by Zeller, Jill
My heart flipped, so noisily, I thought, that Pepper looked up at me. Dominique.
Frozen in space, I strained to hear their voices, and as if I had turned up a dial their words came clear and strong.
“So you see, Frederick.” Dom’s mellifluous voice, wheedling. “You can’t really allow this to continue. You do see, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Miss Delphine.”
I could see their profiles, two shadow puppets speaking to one another.
Dom touched her chin with one stubby finger. “I can see the evidence, Dr Novak. Right here in your lab. You are making Bijou.”
“I don’t make it, I preserve whatever I stumble across.” Dad folded his arms. “I am trying to find a way to get these souls back to their original owners.”
My breath stopped in my throat. I had no idea Dad was into any such project. I had to admire his attempts. Trying to guess when this was taking place, I strained to see how old Dad looked. Pressing my face against the glass, certain they couldn’t see me, I could only make out shadow, but his hair, in the light of the sun—it could have been brown, not silver as it was when he died. This conversation could have taken place, I thought, even before I was born.
Dom was having none of his explanation. She even laughed at it. “Dr. Novak, I am a Delphine. I know what is going on. I know it every time a soul is taken. I feel it.” She pressed her hand against her ample breasts. “Here. Every time.”
“And I’m sure you grieve appropriately.”
“Of course. For every single one.” Dom moved closer. Dad inched back imperceptibly, his back pressed against his bench. “I count them. I know how many people are dying in my vicinity at any one time.” She sighed, her chest moving up and down. I saw Dad glance at it. “It’s hard, so hard. I wish it would stop.”
And that your bank account would empty each time. I knew how truthful she was being.
“I think you should leave, Miss Delphine.” Dad folded his arms, turned his head toward the door, stared straight at me. I ducked back into the shadow. “The pass you forged shows time’s up.” He tapped his watch.
Shrugging, Dom ran her hand along his cheek. I wanted to throw rocks or throw up—I wasn’t sure which was the most urgent emotion. “Consider yourself given a sort of notice, Frederick. I am a patient person. I will be waiting to see that you have stopped collecting, manufacturing and selling Bijou.” She glided toward the door. I shrank back even further, dragging Pepper with me. “But if I hear that you have continued to break the Accord, signed in the blood of Novak and Delphine alike, I shall have to act.”
She grew, loomed, black shadows wafting from her, moving stage-right, she disappeared from view as surely as if she had stepped off camera.
Dad stood a moment, then cursed, picked up a beaker and threw it across the lab. I didn’t hear the crash as the time warp picked us up and whirled me a Pepper away; black muck closed over my face, flowed into my ears and nose.
Something slammed into me. Stunned, I flailed, tried to grab onto something. I had fallen into a giant mixing bowl, a worm in a compost shaker. Pepper whined, I held onto her, my hand a vise-grip on her collar. Roars boomed in my ears, long, cycling growls.
The terrible rocking stopped, heavy putrid soil washed from my face in a shower of cold water. I put up my hand to protect my eyes; beside me Pepper whined and struggled. Then, I could feel earth, underneath us. But also a current of cold water, rolling under us, pulling the good earth away.
Panic rolled through me and I sat up, wipe my eyes, to see a black wall rising to my left, and to our right, the phosphorescent ripples of a rapid stream. Above, the milk sky shifted its black stars.
I was in Hell. I had made it! Struggling to my feet, I saw why Pepper was squirming. In my terror not to let her go, I had practically strangled her.
When I let go, she bounded away, barking, tail wagging. She bolted toward the vertical bank of the river and I followed, the water following and licking at my heels. Pepper had found a trail switch-backing up, a path of ebony-colored stone. The earth wall was cold, damp, and smelled of mold. I hoped we had landed on the correct bank of the river.
Arriving at the top of the bank, I stepped onto a plain, but it was not the same one enveloping Phantom City. Icy wind swept over us, blowing Pepper’s ears and chilling my nose and ears. Not far distant I saw a rim of low, ragged hills. Everything was in shades of black softening to charcoal, giving outline to the horizon and the milk-sky. But in this sky murky swirls marred it, chocolate clouds carried toward us on the wind.
I could see a sort of town, or a very large complex, protected by a shadow wall running out from the cliff behind and back again. This place was silent, and sad. Dread hung over it; I could taste it in the wind.
A hot tornado of anger at my father swirled in my chest. Not only had he fled, but he lied and put my child’s life in danger. If he wasn’t already dead I thought I could easily kill him. It would take me an hour to get to the fortress. I knew he was inside there, probably knew I was out here.
Pepper barked, dashed away across the broken black rocks. “Damn it come back here,” I shouted, but my voice fell flat to the earth and went no where.
She stood several yards away, barking and bounding. OK, Lassie. Have you found Timmy? I hurried toward her, stumbling on the shadowy stones and stopped stunned at what she had found.
A bicycle.
As if to order, it lay beside a shiny ebony road, thready lines of milk-sky reflecting off its surface. Without a thought I picked it up, mounted, and started toward the fortress, Pepper at my side.
Several thoughts cycled through my brain as I cycled through Hell, keeping my worry assembly-line busy, blocking panicky thoughts about Zoe. Dom really wouldn’t kill her, would she? Maybe hurt her, but that I couldn’t stomach at all.
But what about Dad? What was his role in all of this? And, sickeningly, I realized he knew what Dom was, because he had met her before. But he let her pretend to be my friend. He didn’t say a word.
How could he, without letting on he was deep into Bijou himself, even though with altruistic motivations? Still, why not tell me the truth? And what did Ivy know about it all? She too had lied to me, if merely by omission.
Still, the fact remained that Novak blood, Delphine blood, could keep a Portal open long enough to admit wraiths to the realm of the living. I needed Dad’s help. I needed one of the Bijous he protected.
I was barely tired by the time I reached the fortress. The bike was racing style, 12 speeds, light and quick and silent. I made really good time. Pepper had fallen behind, but I knew she would reach me in minutes. She had been through a lot, lately, and was probably very tired.
Carvings covered the black rock wall rising before me, but I was in a hurry and barely glanced at them. The road ended in a circular slab. An iron grill across the arched entrance to the fortress opened at my push, and I entered, Pepper behind me.
We found ourselves in a very odd garden, Italianate-style, a straight walk to the main house, bordered by arbor vitae with black needles. An eerie blue glow rose from the ground, as if light-ropes were buried inches deep under the glassy surface. At least here we were out of the wind, but still the cold burrowed into my bones.
I coasted to the double front doors, flush with the ebony walk. All was silence, whining in my ears. Pepper leaned closed to me. The doors opened and I coasted in.
“Dad? Where are you?’
My voice echoed for long seconds. The entire house, if that was what it could be called, was one vast shell. There was nothing inside but outer walls reaching to a ceiling lost in shadow. Like something in a movie set. Except for one structure.
In the center of the place, several yards away, a camping trailer was parked. I hadn’t seen it when I entered, but a light flicked on inside, spreading an absurd yellow glow to my feet. The door opened, and I saw the unmistakeable shape of my father against the light.
“Annie. Good. You
found the bicycle. Please, come in.”
As if I were expected; as if I had just dropped by for a cup of tea.
Letting the bicycle fall to the floor, I ran to the trailer, up two wooden steps and inside.
Dad stood at one end beside the eating nook. His ampules were arranged on the table, held aloft by a wired contraption, like condiments at a restaurant.
I walked straight up to them and reached for one. Dad’s hand snatched out to stop me.
“Dad. I need one of these. Dominique has Zoe and is threatening to kill her if I don’t give her the Bijou Ivy took. I want to give Dominique one of these so that she will give me my daughter back.” My voice cracked and squeaked. I struggled to swallow.
Dad took my by the shoulders and sat me down in the booth. The trailer was warm, almost humid. Sweat broke out under my fleece as a heated rush came over me. Outside, I heard Pepper bark. Instantly I was wary. I didn’t know who to trust, even my father.
“You want to sacrifice one of the family?” Dad’s voice was unkind. His face, constructed of vertical depths beside his nose and eyes and chin, looked gaunter than usual. “You know where that Bijou is, the one of your former friend Hollis. Why don’t you give her that one?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about Dominique? You knew who she was. Why didn’t you tell me?” An angry pain burned through my heart.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t know any such thing.”
He was good, my father. If I didn’t know a lot better, I could be convinced. What else had he lied about?
Rising, I reached toward one of the ampules; its rainbow contents swirled, as if attracted to my finger, as if it wanted to come to me. “So Dad, how did you come by all this Bijou? Family, huh? Did they readily surrender their souls to you? Is that part of the Novak tradition?”
Dad folded his arms. “Some have done so.” He pressed his lips together. “For me. For my research. Donated their souls to science, so to speak.” He pushed a curl of silver hair off his forehead. “I am investigating methods for replacing souls.”
So that much was true, at least for Dad’s and my own sake, it was. Dominique had believed otherwise.
Boldly, I picked up an ampule, twirled it gently, held it against the light of Dad’s lamps. Tiny flints of gold traveled on rivulets, bordered by magenta and cobalt. It was a beautiful thing. It was hard to take my eyes off it. “Who is this?”
Dad took the ampule from me, placed it back in the rack. “That is Morris, one of my cousins.”
I looked at him as he stared at the ampules. He almost looked sad. Outside, Pepper whined. “Dominique accused you of trafficking in the Bijou trade. How come she thinks that?”
He tiled his head, looked at me quizzically. “What are you talking about? I never said more than two words to that girl. I never liked her.”
Nodding, I had to agree. I tried to like her. She was Mae’s friend, after all. “Dad, I’ve been in the tunnels. I’ve done a time jump. Twice.”
Dad’s right eyebrow lowered, his gaze intensified as he looked at me. “That’s not possible. It’s a family legend, a myth. No one does that.”
“I did.” I told him about my stint in Dominique’s closet, finding out that Joseph Cantini was her husband, not her father. And then I told him about seeing him and Dominique in the lab and what they talked about.
He looked for a moment as if he was going to protest, but he didn’t. He gave me a wry smile. “Well, in a sense, I am her competition. I do have souls. I don’t make Bijou out of them, however.”
Something made me believe him. “But how come you left Phantom City?”
“Wraiths. Thousands of them. Ghosts are panicking.” He patted his pockets, as if looking for something. “Wraiths are getting free of the ditch. One of the portals is open.”
Sighing, I decided not to tell him about Bruce. “Dominique is behind this. Those wraiths are all the souls she’s stolen, and now they are enslaved to her. And not only that. Bijou Xtra.” I touched his arm. He felt so warm and alive. “Dad, she needs Novak or Delphine blood to keep the portals open long enough to empty Hell of all the wraiths. I think she’s making some kind of move, for power, I don’t know. But she has Zoe. Dad, she’s going to hurt Zoe if I don’t turn over the Bijou to her.”
“So turn it over.”
I dropped my hand, frustration shivering through me. “Dad, it’s Hollis. He was a friend. Ivy took his soul before he was going to die. She didn’t know what she was doing. I have to give it back to him.” I gestured at the ampules on the table. “Just let me borrow cousin Morris. I promise I will bring him back safely.”
I had no idea how I was going to do that, but I knew I had to. I couldn’t just turn a family member who had willed his soul to Dad’s research over to Dominique to abuse.
Dad looked at me, and I kept my gaze on his. Then, he shook his head. “No. I can’t do it. It’s betraying Morris’s trust.”
I took Dad’s hand. “Dad, it’s for Zoe. Please.”
Squeezing my hand, Dad shook his head again. “Annie, I’m sorry. But I can’t.”
Pulling my hand from his, I turned walked to the door. My heart hammered with anger and angst. None of this was right. Using people’s souls as bargaining chips. I was drowning now in Dominique’s amoral sewer.
The trailer creaked as I went down the steps. Pepper greeted me, tail wagging. The massive hall echoed with her toenails on the stone floor. Sorry, Hollis. I had no choice. This was Zoe. I would do anything to get her back safely, even if it meant betraying an old friend and risking his flaming wrath.
I got on the bicycle Dad had provided. Obviously he had hoped I would turn up. But why? Did he know everything that was going on up there? If he did, why hadn’t he done anything to help his granddaughter? Because research was everything to Dad. He didn’t give time or thought to family.
“Annie, wait!”
I was halfway across the great hall before he called me. Stopping, I turned the bike. He trotted toward me, his lab coat flapping like big white wings.
He was breathless when he got to me. He never was an athlete, even in death. He held out an ampule to me.
“Just, keep it out of her hands, OK? And get Zoe back safely, and Ivy too.”
I took the ampule, put it in the pocket of my fleece.
Dad looked at the pocket, as if I had just put a kitten in there. “It’s pretty strong, the glass. Just be careful, though.”
“Thanks.” He gazed at me, as if there were more to say. “Dad, I have to get going. I’m running out of time.”
“No, I mean, OK, but you really did do a time jump?”
And I thought he was going to say I love you, Annie and make me cry. Thank god he didn’t.
Shaking my head, I turned the bike, put my foot on the pedal. Pepper trotted ahead, away. I had to get out of here before I fell to pieces.
“Wait, Annie. There’s an easier way.”
Sighing, I stopped again, turned the bike, slamming its tires. “What?”
Dad grabbed the handle bar. “A quick way back. To the portal.”
“But I have to get to the VA portal.”
“Yes, come on!” He was already running, back toward the trailer. I followed, but I felt wary.
He circled around the trailer and kept going. We reached the opposite wall of massive ornately carved stone. Cold seeped into my muscles and Pepper’s hair was standing on end.
A door in the wall, another grille. Pulling it open, it’s hinges squealing with disuse, Dad ran through, Pepper and I following.
I found myself in a night forest of orderly rows of trees, a stream, all draped in shadow. A cool wind cycled around us. Under my feet was spongy grass, and the place smelled of moss and mold. Was I back in the Wood, the stream I heard in the distance the river?
Lethargy washed over me. Strength drained from my muscles, and my mind blurred with trying to remember what I had come here for, what I needed to do. I needed to do something. It was urgent. But what
was it?
Turning, I couldn’t lift my feet, and stumbled to the ground. The grass was warm, soft. Beside me, Pepper was down, head hanging over her paws. What is happening to me? Am I having some sort of attack?
Lifting my head was an effort, as I tried to see where Dad had got to. “Dad, help me get up.” I knew the words scrolled through my mind, into my mouth, but I didn’t hear my voice.
Then he was next to me, kneeling, helping. I felt like a child again, Dad’s strong arms lifting me, carrying me because I was so tired.
But he didn’t pick me up. Pushing me to one side, he reached into my fleece pocket, removed something, and rose. I tried to grab his arm, but my hand flopped to the grass. “No, don’t take Zoe away.” Again the words rammed themselves against the walls of my skull, but there they stayed.
I watched Dad’s feet, in his brown leather shoes, walk away; heard the squeal of the grille as it opened and closed. I screamed, clawed the earth, dragged myself along the grass.
Or I wanted to. As I tried to focus on the doorway in the black wall inscribed with monsters, I saw that I still lay in the same place, Pepper snoring beside me. Warmth seeped into me, the grass a silky pillow. I sank into it, held down by the chains of gravity. There was no escape.
I was a captive of the poppy field, with no Glenda to send snow.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Purgatorio
Narcotics of all sorts wear off eventually, and generally leave you feeling worse than you did before. Pain is a good concentrator of the senses, physical pain, that is. But grief is another matter entirely.
I woke up lying on my back, Pepper licking my cheek and mouth. Above us black sky or vault, I couldn’t tell because there was no reference. Under us, the grass was still silky and smooth. I sat up.
Considering that for an unknown time I was glued to the earth by a powerful spell, my body felt pretty good. My heart was another matter; spilling over with unthinkable pain. Drawing up my knees, curling into a ball, I fell to one side.