Part 12. Prismatic Crystals

"I'm ready," Amber said as soon as she opened her eyes. The room could have been a cave, with walls covered in a complex array of crystals, or an ornate throne room with rock carvings that almost looked natural until you realised it was the same pattern arranged all the way around the walls. The table in the middle of the chamber was round, with a hole in the middle like a donut. It looked like there was a small tree in the middle for a few moments, but then the light caught it and Amber could see that it was made out of stone, with tiny flowers carved from crystal. Jack and Alex were sitting on the opposite side of the table, looking at her and waiting. She could see them from every angle as she looked around, the polished stone of the walls smooth enough to act like a mirror. There was no sign of a light source, until she realised that the crystals all around the room, and even the tree in the centre, were faintly glowing.


"Is this a dream?" she asked, "This is... someone else's room?"


"We only had Violet dream up your room so you would feel comfortable while we recruited you," Alex answered. She was wearing a complex robe now, almost like a toga but much more complex, that seemed to be made from white silk with occasional threads and ribbons of blue worked into the design. "This is our usual meeting place. You might find that once you've been here, you can easily imagine it even when you're awake. It's the same for all of us, this place has some kind of memories linked to it. I think that once upon a life, something important happened here. Maybe this was our meeting room when we were all alive?"


"You don't know?"


"We've been playing Chinese Whispers between the living and the dead," Jack answered, "We keep forgetting the story when we're born, and being told it again by the survivors of the previous generation. And we've been playing that game around and around for at least twenty thousand years, probably much more. We can't remember anything clearly now. But I think we can be pretty sure that this isn't just some dream conjuration. This is a real place, I think. The place where our souls are stored until we're ready to be reborn. I spent most of my last life trying to understand all this, and I'm still not sure, but that feels right to me."


"It's a meeting place, then," Amber nodded. "I wanted to see you again. There was a monster yesterday, in town. Is it yesterday, or today? If I was talking about you when I woke up I could say 'last night' and then it wouldn't matter if it's today or yesterday, but can you say 'last day' or is there some other word for it?"


Jack's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't quite follow her change of subject, Amber knew that could sometimes be a problem for the people she was talking to, especially grown-ups.


"Stick with 'today'," Violet suggested, suddenly sitting in the seat to Amber's left. "Sometimes there aren't the right words for things, but as long as we know what you mean it's fine."


"You said 'monster'," Mel joined the conversation as well. There were still three empty seats around the table, but it was starting to feel more like a meeting. "They felt it happen. We all need to be on the same page now."


"I don't know if there was a monster, but people said monsters, and it was on all the news. People screaming, and everything smelled like smoke. We were running away, trying to get away when everyone else was so scared."


"And how did you feel?" Alex asked.


"Everybody was running and screaming," Amber lowered her voice, but it seemed that in this dream place the others could hear even a whisper. "It was horrible, terrifying."


"I didn't ask what the atmosphere was, or how other people felt. Or even how you think you should have felt. I asked how you felt, in that moment of terror. Were you scared, or do you just think that you should have been?"


"Isn't that a bit..." Violet started, but Amber shook her head.


"You're right. I was thinking we could get hurt, it was the scariest thing that had ever happened. But I just knew it was scary, I didn't really feel scared. I was more angry. Angry with whatever had spoiled my quiet break. Angry with something I couldn't see, that was hurting so many people. Angry with myself really, because I didn't want to run away. I knew it was the right thing to do, and I had to get Mom to somewhere safe in case the monster came, or the fire, or whatever. But I hated that I had to run, I wished I was older, and stronger, so I could stop it all and save all those people."


"That's right," Violet nodded, "I know that feeling."


"That's our Claude," Alex agreed, with a proper smile for the first time. "You're back. You don't remember, you've changed, but it's still you. And that anger is what made you a good knight. Somewhere inside, you won't forgive yourself if you don't do your best, so we know you're never going to give up. Welcome back, Amber."


"But don't forget, there was someone else there, who we were so sure wouldn't be awake yet." Even Jack had a smile on his face for a brief moment. It seemed like all of the ghosts recognised this Claude person in Amber's words, and were pleased to see their old friend. Even when he was speaking roughly, Jack was glad she was there. But the tone of his next words made it clear there was no time for a proper reunion; and everything was serious again. "The Enemy came to Earth today. We don't know how, and we don't know why. But those of us who are watching from here could feel its power building, and focusing on one spot on the planet."

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