Chapter 4

T here was a sensation of softness like cotton wool, and she floated there for a time, before falling into a dream of dizzying fragments that flew past her like shards of glass on the wind, the mirrored pieces reflecting a sly smile with piercing green eyes, great columns of stone, and fractured colours of fire.

She sat bolt upright, gasping, her forehead clammy with sweat, her heart pounding.

The light was dim, and at first, she had a confused feeling that she'd imagined it all, that she was waking up in her own room and Bruno wasn't home yet. And yet … and yet this room looked nothing like her cramped space. This room was immense. Wooden beams arched high overhead. Vines of green climbed the stone walls and large windows stood open to admit a warm, fragrant breeze. A sparkling chandelier hung from the ceiling, and white candles in gold holders burned with flames that dipped and wavered, sending shadows crawling across the room.

She drew the sheets to her throat in a rustle of silk, looking wildly this way and that, and then, noticing something felt strange, peeked under the sheet to find that she was naked.

What the —

She blinked, ground her eyes with the palms of her hands, looked again. She had to be dreaming, but somehow this didn't feel like a dream. Pulling the sheet off the bed, she wrapped it around herself and, somewhat restrained by the fabric, waddled clumsily toward the window. Maybe she was in a hospital. Maybe a car had hit her as she was running from Bruno, or she'd had a cramp while swimming, and this was just an elaborate hallucination brought on by the heat, her injuries, and prescription medications. The memory of fog and fireballs nudged her, but she forced it out. That too must have been a hallucination, caused by the pressure and adrenalin of her escape. She could bet if she looked out the window, she'd see a carpark with a sign reading, ‘Medical Centre', and then an efficient nurse in a crisp uniform would present her with a bill that she couldn't afford to pay.

But when she leaned on the sill and gazed outside, there was no carpark, nothing to indicate she was in a medical facility of any kind. Instead, it looked as though she was on an upper floor of a hotel in a formal park. A formal mosaic of gardens lay around a fountain with a white statue of a fantastical two-headed creature. Tall hedges separated the grounds from the countryside beyond, placid green pastures and hills stretching out to the horizon. Jagged mountains cut across the skyline to the left, and to the right lay a darker patch of green that looked like it might be jungle. A gentle twilight lay over the scene, and the breeze held the scent of something sultry and mysterious, a vaguely familiar musk that reminded her of leather, cinnamon, and rain. Iridescent white roses on leafy vines twined around the window frame and—she flinched in surprise—there were things darting in and out of the flowers, little glowing things that looked like …

She took a couple of steps back, hand over her mouth, trying to control her breathing, to stifle the panic welling up inside her. She was about to lose it, she knew it. The flying things looked like … looked like …

There was a gentle cough behind her, and Ember gave a yelp of fright, spinning to see a girl a few years younger standing behind her, holding a bundle and a tray.

"I apologise for frightening you." Her voice was low and gentle, her accent unremarkable, and she looked frightened herself, as if she thought Ember might lash out and strike her.

"Where am I?" Ember said. "Where the hell are my clothes? And my bag? There was money in it."

The girl blinked, clearly overwhelmed by all the questions being fired at her, and she hastily placed the tray on an ornately carved table near the window before holding out the bundle to Ember. It turned out to be a swishy pink gauze dress threaded with gold that gathered under the bust before falling to the floor. The thin shoulder straps were so delicate they looked as if they couldn't possibly support the weight of the fabric, and when she smoothed the skirt between her fingers, it was so soft and sheer it felt like there was nothing there at all.

"You want me to wear this?" The dress looked as though it would have cost more than a month's rent. "But what about my stuff?"

"Eat first. I know this must be confusing for you." She turned away, evidently waiting for Ember to get herself organised, and Ember let the sheet drop, drawing the dress over her head.

"Any underwear to go with this?" Ember said, fighting her arms free and tugging the dress into place. "Or am I just going commando?"

The girl didn't answer, merely picking up the discarded sheet and heading for the bed.

"You don't have to make it," said Ember, remorseful at making a mess in such a beautiful room. "I'll do it."

"Eat," the girl repeated, and set about repairing the bed covers.

Ember approached the tray. Now that she thought about it, she was starving. The sandwich she'd eaten during her lunch hour seemed a long time ago now. She'd felt too excited and apprehensive to eat any more than that, and now the mere sight of food was enough to set her stomach growling.

The tray held a few scalloped dishes with an array of strange little nibbly things. Black-skinned fruit with orange flesh on one plate, white cheese on another, and another with slices of cold pink meat. There was a pile of bread cut into thin triangles, with an odd purple paste to one side. She hadn't seen food quite like this before and she hesitated, her hand hovering over the dishes, unsure which to try first. It didn't really matter. They were all delicious, even the purple paste, which seemed to be some kind of mashed up vegetable, a bit like avocado in texture, but with a tangy fermented flavour.

As she ate, she watched the girl tidying the bed and fluffing up the pillows. She wore a long dress too, a little shorter and narrower than Ember's, in a nondescript pale green that did nothing for her creamy complexion, dark hair smoothed back under a matching cap. She gave a funny little skip as she reached for a pillow, and stumbled, glancing at Ember as if to check that Ember hadn't noticed.

To gloss over the awkward moment, Ember said, "What's your name?"

The girl looked startled and then, as if no one had ever asked her name before, she ventured, "Lily, my lady."

"Call me Ember, please. And this place? What's the story?"

With her hunger sated, her mind had taken on some sense of clarity. First the earthquake, the weird fog and the fireballs, followed by Bruno —she dragged her mind away from the hunk of steaming meat on the road and moved on—and this gorgeous place and the strange food and the … yes, the freaking fairies fluttering about in the weird sparkling roses, not to mention the fact that she had pinched herself numerous times now and rather than waking up, had just given herself several bruises on her forearms, well, all this could only mean one thing. "Am I dead? Is this heaven?"

Lily looked taken aback at that and shook her head. "This is the castle of the Kingdom of Swords."

Riiiight.