| |
The wall doesn’t look solid when we get up close, more like a long beam of green light. “Walk into it,” Inez says when she sees me eyeing it edgily. “Nothing bad will happen.”
I stick an arm into the wall of green light. The temperature drops a little, and I can no longer see my hand, but my fingers are fine when I withdraw my arm.
“Do it,” Inez says. “I dare you.”
I glare at her – I hate it when people turn something into a dare – but take a quick step forward, into the buffer. There’s a second where it’s like being inside a heavy green mist. Then I’m stepping out, and Inez is in front of me.
I blink with confusion.
“How did that happen?” I mutter. “I didn’t turn or take a step back.”
“That’s the way buffers work,” Inez says. “Once you move into one, you find yourself stepping out again. You can’t stay inside. It’s impossible.”
I try again and the same thing happens.
“Cool,” I beam.
Inez moves to one of the shimmering patches that I noticed from the hill. It’s the size of a door, but jagged round the edges, a dark blue colour. “This is a borehole,” she says.
“Like on the bridge?”
“Yes, but that was hidden and required a key, whereas this is open.” Inez points to more boreholes, which are different colours, shapes and sizes. “Each leads to a zone, but I’ve no idea what they’re like. We’ll try this one and hope for the best.”
“Is it safe?” I ask.
“Probably,” she says, “but there’s always a risk when you take a step into the unknown.”
I gulp. “Is there any other way to cross?”
“Through the vines.” She nods at the network above us. “We could slice our way into one of them and follow it for a time, then cut our way out again in a different zone, but that could lead anywhere as well.”
“What if we just stay here?” I ask.
“And do what?” she throws back.
I glance at the ghost village and see her point.
“There’s a third option,” she says. “We could part company and you could return to the bridge.”
I chew my lower lip.
“If I go with you,” I say quietly, “how long before I can return home?”
Inez shrugs. “I’ve no idea. I have a long way to go, and the path will be hard. There’s no telling when I’ll find my way back to the Born, or even if I will. You saw the men who are chasing me.”
“The killers will target you again?” I ask.
“Oh yes,” she says darkly.
“Why?” I whisper.
“That answer lies further down the road, if you travel with me.” She sighs. “My advice is to go back.”
I almost do turn tail, but then I remember the house of death. Silence and sorrow wait for me at home. This, on the other hand, is a place of wonders. The risk might be great, but the lure of the Merge proves greater.
“Let’s see what’s through the borehole,” I bleat.
Inez doesn’t smile. She simply nods, then steps through the door of shimmering blue. And I step through after her.