'Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one.'
Caitlin spasmed and a large hooded crow burst from her chest. Jack bounded back in shock. Matt watched the bird circle the prone form once and then fly off into the dark.
When the beating of its wings had faded, Caitlin's eyelids fluttered and she sat up. Matt dropped down beside her to slip an arm round her shoulders.
'It's OK,' she said woozily.
'A crow just came out of you. What the hell was that all about?'
'It doesn't matter now.' Caitlin, still dazed, tried to assimilate the Morrigan's final words. She looked round and panic pushed all thoughts out of her mind. 'Where's Liam?'
'He went over that way.' Jack pointed into the dark ahead. 'I think he said he'd found another room.'
Caitlin jumped to her feet and ran on, Matt and Jack hurrying behind, trying to keep up. The next room was lighter and smaller, and there was an opening in the far wall that led on to another place that was brighter still.
Caitlin ran through it and stopped sharply. Liam's tiny figure was frozen in the middle of the massive chamber, staring at what lay ahead. The rear of the House of Pain was missing, and instead there was space, vast and endless, filled with galaxies and comets, seething gas giants, white dwarfs, gravity wells — a twelve-storey picture window looking out over the whole immeasurable spread of Existence. Around the edges, the warp field shimmered with psychedelic colours,'where one reality merged with another.
'I never imagined it was so… big!' Jack gasped.
'Is that where this place crawled from?' Matt asked.
As the words left his lips, Caitlin saw movement far, far away, on the very edge of the universe, though she had no idea how she could see that far; it was as though the more she stared, the more she could see. A shadow was coming towards them. In the context of all that lay there, it appeared minuscule and slow-moving. Caitlin knew that was a lie of perception: it was vast — entire galaxies disappeared behind it as it travelled — and it was hurding towards them in a manner, she knew, somehow she knew, that transcended the laws of physics.
'The Void,' she mouthed.
And even though the words were soundless, the Void appeared to hear her, for she felt the fall force of its intellect turned on her. It was as if it had looked at her across immeasurable light years, looked direcdy into the deepest part of her where her darkest secrets lay. She staggered back, crushed by the weight of the dread and terror it elicited.
'It's coming,' she said.
And in that instant the connection was gone, but she knew what waited for them, in the days, or weeks, or millions of years it would take for it to arrive.
She slipped her arm around Liam to turn him away from that awful sight, and as she did so another chill swept through her. Behind them, purple mist drifted in the dead heat. The army of the Lament-Brood had slipped in silently to fill the chamber and all the rooms beyond. Mary basked in a feeling of utter peace. The air was warm, the sound of the spring soothing, and the sanctity of that place made her feel so secure that she never wanted to leave. More potent was the sense of presence; an intelligence enveloped her, at once immense yet also intimate, as if it were there just for her.
She's coming, Mary thought, and she had no idea how she knew that, but an instant later a woman appeared in the billowing steam around the hot spring. Mary didn't know what she had expected — a figure filled with lights and stars, she guessed — but what actually emerged was a woman that resembled the Virgin. Mary knew she was seeing the Goddess in a way her mind could comprehend, drawn from the once-comforting iconic images she had seen during her Catholic childhood.
'Greetings, sister,' the Goddess said warmly. 'You have travelled a hard road to be here. I recognise your strength; you are a true example of all that I hoped for the sisterhood.'
Mary was lost for words. The Goddess sensed her awe, for she said, 'Come, do not shrink from me. I serve you, as you serve me. I am a part of you, as you are a part of me. That is the message Existence has set before us.'
Mary swallowed. 'I don't understand what I'm supposed to do…'
'There are no limits to anything — worlds upon worlds, gods upon gods, no limit to the heart of Fragile Creatures, no limit to what can be achieved. Time and space are not absolute. Everything is fluid. That, too, is Existence. You must learn this if you seek to understand all that has transpired, and all that will transpire.'
'Why did you leave the God? Why did you hide away from us?' The Goddess's face grew sad. 'Once, we were strong. Our ways were exalted, the way of the moon and the heart and the great, shifting oceans. But the seasons turned. You know, sister, you know. Those who seek power, the enemies of Existence, took it with iron fist. We fell away and away. The great forests were burned, the seas filled with poisons, the grasslands torn up and buried, the hilltops devastated, the air itself filled with sulphur, and the sisterhood's voice grew small and smaller still; many accepted their lot. Too many.' 'So you left,' Mary said. 'We let you down.' 'I was still with you, in spirit. I still watched and hoped, waiting for a sign that I would be needed again. But it never came.' She smiled. 'Until now.' Mary bowed her head. The Goddess stepped forward, and this time there was light, and stars; Mary couldn't look at her. 'You have served me, sister, and now I shall serve you. You came to me with a request. Speak.' 'My friend… Caitlin… she needs help.' 'I know of whom you speak — another true sister. She, too, has awoken me.' 'Then you'll help her?' 'I shall, and I already have. For as I have said, time is not absolute. What I do in your here and now will affect what you have already experienced Mary tried to understand what the Goddess was saying. 'You can alter the past?' she ventured. 'There is no past, or future. Only an endless present. It is your perception that traps you in your view, little sister. What we all do rings out across eternity.' The Goddess moved back near to the spring. A second later, a large hooded crow flew out of the steam, circling the room before alighting on the floor next to the Goddess. Strangely, Mary saw the bird but felt as if she was looking at a fierce but beautiful woman with long black hair and cold, intense eyes. 'The tribes knew her as the Morrigan,' the Goddess explained. Mary knew the name, as many in the Craft did. 'She serves you?' she asked. The Goddess smiled. 'She is me. A part of me, as you are a part. All the gods are an aspect of something greater, though they think they have individual lives. Names. What are names? Here I was Sulis, and Minerva. Yes, and the Morrigan. And I am Brigid, the goddess with three faces. Three faces, sister — past, present and future, all one, all linked, all looking out across Existence.'
The crow rose up, its wings beating like the rhythm of the heart, and it flew back into the steam and disappeared.
'Gone,' the Goddess said, 'to a lonely lane on a stormy night, and a time of terrible heartache for one sister.'
'Thank you,' Mary said. Her gratitude gave way to a tremendous relief that her journey was finally over. Yet there was a strange, unsetding quality in the Goddess's face that gave her pause. 'The Morrigan will help her, won't she? That's it? It's over?'
Sadness flickered across the Goddess's features, and Mary knew the answer even before the Goddess spoke. 'Caitlin will now reach the end of her quest, where she would have long fallen before. But that will not be enough. Not even the Morrigan can save her from the forces ranged against her.' There was no whispering, but the silence was even eerier. The Lament-Brood stood unmoving, as if awaiting an order.
'What are they doing?' Jack said. 'Why don't they attack?'
Matt pressed Jack and Caitlin back towards the warp field, which buzzed like a high-tension wire. A sucking cold urged them to step back further, further, into that fantastic panorama where they would be drawn into the very heart of Existence.
Matt turned to Caitlin. 'We made a right old mess of things, didn't we?' he said. 'Don't suppose you've got any tricks up your sleeve?'
'No.' She looked over at the Lament-Brood, her mind turning.
'Not ready to conjure up that Psycho-Caitlin who got us in here?'
'Why should I?' She continued to search the purple-misted ranks.
Matt put his hands on her shoulders and physically turned her towards him. 'For old times' sake?' He smiled winningly. 'We got close on the way here… very close. I saw how you felt about me, and believe me, I feel the same way. I need you to do your stuff, Caitlin… Jack and I both do. Don't you think you and I deserve the chance to
