Around the world, people were beginning to realise that somehow, the finality of death was no longer as certain as it once was. Although the aftermath of the terror attacks still dominated the headlines and news cycles, bit by bit disturbing reports began to surface.
Wolf Blitzer, CNN: "We've been receiving word that across the country, hospitals in at least thirty two different states have reported that patients involved in seemingly fatal accident cases that would have logically resulted in death remained alive for long hours, sometimes even days before mercifully passing on. In the interim, many doctors and nurses reported that the patients were responsive to conversation and other stimuli, although some were in such agony they could do nothing but scream until their vocal chords broke down permanently."
Jeremy Paxman, BBC World News: "A man fell out of a thirty storey building in Leeds yesterday – and lived to tell the tale. Other strange cases of 'divine providence' have been reported all over the United Kingdom within the last week. A spokesman from the government run Torchwood Institute could not be reached for comment regarding this so-called 'Miracle Day'."
Genevieve Woo, Channel NewsAsia: "We can confirm that the strange rumours of alleged increased supernatural activity are at least partially true. Earlier this morning a woman who was crossing a Malaysian train track was cut in half, but miraculously did not die. A passer-by captured a video of the incident. Be warned, the images we're about to show are extremely graphic."
The Lone Voice of Truth, : "IT'S THE WATER! THAT'S HOW THEY GET YOU! WAKE UP PEOPLE, DON'T DRINK ANYTHING FROM YOUR TAP! THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TURN US ALL INTO ZOMBIES AND USE US AS SLAVES FOREVER!"
Father Mario Genovese, representative of the Vatican: "The Holy Father appeals for calm while we ascertain the true nature of these rumours. Only God almighty may grant eternal life, and the apparent mockery of the dead is a terrible sin."
Reverend Jimmy Greaves, Televangelist: "It's the End Times, oh Lord yes! Hellfire and brimstone shall rain down upon the heads of those who have yet to be saved! The dead walking the streets, the faithful speaking in tongues, sin and depravity everywhere you look, Judgment Day will soon dawn upon us all! Call my special toll-free number and dial 555-6752-1950 and pledge $50, and I shall say an extra little prayer for you, oh Lord yes I will. Remember folks, just a General Grant for eternal peace in the Kingdom of Heaven!
Dr Everett Canton Jr., Biologist, interview from MSNBC: "Well it's not exactly the stuff of Romero movies, but certain chemical reactions may make it appear that a body is moving even though by all medical standards it is already clinically dead -"
(Interviewer Thomas Roberts cuts in at this point) "But Dr Canton, surely you've seen some of the videos that are on YouTube right now. There's one with 13 million hits, of a gangster shot three times directly in the chest, who got up and continued to walk. How do you explain that?"
"The human body is a complex and complicated piece of machinery, Thomas, and I'm not ashamed to admit that even modern science does not have a hundred per cent knowledge of all its capabilities."
Major Chen Zicai, secret report to People's Liberation ArmyHeadquarters: "The situation in Guangdong is worse than we first thought. We have it under control for now, but barely. I am formally requesting for two additional battalions of men plus an armored unit to keep this so called rising of the dead in check. If word got out it would cause irreparable damage to investor confidence in our markets."
Jon Stewart, The Daily Show: "Hi it's Jon Stewart and welcome to the Daily Show! Listen people – zombies. Are. Done! We got over them around the time that movie with Brad Pitt tanked at the box office. When the Miami guy ate a face I thought, hey, maybe he was just hungry. What? Stranger things have happened in Florida. When that Jersey guy threw his own intestines at a buncha cops I was like, hey, it's JERSEY. Five minutes in Jersey, and I'd be looking to pull my own guts out as well. But now they're everywhere? Listen up Hollywood, whatever crappy marketing campaign you're running, it ain't gonna work!"
(Audience laughs)
La Tremoille Hotel
Paris, France
Earth
"Well it looks like you were right," said Coraline, sifting through a pile of papers and cross-referencing them with her Internet links. Her webpage currently held fifty-one different tabs. She was working on her laptop at the little hotel table, while Bod was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with a worried expression on his face. He'd been like that for the past few hours, and even all throughout their excellent dinner he had been somewhat preoccupied.
"Hmm?"
"I said, you were right," said Coraline. Bod didn't reply. Usually he'd make some remark about how rare it was getting her to agree with him on anything, but tonight he didn't look to be in the mood for their usual banter. Coraline's spirits fell when she saw fine lines around his eyes and on his forehead that hadn't been there before all this began. Bod was cheerful and gregarious and always had a kind word for anyone they met, unlike her own quiet, brooding nature. He was the one who always had in mind another sight to see, another place to explore, another activity for them to enjoy together. They had been married for several years now, had traveled the world and been in some very bizarre situations, but Bod had never been as despondent as he was now.
Coraline closed her laptop and slid into bed beside Bod, snuggling close to him. He began stroking her hair, almost without thinking, although he was still staring up at the ceiling. She laid a hand on his chest, feeling his warmth, loving the closeness of his body to hers.
"Bod, tell me what's wrong."
"I don't know, Cor. All the news about the dead waking...it isn't right. The living should be allowed to rest in peace. So do the dead. They shouldn't be forced to walk around in terrible pain for someone's evil little scheme."
"I know, I know," whispered Coraline, gently rubbing his cheek with one finger. "But we have to stay strong. We have to put a stop to this, and to do that we need to be focused."
"My parents...my friends in my home graveyard. What's happening to them?"
"I'm sure they're fine. This thing only seems to affect the recently dead. I've been collating all the figures together. I don't have anything solid right now...but there is a pattern. It's like feeling your way in the dark. It's hard to see, but it's there. Just give me a bit more time. I'll find out something we can use."
"I'm sure you will. I just hope we aren't too late," said Bod. He was silent for a while, and Coraline didn't say anything, content to just lie by his side. Bod's next words sounded distant, as if he were deep in some long forgotten memory.
"I met her, you know."
"Met who, darling?"
"Lady Death. At least, I think it was her. The other ghosts only referred to her as the Lady in Grey. But I think it was her. She rode a horse, a huge thing, bigger than cities, stronger than mountains. And yet he was small enough to lick my hand when I petted him."
"You never told me this."
"I don't remember it clearly. I was so young back then. And after it was all over, the other ghosts refused to talk about it. They pretended that it didn't even happen. But I do remember one thing. I danced with her, on that night. We danced the Macabray."
Bod began to hum quietly to himself, then sang a few words in a slow yet sweet tune.
"Step and turn, and walk and sway,
Now we dance the Macabray.
Now the Lady on the Grey,
Leads us in the Macabray."
"That's beautiful."
"It is. It was. And you should have seen her Cor, you should have seen her dance with us, like some grand high queen out of oldest legend one moment, and yet like a girl of sixteen summers, fresh-faced and merry the next. She was old and she was wise and she was kind, and when I was a baby she beseeched the Graveyard folk to take me in and keep me safe. I owe her, Cor. I owe her a debt."
Coraline was listening with rapt attention. Bod's voice was low and full of emotion, and she saw tears welling up in his eyes as he recalled his childhood. She leaned over and gave him a kiss, long and slow and deep, taking her time and making sure to get it right.
"I'll help you, Bod. I love you and I want to help you. We'll get this done. I promise."
"I love you too Cor," he said, his arms wrapping her up in an embrace. She kissed him again, and his hands slid down past her waist, and they made love, taking it slow, Bod moving slowly, precisely, making Coraline gasp and moan with every shuddering stroke. He began to breathe a little more heavily while her nails dug into his back, trying not to draw blood like the last time, his hand slipping down to her breasts and caressing a nipple, feeling it harden and rise, and Coraline forgot all about her mission and her troubles and the sheer scale of the task that lay before them and focused with intensity on the melding of her body with his and the immense waves of pleasure that were crashing over her, over and over again until she became aware that her mouth was open wide and she was screaming, urging, pleading for him to move faster and faster and that she couldn't take it any longer, she really couldn't, and her words gave way to a long loud guttural incoherent moan as Bod jerked and gasped and spent himself deep within her, and Coraline clutched her husband tight, not wanting to let go, never wanting him to ever leave her side.
When they were done, Coraline brushed the hair out of her eyes and gave Bod one last little kiss on the nose.
"Go to sleep Bod. Get some rest, we'll make new plans in the morning."
Bod smiled, and closed his eyes. Soon he was asleep, his breathing peaceful. Coraline looked at him for a little while, wishing that he would never change, that he would stay her Bod forever. Then she sighed and got up, and made herself a cup of mint tea from with the hotel room's kettle. She loved the sensation of her feet sinking into the thick, plush carpet and the other amenities their luxury hotel room afforded. It cost several hundred Euros a night, and Coraline believed it was money well spent.
It hadn't always been like this, their lives together. There were times where they had to crash at a friend's place because they literally had only six pounds between the two of them, trying to get some sleep on a ragged couch while Bod made do with a rug and a bit of floor. He'd smile and say it was nothing compared to sleeping in a tomb, and Coraline knew he wasn't joking. She'd curl up on the couch and stare at the shadows, vainly trying to block out the sounds of traffic, dog barks and the random assorted muggings and murders outside the window, listening to Bod snore away quietly.
Meals were whatever they could buy with a handful of coins. She didn't eat much and Bod was used to eating strange things, but there were times when she drifted off to sleep dreaming of being able to just sit down and eat a simple bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Crisp bacon, white bread and fresh vegetables with a smidge of mayo. TV and the Internet, a car? A mere dream. It was years before they could stop worrying about whether or not they were going to starve to death or get evicted.
But even in those darkest moments, Coraline never remembered being truly unhappy, not with Bod around. He always knew the right word to say to make her feel better when she was struggling with a pile of bills. And she never said anything that would hurt him as he tried out one career after another, facing setback after setback. Somehow, deep down inside she knew a modern 21st century, run-of-the-mill life wasn't in the cards for the pair of them.
She knew everything about the skills he learned as a child and he knew all about her slightly abnormal history, and they both agreed it should be put to better use. They both wanted to help people, so they set up their own private firm handling investigations, manhunts, wetwork and protection. As Bod so often said, there was no more marketable skill than keeping someone alive who doesn't want to be dead, as well as finding answers to questions asked by some very rich people indeed. Besides, he got to travel and see the world, which was important to him.
Coraline learned a few things on her own, some through intense study and training and others through first-hand experience. Nowadays she now could tap a phone and exorcise a ghoul with ease, but when she was just starting out there were very few people willing to tutor her in ancient Assyrian or show her just where the medulla oblongata was. As they got more successful they made sure to keep their profiles low, and take on less cases per year. However, both Bod and Coraline made it a point to work pro bono for some people who really needed the help. Tracking down a lost child and returning her to her grateful parents. Defending a young wife from her abusive husband. Even something as trivial as giving a man the money he needed to get the bank off his back. Charity came in varied forms.
They were wealthy and doing important, necessary work, and Coraline had learned how to appreciate everything they had earned together, all the perks and comforts and little luxuries. But she also believed very strongly in doing the right thing, and finding out who was behind the string of atrocities was the least she could do.
Coraline typed away at her computer, drinking her tea, seeking out the connections and the trail that would lead them to the smoking gun and the blood-stained hand as the night wore on and the Paris sky outside her window grew brighter and brighter.
Amboseli National Park
Kenya, Africa
Earth
Where was Delirium? Daniel, the Lord of Dreams had come to Jamie while he slept and advised him to seek his sister, the Lady Delirium if he had any hope of rescuing Death. Jamie racked his brains trying to think of a way to contact Del, whom he had only run into before one time by accident. From what he knew, it didn't seem like an easy task. The Endless apparently roamed the length and breadth of the universe as they wished, although they tended to favour areas associated with their particular domain. Jamie supposed he could go and sit in an insane asylum until Del showed up, but something told him it would be a fruitless endeavour.
Meanwhile there was the Duty. Jamie was running on less and less sleep from day to day, but instead of making him more relieved it was weighing heavily on his mind. A reduced need for sleep wasn't the only thing that Jamie had noticed changing about him. The undefinable sense in his mind that pointed to the exact location of every living thing in the universe was growing stronger every day. So was his connection to the world around him. He could almost feel every grain of sand if he walked on a beach, every drop of water in a storm-tossed sea. He was aware of the moon overhead and the stars in the sky on a level he had never before experienced as a human.
It was growing difficult to remember what life had been like as a human. Somedays he remembered it very clearly, his mother, father and brothers, sitting in a classroom bored out of his mind, challenging Morgan to ridiculous dancing arcade games and losing each time. He remembered having only five senses with which to perceive the world, sleeping a third of each day away, having to eat and drink and all the rest.
On the other days...he would cross over lives, one after another, without pause, with hardly a word to the recently dead. He had a feeling Didi wouldn't have done it that way, but he was scared of falling behind on the job. It only occurred to him later that he should have worried of the effects of the job on him.
Part of him wanted to reject it. All that power and all that responsibility was too much for any sane individual to bear. But another part of him, the part that had slowly awakened under Didi's gentle coaching wanted more. It was that side of Jamie who had always wanted more out of life, to experience everything there could possibly be. Knowing he could cross galaxies, wield the power of death, meet every living being in the universe...the thought of having such power forever gave rise to a small but persistent voice that constantly asked for more.
Kenya was calling, and he could not resist any longer. There was an unlucky wildebeest being savaged by a crocodile, and Jamie watched as the crocodile snapped its jaws, making the river run red. He helped the snorting, panting, panic-stricken animal cross over, and then wandered off some distance to stop and think.
Jamie sat down on a convenient rock and stared out at the grassy plain before him. It reminded him of Death's Domain, but unlike her realm this place was teeming with life. Insects buzzed around his feet, herds of wild antelope grazed in the distance, nervously looking around every few seconds or so to watch out for a big cat. Life and death, played out before his eyes.
His mind began filling up with a sudden strong urge to be elsewhere. A family of four had died from a gas leak in Shenzhen. A young girl overdosed on pills in Oslo. An old lady dying in her bed in Nottingham. A fisherman drowning in the Pacific Northwest. An ant being torn apart by a group of other ants three metres away from him. It all rose up in his mind, clamouring for his attention. The screams of the dying and the pain of the not yet dead. Save me, save me, save me...
Jamie buried his face in his hands, trying to ignore it all, pushing everything out of his mind to try and get a moment to concentrate. Deep in his heart he knew that what he was doing was the equivalent of plugging a leak in the Hoover Dam with his finger while cracks were beginning to form elsewhere and other leaks were starting to burst through. He couldn't keep this up forever. He'd go mad. Or he'd give himself over to the Duty entirely, and turn into someone else altogether. He had to get Didi back.
"I wish she was here right now," he mumbled, his voice muffled by his palm.
"...here right now he mumbled, his voice muffled by his palm. The human named James Franklin Keane then looked up in shock because he had not seen another person around and the voice was unlike any human one he had ever heard before. He looked upon a tall, grim figure, clad in a brown robe with a cowl, carrying a book which is attached to one wrist by a length of chain. The book is also unlike anything James had ever seen before, a massive tome full of dusty old pages, the cover unmarked by any word or symbol and bound in some unidentifiable material. Recalling the words he shared with the Dream King some time ago, James realised with dawning horror that the person standing in front of him could only be Destiny of the Endless," recited Destiny without stopping, reading from his book.
He paused, and looked at Jamie with his cloudy-white eyes. "For that is who I am. Destiny, eldest of the Endless."
The old man had appeared out of nowhere, and had read his thoughts while he was thinking them from the book he held. Like Dream, he was taller than any human ought to be, dwarfing the baobab tree beside him. Despite the full strength of the African sun behind him Destiny cast no shadow, and he left no footprints on the mud of the riverbank. His robes smelled like the air inside long-forgotten libraries, and although he seemed blind his eyes held Jamie's own with ease. His face seemed wrinkled and ancient, but his skin was more akin to that of a human, instead of the pure white of Didi and her other siblings. Jamie literally could not think of anything to say.
Destiny did not appear perturbed by his lack of response. "I have come to you, James Keane because you have irrevocably altered certain events in the history of this universe, the ramifications of which are adding new pages and entire indexes to my book every day."
"You've come to yell at me?" said Jamie weakly.
"I never yell," said Destiny. "I have information for you."
"Can you help me find Delirium? I – uh – need to speak to her."
"It pertains to your current role as the reaper of life," said Destiny, ignoring him.
"But I'm not the reaper, I'm just sort of filling in until Didi gets back..."
"My sister gave you her sigil," said Destiny. "She gave you her power. You will do her job."
Destiny spoke in a flat tone without inflection, stating things in a calm and matter-of-fact manner. His entire presence seemed to suggest that he knew what was going to happen anyway, so just shut up and do as he said because he knew better than everyone else.
He had lived for billions of years compared to Jamie's mere handful, but Jamie had already developed a strong aversion to simply doing as he was told.
"I'm trying to get her back. Don't you care what happens to her? Do you even know what happened to her?"
"Certainly."
"Then...can you tell me what happens next? How can I rescue her?"
Destiny remained silent, implacable as a sheer ice wall.
"Can't you tell me something useful from that big book of yours?"
"No."
"You might as well be carrying around a copy of Twilight then," muttered Jamie. "Is that all you have to say?"
"No. It is your destiny. You will become the new reaper of lives."
"And what if I refuse?"
Destiny remained silent, as if Jamie's decision didn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things. But that was wrong, wasn't it? Didn't he say at the beginning that Jamie's actions were adding new pages to his book, changing history? If what was written down could be changed, then there was a chance that Didi might be saved. And if there was even the slightest chance that Didi could be saved...he was going to take it.
All that passed through Jamie's mind in a flash, and he got off his rock, resolute.
"Then I refuse. I'm going to get Didi back, one way or another. And nothing you can say will change my mind."
"I know," said Destiny simply. And without another word, he vanished. Jamie watched a herd of elephants stroll by in the distance, thinking hard. The clamour of the dead grew stronger and more insistent in his mind, and he couldn't put it off any longer.
Death's Domain
The Sunless Lands
Jamie took a deep breath, feeling the clean air rush into his lungs, enjoying the peace and quiet in Death's realm. Here the voices were a bit more silent, if not completely deadened. It had been a long, hard day, filled with more violent deaths than usual. Jamie had worked fast, barely speaking a word to those who had died as he dealt with one death after another. He had went for speed over precision, anything to lessen the clamour in his head. Before he cracked completely and had gone running around naked in the streets of downtown L.A., he'd decided to go back home for a rest. The Earth would just have to do without him for a while.
Judging by the light, it was somewhen between late afternoon and dusk. Jamie opened the door and headed to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea, leaving his shoes outside. He opened the cabinet and selected a box at random, then boiled water in an electric kettle. Where did the electricity come from? He didn't know, and the only person who did was somewhere else.
He took his strong cup of jasmine orange and went over to the living room to sit down on the long couch. He shook a few fish flakes into Slim and Wandsworth's bowl while he waited for his tea to cool. The two goldfish swam to the top of the bowl, gobbling down the fishy treats with surprising enthusiasm. Jamie took a sip of tea and closed his eyes, leaning back on the couch. He felt the exhaustion and stress draining out of his body, and he knew he would doze off in about a second or two. Maybe an hour's nap, and then he could think of a plan to rescue Didi.
The next thing he knew, there was a flashing light that shone brightly against his closed eyelids. Groggy, Jamie struggled to sit up. He had drifted off to sleep, with one leg thrown over the back of the couch and his back on the floor. His cup of tea was on the coffee table, the dregs now cold. The sky had grown dark. Slim and Wandsworth swum around in their bowl as they always had.
Jamie rubbed his eyes and looked at the flashing light that painted the walls of the house in an eerie silver glow. He had never seen anything like it before, and Didi hadn't told him about it. Jamie followed the light to its source. It was coming from the basement, the light pouring from under a door he had not opened before. He wondered whether it was dangerous to go in.
Then incredibly, he heard a familiar voice coming from the other side of the door.
"Sis? Big sis! It's me, Delirium. I'm doing this properly this time, like the time I wanted to talk to Dream only now he's dead but not really and he's got a new name now. I'm uh, standing in my gallery only it was the deck of an aircraft carrier two seconds ago and it'll probably be a mountain of cotton candy in a while but for now it's my gallery and that's the important bit, I'm standing in my gallery and holding your sigil thingy. You know, the thing that looks like a cross but with a round bit at the top. And now you have to talk to me. Please?"
Jamie pushed open the door and went in. It turned out to be a long low-ceilinged room, with a group of seven paintings arranged in a line on one wall. On closer inspection, they weren't paintings at all but seven artifacts each surrounded by a frame. There was a book with a chain, a silver ankh which he recognised as the larger twin of the one he wore around his neck. Something that looked like a bizarre mask carved out of bone. A weathered sword, pitted and marked with rust. A large crystal heart, and a tiny ring with a hook on top. And the last, a confusing swirl of colours and butterflies. It was this last thing that was pulsing with silver light. It was from this frame that Delirium's voice was emanating from.
"Del? Is that you?"
"You're not my big sister. Who are you?"
"It's me Jamie, don't you remember? We had ice cream once."
"Jamie? What are you doing there? Where's my big sis?"
"It's a long story Del, but is there some way you could get over here? I need to talk to you."
"Of course there is."
Jamie waited. Nothing happened.
"Uh Del, could you use that way to come here then?"
"Oh, ok. If you really wanna."
"I do."
There was a final flash of light, and Delirium was standing in Death's gallery. Her hair was still rainbow coloured and looked like it could use a good wash, but at least it was growing all over her head this time. She was wearing a big black coat, cutoff jean shorts, a ragged My Little Pony t-shirt and a large straw summer hat. Her eyes, one green and one blue, focused with some effort on Jamie.
"Hello."
"Del, I am so glad to see you! You don't know how long I've been trying to get in touch with you."
Del blinked in surprise. "If you wanted to talk why didn't you come to the gallery?"
"I...er...what?"
"The gallery. Which is what this place is. My big sister's gallery. She uses it to talk to us when she wants to or when she's mad and wants to yell at us, which is actually pretty scary if it happens to you but she hasn't done that in a million billion years so I guess that's ok. Why didn't you call me?"
"No one told me I could use this to call you!"
"Well I'm here now," said Del, skipping merrily up the stairs. Jamie blinked, then considered hitting his head against the wall, hard. Instead he decided to go upstairs before Del wrecked the place.
She was lying lengthwise on the couch, watching Slim and Wandsworth with childlike delight. The two goldfish seemed to recognise her, and drifted over to her side of the glass bowl. Jamie sat down on a spare armchair and tried to arrange his thoughts in a coherent fashion. But the sheer exasperation at realising he could have called Delirium anytime he wanted instead of searching everywhere for her still rattled him.
"Where's my big sis anyway? Is she at work?"
"Del...haven't you heard?"
"Heard what?"
That snapped Jamie out of his daze. He told Delirium everything that had happened. Death's capture, his meeting with Dream, struggling with the demands of the job, and Destiny's warning. Amazingly enough, Delirium didn't wander off or start singing or hopping around. She listened wide-eyed as Jamie got everything off his chest. He suddenly felt better, just talking about it.
"My big sis is in trouble?" asked Delirium, when he had finished.
"I'm afraid so Del."
"That's a pe-kyu-lee-airity," said Delirium. "Usually it's one of us who's in trouble. One of us younger ones. The older three don't really get in trouble. They help us out of trouble. This is troubling. Trouble! I like that word."
"Uh, yeah."
"Are you going to get her back?" asked Delirium.
"I want to."
"I thought so. You like her, don't you?"
Jamie said nothing.
"You're blushing," sang Delirium. "I can see your face turning red. That means you like her. It's a human thing. And I think she likes you too. Otherwise you wouldn't be here, you'd be dead. And gone. And, y'know, not here."
"We can talk about that later," said Jamie quickly. "Right now we need to think of a plan to get your sister back."
"I don't like plans. They always turn out bad. Like fish you lock in a car boot and forget to take out until you just keel over one day from the smell."
"We'll never rescue Didi without a plan."
"How bout you do the planning and I tell you when you're going off the right track and headed for a cliff to be smashed to bits on the rocks below?"
"Ok. First things first. Your brother told me to find you."
"My brother? My big scary blind brother? My big hairy lost brother? Or my big used-to-be-scary-but-now-he's-not-so-scary-anymore sleepy brother?"
"Uh, Daniel."
"Oh, him. I'm not sure if he's really my brother. I mean, he kinda is but his mum and dad aren't my mum and dad. I don't think I even have a mum and dad. But he's still my brother. What did he say?"
"He said I should find you."
"Uh huh."
"And...that you'd help. Somehow."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Delirium and Jamie stared at each other. He noticed that her hair was changing colour before his eyes, it was turning into a uniform shade of pink.
"If you don't know then we can't find my big sis and you'll be stuck doing her job forever. Maybe that means you'll become my new big sis. That happened before, you know. Not my big sis but another big sis. She's grey and likes rats but she was red and naked before."
Jamie wasn't listening, he was racking his brains trying to think of what else Dream had said. He had been frustratingly cryptic, and Jamie felt like going back to the gallery so he could yell at him properly. Then again, maybe that's how he had to talk, being the lord and master of dreams after all. You didn't usually get a nice big map with detailed pathways to your next destination when you dreamt. But that was of little comfort to him right now.
Eventually he remembered something else Dream said. Find Nobody Owens and Coraline Jones. But why? Maybe Delirium knew.
He mentioned this to her, but she drew a blank. "Who are they?"
"I don't know."
"And how are they going to help us?"
"Your brother just said that they would."
"Let's go find them then."
"Any idea how?"
"You're doing my big sister's job, right?"
"I guess."
"Can you do what she does?"
"A little."
"She always seems to know where everyone is. No matter where they are or what they're doing. They could be up in the stars or hiding at the bottom of caves and she could find them. She always does. Why don't you do that?"
"I...could, couldn't I?"
Jamie hadn't thought about it before, but the more he pondered the idea the more sense it made. But there were problems. Sure he knew where everyone was at every given moment, but that meant it was harder for him to pinpoint a specific individual. Finding a single pair of humans on Earth in a sea of seven billion would be a monumental task.
Still, it was a start.
"Come on, Del. We're going back to Earth. We need to find Nobody and Coraline."
"Yay! Can we stop for ice cream?"
"Sure."
Jakarta
Java, Indonesia
Earth
More so than any other city on the planet, Jakarta overflowed with life. Its roads and highways roared with traffic jams that were miles long while the smarter ones puttered around on ancient motorcycles, bicycles, and sometimes even a pony-drawn trap. More than ten million souls squeezed into a city that sparkled by night but choked on smog in the day, with most of them working bureaucratic desk jobs that kept the rest of the massive country working.
It was also a popular tourist destination, boasting hundreds of visitors who came all year round, from all corners of the globe. The city was also home to many foreign investors and wealthy individuals, and it was a common sight to look up and see a gleaming airplane avoid the Sukarno-Hatta airport that serviced the public and head for the Halim Perdanakusuma airport instead, which were reserved for private flights and government business.
A white Gulfstream 150 touched down on the runway, and a welcoming committee that had been nervously awaiting its arrival hurried to meet it. The plane was only carrying a small group, but whoever they were, they had serious wealth.
"Welcome to Jakarta," greeted an airport official, not daring to look directly at the woman who stood before him. She was taller than he was, with waves of red hair that fell to her shoulders and eyes obscured by designer sunglasses. She was wearing a sharp white suit that almost seemed to glow in the sun, with a short-cut skirt that gave a generous view of her long white legs.
"Thank you," said Cyd Sherman. She nodded at her team. "Let's go."
A limousine was waiting at the airport to take them to the finest hotel in the area. But if all went well, they wouldn't need to stay there for more than a day or two.
The Teacher was in a black mood more often than not these days, and the maddening persistence of death that continued while Death remained imprisoned had left him in a rage. He was devoting all of his resources to tracking Jamie Keane down again, but had been unsuccessful so far.
Meanwhile, another problem was cropping up. Cyd had kept tabs on the other agents hired to strike the terror wave while she did her job in South Africa, as well as monitoring reports from security and police forces around the world. A disturbingly high number of their former operatives were being captured and arrested by the police after a series of anonymous tips. It seemed obvious to Cyd that they had enemies on their trail.
It wasn't easy, and the hit squad or whoever they were hid their tracks well, but bit by bit Cyd had put the pieces together. It eventually turned out to be just two operatives, a man and a woman. Even with the Teacher's resources, both mystical and urbane, she had not managed to identify who or what they were working for. But she knew without a doubt that they were working against her interests.
Let the Teacher worry about his high-minded vision, she would clean up matters on the street level. He had granted her immense magical powers as a sign of his favour following her success in capturing Death, and now there was little she could not accomplish.
Cyd remained silent while the rest of her team chattered amongst themselves and the limousine wove its way through the crowded roads of Jakarta. According to her sources, the man and woman who were hunting down the Teacher's agents were somewhere in this city. She would hunt them down and kill them for daring to interfere, by any means necessary.