The Chronicles of Ether Drive

   Chapter 17: The End Is Not Yet Remi sat right on the table in Shehrazad’s courtyard, surrounded by Anemo, Professor Simoon, Samir and, of course, Shehrazad. Anemo and the professor needed to touch her collar to understand her, but Samir and Shehrazad shared the same superpower that Fleur had gained—they could understand the language of animals. “I was there when the twins were born!” Remi said. “I saw the two sisters again, and they look exactly like I did at their age... Everything I’ve been through this year, ever since the summer solstice, is absolutely unbelievable.” “I can’t believe it either, Remi!” Anemo added. “From now on, we’ll have plenty of material to send to Archibald.” “Don’t remind me of him! Who knows how many missed calls and  I have from him. Let’s focus on the here and now!” “Yes,” Shehrazad added. “We want to bring that stubborn boy back to us. Why won’t he wake up? What is he trying to do in there?” “He wants to save his mother... to warn her some...

   Chapter 16: The Birth of the Twins The collapse of the networks did not influence the atmosphere inside Shehrazad’s house in any way. The white cat’s mission had no need for internet or electricity; it required only the magic of the Collar of the Two Heavens and the purifying presence of the white cat herself. In Demir’s room, it was quiet and smelled pleasant and sweet, as usual. Shehrazad resumed the familiar ritual with the string soaked in cedar resin. Everyone, including Samir, was deep in thought. Each of them wondered whether the awakening of the Mirror of Time had anything to do with the apocalyptic reality into which they had suddenly been thrown. For a hyper-technological world, returning to a life stripped of technology is perhaps, from an evolutionary standpoint, similar to birds returning to the reptile stage. Once Shehrazad set the tortoise-shaped clock, Remi felt her collar vibrating again, her eyelids turning to lead, and she found herself back in the Wall o...

   Chapter 15: Bubbles and Boils Professor Simoon opened the apartment door and, with a wide gesture, invited the taxi driver who had brought him from the airport inside. It was already past midday, and the chaos of the dead networks was making itself felt indoors too. Without the quiet hum of the air conditioning, the scorching heat felt as though it were squeezing Professor Simoon’s rented flat. Anemo and the white cat were sitting on the sofa, waiting anxiously. The Professor’s entrance with Omar had probably just interrupted a conversation. "We’ve made it, son!" the professor said, wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "We were incredibly lucky with this young man... it’s total chaos out there." The taxi driver stretched out a hand to Anemo, who had just stood up to greet him. "My name is Omar. The likeness to your father is striking... you just need a bit of a tan." "Anemo, pleased to meet you! I’m a writer, and Dad did me the favour of lett...

  Chapter 14. Chaos Professor Simoon, completely drained of energy, could barely drag his feet towards the airport exit. It was an absolute ordeal to push through such a sea of people. Stepping out of Terminal 1 hit him like a slap of scorching air. Outside, under the fierce morning sun, thousands of stranded tourists were wheeling their massive suitcases around, shouting over one another, while desperate guides waved colourful placards in the air. People were shaking their phones or lifting them up to the sky, hoping to catch a signal, but the screens remained stubbornly blank. He managed to find a black-and-white taxi relatively easily amidst the bewildered crowd. The driver, a young man in his early twenties, turned on the radio immediately, but nothing came out of the speakers except a loud hiss, as if the device had swallowed sand. "Not a single station is broadcasting," he said in an even tone, neither alarmed nor bored, speaking in surprisingly clean British English. ...

   Chapter 13 Freeze  The image of the white cat suddenly froze on the screen of the phone Remi had left at Anemo’s house. Fleur and the fur-babies waited in complete silence for exactly five seconds, hoping the connection hadn't cut out for good, before they all started fidgeting, asking questions, and talking at the same time, without anyone really listening to anyone else. “What is that, ma belle? Remi?” Mistral began, followed instantly by Aeolus. “The connection’s dropped!” said Sirocco. “Why isn't she moving? Aeolus, do you think something’s happened to Miss Remi?” Fleur asked. “Should we try calling again?” The girl picked up the phone, closed the frozen call, and dialed again, but... nothing. It was only seven in the morning, just a few minutes past. They had barely managed to swap a few words with the crew in Cairo, and the sudden cut-off had turned the warm, relaxing atmosphere of a quiet Saturday morning into something completely opposite. The drumming of the r...

 Chapter 12. Network Crash First thing in the morning, Professor Simoon Gale turned up at the Veterinary Quarantine office at Cairo’s Terminal 1. He knew perfectly well that Remi couldn’t go home just yet because she was still needed in Cairo. However, he wanted to make sure everything was in order so nothing would stop them from catching the portal back to Ireland once it opened. He was determined to avoid any last-minute bureaucratic surprises. But as the saying goes, the best-laid plans often go sideways. What was waiting for him at the Egyptian airport was far worse than anything he could have imagined. Heat, chaos, shouting, thick crowds, and a sense of total panic had taken over the place, even more than usual. After a whole hour of standing in line, the professor finally made it to the front of the massive desk. It was topped with grey granite, its edges worn smooth by the corners of thousands of pet crates that had rested there over the years. Behind the thick pane of secur...

  Chapter 11 – The Cave of the Cats The round dip in the courtyard’s mosaic wasn't completely dry anymore. With a barely noticeable whisper, a tiny trickle of water had found its way onto the black-and-white tiles. The water mirror was filling up again, just like a rushing river after a long drought. Shehrazad, Samir, Anemo, and snowy-white Remi stared at the water mirror, their hearts full of hope. With their help, the Child would get better, and everything would be alright. "You know, El-Beyda," the grandmother said gently, "I feel a bit guilty that you're trapped in a cat’s body right now, but I don't regret what I did. Heaven heard my prayers and made sure the collar found you. It will also make sure you become a woman again when the time is right. I hope you'll come back tomorrow evening!" They said goodbye to the grandmother and her grandson, then set off through the narrow streets back to their old-fashioned apartment. "Tomorrow, we'l...

   Chapter 10 The fountain is waking up The long, loud buzzing of the tortoise-shaped clock stopped with a sudden click, plunging the room into a deep, heavy silence. It felt as if reality itself had frozen. It took a few minutes before Remi opened her eyes, feeling a bit dizzy, like someone shaken awake from a deep sleep. She was still curled up on Demir’s chest in her white Angora cat body. Once again, the boy hadn’t followed her back into the living world. Something was keeping him trapped on the other side of the Ether Wall. Everyone else in the room looked exhausted, even though they hadn't joined Remi on her magical journey. With quiet, solemn movements, Shehrazad began untying the strings from around everyone's wrists—a reverse ritual to break the spell. One by one, the professor, Anemo, and Samir started stretching to wake up their numb limbs. Remi jumped down to the floor with her usual feline grace and stopped right in front of Samir, the twin who had first brought h...

 Chapter 9: Mehyt In the house of the two boys and their grandmother, the air was always fresh, scented with citrus or delicate flowers. Shehrazad took great care to keep the smell of illness at bay. To her, Demir was simply trapped in a deep sleep, from the dream of which he no longer wanted to return to life. And this was where she, the grandmother, stepped in with all her heart, all her strength, and all her knowledge as an Epigraphist and Paleographer in Egyptology. Her profession, among other things, involved deciphering the ancient writings of the early dynasties and studying the rituals of the ancient Egyptians. Fate had led her to discover something incredible: a network of portals through fountains or water wells all around the world. These portals could only be activated by certain people, and they led into a true labyrinth of time and space. At first, this was hard to believe, especially for a brilliant scientific mind like Shehrazad’s. Paradoxically, however, she hersel...

  Chapter 8: Tricks or Not? The Zamalek apartment had suddenly become the hub of a wild, international communications network that was completely out of control. The air conditioner kept gasping helplessly over the cedarwood table, where phone screens and laptops were blaring with loud rings, all clashing together in a total mess. Anemo, holding his laptop in his arms with his mobile phone in one hand, had finally managed to reconnect the FaceTime call with the House of the Winds. On the screen, Fleur’s face appeared once more, looking a bit messy as usual. Next to her was Eol, who was excitedly tapping away on the mobile phone that Remi had left behind in Ireland. "Anemo! Professor! Can you hear me?" Fleur shouted from the screen, her voice echoing loudly through the Cairo living room. "I’ve checked the remote sensors! Eol says the magic signal from Zamalek has gone completely off the charts! Where is Miss Remi? Have you found her?" At that exact same second, Profe...

 Chapter 7  The Theory Proved True The laptop screen went dark all of a sudden as Anemo ended the call, leaving behind the echo of Fleur's promise. Simoon reached into his linen shirt pocket, his fingers trembling slightly with emotion. He pulled out his phone, a rugged model perfect for archaeological dig sites, and unlocked the screen to open the GPS tracking application. "Let's see where poor Remi ended up," the professor muttered, zooming into the digital map of the Zamalek district. Anemo took a step back, preparing his backpack for a race against time through the streets of Cairo. However, on the phone screen, the map showed neither El-Andaluz Park nor the banks of the Nile. The blue circle, indicating their position inside the apartment, overlapped perfectly, millimeter by millimeter, with the blinking red dot. Simoon blinked rapidly. He shook the phone, thinking the app had frozen. The red dot remained motionless, right in the center of the screen. "It ca...

Chapter 6: The Tower of Babel In the rented flat in Zamalek—the very same flat Simoon Gale always rented whenever he visited, since, obviously, his professional life revolved around anything to do with archaeological sites and Ancient Egypt—the air conditioning was panting away helplessly, blowing towards a table piled high with blank sheets, sketches, and Anemo’s open laptop. On the screen, dozens of tabs from Facebook groups like 'Tourists in Egypt' and 'The Zamalek Community' were already racking up comments on the desperate notice posted by the writer. "Nothing!" came Anemo’s hopeless voice, his typing making a fast, clattering sound. "No one saw a white Angora cat last night on Shagaret El Dorr Street. Plenty of cats have been spotted, but not a single white one." Simoon, who was no longer quite so calm, glanced over his son’s shoulder. "Look at what this bloke is saying... Robin: 'I saw a pack of six or seven cats under the balcony......

Chapter 5: The Ether Wall Remi, sitting on the chest of the boy named Demir, could feel her collar pulsing. The bead, split down the middle in two different colours, was flickering on and off, as if it was about to teleport her somewhere. She swallowed hard, but she truly hoped everything would go well and that she could save the boy. "What do I need to do now?" she asked, her voice sounding groggy, as if she were about to drift off to sleep. The boys’ grandmother brought over a ball of rough hemp string, which smelled strongly of cedar resin and heavy frankincense. With steady, well-practised movements, she wound the thick fibre around Demir’s weak wrist, then around Remi’s white paw, and then around Samir’s wrist. She secured the final knot around her own wrist and left the rest of the ball down on the slightly rusty-looking marble floor. "We only have one hour, we can’t risk any more than that," the woman said. "You, El-Beyda, must hold my boy’s hand and bri...

  Chapter 4: Trustworthy If Anemo Gale had ever been asked what his ideal police station looked like for the ending of one of his novels, he definitely wouldn't have described the building he was standing in right now. The Zamalek station reeked of cheap bleach, dodgy tobacco, and way too sweet black tea. Up on the ceiling, a massive fan with bent blades spun around, making a rhythmic squeaking sound like a tired pendulum ticking away for no reason. Behind a chunky desk made of peeling wood, a massive police captain with a thick black moustache and heavy-rimmed glasses was taking slow, deliberate sips from a tiny glass. He stared at the two Gales with total boredom in his eyes. "So, gentlemen..." the policeman said in heavily accented English, pulling a blank sheet of paper in front of him. "Let’s recap. You claim that last night, from your flat, there disappeared... a cat. A white cat." "Not just any cat, Captain!" Anemo interrupted, shifting his weig...