PLACE: Gracious apartment, Glass Column in Thousandeye City.
DATE: Unknown. Equivalent to the fifty-sixth night after my Sovereign Hourglass was turned over.
I received an unusual visit today. My Phoenix came to see me. It brought me a message from Dragomira. I miss her so badly…
It was an extremely important message.
It contained the information we’ve all been waiting for.
At the moment, I’m the only one who knows it.
And the only one who is worrying about what will happen. Will I be able to bear it?
It is now three days and three nights since I came back from the Peak Ridge Mountains. Three endless, difficult and depressing days and nights for my family and friends.
But it will be worse when they know what I know.
I know all the details.
But it isn’t that simple. Nothing ever is and nothing ever will be. “That’s the Pollocks for you,” as Gus would say.
I’m going to be able to open the Portal in exactly nine hours, in other words when one hundred and eighty grains have flowed through the Hourglass in front of me. I’d like to turn it over, stop time, go back and start again. Do things differently.
I’m the one who has the key.
The keys. Because there are two.
The Portal will only open twice. After that, it will remain closed for ever. So everyone will have to choose.
The Outside or Edefia.
The Ageless Ones didn’t tell me everything before—there is more to the Ephemeral Secret now.
More than just the opening.
Everything can be told, because the keys are the Secret. Only the keys.
They’re in my head. That’s the safest place for them. But even though they’re only words, they weigh heavily on me. Very heavily.
My mother and Gus will be cured. The thing I want most in the world is to find them and save them.
If everything goes without a hitch, they’ll be able to come back with me to Edefia, Abakum has promised me that. If I had to give up my powers in exchange for the Integrator Capacitors he’s just created, I’d do it willingly. No doubt at all!
Abakum is a genius. He is extraordinary. In every sense of the word. What would I do without him?
Integrator Capacitors—what a brainwave! We just have to wait thirty-three days for the substance to become deeply rooted in the bodies of the Spurned and the Portal will no longer be an insurmountable barrier for them!
They’ll be able to pass through as easily as any Insider.
If everything goes without a hitch.
Everything has to go without a hitch.
What I’ve said isn’t strictly true, which is why I have such mixed feelings on a day when I should be so happy.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’m torn in two and it’s impossible to reconcile the two halves.
What did I think would happen? What did I hope for?
Not just any Insider will be able to pass back through the Portal. Only my Watcher Abakum and those with Gracious Hearts.
Jeanne and Pierre…
Naftali and Brune…
Tugdual…
They’ll have to stay behind.
Why do we always have to be parted?
Will we see each other again?
Will we be happy one day?
I shall use one of the two keys in a few hours. My mother and Gus can’t wait any longer.
But before I do, I shall start the rumour that the Portal is about to be opened.
That’s the best way to draw Orthon. Acting on information from his spy, he’ll lose no time in attacking Thousandeye City so that he can access the Portal.
We have to thwart him and I won’t open the Portal until we have. We can’t run the risk of him passing through to the Outside. He’s too dangerous.
Everything has to go without a hitch.