I emerged into Root not swaddled in a tightly-wrapped pod on the threshold of a Reaper’s lair as I had wished, but laying free and naked in the cleft harboring Bern and Lille’s cabin. I lay there panting, stunned as usual by the transition. I knew that where one ended up in Root had a lot to do with the state of one’s mind, but the logic of these re-entries continued to elude me.
Bits of root twinkled overhead like stars while a subtle glow built on one edge of the cavern. It was a nice touch. I bet that was Lille’s doing.
The lone window of the cabin was dark. I crawled my way to their doorstep, hauled myself up and rapped on their door.
A light flicked on inside and spilled out the window. The door opened. Bern stood there in a pair of satiny pajamas, not at all fazed by the bare-butted kid staring back at him. “Well … well! Look who’s back.”
“Oh dear,” said Lille, sitting up in bed across the room. “This is not good news.”
I barged in, sat down heavily at their little, rickety table, and put my head down atop my folded arms. It looked like they had been hard at work tidying up their little cabin. The walls looked brighter and smoother. Even the little hollow outside the window was deeper and wider and had been trimmed of stray roots.
Bern reached over to a heap of clothes and shook out a pair of grey woolen trousers way too short and too big in the waist. “Here, have some pants.” He handed them over. “So tell us, what’s up, boy? Did you found your way off the mountain? Yes, I suppose you have, or else you wouldn’t be here. So what new tragedy has befallen you?”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t even want to be here. The belly of a Reaper was beginning to sound more appealing than rattling off my travails to these two. I had not a smidgeon of hope left inside me, especially not if those bounty hunters had me pegged at Inverness Station.
“Cat got your tongue?” said Bern.
“Look at that long face,” said Lille, sliding off the bed. “And he’s so pale. James, tell us what’s wrong?”
“I found Karla.”
“Excellent! And…? Is she well?”
“She’s fine.”
“Wonderful!” said Bern.
“James, that’s brilliant news! But then … what are you doing here?”
“She ditched me,” I said. “Told me to go away and never come back. She wants nothing to do with me. Ever. Forever.”
Lille crinkled her eyes and smirked. “You didn’t actually believe her, did you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, just because she said it, doesn’t mean she actually meant it.”
“She sounded pretty serious to me.”
Lille’s eyes flitted around the room. “Well, I wouldn’t dwell. There’s more to play out, I’m sure.”
“Say what?”
“There are things one must do on the other side to persist here in Root. It’s complicated, James. And sometimes requires great skills of persuasion. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, even if the particulars elude you.”
I had no idea what to make of what she had said. I refused to find any hope in it. Hope would only got me into trouble.
“I’m ready for death,” I said, quietly. “Ready to blink out … like a candle.”
