The Spell of Rosette - Kim Falconer [155]
‘Except for the fact that the worm is everywhere, in all the remaining global wires.’
‘I gathered that,’ he sighed. ‘A foxy creature. We just have to attract it back to its hole, and I know just the bait.’
She took a quick breath, her eyes levelled on the Sword Master.
‘You can’t risk the JARROD.’
‘What about a calculated risk?’ Zero asked.
She held her cup under her nose, steam wafting over her face. Her brows knitted tightly and then finally lifted. ‘If we could get him into his old mainframe, for just a nanosecond, it might work. We’d have to have one lightning-fast exit strategy.’
‘The mainframe? Where is it?’ An’ Lawrence looked through the drawings.
‘In Central Processing—ground floor of ASSIST.’ She tapped a small diagram.
‘Guarded?’ An’ Lawrence asked.
‘You could say that.’
Rosette sat under a date palm eating bananas and guava fruit, the juicy pink centres making her tongue tingle. Drayco was nearby, worrying the remains of an eel. Her lids were fluttering shut, when she shivered. ‘Did you hear that?’
The falcon?
It whistled again, the sweet high pitch of a black falcon. She stood, looking for the bird. Could it be Nell?
Rosette! I’m here.
‘Nell? Nell! Where are you?’ she called.
‘Nell’s here?’ Jarrod said, coming up from the lagoon, his finger through an eel’s gill. ‘That’s good news.’
Over the sound of the falls, the cry of the raptor called again. It was coming from the cliffs above. Rosette and Jarrod shielded their eyes, watching the bird swoop down. It back-winged in front of them and morphed into Nell.
‘Rosette!’ she exclaimed, short of breath, ‘I knew you were alive, but by all that’s sacred it’s good to see you.’ She looked around the valley and sighed. ‘Jarrod, this is my favourite one. It’s beautiful here!’
‘What do you mean “your favourite one”?’ Rosette crossed her arms. ‘Your favourite one of what?’
Jarrod placed his hand on her shoulder. ‘Rosette, it’s okay.’ He took a breath. ‘Nell? Are we all right?’
‘For now. Give us a moment, will you, Jarrod?’ She held out her hand to Rosette. ‘Come with me. I need to show you something.’
‘Where are we, Nell? This can’t be any of the Rahana Island chain. How could we get this far out?’
‘Save your questions, daughter. I’ve got something for your visual consciousness. Give your mind a rest.’
‘Pardon?’
Nell put her arm around Rosette’s waist and led her to the edge of the pool, where they stood together. ‘Lean over with me. Have a look.’
‘There’s something in there, right?’ Rosette whispered. ‘I knew it! I felt it before; it was just like in Los Loma. Something dangerous.’
‘There was never anything dangerous for you in Los Loma.’
‘You weren’t there, Nell. It was plenty dangerous…’
‘Are you certain?’
Rosette frowned. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Just look. Look with me.’
Rosette scanned the clear surface of the water, containing her emotions for a few seconds before bursting out. ‘What am I supposed to be looking at, Nell? I can’t see a thing. Are we fishing for eels?’
The eels are delicious, Maudi.
Not helping, Dray.
‘Give it a moment,’ Nell replied. ‘Let the ripples settle.’
The water darkened beneath them as a cloud moved across the sun. Rosette squinted, peering at her reflection. She thought she looked a bit tousled, but not too bad considering the shipwreck, near-drowning and marathon swim. She gingerly touched her sun-cracked lips and brushed the damp hair out of her eyes.
‘Rosette,’ Nell whispered, bringing her daughter’s attention over to her side of the image.
Rosette stiffened and bent closer, springing back from the edge. It wasn’t her mother standing next to her, arm around her waist, leaning over the water. The person that looked back at Rosette from the limpid pool had short, pale, spiky hair and a wicked smile.
‘I know you!’ Rosette pulled further away, reaching for the sword that wasn’t there. She started to weave a banishing spell.
Maudi? What are you doing?
It’s Kreshkali, my captor from Los Loma. Why didn’t you warn me?
‘Calm yourself, Rosette,’ she heard Nell’s voice speaking as the