Page 79 of Never Tear Us Apart
‘The oracle chamber,’ I say, feeling a sense of recognition in the air.
‘Yes.’ Kathryn nods. ‘The room where you say you began your journey back to us from 1942. You sang your way home?’
‘Well, it wasn’t a direct route,’ I tell her. ‘It felt like leaving home, if I’m honest.’
‘Oh, Maia,’ Kathryn says. ‘I don’t know what’s happening, but I do wish more than anything that I could find a way to make you feel that you have a home here.’
‘You did,’ I reply, taking her hand. ‘You gave me an idea of what family could be like. That’s why I recognised it when I found it in . . .’ I look around. ‘Another place. But there are people I have to say goodbye to here, and things I need to say.’
Kathryn nods. ‘I thought there might be.’
Just at that moment, a security guard coughs politely in the tunnel outside the chamber.
‘Apologies,’ Kathryn calls. ‘I’ll bring them out now.’ She turns back to us. ‘The moisture in the air, even in your breath – all of it can be damaging to the integrity of the temple. That’s why visitors are so strictly limited. We’d better go.’
The last to leave, I take one final look at the chamber before following the others out. There’s a whole museum built over the site now, complete with state-of-the-art security. But somehow, with Kathryn’s help, I’ll need to find a way in here later tonight. This is the only way I can be almost certain of getting back to Stella in time to save her life.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
‘Well.’ Dr Selena Gresch and I stand in the hospital corridor outside my father’s room, before Selena makes her rounds. ‘I suppose I ought to wish you good luck, though I do wish you’d hang around and let me study you.’
‘I know.’ I smile. ‘Well, if I’m still here tomorrow, you can, but then again, if I’m still here tomorrow, I doubt there is much worth studying about me.’
‘True,’ she replies, with a laugh. ‘I wish you the best of luck, Maia. Wherever you are tomorrow, just know I will be thinking of and wondering about you for the rest of my life.’
‘That you haven’t had me locked up in an institution is something I will always be grateful for,’ I tell her. ‘Thank you for believing me, or at least pretending to.’
‘Can we . . . ?’
‘Please . . .’
We hug briefly, and Selena shakes my hand.
‘Safe journey, Maia Borg.’
* * *
All my life, I’ve wanted my dad to greet me as if he loves me. Today, I am trying to find a way to do something I’ve done in a hundred ways over the years: to say goodbye. And I’m struggling to find the words.
‘Vanessa?’ I am a little surprised to find my dad’s fourth wife sitting next to his bed, packing my father’s things intoa suitcase, but I’m relieved, too. Ness is a nice woman, kind and generous. She makes the room a kinder place, somehow: a place I can be brave enough to say the difficult things.
‘I told her not to come,’ Dad grumbles, more to himself than to me. ‘I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself – I told her.’
‘Hello, Maia.’ Vanessa gets up in a cloud of floaty linen and gives me a kiss on each cheek. She smells of roses and lemon. ‘I had such high hopes for your trip. I’m so sorry it went wrong.’
‘I’m sorry I nearly killed your husband,’ I say. ‘Do you still get life-insurance payouts at his age?’
Vanessa chuckles and finishes the packing.
‘So, you’re leaving?’ I say, looking at the case. ‘They’ve given you the all-clear?’
‘Not the all-clear exactly,’ Vanessa says. ‘It’s more that your father insists on leaving.’
‘I’m being discharged into my wife’s care. We will fly home tomorrow,’ he says.
‘I’m going out to find something delicious for my dinner,’ Vanessa tells us. ‘I’ll leave you two to it.’
‘Will you bring me back something . . . edible?’ Dad calls after her. ‘Hospital food.’
