Page 101 of The Princess of Portals

“Not if I don’t tell you this secret. A lot of people went to a lot of trouble to bury it.”

“Whatever these people have done, it can’t be worse than what you’ve done.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that, young Knight.” She shifted position on the bench in her cell, then crossed one long leg over the other. She braided her fingers together, smiling at me over her hands. Then she waited.

“You sold Apprentices to the Order of Kings, a criminal organization,” I reminded her. “It doesn’t get much worse than that.”

“What I did was try to solve the problem that the Government created. Haven’t you ever wondered how the Curse came to our world?”

We both grew very still.

“The Government brought the Curse upon us,” she told me.

“I know that already.”

“You know part of the story, not the whole story.”

I leaned forward, smiling. “I’m all ears.”

I thought she was going to insist on negotiating her release before she told me anything else, but for some weird reason she didn’t. And that had me worried. It meant that whatever she was about to tell me, I wasn’t going to like it. And, moreover, this was all part of her plan. But I couldn’t exactly say no to potentially-important intel, so I stood there and listened.

“Seventeen years ago, a Spirit Tree appeared on Earth. Scientists found it hidden deep inside a Californian forest. Along with it, they found a box which contained two things. One, an Alchemist device programmed with the symbols for one particular realm. And two, a notebook that told of a great treasure in that other realm, a treasure more valuable than gold or diamonds or technology. That treasure was magic. Intrigued by the promise of power, world governments sent an expedition—scientists and soldiers—through the Spirit Tree in search of this great treasure.”

“I know all of this already.”

“Yes, you clever little snoop. You really can’t mind your own business, can you?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “No, I really can’t. Now get to the point. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I was a member of this expedition.”

“I know. The mercenary you hired to abduct me told us.”

“And here’s something you don’t know. Back then, I was a scientist employed by the military, and I worked on all kinds of secret projects. Of course, all of those projects paled in comparison to an expedition to another realm. Our mission was to find the magic that the notebook had described: a tree of special golden apples, apples that bestowed magical powers on anyone who ate them.”

I knew this part of the story, but I didn’t interrupt. If I did, she’d never get to the point.

“The people of that realm consider the tree of golden apples sacred. It’s heavily protected. The local priests warned us not to approach it, but the soldiers in our expedition didn’t listen. They had their orders from their governments. They tried to steal some of the apples from the sacred tree. And when they were discovered, the priests sent us away. They told us to leave their realm and never come back.

“When we returned to Earth empty-handed, our governments were not pleased. So they assembled a team whose sole purpose was to find a way to steal apples from the sacred tree. It took them many months, but eventually we were confident that our plan would work. Our governments organized a second expedition. They sent us back to the realm with the sacred tree. We’d planned everything so carefully. We were so sure that we would succeed. But we were discovered. And this time, the priests didn’t only chase us away from their sacred tree. This time, they promised us that our whole realm would be cursed.”

The Curse.

“We didn’t know what form the priests’ curse would take. After we got back to Earth, we waited and waited, frightened that it would come at any moment. Many weeks passed, but the curse didn’t come. And just when we were starting to think it never would, the Curse hit. And it was far, far worse than anything we could have imagined. It decimated the world’s population in a matter of months. We thought our entire species would go extinct. Until the spirits came.

“The spirits gave some of our children magic. That didn’t end the Curse, but it did slow it down. Still, our world is in ruins. We’re nothing but a shadow of our former selves. And it’s all because of a few people: leaders of the world’s former countries. But they weren’t punished for what they did. They were rewarded. They became the new Gaian Government.”

“There’s a reason you’re telling me this story now.”

“Because you need to remember what kind of people you’re sending me off to,” she replied angrily. “They don’t deserve to pass judgment on me or anyone else. They’ve committed the worst crime of all: they brought the Curse to our realm. They ruined the world and the lives of everyone in it. Their actions have killed millions of people.”

“You said you were part of the expedition. That makes you just as guilty as they are.”

She jumped to her feet. “They made the decision to send us back. We didn’t have a choice.”

“We are all in control of our own actions.”

“Tell that to your mother,” she said tightly.