Page 58 of A World Enough

Camber closed her eyes and let her hands skim over the map. The feeling was weak, so she stopped.

“Brogan, you can help me. Sit on the other side of the table and put your hands on top of mine.”

Brogan moved around, and as soon as her hands touched Camber’s, she jumped at the jolt of energy.

“Whoa. Did you feel that, Camber?”

“Yes. I think this will really help me.”

“Does that normally happen?” Brogan asked.

Camber looked deeply into Brogan’s eyes and said, “No.”

Then the urge in her hands to move was extremely great. Her hands moved apart. One hovered above Danus, where Vorka and the Tuatha De Danann monks worked and lived at Danu’s temple, and the other was over GallowGlas.

GallowGlas? Camber thought.

“Camber? What does this mean?” Brogan asked.

“It means there are two ways to get home. One is a junction, a portal junction that’s on Danus.”

“Junction?” Brogan asked. “I thought you just went in one side of a portal and popped out the other end.”

“A junction means you have to know where you’re going. Probably only Vorka and the monks know it’s there. The map has been erased in the top corner. It would normally show the different places it led, but it’s been deliberately erased.”

“This is crazy,” Brogan said.

“It sounds to me like when you were thrown, that you tumbled through into that place you described with the whirlpools. That’s where you make your choice. You fell through a random junction, and then fell into my path,” Camber said.

“And the other?”

“GallowGlas has one, clearly. It is perhaps where your ancestors came through to your Earth.”

“Why was the junction to Earth wiped off the map?”

“I really don’t know. It feels like it must have been done before my time,” Camber said.

“How many Map Keepers have there been?”

“I don’t know. All I do know is that the ancient beings that made the portals—Danu was one of them—gave the first Map Keeper this map, and the power to use it.”

Brogan pursed her lips and then grasped Camber’s hand. “You don’t mind me asking these questions, do you?”

“No. I trust you. I’ve never trusted someone out of my circle—even resistance members I’m supposed to not trust completely, in case they are shapeshifters—but I trust you. I don’t know why. I choose to believe it’s for the right reason.”

“I’m sure lots of people have said it to you before, but you can trust me. When were you chosen?” Brogan asked.

“When I was a baby. When a Map Keeper is coming to their end, they are led to the next one and hand over their satchel and the map to the new Map Keeper’s caretaker.”

Brogan didn’t want to ask if her caretaker was a parent, not now. It might upset her.

“That satchel of yours, is it magic?” Brogan could feel Camber’s thumb making circles on the back of her hand.

“It must be. I don’t know how or why it was created, but it always seems to have what I need at the right time.”

“Now why was it scrubbed off, there must a reason,” Brogan said.

“Maybe someone was trying to protect Earth or isolate it. In your past, do you think there were other paranormals that came through?”