Shimmer (18 page)

Kora wanted to be angry with Amurru, but it was at that moment that she felt it — the tiniest trickle of her power returning.

Her father must have realised for his face relaxed into a genuine smile. ‘You are healing!'

‘Yes,' she said, relieved. She was feeling stronger by the second now.

‘No magic for a little while. Let your body fully heal first.' Her father looked at David. ‘And no wishes.'

Amurru's yellow eyes blinked slowly. ‘You are summoned, Emperor,' he said. ‘The Slaytians are decided.'

Her father brushed her long, dark hair back from her face. ‘I must go,' he said. ‘Stay here and rest a little longer. I will return to you shortly.'

‘Tell Atym that I miss him.' She smiled. ‘Just a little bit.'

Her father leaned down and kissed her forehead. Then he stepped back and glanced around at the barren desert and the hot sun glaring down on them. He waved his hand and Kora slowly drifted up through the air to land on a comfortable bed. A shady canopy appeared above them, and a table laden with food and drinks appeared beside them.

‘I am so proud of you, my daughter,' he said. And then he slowly shimmered away.

Amurru placed a stumpy hand on hers. ‘I, too, am glad you are safe, Empress.' His eyes flickered to David. ‘And you, too, my human friend.' With an ache in her chest she realised how old and tired Amurru looked now. ‘I must go and check in with the High Council.'

‘My mother?' she asked.

‘I will make sure she has been informed.' Amurru bowed his head and shuffled away. ‘Do not worry, Empress.'

David flopped onto the ground next to her, his eyes still filled with concern. ‘Are you really all right?' he asked.

‘I think so.' She hoped so. She could feel her strength very slowly returning.

‘When I saw you unconscious, I thought,' he raked a hand over his head, ‘I thought you were dead.'

‘I thought I was dying.' She looked him over, taking in his blood-stained clothes and skin. ‘How about you, are you okay?'

‘Yeah, nothing a hot shower won't fix.'

She smiled. ‘Sorry I cannot help you with that right now.'

He rubbed a hand across the scar on his arm. ‘Guess I'll have to get used to that.'

She frowned. Did he think she would not get her power back? ‘What do you mean by that?'

‘When your father returns for us, I will wish you unharnessed.' David took a deep breath and his eyes looked kind of sad. ‘You deserve to go home, Kora. You deserve to be with your family.'

She looked at this amazing human boy in front of her. ‘You would really do that?'

He nodded. ‘And I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think I will actually even miss you.'

She grinned. ‘You will not need to miss me too soon. I cannot return home until the High Council of Genesia deems my duty served. If they force me to stay here on Earth, then — and I cannot believe I am going to say this — I would rather be harnessed to you than to anybody else.'

‘You really think they will make you stay?'

She shrugged. ‘I actually want to stay on for a bit.' She gave him a playful nudge. ‘You have not even shown me any pandas yet.'

David smiled and this time it reached all the way up to crinkle the corners of his ocean-blue eyes. ‘You know you really aren't what I expected in a genie.'

She smiled back at him, her eyes dancing. ‘Well, you are not exactly what I expected in a human, either.'

David picked up her hand and then looked shyly down to where his fingers encircled hers. ‘Guess that means we're stuck with each other, then.'

She looked at their entwined hands. How different she felt now to the genie that had arrived here on Earth just weeks ago. Everything had changed. She had changed. She lifted her eyes to his and noticed he was blushing. ‘Yes,' she said, smiling up at him. ‘I guess we are.'

The End

We would like to thank Cate Sutherland and the fabulous team at Fremantle Press. Thank you, Cate, for your endless support and advice.

To our wonderful husbands, Lindsay and Mark, thank you both for your infinite love and support, and for your long-suffering patience in never being able to use the telephone line. To Dan, thank you for your expert advice. To our beautiful family, Beryl, Ken, Marion, Brian, Ron, Jo, Kellie, Russell, Kate, Sarah, Naomi and Rachael, thank you all for your unwavering love and encouragement. And thank you to our other amazing family and friends who have supported us along the way, you know who you are. We love you all.

Jennifer McBride and Lynda Nixon were born and raised in Western Australia. They each have a husband, two daughters and a troublesome cat. They are sisters who have shared a lifelong love of reading and writing and have enjoyed writing their first novel together.

First published 2013 by

FREMANTLE PRESS

25 Quarry Street, Fremantle 6160

Western Australia

www.fremantlepress.com.au

Copyright © Jennifer McBride and Lynda Nixon, 2013.

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Cover design by Tracey Gibbs.

Printed by 1010, China.

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-publication data

McBride, Jennifer and Lynda Nixon Shimmer

Edition: 1st ed.

ISBN: 978 1922089 39 7 (ebk.)

ISBN: 978 1 922089 43 4 (pbk.)

A823

Fremantle Press is supported by the State Government through the Department of Culture and the Arts.

Publication of this title was assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.