Chapter Forty-Six
IT WAS all arranged for Elliot to come and stay with Farlden and Barve’s family for the first week of the Christmas holiday and he was looking forward to meeting them, although he was also nervous. He really hoped he could make a good impression on them and that they wouldn’t have any objections to his relationship with Farlden.
He finished packing his largest suitcase, just leaving the last minute things like toothbrush and comb to add tomorrow morning before they left. He picked up the list he had made over dinner and checked that each item was in the case then, satisfied, he locked it and pulled it off the bed, leaving it on the floor in front of the window.
He left his room, locking the wooden door behind him, and walked up the familiar corridor to his boyfriend’s room. Boyfriend. The thought of everything that little word stood for made a smile come to his lips and he felt as if he could start dancing or singing.
It didn’t seem possible that he had only known Farlden for twelve weeks. His entire life had changed beyond recognition since then: getting to know the town, campus and halls; beginning studying for a degree; making friends; and falling head over heels in love. The strength of his feelings was still a shock, although it probably shouldn’t be given the passion he and Farlden had put into arguing as they got to know each other.
Farlden greeted him with a kiss and a smile, brown eyes full of warmth, and let him into the room. Elliot had hoped they might have a bit of time alone together but instead found not just Barve, but also Dervyl here.
“I have to show you something now,” Dervyl said. “Will you trust me?”
Elliot hesitated. He still hadn’t reached a decision about whether to get involved with the Izient and Nean plans but he had no reason not to go with her, particularly if it gave him more of an idea what their plans actually were. “All right.”
He took her hand. She felt just like an ordinary person but, when she led him sideways, they were standing somewhere else. Somewhere alien.
“This is the dimension where you live,” he realised, looking round, but all he could see were strange creatures – that looked a bit like giant mice – and an open landscape that could have still been Earth.
“Yes,” she said. “Come on – this isn’t what you need to see.”
They took another step and were in a disappointingly boring-looking office corridor.
“Your world..?”
“Your mother is here and you need to hear what she’s about to say.”
These words were enough to pull his mind from what he had just seen and the thousands of questions he had about it. “Where is this?”
“A government-owned building in London, near Downing Street. Few people know about it because it deals with everything to do with magic.”
“Why would that be a secret? Everyone knows about magic.”
A man in a lab coat came through the doors at the end of the corridor and began walking towards them.
“Are we allowed to be here?” Elliot whispered.
“No,” Dervyl said at normal volume. “If we were discovered, we would be arrested or worse. Don’t let go of my hand.”
The man was walking right at Dervyl and, before Elliot could do more than gasp, he kept moving through the space she was occupying and onwards, past them, towards the door at the other end.
“What just happened?” Elliot asked, staring at Dervyl and then the disappearing man.
“We’re still in my dimension. We don’t exist here so we can’t be seen or heard. I’m just using my abilities – magic, as you’d call it – to experience this world while remaining outside it. I’ll explain more fully another time. Come on.”
They walked through the door the man who passed them had come from and entered a large room. Elliot’s stomach dropped as he saw two Neans chained up like animals and he wanted to do something to help them, but Dervyl pulled him in the opposite direction, towards a small group of people, some in lab coats and others in suits.
“We’ve talked about this at least fifty times,” a middle-aged man in a charcoal suit said, “and I want reasoned arguments and a definitive answer. Can we use magic to travel through time?”
“Yes,” a man said at once.
“No,” the woman opposite him said with equal determination. She wore a white lab coat over a blue dress.
“Some magic users have the ability to affect Time, so of course it’s possible,” the man insisted.
“I apologise,” the woman said in a sarcastic tone. “I was wrong. If we put all our resources into making this theory a reality then it’s certainly possible for a magic user – a part-Nean – to travel through Time, where we won’t have any control over them, and where they could cause any kind of catastrophes. Is that what anyone wants?”
The argument continued as Dervyl took Elliot past the oblivious group and through another door. A man Elliot recognised at once as the Prime Minister, was sitting behind a desk talking to a woman that Elliot saw, with a jolt of unease, was his mother.
“This Nean at my son’s university was able to make himself resemble other people,” she was saying. “What if he impersonated you? Do you understand now what I’ve been saying all along about Neans being a danger to every Sapiens? They need to be wiped out.”
“I told her these things,” Elliot said, bile rising in his throat. He would never trust her again after this. “I wanted her to help Farlden and Barve and, instead, she’s using information I gave her to try to destroy the Nean race.”
“This Prime Minister may not agree with her but your mother has also had conversations with the American President and other powerful people, many of whom might be persuaded to support her in time.”
Dervyl stepped sideways with him and Elliot found himself back in Farlden’s Uni bedroom. Barve and Farlden both stepped forward to check he was okay and Elliot held his boyfriend tightly, even more afraid for them than when the racist attacks were taking place.
“Why were there Neans in chains at that place?” he asked, stepping back to talk to Dervyl, but keeping hold of Farlden’s hand.
“Neans – or people more Nean than Sapiens – with magic are still kept as slaves. Did you really imagine that the different governments on this planet would allow people with powerful magic to roam about freely? Nean magic users, like Farlden, are forced to use their magic as those in charge see fit. If they refuse to cooperate, their families are threatened or tortured. Sapiens magic users also have to work for the governments but they retain their freedom, to an extent.”
“Did you know what Sapiens had planned for you?” he asked Farlden.
“Yeah. We’ve known for a couple of years.”
No wonder he had been so bitter and angry when Elliot had met him. Elliot thought of Farlden being made to use his magic as a weapon or device for serving the UK government, Barve and his parents hurt if he didn’t do as he was told. After all his worrying, there wasn’t a decision left to make. “What can we do to stop this?”
She took in his expression and gave a satisfied smile. “We’re going to use magic to transform this reality into somewhere better.”
It looked as if he couldn’t avoid his destiny after all, Elliot thought: his mother had always said he would one day change the world.