The Spell of Rosette - Kim Falconer [34]
She knitted her brow. This text, the one she’d paid so dearly for, was particularly meaningful to her. She knew the author had defected from ASSIST centuries ago. He was Luka Paree, a man whose work with quantum communication in DNA broke new ground. She smiled at his image on the back jacket, worn thin but still visible. He was a handsome man, Janicia’s lover.
She rubbed her thumb across it before reading aloud. ‘If the Entity wavers at the door, collect both waters pure as mist.’
She had the pure water from land. She just needed to deal with the polluted sea water. The technique, she discovered, was woven into the spell itself.
‘Add high blood and bottle tight.’
‘High blood’ had thrown her until she realised it simply meant the blood of a High Priestess. On Earth, ‘High Priestess’ described the descendants of the Techno-Witch—Janis Richter—in whose DNA was hidden many things, including the key to neutralising the sea-devils. She’d had the answer inside her, all along.
She pricked her finger and squeezed it over the vial, counting out the drops. She pushed the stopper back in and swirled the contents around.
‘With Luna behind the solar lot.’
It took her quite a while to decode this phrase, but she’d worked it out. Luna was the ancient reference to the Earth’s companion satellite, and lot was another name—even more antiquated—for an astrological mansion or house. The only time the Moon was behind the Sun’s house was just before it turned new—when it was dark as dark.
‘Will the double helix bond right.’
The ‘double helix bond’ was deoxyribonucleic acid—DNA—the long chains of protein that carried genetic information as well as the chemicals that could, on a very small scale, deactivate the sea-devils and make the water pure.
It’s in your blood, her mother had always said.
She read on. ‘And keep open the Ring-Pass-Not?’
The ‘Ring-Pass-Not’ was the portal, and the only thing that worried her about this phrase was that it was a question, not a statement.
Would it work? Even Luka Paree had been uncertain.
If it was successful, the portal would stabilise, at least for the time being. It would stay open, giving her the power to travel through whenever she wanted and bring back whatever she pleased. As it was, she could only take the clothes she wore, the trinkets in her pockets and a few water-skins at a time. If the spell worked, she’d be able to carry more, and avoid some of the less pleasant side effects of dimension travel—debilitation not the least.
Holding the vial up to the candlelight, she watched. The mud-coloured sea water, roiling with microorganisms, began to clarify. In a moment, it refracted the light—crystal clear and sparkling. She smiled. Like an alchemist, she mixed it back and forth with the other vial before pouring the concoction into a small spray atomiser and capping it shut. From what she understood it was simply a matter of releasing the contents as she travelled the corridors between the worlds, an offering to the Entities.
She’d know soon enough. The portal was five minutes away.
GAELA
CHAPTER 5
‘Not a soul in sight,’ Rosette whispered, looking up and down the road.
Hills undulated towards the distance. They were bare and brown, haggard as the cows that dotted them. The beasts walked slowly, heads close to the ground, their nostrils blowing puffs of dust as they searched for grass. Everything smelled of manure, dirt and burnt wood. The air hung thick with smoke, muddying the sky. This place was a striking contrast to the lush fields of Dumarka and their butterball livestock, laden fruit trees and dense forests.
Rosette turned towards the dry shrubs. ‘You won’t wander far, will you, Dray?’ she said, raising her voice above the riotous squabbling of crows flapping amongst the oaks.
She took off her gloves and tucked them into her pack, smiling as three larger black birds shot towards the east, squawking a ruckus as they did so.
‘You don’t have to watch me, Nell.’
Nell doesn’t watch, Maudi. The Three Sisters do.