Chapter 26

Jay and Pride had spent a few quiet, companionable hours in the 'den' before Pride eventually rose and said he had to go, or Salene would worry, assuming, of course, that she didn't know where he was. Jay nodded quietly and sat back in the armchair as the door closed behind Pride. Maybe it was the whisky, maybe it was a product of grief and nothing more, most likely it was a combination of the two, but as he closed his eyes he could swear he heard the notes of a tune he hadn't heard since his wedding day. It had been not long after Ebony had discovered she was pregnant, although they had been planning it for a few weeks. She had stood up there in front of everyone and sung to him. As the words came back to him now, he heard her sing it once more.

"The right can stand

A thousand and one trials

The strong will never fall

But watching stars without you my soul cries

Heaving heart is full of pain

Oh, ohhh, the aching

'Cause I'm kissing you

I'm kissing you now

Touch me dear

Pure and true

Gift to me forever

'Cause I'm kissing you

Ohh

I'm kissing you now"

The young father doubled over in heartfelt pain, dropping his glass and clutching his stomach. The door never opened, of that he was he was certain, but he felt slim, gentle fingers lift his chin and looked up, through eyes red and swimming with tears, into the beautiful, serene face of his late wife. As she lowered her lips to his, he felt his pain lessen and a warm calmness envelop him.

"Where are you now?

Where are you now?

'Cause I'm kissing you

I'm kissing you now"

--

Jack awoke with a start as the noise from the main ward rose with the arrival of May and her team with the final influx of Techno-induced patients for the growing hospital. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked around, noting his surroundings first and Lex's presence last. The city leader had remained sitting, quietly, watching Jack; now he rose.

"About time you woke up, mate!" Lex laughed, his countenance becoming suddenly cheerful, "How are you feeling?"

"Crp!" Jack replied, frowning in a way that made Lex almost laugh out loud: he seldom heard the young genius be so blunt!

"What's going through your head, mate? You look as though you're trying to unravel a Gordian knot!"

Jack shook his head distractedly and tentatively felt his face.

"I thought I had a cut," he explained, "It felt like I had a cut across my face, just here, and a bruise there and one on my side, but there's nothing there!"

"What do you remember?"

"What do you mean?" Jack's brow creased.

"Think back. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Ah, well, there's a lot of stuff that isn't clear, like a dream or something. The last thing I know was real was being in the basement of the hotel with the computers. I think Jay and Cloe were there. Then nothing and then the weird memories start. But like I say: they're like dreams or something. Not real."

"Uh-huh. Well, that would make sense," Lex shrugged, "That was where you were the first time you blacked out and you haven't really been that coherent since," Lex sniffed; he couldn't resist adding: "even by your standards!"

"Ha ha!" Jack replied, swivelling round to sit on the side of the bed, "Well, one thing I do have a clear memory of is Dee's wedding video; or, to be more precise, the pre-wedding part of it!"

"Yeah, yeah, the camera never lies. Come on, let's get you back to the mall before everyone starts thinking you've gone missing!"

"Yeah," Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Jetta's gonna be screaming blue murder if I don't start spending more time with her soon!"

"Ah, Jetta, right. Listen, mate, there are a few things you should know before you get back to the mall and we'd best get them out of the way before we leave here."

"What?" Jack turned, suddenly panicked, "She's not left me has she?"

"No, not that, but she's not entirely herself just now. Listen mate," Lex steered Jack into the chair he had occupied before the younger man had woken up, "You were... ill... for quite a while and now you're well, but Jetta's still ill."

"What happened?" Jack's frown increased.

"Okay," Lex looked around for something to help him explain what he had to tell Jack, but there was nothing, "Okay, this is gonna be kinda hard to believe mate, but just let me finish, okay?"

Jack nodded and Lex leant back against the bed.

"Well, you know those dreams you had while you were out of it? Well, they're not exactly dreams. They're not exactly memories either, well, not your memories: they're Jetta's."

Jack's eyebrows went up an inch or two, but he said nothing and remained seated so Lex continued.

"Hmph, right, so whenever these things you saw in your dreams happened to Jetta, you felt them and saw them just as she did. You felt them because she was calling out to you for help, in a way. She didn't know she was doing it, didn't even know it was possible, neither did I until recently. Truth is, mate, you might have always thought that Ellie was the love of your life and your "soulmate" but she never was: Jetta is. Jetta is your soulmate. There is a bond between you that, now that it's been re-forged in this lifetime, tells each of you when the other is in danger. It's the kind of bond that strengthens and protects. Someone tried to break that bond so that they could use Jetta to spy on us. They succeeded, and you've been unbearably cheerful ever since, but I don't know how much of that you'll remember. If they hadn't broken the bond, they could still have controlled Jetta for a while, but as soon as she saw you, her loyalties would revert back to normal. Right now, she's in the mall in a pretty bad way. Looks like she got beat up on the way home. You won't feel that because the bond was broken by then. It still is. You remember her, but she won't remember you. At all. Everyone else, yes, but you, no. At least, if Cat's right about what spell they used. You were fairly helpful in that respect, mate. You might have been sleeping or whatever, but you could answer our questions about what was going on and could even tell us snatches of what they were saying. That helped a lot. Problem is, we need your help even more now: you are the only one who can bring Jetta back to us. You have to re-forge the bond. It won't be as easy as when you first met when you got back from the Technos: you'll have to start right back at the beginning and we've no way of knowing how far back that goes!"

Lex reached the end of his lengthy explanation and watched Jack's countenance go through a series of changes. Eventually, he looked up.

"Putting aside the fact that I'm a scientist and what you're talking about is magic and I don't, or at least I didn't, believe in all that stuff, I think I understand all of that except for a few points. You said a couple of things there that are starting to worry me: "in this lifetime", "right back to the beginning", "how far back"? You sound like you're saying we've all been through this before? In another life?"

Lex looked at his feet, then back up at Jack. There was no real way of sugaring the pill.

"Yeah. When our bodies die, our souls move on and are reborn some time later. Our actions in one life are affected by our previous lives and then affect our later lives. The bonds we forge in one lifetime, of family, friendship or love, are reproduced in the next in some way. All our bad deeds are punished, all our good deeds rewarded. Some mistakes we are doomed to make over and over again. Some people we are blessed to fall in love with over and over again. Everything balances out eventually."

"Where does it end?"

"Who knows," Lex shrugged, "I'm fairly new to this myself, so I don't know everything, but I do know that there are some things we are not meant to know and will never know."

"And what happens if I don't re-form, forge, the bond between Jetta and myself?"

"We can't be sure. Short-term, she will be a threat to the city and much more vulnerable to whoever it is that is controlling her. She's not much of a danger while she's recovering from the beating she got on her way back to the mall, but after that, who knows. She won't be an obvious threat and only a few of us know about magic and its involvement."

"Who?"

"Us, obviously, Cat, Aeryn, Tai San and Salene. No more as far as I know."

"And what about the long term danger, if the bond stays broken?"

"There is no way of knowing. Everything might reverse itself back to normal after you both die, or it may not. Jetta may remain in the power of the triad who cast the spell until the bond is re-forged, different lifetimes regardless!"

"Triad?"

"Three witches, joined by blood, either forcibly, by certain spells and rituals, or by actually being related. It is generally frowned upon to join three forcibly, because it is an unnatural thing and that goes against the nature of magic, however illogical that may sound to your mind, but the three are almost always stronger than three bound by family ties. It is a powerful number and they would be at their most powerful together, as they were when the spell was cast."

"And I take it they're not on our side."

"No."

"And I take it we don't have three witches of our own to fight them?"

"Um..."

"What?"

"Technically, we do."

--

Cat had left the hospital some time earlier and had been sitting with Salene by the unconscious Jetta's bed. After reporting all of Jetta's movements and mumblings since she had been placed in the room, Salene had fallen silent and Cat had turned her thoughts inward to mull over what she had learned. Although she had asked the occasional polite question, Salene had skirted round the issue she had been wanting to discuss. At last she could stand it no more.

"Why can I hear your thoughts when you talk to Lex?" Salene asked, suddenly.

Cat looked up and regarded the red-haired young woman for a moment.

"Magic is not something reserved for the few, Salene," she replied, choosing her words with great care, "it is in every one of us. It is a force that lies dormant until something, or someone, causes it to show itself. When we are young, we 'believe' in magic. Belief has nothing to do with it. When we are young, we know magic exists, that it lives in us. That knowledge is merely wiped out by our grown-up, so-called 'common sense'! The magic is still there, latent, under the surface.

It is different from person to person, just like any other attribute or characteristic. Some recognise it, others do not. Some are stronger than others, although everyone's strength increases with age and training. A person's specific abilities vary with their bloodline. Often, certain ethnic groups share a peculiar gift, such as Tai San's. Not so much her ability to tell the future: that is not particularly peculiar, indeed almost every culture has some method of doing so. No, it is the manner in which she sees the unknown that sets her apart: her dreams and visions while meditating. In her, it is so strong that the shadows and omens, of past present and future, were able to form in her mind before she even knew what they were, let alone how to control or call them.

Similarly, specific families pass on and share specific traits. I have taught myself spell-casting and scrying, but the gift shared by all my family is our telepathy: the ability to communicate without speech. Logic and 'common sense' block our thoughts from the outside world, from those who do not possess or cannot use the same or a similar gift. Those with latent ability, as long as their adult minds do not get in the way, can hear us. I thought it was a rare gift, but so far I have found two bloodlines able to hear my talks with my brother. Neither, however, seem able to join in the conversation. This may be due to inexperience in both cases, but I would like to find out more about your abilities."

"But you said two bloodlines: every kid in the mall has taken a dislike to you!"

"I thought so too at first. I thought that all children below a certain age would hear Lex and I communicate, but I was wrong. I have come across many children of a suitable age at the hospital: none of them could hear us. As for every kid in the mall, well, so far there are only two and those two are apparently cousins: the offspring of two brothers, both of whom are now dead."

"Brady and Zac. Zoot and Bray. Of course!"

"They are one bloodline. You are another. What is more, you are strong."

"I-I can't be. I've never even believed in magic for years!"

"That does not affect how strong your gift is. Let me tell you of strong and powerful magi. They often know nothing of their power until some accident forces them to use it. They are often people who are drawn strongly to the care and protection of others, either through healing or some other method. All fiercely desire parenthood, but often have difficulty achieving it. When they fail to do so, their emotions can crash and spiral violently out of control, leading to alcoholism, depression, suicide attempts and even temporary insanity or amnesia. They will make good leaders, however, despite all this, and people will trust and follow them, but they will only assume the mantle of a leader because they feel they have to, not because they want to. Does any of this sound familiar?"