The Prophecy Machine

21

All the way up from the cellar, all the way up to their room, Letitia didn't speak, wouldn't look at him, wouldn't say a word. It seemed to Finn that she was scarcely there, that the real Letitia was hidden somewhere within a shell, a shell that looked much like the real Letitia Louise. And when they were finally there, safe within the room, safe as one could be with a door whose knob had vanished years before, Letitia climbed in bed, turned away and pulled a dusty sheet about her head.

“Now I know you're upset,” Finn said, sitting on the edge of a chair, “and I know you're angry with me. But hiding under there won't solve a thing, Letitia, I'm sure you know that.”

“Yes, I'm very upset,” she said beneath the covers, “and I'm very angry with you. You're wrong about the last. Hiding under here solves everything for me. Whatever happens next, I don't intend to see.”

“She's got a point,” said Julia Jessica Slagg. “It always works for me. I simply make a little click inside, and it all goes away.”

“Nobody asked for your help. Nobody needs your advice. Be very quiet, or I'll give you to that old man who's dying to take you apart.”

Julia knew this wasn't so, that he'd never do that. Still, she was good at reading vocal tones and what they might imply, so she rattled off in a corner and shut her ruby eyes.

“We have to talk,” Finn said. “If you feel better under there, then stay. I can hear you well enough, and you can hear me.”

Finn waited for some reply. When nothing came, he assumed she agreed and went on.

“From the moment we arrived in this place, I felt, and I'm sure you'll agree, that everyone here is addled, crackers, one hand short of a clock. Everything that's happened since has enhanced my feelings on this. I won't go over the events, you know them as well as I. But this, this whatever-it-is in the cellar, this monstrous machine, this is the most frightening thing of all …”

These last words, it seemed, had a great effect on Letitia Louise. She tossed the sheet aside, sat up at once, and looked thoughtfully at Finn.

“You really felt it then, is that what you're telling me now? I thought-what I thought, from your total disregard, was you didn't even know what was happening there. You surely didn't act as if you did.”

“I'm sorry, my dear. I never meant to be uncaring, but I felt I ought to see just how deranged these people are. It's truly worse than I thought. Sabatino's mean of spirit and possibly daft, but the old man's totally deranged.”

Finn shook his head. “He believes that pile of rubbish, that junkyard down there, is really retching up mail from the future. I can't imagine what he-”

“Oh, Finn …” Letitia covered her face with both hands. When she looked up again, all signs of anger or displeasure were gone. Now her features held no emotion at all.

“You say you felt it, but I'm not sure you did. Not the way I did, dear. There's something really awful, something terrible, down there. If I ever had to face it again, I fear my heart would simply stop.”

“Letitia …” Finn left his chair and sat beside her on the bed. He touched her hand and found it limp and cold.

“I did feel something, I assure you of that. I touched the thing, and nearly got sick on the spot. But it's nothing to fear, it's some kind of natural force, something like, what-? Like lightning struck and you were close to the tree.”

“No. It's not like that at all.” Letitia jerked her hand away, but her eyes impaled Finn. Locked in a daze, locked in a stare, yet somewhere else, somewhere far away.

“You can believe that awful thing's real or it's not. It doesn't matter, Finn. But it's more than a machine, I'll tell you that. Magic's at work down there … No, now don't interrupt, just listen to me. When I'm done, you can argue with me then.

“This is what you have to do. And don't tell me you won't or you can't, or anything of the sort. You must leave, you must go back to town. Find another Mycer there, find her and tell her my name. Tell her my mother's name, which was Liliana, of the Phileas Clan. Tell her that, and she'll know you're all right. Newlies don't pass out names like humans do, we know better than that.

“And it must be a she. Never mind why. I didn't see any Mycers in town, but I'm certain someone's there, I can feel it, Finn. When you find them, tell them we have to have a seer. Tell them it has to be a Rubinella, First Order. Don't forget. It won't do any good if she's any less than that.”

She reached out then and squeezed his hand. “Now you're going to say you wouldn't leave me on a bet. That this is all nonsense in my head. You will go though, because you have to, Finn. Julia won't let them harm me, and I doubt they'll even try. They'll let you go, because they know you'll come back to me.

“Can you do this? You have to, love. I can't explain why, because I don't really know. But I know what's down there is wrong, and we have to do something, or I don't think we'll ever get out of here alive.”

Finn stared at her a moment before he could even find his voice.

“Skillets and Pans,” he said, feeling a chill lift the hairs on his neck. “I don't know what to say. I can't imagine where you're getting all this. It's not like you at all.”

“It is, though. It's just not a part of me you know, and I don't have time to tell you now. You'll do it though, won't you? You'll trust me, Finn, because we do have a great love for each other, and I'm sorry we had a small fight. I hate doing that, even if they're small, because I care a great deal about you.”

Finn took a breath. “I don't like it, but I will, though I don't know what it's all about. But you do, it seems. That will have to be enough for me now.”

Letitia smiled, the smile that always reassured him everything was right, though the rest of the world was completely unstable, totally out of whack. Which, quite clearly, it most surely was now …