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By Root 658 0

the view until the cells became enormous features of her inner landscape. She pushed her awareness through the nearest cell membrane and made her way to the nucleus. The chromosomes were like long gaping eels, floating in an endless sea. She dove into the mouth of the nearest one, kicking hard past the teeth, over the tongue and down the throat. It was a huge tunnel and down she went, following the track as it wound deeper into the strands of DNA. At each base pair molecule she looked for the nano-device imaged in the grimoire, Jarrod’s CPU, but each base pair was empty. She checked over miles of them one by one, swimming by each ladder rung. There were plenty of quantum devices around, but none of them resembled the backup CPU.

Are you seeing this, Drayco?

I see what you see, Maudi. Nothing matches the images in the book. Not even close. Some interesting technology, though.

At the nitrogenous base pair she found a nano-device with a plasma screen much like the portal Entity’s. She passed her hand over it and saw duplicate DNA, a mirror of her own only there were more pairs. They were vibrating too fast to count properly, but there definitely were more of them, and…different. She wished she had time to investigate. The CPU isn’t here, Drayco. The spell is gone!

Maybe it is smaller than we thought, or in a different form?

Possible. I’ll envisage the activation anyway. See what happens. She pulled back from the depths of the cell structure, out of the mouth of the eel and back into a quiet place in her heart. There she was lulled by the rhythm of blood rushing in and out, and air filling and receding from her lungs. She pictured the CPU, the boot-up sequence and the experience of Jarrod’s quantum sentient coming back online. After some time, she opened her eyes.

Maudi? It’s still you.

‘It didn’t work.’ Her guts tightened. ‘The spell is gone.’ She pulled herself up and headed for the door. ‘Where’s Grayson?’

Grayson?

‘He’s the only one I know who understands this. Where is he?’

Workshop. But, Maudi, how could the spell be missing?

‘That’s what we’re going to find out.’

CHAPTER 15

TEMPLE LOS LOMA & BORDERLANDS, EARTH &; PRIETA FOOTHILLS & DUMARKIAN WOODS, GAELA

The knocking was urgent, jolting Grayson from his thoughts. He knew it was Rosette. The sound of her bare feet, along with Drayco’s, gave it away. His stomach rumbled. Was she coming to press him for news of the notes? He’d already told her what it might mean to activate the backup CPU but now they knew for certain. What would he say? Kali had sworn him to silence. She wanted Rosette in Dumarka with Nell, safe until the baby came. The baby…He closed his journal. ‘Enter,’ he said, turning towards the door.

Where was Nell, anyway? He was curious to meet her, and he had hoped she would arrive before he faced Rosette and her questions. Maybe she had, and Rosette was simply coming to say goodbye. Goodbye? He hadn’t even had a chance to say hello. He schooled his thoughts, ready to tell her what he was feeling, ready to ask if he could accompany her to Dumarka. He took a deep breath and smiled, opening his arms.

Rosette stormed into the room. ‘It’s gone!’ She slapped her palm on the bench. Drayco growled at her side, his tail lashing.

Grayson had never noticed her resemblance to Kreshkali—not until now. Her eyes were on fire, her cheeks red. His smile evaporated and he took a step back. ‘What’s gone, Rosette?’

‘The spell is gone. Vanished! It’s not in my DNA.’

‘You can’t know that.’

‘I can and I do.’

‘Impossible. The CPU is encoded. It can’t disappear.’ He took her hand, guiding her towards a seat.

She pulled loose, bristling. ‘I’m telling you it’s gone. There’s no spell in my blood to activate.’

‘There has to be.’

She planted her hands on the back of the chair. ‘Really? There has to be? Funny, because I tried and nothing happened.’

The blood drained from Grayson’s face. ‘You tried to activate the spell? How could you know what to do?’

‘It’s simple really. I think I could have done it without the translated notes but it’s not there, so it doesn