Episode 2: She's Tougher Than She Looks, Chapter 4
Ezekiel watched as the dance drew to a close. All the creatures had gathered now. At least, all the ones he had seen so far. The magpies gathered sticks in their beaks and hopped up the sides of the great rock. The congregation of waiting creatures settled down and turned their eyes towards them. When the magpies reached the layer of low, dark cloud that had prevented Ezekiel seeing further up the rock face, they turned their sticks upwards and beat their wings. The cloud, as if it was made of solid foam, gave a little, then moved. At the first sign of upwards movement, a cheer arose from the waiting creatures. The mixture of calls and cries were diverse and odd to Ezekiel's ear, but there was no mistaking them for anything but a cheer. Again, the magpies fluttered. Again the cloud moved. Again the creatures cheered. Slowly, it began to dawn on Ezekiel where he was.
XXXX
Cassandra and Jenkins led the way through the quiet streets of Alice Springs at a much faster rate than their first journey. They reached the riverbed in half the time and Cassandra immediately turned north. A hand reached out and pulled her back.
"We agreed that I would go first, Miss Cillian," said Jenkins sternly. "You and Mr Stone follow me and Charlene will bring up the rear."
"But if we need light..." Cassandra started.
"We have flashlights," Jenkins reminded her. "We came prepared, remember. We know what we're facing now. If, and when, we need your assistance, I will let you pass. Not before."
Cassandra sighed and felt Jacob's arm encircle her waist. She let him propel her forwards, eventually wrapping her fingers through his and keeping pace beside him. Before darkness had fully fallen they were at the cracked rock face, the sand rising behind them like a wave.
"What now?" Stone asked tracing the line of the split between the two rocks with his flashlight.
"Now we try to go through," trilled Charlene with a wry smile. "Just imagine it's platform nine and three quarters."
"Platform what?" Stone frowned.
"Just assume you're going through it," translated Cassandra, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.
"Through that tiny crack in the rock," added Charlene.
"That's not helping," sighed Jenkins, and walked through the rock.
"Woah," Stone blinked. "Okay, that worked."
"Magic has a tendency to do that," quipped Charlene, shoving him forward and through the dimensional door. She turned to Cassandra. "Your turn, kiddo. I'll be right behind you."
Cassandra winced and walked forward, putting out a hand, tentatively, in front of her. The rock wall felt oily and sludgy around her hand. And cold. It felt so cold. She felt Charlene's guiding hand propel her forward and the world instantly became a blur of darkness. For a moment if felt like she was swimming through treacle, then she landed on the cold sand with a thump. Picking herself up she looked around her. It was dark. She called out. There was no answer. She called out Jacob's name, Jenkins', Charlene's, Ezekiel's. Nothing.
Alone. Blind. Helpless.
No, not helpless. Not that. Not blind either. Not if she didn't want to be. She focussed on her hand, holding it out palm up just as she had that first time so very long ago. Light blossomed there, filling her vision and flooding the surroundings. She blinked and let her eyes get used to the difference. She was in a cave. Paintings adorned the walls. They showed kangaroos and koalas and emus and wombats and every indigenous Australian creature imaginable. They also showed the mimis.
With the little ball of light rotating in her hand, Cassandra examined the paintings. It confounded her how such a simplistic collection of lines and dots could possibly communicate the very essence of a creature, and yet it did. It was almost as if these were the originals and those inhabiting the mysterious island had been called to life directly from their lines.
A sound echoed behind her. The sound of a tumbling stone. She turned.
"Charlene?" Cassandra called, directing the light of her hand into the darkness. It illuminated not the erstwhile receptionist, but a small, hunched over kangaroo. Cassandra frowned, letting her eyes examine the creature in more detail. It was not like any kangaroo she had seen before. It seemed to be almost constructed out of lines and dots of ochre. And yet.
And yet.
Somehow it seemed to be more like a kangaroo than any she had previously encountered. It turned its head, looking up at her through doleful eyes. She moved towards it. It hopped away a short distance. She stopped. It looked back. Suddenly she understood. She followed.
Gradually, another light began to suffuse the tunnel, for it was a tunnel they were now in. The way had broadened from its almost imperceptible entrance in the cave, but there could be no mistaking its definitive purpose. Cassandra followed the creature and its path, always heading towards the light, until finally an opening became visible. Then she charged forwards, her magical torch disappearing, forgotten, in her haste. She slowed as she approached the edge of the cavern, keeping low and close to the wall. She could hear cheering beyond.
She edged her way forward until the light was no longer a glare, and peered out. Crowds of creatures were gathered around the mouth of the cave, all looking up. All bore the unmistakable ochre signs of belonging to this dimension. All but one.
"Ezekiel!" Cassandra hissed. The figure never turned. She edged closer and called his name quietly again. No response. She stepped right up to the edge of the cave and tried again. No answer.
The figure was standing, looking upward, not far from her. His back was towards her but she was sure it was him. She cast a glance around everyone else. All the other creatures were also staring up at the sky. She edged out from the cover of the cave mouth and reached out a hand to her immobile friend. He didn't move. Neither did the other creatures.
Emboldened by their stasis, Cassandra walked out and around to face Ezekiel. She drew his face down to meet her eyes and instinctively drew back. The eyes that met hers were grey. Not the grey of a normal iris, complete with black pupil in its centre, but the grey of the clouds above. Clouds which were, she noted, gradually getting further and further away. What would happen, she wondered, when the sun finally broke through? What would happen when they returned?
This was uncharted territory for Cassandra, but her options were few. She could either wait and see if the others found her before she too became mesmerised by the rising cloud, or she could try to drag an unresponsive Ezekiel back into the cave, of she could try to snap him out of it. It didn't seem like the others were anywhere nearby, and she didn't fancy risking herself to the apparently hypnotic power of the landscape, so she reached out, focussing her power, and lifted him off his feet. Slowly, steadily, in case too sudden a movement should arouse suspicion, she moved him back into the shelter of the cave. At the moment his view was cut off from the sky, Ezekiel crumpled
Cassandra rushed to the young man's side, checking his pulse and breathing with the automation of any long term hospital employee. His eyes were closed. Half afraid of what she might find, she opened them. The pupils were wide and dark, but they were there. She patted his face and called his name frantically until slowly a low groan began to resound in his chest.
"Ezekiel, wake up!" Cassandra hissed.
"Wha...?" Ezekiel groaned and blinked, looking around him blindly.
Realising the mouth of the cave was behind her, Cassandra brought up another little ball of light from her palm. "Ezekiel, it's me."
The thief peered at her blearily. "Who're you?"
"It's Cassandra," she persisted, worry creeping back into her voice again. "From the Library."
"C'sandra," mused the bemused boy. "Nope. Dun't ring any bells. Are you from my school?"
"School?" Cassandra frowned. "No, Ezekiel, I'm your friend. We work together."
"Work?" Lines formed along Ezekiel's forehead. "I dun't have a job. Too young. Still in school."
"No, you left school long ago," Cassandra persisted. "You work for the Library now, like me."
Ezekiel's frown deepened. "Are you from my school?"
Cassandra sighed. This was going to be more difficult than they had imagined. If only Jenkins were here. Or Charlene. Surely one of them would know what to do. Hoping proximity at least played a part, she led the confused young man away from the cave mouth and deeper into the cavern.
XXXX
"How can she be missing? You were supposed to be last!" Jenkins yelled, throwing up his hands.
"How should I know? You went through. Genius here went through. Cassandra went through. I went through. That order, that spacing, more or less. There is no way she should be anywhere but here!"
"Could she be stuck in the rock wall?" Jacob asked, trying to calm the argument raging between the two veterans.
"No!" Jenkins and Charlene yelled together.
"It's highly unlikely," added Jenkins.
"And incredibly fatal!" Charlene spat, turning on Jenkins once again. "Do you honestly think I would have left her there?"
"Okay, okay," shouted Stone. "If she's not on the other side, and she's not in the middle, she must be here somewhere, right?"
"Well, I guess so," admitted Charlene, in a tone that suggested she wasn't happy to admit anything yet. "But magical doorways don't just up and move at the drop of a hat, and they certainly don't get up and move back again afterwards."
"But they are magical, correct?" Stone asked, pointing a finger at Charlene.
"Again: I guess so," she shrugged, "but I don't see what this has to do with..."
"I think I have an idea," continued Stone, holding up and hand to stop Jenkins' reply. "Jenkins, you said you thought you knew where they might be holding Ezekiel?"
"Near the central landmark," Jenkins nodded with a sniff of indignation. "The largest rock here. Over that way."
Stone followed the direction of Jenkins' outstretched arm and saw the familiar slopes of red rising from the dust.
"Uluru," he muttered. "Then that's where we're headed. Come on."
