a baby?’ I ask.
‘Before or after, but near enough.’ While the rest of us look on wordlessly he explains, ‘She will keep him secured in the underworld while her people attempt to eliminate him – body, and perhaps even soul, from the earth.’
Matt stares at the three of us in turn. ‘What do we do? How do we stop this from happening?’
I explain what I think. ‘Firstly we have to go back in time to stop the Goddess and her soldiers from murdering Arkarian at his birth. Then, no matter what arguments you throw at me, I’m going to find a way into this … this underworld, and I’m going to get Arkarian back.’
Ethan lays a hand on my shoulder. ‘I’m going too.’
Matt adds, ‘And me.’
Everyone starts talking simultaneously; our message couldn’t be clearer. No one thinks Matt should go.
‘You couldn’t handle it,’ Ethan says without malice. To him, rescuing Arkarian takes precedence over hurting anyone’s feelings. But I see how Matt’s face drops, and Ethan does too. ‘It’s just your inexperience, that’s all I meant. When your powers start coming through—’
Matt shuts him up with a sharp wave of his hand. ‘Cut it, Ethan. We all know my powers may never come through, so let’s just get back to working out how to save Arkarian.’
A memory of the Goddess’s incredible power as she raised her hands to Arkarian flashes across my eyes. Ethan, as skilled as he is, couldn’t possibly fight that. Let alone Matt. ‘No one’s coming with me,’ I say.
My words cause a riot, all of them letting me know what they think of my idea to go on my own.
Mr Carter claps his hands loudly in the air. ‘Everyone be quiet! You’re not listening! First things first. If we don’t save Arkarian at birth, there will be no Arkarian ever in existence!’
We all stop and stare at him. ‘The Tribunal has already decided how it’s going to happen. Firstly, Isabel, you’re not going anywhere on your own. Ethan will join you. I will co-ordinate the mission to France from Arkarian’s chamber. You, Shaun, are to go and retrieve Jimmy from the city.’
‘And what am I supposed to do?’ Matt’s strained voice breaks into the sudden silence. ‘Sit in a corner and suck my thumb, while you lot go out risking your lives?’
For a long moment no one answers him. There’s nothing any of us can do to make him feel better about it.
Mr Carter’s eyes drop to the floor, making it obvious the Tribunal has no role set aside for Matt.
Finally it’s Shaun who steps in. ‘Let me put it this way, Matt. You’re not being included because we can’t risk anything happening to you. Whether your powers are developed or not has nothing to do with the Tribunal’s decision. You’re simply too important.’
Chapter Nine
Arkarian
It’s the cold that wakes me. There’s a numbness in my fingers. My feet feel like stones pulled straight from a frozen earth. I try to move to warm myself but my hands are secured with tight chains behind my back. There’s something cold as ice on my face, some sort of metal mesh. I can’t see anything; it’s too dark for that. Then, as I attempt to move around, I realise the mesh is a body cage. My shoulders are just as tightly wrapped inside it as my legs. I don’t know where I am, though I have a strong suspicion. I do know that I’m riding over a bumpy road, bouncing around in the back of an open cart. I wonder how I got here. If my suspicions are correct, it would have been interesting to have been conscious through the experience of tearing through a rift between the worlds, not just the time travel I’m used to.
The last thing I remember is the look on Isabel’s face when that explosion hit, and the two of us were catapulted away from each other. The rest is blank. And now I find myself in a strange place, where even the air smells different, like rotting seaweed or stagnant marshland. I hope my stay here is temporary. I don’t know how I would survive this eerie darkness if I had to live here indefinitely.
Two glowing torches up ahead stand out like beacons. One is held by an old man who leans on a stick to give him balance. I crane my head around to get a better view of the second one. This torch is also an open flame, held by a