Red Queen (19 page)

“But you said it takes months to get back all my memories.”

“True. But if I told him it was months he would have freaked out. Besides, the first few days are the most crucial. You'll feel delicate, with so many new experiences bombarding you from every side. While in witch world, the best thing you can do is hang out with friends who are already connected. For that reason, it's a good idea to avoid Alexis and Debra for the time being.”

“What about Mom?”

“I don't think she's going to be a problem.”

“Why?”

“You're going to be in Las Vegas longer than you planned.”

“To get Lara back.”

“Exactly. She's here.”

“Who took her?”

“Let's deal with that in a few minutes. I want to make sure you understand what's happened to you, and how it's going to affect you over the next few days.”

I shook my head. “Intellectually, I understand what you say about two dimensions and living the same day over again twice. But this whole ‘getting connected' process sounds bizarre. I mean, on one hand it's an awakening experience and on the other hand an entire lifetime gets erased.”

“Once again, your memories of witch world are still intact. Try looking at the temporary amnesia you're experiencing as a natural coping mechanism. Without it, you'd have to be sedated.”

“Because I'd suddenly be looking at everything from two different points of view?”

“Exactly.”

I frowned. “I just had a flash of memory that's not exactly mine. But I'm not sure if it really happened.”

“Tell me about it and I'll let you know.”

“I remember going to Russell for help to get Lara back. That memory came back to me while I was standing in front of
the mirror. But I also remember something about that Council you mentioned. I went to him because I was hoping he could get in touch with them.”

“That's a genuine memory.”

“Good,” I said. “I suppose it's good.”

“What's troubling you?”

“Oh, about ten thousand things.”

My father was patient. “What confuses you the most?”

“I can't imagine that for the rest of my life I'm going to have to live the same day over again twice.”

“It won't be exactly the same day because the worlds are no longer identical.”

“When does this transfer happen? I mean, when does my mind go from the real world to witch world, and back again?” I asked.

“At dawn. Precisely when the sun rises. At this latitude, it takes just under three minutes for it to clear the horizon. During that time—in both worlds—you will suddenly lose consciousness. If you were standing up, you would fall over because all life would appear to leave your body. An outside observer would probably think you had stopped breathing because your respiration almost ceases. That's why it's a good idea to be in bed at dawn.”

“What's so special about the sun rising?”

“The sun is the source of all life on Earth. A new day begins when it appears.”

“I know that. What I'm asking is—does our spirit or soul suddenly leave one world and fly to the other?”

“In a manner of speaking. The transition is impossible to describe with words. It just happens once you're connected.”

“What if I choose to stay awake at dawn?”

“You won't be able to. Not during that three minutes.”

“If I'm asleep, do I notice the switch?”

“No. You go to sleep in one world, you wake up in the other.”

“That's so fucking freaky.” I paused. “Pardon my French.”

“It's not a shock to me that my daughter cusses.”

“So we're good friends in this world?”

“Yes.”

I hesitated. Lara was not my only source of sorrow.

“Why not in the real world?” I asked quietly.

My father sighed. “I stayed away to protect you.”

“From who?” I asked.

“The same people who kidnapped Lara,” he said.

“How did staying away protect me?”

“In the real world, they know who I am. But they don't know who you are. At least, we didn't think so.”

His remark did not surprise me as much as it should have. A part of me had always felt he had stayed away on purpose. He had not protested when I had adopted my mother's last name—Ralle—and written Dr.
Major
off. Indeed, when I was ten and officially changed my name, my mother had told
me that my father had been happy I had disowned him.

It had made no sense. Until now.

“Who are
they
?” I asked.

“I promise to answer that question in a few minutes. Just as soon as I know you're no longer confused about how the switch from one world to the other works.”

“I'm sorry, I must be dense in this world. I'm still struggling with all the new concepts.”

My father was sympathetic. “I know how you feel. On the surface the situation's simple. You live the same day over again in a slightly different world. But when you start to examine it from different angles, you get a headache. Trust me, I've been there, we all have.”

“Did you have someone to guide you at the start?”

“No. You're lucky. After my hanging, when I woke up the next day, I felt like I had died and gone to hell. I would go to bed Saturday night and wake up Saturday morning and everyone would do the same thing they had done the day before. This went on for months, until I realized that if I suddenly did something drastic in witch world, out of the norm, then I could change events in the real world.”

“What do you mean by drastic?”

My father studied me. “Understand, I was born in what you would consider a barbaric society. Back then life was cheap.”

“Don't tell me you killed someone.”

“I killed three men in self-defense, and I used my unique abilities to accomplish the deed. They had been sent by a local magistrate to arrest me for, well, getting one of his daughters pregnant. I met them alone, with a sword, in what seemed from the outside to be a fair fight. But one of my abilities is supernormal strength and speed. They didn't stand a chance.”

“What happened the next day?” I asked, thinking I had the same ability.

“They came for me again. But I knew they were coming so I fled at dawn. I didn't want to have to kill them again.” My father paused. “It was only later that I discovered they had been hijacked on the road and slaughtered.”

“By who?”

“I don't know, and it doesn't matter. What matters is that they died anyway, and on the same day.”

“But not in the same way,” I said.

“Correct,” my father agreed.

“Does that mean what happens in this world affects the real world?”

“Yes. But not always in the way you expect. Also, the reverse can happen. What occurs in the real world can change what happens in witch world. The worlds are interconnected. It's wrong to say one is more important than the other.”

For some reason, I didn't feel what he said was completely accurate. Not that my father was purposely lying to me, but that his understanding was incomplete. The feeling had a sharp
edge to it, a certainty, and I wondered if there was an intuition gene and I had been born with it.

I no sooner thought the question when the word “yes” popped into my mind. I went to tell my father about the experience but something stopped me. Maybe it was my intuition.

“But the days in witch world come first,” I said.

“We experience them as occurring first. To someone as old as Cleo, they happen simultaneously.”

“Who's Cleo?”

“The head of our Council. The one with the eight genes.”

“She must be pretty powerful.”

“That's an understatement.”

“Are you saying her days overlap?”

“Yes.”

“How does her brain cope with that?”

“It's hard to imagine. Over time, she must have gotten used to it.”

“How old is Cleo?” I asked.

“She's been around since the beginning.”

“Of witch world?”

“Of human civilization. She's never told anyone her exact age but we know she was alive before the pyramids were built. In fact, she helped build them.”

“So she runs the Council?” I asked.

“It doesn't work that way. She's not the boss. But when Cleo speaks, everyone listens.”

“Are you a member of the Council?”

“No. But I work closely with them.”

“Russell wanted me to meet with certain people tonight. I think he was talking about the Council.”

My father waved a hand. “He was but it's too late for that now. Besides, security at this hotel is far from foolproof. There's a chance you were followed here.”

“Followed by who?”

He hesitated. “The Lapras.”

“Finally. I assume those are the bad guys.”

“Yes. I'll tell you all about them after I finish the overview of my life story. It'll help you understand the two worlds better.”

“It's cool just getting to know you better.”

My remark made him smile. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” I said.

“I mentioned the three men I killed. The deed didn't trouble me much and it seemed to have no major effect on witch world or the real world. Actually, my life was pretty carefree in those days, especially when I discovered that I could stop my body from aging. Each of my powers manifested slowly but steadily and it didn't take too many years before I accumulated tremendous wealth. In time I was knighted by Queen Elizabeth herself for my courage and generosity. I was even instrumental in helping my country drive off the Spanish Armada.”

“I'm surprised you're not in the history books,” I teased.

“I was but the Council had my name erased. It was shortly
after the failed armada that they became aware of me, and sent someone for me. I remember how frightened I was to meet a group of people with powers like mine, only greater. However, as soon as I was introduced to the Council, I knew I was among friends. They were such a loving group. They told me that I wasn't alone in the world, but that it was better if I kept a low profile and didn't call attention to myself.”

“I can see the reasons for keeping a low profile. But why doesn't the Council help mankind?”

“Why do you assume it doesn't?”

I shrugged. “I have never read about their good deeds on the Internet.”

My father smiled. “They do help, from time to time, but they do so quietly—you might even say reluctantly. They don't like to infringe on people's free will. It's impossible for them to use their powers to help society out of a jam without causing some alteration in the natural course of events.”

“When have they helped?” I asked.

“A few times when it looked like civilization might collapse. They were a big help during World War Two, when the Allies defeated the Axis powers. They steered the Nazis away from developing the atomic bomb. For that matter, since those days, they've been instrumental at keeping nuclear weapons under control.”

“You call the others the Lapras. Do you have a name for yourselves?”

“The Tar.”

“What does that mean?”

“Cleo chose the word. She says it means ‘the old ones.' ”

“Tell me more about your life.”

“I brought up World War Two. After that conflict the Council became aware of two phenomena. Events in the real world were beginning to diverge more and more from events in witch world. And the Lapras had organized themselves into a potent force.”

“Had the Tar been aware of the Lapras before then?”

“Yes. But they hadn't paid them much attention. They saw them as a bunch of selfish witches who had accidentally stumbled upon their powers. For example, the Lapras almost all held positions of power in society, even though the Council had warned them that it was a mistake to become well known.”

“Did the Council ever use its power to kill the Lapras?”

“Only when they acted totally out of control.”

“Are any Lapras historical figures?” I asked.

“Yes. But I'm not at liberty to give out names. Let me continue with my tale. As I mentioned, we began to notice that witch world no longer mirrored the real world the way it used to. The Council knew of only one thing that could cause that. Witches who were behaving badly.”

“Because they were awake in both worlds,” I said.

“Right. Only people with the extra genes could consciously decide to act in such a way that their behavior in witch world
was no longer the same as it was in the real world. Up until World War Two, there had been too few of us to impact society, unless we chose to do so deliberately, which was rare. But suddenly, for seemingly no reason, tons of witches were waking up. And virtually all of them were joining the Lapras.”

“Were more people being born with the genes?”

“That was happening. Like I said, their appearance in our race is a natural phenomenon. But that wasn't the real problem. It was the way these people were being found and awakened. The Lapras were finding them. They were seeking them out. And the way they were activating their powers was brutal. We estimate that eighty percent of the people they put through the death experience didn't survive to tell the tale.”

“What kind of numbers are we talking about?”

“These are only estimates but we believe the Lapras have identified and tried to activate fifty thousand people. That's worldwide.”

“And only ten thousand survived?”

“Yes.”

“But forty thousand deaths. How could the Lapras hide such a thing?”

“People disappear all the time. The FBI has thousands of unsolved cases every year. Murder has been epidemic since mankind learned to swing a stick, and in developing countries disease is so rampant, forty thousand deaths is nothing. Hiding their failed experiments has never been a problem for the Lapras.”