Shimmer (11 page)

David stared at her. ‘I don't need to bargain with you, Kora. I can just wish that you find my father.' He glanced away. ‘I don't have to unharness you afterwards.'

Kora's mouth dropped open. ‘You would do that? You would let me find your father for you, while you refuse to allow me to search for mine?'

She could see uncertainty flicker in David's eyes. But then his face hardened. ‘You are trying to blackmail me,' he said. ‘But it is an entirely different thing. No lives will be put at risk by searching for my father.'

She turned away from him, the intense disappointment making her shoulders slump.

‘I can't believe you would do that to me,' he said. ‘You would want me to live without my father, just because you can't be with yours?'

She stared out the window, thinking over his words. Finally she turned back to face him. ‘You are right, David,' she said. ‘It is wrong of me to ask you to suffer just because I must. And you have suffered for five years. It is too long. Let us do it today. Right now.'

She tipped her head. ‘Go ahead, David. Make your wish.'

‘What do you mean you can't find him? I wished it.' David mashed his hand through his messy hair. ‘You have to find him.'

She frowned in concentration. ‘I am sorry, David.' She placed the photo of David and his father down. ‘He is not here to be found.'

David dropped his head into his hands and took a few deep breaths. When he lifted his head his gaze was steady but sad. ‘I wish,' he said, ‘to go to my father's grave.'

She felt the agony behind his words. Her power rumbled around in her chest seeking the answer to his wish but something wasn't right. She could feel the pull to a place, but she knew it was not his father's grave. She increased her power and continued to search. ‘David,' she finally said, ‘I cannot find him.'

‘What do you mean? Why not? If you're supposed to be such a powerful genie then why can't you find him?'

‘If he was anywhere on this Earth I would have found him.' She swallowed her own frustration. Why could she not find him? ‘It is as if he has vanished from the planet.'

David stared blankly at her. ‘But how could that be? People don't just vanish into thin air. You must be doing something wrong. I thought you could find anybody anywhere?'

‘I am not doing anything wrong. I should be able to locate any full-blooded human anywhere on the planet.'

‘Then how come you can't find my father?'

‘I cannot explain it, but there is something odd,' she said. ‘I felt a kind of pull to a place.' She laid a hand gently on his shoulder. ‘It is not your father's grave but I do feel it may be where your father died.'

She felt his shoulder shudder. ‘I wish then,' he said, ‘to go to the place my father died.'

The power that had been previously flowing directionless through her body gathered force and burst out, transporting them instantly.

She blinked in the harsh light. They were standing on scorching hot sand at the entrance to a cave in the middle of the most desolate place she had ever seen. The land was barren and endless.

She squinted up at David who was standing still, looking shell-shocked. ‘You think my father died here?' he asked.

‘Yes,' she said. ‘Inside the cave.'

She watched his shoulders rise and fall as he took a few deep breaths. Then he ducked his head and entered the cool darkness of the cave.

He stopped abruptly and touched a place on the cave wall, then crouched in front of it. The wall was darker here and she walked over to see what he was looking at.

‘Is this my father's blood?'

She leaned in to examine the dark, red-black stain. ‘Yes.'

David sank to his knees in the cool sand and bowed his head against the wall.

‘But his body isn't here?' His voice was thick with emotion.

‘No,' she answered hoarsely. ‘I am so sorry, David.' She gently touched his arm and left him in the cave, his head leaning against the jagged wall. The hot, bright sunlight was a welcome relief from the icy fingers of death that seemed to lurk within the cave. With her own father now so vulnerable on Genesia, her heart ached in sympathy for David.

She summoned a cushion and a weather shield and sat down to wait. Her thoughts whirled around and around. She knew, without a doubt, that David's father had died in that cave, but where was his body? It really was as if he had vanished. If she could find out what had happened to David's father when he died, they may be able to find his grave.

It was believed that if a genie was powerful enough, that genie could open a viewing portal back into a past time. Few genies had ever been brave enough to try it and those that had, the stories went, had wound up dead, or nearly dead, from the exertion of using such an extreme amount of power. But just how powerful would you have to be? How much power would it require to open a portal through time and space, and how long could that portal be held open for?

She could taste the desire to try it. To be the first genie to ever achieve it, but now was not the time. That amount of power would draw Vennum immediately.

David's long shadow cast over her as he stepped out of the cave. His eyes were tinged with red, but his voice was even when he spoke. ‘Thank you, Kora.'

‘I am sorry we did not find your father.'

‘At least I know now.' David plonked down on the cushion beside her. ‘He's not ever coming home.'

Her heart twisted painfully imagining his grief. ‘Is it better to know?' she asked. ‘Or do you wish you could still hope?'

‘I'm not sure.' He wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘But I do know that everybody, living or dead, has the right to come home. He deserves to be laid to rest close to the people who loved him. Please, Kora. Is there any way, any way at all, for us to find his body?'

Kora paced restlessly around her globe, deep in thought. ‘You should try to stay calm, Empress,' Amurru said, his voice gentle. ‘Your anxiety will not help the situation.'

‘You may be happy to sit here waiting for my father to be harnessed.' She shook her head angrily. ‘But I cannot! I must come up with a plan to help save him.' Her forehead creased in a deep scowl. ‘And the rest of my family. All Genesia depends on it.'

They heard the front door of the house bang shut. David's mother had left for work. Through the viewing screens Kora saw David stride into the bedroom. In the next instant his voice rang out. ‘I wish to come in and talk with you, Kora.'

She turned to watch David materialise in her home. He appeared next to Amurru's chair, shivering a little from the shock of transportation. ‘I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that,' he said, glancing around the globe.

‘Good morning, David,' said Amurru.

Kora didn't speak, but absently waved her hand towards the empty space next to David. A lounge chair appeared, covered in bright silk cushions. And a little round table with what she had come to know as David's favourite drink in the centre of it. An icy cold chocolate milkshake, with double malt.

‘You've got dark rings under your eyes.'

Kora said nothing, but Amurru nodded. ‘The Empress did not sleep well last night, David,' he said. ‘As you know, many things worry her.'

‘Has something else happened?' asked David.

Kora shook her head. ‘We have no news of my father, if that is what you mean. But I know that is not what you came to talk to me about. You wish to know if I have thought any more on how we can discover what happened to your father's body?'

‘I know this is not a good time for you,' replied David. ‘But I have to know, Kora. I can't stop thinking about it.'

She let out a long, sad sigh. ‘My thoughts have been heavily occupied trying to come up with a plan to help my own father.'

‘But even if you could somehow get to Vennum without being harnessed, what could you do?'

‘I know, I know. Genies cannot do anything to a human, or even a filthy half-human like Vennum!'

‘No,' said David, slowly. ‘Genies can't hurt a human,' he turned to meet Amurru's knowing yellow gaze, and his voice rose excitedly, ‘but another human can!'

Kora stared at him. ‘What are you saying, David? That you would fight Vennum?' She flung one arm up into the air, bangles jangling loudly. The glow from the soft lamps reflected off the jewels spread across her fingers, sending colourful rainbows dancing across the ceiling of the globe. ‘You have no idea what you would be up against.'

Amurru coughed wheezily. ‘David makes a valid point, Empress.'

Her eyes flashed to Amurru. ‘And that point is?'

‘The point, Empress, is that perhaps the two problems are not mutually exclusive.'

David stared at Amurru. ‘What do you mean?'

Amurru blinked slowly at him. ‘There are two problems to be overcome. The first is how to discover your father's fate.'

‘Yes.' David nodded. ‘And the second problem is how to help Kora's father.'

Kora leapt to her feet and resumed her pacing. ‘I see what you are getting at, Amurru.'

‘What is he getting at?'

Amurru nodded, satisfied. He leaned back in his chair to watch quietly, the hint of a tiny smile touching the edges of his eyes.

‘We'll need a plan.' Kora's voice rose with excitement and hope. ‘Something radical, that he could never suspect.'

‘Who will never suspect?' asked David.

Kora began to pace faster as her mind whirled with ideas.

David was getting agitated. He leaned forward in his seat and his voice rose. ‘Kora?' He turned to Amurru, but Amurru simply blinked at him.

Finally, David sprang to his feet. ‘Will somebody please tell me what is going on?'

‘Let me get this straight.' David stood between Kora and Amurru. ‘You will find out what happened to my dad by some sort of time travel portal thing.'

‘I will attempt,' interrupted Kora, ‘to open a viewing portal back through time.'

‘Right,' David nodded slowly. ‘And that amount of power will bring Vennum and then you want me to kill him?'

A slow smile spread across Kora's face. ‘If you kill him David, then so be it. But I would not ask that of you. All you have to do is make him unconscious.'

David blew out a long breath. ‘And then what?'

‘Rihando can take him to the Slaytians. They can use their mind power to direct his thoughts into unharnessing all the genies and then Rihando will be able to banish Vennum from Genesia.'

‘And the Slaytians would do that?'

‘For a price. But it does not matter now. With Atym harnessed my father will pay what they ask.'

‘What about all the other genies that Vennum has harnessed?' David asked. ‘Are they just going to stand around and watch while I knock Vennum out?'

Kora shook her head. ‘No, they will not. Some of them are rebels who are on Vennum's side by choice and Vennum will have wished for the others to protect him.'

David pushed his hand through his long, messy hair. ‘Should be a piece of cake then, huh?'

‘You are right to be worried.' Amurru spoke quietly. ‘This will not be easy.'

‘And you are sure that a portal back through time is the only way of finding out what happened to my father?'

‘Yes,' Kora nodded. ‘But it has not been done successfully before.'

‘But even just trying to do it will use enough power to draw Vennum?'

‘Without a doubt!'

‘How much time will we have before he comes?'

‘Normally only a few seconds, but I have been thinking about that.' Kora began to pace her globe. ‘If I can open the portal, then we may be able to actually step through it. If I close it after us then Vennum will not be able to see it or follow it, but he will be able to sense the use of power and be waiting for us when we get back.'

‘What you suggest, Empress, is extremely dangerous. What if your power is so depleted that you cannot reopen the portal to get back?' Amurru wheezed. ‘And even if you are successful you may not recover from such a drain on your power. You will certainly be weak and exhausted upon your return.'

Kora's dark eyes fixed on David. ‘That's what the human is for. And we should, hopefully, have the element of surprise on our side.'

David took over pacing the globe. ‘So if the portal works, and we don't get stuck back in time, then we will return to find Vennum waiting for us with his army of harnessed genies?'

‘Yes.'

‘And you will be exhausted and possibly of no help at all?'

‘Yes.'

‘And Vennum will want to kill me so he can harness you?'

‘Yes.' She couldn't help but smile this time at the look on his face.

‘And you are sure, really sure, there is no other way of finding out what happened to my dad?'

‘No other way.'

David stopped pacing to stand directly in front of her. ‘Then I guess we have a plan.'

With those few words the heavy weight around her heart began to lift a little. For the first time since she had been sent to Earth she felt she had reason to hope. It may be a long shot and they may not be successful, but at least she was finally going to be doing something. Something that had the chance to free Genesia of Vennum, and that was worth any risk. She thought she noticed a smug smile flit across Amurru's face but it was gone before he spoke.

‘You must consider this carefully,' said Amurru. ‘You will only get one chance at getting this right.'

David plonked back down on his chair. ‘I guess you had better tell me everything you can about Vennum.'

‘I can do better than that,' Kora grinned. She waved her hand and a screen appeared. ‘I'll show you!'

Amurru shuffled over to sit down right next to David. ‘A genie trick,' he explained. ‘They can project a memory onto a screen.'