Part 40 (1/2)

'Dawn,' said Tess.

'Not yet,' said Declan. 'But it's coming.'

'We must go back. Quickly!'

'But why? Now that you know what you are, you need never go back there again.'

'But I have to,' said Tess. 'I promised Kevin that I would.'

Declan opened his mouth to protest but, with an authority that surprised her, Tess summoned a wind and commanded it to carry her back to the sidhe in the crag.

Kevin was waiting outside the door in the rock. As Tess made her dramatic arrival, he jumped to his feet.

'Thank G.o.d,' he said. 'I thought you weren't going to make it.'

'Don't worry,' said Declan, who had swept in behind her in the trees. 'There isn't any hurry.'

'I think there is,' said Kevin. 'I think that any moment now the sun is going to rise.'

'So what if it does?' said Declan. 'Tess has made her decision, haven't you, Tess?'

There was a rus.h.i.+ng and a whispering among the trees. Although she couldn't see them, Tess knew that there were others there with them, waiting to welcome her into their company. She nodded, realising that Declan was right. She had made her decision. Now that she had found her heritage, how could she renounce it?

But Kevin was adamant. 'No, Tess. No. Think again.'

'But why?' said Tess. 'You could join us if you wanted to. You can't imagine how it feels.'

'Maybe not,' said Kevin. 'But I've been doing a lot of thinking.'

'Don't think,' said Declan. 'It's a terrible weakness that people have. I thought you were set on being a rat, anyway?'

As he said the words, he pointed at Kevin and Switched him. There he was, the rat with two toes missing, so familiar to Tess from the days when she had first known him. She experienced a sense of de ja vu, then remembered her dream and the strong sense of foreboding that had accompanied it. Something was very wrong.

Kevin spoke to her in rat. 'Girl changing rat back into boy. Very fast! Rat turning into boy! Rat turning into boy!'

In the background another rat voice added itself to the demand and Tess realised that Cat Friend was there, watching everything that was going on.

Tess remembered her lessons with Declan and Switched Kevin back, delighted to show off her new powers. How could she possibly give them up, now that she was discovering the full extent of them?

'Changed your mind?' said Declan, as Kevin became human again.

'Yes,' said Kevin. 'I have. I want to be human, Tess, and I think you should, too.'

'Why?' said Tess. 'Give me one good reason.'

Kevin glanced towards the east, and worry was carved into his features.

'I will,' he said. 'Just hear me out, will you?'

Declan looked disdainful, but Tess nodded and Kevin went on.

'I could live a happy life as a rat. I know I could. And you could live forever as you are; young and beautiful, a magical being. But neither of us would have influence, you see?'

'Influence?' said Declan, and as he spoke a wind rose and began to bl.u.s.ter around in the trees above their heads. 'What would you know about influence?'

'I'm not even sure what you are, Tess,' Kevin went on. 'Are you? Remember what Declan was saying about adapting to people's perceptions? What if that's all you are? Just a figment of someone else's imagination?'

Declan's face darkened, and he took Tess's arm as though to draw her away. But she shook her head and turned back to Kevin.

'Go on,' she said.

'I don't know,' he said, rus.h.i.+ng his words now in a desperate race against the irresistible turning of the planet. 'I don't know what you are or what he is. But I do know that if you become like him, if that's the choice you make, then you won't belong to this world any longer.'

His words unsettled Tess. The wind in the trees got rougher, more insistent. Declan gripped her arm again.

'Don't listen to him,' he said.

But Kevin was not going to be put off. 'This world, Tess. This world that we both love so much.' He tore a clump of moss from a rock and held its earthy scent to her nose. 'I came to an understanding tonight,' he went on. 'About what it meant to be a Switcher. I realised that it doesn't matter whether or not I can change my shape; not any more. What matters is that being a Switcher taught me ... taught you as well, Tess ... how to adapt. How to change to meet whatever situation arises, even though we might look the same from outside.'

Tess nodded. What Kevin was saying was something that she knew and believed, even though she had never succeeded in putting words on it.

'I can see my future at last,' he was saying. 'It came to me tonight as I was waiting here. I'm going to get off the streets, Tess, get some education if I need to, do whatever it takes to get into a position where I can make a difference. These woods are safe, now, they will stay as they are. But all over the world there are wild places being destroyed. I'm going to be there, Tess. I'm going to campaign, try to stop it happening, stand in front of the bulldozers if I have to.'

A few drops of rain began to fall, but despite them the first blackbird sang a tentative phrase from a nearby branch.

'All those creatures, Tess! We know them better than anyone. Who will fight their corner if we don't, eh?'

A light touch, light as a moth, tickled Tess's ankle. Cat Friend was there again, reaching up, her whiskers twitching. The simple gesture of trust brought a charge of emotion into Tess's bones.

'We can be their amba.s.sadors, Tess; their voice in the world. It will help the fairy people, too, if we can save the wild places!'

Declan was tugging at her again. 'Don't listen to that nonsense,' he said. 'Stay with me, Tess, and ride the wild winds at night. Look at the gold you have on you. Look at your wealth. You'll never have such power in any other life.'

The rain fell harder. A second bird began to sing and there were two small voices in the darkness. As the first ray of the rising sun found a way past the clouds and crept in among the leaves another bird voice joined them, and then another. Kevin held out his hand.

And Tess took it.

Then all h.e.l.l broke loose around them as Declan unleashed the full fury of the storm. Instinctively, Tess ducked down and shrank against the flat wall of the crag. Kevin joined her, s.h.i.+elding his head with his arms as lightning blasted the heart out of a huge boulder just feet away.

'It's OK,' said Tess, clutching at his jacket. 'It's OK.'

Again the lightning struck, and again. High above them it hit the exposed crag once, twice, three times. An ominous rumble began, deep inside the mountain.