Marked

15

Luna and Variam got my message and called one after the other. I told them to meet me in the Hollow and that I’d explain everything there. My Council communicator and my work phone were starting to light up with calls from Light mages. I ignored them all – I’d figure out about what lies I needed to tell them later, assuming there was a later.

Luna and Variam arrived in the Hollow less than two minutes after I did. ‘What’s going on?’ Variam said as he let the gate close behind him. ‘The whole Keeper net was just starting to light up when I—’

‘Anne’s been possessed,’ I said. ‘The jinn’s back and it’s not going away.’ I told them the story quickly and succinctly, leaving nothing out. Luna’s mouth was open by the time I finished.

‘Wait, that was her?’ Luna said. ‘In the Tiger’s Palace?’

‘Yes, and if we can’t get to her, she’s going to stay like that.’

Variam looked a lot less surprised than Luna. His expression was grim. ‘What can we do?’

‘I need the two of you to get to Anne’s new flat,’ I said. ‘You can take my stone to get through the wards if you don’t have your own. Find that tracer focus and use it. She’s been pretty good about keeping it supplied with fresh blood.’

‘What if she’s got there first?’ Variam asked.

‘She hasn’t,’ I said. ‘I’ve checked. She’ll get around to it eventually, but right now she’s going to be busy and this other Anne isn’t really the conscientious type. You should have at least an hour.’

‘But when we catch up with her, then what?’ Luna asked. ‘If she decides she’s not coming quietly … well, the way you’re describing it, I’m not sure we’d win that argument.’

‘We wouldn’t,’ I said. ‘And it won’t be all three of us.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re not going to be fighting Anne,’ I said. ‘I am. You’re right: there’s no way we can beat her in a fight, not physically. But I’m not going to be there physically. I’m going to enter Elsewhere, go into her mind, kick that jinn out and wake the real Anne back up again.’

Luna and Variam stared at me. ‘Can you do that?’ Luna asked.

‘Only chance we’ve got,’ I said. ‘I’ll stay in touch with you two through the dreamstone. I need you both to get a fix on Anne and be ready. As soon as I give the word, use the tracer to gate to her location, grab her and get her back here.’

‘Wait,’ Luna said. ‘How is that going to work?’

‘We have to do this in exactly the right order,’ I said. ‘You can’t engage Anne first, because she and the jinn will wipe the floor with you. But if I do manage to pull this off, the most likely result is that she’ll be left unconscious. Either way, while I’m attacking in Elsewhere, her physical body will be vulnerable.’

‘I get that,’ Variam said. ‘But I can see one big problem. What if she’s in Richard’s mansion or something?’

‘Then …’ I hesitated. ‘We’ll improvise. I probably don’t need to tell you this, but this is dangerous. Really dangerous. I don’t think that Anne would kill either of you, but anyone else who might be there …’

‘Yeah, like that’s anything new,’ Luna said. ‘We’ll figure something out.’

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘There’s more. You can’t let anyone else know about this. Anyone. What Anne just did today has earned her a death sentence three times over. Even the most lenient members of the Council will execute her without a second thought. Our only chance is to shut this down before anyone finds out what really happened.’

‘Got it.’ Luna ran for where she stores her gear.

Variam didn’t follow, not straightaway. ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ he asked me.

‘Then we’re screwed. Which part do you mean?’

‘You going into Elsewhere and un-possessing her.’

‘Then …’ I tried to think of an answer and came up blank. ‘I don’t know.’

Variam looked at me for a second. ‘If you can’t deal with this, someone else is going to have to,’ he said. ‘You understand that. Right?’

‘I know,’ I said. Variam nodded and went after Luna.

There was no time to wish them luck; every minute mattered now. I hurried to my cottage and lay down on my futon, not bothering to undress. The dreamstone glinted on the side table and I reached out to it, pulling myself into sleep. The world faded away.

I opened a gate and stepped through into Anne’s Elsewhere.

The dreamscape felt … different. The forests and greenery were the same, but the sky above was clouding, on its way to overcast. A cool wind was blowing through the leaves, and in the distance I thought I heard the cry of some wild animal. I set off for the tower, moving swiftly.

As I walked, I ran through what Arachne had taught me about combat in Elsewhere. It wasn’t something we’d practised, not yet, but she’d explained the theory. According to Arachne, most mages are terrible at fighting in Elsewhere, because the rules of this place go completely against what they’re used to. When most mages fight, their instinct is to use physical force, because in their world, that’s what works. And the fluidity of Elsewhere makes that easy. You want to throw a fireball? If you’re in Elsewhere, then anyone can do it, no fire magic required. You’d prefer a weapon? Swords, guns, lightsabers, nuclear bombs … anything you can think of, you can make.

Of course, with a blank cheque like that, you know there’s going to be a catch, and in this case the catch is that none of the weapons really do anything. Weapons are dangerous because they can damage your body, and in Elsewhere, you don’t have a body. To an observer it might look as though I was walking through the forest, but what they were seeing was a projection, shaped by my unconscious. If someone jumped out and stabbed me, it wouldn’t affect me unless I believed that it would, and even then, it’d be more uncomfortable than dangerous. I didn’t have a heart to pierce or blood to spill; nothing that happened here could touch my body, which was lying safe back in the Hollow.

But just because my body was safe didn’t mean that the rest of me was. Mental attacks can reach you in Elsewhere just fine. It’s not just direct attacks that are the worry either: your body being safe doesn’t help much if you can’t find it again, and it’s very possible to become lost in Elsewhere, leaving your body an empty husk. The good news was that I didn’t think Anne would have any more idea than I did about how to do either of those things. A mind mage would be far more dangerous in this situation, but Anne’s a life mage, and that other Anne had those same memories to draw upon. She’d be used to ending fights by touching her enemies and disabling them. I was fairly sure that when she tried that on me and found that it didn’t work, it would throw her for a loop.

But the jinn was another story. I know what Anne’s magic can do and what its limitations are. I knew practically nothing about the jinn’s powers, except for a nasty feeling that they were very, very large. I knew that it was restricted in its ability to affect the real world – it needed a willing host. I didn’t know if the same rules applied here. If they didn’t, then this trip could turn very bad very fast.

I reached the black-glass walls surrounding Anne’s tower and hopped over, landing in the courtyard. The window at the top of the tower beckoned, but I didn’t want to go there, not yet. Instead I walked towards the tower. A cold breeze swept across the stone, ruffling my hair as I reached the smooth walls. There was no door. I reached out to place my hand flat against the wall and a passage opened. I walked inside and it sealed behind me.

The interior of the tower was hushed and gloomy. The corridors were lit with the same white sphere lamps that I remembered, but as I watched, one of them flickered and went out. Even the ones that were still glowing seemed to be dimmer, or perhaps it was because the black walls and floor soaked up the light as it was cast. Despite the silence, the tower didn’t feel empty. It felt as though something was waiting for me.

I needed some way to find out where Anne was. I picked a door at random and opened it to reveal an empty room with a stand at the far end that held an oval dressing mirror. I walked over and touched the mirror, sending a thread of magic into it.

The mirror swirled and darkened. An image became visible in the glass, clear at the centre and fuzzy at the edges. I was seeing a picture of the inside of a living room: wooden tables and a white sofa with a cross-beamed roof. Something about the architecture made me think of Spain, or maybe Morocco. Arched windows gave a view out onto a sun-drenched garden, and from outside I could hear the buzz of cicadas.

Morden was standing in the middle of the room, and he was dressing. The clothes he’d been wearing in San Vittore were lying neatly folded on a chair, and he was in the middle of donning a black button-up shirt. ‘Why?’ he said, without turning around. ‘Was this not what you were expecting?’

‘Where are all your underlings?’ It was Anne’s voice, and I nearly jumped. It sounded as though it were coming from over my shoulder. The timbre was different, deeper; it was her voice, but strange somehow. ‘Let me guess – they ran out once you got thrown in prison?’

‘I don’t need bodyguards, Anne.’

‘Could have fooled me.’

I still couldn’t see Anne … oh. It was Anne’s eyes I was seeing through. It made sense, but it was kind of inconvenient. I wondered what the chances were of her pulling out her mobile and bringing up Google Maps. Probably not very high.

Anne’s viewpoint shifted, as if she’d crossed her arms. ‘So what’s your next move?’

‘Did Richard not tell you?’

‘What, you think we were exchanging texts?’ Anne said. ‘Memory clouding only does so much. I think Anne might have got suspicious if she saw his name on her mobile.’

‘In that case, you should be happy to see him.’

Anne paused. ‘He’s coming here?’

Morden finished buttoning his shirt and smoothed it down. ‘We’ll be meeting at a neutral location.’

‘I wasn’t told.’

Morden glanced at Anne. It was unnerving seeing him apparently looking straight into my eyes. ‘You don’t seem entirely pleased.’

‘Yeah, you could say that.’ I couldn’t see Anne’s expression, but her voice was a lot less friendly. ‘I’m guessing he’s bringing his retinue, right? And his items.’

‘He won’t be unprotected, if that’s what you’re asking.’ Morden tilted his head. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘You bet there’s a problem. I’m not here so that I can be his slave girl.’

‘That’s not the intention.’

‘You think I’m an idiot?’ Anne asked. ‘I was the one who found that dreamstone, remember? I know what it does. If he’s coming, that means he wants me as well.’

‘Was that not the arrangement?’ Morden asked. ‘I admit I’ve been a little out of the loop of late, but I was under the impression that you were intending to accept Richard’s offer. The same one that he gave you in Sagash’s shadow realm three years ago.’

‘Yeah,’ Anne said. ‘I saw what happened to the last girl who took him up on a deal like that.’

‘Deleo’s circumstances were … particular to her.’

‘Bet he says that to everyone.’ My view of Morden swayed as Anne shook her head. ‘No deal.’

Morden picked up a coat and slung it over his arm, turning to Anne. ‘Then are you intending to go back to Verus?’

‘I’m okay with helping Richard,’ Anne said. ‘But it’s going to be on my terms. I’m not interested in being another Deleo. More like Vihaela.’

Morden studied Anne, tilting his head. ‘Ambitious.’ He quirked his lips in a smile. ‘Quite different from your other self. You should bear in mind that Vihaela did not attain her position for free. She brought a great deal to Richard’s cause, and she has not sat idle since.’

‘I just broke you out of prison. I think that earns me some credit.’

‘Don’t let your newfound power go to your head, Anne,’ Morden said. ‘Remember, that power is not yours. It is the jinn’s. And the jinn does not serve you.’

My viewpoint moved as Anne shrugged. ‘Yeah, well, Richard still needs me if he wants his jinn to do anything, doesn’t he? Otherwise that ring of his is just a pretty piece of jewellery.’

‘Then why don’t you explain that to him yourself?’

Anne looked at Morden silently.

‘No?’ Morden said. ‘I hadn’t expected you to be timid.’

‘You going to try to force me?’ Anne said.

‘Richard and I are not Sagash,’ Morden said. ‘We prefer willing servants. If you wish to go your own way, then I will not stop you. But have a care. Without Richard’s influence, you will find that jinn considerably less tractable.’

‘I’ll take my chances.’

Morden picked up his old clothes and left the room. Anne’s viewpoint swivelled as she looked over her shoulder. Something about the movement made me wonder if she could sense she was being watched, and I touched the mirror quickly. The image faded and went dark.

I hurried out of the room, and as I did I reached out to Luna. It was a little harder, opening a mental link from here, but I’d had plenty of practice, and Luna’s one of the people I can reach most easily. I came to a spiral staircase and began to climb, and as I did I felt the touch of Luna’s mind. Luna, it’s me. You found the tracer?

We did, Luna answered instantly. Blood’s fresh; we’re ready to go. But Vari’s worried that as soon as we do, Anne’ll sense it.

She might, I admitted. I really didn’t want to bet against Anne’s powers right now. She’s out of the country. Couldn’t get a fix on where.

We can handle that. Who else is there?

Morden, but he’s leaving. I get the feeling he and Anne don’t trust each other very much.

What about our jinn problem?

Yeah, that’s going to be the tricky part, I said. The stairs kept going up; I climbed them as I talked, taking them two at a time. I didn’t have to worry about getting tired, not here. One thing I’ve found out. I don’t think other-Anne is actually controlling that jinn. At least, not completely.

Then who is?

She said something about a ring, I said. It must be the same one that Richard took from the Vault, the one the jinn’s bound to. He’s using that and the dreamstone to influence it. Other-Anne has her own deal with the jinn, but it doesn’t seem like she controls it completely either. Remember when we thought that it was just the jinn possessing Anne? It’s looking like more of a triangle. There’s Richard, there’s Anne’s dark side and there’s the jinn. None of them have full control, and each of them needs the other two to get what they want. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that if there’s one thing all three of them can agree on, it’ll be that they want to keep Anne possessed.

Then figure out a way to make sure they don’t get what they want!

Working on it. Be ready to move as soon as I give the word.

We already are, Luna said. Oh, and Vari says to step on it.

‘Thanks for the advice,’ I muttered, cutting the connection. I wondered what Anne was doing in the outside world. What I really needed was a portable version of that mirror …

Then I smiled. But this is Elsewhere, isn’t it? If I want it … I held up my hand, and a small hand mirror appeared in my grip. I concentrated on it, focusing a thread of magic into the glass. The mirror darkened … and stayed dark.

I frowned and tried again. Same result. Is it not working? I was pretty sure it should be. Maybe something was stopping it …

… or maybe it was working just fine, and this was what Anne was seeing. I didn’t like that idea. Enough climbing. I need to find her. As I thought that, I looked up and saw a landing with a door. I opened it and stepped through.

The room on the other side was vast. Circular walls curved away to the left and right, with cylindrical pillars. The pillars went up and up, disappearing into the shadows, so that the ceiling, if there was one, was lost in darkness. Everything was made of the same black glass, and the white lamps on the walls and pillars seemed small and feeble against the gloom. The room should have been too big to fit into the tower, but then it was Elsewhere.

At the centre of the room was a dais, and mounted on the dais was a crystal sphere, maybe eight or ten feet wide. The sphere was nearly opaque but I thought I could make out an outline of something within. I walked out through the pillars towards it, my footsteps echoing in the stillness.

A voice spoke from behind the columns. ‘I had a feeling it was you.’

The shadows moved and Anne stepped out. One look was enough to tell me which Anne. She was wearing a black dress that left her arms and shoulders bare; its hem trailed on the floor as she walked towards me. Her gaze was locked onto me, and she did not look happy. ‘You should not be here.’

‘First you complain about being left alone; now you get upset when I visit,’ I said. I kept my voice casual, but inwardly I was keyed up. This was it. ‘Make up your mind.’

Dark Anne’s eyes flashed. ‘You’re too soon. You’ll ruin everything.’

I reached out through the dreamstone to Luna. Luna. She’s in here with me. Go get her.

All right, Luna said. We’re going in.

‘Ruin everything?’ I said. ‘What do you think’s going to happen when the Council finds out what happened today?’

‘Then you’d better make sure they don’t, hadn’t you?’ Dark Anne took a step closer, her eyes hard. ‘Now I’m only going to say this once. Get out.’

I met her gaze and spoke clearly and slowly. ‘That’s not going to happen.’

We faced each other across the black-glass floor. ‘I could have killed you any time I wanted,’ Dark Anne said. ‘You want to make me start reconsidering that?’

‘Oh, I’m sure you could,’ I said. ‘Out there. You’re about to find that Elsewhere is a little different.’

‘This is my Elsewhere,’ Dark Anne said. ‘I created it. Everything in this place, every stone, every leaf on every tree, they’re here because I made them. You think you can face me here?’

‘You didn’t create this place,’ I said. ‘It was the real Anne who did that. And you know what? I don’t think you’re capable of changing it. If you could, you’d have done it already. All you can do is hold it together, and from what I’ve seen, you’re having trouble even managing that.’

Anger flashed across Dark Anne’s face. ‘I am the real Anne.’

‘There’s still a chance to work this out,’ I said. ‘Give her back control. Because if you don’t, then I have the feeling that when she wakes up, you are not going to like what she’s going to do to you.’

‘Wake her up?’ Dark Anne’s lip curled. ‘Come and try.’

‘Fine by me,’ I said, and strode towards her.

Dark Anne didn’t hesitate. The real Anne probably would have, would have stopped to wonder why I’d walk into arm’s reach against a life mage, but this Anne wasn’t the type to stop and think. Her hand came out, green light kindling.

I caught Dark Anne’s arm at the wrist. I felt the pressure as her spell tried to attack me, but it was no more than pressure. This might be Anne’s Elsewhere, but the closer she came to me, the harder it was for her to exert her will. It was like forcing two very powerful magnets together; the closer they came, the greater the resistance. The spell slid off, and I swung her away behind me. Dark Anne staggered, then caught her balance, looking at me in confusion.

I’d already made it to the sphere. Now that I was close enough, I could see that within it was a black stone slab. Another Anne was inside, this one dressed in white, laid out with her arms by her sides. Her chest didn’t rise or fall, but somehow I had the impression she was sleeping.

‘What the hell … ?’ Dark Anne ran at me.

I caught her wrist again without turning to look. Again her magic reached out, trying to attack me, with the same result.

‘Stop it!’ Dark Anne struggled. ‘Let go!’

‘Did you make this?’ I asked her. ‘Doesn’t seem like your style.’

‘Let GO!’

I released Dark Anne and she jumped back out of range. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ I told her, ‘but I’d like some other company.’ I wondered how tough that crystal was. Only one way to find out. A giant weapon appeared in my hands, somewhere between a scythe and a pick, glowing blue-white. The haft was about ten feet long and the curving blade was as tall as I was. In the real world I wouldn’t even have been able to lift it off the ground.

‘No!’ Dark Anne said. ‘Don’t—!’

I took an overhand swing, focusing my will into the tip of the blade.

The point struck the crystal and the sphere rang like a bell. I’d been willing the blade to cut through, and as it struck I felt my will slam into something, like a blade scraping off bone. It felt like running into a brick wall. The scythe jarred out of my hands, vanishing as it touched the floor, and I staggered back.

‘Idiot!’ Anne shouted. ‘Are you trying to get us killed?’

I started to answer, then trailed off. All of a sudden I could sense another presence in the room, something stirring. I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and whirled, but there was nothing.

I turned, looking around. The great room felt hushed, waiting. I couldn’t see anything in the columns around us. Up above, the roof faded into darkness. The gloom made it hard to see, but I was sure I was being watched. I looked up, frowning. Something about the shadows around the roof felt wrong. There could be something hiding up there …

The shadows in the roof moved.

Oh. My eyes went wide. That’s not a roof.

The jinn stirred and looked down at me.

Looking at the jinn felt like something out of a dream: you have an impression, a sense, but you don’t see it, not exactly. I had a vague impression of a body, a towering shape going up and up, but it was cloaked in darkness. Or maybe not darkness; it wasn’t black, or any other colour, but something that made my eyes shy away and refuse to focus. The best comparison I can think of is what you see when you close your eyes, black and grey and specks of not-quite-light, all mixed together.

‘Just stay quiet,’ Dark Anne said, her voice low. ‘If you don’t—’

The jinn struck.

I leaped aside, jumping thirty feet to land on the other side of the sphere. For one instant I had a confused impression of two images at once, the jinn looming overhead as an incorporeal cloud and yet also swinging a blow downwards like a giant, then the strike landed. There was a ripping noise like enormous bedsheets being torn apart, and a section of floor just … vanished. All of a sudden there was a jagged twenty-foot hole. Below was nothingness – instead of the room below, I could see an endless void and distant stars.

Dark Anne staggered, putting a hand to her head. I summoned up the scythe again and struck at the sphere a second time, focusing harder. Again I felt my will slam up against the barrier, and this time a bright spike of pain went through my head.

‘Stop it!’ Dark Anne shouted. ‘Both of you!’

The jinn struck again. One of the columns was cut off at its base, the gigantic pillar toppling like a falling tree. The part of it that fell through the floor vanished; the rest crashed into the floor. The room trembled, seeming to flicker briefly in and out of existence.

I straightened up from where I’d landed on the far side of the room. I wasn’t sure why I was still alive. The amount of power the jinn had to be putting into these attacks was insane, so I didn’t know why it was having so much trouble landing a hit …

Wait. That’s it, isn’t it? The jinn was too powerful. Out in the real world, Anne could focus and direct its magic, but in here it was like a battleship trying to blow up a tuna fish.

Of course, the tuna fish isn’t going to win that battle either. I needed to get through that sphere, but how? I had the nasty feeling that if I kept attacking, I would break before it did. The dragon had told me that if I tried to sever the link between Anne and the jinn, it would destroy me. I needed a better plan.

The jinn threw some kind of attack at me that I’d never seen before; I couldn’t tell what it would do and didn’t hang around to find out. My jump took me out of range and an instant later the whole section of the room in which I’d been standing seemed to distort and vanish. Looking back at Dark Anne, I saw that she was standing in front of one of the holes in the floor, concentrating. As I watched, I saw the floor reassemble itself, the void turning back into smooth black stone.

Another attack came above, then another. Each time I managed to dodge without understanding why or how. It wasn’t my precognition that was helping me here: it was my sense of Elsewhere. Somehow I could feel the movements, like ripples in water. But those same movements gave me some sense of the jinn’s strength too, and it was terrifying. There was no way I could even think about attacking something like that.

But if I couldn’t fight this thing, what else could I do? I looked around, searching for an edge. Dark Anne was trying to split her attention between me and the damage to the room. She seemed to be trying to repair the tower, but the jinn was destroying it faster than she could patch the holes. There were gaping voids everywhere now, and beyond them I could see a strange star-filled sky that hurt my eyes. Only the sphere at the centre and the tiny patch of floor seemed to be undamaged, and that made me pause. Why would that part be untouched … ?

Because she’s the one thing the jinn can’t destroy. That was it, wasn’t it? I couldn’t drive the jinn out of this place. But Anne could.

‘Get out of here!’ Dark Anne shouted at me. ‘You’re going to get us killed!’

I reached out through the dreamstone, trying to reach Anne. I could see her right there, lying inside that sphere, and my thoughts arrowed straight towards her—

—and came up against something. There was a barrier there too, softer and more porous, but just as strong. I tried to force my way; it felt like trying to punch through a mattress.

The jinn loomed over me. I couldn’t make out its eyes or its gaze, but somehow I knew that I had its attention. There was a shift in the room as it gathered its strength, but no blow fell. This time it was something new.

The crystal sphere on the dais darkened and became opaque. The room around me seemed to vibrate, shimmering at the edge of my vision, then it began to fade, the walls and columns unravelling into nothingness.

A wave of instinctive panic shot through me, the fear of falling. The floor beneath my feet was fading to nothing, a starry abyss below, and frantically I concentrated on my footing, willing it to hold. It hesitated, then solidified – but only for a few feet. I was standing on a tiny island floating in space. Looking around, I saw that Dark Anne was on her own little island off to my right, but it was the only piece of the tower remaining. We were alone in an endless void.

I tried again to push my thoughts through to reach Anne’s, and again I failed. The barrier wasn’t hard, but it seemed to gather strength the more deeply I forced it. I thought fast: in the Tiger’s Palace I’d managed to send a message without establishing a full mental link. Maybe I could do that again. I tried to amplify my thoughts, imagining that I was shouting at Anne through a megaphone. Anne! Can you hear me?

No response. For a moment though, I could sense something; a half-awake presence, stirring. Wake up. It’s Alex. Wake up!

The jinn struck again. This time there was nowhere to go, and I froze. Can’t dodge, it’s going to kill me—

‘Alex!’ Dark Anne shouted.

I jumped. Behind me the platform was wiped from existence, and I focused desperately, imagining a landing pad. There was resistance, and for one heart-stopping moment I was sure I was going to fall for ever, then my feet came down on a new platform, smaller than the last.

‘Just go!’ Dark Anne shouted at me. It was disorientating, looking at her floating in the void on her tiny island. Even a few minutes ago she would have scared me; now, she was one of the most familiar things here.

Anne, the jinn’s here and it’s trapping you. You’re a prisoner. You have to break free. I strained to make out a response, but there was nothing. I didn’t know if she could even hear me.

‘If you keep fighting this thing it’s going to kill you!’ Dark Anne shouted.

‘Then help!’ I shouted back. ‘If there’s anyone who should be on her side, it’s you!’

‘Like hell I will!’

The jinn sent some kind of wave outwards. I felt myself thinning, growing misty; without knowing how or why I grounded myself, making myself more solid. Even diffused, the jinn’s power was terrifying and I had to struggle to stabilise myself. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dark Anne stagger. Anne, I called at the sphere. You don’t have much time. You’re being sealed in. If this keeps up I don’t know what’s going to happen to you, but it’ll be bad. Either you’ll be a prisoner for ever, or it’ll destroy you completely. If you want to live, if you want to be free, wake up and break out of there!

Nothing. I couldn’t sense any response. Maybe she was so far gone she couldn’t hear … no, she’d responded that first time, I’d felt it. Why wasn’t it working now?

‘Listen to me, Alex.’ Dark Anne came walking towards me and the platform grew outwards to accommodate her, materialising beneath her footsteps and fading away behind. I didn’t think she noticed; her eyes were fixed on me. ‘For years she’s been out there, getting to live and be happy, while I’ve been shut away in the dark. Now it’s my turn, and you want to put everything back the way it was? She goes back to being in control, and I go back to being locked in this tower?’ Dark Anne shook her head. ‘No. Not this time.’

I looked into Dark Anne’s eyes and I knew she meant it. She might not want me dead, but if I tried to imprison her again she’d fight me with everything she had—

Wait. That’s it. I’d been urging Anne to break free, to fight and survive. But those were the motivations that powered this Anne. She’d been born out of anger and desperation and the will to survive. And that wasn’t what Anne was, not at her core.

Say the right words …

Anne, I called. I didn’t try to amplify my thoughts this time; instead I made them clearer, more focused. Come to us. We need you.

‘Time to run, Alex,’ Anne said. ‘Come on, isn’t that what you do? When you can’t win, you run and live another day. Used to piss me off, but I’ll give you credit, you’re not dumb. You don’t fight losing battles.’

I thought about what running would mean. Dark Anne staying in control, with the true Anne, the one I cared about, locked here in stasis. I wouldn’t get another chance at this. The jinn would reinforce the prison and I’d never reach her again …

I reached out to Anne one last time. It was getting harder to get through; whatever the jinn was doing, it was sealing her off from mental contact as well. Please wake up. I don’t want to go back to our world without you. A breath. I love you.

No answer. The jinn loomed over me and I could sense that it was gathering power for some new kind of attack. I couldn’t see what it was and I didn’t know if I’d survive this time.

‘It’s over, Alex,’ Dark Anne said. ‘Just do the smart thing and—’

Power flared from the sphere.

With a keening crash, the crystal shattered. Thousands of shards flew outwards, and with them came a wave of white light, washing over us. In an eye-blink it was gone … and so was the starry void. The tower room was back once again, columns rising up to the ceiling, sphere lights glowing clear and bright.

Dark Anne was standing just a little way to my side, her eyes wide with shock. And at the centre of the room, standing on the dais, was another Anne, dressed in white with shoulder-length hair. Green light glowed around her, and as I watched, she looked up at the jinn.

The jinn loomed above her, a towering shape that hurt my eyes and twisted the senses, as tall as the room and more. In contrast Anne looked tiny, a doll-sized figure at the centre of a vast open space. But the light shining around her was stronger than the darkness ahead.

‘I told you not to come back,’ Anne said. She didn’t raise her voice, but it echoed around the room.

The jinn stared down at her. If I strained I could almost imagine that I could hear words, whispers at the edge of hearing.

‘Your contract is with her,’ Anne answered. ‘Not with me.’

The jinn drew itself up. The eye-twisting aura around it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. For a moment I thought I could see it: a humanoid figure, impossibly slender and tall. It reached for Anne, one long arm stretching out and down.

Light blazed, green and white. The jinn recoiled, and Anne took a step forward, a leaf-green aura glowing around her. ‘Your invitation is revoked,’ she said clearly. ‘Now get out of my head.’

The jinn struck down, and Anne rose up to meet it.

The room shook. Light exploded outwards, forcing me to shield my eyes. I couldn’t see or hear what was going on; I could sense that it was a battle, but one I couldn’t reach or affect.

And just that fast, it was over. The light winked out and I lowered my hand, looking around. Anne was still there, standing in the centre of the room … but the room was different. The shadows were gone; where the lights had been weak and dim, they now shone clearly, illuminating the walls and ceiling. I looked for the jinn and saw no trace of it. The oppressive feeling had lifted.

Anne looked around. She saw me and a smile touched her lips, then her gaze fell upon the other Anne, and the smile faded. ‘You,’ she said. And never had I heard her voice contain such venom.

Dark Anne stared back at her.

‘I am done with you.’ Anne walked straight towards her shadow, her eyes set. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done today?’

Dark Anne looked back at her, defiant. ‘You deserved it.’

Anne came to a stop in front of her. The two Annes stared at each other, light and dark mirrors. ‘How long would you have kept me like that?’ she said. ‘How long would you have used my body to go on a rampage?’

‘How long would I have kept you?’ Dark Anne said. ‘How long have you kept me?’

‘Because I had to!’ Anne shouted. ‘I saw everything you did and I thought it had to be a nightmare, because even you couldn’t be that bad. But it was real! Dozens of people are dead, Morden’s escaped and the Council is going to blame it all on me!’

‘Well, that’s what you get, isn’t it?’ Dark Anne said. ‘You wanted to be the one to live in the outside world. You get to deal with that as well.’

‘Deal with that?’ Anne said. ‘No. I’m dealing with you.’

Manacles sprang up from the floor, latching onto Dark Anne’s wrists. She looked down in shock, tried to pull away; behind her, an armchair materialised out of the floor. The chains on the manacles began to retract, drawing her backwards.

‘No!’ Dark Anne shouted, struggling. ‘Don’t you dare!’

‘Letting you run free in this tower was a mistake,’ Anne said.

The chains withdrew into the arms of the chair, locking Dark Anne’s wrists in place. Two more manacles locked around her ankles, pulling them apart to the armchair’s corners. ‘You can’t do this!’ Dark Anne shouted. ‘You need me!’

‘To do what?’ Anne asked. ‘To fight? I’m learning to do that on my own.’

‘How long do you think you can—?’ A metal band locked around Dark Anne’s neck, pulling her against the back of the chair.

‘How long?’ Anne walked forward and leaned in close, staring into her twin’s eyes. ‘However long I have to. Because you are not getting out.’

The floor underneath the chair opened and it began to slowly descend, disappearing into a black pit. There were no stars in the darkness this time. Dark Anne struggled furiously. ‘You can’t keep me like this for ever!’ she shouted at Anne. ‘You think you can just forget about me? You remember how that worked last time?’

Something about that struck a chord. ‘Anne,’ I said. ‘Wait.’

Anne turned to me, and the expression on her face was not welcoming. ‘You do not get a vote in this.’

‘What if there’s another way?’

‘I don’t care,’ Anne said. ‘This isn’t your choice to make. And I’m making sure this doesn’t happen again.’

I hesitated. I looked down at Dark Anne, disappearing into the darkness, and felt a moment’s pity for her. But then I remembered the guards I’d seen massacred at San Vittore. They’d just gone in to work to do their jobs, and they’d been torn apart by summoned monsters. Maybe Dark Anne did deserve some sympathy, but her victims deserved a lot more.

The chair vanished from sight, and the floor began to close over Dark Anne, but her voice floated up from the pit, high and furious. ‘I won’t be here for ever! You hear me? I’ll be—’ The floor sealed and her words were cut off.

Anne let out a long breath, then turned to me. ‘Thank you,’ she said simply. Then she closed her eyes and slipped to the floor. I darted to catch her, but she was already fading, turning to mist. In an instant she was gone. I was alone in the room.

I reached out through the dreamstone. Luna. Report.

There was a moment’s wait, agonisingly long, then I felt Luna’s thoughts, strong and clear. We’ve got her.

I closed my eyes, feeling a wave of relief wash through me. We won. Anne’s herself.

Good. We’re heading home.

I took a last look around the black chamber, now silent and empty. I knew that the other Anne was somewhere beneath me, locked away, and that still wasn’t something I was fully comfortable with. But Anne was in control again and the jinn was gone, and I knew we were lucky to be walking away with as much as we had. I turned and created a door that would take me out of Elsewhere and back to the waking world.