by ‘I can’t feel any of that,’ I reminded him, not being a Waymaster and all.
‘Right.’ Jay looked at Emellana.
She shook her head. ‘I have no Waymaster’s arts either.’
‘One of the very few things you lack, from what I hear,’ he said.
She grinned at that, seemingly a rare expression with her. ‘Believe me, I would have rectified that lack if I could.’
‘Wouldn’t we all,’ I muttered.
‘All right,’ said Jay. ‘So this is all Waymastery, all the time. I’ve been here for twenty minutes or so and eight people have come through in that time. Three arrived here by bubble-express; of those, one disappeared through the main henge, and two through the jade one there.’ He pointed. ‘Two came down on some kind of flying carpet, I’m not even kidding, and took the one with the milky crystal stones. And the other three were coming through the other way. They all appeared together at that one that looks like lapis lazuli, and walked out of here on foot.’ He paused. ‘Six looked human. The other two were, I think, a spriggan and a… I don’t know, but he looked a fair bit like the Yllanfalen.’
‘I know!’ I enthused. ‘They’re just openly walking about among humankind. No glamours. We passed all kinds back in the streets — trolls, brownies, even a giant. And there was this woman who — I can’t be sure, but I’d almost swear she was a selkie.’
‘I’m unused to walking openly through the streets of human towns,’ said Emellana, with a faint smile. ‘At least, not without a fair amount of pointing and shrieking.’
‘Right,’ said Jay. ‘There’s no segregation here at all.’
‘No hiding,’ said Emellana. ‘It’s refreshing.’
‘I think it’s wonderful,’ I said fervently. ‘And unicorns aren’t rare at all, Jay!’ I told him about our encounter with the chip-chomping gent back in town.
He nodded. ‘Royal lines?’
‘I don’t know, but I figure they’re being bred. The way horses are back home, you know.’
‘For what?’
‘I… don’t know. Are there unicorn races?’ I shrugged.
Jay pointed towards one of the henges with a jerk of his chin. ‘There, look. Someone just came through.’
The someone in question could only be a giant. She came striding through a set of ethereally-pale stones, the henge looking dangerously delicate next to her towering bulk and height. It’s something to see an entire giant appear out of thin air, I tell you. It’s something else to watch that same giant amble through two or three of the henges, her steps shaking the earth, and then transform into a butterfly and sail airily away.
‘Where the hell are we,’ I said in awe.
‘Ain’t seen nothing yet,’ said Jay with a grin. ‘We haven’t even got to the Vales of Wonder.’
Lawks. If these weren’t wonders enough to deserve the name, what could we expect to find at the Vales?
‘I’m never leaving,’ I decided.
‘Have to,’ said Jay laconically, standing up from his rock of a seat. ‘Work to do back home.’
‘It cost you a lot to say that, didn’t it?’
‘My heart, and about half my soul.’ He set off towards the rock crystal henge, and I followed with Addie. Emellana was already twenty feet away, inspecting a large, pinkish stone. Rose quartz? Morganite?
‘What I can’t figure out about all this is… well, everything,’ he said. ‘Why so many henges? What’s the difference between them, other than the materials they’re made from? Do they go to different places? If so, why? How does that work?’
‘Do they feel different?’ I took off a shoe and set my bare foot to the earth, in hopes that might help. It didn’t. I felt nothing.
Jay shook his head. ‘Not significantly. Maybe as to degree, though it’s not as simple as the larger ones being the more powerful. The most potent one so far is actually that little spiral with the agates.’
‘Potent?’
‘Yeah. As in, I feel like I could take us to the moon out of that one.’
‘Hold that thought for my next birthday.’
‘There’s nothing up there, Ves.’
‘On the moon? How do you know?’
‘I have it on good authority that it’s a unicorn-free zone.’
Came then a flicker of maroon, out of the corner of my eye. I whirled.
Someone was disappearing behind a huge pillar of purple iolite.
‘Miranda!’ I shouted. ‘I see you.’
Nothing moved, and there came no reply.
I took off at a run. ‘I saw you back in town,’ I yelled. ‘Your stealth is about as good as your loyalty— there. See, I knew it was you.’
Miranda stood with studied nonchalance in the shadow of the huge, gloriously purple crystal; light shone through it, casting purplish shadows across her face. She looked exactly as I remembered: messy, disorganised, intense. Same old Miranda. Only she’d grown haggard over the weeks of her absence, and while she met my gaze with a show of bravado, she couldn’t hide the guilt behind her eyes. ‘Hi, Ves.’
‘Hi?’ I sputtered. ‘Hi? What are you doing following us around?’
‘Well—’ she said, and stopped.
‘Well?’
‘Ves, you do know you can’t just walk off with unicorns around here?’
‘I didn’t walk off with a unicorn.’
She looked over at Adeline, who was hot on Jay’s heels as he came after us.
‘Not a native. We brought her with us.’
That earned me a look of pure disbelief. ‘You brought one of the unicorns from back home? Here? You do know how incredibly endangered they are on the sixth, I suppose?’
‘Milady’s idea,’ I said quickly.
She scowled. ‘Hello, Jay,’ she said as he came up.
He responded only with a curt nod.
‘So,’ I said pleasantly. ‘How can we help you, Miranda?’
‘How did you find us?’ Jay interrupted.
‘I saw you come through from Whitmore.’
‘You’ve been following us all morning?’ I said. ‘Couldn’t you have just said hi?’
‘Was I welcome to?’ That came with a challenging look.
I sighed. ‘I won’t lie, I’d prefer not to talk to you. But it does happen that we were looking for you.’
She blinked. ‘Looking for me?’
‘Aye, thee. The thing is—’
Miranda was backing away. ‘Look, I’m sorry about everything that happened. I really am. I’ll make amends if I can, but you don’t need to…’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ I snapped. ‘We aren’t here to hurt you.’
‘I don’t know, Ves,’ she said, eyeing me uncertainly. ‘Last time we talked, you looked about ready to kill me. Still do.’
‘Ves is a violence-free area unless severely provoked,’ I said.
Jay said, ‘Does abandoning the Society and betraying our movements to Ancestria Magicka count as severe provocation?’ He sounded mildly interested.
I glowered, not because I wanted to kill Miranda but because I realised I didn’t. Not really. She looked so damned hang-dog, with her hair falling down, her jumper unravelling at the elbows, and those shadows under her eyes. ‘No,’ I grouched.
Then again, when I saw pup race into view and hurl herself at Miranda like she was her best and long-lost friend, I considered revising that decision.
‘Don’t touch the pup,’ I said warningly.
I was rewarded for my lack of generosity by two pairs of wounded eyes, fixed upon me in joint dismay.
Pup’s won me over.
‘Fine, fine,’ I said with a wave of my hand. Since Emellana had showed up along with Goodie, I made introductions. ‘Emellana’s here to help us with—’
‘Emellana Rogan?’ said Miranda, staring at Em with the same kind of awe Jay and I had felt. Then she covered her eyes. ‘Oh, lords. The worst possible time to meet your heroes.’
Emellana, serene in purple, merely lifted one brow a fraction of an inch. ‘Why is that?’
‘Because of—’ she stopped, and looked an enquiry at me.
I understood the unspoken question. Yes, I had given Emellana the story of Miranda’s defection from the Society. No, I didn’t want to say that to Miranda just then. I ignored the question in her eyes, and said: ‘Miranda’s the former expert on magickal beasts with the Society. She’s to join us on this assignment.’
Miranda stared. ‘I am?’
‘Milady’s orders.’
‘Milady?’
‘None other than.’
Miranda looked from me to Jay in disbelief. ‘I thought you two were no longer with the Society either.’
‘Erm. Well, it’s true that we’re technically working for the Royal Court at Mandridore right now. They’re partnered with the Society.’
Miranda’s eyes grew even wider. ‘What’s going on here, Ves?’
‘Something pretty big.’
‘I see that.’
I decided not to share all the details. Miranda was still a traitor. ‘We’re looking for griffins,’ I told her. ‘Among other such creatures.’
‘Such creatures?’
‘Beasts of myth and legend. Oozing magick from every pore. That kind of thing.’
‘We’re heading for the Vales of Wonder,’ said Jay. ‘Soon as we figure out how.’
‘And what am I for?’ said Miranda.
‘You probably know more about griffins than anybody else, more or less,’ I said. ‘Right?’
‘That isn’t saying much. To the best of my knowledge, you two are the only people who’ve seen a live one in recent memory.’
‘And charmingly clueless about it we were. Are you with us or not?’
Miranda appeared uncertain, to my indignation. Honestly, how much more of an olive branch did the woman expect?
‘Are you still with Ancestria Magicka?’ said Jay suddenly, with a narrow look.
‘Technically,’ said Miranda.
‘What I’m getting at is: are you here with or without their leave?’
She grinned. ‘Without their knowledge, I think. I hope.’ The grin faded. ‘I don’t want to go back home. If I go with you, that has to be clear.’
‘The beasts back home need you far more than these do,’ I said, frowning.
Miranda just looked at me. ‘How do you know?’
Fair point.
‘Right, well, if that’s settled,’ said Jay. ‘I need to crack on with this little collection of mysteries.’ He sauntered off towards the nearest henge, hands in the pockets of his jacket, face thoughtful.
Emellana held out her hand to Miranda, who took it uncertainly. There was a handshake. ‘Good to have you with us,’ said Emellana.
‘Is it?’ said Miranda softly.
Em gave an affirmative nod, and grinned. ‘I’ve been reading your essays for years. My favourite was the one about firelight moths as familiars.’
Miranda’s eyes widened. ‘Well, this is surreal.’
‘Miranda,’ I said. ‘We need some help here. Have you learned anything about this place?’ I indicated the henges with a sweep of my arm.
Her eyes lit up. ‘Ves, this world is amazing. Amazing. You know they never had aeroplanes, or cars? Never needed them. Everything’s magick. Short-distance travel is all about the bubbles and lights — you saw that already. Long-distance journeys are taken by henge, and as far as I can figure, there’s an entire world-wide infrastructure.’
‘Uh huh, and how does that work?’
‘Like, you don’t need to be a Waymaster to use these empowered henges, necessarily. You buy travel tokens which seem to act as ticket, passport and charm in one. Take your token, step into the right henge and away you go, and the token’s used up. It’s marvellous. There’s a Union of Waymasters — big organisation — who set up and maintain these henge complexes, and keep them powered up.’
‘Jay,’ I called. ‘You need to hear all this.’
Jay had already wandered out of earshot. I started after him, calling his name — and was just in time to hear him say, with something peculiarly like a giggle, ‘Oops.’
And he vanished.
‘Oops?’ I yelled. ‘Oops?’ I set off at a run towards the henge that had taken him away, a turquoise structure whose stones crackled with a kind of lightning. As I approached, the lightning faded, leaving inert stones and no sign of Jay.
