Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin (24 page)

‘AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?’ THE COUNCILLOR ASKED. Every eye in the room was on Rachel. She looked sideways at Ros, who was staring at the floor. She cleared her throat.

‘That’s when Ros dived for the gun. Just before the shot. He caught El’s arm and he missed me. I managed to grab the gun out of El’s hand, and at this point he was almost falling off the cliff. Ros tried to let go, but El was holding him. I grabbed Ros’s tail to keep him from being pulled over. That’s when I shot El.’

A murmur ran around the room. Several people gasped.

‘Young lady,’ the Councilor said gravely, ‘are you telling me that you shot a former Hero
on purpose
?’

‘You don’t understand!’ she protested. ‘He was going to drag us both over the cliff with him. If I hadn’t grabbed Ros he wouldn’t be here now. And if I hadn’t shot El then
neither
of us would be here.’

The four members of the Council bowed their heads together and conferred in a whisper, occasionally looking up at Rachel. Kel found her hand and squeezed it, but only for a second. Now probably wasn’t the best time to bring anyone’s attention to the Hero/Safeguarder affair. She smiled weakly at Kel.

The Council looked up. ‘Very well,’ the first Councilor said, ‘we’ll come back to that. And am I to understand that you then tried to use the Retriever of Sin to open up a closed universe?’

Rachel took a deep breath.
This
was the part she was in the most trouble about. ‘Here’s what happened…’

She pulled the trigger; the hammer fell. The Magnum exploded for the second time on the cliff top, and the last round in the cylinder was fired. It was just like she had pictured in her head. The massive bullet punched a fist-sized hole in El’s chest, right where his heart had been a millisecond before. His eyes grew wide and he released his grip on Ros. He fell backward slowly over the cliff.

Rachel and the dog walked tentatively to edge and looked down. El’s body was lying smashed and broken on the rocks below. Even from a hundred feet up they could see his blood staining the wet rocks around him. Waves crashed in and their foam was made pink.

After a moment’s silence the pair recovered their breath and looked at one another. ‘Now what?’ Ros asked. Rachel shivered.

‘I dunno,’ she breathed. Adrenaline was still pumping though her blood vessels, making her shaky and light-headed.

‘I suppose we should port back to the castle?’

Rachel bent down and picked up the pocket watch from where El had dropped it. ‘Good job he didn’t take this with him,’ she said. ‘Or we wouldn’t be going anywhere. Do you know how this works?’

The dog made sorrowful eyebrows at her. ‘Yeah… I’ve known all along. Sin made it, remember?’

Rachel nodded. That’s right. Ros had known an awful lot of things he’d kept to himself. She felt like she should still be mad with him. He had betrayed her; betrayed them
all
. But… it hadn’t been done out of badness. He wasn’t trying to protect himself or gain anything. He’d been trying to protect them all, really. And he had just saved her life. She looked down at the black Labrador retriever. ‘You’re an idiot, you know that?’

The dog’s bottom lip was quivering. ‘Yeah,’ he said, wretchedly. ‘I’m sorry, Rach.’

She rubbed his head and sighed. ‘I know you are.’

She looked at the golden watch in her hand, and then at her dad, suspended over the edge of the cliff. ‘Don’t,’ Ros said. ‘I know what you’re thinking, and don’t. There’s a reason Sinbad never used it.’

Rachel bit her lip. But… El had been about to. He was going to use the watch and Ros’s inter-dimensional powers to open up the universe and kill her dad.
Again
. He was going to kill him in two worlds, two different possibilities of the same man. She could do it. She could click into that universe, take her dad’s hand, and pull him back to life.

‘But you know how, right?’ she asked the dog. He whined softly. ‘Ros,’ she pleaded. ‘You
owe
me. After everything you’ve done, after everything we’ve been through, you owe me this one thing.’ Ros looked terrified, and Rachel knew—though it was unfair—that he was about to crack. She held out the pocket watch to the dog. ‘Show me how to get my dad back.’

There was barely a sound in the Council’s chambers. Everyone was leaning forward in their chair as Rachel told the story.

‘And after he showed you how to work the watch?’ the Councilor asked.

Rachel shrugged. ‘I set the dials and clicked it. I made sure I was standing in front of my dad, holding hands with his image. I leaned back, braced myself, and clicked the watch.’

Robert Golden’s eyes grew wide and his hand tightened around Rachel’s. For a terrifying second Rachel thought that he was too heavy and would pull them both over the cliff. Ros grabbed the ass of her jeans in his teeth and heaved backward. Together they pulled the Hero back to safety.

For a second Robert couldn’t understand what had happened. To him, the last 13 years had never been. One moment he had been about to fall to his death, then the next a young girl and a dog appeared and saved his life.

He cast about in panic, looking for El and Crabs. They had been with him a second ago. El had just pushed him. And then… He looked into the girl’s eyes. And knew who she was. She had his own eyes, and his wife’s mouth. ‘Rachel…’ he breathed, seeing his baby daughter for the first time as 14 year old.

‘Dad,’ she replied, feeling the warmth of his hand on hers. He blinked, his world rocking at the sound of her voice. Was he dead? Had he fallen over the cliff and was now in the next life? He didn’t care. He stepped forward and hugged the girl to him, lifting her off her feet. Both of them laughed as he spun her around and around, tears rolling down their cheeks.

‘And that’s when we heard it,’ Rachel said.

‘Heard what?’ The councilor’s eyes were wide.

‘It was like the sound of a tree falling. A ripping, creaking, cracking noise. But it was as loud as thunder. Louder even. Over my dad’s shoulder I saw a tear begin to open in the sky. It was as if the sky had been painted on paper, and someone stuck their finger through it and pulled. And behind it was a star-filled black sky. It got bigger as I watched. It was the most beautiful and terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.’

‘Jesus,’ Kel said, beside her. Rachel hadn’t told him that part.

‘And when my dad turned and saw what was happening, then saw the pocket watch in my hand and Ros standing behind me, he said, “Oh Rachel, what have you done?”.’ Everyone in the room was holding their breath. Rachel continued. ‘And that’s when he told me I had to click the watch again. I did, but nothing happened. In my panic I forgot that I had to be touching Ros.’ She looked down at the dog, who was still resolutely staring at the floor.

‘So then I grabbed Ros, clicked the watch again, and we arrived back on the Altworld. The first Altworld, that is. And everything was back to normal. Except that now, instead of being about to fall over the cliff, my dad was standing on the edge. And, um, there was kind of a tear in the sky still. But it wasn’t growing anymore,’ she added hastily. ‘It was just hanging there in the sky, transparent, like my dad.’

The room let out an audible collective sigh. The Councilors conferred in whispers for a few minutes, and Rachel looked around the chambers. Sinbad was sitting in the back row, next to Crabs, and gave her a grin and a wink. The devious old bastard! she thought. He’s loving this. He knew
exactly
what he was doing when he gave me the watch and threw Ros through the portal. Which just
happened
to lead to the Altworld my dad had died on. Sort of. Ugh. She was getting a headache. Thinking in five dimensions was difficult.

Finally, the head Councilor banged his gavel to quiet the murmuring that had built up during their conference. ‘Settle down, settle down,’ he ordered the room. ‘And you, young man? Do you have anything to add?’ He was addressing Kel.

‘Well, sir,’ the Safeguarder said, ‘that was about all. I told you about the battle in the castle before that. By the time Rach and Ros ported back into the banquet hall, the battle was over. We were about to get our as—butts kicked, when suddenly all these feral unicorns showed up. We don’t know why they got involved all of a sudden. But I’m glad they did. When they realized they were outnumbered, the Dark Ones ran for it. The Overlords were long gone anyway. No one really saw them during the fight.’

‘I see,’ the Councilor said, scribbling notes into a book. ‘And that’s when the portal appeared?’

Kel nodded. ‘We assumed the mission was completed. Rachel and Ros were back, El was, um… gone, and the Dark Ones and Overlords had fled. We didn’t know what else to do. We thanked the Crown, and the rabbits and moles—and they thanked us—and we got the frick out of there.’

The Councilor frowned at the word ‘frick’, and made some final notes in his book. He removed his half-moon glasses and sighed. ‘Very well,’ he said, closing the book and turning to Rachel, Kel and Ros. ‘We’re going to adjourn now, and you’ll be sent home while we decide whether or not there is a case against you. As yet you have not been charged with anything, but your license statuses are on hold, effectively revoked, pending investigation.’

There was a disgruntled murmuring in the chambers. ‘Now hold on a minute!’ Rachel yelled. ‘What do you mean, “charged with anything”? We haven’t done anything wrong! I never asked to be sent into that stupid Altworld. I never asked for
any
of this! You stupid old—’

The Councilor banged his gavel furiously as the chambers erupted. Rachel wasn’t sure whether it was because of her outburst, the prospect of them being charged, or because she’d been about to call the head of the Council a stupid old something. She didn’t know what she was going to call him, but it probably rhymed with ‘cluck’.

‘You have broken several rules,’ the Councilor said indignantly, ‘not least of which was tearing open the fabric of space-time. And…’ He looked sternly from her to Kel, ‘…carrying on in a way not befitting a Hero and Safeguarder.’ Rachel gulped and felt her cheeks start to glow. So they knew about that, huh? Oops.

Outside the chambers, the milling crowd was beginning to disperse. It was hard getting used to all the stares. Rachel was somewhat infamous now, she guessed. She was waiting with Kel for someone to come and open their portal. Crabs and Mr. Ross ambled over to say goodbye.

‘Well done, lass,’ the old seaman said, giving her a wink and a handshake. ‘I thought you did great.’ Rachel didn’t know if he meant in the mission or in front of the Council.

‘Thanks, I guess,’ she said. ‘And hey. Sorry for, you know, thinking you were a spy and everything.’ She gave him an awkward smile.

The old fisherman barked a laugh, making Mr. Ross jump. ‘Don’t you worry about that, girl,’ he said. ‘I’ve had people think worse of me than that. And just so you know, I
was
spying on you, sort of. For the Council.’

‘Oh,’ Rachel said, not sure what else to say.

‘And don’t worry about your license,’ the old man said. ‘They won’t take it away from you.’

‘But my trainee tag came off,’ she said, holding up the torn part of her shirt for him to see. ‘I failed.’

‘No, lass. It came off because you
passed.
You got your full license now. Same for Kel and Ros. Now they just have decide whether or not you keep it.’ Rachel gasped and the old man winked. ‘And I think Sinbad wants a word with you before you go, too.’ He bid her farewell.

Sinbad came up and offered her his hand, which she shook begrudgingly. The old man a sly grin on his face. ‘You know, that was a lousy thing you did there, Sinbad,’ she said. ‘You lied to us, and tricked us.’

Sinbad’s face was a look of mock offense. His eyes twinkled. ‘I never lied to you, Rachel,’ he said. ‘Well, maybe lied by omission. But everyone knows that’s fine.’

Rachel rolled her eyes. ‘Whatever, old man. But you
did
do that on purpose, didn’t you? Sending us in there with Ros and the watch? You knew something was going to happen.’

‘Possibly, possibly,’ the Guide said, stroking his gray whiskers. ‘But you have to admit, it was fun.’ He grinned.

Rachel didn’t know if she’d agree with that. Maybe in a couple of days, after she’d eaten and slept and her concussion had worn off she could think about it. And after she’d got her broken rib seen to.

‘But anyway,’ Sinbad said, leaning in conspiratorially, ‘I have a favor to ask of you.’

Rachel couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘A
favor
? After everything you’ve put me through? You’ve got to be joking.’

Sinbad shook his head. ‘I need to get away for a while. There’s some important Guide work I need to take care of. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind looking after my dog for a couple of days while I’m gone? Oh, and if you could hold onto this too.’ He pressed something cold and hard into her hand. Rachel looked down and saw the pocket watch. She also saw Ros was sitting at her feet, looking slightly embarrassed.

‘Wait a second! You can’t just—’ but when she looked up the old man was gone. Rachel looked around, but he had vanished into the crowd.

Rachel, Kel and Ros were walking back through the exact same park as they had left five days ago, at the exact same time as they had left. They looked like a sorry sight. They hadn’t showered in days. They were filthy. Rachel was missing a tooth and had a broken rib. Their clothes were torn and bloodied. And she now had a black Labrador retriever (or Retriever) to explain to her mom. God, it would be good to see her mom again.

The walk had been fairly quiet, everyone was too exhausted to speak, but when they reached the park gates Kel stopped and turned to face Rachel. She swallowed nervously. Please don’t be awkward and weird, she said in her head.

‘Look, Rach, I just wanted to tell you something.’

Rachel groaned inwardly. She knew what this was going to be about.

‘Before, back in the castle, when I said you weren’t my girlfriend…’ Oh yeah, here it comes, Rachel thought.