Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [76]
When they reached the city gates he had a terrible feeling they were going the wrong way. He tried to protest but they dropped him at the healers’ temple where they tended his body, washing it clean, flushing the wound and encouraging him to drink coffee so strong it was like bitter mud. But even when his headache subsided and his vision cleared, he had the most uncomfortable feeling that he had forgotten something vital, something more important than minding the horses or even finding his sister to let her know he was all right. Struggle as he did, for the life of him he couldn’t work out what it was.
Grayson tried not to breathe. He didn’t want to taste the air. When he finally did have to fill his lungs he had a coughing fit. Sector Six reeked; the air carried a metallic odour like a blacksmith’s forge that burned refuse instead of coal. It made his tongue prickle and his stomach clench. He didn’t want to believe this was the right place, but the Entity had brought him here, along with Everett, for a reason. At least that’s what he kept telling himself. If it was simply a random event selected from an array of possibilities with no purpose behind it other than to propel him through existence, he was going to be sick. How Everett would respond, he didn’t know. The man was far from his right mind. Everett believed he would find evidence of the ‘thief’, though Grayson had his doubts. Was there a thief? What children was he talking about? Everett’s stories made little sense. They seemed to be bouts of paranoid ranting. He had no memory of the time they’d spent together in Sector Six, busting Rosette out of Cryo. It was like it never happened. Everett’s obsession was the thief who had stolen infants from the village. Nothing else mattered to him and Grayson hadn’t had a chance to question Regina, if indeed she knew any more.
The experience was disquieting, raising difficult questions. How could Everett not remember Canie and Rosette, and himself for that matter, unless it wasn’t really Everett—or the Everett he knew? Had the doctor lost his memory or his mind? Or had a future event changed the past? A past in which Rosette never was trapped in this world? Grayson tightened his jaw and followed Everett down the path. He would have a look around, humouring the man until he could figure out what to do next.
‘Grayson?’
He heard the voice but didn’t believe it.
‘Grayson!’
‘Rosette?’ he whispered.
He wanted to spin around, run to her, hold her, convince himself it was truly Rosette, but he couldn’t move. His body was frozen, petrified. As long as he didn’t turn, didn’t see, it could still be her. It could be Rosette, not a dream or a fantasy or a terrible trick of the wind. He kept his back to the portal, prolonging the answer for as long as he could.
‘Grayson!’ Her hand gripped his shoulder and pulled him around. ‘Are you deaf?’
‘It is you,’ he said.
‘Of course it’s me. What in blazing demons are you doing here again? Do you have any idea how we’ve been trying to find you?’
He looked at her belly, huge under the soft creamy dress, her dark cloak floating in the breeze behind her. ‘Rosette, it’s you.’
‘You said that already.’ She gave him a little shake. ‘You have to come back with me. Kali needs you. We all need you. Right now!’
He turned to Everett, wondering if seeing Rosette would jog his memory, but the man was far down the hill and talking with someone near the lake. ‘Where have you been?’ he asked, taking her hand. It felt warm, familiar, and his breath caught.
‘No time for this.’ She gripped him tight and hauled him back towards the portal.
He stopped, pulling her into his arms. ‘Rosette, I was looking for you,’ he said. ‘Looking everywhere, and…’
‘And now you’ve found me. Good work. Let’s go.’ She’d slipped out of his embrace and led the way. ‘Hurry