'About the journey you made to that other realm.'
'I thought you didn't believe it.'
'I do now …'
Fury pulled himself into a sitting position.
'I want to know more about it,' Adrina squatted down beside him. 'You told me about the girl and you said she had a giant with her. Tell me about him.'
'There's not much to tell.' Fury clasped his hands together. 'He was big and did a lot of shouting. I don't think he was really nasty. I just think he was worried about Little Cat.'
'Who?'
'The girl I told you about.'
'How do you know that's her name?'
'I don't. It's just how I think about her.'
Adrina considered the answer.
'You say the man is big. Is he as big as Morgon?'
Fury thought for a while.
'He's about the same size.'
Adrina ticked off the point on her fingers.
'What do you know about the metal the girl's talisman is made of?'
'It's made of metal … that's all I know.'
Adrina's face hardened. She reminded Fury of their mother. One moment caring, the next severe. She leant forward and spoke to him in the voice she used when giving orders to her bodyguard.
'I want the giant. You are to bring him to me.'
He stared at her with a blank face.
'How can I do that?'
'I have prayed to the Holy Mother for such a man.' Adrina clasped the image of the goddess that hung about her neck. 'With the Holy Mother's guidance you will succeed.'
She moved closer and whispered.
'Bring me the giant and you can have the girl.'
***
Tom unloaded the equipment from his van and set out for the pond. He'd left Alison at home. It was half an hour before sunrise: an auspicious time for bridging the gap between realms. He laid out the cable, put on the helmet and tried to be at peace with the world.
The air was balmy. Bats flew and he was reminded of Shakespeare's play about a midsummer night's dream. His head filled with music. He adjusted the headset and sang an ode about sucking where bees sucked and flying on the backs of bats. He figured the bard's words had deep sexual connotations, even if modern audiences were too dumb to recognise them.
The familiar pattern appeared on the computer screen, growing when he thought about bats and fading when he was distracted by cars on the highway. He stuffed tissue paper in his ears. That helped with the cars but failed to eliminate other sources of interference.