Anne Bishop - Sebastian

Sebastian took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Let me tell you about the dreams Lynnea’s been having lately.”

She could feel the heat rise in her face. “Oh, no, Sebastian. I don’t think that’s—”

“She’s been rearranging furniture. Or I should say, she’s been pointing and I’ve been rearranging furniture, hauling things I couldn’t possibly lift in the real world. And it’s a mix of furniture, some from our room at the bordello, some from the cottage. So I’m moving the bed and the couch and tables and chairs while Lynnea keeps saying, ‘No, that’s not the way it should be.’ Each morning she wakes up and looks at the furniture with this gleam in her eyes, and I wake up with a sore back.

“Last night I was rearranging windows. I’d grab the wooden frame and lift the whole thing out. There wouldn’t be a hole in the wall where it had been, and every time I pressed it against the wall, a hole would open exactly the right size for the window.

“But Lynnea kept saying it wasn’t where it should be. Then she wanted me to put it against an inside wall. I argued that we wouldn’t see anything but the person in the next room, but it was her dream and I was just the labor, so I did what I was told.”

Nadia tipped her head to the side. “And did you see into the next room?”

“No,” he replied softly. “I couldn’t see anything. The window was full of sunlight. The room was washed in it. And when I looked back at Lynnea, it was Glorianna standing there. She smiled at me and said, ‘Yes. Now it’s where it should be.’”

He reached across the table, picked up her glass of wine, and drank half of it. “I don’t know what it means, or even why I told you this now.”

“I know why you told me,” Nadia replied softly. “You believe in Glorianna—and you trust Belladonna. I’m going to fight very hard to do the same.”

Sebastian pushed his chair back. “Come on. Teaser’s had enough time to make Jeb blush right down to his toes, and I think it’s best if you went home. And stayed home.”

Nadia shivered. “You think I’m a danger, don’t you?”

“I think you’ve been poisoned.” He tapped his chest. “In here.”

He was right. She could feel the resonance of his words and knew he was right.

“Yes, we should be getting back.” She squared her shoulders. “And the walk will do me good.”

Sebastian draped an arm over her shoulders. “That’s too bad, because you’re riding back on the demon cycles.”

“Demon…Oh, no, I…”

Paying no attention to her protests and blustering, he rounded up Teaser and Jeb, gave her a moment to say good-bye to Lynnea, and had her riding behind him on something that was a combination of a thick bicycle with no wheels and a demon with lots of sharp teeth and wickedly curved claws.

It wasn’t too bad while they were on the Den’s main street, but once they reached the dirt lane that led to the cottage…

“You can let go now, Aunt Nadia.”

That was what he thought. She felt him patting her hands and trying to loosen the fists that had a death-hold on his shirt.

“We’re not moving anymore.”

“Then I’ll just wait for my insides to catch up with us.”

Sebastian laughed. That wicked boy actually laughed. Which annoyed her so much she managed to let go of his shirt and get off the cycle.

Jeb, she noticed, didn’t seem the least bit shaken. She couldn’t see him clearly, since there was only starlight, but he was rubbing his chin in that way he had when something had caught his interest.

Teaser grinned at Jeb and cocked his head.

“I’ll think about it,” Jeb said. He walked over to her and cupped her elbow in one of his big, strong hands. “Come along, darling. I’ll make you a cup of tea when we get home and you can have a bit of a lie-down.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m old and decrepit,” Nadia snapped. Since the demon cycles had brought them right to the edge of the woods behind Sebastian’s cottage, it was no more than a few minutes’ walk before she’d be home.

She looked back at Sebastian. “The next time you come to visit, I hope Sparky poops in your hair.”

Jeb’s chuckles didn’t cover up Sebastian’s sputters. That made her feel better, so she hooked her arm through Jeb’s, and the two of them followed the path that led home.

Sebastian stared at the dark path in the woods, his heart aching.

“Do you want to check the cottage while we’re here?” Teaser asked.

He shook his head. “No one has been around.” He was certain of that because he stopped at the cottage each day when he checked the bridges leading to the Den. “Let’s get back.”

“Jeb said he’d think about my idea.”

“Where’s he going to find an artist to paint erotic pictures to make into a puzzle?”

“Well, he did say that might be a sticking point.” Teaser paused, then asked, “Who’s Sparky?”

On the way back to the Den, Sebastian thought about Nadia. Why would she have doubts about Glorianna now? Why would she consider telling the wizards where to find Belladonna? Unless, as he’d said, she had been poisoned by a mind strong enough to plant doubts and thoughts where none had been before. How was he supposed to tell Glorianna and Lee that something dangerous might have been locked in Nadia’s landscapes when Glorianna had altered Ephemera to isolate those places and keep her mother safe?

And how was he supposed to tell his cousins that their mother could no longer be trusted?

Shadows in the garden.

It is the hardest lesson for a Landscaper to learn.

The gardens are not just access points put together in a pleasing manner. They also reveal the heart of the Landscaper, the signature resonance that will overlie the landscapes in her care. It is a reflection of who the Landscaper is, and her innermost self will be manifested into plants and stones and water for everyone to see.

If the heart tries to lie, the garden will reveal that, too.

But every student’s first attempt tends to be a pretty lie. All the plants are the ones that symbolize kindness and generosity, patience and understanding. Love. Despite the student’s best efforts, the garden struggles to survive because the dark feelings that are denied also resonate in that confined space and have no patch of ground to call their own. So they interfere, tangle up the currents of power, thrusting up where they don’t belong. And the garden fails.

It takes time to find the courage to display the parts of yourself that aren’t bright and shining. But you have to see them, have to know they’re inside you, because they will resonate in the landscapes you control. Because you, as a Landscaper, are the sieve through which all the human hearts in your landscapes touch Ephemera—and none of those hearts lives completely in the Light.

So every Landscaper has to learn, and acknowledge, the dark side of her own heart in order to keep our world balanced.

Shadows in the garden.

They are a part of all of us.

—The Book of Lessons

“Perverse beast,” Koltak grumbled when the horse suddenly stopped a few strides away from the large pond. “Nearly pulled my arm out of the socket to get to the water, and now you don’t want to drink?”

He didn’t know much about horses, but the animal seemed uneasy about something, so he looked around. Just rolling green hills that looked the same as the ones he’d seen yesterday—and the day before that. What was happening in Wizard City? Was anyone concerned about the length of time he’d been away? Was he trapped in this landscape, doomed to wander in a place where he was nothing more than a bumbling traveler?