Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [164]
We’ll play cat and mouse until they arrive.
Just make sure you’re the cat!
And where are you going? he asked.
She stalled in the air, letting a thermal spin her around. To find Kreshkali. She made like an arrow back to the North Seas.
CHAPTER 21
CUSCA PLAINS, PRIETA FOOTHILLS & GOREGAN RIVER, GAELA & TEMPLE LOS LOMA, EARTH
Nell landed on a rocky outcropping, folding her wings to her back. She spotted the Three Sisters working hard to catch up. Stay high, my lovelies. Keep out of the trees.
The Three Sisters cawed in unison, circling overhead. Nell waited until she spotted the Lemur raven before she morphed. Makee flew to the top of a nearby oak, hopping down the branches until she landed on the ground, the green clover covering her black claws and tail feathers like a shallow sea. She morphed, the shock wave making Nell’s hair dance about her face.
‘Who was watching us back there?’ Nell asked.
‘So you don’t think it was an excuse to lure you away?’ Makee flicked a down feather out of her hair.
‘Of course not. I felt it too. Bangeesh scouts? They’re marching on Corsanon, you know, thanks to your antics.’
‘As well they should. Corsanon is out of control. You’ve seen what they’ve done.’
‘We’d put a stop to it. Turned it around. The Entity was healed, Earth coming good. Why are you meddling? And don’t think that I’m ignorant to what you’re doing on Earth. Every mountain on the planet is about to blow. It’ll be the end.’
La Makee chuckled. ‘Exactly. The end of ASSIST. The end of the witch-trackers.’
Nell’s face blanched. ‘Witch-trackers?’
‘You didn’t know, did you! You’re so busy getting in my way that you missed it. ASSIST is up and running. They aren’t just tracking your Temple Los Loma clan, or the coven at Half Moon Bay. They’ve come through the portal again. They’re searching for Jarrod and the spell. If they haven’t got Rosette already, they will soon, and you too. You’re tagged.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘They’ve got you scoped, Nellion, and I’ve been re-arranging events to make sure they never find any of you ever again.’ She drew in her breath, pointing her finger at Nell’s chest. ‘I’m closing the door on Earth. ASSIST will be finished. Buried under molten lava, the portal shut forever.’
Nell took a step closer, leaning in. Her voice was a whisper. ‘You would destroy Earth?’
‘Aye. A sacrifice, I admit, but worth it.’ She laughed. ‘Think of it this way. Most of your clan are out now, so how much could really be lost?’
‘How much?’ Nell straightened to her full height. The faces of those she knew passed before her—Annadusa, Grayson, Maluka, Zero, the new apprentices, their hopeful eyes waiting for a word, the Lupins, the wildlife, the familiars, the mountains, the seas that were beginning to recover, the hundreds and thousands of saplings ready to plant, streams and waterfalls running clear and clean, the beings of the entire world—plant, animal, sky and stone—all re-creating their lives in new and beautiful ways. ‘How much could be lost?’ she said again, her voice gaining volume. ‘Makee, you ignorant, interfering, short-sighted fool of a witch. You have no idea how much!’
‘I’m setting things straight. A few will be die but what is death…’
Nellion Paree bellowed out a string of words, a guttural chant, her hand slicing through the air. ‘Consisto statim! Consisto…consisto!’ A wake of energy followed and everything froze. The trees were caught in mid-sway, pebbles stopped in their path as they trickled down the cliff face. Sparrows flitting in the sky were now painted there, dabs of brown on a blue background. Ants halted in their march, leaves hovered midair. All sound vanished.
‘Enough,’ Nell said. ‘That will be enough.’
Makee’s mouth was open, her eyes straining. She could hear every word, Nell knew, but could not move a muscle. Nell had a mind to leave her like that forever. She leaned towards her, her face a hand’s width from the invisible barrier. ‘I’m going to say this once, La Makee, so listen close. If you thought that Earth was some foreign place,