The Abbey, Auchinmurn Bay and Era Mina,
Present Day
Vaughn stood in front of Em’s triptych, which had been set up in the library. He looked like he was deep in contemplation. Em bit her lip, wondering what he was thinking. Was travelling back in time via the painting to rescue Matt an impossible idea?
When she had come downstairs after sleeping for a few hours, she had been angry with Zach at first, for breaking his promise and telling the adults her plan. But remembering her helplessness at the hands of Henrietta, a part of her was glad too. She had told the adults everything that had happened to her in the cottage, in the knowledge that she wouldn’t be alone this time.
‘The impressions you’ve captured of this unfinished battle, Em,’ Vaughn said at last, tracing the images of Malcolm and the knights and the Grendel. ‘It reminds me of the battle depicted in the Royal Academy tapestry that Henrietta stole.’
Renard grunted in agreement. ‘The details are different, but the image is much the same,’ he agreed. ‘You saw the tapestry at the cottage, Em. Does it now show this scene instead of the original?’
Em remembered the ghastly beauty of the tapestry that Tanan had unrolled in the crofter’s cottage. She had been struck by the similarities too. ‘It’s almost exactly the same,’ she said.
‘A possible past,’ said Simon a little grimly. ‘Malcolm in victory, conquering the Grendel.’
‘Possible but not yet fixed in history,’ Renard said. ‘Remember, time isn’t linear.’
‘Concentric circles,’ said Em, recalling the whirling lights above Era Mina, and the helix.
‘If the tapestry has changed again, Henrietta will know,’ said Sandie.
‘Not necessarily,’ Zach signed. He looked at Em. ‘You said they had to unroll it? Maybe they rolled it up again. Maybe now Matt’s the one standing in victory at the centre, but no one knows that yet.’
Em smiled at Zach, feeling better at this thought. ‘Can you sense Henrietta’s presence, Grandpa?’ she asked.
‘I know that she’s close, but nothing more specific than that,’ Renard said.
‘Henrietta is skilled at masking her mind. If she has Tanan and Mara to help her, then she may have also masked her physical presence in some way. But let’s not worry about that.’
‘We should eat,’ said Sandie. ‘There’s macaroni cheese, if you can face it. I burned the top, I’m afraid.’
‘That’s why ketchup was invented,’ said Vaughn, earning a cuff on the shoulder.
Everyone turned away from the tall windows and headed to the kitchen. They missed the brief frizz of electricity spidering over the bay outside, revealing for one short moment the animated blue outline of a sleek yacht bobbing on the water. It was gone again in an instant.
Inside the large and comfortable cruiser, Henrietta was preparing dinner in the yacht’s galley. She squeezed a fresh lime into a mixing bowl, adding chopped garlic and crushed red peppers, blending the ingredients well. Touching her finger to the cloudy liquid, she lifted a droplet to her lips. Perfect to mask the taste of the valerian root she had been feeding Mara and Tanan for the past few days. It had only had a slight soporific effect on Tanan so far, but Mara was already beginning to think she was ill. Today’s dose, added to what had accumulated in their systems to date, would be enough to take care of Mara at least.
Reaching into a bag on the narrow counter, she lifted out a small plastic box containing a dark green root. She cut two thin slices and chopped them finely, scraping them with the back of the knife into her lime marinade. Finally, she drizzled the poisoned dressing over two of the prawn skewers and popped them under the grill.
She looked out through a porthole at the monk’s tower dominating the beach on this side of Era Mina. Then her gaze passed across the water to the grounds opposite, the jetty and the lawn of the Abbey itself. The lights were on in the library, but there was no one inside. The powerful binoculars Mara had animated earlier had shown Henrietta that Emily and the others had retired to the kitchen.
The timer beeped on the grill. Henrietta slid the prawns on to plates already prepared with a salad, which she carried from the galley to the table in the spacious, well-appointed cabin.
‘How long will we have to wait here?’ asked Tanan moodily, pouring himself a glass of red wine.
‘Not long now,’ said Henrietta, lifting her glass. ‘Salut.’
Tanan and Mara held their glasses aloft. Mara’s hand was a little shaky.
‘To our sons and daughters,’ said Henrietta, smiling benevolently at her conspirators. ‘May you never forget imagination is the real and the eternal.’
‘This is Hollow Earth,’ replied the others.
Mara clinked glasses with Tanan and gulped her wine.
Before she could finish her salad she was dead.