by Sharon Joss
I wondered how Mimsy and Rhys knew each other. She’d been all over herself to make it up to me when she realized I was Madame Coumlie’s heir. She was the only other person I’d met with an invisible djemon. I sort of liked her, except for the fact that she might have slept with Rhys, who seemed to be well acquainted with quite a lot of women.
I still had questions about her aura, though. Or lack of it; and Rhys and I didn’t have auras either. I doubted the lack of an aura and lifeline meant the same thing for each of us. I mean, there could only be one Hand of Fate, right?
When Mimsy talked about Madame Coumlie banishing her djemon, it started me thinking. Banishing a djinn or djemon had to be something simple. I considered my little congregation of djinn and named djemons.
“Scat.” I waved my hand at them. Nothing happened. They didn’t even blink.
I sighed and opened the journal on my lap, staring at pages and pages of tight, tiny, even script. The penmanship was neat, but convoluted, and hard to make out unless I gave it my full attention and concentrated. This would take forever.
I put the book aside and slid off the couch to the floor. Blix and Larry crept closer, but the others remained huddled in a group about six feet away. I thought about how Madame Coumlie commanded Oneiri to appear. I wondered if, with my new abilities, I could do something similar. What if I gave them a direct order? It would have to be something formal, I decided. What should I say?
“I command you to disappear.” I simultaneously clapped my hands, receiving a small electric shock. One of the djinn vanished, only to reappear a moment later as a fully materialized djemon in the flesh. It was real. I got goosebumps. What had I done?
The new guy surveyed the room, clearly proud of its new status. He stamped his tiny feet and stepped in front of Larry and Blix as if to say, ‘I’m da man’. This bony little fellow looked just like Mimsy’s baby pterodactyl. I reached out to caress its leathery body, which was hot to the touch. Blix and Larry hissed at the new creature, and Blix appeared especially furious at the newcomer. It ignored them, and sidled closer to me, seeming to enjoy the touch of my hand. I stroked his leathery winglets and couldn’t help thinking this is so cool.
Then it hit me. I had just inadvertently named the pterodactyl djinn-thing You, and given it a direct command. I’d just become a demon master. Oh crap. A shudder washed though me. I had no idea it would be this easy.
My eyelid began to twitch. What a can of worms. I’d have to register him, of course. I would be tracked and monitored by the FBI for the rest of my life. Everyone would know, and if he grew, I could be arrested. I remembered the look of warning Rhys had given me when I mentioned Oneiri’s name to Porter. Obviously, the Hand of Fate had never registered her djemon; and now I understood why. Blix and Larry, at least, were still invisible.
What would Porter do to me if he found out? I thought about what he’d said about damning my soul to hell, and tried to figure out if I felt any different. Nope. Not a bit. Maybe accidents didn’t count. That argument probably wouldn’t wash with the feds.
I was getting the hang of this, though. Obviously, if I wanted to get rid of these guys, I would need to be specific. I gathered my thoughts and intention and focused on the exact words I wanted to say.
“I command You and the unnamed djinn in my presence to disappear from this place and go to the cave beneath Sentinel Hill, where you shall await my command.” I clapped my hands.
With a zing and a flash, they all winked out, leaving me alone with Blix and Larry. I sat still for a minute, scarcely believing they’d gone. It worked! For the first time in days, I was without an entourage. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Even the air smelled better.
I jumped up and danced around the room. Yes! It was so simple. This whole Hand of Fate thing was going to work out just fine, after all. I’ve got it! Rounding up the rest of the djinn and getting them back into the cave would be a piece of cake. We’d seal up the break and be done with it. I’d get myself some contact lenses, and be back to normal no time. No more teratosis. I’d be able to resume my social life again.
My next thought was for Rhys. I had to tell him about this. We could go to the caves right away; we didn’t need to translate the journals. I called him, but there was no answer. I knew he had to be there, so I grabbed my pocketbook and keys, and slipped out the back door, locking it behind me. Mystic Properties was just a few blocks away. I couldn’t wait to tell him.
CHAPTER 30
The back door of Mystic Properties stood wide open when I arrived, and Rhys’ truck sat parked in the lot, so I walked right in. The stench of blood and licorice hit me like a blow. I froze. The place had been trashed; broken furniture, papers, and books lay strewn across the room. A large pool of blood stretched across the floor near the bathroom, and more spattered in an arc across the shredded couch and walls of the back office.
Oh my god. Nausea choked me. I squatted down and tested the edge of the pool with my fingers. Sticky, it hadn’t been there long. A bloody partial footprint from a three-toed creature led out the back door. The print dwarfed my shoe.
“Rhys?”
I cautiously made my way toward the stairs leading up to his apartment. I peered up the darkened stairwell, and sensed movement.
My heart leapt into my throat. I shouted up the stairs. “Who’s there?” I took a step back. “Show yourself. Um, I’ve got a gun. The police are on their way.”
“Don’t shoot,” a voice with a trace of an accent whispered down to me. I backed away as he descended. Out of the gloom stepped a wiry man in his late thirties, wearing baggy jeans and a faded blue t-shirt. He wore his hair cropped short, almost to his skull, and a gold ring pierced the top of each ear. His eyes, an unnatural shade of pale blue, showed a brilliant yellow halo round the pupil. He had no aura or lifeline. I’d never seen him before, yet something about him seemed familiar.
“Do I know you?”
“You are Mattie.” He looked scared to death. “I am the translator.”
I nodded. “What happened?”
“I must go. I cannot allow the police to find me here.” He tried to move past me, but I blocked his way. He stood only a couple inches taller than me.
“Wait. What happened here? Where’s Rhys?”
He stared at the chaos in the room; the blood on the floor. “I, I don’t know. I arrived just before you and found the door open. I heard you come in, and I hid. I thought whoever had done this might be coming back. I have to go.” Before I could grab him, he took off running and was gone.
A strange sense of calm settled over me. No doubt the big djemon Fontaigne had seen at Madame Coumlie’s place had gotten to Rhys. But why would he want to kidnap the mage? I started to call 911, but decided to call Porter instead. He didn’t answer. I left a message asking him to call me immediately.
If the big bad demon had Rhys, the obvious place to start looking was in the cavern. Everything started from there. I grabbed the keys off the hook by the door and had the truck heading down Third before I even thought about it. I still had an hour or two before dark.
With Madame Coumlie gone, we’d been sitting ducks. Of course she had been the one keeping the demons in line; she must have the power to overrule a demon master. How could I have been so stupid? Without her to keep a lid on things, the master and his demons would be free to act. The way Fontaigne described the old woman’s encounter with the big djemon, I had assumed that she had banished it, like I’d done with my little djinn. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. I’d been asking all the wrong questions.
We bounced along the dirt track, and I glanced over to the passenger seat to where Larry and Blix sat staring at me. I’d use Blix to lead me to Rhys. The order would make him a djemon in the flesh, but I didn’t have any choice. Porter couldn’t fit through the cave entrance, and calling the police was out. They’d just haul me in for questioning. Rhys needed my help now.
I arrived at the trailhead, parked the truck, grabbed a helmet and fla
shlight, and slung Rhys’ coil of nylon rope over my shoulder. All set. This time, turning Blix into a fully materialized djemon would be no accident. I would have to keep him a secret for the rest of my life. If a psychic penalty had to be paid for summoning a djemon on purpose, I was about to be double damned. Would it condemn me to hell as well as to prison? No time to think about that now. Time was wasting, I had no other choice.
“Blix, I command you to show me the way to where Rhys is. Find Rhys.” I clapped my hands.
With a little sting, Blix popped into being. He squeaked at me, and then took off running like a cottontail Chihuahua. Every few steps, he paused to look back at me with those luminous yellow eyes. I started after him, but changed my mind and went back to the truck. I might be the new Hand of Fate, but that sure didn’t make me a superhero. I didn’t want to go after a giant djemon without some sort of weapon. I searched the truck, and came up with a crowbar. I hefted the reassuring weight. That’ll work. I gave it a test swing and followed Blix into the woods, as clouds of mosquitoes surrounded me like a vampiric fog. I hoped we weren’t too late.
CHAPTER 31
Dusk had descended by the time we reached the cave entrance. It took me a long time to find the right key to get the grate open in the near-dark. Blix squeaked at me impatiently the whole time. I got the gate open, and lowered myself into the tunnel. The cold hit me, and I regretted not wearing warmer clothes.
I followed Blix straight to the slanted tunnel entrance leading down into the bat cave. I spent more precious time trying to figure out how to tie off the rope. In the end, I used the crowbar as a wedge across the opening, and tied the rope to the middle. Using the crowbar as a brace, I’d be able to lower myself down without breaking my neck. This way, I’d still have a chance of getting back out again. At least, that was the plan. Of course, that left me without a weapon. Oh well.
I stood on top of one of the cat cages and boosted myself up into the tunnel. The stench of bat guano, urine, and anise made breathing difficult. As I cleared the tunnel, my headlamp showed the cavern filled with djinn. ‘You’ flew up to greet me; the other members of my little horde waited on the cavern floor with a few thousand of their friends.
Now came the dicey part. In spite of the cold, I was sweating as I lowered myself face first and began to pull my legs out of the tunnel entrance above me. I’d intended to somersault around and drop feet first, but I hadn’t anticipated that my sweaty hands wouldn’t be able to maintain my grip on the rope. As I twisted my body around to vertical, I lost my grip and fell.
I landed hard. I lay for a few minutes, gasping and clenching everything clenchable, until I could breathe again. Other than a few bruises I was basically uninjured; with a couple of nasty rope burns and the taste of blood in my mouth. The djinn crowded around me, all giving me glassy luminous stares which completely creeped me out.
“Get back.” I slapped my hand across my mouth, but nothing happened. I hadn’t issued the command in the proper form, I guess. Sort of like Jeopardy. I smothered a hysterical giggle. Focus Mattie.
“Blix. Where are you? Find Rhys.”
Immediately, my little demon popped up in front of me, and I straightened my helmet and pulled the flashlight out of my pocket. Without the crowbar, my hands needed something to do. I switched it on, but nothing happened. Great. I shook it and heard the broken bits of bulb rattling around behind the lens. Good thing the helmet lamp still worked. I decided to hang on to the flashlight anyway, and followed Blix. There would be no going back now, we didn’t have any more time to waste.
We crossed the cavern, and with each step my feet sank into several inches of fresh and petrified bat guano. I followed Blix to a doorway carved right into the rock, barred by a plain wooden door, maybe five feet high. I tried the doorknob, and it opened.
Rough steps had been hacked into the bedrock, which led down into pitch darkness. The ceiling and walls were rough, but a few places looked as if they had been smoothed by tools. I smelled fresher air, so I closed the door behind us and followed Blix. The trail ended at a junction with what I imagined was a mineshaft. Without hesitation, Blix turned to the left, and I followed.
This main tunnel appeared larger, with smoother floors and a low ceiling, probably six feet high and about twelve feet wide. A small-gage railroad track ran down the middle, but I saw no other signs of civilization. The smell of licorice had faded behind us, and the only things I smelled now were Blix, Larry, and dirt.
I trotted behind my demon, my sense of urgency rising with every step. Rhys had been taken alive for a reason, otherwise his body would have been left behind. Hold that thought, Mattie.
We made good progress. The speed kept me warm, but I wished I’d remembered to bring water. I had no idea where we were going. I guessed we were headed back toward Shore Haven. The other end of this tunnel must open somewhere near the lake. I’d heard stories of bootleggers using tunnels under Shore Haven to smuggle whiskey across from Canada during Prohibition, but I’d never imagined them to be true.
After an hour, I was panting heavily and had to slow down. Blix peeped at me in irritation. As I ran-walked to keep up, I began to worry we wouldn’t find a way out. With each step, the weight of the unrelenting blackness added to my anxiety, but I forced myself to keep moving forward. I began seeing piles of trash and rags, and old crates stacked along the sides of the tunnel. We passed alcoves stocked with bits of broken machinery and lanterns. I looked for something I could use as a weapon, but didn’t find anything.
The first time I saw a door, I ran to open it. A brand new padlock prevented access. I tried knocking while Blix squeaked at me to catch up. Rhys wasn’t behind that door. We passed more doorways that opened into the tunnel; all with new padlocks installed. Sub-basement doors, I guessed.
The tunnel began to curve to the right. The walls and floors smoothed out. The walls seeped moisture and the humidity increased. I noticed fixtures and pipes running along the ceiling above us. We had to be underneath the Shore by now. Hell, we should have started our search from Mystic Properties. It would have been a lot faster than driving all the way out to Sentinel Hill. I hoped we wouldn’t be too late to help Rhys.
I started running again. Blix kept twenty feet ahead of me, stopping every few feet to stare and urge me on. My headlamp was dimming, but the quality of darkness seemed to be changing. The tunnel curved again to the right, and I smelled the lakeshore ahead of us.
The tunnel widened into a low cavern. Large boulders blocked the view ahead, but a warm breeze beckoned to me. The sandy ground gave way to a well-used path. My spirits rose, as the night air freshened across my face, and through a grated entrance ahead of me, I saw the night sky and the twinkling reflection of the surface of the lake. I sprinted to the opening.
An iron grate spanned across a gap in the boulders clustered along the shoreline. Although the grate appeared to be old and rusted, it was embedded in solid rock, and had been secured with yet another shiny new padlock. I tried every key on Rhys’ key ring. This was not the way out.
Blix’s squeaking caught my attention, and I trotted back to the cavern. This had to be where the rail line ended; or started, I guessed. Nearby, wooden worktables stood covered in layers of dust. Blix bounced up and down like a manic rabbit, as if to tell me to hurry up. The light from my headlamp had grown dimmer with every passing minute, so it wasn’t until I approached the door that I noticed the skeleton.
The bones were arranged in a neat pile, with the skull placed on top so the eye sockets glared directly up at anyone who would dare to turn the doorknob. A not-so-subtle warning. A sick mind.
Blix was now banging himself against the solid door, insisting that Rhys was here, just behind the door, if only I would open it. The handle showed no sign of dirt or dust, and no external padlock barred the entrance. The only way out the tunnels would be through this door.
I took a deep breath and turned off the headlamp. If we were going to be sneaking into someone’s basement
, I didn’t want them to see me first. I hushed Blix; and cautiously opened the door.
CHAPTER 32
I followed Blix up a steep narrow stairway to another closed door. The knob turned easily, and I eased myself into a darkened room. Several green power lights pinpointed the room with an eerie glow. Somewhere in the distance the comforting sound of a compressor hummed. Probably a dehumidifier. Blix dashed through the door first, and waited for me as I crept inside, closing the door quietly behind me. I paused for a few minutes straining to listen if anyone was coming, but I couldn’t hear a thing over the sound of my pounding heart and the whirr of the compressor.
We were standing inside a commercial kitchen; paved with black and white floor tiles, appointed with professional grade stainless steel equipment. To the right stood a combination sink and industrial dishwasher unit; on the left, a bank of refrigerators droned. A steel butcher’s table dominated the center of the room; the drain running from the cutting surface into the floor. Overhead, an assortment of sharp-looking kitchen utensils and cleavers hung from a rack suspended from the ceiling. Opposite me was the wooden door of a large walk-in freezer. Through the small window in the door, I could see frost-covered shelving just inside.
Blix slammed himself continuously against the wooden door to the walk-in. I moved closer, and he scrabbled his claws at the base of door. I pulled on the chrome handle, but it took two hands to get it open.
A dim red light flicked on and I gasped when I saw Rhys lying motionless on the floor. I sobbed; grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him through the doorway back into the kitchen. I couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead. With shaking fingers, I felt for his pulse. His skin was so cold. I couldn’t feel a thing.
“Come on, Rhys, work with me.”
I put my lips to his neck and felt a faint throb of life. Yes! A hysterical giggle escaped my lips, and I smothered it as I heard the clatter of a pan fall to the floor in another room. I froze, feeling exposed by the red light of the walk-in. I looked up, searching for the switch.