“There were a bunch of criminals that were forced out of Greenstone,” he explained. “They went out into the veldt and turned bandit. The Adventure Society did a sweep and my team was assigned with clearing out a village that they’d completely taken over. I went in alone and my team recorded it.”
“You showed her a recording of you killing a bunch of people?” Farrah asked.
“You know how absurd what we do sounds to people from my world,” Jason told her. “I needed Erika to know the seriousness of what you and I do.”
“Don’t try and feed me crap,” Farrah said. “You didn’t have to jump all the way to a killing spree for that. You wanted someone to tell you that you weren’t a bad person, in spite of the things you’ve done. So here you go: you’re not a bad person. Gods, Jason, you don’t go showing normals things like that.”
“I needed her to understand who I am now,” Jason said.
“Oh,” Farrah said, shaking her head. “I forgot who I'm talking to. You're the guy who was lecturing me about killing when he had no damn idea what he was talking about. You don't want to be told that you're not a bad person; you want to be told that you are. Inside that twisted mind, you still haven't balanced yourself out, have you?”
“I’ve killed a lot of people, Farrah.”
“A lot of people have it coming. You and I are going to talk about this later. At length.”
“I’m meant to be the one helping you,” Jason said.
“Clearly, I’m a lot more together as a person than you are.”
“I won’t deny that.”
“I should probably go,” Erika said, suddenly feeling sidelined.
“You haven’t told us what your decision was,” Jason said.
“Maybe now isn’t the time,” Erika said.
“You might as well tell us,” Farrah said. “If you’re waiting for this guy not to be caught up in self-indulgent introspection about how grimdark he is, that boat’s never going to dock.”
“Grimdark?” Jason asked. “You need to stop watching movies with Taika and start watching them with Gordon.”
“And you need to make it through a whole conversation without it getting repeatedly derailed,” Farrah said.
“Coming from the woman who just accused me of excessive brooding.”
“Yeah, I’m just going to go,” Erika said.
“No,” Jason and Farrah said, turning on her.
“Sorry, sis,” Jason said. “You’ve made an important decision and I want to hear it.”
“Alright,” Erika said nervously. “You intend to go back, don’t you? To the other world.”
Jason and Farrah shared a glance.
“Yeah,” Jason confirmed, “but we don’t know when or even how.”
“Well,” Erika said, “when you do, we want to go with you.”
Jason opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again as the ramifications of his sister’s intentions played through his mind. Farrah was not so contemplative.
“Great,” she said. “There’s a lot you should know before making a final choice like that, though. For one thing, we don’t know if or when we’ll ever come back here.”
“We’ve thought about that,” Erika said. “Ian doesn’t have any close family, and if Uncle Hiro’s plans work out, we can go without worrying about ours. I don’t love the idea of never seeing Dad again, but even so, we want to do it.”
Erika watched Jason’s expression, which held a deep frown.
“Farrah’s right that there’s a lot you need to know before even considering it,” Jason said. “I’ve only seen a tiny fragment of that world myself and I’ve seen how dangerous it can be.”
“Jason and I aren't important there, the way we are here,” Farrah said. “We would be much less able to protect you.”
“It sounds like you’ll have plenty of time to tell Ian and me all about it,” Erika said. “I don’t think we’ll change our minds, though. We don’t want to spend our lives in the house I grew up in. It was the comfort we needed after you died and Mum and Dad got divorced, but we always intended to show our daughter the world. It just turns out that the world is a lot bigger than we ever realised. If there’s a magical world, we want to see it.”
“This world will be getting more magical in the years to come.”
“That’s not the same and you know it,” Erika said.
“Yeah,” Jason admitted.
“If nothing else,” Erika said, “Emi will want to go with you. I don’t want to tell her she can’t when I feel the same way, and I won’t let you take my daughter away.”
“I would never do that.”
“I know,” Erika said, shining a warm smile on Jason.
He stared at his sister for a long time, searching her face. He could feel the resolve permeating her aura.
“We can look into it,” he said. “There’s a ridiculous amount to go over, while we don’t know if we even will find a way back. Once we do, there’s no telling if we can bring you along.”
“If you can get back, the rest of us can,” Farrah said. “All we have to do is trust you.”
Jason looked at her for a moment, then nodded. He made a gesture and an archway rose from the floor.
“When I first showed you this,” Jason said to Erika, “You couldn’t go in.”
“That goes to the special place that Emi talked about?” Erika asked.
“Yes,” Jason said. “The only way in is to trust me completely. Back then, there were still a lot of mysteries surrounding me. You didn’t understand what I’d been through or what I was doing since getting back. Now, you’ve seen all the recordings and asked me all your questions. So here’s my question: can you trust your little brother?”
Erika stood up, reaching for the arch with a trepidatious hand. She inched it forward, but unlike the past, it didn't stop. Her finger passed into the darkness and vanished. She looked over at Jason, who gave her an encouraging nod. She stepped through.
“This is really your soul?” Erika asked as they roamed through the gardens of Jason’s spirit vault.
“A representation of it anyway,” Jason said. “Is it so hard to believe?”
“Not really,” Erika said. “It’s ostentatious and full of twisty paths.”
“Oh, that’s lovely,” Jason said.
“To get in, I have to trust you,” Erika said. “Not put up with your rubbish.”
They reached the edge of the garden, where the walls showed signs of battle damage, revealing an eerie darkness beneath the stone. Erika ran a hand over a ragged gash in the dark brickwork, as if she could feel the brutal attack that made it.
“If you really want to go to the other world,” Jason said softly, “then you have to understand that there will be dangers. Threats unlike anything in your world.”
“You mean our world,” Erika said.
“No,” Jason said. “The brother who was a part of your world died. I belong somewhere else. If you want to as well, I’m willing to help you. Tomorrow, we’ll sit down with Ian and really talk about the ramifications of you doing this. Then we get onto essences. We need you as full of magic as we can get you.”
Jason frowned, tilting his head. Since his transfiguration, his senses were able to extend outside the spirit vault and he sensed an aura approaching the houseboat.
“What is it?” Farrah asked.
“The painter,” Jason said. “She’s back.”
Jason had Erika wait behind while Jason and Farrah left the spirit vault. They found the woman waiting on the dock, ruby hair shining in the moonlight.