Shimmer (5 page)

‘Couldn't you go and visit one?'

‘Not really.' She shook her head. ‘There are no pandas on Genesia, and I was harnessed by you as soon as I arrived on Earth.' She screwed her face up at him. ‘I cannot ever be more than a hundred metres from you, remember?'

‘Yeah, sorry about that,' he said, not sounding the least bit sorry. ‘Guess you'll just have to miss out, then.'

‘Oh, it does not matter.' She sighed, slumping back against the cushions. ‘It is to be expected, I suppose. I had thought that if I had to come to Earth, I might at least get to see something nice.'

‘Do you really hate being here so much?'

She shrugged. ‘It is more that I hate not being able to be at home.' She turned her head, her troubled eyes meeting his blue gaze.

‘Where exactly is your home?'

She dragged her eyes away from his, turning her head so she could stare up at the stars. Thinking about her home and the family she had left behind made her heart ache.

‘It is hard to describe exactly where Genesia is. It is in this universe, but is well hidden from humans. You might say it is another dimension.'

‘Is it far away?'

‘Not so far away,' she said. ‘It is a complete solar system, just like yours. It has planets, moons, stars, a beautiful sun … everything.' Kora's voice was wistful as she thought about her home.

‘It's hard to believe there's another whole dimension out there that we know nothing about,' said David. ‘Is it identical to ours, then?'

‘No,' replied Kora. ‘There is one lovely, golden sun, just like yours. And although the constellations are different, there is a whole galaxy of stars sparkling in the sky.' She waved her hand across the glittering view above them. ‘But we have only four planets in our solar system, and each planet has four moons. The moons are all different sizes, and some of them are red or blue instead of yellow.' She grinned at him. ‘They all rise at different times during the night, and they crisscross each other like fireworks in slow motion as they travel across the sky in different directions.'

‘Wow!' David blew out his breath. ‘That sounds incredible, Kora.' He sat up on the lounge and rested his elbows on his knees. ‘So Genesia is one of the four planets, then?'

She nodded. ‘Yes, it is the third planet from the sun, just like yours.'

‘So it's similar to the Earth?'

‘No.' She shook her head. ‘It is nothing at all like your Earth. Genesia is the most beautiful place in all existence. The city is filled with glittering, golden buildings and the weather is always perfect.'

David screwed his nose up. ‘That sounds pretty boring, actually,' he said. ‘I love the wild storms we get here. And the changing seasons.'

‘The forests there are very beautiful, too,' she said. ‘Green and lush and filled with the most amazing creatures.' She glanced across at him. ‘Of course, the seasons do change in the forests. It is only inside the city, within the Genesian Protection Zone, that we control the weather.'

‘So is Genesia the name of the planet or the name of the city?' asked David.

‘It is both,' replied Kora. ‘Genesia, the planet, has only one continent with one capital city, and both are simply known as Genesia.'

‘Perhaps you could take me there?' he asked. ‘I'd like to see it.'

She shook her head. ‘That will never happen. It is strictly forbidden for any human to enter Genesia.'

‘Why?'

‘Think about it, David. What do you think would happen if a human entered a city full of genies?'

‘Oh, yes, I see.' He looked down at the bandaged burn on his arm. ‘Every genie he came across would be harnessed.'

‘Yes. Genies are powerful, but we do have one weakness. We can be harnessed.' She threw a meaningful look at him. ‘Not only could that one human end up controlling all of Genesia, but the combined power of all the harnessed genies would be enough to destroy the entire universe.'

David gave a low whistle. ‘But surely only a madman would want to destroy the universe? After all, he has to live in it himself.'

‘Perhaps,' she agreed. ‘But if a human harnessed many genies, the massive amount of power would be too much for their human brain. It would send the person insane, so he would indeed be a madman.'

‘What would happen if I wished to go to Genesia?'

‘It would be the same as if you wished to harm another human. Nothing would happen.'

David frowned. ‘Then how did Vennum get there?'

‘A genie has the power to take a human there, but it is forbidden to do so. Vennum has rogue genies in his army that are prepared to do it.'

‘So that means you can't go home?'

‘Not until you either die or wish to unharness me,' she replied. ‘And even then, only if I can get away before being harnessed by another human.'

‘Exactly how long do genies usually live?' he asked. ‘You might die before me.'

‘Unlikely.' She smiled at that idea. ‘Genies live at least ten times longer than humans. Unless they are killed somehow, most genies live to celebrate their one thousandth birthday.' She shrugged. ‘So being harnessed to a human only takes up a small part of our life.'

His eyes widened. ‘Really? You will live to be a thousand?' He shook his head in disbelief. ‘So when we're both eighty, will you look the same age as me?'

‘No, thank goodness,' she replied. ‘At first Genesian children do age at around the same rate as humans. But that stops when we are fully grown.' She frowned, thinking. ‘I guess that would be at about the age of sixteen.'

‘And then?'

‘We still age but very, very slowly. It takes a thousand years for us to age as much as you would in a hundred years.'

David stared at her. He was obviously having trouble getting his head around everything she had told him.

‘It is a shame you will never see Genesia, David.' A small smile lit her face as she thought of her home. ‘It is a very beautiful place. No one is poor or hungry, and there is virtually no illness. It is a wonderful place to live.' She shrugged. ‘At least, it was. Until Vennum showed up.'

She sat up on her lounge. She couldn't bear another moment of talking about that vile half-human monster and what he could be doing to her family and her people at that very moment. She looked at David. ‘It must be getting late,' she said. ‘Perhaps we should return home?' She longed to curl up inside the haven of her globe.

David glanced at the old gold watch he wore on his wrist. Kora had noticed the watch earlier. He had been wearing it all day. The brown leather strap was battered and creased, and the plain, round face was scratched. But the main reason she had noticed it was because it didn't work. The watch had stopped at 3.17.

‘We can't go home yet,' he said. ‘It's not late enough. We need to stay out until at least midnight.' He shrugged sheepishly. ‘Mum would never believe that the party finished earlier than that.'

Kora yawned. ‘In that case,' she said, ‘it is your turn to talk.'

‘What do you want to know?'

She shrugged. ‘Tell me about your father.'

Kora sat bolt upright in bed. What was that dreadful screeching? The terrible noise was getting closer. She finally realised it was coming from a human and the accompanying click, click, click of high heels told her it was David's mother. Stupid humans.

She rose from her bed and moved to look out of her globe into David's room.

Amurru joined her. ‘Sleep well, Empress?'

Kora knew Amurru had been a supporter of sending her to Earth. She spoke without even looking at him. ‘No. I dreamt of home.'

‘Maybe you will enjoy your second day on Earth better, Empress.'

She could taste the contempt on her tongue. ‘Two days on Earth is two days too many.'

The morning light streamed through the open window of David's room and she could see him in his bed. How could he still be asleep through that racket? The door to his room burst open.

‘David Wolfe,' shouted his mother. ‘You'd better have a good explanation for this!'

David sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘What is it?'

‘Four Fs,' she said waving a bit of paper wildly in the air. ‘You told me you were doing better at school.'

‘Could have been worse,' he shrugged. ‘I could have failed five subjects.'

‘Don't you take that attitude with me, young man.' Red angry blotches broke out on Marcia's face. ‘You're lucky I didn't open your report until this morning or there is no way you would have been gallivanting about with your new girlfriend last night.'

Kora hissed. ‘As if I could ever be interested in a human.'

His mother stomped further into the room to hover over David. ‘You are grounded. For the entire school holidays.'

‘Come on, Mum. That's not fair.'

‘Your attitude is what's not fair. You can spend the holidays at home doing chores and thinking about this report and how you could have done better. You can start today by fixing the fence, chopping the wood and cleaning out the chook yard.'

‘What about my job?'

‘You can go to work on Saturdays, but that's all.'

‘And the camping trip?'

‘You can forget that, too. You're grounded!'

‘That sucks.' David pushed his hand through his shaggy hair.

Marcia leaned over until she was eye level with David. ‘Not as much as this report sucks.' She grabbed a big handful of his hair. ‘And get your hair cut after work on Saturday or I'll cut it off myself.'

With a yank of his hair she stormed out of the room, slamming the door on her way out.

Kora smiled. ‘I thought father had a temper.'

‘Can you not see he is suffering, Empress?'

‘Oh, poor baby with his little human problems. What about me!'

‘The universe is bigger than just you, Empress.' Amurru shook his head and shuffled away. ‘There is much for you to learn from humans.'

She snorted and turned her attention back to David. He had moved across the room to look at the photo of his father. Last night when she had asked David about his father, all he would say was that he was ‘missing in action'. She was not sure what that meant, but what did she care? All she wanted was to get unharnessed and back to Genesia as quickly as possible.

David put down the photo and yanked his wardrobe open. He grabbed out more of the boring clothes that he seemed to like. He yanked his old T-shirt off over his head. He had his back to Kora and she could see the muscles ripple with the action.

He hesitated in the process of throwing the discarded top onto the bed. He turned and strode over to her globe.

‘Can you see out of there?'

She giggled but didn't answer.

‘Kora.' He picked up her globe and gave it a shake. ‘Can you see me?'

How dare he shake her globe! She used her magic to cushion Amurru and then shimmered out of her globe in an angry mist of gold.

‘Stop that!'

He blinked at her appearance but did stop shaking her globe. ‘I asked you a question.'

She realised, now that she was looking at his face, that he was incredibly angry. ‘Do not take your petty fight with your mother out on Amurru.'

He looked taken aback and immediately set her globe down. ‘Is he okay?'

‘Only because I took care of him.'

He turned back to his wardrobe and yanked a clean T-shirt over his head.

‘You can see me.'

She didn't answer.

‘Through your globe. You can see out from inside.'

‘What does it matter? There is nothing worth looking out at.'

He strode back to tower over her. ‘I'm not in the mood for your stuck up royal attitude today.'

‘And I am not in the mood for your pathetic human whims.'

‘Well, suck it up, Empress,' he snarled. ‘Today we are doing things my way.'

She shook her finger at him, the bangles on her arms jingling madly. ‘You fool. You have no idea who I am.'

‘Actually,' he said. ‘I know exactly who you are. You are my slave. And you will do precisely as I command.'

The front door slammed behind David's mother as she left for work. Kora wondered how long it would take David to summon her. It was less than a second.

‘Kora? I wish for you to come outside with me,' he called.

She felt the bands around her wrists and ankles tighten immediately at the command. ‘Have a good day, Amurru,' she said. ‘I wish I could stay and keep you company.'

Amurru's yellow eyes blinked at her. ‘Perhaps today will not be so bad,' he said. She could see compassion in his eyes. ‘I know you miss home, Empress.'

She thought sadly of her family. Guilt pierced her heart as she remembered her parting words to her parents. Those few shameful words had played over and over again in her mind ever since. She had told them she hated them.

Amurru seemed to read her thoughts. ‘Do not despair, Empress,' he said gently. ‘Perhaps I will hear from your father again, soon.'

She nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak. Hopefully Amurru was right. At least then she would know that her family was safe. Her bands were glowing brightly now and dug painfully into her wrists and ankles. She had to go.

‘Kora?' David's voice rose in demand. ‘Get out here, now!'

She gave Amurru a parting smile and then shimmered gracefully down into David's room. ‘You rang, master?'

His eyes narrowed. ‘Follow me,' he ordered.

Anger stirred in her chest. How dare he speak to her that way! She stomped into the kitchen behind him.

Cuddles, the ugly, fat ginger cat, lay curled up asleep on one of the kitchen chairs. When Kora entered the room his eyes flew open and, hissing and spitting, he sprang from the chair and fled outside through the cat flap in the back door.