Long Night Moon (The Bradbury Institute Book 2)

by Sonya Clark

  He didn’t want to talk about the holiday, or what kind of presents he’d gotten everyone. He didn’t want to gossip about the fact that Captain Irvine spent the previous night in Judith’s apartment. He flatly refused to speak about the nightmare the goblin had given him. Usually she could get Rami to talk about something, but so far he’d been resistant to all attempts to draw him into conversation.

  She thought of another subject to try. “So what do you think Pete and Evie are doing right now? Whatever it is, it’s got to be more fun than this.”

  It was a long moment before he answered with a dull, “No idea.”

  Franny gave up and wished she’d thought to bring a book.

  Several minutes later Rami finally spoke. “How powerful do you think he is?”

  She yawned before answering. “The same as any other goblin. I’m sure somebody will get him.”

  “No, I mean Pete.”

  “Oh.” She sat up straighter. “Um. I don’t know. The way Chet talks it sounds like Pete packs a pretty big wallop.”

  Rami placed the axe on the floor and rubbed his face. “More powerful than me?”

  Franny looked at the wizard. She knew he couldn’t be jealous of Pete, or worried about his job. Rami might be a lot of things but mundane was not one of them. “What’s on your mind?”

  “That goddamn nightmare. It’s not rational, I know that, but it scares me.”

  “What scares you?” He remained silent. She prodded gently. “Come on, it’s just me here. What are you worried about, Rami?”

  “I was eight when my parents died. There was no one to take me so I wound up in the system. Stayed in a few foster homes but none of them were all that great and no one wanted to adopt someone my age. I never felt like I belonged anywhere until I came here.”

  “Oh, Rami.” She scooted across the carpet to sit at his side. “You’re not going to lose your place here no matter what kind of badass magic Pete can throw around. Surely you know that.”

  “I do, I do! It embarrasses me to even admit I’m thinking it. It’s from the nightmare, I know it. It took me right back into every foster home and group home I spent time in.”

  “No wonder you picked the axe. If I had to relive something like that, I’d want to kill that goblin too.”

  He laughed, a sharp humorless sound. “I’ve always been squeamish at the sight of blood but I swear I could take that damn thing’s head off.”

  “Hopefully you’ll get a chance.”

  MacGuffin sat up and looked idly around. Rami said, “What the hell is that dog wearing?”

  A touch defensive, Franny said, “I made him some protective gear! The little fella needs it.”

  “It looks like armor. Isn’t that too heavy for him? He only weighs six pounds.”

  “Well, it’s enchanted, of course! I fixed it so it won’t be too heavy for him.” She patted the floor in front of her. “Come here, Mac. Let Rami see your armor.”

  The dog stood, his gaze locked on the far end of the hall. Rami picked up the axe as Mac began to growl. “Call Judith, I think we got it.”

  MacGuffin took off like a bullet, barking loud enough that Franny didn’t think she’d need her cell phone to alert the rest of the building. Rami followed at a run. Franny grabbed her phone and went after them.

  They caught up with Mac in front of a supply closet. The dog stood in front of the door, limbs rigid, body shaking as he barked at whatever was inside. Rami glanced at her and she read his plan in his eyes. Scooping up Mac, she put her hand on the door knob. Rami raised the axe, then nodded. She swung the door open and backed away.

  A broom fell out, hitting Rami on the head before he had a chance to take the axe to it.

  Franny peeked around the door. “So. Can goblins teleport?”

  Disgust twisting his face, Rami nodded.

  Franny smoothed the fur on Mac’s head. “The things you learn.”

  ***

  Eve sensed someone approaching before she heard their footsteps. They ripped the black hood from her head and blinding light momentarily seared her vision. She blinked, struggling to get a handle on her fear and the strange nausea that lingered. Something had happened, something that involved magic and not being in the coffee shop anymore. Her insides had twisted and she’d fought against the hood and the strong arms holding her captive. Then she’d been dropped on a hard floor and left to wait, her hands tied behind her back.

  Her hands were still tied but she felt slightly less vulnerable with the hood removed. She looked up into a face she’d never wanted to see again. “You,” she spat out.

  Crantz threw his arms wide and grinned. “Me!” He dragged a battered wooden stool over and sat. “So how are you, Eve? Crossing over with a manufactured portal can be a bit rough on the tummy. If you need to barf, you go right ahead.”

  Eve surveyed the surroundings. The room appeared to have been fashioned out of a cave with stone walls and floor. A fireplace was carved in one spot, a large fire crackling like a live thing. Whatever warmth it might have offered did not reach Eve. She shivered in the cold. The wall curved in one direction, a light drift of snow on the floor. That had to be an exit. She had no weapons, her hands were tied, she had no idea where she was, though she had an uncomfortable suspicion she was on the wrong side of the Sideways gate. Surely she’d been gone long enough that Pete knew something was wrong. The institute would search for her.

  As the nausea subsided another unpleasant sensation took over. Her scalp ached, especially at the base. Someone had grabbed her long hair and sawed it off painfully. There had to be a reason for that, she thought. Proof to the institute that they had her, they being whoever Crantz worked for.

  “I’ll be sure and barf on your shoes if I need to,” Eve replied. She didn’t like the predatory way his gaze raked her body.

  His grin widened. “I like you, Eve. You’ve got spirit. That always makes the breaking of a person more fun, when they have spirit.”

  Eve bit her lip, wondering if she could play him again like she had in Frankfurt. “What’s going to happen to me?”

  Crantz lowered his voice, the smile gone. “You really want to know?” She nodded. “Oh, darling, I don’t think you do.”

  She leaned forward. “Tell me. Please.”

  It was the please that did it, she could tell. His face flushed with excitement and he leaned close, bringing his lips to her ear. She didn’t wait for him to speak. Throwing her shoulder into his throat, she sent him sprawling to the floor. Then she hurried to her feet and kicked him in the ribs, glad she’d worn boots. As he twisted on the ground she ran for the exit.

  Rounding the corner, Eve risked one brief look over her shoulder. Because of that she didn’t see who she ran into until the man had her firmly in his grip. Well over six feet tall with pale blond hair and ice blue eyes, she knew immediately this man was the one to worry about. The leader of the mysterious organization that tried to steal the Key of Darkness, whose image she’d seen in a haze of magic. Power radiated from him in dark waves.

  “This is the second time you’ve gotten the upper hand with Crantz,” he said in a smooth voice. “I need better minions.”

  Eve swallowed her fear. “It really doesn’t reflect well on you.”

  He chuckled. “I see why Leoben likes you.” He led her back to the room, keeping one hand on her arm as he placed Crantz’s stool close to the fire. Gesturing with his free hand he said, “Please, sit.”

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather go home.” She had no idea who Leoben was.

  “You will, in time.” He gave Crantz, who’d picked himself up from the floor and stood rubbing his throat, a significant look. “And you will not be harmed while in my custody.”

  “Custody? That sounds so civilized.” Eve twisted her torso and arms to display her bound hands. “This is a kidnapping.”

  He regarded her with cold eyes. She had to force herself not to flinch under his gaze. He said, “If you try to flee you’ll fin
d yourself lost in hostile territory. If by some miracle you manage to get past the Shadow Raiders you’ll die of exposure in the snow and ice. So Miss Kane, your best hope of getting out of here unscathed is to cooperate.”

  Eve recalled something from Irvine’s book about Shadow Raiders, confirming her suspicion she was in Sideways. And based on what Irvine had written about the dangerous bandits, she wouldn’t stand a chance against them. “What do you want with me?”

  “Simply put, you’re bait.” His broad shoulders moved in a shrug under his dark blue parka. “Leoben cares for you, so he’ll come here for you.”

  “I don’t know anyone named Leoben.”

  His eyes glazed to a frosty silver. Warmth circled her wrists and then the ropes fell. She rubbed her hands and wrists. “Thank you. But really, I think you’ve got the wrong woman. I don’t know anyone by that name.”

  “No,” he said, a melancholy note in his voice. “You don’t know him by that name.”

  Eve took a step back. Something in his demeanor frightened her, far more than the polite but unfeeling ice he’d displayed earlier.

  Someone approached from the entrance. A slim woman in black with an acid green bob came to a halt a few feet from Eve. “You, you were in the ladies room at the coffee shop, weren’t you? If you’re the one who wacked off my hair, you and I need to have a talk.”

  The woman ignored her. Her boss said, “Do you have it?”

  “Yes.” She opened a canvas bag in her hand and took out a pair of manacles made of some white material Eve could not identify.

  “What’s that for?” Eve took another step backward.

  “Psychometry is a fascinating gift, Miss Kane.” He took the manacles and held them up to examine them. “I find myself a bit envious. To me, this is nothing but cold bone, worn smooth by use and made strong by magic. But to you-you have the power to perceive the story this has to tell. To draw forth its very memories. To experience things through the senses of someone who has been in contact with it. Surely that would allow you to truly know a person.”

  “I never thought of it that way.” She took another step back, colliding with Crantz. He gripped her shoulder, fingers digging into her flesh painfully.

  “You say you don’t know Leoben. This will allow you to know him. To see the darkest part of his soul.”

  Fear burned a path through her nerves. “I don’t know this man Leoben. This is a mistake, please.”

  He lifted the manacles to her neck, holding them inches from her body. With a jerk of his chin he signaled Crantz to step away. “You will know him now, Eve.” He draped the manacles around her like some sort of macabre necklace.

  Sensation slammed into Eve. Unbearable pain, sickening fear, the roar of constant screaming. Knees being dragged across a stone floor, leaving a trail of blood through holes in the pants. Being dumped against a wall, half-conscious. A shimmer of familiar magic that tasted of wildness on a star-filled winter night.

  Eve screamed as she dropped to the floor. “Pete!”

  Chapter 10

  After the baroque phantasm of the Castle of Midnight it was quite a surprise to find myself traveling rough country roads that reminded me so much of home. Like waking from a dream that made no sense, to once again be surrounded by the comforts of the mundane. We made our way through the Land of Snows, southeast to the Sea of Nectar. The beautiful Morrigan herself had given us a white horse to carry our supplies and belongings. At first I believed my experience in the Alps would put me in good stead to take on the cold, the wind and the snow, but I could not have been more wrong. I have no doubt I would have perished in that frigid snow-covered country if I had not my two companions and the supplies so generously given me by the Morrigan and her courtiers. A long heavy coat of thick black fur kept me protected from the cold and wind. My companions were more than generous with their ability to create a warming fire out of only their will to have it so.

  *

  Called simply “The Carrig,” the village was a crossroads of sorts, hosting Sidhe from both Winter and Spring. I say “host” rather than “home” because of its rather odd flavor of seeming to be a village of semi-permanent structures for a transient population. Having just completed an engagement as a musician at one of the High Courts, it seemed just as natural to Dougal to find himself here in this port town of tumble-down inns and decadent brothels. The denizens of those inns and brothels were certainly just as happy to enjoy his talents as the courtiers. McRary as well had no trouble securing a term of employment as seanachai at one of the finer establishments. Musicians and storytellers are greatly prized by all Sidhe, respected as venerable members of their society. As I learned from observing Dougal and McRary’s own ease with both noble courtiers and indecorous sailors, the singular role of musicians and seanachai in Sidhe society allowed them to move amongst all classes with equal facility. The divisions of class in England, the caste system in India – there is no such thing among the Sidhe. In fact, as I was to learn soon after our arrival in The Carrig, titles of nobility were not restricted to those members of the four High Courts. Late one evening excited word spread through the nameless inn where Dougal played his cello for board and meals announcing the arrival of a ship in port. The Scarlet Heart was so named after a jewel stolen from the treasure hoard of a fierce dragon. Stolen by a pirate, who then presented the jewel to his High King, the King of Summer, who in turn rewarded the pirate with a grand ship. The buccaneer rewarded himself with the title of Pirate King, and I was soon to meet him.

  - From the writings of Captain George Francis Irvine

  Judith closed the book gently. “A pirate king brave enough to steal from a dragon. That would be a fascinating man to meet.”

  “Oh, he was,” George said. “A better card player I’ve never encountered. He was quite the raconteur as well.”

  “You two swap stories?”

  “For hours. It’s in there, keep reading.”

  “I will, don’t you worry. Right now I need more coffee.”

  They were seated in the anteroom to Judith’s office, monitoring a goblin trap in the hall. Judith rose and made her way to her inner office. “Want a fresh cup?”

  George followed, carrying his empty mug. “Believe I will.”

  Re-caffeinated, Judith took a moment to check her email while George gazed out the window behind her desk. “The snow is heavier. Colder, too, than last night.”

  “We’ve gotten more winter than the last several years already. I hate to think what January and February will be like.”

  “It’s closer. Winter, I mean. Earth and Winter, Midnight and North. I can feel it pressing against the edges of this reality. If you stand perfectly still and listen to the snow, you can hear the music from the Castle of Midnight. The Midwinter revels there are legendary.”

  Judith paused. George’s tone sounded a bit…off. He got that way sometimes when he visited and it always worried her. Humans who stayed in Sideways too long didn’t have a good track record of holding onto their sanity and George had been there far longer than most. It seemed to be a peculiar kind of magic he was gifted with, the ability to hold onto himself through decades of living in the Never Never. How long that magic would hold out, no one knew. Not even George.

  “How are you feeling? Do you need to rest?”

  He came around to perch on the edge of her desk. “I’m fine. Feeling a bit…stretched…between here and there, perhaps. But fine.”

  “Do you ever think about staying? Here, I mean? I would think the aging process would continue naturally and you don’t look a day over thirty-five. You’d still have a lot of years left.”

  “I don’t know what would happen if I stayed in one place or another. Well, I know if I didn’t visit this side I probably would have gone mad long ago. It never occurred to me to want to stay on this side, though.”

  “You always enjoy learning what’s new, what’s changed. I didn’t think I was going to get my tablet away from you last night. Why not try an
extended visit?”

  He took her hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. “I’ve been there too long. It’s in my blood, Judith. I think I would go mad here too, if I stayed too long.”

  “Even with all the danger over there?”

  His lips curved into a smile meant to melt hearts, or at least lacy underthings. “Danger is a seductive mistress who demands I pay her court.”

  Judith snorted. “You sound like Chet talking about Bettine.”

  Laughing, he said, “Chet is a much braver man than I.”

  She swiveled her chair to take a look at the falling snow. “What do you hear from the Valley Below?”

  His tone sobered. “The vow remains. The Bone Queen is not one to change her mind, especially in light of what happened. How is Leoben? He seems to fancy your newest addition.”

  Judith flicked her eyes to his, right on the edge of anger. “Pete is fine and yes, he does seem fond of Eve. I’m hoping that goes somewhere. She’d be good for him.”

  “But would he be good for her?”

  She held up her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “You’re this close. Step back.”

  “My apologies. I meant no offense.”

  Blowing out her breath, she waved a hand. “I know. I’m just worried about him, that’s all. On the one hand I think it’s good he’s casting magic again. But on the other, ugh.”

  “You’re waiting for him to blow someone up.”

  She gave him another don’t cross me glare and decided to change the subject. “Why don’t you tell me about the pirate king?”

  Ever the diplomat, George took the hint graciously. “Indeed.” He sank into the padded leather chair opposite her desk. “Now, where to start.”