‘This is Elsewhere,’ I said. The arcade had vanished, as had the door. We were alone in a vast, open arena. The birds had stayed, perched here and there amidst the flagstones. There was a bench of white stone nearby and I sat on it. Luna followed, looking around wonderingly.
‘If it’s a dream, I’m glad,’ Luna said as she sat. She stared out across the dazzling stone, squinting. ‘But this doesn’t feel like a dream any more.’ She held up a hand and stared at it, then touched it to the bench and looked at me. ‘Is it real?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘No. I’m real, you’re real. You’ll remember everything when you wake up.’
‘What about …?’ Luna made a movement towards herself.
It took me a moment to figure out what she was saying. I shook my head. ‘No. You don’t have to worry about hurting me, not here.’
‘Really?’
I nodded, and Luna sighed. She scooted across on the bench and leant against me with a contented noise. ‘Luna?’ I said in surprise.
‘Don’t go,’ Luna complained, closing her fingers drowsily on my coat. ‘Dreams are the only place I can do this.’ She let out a breath. ‘I had a horrible day.’
I hesitated, then put an arm around Luna and leant back. What the hell, it was just a dream. ‘What happened?’
‘They came after me,’ Luna said. ‘Deleo and Khazad.’
‘When?’
‘This morning. They nearly caught me. Then I saw Deleo get a phone call and they vanished.’
‘Was it about noon?’
Luna nodded, and I understood. That phone call had been Cinder telling them I’d left the museum. ‘You ran away?’
‘My phone said you’d called. I tried to call back and I couldn’t get through.’ Her hand tightened on my coat. ‘I didn’t know what had happened.’
I sighed. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to be worried.’
‘It’s okay,’ Luna said, her voice drowsy. ‘As long as you’re all right.’
‘What about that other man?’ I asked. ‘Talisid.’
‘Oh, him. He was trying to get in touch.’
‘Did you talk to him?’
Luna shook her head, her face still hidden against my coat. ‘I didn’t know if I could trust him.’
I smiled. ‘Good girl.’
‘I’m not a good girl,’ Luna said. From the sound of her voice I could tell she was smiling, and I smiled too.
We sat in silence for a little while. ‘Alex?’ Luna said eventually.
‘Hm?’
‘Do you ever wish you were little again? That you didn’t have to grow up?’
I thought of my years as a teenager, all the things I’d done wrong leading up to my fateful decision to sign up with Richard. ‘No,’ I said. ‘Never.’
‘I do,’ Luna said. ‘It wasn’t so bad when I was young. I could be with people. It was only later …’ Luna fell silent, leaning against me. I could feel her weight, see the wave in her hair. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. ‘I nearly let them catch me.’
‘What?’
‘Deleo. Khazad.’
‘What?’
‘I just wanted it to stop.’ Luna let out a long, sighing breath. ‘I was thinking it wouldn’t be so … bad, being a slave. Then it wouldn’t be my fault any more. I wouldn’t have to worry. It made sense, then …’
‘No! Luna, listen to me.’ I took Luna’s arms and turned her around to stare into her eyes. ‘You don’t understand what you’re saying. You do not know the kind of things that Dark mages do to the people they get their hands on. You don’t want to be held by them, ever. Do you understand?’
Luna swallowed, took a breath. ‘It wouldn’t be my fault. I wouldn’t have to know it was because of me-’
‘No. You don’t know what you’re saying.’
Luna’s voice strengthened suddenly. ‘Yes, I do.’ She tilted her head up, staring at me. ‘I hurt everyone near me. Everyone. Even being close … It won’t stop, it’ll never stop. The longer I live, the more harm I’ll do. Wouldn’t it-’ She took a breath. ‘Wouldn’t it be better if I was gone? No one would miss me …’
I held Luna’s gaze for a long moment before speaking quietly. ‘I’d miss you.’
Luna kept staring at me, then her eyes filled with tears and she started to cry.
I sat there on the bench. Luna buried her face against me and kept sobbing, her shoulders shaking as she drew in shuddering breaths. I found myself stroking her hair, talking to her quietly, but that only made her cry harder. Somehow I understood that Luna needed to do this, that this must be the first time in years she’d been able to. I didn’t rush her, letting her cry herself out.
At last Luna’s tears ran dry. ‘Better?’ I asked as she sat up.
Luna nodded, sniffing. ‘I’m s-sorry I’m so useless.’
‘You’re not useless.’
‘Yes, I am. I’m not a mage like you are. I just keep myself safe and make everyone else worse.’ Luna looked up at me with reddened eyes. ‘Why do you even want me around?’
I let out a sigh. ‘Okay, Luna? Stop it. I need you for something. You’re not useless, and if you don’t show you’re not useless, I’ll be dead within the week.’
Luna stared up at me. ‘What?’
I told her, then, everything that had happened and everything I’d pieced together: how it had been Levistus and Morden all along, why Deleo and the others had been after the cube, how she was the only one who could open the relic, and where I was now. ‘And that’s how it is,’ I finished. ‘Morden’s going to make his move in a couple of days, and once he breaks through to that statue he’s going to find that it won’t open without you. If I don’t have something to pull out of my sleeve by then I’m sunk.’
Luna sat for a few seconds taking it all in. ‘But what are we going to do?’
‘That’s where you come in. You still have a way to get in touch with Talisid, right?’
‘Yes, but-’ Luna slumped. ‘Alex, I can’t do this. I can’t use magic, I don’t know anything. All I do is run away.’
‘You wanted to get involved before.’
‘I thought the one who was going to be in danger was me!’ Luna looked up at me in distress. ‘I’ve never done anything useful since I met you. I just get you into more trouble. What am I supposed to do against these people? I can’t …’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’m going to tell you something important, so listen closely. It’s something most mages never learn at all. The most powerful weapon you have is your mind. Magic doesn’t mean anything unless you know the right way to use it. You’re already involved — you don’t have a choice about that any more. What you do have a choice about is whether you’ll help me. What’s it going to be?’
Luna looked back at me for a long second, then she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and seemed to straighten. When she opened her eyes again she looked more like the girl I remembered. ‘Tell me what to do,’ she said, and her voice was steady again.
I explained. It didn’t take long.
By the time I was done Luna’s eyebrows had climbed almost into her hair. ‘Are you sure this is a good plan?’
‘No, it’s a pretty crazy plan. But if we run they’ll just chase us. Levistus and Morden will want me to get them into the relic, and once they figure out that you’re the only way in — which they will, sooner or later — they’ll be after you too. This is the only way I can think of that gives us a chance to get them both off our backs.’
Luna was silent, and I could see her turning it over in her head. ‘What should I tell them?’ she asked. ‘The mages at the museum?’
‘Talisid should be there,’ I said. ‘Talk to him. He made it pretty clear he didn’t want anyone else getting hold of what’s behind that door. Tell him Morden’s planning an attack and you’ll have his attention. But there’s one thing you have to keep secret — that you’re the only one who can use the cube. That’s our ace in the hole. Don’t let it slip to anyone.’