Lisbeth Walpurgis
The Writer
"I can't hold it," Frostine thought as she closed her eyes and slipped away.
For only an instant Lisbeth saw him, and she reached out, a drowning swimmer desperately seeking the surface, rising like a bullet through the dim haze of consciousness, and her eyes snapped open, rich golden brown, her hand meeting only empty air.
She awoke just in time to see the world shatter into madness.
At first she could not comprehend what she was seeing. Where was she? What had happened? There was William, gripping his Ledger on a pedestal as if his life depended on it. From the looks of things, that was probably true. Blott was nearby, watching the chaos, but where were Altamonte and Genevieve? The swirling mechanical monstrosity before her was...
"An orrery?" she murmured.
An orrery of infinite size, of innumerable possibilities, growing and collapsing over and over as it shifted through infinite probabilities and fates. She could feel it, the power of it, singing through her bones, and suddenly, unbidden, her Book appeared in her hands. She stared at it, slack-jawed, as the cover strained at the clasp of its own accord until at last it flew open. As the pages of William's Ledger flew, so did the pages of her Book, as if in some bizarre act of sympathy, and a flood of words that she had never Written swam about the papers like a swirling maelstrom. There was no sense to it, just a strange whirling mess of letters and words twisting so tightly that the pages were nearly black with them. Then the Book snapped open to a completely blank page, and before her eyes appeared the words: TAKE US ALL SOMEWHERE SAFE
"Take us all somewhere safe!" William cried, the words reverberating through the entire house, impossibly loud.
And everything stopped.
One moment was a cacophony of lunacy, and then, in the span of a blink, the orrery was gone, the whole swirling mess of it. Instead a small model of Black Iron House stood at the center of the empty hall, impossibly detailed. William slumped to the floor, the Ledger gone, and somehow Genevieve and Altamonte had appeared in the room with them.
Lisbeth looked down at her Book.
It was blank.
She snapped it shut, her throat tight, but somehow she was not afraid. A warm feeling lingered in her chest, and right now the most important thing was that they were all alive. She rushed to William's side and propped him up.
"Thank you," she told him, though she wasn't sure he could hear.
She looked to her companions and managed a tight smile.
"Looks like you all were having fun while I was gone. Shall we see where we've ended up this time?"
For only an instant Lisbeth saw him, and she reached out, a drowning swimmer desperately seeking the surface, rising like a bullet through the dim haze of consciousness, and her eyes snapped open, rich golden brown, her hand meeting only empty air.
She awoke just in time to see the world shatter into madness.
At first she could not comprehend what she was seeing. Where was she? What had happened? There was William, gripping his Ledger on a pedestal as if his life depended on it. From the looks of things, that was probably true. Blott was nearby, watching the chaos, but where were Altamonte and Genevieve? The swirling mechanical monstrosity before her was...
"An orrery?" she murmured.
An orrery of infinite size, of innumerable possibilities, growing and collapsing over and over as it shifted through infinite probabilities and fates. She could feel it, the power of it, singing through her bones, and suddenly, unbidden, her Book appeared in her hands. She stared at it, slack-jawed, as the cover strained at the clasp of its own accord until at last it flew open. As the pages of William's Ledger flew, so did the pages of her Book, as if in some bizarre act of sympathy, and a flood of words that she had never Written swam about the papers like a swirling maelstrom. There was no sense to it, just a strange whirling mess of letters and words twisting so tightly that the pages were nearly black with them. Then the Book snapped open to a completely blank page, and before her eyes appeared the words: TAKE US ALL SOMEWHERE SAFE
"Take us all somewhere safe!" William cried, the words reverberating through the entire house, impossibly loud.
And everything stopped.
One moment was a cacophony of lunacy, and then, in the span of a blink, the orrery was gone, the whole swirling mess of it. Instead a small model of Black Iron House stood at the center of the empty hall, impossibly detailed. William slumped to the floor, the Ledger gone, and somehow Genevieve and Altamonte had appeared in the room with them.
Lisbeth looked down at her Book.
It was blank.
She snapped it shut, her throat tight, but somehow she was not afraid. A warm feeling lingered in her chest, and right now the most important thing was that they were all alive. She rushed to William's side and propped him up.
"Thank you," she told him, though she wasn't sure he could hear.
She looked to her companions and managed a tight smile.
"Looks like you all were having fun while I was gone. Shall we see where we've ended up this time?"
