Treasure of Light (The Light Trilogy) (79 page)

Tahn and Jeremiel spent every day searching the heavens for Rudy Kopal or any remnant of the Underground fleet—and Rachel wandered the caves, worrying over whether Sybil really was alive and if she’d ever see her again.

Rachel lifted her eyes to the clear azure heavens, praying that the Underground found them before the Magisterial cruisers arrived. “So much suffering, Epagael. Why?”

Memories of the
Mea
glowing a dull gray beneath Jeremiel’s fingers haunted her. What reason could God have for denying him access to heaven? Unless it was to punish her? Or all Gamants?

Below, the surf pounded against the rocky parapet, throwing foam into the crystal sunlight where it shimmered as bright and beautiful as stardust.

The soft footfalls that approached from her side didn’t surprise her—she’d heard them a thousand times in her dreams. She stood silently, watching a gull wheel through the cloudless sky. She caught a glimpse of blond curls and his frost-colored robe. His gold-stitched collar ruffled in the breeze.

Lifting her face to the warm sunshine, she asked, “We needed Cole Tahn on our side, was that it?”

“Mostly.”

Aktariel’s voice sounded so gentle. Rachel braced a hand against the limb of the tree over her head. He didn’t even question her usage of
our,
but she’d known he wouldn’t. When she’d made her decision, she’d felt the very waves of air retreat from around her—like throwing a huge stone into a tiny wilderness pond.

Had he not felt it, too, he wouldn’t have come.

“Why Tahn?” she asked.

“He knows stochastic mechanics and singularity engineering.”

“Which relate directly to the Treasures of Light?”

He looked at Rachel through wide brown eyes, as though baring his soul. Blond curls danced around his face in the warm sea-scented winds. “Yes.”

“What makes you think Tahn will help us? You hurt him a great deal, you know. You killed his ship and friends. You made him an outcast among his own kind.”

He propped his hands on his hips. “No being is formed without the Serpent entering his or her soul, Rachel. We’ve all been sown in the soil of fire and water now.”

Aktariel reached into his pocket and drew out a
Mea.
He studied it contemplatively, then handed it to her. “Sybil has been crying all night wanting you.”

Rachel’s throat ached. She glanced in terror at the Sacred Gate that had haunted her people for millennia. “When can I go see her?”

“As soon as you take this from my hand.”

“Do I have to. I hate
Meas.”

“Let me teach you their secrets. I think you’ll change your mind. And it’s the only way you’ll be able to see Sybil again in the near future.”

Rachel steeled herself and reached out. He draped the golden chain across her open fingers. The
Mea
flared brilliantly, brighter than it had even in his own hand, casting a cerulean halo around them.

“I’ll help you in the beginning,” he murmured. “Then I’ll set you free.”

She saw the half-frightened glimmer in his dark eyes, as though he feared that once she had the chance she’d vanish forever. Would the
Mea
give her such forbidden freedom?

“On Horeb,” she said, “in the ice cave, you admitted you’d stolen all the
Meas.
What did you do with them?”

Wind whipped his robe into snapping folds around his arms and legs. “The ancient legends tell you.”

“That you gave them to the Magistrates.”

“Yes.”

“And did you?”

He tipped his smooth, tanned face to the fragrant breeze, inhaling deeply of the scents. “Not all the
Meas
—but enough. They exist in charged synchronous orbits inside Palaia Station.”

Astonished, she leaned back against the cool trunk of the tree. “Why would you give them to the government?”

“Because, my dear Rachel,” he murmured as he gazed out over the glimmering azure sea. “Soon, very soon, God will send out his Great Light, and in Darkness the judgment will take place. Only a being whose blood is Light will survive.” He turned to stare piercingly at her. “Do you understand?”

“No.”

He extended his hand and his frost-colored sleeve danced before her eyes like windblown shreds of cloud. Tenderly, he caressed the letters branded into her forehead.

“You will.”