Groundbreakers: The Complete Collection by James Derry

Author:James Derry [Derry, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: James Derry
Published: 2020-02-11T07:00:00+00:00

24 – Floating in Limbo

‘No! Not now! Not another flashback in the middle of the action!’

Sygne found herself standing in a beautiful garden. It was twilight, and thick tropical vegetation loomed over her —flowers and vines—all of them undulating on a sluggish breeze. A candlelit gazebo rose out of the greenery on a tall hill, and Sygne could tell by its polished cedar frame that she was back in Gjuir-Khib. She suspected she was in the city’s world-famous aviary garden.

Brightly colored birds flew past the hill, but their wings moved far too lazily. Their gliding motion seemed too slow, too buoyant. They moved like schools of fish.

‘This is… the Lurker,’ Sygne said to herself, ‘manipulating my dream.’ She dragged her arm through the viscous atmosphere, and the grass rustled as her feet left the ground. Before she could grab onto anything solid, she was being carried into the air by a rip current of wind.

Her arms wheeled in slow-motion, and she realized they were her own arms. She wasn’t trapped in Jamal’s body, but now she missed the relative safety of being sequestered in Jamal’s head. The phosphorescent light of the moon pierced a bank of foamy clouds, and Sygne watched her shadow move in ripples across the surface of the garden, which was twenty feet below her.

She floated past terraces of lush vegetation, moving uphill until she was bobbing in the air next to the gazebo at the hill’s summit. She wasn’t surprised to see Jamal and Nemeah standing there—nor was she surprised to see that they were standing too close. They had their hands clasped together, over some bundle of cloth and string. They seemed undisturbed by the thickness of the air—and oblivious to Sygne’s presence. Sygne wasn’t surprised by this either. They were a part of this vision. They weren’t really there. Or she wasn’t really there, depending on how you looked at it.

She dragged her hands through the air and stroked her way closer to the young lovers. Even if they had been in the same plane of reality—even if she had floated into their gazebo like a Hinterland witch—Sygne wasn’t sure if she would have been able to break their attentions from one another.

Young Jamal had a blissful, stupid smile on his face, but his eyes were crinkled and sad. “They said their children were starving.”

Nemeah’s voice was warm but firm. She pressed her hand over Jamal’s. “No one is starving within the boundaries of Gjuir-Khib. They were lying to themselves—and to you—to justify their hate.”

“They really seemed to believe it…”

“Jamal.” Nemeah batted her luminous violet eyes. “Do you remember that bearded lech who tried to tear off my dress? Do you truly think he has kids waiting for him to bring food home? If he has children, he hasn’t seen them in years.”

Jamal glanced away. “I don’t know…”

Nemeah and Jamal had both let go of their bundle of cloth. Sygne saw that it was a panel of the lightest silk, connected by catgut to a small bronze bowl with a candle in the middle.

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