by JM Guillen
“—maybe she’ll pay you in dice,” Baxter teased as I hung up.
“I’m planning on paying you in food, sooo,” I wrinkled my nose at Baxter, “that’s fair.”
“Naw.” He turned to me. “Baxie works for cash money.”
“When I hire you, I’ll remember that.” I smiled sweetly. “In the meantime, would you do me a favor?”
As I led him to the back, I realized Baxter hadn’t seen the LAN room the other day. We’d gotten a little distracted by all the weird.
“So this is what I think Dad called you about.” I opened the door and revealed the linked computers. On the wall, robot guardians stared down on us.
“What!” Baxter’s eyes didn’t exactly bug out, and he didn’t exactly leap in the air with steam coming out of his ears, but I thought it was a close thing.
“I don’t know if Dad understood how to hook all this stuff together.” I glanced from the computers to a drooling Bax. “I need to know if it’s set up right, and if it’s not, how much it will cost to get it set up.”
“Yeah,” Baxter hadn’t turned away from the banks of computers. “Okay.”
“We’ll come get you when the food shows up.”
“Just…” he waved one hand as he stepped into the room. “Just bring mine back. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”
“Understood.” I turned away with a smile.
When I reached front, I caught Rehl re-arranging a couple shelves.
“Oh, hi.” He glanced up with a sheepish expression. “I thought all the CYBERTECH products should be together.”
“Makes sense.” I chuckled. This would work out wonderfully, I thought.
We’d hammered most of the specifics out on the phone, right after I left Serin’s. Rehl, who had done nothing but complain about his lack of a job since I showed up, now enjoyed the title of Daytime Manager of Knucklebones, Inc. It made him the first shift employee, product stock coordinator, customer service representative, and sanitation engineer all rolled together in one goatee’d package.
“I couldn’t possibly have a better job.” He turned to arrange some of the collectible card games into a display upon the counter, beneath a small chalkboard which read, ‘Ready for the Tournament?’
“That looks old.” I jerked my chin at the sign. “Date for that tourney is six months ago.”
“Then we’ll do others. This is gonna be awesome.”
“We’ll see if you still think so when I’m working you seventy hours a week,” I teased. “After all, you’re on a salary.”
“I don’t care. Besides, Baxter and Alicia each said they could pick up evening shifts once in a while. You’ll have more than enough employees.”
Mr. Serin agreed on that point. I’d dropped him a quick call, just after I spoke with Rehl. He’d been so pleased to hear from me, less than fifteen minutes after I left his office.
“So, I’ve hired someone,” I chirped brightly. Silence answered me over the line, and even though I had just met the man, I could imagine a small scowl on Mr. Serin’s face.
“You did.”
“Perfect man for the job,” I said. “Let me tell you what I’m thinking.”
Serin had heard me out. As my business manager, he hadn’t been willing to allow me to take on three full-time employees, not quite yet. This was fine with all involved, as both Baxter and Alicia were trying to get their degrees and weren’t interested in doing more than helping out now and again.
For now, Rehl and I held down the fort.
“Seriously, Liz, I can’t thank you enough.” Rehl set down the last box of cards, and turned to gaze at me.
“Well, thank me from down here.” I gave him a teasing grin and headed for the pullstring. “I’ll be upstairs in my office. I have some things to sort.”
“Will do. What should I start on?”
“Look at stock. Our inventory sheets and product manuals are under the register. Figure out if there’s anything we need. I’d like to reopen soon.”
“Can do.” He cocked his head. “Who has final say over what we stock?”
“I trust you,” I grinned. “I figure we’ll set a budget soon enough, but I’d like to be flush when we open.”
“Understood. Do we have an opening day?”
“I’d like Baxter to have the LAN room up and going. That’s something I have to consider. I don’t know if I charge people by the hour back there, or what.” I paused and sighed. “Anyway, when the food gets here, take Baxter his. I already gave them a card number and a tip.”
“Got it. I’ll call if I need ya.” He stepped over to the register and began to peruse the stock sheets.
I watched him for a moment and the shadow of a grin played at the edge of my mouth.
Rehl seemed happy.
The big guy hadn’t ever done much more than just get by. He hadn’t enjoyed school, and although he’d liked learning to shoot, he’d been a bad fit for the military. As long as I’d known Rehl, he’d spent his life doing things he hated, just so he could afford the things he loved.
Maybe things could be different, now.
Maybe this would be wonderful for both of us.
3
“Within my secret chambers…” I mused over what I remembered from the journal as I walked down the hallway. Surely Dad had meant upstairs. After all, Serin seemed to believe I needed to take a closer look at the astonishingly exciting tax ledgers and riveting real estate blueprints that filled the shelves there.
My phone rang. ALICIA, the caller ID reported.
“Hello?” I grinned. Alicia didn’t know how things had advanced. She’d be excited—
Static greeted me. It bent and crackled in my ear, as if trying to say something in a tongue I did not know.
“’Licia?” Only more static responded. “Call me back if you can hear me, I got news!”
More static.
“Weird.” I frowned at my phone, and hung up. Surely she’d call back.
With one quick leap, I opened the ladder and scrambled up with relative ease. Again, the combination of old wood, cigar smoke, and Dad’s cologne greeted me.
“Let’s see what we can see.”
I took my time, unlike my approach when I explored the place with Baxter. Before, I had taken everything at face value, assuming it all to be little more than a collection of old junk. None of it seemed to have anything to do with Knucklebones, which made it all too simple to come up with other alternatives. Perhaps the original owners of the building had simply left this stuff here, and Dad hadn’t quite found the time to haul it all off to the junkyard.
As good a theory as any, I had thought.
Now I needed to look more carefully. Peering into the shadows, I strode across the creaky wooden floor. Everywhere I turned I saw more of the same: stacks of old papers, notebooks that looked like they were ready to fall apart, and scatterings of remarkably outdated furniture. This time I took a moment as I passed the man sized birdcage to unlatch it and swing the door on its creaky hinge.
“Nothing.” I frowned and continued into the shadows.
I paused as I passed the harp and thoughtlessly trailed my fingers across the strings. They played, but I didn’t exactly have a musical talent and wouldn’t know a sour note from a good one.
“Hey,” I chuckled. “That’s it! If I can just play ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ then perhaps the secret door will open…” I giggled as I walked on until I came to the canopy bed.
I couldn’t help a yawn. I still felt sleepy.
I don’t know why you were sleeping here, Dad, but it’s starting to seem like a pretty decent idea. I pulled back the blankets I’d crashed on, noting they seemed a touch musty. Still, I’d seen a laundry just down the street and I knew the thing was comfortable.
Yet the attic revealed no secrets.
The more I poked around, the more things began to slip into place for me. Simon had been awfully intent that I come here. Mr. Serin had insisted I needed to look around, even before I had re
ad Dad’s little journal.
The thing was, I knew what the Eye was for. I touched the charm on my bracelet as I remembered the first time I had seen it, in this very room with Simon. More than once I had heard how it could protect someone, keep them hidden.
And when Simon knew that the Gaunt Man was searching for me, he hadn’t wasted any time in sending me here.
So I ambled back to Dad’s desk. In all honesty, this was probably the first place I should have come. As long as I could remember, Dad had spent most of his waking hours bent over a desk either reading something or making something.
Yet now, that desk rested in the center of a sigil of protection.
“Still a little bit of a slob though, aren’t you?” I glanced over the desk and toyed with an antique magnifying glass before I decided to open one of the desk drawers.
It wouldn’t budge.
Locked? The key Baxter had found still remained within my jacket along with that bag. I went over to snag it and the bag of mysteries. Once I had the bag, I dumped the book and the puzzle box onto the desk. Then I started to reach into the pocket for that key.
Wait. I frowned. This might be a bad idea.
Even though I saw a lock on the drawer, I had a sneaking suspicion that Simon’s key wouldn’t work there.
Unless I want to open a portal in the desk. I had to admit that the impossibility of it intrigued me. A portal right back into the room that I’m standing in. It would probably break the universe.
A series of beeps interrupted my gamery musings. I glanced down and saw I had a text from REHL:
Alicia just tried to call me. When I picked up there was just a dead line. I called her back and only got static.
I couldn’t help but frown as I read his message. Was it possible that Alicia was in trouble? I sent back:
I got one from her too. Same thing. I thought for a moment and then texted: Maybe try to call her from the store’s landline?
Will do.
I tried the other drawers in Dad’s desk—all locked. That might be a problem, long term, but I thought for now I could deal.
Perhaps it was time to look into some of the books. I knew Bax said they didn’t seem to have anything in them, but Mr. Serin had implied something altogether different.
“I can afford the time,” I muttered. I stepped over to the closest shelves, and selected five of the least-dusty books.
Cradling them, I headed back to the desk and settled in for a long read.
4
Thirty minutes later, I had nothing.
I sat and read as my fingers idly fiddled with Dad’s puzzle box. I almost had it, too. The thing had already shifted on two hidden hinges, opening further, like a flower.
“You’ve got something in you.” I shook it and listened to the clatter. A ring? Maybe a coin?
The box hadn’t been my primary focus. The first book had been a 1950’s real estate ledger, full of purchases made on the upper east side. The second and third contained the handwritten scrawlings of a city comptroller, and I had to admit I didn’t understand what it said.
“Not helpful,” I muttered. So far, the books revealed exactly zero arcane secrets.
I dutifully trolled through the fourth and fifth books, and found much the same. I gathered them up and stood, preparatory to get more—when the entire building shook.
“Wha—?” I stumbled and almost fell on my ass. Dust drifted from the ceiling, and books tumbled off their shelves. On the other side of the room, I heard something fall to the floor.
“This seems bad.” I fumbled for my phone, but didn’t even have the text menu open before Baxter lit me up.
Liz, Wee need yu down here right no!
“That’s hopeful.” I stood, about to sprint downstairs, when I remembered a mistake I had recently made.
“Let’s just take these.” I grabbed three of my knife sheaths, strapped two around my arms and one around my waist.
I had been a little bit too helpless when I’d been on the run from Garret. This might not be trouble, but I didn’t want to take a chance.
I sprinted to the ladder and pushed it violently down. The building trembled again, as if a wrecking ball hit the storefront.
I just took possession of the place, and there’s already some bullshittery going on. I practically leapt down the ladder, half expecting to see a tractor trailer truck smashed through the front of the building.
“Liz!” Alicia’s voice jerked my head around.
My red-headed friend stared at me from behind the counter, her eyes wide and frantic. “Is Simon here?” She clutched at Rehl’s shoulder, terror stricken. “I really think… I think we need—”
“No!” I shook my head wildly, her terror infecting me. “I haven’t seen Simon in days!”
“Oh. Oh, oh, oh.” She sounded like a lost little waif, her voice hollow with despair. “Because…”
“Alicia?” Baxter’s confusion came from behind me. “What’s happening?”
Before anyone could speak further, a crackling series of splintery pops sounded from the front of the store.
Anxiety burned at the sound, as if my blood had literally been infused with unreasonable fear.
“Look!” Rehl pointed at the floor. Something dark burbled there, boiling in what appeared to be a roiling puddle of molten tar. The putrid scent of corpse-rotten animal musk billowed up from it.
“What? Oh God!” Rehl covered his face, choking from the scent as he staggered backward.
Like a pseudopod, a misshapen oblong globule pushed forth from the putrid mass. It twisted sideways and formed an eyeless, wolf-like head. If one looked closely, it even seemed as if a gash of a mouth gaped open in the front of it. A slender length that could only be an insectoid leg stretched alongside it.
It vomited itself forth, pulling out of a cistern of blackened ooze on the floor.
“What?” That single word echoed from the creature, a blasphemy, a gurgled evocation against everything right and whole. “What. What,” it croaked from its single open orifice, a toothed, gaping maw in the blackness.
Terror, raw and unreasoning, rolled over me again. The emotion hammered at me, an unimaginable insult to my sense of rightness about the world.
“Liz?” Baxter’s quavery query came from just behind me. He sounded so small.
“Baxter, you need to get them upstairs.” I took a step backward, though my gaze never moved. I drew one of my knives.
My hands trembled. Every nerve screamed for me to run.
“Simon said we were safe!” Alicia’s eyes rolled wildly. “Safe! But they chased me. They chased wherever I went.”
“They?” I turned to her and placed one hand on her shoulder. Alicia wouldn’t quite meet my gaze, her eyes flickering about. My heart sank.
In shock? Maybe. Hell, If Alicia had slipped a cog from the sight of this thing, I understood.
I felt like I’d failed a saving throw myself.
“Um, Baxter?” Rehl’s voice held a forced calm. “The ladder.”
“Yeah,” Bax responded. “Back here. Come on.”
Rehl grabbed Alicia by the arm and dragged her back toward the hallway. I didn’t watch them, but instead kept my gaze on the miscreation on my floor.
The top portion writhed, resembling a canine only vaguely. Spindly lengths branched out from the rising body, three and four insectine joints to each. At the end of those appendages the creature formed only the grossest approximation of grasping gangled fingers; too long and possessing of far too many joints.
It dragged itself forth from the pool of sludge, and wheezed through its alien orifice. It opened two soulless eyes, empty pits of scarlet hellfire.
“What do you want?” I steeled myself, stepped from behind the cash register, and took a couple of strides to my left. That put my back against a wall of books, but I hoped it would help the monstrosity focus on me instead of my friends.
Oh, the smell. Foulness boiled off of the thing.
“Want.” The
creature gurgled. It flipped toward me, oddly segmented limbs at bizarre angles. Inhuman hands on the ends of slender grasping arms, pulled it along on the floor.
Horrifically, it just kept coming.
“Shepherd.” It turned its inhuman maw toward me as it gurgled my name.
Fuck. I broke out in a cold sweat. It took everything I had not to run.
But I couldn’t. I needed my friends to get safe, needed to know what the… thing wanted.
“You were sent by Lorne.” I took a trembling step to the side. How had it found me? I’d been so certain the Aegis would keep Mister Lorne in the dark. Even Garret the Ass-hat had only found me after I’d fucked up, and I hadn’t had any accidents tonight. Except…
The spider-hound hadn’t found me, had it?
It had found Alicia.
“Lorne.” The wolf-faced miscreation turned its eyeless face and cocked its head. “Get. Bring.”
“Yep,” I sighed. “That’s what I thought.” I couldn’t help but remember what Lorne’s last little servant had cried as Simon handed it its own ass.
“This isn’t over, Shepherd!” The creature wailed, its voice crackling. “My master holds legions of servants! Another will come in my place!”
“You guys are worse than the Billy Goats Gruff,” I complained.
Before I even had the barest hint of a plan in place, the building quaked again and scattered bits of dust and debris.
I stumbled back half a step and caught myself on the wall of books.
“Gruff,” the vulpine insect gurgled as it crawled toward me on insectine arms. “Gruff.”
A sharp burst of splintering cracks sounded from the front of the store.
“What the fuck is that?” I snarled, fighting down the terror the thing emanated. I glanced around and noticed a small fissure had appeared on the wall opposite me.
From that fracture, pustulent ooze dripped, black as midnight. Even though just a rivulet, it writhed, trembling as it ran down the wall.
“No.” I took a step away. It pooled on the floor before my eyes, moving with an odd purpose. A slender pseudopod jerked and twitched as it reached out of that puddle.