What are you doing to me?
It was a thought, but it wasn't Maggie's. It washis.
I don't know ...I'm not doing it ... I don't understand!Maggie had no idea how to send herthoughts to another person. But she didn't need to,it was simply happening. A pure line of communication had been opened between them. It was afierce and terrible thing, a bit like being fused together by a bolt of lightning, but it was also so wonderful that Maggie's entire skin was prickling and her mind was hushed with awe.
She felt as if she'd been lifted into some new andwonderful place that most people never even saw. The air around her seemed to quiver with invisible wings.
This is how people are supposed to be,shethought. Joined like this. Open to each other. Withnothing hidden and no stupid walls between them.
A thought came back at her, sharp and quickasa hammer strike. No!
It was so cold, so full of rejection, that for a moment Maggie was taken aback. But then she sensedwhat else was behind it.
Anger... and fear. He was afraid of this, andof her. He felt invaded. Exposed.
Well, I do, too,Maggie said mentally. It wasn'tthat she wasn't afraid. It was that her fear was irrelevant. The force that held them was so much morepowerful than either of them, so immeasurably ancient, that fear was natural but not important. The same light shone through each of them, strippingaway their shields, making them transparent toeach other.
It's all right for you. Because you don't have any thing to be ashamed of!The thought flashed by so quickly that Maggie wasn't even sure she hadheard it.
What do you mean?she thought. Wait ... Delos.
That was his name. Delos Redfern. She knew itnow, as unquestionably as she knew the names ofher own family. She realized, too, as a matter of minor importance, an afterthought, that he was a prince. A vampire prince who'd been born to rule this secret kingdom, as the Redfern family had ruled it for centuries.
The old king was your father,she said to him. And he died three years ago, when you were fourteen. You've been ruling ever since.
He was pulling away from her mentally, trying tobreak the contact between them. It's none of your business, he snarled.
Please wait,Maggie said. But as she chased after him mentally, trying to catch him, to help him,something shocking and new happened, like a second bolt of lightning.
Chapter 9
She was in his mind. It was all around her, like astrange and perilous world. A terribly frighteningworld, but one that was full of stark beauty.
Everything was angles, as if she'd fallen into theheart of a giant crystal. Everything glittered, coldand clear and sharp. There were flashes of color aslight shimmered and reflected, but for the most part it was dazzling transparency in every direction. Like the fractured ice of a glacier.
Really dangerous,Maggie thought. The spikes of crystal around her had edges like swords. The place looked as if it had never known warmth or softcolor.
And youlive here?she thought to Delos.
Go away.Delos's answering thought came to her.on a wave of cold wind. Get out!
No,Maggie said. You can't scare me. I've climbed glaciers before.It was then that she realized whatthis place reminded her of. A summit. The bareand icy top of a mountain where no plants-andcertainly no people-could survive.
But didn'tanything goodever happen to you? shewondered. Didn't you ever have a friend...or apet... or something?
No friends,he said shortly. No pets. Get out of here before I hurt you.
Maggie didn't answer, because even as he said itthings were changing around her. It was as if the glinting surfaces of the nearby crystals were suddenly reflecting scenes, perfect little pictures withpeople moving in them. As soon as Maggie lookedat one, it swelled up and seemed to surround her.
They were his memories. She was seeing bits ofhis childhood.
She saw a child who had been treated as aweapon from the time he was born. It was all aboutsome prophecy. She saw men and women gatheredaround a little boy, four years old, whose blacklashed golden eyes were wide and frightened.
"No question about it," the oldest man was saying. Delos's teacher, Maggie realized, the knowledge flowing to her because Delos knew it, and shewas in Delos's mind.
"This child is one of the Wild Powers," theteacher said, and his voice was full of awe andfear. His trembling hands smoothed out a brittlepiece of scroll. As soon asMaggie saw it she knew that the scroll was terribly old and had been keptin the Dark Kingdom for centuries, preserved hereeven when it was lost to the outside world.
"Four Wild Powers," the old man said, "who willbe needed at the millennium to save the world-or-to destroy it. The prophecy tells where they willcome from." And he read:
"One from the land of kings long forgotten; One from the hearth which still holds the spark; One from the Day World where two eyes are watching; One from the twilight to be one with the dark.",
The child Delos looked around the circle of grim faces, hearing the words but not understandingthem.
"'The land of kings, long forgotten,"' a womanwas saying. "That must be the Dark Kingdom."
"Besides, we've seen what he can do," a big mansaid roughly. "He's a Wild Power, all right. The bluefire is in his blood. He's learned to use it too early, though; he can't control it. See?"
He grabbed a small arm-the left one-and heldit up. It was twisted somehow, the fingers clawed and stiff, immobile.
The little boy tried to pull his hand away, but hewas too weak. The adults ignored him.
"The king wants us to find spells to hold thepower in," the woman said. "Or he'll damage himself permanently."
"Not to mention damaging us," the rough mansaid, and laughed harshly.
The little boy sat stiff and motionless as theyhandled him like a doll. His golden eyes were dryand his small jaw was clenched with the effort notto give in to tears.
That's awful,Maggie said indignantly, aiming herthought at the Delos of the present. It's a terrible way to grow up. Wasn't there anybody who cared about you? Your father?
Goaway, he said. I don't need your sympathy.
And your arm,Maggie said, ignoring the cold emptiness of his thought. Is that what happens toitwhen you use the blue fire?
He didn't answer, not in a thought directed ather. But another memory flashed in the facets of a crystal, and Maggie found herself drawn into it.
She saw a five-year-old Delos with his armwrapped in what looked like splints or a brace. Asshe looked at it, she knew it wasn't just a brace. It was made of spells and wards to confine the blue fire.