child. Joy shot through me. Cassie.

  It was wonderful to see her. Except I was dreaming. I had to be, because my little sister was dead. The moment I realised that, Cassie smiled, and vanished. In her place was a note. It floated gently downwards, hovering in the air above me. Words shone out from it, and I knew what I had to do.

  Everything changed. I was standing atop a strange, red ocean that rose and fell oddly, bursting up into surges of water that seemed frozen in place. Beside me was a tall winged being. A friend. But the two of us shouldn’t be here. We have to be somewhere else … There! That island in the far distance, the one overgrown with trees. We needed to reach the middle of it. Only we had to be sneaky, to avoid spying eyes.

  I took hold of my friend’s hand and focused on our surroundings, changing the landscape and all the spies within it into mist. Everything gradually faded into an insubstantial shadow of itself, until only the two of us were real and solid. The spies were lost in fog. They could not find us now. I propelled us forwards, taking my friend with me through the mist-world. But I wasn’t going fast enough. I concentrated. This is my dream, and I can do anything I want!

  We got faster, moving at super speed through faded surges of red water and then hazy trees. On and on we went, rocketing to the middle of the island. No one can see us! Nothing can stop us! But I was starting to have trouble. The world was fighting back, wanting to be solid again, and I struggled to maintain it in a shadow-state. And some unseen force seemed to be dragging at my body, making it harder and harder to move. I flung it off impatiently.

  My friend crashed into me from the side, knocking me over.

  What was he doing? Had he fallen? Was he sick? I twisted to see –

  – and found myself sprawled in the dirt, one hand pressed to Connor’s chest. He was lying across me, pinning my shoulders to the ground and shouting my name. “Ashala!”

  “It’s okay. I’m back. I’m back!”

  He let go and rolled away. I sat up, body shaking and stomach heaving, feeling about as bad as I usually did after a big Sleepwalking effort. But I’d done it. There were tuarts rising up around me, and eucalyptus in the air. We’re home!

  I leaned in to the nearest tree, waiting to feel better and wondering how long it had taken to get here. I couldn’t tell; I had no sense of the passage of time in a dream.

  “Connor? How long?”

  “An hour or so. No more.”

  His voice sounded strange. I looked over at him. He was sitting with his back to a tuart like I was, but his skin was as pale as I’d ever seen it, and tremors were racking his body.

  I straightened in alarm. “Connor! I didn’t – I couldn’t have hurt you!”

  “No. But we went through things, Ashala.”

  “Through things?”

  “Hills. Trees.”

  I thought about the dream. “I changed the world into mist. Only you and I were solid.”

  “The world didn’t look like mist to me!” He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “And then you started shaking, and I knew you must be getting tired. I tried to stop you with air, and couldn’t – I thought you were going to wake up inside a tree!”

  I imagined hurtling towards solid things and passing right through. Then I imagined snapping out of Sleepwalking with a tree through my arm, or leg, or chest. Or through his.

  That must have been … absolutely terrifying.

  “Well,” I told him brightly, “you can’t say being with me isn’t an adventure.”

  He began to laugh. I joined in, and crawled over to him. “Sorry, sorry …”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m just happy you woke up.” He shifted to pull me against him, and I snuggled into his chest.

  “Exactly where do you think we are?” I asked.

  “We passed by the rock pool not long ago. Must be about a day and a half away from the caves. Walking distance, that is.”

  Faster to fly, but better not to. We’d need his ability to get across the grasslands and to fight the minions; there was no point in depleting it unnecessarily. Wish I could’ve gotten closer. Still, not bad for an hour’s work.

  We sat there until we had enough strength to move. Then I picked up my pack, which Connor had dropped on the ground nearby, and we began to trudge through the forest in the direction of the caves.

  As we went, I talked, catching Connor up on everything he didn’t know. What had happened in the house when I’d gone in to rescue Ember. The taffa dream. Nicky. And Ember’s thoughts on what Terence might be up to with the attack on the Adjustment. It was comforting, to walk together among the trees in the cool autumn air. I skimmed my hand across tuarts along the way, relishing the feel of the rough bark beneath my fingers and the warm, familiar sense of belonging it brought me.

  We’d been walking for about an hour when there was a whooshing sound, and Daniel materialised in front of us.

  I took a startled step back. “Daniel? Is something wrong? Georgie? Nicky? The Tribe? Is everyone okay?”

  “Everyone’s fine, Ash,” he answered soothingly. “All the people and all the dogs. Georgie sent me here. She said that when you came back from Spinifex City, this is where I meet you.”

  That was a Georgie reason for doing something if ever I’d heard one.

  Daniel glanced from Connor to me. “Where’s Jules? And … did you find Ember?”

  I nodded. “We did, and she’s good. She’s with Jules. He’s – not well. We came back ahead of them. There’s going to be trouble at the Adjustment.”

  “It’s been moved up–”

  “We know,” Connor interrupted. “We think Terence’s minions are going to launch some kind of attack.”

  “They might be trying to kill the Prime,” I added. “Or Neville. Or simply cause chaos.” I shivered a little at that last word, and plunged onward. “Has anything happened there yet? Any kind of disturbance?”

  Daniel shook his head. His hair was bit scraggly and uneven, I noticed; he must have let Georgie cut it again. “It’s been quiet, and between us and the Saur Tribe we’ve kept a close watch. If anything was wrong, we’d know it.”

  “Has Neville been brought in yet?”

  “Yes. Grey too. And the Prime arrived late yesterday. You don’t know when the attack will be?”

  “Unfortunately not,” Connor responded. “But if the purpose of it is to derail the reform movement, which Ember thinks it might be, then the minions will want to make a spectacle, in front of as many people as they possibly can. Do you have any idea what kind of events …”

  “There’s going to be a big opening ceremony on Tuesday morning,” Daniel replied promptly. “A dinner the night after that. And tomorrow there’s a memorial service, right before lunch. For the detainees who ‘died’ escaping the centre.”

  They really had been keeping watch. But that was a lot of events to cover, and the attack might or might not take place during any of them. They all sounded like good targets. Except … maybe one more than the others.

  “The memorial service,” I breathed.

  Connor nodded. “Illegals causing mayhem during a ceremony meant to mourn other Illegals? It’s before the Adjustment officially begins, but it would be hard for the minions to pass up that kind of opportunity.”

  “It’s tomo
rrow!” I spluttered. “That’s so close. Even flying – or Running – it’ll take us the best part of a day just to get across the grasslands.” Or rather the best part of a night, in order to avoid being seen.

  “Also,” Daniel said, “if the service isn’t the target, what do we do? We can’t exactly lurk about the centre waiting for something to happen, at least, not without getting arrested.”

  “No,” Connor agreed thoughtfully, “but we don’t have to. If we could reach Prime Willis, or Jeremy Duoro or Rae Wentworth, they’d listen to a warning from us. We could try to get them to evacuate the Prime, or shut down the Adjustment, or …” His voice trailed off and he sighed. “I don’t know. Something. At least if we’ve warned them, they’ll be better prepared.”

  “Plus they’ll know the Tribe isn’t responsible for the attack,” I said. “That we tried to help. That could be important if someone tries to blame us later, or if … things go bad, for Illegals.”

  There was a moment of grim silence as the three of us contemplated exactly how bad things could get. Then Daniel spoke.“I don’t know about Willis or Wentworth, but I think we can get to Duoro.”

  “How?” I demanded.

  “He has this routine. In the morning, first thing, he comes out of the centre, walks to the edge of the grasslands and just stands there, staring at the grass. Then he goes back inside. He’s done it every day since he arrived.”

  I knew what that was about. “He’s looking out at where the children died. I mean, where he thinks they died.” Jeremy Duoro had done his absolute best to save the detainees from being eaten by saurs. In fact, he’d almost ruined our rescue with his bravery. It was sad that he was still mourning their deaths so deeply. But helpful.

  “If we’re going to reach Duoro tomorrow,” Connor said crisply, “we’ll have to cross the grasslands tonight. The three of us need to get to the caves, get supplies, and work out exactly what we’re going to do.”

  Daniel nodded. “I’ll see you both there.”

  He vanished, leaving only a stirring in the air behind him.

  I turned to face Connor, and held out my hand, ready to fly. He twined his fingers in mine. I had a sudden panicked thought that this might be the last time we were alone before we went into the centre. “Connor? In this or any other life …”