Long Hot Summoning

by Tanya Huff

  “No. But…”

  “Then I vote we wait. But you’re right.” She raised the hand not holding Dean’s in surrender. “It’s your Summons. Only you can make the final decision.”

  “Don’t patronize me.”

  “Then stop acting so childish. When you got here, you were willing to stop for a sandwich, and now you’re set on charging in where angels fear to tread.”

  “Angels don’t fear much,” Sam began, caught sight of Austin’s expression, and decided he’d rather be under the table.

  Diana folded her arms and just managed to stop her lip from curling. Knowing they were right didn’t help. “All right, fine. We’ll go in the morning.”

  “Fine.”

  “Good.”

  “And now that’s settled, I’m going to bed.” Austin stepped from the table to Claire’s lap to the floor, glaring at Dean on the way by. “These days, if I don’t stake my claim early, all the good spots are taken.”

  “We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Claire told him, her tone very nearly making the words a warning.

  “Oh, joy.” He stopped, one paw in the hall, and glanced back over an immaculate black shoulder. “Don’t forget to pack the cat food.”

  “And thus we have the subtitle for my life,” Claire sighed, getting to her feet. “When you left to answer this Summons, did you tell Mom and Dad where you were heading?”

  “They weren’t home. I left them a note.”

  “You should call before you go to bed.”

  “Yeah. Right.” Picking up her sandwich plate, Diana headed for the kitchen only to be stopped by Dean’s outstretched hand.

  “I’ve got it.”

  “I was just going to put it in the dishwasher. Claire said business was good enough that you guys bought a dishwasher.”

  “We did.”

  “So?”

  The blue eyes behind the glasses met hers without apology. “I like to load it.”

  “He has a system,” Claire put in.

  “Whatever.” Diana handed over the plate and watched Dean walk into the kitchen. “He’s just a little obsessive,” she murmured as Claire moved up beside her.

  “A little…”

  The faded jeans stretched tight as he bent over to set the plate in the lower rack.

  “…but there are compensations.”

  “Oh, yeah. I can tell you’re with him for his mind.” Grabbing her backpack, she headed for the hall. “So, in the interest of being rested and prepared, I’m going to grab the key to room one and crash. Come on, Sam.”

  Eyes still on Dean, Claire waved absently toward her sister. “Call home.”

  “Bite me.”

  * * *

  Accelerating to make the end of the advance green, Dean cranked his truck hard to the left and roared up into the mall’s parking lot. Just after nine a.m. the temperature had already climbed past thirty degrees C; unusually hot for the end of June. Three adults and two cats didn’t leave a lot of room for air flow in the cab and exposed skin would have been covered in a glistening layer of sweat had not the fine patina of cat hair caught—and dimmed—the glisten.

  “That’s the entrance by the food court,” Diana declared, pointing out the open window. “Turn here.”

  Dean turned.

  “If it’s the closest entrance to the Emporium, it’ll be the most watched and therefore the most likely to be guarded,” Claire argued, holding her skirt up off the damp skin of her legs with two fingers. “Turn back onto the roadway and head for the door Diana used last night. We know we can get through that one.”

  Dean turned.

  “We don’t know that we can’t get through the closer one.”

  “We don’t want to risk setting off an alarm.”

  “And the longer we spend wandering around the mall, the greater the chance we’ll be discovered. Dean, turn here.”

  Dean turned.

  “Charging in on a direct line to the Emporium is a lot more likely to get us noticed. Dean, turn here.”

  Dean stopped the truck.

  Both sisters shot him essentially identical looks of disbelief as they rocked forward against their seat belts.

  “You either walk from here,” he told them calmly, “or you agree on an entrance.”

  The cab filled with overlapping protests and no agreement.

  Irresistible brown eyes met immovable brown eyes.

  “Okay, that’s it.” Austin flowed up over the back of the seat. “Since two of us are out here sweltering in fur coats…”

  “I’m okay,” Sam interrupted.

  “Shut up, kid….sweltering in fur coats,” he repeated, “and there’s air-conditioning behind whatever door we decide to go through, I’m making an executive decision.” He jumped down onto Claire’s lap and put his front paws up onto the dash. “What’s wrong with those doors? They’re closest.”

  Claire shook her head. “They lead to one of this reality’s anchor stores. The way things are skewed, we might not be able to get out.”

  “Fine. What about the next doors?”

  “Same store.”

  “And the doors after that?”

  “That,” Diana told him, arms crossed and sitting as slumped as her seat belt and the crowded conditions allowed, “is where I went in last night.”

  “Then that’s where we’re going in today.”

  “But it’s my Summons. I should be in charge.”

  Austin’s head swiveled slowly around and caught Diana in an emerald glare.

  “Okay,” she muttered, wondering whose bright idea it had been that Keepers hang out with cats. “We’ll go in there.”

  “Excellent idea. Claire?”

  She decided not to point out that it was where she wanted to go all along. “I agree.”

  Unable to stop himself from grinning, Dean put the truck into gear. Given the nonfeline connotations, he didn’t think he could say the words pussy whipped to his true love and her little sister—no matter how accurate the observation.

  As they came around the corner of the building, he felt Claire stiffen beside him. “What is it?”

  “Minivans.”

  “They were here last night as well,” Diana said grimly.

  “You should have told me.”

  “Why? There’s nothing we can do.”

  “It’s just…”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  Minivans? In the nine months Dean had known Claire, he’d gone briefly to Hell, driven around northern Ontario after a demon, and discovered that all those clichés about regular sex were pretty much true. He’d also learned that there were some things he was happier not knowing. This seemed like one of them.

  “What was wrong with that parking spot?” Claire demanded as he drove past open pavement.

  “Nothing. But I can get closer.”

  “Okay, there’s one.”

  “I see it.”

  “And you just drove by it.”

  “I can get a better spot.”

  “The doors are right there!”

  “I see them.”

  “So park already.”

  Speeding up to cut off a circling red sedan, Dean pulled in between a midnight-blue and a seafoam-green minivan and shut off the engine looking proud of himself. They were four spaces in, straight out from the door.

  Claire rolled her eyes. “You are such a guy.”

  He grinned and threw one arm along the seat back behind her, the close quarters allowing his fingers to trail down the damp, bare skin of her arm. “You have a problem with me being a guy.”

  “Well, not right at this minute…”

  Unbuckling her seat belt, Diana threw open the door and dropped down onto the pavement. “You guys are terminally embarrassing and…I’m sinking.”

  “What?” Setting Austin on Dean’s lap, Claire slid across the seat and peered down at her sister’s feet. “That’s impossible. It’s not that hot out.”

  “Hey, you don’t have to take my word for it.” Steppin
g two careful paces back, heavy rubber tread imprinting the asphalt, Diana gestured for Claire to join her.

  The low heels on Claire’s sandals poked square holes into the pavement. Pulling her skirt against her legs so that she could see her feet, she frowned. “This isn’t good. The influence has reached the parking lot.”

  “Well, duh.” Diana swung one arm out in a wide, demonstrative arc. “Minivans?”

  “Right. We’d better carry the cats. Dean, can you get the backpacks?”

  Even with the extra weight, the pavement remained firm under Dean’s work boots.

  “That’s a relief,” Diana noted as she set Sam down on the concrete pad outside the door and began scraping the felted layer of orange cat hair off her arms. “If it’s only affecting us, it hasn’t spread as far as we thought.”

  “And I’ll be pleased about that in a minute,” Claire muttered, glaring down at the tar stuck to her heels.

  “I told you those were stupid shoes to wear Otherside.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Didn’t I? I meant to.”

  “I was after thinking that the whole rubber tree/hat stand thing kept these light.” Stepping over Austin, who’d sprawled out on his side in the shade, Dean set both packs on the black metal bench to one side of the door. “What’s in here?”

  “A serious lackage of rubber trees and hat stands.” Wondering why Claire seemed to be cat hair free, Diana crossed to her pack and lifted it. “It’s against the Rules to access the possibilities once we’ve crossed over, so stuff like that won’t work. Which means we have…” She swung it up onto her shoulders. “…a few clothes, some preset odds and ends—possibilities having been used to create them but no longer necessary, so hopefully they’ll still work….”

  “Hopefully?” Dean interrupted with a searching glance at Claire.

  “Hopefully,” Diana repeated when it became obvious that Claire had nothing reassuring to say. “But mostly we’re carrying food and water because it’s dangerous to eat or drink on the Otherside.”

  “Why?”

  “Are you kidding? They put sauces on everything so it’s all high-cholesterol-let’s-slap-the-calories-right-onto-the-hips time.”

  “The food changes you,” Claire interjected, shooting Diana a stop messing with his head look. She laced her fingers through Dean’s and smiled up at him. “Different foods do different things, and all of it ties you to the Otherside, making it harder to get home. You’ve heard of Persephone and the pomegranates?”

  Dark brows dipped down under the upper edge of his glasses. “Early eighties girl band? Had one hit ‘You’re Not Seeing My Depression’?”

  Diana snorted. “It was, ‘You’re Not Seeing My Repression.’ Although, given the hair, I totally admit they had reason to be depressed.”

  “How do either of you know what was going on in the early eighties?”

  “MuchMusic Classic Videos,” Sam told her, sitting down by Austin and wrapping his tail around his toes. “There’s, like, two hours of them every Saturday afternoon.”

  Claire looked from the younger cat to the older.

  “Don’t look at me,” Austin sniffed disdainfully. “If we’re not out saving the world, I’m usually napping Saturday afternoons. And speaking of saving the world, I’d just like to point out that we still haven’t reached the air-conditioning. Not that I’m complaining or anything. Much.”

  Hearing impending volume and duration in that final pause, Claire released Dean’s hand and reached for her backpack only to find Dean there before her. She turned so he could lift it up onto her shoulders and shivered as he kissed the back of her neck, murmuring, “Be careful.” against damp skin.

  “I’m always careful.”

  “What about Sharbot Lake?”

  “That wasn’t careless, that was just unexpectedly deep.” She turned again, facing him now. “Will you be okay?”

  He lifted her chin with a finger. “Without you? Probably not.”

  “Enough with the clichés, already.” Thumbs through her pack straps, Diana paced to the edge of the concrete and back making gagging noises. “I’ve just figured out why Keeper and Bystanders together are such a bad idea. You’re boring. And sappy enough to cause insulin shock.”

  Dean ignored her, his eyes remaining locked on Claire’s face. “I’ll be waiting here.”

  “We’ll be a couple days; remember?”

  “But only on the Otherside.” When Claire shook her head, he frowned. “Time runs differently there. You can come out just after you went in. Right?”

  “Probably not. Time might run faster or slower in pockets, but in order for the segue to work, they’ll have to make time run concurrent on both sides.” Hands flat on his chest, she studied his expression. “You knew that, right?”

  “And how would I be knowing that if you didn’t tell me?”

  “I didn’t tell you?”

  “No.” He sighed and pulled her closer. “You’ll actually be a couple of days on this side as well?”

  “Maybe more. I’ve set my watch so that we’ll know.”

  “Okay, now we’ve got that settled,” Diana prodded, “just say good-bye already, suck a little face, and let’s go before the Otherside comes to us.”

  Dean stared down into Claire’s face for a long moment before his mouth finally curved into a worried smile. “Got my heart?”

  She laid a hand lightly against her chest. “Right here. Got mine.”

  He mirrored the motion. “Safe and sound.”

  “And did I mention, barf! Hey! I said suck a little face. You do know she’s already had her tonsils out, don’t you? So if you’re in there looking for them, you’re out of luck.”

  Claire pulled out of Dean’s embrace, turned on one heel, smacked Diana lightly on the back of the head, and walked toward the doors—all in one smooth motion. “Someday, as unlikely as it seems, you’re going to find someone able to overlook certain personality flaws and I’m going to be there to do the color commentary.”

  “As if,” Diana snorted, waving to Dean and falling into step beside her sister.

  “I thought the color commentary was my job?” Sam asked Austin as they followed the Keepers through the doors.

  Austin sighed. “There’s usually enough to go around.”

  Once through the inner doors, Keepers and cats both disappeared. Standing with one hand spread out on the outer door, Dean could see his own reflection and little else. It was just a trick of the light, at least that’s what he told himself as he walked back to the edge of the concrete and stared out at the heat-silvered sky and the minivans keeping a silent vigil. He felt fidgety, restless—what his grandfather, an outport minister back in Newfoundland, would have called flicy. Hands shoved deep into his pockets, he turned and stared at the mall.

  The vertical concrete slabs were almost the same shade as the sky.

  Even without knowing what was going on inside, something about the building made his skin crawl. He would have said it was because it looked like a prison except there were two prisons within Kingston’s old city limits and both of them were more attractive.

  Claire figured they’d be in there for a minimum of two days.

  “When do I start worrying?”

  “When another Keeper shows up with the Summons,” Diana snorted.

  “Don’t worry,” Claire told him, shooting her sister a quelling glance. “I’ll always come back to you.”

  Austin rolled his eyes and horked up a hairball.

  Not an entirely comforting memory, Dean realized walking back to the bench and sitting down.

  * * *

  “Oh, my God. They’ve muzaked Alien Ant Farm. It’s the second sign of the Apocalypse.”

  “What was the first?” Claire wondered, shifting her pack straps.

  “Orange polyester bellbottoms. On sale.”

  “How much?”

  “You’re not serious.” A quick glance over at her sister and Diana winced. “You are serious.
One of us has to be adopted.”

  “I tried adopting you out for most of your childhood. No one would take you.”

  With the cats hard on their heels, they stepped out into the main concourse and paused. Four senior citizens sat soaking up the air-conditioning on a bench close by the escalator. There was no one else in sight.

  Diana pushed damp and rapidly cooling hair up off her forehead. “So much for that hiding in the crowd theory; there were more people in here last night.”

  “All right, we’re a little early for the crowds. But as far as the Otherside is concerned, we’re still just shoppers with a perfectly valid reason to be in here. Nothing for them to worry about.”

  “And the cats?”

  “Given the metaphysical buzz this place has, they’ll never notice the trickle of power it’ll take to hide the cats…provided one of the cats doesn’t decide to use a planter as a litter box,” she finished glaring at Austin who was digging in the plastic bark chips.

  “Old kidneys; give me a break. Besides…” One last swipe with a back leg and he jumped up onto the planter’s broad rim. “…I might have been the first cat, but I wasn’t the first.”

  “That’s mildly disturbing,” Claire admitted, scooping him up into her arms. “Diana, where…”

  Eyes closed, head swiveling slowly from side to side, Diana waved a silencing hand. “There’s something,” she murmured, trying to pin it down. “Something close.”

  “Something? I’m amazed you can sense anything in this.”

  “Feels like the bracelet. It’d be harder to find if I hadn’t already touched…There!” Her eyes snapped open and she pointed across the concourse to Heaven Sent Cards and Gifts. “Whatever I’m picking up, is in there.”

  “Overpriced ceramic angels?” Claire stared at the storefront in dismay. “Lots and lots of overpriced ceramic angels?”

  “They’re not angels,” Sam sniffed, whiskers bristling. “They’re cherubs. Useless little twerps in the heavenly scheme of things.”

  “Well, it’s not them.” Diana crossed to the store, her soles squeaking faintly against the tile. The moment she stepped onto the dark gray carpet, the feeling strengthened, and she turned to face the cash desk. “It’s over there.” A quick glance showed Claire and the cats had followed her across the concourse and were standing just off the edge of the carpet. “I’ll deal with this while you guys search the rest of the store, just in case. And Sam, do not spray those angels.”