David Baldacci - The Keeper

“Er, no,” I said quickly.

“I l-like my m-mind where it is,” added Delph.

Well, I thought, she had certainly called my bluff.

“But can we at least see our village?” I pleaded.

She contemplated this for a few moments and then rose.

A sliver later, we were in the room with the two cups on the table. Astrea did what she had done before, only this time with the other cup. I had to hold Delph back when the flaming liquid shot across the table.

“Wormwood,” said Astrea simply, with a wave of her hand.

And there it truly was.

The cobblestones, the old buildings. There were Wugs I knew walking along. Hestia Loon, her shopping bag in hand. Herman Helvet at his window. With a rush of excitement, I saw mighty Thansius marching purposefully along.

He passed by another Wug I knew, Julius Domitar, who ran Stacks. He was tottering along seemingly full in his cups. He raised a hand in greeting to Thansius. Then another Wug came into view.

“Me dad,” cried out Delph.

Sure enough, there was Duf Delphia making his way on his two timbertoes. A whist pup was striding next to him, tethered to a leather cord that Duf gripped.

I brightened and looked at Delph. “He looks good. Happy.”

But my smile faded, for Delph didn’t look happy, only homesick. I reached over and took his hand and squeezed it. He looked down at me and attempted a smile, but I knew his heart wasn’t in it. It was a lot — to be kept from your family, and didn’t I know that.

I glanced back at the tabletop when I heard the clattering sound of hooves on cobbles. The blue carriage! I drew closer, wanting desperately to see who was in it. As I watched, the driver, Thomas Bogle, reined the sleps to a stop.

The carriage door opened and out stepped Morrigone.

“Cor blimey,” exclaimed Delph, who was looking over my shoulder. “She don’t look like herself, does she?”

Morrigone had always been tall and queenly, perfect in both mind and body. Before our differences had been made clear to me, I had always admired her. I had wanted to emulate her. But this Morrigone was far different.

She didn’t seem as tall. Her hair, normally bloodred with every strand in harmony with its neighbor, was now disheveled and thinning, the luster gone. Her face looked sessions older, with lines and sags prominent. Her tall, well-shaped body had a sunken appearance — fragile where she had always been robust.

I glanced at Astrea. She had a puzzled look on her face. This was startling to me because it’s the first time I had ever glimpsed uncertainty in her features.

“What’s wrong with Morrigone?” I asked.

She shook her head slightly. “She... she looks a bit tired is all.”

I looked back at the image and saw him step out of the carriage.

It was my brother, John. And though Delph and I had not been gone from Wormwood very long, John also looked different.

His step was brisk, his manner authoritative and supremely confident. And, dare I even think it, cruel? But then again, he had been cruel to the Wugs working on the Wall.

I said, “My brother became very different under Morrigone’s tutelage.”

“Different how?” she asked. But when I looked at her, I could tell she already knew the answer.

“He was sweet and innocent. And then he wasn’t,” I said bluntly. “What did she do to him?”

She didn’t answer right away. “ ’Tis complicated.”

“ ’Tis my brother,” I shot back. “The answer should be simple.”

I looked back at John, my thoughts whirling so fast I thought I might simply pass out. Instead, fierce emotions building large in my chest and head, I walked out. Then I started to run. I sprinted through the cottage and out the front door. I sped down the crazy-angled path, across the lawn, and, with Destin around my waist, I took to the air and flew straight at the emerald dome.

I don’t remember anything after that.

Whenever I’d been knocked out before, Delph was always there.

This time he wasn’t.

Instead, Astrea stared down at me.

I blinked and slowly looked around. I was in my room on the bed.

Astrea didn’t look unduly worried. “I suppose you had to try it.”

I sat up and rubbed my head. “What happened?”

“You hit the dome and the dome did not give. You did.”

I said nothing to this, both my pride and a rising anger making me mute.

I wanted to ask her again about John. And Morrigone, why she looked so different. But I had a strong feeling that my questions would go unanswered. Before I could say anything, she broke the silence.

“I understand that you talked to Archie?”

“You said we could go where we wanted,” I said testily.

“And what did he tell you?”

Ignoring her query, I said, “I feel sorry for him.”

“Why? He’s lived a good, long life.”

“He’s lived a long life. I’m not sure how good it’s been.”

She looked like I’d slapped her, which bolstered my spirits greatly.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” she said icily.

“Archie spoke of sacrifice. Whose sacrifice? His? Because he didn’t really have a choice, did he? Or his father? You made the decision for all of them. Just like you’re doing with us .”

“You know nothing whatever about it, Vega. You’re throwing out words that make absolutely no sense because you are ignorant of the facts.”

“Well, they’d make sense to Archie, I’m sure. I mean he’s the one who lived all this time and never really lived at all. That’s probably why he’s so bitter. And who can blame him, really?”

I wanted to make her hurt. I wanted to make her feel... something for what she was doing to us. For her taking our lives away too.

“I thought I understood you, Vega. Now I know that I don’t a’tall.”

“It’s quite simple, really. You’ve taken my life away and I’m not happy about it. I’m sure you’d feel the same.”

“For the greater good, it—”

“Please don’t try and justify it. And I won’t believe you anyway. It’s like the lie about the Battle of the Beasts. What did Archie call that? Oh, right, piffle. So that’s what your greater good is. Piffle. I’m sure Alice Adronis would have seen it the same way. She died as a warrior. Not as a mouse in a hidey-hole. So that’s what you are, Astrea, despite all your grand power. A frightened mouse in a dirty little hole.”

I never took my gaze off her as I said all this. And I said it in the maddeningly calm tone she had employed with me the whole time I’d been here.

“You are a stupid Wug,” she snapped.

“Alice didn’t think so. She gave me the Elemental. She told me that I had to survive. If you call me stupid, then you’re calling your best friend stupid as well.”

Astrea got up and left without speaking another word.

Delph immediately burst into the room with Harry Two in tow.

“You okay?” he said anxiously while Harry Two leapt up onto the bed and licked my hand.

“I’m okay. What actually happened?”

“Found you knocked out on the ground, didn’t we?”

“I tried to get through the dome. I knew it was stupid. But I... I...”

“Just wanted to get out of this place,” Delph finished for me.

I sighed and lay back against my pillow.

I gripped Delph’s hand. “We will get out of here. We will. I swear it.”

He met my eye, but I could tell he didn’t completely share my optimism.

“Course we will,” he said, tacking a smile on to the end of his words.

I sat up and hugged him and felt his warm breath on my cheek. He hugged me back. It was just us against, well, everything. But for some reason, I felt like we had a chance, a fighting chance. I’d never asked for anything more than that.