Blue Dome (The Blue Dome Series) (19 page)

“What do you mean by
“protecting”,” I said.

“We needed to find a way
of smuggling as much light into the new world as we could,” said Min.

“Is that the light that
Demarge was trying to shut out?” I said.

Min nodded. “Aeon light
is very powerful, particularly when given by the chosen among us. We knew that
trying to get it into Demarge’s carefully guarded creation would be extremely
difficult. In fact, some of us had abandoned hope. Then, just as the new world
was in the final stages of completion, one of us managed to pierce its
atmosphere and scatter their light. That light was absorbed by human beings and
has kept us connected to them ever since. It’s the presence of that light that
has enabled us to help you.”

“Help us?” I said,
squeezing the words out of my bewildered mouth. “How?”

“By providing a sanctuary
to those who have needed it,” said Min. “The Slipworld has always been a place
for mortals to hide when they were being persecuted by Demarge.”

“Do you mean like people
who are caught up in wars and stuff like that?” I said.

“No, not exactly,” said Thomas
carefully. “I wish we could provide a place of refuge for everyone who needs
it, but unfortunately we can’t. You see, we have no power to intervene in
matters that are solely between humans. Because we didn’t create them, their
conflicts and abuses are beyond our control.”

“So who
is
the
Slipworld for then?” I asked..

“The Slipworld is for
mortals who have an abundance of light in them. We call them ‘Shards’,” said
Min.

“An abundance of light? Shards?”
I said. Just when I’d thought I’d got the hang of it, things were suddenly
starting to get very confusing again.

“Like we were saying, an
Aeon managed to sprinkle light into human beings just before the creation of
your world was complete,” said Thomas. “Those who managed to receive a large
amount of light became known over the ages as ‘Shards’. It’s because they have
an abundance of this property in their bodies that they can literally
slip
from their own world into the Slipworld, in much the same way as Aeons can.”

“So do the Shards do
anything in particular?” I asked, half-hoping to hear about telekinesis or
mind-reading powers.

“Shards are very
important,” said Thomas. “Because of the amount of light within them, Shards
have an innate ability to question the world in which they live. They have a thirst
for knowledge and want to understand how things work. The problem arises when
they start to analyse or question in a way that threatens their creator. If
they push too hard, he retaliates, sometimes with deadly consequences.”

I gulped. “But can’t the
Shards just stop asking questions, before it gets to that point?” I said.

Thomas shook his head.
“No. It’s impossible. The light simply won’t let them be still in that way.”

“Nor would we ever want
it to,” said Min hurriedly. “You see, the light is the only thing that is
capable of pricking Demarge’s arrogant sense of control.”

“Being a Shard sounds
like a pretty heavy responsibility to me,” I said, as a nasty thought suddenly
struck me.

“I’m not a Shard, am I?”
I said. Min and Thomas exchanged awkward glances.

“Yes, you are,” said Min.

“But I can’t be,” I said,
rapidly trying to extricate myself. “For a start, I’m not smart enough. I mean,
there are people
way
smarter than me. They’re the ones who should be
Shards, not …” Min cut me off, mid-rant.

“No one chooses who
should be a Shard and who shouldn’t, it’s just how a person is born. The first
Shards were created at the very beginning, before humans even opened their
eyes. Since then, light has passed from each Shard to their children,
generation after generation.”

“Does that mean that all
the light that was once given to human beings is still in the world somewhere?”
I said.

“Unfortunately not,” said
Thomas, glancing at Min. “Only
some
of the original Shard light has been
inherited in this way. The rest of it has, over centuries, been absorbed into
the heavy darkness of your world.”

“How come?” I said. “Why
doesn’t it go back to where it came from?”

“Because it doesn’t know
how to,” said Thomas. “It gets trapped.” He paused, glancing at Min as if he
wasn’t quite sure if he should continue. “Clare, our light in your world is
dying
.”

“Dying?” I said dully.
“What do you mean?”

Thomas took a deep
breath. “Do you remember how exhausted I was when I met you in the prison and
how Min and I didn’t have the strength to fly?”

I nodded.

“It’s because there is
now so little light left in your world that, for us, trying to move, or even
think clearly, is like swimming through thick mud. Had I been in the Slipworld,
I never would have been so easily captured in the first place.”

“So what happens, if all
the Aeon light in our world is lost?” I said.

“It means that, within
the next few decades, all of the light that was once given to humanity will
belong to the Aeon who made you,” said Min. “If that happens, we will lose all
connection to human beings and the Slipworld will disappear forever. Mortals will
be forced to live under the tyrannical rule of their creator.”

“You say “if” that
happens – is there still a way to stop it?” I asked.

Min nodded. “Yes, the pattern
can be reversed, but
only
if the right Shard can be found to do it.” She
paused, smiling expectantly at me. I began to feel slightly queasy.

“You can’t mean me?” I
said, shaking my head. “There must be hundreds of others who would do a better
job of it than me.”

Min shook her head. “No
Clare, there aren’t. We’ve been waiting for you for a very long time. So has
Demarge.”

My blood chilled.

“What are you talking
about?” I said slowly, making no attempt to hide my horror.

“Clare, you have more
light in you than any other Shard alive today. No one knows how, or why, but
somehow you’ve managed to inherit an unusual amount from both your parents. Bede
has inherited it too, although not to the same extent as you. The line of Shard
light in your family is very strong.”

“That can’t be right,” I
said. “I mean, look at me, I’m so…
ordinary
.”

Thomas laughed. “No
Clare, you’re not.”

I frowned. No way did I
believe what he was saying.

“Look, even if that was
true, what on Earth could Demarge
possibly
want with me?” I said.

“You’re a threat to him,
Clare,” said Min.

“A threat?” I said. The
suggestion was almost laughable. “How? I’m a sixteen-year-old girl, he’s….
God
.”
The words, said out loud, were so utterly crazy that I actually did then start
to laugh. I was verging on hysteria when I felt Thomas’s hand on my arm.

“You’ve got to
understand, Clare, the world has reached a tipping point. In a few years,
mortals may lose their ability to question their creator altogether. If that
happens, humanity will be forced to live under the darkness of his rule and in
ignorance for the rest of eternity. You’re the only one who can stop that from
happening.”

“You can’t be serious?” I
said, scanning his face. He wasn’t laughing. Nor was Min.

“So how exactly am I
supposed to do that?” I said.

“That’s something that
you and other human beings must work out for yourselves,” said Min. “The light
was a gift from the Aeons, we cannot now tell you how to use it.”

What
? I thought to myself, my forehead creasing in on itself. Min was talking
in riddles now. I was about to ask her to explain, but paused as she fixed me
with a solemn look.

“Clare, Demarge will keep
doing everything in his power to bring you over to his side and stop you from
finding the answer.”

“Why does he want me on ‘his
side’,” I said. “I thought he hated the Shards and everything they stood for.”

“He does,” said Min
simply. “But if Demarge can control a Shard like you then he can control your
light. That could be an extremely useful tool to him in keeping the rest of
humanity in the dark.”

“What if I refuse to help
him?” I said.

“He will try to kill
you,” said Min, matter of factly. “That’s why we have to do everything to keep
you safe.”

I gulped, wishing like
anything that Min had at least
tried
to sugar-coat the truth. From the
corner of my eye, I saw Thomas cast Min a glance that suggested she’d gone too
far. Min met his eyes.

“I’m sorry Thomas, but
she has to know.”

“Why is this all
happening now?” I said weakly.

“Because now is the
crucial time, both for Demarge and for the Aeons. You are on the brink of
adulthood – for Demarge, it is imperative that he is able to shape you into the
leader he needs you to be,” said Min.

“Doesn’t anyone
understand, I’m
not
a leader!” I said, as memories of school came
flooding back to me. “I can’t even stand up for myself, let alone anyone else.
You need someone who will get other people to follow them.” I turned to Thomas.
“You know, like one of those girls from maths who can get the whole class to
bully one person in about five seconds flat.”

“They’re not the kind of
leaders we need, Clare,” said Thomas. “If humanity is to have any hope against
Demarge, you will need to join together, not split one another apart.”

“You think I can do
that?” I said, my voice dripping with scepticism.

“Yes, if you choose to,”
said Min. She sounded like she was actually being serious.

“But I wouldn’t even know
where to start,” I said.

Thomas picked up on the
rising panic in my voice. He slipped his arm inside mine, as we continued to
pick our way through the flowers scattered across the meadow.

“You don’t have to worry
about that right now. Let’s at least get you settled in first.”

“Are there others Shards
here as well…?” I said, still feeling slightly weird about using the label.

“Yes, a hundred or so,”
said Thomas, “although there can be several hundred here at any given time.”

“All from Wiltsdown?” I
said.

Thomas laughed.

“No, they come from every
part of the world. We can open and close the entrance in different places as
the need arises.”

“You mean the entrance
we’ve just come through isn’t permanently in Wiltsdown?” I said.

“Exactly,” said Thomas. “It’s
only here at the moment because it needs to be. One of the advantages of the
Slipworld being made of light is that it can be moved easily.”

“So does the Slipworld
move often?” I asked.

Thomas nodded. “Yes, it’s
a bit of a nomad in that way,”

“So once the Shards are
here, can they stay forever?” I said.

“No, unfortunately not,”
said Min. “All humans ultimately belong in the world of matter. Bodies made of
flesh and bone are very heavy. If the Slipworld became saturated with human
beings, the light would eventually become so heavy and clogged that everything
would grind to a halt. For that reason all humans must return to their own
world when they are no longer in danger.”

“So how does a Shard know
when they’re no longer in danger?” I said.

“It varies for each
person,” said Min. “Some need to stay in the Slipworld for many years. Their
absence from your world can often mean that they get classed as ‘missing
people’ or ‘recluses’. For others though, it’s possible to return from the
Slipworld within a matter of weeks, or even days.”

“And if they end up in
danger again?” I said.

“Then they can come
back,” said Min. “Everything shifts – all Aeons recognise that.”

“Everything shifts?” I
said.

“I mean that no matter
what we do, nothing ever stays exactly the same,” said Min. “Time doesn’t work
like that. It explains why we can go from feeling bad one day, to feeling
better the next, without even realising why or how it’s happened. Everything
shifts. All we can really do is be prepared to adapt. Sometimes it takes a
while for that to happen.”

“I guess,” I said. I’d
never really thought about it like that before.

“It’s through here,” said
Thomas, jolting me from my thoughts.

I looked up to see him
pointing at a small opening in the forest at the edge of the meadow. The grass
seemed to be standing on its very tiptoes, trying to compete with the tall,
dark pine trees. The beginning of a narrow dirt track invited us to enter the
damp, green morass of foliage.

“After you,” said Thomas,
allowing Min and I to go first.

The temperature dropped
the minute we stepped into the trees. I tried to take my mind off the cold by
focusing on the clean, woody scent of pine sap, and by counting the number of
red toadstools I could see hiding like misplaced gemstones among the ferns and
mosses. Below me, a carpet of soft pine needles cushioned my feet as I followed
Min amongst some of the tallest trees I’d ever seen. Their branches twisted ornately,
as if they were snapshots of electricity, or dancers performing intricate
movements.