The Yanti by Christopher Pike Page A

disposal to destroy you! So answer me now! Why did the fairy princess change into the Shaktra? Why did good-hearted Lucy Pillar transform into the wicked Sheri Smith?”
    Another long silence ensued. There was so much pain in it that it seemed as if the haunting purple light that filled the room and made the world outside stand frozen really was fed by their blood. Ali felt a vein pound in her head, one that threatened to burst, and the coldness she suddenly experienced in her heart seemed to belong to another world; to another
place
, perhaps, that was not a world at all, just an ancient hole in the fabric of space from which evil could emerge into their galaxy.
    What had her father and Doren found on the Isle of Greesh? All she could recall was that he had said it was not of this world. Yet somehow it was
related
to Earth. Yes, those were his words.
    So much, Ali wanted to ask her sister . . .
    Where is our father? Is he alive? In which world?
    Sheri looked up at her as she answered, and her voice came out remarkably soft, almost gentle. “You do not know what it is like to burn. Worse, you do not know what it is like to see someone . . . someone you . . .
know
. . . burn.” She paused and lowered her head, and added in a whisper, “I don’t have to answer your questions.”
    Ali felt as if her sister was trying tell her something profound. It was not so much the woman’s words, but her tone. For the first time since entering the room, Sheri acted human. Ali felt her knees weaken, sat on a chair beside her. Almost, she reached out to touch her . . .
    Then Sheri caught her eye, said, “No.”
    Ali spoke anxiously. “But I
can
heal you.”
    Sheri shook her head. “No.”
    “I can. You need not wear that silly mask. I’ve healed many, in this world and the green world. You know that. I can take away your pain.”
    Her bitterness returned with a vengeance. “You think it’s so easy. Put your hands on my heart and head. Let the Yanti warm. Then I’ll be whole again, and everything I’ve gone through will be forgotten. Why, I might even bow at your feet and thank you.” She stopped and shook her head. “You know nothing.”
    Despite herself, Ali heard truth in the words. She spoke carefully.
    “Tell me what I need to know. Tell me what happened to you.”
    It was Sheri’s turn to stand, to glare down at her. “You have the nerve to ask! You who have never really suffered a day in all your lives! A pity Jira could only die once on you! Had he died a thousand times, then maybe I would consider answering you. But you, Queen Geea, you disgust me, with your compassion and your empathy. It’s born of ignorance and conceit. It’s no more real than your title. Again, I say it, you know nothing of what’s real in this universe, and because of your ignorance, and your mockery of me, this world is going to burn. And all the souls in it, be they human or elemental, are going to burn with it. And it’s going to be your name, not mine, that they curse as they die!”
    Sheri suddenly raised her arms above her head and clapped her hands. A light flashed, but it was unlike the light that had shone when the wizard had vanished from the barber shop. This light had
no
color, and although that seemed impossible, it was a fact. Like the fear in her heart, the light appeared to emerge from no set place or time. Out of the void it came. It was just there, and it
hurt
, so deeply, and in so many ways.
    The purple glow faded.
    The second hand on the clock began to move.
    Slowly, around the table, people began to raise their heads, and glance sheepishly at one another, as if embarrassed to let it be known that they had accidentally dozed off. No one wanted to say they had fallen asleep. For that matter, no one knew what to say, not even Judge Lincoln, who rubbed his sore head. So Sheri Smith said it for all of them, as she whirled and turned toward the door.
    “These proceedings bore me, I’m leaving,” she snapped.
    With that,