“It doesn’t work any more,” said John.
“What? Why not?”
“Because something doesn’t want it to.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Do you at least remember the way out of here?” said Suzie, looking about her for something she could make a nasty example of.
“I can find the way out,” said John. “I can find anything.”
Suzie looked dubiously at the salamander ball. “Will that thing last long enough? It’s not very big.”
“Well,” said John. “You only get two to a salamander.”
He set off back down the platform, with Suzie sticking close beside him.
“This was a wasted journey,” said Suzie.
“Not entirely,” said John. “At least now I know my parents are happy together.”
* * *
• • •
Eddie, Molly, and the Doormouse appeared inside the old chapel, set just outside Drood Hall. Close enough that it had been brought along when Alpha Red Alpha deposited the Hall in the Nightside. The chapel’s interior was no longer the shabby mess Eddie remembered so fondly from the old days. The Matriarch had had it all cleaned up when she decided to use it as her office. Eddie preferred the chapel how it used to look; it had character. Even if it wasn’t a particularly nice character. Now everything was clean and tidy, spick and span. Apart from a pile of old wooden pews and other fittings and furnishings stacked up against the far wall. Eddie looked at them thoughtfully. He was certain they hadn’t been there the last time he’d visited the chapel to meet with the Matriarch. Right in the middle of the pile stood a tall wooden door, and standing before that was the Matriarch, studying it intently. She suddenly realised she had company and turned to glare at them.
“Took you long enough. Is that the Doormouse?” She smiled briefly. “You look just the way I thought you would.”
“Lots of people say that,” said the Doormouse. “Please don’t try and hug me. Everyone always wants to hug me, and I am not the hugging type.”
“The thought never occurred to me,” said the Matriarch.
“Trust me,” Eddie said to the Doormouse. “It really didn’t.”
The Matriarch gestured at the door leaning against the wall. “I am assured that this shabby-looking thing is the Hereafter Door. Hard though that is to believe. Can it really do what the name implies?”
“Of course,” said the Doormouse, bristling. “Or I wouldn’t have given it that name. I do have my reputation to think of.”
“Can you open it?” said the Matriarch.
“Naturally,” said the Doormouse. He scurried over to stand before the Door, not quite crowding the Matriarch out of the way. The Doormouse peered near-sightedly at the Hereafter Door, as though checking for signs it had been maltreated or misused since he’d dropped it off, then nodded quickly and raised his voice.
“Open!”
The Door swung slowly backwards, apparently through and past the solid stone wall behind it, revealing an opening full of Light. The Doormouse smirked.
“His Master’s Voice . . .”
He scurried back out of the way as the Matriarch planted herself firmly in front of the open Door. She stared unflinchingly into the bright and glorious Light and raised her voice.
“James Drood! Jack Drood! Grey Fox and Armourer! You must return to us! Your family needs you!”
There was a long pause. Nothing happened. The Doormouse cleared his throat meaningfully and looked at Eddie.
“I told you. You can yell all you like, but if they don’t want to come, one of us is going to have to go in there and get them. Please note that one of us very definitely does not include me.”
“What’s in there?” said Molly, staring unblinkingly into the Light.
The Doormouse managed a very human shrug. “The Fields Beyond Those We Know means beyond anything we know. That is what I was asked for, and that is what I delivered.”
“Heaven or Hell?” said Eddie.
“Both, neither, I don’t know,” said the Doormouse.
“I can’t go in there,” said the Matriarch. “I can’t risk myself because that would leave the Sarjeant in charge.”
“I’ll do it,” said Eddie.
“Why does it always have to be you?” said Molly.
“Because that’s the job,” said Eddie.
“You are not going in there without me,” Molly said flatly.
“I have to,” said Eddie. “This is family business.” He smiled at her. “It’s all right. It’s James and Jack. My uncles. What could I have to fear, from them?”
“You heard the oversized rodent,” said Molly. “Being dead changes people. And besides . . .” She scowled into the Light, as though it might be trying to hide something from her. “Who knows what else might be in there?”
“You must hurry!” the Doormouse said urgently. “It’s not wise to leave the Door open too long. It calls . . .”
He didn’t say to what, and no one felt like pressing him. Eddie squeezed Molly’s hand reassuringly and strode forward into the Light.
* * *
• • •
It was like plunging into an ocean without end. The Light was so overpowering, it was all Eddie could see, wherever he looked. A Light so pure as to be without colours or shadings, a perfect thing that had no place in the material world. And yet it didn’t feel unfriendly. It felt like coming home after a long journey.
But even though Eddie couldn’t see anything but the Light, he could tell he wasn’t alone. It felt like he was surrounded by crowds of people, endlessly coming and going on unknowable business of their own. Bustling around him, invisibly and silently. He moved cautiously forward, hands stretched out before him, but they didn’t find anything. He couldn’t even feel the ground under his feet.
And then he got the feeling that there was something else: a destination, far off in the distance. Somewhere he belonged . . . and even though he couldn’t put a name to what it might be, he wanted desperately to go there. He started towards it, moving faster and faster, until he was running full out. A deep contentment swept through him and an almost exultant sense of belonging. And then a voice called out to him to stop, and he stumbled to a halt despite everything he was feeling because it was a voice he knew he could trust. Jack Drood appeared out of the Light to stand before him, with his brother James at his side.
They stood together, smiling easily, and Eddie’s heart leapt at the sight of them. James, the legendary Grey Fox, was tall and darkly handsome, effortlessly elegant and sardonic, dressed in the finest three-piece suit the mind could imagine. His smile was broad and genuine. He looked a lot younger than the well-preserved middle-aged man Eddie remembered.
It took Eddie a moment to accept that the man standing beside James really was his uncle Jack, the old Armourer. He was young again too, not much older than Eddie. The stained and battered lab coat was gone, replaced by a suit every bit as fine as his brother’s. He grinned broadly at Eddie.
“You never knew me when I had hair, did you?”
Eddie was smiling so hard he could feel it, and tears stung his eyes. His two favourite uncles, young again and in their prime, when they were the greatest secret agents in the world. Eddie lurched forward and hugged Jack hard, and his uncle patted him on the back and murmured reassuring things. He felt properly real and solid. Eddie finally let go of him and stepped back.
“I’m so sorry . . .”
“We’ve been through that,” Jack said easily. “You have nothing to feel sorry for. It’s good to see you again, Eddie.”
“And you, Uncle Jack.”
Eddie turned to look at James, who raised a single eyebrow.
“Don’t I get a hug?”
“I killed you, Uncle James . . .”
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“It was the right thing to do,” said James. He opened his arms, and Eddie hugged him too. It was a very manly hug.
Eventually Eddie stepped back and looked his two uncles over carefully. They looked very alive, very real, even though he knew they couldn’t be. James gave him a stern look.
“Where did you think you were running to, Eddie?”
Eddie still couldn’t put a name to it, so he just pointed off into the distance. The only word he could think of was home, and that seemed far too small. Certainly it had nothing at all to do with Drood Hall. Jack shook his head firmly.
“You’re not ready for that, Eddie. Not yet.”
“That’s the end of the line,” said James. “No way back.”
“We know why you’re here,” said Jack.
“We know everything now,” said James. “All the answers to all the questions we ever had.”
“Though some of them turned out to be a bit of a surprise,” said Jack.
The two men smiled easily together.
“Then you must know why I came here,” said Eddie. “And why you have to come back with me. The family needs you. The Nightside needs you.”
“We can’t,” said James. “All is forgiven, no hard feelings and all that, but we can’t go with you.”
“Why not?” said Eddie.
“Because we’re busy,” said Jack. “And don’t ask what with because you wouldn’t understand if we told you. Just trust me when I say it’s important.”
“We’re doing good work,” said James. “Which is all I ever really wanted.”
“The world is in danger!” said Eddie. “What could be more important than that?”
“You’d be surprised,” said James.
“One day you’ll understand,” said Jack.
“I can’t do this without you!” said Eddie. “It’s too big for me . . .”
“Of course you can do it,” said James. “We trust you.”
And they both nodded calmly, the Grey Fox and the Armourer.
“You don’t owe me anything,” Eddie said steadily. “I owe you everything. But I’m still asking. Not for myself but for the family.”
“Oh well,” said James. “If you put it like that . . .”
“We can spare a few moments,” said Jack.
“For the family,” said James.
“Damn right,” said Jack.
Eddie started to turn around, to go back the way he’d come, and only then realised he had no idea which way led back to the Door. James and Jack moved in on either side of him and linked their arms companionably through his. And together, the three Droods walked back into the world.
* * *
• • •
They stepped out of the Hereafter Door and into the old chapel, and it was like leaving a cathedral to enter a small back room. The Hereafter Door closed quietly behind them, cutting off the Light. Molly gaped at the young James and Jack, then applauded delightedly. The Matriarch looked like she wanted to but held on to her Matriarchal dignity. She nodded her thanks to Eddie, then bowed to James and Jack. They just nodded easily in return.
Eddie went over to Molly, who checked quickly to make sure he was all right, then punched him hard in the arm.
“What was that for?” said Eddie.
“For worrying me!” said Molly. And then she hugged him like she’d never let him go. Eddie wanted to tell her everything he’d seen and heard and felt, but he didn’t have the words. He was already forgetting most of it, and he couldn’t help feeling that was for the best.
The Doormouse hovered at the back of the chapel, fascinated and dying to ask all sorts of questions but knowing better than to intrude on Drood family business.
“You honour us with your presence, James and Jack,” said the Matriarch.
“Cut it out, Maggie,” Jack said kindly. “It’s just me. And he’s just him.”
“We’re here to do a job,” said James. “So let’s go talk to the Sarjeant.”
“Because we’ve got a lot to say,” said the Armourer.
“And not a lot of time to say it in,” said the Grey Fox.
“Let’s go save the world,” said Jack.
“One last time,” said James.
* * *
• • •
They used the Merlin Glass to return to the Nightside, pausing only to drop the Doormouse off at his House of Doors. He rushed inside without waiting to be thanked for his help, as though worried they might change their mind. He didn’t look back once. At least partly because just being around James and Jack made all his fur stand on end. He slammed the front door behind him, and the whole establishment disappeared.
The Doormouse was taking no chances.
Eddie instructed the Merlin Glass to take the rest of them straight to wherever the Sarjeant-at-Arms was. It showed them a great open square where the Sarjeant was haranguing his army, along with an equally large gathering of elves. Eddie stepped through, followed by Molly and the Matriarch, James and Jack.
The Sarjeant broke off from exhorting his troops to kill every living thing in the Nightside, as the only sure way of winning, and turned to face the new-comers. The Droods looked at the new arrivals and crashed to attention. The elves looked on curiously, as Eddie and his people came forward. The Sarjeant glared at the Matriarch.
“I can’t believe you were foolish enough to come back. You must know I can’t risk letting you escape again.” And then he looked past her at Eddie and Molly and thought he understood. “Reinforcements . . . As though that will make any difference against such superior numbers. We have no time for traitors here.”
And then he saw James and Jack and just stopped talking. The undamaged half of his face went white with shock. The famous names were already moving swiftly among the watching Droods, sweeping through the rows like a quiet prayer that the Grey Fox and the old Armourer had come to rescue them from the authority of the Sarjeant. They’d only followed him because the Matriarch had disappointed them and because most Droods always needed someone to tell them what to do. But a war of extinction . . . was just too much. One by one, the Droods knelt and bowed their head to James and Jack.
The elves didn’t kneel. They stood a little closer together, behind Puck, while he struck a casual pose and studied the new-comers with wary, watchful eyes.
James and Jack strolled through the ranks of kneeling Droods, heading straight for the Sarjeant. He stood his ground because there was nowhere left for him to go. Eddie and Molly and the Matriarch hung back, letting James and Jack have their moment with the Sarjeant. They finally came to a halt before him, and he met their gaze defiantly. James and Jack just nodded easily.
“Hello, Cedric,” said James.
“It’s been awhile,” said Jack.
“It is you,” said the Sarjeant. “It really is you . . . But that’s not allowed! Family ghosts are never permitted to return . . . No. Wait. They used the Hereafter Door, didn’t they? I always knew that thing would come back to haunt me. The Grey Fox and the old Armourer . . . the Matriarch chose well. The only Droods no one in the family would argue with. But I won’t kneel to you.”
“We never wanted you to kneel to us,” said James. “That’s not why we’re here.”
“We just want you to listen,” said Jack.
“The invasion is out-of-control,” said James.
“You are out-of-control, Cedric,” said Jack. “Dammit, man, you’re allying the family with elves!”
“You’re endangering the family,” said James.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for the family!” said the Sarjeant.
“You’re supposed to be doing this for Humanity,” said James.
“Anything, for Humanity,” said Jack. “To keep the world safe.”
“That’s what this is all about!” said the Sarjeant.
He looked at them pleadingly, desperate to make them understand because he respected them more than anyone. “We have to put an end to the Nightside, destroy it completely! It’s always been a knife at our back, but now it’s become a danger to the whole world!”
“More than an army of elves?” said Eddie, unable to keep silent any longer. “When have we ever trusted elves, let alone tied our honour to them? Elves never do anything that doesn’t serve their own best interests. Come on, Sarjeant, this isn’t what we came here to do.”
“It’s what I came here to do,” said the Sarjeant, his attention still fixed on James and Jack. “We should have done this long ago. The Nightside has always been an unexploded bomb, just waiting to blow up in our faces. We should never have allowed things to become this bad.”
“Stand down, Sarjeant,” said the Matriarch, letting her voice ring out over the listening Drood army. “You have no authority to deal with elves or to order the execution of every living thing in the Nightside.”
“I took the authority because you didn’t have the guts to use it!” said the Sarjeant. “Because you wouldn’t do what was necessary!” He looked at Eddie for the first time. “You of all people should understand that.”
“I took control of the family to save it from itself,” said Eddie. “Not to kill everyone who disagreed with me.”
The Sarjeant glared around him. At James and Jack, at Eddie and the Matriarch, at Molly standing on her own at the edge of things because this was family business. He glared around at the silently watching Droods . . . and some of the strength went out of him as he realised no one was on his side.
“I’ll never stand down,” he said flatly. “I know my duty. Even if you take my people away from me, I still have the elves.”
“Listen to what you’re saying!” said the Matriarch. “You’d set the elves against your own family?”
“I won’t be stopped!” said the Sarjeant. Shaking with rage and frustration, his voice rose unsteadily. “I won’t be beaten! This is too important. I’ll kill all of you rather than fail in my duty. I have to. It’s all I’ve got.”
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