Dead Stare (Ghosts & Magic Book 3)

by M. R. Forbes

  “How did it happen?”

  “Nobody knows for sure. Black thinks a wizard did it.”

  “If someone grew up in a world of magic, why would they want to get rid of it?”

  “I don’t know. I’m sure they thought they had a good reason.”

  “People always do, don’t they?”

  There was another doorway at the end of the room. I had seen it the first time Black had brought me here, but it hadn’t registered as anything out of the ordinary. Had Kirin been locked up only a few dozen steps away the entire time he’d been preaching to me about freedom and choices? Did he really believe his own words?

  We were halfway across the floor of the collection when a coldness in my gut forced me to pause. I heard the first, low laugh a moment later. The demon in the mask.

  “It is almost complete,” it said. “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul. As it was, it shall forever be.”

  I stopped in my tracks, looking around the room again. Was there something here it wanted me to find?

  “Baron,” Frank said, noticing that I had stopped moving.

  “Shh,” I said. “Give me a second.”

  I closed my eyes, listening once again for any hint of death magic attached to the artifacts around us.

  Still nothing.

  No. That wasn’t true. I caught the slightest of screams, the lightest of trembles. Except it wasn’t coming from the artifacts around me.

  It was coming from the other side of the door.

  My hand fell into my pocket, landing on the mask. It was warm to the touch. Eager. It wanted me to put it on, to ask for the power. To submit to it once more.

  “Come on,” I said, moving toward the door again.

  I wasn’t going to wear it. I wasn’t going to submit. Back in Tokyo, it had asked me if I wanted to be free. I did, but at what price? I knew what it wanted. There was nothing subtle about it’s desire for Mr. Black’s power. There was no disguising that this was the reason it had brought me here. And it had brought me here. As I came to that realization, I also fell upon that certainty. Tracing the timeline from the moment the dice had first called out to me, I could see the pieces falling into place, hundreds of them arranged in an ordered chaos to create the conditions that would lead me to the here and now.

  I didn’t know what the demon was. I only knew that it was old, and it was evil, and it had power that I didn’t understand. Power that Tarakona had warned me about, and that even Death feared.

  It had offered me the bargain when Mr. Black had given me the mask, and I had accepted, knowing full well that I was screwing myself. I had solidified the bond when I took the ring from Tarakona. In my desperation to survive, I had made a deal with a devil, and now the payment was coming due.

  Except I wasn’t going to submit. I wasn’t going to use the mask or the dice. I wasn’t going to let this devil have the soul of the most powerful wizard on Earth.

  I would do this myself, or not at all.

  I heard the demon’s laughter again, riding the back of my subconscious, just barely audible above the magical fields. It was mocking me. Daring me to try to finish the job without its help.

  I reached the door. It swung open before I could touch it.

  “Baldie!” Amos said.

  He was standing in the middle of the room, a shotgun in his meaty hands.

  Mr. Black was standing to his left.

  An iron door rested behind them, the magic lock shimmering on top of it.

  “Conor,” Black said. “Thank you for coming.”

  55

  Black and Night

  “What do you mean, thank you?” I said, as the doors swung closed behind us.

  “It’s a long story,” Mr. Black said. He looked weary. “A story older than any of us. Older than Tarakona, even.”

  “The demon,” I said, feeling the mask grow warmer in my pocket. I could see the artifact now.

  Mr. Black was wearing it.

  A coat made from what looked like human flesh. It had a tan and brown patina like stained blood and bruises, a simple cut that brought it to Black’s knees, and a pair of pockets perfectly sized to carry both the mask and the dice. Looking at it brought a feeling of eagerness and desire. Mine? Or the demon’s?

  “Yes,” Black said. “A few years back, my people told me about how you went with Danelle to New Orleans, and how you came back with a pair of ancient dice. I didn’t think much of it at first, until I discovered an old text at the same dig site as the mask. It was written as a story. One that I have come to believe is not some fairy tale or myth, but a true recounting of the events of that time.”

  “What does this have to do with Kirin?” I asked, pointing at the door.

  “Hear me out, Conor. There is more at stake here than the girl.”

  “A bargain made,” the demon said to me. “A bargain to be kept. The power of a soul, for the power of a soul.”

  “What is it?” I asked. “The demon.”

  “The text told the story of two friends,” Black said. “Magicians. They were full-frequency wizards, like me. They used their magic to heal the sick, to calm deadly storms, to prevent drought, and to otherwise care for the people in their community, much like the Houses originally tried to do. Then one day, one of the friends got sick. Very sick.”

  “He became a necromancer,” I said.

  “Yes. He was dying, and his magic turned to that of darkness and chaos and death. He accepted his fate, and welcomed it, but his friend did not. He was a powerful wizard, and he refused to let go, and while he couldn’t cure his friend of his illness, his magic was able to prolong his life. This should sound familiar to you.”

  “We aren’t friends,” I said.

  Black smiled. “We are closer than you think, Conor, but that is beside the point. The necromancer survived, much longer than was ever intended. The longer he lived, the more powerful he became. The stronger he became, the further he slipped into madness. He began to call himself the Lord of the Dead, and people started to follow him. He would demand ritual sacrifices of them, forcing them to kill one another, and then raising the corpses and using them for all kinds of sadistic purposes.”

  “I’m not crazy,” I said.

  “Not yet, no. His friend saw what was happening, but he didn’t have the heart to kill him. Instead, he banished him to an island with many of his followers, where he was intended to die.”

  “Let me guess. He didn’t.”

  “Yes, he did. His body did. His heart ceased beating. He no longer needed to eat or breathe or sleep. He became a lich. An undead creature of immense power. Unable to be killed. Unable to be stopped.”

  Tarakona’s words echoed in my mind. “There are worse things sleeping beneath the surface of a world without magic.”

  “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul,” the demon whispered.

  “He raised an army of undead thousands strong. An army that threatened to destroy all of civilization. In his madness, in his anger at his own fate, he sought to bring about the same to all of those who survived when he did not. To those who were well when he was suffering.

  “His friend saw what was happening. He sought to put an end to it, but it was too late. No magic in the world was strong enough to stand up to the death magic, as it fed not only on the magical fields, but on the life energy of the departed. Everything that lives must die, Conor. His power was destined to continually grow, while everything else diminished. There was no way to prevent him from succeeding in his goal.”

  I swallowed. Hard. “Except for one,” I said.

  Mr. Black nodded. “The remaining wizards pooled their power and used it to cause the reversal. They ended magic to end the threat.”

  “They killed thousands.”

  “Samedi would have killed them all.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The demon’s laughter grew stronger in my head. Samedi? Baron Samedi?

  “Yes, Conor. Your ghost name is no coi
ncidence. Samedi is a lich, unable to be killed. He heard what the wizards were planning, and he prepared by crafting four artifacts in which to hide, waiting for the time when magic would return to the world and he would wake once more. But he couldn’t do it on his own. He needed a host, someone to feed him the life energy and help his power return.”

  I felt cold. Ice cold. My heart was thumping, my mind was reeling.

  “He wants me to kill you,” I said.

  “No. He wants you to give me to him,” Black replied. “There was a time when Tarakona and I were enemies. I stole his egg, and I did intend to steal the power from it. I do want my freedom. I want it very badly. But there is more. Magic cannot be permitted to exist in this world. If Samedi returns, all of it will burn.”

  “That is messed up,” Frank said.

  I looked from Black, to Frank, to Amos, to the door. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “You’re lying,” I said. It sounded as stupid to me as it must have to him. “You sent your teams to try to kill me. And the manticore. And your own daughter. Hell, you tried to kill me.”

  “And we failed. All of us. Everyone who has tried to kill you has failed, as we suspected they would.”

  “Not everyone,” Frank said. “One of your guys shot him. He was dead. I saw it.”

  Black’s face changed. He was serious before. Now I sensed a hint of fear.

  “You were dead?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

  “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul,” the demon, Samedi, said.

  “Then it may already be too late,” he said.

  “Too late for what?”

  “Kirin,” Black said. “I didn’t take her out of cruelty. I claimed her out of necessity. At first for one reason, and later for another. She was the only thing that may have prevented this, and she understood her role.” He smiled. “I promised her freedom in exchange for her assistance, and she played to near perfection.”

  “Wait a second. You’re telling me this entire thing has been one big setup?”

  “Not everything. I only realized what was happening when you took the Hua and killed my wizard. Tarakona didn’t know what he was doing when he gave you that ring, but he and I came to an agreement shortly after. He understood my reasons after I explained them, and he agreed to help provided that I could solve the problem without harming his child. It took time to put this plan in motion, time that I wish I could have back. The effects of the Xenoxofril were unexpected, and have accelerated the growth of your power - along with Samedi’s.”

  The laughter grew even louder. Loud enough that it was beginning to drown out my ability to think.

  It all made sense, but it also seemed so impossible. Black wanted to end magic for himself, not to save humanity. Didn’t he? But why couldn’t he do both? Two birds. One stone.

  “What am I supposed to do?” I said. My body was beginning to tremble, my muscles tensing.

  “Do you want to be free?” Samedi asked me. His voice was like a snake, slithering along my senses.

  “You don’t have to do anything but open the door,” Black said, stepping aside.

  56

  Choices? What choices?

  I stared at the door. He was going to let me open it and set Kirin free. He wanted me to open it.

  “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul,” Samedi said.

  Now that I knew the truth, I felt frozen every time I heard his voice. I had never understood the strange demon, or the dice, or the mask. Not really. I had never questioned it. Never cared enough about anything but my own survival to give it a second thought. I didn’t know what was happening anymore. Right, wrong, up, down. They were all the same.

  The only thing I knew for certain was that I couldn’t let the creature, the lich, escape the artifacts. I had always known it was evil. Now I understood how much.

  I started walking toward the door in a daze, unable to do more than put one foot in front of the other. I had gone through all of this to set Kirin free. Most of what had happened may have been orchestrated, but I had felt her pain in the Machine. I had heard her sadness. She wanted out. If I was about to fail the entire world, I had to at least make good on that promise.

  “Do you want to be free?” the lich asked me again.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  It responded with laughter.

  “When the door opens,” I heard Black say, “Do not look. Whatever you do. Amos, Frank, do not look at her.”

  I reached the door. Why would he say something like that? What was I about to do?

  “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul,” Samedi said, sending a wave of pain into me. “We have a deal, necromancer. A bargain made.”

  “No,” I replied, taking another step. “Fuck your bargain.”

  It laughed even louder. “Do you think you have a choice?” More laughter. The pain eased. It was going to let me open the cage. “You will end, necromancer. I will not.”

  I paused, staring straight ahead. “I can’t die.”

  “Fool.”

  That was all it said. Then its presence was gone, leaving me clear to my thoughts. I hadn’t realized how hard it was pressing on me until it stopped.

  “Conor?” Black said.

  I looked back at him. “What is she?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. Open the door. There is no other way.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to now. “It wants me to open it.”

  I noticed Black glance at Amos. It was subtle, easy for most people to miss.

  “It’s lying to you, Conor. It has been using you this entire time, telling you what you want to hear instead of the truth. I’m sorry I ever gave you the mask. If I had known more about what it was, I wouldn’t have.”

  I had to believe something. Black, Samedi, myself? What was the right thing to do? I didn’t know. Maybe I was damned no matter which direction I turned.

  I looked back at the door. If that was the case, I figured I might as well open it.

  I reached out toward the lock, putting my hand on it. I could feel the magical energy flowing through it, and I started whispering the incantation to dispel it and set Kirin free.

  The laughter returned, booming in my head, harsh and malevolent and above all amused.

  “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul,” Samedi said.

  What if it wasn’t Black’s soul the lich wanted? What if it was Kirin’s?

  The thought came too late. First, the magic faded from the lock, and then the inner mechanism crumbled to corroded dust. It had happened so fast, the strength of the fields down here multiplying my power.

  The laughter grew louder.

  The door began to swing inward.

  “Do not look,” I heard Black say again.

  I glanced back. He had his head down, a small mirror in his hands. I looked over at Frank. He was looking at Black. So was Amos.

  The door stopped moving. I could see the table just beyond it, made of rubber or some other soft material, just as Kirin had described. Where was she?

  “Kirin,” I said, taking a step forward.

  “The bargain is made,” Samedi said.

  My hand tightened on the dice. It wanted me to use them. I knew it did. I felt my arm tense as I fought to keep control.

  “Do you want to be free?” it asked.

  “When have I ever been free?” I replied.

  It laughed harder.

  “Baron?”

  Her voice was small. So much smaller than it had been in the Machine. It was as though she had never used it on the outside before, and maybe she hadn’t.

  “Kirin,” I said. “The door is open.”

  She appeared from the corner of the room, moving out from the left side between the open doorway and the table. Her initial appearance didn’t surprise me, matching her avatar fairly closely. Her flesh was greener and smoother, her breasts were slightly smaller, her hips a little wider. She was as naked as she had
claimed though she was so accustomed to it that she wasn’t embarrassed.

  We looked into one another’s eyes. Her orange pupils seemed to take on a strange glow, and I could feel the magic behind them. It eased its way into me, and in an instant, I began to feel slow and heavy.

  “What’s happening?” I heard Frank say.

  “It is working,” Black replied. He must have been watching us through a mirror. Why a mirror?

  I stopped staring at Kirin’s eyes, trying to look past her. I felt a chill when I did. Her hair was moving behind her as if it were alive, the dreadlocked braids no longer running down her back, but shifting and undulating around her shoulders. A dozen pairs of glowing orange orbs stared back at me from a dozen bundles of scaly greenish hair, answering the rest of my questions.

  “You’re a gorgon,” I said, trying to adjust my gaze away from the orbs and from her eyes, struggling to do so.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  The heavy feeling intensified. That was why Black had taken her and locked her up without mirrors. He didn’t want her to see the truth. He didn’t want her to know what kind of abomination she was. Was he right to imprison her? I didn’t know. Was a life with nothing but the Machine better than being slaughtered as a monster?

  “Baron? What is happening to you?”

  “Look away, Kirin,” I said. “Please.”

  “I don’t understand,” she replied.

  “Something’s wrong,” Black said. “It should have been done by now.”

  “The power of a soul, for the power of a soul,” Samedi said. “The bargain is made. Set us free.”

  The dice grew warmer and more tempting in my hand. I could feel the heaviness beginning to subside, my ability to dispel magic fighting back against the gaze that should have turned me to stone.

  “No,” I said.

  If I had been frozen by her power, we both would have been trapped, stuck like that in an eternity of non-death. It would have been the end, for as long as Black could keep us both hidden from the world. Except that wasn’t what was happening. I was too strong. Too resistant to magic.