A Vision of Fire

“Then go to the library and read. Finish watching the videos Erika collected.”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Like what?” she asked. “Thinking?”

Mikel said nothing as they neared the landing. The old stairs creaked as they ascended in the near-darkness. Upstairs the phone was already ringing. Mikel fielded the first call from the police. Arni had been reported missing at seven a.m. by a friend he was supposed to meet the night before, and the floodgates opened. Flora was glad she had put the artifacts away: only now it occurred to her that they may have been seized as evidence.

The rest of that day was filled with exhaustive questioning by an ill-tempered detective and with open and measurable concern for Arni while police inspected every corner of the laboratory space and locker room. Flora’s mind was on the deep freezer but they only checked it and did not violate its contents.

Finally, at midnight she summoned Mikel from home and ordered him back to the Falklands.

“For what?” he asked, not displeased but surprised.

“I’ve thought,” she announced. “Do whatever you have to do to get access to the crew of the Captain Fallow. Find out where they located your artifact. Where there was one, there may be more.”

“We’ve been down that road before with other artifacts,” he said.

“That’s true,” she agreed. “But as far as we know, they never caused any brains to melt. I think your artifact is too small to generate power on its own. So a theoretical external power source, the cause of this phenomenon, would likely be on the other end, where the artifact is from. It may still be connected with that source, if there is one, still charged somehow.”

He agreed with her decision. Favors were called in, arrangements made. Thankfully, Flora’s sleepless night and her genuine tears the following morning had convinced the detective on his second visit that she was worried sick about Arni.

And now here she was, alone with a cup of tea… and, literally, for now, at a cold, dead end to their quest. She lifted her teacup and hurled it at the wall, her mind burning with frustration and rage.

Goddamn it. Enough! she said to the mysterious race she had spent half her life pursuing. If you have anything to say to me, say it bloody faster.

CHAPTER 31

It was midnight. Outside Caitlin’s cab the cloudy sky reflected orange from the lights of the city—a sight that had always struck her as ominous. It seemed more so now: danger felt imminent. The rattling of the taxi’s undercarriage was like the world itself, barely holding itself together as it hurtled onward.

Or this could just be jet lag, she told herself.

She’d called her father while she waded through customs, but Jacob was asleep and she didn’t want to wake him. As she waited in line at the curb, chilly and impatient, she read two texts Ben had sent while she was in the air. The first was sent at 7:41 p.m.: Found possible Viking Mongolian connection.

And then at 11:11 p.m.: Am with Maanik. Stopped them from medicating her.

She called and he picked up on the first ring. Whatever tension there was between them when she left for Iran was gone, at least from his voice.

“Tell me you’re back—”

“I’m back,” she said. “What happened?”

He hesitated.

“Ben, if anyone’s listening—we’re beyond that.”

“Right. She lost it,” Ben said. “She just went wild and tried to throw herself from the window. Mrs. Pawar said she started to burn. They put her in the shower. She slept for a while and then it was more talk and gesturing, your blackberries cue, sleep—and then the same all over again. The ambassador stepped out of negotiations again to be with her; I basically invented meetings to keep the delegates in the building. I just got here at ten. They’re keeping her out of her bedroom and that seems to be calming her.”

“Have you been in there?”

“I’m at the apartment—”

“No, the bedroom.”

Another hesitation. “Yeah. Cai, it’s strange.”

“What is?”

“The room is dead,” he said. “When I’m in there I don’t hear the pipes in the ceiling, air traffic outside the window. The air is motionless, thin.”

“Where’s the dog?”

“In the hall outside the bedroom.” Ben said. “Facing the door.”

“Is he quiet?”

“Yes, but he’s definitely on alert,” Ben said. “What do you know?”

“I think that room has connected, through Maanik, to another time and place. They’re sharing a space like twins sharing a womb, and the older one is feeding on the younger. The room is mirroring what’s happening to Maanik’s mind, almost like a portal.”

“Caitlin, that’s—”

“A leap, I know. But I’m going to work on that assumption until someone comes up with a better explanation.”

“Do you know why these locations are… colliding?”

“Not yet,” she admitted. “Don’t let the Pawars give Maanik anything except water, if she’ll take it.”