The Spell of Rosette - Kim Falconer [156]
‘Jarrod?’ Rosette shouted, ignoring the woman, ‘Jarrod!’ Her voice rose above the sound of her pounding heart. ‘It’s…’
‘Kreshkali, after all,’ he said. Jarrod smiled at Kreshkali, the witch standing in the place where Nell had been seconds before. ‘You keep the surprises coming, don’t you?’
Rosette backed away, reaching for Drayco.
What’s wrong, Maudi? Why are you afraid of Nell? It’s just one of her glamours.
‘It’s not! Can’t you see?’ She grabbed her familiar’s scruff and gave it a shake, pointing his nose at the woman. ‘Are you all enchanted? It’s Kreshkali, queen of the underworld!’
She backed into Jarrod. His hand came up to steady her.
‘Why are you just standing there?’ Rosette asked. ‘Can’t you see the witch?’
Kreshkali stepped towards her, palms open. ‘No-one’s enchanted, daughter.’
‘I’m not your daughter! What have you done with Nell?’
‘Rosette, listen. I am Kreshkali. I’m also Nellion Paree—daughter of the daughters of Docturi Janicia.’
‘You can’t be!’
Kreshkali smiled. ‘I am.’
‘Clever,’ Jarrod murmured. ‘I didn’t detect it.’
‘Nor did any of the trackers,’ Kreshkali said.
Rosette searched their faces. ‘I don’t understand what you’re talking about.’
‘I’ve been living in two worlds for some time now, Rosette.’
‘Living in two worlds? What two worlds? Where’s Nell?’
‘Right here, sweetheart. I’m Nell. I’m Kreshkali. I’m your mother. I’ve been in two places at once, doing the work of two witches. I had to. There was no other way to keep you hidden from the trackers, watch over Passillo and continue the work on Earth.’
‘Earth?’ Rosette put both hands over her mouth. ‘My dream,’ she whispered. ‘I just remembered my dream. I had it in the cave that night. There was a portal. Another world,’ she gasped. ‘How is this possible?’
Kreshkali pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow.
‘I know: nothing’s impossible.’ Rosette took a deep breath. ‘Just tell me, if you’re Nell, why was Kreshkali—why were you—hunting me?’
‘I was never hunting you, Rosette, but guiding! Guiding and protecting. The real threat is from witch-trackers. They’re who we’ve been running from.’
Rosette crossed her arms. ‘A little communication would have gone down a lot better!’ She glared at Kreshkali. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me what was going on? You’re as bad as Nell…ugh.’
‘For that, I apologise. For not raising you myself and not passing on the knowledge of your inheritance sooner, I apologise also. It was too risky. The witch-trackers were hounding us. After Jaynan…after the Matosh murders I had to keep everyone in the dark.’ She glanced at Jarrod. ‘They nearly got us all that time.’
‘That time?’ Rosette said.
Jarrod rubbed his neck. ‘I think I’d best get the horses. You two have some catching up to do.’ He turned to the temple cat. ‘Do you know where they are?’
Drayco rubbed his cheek on Rosette’s thigh before following Jarrod downstream. You’ve got witches’ business, Maudi. I’ll be back soon.
Rosette watched her familiar walk away. If he said Kreshkali and Nell were one and the same, then they must be. He wasn’t alarmed. She took that as a good sign.
Kreshkali sat in the shade, patting the grass beside her. Rosette sat an arm’s length away.
‘You’re the first one of us to be born in another world.’ Rosette opened her mouth to speak, but Kreshkali waved her quiet. ‘Let me finish the explanation before you jump in.’
Rosette snapped her mouth shut.
‘You were conceived here, on Gaela, not Earth, but you’re of both worlds—you had to be. Only an Earth child from the line of Janis Richter can carry JARROD’s quantum CPU in her DNA, and Gaela was the only place I could hide you from ASSIST’s witch-trackers. They were stamping us out, one by one. They killed my mother and I swore they would never find you. I had to keep you in this world, and still be in both at the same time to carry on with the research.’ She brushed the sand from her hands and ran them through her hair. ‘That