E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten
Plichota / Wolf Oksa Pollock: Tainted Bonds
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78269-077-1
Verlag: Pushkin Children's Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-78269-077-1
Verlag: Pushkin Children's Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
ANNE PLICHOTA was born in Dijon, France, and after studying Chinese language and culture spent several years living and working in Korea and China.CENDRINE WOLF was born in the Alsace region of France. She studied sports, and went on to work with teenagers in deprived neighbourhoods.Cendrine and Anne have been friends for almost two decades and have always wanted to find a project to work on together (including plans to open an English delicatessen in eastern France!). They are glad they finally found one.
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AS SOON AS OKSA PUT THE KEY IN THE LOCK, SHE FOUND herself transported to the other side of the dazzling surface. The door swung shut with a deafening crash that sounded like a thunderclap, then disappeared, merging with the wall. The alarmed shouts of the spectators were instantly cut off, as if Oksa had passed into another dimension.
“Hey! What’s going on?”
Her body had just risen above the ground as if weightless and was now suspended in mid-air. She felt as light as a feather. Her chestnut hair was floating limply around her head as she pulled her arms through the air in a gentle breaststroke to move away from the door.
“Wow…” she murmured.
She couldn’t help pirouetting. Although Vertiflying gave her an intense feeling of power, this new experience was incredible. She’d always dreamt of trying out zero gravity one day, like an astronaut, but who’d have thought she’d get the chance here, in Edefia, the invisible land, once lost and now found? She looked around carefully. The Chamber was too bright for her to make out its shape or size. She blinked, awed and intrigued. She was no longer afraid—this place and its astonishing lack of gravity had a calming, almost hypnotic effect, even though she’d never felt more alert. She was intensely aware of everything—her living bracelet, the Curbita-Flatulo, undulating steadily to regulate her unruly emotions, the pulse of blood as it coursed through her veins, as well as the uncanny silence of the Chamber.
Was the radiance dimming or was she slowly becoming more used to it? Whatever the case, Oksa was relieved that the brightness was growing more tolerable. Without any bearings to guide her, she moved forward with a few cautious breaststrokes, thinking about her gran. Dragomira had promised they’d see each other again on the day she was enthroned in the Cloak Chamber—and now that red-letter day in the life of a Young Gracious was here.
“Baba? Are you there?” she ventured hoarsely. Floating in the air, unsure whether she was horizontal or vertical, she wrapped her arms around herself for reassurance. It was slowly becoming apparent that the room was a vast, perfectly round igloo, supported by pearly-white columns. Oksa gazed about, her attention caught by a phenomenon occurring behind her. The walls had lost their cloudy appearance and were now crystal-clear, like a mirror without the silvering. Oksa could see everyone in the seventh basement. Her father was sitting on the ground, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He was struggling to cope with this separation, which was, as far as he was concerned, the last straw after so many tough ordeals. Oksa “swam” over to the wall and put her hand on one of the blocks of crystal.
“Dad…” she murmured.
“He can’t see or hear you, Dushka,” said a voice close to her.
“Baba!” exclaimed Oksa, turning round, her eyes shining. “You came!”
The halo of light in front of her was hazier than the one she’d encountered in the cave of the Singing Spring a few hours earlier, but there was no room for doubt: the crown of plaits around her head, the regal silhouette and the low, soothing voice—Dragomira had kept her promise. Oksa floated towards her and wailed with disappointment as she passed through the golden shadow that was now her beloved gran. Dragomira was there, but she was dead. Oksa was pained by this cruel reminder. What she could see before her was her gran’s soul, an extension of her life, a manifestation from the eternal realm to which she now belonged. It was heartbreaking and, at the same time, so comforting… The shadow bore down on her, enveloping her in warmth. Oksa tried to smother a sob.
“I’m so glad you’re here with me,” she said, dashing her tears away with her hand. “I didn’t want to be on my own in this place.”
“Did you doubt me?” asked Dragomira.
“No!” replied Oksa firmly.
“Why are you crying, then?”
Oksa looked away, then turned back to the golden shadow.
“I miss you so much, Baba…”
The words stuck in her throat.
“I miss you too, Dushka. But this is no time for weakness, otherwise everything we’ve worked towards, everything we’ve gone through, will have been for nothing. Tell me exactly how you’re feeling.”
“I still don’t understand all kinds of things,” conceded Oksa. “One thing I do know, though, is that I’d like to take down that creep Ocious so I don’t have to worry about what he might do at any moment to the people I love. He may be old, but he’s strong. And very dangerous.”
“He isn’t that old!” chuckled Dragomira.
“Are you kidding, Baba? He must be at least a hundred!”
“Which is the prime of life in Edefia… and don’t forget that he probably has some Nontemporentas in his possession.”
“Pearls of Longevity? That’s true,” admitted Oksa. “I’m not afraid of him, you know. If he wasn’t blackmailing me so shamelessly by threatening Dad and the Runaways, I wouldn’t hesitate to face him, or his sons.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second, Dushka. Still, even if you can fight him, be on your guard. And watch out for Orthon, in particular. He’s even worse than his father now.”
Frowning, Oksa said nothing for a moment, then asked without preamble:
“Do you think I’ll be able to leave Edefia again?”
The golden shadow dimmed appreciably. Until now, this subject had brought to mind the image of a mortally wounded Malorane, followed by that of Dragomira disappearing from the top of a dune. The cost of opening the Portal had always been the life of a Gracious, as stipulated by the Secret-Never-To-Be-Told. No one knew whether this was still the case now that the Secret had been destroyed. Did the Graciouses have to sacrifice their lives for others to pass through to the Outside? And, quite apart from the issue of opening Edefia’s Portal, there was another burning question: would Oksa and the Runaways ever be reunited with the Spurned—the family and friends not permitted to enter Edefia? Breathlessly Oksa waited to hear Dragomira’s answers, until she realized her gran wasn’t intending to say anything. She sighed, then raised her head.
“What must I do, Baba?”
“Come here…”
Oksa allowed herself to be guided to the centre of the immense Chamber.
“Would you hand me the pendant you were given by the Corpusleoxes?” asked Dragomira.
Oksa slipped the strange gem over her head and took out her Granok-Shooter to summon a Reticulata. She examined it closely with the jellyfish-like magnifying glass, then handed the pendant to her gran; the miniature Earth was buffeted by hurricanes as seas ate into the coastline like a giant ravenous monster. The small ball vibrated in her palm and the ground in the Chamber began to shake: convulsed with pain, the world was continually being beset by new torments.
“Is this really the Earth?” asked Oksa.
“What you see is only a representation, of course, but it faithfully mirrors every occurrence as it happens,” replied Dragomira.
Oksa glanced apprehensively at England and her face fell. She handed the pendant nervously to Dragomira.
“Mum and Gus are in danger, Baba,” she whispered. “We have to act quickly!”
Oksa watched as the sphere floating in front of her rose to eye level and swelled to nearly twelve feet in diameter. Then it began revolving on its own axis, revealing the Earth’s surface, badly ravaged by the disasters that had befallen it over the past few weeks.
“How terrible!” exclaimed the Young Gracious, alarmed by the extent of the damage, which was now clearly visible.
When the sphere had completed a full turn, the seas and lands became transparent, revealing what lay beneath, and Oksa could clearly make out the Earth’s structure. The seabed, bristling with peaks and troughs, appeared before her. Oksa watched in amazement as the tectonic plates shifted and separated and magma formed in the depths of volcanoes.
“Look! The Mariana Trench!” exclaimed Oksa, staring at a huge gash at the bottom of the Pacific.
She found she could see into the dense, yet transparent, bowels of the Earth all the way to its core. Suddenly, the sphere shrank until it was half as small again and the planets of the universe appeared before her, from massive Jupiter to tiny Pluto. Finally, the majestic sun took up its position and everything began moving around it in a perfectly choreographed dance. Oksa looked around for the golden shadow of her gran.
“This is incredible, Baba!”
Her hair was tenderly ruffled by way of an answer. Oksa tried to catch hold of whatever had done it, but remained empty-handed. She frowned and her eyes misted over with inconsolable sadness. She groaned, lips trembling. Immediately, she felt Dragomira embracing her and tipping her chin up: she couldn’t afford to become disheartened. She wiped away the tears and gently propelled herself forward by moving her arms through the air and kicking her feet, unable to tear her eyes away from the revolving planets as they followed their precise and complex path around the sun.
Suddenly a beam brighter than all the others shot from the fiery ball of the sun. Oksa waited for the Earth to complete a full turn and realized that the beam was widening to a cone of light which illuminated a small section of the Gobi Desert.
“That’s Edefia, that’s where we are, isn’t it, Baba?”
“Yes,” replied the...
