Years ago, she’d bet Jamie that she could memorize the entire table and all its one hundred and eighteen elements. She couldn’t remember if the bet had won her anything beyond the satisfaction of proving that she could, but it hadn’t been a completely wasted effort. It was a useful tool to still her mind, driving away anxiety.
Iron, cobalt, nickel…
She opened her eyes. Her world narrowed. She fell headlong into the memory.
Four cloaked figures were climbing the rocky outcrop. Allyra could feel their reluctance and doubt coloring the memory. One figure was lagging behind the others and there was something familiar about him – or her.
The figure stopped and started to turn, but before Allyra could see his face the memory leapt forward.
Her father’s body.
Blood soaking into the dry, rocky ground.
Her breaths came in loud, desperate gasps.
Five years and it was always the same memory. Nothing she hadn’t already seen in years past, but time didn’t make it any easier to experience. She swept a frustrated tear off her cheek. The memory was always enough to fracture her mind into a million tiny pieces.
Allyra sighed and accepted defeat. She wouldn’t learn any more tonight.
Not that she’d really expected to.
Far away from city lights, the night sky exploded into life. The brightest stars danced while the light from others melted together to form a pale band of light arching majestically through the darkness.
Without the heat of the sun, any warmth quickly dissipated into the cloudless night. Allyra pulled her jacket closer, rubbing her hands together in an attempt to generate heat. She started to make her way back down, choosing every step carefully. Loose pebbles and the dim light combined to make every step treacherous.
The flat top of the outcrop was just visible as she turned back one last time and whispered a final goodbye, the wind lifting it from her lips, carrying it – light and soundless like dandelion seeds floating away.
It wasn’t perfect or instantaneous, but it was there – acceptance that she might never have the answers she desired. And finally, she felt some of the gnawing hollowness retreat from her heart.
It was time to find her way home.
Concentrating hard on not twisting an ankle, or worse, breaking her neck, she almost missed it.
It was hard to say what caught her attention first. Was it the flicker of light in the periphery of her eye or the barest touch on her sleeve, like the draft from a passing car?
Allyra lifted her head and saw him – her father. He was moving up the slope with long, graceful strides. He was so unexpected, but so familiar – every line and angle of him. The moonlight caught on his pale skin, making him seem almost transparent.
She was momentarily frozen, staring at him as he moved steadily away from her. Finally she shook herself back into action, calling out and racing back up the slope after him.
Slipping on the loose pebbles, Allyra fell forward, wincing as a sharp stone cut through her palm – blood immediately oozing out, hot and thick.
Haste and desperation was making her clumsy.
She scrambled back to her feet gracelessly and called out again, but her father continued his determined trek forwards. Allyra lost sight of him as he disappeared over the top of the rise and she pushed herself harder to catch up.
At the top of the rise, she paused and looked around wildly. Her heart caught in her throat when she saw him at the accursed Baobab tree. He had one hand resting on it and his head hung low as if he was grappling with a desperate decision. As she watched, the shadows seemed to reach out around him and he faded into their dark embrace.
Ignoring any misgivings she felt about the tree, Allyra raced to it – running around it with blind panic. But her father had vanished. Taking a deep breath, she moved hesitantly closer to the Baobab.
She forced herself to slow down and think logically.
It was surely just another memory – clearer than most – but a memory nonetheless, conjured up by her desperate mind. But her feeling of unease increased as she moved closer – there was something very, very wrong.
Allyra stared at the Baobab tree. The tree trunk wasn’t rough and grey, as she’d expected. Instead it was replaced by an inky darkness, undulating and moving almost like a body of water. The pale light of the full moon caught on the crests of the waves, making them glow as they moved.
The logical voice in her head screamed for her to stop. To turn around and run. But some things cannot be dictated by logic and Allyra reached forward with shaking hands.
The darkness felt just like water, cool and flowing and liquid around her hands.
Her mind rebelled and argued that there had to be some logical explanation. Some reason.
The darkness came alive.
Inky tendrils reached out and engulfed her – pulling her in.
Allyra was drowning in liquid darkness. It was thick and hot as it ran down her throat. She didn’t recognize her own screams as they reverberated in her ears.
For a single heartbeat, the darkness transformed into infinite light – warm and comforting before she emerged – stumbling inelegantly – but back on solid ground.
She recoiled in disbelief as she opened her eyes. The rocky outcrop in the African veldt had disappeared, replaced by an empty and featureless landscape. The darkness of night had magically transformed to daylight – not bright – more like the gloomy grey that came before a summer thunderstorm.
Nausea engulfed her and she swallowed down fiercely on the bile rising in her throat. Questions flooded her mind.
Where?
How?
Only one answer came to her mind. It sounded
