The Fae World: ‘Astral World’: Rynne: The Portal Freezing (part 2)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1

“You became a thief because of your dad, right?” Rynne didn’t need to ask the question, everyone knew that Amber was actively hunting for the magician who killed her father, but it wasn’t often she talked about anything and one of Rynne’s aims was to get Amber talking, no matter how hard it was. “He was a thief and you wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

Amber raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t know exactly why I’m here I’d be very surprised, Rynne, so why are you asking question that don’t need answering? You worried about me? Think I don’t talk enough?” She shook her head. “Look, I’m in this house because I had no other choice and they wouldn’t let me stay with Ruby because they think I’m a bad influence on her. Really we’re a bad influence on each other, but that’s beside the point, especially as what you actually wanted was to get me to open up to you.”

“It would be nice if you thought you could talk to me.” Rynne shrugged. “Maybe I could convince the right people that having Ruby here would be a good thing.”

“That will never happen. Ruby and I decided it would be a good idea to set up our own portal in the middle of the night, because we were bored, and we ended up in Christophe’s bedroom.” Amber smiled, a true smile for once, rather than her usual fake smiles, used purely to make people think she was fine when she wasn’t. “I stole one of his diaries while she took a small statuette that actually was magical. Fortunately they couldn’t feel the diary otherwise they’d have taken that as well. When they asked as where we’d been I don’t think they actually believed us. They just thought we were making up stories, even when Scott vouched for us.”

“How did you end up in Christophe’s bedroom?”

“Well, it was dark over there, definitely not the best time to go to the other world if you want to try to steal something, because the darkness is different. I can’t explain it. It’s something you have to experience for yourself. Fortunately I can feel magic, so I knew where the house was, although neither of us was certain where we actually were, and in the end we just walked until we reached a wall, before starting to climb it. Part of the reason we went was in order to test out the magics we had learnt to make sure that we could use them if we needed to. Each of us has different strengths and weaknesses, and as we hoped we would end up working together we wanted to attempt a real job, rather than one of those fake ones they kept giving us, which we knew were actually nothing like what we would be doing when we actually became thieves.” Amber sighed. “There was a window in that wall and we found ourselves climbing through it to see where we actually were. Neither of us thought we might have reached one of their bedrooms, but we lit one of the candles in the room, hoping that being in Christophe’s bedroom would mean that he hadn’t put alarm wards on them. Of course no one else in our class actually knew what alarm wards were, so the fact we even knew they existed meant we were a step ahead of the rest of our class.

“There was a chance that the light would wake Christophe, but it was worth it. If I could have carried more I would have taken at least a couple more of his diaries, because they started from the first day he found himself on a world he didn’t actually know existed, and the one I read was fascinating. Sadly he didn’t write much about the magic he was learning, instead filling it with thoughts about where he was and what was happening to him. Both Ruby and I thought it was likely he kept a separate journal for his magic studies, and we were talking about going back for it, even though neither of us have any idea how to work out what time it will be there.” Amber shrugged. “Now we don’t have a choice. She was sent to another safe house, where they thought she’d be better off, while I’m here. At least you’ve never put me on back-up.”

“One thing I learnt very quickly when I found myself in charge of a safe house was to learn what my thieves are capable of. You may well have been good at back up when you were at school, but that doesn’t mean it’s what you’re best at out here. The school is for teaching you about magic and the basics of what it is we actually do. Actually travelling to the other world, going to one of the house, you’re right that it’s nothing like the fake jobs you do at the school. It’s impossible for them to understand what it is we do, because very few of them have ever actually travelled to the other world.” Rynne shrugged. “Why they’re the ones in charge of training new thieves I’ll never know, but they are and it’s something we’re just going to have to deal with, even though I wish things were different.”

“Is that why they haven’t worked out that there’s a traitor somewhere in the organisation?”

“Amber, we don’t know that for certain, but I do admit it is beginning to look more likely that is the problem.”

“Between the time my father died and the time I started at the school we lost three people, all of whom were lost while they were on dangerous jobs by themselves. Since then we’ve lost three safe houses, fortunately with no loss of life; eighteen thieves during one series of raids, twenty during another, and eight people have been grabbed by the magicians; and we aren’t finding anything at all. There was obviously a time when we did find something, considering what’s in the study, so there is a serious problem.”

Rynne nodded. “I know, but there’s no proof. It could just be bad luck that’s causing these problems.” She looked at the portal. “At least this means we have some unexpected time. Do you have the ability to look through the books that are in the study?”

Their eyes met and from the shock in Amber’s eyes Rynne could tell she hadn’t expected a question like that from one of the people she couldn’t bring herself to accept as anything more than a burden. Being alone in one of the safe houses was something Rynne had dealt with when she was first place, as her best friend had been sent to a different one, and she was someone who was lost in one of the raids. It was something she tried not to think about any more, but every time she heard about another death, which were happening more and more often, she was reminded of the day she found out what had happened.

“Maybe.” Amber bit her lip. “Some of the books have more power than others, so I think there will be some that I can take off the shelves and others that I can’t. Reading them… to be honest that depends on what they’re written in, because I know that each house has their own way of recording things, because they like to keep them secret from the other magicians as well as from us.”

“Do you want to try?”

“I’ve always wanted to try.” Amber smiled, but it quickly faded. “They don’t trust me. Letting me look at those books might change the way they see you and that might not be something that you want to risk.”

“That doesn’t matter to me, Amber, because I trust you. I know what you think, we’ve talked enough at meetings for me to know what your position is regarding what we do and why we aren’t finding anything in the magician’s houses, so I’m willing to let you look in those books to see if you can find anything at all that might help us, even though I doubt you will.”

“You think there’s a traitor too.”

“No, I think it’s possible there’s a traitor. Right now, until we have proof that there is one, all we’re dealing with is bad luck.” Rynne was almost certain there was a traitor, but that wasn’t something she could say in the middle of the safe house, because she had no idea who might be listening. “I just can’t understand why someone would have gone to the magicians with any information at all. They want to stop us from using magic and we want to make magic freely available to everyone on both worlds. We are on the right side.”

“Are we?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Rynne. We know next to nothing about the other world and it’s possible that the magicians have a reason for doing everything they can from stopping us achieving the aim that we’ve had since the school was founded. Some of the books we’ve found might well have given us more information, but those are the ones that are taken from us the moment we step back onto our world.” Amber sighed. “The longer I’m a thief the more certain I am that we aren’t doing the right thing, but I’m only here to find out who killed my father.”

Rynne studied Amber, before choosing to change the subject. “How much do you know about the day your father died?”

“Unfortunately much less than I’d like to. My mother was told about it and she decided to keep all the details from us. I know she was always afraid that we would follow in Dad’s footsteps, but it wasn’t something any of us was interested in, until we found out that he’d been killed on the other world by magicians. The only reason we found out was Dad’s newsletter. It still arrived on the day it always did, even though he was dead, so I read it.”

“Come with me.”

Leaving the girls with their hairdryers and the still very frozen portal behind Rynne led Amber to her office, wanting to be somewhere more private if they were going to talk about that day. Rynne’s father had been in the same place at the same time and only got away thanks to Amber’s father, so she knew more about it that most thieves did. If anyone was going to tell Amber the story it was going to be someone who actually knew the truth. Once the door was closed Rynne knew no one would disturb them.

“I wish you hadn’t learnt about his death from the newsletter. The people who write that are biased and they didn’t really know what had happened, because they didn’t know that someone survived long enough to pass on the true story to the daughter who was waiting for him. Even though I was only eight Dad was determined to tell me what had happened, knowing that there would be other girls who’d also lost their fathers and he wanted them to know what had happened. It’s strange to think that was nearly fifteen years ago.”

“What were you doing waiting at one of the portals?”

“Things were different then and I could have been waiting for him in one of the safe houses if I really wanted to, because thieves normally had families that they raised in them, planning all the time for their children to follow in their footsteps. I was one of those children, until we were asked to leave.” Rynne sighed. “Dad could actually create portals, one of the few with the ability, so he made one that would mean he appeared in my bedroom, knowing that I would be there. He died because he chose to give your father almost all of his magic and to create the portal he used his life, because he didn’t think anyone else would survive. They’d ended up stepping into the White House unexpectedly, due to the magicians swapping the houses around, and that was something no one knew was going to happen. From what he said they were actually meant to be at the Blue House, which was something they could cope with, but none of them were prepared for the White House.

“Your father had gone to what was supposed to be the White House, as back up because he wasn’t particularly skilled, but realised sooner than the rest that something had gone seriously wrong. He sprinted through the portal and then back again, to what had become the White House, to find that the group of magicians who had been sent there had already gone in, and there was probably nothing he could do to save them. That didn’t stop him from trying.” Rynne bit her lip. “There are certain magics that are used when the houses are turned into traps and your father didn’t have the skill to combat them or the creatures that the magicians had permitted to prowl around, knowing that the thieves who turned up were going to end up dead. It was the first time I suspected that there might be a traitor within the organisation, but nothing happened for years after that, and it wasn’t until I became a thief myself that I realised how different time was on the two worlds. Years here could be months there.”

“Was it?”

“The time that passed between the death of our fathers and the next attack on the safe house was a year on the other world. I believe the only reason it took a year was because there was a debate whether they should use the information they were given or not. Although that’s speculation, nothing I have proof of, I am certain that I’m right. Even though I have to seem ambivalent out there I’m not – I think there is a traitor and I believe they’re within the time division, as that’s the only possibility that makes any sense.” Rynne shook her head. “That isn’t what we were talking about, though. Right, the day your father died he dragged Dad out of the house, even though he was bleeding from several wounds, before saying that he was going to go back in to see if he could save anyone else. He shouldn’t have done – he should have run for it while he could, but he had a close friend in the house he didn’t want to let die. After that Dad doesn’t know exactly what happened. From what he said there was definitely as explosion of some form and he believes that it was your father that caused him when he found that his friend was already dead. By blowing up the house he was burying the dead as best he could.

“It made Dad smile, grateful that his magic was used for the right thing, because if he hadn’t been safe outside the house he knew he would have been much happier buried until the rubble than he would have been if his body had been left for the magicians to take. He created the portal after that, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before the magicians arrived. Passing on the story of what happened was the most important thing to him and he wanted you to know that your father was the bravest man he’d ever come across. No one else would have gone into that house, knowing it was being used as a trap, because it was suicide. The three other times it had happened all that anyone knew was that it had happened. Dad was the only person to have come out alive, to have told the story of what actually went on within the house, but I was the only one he had a chance to tell.” Rynne blinked away tears, not wanting to cry in front of the unexpectedly stoic Amber. “He died on my bed.”

“Dad seriously blew the White House up?”

“Apparently, although a year later it was already back up.”

“Magic. All the houses are made from it. I can feel it pulsating and I think that they’re memories.” Amber smiled. “I’ve never told anyone that before, not even Ruby, because it sounds stupid, but I believe each of those houses has been created by the world using its memories.”

“That doesn’t sound stupid. What else can you feel?”

“Each of the houses has a strength. Unsurprisingly the White House is the strongest, but what I wasn’t expecting was how strong the Blue House is, because that’s where the weakest magic users are sent. It’s not something that I can show anyone though, so it’s not as though I can stop it from happening.”

“You can in this safe house, at least until someone takes over from me as the leader.” Rynne made a decision she never thought she’d make, not about Amber, even though she always appreciated the girl’s blunt honesty during the weekly meetings. “Who do we need here to make our group stronger?”

“Ruby, Steph, Pia, Jackson, Wesley, Lucas, Orla, and Max.” Amber smiled. “You won’t get all of them, but I think you’ll get Pia and Steph without too much argument. No one knows of my friendship with them. Ruby I can see being almost impossible, Wesley will be hard, and the rest I can’t see happening. Especially not Orla and Max. They really are dangerous when they’re together, which is why they were sent to different safe houses.”

“Orla and Max? I think I’ve heard of them, but I’ve been out of the school for nearly six years now and it can make learning about who I should have here difficult. Normally I get to pick two of the graduating year while the rest are just sent to me. You were one that I picked. Sadly I didn’t get Kingston.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.