Dark Vision by Debbie Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

But it is … at least, that’s the best word I can find in your language.’
    In our language?
I thought.
    ‘Do your best to translate,’ I said, saving that particular query for later.
    ‘OK. This city, this place, is special. And not just in the touristy, birthplace of The Beatles kind of way. It’s special because of the energy here. The water, the land, the way they come together. Everywhere has an element of it, but sometimes, there’s … more. For the whole of its existence, it’s been a place that’s drawn people, their hopes, their dreams. Their needs. An emotional melting pot, you could call it.’
    ‘And that’s what gives it this … special energy?’
    ‘No, it’s the special energy that draws people in. They don’t understand why, but they come, and they stay. It’s not just here you find it; it’s all over the world. Parts of Dublin, too. New York. Vancouver. Cleethorpes.’
    Carmel snorted on her vodka, and Gabriel smiled.
    ‘I was kidding about that last one. Look, you’ve heard that phrase they use, the Pool of Life? Well it’s accurate. That’s what this place is. And at certain key locations, the magic is thicker, the energy stronger. It wasn’t an accident the Palm House got built where it did. Think of it like … a power socket, waiting for someone to come along with a plug.’
    ‘And you’re the plug?’
    ‘On this occasion, yes. I used the power I found there, to get us here. I could explain the physics of it, if you like …’
    ‘No thanks,’ I said. ‘Not while I’m on my first beer. Look, I can’t argue with the fact that it happened, and maybe I’ll never understand the hows and whys of it. So for now we’ll move on – why me? Why am I involved in this? There’s nothing special about me—’
    ‘She has self-esteem issues,’ interrupted Carmel, a vodka-induced heat creeping over her cheeks. ‘I’ve been working on it for years. I blame her nan.’
    A shadow flitted momentarily across Gabriel’s face, and his eyes darkened to a deeper shade of purple. A far stronger reaction than her flippant comment merited. There was more than met the eye there, I thought, and I wanted to find out about it, sometime soon.
    ‘You
are
special, Lily,’ said Gabriel, leaning forward so his face was inches from mine. ‘Very special. I don’t know how much of this you can take in in one sitting, but you at least need to know who you are.’
    ‘That would probably be a good start,’ I replied, feeling nervousness coil in my stomach like a pit of restless snakes. This was it. This was what I wanted to know. This was the moment we’d been building up to since we’d met … and now that moment was here, every instinct I possessed was telling me to run. From this room, from this building, from this beautiful man. From a past and a future I knew I didn’t want.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ he murmured, reaching out to place his hand on my knee. I saw Carmel notice, and knew she expected my usual reaction. But I let him be. I needed that contact, for once in my life.
    ‘You’re not Lily McCain,’ he said. ‘You know that. Coleen isn’t any relation to you at all, as I think you’d started to suspect as well. You’re not even Maura Delaney. You’re more than that. You’re Mabe, the Mother of the Mortals. The giver of life and bounty. A seer, a matriarch, the root of the whole human world.’
    I opened my mouth to speak. Closed it again. Because really, what was the appropriate response to that little speech? I wanted to scream, and shout, and call him a madman. I wanted to leave all this behind, go to the office and write a review of the Dormice. I wanted to accuse him of being a liar, slap him around the face and make a grand exit, stage left.
    But I couldn’t. Because as soon as he said it, I knew, somewhere deep down and hidden, that it was true. However insane it sounded, however crazy and far-fetched and
Twilight Zone
it seemed, it was true. I was Mabe. Mother of the