It wasn’t until Joanna was two that I began to suspect the truth—that she wasn’t Red’s child. Like us, Joanna had already potty trained herself and learned to read. More than that, she looked exactly like me. The hair was a trait her father and I shared, so that I could discount. The rest of her—nose, ears, and of course her feet—were all mine. More than that, she had my eyes. These similarities only became more pronounced as she became a toddler.
Like us, Joanna was a well-tempered child. She was smart and curious but never demanded anything for herself. She could always intuit what I wanted as if she could read my mind. At first I thought it was a coincidence, that Joanna was so smart and we were so much alike that we shared a special bond.
I began to suspect something else when she began to bring people to her sandbox. Red had built that sandbox in anticipation of having a family. It was the only home improvement project he’d ever undertaken. Maybe that was why Joanna felt so drawn to that spot; maybe she feels his presence more acutely there.
One day when Joanna was three, I looked out the kitchen window to see her talking to an older boy in the sandbox. When I ran out there, I nearly fainted. The boy looked just like pictures of Red I had seen of him when he was about fourteen or so. Joanna gave me a cold shiver when she turned and said matter-of-factly, “This is my new friend. His name is Red.”
I’m almost certain he was the Red of your world, the one who worked in the witch archives. At the time I thought he was just some boy who had wandered by. I still told myself this even after he disappeared through the sandbox.
From what you’ve seen, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Joanna fell ill after this. I took her to the hospital, but they couldn’t find anything specifically wrong with her. By the next day she was right as rain again. I tried to ask her about Red, but she was too little to explain it to me. “I brought him to the sandbox to play,” she said as if it were perfectly normal.
Others came and went over the next year or so. Some came because Joanna brought them, others by accident because she didn’t know how to control her power. After each time, Joanna would usually have to spend the next day in bed, to rest.
Then came the incident with your friend Akako. I was asleep when I felt something horrible had happened. I woke up and went to check on Joanna to find that she was gone. I found her outside, in her sandbox. I ran out to her, but I was too late. She collapsed.
I thought for sure she would die. She spent the night unconscious in the hospital, but there was nothing they could do except to run some tests and give her fluids. She woke up the next morning, still groggy and weak but otherwise normal.
“Joanna, what did you do?” I asked.
“I held open the door so she could go through.”
“Who?”
“The pretty Japanese lady. She was so sad. I wanted to help her.”
As angry as I was with Joanna, I was so proud of her in that moment. I knew she was a very special girl—in more ways than one. After the hospital released her, we went home and she told me what she knew about the others. Being a child, she couldn’t articulate it extremely well, but I started to grasp the basic concepts.
Since then I quit my job at the Hastings Institute. I still teach part-time at Rampart City University, just to earn enough so Joanna and I can get by along with Red’s life insurance. Mostly I spend my time trying to understand Joanna and these other Reds—and you.
I’m sure by now you remember when you came here a couple of years ago. At the time you thought you were Megan Putnam. I didn’t try to overtly dissuade you from that because you probably wouldn’t have believed me and I figured you needed to find out for yourself. I just tried to give you enough of a clue so you could work it out.
Ever since what happened with your friend Akako and after you came here, Joanna and I have paid special attention to your world. Maybe by now you’ve figured out that yours isn’t like most other worlds. Worlds like mine or the one your friends Agnes and Akako visited a couple years ago don’t have magic armor, witches, or crazy goddesses. Our universes are pretty tame and bland by comparison.
But I’m digressing. I said at the start that I don’t think Joanna is really my child. After years of research, my best theory is that what Red and I were trying to do was successful—just not in a way we anticipated. Whatever we did replicated my cells inside my womb. There was probably already a fertilized egg there that was overwritten with just my genetic information instead of Red’s and mine. That’s my theory at any rate.
Despite this, I still think of her as Red’s child. It was his experiment that created her the way she is, so in a way he really is her father. At some point I know Joanna will figure out that the similarity between us is too great to be coincidental; on that day I’ll probably have to explain all of this to her. I hope she’ll understand.
Because of the experiment and because her birth came when Red died, I think Joanna has become a focal point for all these other universes. Through her, all of the other Reds—like your friend Akako—can hear each other. As she’s gotten older, she’s begun to develop the ability to communicate with them and even to bring them if she chooses. Her abilities are getting stronger, so that she can bring other people here, like you.
We would have brought you here sooner, but she couldn’t break through Isis’s magic. Once your friend took you out of the city, she was able to bring you here. You know the rest.
***
While Emma listened to this story, she couldn’t help but cry. Not only from the sadness of Dr. Reed’s doomed love affair with the original Red but because she knew this was nearly her idyllic life, at least up to the part where Red died. The nice suburban house, the handsome husband, and beautiful daughter were all things she had dreamed about when she was a child.
The Emma next to her, this older version of herself, was the woman she had always wanted to be. Dr. Reed was the woman she would have become if her parents hadn’t died that night. If she hadn’t knocked over that lamp, if she hadn’t confronted Jimmy Gates, if she hadn’t let Mom take her to Dr. Gerritt’s lecture—her life had been ruled for so long by these ifs.
Dr. Reed squeezed Emma’s shoulder. “I know this is a lot to take in. I wish we could have taken more time.”
“No, I understand. It’s my fault. Everything’s my fault.” And she knew this was true because of another series of ifs. If she hadn’t gone into labor early. If she hadn’t let Bykov kidnap her baby. If she hadn’t gone to Russia to rescue Louise. If she hadn’t let Jim go with her. If Jim hadn’t died. If she hadn’t let assassins kidnap Louise a second time. The chief if though was: if she hadn’t given herself to Isis in a vain attempt to save Louise.
She should have known it was a trap. She should have known Isis would betray her and hurt Louise anyway. During her time in Isis’s realm as a vampire she had never run into Louise. Did that mean she was dead? Or did Isis have her somewhere? And what sort of horrible torments would Isis design for Louise?
“It’s not your fault. You only did what any good mother would have done—what I would have done for Joanna.”
As Dr. Reed finished, Dr. Pavelski and a team of nurses threw open the door to Joanna’s room. Dr. Reed shot to her feet. “What’s going on?”
Dr. Pavelski put a hand on Dr. Reed’s shoulders. “She’s gone into cardiac arrest. I need you to stay here, Emma.”
“No! My baby—”
“She’ll be fine. But you have to let us work.”
The doctor rushed into Joanna’s room. Emma let Dr. Reed lean her head on Emma’s shoulder. “It’s going to be all right. Joanna will make it—” Emma stopped as she heard the heartbeat monitor flat line.
Chapter 27
Through her contact with the Reds, Joanna had seen a lot of strange places—and strange people. She had seen lush green hills like this before through Akako’s eyes whenever she went to and from the witch archives in Ireland. But how had she got to Ireland? One moment she was in the hospital and the n
ext she sat on a dirt road, dressed now in the nightgown she’d worn before she went to the emergency room.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” a man’s harsh voice said.
She turned and saw a wizard on the road in front of her. At least he wanted people to think he was a wizard with the long gray beard, robe, and pointy hat. “Who are you?” she asked him.
The old wizard rolled his eyes at her. “Oh, great, here we go again. You lose your memory again?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I suppose that accursed goddess got you to think you’re a bloody child now.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve never seen you before.”
“I’m Marlin. Keeper of the Lore for the Order of the Scarlet Knight. Ring any bells?”
“Oh, you’re Emma’s friend.”
“I’m not her friend. I’m her trainer. Or I was at any rate.” He rolled his eyes again. “So who do you think you are this time?”
“My name’s Joanna Reed, but people call me Red because of my hair.”
“Well, that’s a new one. Let’s start at the top. Your real name is Emma Jane Earl—”
“That’s Mommy’s name.”
“Oh really? Is that a fact?”
“Yes. I’m her daughter.”
“Bloody hell. I can see we’ve got our work cut out for us this time. We ought to just get your life story recorded so people don’t have to repeat it to you every time you let yourself be brainwashed.”
Joanna shook her head and wondered why this Marlin person was being so mean to her and why he didn’t believe her. Why did he insist she was Emma? Sure they looked a little bit alike with the red hair and blue eyes, but both her parents had that, so did lots of other people.
That wasn’t the reason she had come here in any case. Before she had woke up, she had heard a voice whisper to her. It was an old man’s voice, but a much friendlier old man’s voice. He said she would have to go away for a little while and find a man named Merlin. He would be able to help her—and Mommy. “You’ll have to leave, just like going through the sandbox,” the old man had said.
She turned to Marlin and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m looking for Merlin. Where does he live?”
“Good, maybe the master can talk some sense into your fool head.” Marlin turned and pointed to a mountain that rose so far above the green hills that it disappeared into the clouds. “He’s right up at the top there. Good luck getting up—”
A whinny cut Marlin off. Joanna looked up and her mouth fell open. A Pegasus swooped down from the sky, its feathery wings extended as it glided down to land right in front of her. The Pegasus neighed like a normal horse and shook its head in her direction. “You want me to ride you?” she asked.
“Just bloody wonderful. Every time she needs to see the master he sends this flying nag. If I need to see him, I have to be cursed by a witch,” Marlin grumbled.
Joanna ignored this and walked over to the side of the Pegasus. But she was too little to jump onto the horse’s golden saddle. She turned back to Marlin and asked, “I don’t suppose you could give me a boost?”
He rolled his eyes yet again. “Oh, sure, why not? I might as well be your bloody stepladder on top of everything else.”
He grabbed her roughly around the waist to lift her up. “Hey!” she shouted. He grunted in response and finally managed to get her high enough that she could climb onto the winged horse. Joanna took hold of the reins and wondered if she had to say “Giddy up” like in the cowboy movies.
That proved unnecessary; the Pegasus took off on its own. When she was littler Joanna had become obsessed with horses in all forms. She never imagined the day might come when she might actually soar above the ground on the back of a Pegasus.
For its part, the winged horse did not seem pleased by this arrangement. It snorted and whinnied, as if it were grumbling like that mean old man Marlin. Was everyone here so bad-tempered? Where was this place anyway?
As the Pegasus took her up into the clouds, she supposed she would find out.
***
At the top of the mountain Joanna hoped to find a magic castle or maybe even Heaven with everyone playing harps on clouds. She briefly entertained the thought she might find Daddy up here and finally get a chance to talk to him, to see him three-dimensionally. She groaned with disappointment as the Pegasus broke through the clouds.
There was no castle or Heaven, just a boring little cottage like the one she and Mommy stayed in the one time they had camped in Michigan. That place hadn’t been any fun at all, filled with mosquitoes and it lacked a toilet, so she had to use a stinky old outhouse with spiders all over. Joanna hated spiders. They were so gross that she had to have Mommy take her to the bathroom like she was a baby.
The Pegasus skidded to a halt in front of the cottage. A man with a black beard and animal skins like the Native Americans wore in movies waited in front of the cottage. As he approached the flying horse, his face brightened with a smile. “Hello, Joanna. Let me help you down from there.”
He was far gentler than Marlin, almost as gentle as Mommy when she carried Joanna, something that happened far less frequently these days since Joanna was too big to carry comfortably. He set her down on the ground and squatted down so she could look into his brown eyes. “Would you like to talk inside?”
“Mommy says not to go into strange people’s houses.”
“Yes, I suppose that is good advice.” The man smiled at her. “Well, if you don’t want to go inside, I’ll bring inside to you.”
He snapped his fingers and a wooden stool appeared next to her with a matching one beside him. A table also appeared with a glass of chocolate milk and a stone mug filled with something steamy. “I assure you the milk’s fresh.”
“Mommy says not to take treats from strangers either.”
“Your mother is a very wise woman.”
“Yes.” Joanna sat on the stool and gasped as it swelled in height so she was still at eye level with the man when he sat down. “Who are you?”
“My name is Merlin. You might have heard of me.”
“You were Arthur’s wizard—or at least that’s the popular story. Others say you might have been a Druid priest, or that you didn’t really exist at all.”
“I see you’ve been doing your homework.”
“Yes,” she said again. For a wizard he didn’t seem all that bright. “Why did you want to see me? Is it about Isis?”
“You really are quite smart. I guess I shouldn’t have expected less from Emma Earl’s daughter.”
“Emma Reed. Earl was her name before she met Daddy.”
“My apologies.” Merlin took his mug off the table and sipped from it. “Now then, you are quite correct this is about Isis. I need you to send Emma—not your mommy, the other one—back to her world. Before you do, tell her that she must come here immediately so I can help her prepare for Isis.”
Joanna stared at him for a moment. “That’s all you wanted? Couldn’t you tell her yourself?”
“I’m afraid not. You’re the only one who can hear my voice.” She flinched as he tousled her hair; she hated when adults treated her like a baby. “You’re the only one special enough to do it.”
“Can I ride the Pegasus back?”
“Of course you can, dear girl. She’ll take you back where you came in at. From there just walk into the light.”
“OK.” Joanna hopped off the stool. Merlin helped her back onto the golden saddle, but before he could signal for the Pegasus to take off, Joanna thought of something. “Is my daddy here?” she asked him.
“No, young lady. Your father is up there. You’ll see him eventually, when you’re an old, old lady.”
“That’s what Mommy said too.”
“I told you she was a wise woman. You mind what she tells you.”
“Yes, sir.”
The wizard patted the winged horse on the rump and then Joanna was airborne. She clung to the reins and stared
down at the green landscape below. It was so beautiful here, like Heaven. But it wasn’t Heaven from what Merlin said. If it was, Daddy would have been there. She sighed and wished she didn’t have to wait so long to meet him. It wasn’t fair. Why did he have to die and leave her and Mommy behind?
So immersed in these thoughts, she didn’t notice that the Pegasus had landed until she felt rough hands grab her. She squealed and thrashed around, until she heard the mean old man groan with pain. “What are you doing, you brat?”
“Sorry,” she said as he set her on the ground.
“Well, I see the master didn’t get you straightened out yet. You must have lost a couple cards in your deck.”
“I have to go,” Joanna said. She turned then and walked into the light as Merlin had said.
***
Joanna opened her eyes to find Mommy hugging her. Mommy’s tears wet the shoulder of Joanna’s hospital gown. “Mommy, what’s wrong?”
Mommy looked up and stared at her with wet eyes for a moment. “Oh thank God. Thank God.” She pressed Joanna’s head to her shoulder and stroked Joanna’s hair. “I was so worried.”
“It’s all right, Mommy. I went to a really pretty place and there was a Pegasus and it took me up to a house in the clouds. There was a man named Merlin there and he was really nice to me. But I didn’t go into his house or drink his milk.”
“It was just a dream, baby. But now you’re back.”
“It wasn’t a dream.” She looked over Mommy’s shoulder to see Emma at the foot of the bed; she still looked like Megan Putnam with her pale skin and platinum hair. “He told me I have to send Emma back home. And that she has to see him right away.”
“He said that?” Emma asked.
“Yes. He said he needs to see you to help you prepare for Isis.”
“Well he’ll just have to wait. Emma’s not going anywhere just yet. And neither are you, not until you’re feeling better.”
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Wrath of Isis Page 169
