Luna sat a little while longer. ‘What about you?’ she asked at last.
‘I’ve done this before. I’ll be fine.’
‘What if you’re not?’ Luna asked quietly.
‘Morden needs me to get through to the fateweaver. As long as he needs me, he’ll make sure I stay alive. It’s what happens when he stops needing me I’m worried about. That’s why-’
‘What if you’re wrong?’
I let out a breath. ‘Then it’s all going to come down to you after all.’
Luna met my gaze, and there was something painful in them. ‘Alex-’
And suddenly we weren’t alone any more. Elsewhere changes with who’s in it, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I felt the shift. I looked around to see that the plaza was empty and the birds were gone. ‘We’ve stayed too long.’ I got up, pulling Luna to her feet with me. ‘Back through that door.’
Luna hesitated, and I dragged her along, forcing her to hurry beside me. ‘Wait!’ she began.
‘You need to get back.’ We’d reached the door, and I pulled it open; beyond was the ballroom, dark and empty. ‘Remember: Talisid, the items, the plan. Don’t forget.’
‘Alex!’ Luna tried to pull back. ‘What’s coming? Let me-’
I pushed Luna through the door and slammed it before she could react. Instantly the courtyard was silent. Luna was safe now, back in her own dreams. I took a breath and turned.
The girl walking across the plaza towards me was nineteen years old, and she was dressed in the same clothes she’d been wearing when I’d last seen her. That had been almost ten years ago. She’d been nineteen years old then, too. Smaller than Luna, with short, dark red hair, she looked a bit like a small furry animal, full of energy and movement. I didn’t move as she approached and came to a stop a little way away. She watched me with a smile, one hand on her hip, waiting.
‘Shireen,’ I said at last, and let out a breath. The name sounded strange to my ears; it was the first I’d spoken it in a long time. ‘So you’re dead after all.’
‘C’mon, Alex,’ Shireen said with a grin. ‘When I didn’t call for nine years, that should have been a big clue.’
We stood looking at each other. When I’d known her, Shireen had so often been angry, except for that last time. She didn’t look angry now; she looked at ease. ‘What happens now?’ I asked after a moment.
‘Up to you.’
I paused, then shrugged and walked past her.
Shireen fell into step beside me. ‘What, you’re not going to ask me anything?’
‘I’m curious,’ I said. ‘I’m just not sure what you are.’
‘I thought diviners knew everything?’ Shireen laughed. ‘Okay, how about some proof? Let’s see … How about the time we met? Wait, I know. I could tell you the time you finally turned against Richard. I remember exactly when it happened.’
‘No thanks.’
Shireen sighed. ‘When did you get so serious?’
‘Right now, I want to leave.’
‘Then where are you going?’
I started to answer, then looked around and stopped. The arcade had ended, and the building Luna had vanished into was gone. Instead, we were on a walkway running above a deserted city. On either side, stairways led down to dusty streets, stretching off into the distance. Buildings with empty windows were below, silent and still.
I turned to Shireen. ‘Where’s the way out?’
‘Up to you.’
I hesitated. On either side, flights of stairs led down into the city, while ahead the walkway seemed to go on and on into nothingness. I didn’t like the look of the streets below. I kept walking forward.
Shireen kept pace beside me. ‘Why are you here?’ I said once it became obvious she wasn’t going to say anything.
‘I need to talk to you about Rachel.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding. She doesn’t even call herself that any more.’
Shireen shook her head. ‘You don’t understand. She’s what you could have been.’
‘Yeah, well, I paid the price for that.’
‘You paid the price once. She has to do it every day.’
I sighed. ‘What are you trying to say, Shireen? You want me to feel sorry for her?’
‘It’s not about feeling sorry for her.’
‘Then what is it?’ I came to a stop and rounded on Shireen. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, I’m prisoner of a Dark mage who’s basically Richard except not so nice. He wants me to play for his team, and my teammates are three Dark mages who each hate me for completely separate reasons. Even if I manage to keep all three of them happy — which I won’t — Levistus and that invisible assassin of his are going to want me dead for switching sides. Every one of those people I just listed could kill me if they tried, and every one of them has a reason to do it. All together, there is a really good chance I’m going to be dead within a couple of days. So I don’t have time for this, okay? I need to get out of here.’
Shireen had stood quietly. Now that I’d finished, she spoke again. ‘Why are you here?’
I turned away and started walking again. Shireen followed. ‘Because someone up there hates me,’ I told her. ‘How should I know?’
‘But it was your choice.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You could have been safe,’ Shireen said. ‘Helikaon told you. Why did you stay?’
‘Because I’m an idiot. Leave me alone.’
‘You knew what you were doing.’
‘If you know so much, why do you keep asking me?’
Shireen didn’t answer, and I stopped and looked at her. ‘Fine. I stayed because of Luna.’
As I said the last word, I felt something shift. I looked around and realised that the walkway had been steadily descending until it was level with the city rooftops. Ahead, it sloped down to street level, ending in front of a mansion. A familiar one.
Shireen spoke into the silence. ‘It’s in there.’
Slowly, I walked towards Richard’s mansion. It was exactly as I remembered it, right down to the cracked stone at the doorway. I came to a stop in front of the double doors.
‘Why are you stopping?’ Shireen asked from behind me. ‘Are you afraid?’
I stood silently before answering. ‘Yes.’
We stood looking at the doors for a minute. The city was quiet, expectant, as though holding its breath. ‘I swore I’d never come back here,’ I said at last. ‘When I escaped.’
‘But you didn’t. Not really.’
I turned in surprise to see that Shireen was looking up at me seriously. ‘You never really got away. That’s why you have the dreams every night. You live alone, you don’t get close to anyone, the only human friend you make is a girl who can’t be touched. Morden was right, you know — you are still living like Richard taught you.’
I looked back at Shireen in silence. ‘What does that matter?’ I said at last.
‘Because Morden was wrong, too. You’ve protected yourself, but you’ve protected others as well. You risked your life to try and save Luna. You’re not a Dark mage. You shouldn’t live like one.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
Shireen sighed and looked away. ‘Alex, I was nineteen when I died. I didn’t live very long and I made a lot of bad choices, and by the time I figured out which choices were the bad ones it was too late. I just want something good to come from it. I’ve tried with Rachel, but she won’t listen to me any more. There’s still a bit of what we had inside her, but it’s so … twisted now that when I try it just makes her angrier. You’re all that’s left. I don’t want everything I touched to be evil. Please.’
I looked down at Shireen. ‘What do you want me to do?’ I said at last.
I saw Shireen close her eyes for a second, her shoulders going limp with relief. ‘The way out is in the mansion. It’s in Richard’s study. Walk towards the door. Once you step into the room, don’t turn aside for anything, no matter what you see. If you take even one step to the side, you’ll never be able to leave. You’ll be trapped there for ever.’
I nodded.
‘There’s one last thing. It’s a message for you. I had to go to a dragon to learn it. You have to remember it word for word.’