CHAPTER 9
Maybe there's a God above, all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who out drew you
It's not yet dawn when I follow Percy out of the back garden gate and towards the pond. He stops and stares down into the glassy surface.
" Cam's grandmother taught him this trick. It works best in a place tied to the person you're trying to find." He stares intently at the water, pulling a small knife out of his pocket along with a small packet made from a handkerchief and a half bottle of dark rum. Uncorking the bottle with his teeth he spits the cork over his left shoulder and unties the package, dumping the finely powdered herbs into the rum. the air is lightening as he switches the rum bottle to his left hand, taking the small sharp knife and slicing the skin above the mouth of the bottle, letting the blood run into the rum. Throwing the knife over his left shoulder he crosses himself turns around three times to his right and as the first light touches the pond he tips the bottle to his mouth and sprays the thick liquid out onto the waters surface.
For a moment the water roils before swirling into a small black pool. Inside a flash of red catches my eye. Ron, lanky, battered, bloodied and...smiling at the feet of a woman, her black eyes almost unnaturally large as Ron and ...oh lord, Harry stare into them, entranced by the low humming that echoes weakly through the small mirror. Spinning around three more times he upends the bottle above the water and for a moment in the splash I see a familiar grove of trees before the full sunlight touches the entire pond and the water is still again. He sighs and pushes his hair back from his eyes.
" That isn't Devon." With a growl he throws the bottle deep into the pond. " Where did they take him if not Devon!?"
" I know where he is." Of course I know where he is. You only find those trees one place in the world. " They've taken A'lat." Percy looks at me.
" But...that island is unplotable. They'd have to know right where it was, they would have had to capture a native." I take a seat on the damp grass.
" They did, weeks ago." My stomach roils with disgust at the thought that I've allowed Death Eaters to my home. That somehow during the endless time they had me and hurt me, they raped my mind and took my home. He sits next to me, eyes locked with mine.
" Sirius, we've got too much riding on this to play inference games. Are you telling me you're A'latian?" I nod. " Well...that's a bloody fuck all." He stands and kicks a rock into the water. " How in the hell am I supposed to get to A'lat?"
" I'm sure I could apperate with you Percy." I'm not sure actually, but it's our best bet. He scoffs at me.
" You could not. not over a distance that big. Just...tell me where it is."
" That's it...I can't. We all know where it is...but none of us can put it on a map. The only thing I could possibly tell you is that it's between Crete and Alexandria."
" Atlantis really was a bridge country then?" I nod.
" Yes. And then there was the destruction and then... all that was left was Crete and A'lat." Percy frowns at me before reaching up and grabbing my hair, tugging out several strands. " Ouch! What in the hell are you doing?" He weaves them into a braid, twining them around the small cross on his necklace.
" Port key. It'll take me directly to you instead of a destination." He mutters offhandedly, the gold jewelry in his hand glowing softly as he enchants it. " There." He gives the cross a small satisfied smile as he slips it over his head and touches it. there's a small flash and he's in my lap, smiling smugly. " It works. Are you ready?" He clambers off me as I nod.
" But Percy...what do you have planned for getting them out?" He gives me a small smile and touches the bag at his back.
" The twins are quite the demolition experts. I have enough explosive potions, enchanted objects and destructive gadgets to take out two death eater camps. I thought we might get the layout, find where the guys are, get them out and then go back and destroy the camp."
" Because where Harry is, Voldemort will be there too. We can take out the heart of the Dark side!" My excitement is a cool rush as I stand. He nods with satisfaction. " the apperation takes a while. Give me ten minutes before you port over or I'll splinch us together." His nose wrinkles in distain at the thought and he touches my face, kissing me quickly.
" Don't get caught." I step away from him and close my eyes. " Wait a moment...how will you apperate, you don't have a wand..." His words slip away in a whirl of wind as I slip sideways into apperation, transversing the dark, endless yet confining darkness that's outside space and time.
It's barely five in the morning hen I slip from between the sheets, slipping into cold denim and a stiff shirt. There's only that eerie silver half light that tends to linger before dawn, but it's enough to gleam off the white of my handkerchief and the blade of a small bone handled knife.
I don't even have to see the smooth ivory surface to know where every groove of every finger from generations of Cam's family rests. My fingers slide over the marks made by slaves and priestesses and immigrants. Grips worn down in secret in the shadows of plantation houses in the heat of southern America, grooves deepened in the cold of Irelands winter.
It fits snugly in my hand. A reassurance that the magic in it is stronger then the books and potions at Hogwarts. That is comes from love and pain and from the heart.
The bottle of rum fits snugly in my pocket. Sirius is already at the table when I slip into the kitchen, sipping at a mug of coffee. He leaves the cup steaming on the table to follow me out into the garden across the slippery grasses and through the silver shadows to stand at the edge of the pond. It's glassy smooth surface is perfect. The crisp spring breeze smells different from the thick humid air of North Carolina where I last saw this done.
" Cam's grandmother taught him this trick." If I close my eyes I can still see her, coal black hair in a long braid coiled around her head, standing at the edge of the murky river where their entire family had been baptized for years. " It works best in a place tied to the person you're trying to find.
I don't even have to close my eyes now to see her, ankle deep in the murky waters, the green plants twitching suspiciously as long dark shapes glide through them. Cam standing in the water on one side, skin glowing with the slightest silver light from the predawn, his cousin blending effortlessly into the dim shadows on the other, watching the water for the vicious deadly snakes that swam through it.
I pull the rum from my pocket along with her knife and the herbs, the last batch Nana ground for us. The cork is thick and musty tasting between my teeth as I pull it out, spitting it over my left shoulder. It disappears into the pale grass.
Nana's flew into the fragrantly thick intertwining of honeysuckle, kudzu, and morning glories almost two yards behind her.
The powdered herbs slip into the narrow neck of the bottle. Inside the liquor roil for a moment and is still except for the cloying and intoxicating scent rising from the bottle.
The old woman sang a bit here and I know I could never call the same power she did, even if I knew the words. Musical magic, soul magics were never taught at Hogwarts. It could disrupt the spell. I bow my head instead.
" Cam, Nana, little help here?" I'm running out of time as the sun creeps closer and closer towards peering over the edge of the land. I place the thin sharp blade against the inside of my palm, cutting quickly. The blood drips slowly into the bottle and the scent wafting from it is deeper than before. A mix of the same smoky sweet smells of Nana's spells and a sharper undertone of fresh England breezes. I throw the knife over my left shoulder and cross myself with my bloody hand, spinning three times to my right.
The entire family should be here, singing. It's just myself and a befuddled audience of one as I tip the neck to my mouth and take the thick/sweet/bitter/poison rum past my lips, spraying it past my teeth and onto the pond as light touches the water.
For a moment I'm so still, afraid it didn't work. My tongue licks the last drops of the thick liquid from my lips. It tastes of sex and pain and all the knowledge you can only learn from pain. The things no one wants to teach you.
The water swirls and parts.
Ron, my brother curled onto a hard stone floor, blue eyes glazed as he stares up through matted, bloody hair in adoration at the vacant eyed, dark skinned girl who rocks back and forth, singing softly to my brother and…Harry. Harry sitting there, twice as beaten and battered and smiling just as stupidly as my brother despite the chains binding them to the floors and walls.
Thank God they're alive.
The scent and taste of the rum is starting to seep to my head as I spin three more times to the left, upending the bottle directly into the center of the swirling vision. In the center of the splash is a grove of trees, their limbs thick and twisted as a Joshua tree, but with leaves as thick as amazon foliage, thick vines wrapping up around them to form a small secluded clearing.
The splash settles as the sun shines fully on the water and the vision is gone.
My hair is poking me in the eye. It hurts. I shove it back with rough hands. My mind is blank. I can't think of anything rational to say, so I speak my mind.
" That's not Devon." With a growl I hurl the bottle as far across the pond as I can. It makes it to the edge of the other bank before sinking into the deep clear waters. Of course it isn't Devon. Those trees, already a deep lush green this early must be close to if not on the equator. Not in fucking England where even Spring wants to hide from the war. " Where did they take him if not Devon!?"
" I know where he is." Sirius speaks for the first time today, his voice hollow and grave. " They've taken A'lat." He sits gingerly on the slightly less damp grass as I stare at him.
" But that Island is unplotable. They'd have to know right where it was… they would have to capture a native." He stares over the water and the rum/potion burns my veins from the inside and it hurts so good. I sit beside him, plucking the blade out of the grass, remembering how it had landed at my feet in the thick hot morning to become mine. Cam had been so proud. His voice cuts through my objection.
" They did. Weeks ago." I look at him and in the light his hair and eyes are the same deep shade of black as the girl in the spell. He meets my eyes.
" Sirius, we have too much riding on this for inference games. Are you telling me you're A'latian?" Of course he isn't. It's a stupid question cause why would anyone from A'lat come to bloody England. He nods and I just…look at him. " Well…that's a bloody fuck all." The calmness in my voice disturbs even me, so I rise and punt a rock into the pond. It skips across the water twice and sinks. " How in the hell am I supposed to get to A'lat!?"
" I'm sure I could apperate with you Percy…" His voice trails off as I shoot him the look and scoff.
" You could not. Not over a distance that big." It's almost painfully stupid and not very Sirius-like to suggest such a thing. Something is tearing at him ." Just...tell me where it is."
" That's it...I can't. We all know where it is...but none of us can put it on a map. The only thing I could possibly tell you is that it's between Crete and Alexandria." In my mind I can see all the maps from my theories of Magical countries and their evolutions class.
" Atlantis really was a bridge country then?" He nods.
" Yes. And then there was the destruction and then…" He gestures half heartedly with his hands. "All that was left was Crete and A'lat."
The petulant part of me, the one that whines at the idea of coming so far and not being able to continue wants to call him a liar. It wants to protest that if Death Eaters could torture it out of him he could tell me so I could help him get revenge, so I could save my brother. The rest of me quite calmly steps on that little voice. Death Eaters have methods that nightmares can't rival. Instead I reach over and twirl my fingers in his hair, yanking. He yelps and curses as I unravel the hairs from my fingers, twining them into a braid and weaving them around the golden cross I wear tucked under my collar. I ansewer him offhandedly, concentrating on the subtle patterns in the air my wand makes, watching the slight trails it leaves. Professor Lupin was fairly sure this would work when we were working together…we were days away from trying it.
" There." I slip it back over my head and it's warm against my skin. My hand trembles as I lift it to the metal. If we were wrong they'll be finding pieces of me in America.
I touch the port key.
And end up in Sirius' lap and allow myself the smug smile that quite frankly I deserve. My ass is not in America without me. " It works. Are you ready?" I crawl off him and he stands, his movements almost hesitant
" Percy…what do you have planed for getting them out?" I smile at him, lightly rubbing the worn in leather of the satchel in my hands.
" The twins are quite the demolition experts. I have enough explosive potions, enchanted objects and destructive gadgets to take out two death eater camps. I thought we might get the layout, find where the guys are, get them out and then go back and destroy the camp."
Sirius' eyes gleam with an unholy fire.
" And where Harry is Voldemort will be…we can take out the heart of the dark side!" I give him a nod as he leaps to his feet. " Give me ten minutes before you port over or I'll splinch us together." My nose draws up at the very thought. My hand trembles slightly as I reach up and touch his face, kissing him quickly.
" Don't get caught." He steps back from me and closes his eyes and my gaze falls on his empty hands. " Hey! How are you going to apperate without a wand…" My words die off as with a subtle shift, like stepping sideways into nothing, he's gone.
Ten minutes goes very slowly.
