Crowned (30 page)

Pleased? Are you nuts?

If you really want to know where they are, come to the house tomorrow. Ten a.m.

And the sneaky psychopath is gone, leaving me, as always, with no choice.

* * *

The next morning I call in sick. My boss is all soothing tones and sympathetic murmurs, and I know the office must be buzzing with gossip. They probably think I’m too traumatised to show my face. Just as well – I need some time off.

I leave the house early as though I’m going to work, but instead take my time getting to Block 8. The combi drops me off near Airport Junction and I walk the rest of the way. By the time I reach the Puppetmaster’s house, it’s quarter to nine.

I try the gate; it’s locked. I analyse the lock with my gift, but unfortunately for me it’s a regular lock, not a magical one. I roll my eyes, but it makes sense. It’s not like there’s anything in there to protect.

I hear footsteps behind me and turn around. Emily stops short, staring at me.

“Morning, soldier,” I chirp.

She scowls. “You’re early.”

“I made a special effort.”

She unlocks the gate and struts into the yard. I follow. There’s no house. The yard is empty apart from bags of cement and other construction materials. I wonder what Emily’s doing here. She certainly didn’t come to prepare refreshments for the meeting.

“Can’t you go away and come back later?” she snaps. What a friendly child. Such lovely manners.

“I’ll wait.” I look around, but there’s nowhere to sit. “Why are
you
here?”

Ignoring me, she walks across the yard to the back wall, squats and starts rummaging through the rubble. I follow, curious. She unearths a small box, dusts it off and rises.

“You know, Connie, instead of wasting time trying to annoy me you should be working on the puzzle box.” She turns to face me. “Have you made any progress at all?”

“Nope. What’s in
that
box?”

“The puzzle box is important.”

“To John. Not to me.” That’s a lie, but she doesn’t need to know that. “You know how to get to the Loosening, don’t you?”

She shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. I’m not telling you.”

Clearly someone’s forgotten I’m a telepath. I hit her mind hard and her barrier trembles but remains intact. Her eyes narrow. I rally and prepare to try again.

That’s not how ladies should behave.

My gift snaps back, and Emily’s shoulders sag with relief. I turn to see the Puppetmaster standing behind us. His figure is flickering – the projected image is taking more energy than he can spare.

I hear the gate open and close – Emily’s gone. With a sigh I turn my full attention to my host. “Couldn’t come in person?”

Alas, dastardly deeds are time-consuming,
he replies.
Welcome to the final chapter.

I already know how your story ends. You started the Loosening years ago to steal gifts from your friends. That’s how you became a sorcerer and shape shifter. And now you can’t stop it.

He smiles and shakes his head.
Not quite, my dear, not quite.
He waves one hand at the barren yard.
I’m not going to bother with special effects today. I’m just going to tell it like it is.

That’ll be a first.

We’ve come to the end of my story, and the beginning of yours.

What does that mean?

Haven’t you guessed yet?

I frown at his thin, elongated features.
The Ultima. That’s where we stopped – your quest to find her. And now you think you have.

Oh, I know I have.
He smiles, and as always it makes me cringe.
I didn’t gain my powers through treachery, by the way. I gained them through effort. I taught myself sorcery. Once I mastered it, shape shifting became far easier.

How can you teach yourself sorcery? It’s a gift!

For most, yes. But what is it, really, beyond learning to manipulate energy? I’m not saying it was easy. On the contrary – it took me over half a century to master it. But I’m a patient man. You of all people should know that.

I watch him through narrowed eyes, pushing aside a thread of reluctant admiration. He taught himself a gift. I suspect there are very few people who would attempt such a thing, and even fewer who would succeed. But this new piece of information raises another question.
If you could teach yourself gifts, why start the Loosening?

He clasps his hands together beneath his pointy chin.
The Ultima has always existed. When great darkness threatened the world of the gifted, she used a vessel to dispel it. You are not the first, and you won’t be the last. I found tentative evidence of her presence at least once in recorded history, but it was impossible to know how long it would be until her next incarnation. Wars and disasters aren’t enough to move her. She is drawn only by supernatural events of great magnitude.

You can imagine my dilemma. I was desperate to find her, and yet I knew that only a supernatural catastrophe could bring her back. What were the odds that such an event would take place in my lifetime? Slim. Almost non-existent. I had to get creative.

Oh, no. I gape at him as the knobs and dials in my head click into place.
That’s why you did it. The Loosening was the most dangerous spell you knew of, the only thing big enough to lure the Ultima out of hiding!

Yes
, he says, without a trace of shame. He doesn’t even seem to realise the enormity of what he’s done.
I knew of the ritual, but I also knew that there had been Loosenings before and the Ultima didn’t stir. A typical Loosening only covers one area – maybe the size of a football pitch, or smaller, depending on its purpose. I needed something bigger, something that would cover not one town or even one country, but the greater part of the planet.

I swallow, trying to imagine myself unravelling a spell of that magnitude, and failing.

People like thinking in straight lines,
the Puppetmaster continues.
They dismiss a phenomenon as impossible because they don’t understand how it works, but nothing is impossible. Difficult, yes. Complex and extremely fragile. But after all I had already accomplished I saw no reason it couldn’t be done. It took me a few years to set the markers, and several decades to build my gift enough to begin the ritual.

I thought the potential of the ritual would be enough to draw her, but still the Ultima hid. Then I saw the first signs that she was starting to waken. Certain unspoiled places in the world began to give off more energy. She has to keep things in balance, you see, and my Loosening tilted the global energy levels. So I waited.

And then you found her.

He beams. His taut skin stretches painfully across his skull, his teeth like polished pearls.
Yes. Coiled inside the tiny body of an unborn child. You, Princess.

I wish you wouldn’t call me that.

But that’s what you are. Once I found you I had to wait for you to come of age. In the meantime I was preparing to begin the ritual. When it was finally time, I went over the markers and examined them one by one, and I realised something was wrong. One of the markers – one very close to us – was giving off enormous amounts of energy that threw the whole thing off balance.

Something tugs at my memory, but it slips back into the depths before I can grasp it.

But it didn’t matter, because you were almost ready. You, my dear, are my true goal.

Uh-oh. I sense we’re wading into lunacy here, and I’d like a minute to grab a life jacket. I take a step backwards, though I know this weak projection can’t hurt me.
I thought your goal was to become the greatest sorcerer who ever lived and rule the gifted world.

He shakes his head.
I wanted to rule our world once, but when I learned about the Ultima I knew she’d never let me. She has chosen a ruler. It was always her choice to make, and I was the instrument by which it would all come to pass.

OK, where’s that life jacket? He’s sinking fast, and I’m afraid he’s taking me with him.

You were born a princess, and soon you will become a queen and rule over all the gifted with your lover at your side. A real-life fairy tale.

I blink at him.
You’re out of your mind.

He laughs.
You’re everything a queen should be! Good, noble and strong. All I’ve done since I discovered my true purpose was to prepare you for your destiny. It must happen, to save the gifted from their own complacency, to raise them to their full potential! You were born to rule the gifted world.

I swallow. I’m feeling a little light-headed.
If I’m supposed to rule over the gifted, what’s Rakwena’s job? To be my trophy prince?

To contain your power, of course. You, as the Definitive Gifted Soul, can control all the gifts in the world. He, as the ultimate vessel, can store them all. He can absorb vast amounts of energy – energy you will control. The connection between the two of you is clearly the hand of fate at work.

This is too much for me. My jaw drops, and it takes me a minute to form a coherent thought.
You want to use Rakwena as some kind of bank for gifts?

Yes. He’s perfect, you see?

No, I don’t see! He’s a person, not an ATM!

You’re not looking at the bigger picture, my dear.

I’m not your dear!

He nods and smiles.
It will take time to adjust to the idea, but it’s inevitable. You are about to be crowned, and there is nothing you can do to fight it.

I can refuse!

Did the Ultima ask permission before she inhabited your body? You can’t fight her. No one can.

This can’t be happening. He can’t really believe what he’s saying. Me and Rakwena, ruling over the gifted? How would that even work? Does he plan to spirit all the gifted away and start his own kingdom in the ether? The scary thing is that I can actually see it unfold in my mind like a dystopian bedtime story. Camelot on crystal meth, or something. I’ll wear a tiara and Rakwena will have a big sword with a stupid name. The Puppetmaster has made no secret of his disdain towards the ungifted, or his belief in gifted unity. But this?

Imagine it, Conyza,
he breathes.
All the gifted standing together. One tribe with a common purpose, working towards the betterment of our kind. It will be wonderful.

Sure, if we lived in the pages of a comic book. This is the real world, John.

It should be different. It can be different.

That’s not your choice to make! Are you going to force the gifted to co-operate?

His smile fades.

I shake my head, clinging to the last bit of sanity in this conversation.
OK, forget the gifted. You can control them, but you can’t control the Ultima. She’ll leave my body as soon as she cleans up the mess you made. That’s how she works, isn’t it? She comes in, fixes the problem and goes. You can’t keep her in one place.

His eyes narrow slightly, and his thin lips curl up in the corners. On a normal face it would be a smirk. On this face it resembles a tortured smile, like a clown with a toothache. Either way, it means trouble.

What have you done?

He blinks innocently.
You should really get cracking on that puzzle box, my dear.

John, what have you done? You have to see that this is crazy! It’s a fantasy – it’s never going to work!
I take a deep breath.
Just tell me how to reach the Loosening and we can make it go away before it gets out of control.

I’m afraid it’s already out of my hands.

What does that mean?

Once you solve the puzzle box you will be brought here, to the vortex of the Loosening. You can’t arrive here any other way, not while the spell is protected by my concealments. So you see, solving the puzzle box is the only way to stop it. You have to do it.

John –

I can’t keep it hidden for much longer, and once it becomes visible to the ungifted…
He turns up his palms in a gesture of helplessness.
Hurry, Conyza. Time is running out.

John, wait a minute!
Oh, bloody – he’s gone again, leaving me alone in the yard.

Fear creeps into my heart. Megalomania, while frightening, is easy enough to understand. But a villain who wants
me
to rule is something else entirely.

I turn towards the gate. The Puppetmaster is insane, but he’s right about one thing. If the Loosening spins beyond its boundaries there’ll be no stopping it. Everyone – gifted and ungifted alike – will be in danger.

Chapter Twelve

I don’t have a plan of action for defeating the Puppetmaster yet, but there are some loose ends I can tie up. As I walk towards the bus stop I let my mind go back to everything the Puppetmaster told me. The Loosening. How and why he started it, and the unknown factor that tampered with one marker and threw the ritual off balance.

The Puppetmaster doesn’t make mistakes. Well, he does, but not careless ones. After planning the Loosening for so long, how likely is it that he could have set it up incorrectly? Not very likely at all. But something tainted that marker. Or someone.