Part 20 (2/2)

Dee says, *I don't want to die.'

*Hey, Rain, what's up? Are you OK? You look a bit sick . . .' Mossie waves at me as I hover in the doorway.

I am sick. Sick of bombs, of blood, of war a” all of it. Why won't someone make it all go away? I want my mama. I want to go home.

I dodge out of the school, split across the edge of the sports field runway and start sprinting through Sea-Way's streets. I need no ac-reqs from Aura to find my route, even through road-blocks and refugees.

I'm vaguely aware of people around me. Some are lined up at ration centres to get their daily dose of food packets. Some are hurrying to work in shabby uniforms. Some are stringing up party lamps. These will be for the Festival of Light that's planned to cheer the final day a” is it only one more day? a” before the Eclipse begins. They'll keep s.h.i.+ning all through the Long Night so no one has to be afraid of the dark . . . Or will Aura give orders for total blackout?

Slick-licked plant-life is being pulled from cracks in roads and walls, then loaded on to barrows to be burned in one of the many bonfires along the banks of River Seaward. There are other fires . . . for cremating bodies.

Here's the park, now a tent city for homeless foodlanders. Here's my street, complete with signs and arrows for the new underground bomb shelter. Here I am, at the entrance to People's Number 2032 Housing Block . . . at the top of ten flights of stairs, at the door to my apartment . . . standing in the doorway with eyes wide and mouth open.

Mama's home. She's not yet left for her s.h.i.+ft at Glissom's. There she is, next to a plate of half-eaten breakfast. She's got her arms round a black-haired girl and both of them are crying.

*Haze?' The name sticks in my throat. *Mama?'

This is the scene I saw in the bath-house basin of water. This is Haze's fortune.

*Rain? I didn't know you'd be here . . .' Mama loosens her hold on Haze and rubs tears from her eyes. *Don't look like that! Come in, shut the door, sit down, quick. It's a shock, I know.'

The lights are so bright! What is Haze doing in my home? What is she doing anywhere in my world? I wish I could slam her so hard against the wall it dents.

Haze moves so the table is between us. Her eyes are darting everywhere, looking for a way of escape. Stupid lump, she starts to cry again.

*Don't hurt me,' she gulps. *It's not my fault. I just wanted to get away from the forest and find my mama. I just want everything that's mine.'

*I don't understand.'

Were three words ever so completely inadequate to sum up my confusion?

*Oh, Rain . . .' Mama looks sad for me, but she doesn't come any closer to give me a hug. Then she frowns. *Is that really your name?'

*It's my name,' Haze tells me, *but I don't want it back; you can keep it. Keep your friends and your clothes and your flying. I just want my family. My life.'

I find my voice again. *Whatever she's told you, it's lies, Mama. She's been making trouble for me ever since we met. She's mean, she's crazy.'

*And she's an impostor,' whines Haze.

Mama shakes her head. *I never thought . . . I mean, we did wonder, your papi and I, but we never said anything. It was just a feeling, you know, when you sense something's wrong for no obvious reason. My baby was missing, and then you were found. Why wouldn't I think it was you?' She turns to Haze. *I'm so, so sorry. I should've known there'd been a mistake. But she looked like my baby a” how could she not be real?'

*I am real!' I shout. *Mama, I'm standing right here in front of you! Look at me a” it's me. Rain. Your daughter!'

*What's all the racket?' comes a familiar voice from the doorway. Right on cue, Pedla Rue, scuttling across the hallway to stick her nose in. She's got a can with a long spout that drips Slick, perfect for squirting into nooks where plant-life nestles. *Well now, look who's home . . . Rain!'

*See a” Pedla, you know me, don't you? Tell her! Tell Mama who I am.'

Pedla stops short. She squints at me, then Haze.

*All right, I give up. What's going on?'

*There was a storm,' Mama whispers. *Last Long Night, all those years ago. We lost power and had to light candles. My baby wouldn't stop crying and crying. I was so cold, so tired . . . I only put her down for a moment, I swear. I went to the kitchen to make a hot drink. The candles blew out. I had to feel everything in the dark a” it was horrible! When I got back to the bedroom the window was open and the cot was empty; there was just my baby's blanket inside, all crumpled up. I didn't know what to do! This was before Aura and connecting. I screamed for your papi and we ran out into the village.'

*Sorrowdale,' I say in a dull voice.

*That's right a” how did you know that?'

I close my eyes and think back to that sombre morning walk in the ruins of Sorrowdale, now grown to town-size. Now destroyed by war. *I remember bits.'

*You couldn't remember the storm, you were too younga”'

*And it wasn't you,' interrupts Haze. *I was the baby that was stolen. People should've run to the G.o.d-house to ring bells as soon as the storm started. They should've known witches would come!'

Pedla hisses through her teeth. *Witches took you? I'm always telling people to watch out for witches! We just aren't protected any more. That's what comes of rooting up feybane bushes and taking down the G.o.d-house bells. Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?'

Haze nods. *I learned the story from the old woman who slaved me. She said my mother ran to the G.o.d-house to ask where I was, but G.o.d was gone too, so my mother sat on the edge of G.o.d's garden where the dead are buried.'

*Then I found you again,' Mama sobs. *There you were on a bed of feathers. I took you home, Rain.'

So those visions back at Sorrowdale, and in the wreckage of the Biopolis, they weren't just hallucinations. They were memories of the time I was found. The day baby Haze was stolen.

Mama says, *I was so, so careful after that. I swore I'd never let anything else happen to my baby. I told you all the rules so you'd be good, so the witches wouldn't steal you again. Then Aura said none of the Old Nation stories were true, that there were no such things as witches. We came to Sea-Ways to start over. I honestly didn't know what had really happened that Long Night, until Haze came here today . . .' She breaks into full-blown weeping. *We loved you, truly we did, sweeting. We didn't know you weren't normal. You looked like my baby, you cried like my baby, but . . .'

I've had enough. *Shut up going on about it! It's all just insane! What if Scrutiners could hear you?'

Pedla sniffs the air as if suddenly smelling something rotten. *All this time I've been warning folk about monsters, never guessing there'd be one living right on my doorstep, as sly as you please.'

*Oh, don't call her a monster!' cries Mama. *She can't help what she is.'

*Don't call me anything!' I howl. *I'm your daughter, Mama. You know I am. There's no such thing as witches!'

Pedla puts down her can of Slick and fumbles in the pocket of her shabby cardigan. *You've always laughed at me for carrying these things around . . . Here, see how you like them ringing!'

I flinch as she thrusts a set of jangling bells in my face. *Stop it!'

Pedla shouts over the sound of the bells. *They don't grow children of their own, these witches. The stories all say they steal real babies and keep them as slaves, setting false things in their place.'

*That's what you are,' says Haze, pointing a shaky finger right at me. *You're the abomination. The witch sp.a.w.n. The changeling. It's you.'

Witch. A witch. A witch . . .

I can't get away quickly enough. The whispers follow me down all ten flights of stairs and into the street. The rumours grow, and a crowd grows too. Pedla must be messaging ahead to warn neighbours where I am. I walk, eyes down, thinking, Don't look at me don't look at me don't see me i'm not here . . .

Someone points.

*Is that her?'

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