You’re out of food and water, nagged my inner voice. How long do you think you can keep this up?
“I don’t know.”
Should you even be walking? Maybe it would be wiser to sit down and wait.
“I can’t just wait when Ashur is confronting the Three, all by himself. I have to help him.”
What if the entities don’t want you to help him? What if you’re the only one who’s really lost?
I sighed. “You know, you’re starting to piss me off.”
The voice had a point. My body ached from head to toe, especially in the places Sheba’s poacher had battered me. I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty anymore, but I knew I was in an advanced state of both. Most likely, I wasn’t thinking straight.
I stopped walking and changed my focus. All I needed now was a good place to sit down. The dirt at my feet might even do. Nice red dirt. It piled up everywhere and got into the cracks. I couldn’t see anything that wasn’t covered in …
Okay—one thing.
Standing at the edge of a heap of apocrypha, something white shone in the dazzling light. I had passed that pile several times, but from a different direction. The shape had looked like a straight pole, but from this new angle, I thought it might be a giant seashell.
“Seaside…” I croaked.
This thing did not have the solidity of one of the seashell ships. It was more like the outline of one of those things, like a two-dimensional …
Like a door.
I moved cautiously toward that shape. It appeared much less like a solid object and more like an opening from my landscape into that other place. When I was close enough that my nose almost touched, I peered as far right, and then left as I could see. A path wandered through that white landscape, right past my position, and seashell ships stretched in rows on either side.
I twitched with alarm when I saw movement. Someone was coming down that white path. I almost ran, but then I recognized who it was.
Ahi and Ashur, Dragonette and Kitten, walking up the trail through Seaside.
I was with them. It must have been right after we had seen the model of the time fractures. On our way out, we had walked past a ship with a dark doorway. Now Ahi paused and stared right at me, frowning, and I saw her lips move as she told the past me what she suspected.
I think that’s another time fracture … and someone’s trapped inside.
I had hoped the trapped person was Lady Sheba, but I was the one stuck inside. My instincts at the time had been right. I probably didn’t deserve to get out.
I ached to leap through that door, to warn them, Don’t go to Evernight! Yet it was my presence that had put them in danger in the first place. How much worse would it get if I broke Queenie’s rules? THAT ROUTE IS CATASTROPHIC TO THE BALANCE …
I couldn’t go through that door until the past version of me and the others walked out of sight. I couldn’t interfere with what had already happened. Only one path made sense to me. Seaside was the place where water had miraculously appeared in our canisters, and I really hoped it would do that for me again. From there, I would just have to try to make it to the Three and Ashur on my own.
I waited until I couldn’t see us anymore. Once we were well out of sight, I hurled myself at that door. I expected some resistance when I passed through, so I gave it everything I had.
There was no resistance. I fell on my face.
I had to wait a minute until the dizziness passed and I could get up again. Once I did, I got a big shock.
I wasn’t with the Misfit Toys anymore.
I wasn’t in Seaside, either.
23
Dagger
I picked myself up from strange terrain. A wide floodplain spread fans of silt and dry mud ahead of me and to either side. The river that had created it meandered in the distance, and beyond it marched ranks of mountains. The clouds piled up over those peaks, threatening rain. I turned around, expecting that the canyon must be visible behind me, but instead I found a road pinching off at a vanishing point at the horizon. A few meters away, to the side of that endless highway, a broken sign hung from rusted screws on rods that angled toward the ground, as if they were too tired to do their job anymore. Only one word remained on its placard: NORTH.
I turned to face the southern end of the highway, but it didn’t stretch to the horizon. It rose as if it were climbing to a bridge. I walked up that incline to the very top. That’s where I found the end.
Once again I felt compelled to turn and look, first at the smooth stretch of highway behind, and then at the broken chunks scattered up ahead, and finally down at the perfectly straight line of division six inches from my toes. From my vantage point, the highway past the break looked as if someone had picked it up and cracked it like a whip.
A voice startled me. “One morning the people in the North woke up and the people in the South were gone.”
This was not a ship talking to me. My implant hadn’t been activated. I had heard that voice with my own ears, but I couldn’t see who had spoken.
Nothing moved. I spotted a structure below the elevated highway and to the left, sitting in a riot of scrub. I thought the voice had come from that spot.
I wondered how I would get down without breaking my neck, but once I had explored the side of the highway, I saw big chunks of concrete just below. They had fallen into a loose tumble that resembled steps, so I picked my way down.
Once my feet were on the ground again, I walked cautiously toward the structure. I thought it might be made of the same concrete as the highway. It looked like a bridge. Had it fallen there when the highway was sundered? It didn’t seem to be connected to anything, and it didn’t span a wash or a ravine.
“Welcome to Jigsaw,” said the voice.
It was a very odd voice. I’m no expert, but it didn’t sound to me as if it could be coming from a human throat. It was too beautiful.
Maybe that’s why I moved closer, because if I could have seen what was talking to me, I probably would have run the other way. Instead, I pushed through some tall weeds, and there he was, less than a meter away, crouching on a ledge under the bridge.
He towered over me, a pale creature that sat on rear haunches like a beast, though his body was humanoid. He was all sinew, taut skin, and bone; his hands and feet looked almost like eagle’s talons. He possessed a reptilian ruff that started at the top of his head and diminished as it traveled down his spine. I couldn’t see eyes or a nose.
His face was dominated by an enormous maw crowded with long, sharp teeth. I felt an awe and a terror unlike anything I had ever experienced, and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt.
This was a southern god.
“I am Dagger,” said the creature. His lips traveled an amazing distance over his exposed teeth to form words. He had no genitalia that I could identify, but his voice sounded male to me.
“I’m Oichi Angelis,” I replied with my ruined voice.
“The worm,” said Dagger. “It is an interesting description for someone with so much potential.” He cocked his head as if to get a different perspective, though he had no organs he could use to see me, as far as I could tell. “I am curious, Oichi. What price did you pay to buy the freedom of your people?”
My tongue felt glued in place. It seemed Dagger knew quite a lot about me already, and I hadn’t told him anything.
“Your heritage is partly human,” he said. “Humans have a way of wandering into spaces without knowing what is already there.”
“Like the people in the South?” I guessed.
“Like them,” said Dagger.
I was very afraid then, but I didn’t know how else to move forward, so I asked a question. “What happened to the people in the South?”
“We saw the colonists from their arrival on Jigsaw to their departure,” said Dagger. “So—we took the southerners. We tweaked them, and then we put them back.”
“You tweaked them,” I said.
“It is what we do,” said Dagger.
“It is what we are. There is always a price, Oichi. What was yours?”
He would have his answer. I felt chastened in his presence, in a way I hadn’t felt since I was a little girl and my father was angry with me.
“I lost the ones I love the most,” I said.
“True,” said Dagger. “But they’re lost, not dead.”
I sensed I stood on a precipice with Dagger, and I wasn’t quite sure where the edge was—so I guessed. “I have killed people. I—have to hide it. People would be afraid of me. I don’t always want them to feel that way. Sometimes I want them to like me.”
“I have killed, too, Oichi—some who were more innocent than your casualties.” Dagger lifted one hand and pointed a talon at me. “That was not your price. Tell me your price.”
Suddenly I saw what it must be. “Ashur lost one of his fathers because of me. He lost his innocence. He’s not the only one—my friends have all suffered because of my actions and my decisions. Dragonette is lost, Kitten is grieving.”
“No,” said Dagger. “Those are consequences, but you’re getting warmer.”
Frustration began to overtake my fear and awe. Wy did people keep backing me into these conceptual corners? Why did I have to keep explaining myself? Why did Medusa …
Yes, why did she?
“I lost Medusa’s trust,” I said, “and I don’t know how to get it back.”
He lowered his hand. “Yes, that’s it.”
Dagger regarded me for a long moment, with what senses I could not guess. I heard a sound that I recognized from my mother’s nature database—thunder. Outside our shelter, it began to rain. The sound and the smell were unspeakably beautiful. The other odors that drifted on the breeze were different from anything I had smelled before.
“We’re on another world,” I said, “not Graveyard.”
“This is Jigsaw,” said Dagger. “There are some intersections inside the canyon on Graveyard. You saw them in the model, in Seaside. You have traveled through one of our Gates. We who abide within those fractures are the Gatekeepers. We have chosen you, Oichi, because of your old blood and your new blood. We demand our price, too. You will pay it when I ask for it.”
This sounded like a statement, but I answered anyway. “Yes. I will pay.”
“The clan who makes its fortune from the sale of weapons is your enemy,” said Dagger, “but also your friend, if the circumstances are right.”
I nodded like a child learning her sums.
“We will make the circumstances right,” said Dagger. “We offer you the Gates, Oichi Angelis.”
Dagger expected me to understand that. I did—sort of. “Like the one I passed through to get here?”
“Yes. No ship required. The nexus points are places of great importance. Jigsaw is one. Graveyard is another. I will create one on Olympia, which you may use, when you will. Now, go and find a personage. She will help you sort your immediate problems, and the Reasonable Peace will be preserved.”
“Who is the personage?” I said.
“Surprises are nice,” Dagger said.
Nice? Did the people in the South think so?
“I will trust you with a secret,” said Dagger. “The people of Jigsaw call us the southern gods, though we are not worshipped. We are aware, but we are not omniscient. We are powerful, but we are not omnipotent. We lived inside the fractures in the beginning. We will be here in the end. For us, the beginning and the end are the same thing.”
He got down from his perch and ushered me under the bridge and out the other end, into the rain. He gave me a gentle push, so I thought he was done speaking, but just before I passed into the fracture, I heard his voice one last time. “Truly grasp that idea, Oichi, and you will know what we are.”
That seemed to be my cue to go. I started to walk, but within a few steps, something occurred to me. I turned and looked over my shoulder at Dagger. “I know why they call you gods.”
“Do tell,” said Dagger.
“It’s because of your God Machine.”
He cocked his head. “Because I lack omniscience, I’m not grasping your point.”
“This thing I’m about to walk into,” I said. “Your God Machine.”
He didn’t smile, which was not a sight I would have liked to see anyway, but his ruff stood straight up. “Ah!” he said. “Interesting.”
I turned and started to walk again, wondering how long it would take me to get through the fracture. Would time stretch and make it seem like forever?
I don’t think I took more than half a dozen steps before the temperature changed. I looked up—in that short amount of time, I had lost my concentration and become focused on my feet again. Somehow I had managed to make my way into a room full of cool, green light.
It was a lovely place—a bit archaic, in the sense that it was made of stone that reminded me of the limestone of Seaside. It had no glass windows, just low walls that let in the open air and the smell of green, growing things. Columns supported a beamed roof. There were tables displaying arrangements of flowers and shells, and stone benches topped with comfy-looking cushions. I heard the splashing of water from outside, and imagined ponds with little waterfalls. I wondered if they had koi.
The abrupt change in temperature made me stumble, and I almost fell. It took a moment to regain my balance—and to focus on the person in the center of the room, perched on a bench carved out of stone.
“Medusa…”
She looked up from the plaque she had been reading. “Did you meet an entity named Dagger?”
“Yes.” My voice was a ghost.
“Did he ask you about a price?”
I nodded. “What happens now?”
“This.” She showed me the plaque.
Letters were carved on it. Why were they moving? So fast, I couldn’t follow them.
I had no choice. Faster and faster they went, and I could feel them inside my head now, but they weren’t entering through my implant. They entered through my eyes. They kept doing that, long after I wanted them to stop.
“I think she’s going to faint,” someone remarked.
The language she used wasn’t a human dialect. That’s what I thought before I went down.
* * *
It was peaceful to be unconscious. I didn’t think about anything or worry or grieve. I woke when I felt Medusa cradling me.
“Drink,” she said gently. “Not too fast.”
She held a bowl to my lips. The water tasted better than anything, better than wine or tea or chocolate. I sipped, then paused. Sipped, then paused. I could feel my cells soaking up the moisture.
I was so content in her embrace, I couldn’t think about anything else, until someone knelt beside us and smiled down at me. This newcomer wore a loose robe that bared one shoulder and was clasped by a ring over the other.
She looked like a big bipedal gecko.
“Well!” She blinked at me with huge green eyes, and then smiled. “Miss Kick-Butt, I presume?”
24
Down in Birdie Land
“It’s a virus,” said Birdie. “The infection is spread through your visual cortex.”
Birdie is what the bipedal gecko-lady called herself. She was referring to the plaque Medusa had shown me.
“I’ve already had my dose of it,” said Medusa in the same language Birdie and I were speaking. “I wanted to err on the side of courtesy.”
I picked up the object in question, which had fortunately stopped moving. “This thing gave me an infection?” I blinked as if that alone could wash my eyes clean.
“Oh dear.” Birdie gently removed the plaque from my hands and set it aside. “That wasn’t the best turn of phrase. It’s entirely beneficial, Oichi—I promise. The virus has infected you with a language. My language.”
“You taught me with a virus?” I said. “That’s impressive.”
“Well, I’ve got a reputation to uphold,” said Birdie. “I’m an Early. From the Alliance of Ancient Races. I’ve been expecting you.�
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“An Early,” I said, hoping for clarification. Birdie hadn’t said that word in Early-ish. She had said it in Standard.
“We don’t have a name for ourselves,” said Birdie. “Other than the scientific name, which is just our version of your Homo sapiens.” She trilled that name for me, so I could hear how it sounded. “When we talk to humans, we use the nickname they gave us. We like it. Do you want some more water?”
I sighed. “No. I want my loved ones back. Do you know where they are?”
“Kitten will be here in a minute, and I must say, you have a talent for the trill sounds. I’m glad I taught you!”
“Where is Kitten?” I said.
“The graveyard consumes a huge amount of energy from those trying to protect people,” said Birdie. “I looked after Kitten. My colleague looked after Dragonette. Crow had all he could do to keep Ashur and Ahi safe, though he got help from the Three, and who knew how that would turn out? That left you, Oichi. It’s not that we didn’t care about you; it’s just that the others were so innocent. They came first.”
I could have pointed out that there were three of the Three, which should have meant that there was one left over for me, but go ahead. Be that way.
She cocked her head and blinked those big eyes at me. “We were reasonably sure that you would attract a patron—and what a patron! You hit the jackpot.”
She sounded so happy for me. I recalled the terror and dread I had felt when meeting Dagger, and decided to keep that to myself. “We have succeeded in our mission?”
“You have succeeded as well as anyone can under these circumstances. Quite well, indeed.”
“I’m glad to hear it. You mentioned you’ve been protecting Kitten…?”
“She’s in Evernight, with you.”
“With—” I began, and then I heard Kitten’s voice from the next room.
“Oichi?” she called, plaintively. “Dragonette? Anyone?”
I jumped to my feet. “In here, Kitten!”
Medusa in the Graveyard (The Medusa Cycle) Page 29
