The Disappearance of Ember Crow (6 page)

My first instinct had been that he was warning me about hurting Connor. But what if he wasn’t? After all, he’d said angels with an “s”, and there was only one Connor. Except I couldn’t see how angels were a clue to finding Ember. Angels were old-world beings that probably didn’t exist anymore, if they ever did exist. Connor had never thought they were real. But Alexander Hoffman had written about them, in the
Histories of the Reckoning
. And there was a poem about them too, although it was only a kids’ counting rhyme.

“Do you remember exactly what Hoffman said about angels?” I asked. “In the Histories?”

Connor looked startled, and I realised it must seem like a really weird question. I cast about for a reason to have asked it. If I told him about Grandpa’s warning, he’d want to know why I hadn’t said anything before, and that conversation wasn’t going to go well. “Ember said something about angels once,” I lied. “Probably nothing important. I just don’t want to ignore anything that might help her.”

He gazed at me for a second longer. Then he shrugged and said, “It’s a couple of lines about angels walking the Earth during the Reckoning.”

“That’s it?”

“And that they would guide humanity in the new world that would emerge from the old. I’ve told you before–”

“You don’t believe they exist. I know.”

“They were supposed to be messengers of some sort of god, Ashala. So it’s unlikely that Hoffman was talking about actual angels. Because he certainly didn’t believe in gods.”

No, he didn’t. The first line of the “Instructions for a Better World” was
There are no gods. Only an inherent Balance between all life
…

“If he wasn’t talking about actual angels, what was he talking about?”

“I don’t know. Some scholars think he meant extraordinary people who would be leaders once the Reckoning ended. Or maybe he was a little confused.”

“He couldn’t have been confused! He was
Hoffman
.”

“The reference to the angels is in the eighth volume of the Histories. He would have been pretty old by the time he was writing that one.”

He had a point there. People were fairly certain the ninth volume was the last one Hoffman had actually written himself and the remaining six had been put together by his followers writing under Hoffman’s name. The Reckoning had lasted over a hundred years; Hoffman couldn’t possibly have lived through the whole thing. “Just because he was old doesn’t mean he was crazy.”

“I didn’t say crazy, I said confused.”

There was a note of amusement in his voice. I eyed him suspiciously.

“What’s so funny?”

“The way you talk about Hoffman. The way everyone does. As if he was an all-seeing, all-knowing saviour.”

“He
was
a saviour! He foresaw the Reckoning, and he tried to save people – and no one would’ve been able to rebuild a society when it ended without all the inventions and writings he left behind.”

“I know that. Except … they ram Hoffman down our throats in enforcer training, because they use his work to justify the Citizenship Accords.”

“Hoffman didn’t think Illegals were a threat to the Balance, Ember told me that. The government just tries to make out as if he did. Ever since the flood.” That was what had started the Citizenship Accords in the first place – a Skychanger had caused a flood that drowned a city, back when the world’s ecosystems had still been unstable in the aftermath of the Reckoning.

“I’m not saying he was against Illegals,” Connor replied. “But most of what they told me during training was wrong, and I knew it. Hearing all about Hoffman in that context – I guess it made me question him too.” He sighed. “You know, our entire society is based on his vision of a perfect existence, and we all take every word he wrote as absolute truth. Which makes Alexander Hoffman kind of like the type of religious figure that our society doesn’t have.”

I frowned, digesting that. I felt distinctly uncomfortable at any criticism of Hoffman. He’d been the one to tell everyone about the Balance, and I knew how right he was about that. I’d
felt
the harmony of life when I’d come to the Firstwood. Although I guessed my grandpa was part of that Balance, and I didn’t think Hoffman had ever written about ancient earth spirits. Maybe even he couldn’t know everything.

“What exactly did Ember say about angels?” Connor asked.

“Um, nothing. I don’t think it’s important.” Then, both to distract him and because I wanted him to know, I added, “Connor, in the memory, she said I was going to find out bad things about her.”

“What kind of bad things?”

“I have no idea! Except it can’t be to do with her life in the Firstwood, because there’s nothing I don’t know about that.”

“What about her life before?”

“Well, I know her dad was heavily involved in the reform movement in Spinifex City, and he had contacts all over the world. He got sick, and they came here, using the tunnels beneath the forest, the ones that are collapsed now. He died on the way.”

Three sentences, and it was a pretty good summary of all the information I had. I’d never noticed until now how little Ember had really told me. Then again, most of the Tribe didn’t talk about their lives before, because their stories weren’t happy ones. Too many of us had run from parents who would’ve handed us to the government in a heartbeat if they knew we had abilities. We all started over in the Firstwood.

“Do you think everything could be connected somehow?” I asked. “That the Adjustment could have something to do with Ember going missing?”

“Anything’s possible, although I don’t see an immediate link.”

I didn’t either, but he was better at figuring out how things fit together than me.
Except there’s pieces missing from this puzzle
. The things Ember hadn’t said. The secrets she’d concealed. “I can’t understand why she kept things from me!”

“She might have been afraid of disappointing you. Ember needs you to think well of her, Ashala, more than anyone else in the Tribe.”

“I would never judge her.”

“You don’t know what she’s hiding.”

“It doesn’t
matter
. She’s my best friend!”

He smiled one of the heart-stopping smiles that always left me a little breathless. “You would say that. You don’t love anyone halfway.”

I smiled back, and the two of us walked on – in silence again, but not an uncomfortable one. Eventually, we reached the Firstwood and made our way through the trees, following the trail that led to the caves.

We hadn’t got very far when a black dog came pounding out of the forest.

The labrador took a huge leap and planted two paws on my waist.
Ember’s dog?
It had to be. “Sit! Um, Nicky, sit!”

He sat, staring up at me adoringly. I petted his head. He slobbered all over my hand. “He’s
really
friendly.”

Connor was watching the dog in bemusement. “He didn’t react quite so enthusiastically to anyone else. Are you sure you don’t know him?”

“Never seen him before. And the kids were supposed to be taking care of him. What’s he doing so far from camp?”

“You can’t keep a dog penned up in a forest, and they would have been able to judge whether he could watch out for himself,” Connor replied. “He did make it all the way to the Firstwood on his own, remember.”

As if to prove his independence, Nicky bounded off. Then he stopped, waiting for me to follow.

“Woof!
Woof!
”

“We’re going in that direction anyway, silly.”

Nicky barked again, more urgently this time. Uneasiness threaded through me. “Connor, I think we should get back.”

We followed the dog, jogging to keep up. He never ran too far ahead; he was clearly taking us somewhere.
Should we fly?
Only I wasn’t sure where Nicky was going, and we’d outdistance him in the air.
You’re jumpy because of everything that’s happened. There’s probably nothing to worry about
.

Only it didn’t
feel
like there was nothing to worry about.

There was a sudden whoosh of air along the trail in front of us. Another second, and Daniel materialised. He must have been pushing his Running ability hard; that was the only time he was impossible to see.

“What’s wrong?” I demanded.

“It’s Georgie. She’s lost. In a future.”

I didn’t need to hear that twice, and nor did Connor. Air pressed in around me, and the two of us began to float upwards. “Bring the dog!” I called to Daniel as Connor and I neared the treetops. Then we cleared the forest and shot through the sky.

We hurtled along at incredible speed. It still wasn’t fast enough for me.
I have to reach Georgie!
I’d always been the only one who could pull her back into reality when she got so caught up in a future that she couldn’t tell a possibility from the real world. Connor and I plummeted down to land at the north-eastern entrance to the cave system. I charged forwards only to have him grab hold of my arm. “Look, Ashala!”

I looked, and saw them.
Spiders
. They were everywhere, crawling over the walls and spilling over the entrance in a boiling mass of furry grey bodies.

“I could try to blow them out of the way,” Connor offered.

“We can’t hurt them; they’re Georgie’s animal. Besides, there’s hundreds … thousands … um, lots.”

I stared at the spiders in frustration. I wanted to run right on through. I’d be risking my life if I did. A bite from one of the big ones would kill in seconds, and while they usually understood to leave us alone, they obviously weren’t thinking straight right now. “I’m going to try to talk to them.”

Connor cast a doubtful glance at me.

“It’s not the same as Ember’s crows,” I told him. “You know how strong Georgie’s link is with the spiders, and they’re frantic. They understand something’s wrong with her. I’m sure I can get through to them.”

He let go of me, and I inched closer to the entrance. Not very much closer, but I hoped the spiders would appreciate the gesture.

“Hello, spiders. It’s me, Ashala. Georgie’s best friend – well, one of them. Ember isn’t here.” I tried to radiate calm. Animals could sense when someone was anxious. It was hard when it was making me
really
nervous to be standing in the vicinity of all those huge fuzzy bodies … twitching legs … miniature eyes …
Stop it, Ash!

“I know we’ve never exactly been friends,” – because I’m terrified of you – “but we both care about Georgie, and she’s in trouble. You
know
she’s in trouble. And I can help her.”

Slowly, the spiders began to shift, retreating from the entrance in a creepy living carpet. They moved off the floor and walls, huddling onto the ceiling where they usually lived. There were still a lot more of them than normal but they weren’t going crazy any longer.

Connor held out his arm. “We go together. Do you know exactly where she is?”

I clasped hold of him. “She’s in the cavern where she’s been building her latest set of maps.”

“You’re certain of that?”

“Positive. I stopped by to see her before.”

We barrelled into the cave system, propelled by air down one corridor after another until we finally burst in on Georgie. She was sitting on the floor, writing on the ground with a piece of chalky stone. The spiders above were making little wailing noises; it sounded as if there were hundreds of them up there.

I crouched down in front of Georgie. Connor stood at my side, ready to fly us out if he needed to. Reaching out, I pushed back Georgie’s hair so I could study her face in the soft glow of the solar lamps. Her pale eyes were staring at nothing, and her mouth was forming soundless words.

It was no wonder the spiders were crying; I wanted to howl too. “Georgie, it’s Ash. Can you hear me? You have to come back.”

She didn’t respond. I hauled her onto her feet. Her hand was twitching, moving through air like she was still writing. I pried the stone from her fingers and threw it away. The spiders went quiet. I didn’t know if that was better or worse.

Grabbing hold of Georgie’s shoulders, I flat out yelled, “Come back.
I can’t lose you too!
”

For a horrible second there was no change. Then she gave a slow blink; once, then again. “Ash?”

“Yes! Yes, it’s me.”

She looked around the cave as if she’d never seen it before. “Is this the real world?”

I almost laughed in relief at the familiar question. “Yes, Georgie. This is the real world.”

Her gaze wandered down to the markings. I turned her away from them. “This world is real and the other one, whatever you were seeing, that was a future. It wasn’t real.”

To Connor I whispered, “Get food, water.
Now
.”

He left, and I steered Georgie across the floor and through an opening that led into a smaller cave. There were no solar lamps in this one, but the far wall was peppered with small holes that let in light from outside, enough for me to see by as I settled Georgie onto her bed-roll. She liked to sleep here sometimes, near her maps. I sat next to her and gripped her hand. “See, these are the caves, your caves, Georgie. And the spiders are quiet now; I think they were really worried about you. They’re pretty scary when they’re upset – or at any other time …”

On I went, anchoring Georgie in the present with the touch of my hand and the sound of my voice. There was a familiar whooshing noise and Daniel appeared, holding Nicky in his arms. He set the dog down and came to sit opposite us. I kept on talking as Nicky sniffed about the cave and Daniel watched Georgie with quiet, focused intensity.

Eventually, Connor returned, bringing with him a flask of water, a jar of honey and some of the flat, nutty bread we baked in the ashes of a fire. He handed the flask to me and the food to Daniel before retreating back into the other cavern. He knew better than to crowd Georgie with too many people right now.

Daniel and I got Georgie to drink and eat. She started to seem better – more solid somehow, and definitely present in this world. I heaved a sigh of relief. Georgie hadn’t got lost in a really long time.
It was my fault
. I’d asked her to find Ember, and she must have tried so hard that she’d become trapped in whatever future she’d seen.