The Spell of Rosette - Kim Falconer [166]
A blast of golden light and the smell of summer tomatoes, basil and raspberries met her when she reached the hydroponics floor. She took a deep breath. A few gardeners were working between the green foliage that spilled out of rows of planter boxes. The misters were on, making everything sparkle in a prism of coloured light.
‘I love this place,’ she said to Annadusa as she approached. ‘It’s like a piece of Gaela’s heart is growing here.’
The other woman shrugged. ‘I like it a lot better now that we aren’t hand-pollinating every single plant.’
‘The Gaelean bees doing their job?’
‘And then some, but I want to go back for more. There’s so much we can do, now that we have double the water filtration and the hydro-electrics for light.’
‘Wait ’til we get solar power online, and ASSIST off.’
‘And then we’ll have real sunshine and no witch-trackers!’ a young girl said, coming up with a basket of herbs.
Kreshkali smiled. ‘I’m looking forward to that too.’
‘What’s next?’ Annadusa asked. ‘I get the feeling you aren’t down here for lettuce and beans.’
‘We’re ready for you.’
Annadusa handed her trowel to the girl and directed her towards the compost bins, giving her a set of instructions.
‘Lead the way,’ she said to Kreshkali, and they headed up the stairs.
Excitement sparked around them, but neither spoke again until they were on the top floor.
‘This is our bard, Clay,’ she said, introducing him by opening out her arm in his direction.
He smiled and tipped his head as he played a haunting tune.
‘What a wonderful sound,’ she said, beaming. ‘I’m Annadusa.’
Clay nodded and kept playing.
‘Amazing place you have here,’ Jarrod said, getting up from the table. ‘I saw your gardens earlier. You’ve got the touch.’
‘And this is Jarrod,’ Kreshkali said.
Annadusa blinked, giving a little shudder. ‘Jarrod?’ she whispered. ‘The JARROD? I didn’t know…’ She looked at Kreshkali.
‘We made certain nobody did.’
‘Jarrod! You’ll be wanting to meet my son,’ she said, closing the distance between them. She gathered him into her like a mother hen. ‘But I’d better warn you,’ she said, turning to look back at Kreshkali. ‘I haven’t had a word from him in twenty years.’
‘Does this look familiar?’ Kreshkali asked as she slid another set of blueprints across the table. They’d been sitting there for over an hour, debating various strategies, coming to no agreement.
Annadusa studied the printouts, moving a candle closer to read some fine print. ‘Like I said, I’ve never been inside. They took Grayson on when he was twelve and that was thirty-five years ago. We communicated for years until the messages from him started to dwindle, then they stopped altogether.’ She sighed. ‘My last contact was almost two decades ago. There’s been nothing since.’
‘Would he still remember his purpose?’ An’ Lawrence asked. He and Rosette had returned from the training session more relaxed. They seemed encouraged by Annadusa’s presence.
‘It’s embedded in his blood, like all of us.’ Annadusa smiled at Kreshkali when she looked so surprised. ‘Your very-great grandfather had a bit of a field day with the DNA splicing, didn’t you know?’
‘A zealous man,’ Kreshkali said.
‘If my Grayson is alive, he’ll remember.’
‘Could they have discovered him?’ Rosette queried after a moment’s silence. ‘Realised he was with the Resistance?’
No-one responded.
‘That’s it.’ Jarrod stood and rolled up the plans.
‘What’s it?’ Rosette tilted her head towards him.
‘I’m going in.’
‘In where?’
‘Into ASSIST.’
‘How?’ The question came as a chorus, everyone staring at him.
Kreshkali touched his arm. ‘Forget for a moment about the “how” and explain the “why”. Have you forgotten what will happen if the worm…’
‘I haven’t forgotten. Don’t worry about that. It’s ever present on my mind. That’s why we can’t wait any longer. We need to do a little reconnaissance.’
‘A little what?’ The query again was unanimous.
‘I’m going