Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [194]
‘Mine too. Have you checked with Teg?’
An’ Lawrence frowned. ‘Why should I?’
‘They’ve got quite a strong link.’
He looked away. ‘Hadn’t noticed.’
She patted the back of his hand. ‘To Los Loma then. To Nell.’
CHAPTER 25
DUMARKIAN WOODS, GAELA & TEMPLE LOS LOMA, EARTH
Rosette leaned against the corridor wall, picking dried blood from her wrist. The fumes wafting from her soaked robes were not pleasant. She couldn’t wait to get cleaned up.
Agreed. Her familiar sat very still.
‘Eating and sleeping will be welcome too.’ She reached over Jarrod to pat Teg’s cheek. ‘Hey?’ His head lolled to the side. ‘You okay?’ She slapped his face lightly. ‘Teg?’
He caught her hand before she could hit him again, opening one eye. He shut it immediately and groaned. ‘I was for a moment. Hurts like demons now.’
‘Think about something else, Teg. Get your mind out of the wound.’
The Lupin clicked his tongue. ‘I was, until you woke me.’
‘Sorry.’ She climbed over Jarrod and knelt in front of Teg. Her hands hovered above his shoulder and she hummed a monotone chant, flowing warmth and energy to him. He was asleep in moments.
‘Drayco, what are you doing?’ she asked, as she crawled back to her spot against the wall.
Her familiar sniffed Jarrod’s boots, tasting the air. He’s Jarrod in his mind, but he’s got younger, and shorter. Strange, isn’t it?
‘Strange indeed.’ She frowned. ‘How did it happen?’ She directed the question to Jarrod. ‘The last time I saw you was on the Corsanon steps in the driving rain.’
‘That’s right. You went under and I tried to fish you out.’
Rosette wrinkled her nose. ‘Makee didn’t push you over the edge?’
‘Is that what you thought?’ He shook his head. ‘I was trapped under the rapids for the whole ride down and had a rather hard landing. My tulpa lost some of its integrity.’
‘Integrity?’
‘Limbs, lower jaw, bit of spinal column—it was uninhabitable.’
‘So you took this boy’s body and carried on his life as a Corsanon stable hand?’ Rosette stared at him.
‘I didn’t steal it! He’d died the day before. Arrow in the neck.’
‘Arrow? That makes sense. But why didn’t you come to me?’ She brushed his hair back from his cheek. ‘We saw each other! We passed each other, more than once. Why the deception?’
‘I was deceived myself! The original occupant of this body, Xane, left behind some powerful memories and the hemlock was still on board. When I woke up, I glimpsed myself for a moment and then went under. I thought Xane’s old data files were me. My memories. I thought I was him. My conscious awareness was buried for quite some time.’
‘And I nearly killed you,’ Rosette said.
‘I know.’
She took his hand. He had beautiful, long tapering fingers. She studied them, turning her wrist back and forth. ‘Where is Xane now?’
‘I don’t know. His consciousness was not around when I took over.’ He scratched at the scab. ‘I think the hemlock poison was partly why I had so much trouble connecting to my own memories and not his. I thought I was going mad.’
She squeezed his hand. ‘Xane…I like that name.’ Rosette’s mind turned back to the night Jarrod was lost. ‘Shaea—the girl who has Passillo—she talked about a brother who had just died.’
‘I know. This was him.’
‘Was it? Are you sure that he was dead? He’s not still in there somewhere?’
‘He is gone, Rosette.’
‘But the memories.’
‘Memories are the books in a library, not the librarian.’
She nodded. ‘I understand. How’d you get the body to life?’
‘The hemlock preserved the organs, and kick-starting his old physicality seemed easier than creating a new tulpa.’
‘Kick-starting?’
‘Earth term. Motorcycles. Means to get it up and running.’
Rosette kissed his hand. ‘And Shaea’s his sister?’
‘He thought so…’
‘You still remember his life?’
Jarrod nodded. ‘I have my sense of self, but I can still access his memories. Like a movie.’
‘A what?’
‘Like a biography—a story about someone else’s life. He and Shaea were abandoned, raised by no one, surviving in the streets of Corsanon.’ He frowned. ‘Actually, not by no one—Rall had a pretty