Visioness (28 page)

Before Adabelle could
respond, he was gone, faded to the shadows. Adabelle stood there, breathing
deeply, slowly. She took a moment to regain her composure and allowed herself
to wake, eyes opening to the cold light of morning. The sky above still rumbled
with a distant storm, the threat of rain remaining unfulfilled.

I can’t risk him having any
power in this situation,
she thought, staring up at the sky from her uncomfortable
position on the ground.
I have to do this myself. I have to find the person
who stole my money, track him down and get it back. I can’t take any help from
him.

She had a goal in mind now.
She knew what she had to do. She took a moment to look down at herself, having
forgotten for a moment that she didn’t have long hair anymore, and that her
clothes weren’t clean. She had dreamt that.

You used to dream of being a
princess,
she thought, laughing quietly to herself.
How your dreams have become so
simple so quickly
.

Her stomach grumbled. She
had to get some food into her.
Very simple,
she added. She got up from
the ground, dusting herself and her blanket down. As she did so, the first few
droplets of rain began to spit forth from the sky.

Well I can’t complain about
the timing,
she thought, as she ran from the bushes and towards the nearest shelter she
could find as to avoid the rain.

Tall, bald man with green
eyes,
she
thought, reminding herself of who she sought.
He’s who has my money; he’s
the one I have to steal it back from.

The problem remained,
though: how was she meant to find a single man in a city of 750,000 people.

I can do this,
she thought determinedly.
I
have to, for Charlotte, so I can be with her again.

Adabelle endeavoured to keep
a safe distance from Charlotte and Rhene while on the streets. So long as
Therron and his agents were on the lookout, she had to keep her distance. It
was one of the few things she could do to keep the pair safe.

In a city of so many people,
Adabelle was shocked how many close calls she had. Wandering the street, moving
from park-to-park, pilfering food and stealing a nap when she could, Adabelle
regularly found herself hiding after catching sight of Rhene’s serious
expression, or a familiar face from the University. The wanted posters advertised
a beautiful girl with flowing hair and clean features, and yet while strangers
would not see that girl beneath the grit of the street, those that knew her
would see right through it. She wondered, if Charlotte or Rhene found her, how would
they respond? It was not an idea she relished, really. She imagined the
conversation being difficult and awkward. They’d ask for reasons for her
abandonment, and she would stammer and stutter and hope for an escape. None
would arrive, though, and she would be forced to face those she had abandoned.

I haven’t abandoned them,
she thought, correcting
herself.
I have to do this to protect them. I need to do this.

While on the streets, she
kept an open eye for the tall bald figure the banker had described. She
imagined a shining bald head, stygian eyes sunken deep into the milky-coloured
face. The colours of his irises were bright and shone with an inner, demonic
light. It sent shivers up her spine, brought her uncomfortable, cold nightmares
in the evenings spent under the stars and the elements.

These nightmares continued
night-after-night, joining her fears for her sister, her fears for Rhene.
Therron seemed to avoid her for some time, keeping a distance, yet somehow she
felt he was still aware of her movements. Still sure of what she was doing. Her
actions had never been a secret to the man she’d once known as her father, and
now was surely no exception. She may be able to evade the police, but Therron
was an entirely different challenge.

She attempted, in a moment
of silent contemplation, to justify his actions in her mind.

He’s keeping his distance to
create a false sense of security,
she thought.
He’s staying away from me to make me
think I might be free for the time. But he knows better; he’s a crafty man. If
I deny him that then I am in denial myself.

He was a powerful man, with
connections. Like a puppeteer, controlling his show, he held the strings, moved
the bodies from a place unseen to the rest of the world. From the shadows he
could watch, from the shadows he could check, and from the shadows he could
stay safe.

That’s it!
she exclaimed, rising up
from her space in the bushes, nearly bursting with excitement.
I can check
on Charlotte from the Dream! In there, I can just ensure she’s somewhere safe,
being cared for like she’s meant to be.
She paused at that thought.
I
can also check the block, insure she has not cracked the key holding her mind
intact. With her moving about—as I’m sure she’s been—there is a chance she may
interact with people who have connections to Therron. The key to the mindlock
could be somewhere there.

That night, the sky turned
silver with cloud, and then that silver faded to black. The wind blew, cold and
biting, before the rain joined it. Adabelle found a park bench under which she
could hide. The ground beneath was a concrete foundation holding the bench in
place, but the wooden slates were near enough together to block a majority of
the rain drops. There was still the bleak, there was still the dark, but in the
blanket there was also warmth and in her mind there was hope. She stepped into
the Dream from her sleep, dipping under suddenly despite the weather.

She appeared as she had
before running away, with her long hair smooth and shiny, her skin clean, and a
scent of vanilla wafting gently about her. Ever since discovering it had been
her mother’s perfume, that scent had started to follow her into the dream. She
didn’t mind really; it reminded her of an easier day long ago, before her
mother was gone.

From within the Dream, she
could gather direction, sensing the minds of those around her. She ran through
shifting dreamscapes, traveling through fields of grass, stepping on clouds of
alabaster brilliance; she swam through oceans of crystalline water and across
deserts swept by rainless storms that rumbled in her mind as if her own body
were actually being shaken by those sounds.

She could feel her sister’s
mind in the distance; she knew how it felt after all this time. She felt voids
everywhere, really—people who were not sleeping, people who had taken Slugleaf
tea; though the latter’s voids felt liquid somehow, as if a hard enough push
would break the barrier. Her sister’s void of mind, however, was firm like
crystal and black like an abyss. As she reached it, she touched it, and felt
the cold stretch of nothing that guarded Therron’s greatest secret.

If only I could break it,
she thought, staring into
the dark glass.
If only I could release the truth.

She knew not where Charlotte
was living. It looked to be some kind of dormitory, but this one was filled
with beds of sleeping girls, all of their dreams so tightly sewn they seemed to
cross over in places. Adabelle had heard of people sharing dreams, but she had
never considered that physical distance could play a role.

As she stared at her sister,
though, she saw that she looked peaceful here and happy.

A second later she heard a
voice.

Her sister’s voice.

Her sister wasn’t asleep.
Her eyes were closed, and the blankets were pulled up high, but she was not
sleeping.

She was praying.

“Adabelle,” her sister
whispered. “Adabelle, wherever you are, I’m hoping you are safe. I’ve seen the
wanted posters up around the city, and I’m scared if they catch you that I’ll
lose you for good. Detective Olin came to me today to ask me some questions,
but Rhene intervened and stopped them.”

Adabelle stopped, taken
aback, almost thrown back to her own mind with surprise. “Rhene has stayed,”
she whispered to herself. “I could never….” She felt her fondness for this man
grow.

“He told them to leave and
to return when it was more appropriate. I know you had your reason for leaving,
but I hope you come back at some point. I miss my sister.”

Adabelle turned away, unable
to stay. It wasn’t her place to hear her little sister’s prayers, not while she
was unaware of her presence. They were her private thoughts, and not her place.

“If she can hear this,”
Charlotte went on, as Adabelle moved further and further away, “then tell her I
love her.” Adabelle stopped, pausing on the edge of the Dream. “Tell her I miss
her, and that I hope she’ll come home safely. Thank you.”

“I will,” Adabelle replied,
smiling, “I promise.”

As she turned back to leave,
she found herself facing Therron. She had not noticed the music while listening
to her sister’s prayers, but heard it now in a moment of dreadful hindsight.

“Evening, Adabelle,” Therron
said.

“Therron,” Adabelle replied.

“Checking on your sister?”
he asked.

“I am,” she replied. “Is
that not allowed?”

“No, that’s quite all
right,” he replied. “Shows you’re a good sister. A loving sister. Making sure
she’s safe in these troubling times.”

“Why do you care?” Adabelle
asked. “You’re the one who put us in this situation.”

Therron’s expression filled
with tricky mirth at this, and he took a few steps around Adabelle. “Families
are complicated things, Adabelle. People growing and living together in close
quarters, entirely due to blood ties that keep them bound. It is an odd concept
when one really, truly thinks about it, but there it is. You feel connected to
your sister because you love her. You feel you need to protect her because of
this distance and the uncertainty.”

“I do,” Adabelle said.

“And that is the same reason
I care. I have my own ends to meet, but I am still a human. At the end of the
day, that’s all we are.” He paused here, turning from the shadow lying in the
bed, to Adabelle. “I have made mistakes in my life, Adabelle. Many, many
terrible errors, and some would argue that I deserve some of the heartache I
have been forced to suffer. But if I go through my entire life knowing nothing
else but this one fact, I will be happy.”

“What is it?” Adabelle
asked. “This fact?”

“That despite all these
errors, I did something right. There was something I didn’t do wrong. It was
fathering you two, bringing you both into the world. I’ve done very little right
in my life, but that one thing I did properly, and I am proud to call you my
daughters.”

Though I’d hardly call you
father,
she
retorted inwardly. She would have called a bluff, claiming that he was luring
her into a trap, were it not for the fact that no one could lie in the Dream.

“For this reason, I’d like
to offer you an escape,” he said. “A way to be with your sister, to have your
money back. You wouldn’t have to worry about sleeping on the street as you have
been, or restricting your visits to her to the Dream Frequencies. You could be
with her in person once more, under a roof, where—even from a distance—I can
make your life easier.”

“What do you want from me in
return?” she asked. There was a catch; there had to be.

“I have my price for these actions,”
he said. “All you have to do is turn yourself into the police.”

Adabelle scoffed at this.
“And take the blame for you actions?”

“I have my connections,” he
said. “I can promise that if you turn yourself in, I can protect you. If the
police are the ones to find you, then I cannot promise such a thing.”

“And why is that?” Adabelle
asked.

“Well it’s a legal matter,”
he replied. “It’s always easier to protect someone who has voluntarily stepped
forth than for someone who has been chased down and captured.”

She nodded, seeing the sense
in that.

“There’s that,” Therron
said, “and quite honestly I do not like having my agents hunt you. It’s hardly
an easy target when you’re running about.”

Adabelle shivered.

“With that said,” he
continued, “I will now leave you. Think about my offer. It’s a rather fair
agreement, really. And make sure you do this before my agents find you. Do the
right thing for your sister; step forward. I cannot guarantee protection
otherwise.”

Therron disappeared, just as
a familiar voice whispered, “Charlotte.”

Adabelle turned around. She
had never been able to hear people who were awake in the dream before, and yet
now she could. She didn’t understand it, but she was thankful regardless.

Rhene sat on the edge of
Charlotte’s bed, one hand resting on her arm, his fingers patting comfortingly.
He was not dreaming, so his figure was misted and opaque, and not quite fully
formed in the Frequencies. Charlotte’s body, however, was a solid shape of
moving glass, turned to darkness by the mindlock.

“Hello, Rhene,” Charlotte
said, sounding slightly surprised. “How did you get in here? I thought they
didn’t let boys in here after lights out.” She paused, eyes widening. “That and
you don’t even live here at the moment.”

“I have my ways,” he
replied, winking.

Charlotte smiled.

“You’re staying brave for
me?” he asked with a smile. He looked so handsome when he did that.

“I am,” she replied.

“And you’re praying for your
sister?”

“Every night,” she replied.

“Very good,” he said. “I
promised your sister I’d look after you while she was in hiding.”

He’s lying to her!
she thought with a shocked
expression. It took a moment for her to realise why.
He doesn’t want her
worrying. He wants to keep her happy, stop her from trying to find me. If she
thinks I’ve gone into hiding, and that I haven’t just run away, she would still
have some hope in her; she’d still have something to keep her going.

“Well I’m happy to hear
you’re okay then,” Rhene said. “I just wanted to check that you were okay
before I went home.”

“Where have you been?” asked
Charlotte.

“I had to talk to the
detectives,” he replied. “They seem pretty certain Adabelle started the fire,
and I don’t think any words from me are going to sway them. They are
particularly…err…stubborn.”

“As most of them are,” Charlotte
said.

The minute of contented
silence passed between the two, Charlotte taking a moment to shuffle back down
into bed.

“I’ll be back again to check
on you tomorrow,” he said. “Be good.”

“I will,” she replied. Rhene
rose from the bed, smiling at Adabelle’s sister before he left the dark
dormitory.