Modern Sorcery: A Jonathan Shade Novel (28 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

I lay in a strange bed, trying to find a position that didn’t hurt.
 
Every time I moved, it sent shards of pain slicing through my ribs, shoulder, back, legs, and arms.
 
I felt like Indiana Jones when Marion asked him where it didn’t hurt, except my elbow hurt too.

Kelly was already asleep in the next bed.
 
Must be nice not to feel pain.

Esther stretched out on the bed beside me.
 
“Can’t sleep?” she asked.

“Bingo,” I whispered.

“If I were alive, I could give you a nice massage and we could fool around all night.”

“Hedonist.”

“You don’t have to whisper.
 
Kelly’s asleep.”

Kelly could sleep through an atomic blast, but if you stepped within two feet of her, she’d wake instantly, even if you weren’t breathing.
 
Simply displacing the air seemed to alert her.
 
But Esther was right, I didn’t need to whisper.

I rolled onto my side to face her, and I wished she were Naomi and that things were different.
 
Thinking about Naomi, I had to sigh.
 
I’d failed her.
 
I knew that in order to get Ravenwood, Naomi would probably have to die.
 
Either he’d kill her trying to escape or we’d have to kill her to get him.
 
I felt like I was betraying her by even thinking about it.

More than that, I wasn’t sure I could do it.

Ravenwood wanted me dead, but other than that, I didn’t care much about his plans.
 
He could do to the wizards whatever he saw fit.
 
They were a bunch of stuck-up douche bags, and Kelly was right that not one of them had any backbone.
 
They couldn’t be trusted except to act in their own best interests and even then only if it didn’t pose some risk to their status in the Council.
 
They’d all been running scared for years, and whenever a group of them tried to do something different, such as creating the Sekutar warriors, it blew up in their faces.

There were lone wizards who were okay, but those who tried to work together always ended up deferring to whomever was in charge out of fear.

“Smoke is coming out your ears,” Esther said.
 
“You must be trying to think.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s all berries.”
 
She gazed at me for a moment.
 
“You’re thinking you’ll have to take Naomi for a ride, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t like her, but I don’t want to see you hurting.
 
If anyone can save her, it’s you.
 
When you get her out, are you going to give each other handcuffs?”

“Kinky.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Rings?”

“Yes, but the other handcuffs might be fun too.
 
If I were alive, I’d let you handcuff me.”

I grinned.
 
“Which kind of handcuffs?”

She winked at me.
 
“Whichever kind you want.”

“Jonathan?” Kelly said.

“Sorry, did we wake you?”

“No.
 
I haven’t been able to sleep.”
 
She sat up in bed.

I painfully turned to face her.
 
“Me either.”

“You’re too busy getting Esther all hot and bothered.”

“She started it.”

“She’s safe.”

“What?”

“You know I love you like a brother,” Kelly said.
 
“And normally I wouldn’t tell you this, but—”

“It’s okay, Kelly.
 
You’ve had the hots for me for years.
 
I know.
 
And you’re looking mighty hot in that little black sports bra.”

“You wish,” she said.
 
She was wearing the bra.
 
We’d sent our clothes down to be cleaned, so we were stuck in our underwear.

“No, you really do look hot.”

“And you’re trying to make jokes to avoid a serious discussion.”

“Guilty as charged,” I said.

“You need to hear this, though.
 
If we can save Naomi, and understand, that’s a big if—”

“I know.”

“But
if
we can do it and you two try to have a relationship, you have to open up to her.”
 
Kelly took a moment to collect her thoughts then spoke some of the truest words she’d ever said to me.
 
“In the years I’ve known you, you haven’t had any relationship that lasted more than six months.”

I started to interrupt, but Kelly shook her head.

“Let me finish,” she said.
 
“You do great for a while, but the only women who always stay part of your life are Esther, Sharon, and me.
 
Do you know why that is?”

“Because you’re all awesome?”

“Because we’re safe.
 
Esther is dead; Sharon is, well, she is what she is; and I’m like your older sister.
 
My point is that once a relationship gets to the point where you need to take things to another level, you end things.
 
The girl is too serious.
 
Or you do stupid things to sabotage it like showing off the fact that magic doesn’t affect you, which didn’t exactly endear you to the Miller family.”

“Naomi ended it, not me.”

“You pushed her to it.
 
She clearly wanted to take things further.
 
You wouldn’t open up, and she finally gave up and moved on.
 
I can tell from the way you look at her that you’re still in love with her.
 
I’ll admit that I haven’t paid much attention to how she’s looking at you because I just want to strangle her, but if we can save her and if she feels like you do, I will promise to be nice to her.
 
And
you
need to open your heart to her.
 
I know it’s a risk, but you need to do it and see what happens.”

With that, she pulled up the covers, lay back, and went to sleep.

I lay there in the dark with her words echoing in my brain.
 
I turned back toward Esther, who shook her head.

“I’m not going to be nice to her,” Esther said.
 
“You can cash that check at another bank.”

The next morning, I woke up stiff and hurting.
 
I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t cooperate.
 
I heard water running, so Kelly was in the shower.
 
I glanced at the clock: 7:45.
 
I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but a few minutes later, the water stopped.
 
A few minutes after that, Kelly came out dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, only they were cleaned and pressed.
 
I must have slept through the hotel staff returning our clothes.
 
Kelly’s hair was still wet.

“Shower’s all yours,” she said.

“Tomorrow.”

“All the excitement has caught up to you.”
 
She approached the bed.
 
“Turn over.”

I struggled to comply.
 
She tossed the covers aside and began to massage my shoulders.
 
It hurt like hell.

“Ow!” I said.

“Crybaby.”

She didn’t ease up on the pressure.
 
She massaged me hard and added extra pressure to certain points.
 
I was being tortured, but fifteen minutes later, my stiff muscles felt much more supple, and the pain was mostly gone.

“Drink a lot of water,” she said.

“Thanks.”

“Grab your shower.”

I got up and looked around.
 
“Where’s Esther?”

“Keeping tabs on Ravenwood.”

“Cool.”

“You’d better hurry, though.
 
She’s hoping to pop into the shower with you.”

“That would be a lot more fun if she weren’t a ghost.”

“Go,” Kelly said.

I showered without a ghostly voyeur then joined Kelly in the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
 
Esther showed up as I was finishing my bacon and eggs.

“Ravenwood is at DGI,” Esther said.
 
“Do we have a plan?”

“Yes,” I said.
 
“I plan to get another serving of eggs from the buffet.”

“We’re waiting to hear back from Sharon,” Kelly said.

“I haven’t even met her, and she creeps me out,” Esther said.

Kelly nodded.
 
“Me too.”

“Really?”

“She’s freaky,” Kelly said.

I laughed.
 
“That is the technical term.
 
She’s supposed to be clearing her schedule for this afternoon.
 
I’m expecting her to call anytime now.”

“You’re banking on her helping us,” Kelly said.

“Without her, we’re screwed.”

“You don’t want to owe her.”

“I have the payment.”

“You haven’t used the tokens to get her to come out here, right?”

“I’m hoping she’ll want a different payment.”

“What are the tokens?” Esther asked.

I dug them out of my pocket and showed them to her.
 
They were ancient, silver coins.

Esther marveled at them.
 
“They must be worth a fortune.”

I shook my head.
 
“Not here.”

“At the risk of being pushy, you should call her,” Kelly said.

I nodded, put the tokens back in my pocket, and took out my cell phone.
 
I placed the call, and Sharon answered on the second ring.

“I was about to call you,” she said without a greeting.

“Were your ears burning?”

“I’d like to meet this Blake Ravenwood.
 
It isn’t every day one gets to meet a mythological figure.”

“Ha!
 
Speak for yourself.
 
Shall we discuss payment?”

“Where are you?”

I told her.

“Be there in a minute.”

She was actually there in five seconds.
 
I had time to flip my phone closed and stick it in my pocket before she entered the restaurant.

“How did she get here so fast?” Esther asked.

“She opened a rift,” I said, but Esther didn’t hear me because Sharon held her gaze.

“Hello, Esther Carmichael,” Sharon said as she approached the table.
 
“You missed our appointment back in 1929.”

Esther’s eyes opened wide, and she staggered through the table.
 
“Y-you’re Death?”

Sharon laughed.
 
“Not exactly.
 
I’ve been known to ferry souls to the afterlife.
 
My name is Charon,” she said, pronouncing it with the hard
K
sound.
 
“But these days I go by Sharon.”

Kelly and Sharon had met before.
 
That had been a fun night with Kelly saying she thought Charon was a man.
 
I expected them to come to blows, but Sharon had been amused and said sometimes she’s a man and sometimes she isn’t.

“You’re not worried about the other customers seeing and hearing you?” Esther asked, still standing in the center of the table.

“Not really.”

Of course, mundanes would simply see a sharply dressed woman joining friends for breakfast.
 
If they tried to listen, they wouldn’t be able to understand the words.
 
They’d sound like a foreign language unless she chose to include them in the conversation or they were within an hour of death.

“Thanks for coming,” I said.

Sharon sat down and nodded to Kelly.

“I have to know,” Kelly said.
 
“Why do you want to be a librarian?”

“Librarians have more fun,” Sharon said.
 
“Beyond that, I love having instant access to knowledge all around me.”

“About the payment,” I said.
 
“I need to know what your help is going to cost me.”

“Not the tokens,” she said.
 
“You may need them but hopefully not today.
 
As for payment, I might not charge you.”

“That’s not good enough,” Kelly said.
 
“Like the song says, don’t pay the ferryman.”

Sharon spread her hands.
 
“As I don’t know what may be required of me, I can’t set a price just yet.
 
I’ve not seen the spirit of a sorcerer in centuries.
 
Sorcerers and wizards usually die horrible deaths that destroy their souls.
 
Magic has a heavy price, after all.”

“So what happens if we get there and your price doesn’t work for us?”

“Then don’t pay.
 
You can handle things for yourselves, and I’ll go back to my stacks.”

“Good enough for me,” I said, knowing Sharon would cut me some slack due to our history.
 
“Esther, can you check on Ravenwood?”

“Sure.”

“I’d like to go with you,” Sharon said.

“Fuck that,” Esther said and popped away.

Sharon laughed.
 
“Spunky.
 
I like her.”

“She really had an appointment with you back in 1929?”

Sharon shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I only said that to get a reaction.”

“That’s not very nice,” Kelly said.

“This coming from
you
?
”

Esther popped back and kept her distance from Sharon.
 
“Ravenwood is still at DGI.
 
He’s holding a meeting.
 
Mike Endar is there, and Ravenwood told him to check the room.
 
When Endar pulled out his glasses, I knew it was time to scram.
 
I can hide behind one person, but if two can see me . . .”