He hops to his feet, grabs my chin. ‘Ready?’ His grip is surprisingly strong. ‘You’ll need to hold still. And keep your focus here.’ He points between his eyes. ‘You’ll feel pressure, but it shouldn’t hurt.’
Before I can say or do anything, he’s got the pearl pressing against my open right eye, and then he shoves.
I shriek. The pressure pinches, though, strictly speaking, after that night of dancing at the Paramount, those shoes Gigi gave me pinched in a much more painful way. My head is clamped in his hand; I can’t move even if I want to. I don’t, because I don’t want to risk losing my eyeball.
‘Almost there!’ he says with a disgusting amount of cheer. If he weren’t a rotted dragon with clearly far more strength than I have, I would totally stomp his brains into porridge.
‘You are definitely not strong enough for that.’
My face twists in horror. He can hear me?
‘Dragon sight. We are aware of many things. No, no, don’t move, don’t want the pearl going somewhere it shouldn’t.’
Holy Tian and rotted turd eggs. What have I got myself into? And then I hear a wetpop.Lord Black peers into my right eye, scrutinising – something. I have no idea what he can see.
‘There. I was a little worried. You moved and the placement got a little funny, but it’s in there properly now.’
I jerk my head away from his grip. ‘That pearl was almost as big as my face. It’s not going to expand in there, is it? I don’t want my head blowing up.’
He laughs. ‘It’s been a long time since I placed a pearl. Thought I might have lost the knack.’
I feel myself go faint and lean against the wall for support. ‘So glad you didn’t.’
Lord Black’s laugh is deep and smug. My hand itches to slap him.
‘So it won’t swell up?’
He looks at me like I’ve asked him if he has eight eyeballs. ‘Of course not. The pearlembodiesthe Cosmos, it isn’t theactualCosmos.’
I stare at him, his answer infuriatingly circular, but bite my tongue. ‘That doesn’t make it better. I don’t want the Cosmos inside my eyeball.’
‘It’s not in your eyeball. It’s in yourthirdeye.’
His nonsense is making me confused. I have only two eyes. Don’t I? I touch them and count, just to be sure. One on the left, one on the right. That makes two. Two eyes.
‘Fine.’ I can’t deal with his riddles anymore. ‘What if I want to take it out?’
‘That’s easy, simply blow on it. It will shrink and pop out.’
‘Blow on my third eye?’
‘Silly melon, no. Blow on the dragon pearl.’
The conversation is making me dizzy.
‘But – that makes no sense – it’s in my third eye.’
‘Mmmgh,’ he says.
‘How do I blow there?’
‘Embrace the Cosmos, and you become embraced. Nurture the Cosmos, and you become nurtured. Accept the Cosmos, and you become accepted. Clear your vision, and you will see. Open your heart, and you will be loved. Easy.’
I sigh, not sure I have the energy to pursue this bonkers logic. He cocks his head, as if listening to something. I listen too. Something tinkling.
‘Are those bells?’ I ask.
‘Yes. It is time you are on your way.’
