“Is he mad at me?”
“Sev? Nah. He’s an all right chap, Sev is. He takes a lot of guff for his style, but when the chips are down, he’s the right one to have in your corner. He’s on assignment. He won’t have gone far.”
I wondered what Sevenoir’s assignment was, but figured it was time for me to take his advice and stay out of his business. I was also a little embarrassed that I didn’t know the bartender’s name yet, but thankfully he had a name tag that usefully supplied that information.
“Thanks, Jake. I appreciate your help,” I said, giving him a smile.
“That’s the spirit. You’ll be fine,” he counseled me as I waved goodbye and headed out the big red doors. “I’ll see you both here again tomorrow.”
I walked back to my flat briskly, thinking I’d drop off my stuff and change into something less “I’ve been at the gym all day” to go out looking for Sevenoir. I hoped Jake was right, and I’d find him perched on a stool in The Horned God pub.
I spied Miss Plimmswood—Plimmy!—as I made my way back to 5-F May Queen Market standing in her favorite spot next to the railing by her front door. I greeted her and invited her to come with me The Horned God for a cup of “tea.” I figured it would be nice to have moral support as I tried to find Sevenoir.
She agreed. I left her there waiting while I dashed up to change into jeans and a nice shirt. I had a pair of purple jeans with gold stitching that I loved and hadn’t worn yet that went perfectly with my favorite purple boots. I threw them on with a colorful blouse and went back downstairs to meet Plimmy. Going to the pub twice in one day was a record, at least for me.
We walked up the alley between my apartment building and the Albion Ballroom, which was just west of The Horned God, and grabbed a seat at one of the wooden tables in the courtyard area of the pub. I settled my backpack at the floor near my feet while Plimmy took off her hat and placed it on the table beside her. The waitress assigned to the area had her hands full with a rowdy table of tourists, so I offered to run inside and grab our drinks. Plimmy demurred, most likely I suspected to preserve the fiction that it was actually tea in her cup, but I was fine to just sit outside for a while and observe the comings and goings of the bar patrons.
“Are you looking for someone, dear” Plimmy commented after I gawked after a fair-haired man who’d just stepped into the pub proper. “Or at least more specifically than any young woman tries to catch the eye of a handsome young man in a pub,” she concluded with a smile.
I felt my cheeks heat up at her appraisal. “I am looking for someone,” I admitted, with a little shame. “I said something mean and kind of inappropriate to him today, and I wanted to apologize if I can find him.”
“Oh, dear,” she said, patting my hand. “What did he do to deserve it?”
At my shocked look, Plimmy laughed, then pressed her lips together controlling her mirth. “I don’t mean to make light of something that obviously distresses you. Would it help to talk about it?”
Would it? I wasn’t sure how much I could say without revealing I was training to be a Templar. Miss Plimmswood looked at me steadily with a kind look on her face, and I found that I wanted to tell her about it.
Oh, for the Gods’ sake, Wedd, you’re an open book, I thought with irritation at myself. Gaia help you if you ever actually got interrogated if even your landlady can get you to spill the beans about everything.
I reviewed the details of the interaction I’d had with him and decided that there really was no way for me to share it with her. I thanked her for her kindness in asking and said that I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.
The waitress came over and asked if we needed a drink. Plimmy ordered her tea, and after a moment’s thought, I ordered one of the same. She arched her eyebrow at me. “You wouldn’t prefer a pint of stout?”
I smiled mischievously. “I’m trying a new drink each time I come here. I haven’t tried the ‘tea’ yet.”
“Er, uh, yes,” she agreed, her voice muffled as if she was trying not to laugh. “It’s a bit strong, but perhaps you’ll like it.”
The waitress nodded and headed inside the pub to fill our orders. In short order, she brought back two teacups and set them in front of us. Plimmy paid the tab, once I made her promise to let me get the next round. Then she turned to me and leaned over conspiratorially.
“So tell me about this bunny-eared fellow I keep seeing following you around,” Plimmy placed her cup down on the table with a twinkle in her eye. “Is he a beau?” I had just picked up the teacup and taken a sip. I couldn’t help myself. I choked and sprayed what I suspected was Scotch whiskey across the table. I set the cup down abruptly and covered my mouth with my hand as I coughed to evacuate the liquor from my lungs.
“See,” she said primly. “I told you it was strong!”
“It’s not the…” I fanned my face and pounded my chest before continuing, “tea. It’s the thought of Sevenoir as my boyfriend.”
“Oh, his name is Sevenoir, is it? That’s an odd name.”
“It’s his, um, nickname,” I scrambled to explain. “I think his real name is Michael something Pain. And he is a pain. Well, at least, he was when I first met him. But wait, you said he’s been following me?”
“I’m sure I’m probably imagining it, dear. Ealdwic is a small place, after all. Maybe he lives here in the vicinity. It’s just that those rabbit ears are so…prominent. Why does he wear them?”
I told her I had no idea, and really I didn’t. I suspected he wore them primarily because they were obnoxious, and therefore supported his obvious disdain for authority and order. That wasn’t quite right either though, I thought as I remembered him stopping at the stop sign as he drove me to the Agartha portal and checking up on me down in tunnels. Thinking about that made me frustrated all over again, and it must have crossed my face.
Plimmy tapped her chin as she looked at me. “So, is this Sevenoir someone you work with?”
“He’s been helping me learn my new job.” My cheeks went red with the white lie. “Sort of.”
“And what did you say you did, Wedd?”
Of course, I hadn’t said. I was hopeless at this. Either that or Plimmy had the instincts of a bird dog.
“Can you excuse me for a moment?” I stood up in a rush. “I need to use the lady’s room.”
“By all means, dear.” She smiled and picked her own cup back up from the table for a sip as I fled into the pub.
Inside, I regained some of my composure and was utterly irritated with myself. I was acting like Plimmy was some sort of spy trying to tease the secrets of ages from me. She was just a sweet old lady and my landlord. I really needed to get a grip. All this “Secret War” this and “end of times” that was starting to get to me. I glanced around the interior of the pub to see if I could spot the tell-tale rabbit ears, but no luck. I saw Zamira and Konrad Engel still chatting on the other side of the bar, and she threw me a quick wave when I caught her eye.
It was just as well I was in here under the pretenses of using the restroom. I had whiskey all over my hands. I asked a bouncer where the water closet was, and he pointed me to the door at the left of the stairs. Inside I scrubbed my hands and freshened up, before returning to the back patio.
I sat back down at the table and was determined to have a drink of tea without choking. I said as much to Plimmy, and she cheered me on as I took a robust sip.
At least I didn’t spit it across the room this time.
“So here’s the trick, dear,” she said. “When you take the next drink, roll the whiskey around the sides of your tongue before swallowing it.”
I followed her instruction, and the warm burn of whiskey coursed down the back of my throat. Hmm. It wasn’t so bad that time. I drew the cup to my lips again and pulled in another gulp of the liquid heat for fortification.
“Well done!” Plimmy took another sip from her cup as well and sighed with satisfaction. “So, a lovely girl like you must have a beau somewhere.”
Thoughts of the handsome Dragon agent that I’d dated casually at Innsmouth filled my mind.
“There was a fellow when I was in school,” I ventured. “He is from New Orleans. His name is Renee Laveau. I think his great-grandma was a famous voodoo priestess or something.”
“Indeed?” Plimmy’s eyes got round as an owl’s. “There is a very well-known Voudun practitioner with that last name. Tell me all about him.”
I told her what I knew of Renee, about his dark hair and green eyes, that he was 25 years old, tall and fit, and that he’d been raised in New Orleans and attended school at Lake Pontchartrain. Oh, and that he was a Capricorn, born on the Winter Solstice. I shared tales of the things we’d talked about together over coffee in the few times we met and that I had not heard from him before I left Innsmouth Academy.
Plimmy listened with gratifying raptness, punctuating my story with the supportive comments and noises of a good friend. Warmth from her support and understanding filled me. I realized that I sounded like a school girl, but it was lovely to be taken seriously in regards to my feelings. I definitely still thought about Renee and missed him.
“So you were never able to tell him you were headed to London?” Plimmy ventured. “Oh, what a shame. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, my dear, that he reaches out to your old school to try to make contact in the future.”
I nodded my head with a wistful smile. Above us, a raven cawed in the tree on the pub patio, and the light rail whined past in the distance as it sped along its track. The faint strains of a dubstep song drifted out from the open door of the pub, along with the chatter of patrons.
“How about you, Plimmy? Did you ever fall in love or get married?”
“Me? Married? Oh heavens no!” She tittered, placing her hand over her heart. “I was always far too hard-headed to want a husband. As a young woman, I wanted to do what I wanted to do.”
“But surely you fell in love somewhere along the way?”
“Yes,” she acknowledged with a fond smile. “There was someone. Is someone. But, it’s complicated, dear, to fall in love with a person whose career is more important to them than anything. And I would no more stand in the way of that than I would allow anyone to stand in the way of what I wanted. No, I am content these days with watching from afar.”
“Well,” I lifted my teacup in a toast. “Here’s to spending time with those who warm our hearts when we can and thinking fondly on them when we can’t.”
Plimmy lifted her teacup and clinked it with mine across the table with a nod. “I’ll drink to that.”
We finished our drinks and headed back to our respective homes shortly thereafter.
I had been meaning to write Gypcie another letter, so I grabbed pen and paper, sat down on the futon in the living area of my flat and, settled in to dash off an update on my adventures so far. I hoped I’d hear back from her soon, but until I got a cell phone or access to a computer, I had to rely on the Post to provide the updates. I wondered how she was doing. I made a mental note to check the box tomorrow on my way to Temple Hall.
With a yawn, I sealed the letter in an envelope and addressed it. I gathered my supplies and put them back in a box on my bookshelves, then turned out the lights in the living room, and got ready for bed. Tomorrow would be another full day.
I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. But tired as I was, my adventures for the day weren’t complete.
I looked up to find myself back in a subway car, howls and screeches coming from every direction. I was back in Tokyo, right where the dream had left off.
The dark-skinned man with round spectacles and long gray dreadlocks stood up from where he was crouched next to the wounded soldier and looked at me.
“Ah, the cavalry has arrived.”
I needed to figure out why I kept ending up back in this dream, this vision. I contemplated the man. This must be the friend Rose told me to look for. What was his name? Zuberi, that’s right. I told him where I’d last seen Rose, Alex, and Mei—on the platform, surrounded by the Filth-infected, fighting their way through. He took in the information with a nod, then leaned back down to the wounded soldier.
“Even where Filth corrupts, Gaia's power endures. Take her power into yourself. Breathe it out. Will that your broken body is mended.” Golden light poured from Zuberi into the soldier, healing his body. After a moment, the soldier started to move and stretch, then nodded at Zuberi.
I reached out a hand to the soldier and helped him stand.
“Good, good,” Zuberi said, with a musical lilt to his words, as he surveyed the soldier’s progress. “But even Gaia will be tested by what is to come.”
Behind me, Rose, Mei, and Alex rushed into the subway car and slammed the door shut behind them.
Rose looked up at us, her hand pressed to her side as she panted. “Making a stand wasn’t working out. I see you found Zuberi, Sarah. Good job.”
Alex peered out the subway car window at the platform nearest to the car. “Yeah, about that...this side ain't looking much better, to be honest.”
Zuberi stood and scolded them, “Now is not the time for argument!”
Mei turned to Alex and mumbled under her breath, but they were near enough that I could hear it. “Told you he would say that.”
I shook my head, amazed anew out how realistic these visions—dreams?—were. The group all argued and bantered among themselves like old friends or a dysfunctional family together for a holiday dinner, and ‘Sarah’ was clearly a member. Surreptitiously, I gave my arm a quick hard pinch. It hurt.
Was this a dream or not? And if it wasn’t, what was I here to witness?
Before I could contemplate it further, the doors at the top end of the car behind Zuberi opened, and we all ran out onto the platform to face the Filth-infected infesting it. Mei, Alex, and Rose all dove into the fight.
I stopped and took careful aim at one tentacle-headed man as he ran at me, his arms waving. The shot hit him squarely in the head, and he dropped like a sack in front of me.
“Well done!” Zuberi encouraged me.
We all fought as the Filth-infected attacked. As the bodies began to litter this platform, I realized that not all of them were strictly human-shaped anymore. Three more of the massive filthy hulk things ran toward us, and we destroyed them. I also saw creatures that looked like they had morphed into something with parts that were vaguely insect-shaped. Had these once been people before they were infected by a Filth parasite? I shuddered at the thought.
This was awful. Humanity was doomed if something like this Filth were to get out and infect a broad population. I hoped that this really was just a dream, and the bomb in Tokyo was contained as the news reports were saying. Gaia help us if it wasn’t.
“Something’s coming out of the ground!” Mei screamed.
I looked at where she was pointing, fear spiking in my body. A black cloud of Filth gathered at the far end of the platform and coalesced into a giant boar, taller than any of us at the shoulder, dripping in Filth, with glowing white eyes and strange markings on its body.
“What the bloody hell is that thing?” Alex yelled.
The boar pawed at the platform with its front hoof and began to charge.
“Watch out!” Mei yelled and jumped out of its path. We all scrambled toward the inside wall of the platform to avoid the massive pig. It roared past, leaving a trail of black slime in its path. It got to the far end of the platform, turned on its hooved legs, and trotted back toward us, its head lowered and tusks glinting with Filth.
I dodged behind a magazine kiosk to get out of its direct line of sight and tried to catch my breath. This thing would give me nightmares in my nightmares for weeks. It opened its maw and spewed forth a fountain of black goo, exhaling the void at us. We all jumped back to stay as far as possible from the Filth, while simultaneously trying to pierce its tough hide with our weapons. The six of us, including the soldier Zuberi had healed, were hitting the boar at point-blank range trying to we
ar it down.
Again and again, it charged us. We hid in corners and behind benches and pillars to avoid its bulk as it surged across the platform. Wounds littered its slimy black hide as we pummeled it with shots and spells, dripping ink-colored blood. There was no way to meet the boar face on. Its tusks and sheer mass guaranteed a bad end.
At last, Mei got in close enough to slash the tendon behind its front leg with her katana, and the beast roared and dropped to its knees. We rushed in and beat, stabbed, shot, and burned it where it sat, unable to maneuver. The boar collapsed on the platform, its life expended, and dissolved into a pond of black ichor.
But there was no time for celebration. We needed to get across the platform and start climbing out of the subway. We ran to the entrance on the far end of the platform. I ran up the stalled escalator stairs. The rest of the group tried to follow me, but the platform gate crashed down separating us. In the distance, I could hear the tell-tale growls and screams that indicated that more Filth infested were on the way.
“Go get help,” Mei shouted at me, as the infected swarmed onto the platform behind us.
I hurried to the top of that flight of escalators and quickly looked left and right. I was blocked on the left from continuing up. To the right, there was another set of escalators headed down. I stopped and looked back at my trapped group of comrades, who had turned to face the incoming horde.
“They’re not stopping!” Rose yelled.
“And they will not stop,” Zuberi intoned in his deep, musical voice. “This is all to hold us back.”
“Well, top marks for effort,” Alex said, his words dripping with sarcasm.
“Look out! It’s all coming down!” Mei yelled, covering her head with her arms.
That catalyzed me. I needed to get help and fast. There was nothing I could do for them where I was.
I dashed down the escalator stairs to the right but stopped in my tracks at what I saw there, the hair on my arms and neck standing on end. I struggled to draw in a breath as the muscles of my body constricted in terror and horrified awe.
London Underground: An Unofficial Legend of The Secret World (Unofficial Legends of The Secret World Book 2) Page 15