The Ascension Read Free

that. Not after you showed us ourselves playing a game.”
    It was almost nice to know that Kat hadn’t lost al of her fractious tendencies, Gem thought.
    Almost.
    “Kat,” Gem said, “I have spent the last two months ruling in Anachronia. It is real. Do you remember that I was the last to leave, when we went home?”
    Kat nodded.
    “I ran back at the last minute to talk to Henry Word. I found him in his study, holding a picture of himself and an Anachronian woman. When I asked him about it, he told me two things. First, that Anachronia was real, whatever was implicit in that demonstration before…”
    “But it can’t be,” Kat insisted. Dr. Brown spun one of the bal s on the pool table.
    “I’m afraid that it is true, Ms. Kipling. I

    “I’m afraid that it is true, Ms. Kipling. I apologize that we had to… dissemble on the subject before, and if the duplicity on the part of Henry and myself has angered you, I apologize unreservedly. Please be in no doubt though that Anachronia is real.”
    That brought a moment of silence from the others. It was Jack who spoke.
    “If I’d known that at the start, I might not have gone. I’m not exactly cut out for fighting. We nearly got kil ed there a couple of times.”
    Gem was about to comment that now he seemed to be very wel -built for fighting, but she didn’t have a chance, because Sparks spoke first.
    “What was the second thing he told you, Gem?”
    Gem winced at the fact that he had caught that. She knew that she couldn’t hold it back though.
    Not if she wanted the others to trust her.
    “He said… he said that the picture was of Princess Chelsea and himself, and that I was his daughter. Like I said, I have spent the summer ruling there, trying to make things work.” She got the words out in a rush. They fel into the waiting silence. It continued as the others thought about the implications of what they had just been told. Final y, Kat grinned.
    “Talk about spending your summers abroad.”
    “So,” Gem asked, “wil you help?”
    “What sort of obstacles would there be in Myriad,” Rio asked, “and what could we use to protect ourselves?”
    “ Incisive questions, Mr. Roberts,” Dr. Brown said. “The truth is…there is only so much I can tel you. There seem to be few mortals on Myriad.
    Instead, the world is inhabited by the creatures that we would think of as Fey, or Fairies, along with other fantastic creatures. Someone ful y human there might wel be thought of as little more than a snack.”
    “Which is why you cal ed for me rather than going yourself,” Gem guessed. “After al , I’m half Anachronian.” Dr. Brown nodded. “Wil ruler words work there? I would like to think that there is something we can do to defend ourselves.”
    “They might,” Dr. Brown replied. “I don’t know for certain. There are definitely links between our world, Myriad, and Anachronia. Henry was investigating those links when he vanished though, so we don’t know the ful extent of them.”
    “Could those links have something to do with that disappearance?” Jack asked.
    “Possibly. Again, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is this…” he fished a cue out from under the pool table. “As people visit worlds like Myriad, it seems to draw them closer together.” He brushed the zigzag of bal s on the table into a rough line.
    “How would we get there?” she asked.
    “What about the pods?” Jack suggested. Dr.
    Brown shook his head.
    “Strictly speaking, they are superfluous here. Getting to Myriad seems to be more about your state of mind than the technology. Henry even had the theory that you can only enter the place if you are somehow meant to be there. Knowing that it is there helps, of course. I suppose the pods might be useful in eliminating distractions.”
    He left it at that. Gem found herself watching the others. They al seemed stunned, but then, they had a right to be after everything they had just been told.

    “They should have