“There have been others,” he says. “Normals and Pathfinders, from across the multiverse that have been taken. Not just Bea.”

“And?”

“And…we think it’s some sort of an experiment.”

“Experiment?” I can’t keep the shock out of my voice. An image of Bea strapped into a chair with electrical wires feeding into her flashes in my head.

“We think it’s something to do with the prophecy,” Vidhan says. “There are whispers, you see, that the Order has found the Seventh Gate and now they’re trying to find the key to Kronos and the promise of unlimited power.”

“But what’s that got to do with—”

“Word is, the key’s not a thing,” he interrupts. “It’s a person. A Pathfinder.”

“And you think Bea’s—”

Vidhan grabs my arm. “Listen, you’re better off finding out what Mother has to say. Everything I’ve told you, I got second-hand, third-hand. It’s guesswork, mostly. But Mother made that prophecy. She’s got the only answers worth having.”

I stare at his hand on my arm until he lets go. “Fine,” I say. Then I lift my chin in Akuji’s direction. “What about her? What’s her opinion? Does she ever talk?”

Vidhan shrugs. “Speaks with her sticks.”

“Right. And where’s she from again?”

“Jöve. And Malik’s from Sol, like you. London.”

I realise I haven’t asked Vidhan anything about him. A whirlwind of questions about the multiverse and how it all works. But nothing about Vidhan Blue.

“And you?” I ask him. “What’s your world?”

“Same as you and Malik. Sol.”

“No kidding? London too?”

“Yeah, but originally Sydney, in Oz. Ever been?”

“No.”

“Travel,” he says. “Only way to know who ya really are.”

“How long have you been doing this, Vidhan? Shunting between worlds?”

“Too bloody long, mate. Three years.”

We walk on. A cold wind whips between the buildings. I stare up at startling cliffs of glass and I think about origins and how things become what they are.

“Hey, Vidhan, who was the first Pathfinder?” I ask. “Like the very first ever?”

Vidhan shakes his head, removes his glasses, polishes them on his shirt and replaces them. “You ever stop asking questions?”

“How can I know what’s going on if I don’t ask questions?”

“That’s another bloody question! Anyway, try The Book of Seven.”

“Hard to read and walk.”

“Try watching then,” he says. “Try looking.”

“OK, so I’m watching. I’m looking. Uh…no. No good. I still have exactly not one freaking idea who the first Pathfinder was.”

Vidhan grins. “The first was Thoth, an ancient Egyptian, revered as the god of knowledge. He was around about the same time they built the Great Pyramid. Which, depending on who ya believe, was about 2500 BC. In Sol.”

“Thoth?”

“One of his many names.”

“Any Pathfinders I might’ve actually heard of?”

“Da Vinci. Newton. Nostradamus…Heard of them?”