Page 142 of The Bone Season

‘I can’t wait to hear what life is like out there.’ Eliza fanned herself with the pamphlet. ‘I won’t sleep in this heat. Can I tempt you to come to Psionic?’

‘I am never going out dancing with you again.’

‘Why not?’

‘Did you forget what happened last time?’ I said flatly. ‘You took one look at that cryomancer and left me to stand on my own in a séance club.’

‘Oh, him.’ Eliza smiled. ‘That was fun. He liked putting ice on his—’

‘Whatever it is, I don’t want to know.’

‘I was going to saydrinks, Paige.’ She winked and adjusted her earrings. ‘I do have something else for you to do. Jax wants you to draw your dreamscape.’

‘I can’t draw. That’s your area.’

‘Not the flowers. He just wants the basic shape – a bird’s-eye view, preferably. We’re trying to work out the complete layout of the human dreamscape, but none of us can leave the middle,’ Eliza said. ‘We think there are at least three rings, but we’re not sure. Can you help?’

A sense of purpose filled me to the brim. It was still a surreal realisation, that my gift could be useful.

‘Of course,’ I said.

Eliza got me a sketchbook and pencil, then switched on her data pad to watch a show. I drew something like a bullseye, with five sections. Once the sketch was finished, I blew dust off it and showed it to her.

‘This is the sunlit zone.’ I pointed to the middle. ‘The place where the spirit is meant to stay.’

‘Right. The silver cord is like a safety net or a harness, fixed to that central sanctuary,’ Eliza said. ‘It stops most voyants from leaving it.’

‘But not me.’

‘Exactly. Say the majority of us have an inch of string between our dreamscape and our spirit,’ she said, measuring with her fingers. ‘You have a mile. You can walk to the edge of your dreamscape, which means you can sense far more of the æther than the rest of us. I can only sense aura and spirits at close range. I can’t feel the others now.’

I could.

‘I probably do have a limit,’ I said. ‘We just haven’t found it yet.’

‘That’s why we need to be careful. You might be able to leave your body without hurting yourself, or you might not. We’ll have to wait and see.’

I nodded. Jaxon had told me about his possession theory, but Eliza was more patient in her explanations.

‘What would happen if you tried to leave your sunlit zone?’ I asked her.

‘The second zone is survivable,’ Eliza said, ‘but if your spirit enters it, it means something is wrong. Mine kept drifting there after I gave up aster. I was entering my dreamscape to escape from the withdrawal, but I’d often find I was in the wrong place. It was unsettling.’

‘But no one can go farther than that.’

‘Not that I’ve heard. If you tried to push beyond that point, I think it would start to really hurt. If you kept going, it would damage your cord and your sanity. It’s amazing that you can breeze straight through.’

‘I truly am a circus freak.’

‘Don’t say that, Paige. None of us are freaks,’ Eliza said. ‘You’re a marvel. A jumper.’ She took the sketchbook back and examined my drawing. ‘So there are five zones. That’s interesting.’

‘Sunlit, twilight, midnight, abyssal, and hadal,’ I said. ‘They’re quite distinct.’

‘Great.’ She handed the sketchbook back. ‘Add a bit more detail, if you want, and I’ll pick it up tomorrow. Jax will love this, Paige. He wants to write a pamphlet on the dreamscape, but he’ll need your help.’

‘I expect a generous cut of the royalties.’

Eliza laughed. ‘I’ll tell him.’ As she left, she turned to face me. ‘Paige, you know what they say about the syndicate – once you get in, you never get out. That will sink in for Nadine and Zeke soon, when they start feeling homesick. Are you sure you’re still happy with it?’

---