by R. L. King
Wasting no time now, Stone pulled the chair next to the bed and sat down alongside Cathy. “I’m going to have to touch you,” he said. “But only your forehead. Just lie back and try to relax.”
“Pretty…” she murmured.
“What?”
“Your…glow. The one around you. It’s so pretty. Purple and gold. Mitch’s is pretty too, but it’s just blue.”
“I think yours is blue too,” Stone said. “Hard to tell now, but I think it is.”
“I wish…it would be nice to be able to see them when I want. But…not all the time. I feel like something’s pressing on the inside of my head.”
“Just lie back and relax. We’ll get you sorted.”
He shifted to magical sight and focused fully on Cathy, blocking out everything else in the room. He’d be vulnerable if Mitch lost his nerve and tried to do something to him now, but it was the chance he’d have to take.
Narrowing his field of view, he picked through the blazing yellow nimbus shining around Cathy’s body, separating it from the blue of her base aura and the red of her agitation, damping them all so he could try to find the connection he was looking for.
When he investigated the mill last night, after he woke from whatever had knocked him out, he’d found no remaining vestiges of the strange energy. He thought he’d somehow managed to destroy it, block it off, or otherwise stop it, but he had no idea exactly what he’d done to do that. The only thing he remembered was opening in the conduit to Calanar a little wider for more power. Perhaps if he did that again…
There. He hadn’t spotted it before because it was so hard to see, but the extra power did the trick: a tiny thread of yellow extended from Cathy’s body, meandering upward and then disappearing. But where was it disappearing to? What was its source? If he could study this for a little longer, trace it back, he might be able to—
“It’s Dad! He’s home early!”
Mitch’s voice came from far away, but the urgency got through Stone’s concentration. Damn!
All right—no time for study now. He’d have to do this fast. Regret gripped him as he pulled back, reaching out with his power to grab hold of the little yellow tendril and ease it free of Cathy’s aura. Even now he couldn’t do it too fast, or he’d risk doing irreparable injury to her psyche.
There. Just a little more…
Something grabbed his shoulder. “He’s pullin’ into the yard! Hurry up!”
Without thought, Stone swept a hand behind him, magically shoving Mitch backward. He barely heard the young man crash into the wall as he focused his concentration for one last time. He pinched the tendril and tugged it loose.
Instantly, the little thing collapsed and disappeared. He felt Cathy slump beneath his hand on her forehead, and then a second later strong arms grabbed him from behind and yanked him backward. Mitch shoved past him and dropped to his knees next to his sister’s unmoving form on the bed.
“What did you do to her?” he demanded, voice bright with fear. He took her hand and stared into her face. “What did you do?”
Stone didn’t answer, but likewise gazed down at the still form, his heart pounding. Had he done it too quickly? He’d had very little idea what he was doing—without further study, he didn’t know anything about the strange energy or where it came from. If it had somehow attached itself to Cathy’s life force, then removing it could have—
She stirred, then opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. “Mitch…?”
Her eyes, bloodshot and shadowed with fatigue, were pale, cornflower blue.
Stone and Mitch let out simultaneous sighs of relief.
“Cathy—do you see the glows anymore?” Stone asked.
She blinked again, and looked at him as if she’d never seen him before. “Who…are you? What are you doing in my room? What glows? Mitch, what’s going on?”
Downstairs, a door shut, and a booming male voice called, “Mitch? You here? I brought Reverend Oakley by for a cup of coffee.”
Mitch, who’d been looking at Stone with a combination of horror, confusion, and distress, went stiff and took a step back. “Uh, yeah, Dad! I’ll be down in a minute.”
He glared at Stone, eyes narrowing. “I don’t know what you just did. I don’t think I want to.”
“You probably don’t,” Stone agreed. He inclined his head, already knowing the score. He neither expected nor desired thanks or accolades for what he’d done, which was good because he wouldn’t be getting any this time. “But in any case, I think that’s done the trick. She’ll be fine, given a bit of time to rest. I…should go, before your father and Reverend Oakley find me here.”
“Yeah.” He put his hand on his sister’s forehead. “You…sure she’s gonna be okay?” He didn’t look convinced. “You…you’re sure you did it?”
“I’m quite sure.” He took another look at Cathy’s aura; all traces of the yellow glow were gone now, replaced by an unremarkable, medium blue similar to her brother’s. Even most of the red flashes had departed—those that remained didn’t surprise Stone, even if she apparently didn’t remember anything of what had occurred.
The way Mitch looked at her, though, nervous and uncertain, told Stone the trouble the exposure to the unknown astral energy had caused this family probably wasn’t over yet—but what remained was purely mundane and beyond his ability to fix. They’d have to work through it on their own, and decide how far they were willing to stretch their minds to encompass what they’d experienced. The conduit that had attached itself to Cathy Kirkson, for whatever unknown reason, was gone, but as was almost always the case when magic came into contact with mundanes, the aftereffects would likely linger for quite some time.
Another door closed downstairs.
“Dad’s in the bathroom,” Mitch said. “You should go.”
“Right. You needn’t take me back to town. It’s only a couple of miles, and frankly I could use the walk. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”
12
Stone headed home early, catching a flight from Des Moines to Chicago Sunday afternoon. But first he drove back out to the abandoned mill to verify what he’d suspected: whatever anomaly had infested the place was now gone, with no traces remaining even when he tentatively opened a wider connection to the Calanarian energy to check for anything he might have missed. He thought about checking in with Leith McCoy again, but decided against it. It was probably best for this little town at this point if nobody stirred up uncomfortable memories. The whole thing would likely pass into history with surprising speed if he didn’t poke the embers again.
With everybody but Mitchell Kirkson, anyway. Stone doubted Cathy’s brother would be forgetting anything anytime soon.
The Chicago pub that housed the portal was busy when he arrived, packed full of people enjoying an early dinner or getting a jump start on their evening’s drinking. Stone didn’t recognize any of the customers as mages, but he asked around until eventually someone pointed him at the proprietor, a florid Irishman named Dermot McClellan.
“What can I do for you, friend?” McClellan looked busy, but amiable.
“I was wondering if anyone had reported any sort of…travel anomalies recently.”
The man’s expression changed from amiable to concerned. “Don’t think so. Whatcha talkin’ about?” He motioned for Stone to follow him to a more secluded area. “Don’t think I’ve seen you ’round here before.”
“I don’t come this way often. But I left the Bay Area on Friday night around seven-thirty, and when I arrived here, it was almost five a.m. I thought the place had gone out of business.”
McClellan gaped at him. “You’re pullin’ my leg.”
“Believe me, that’s not the sort of thing I’d joke about. It was…unsettling.” He described the strange colors and sounds he’d heard while traversing the Overworld. “I assume you get quite a lot of traffic through here.”
“Oh, yeah. Dozens every day, from all over. We’re the central hub for this whole part of the co
untry.”
“And no one’s said anything?”
“Not a word.” He studied Stone. “You sure you weren’t—you know—impaired when you were goin’ through?”
“I’m certain.” He sighed. “Ah, well. It was probably just a one-time glitch if you haven’t heard anything else. I’m heading home now—I’ll give you a ring if it happens again this time.”
“Yeah…” McLellan pondered. “Never a good thing, the portals actin’ up. Thought things were settled, once those nasty beasties hangin’ about went away a few years back. Hopefully you’re right and it won’t happen again.”
It didn’t happen again. Stone stepped through with a bit more trepidation than usual, scanning the fog carefully for any signs of anomalies, but the shifting gray-white tunnel remained as still and muffled and unremarkable as it always did. He walked a little faster and kept his attention focused a little more than he’d do on a standard trip, but by the time he exited the portal in the downstairs storeroom of A Passage to India, the only unusual effect was that his muscles were tense and he was beginning to develop a stress headache. He quickly pulled out his phone and glanced at the time: only three minutes had passed since he’d left Chicago.
That was more like it.
Before he left, he took Marta Bellwood aside and told her about the portal glitch, asking her to contact the other portal-keepers she knew and spread the news.
“It’s probably nothing,” he said when her expression turned worried. “Probably an isolated incident and won’t happen again. But best if people know the potential problems before they travel.”
Raider was happy to see him when he arrived home. He dropped his bag on the floor and paused to scratch the tabby’s head before heading upstairs. Idly, he wondered how the cat—or any animal—would react to being taken through a portal. As far as he knew, nobody had ever done it. He’d never risk it with Raider, though, even if the portals weren’t acting up.
Upstairs in his office, he settled in to make a few calls. Even though the situation in Devil’s Creek was probably as much of an anomaly as the portal issue, both had disturbed him enough that he wanted more information. He phoned a few of his associates, starting with Eddie Monkton, and described his experiences.
“That’s…the oddest thing I’ve ’eard in a while,” Eddie admitted. “Do you think the portal glitch and what ’appened in the town are related?”
“No idea. I want to doubt it—one was in Chicago and the other was several hours’ drive away—but it does seem strange that they both happened so close to each other. I’d almost wonder if it had something to do with me, since I was the commonality between the two, except the business in Devil’s Creek had already occurred two weeks before I ever heard of the place.”
“Magic’s like that,” Eddie said. “Doesn’t matter how much you study it, there’s always gonna be things we don’t understand. It’s perverse that way—sometimes I think it changes itself around every now and then just to keep us poor sods on our toes tryin’ to make sense of it.”
Stone chuckled. “Wouldn’t be surprised. But if you can look into it for me, I’d appreciate it. Let me know if you can find any references to similar occurrences, either modern or historical.”
“Oh you can count on it. You’ve already got me intrigued. I’m gettin’ together with Arthur at the pub in an hour or so after we finish up at Caventhorne. Maybe we can find somethin’ there tomorrow. You should stop by, anyway—we’ve mostly got the collection sorted, so now it’s just a matter of meetin’ with Kerrick to figure out how we want to get the place ready for visitors.”
“I’ll see—a bit busy with things now, but I’m overdue for a visit. And I want you to meet Ian, if he ever gets tired of traveling around and settles anywhere long enough to bring him over.”
Eddie chuckled. “Yeah, lookin’ forward to it. Still can’t quite get my mind around you ’avin’ a long-lost kid with old Jessamy.”
“Join the club. But I think you’ll like him. Anyway, I’ve got more calls to make, so I’d best go.”
Stone called a few more associates around the United States, other mages who were either frequent portal users or scholars like himself, and gave them an abbreviated description of both the portal glitch and the events in Devil’s Creek, though he didn’t share the specific location of the latter. The last thing that mundane little farm town needed was a bunch of curious mages descending on the place to poke around looking for vestigial energy traces. In each case, he asked the other mages to contact him if they heard of any other similar situations. He had enough of a reputation as a maverick that most of them treated his request with amusement—usually, magical scholars preferred for the interesting problems to come to them, and didn’t seek out potentially dangerous adventures on their own without a lot of planning—but promised to pass along anything they might hear.
“There,” Stone said, pausing to pet Raider, who’d planted himself on the desk in front of him. “They can’t say I didn’t warn them, anyway.”
Next, he called Verity. “Are you home?” he asked when she answered.
“Yeah. Got back this morning. Are you?”
“Just got in a bit ago.”
“Everything okay? No more weird portal behavior?”
“No, the trip home was quite uneventful—just the way I like it. Listen—do you want to come by for dinner tonight? You and Jason, actually.”
“Uh—sure. Want me to check with him?”
“Please do. I want to tell you about what happened. You’re welcome to stay after, if you like, of course.” He made sure his sly smile came through in his voice.
“Yeah, I’d like that.” Her tone matched his. “I’ll tell Jason he’ll need to bring his own ride.”
Verity and Jason showed up around the same time that evening. “So, what’s this story V’s telling me about magical weirdness?” Jason asked.
Stone led them out to the dining room, where he’d used a barrier spell to keep a confused Raider away from the collection of cartons from Thai Lotus he’d spread out there. He levitated plates to everyone and described the weekend’s events to them as they ate.
“Wow,” Verity, who hadn’t heard the end yet, said. “So you still have no idea what’s going on?”
“Not a bit. I wish I could have had more time to do some in-depth analysis while I worked on the girl, but between her brother and the threat of both their father and the local clergyman turning up, I thought it best to get the job done with minimal extra effort.”
“But it sounds like you don’t even know what you did,” Jason said. “You—what—cut off a connection between her and some other place? But where?”
“No idea. The only thing I’m certain of is that whatever happened to her was related to what happened at the abandoned mill two weeks ago.”
“But it didn’t happen to anyone else? That’s the weird part. They all just…forgot about it?”
Stone spread his hands. “Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I plan to go over my notes, and I’ve got Eddie looking into more information for me, but I might have to end up writing this off as not reproducible.”
“That might be a good thing, though,” Verity pointed out. “I’m sure nobody wants stuff like that popping up all over the place, right?”
“Especially not with the portals.” Jason glanced at Verity with concern. “V, you’re not planning to go anywhere anytime soon, are you?”
“You’re so cute when you worry. But no, other than the City, I don’t have any trips planned.”
Stone chuckled. “I see where I rate here.”
“Yeah, like you’d listen if I asked you not to go anywhere…”
“True.” He refilled his plate, picked out a couple pieces of beef, and offered them to Raider on another plate. “But I did want to ask for your help, Jason. You’re getting to be quite good at mundane research with that computer of yours. When you’ve got a bit of spare time, can you keep an eye out for any other strange new
s stories? Anything where something’s happened and people can’t explain why?”
“You think there’ll be more of them?” Verity asked.
“No idea. I hope not. But if there are, perhaps I can look into them a bit more discreetly and see if I can get any useful information.”
“Sure, yeah, no problem. I’ll put Gina on it—she’s a wiz at the computer stuff. I’ll just tell her I’m helping you out with some stuff for your classes. I’m goin’ out of town tomorrow on a case, but I’ll get her started before I go.”
“Where are you going?” Verity asked. “You didn’t say anything about it to me.”
“It just came up on Friday. I’m tracking a cheating husband, and it looks like he might be in Reno.”
“Anything exciting?”
Jason rolled his eyes. “It’s seriously the polar opposite of exciting. Some old dude’s wife thinks he’s got a young chick on the side, so she wants some photos so she can divorce him and take him for everything she can get.” He shrugged. “Me, after meeting her I think the poor guy’s just tryin’ to get some peace and quiet for a few days, but hey, she’s payin’ my fee, so it’s off to Reno I go.”
“Yeah, was gonna ask if I could go along, but maybe I’ll pass on that one. Not really into spending a couple days stalking the buffet line at Harrah’s.”
Jason left early; he claimed he had to prepare for the trip tomorrow, but Stone thought he might be clearing out to give him and Verity some time alone together. After he left, Stone used magic to gather the cartons and plates.
“This is probably nothing, you know,” Verity said, trailing him out to the kitchen.
“You’re likely right. Magical anomalies pop up now and then—it’s just the nature of magic.”
She chuckled. “Sometimes I think you’re not happy unless you’ve got some mystery to track down. Sherlock Stone.” She came up behind him and put her arms around him as he stuffed the cartons in the trash bin. “You sure are a lot different from when Jase and I first met you.”