The Eternal Tomb (7 page)

Something fairly obvious finally occurred to Oliver: The apparition had been wherever Bane had been, but Jenette had been wherever the apparition had been as well. She was also the one who knew to find Bane in the forgotten graveyard, and the apparition had been there, too.

It's true
, said Jenette, hearing his thought.
I've known him for a long time
.

So
, Oliver thought,
Selene told Bane to summon the apparition, and it has something to do with undoing the prophecy. That's why Half-Light is after him.
…

Yes, yes, and yes
, Jenette replied.

But you're not going to tell me what he is.

He asked me not to
, said Jenette.
But don't worry. You'll know soon enough
.

Great
, Oliver muttered.

Oliver, don't be mad!
Jenette glanced past him, back into the world, where Half-Light was still searching.
Come here
, she said, turning away.

What do you mean?
Oliver asked, watching Jenette walk away up the beach.

I mean come with me, just for a minute. Please? I don't bite
.

But
—Oliver remembered the last time Jenette had brought him to the Shoals, a borderland between worlds. It had been just after Oliver had been struck by the Scourge of Selket, up in the Space Needle, and she'd had to struggle mightily to hold him here. Pulling a physical body out of the world was like pushing against an elastic band as far as it would go.

It's okay!
said Jenette, walking up the beach.
Everyone is helping this time
.

Everyone?
Oliver's eyes slowly adjusted to the hazy world around him. There was only endless gray sand and sky, and a brushstroke of brown grass along the dune's high peak…yet now Oliver began to notice that the vast beach wasn't empty. There were other figures here and there, always alone, grown-ups and children of all ages, some sitting, staring out at the starry sea, others trudging along the water's edge. All were silent. All were barefoot. Each was clothed for a different season, wearing everything from shorts to parkas.

Oliver sensed that they were wraiths, spending forever here, resting between their grief-stricken visits into the world, or being held here by a Merchynt. If his gaze lingered for too long on one of them, it seemed to create a little ball of sadness in his gut, and so he tried to simply look straight ahead as he followed Jenette. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the wraiths turning their heads to follow his progress down the beach.

They walked along the hard sand at the water's edge. The world was bright, but there was no sun, only a sameness that made Oliver squint. The black, starry water lapped at his feet. Looking down into it was like gazing into space itself.

Ahead, a jetty made of large chunks of rock had appeared from the haze. Jenette reached it and began hopping out over the stones.
Come on, Oliver!
she called almost playfully.

Oliver looked back, but the view of the troll was gone. There was only beach. He started after Jenette, leaping from one barnacle-crusted stone to the next. They were tilted at steep angles, slippery with cold, black algae. Unseen water sloshed in the deep crevices. Oliver slipped and had to grab the edge of a rock to avoid falling in.

Waves bucked and dunked against the jagged rocks at the jetty's end. Jenette sat on a long, flat rock that stuck out over the sea like a tongue, her feet dangling. Oliver sat beside her.

How was Emalie's party?
Jenette asked.

Oh, it was fine. You weren't there. Dean was supposed to invite everyone.
…

He did. But I didn't come. I know I'm not Emalie's favorite, and it was her big night.…
Jenette turned away and said quietly:
She would have wanted you all for herself
.

Oliver had no idea how to respond. He watched the starry depths below.

Not much of a view, huh?
Jenette said moments later. She was kicking her feet, her heels slapping against the rock.

It's kind of amazing, though, said Oliver. You can feel the other worlds.… Almost like you could dive in and swim to them
.

But you can't
, Jenette muttered.
Not as long as you're a wraith. A vampire, either. You go out and swim in that water, and you could go and go and go, but sooner or later, you'll end up back on this beach. You can't leave this world, no matter how hard you try.

That may change soon
, Oliver said darkly.

Or not.
Jenette gave him a motherly pat on the shoulder.
We don't want it to
.

Oliver looked back at the faint, lost-feeling wraiths standing here and there on the beach.

The wraiths have a stake in your destiny, too, Oliver
, Jenette explained.

Why? Oliver wondered. Wouldn't opening the Gate end your suffering?

Ha, no. If the world were destroyed, we would be freed, but the loved ones, to whom our grief is attached, would be killed. We want to be at peace, but not at their expense
.

Who is your grief attached to? I mean, is it okay to ask that?

Sure
, said Jenette with a sigh. She stopped kicking.
It's my mom. I died in a house fire
.
It was just me and her. She survived, but trying to save me she got burned bad.
Her voice quieted.
Now she's in so much pain every day, and she feels so guilty that she couldn't save me. I used to visit her, try to tell her she did the best she could. I think she heard me, but then she started telling everyone around her that my ghost was haunting her. I was only making things worse. So I stopped visiting. But then I couldn't leave the world. You know what they say; you don't know you're becoming a wraith until you are one. And now I'm owned by Spira
, Jenette finished glumly.
Being a wraith sucks
.

Listening to Jenette's story, Oliver had a strange flash of doubt about his human parents. What if he found them, only to frighten them? He'd always just assumed it would be a happy reunion, but how were they going to react to their son, gone sixty-four years, suddenly returning? Or what if it was great, but then Oliver wasn't able to undo the prophecy? Then knowing them would only make it worse when he destroyed them. Oliver tried to put these worries out of his mind.
Sorry
, he said to Jenette.

Oh, it's okay
, she replied.
Since I failed to slay you for the Brotherhood, Spira hasn't hired me out to anyone. Like I care.… It just means I can slip away and hang with you guys.
Oliver felt her look at him.
I really like being with you
.

Oliver gulped.
That's cool
, he said awkwardly.

Suddenly, there was a flash of black around him. For just a moment, he saw the troll, the rafters of the bridge.

We're running out of strength to keep you here
, said Jenette.
But Half-Light's gone
.

Okay.
Oliver stood.
Well, thanks for helping me
.

You're going to Emalie's after school, to do the Portal?
Jenette asked.

Yeah. You, um…you can come, too, if you want
.

Nah
, said Jenette.
I'm going to stay here, with him.
She turned back to the beach. The apparition was in the distance, standing at the shoreline, skipping rocks.

Why don't I get to know what he is?
Oliver asked again.

He's nervous about it
, said Jenette.
He wants to wait until you're ready to understand
.

And when is that going to be?

Jenette smiled.
I think after the Portal you'll know
.

The Portal? What's that got to do with anything?

It has everything to do with everything
, said Jenette.
Trust me. Trust us
.

The world flashed to black again, and Oliver found himself back beneath the bridge alone. He headed for school, his arm still aching.

All night, Oliver was lost in thought, and he couldn't shake a great feeling of emptiness inside. He couldn't tell if it was from being with the wraiths, like he'd absorbed some of their loss and despair, or if it was because of the losses that might soon come if he fulfilled his destiny.

It all seemed hopeless, but all he could do was keep trying to change his fate, one thing at a time. The portal was next. Jenette made it sound even more important than he'd thought. And so the hours of school passed more slowly than ever, as he waited to find out.

Chapter 6

Underneath the Christmas Tree

OLIVER RUSHED INTO EMALIE'S
basement after school to find her and Dean sitting on the floor. The lights were off. Pillar candles flickered in the corners and atop the washing machine. Emalie had a new set of photos hanging across the ceiling, shots she'd taken of a decrepit, vandalized motel that had recently been torn down.

“Hey,” said Emalie, arranging objects in a circle of gypsum sand. “Things are just about ready.” She looked up and paused. “What's that face for?”

“What face?” Oliver asked, sitting between them.

Emalie studied him. “It's, like, no-face. You're totally blank. Usually means something's bugging you.” She smiled. “But it's sorta how you look all the time.”

Oliver's small smile appeared for a moment, but quickly faded. “Check this out.” He pushed up his sleeve and showed Emalie and Dean the black burn from the centipede injection. “There's more,” he said, pulling out Bane's objects. He explained about the apparition and Selene's message, Half-Light's arrival, and what Jenette said about the Portal.

“What does the Portal have to do with the apparition?” Emalie asked.

“I don't know,” said Oliver anxiously. “Let's just do it.” He glanced at Dean. “How's the hindrian charm holding up?”

“Pretty good, far as I can tell,” Dean replied.

“I've been thinking about that,” said Emalie, rummaging through her bag beside her, “and about how Half-Light said they'd be watching you.” She produced a small green leaf. “There's something I want to try, before we do the Portal,” she said. “I have an idea of where we can go to be sure nobody's listening.”

“Cool, where?” Oliver asked.

Emalie looked up, and Oliver saw that her eyes were burning red, her pupils shining white. The leaf burst into flame, creating a tiny plume of fire that swirled up from her palm.

“Emalie…” Oliver began.

The column of flame flattened at its peak and branched out in three points, one aimed at each of them… “
Bind!
” Emalie said, her voice edged with demonic hiss.

The fire burst in three directions at once. It struck Oliver, Dean, and Emalie in the chest, throwing them each back to the floor.

Oliver saw gray, and heard a distant roar, like falling water. He glanced around and for a moment panicked. There was a foggy sky, with treetops below him. But his feet were planted on a hexagonal platform made of thick wooden boards. The giant arms of a great tree rose around them, branching into a wide canopy of leaves above. In the center of the platform, a small fire crackled.

Beyond the branches was a fog-shrouded world. This tree was far taller than any of the others. The rest of the forest seemed distant below them. Birds called, and Oliver smelled a pungent aroma of living and decaying. Something rushed as well, a river in the shadows far below.

“Where are we?” asked Dean, looking around.

“It's called the Delta,” Emalie said. “It's another borderland, an edge of the world like the Shoals or the Yomi. That river below is Acheron, the one we crossed in the Underworld near Morosia.”

“The one that Hades' Well fell into,” said Oliver. He gazed below and spied the slight blur of a river squiggling among the thick jungle. Low clouds passed beneath, momentarily erasing his view. Oliver remembered his studies. “Oh, yeah, spirits that leave the world by Acheron pass through here, and the strongest make it to the sea beyond, where you leave the world.”

“What happens to the others?” Dean asked.

As if in answer, something large and hungry growled in the forest shadows far below.

Oliver considered their high platform again. “What is this?” he asked Emalie.

“It's a place for council. It's connected to the deepest parts of our minds, to our sense of truth and trust, and it's totally private. Pretty cool, huh?”

“So this is, like, our private forest?” asked Dean.

“No,” said Emalie, “the tree house is ours, but the forest is shared.”

There was a fluttering of air, and they looked up to see some dark, winged figure soaring over their treetop. It arced down through the fog, then back up, and landed in the distance. Now Oliver could make out another tree out there, as tall as this one. A tiny fire crackled to life on a similar platform. And he saw others now, too, far in the distance, each with a little fire burning, and the shadows of huddled figures having secret conversations.

“You can rent them,” Emalie said in explanation.

Oliver turned to her. “Rent? From whom?”

“I got this one from Sylvix. He's that Merchynt that I buy supplies from in the Yomi,” Emalie said casually, as if a human going to the Yomi and dealing with a Merchynt was no big deal. It had been one thing when she'd had Jenette protecting her, but Oliver knew that now she just went on her own, and somehow had no trouble.

“How did you pay for this?” Oliver asked warily.

“Don't worry,” said Emalie, avoiding his eyes.

“Emalie…”

“Just trust me, Oliver.” She shot him a sharp glance.

“So,” said Dean, “we're here in our minds, but, like, physically, we're still in the basement, yes?”

“Right,” Emalie answered. “Our bodies are still there.”