Alastair Stone Chronicles Box Set: Alastair Stone Chronicles, Books 1 through 4

by R. L. King

  Stone glared at Jason. “You’re not touching me with anything that will hurt worse than I already do until you get me a drink. Bugger that—just bring me the whole bottle.”

  Jason glared right back. “You didn’t get hit in the head or anything, did you?”

  “No. Just knocked around a bit. Thought I might have sprained my ankle, but I don’t think so.” He indicated the wound. “This is the worst of it.”

  Jason nodded, then went to the liquor cabinet, poured a glass of Scotch, and brought it back. “Just have that for now. Do you have a first aid kit?”

  “No, I don’t have a bloody first aid kit.” Stone took the glass and downed half the liquor in two quick swallows.

  “For a guy who’s as good at taking care of himself as you normally are, Al, you’re kind of hopeless about some basic things, you know that?” Jason sounded exasperated. “V, keep an eye on him. I’ll be back soon.” Without a word, he turned and left the house.

  He was back a few minutes later carrying a bag from the nearby 24-hour convenience store. Stone had cajoled Verity into getting him another drink in the meantime. Jason tossed the bag on the couch. “Lie back. Like I said, this is gonna hurt, so let’s get it over with.”

  Stone, resigned, did as he was told. Verity moved to one of the chairs to give him room. “Now,” Jason said as he began to clean the wound, “Suppose you tell us what happened. It’ll take your mind off the pain.”

  Haltingly, with much protesting, swearing, and gritting of teeth, Stone told them what had occurred on the train. Jason paused in the act of making a gauze bandage and stared at him. “They sent three Evil to kill you?”

  “Apparently,” Stone said. “I felt rather flattered at first—before I had to concentrate on fighting for my life.”

  “They’re gonna be pissed when they wake up,” Verity said. She glanced around the room, nervous. “You locked the door, right, Jason?”

  He didn’t favor that with an answer.

  “Did you two have any trouble?” Stone asked.

  Verity shook her head. “The concert was great. We even got to meet the band afterward. And the trip home—” She shrugged. “Nothing happened. Nobody even looked at us funny.”

  Stone nodded. “Good. At least that means for the moment they’re after me instead of you.”

  “But why are they after you?” Jason asked. He finished the bandage and began putting the rest of the supplies back in the bag. “I mean, aside from the obvious, of course. Do you think this is because you know about them, or is it connected with the other murders?”

  “No way to know,” Stone said, shrugging. “They didn’t say anything, aside from asking me for a handout to get the whole thing started. No ‘aren’t you sorry you didn’t join us?’ or anything like that.”

  Verity frowned. “They wanted Eleanor to join them...” she mused. “I still wonder why. I wonder if they wanted David and that guy in New Mexico to join them too.”

  “Again, no way to know,” Stone said. “And as for why—I don’t know. If my hypothesis is correct, they do need consent to possess mages. But I’ve no idea why they’d want to possess Eleanor. She was a good person and a talented mage, but as I said, she was about as white as they come. She wouldn’t have voluntarily hurt anyone or anything. She once told me about how she put spiders outside when she found them in her house.”

  “What about David?” Jason asked. “Where was he on the—um—magical moral spectrum? And this other guy?”

  “I barely knew Russell McKee,” Stone said. “I only met him once, when I had to use the portal there. And David—I’d say he was about like me. Mostly white with a few streaks of gray here and there. About the same as most white mages, really.”

  “So assuming that this Russell guy was, then all four including you were basically white mages?” Jason leaned forward. “As far as you know they haven’t gone after any of the dark ones yet?”

  “I wouldn’t know, would I?” Stone set his empty glass on the table and slowly sat back up, careful not to disturb the bandage on his chest. “Black and white mages don’t get together and socialize that much, usually. Philosophical differences and all that. It would be rather like inviting Aunt Agnes the Christian fundamentalist to a party with Uncle Bertram the gay-rights activist. Entertaining to watch, but ultimately not much fun for anyone trying to enjoy the party.”

  Verity looked troubled. “What if they aren’t killing the black mages? Could that mean they don’t care about them? Or that they’re having an easier time convincing them to be possessed?”

  Stone pondered that. “Damn good question. But I’ll tell you this—the few black mages I know are a stubborn lot. I doubt they’d be any more interested in having something riding around in their brains than we would, even if they didn’t have to give up control.” He sighed. “In any case—it’s late and there’s really not much point in staying up all night rehashing this. You two go on home. I’ll be fine. Come over tomorrow, and we’ll see if we’ve had any further insights. Oh,” he added, “And thank you for coming over. I’m sure I’d have been fine by morning even if you hadn’t, but I do appreciate your painful and sadistic efforts.”

  Jason grinned. “Anytime, Al. Anytime.”

  Jason and Verity didn’t arrive back at Stone’s place until after eleven the next day. They found him in his study, Queen playing on the stereo and several books open around his desk.

  Verity grinned. “I told you to do your homework early, or it would stack up on you.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “You probably don’t want to remind me about the essay I told you to write on the various properties of magical talismans, do you?”

  “So, what are you doing there?” she asked quickly, pointing at the books.

  “Still trying to sort out why you’re having such trouble with the Overworld,” he said. “I’m not having much luck with the whole Evil thing, so I figured I’d work on something else for a while and see if I had better success.”

  “Did you?” Jason hovered in the doorway. “I can’t stay long—got work today. Just dropping V off so you two can get back to dismembering pigs or whatever it is you do up there in the attic.”

  “Perfect,” Stone said, ignoring most of what he’d said. “We’ll come down later when you get off shift. I want to try an experiment.”

  Jason sighed. “You’re gonna make me go into that portal again, aren’t you?”

  “That’s the plan, yes.”

  “It’s for science, Jason,” Verity said, grinning.

  “Well, let’s do it before dinner then, okay? You remember what happened last time you dragged me into your portal experiments.”

  Stone and Verity spent the rest of the afternoon on Verity’s studies. She was progressing well, and the amulet Stone had given her made casting spells easier, allowing them to devote more time to practical studies and less to theory. That made Verity happy: as much as she enjoyed the spellcasting, she tended to glaze over a bit when Stone got a good head of steam going on a magical-theory lecture.

  “You’ll have to learn this stuff if you want to be a good mage,” he told her sternly when he caught her attention wandering. “There’s no way around it. If you don’t understand how magic works, you won’t be able to do any sort of research or design your own spells.”

  “Is that so bad?” she asked. “Let somebody else design ’em, and I’ll just learn how to cast ’em.”

  “If you want to be the magical equivalent of someone who’s just memorized the textbooks long enough to pass the test, you’re welcome to do that,” he told her. “But you’ll need to find yourself another teacher. No student of mine is going to pass her apprenticeship without a solid grounding in theory. In fact, one of the tests you’ll take when I think you’re ready will be to design some original spells and demonstrate them for me. You’ll never be more than an apprentice until you can show me you’re capable of original thought. And you are—I’m certain of it. You’re just lazy. We’ll train that out
of you, don’t you worry.”

  “Yes, Master,” she grumbled. “Sheesh, I feel like I’m back in class at the halfway house. Except instead of algebra and chemistry, it’s how magical elements interact with each other, and how far apart the candles have to be in a circle.”

  Stone chuckled. “Now, now—I’ll remind you that you did ask me to be your teacher. And I remember clearly warning you about what a taskmaster bastard I am.”

  Jason’s shift at the restaurant was up at four, and Stone and Verity arrived shortly after that. “So what exactly is this experiment you’re planning to do?” Jason asked dubiously as they stood in a loose semicircle staring into the shifting colors of the portal.

  “I want to use your assistance to put up a stronger-than-normal shield,” Stone said. “We’ll go just inside the portal and stay there for a while. Ideally, I’ll be able to get some energy readings to help me work out what it is about Verity that reacts so badly with the Overworld.”

  “So you’re building a magical shark cage,” Jason said. He didn’t sound at all enthusiastic about this idea. “You want the things in there to come poke at us, and hopefully not be able to get through while you try to pick apart V’s brainwaves.”

  “Something like that,” Stone said with a sigh of exasperation. “Jason, have I ever told you that you’re brilliant at distilling complicated magical concepts down to trite catchphrases?”

  “Hey, everybody needs a hobby.”

  “So...” Verity put in, “You’re planning to just let me freak out up there, then?”

  Stone nodded. “I know it won’t be pleasant, but if you want to use the portals, I need to get a reading when you’re actually having the reaction. Using Jason’s power, I should be able to hold a shield long enough to get some data and then we can just step back out.”

  “Sounds risky,” Jason said.

  “Shouldn’t be. I don’t plan for us to stay long, and this will also give me a chance to see what kind of control I can exercise over the power I’m borrowing from you. That knowledge might prove useful at some point as well. Are you ready?”

  “You sure you’re recovered from last night?”

  “Aside from the cut and a few bruises, I’m fine.”

  Jason sighed. “Then I guess I’m ready.”

  When Verity nodded too, looking less excited and more nervous than usual about the possibility of entering the portal while conscious, Stone put his hand on Jason’s arm. “All right,” he murmured. “Just do it like before—concentrate on giving me power. And be sure to let me know if you feel odd in any way: lightheadedness, pain, anything.”

  “Oh, believe me, I will.”

  Stone closed his eyes briefly and a glowing shield flowered into existence around them. “Anything, Jason?”

  “Nope. Feel fine.”

  “Good, good. All right, let’s go. On three: One... two... three.”

  They stepped through the portal.

  Immediately, as soon as she was completely through, Verity began to scream again. Jason stared at her, wide-eyed and fearful. “V? Can you—”

  “Hush,” Stone ordered, his voice tight with concentration. “Keep focusing. This is just what I expected to happen.”

  It was difficult for Jason to follow instructions with Verity freaking out right next to him. She was doubled over like before, her hands on her head, shrieking as if someone were pulling her apart. Jason closed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on nothing but sending whatever power he had to Stone, trying hard not to think about what was happening around them.

  At one point his curiosity got the better of him and he opened his eyes—he immediately wished he hadn’t. The glowing globe around them was surrounded by the indistinct gray things. Dozens of them, perhaps more, milled around, poking at the shield. Jason was reminded of a film he’d seen in high school sex-ed, showing a herd of wriggling sperm cells trying to breach an egg. He sensed their malevolence, their hatred, their desire to break through the shield and claim the fragile tasty bits inside. He cast a quick glance at Stone; the mage’s face was lined with effort, one hand on Jason’s arm and the other on the top of Verity’s head. This went on for what felt like forever, and then he finally spoke. “All right. Grab Verity and step out now.”

  Jason was only too glad to comply. He flung his arms around his sister and hustled her backward; in a moment, the two of them and Stone stood back in the portal room. Puffing, Jason lowered Verity down to the floor. “Al, please tell me you got something. I don’t want to put V through that again—and I really don’t want to go through it again myself, if you want the truth.”

  Stone nodded, distracted. He immediately whipped out a notebook from an inner pocket and began writing furiously in it, leaving Jason to deal with talking Verity back down.

  When she was relatively calm again and Jason had hauled her back to her feet, they both faced Stone. “So?” Jason asked. “Spill. What did you find?”

  “This is—very interesting,” Stone said in his million-miles-away voice. He stared down at what he’d written in the notebook. “I can’t be sure—I don’t think there’s a safe way to get enough data to be certain—but Verity’s reaction seems to be related to her Forgotten abilities.”

  “What?” Verity demanded. “How can that be? I’m blocking them.” That was one of the first things Stone had taught her when she had begun her studies: how to place and remove the block that controlled her Forgotten ability to evict Evil from a host without killing the host. She had to be able to control it; while the ability was a useful one and had saved her life on more than one occasion, if she left the block down too long, she risked plunging herself back into the insanity that had kept her mostly institutionalized for the past several years.

  “That’s why it’s so interesting,” the mage said. “I know you’re blocking them. And I presume you were the last time as well, yes?”

  She nodded. “I do it pretty much all the time when the three of us are together. I can always drop it if we get jumped by something, and that way I don’t accidentally forget and catch the crazy again because I waited too long.” She shuddered at the thought. “Should we go back in with me unblocked?”

  Stone shook his head, and a brief look of fear crossed his eyes. “No. I wouldn’t risk that. If you react that strongly while blocked and it is related to your abilities, then it follows logically that you’ll react even more violently with the block down.”

  “I gotta agree,” Jason said, looking sober. “It isn’t gonna help you at all if you freak to the point where you stroke out or have a heart attack or something. That might solve the puzzle, but it won’t help you use the portal.”

  “How are we gonna find out for sure, then?” she protested. “And if it is the Forgotten abilities that are causing the problem, does that mean I’m out of luck? If the block isn’t enough—”

  Stone considered. “We’ll have to test it with another Forgotten,” he said at last.

  Jason stared at him. “Al, you can’t do that. You just said it was dangerous to V—wouldn’t it be just as dangerous for one of them?”

  “Not if I put a block on them. And of course it would have to be a volunteer. I wouldn’t take an unsuspecting person into the Overworld. Not only is it unethical, but it’s far too dangerous.”

  “Yeah, but—” He looked around the room. “Do you really want to let one of them in on the existence of the portal, let alone where it is? I mean, I know you trust our friends—I trust them, too. But none of them are quite right in the head. I know that’s not a cool thing to say, but—”

  “No, I agree with you,” Stone said. “Let me give it a bit more thought. Perhaps we can find a way to do it that won’t compromise the location of the portal.” He pointed toward the door, stowing the notebook back in his pocket. “Come on. Let’s go see if we can locate them. We can take them something to eat, and in the meantime perhaps I’ll come up with a plan.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  They hadn’t visited the
Forgotten group they’d befriended for a while—not since they’d gotten together for dinner following the disastrous fire at the Evil’s underground headquarters—but the group wasn’t hard to find when one knew how to search for them. Once again the “cruise around the area showing the ‘good place’ symbol to homeless people until they found some who recognized it” method worked well for them, and in less than an hour they were on their way to an abandoned light-industrial building in Mountain View.

  They picked up a box of sandwiches from nearby sub shop and were pleased to see Hector, the ex-military man, smoking a cigarette outside the building when they pulled up. He looked nervous and suspicious until he realized who they were, then greeted them in his usual gruff, offhand way. “The rest’re inside,” he told them. “I’m gonna finish my smoke. Lissy doesn’t like it when I smoke inside.”

  The remainder of the small core group was indeed inside: Lamar, the old ex-doctor who led them; Benny, a twitchy, dark-skinned young man; Lissy, the pale, spacey girl who went nearly catatonic in the presence of the Evil; Frank, the middle-aged man who never spoke, but scribbled constantly on any piece of paper he could get his hands on; and Marilee, the kindly bag lady whose cart often seemed to produce useful items when they were needed.

  “Anyone hungry?” Stone called.

  All of them greeted the newcomers with pleasure. “It’s been awhile,” Lamar said. “We were wondering if something had happened to you.”

  “Just been busy,” Jason said, helping Stone hand out the sandwiches. “Had a few things going on.”

  “How have you all been?” Verity asked them. “Any trouble?”

  “It’s been quiet,” Marilee said. “Makes us a little nervous, honestly. But even the police haven’t bothered us for the last couple of weeks.” She looked at them each in turn. “You don’t think they’re gone, do you? The Evil, I mean.”

  “Unfortunately not,” Stone said. “But it seems they might have changed their focus.” He sat down next to Jason, and immediately Marilee’s black kitten darted out from behind some bags and settled in his lap.