Tatsania's Gift

Dedication

This one is for EJ

Contents

Cover

Dedication

Note from the author

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Journey by Night

Prologue

Chapter 1

Acknowledgments

Copyright

Note from the author

When I finished Journey by Night, book three in the Quantum Encryption series, my publisher and I realised that the first six chapters told a self-contained story of life on 24th century Earth. We decided to start the book at chapter 7 and turn these first six chapters into a novella, which is now Tatasnia’s Gift. For those new to the Quantum Enchantment and Quantum Encryption series, I hope this story will whet your appetite. If you have devoured the earlier works and are longing for more, here it is. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

‘I can’t find him, Mama!’ Kreshkali Richter tore through the box. ‘Bear’s gone.’ Her eyes welled up as she looked at her mother.

‘Hush, Kali.’ Tatsania was busy. She was always busy.

Kali sat down in the dark and cried. They were in a cellar this time, dank and small. Last week it had been an attic. Mama called it their ups and downs. Kali didn’t have a name for it. She didn’t care how often they moved as long as there was food, and Mama. And Bear. Where could he be?

The room had one large window high overhead, at street level. Mama had woven a spell over it to keep it locked. Kali could feel the magic. It warmed her bed at night and steamed up the glass. The cellar walls were musty and everything smelled of wet newspapers, except for the window. It smelled like a pine box. That was the spell. Each had a different odour, depending on what it did. Kali could recognise them with just one sniff.

The only way into the cellar was down a long flight of stairs. Maybe Bear had fallen on their way back from foraging. She always took him with her when they went looking for things — clothes, food, a button for Bear’s missing eye. At least they’d found that. Did I drop him? She couldn’t remember and it was too late to search outside by herself. ‘Mama? We have to sew on his new eye.’

Her mother lifted her hand. Kali felt the push of energy. It was more a comfort than a warning, but it meant be quiet. Mama had important things to do. People needed her. Kali didn’t know who they were but she’d seen them, in the food lines or on the street corners. They whispered to Mama. Later, a knock on the door would come, usually in the middle of the night. The next day they would move, up or down, to somewhere new. It could be at any moment. Kali had to be ready.

A candle burned on the table even though it was still an hour before dark. Mama had a timepiece that she kept in her pocket and Kali knew how to read it. She knew how to read the light of day as well, even with the brown sky that always hid the sun. She could follow the glow behind the haze. Not everyone could, but for her it was easy, even in the pouring rain. Even at night. She always knew where the sun was.

Kali searched under the table and around her mother’s bare feet. ‘Dark in one hour, Mama.’ She reached into Tatsania’s pocket and pulled out the watch. ‘See? I was right.’

‘It’s in your blood,’ Mama said absently.

‘I’m a witch too.’

Her mother’s forehead creased and she put down her pen. ‘Kreshkali, have you forgotten?’ She gave her a little shake. ‘Never say it aloud.’

Kali’s eyes welled. ‘But am I?’

Tatsania nodded once and went back to her book. ‘Never aloud.’

Kali’s mother worked by candlelight with many books and notes. Sometimes, at night, she worked ‘away’. Kali knew when Mama was going because she always put on a pretty dress. When she got home in the morning, there was food and usually smiles and laughter when they ate it. There was drinking water too. In the afternoons before Mama went out again, she’d heat some of the water and sponge the grime from Kali’s hands and face. After a wash they would sit at the tiny table, the candle burning between them, and eat whatever was left over. The food was good: rinds of cheese, crusts and nutries. Always nutries. They were green and chewy and tasted like dust but Mama said they were good for the body. Maybe, but they weren’t as tasty as the scraps, not by a long shot.

Today though, Kali didn’t think there was any food. Her stomach knotted. Bear would be hungry too.

‘Did you look under your blanket, sweetheart?’

Kali brightened and ran to her bed. She pulled back her covers — a brown blanket with the letters ASSIST stamped on one end — and there he was, Bear, staring at the ceiling with his one good eye. Kali squealed and tossed him high in the air, clutching him to her heart when he landed.

‘Find him?’ Tatsania asked.

Kali didn’t answer. She was too busy laughing.

‘Come to the table,’ Mama said.

Kali sniffed the air. ‘Is there dinner?’

‘Water.’ Her mother cleaned Kali’s hands and offered her a cup.

Kali drank it down with noisy gulps and thrust the empty cup out. ‘Please?’

‘Nana will bring more. You can wait until then.’

Kali set her cup on the table and swung her legs. Nana was coming and she was always on time. She would come before dark, before Mama went out. Nana talked a lot. She told stories at night and she almost always stayed until Mama returned. She had water, and sometimes food. Nana was fair and short and round, nothing like Kali who took after her mother — olive skin, black hair and smoky brown eyes. ‘You’re my blackbird,’ Mama would say. Kali would smile and flap her arms. She liked being a blackbird. She was a tall girl too, for her age. Tall like Mama.

‘I hear her!’ Kali caught the tap of Nana’s feet on the stairs.

‘Wait.’ Her mother stopped her when she tried to open the door.

The knock startled them both. Mama stood very still and scented. She was so cautious. Kali scented too, pulling in the smell of the tip, muddy water and burning refuse. ‘It’s Nana!’ she said and opened the door the instant Mama gave a nod.

In came Nana, puffed and red-cheeked. Her hair was pressed to her forehead and she patted her heart, catching her breath.

Kali said hello but her thoughts were more on food than the greeting. She searched for the little bag, the one Nana would hand over if she had anything to eat.

‘Off you go, Kali.’ Nana handed her the bag. ‘I’ve things to discuss with your mother.’

Kali and Bear sat on her mattress under the spelled window. The late afternoon light was a muddy brown to match the peeling walls. She opened the bag to stare at half a nutrie bar and a whole roll of flat bread, still warm. Kali wedged Bear in her lap and ate. Later, her mother came over with a small cup of water. She was in her pretty dress but her face was sad. ‘Nana will tell you a story.’

‘Can’t you?’ Kali whispered.

‘Nana will tonight.’ Her mother kissed her goodbye and was gone.

Kali woke in pitch dark. Cockroaches scurried overhead. A breeze wafted in through cracks in the window frame. It smelled of rotting sea water. Small chewing sounds came from the other side of the room. Kali had left a few crumbs for the rats. She hugged Bear and blinked at the ceiling. Before her eyes could adjust she heard footsteps on the stairs. Nana got up and lit a candle.

The door squeaked opened. There were voices, low and whispered. Mama stood in front of the light. Others came in. Kali held her breath; she could see Nana with a knife behind her back. There was pushing and shoving. The two strangers left and the door slammed. Kali felt the spell above her jump, the scent of pine filling the room. Footsteps clattered up the stairs.

‘Mama?’

‘Go back to sleep, Kali.’

‘Do we have to move?’ Kali could see her mother’s profile in the candlelight and again in the shadow splashed onto the wall behind her.

‘Tomorrow. Go to sleep.’

When she woke it was dawn. Kali sat up and groped for Bear. The air was cold and noisome and something else. Empty. She couldn’t smell a trace of her mother’s spell. The scent of pine was gone. She looked at the door just as Nana slipped out. It closed with the tiniest snick.

Kreshkali, this way! Her mother’s voice sounded directly in her head. Grab your boots and your pack.

Why, Mama? It’s so early.

Mama didn’t answer. Her face was pale as she shoved Kali’s arms into her jacket and then gave her a small wooden box. ‘Hold it tight,’ she said and kneeled down to lace Kali’s boots. ‘We’re going to run very fast and very far.’ She strapped on Kali’s little pack and led her to the door. ‘You have to keep up.’

‘But our things,’ Kali whispered. She looked back at her bed. ‘Bear!’ Kali tried to pull away.

‘No time!’ Mama clamped onto her hand and tested the doorknob. She pulled back as if it had burned her, swearing under her breath.

Before Kali knew what was happening Mama had pushed her into the wardrobe and snapped its door shut. The warm scent of pine covered her, and a faint purple hue.

Don’t make a sound. No matter what.

Mama?

Her mother didn’t answer.

Kali slid her back down the wall and hugged her knees. It was stuffy in the wardrobe and hard to breathe. Sweat beaded the top of her lip. She wanted to cry out, but the tone of her mother’s voice stopped her. A tiny shaft of light came in from the keyhole. Kali looked through it and blinked. Her mother was standing in front of the door, her hand on the frame. As she reached for the knob again the door burst open throwing Tatsania back. Four soldiers in black uniforms pushed in. They had Nana with them.

Mama got to her feet and threw up her hands, a flash of fire coming from her fingertips. The scent of pine was replaced with the smell of burnt rubber and seared flesh. Fire swirled around the room, looking for a way out. It formed a wall around Mama. Guns went off. Bullets hit the walls. Kali couldn’t see anything but flames and sparks and red laser lights. When the fire was gone, so were the men.

Wait there, Kali. Be ready when I say run. Mama helped Nana up and they whispered to each other, both looking at the wardrobe. When they turned back to the door, more soldiers were pouring into the room. One of them put a gun to Nana’s head. Three others reached for Mama.

Tatsania pulled away, leaping for the high barred window above Kali’s bed. It was the fastest jump Kali had ever seen. She pressed an eye against the keyhole, watching. As she did, there was an explosion. The window shattered and Mama was thrown to the floor. Soldiers came after her, dropping through the broken window on ropes. Splinters and shards fell with them like glass thunderbolts. Kali saw boots stomping over her bed. One crushed Bear. And then her mother’s hands were being forced behind her back; a sack over her head. They tied it with a rope, tight around her neck.

Mama! Fight! Fight them off!

The glamour over the wardrobe deepened, the smell of pine was stifling. Mama was limp under the binding. Stay hidden, she said. Stay, and do not be seen.

They took Nana away first, hauling her up as she stumbled. Then Mama, carrying her like a sack. Some soldiers stayed behind and rifled through their things. They knocked cups and plates from the table. One opened the water jug and sniffed it before putting it in his pack. He shone his torch up and down the walls and threw back the rugs. The room filled with dust, the particles dancing in the beams of his torch. None of the soldiers spotted the wardrobe or the trunk Mama kept her books in. She’d hidden those two things with the glamour.

A soldier found Bear though. Mama had not thought to glamour him. Kali’s eyes welled as the soldier slit Bear’s throat and pushed back his head like the hood of a jacket. Stuffing went everywhere. He threw Bear, now thin and saggy, into the centre of the room along with the clothes and blankets and covers. Then he lit a match.

A deep voice from the street shouted orders and the remaining soldiers clipped back onto the ropes and were hoisted out of the cellar. Maybe some of them went the long way up the stairs. Kali didn’t see, but the sound and scent of them was gone. The room was empty, only the crackle of flame was left behind.

Their things were damp and the fire burned slowly. It might smoke for days if no one put it out. Kali saw that Bear was close to the flames. Mama? She went to unlock the latch in the wardrobe door.

Stay! Tatsania’s voice was fierce in Kali’s head. But the fire moved closer to Bear.

Kali waited ten more breaths and then opened the wardrobe.

The room looked