not a hero, General. I’m just a woman who hears the dead. And if I’m not buffered by the tallgrass prairie, that usually stresses me out so badly I can barely think.”
“How much thinking do you have to be able to do to ask some ancient ghosts to lead you to this?” General Ashton pulled out a drawing of what looked like a piece of a bronze medallion. It was oblong in shape and about the size of two quarters welded together. There was an interesting raised pattern on the piece that looked as if it might be sparkly, and vaguely reminded Alex of constellations.
She shrugged. “Depends on how long I have to go without sleep.”
“Alex,” Professor Carswell interjected quickly. “Do you know why you find the tallgrass prairie so peaceful?”
“No, except when I’m there the dead don’t bother me as much. It’s like they’re more tied to the earth or something. I’ve never really questioned it. I’ve just been glad Tessa and I decided to stop there on a road trip several years ago.”
The professor nodded. “Tied to the earth…that’s an interesting premise. Did you know the ancient Celts were very closely tied to the earth, too? I can’t know for sure, but my guess is you could be a lot less troubled by ghosts in the ancient world than you are in our modern one.”
“But whether the professor’s guess is correct or not, we need you to go on this mission,” said General Ashton.
Alex turned to face her. “I want to talk to Tessa.”
Ashton glanced at the professor, who cleared her throat, then said, “Tessa isn’t on earth right now, Alex.”
“Huh?”
Carswell gave a slight nod. “It’s true. She was only here briefly, when she made the call to you. Actually, she was here for a prenatal examination.”
“Prenatal!”
The general’s smile was self-satisfied. “Had you not hung up on your friend she would have told you herself.”
Carswell frowned at the general. “Tessa wouldn’t have explained that she’s pregnant with an alien’s child and is going to raise it to be a star navigator in the father’s home world. She would only have said that she was pregnant.”
“An alien kid?” Alex felt a little dizzy.
“Half alien, half human,” Carswell corrected.
“So her mission was successful,” Alex murmured.
“On many levels,” agreed the general.
Alex met General Ashton’s gaze. “I’m not like Tessa. She’s always been one of the good guys. She’s always known the right thing to do, and done it. I got sick of doing the right thing when I was six and my parents started to treat me like they were scared of me because I helped lead the cops to a neighbor kid’s body. For a long time I’ve preferred staying on the sidelines.”
This time the general’s smile looked genuine and softened her face, so that Alex suddenly thought how pretty she was. “So, aren’t you tired of getting splinters in your butt from staying on the bench? How about getting into the game for a change?”
“I think you’re backing the wrong player,” Alex replied.
“I don’t think so,” Professor Carswell said quickly. “You’re linked with the druid who bears that woad design.”
“What do you mean by linked?”
Instead of answering, the professor cocked her head to the side, as if she was listening to a whisper in the wind. “You’ve never been in love.”
It wasn’t a question, but Alex felt awkwardly compelled to answer. “No. I haven’t.”
“It’s never been right with any man, has it?”
“It’s a little hard to concentrate on romance after a guy finds out I can talk to dead people. It’s not like on TV. Guys don’t so much like it,” Alex said sardonically.
“The man who wears that woad design will change that. He is woven into your soul,” said the professor.
“And just what the hell does that mean?” Alex blurted.
“Accept this mission, go back to ancient Briton and find out,” General Ashton said.
“Ah, hell,” Alex groaned.
The professor and the general shared a brief, victorious smile.
Chapter 5
“Are you sure this bunny’s going to act right?” Alex peered into what looked like a cat carrier, at a very ordinary white rabbit.
“The rabbit will do what she’s supposed to do. Just unwrap her from the cloak you’ll be wearing, speak the lines you’ve memorized, and then drop her at your feet.” Professor Carswell smiled at Alex. “Keep in mind you’re the powerful priestess of a mighty goddess, as well as what the Celts recognized as a Soul Speaker—so you need to deliver the lines with some aplomb.”
“Aplomb? Seriously?”
“Seriously. You need to be in character.”
“I’ll do my best. Hope the rabbit does hers.”
“Leave that to me. I’m going to be sure you’re facing southeast. The rabbit will bolt away from you and directly toward Londinium.”
“And that will make Boudica attack London?” Alex said doubtfully.
“History is clear. Boudica was a devout follower of the goddess Andraste. Rabbits were sacred to the goddess, pure white rabbits especially so. Before making the final decision to march her army against Londinium…” Carswell paused to be sure Alex caught the correction in calling the city by its ancient name “…she released a rabbit, saying that she would march her army in the direction the goddess commanded. You’re posing as a priestess of Andraste, so that moment is the perfect one for you to materialize in the queen’s camp.”
“Assuming they don’t all freak and attack me because I’ve just beamed down. They have to be superstitious as hell.”
“Their specific belief in their goddess, and their more general belief in the magic of the earth, is what is going to ensure our plan works. What we consider science, they considered magic. Also, you don’t have to hide your ability to speak to the dead there. You’ll be venerated for it.”
“I certainly hope so.” Alex also hoped Carswell had been right about the ghosts of the past behaving like ghosts did on the tallgrass prairie. Even though the lab, which she hadn’t left for days, was insulated against psychic phenomena, Alex could feel the presence of spirits in the city surrounding her, and just that was enough to mess with her sleep and her nerves.
“Use some of that famous attitude of yours that has kept you butting heads with General Ashton these past several days, and no one will have any trouble believing you’re the priestess of a war goddess,” Carswell was saying.
“Ashton thinks I’m insubordinate.”
“War goddesses often are,” the professor stated, which made Alex laugh. “Just rely on your instincts. The knowledge that I place within your brain during the transport will be like a very strong gut feeling. Sometimes you’ll receive whole strings of information in your subconscious, so be sure you follow your hunches.”
Just then Alex’s nervous gut felt the urge to empty itself. “I really won’t have any trouble communicating?”
“None. The chip implanted in your brain’s language center will act as your own internal computer. It’ll translate what you say and what you hear. Remember, you aren’t Alex anymore. You are Blonwen, priestess of the goddess Andraste. You’ve escaped the Roman governor Gaius Seutonius Paulinus’s slaughter of druids and priestesses on the Island of Mona.”