Still stuck here. Still imprisoned. Sara was due to have us picked up today, but somehow I doubt that’s going to happen. I emailed ‘Sixteen’ about our situation yesterday and asked him to update Sara urgently. He confirmed last night that he had, so now all we can do is wait. It usually takes a while for his messages to get to her (And I don’t blame Sixteen for that in any way.). So, if we’ve learned anything from this experience (apart from plenty of investigation techniques, of course) it’s that we always need a direct line of communication with her in future.

That’s assuming we get out of here and decide to stay working for her.

Maddet is still bringing us food. He’s his usual, content self; but now when he talks to us there’s a low tone to his voice, an emptiness. And I doubt it’s got anything to do with being a puppet. No. He’s talking to us with such absolute neutrality in the same way I’d imagine an undertaker might talk to a corpse. He’s brushed aside all our questions by repeating that Breven will see us soon.

At least he wants to see us. After seeing what I saw the other night I’m surprised he hasn’t done worse to us than simply lock us up. I’m still trying to get my head around what happened. Though I remember going up to that door alone, I also remember Armbranch joining me at some point and I certainly recall how that eased my nerves. The door itself wasn’t much to look at. Just a small metal door covered with inscriptions. Though it was unguarded, something told me a kilo or two of C4 explosives wouldn’t have opened it. The energy of spells was thick around it.

Yet, the moment I laid my hands on it, it was like the metal melted away and I saw straight through it. Darkness. That’s all I saw at first. A darkness as thick as oil. And God how I wish it had stayed that way because when my eyes adjusted I saw something far below us that froze my blood so hard I still don’t think it’s fully thawed.

There was a pool down there. At first I thought it was a pool of water glowing a pale green from the kind of luminescent algae that can be found in deep caves. Then I saw the corpses bobbing about in it. There was a soup of  bones and skulls and white, rotting flesh down there. I don’t know how many bodies—a dozen, two dozen, more? And it wasn’t any pool. No. It was some kind of living thing that was feeding off the dead. The more I forced myself to look, the more I saw how the ‘pool’ was hollowed out of some larger body. A great root. That’s what it looked like. The edges of the pool were a pale green and tiny strips of tendrils were interlaced between the bones as if feeding off them.

The sight turned my stomach, especially when a part of my mind kept reminding me how bad it must have stank in there. I could also vividly imagine how the victims must have screamed as they were tossed in there.

I didn’t see where that root began, or where it continued on to. And when I explained the whole thing to Armbranch, he had no suggestions as to what it might be. He could feel its energy, though, feel it through that door. And it terrified him.

Though I haven’t heard anything from Lailia for a while now, I sent her a description of what we saw. With luck, she might have some idea of what it was. That metal door wasn’t the gateway. No. But I’m sure it was overlooking the exit from the gateway and that the root thing was passing out through it from one world into another.

Tried my gift in numerous places last night, but learned nothing new. I’ve mentioned the metal door to Armbranch, but he was evasive when I asked him if we should go up there. Don’t blame him. I don’t want to go up there either. Nor do I want to leave this place without finding answers either.

We  spent this afternoon eating and drinking in the storeroom. I took it easy on the Pipol while Armbranch kept plying Maddet with more until his belly started to bloat. After a few hours I laid a hand on Maddet’s bare arm and looked deep inside him. All the food and all the Pipol he’d drank was gathered in a sloppy undigested mix somewhere behind his false flesh where I figured his stomach should have been. It was shocking to see—and slightly comical. It also confirmed my puppet theory as 100% true which, oddly, calmed my nerves a lot.

We’re back in our room now with two bottles of Pipol courtesy of Maddet. We’re going to save them, though, for when we get out of here. Despite the urgency of our situation, all I thought about when we left the warehouse was what will happen all the food inside Maddet. A bizarre part of me imagined Breven (or someone else) turning Maddet upside down and allowing the whole mess to spill out of him.

As sickening as it sounds, I’m glad of those distractions in my head. It stops me thinking about going to that metal door. I’m convinced now that the only way to solve the riddle of this place is to go up there and look through it. And that’s something I really don’t want to think about. At least not for the next few hours. Not until midnight, because that’s the time I’ve decided to go up there—with or without Armbranch’s help.

Or maybe I should just knock back a bottle of Pipol and take the second bottle with me up there.

Dohan turned up with Jag this morning. We’re leaving the compound in a few hours and will be starting our first ‘on site’ investigation. Somewhere outside the city, Dohan now says. Good. I don’t really care where we go. I’m so bored in this place right now I’d even go to church—if there was a church anywhere here.

‘Sixteen’ kept me up late last night talking about his situation in The Parawerthan. After telling me some more of his ‘arrival in the Parawerthan’ story, he switched the conversation to his current position here. He’s been reading the blog and was a bit concerned that I was mentioning too much about his past here. I understand his concerns. I need to be more careful about what I write. If any of his family actually stumbles across this blog then they could easily put two and two together and God only knows what might happen. I agreed to shut my trap for now. And once I’m finished writing his story, I’ll change the names in it before I try and get it published.

I couldn’t sleep for a long time after logging off early this morning. I kept imagining that some of ‘Sixteen’s’ relatives might turn up at Singleton Cottage at any moment demanding to pass into the Parawerthan. Stupid me. I should never have written anything about where he came from and how the others back home had checked out his home town. Not only was it risky, it was also disrespectful.

Still no sign of Dohan. But at least there was no sign of the White Storm either. It hasn’t been sighted again and the powers that be have decided it’s probably returned to the farther reaches of the Empty Sea again. Sara told me a little bit more about it last night. She said that Rehammer was thought to have first risen from a land far to the south called Willcona. Though the kings of Willcona are long fallen after a series of civil wars, the kingdom has existed in many different forms since. Sara hinted that the Cadavat have influence there. She also hinted that they had an idea how the storm came into existence. She didn’t elaborate, though. Typical. Sometimes I wonder if she simply tells me these things just to tease me.

Spent much of last night talking with Maya. She was a bit emotional about our future baby. She’s been thinking more and more about what to tell her folks back inArgentina. I’ll admit I hadn’t thought much about it. And I sympathise with her. One thing’s for sure, they’ll have to be told something. There’s no way out of that. No way, that is, without avoiding a major family rift. But what then? How will they react? Will their joy and desire to be with their daughter during this time send them running to book flights toIreland? After all, they’ve been talking about visiting us for some time now. Maybe this will be the trigger.

If it is, well, I guess we’ll have to tell them something. Maya and Ana have agreed to start dropping minor hints. That will buy us some time. After that I suppose we’ll have to be truthful and work with whatever happens next.

Sara informed us earlier this morning that a White Storm was spotted off the northern tip of theMaratorShoreslate last night. She’s not too worried about it. Though they’re still ferocious, White Storms are the least aggressive of the Parawerthan spirit storms. She suspects it’s a storm called Rehammer. It’s an old ocean wanderer who’s been spotted close to shore a few times in the last decade or so. Though the costal cities were on high alert and sea travel was restricted, Sara said we should be okay here. Rehammer wasn’t known to have passed over Borkon for over three hundred years.

Chef served up a surprise Jargat meal to Armbranch and me last night. I don’t know where she got the fish. Nor did she offer any reply when I asked her. I suspect, though, her stubbornness drove her back down to the fishing cave after she’d returned us to our rooms yesterday morning. Yes. I’m sure that was it. When I think back, she did look exhausted yesterday at breakfast.

To be honest, I didn’t really care where she got it. It was too enjoyable to worry about things like that.

No sign of Dohan today. Spent the afternoon chatting with the guys back home. Maya’s in top form since she heard about the possibility of getting a temporary Circleweb. She doesn’t mention it much. But I know. I can tell by the tone of her emails. I haven’t heard from ‘Sixteen’ for a while now. I’m not worried, though. He said he might be going away for a while and that he wouldn’t risk taking the laptop with him.

We’d barely set foot in The Dome this morning when a messenger came and called Dohan away. I was glad of the break, glad to return to my room and catch up on some sleep. We fished into the early hours without catching a single thing. Chef was a bit annoyed about the lack of fish, said she wasn’t leaving until she’d caught something, anything—even if it was only one of the small opaque moths that sometimes fluttered through the cave. But she couldn’t even catch one of them. I was glad about that because I had the suspicion that she might have some crazy recipe for them, too. They were too small to eat, but I figured by the way she spoke about them that she’d just crush them up and use them as some kind of spice.

It was only when the sleep was oozing from her eyes and Armbranch reminded her that she needed to be up and cooking by 5.30AM that the stubbornness left her and she led us back up top. She can certainly be stubborn. Harmless, though. But I doubt if I’ll ever ask her to take us fishing again when we have to be up early the next day.

I’ve spent the afternoon going through the notes I’ve made about ‘Sixteen’s’ journey into the Parawerthan. I’ve got much of it in logical order now and soon I’ll start writing chapters. I’m looking forward to it. Sometimes, when I mull over certain things he’s told me, I have to keep reminding myself again and again that it’s all probably true. Otherwise it would  be so very easy to just close my eyes and pretend for a while this whole thing is just some absolutely bizarre fantasy and that the real me is locked away in some madhouse.

It’s all true. It’s all true. It’s all true.

Yes. This is all so very true.

I sent a letter to Lailia last night asking her advice about Maya coming here. She replied within hours and was enthusiastic about the idea. Wouldn’t do any harm whatsoever, she said. She also added that it might also be an idea of our baby spent a bit of time with the Goldeneyes. A week at the most. Just enough time for their wet nurses to ‘prepare’ our baby for elements of The Parawerthan.

Lailia didn’t elaborate on how the wet nurses would ‘prepare’ Ramaya, but I think it might be well worth it. My only concern is about how we’d travel to theUndergroundCitywithout the Cadavat knowing about it. Lailia said she’d be able to arrange something. Though the city is far away, I believe her. In fact, when I think about it, I almost miss the place.

Armbranch has been pestering me for a chess rematch. I don’t feel up to it yet. That’s why I asked Chef to take us fishing again tonight.

Dohan left us alone in The Dome today. It was the first time we had the place to ourselves since we’d started training and I immediately tried to use my ‘gift’ on everything I could find. (Which wasn’t much apart from some sticks of furniture.) Even when I placed both palms on the wall, I didn’t get as much as a tickle in my hands or the tiniest spark of an image in my head. Can’t say I was surprised, though. No matter what kind of environment is set up in there, the whole place always feels so sterile. Full but empty might be a better way to put it. If I hadn’t physically touched so many items in there it would be easy to imagine all the training props were illusions.

I’m sure if the walls could talk I’d hear amazing things. But I’m also quite sure they’re never going to talk to me. I’m disappointed and relieved about that. Deep down I don’t think I want to know much of what went on in there over the years or decades.

I mentioned Sara’s news about a temporary Circleweb to Maya earlier. She didn’t seem in any way fazed by the idea of spending ‘adjustment’ time here. No. She seemed ready to jump at the chance. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s packing a bag right now. As for our baby, well, we both agree it might be for the best if Maya gives birth here. If the baby’s contracted anything from me it’ll have a much better chance at survival here.

To be honest, I’d love Maya to be with me here.

Played my first real game of Chess with Armbranch today. Got hammered in forty minutes flat. And if that was bad enough, he boasted about it to ‘Sixteen’ and Maya. Yeah, he’s a real sport. Maybe I should have stuck with ‘Noughts and Crosses’. He wasn’t half as good at that.

Dohan gave us some basic Lavun lessons today. I was surprised how excited I was when I saw the tiny threads in the bottom of the jar. It was almost like the material’s energy was energising me in some way. He didn’t demonstrate much, just told us a bit about it, let us handle the jars, and finished up showing us the ‘multiple image’ defensive spell Garigan had showed us a while back. Once we were done, he took us to the canteen and introduced us to the Cadavat Investigator who’d be supervising us next week. Jag, was his name. He was an old looking guy with cropped grey hair, a smudge of a beard clinging to his chin, and a scar running straight across his forehead that looked as deep as a frown. He didn’t say much, just nodded and muttered most of the time. In fact, his eyelids drooped so low I thought he was about to fall asleep a few times.

I doubt working with him will be any bag of laughs—not without a good shot of whiskey inside him anyway.

Speaking of introductions, I’ve finally introduced ‘Sixteen’ to Maya. (Partly to get them acquainted, but mostly to get him off my back because he’s messaging me constantly like a child with a new toy.) I’ve filled him in on her background, but I stopped short of telling him about our baby. Maya and I have agreed to keep things simple with him for now and he doesn’t need to know about Ramaya yet. They’re getting on like a house on fire. Right now there’s a three way conversation going with Maya, ‘Sixteen’, and Armbranch. I’ll admit I’m feeling slightly lonely.

Gave Armbranch a few Chess lessons last night. He’s going to be good. No doubt about that. But he’ll never be the Parawerthan Champ because I’ve already decided that that particular title can only be claimed by visitors to The Parawerthan. He’ll probably think that unfair. So what. I’m making the rules, and it’s one of the few little elements of power I have.  I’ll keep making them to suit myself.

Tested out ’Sixteen’s’ laptop today, and it’s working fine. Too fine in fact. He lured me into a game of online chess that lasted over three hours. The time went past like minutes. He’s good at chess and I was surprised I lasted that long before he cornered my king. Then again, I haven’t had a good game for a few years now. I need some practice. Then we’ll see who the Parawerthan champ is.

We may have competition, though. Armbranch studied every move I made and long before I lost my queen he was already giving me advice. It wasn’t good advice. Suicidal in fact. But for someone who hadn’t seen a chess board before it was pretty brilliant actually. One thing’s certain; he’s got an eye for that game. He’s asked me for some lessons tonight and I’ve got a feeling I won’t be shouting ‘check’ straight away.

It was good to lose myself for a while playing a game. Sometimes this whole trip into the Parawerthan feels like a game and we’re only the pieces some greater power is shifting around. I remember seeing something like that in a film years ago, although, thinking back, I often felt that way back home, too.

Finally, finally, finally, Armbranch and I are going to be assigned our first case. Sara didn’t say much last night about what we’d be actually investigating, but she left us in no doubt it wouldn’t be anything groundbreaking. Fine by me. It always good to start at the bottom and work your way up. That way you get a much deeper appreciation of how this whole investigation business works. She said we’d be assigned to something in the city. She also said that Dohan wouldn’t be overseeing our work. One of his ‘team’ would be our leader and advisor. Again, fine by me. Just as long as it gets us out and working on something.

Sara and I had a more private discussion once the meeting broke up. She said she’d been working on getting a Circleweb for Maya and that she might succeed sooner rather than later. She also suggested that it might be an idea for Maya to spend some ‘adjustment’ time here using another temporary Circleweb before the Cadavat grant her full access. It was only then I realised that I don’t know if she should come near the place in her condition. My reaction must have showed because Sara immediately asked if anything was wrong.

Though I laughed it off, I know Sara picked up on something. I’ve got to be more careful. She misses nothing.

And it was good to get some good news today. Ireland played Spain last night in the European Soccer Championships. I don’t have the heart to write down the result. It didn’t go well, that’s all I’ll say. At least the Irish fans took it well, though. They sang right to the end and long after.

O’Heir did some more checking around about the inhabitants of ‘Sixteen’s’ hometown. Turns out that something weird happened there a while back. Nobody filed any police reports about this ‘incident’. Nor was there anything in the news about it. All O’Heir heard was rumours the local police had heard, rumours they were reluctant to even discuss.

O’Heir also discovered that ‘Sixteen’ wasn’t the only person declared missing from that town. I can’t go into more details, but one of the other ‘missing’ was a girl about ‘Sixteen’s’ age. Is this the girl he referred to yesterday? I’d like to think so because at least that would mean she’s alive and probably okay.

Something bad happened in that town, and that something isn’t over yet by a long shot. ‘Sixteen’ told me some of it. It’s part of the story I’m currently writing. But it leaves me in a quandary. We have information (and I guess we’ll soon have a lot more information) that could change the lives of people in this town back home. But can we use it? That’s the question. Not right now, we can’t.

Time to go now. Sara’s scheduled a meeting with Armbranch, Dohan, and I, to discuss our future roles. Finally I think we might be allowed to investigate something. I don’t care what. Even if it only concerns a loaf of bread missing from the kitchen, I’ll be happy to look into just as long as it keeps us busy.

‘Sixteen and Irish’ has returned to his adventures. But at least he has a laptop with him to keep in touch with us and what’s happening back home. I gave him the spare laptop. Okay, so it was the new one and will likely last a lot longer than the one I have. But, to be honest, this laptop has come through a lot with me (and has the battle scars to prove it) and I just couldn’t bear to part with it. He was so ecstatically happy to get the laptop he immediately offered to return it if my own laptop had problems.

I hope it won’t come to that.

In fact, ‘Sixteen’ was so delighted with my gift, it was an effort to train him how to use the wireless functions. He just kept babbling on and on about how much he appreciated it, how much it would help him, and how many favours he owed me now. He started telling me about some girl he knew well. He talked so fast I couldn’t figure out whether the girl was from home or from here or where she was right now. One thing was sure, though, he thinks a lot about her and I guess I’m going to hear a lot more about her in the future. 

That’s why I didn’t push him to find out more about her. There’ll be plenty of time for that later. Of that I’m sure of. By giving ‘Sixteen’ the means to communicate I think I’ve opened up a new level of trust between us. He even shook my hand and gave Armbranch a hug when he was leaving.

Maya has spent some time checking out his details back home. Together with Ana and Justin, she took a drive to the town he claimed to have come from. Everything he told us checks out. She even drove past his family’s house. O’Heir checked his name out, too. He’s listed as a missing person and it reminds me so much of Sean Patrick Keyes’ story. 

Maya said it was very hard not to stop outside his house, go inside, and tell his family that their son was okay. But that’s not up to us to do.

Armbranch, ‘Sixteen’, and I have had a fun time this past few days. ‘Sixteen’ is hitting the road again early tomorrow and I think he’s just that bit more reluctant to leave us than the last time. He hasn’t said yet where he’s going, what he’s going to do when he gets there, or who he’s going to meet. I sense he wants to, though. I see it in his eyes. A longing to share what he’s up to. But I see caution in those eyes, too, a caution hardened by this world. Even though I’m sure he trusts us I think it might be a while before that caution softens enough to tell us more.

I don’t blame him. Nor do I mind. I can wait.

Maya suggested earlier that I give him one of the laptops so that we can all communicate and the kid can feel closer to home. Though I thought it was a brilliant idea, my pulse slipped into overdrive at the thought of being left with no backup laptop. Yet, though a selfish part of me is screaming that I need to keep both, I’ve already decided to give him the backup. He deserves it and I can’t imagine what it must be like for him to be so isolated here. I’ll surprise him with it later and give him the run down on the wireless connection.

I think that might go a long way to earning some more trust.

‘Sixteen’ was gone most of today doing whatever business he needs to do when he visits here. I did learn some things from him about his situation when Armbranch and I met him for dinner in the canteen. He’s based in a remote Cadavat outpost about two hundred miles from here. He didn’t elaborate much on this except to say that he travelled to and from this outpost by Mayman balloon and that there were other ‘non Cadavat’ people there. One, he said, was considered vitally important to the Cadavat and that was one of the reasons they were based in such a remote area. 

Once more I saw it in his eyes he wanted to tell me so much more. That will happen, I’m sure. But with everything else going on—especially with Maya—I think it’s best that I don’t push him. Right now it’s enough just to hear how he got here in the first place.

Got a disturbing email from O’Heir today. He heard through the police grapevine that his superiors in Police HQ inDublinare still not satisfied with things at Singleton. True, he informed them of Maya return a good while ago, but still want to know where I am. He doubts any formal investigation will be launched. What he does suspect, though, is that our old ‘buddy’ The Vet is still trying to stir things up.

That’s so bloody typical. We can never relax. Never, never, never.

Tough day in the Dome today. We had a bit of a party last night, and my head’s still throbbing. Garigan, Kanar, and Dohan turned up to share our catch. Then, once the meal was finished, Sara arrived with a barrel of beer. Though ‘Sixteen’ was already giddy from the fish, Sara didn’t see any problem in letting him drink. To be fair to him, he held his beer well. In fact I got the distinct impression this wasn’t his first time taking alcohol.

Maya sounded slightly jealous when she heard about the party. Then again, even if she had been here, I doubt if she’d have touched a drop of beer. She’s a strict ‘no alcohol during pregnancy’ type of girl and I’d imagine something drastic would have to happen before that would change.

She sounded so happy when she said she hoped I enjoyed my hangover, I’d swear I could almost hear her laugh.

After spending a long afternoon in the Dome learning how to extinguish fires (of all things) using a gas called Nephite, we went fishing. And leaving the Dome was almost like running out of school after the last class before summer break. I was actually excited at the thoughts of going fishing in the dark again.

Once again, I caught nothing. But both Armbranch and Chef took one each, while ‘Sixteen’ had beginners luck and took home three. Chef’s going to cook them later. I’m still struggling with the idea of ‘Sixteen’ being underage. But, deep down, I don’t think it’s up to me to stop him eating any of that fish. Besides, I think he’s earned it. I still don’t know what he does here, and he might be underage in some other life, but one thing’s for sure. He’s grown up fast in this place. Though I occasionally see a touch of naive innocence about him, his mind is as alert and capable as any adult’s.

I wonder what crazy things he’s seen. I wonder what crazy things he’s done. I suspect what’s he’s told me already is but the tip of the iceberg.

PS. Just to clarify, Nephite is a naturally formed gas contained under pressure within a certain type of limestone rock. When a few of these fist sized rocks are tossed on a fire, the gas is released and smothers the flames. Fascinating substance.