Read Online Abarat: Absolute Midnight by Clive Barker - Free Book Online
Authors: Clive Barker
Ads: Link
her, bubbling up.
“Calm yourself,” Laguna Munn said. She seemed to rise from her chair and move toward Candy without taking a single step. “What did I see in your head, girl?”
“Something more than me,” Candy said. “Another person.”
Laguna’s eyes, already huge, grew larger still, and brighter. “Do you know the name of this other in your head?”
“Yes. Her name’s Princess Boa. Her soul was taken from her body by the women of the Fantomaya—”
“Stupid, stupid . . .” Laguna Munn muttered to herself.
“Me?” Candy said.
“No, not you,” Laguna replied. “Them. Playing with things that they had no business with.”
“Well, they did it. And now I want to undo it.”
“Why not go to them?”
“Because they don’t know I know. If they’d wanted us to separate eventually, they would have told me she was there, wouldn’t they?”
“I suppose that’s reasonable, yes.”
“Besides, one of them has already been killed because I came over to the Abarat—”
“So if any other witch was going to die you’d prefer it to be me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s how it sounded.”
“What is it about this place? Everybody playing stupid games! It makes me sick.” She wiped her bloodied nose again. “If you’re not going to help me, then I’ll just do it myself.”
Laguna Munn didn’t attempt to conceal her astonishment or the seam of admiration that ran beside it.
“Lordy Lou. You would, wouldn’t you?”
“If I have to. I can’t find out who I really am until she’s out of my head.”
“And what happens to her?”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of things I don’t know. That’s why I came to you.”
“Tell me honestly, does the Princess want to have a life free of you?”
“Yes,” Candy said with confidence. Laguna stared at her with intimidating intensity. “The problem is that I don’t really know where I stop and she begins. I must have been born with her already in my head. And we’ve always lived together, her and me.”
“I should warn you, if she truly doesn’t want to leave, then you’ll have a fight on your hands. A fight like that could be fatal.”
“I’ll take the risk.”
“Do you understand what I’m—”
“Yes. It could kill me.”
“Yes. And I’m assuming that you’ve also considered the fact that there may be parts of you that aren’t you at all?”
“That are her? Yes. I’ve thought of that too. And I’d lose them. But if they were never mine in the first place—never me—then I’m not really losing anything, am I?”
Laguna Munn’s gilded gaze softened.
“What a crazy conversation there must be going on inside your head right now,” she said. “And I’m not talking about the one between you and your stowaway. It’s a pity you and I have met so late in life,” she said with what seemed to be genuine regret.
“I’ve only just turned sixteen,” Candy said.
“I know. And that’s young, I realize. But there are roads to revelation that should have been laid when you were just a baby, and laying them is going to be harder now. You came here in search of freedom and revelation, and I’m afraid all I can give you is warnings and confusion.”
“So you can’t separate me from Boa?”
“That? I can do that. I can’t make any predictions concerning the consequences of the separation. But I can promise you that you will never be the same again.”
Part Two
You, Or Not I
As thorn and flower upon a single branch sit,
So hate beside my love for her will fit.
Two pieces of one thing, that make a whole.
As you and I, my love, a single soul.
—Christopher Carrion
Chapter 9
A New Tyranny
I T WOULD HAVE COME as no surprise to the occupants of Gorgossium that the sounds of demolition were audible from the waters surrounding the island. Its inhabitants could barely hear themselves think.
The Midnight Island was undergoing great changes, all designed to deepen the darkness that
“Calm yourself,” Laguna Munn said. She seemed to rise from her chair and move toward Candy without taking a single step. “What did I see in your head, girl?”
“Something more than me,” Candy said. “Another person.”
Laguna’s eyes, already huge, grew larger still, and brighter. “Do you know the name of this other in your head?”
“Yes. Her name’s Princess Boa. Her soul was taken from her body by the women of the Fantomaya—”
“Stupid, stupid . . .” Laguna Munn muttered to herself.
“Me?” Candy said.
“No, not you,” Laguna replied. “Them. Playing with things that they had no business with.”
“Well, they did it. And now I want to undo it.”
“Why not go to them?”
“Because they don’t know I know. If they’d wanted us to separate eventually, they would have told me she was there, wouldn’t they?”
“I suppose that’s reasonable, yes.”
“Besides, one of them has already been killed because I came over to the Abarat—”
“So if any other witch was going to die you’d prefer it to be me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s how it sounded.”
“What is it about this place? Everybody playing stupid games! It makes me sick.” She wiped her bloodied nose again. “If you’re not going to help me, then I’ll just do it myself.”
Laguna Munn didn’t attempt to conceal her astonishment or the seam of admiration that ran beside it.
“Lordy Lou. You would, wouldn’t you?”
“If I have to. I can’t find out who I really am until she’s out of my head.”
“And what happens to her?”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of things I don’t know. That’s why I came to you.”
“Tell me honestly, does the Princess want to have a life free of you?”
“Yes,” Candy said with confidence. Laguna stared at her with intimidating intensity. “The problem is that I don’t really know where I stop and she begins. I must have been born with her already in my head. And we’ve always lived together, her and me.”
“I should warn you, if she truly doesn’t want to leave, then you’ll have a fight on your hands. A fight like that could be fatal.”
“I’ll take the risk.”
“Do you understand what I’m—”
“Yes. It could kill me.”
“Yes. And I’m assuming that you’ve also considered the fact that there may be parts of you that aren’t you at all?”
“That are her? Yes. I’ve thought of that too. And I’d lose them. But if they were never mine in the first place—never me—then I’m not really losing anything, am I?”
Laguna Munn’s gilded gaze softened.
“What a crazy conversation there must be going on inside your head right now,” she said. “And I’m not talking about the one between you and your stowaway. It’s a pity you and I have met so late in life,” she said with what seemed to be genuine regret.
“I’ve only just turned sixteen,” Candy said.
“I know. And that’s young, I realize. But there are roads to revelation that should have been laid when you were just a baby, and laying them is going to be harder now. You came here in search of freedom and revelation, and I’m afraid all I can give you is warnings and confusion.”
“So you can’t separate me from Boa?”
“That? I can do that. I can’t make any predictions concerning the consequences of the separation. But I can promise you that you will never be the same again.”
Part Two
You, Or Not I
As thorn and flower upon a single branch sit,
So hate beside my love for her will fit.
Two pieces of one thing, that make a whole.
As you and I, my love, a single soul.
—Christopher Carrion
Chapter 9
A New Tyranny
I T WOULD HAVE COME as no surprise to the occupants of Gorgossium that the sounds of demolition were audible from the waters surrounding the island. Its inhabitants could barely hear themselves think.
The Midnight Island was undergoing great changes, all designed to deepen the darkness that
Similar Books
