Vega jane and the end of.., p.8
Vega Jane and the End of Time, page 8
I felt my cheeks growing warm. I knew exactly where she was going with this.
Morrigone continued. ‘When they got to John’s room, and also his old home, they might have sensed some of the things that had been there. His pictures and his books.’
‘The evil things,’ I said.
‘Yes. They might even be able to sense the thoughts of the person who had inhabited those spaces.’
‘So you’re saying—’
She cut me off with a wave of her hand. ‘No, I am not. What the Maladons lack is an appreciation of nuance, of subtlety.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘For them, there is only light and dark. There is nothing in between.’
‘So you’re saying that they might have interpreted John’s curiosity about dark matters as him being evil?’
‘It’s certainly possible.’
I mulled things over for a bit. ‘Did John say where he would go if he left Wormwood? Did he have any idea of what he would be facing?’
‘He had some idea, because I told him.’ She eyed me closely. ‘I know I did not grant you the same privilege, Vega.’
‘I’m glad that you could at least aid him,’ I said sincerely. Then, curious, I asked, ‘Why did you let me escape?’
Morrigone studied the floor for a long moment before speaking.
‘I could sense that things were changing. And . . . and I thought you had a better chance of finding out why. That is why I let you go.’ She paused. ‘As I told you back in Wormwood, I did admire you, Vega. In their ignorance, our fellow Wugs worshipped me and ridiculed you.’
‘I worshipped you, Morrigone,’ I said.
‘Until you came to your senses and saw me for what I was. A fraud, a shell, a failure.’
‘I never considered you to be a failure,’ I said. ‘Far from it. You had a job, and you tried to do it to the best of your abilities.’
‘Thank you for saying that.’ She paused. ‘It could very well be that your brother is out there somewhere.’
I tapped my foot against the stone floor. ‘Morrigone, why did you take him under your wing, into your house, and show him the . . . the awful things that you did?’
‘I showed him nothing,’ replied Morrigone, surprising me. ‘He found them himself, inside the Council building.’
‘The Council building!’ I cried out.
‘He was there working on the plans for the wall. He was searching for some books to help him with his task. He told me that he found a secret cache of parchment and a large box of dusty tomes and drawings. I do not know who put them there. It must have been from long ago. All I know is that John was fascinated by what he saw and read about.’
‘But why didn’t you take them away from him? Tell him these things were wrong and horrible and evil?’
‘I did tell him, Vega. But I knew that merely taking them away would do no good. You can’t make someone be good, Vega. Just as you can’t make someone evil.’
I drew several calming breaths, then said to Morrigone, ‘Do you have any idea where John is now?’
‘I do not, Vega. I swear to you that I do not.’
I looked wearily at the wall in front of me. ‘What will you do now?’ asked Morrigone.
I had no answer to give her.
13
THE PROBLEM OF THE RING
I retreated alone to my room and lay back on my bed to contemplate many things.
I needed to search for my brother – and to do that, I needed my ring.
I thought back to the creature posing as my brother who had befouled my ring. A terrible thought occurred to me. If the Maladons had used an image of my brother in their trap, did that mean they indeed had John?
I shook my head. I needed to repair my ring. And there was only one way to do that. I took out my wand, tapped it against my leg and said, ‘Pass-pusay.’
A moment later I was in the Quag, at the spot where Jasper Jane had made his home inside a large stone building.
I walked towards the enormous doors of the place and pointed my wand at them.
‘Ingressio.’
The doors swung open. I passed through and used my wand to close them behind me.
I looked alertly around the interior of the vast place. ‘Hello?’ I called out.
When I received no answer, I called out once more.
‘Yes?’
I looked up to the top of the staircase. My ancestor was wearing the exact same clothes he’d had on when I had been here last. A long robe, open in front, revealing a breastplate underneath bearing the stamp of the three hooks, our symbol, which he had told me represented peace, hope and freedom. Precisely in that order.
‘Jasper, it’s me, Vega Jane.’
He swept down the stairs and came to stand in front of me. ‘You have escaped the Quag, then?’
‘I have.’
‘I had wondered why everything had changed,’ he said. ‘The Quag. Its power and, with it, its relevance has gone.’
‘Yes, well,’ I began, and then could think of nothing else to say.
‘What have you discovered outside the Quag?’ he asked.
‘Well, I was this very morning in your old laboratory at Empyrean.’
‘Empyrean?’ he exclaimed. ‘You were at Empyrean? Our ancestral home?’
‘There is only one Empyrean,’ I replied.
He paused and studied me. ‘Why were you in my old laboratory?’
In answer, I held up my ring.
‘A man named Colin Sonnet gave this to my grandfather when my grandfather ventured into the past. Sonnet owned a shop of curiosities, and this apparently was one of them. It renders the wearer invisible. But the Maladons have done something to it, such that it no longer works. I was wondering if you could think of a way to fix it? Because in order to defeat the Maladons, I need for it to work properly.’
‘Colin was quite the collector of antiquities.’
‘You knew Colin Sonnet?’
‘He was one of my best friends.’
I considered my next question carefully. ‘You went into the future once, didn’t you? Alice Adronis told me that you did. And she told me something else extraordinary.’
‘What was that?’
‘That you saw me upon your venture into the future.’
He nodded slowly. ‘Did she indeed?’
‘She did. What exactly did you see of me?’
‘I cannot tell you, Vega. Revealing things that have not taken place is not allowed. The consequences would be unimaginable.’
‘But you’re already dead. What do you care about consequences?’
‘Not consequences for me, Vega. Consequences for you.’
‘Me?’
He nodded. ‘But you are here about your ring.’
I studied him for a long moment and shook my head clear. ‘Yes. Can you think of how I could fix it?’
He mulled over this for a bit.
‘I know one person who can help you.’
‘Who?’ I said eagerly.
‘Colin Sonnet, of course.’
14
EON REDUX
Back in Wormwood.
It was the very last place I wanted to be.
Here, there was only death. I could smell it, taste it, even hear it in the imagined moans from the dead and buried.
As I flew over the Hallowed Ground, where we laid our deceased in the dirt, I had to look away.
Yet my brother had not perished here – or so I now thought. Whether he was out somewhere alone, or a prisoner of the Maladons, I didn’t know.
My mother thought he would be better off dead than a prisoner of the Maladons. I had once thought the same; now I disagreed. If John was a prisoner, that meant he was alive. And that, in turn, meant I had a chance to get him back.
I landed in front of the destroyed doors of Stacks.
Stacks was my old workplace, where I had laboured as a Finisher. It had also once been Bastion Cadmus’s home. It had been magically transported here when Wormwood had been created.
I had already seen what the Maladons had done to Stacks. Knocked down the doors, toppled the turrets, demolished Julius Domitar’s office and my workstation.
I had been trapped in Stacks once with a pair of jabbits in pursuit of me. I knew that jabbits no longer inhabited the place, but as I walked through the dark empty halls, my heart raced nonetheless.
I marched up the damaged staircase to the first floor and made my way down to the end.
Here, there had been a small wooden door, with a metal doorknob fashioned into a screaming Wugmort. It was through this portal that I would make my way to the past.
Only there was no door now and no screaming doorknob, only a solid wall.
Undeterred by this, I pointed my wand at the wall and said, ‘Exposadus.’
Absolutely nothing happened.
I incanted the magnification spell to see if I could look on the other side of the wall.
It didn’t work.
I tapped my wand against my leg and muttered the Pass-pusay spell, my destination being on the other side of the wall.
Again, nothing.
I took a step back and pondered what to do.
Back at Empyrean, I remembered that I had followed Uma down to the very bowels of the place. She had passed through a solid wood door, but when I had attempted to turn the doorknob and open the portal, I had been unable to. I had stood there like a fool for the longest time until I had realized it might be a test.
I had managed to open the door using something I had always held in abundance: imagination.
I had imagined jabbits chasing me through Stacks. I had conjured all those awful memories until I had believed that I was in peril, that I needed the door to open or else I was lost.
Now, I closed my eyes, set my mouth in a firm line and attempted to do this again.
Since I was in the very place where the jabbits had actually hunted me, it was not all that hard to bring these terrifying memories back to vivid life.
My heart started to race, my breaths grew ragged. Sweat appeared on my forehead. My legs ached from my imagined flight from these deadly predators.
In my mind, when they almost had me, I opened my eyes.
There was still no door.
‘Bloody Hel!’ I yelled in disappointment. I kicked the wall, which sent a jolt of pain flying up my leg.
The next moment I froze.
Screech. Screech.
I slowly turned around.
There was only one creature I knew of that made that vile sound.
As I stood there frozen, it came into view.
This was one of the largest jabbits I had ever seen, nearly twice as long and three times as broad as a normal one. The hundreds of heads on its trunk were all looking right at me as it slithered down the hall.
How had a jabbit got in here?
Then I realized how.
The separation between Wormwood and the Quag was no more. Creatures could come and go as they pleased.
My breath came in gasps; fear-induced sweat poured off my body. My heart was pounding so fast I could hear nothing else.
Except the creature’s screeches. The last thing you hear before you die.
Out in the Quag I had faced many jabbits and I had defeated them all. But it felt different here. I had worked here as a young Wug. Spent my days in stark fear of the creatures from the Quag.
I had my wand now, but my hand felt paralysed.
I fell back. I could not think of a single spell to cast, though I knew many that would have vanquished the beast.
My only thought was to flee.
Just as the jabbit reared up to strike, I whirled around. There was the door.
And there was the screaming Wug on the doorknob.
I reached out, turned the knob, opened the door and threw myself inside.
I slammed the door behind me.
The door had held before against the jabbits. I prayed that it did so now.
I shrank back and waited.
Moments went by and I listened intently for the screech or the sound of the jabbit slamming its massive body against the tiny door. But neither happened.
I let out a long, painful breath. I had gone from mighty sorceress to scared little girl faster than I could have imagined. If that was not a lesson in humility, I didn’t know what was. But at least I was alive.
I slowly turned and walked into the darkness until I reached a vast cave.
I thought back to what I had said on my first trip here, in order to summon what I required.
‘I need answers and I need them now,’ I shouted.
‘Hello?’ the voice said, instantly.
I turned to see a small, hooded figure walking towards me. As before, he carried a wooden staff in one hand and a lantern in the other.
It was Eon, the guardian of time.
‘Eon, it’s me, Vega Jane.’
‘Why have you returned?’ he asked.
I looked around. ‘Eon, do you not realize that Wormwood has been destroyed? There’s no one left.’
The little creature looked at me blankly. ‘I do not understand.’
I decided not to pursue it. I supposed none of that mattered to the guardian of time.
‘I’m here because my grandfather Virgil went back in time.’
‘Yes, he did. He was the only traveller other than you to do so.’
‘When he went back, a bloke called Colin Sonnet gave him this ring.’ I held my ring up for him to see. ‘I want to go back to the same place and time to see if Colin can fix it for me.’
Once more, Eon simply stared blankly at me.
‘Can you arrange that?’ I asked hopefully.
‘I have no control over where one goes, either in the future or the past, Vega. Where one ends up depends on the traveller themselves.’
He took something from his pocket and held it out. A key.
‘You obviously have a need once more,’ said Eon. ‘Take this key and fulfil it.’
15
AN OLD FRIEND WHEN NEW
I tentatively approached the fiery gates that would allow me to go back in time. I inserted the key in the lock, the gates opened and I braced myself. In my mind I held the name Colin Sonnet. I hoped that was enough.
Turns out, it wasn’t. Not even close.
When I passed through the gates, I was instantly embraced by what appeared to be clouds hovering a foot above the ground. This had happened to me before, so I was unafraid.
When the mists cleared, I was in the middle of a forest, but I heard voices nearby. I headed towards them.
I cleared a thicket of tall poplars and stopped.
I had happened upon what looked to be a small village, a cluster of rudimentary huts made of clay with thatched roofs. I saw some women tending to large cauldrons hung over small fires. There were men sharpening blades on long spears and some feathering arrows they placed in leather quivers. Folks were chatting amiably together, but from the way they would continually look around, I thought they were nervous about something.
And then I received a shock.
A girl walked around the corner of the huts and into view. It was Petra. Younger, smaller, but clearly Petra Sonnet.
She was thin, and her hair was shorter than it was now. Her clothes were dirty, as was her skin, but she carried herself proudly. Over her shoulder she carried the carcass of some sort of animal.
She deposited it with one of the women tending a cauldron. Then I was able to see the bow over Petra’s shoulder, and the small quiver of arrows on her back. When I had first met her in the Quag, she had carried a far more formidable crossbow.
I wondered whether any of them could see me and stepped cautiously into the clearing. The villagers looked through me. I stepped closer and studied Petra, who had sunk down upon her haunches and was dipping a metal cup into a bucket of water. She took a long drink and gazed around.
It suddenly struck me. I knew why everyone was on their guard.
We were in the Quag. These people’s ancestors had all been trapped here when the Quag was created to conceal Wormwood.
As I continued to watch Petra, something curious happened.
A group of children not that much older than she came to stand in front of her.
One of the boys said, ‘What you be doing?’
She glanced up at him. ‘What does it look like I be doing? I’m drinking water.’
‘You can’t do that. My mum says you’re spawned from the Quag. A beast.’
‘You’re wrong!’ cried Petra. She leaped on the boy, but was hauled off by a passing man.
‘Be gone with you, beast,’ cried the man.
And Petra got to her feet and ran off.
The mists covered me again. When they cleared, I was standing next to a river. I could hear the water rushing by.
There were several children there. They were yelling and pointing at a small boy who had clearly fallen into the river and was hanging on to a limb from a tree that had partially collapsed into the water. It seemed that he could not hold on much longer, and the current was deadly swift.
I started to run towards the river, though I wasn’t sure what I could do, but before I got there, I heard a splash.
I looked and saw Petra swimming frantically towards the boy.
She was older now, perhaps fourteen. Petra reached the boy and grabbed him by the arm. She swam back to the shore and helped him out of the water.
I expected the others to applaud her for the courageous thing she had done.
But that did not happen.
Instead, they turned their back on her. Even the little boy she had saved ran away from her.
I looked at Petra and my heart went out to her. But she never shed a tear. She just turned and walked off.
The mists crowded up over me again before I could go after her. Yet they cleared again quickly.
I heard the sounds of weeping. I was once more in the middle of trees, and it took a few moments for me to get my bearings.
Petra sat on a rock, her face in her hands, sobbing.
A man appeared from the treeline and approached her.
