"Has that just happened?" I asked her.
"It's getting worse as we get closer."
"You mean we can see more of it as we get closer?" I said.
"We should have been able to see this from Glastonbury, it's big enough, and it hasn't just formed. The weather is different here — not just a change in the same weather, but different weather."
"But it's the same sky," I said.
"Is it?" As she stared at the sky, there was an ominous flickering within. "I'm not sure we're even looking at the same world any more."
The cab slowed down and halted in a gateway. "This is as far as I go," he said.
I could see the Tor stark against the moving sky, through the trees ahead. "Can't you take us a bit further," I asked. "It'll be quite a walk from here."
"I'm not going any further," he said, leaning forward and looking up through the windscreen. "I've seen storms, but that's a bad one. If you want to get out here, you're welcome, but if I was you I'd come back into town, find a nice tea room and sit it out."
"We'll get out here," said Blackbird.
She shuffled across, and I slid back the door so we could exit. As soon as we were out, he revved the engine and did a rapid U-turn, not even waiting for me to close the door.
"Hey," I called, "we haven't paid you!"
There was a harsh grating sound as he missed the gear and then accelerated back down the lane, leaving us standing by the side of the road. As the sound of the engine died away, I realised there was absolute quiet. The wind had dropped and there was no birdsong, or even the distant sound of a tractor or a motor-bike. That changed as there was a flicker in the clouds, passing from one to another along the outward spiral, so that it seemed that even the lightning wanted to escape. A few moments later there was a low rumble, more felt than heard.
"Come on," said Blackbird. "With luck we'll get there before it decides to rain."
She set off towards the outline of the tower on the Tor.
Thinking on what Blackbird had said, it occurred to me that what we were looking at might not be real. What if she was right? What if we were looking at a different world, a kind of pocket of existence with the orb at its centre. Was it like the Glade, the pocket world inhabited by the rogue fey who lured unwary sleepers there to feed on them by proxy? I had escaped that by pricking the heart at its centre. Could I do that here?
I let myself relax and began absorbing energy from my surroundings. I gathered power from the road beneath me, the air around me. The air chilled, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The world dimmed and I began to see the world with my wraithkin sense. It was filled with lines of force, distortions in the very fabric of reality like lines made by a magnet in iron filings. From nowhere, something cannoned into me, knocking me backwards.
I staggered back, missing my footing on the edge of the road and tumbling backwards into a dry ditch at the edge of the road. Winded, I lost my grip on the power and it slipped from me, returning my vision to normal. Blackbird was lying on top of me.
"What…?" I said, still winded.
"Idiot!" she said. "Look up!"
From my position on my back underneath her, I looked up at the sky. In the giant spiral centred over the Tor, another minispiral had formed, right over my head, circling within the greater spiral. As we lay there, all the hairs on my body stood on end.
"Stay down!" she warned.
There was a painfully bright flash, right where I had been standing. My ears popped as the sound-wave hit us and the world echoed with a crack that shook my bones. The smell of chlorine and ozone, and the taste of burned metal, filled my mouth and nose.
I swore loudly, but though the word formed on my tongue, I couldn't hear myself. It was like being wrapped in cotton wool. Blackbird pressed me down, waiting, glancing briefly up. The spiral above me whirled away down the arm of the greater vortex, stabbing down occasional arcs of brightness onto the surrounding fields, accompanied by sharp cracks which even my muted ears could hear.
Gradually my hearing returned to normal.
Blackbird levered herself up hesitantly, pressing her hand on my chest.
"It's OK," she said. "Not safe, but OK."
She scrambled up out of the ditch and I crawled out after her. In the road where I had been standing was a small smoking pit where the tarmac had melted.
"What happened?" I asked.
"When you use power, you take some from your surroundings," she said, "and the largest source of energy nearby would be that huge cloud above your head. Did you never think to look up?" she asked.
"I was too busy looking at… it's all being pulled inwards," I said. "Space itself is being pulled in."
"If you decide to do that again, make sure you're nowhere near me," she said, and turned and walked away.
I ran after her as she walked briskly up the lane towards the hill with the stark tower on the top.
"I'm not sure you heard me," I said. "It's already started."
She stopped. "I know. What do you want me to say? Shall we just stand here and wait for the end?"
I shrugged. "I'm not sure there's anything we can do."
"You're worse than Gregor," she said. "Never ever give in, even unto the end of the universe itself. There's always hope, Niall."
Nevertheless, when she started back down the lane to the Tor, she was running.
TWENTY
After the hurried dash down the lanes, the Tor was a climb I didn't need, no matter how much fitter I'd become. Even so, Blackbird paced ahead of me. We made our way up the path, but we could already see it had begun. The clouds twisted down and opened out over the summit, revealing a dark vista on infinity. I ran up the path after her, but then slowed as I met an invisible resistance. I caught up with her where she pushed against it.
"What is it?" I asked, grimacing as I pushed against the unseen barrier.
Beyond, at the peak of the hill I could see three figures clustered around a fourth. It was easy to recognise my own daughter as one of them.
"Gregor said that the orb wards itself," she said, gritting her teeth and trying to pull herself onwards. She made a final effort, but was then physically thrown back. I caught her in my arms as she was propelled backwards.
"It's no good," she said, "it's too strong. We have to find another way."
We backed off a few paces where we could stand more easily against it. It was like being blown back by a high wind, but there was no sense of moving air.
I picked up a stick that was abandoned on the grass, possibly from a dog-walker, and leaned back to throw it at the barrier. I drew my arm back and launched it.
"No!" said Blackbird.
The stick sailed overhead, but then turned and swung back, accelerating towards me so that I had to dive sideways. It flew past me, missing my head by inches so that I heard the rush as it went past, sailing out over the edge of the hill and down.
I stood watching it sail away down the hill, lost for words.
"Everything you put in is returned threefold. If you push against it, it will push back three times as hard. If you strike it, it will strike you. It's an old warding, but nonetheless effective for that."
"So how do we get inside?" I asked.
"We don't," she said, looking over towards the four figures arranged in the centre.
Eve gently let the orb go, and it hung in the air where she'd left it. "You can let go now," she said. "Everything is in place."
Alex experimentally let go of the rod and it turned for a moment in mid-air, like a compass finding north, until it settled, pointing at the orb. She released the key and it simply rotated slowly where she'd released it. "Freaky," she said.
The others released their objects too. Gradually the objects adjusted their positions until they were equidistant from each other.