The Good Doctor glided into line beside Isaac, and together they walked toward the yawning, crackling portal. Once they were through and into the dark beyond, Isaac turned around in time to see Jim looking in from the still open portal. Jim raised a hand and smiled, but then the earth rumbled, and the world began to fall around him.
CHAPTER 13
Sanctuary
The spotted leopard was sucking Cameron’s hand—not just licking it, but literally suckling it. Alice considered herself a cat person now, just as she had her entire life. She had rescued Elvira from the cat shelter. That this timed nicely with her breakup with Isaac was neither here nor there. The point was, she wanted the company of a cat so much she made a conscious effort to go out and adopt one.
But this? This was a whole lot of ‘cat’.
She had never seen a leopard up close, nor had she ever been in the presence of a fully grown adult Bengal tiger or a jet-black panther. At least, not without the comfort of a TV screen between herself and the animal. She didn’t believe in zoos and, as such, had never been to the one next to the abandoned fairground in Harrison Park. Yet here she was, sitting on a stone block surrounded by big, dangerous looking cats with nothing to keep them from coming up to her and biting her face.
Nothing except Cameron.
The first thing he had done after stepping through the chain-link fence was grab Alice by the shoulders and stare into her eyes.
“What are you doing?” she had asked, but he hadn’t replied. Instead the amulet sitting beneath his shirt had flashed bright gold for an instant.
“Making sure the cats don’t kill you,” he had said, and then he settled down on the grass and let the cats come to him. He knew them by name. The tiger’s name was Nuala, the leopard—who he told her was still a cub, despite its size—was called Kirk, and the panther, a female, was Selene, named after—
“The moon goddess, I know,” Alice said from a distance.
“That’s right,” Cameron said. “There are more of them, but I guess they’re asleep.”
“More cats? How many do you have?”
“Fifty-seven, and that’s not counting the domestics. We get loads of strays around here—ouch, careful now.”
“Maybe you should take your hand out of its mouth.”
“I know what I’m doing. He’s just teething and his teeth are just extra sharp right now.”
Nuala seemed happy to strut around, brushing her hindquarters against the back of Cameron’s head from time to time, occasionally wandering close enough to Alice to get a whiff of her before retreating to a relatively safe distance. As if she was the one worried about being safe. The panther, however, didn’t move from its perch on a low hanging branch. Her tail swished gently from side to side, almost lazily, and with her head rested on her paws she watched… almost intelligently.
“So, are you their keeper or something?” Alice asked.
“I’m an animal behavior psychologist.”
“Get out.”
“No, I’m serious. I’m also a qualified veterinarian. Wouldn’t think so with this goofy face of mine, huh?”
“I learned a long time ago never to judge anything or anyone at face value; you never know what’s underneath. It is pretty surprising, though. Of all the things I thought I would be doing tonight, hanging out at a big cat sanctuary wasn’t one of them.”
Cameron removed his hand from Kirk’s mouth and it came away soppy and wet, but when he pulled himself to his feet he seemed to be able to do it without wincing or groaning. He stretched, scratched the back of Kirk’s head, and came over to where Alice was sitting. The tiger and the leopard followed, and Alice felt her hackles rise.
“Relax, they like you,” he said.
“You say that confidently,” Alice said.
“That’s because I am confident. If they didn’t like you, you would know. Stretch out your hand.”
Alice looked at Cameron and then looked at the steadily advancing tiger with its golden eyes, its big pink nose, and its powerful muscles. A long tongue slipped out of its mouth and it licked its own lips. She could almost hear it thinking dinner time, but she sucked it up and extended her hand. Nuala approached, sniffed the hand, and then nuzzled it with her cheek. Alice felt each and every last bristle and whisker as the tiger gave her hand a gesture of peace and welcome, and Alice relaxed. Kirk arrived soon after and started to lick her fingers.
“See?” Cameron said.
“They’re beautiful, really,” she said, “Once you get past how damn big they are. You get to do this every day?”
“I do.”
“It couldn’t have been something you decided you wanted to do as a kid, right?”
“It’s more complicated than that. A lot of these animals have gone through some kind of trauma. Some of them needed rehabilitation.”
“Oh shit…”
“We have another couple of vets on staff, and a team of cleaners and groomers and other professionals.”
“What do you do when they’re all better? Where do they go?”
“All of these animals were born in captivity. They don’t know what it’s like in the wild, so we can’t send them anywhere.”
“So you keep them here?”
“That’s the idea. They get to live out their lives somewhere comfortable, free from poachers and people who want to stuff them in zoos. Some of them will go on to have cubs, and if they do then we’ll raise them too. We own a whole lot of land out here; all we’re waiting on are more funds so that we can build a bigger natural reserve and let them roam more freely.”
Kirk bit Alice’s finger and she winced, but the pain was gone almost instantly.
“I have to ask,” Alice said, “Do the cats have magical powers? Are they the ones that healed you?”
“My magic is what healed me. It’s just easy to use here—the sanctuary is like a conductor for it. The magic runs everywhere, freely.”
“Like the cats.”
Cameron knelt and rubbed Nuala’s cheeks, then patted her on the neck. “Now that we’re here,” he said, “We should probably talk about what’s happened tonight.”
Alice nodded. “It would be stupid not to, right?”
“What happened to those people, exactly?”
“Nyx happened. She took their souls and made the world forget they ever existed.”
“How is she even able to do that? That’s insanely powerful magic.”
“We aren’t dealing with a mage, or a human, or some other run-of-the-mill supernatural. Nyx is a thing in a league of her own. In the stories, she’s the god of night: wife of Erebus, the god of darkness, and daughter of Chaos—the creator of everything.”
“The Greek gods?”
“Maybe we aren’t dealing with the literal Greek gods—most likely it’s just a creature that identifies with this particular part of human mythology. But her power is godlike, make no mistake. I’ve witnessed it first-hand. I know what it’s like to be on both spectrums of the soul-stealing thing.”
“Both spectrums?” Cameron asked, an eyebrow cocked.
Shit, she thought, realizing she hadn’t told him much—or anything—about her own powers yet. “Forget I said anything. Let’s just focus on Nyx.”
The look in Cameron’s gray eyes suggested he wasn’t going to leave this alone, but he dropped it for now. “I can see why the magistrate is keeping Isaac close,” Cameron said.
“What do you mean?”
“Hasn’t Isaac ever told you? The first magistrate that ever took form happened in the cradle of civilization—in ancient Rome. Everything they believe, the work they do, the gods they worship, it’s all Roman. Jupiter, Mars, Pluto; they each have a great House named after them, and even though mages of each House do magic in different ways, they all agree on the same thing—the Romans and their gods are the mothers and fathers of modern magic.”
“So if Isaac goes before them talking about Nyx…”
“They’re gonna wave him off at best be
cause they don’t want to have their beliefs challenged. Nyx was a construct of the Greeks, not the Romans, and Isaac made it look like he had dealt with the real deal.”
“I can’t believe that,” Alice said, and she noticed her hands were starting to shake. “How could a so-called enlightened society dismiss someone’s claim because they used a name that didn’t fit with their idea of mythology?”
“I don’t know if that’s the only reason, but I’m almost sure it plays a part.”
There was a lull in the conversation. In it, Alice heard the steady hiss of the wind between tree leaves and the chirp of crickets. High above, the sky was starting to darken further, growing thick with dark clouds.
“What do you think has happened to Isaac?” she finally asked.
“I don’t know. He will have gone to trial and they would have made a verdict to accept his side of the story and help, or…”
“Or what?”
“At best they strip him of his titles. At worst, exile.”
“Exile? That’s insane. How can they possibly enforce that? They can’t just override human law.”
“They can, and they will. But I don’t think it’s come to that. Isaac is a clever guy. He wouldn’t let them just walk all over him. Plus, he has friends.”
“I have to help him…”
“I can’t let that happen,” he said, his voice a firm slap to the face. “Isaac made me promise to keep you away from other mages, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“I can’t sit here doing nothing.”
“You can, and you will. Besides, we have other things to worry about; like the trap we were lured into.”
Alice didn’t want to think about that now. She wanted to think about Isaac, wanted to help him, and had begun to fantasize about breaking into whatever jail cell they were keeping him in and busting him out. Alice didn’t need powers; all she needed was a good plan. The common denominator which seemed to follow every magic ward she had ever heard of was that they only affected mages.
She wasn’t a mage—she was Half-Lich, and that had to count for something.
“Alice,” Cameron said, snapping her train of thought off like a brittle twig. “Think,” he said, “There was something the man at the diner said.”
“You mean Doug?”
“Right. He was the one who told us Raegan lived with her mother.”
“Did he? He might have.”
“But, after what you’ve told me, how would he know she lived with her mother—”
“—if Nyx had already stolen her mother’s soul…”
Alice stood bolt upright and her back stiffened. Girl lives with her mom, that’s what Doug had said back at the diner when he handed them the address. Girl lives with her mom. Cameron was right. There was no way he could have known that unless Raegan’s mom was still alive during their conversation, and judging by the way they had found the house, that was basically impossible.
“Son of a bitch,” Alice said, “It was him. We were going to go there anyway, but he made it easy for us to find it because he wanted us to go there.”
“You don’t think he… was Nyx… do you?”
“No. Even with my powers as muted as they are, I think I would have sensed her presence.”
“So, who do you think he is?”
“I don’t know. He’s working with her, though, so we must assume there are more like him; more people working for her.”
More people who have joined her forces, Alice thought.
Cameron nodded and looked around. “We can stay here for now,” he said, “This place is safe. Maybe in the morning we’ll hear something about Isaac, one way or the other.”
“Morning?” Alice asked, “We’re staying until morning?”
“Unless you have a better idea—one that doesn’t involve us shooting out of this sanctuary on my bike and racing into the unknown. We need a plan. We need to regroup. We also need some rest. This is the best place to do all those things.”
Alice sighed, accepting defeat. “Alright,” she said, “We’ll do it your way.”
“C’mon this way,” he said, “I’ll show you where I sleep when I stay here—and then you can tell me more about these powers you don’t have. You said something earlier that piqued my interest, and if you’re going to sleep under my roof, I expect to be paid.”
“What happened to the good old days when a girl could wiggle out of a bind by tricking a man into thinking he had a shot at sleeping with her?”
“We grew up.”
“I guess it had to happen sometime.”
Cameron opened the door to a small building off to the side of the main enclosure—though still within view of the Harley and the main gate—and Alice stepped inside with a smirk on her face. It was barely more than a studio apartment, but it had a bathroom, a bed, and a comfortable looking sofa as well as a small kitchenette.
Sleep came easily after a while, despite Alice having no idea where Isaac was or how he was doing. She hoped he was safe, wherever he was, and hated that she couldn’t help him. More than once this feeling of powerlessness had threatened to move her to tears, but she had fought them back. Tears wouldn’t help anyone.
CHAPTER 14
The Cottage
Are you ready to die, Isaac?
The Good Doctor’s words rang inside Isaac’s mind like a church bell signaling the start of a new hour. For an instant he couldn’t believe his own Guardian had posed the question, but nothing about the place he was in was believable. There were no walls and no floors, yet his own voice echoed as if he were inside a cavern; no trees and no airflow, yet he could breathe. No light source, yet he could see his own arms and feet.
“No one is ever ready for change of that magnitude, Doctor,” Isaac said.
“You must be,” the Good Doctor said, “Change is coming, and you will either accept it or we shall both perish.”
“I’m sure I’m not ready to perish.”
“Then you must walk.”
He glanced over his shoulder. The portal was gone, only darkness remained. Jim, he thought, and a pang struck him hard in the stomach. He put his head down in reverence, and then looked straight ahead and started to walk. The ground beneath his feet was firm and flat, so much so that it felt almost like walking on marble. He could hear the sound of his own footsteps echoing back at him, but couldn’t see the walls the sounds were bouncing off.
When he looked up and around, there was only darkness. Until suddenly, there was light. A floaty, airy sensation gripped his chest. His heart started to beat hard and fast. He looked down at his hands and noticed his fingertips were glowing with soft blue light. For a moment he was mesmerized by this, his brain unable to comprehend what was happening, until his fingers began to turn to clouds of light and the Void slowly took them away.
He struggled with his own thoughts, with his voice. Magic, he thought, use magic, but he couldn’t concentrate hard enough to make a spell form in his mind.
“What’s h-happening?” he asked, trying to contain the panic.
“The Void,” the Good Doctor said. “You are witnessing what the Void does to those who enter it. I can protect you.”
“Then do it.”
“Understand that I am not meant to exist in this place. My power is limited, and temporary. The Void will take me as well in time.”
The glow was starting to race up his arms, and as it travelled along his body it turned more and more of him into this cloud of shimmering light.
“Do whatever you have to do,” Isaac said.
The Good Doctor nodded, put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder, and suddenly Isaac’s senses flooded with sound and feeling and smell. A booming wave crashed against a rock face nearby, sending a gush of salty spray into the air. Above, in a gray, bruised sky, ancient gods stirred and shook the heavens themselves.
Isaac turned around on the spot and beheld a vast, roiling ocean, magnificent in its ferocity and power. The waves were high enough to topple c
ruise liners, tips frothing like the mouths of rabid beasts. Bolts of lightning would occasionally strike the water, electrifying the surface in a bright display of sparks. And in the brief instants where the sea was calm, dark shapes showed themselves, lazily moving beneath the surface.
I have been brought to the Tempest, he thought, and as he stared down at his feet and saw the cliff face he was standing on, he realized he had not only been brought to the Tempest; he was standing on the Precipice. This was the very place he had visited the day he became a mage and inherited the gift, and burden, of magic. The Precipice was the place, and the time, when a mage first enters the Tempest to claim their birthright.
But they only ever go once. He had never expected to see it again.
“Why have you brought me back here?” Isaac asked, shouting over the sound of the howling wind and the vicious ocean.
The Good Doctor swept up alongside Isaac. “We are in the Void,” the Good Doctor said, “I am simply protecting your mind from what it would be seeing and experiencing right now. The shock would be too great.”
Isaac took a step away from the ledge and brushed his hair out of his eyes. The wind was pulling it in all directions. “What happens now?”
“Now, as I said before, you walk.”
“Off the Precipice again? I have done that once.”
“No. When we entered this place, the Precipice lay behind you. Look forward, Isaac, and walk.”
Isaac turned around again and saw, across the rocky stretch of land, a single building standing defiantly beneath a sky which threatened to open and suck everything up at a moment’s notice. “There?” he asked.
The Good Doctor nodded. “You must hurry. We do not have much time.”
The wind pulled at Isaac’s hair and shirt as he walked into it, toward the only building on the island he was standing on. The crash of the waves, the flapping noise his shirt made as the wind tugged at it, and the smell of the salt and the earth made him feel real, but his stomach felt like it could upturn at any moment and his chest was aching. Still, he pushed through and picked his way over rocks and through a copse of trees until he reached the outside of the building.
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