Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [112]
I know. Bit of an issue.
Understatement.
I’m talking to Scylla now.
You can reach her? How?
It’s faint, but I’ve got a message through. I’ve upset her, I think. I wonder if it came out right.
How can you be transmitting from so far away?
It’s you, I think. Your energy is like an amplifier. It’s boosting my signal.
Can you hear back? What did she say?
It’s not so clear…
Drayco must have moved closer because she sensed his tail snapping. She stilled her mind, knowing he wanted to concentrate on his connection with Scylla. She was surprised he didn’t shush her outright.
Maudi?
Did you make her understand? Rosette felt a rumbling energy waft through her as Drayco began to purr. They know what’s happened to me? An’ Lawrence? Kreshkali?
I’m not sure what they know, but they’re coming. We need to get to the portal under Half Moon Bay.
That’s where they’ll be?
Drayco waved his tail again. I think so, if we can just manage the correct ‘when’.
That’s not going to be easy.
Drayco’s energy shot towards her. Not if you say it like that, it won’t be.
You’re right. She felt another dust devil pivot her around. It’ll be a snap. We get there, just where we need to be, and exactly the right ‘when’.
That sounds better. Can you focus on them both—the ‘when’ as well as the ‘where’?
I’ll do my best. She felt his energy move off and concentrated her thoughts on the Half Moon Bay portal. When are we meant to be there?
Right about now will do.
She’d discovered the knack of keeping up with Drayco. She stayed focused, kept her eyes on him and watched where he went. Her energy would follow. What am I saying? I have no eyes. She laughed again, a feeling with no sound or action. Drayco? Do you think I’m going to be able to see…I mean, perceive anything when we get out of the corridors?
I wouldn’t worry about it too much right now. Whatever happens, it’ll be all right.
Okay. She remembered the feeling of a sigh. Good call. I won’t worry. She kept her attention on him, her energy hovering over his body.
At first she could only sense his whereabouts intuitively, but then a lightening in the corridors brought more distinction. She could see, or visualise, the outline of his back and long tail conspicuous against the background.
I’d be lost without you, Dray. She sensed wafts of energy coming from him. Are you laughing at me, black cat?
You’ll have to admit it’s pretty funny.
How so?
Drayco’s rumble turned to purring; a purple aura flowed from his body in all directions. I’m as lost, he said, and as found, as I ever was.
The glow increased.
Me too, Dray. Me too.
She brushed past the Entity as they entered a portal, Drayco right beside her. The jolts of purple plasma engulfed her, filling her vision with indigo light. They settled into the recesses of the portal as a wash of colour sped by. When it stopped, she moved forward, keeping her focus on a shaft of light illuminating the edges of her vision. Beyond, it looked much like the sewers of Half Moon Bay.
On track, Maudi. Good work.
She had no idea of the when, though, and there was nothing to do now but wait to see if Kreshkali showed up. She did the closest thing she could to taking a deep breath.
It was a relief to make out the subtleties of hue, saturation and colour as the light increased around her. She loved visual consciousness and it was a blessing to get it back. Everything became clear in minute detail. The main drain was dark and rusty, strapped to the corrugated wall with brackets and tattered with fine holes, moth-eaten from erosion. The moss growing on it was a pale green. It turned vivid lime where sunlight beamed in from the surface. Algae clustered where water seeped from the walls.
Everything glowed—an aura of energy. Rock, walls, feline, moss, stone, gravel, drain—all had an energy field, and it was that subtlety of light that she could understand now more than anything else. The plasma of the