half-lich 02 - void weaver (13 page)

“No,” Cameron said, “I know somewhere we can go—somewhere safe.”

“Where?”

“A sanctuary—it’s my place.”

“Your place?”

“Isaac has his museum, I have my sanctuary. I’ll be able to heal there. We’ll be safe.”

Alice didn’t like the idea of going to another unknown place. Her apartment was more defensible, smaller, and plus she had her Chest of Haunts there. She may not have Trapper anymore, but the chest and her closet had power of their own and could possibly be employed as a weapon—or at least as a solid defense against Nyx and her forces.

Forces
.

Thinking the word almost made it sound like Nyx was preparing an army; an army of Pain Children. Alice shuddered at the thought and considered simply driving to her apartment anyway, but Cameron was hurt. How good of a defense could she mount if Cameron was incapable of healing himself at her apartment? What if he needed his sanctuary in order for the magic to work?

“Dammit,” she said under her breath. “Where is this place?”

“Make a left up ahead and head East.”

“Until?”

“Until we’re out of the city. I’ll tell you where to go next.”

“We’re going out of the city again?”

“The city isn’t safe.”

“This city is never safe.”

“Maybe not, but I just used a whole bunch of magic back there. If the magistrate’s legionnaires are hunting for signs of magical activity, they’ll be drawn to that spot like sharks to blood. And then they’ll be able to trace the magic back to me. If that happens, we need to be somewhere they won’t be able to just waltz into, and that’s my sanctuary.”

Alice nodded and did as Cameron had asked, making a left turn and driving until he told her where to go next. As the city melted away at their backs and the smell of car exhaust and wet asphalt became wet grass once again, Alice found her mind wandering in search of Isaac. According to the Ashwood Standard, Isaac was going to stand trial tonight. That should’ve already happened by now, and given that her phone—which now got plenty of reception—hadn’t yet made so much as a peep, she didn’t think it had gone well.

Whatever you do, don’t try to help me.

She had tried hard to keep that promise, but didn’t know how much longer she would be able to hold on. Maybe if she just turned herself in…

“There it is,” Cameron said, “Turn in here.”

Alice pulled the bike off the road and onto uneven ground. The bike’s front wheel ground the hard dirt and its rear wheel spat out clouds of dust as they approached what looked like some kind of compound surrounded by tall walls; the only point of entrance being a wrought iron gate. Approaching the structure caused Alice’s heart to race almost immediately, and the familiar urge to
stay the hell away
to kick in.

This was Cameron’s magic at work.

Pushing through the urge to turn the bike around and make tracks, Alice rolled up to the gate. Cameron produced a signal device out of his pocket, aimed it at the gate, and pushed the button. Slowly the gate began to open, rolling on a set of wheels underneath it. When the gate had opened far enough, Alice pulled the bike inside until she came upon another barrier—this one a simple chain-link fence.

The air here smelled earthy, thick with nature… and shit.

She turned the ignition off, put the kickstand down, and slid off the Harley. “What is this place, a zoo?” she asked as she helped Cameron off and onto his feet.

“Not a zoo,” he said, pointing just beyond the chain-link. “A sanctuary.”

There, prowling in the darkness, Alice saw shapes with golden eyes staring back at her.

CHAPTER 12

Eye of the Void

When Isaac regained consciousness, the room was already heavy with the smell of kicked up dirt and dust. He turned to his side and coughed, hoisting himself up despite the grogginess to get a good look at his surroundings. Where was he? What was he doing here? And where was Jim? His mind was blurry and slow to catch up, but when lightning crackled and raced around the cavern, his brain kicked into gear and he remembered everything.

“Jim,” he said, still coughing. “Jim, where are you?”

“Here,” said a weak voice.

The cavern trembled as Isaac fought to get to his feet, and the strength of the tremor almost sent him to the ground again, but he kept his footing and found Jim sitting up against a wall. A line of blood was trickling from the top of his head down to his chin. Fragmented pieces of rocks and dirt lay strewn all around him.

“Christ,” Isaac said as he raced toward the injured librarian. “Are you alright?”

“I think so. It’s just a scratch.”

“Can you stand?”

“I’ll try, but I think we’re locked in.”

A cold feeling filled Isaac’s stomach, and he realized as he looked for the narrow—almost telescopic—exit, that he couldn’t find it. But what he did find instead caused the cold feeling in his stomach to spread into his chest, his neck, and his arms. The portal hovering a few feet away from the central podium was a slowly churning black hole wreathed in a halo of crackling blue and violet light. Whips of arching lightning shot out of mouth of the hole to caress the cavern walls, and when the energy struck the already glowing sigils it sent a mesmerizing lightshow all around the room.

“Is that… it?” Isaac asked.

“It’s beautiful,” Jim said. “Splendid and elegant, just like everything the weavers did.”

Isaac stood and helped Jim to his feet, but he grunted when he put weight on his right foot.

“It’s alright,” Jim said, before Isaac could speak. “I think I just sprained it when I fell.”

“We need to get you out of here.”

“I won’t argue with that.” Jim rested his hand on a wall for support and looked around. “There,” he said, pointing to a section of fallen rocks. “That’s where the exit is.”

“You’re sure?” Isaac asked, approaching.

“I’m sure.”

Isaac nodded, turned to the pile of rocks, and got to work pulling them away. Smaller rocks gave way easily, but some of the larger rocks gave Isaac plenty of trouble and he knew he would need a bulldozer to clear them. Still he tried, digging his fingers into whatever nook he could to get as much grip on the rocks as possible, but the rocks refused to budge.

“Useless,” he said, wiping his brow with the back of his arm. “We need to use magic.”

“No, wait!” Jim said just as Isaac had begun to raise his hands.

Isaac turned around, puzzled. “What is it?”

“Magic—
your
magic specifically—is, I think, what caused this cave-in,” Jim said, “It could be dangerous, and moving the rocks will just take time even with magic; time we probably don’t have.”

“Do you have any suggestions?”

Jim looked around, and then shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“What about another teleportation spell?”

“Teleportation spells are incredibly complicated and highly mathematical in nature. You have to factor in the earth’s relative position in our
constantly moving
solar system, the speed the planet is moving at, and where it will be in relation to the center of the galaxy at the time of the spell’s casting… and that’s just to start.”

“Good thing there are two bright minds in here, then. And if I know you, you have a note book.”

Jim reached into his jacket pocket and produced not only a small note book, but also a pen. He smiled. “There’s always a reason to make notes.”

“That’s excellent!” Isaac said, striding across the room toward Jim feeling like they could actually do this. But the room shuddered again, and whips of lightning went racing around the walls in a flashing, electric display. Jim jerked away an instant before the electrification touched his fingers and steadied himself by reaching for a crumbled marble column, wincing from the pain of the effort. When it was over, Jim let himself slip and sat down on the floor.

“God-damn that hurt,” Jim said, cradling his ankle.

“You’ll be okay. I promise. Let’s just get ourselves out of here; this cavern isn’t stable and that open gash really
isn’t helping matters. Do you think you can do this?”

“I can do it, but I’ll need… four hours.”

“You have four
minutes
. As long as you don’t end up in outer space or inside a wall, you’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but Isaac… what about the portal?”

Isaac drew himself up and stared into the open eye of darkness in the center of the room. “What about it?”

“It won’t stay open forever.”

“I know, but my priority is getting you out first. Once you’re out, find a way to send me a message. When I get it, I’ll step through.”

“That’s a terrible plan.”

“It’s the only one I have.”

Jim nodded, but Isaac could see the lack of confidence in the librarian’s eyes. Still, one of the primary rules of survival, of life, stated that having a plan—even a bad one—was better than having no plan at all. In a few minutes, he would see if the theory would hold true yet again. For now, he needed the Good Doctor.

The shadowy, beaked figure appeared next to Isaac as if it had always been there, staring intently into the open, eerily silent black hole.

“What am I getting into?” Isaac asked in a low voice.

“The Void is a dangerous place. More dangerous than you can imagine with your human mind.”

“Have you ever been to the Void?”

“Spirits of the Tempest were not meant to travel through the Void. If you go I will follow you, but heed this warning.” The Good Doctor turned its reflective eyes on Isaac and stared down its beak at him. “When you step through that portal, you risk not only your own human life, but also my existence and the bond we share; the bond which protects the souls in our care. If you do not succeed in your quest, we will both lose.”

“Lose what?”

“Everything.”

“Isaac,” Jim said, “Do you remember the coordinates I sent you to last time?”

Isaac recanted them perfectly.

“Good, now all I have to do is figure out how much the planet has rotated since then and…”

The portal sprang to life again, shooting arcs of lightning so large and wild that Isaac had to duck behind a stone column to stop from being hit. When the lightning struck the stone, it did so with enough force to gouge a large chunk out of it. The cavern trembled again, and another piece of rock came loose from above and fell into the cavern, but this time Isaac saw something he hadn’t seen before.

As the rock fell, a plume of darkness gushed out of the opening and snatched the debris out of the air, sucking it inside. When Isaac came out of hiding, he noticed the tiny pieces of dirt and rock at his feet were quivering, and some of them were starting to roll toward the portal.

“Jim?” Isaac asked. “How close are you with that spell?”

“Teleportation magic makes rocket science look like second grade algebra—give me another minute.”

“You don’t
have
another minute. You need to go
now
.”

Isaac felt the pull of gravity on his insides, so he stepped away from the portal. It was increasing in power, Isaac was sure, and that could only mean one of two things: the portal was about to explode and then collapse into itself like a dying star, or it was about to collapse… and then explode.

We’re running out of time fast,
Isaac thought, and he turned around and crossed to where Jim was.

“Tell me you’re done,” Isaac said.

Jim looked at the four pages of notes it had taken to compute the spell. “If I’m right, this will take me back to the place where I sent you.”

“If this thing blows, that will not be far enough.”

“If this thing blows
Pluto
won’t be far enough.”

“Do you know what’s happening to the portal?”

“It’s looking for the person who opened it, and I think we’re pissing it off by waiting.”

“You’re telling me that thing can think?”

“I don’t understand it,” Jim said, standing. “But that portal looks angry, and something awful could happen if you don’t go through it soon.”

“You’re sure something awful won’t happen even if I
do
go through it?”

“No.”

“Then we’d better get you out of here and hope for the best.”

Isaac grabbed the note book and held it open in front of Jim, who immediately began to recite and chant the same incantation Isaac had used to get out of the apartment earlier. But Isaac couldn’t hear Jim over the sound of his own thumping heart. He was shaking, his pulse was like a jackhammer beating against the back of his ribcage, and breathing comfortably wasn’t an option.

Come on, Jim,
he thought to himself, and then the rings on Jim’s fingers began to shine with soft blue light. Isaac’s own body began to vibrate as a rush of joy filled him. The magic was working. Isaac smiled at Jim and nodded. “Godspeed,” he said as a shower of blue light motes began to envelop Jim’s body, “Godspeed to us both.”

A loud crack accompanied the rumble of thunder, and a powerful force hurled Jim and Isaac across the room in separate directions. Isaac struck the cavern wall hard and landed on his front, coughing and dizzy from the force of the impact. The world spun for a moment until it righted itself. The cavern was trembling now, and angry arcs of lightning were sparking all around the room, igniting the sigils on the walls in pulses of light.

“Jim!” Isaac said, shouting over the grumble of the collapsing cavern.

“It didn’t work!” Jim said, “Some kind of interference.”

Isaac got to his feet again and took a step, two, then lost his footing and fell to his knees.

“You have to go through,” Jim said.

Isaac stood again and fought to get to Jim’s side. “No,” Isaac said, “I won’t leave you behind. Come with me.”

“I can’t, Isaac. That portal will only accept you.”

“I’m not going to leave you behind.”

Jim smiled, but it was a sad smile. “It doesn’t look like you have a choice, my friend.”