Limbo's Child (76 page)

“Listen to me Lucy,” Amanda was desperate to convince her, she was speaking faster now. “Hokharty is a monster, Lucy, he only cares for numbers and figures and the balance between the worlds. Moríro is no better. He is indifferent to human suffering and only lives to serve the Great Master. Hokharty thinks he has double-crossed Moríro, but I’m the one who has double-crossed him.”

“What?!”

“You mother is the key, Lucy! The Great Master is heartless. He cares nothing for justice or mercy, but he drags all down to the underworld to him. But he is also weak and old, Lucy, and with your mother we can defeat him.”

“Defeat DEATH?!” Lucy’s mind was reeling.

“Yes! You’re mother can resurrect the souls of the dead. You can bring her back to life, but she can MAKE life, Lucy. She could overturn all of the underworld and free anyone she wanted to. We could end the meaningless of this life and give life back to all those that deserve it. We could give life meaning again, Lucy!! Instead of the good and bad dying together in ignominy for no reason we could save the good forever and send the evil straight to hell where they belong!”

Lucy tried to push Amanda away, but Amanda held her firmly. “You’re crazy!!” she yelled and tried to writhe free, but all she could do was turn her eyes away.

“Am I?!” Amanda yelled earnestly, “Look at me, Lucy, LOOK AT ME!” Amanda shook her hard once. Lucy looked up at Amanda. Both her eyes and Lucy’s were full of tears. “Listen to me, Lucy. Hokharty wants to kill billions, just to make sure that Death can keep on killing for another thousand years, but what does it matter when they die? ALL of them will die sooner or later. ALL OF THEM! Lucy! Death will kill everyone! What does it matter If they all die now together in fire and blood of if they die alone of old age, or of cancer, or of a broken heart, or pneumonia or a gunshot or of any of the other stupid meaningless random ways there are to die in this wretched world …even a car accident?!”

Lucy narrowed her eyes to push the tears out and looked at Amanda with fury when she said the words “
car accident
.” She couldn’t have felt more stabbed in her heart if she had driven the knife into her chest herself.

“WHAT DOES IT MATTER?!” Amanda yelled again.

“Get away from me!” She pushed Amanda away and went to the far corner and buried her face in it and wished she could disappear like Yo-yo. She closed her eyes and wished to be engulfed by the darkness, but the feeling of oblivion never came.

“What does it matter, Lucy?” Amanda said softer this time, almost, like a prayer. “The whole of human life is death and misery. Whether it’s measured out in large amounts in natural disasters, or bit-by-bit in teaspoons, what does it really matter? I’ve been to the afterlife, Lucy. I’ve seen it. We are all going to a sunless land of no hope, no music, no life and no promise, where the best you can do is struggle to hold onto what little remains of yourself,
your very soul
, before every little piece of you is blown away, but we can stop all that.”

There was a long pause. Lucy was breathing hard and inhaling the musty smell of old leather bound books. The only thing that kept her from crying anymore was the desire not to give Amanda the satisfaction. Lucy thought of her mother in that place – no sun, no plants, no life, nothing to do but to wait for the embrace of oblivion. If that was true then Amanda was right. It was horrible, unfair and cruel and unjust. Amanda had walked away towards the door. Her high heels didn’t give the usual sharp clack they always did, but she shuffled away instead, tired and spent, hardly able to lift her feet off the floor.

“Lucy,” she said at last.

Lucy turned slowly and looked up at Amanda. She was numb and she could tell Amanda was emotionally drained as well, as if at the end of a very long journey. They locked eyes and Lucy felt she finally understood her, both of them really, Amarantha
and
Amanda, and then Amanda spoke, as much to herself as to Lucy.

“If you thought you had the power to stop that horrible fate for even just one person that you loved, wouldn’t you try? Aren’t you
obligated
to try?”

She opened the door and nearly left, but turned back to speak one last time, “It’s your choice, Lucy. I’ll be waiting downstairs when you make your decision, but before I go…a peace offering.” She pulled open the door wide to reveal a small boy in a baseball cap and shorts.

“Yo-yo!” Lucy ran across the room, and Yo-yo ran to her and they embraced. When she pulled away from him to look back, the door was already closed. Amanda had gone.

Lucy turned back to look at Yo-yo. His eyes were a bit red, but he looked fine.

“Are you ok? Did she hurt you?”

“No…no, I’m ok.” He said rubbing his nose on his arm.

“Did she treat you ok?”

“Well…she was kind of scary at first and yelled a lot but then she got real nice.” He reached into his pocket a pulled out a bright, stainless steel Yo-yo. “She even got me a new transaxle butterfly. I lost my imperial in the woods back at your house. Check out the wicked balance on this thing!” He instantly rolled it off his fingers as smooth as anything and had it spinning ‘round the room like a satellite in seconds.

Lucy smiled at Yo-yo as he put the new treasure away. “Yeah, that’s Amanda for you. Hot and cold.”

Lucy had a mad thought, “Yo-yo, can you disappear here?!”

“Nah, I can disappear, but I don’t go nowhere. I always wind up right back where I started. It’s this place, it’s really
off
, somehow.”

“That was an understatement,” thought Lucy. She sighed. She should’ve known that Amanda and Hokharty would have cut off all escape routes with some vile spell.

“Hey! Did you see those skeletons?!” Yo-yo said earnestly, partly horrified and ecstatic. “Wasn’t
that
creepy?”

Lucy smiled but didn’t feel much like talking. So they just sat on the edge of the desk, their legs dangling and said nothing. After a long while, Yo-yo spoke.

“So…that’s your mom down there?”

Lucy didn’t bother to look at him.

“Yeah.”

“She’s pretty,” Yo-yo said, looking a little embarrassed. Lucy smiled and tried to force back another tear. She swayed on the desk and bumped shoulders with him affectionately.

“So, is it true what she said…that you can bring her back to life?”

Lucy turned to look at him.

“She told you?!” Lucy was a little hurt by this, though she didn’t know why – it wasn’t his fault, after all, that Amanda had told him. Still, it was a little too personal.

“Yeah,” Yo-yo folded his legs up underneath himself Indian style and grabbed his toes nervously. He paused and then said, “If I could bring my mom back,
I
would do it.”

Lucy turned away, took in a deep breath and tried to think.

“So what are you going to do about it?” Yo-yo asked a half minute later.

Lucy dangled her feet over the edge of the desk and leaned her head to rest on Yo-yo’s shoulder. She felt more like a little kid than she had in ages.

“I don’t know, Yo-yo. I just don’t know.”

“I miss my Mom,” Yo-yo said simply, “If she were here, it would make everything feel better.”

“I know what you mean, Yo-yo.” Lucy put her arm around him and hugged him around the shoulders. “If my Mom was here, she could make everything right.” And Lucy genuinely believed it too, which is why the note in her pocket made no sense to her.

“Don’t you dare double-cross me again, Hokharty!”

Lucy and Yo-yo had tiptoed cautiously down to the large staircase from the upstairs library, careful not to make any noise. Lucy was surprised there had been no guard at the door. Amanda either trusted Lucy or she was certain she wouldn’t or couldn’t run.

“Mistress, at the time it seemed prudent…”

“PRUDENT?!”

She was holding hands with Yo-yo sitting on a broad stair, carpeted in a ragged and ancient red runner. They had stopped on the last landing before it opened on to the large ballroom. Two people were arguing. The staircase was carrying the sounds of the argument all the way up from the ballroom. The first voice was Amanda’s. The second one was Hokharty’s.

“You were only trying to secure Lucy for yourself!”

That was the stern, cold Amanda for sure, which Lucy guessed was really Amarantha all along.

“If there is only one key, Mistress, then it is wise to make sure you have it securely in hand.”

“What possible reason could you have for extra leverage when you had the stone?”

Hokharty didn’t answer. Lucy wasn’t sure about the rules about summoning dead Necromancers. It was clear they worked at their master’s orders, but it was also clear they could interpret those orders rather freely.

“You could have fetched her sooner, why did you delay?”

“I was gathering the minions, Mistress.”

“You don’t need the minions to open the gate. And you weren’t gathering an army either. What were you really looking for?”

“Answers, my Mistress.”

“Answers to what?”

“Answers to questions, Mistress.”

Amanda groaned. She nearly lost her temper with him by the sound of her voice.

“You can evade all you want, you old bloodsucker, but you know I will figure out what you are up to in time.”

“In
time
…you will find all the answers, Mistress.”

Lucy looked to Yo-yo, who had that far off stare of his. It was seriously creepy when he did that. When he noticed she was looking at him, he just shrugged. Whatever Hokharty’s answer meant it must have been equally cryptic to Amanda, because she said nothing in return.

Eventually, Hokharty spoke, “And what of the boy, Mistress?”

Yo-yo and Lucy exchanged looks and Lucy squeezed Yo-yo’s hand a little tighter.

“The boy is under my protection, that is all you need know.”

“And the girl, Mistress?”

“What of her?” Amanda said coolly in reply.

“Can she open the gate for us?”

“Lucy is an intelligent, brave, talented and strong girl. I
know
that she can open the gate.”

“But
will
she?” Hokharty sounded annoyed but then respectfully added, “Mistress,” to soften his tone.

“I believe she will, but why don’t you ask her for yourself. She’s sitting in the stairwell now.”

Lucy went rigid, but didn’t dare move. She had a wild impulse to run back up to the room and pretend she was never there, but she knew that would never fly. The familiar clack of Amanda’s high heels came as far as the base of the stairs. Amanda leaned into to the stairwell and looked up at the two eavesdroppers. Yo-yo’s hand tightened on Lucy’s.

Amanda smiled at Lucy. “Heartbeats, remember?”

“Of course,” Lucy thought, “Necromancers can hear heartbeats!”

“I can teach you how to shield your heartbeat from others, but in the meantime.” Amanda held out one gloved hand. She didn’t seem angry at all that they had been eavesdropping.

Lucy came down the last flight of stairs holding Yo-yo’s hand the whole way. She reached up and cautiously took Amanda’s hand. Amanda walked the two of them across the ballroom. It was empty. Only she, Hokharty and Graber were left. Hokharty was standing there to the left of her mother’s body. Graber was standing behind it.

“I sent everyone else away. I thought you would want some privacy,” Amanda said simply. She led Lucy up to the dais.

“Give her some room, you
vultures
.” That was Amarantha’s voice, cold and fearsome and for once, Lucy was glad of it. She didn’t like those two hovering over her mother like that. They bowed slightly and backed away to a respectful distance. Amanda walked her up on to the dais and then held back herself and let go of Lucy’s hand.

“Go on,” Amanda said softly. Lucy looked back at her and then at Yo-yo, who was looking on encouragingly. Then she let go of Yo-yo’s hand and raced to her mother’s side. For a moment, she just stood there looking down at her mother lying on the lounge. She looked just as she remembered her. Lucy had been to funerals before. She hated them – especially open casket funerals and viewings. The bodies never looked right. They looked like mannequins, stiff and lifeless. But her mother didn’t look like that. She looked like she was only sleeping, like she could wake up at any moment. Lucy fell to her knees and brushed the stray strands of dark brown hair from her mother’s face. There was a small gash above one eyebrow, but other than that, she looked flawless with her white skin, her petite features and dark hair with a single streak of grey. As hard as it was to believe she was actually dead before this, seeing her like this made it almost impossible. Lucy caressed her face and began to cry, sobbing deeply.

Hokharty moved as if to get a closer look, but instantly Amanda moved to stop him. She already had her glove off and extended a bloody finger. Lucy hadn’t even seen her prick it.
She
didn’t have to bite her knuckle.

“Back off, you monster,” Amanda said in a low voice. Hokharty bowed respectfully and backed away.

Lucy felt strange. She was suddenly glad Amanda, even the scary Amanda, was there. Amanda was being so protective of her, like an older sister, an aunt, or even a mother. And she knew Amanda could handle herself. Lucy remembered what Amanda had said just now while she was eavesdropping. That she was intelligent, brave and strong, but did she really mean it? Amanda had known Lucy was listening after all. Lucy really wanted to believe in Amanda and believe that everything she said about her mom and her powers were true.