CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

  The assassin shoved Jane aside. Elbow up, he pulled tension on the twine of his bow (which had sprung into his hands in the slick professional way that the bow had sprung into Trinket’s hands earlier). An arrow was loaded and drawn, the arrow groaning against the taut string. The head of the arrow curled like a snake’s fang.

  The door opened wide and there stood Tom. He grinned, and spoke to the arrow in front of his eyes.

  ‘The paranoid assassin.’

  He spoke with all together too much cheeriness considering the danger.

  The assassin said, ‘Elion … are you alone?’

  Tom put his hands up in a mocking way.

  ‘Just me.’

  ‘Are you unharmed, my Lord?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The assassin slowly lowered his bow and gently removed the arrow.

  The assassin slung his bow and quivered his arrows. He lowered his head and bent a knee, and said, ‘My Lord.’

  Tom studied the assassin the way he might study a math problem on the white board before thrusting his hand up to give the math teacher the right answer.

  The assassin said, ‘Has there been a change of Kingship?’

  ‘Gibor is now your King,’ said Tom.

  Jane interjected.

  ‘Gibor who is currently outside the city, throwing arrows and stones at the walls.’

  ‘The same.’

  For one small moment the assassin relaxed, and an almost grin touched his lips, although his usual scowl descended immediately.

  Tom said, ‘Gibor is expecting you at the main gate.’

  ‘Does he know he is my new master?’

  ‘Gibor knows that he is the King, and he knows that you are the King’s assassin. You will be welcomed.’

  Once again the assassin bent at the knee and lowered his head. He straightened. His eyes went distant as his mind left the room and reached toward this new development in his life. Gibor. The thought must have pleased him, because once again a barely grin touched his mouth. He turned with a snapping of his feet, and hurried away down the corridor.

  Jane noticed a leather satchel hanging from Tom’s shoulder.

  She said, ‘Is that …’

  Tom exclaimed, ‘I’ve got it.’

  ‘Inside the satchell?’

  Tom patted the satchell and said, ‘The Wyld Book of Secrets.’

  Just then Jane noticed, a couple of feet inside the courtyard, the slump of Dave on the ground. The form of Dave seemed different, like he had lost a whole heap of weight. Tom noticed Jane’s line of sight. He chuckled.

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  ‘What is it?’ Jane asked.

  She took a step toward Dave, and was suddenly filled with horror. Dave’s clothes lay on the cobblestones, with no Dave inside them. For a second Jane thought that Dave had been flattened somehow. She took a step closer. She kicked the clothes, and the clothes bunched around her foot.

  Tom said, ‘This is all that is left of him.’

  Jane frowned.

  ‘How did he get killed?’

  ‘He hasn’t been killed,’ said Tom. ‘He has been released. The job of Elion, my job while sitting in the machine, was to release souls from the body.’

  ‘Are you saying that Dave had a soul?

  Tom laughed, then said, ‘Dave isn’t dead. He is very much alive. He just isn’t here.’

  ‘Where is he then?’

  ‘Let’s talk about that later.’

  Jane gestured at the satchel that hung, heavy, from Tom’s shoulder.

  ‘Can I take a look?’

  ‘Soon. Come on, let’s go.’

  Jane was suddenly suspicious. After all this time of wanting to get the book, could Tom have usurped her, and read the book and learned the words that would stop her from reading the book. Jane didn’t know what Tom was really thinking. He was such a little smart ass.

  ‘Did you read it?’

  ‘I had a look.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘It is written in a language that I don’t understand. The alphabet doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘The nun told me that I am the one who can understand. She told me that I had the birthright.’

  Tom hesitated, and after a moment he sighed and took the bag from his shoulder.

  ‘Here … take it.’

  The satchell was damn heavy, and it pulled down on Jane’s shoulder.

  Once again, Jane looked down at Dave’s clothing, body shaped on the cobblestones, and she shook her head.

  ‘This is very strange.’ She furrowed her forehead. ‘What do souls look like?’

  ‘They are like little balls of coloured electricity. They shake around a lot, and I think they hum. But, then again, they might not. The machine was very loud.’

  Jane kicked at Dave’s clothing again.

  ‘What happens to the souls when they leave the body?’

  ‘You will find out … soon.’

  ‘This is plain weird.’

  ‘Let us go,’ said Tom. ‘Things are going to get funky in this little world, and I think it is best that we get out before that happens. Trinket, who is now Elion, said she would leave us alone for ten minutes, but only ten minutes. Then she would make us disappear.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘She is worried that we will remain in Paris, and that I will tell the secrets of the machine to others.’

  ‘Ok.’

  Tom said, ‘The best thing about this place will be boasting to our friends when we get back to Earth.’

  The sound of wind rushing came from above. Ravens were pouring out of the window above the clock in the tower. Jane watched them and felt the fear that she had felt as a small girl when the German planes were still flying over the north of England. Then two of the ravens broke away from the murder and spiralled down toward Tom and Jane.

  Jane looked at Tom for an explanation, but Tom had moved away. He hurried to the moat, gesturing for Jane to follow.

  ‘Quickly.’

  One of the birds honed in on Tom, who slipped out of his school blazer, which he then swirled around his head. The bird tried to dive past the swinging jacket, but was unable to get the timing. The raven stretched its neck and cawed with wild abandon.

  ‘Trinket is calling the birds to make you and I disappear.’

  ‘I thought we had ten minutes.’

  Tom shrugged.

  Trinket was a grade A bitch, thought Jane, as she ran to Tom’s side. Together they looked into the moat.

  Tom said, ‘I am going to jump into the mouth of that cone.’

  He pointed with his left hand (His right hand was swinging the coat around his head) down into the ice blue water, and Jane looked and could see the mouth of an extinct volcano fissure, twenty feet below the surface.

  ‘What is that?’

  ‘It is the portal back to Earth.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I just do. Follow me and pencil-dive into the cone.’ Tom immediately jumped from the moat’s edge, leaving his coat in the air behind him. He jumped with his body as stiff and straight as a wire, holding his nose with two fingers.

  As soon as he hit the water he immediately sank, spearing down with his hair fanned above him, mixing with bubbles.

  A raven landed on Jane’s shoulder, and cawed so loudly Jane made a little yelp of fear.

  She held her nose, shut her eyes, and jumped.