The Key

56

Liv grabbed her notebook and frantically transcribed the words running through her head, not trusting her fitful memory to keep hold of it for long. But even as she wrote she found things difficult to pin down or understand, the meanings shifting and slipping away within the whispering. It was as if whatever the symbols were trying to express was too nebulous or slippery to capture in language. When she had finished she collapsed back in her seat and breathed deeply, allowing the whispering to subside until she felt in full possession of herself again. She got up from her chair and stumbled into the bathroom, splashing water on her face before returning to read what she had written. So they kept her weak. The light of God, sealed up in darkness, For they dared not release her, for fear of what might follow, Nor could they kill her, for they knew not how. And as time passed the men became chained to their own guilt, And their home became a fortress Containing the only knowledge of the deed they had done, Not a mountain sanctified, but a prison cursed. With Eve still captive, A holy secret — a Sacrament, Until the time foretold when her suffering would end

Liv jumped up, knocking the chair over as if she had discovered a snake on the desk. She reread the last three lines, the key words pulsing in her head: Eve… a holy secret… a Sacrament.

Just saying them conjured clear memories of what she had seen in the Citadel. She remembered the Tau and the eyes inside it, green like hers, staring out at her. She remembered the front of the cross levering open, and seeing the frail girl inside with hair like moonlight and a body running with blood, ravaged by pinpricks and terrible wounds. She rubbed her own skin, remembering the prickles of her own recent experience. It was the same. She was the same. But it was not her experience she was remembering.

She looked back down at the notebook and read the rest of the translation: The one true cross will appear on earth All will see it in a single moment — all will wonder The cross will fall The cross will rise To unlock the Sacrament And bring forth a new age Through its merciful death

It was the prophecy that Gabriel had explained to her. And now she could see how it had all come true. Her brother had made the sign of the Tau — the one true cross — before he had fallen, and she had risen in his place, flesh of his flesh. She was the cross. She had unlocked the Sacrament.

More memories came. The knife in her hand, the spilt blood, hers and… Eve’s, mingling on the floor. Their spirits joining as their blood flowed. She looked up at the mirror and stared at her eyes. Green eyes — hers, but not hers — like someone else was staring back. She reached out to touch her reflection but the sharp sound of a doorbell made her head whip round. Adrenalin flooded through her. Who could be there this early in the morning? It rang again and she realized her mistake. It was just Ski’s mobile ringing on the bed. She lunged for it, fearful it might stop and jabbed the button to answer it.

‘Hello?’

There was the briefest of pauses — satellite delay — then he spoke.

‘Liv. It’s me. It’s Gabriel.’

Never had she experienced such relief at the sound of somebody’s voice. Liv felt the smile start somewhere deep inside her and radiate upwards like heat. So much had happened — so much to say. ‘Hi,’ she managed, her smile lighting up the word as though it was written in neon.

‘Hi,’ he said. He was smiling too. She could hear it in his voice. ‘Where are you?’

‘I’m…’ She was about to say ‘home’, but the word stuck in her throat. ‘I’m back in New Jersey in a hotel a friend sorted out for me.’ She caught sight of the TV and remembered the news she had seen on it. ‘How about you? I saw the news.’

‘I’m OK,’ he said, shutting down her question, the smile suddenly absent from his voice. ‘We can talk about it later. Right now we need to get you safe before the Citadel finds you again. Have you got your laptop and access to the Internet?’

‘Yes.’

‘Have you ever used Skype before?’

‘Of course.’ Skype was every journalist’s friend. Wherever there was Wi-Fi it could be used instead of a phone to make free calls. It also worked as a videophone and was increasingly being used to file news reports from difficult foreign locations. Liv opened up the application and copied Gabriel’s Skype address. Then she clicked on ‘new contact’ to make the call.