Pearce woke to discover his brain being squeezed between the calloused hands of a strong and angry god. At least that’s how it felt, and the residual hallucinogen in his system helped him picture an Olympian standing over him, crushing his skull, giving him the worst headache of his life. He squinted, and dimming the bright sunlight streaming through the three floor-to-ceiling windows seemed to dull the pain. He fumbled as he reached across the bed for a can of Coke on the beside cabinet. He cracked it open and gulped it down.
‘The caffeine counteracts the worst of the hangover,’ Mary said.
Pearce opened his eyes fully and looked for the woman who’d drugged him. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so he got to his feet and staggered through the Blue Room to the dressing room. He heard running water and splashing and walked on to find Mary in a huge cast-iron bath at the heart of a grand bathroom.
‘Good morning,’ she said.
Was it morning? Pearce looked at the sunshine catching the tops of the trees beyond the two sash windows.
‘How long have I been …’ He trailed off. He was disorientated and wasn’t sure whether to challenge her for what she’d done. Would a former soldier in search of answers be angry at having been drugged? Or grateful for the opportunity to find enlightenment? He wasn’t sure what emotion would seem most convincing, so he stayed neutral.
‘Two days,’ she replied. ‘Please don’t be angry with me. I have a responsibility to keep everyone safe, and there is no better way to get to know a person.’ She touched her palm to her solar plexus. ‘Our connection is profound.’
Pearce wracked his memory, trying to recall what he’d told Mary, but he drew a blank. He obviously hadn’t broken cover otherwise he’d have been cast out or killed by now, but he had no idea what he’d said or what truth or lies he now had to adhere to. It was a dangerous position to be in.
‘Can you forgive me?’ Mary asked. ‘Join me. Let’s baptize ourselves to mark a new dawn.’
Pearce wanted to be angry, but there was something so beguiling about this warm, charismatic woman. She was so direct and yet managed to retain an air of mystery. He lowered himself into the bath opposite her, and she moved to be next to him.
‘We can’t be long,’ she said. ‘There’s someone I want you to meet.’
She kissed him, and whether it was a lingering after-effect of the drugs or his imagination, her touch felt electric against his skin.
An hour later, Pearce was in the passenger seat of a blue Mitsubishi Outlander hybrid as Mary steered it along deserted country lanes that burst with colour. The verges were dotted with late-blooming wildflowers and the trees by the roadside were rich in reds and yellows, their interlinked branches forming a canopy high above them. The mottled light breaking through took them from shade to dazzling sunshine every few yards.
Mary didn’t speak much. Instead they listened to a RY X album, and she seemed to lose herself in the melancholy of the music.
‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ she remarked, as they crested a rise.
The creased Welsh countryside was laid out before them, and stretched to distant mountains. The sunshine bled the most distant hills to pastel, but the nearest were a rich green.
‘We’ve been terrible custodians of this planet,’ Mary said. ‘When I see it so empty and perfect, I wonder if it wouldn’t be better off without us.’
She looked at Pearce as though hoping for a reassuring response, but he gave her none. What was there to say? Humans plundered the Earth for its natural resources and polluted its air and water with the by-products, but he wasn’t about to apologize for his existence. Nor would he condemn others. Mary was engaging in dangerous talk. Someone who believed the world would be better off without people was capable of anything.
‘That’s where we’re going,’ she said, pointing towards a collection of modern buildings that shone in the valley below them.
It looked like a high-tech industrial park, but even at this distance, Pearce could see grass-covered roofs and large pipes fed by ground heating systems.
‘We’re going to see the man who convinced me we need to save the world,’ Mary said as they started down the hill.