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"I know, and that was fate at work." He moves closer, still clasping my hand. "How many others would have understood what I needed when I asked about alchemy and quantum physics? You knew, and you gathered the information."
"Any librarian could've done that. I found what you asked for by searching a computer system. That's not fate, it's dumb luck."
"Look at the symbols." He releases my hand, then throws an arm around my shoulders to hold me to his side. "Lookat them. Until today, the symbols had only been activated when I touched them. They obey me—and now you. Notice which symbols activate when you touch the box. Do it."
I do what he says only because I need to know what the symbols mean. Maybe he's going to explain. So I stretch my hand out again and flatten my palm on the box's bottom.
The symbols begin to glow in a repeating sequence.
"Do you see?" Sefton whispers into my ear. "Watch as the sequence restarts. Venus, the symbol for woman and for copper. Jupiter, the king of the gods who represents the chemical element tin. Terra, the earthly embodiment of woman and the symbol for earth itself, the basis upon which all else rests. Ignis, the fire of passion and the burning flame of life that shall turn the world to ash so that it may be reborn anew."
To change the world, we must first dismantle it.One of his notes to me had said that, but I didn't understand what he'd meant until it was too late.
He points to the wooden box adjacent to the one inside which my hand lies. "Open that one and see what its symbols reveal."
Might as well let him tell me everything. I swallow against a constriction in my throat and open the other box. The second my hand touches the velvet interior, the symbols on the exterior begin to activate.
"The sun," he says, "symbol of warmth and life, also associated with the element gold. That is you, Allison. The warm and radiant woman who sparked the alchemical reaction. The moon represents darkness and the metal silver, and it binds me to you."
Sounds like baloney to me. Why would the moon bind me to him?
Three symbols light up in unison.
Sefton plasters his mouth to my ear and whispers, "Tria Prima. The three elements that triggered the original transmutation, the change that created all other matter. That's why I needed the three of us together—to recreate the Tria Prima. In ancient alchemy, three physical elements comprised the triangle, but I needed more than mercury, sulfur, and salt to achieve my goal. Only a trio of humans could accomplish the feat. Well, that and the quintessentia, which is the unknowable essence of everything, the prime catalyst that generated the universe."
Quintessentia? Tria Prima? The scariest part of all this is that I'm beginning to make sense of his lunatic ramblings. Because he's not just rambling anymore. He's telling me how he created the Echo and started the transmutation of two worlds into one.
He pulls me away from the shelves, dragging me backward, and rests his hands on my shoulders. "On that day when Dax and I stood before our parents' graves, I had already planted the seed of the transmutation within you. We are entangled, the three of us, bound at the quantum level."
"You planted the seed when you kissed me."
"Exactly. You didn't need to be present when I triggered the Tria Prima. I already possessed the requisite magics, and all I needed on that day was Dax."
Though I want to push away from him, I know I shouldn't. Not yet. I need more answers. "What did you mean about the three of us being entangled?"
"Quantum entanglement links discrete particles, even across vast distances. What affects one affects the other. That is how we share power. Eventually, I will find a way to sever Dax from the entanglement. But you and I shall forever be entwined."
Bound to him forever? No way.
"Once I achieved the entangled state," Sefton says, "the pieces fell into place. And voila, the apocalypse began. The elegance and beautiful horror of the transmutation is stunning. Don't you agree?"
My God, he really is insane. Nothing can save him now. He's gone too far beyond the edge of sanity, so far that he can no longer see reality as anything but a distant star in another galaxy. If I'd ever thought I might somehow bring him back from the madness, talk sense into him, now I realize that can never happen. He has murdered countless human beings, destroyed entire cities, and created monsters that do his bidding. No one should have that much power, and there's only one way to stop him.
Sefton Stainthorpe must die. And I'm going to kill him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dax
Last night, Willow and Grant slept. I did not. At least, I didn't sleep soundly, but that was on purpose. My years in the Echo taught me the life-threatening consequences of letting my guard down in the presence of strangers. I met Willow less than two days ago, yet I trust the child. Perhaps because Allison trusts her.
Our host, Grant, is another story. He seems amiable and as normal as anyone can be under the circumstances, but I have an intuition that he's keeping something from us. I can't blame him for that. We just met, and I am not the most…friendly person. Everyone in this world has known the Echo for only a matter of days, while I lived in it for five years. Of course I'm a growling, snarling beast.
But I need to know what Grant is hiding.
I stand watch on the shore while Grant and Willow wade out into the water to catch our breakfast. They use sticks with sharpened tips, punching them into the gentle swells whenever they see a fish. While they focus on their task, I scan the shore and the mountains behind us, the sky too.
But my thoughts keep circling back to one question.
