Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [32]
‘Did she leave a message?’ Maka’ra asked as they returned to the house.
‘Not one I can read.’ Grayson fished out the chart. He didn’t know if the big islander read the star symbols, but he trusted the man’s instincts. His own, he was beginning to doubt.
Maka’ra squinted at the page, stamping his feet on the porch. Once inside he continued to read the horoscope, naming the planetary placements aloud. ‘She’s asked a question about her father,’ he said, pointing to the moon just over the fourth house ruler. ‘He’s trapped somewhere. She’s off to find him, again.’
‘Again? I thought she would have done that already. Why come back otherwise? Unless…’
‘She found him, and then lost him?’
Grayson rubbed his temples. ‘Does it say where she went?’
‘She has the moon in the sign of the Fishes,’ he said, pointing to the crescent symbol at the top of the page. ‘It’s conjunct the ruler of the Archer, indicator of long journeys and new horizons.’ Maka’ra swung the kettle over the fire to boil. ‘She’s walking the corridors, but where she ends up is not as expected.’
‘Nothing’s been as expected, Maka’ra. Not since I met her.’ Grayson mumbled the words, his mouth turned down at the corners.
‘The new one has not arrived yet,’ the island man said, taking in the empty basket and smooth covered bed.
‘Apparently not. She and Teg…’
‘He was not here. Just Rosette, with the big black,’ Maka’ra said. He tossed the chart onto the table.
‘And now, she could be…’
‘Anywhere.’
Grayson stared into the fire. ‘That leaves a lot of possibilities.’
Shaea couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d never seen her whole body naked, sparkling clean, her hair washed and untangled. She’d never seen herself properly at all. As she stood in front of the full-length mirror, her hair combed and dripping down to her thighs, her round breasts and buttocks rosy red from the hot bath, she laughed. ‘I could have made some comforts with this,’ she said, her hands on her hips, turning side to side. ‘I had no idea, but I’m something that would fetch a price, don’t you think?’ She turned her bottom towards Rall and wiggled.
Rall hobbled into the room, a towel twisted around her head, another over her shoulders. She glanced at the mirror; her hunched shape was more like an insect’s than a woman’s. She snarled. ‘And I’ve got less than I thought.’ She slid into a chair, picking at the scraps left from their earlier meal. ‘Come on, girl. Stop staring at yourself and finish your supper. We will leave tonight.’
‘Tonight?’ Shaea looked at the bed and pouted. ‘I thought I’d get to actually sleep in one of these.’
‘You may still, but not here. We need to be out of the city before word goes round. There’ll be talk—that old witch’s got herself some coin, they’ll say. She took the girl and ran.’
‘What’s worrying you, Rall? Can’t you have had a lucky day?’
‘Not me. They’d be onto it in a blink.’
‘Who’s they?’
‘Never mind. Just get that new dress on and dry your hair. We’re leaving tonight.’
‘What will we tell the gate guards?’
Rall chuckled. ‘What will we tell them? Where’s your imagination, Shaea? Can you think of nothing?’
‘Not yet. It all seems too…big.’
‘Big, is it? I think you mean to say extraordinary. Start using your words, girl. They’ll catch you out otherwise, wearing a dress like that and speaking from the gutter.’
‘I am from the gutter.’
‘Exactly, but you don’t want them to suspect it.’
‘All right.’ She cleared her throat. ‘This all seems so extraordinary.’
‘That’s better. Now, think of something extraordinary