Science and Sorcery (41 page)

“I know,” he said, remembering what she'd said.  New York was his city; it had its failings, and he’d seen most of them as a policeman, but he couldn't just walk away.  “I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't try.”

“I understand,” Caitlyn said.  She forgot discretion and pulled him into a hug, which became a kiss.  “Don't you dare come back dead, or a zombie.  The Mayor is giving everyone the shivers.”

Matt nodded, sourly.  He’d had no respect for the Mayor even before the crisis had begun – the man had been too intent on politics instead of real policing and preferred politically correct nonsense to actual reports – but no one deserved to be turned into a zombie.  Calvin had admitted that he'd used a mind control spell to rape Marie, whom he’d later killed, and
that
had been a minor joke compared to shattering the Mayor’s mind.  All the politician could do was babble out Harrow’s message, time and time again.

A thought struck him.  “We should tell the entire world her name,” he said.  “Make them
all
say it regularly.”

Caitlyn gave him a sharp look, and then started to laugh.  “She wouldn't know where to look,” she said, in delight.  “That’s...
evil
.”

“Check with Golem first, make sure that she wouldn't be able to lash out at the speakers,” Matt warned.  “And if she can’t, put it on the news and encourage people to speak her name.”

He picked up the body armour the researchers had modified and started to put it on.  “One way or the other, we’re going to need every advantage we can get,” he added.  “Caitlyn...”

“I understand,” Caitlyn said, quietly.  Matt saw tears shining at the corner of her eyes.  “Come back alive, all right?” 

***

“You have
got
to be joking,” Miss Reynolds said, flatly.  “You shouldn't be
anywhere
near the mission.”

Mindy sighed.  Just like every other adult in the world, Miss Reynolds only listened to kids when it suited her to listen.  “Calvin says that I have to go,” she said.  “My magic is linked to him, somehow, and he is linked to...
her
.”

“And Calvin was also working for her,” Miss Reynolds pointed out.  “At the very least, he has consistently shown poor judgement...”

“He
died
for me,” Mindy said, feeling the old helpless rage bubbling up inside her mind.  Calvin had been helpless and angry because of how his peers had treated him, but Mindy had been frustrated because she hadn't been allowed to advance at her own pace.  She was far smarter than the other kids in her grade, partly because she’d done her own studies using her brother’s books.  “I have to go on the mission.”

“You shouldn't be sent into danger,” Miss Reynolds said.  She hesitated.  “But Agent Lyle seems to have decided that you can be allowed to accompany the team.  It is criminally insane to send a child on such a mission.”

Calvin, invisible to everyone but Mindy, whispered in her ear.  “I’m the only one who can go,” she said, repeating what her brother’s ghost had said.  “You need me to lead you to the Queen of Nightmares.”

“So you have said,” Miss Reynolds said.  “We will just have to pray that you don’t need body armour, for we never made any for you.”

Mindy shrugged.  The researchers had been working on body armour that offered some protection against magic – she’d been allowed to help them, which had given her the sense that she was really doing something
useful
– but they hadn't made any for her.  None of them had realised that they would need Mindy as part of the team until it was too late.  All she really had to defend herself were the spells Calvin had passed on to her, including tricks that might defeat Harrow, and a small bodyguard of dangerous men who treated her like a queen. 

“Silly girl,” Miss Reynolds said, as she turned to leave.  “Be at the helipad in twenty minutes.”

“I could turn her into a toad,” Mindy muttered, as the door closed behind her.  “Or maybe trick her into looking for the wrong set of droids.”

“That’s how I got into trouble,” Calvin said.  “I used my powers for personal gain.”

Talking to her brother as a ghost was
eerie
, even though it was also better than talking to her parents.  Right now, of course, her parents didn't want to talk to her.  She hadn't even been able to tell them that Calvin wasn't dead.  Well, he
was
dead – but he’d come back as a ghost. 

“With great power comes great responsibility,” Mindy said, solemnly.  She’d watched all of the Spiderman movies, enjoying every moment.  Peter Parker – the actor playing Peter Parker – had been cute and funny, rather like her brother.  “Why didn't you learn that before it was too late?”

“I was a fool,” Calvin admitted.  “I don’t want you to be a fool too.”

Somehow, having her brother admit to his foolishness showed her precisely what they’d lost.  Her family would never be the same again; her life would be forever twisted by magic. 

“You gave your life for me,” Mindy said, as she stood up.  At least she had been able to find a small set of clothing that would provide
some
protection.  Calvin’s protective spells would add more.  “I won’t let that go to waste.”

Chapter Forty-One

New York, USA

Day 37

Harrow staggered under the weight of so many minds.

She’d never held so many minds in thrall before; offhand, she couldn't think of any sorcerer who had come even remotely close to controlling so many mundanes at once.  Even the ones she had merely influenced, instead of controlling, were linked to her mind through the dreaming, leaving them in a waking dream that had become a nightmare.  Her servants, the ones she'd brainwashed into obeying her, were doing what they could, but mind control spells had their limits.  The ones who were brainwashed completely lost all of their ability to think for themselves and the ones struck with simple loyalty spells were only doing what she told them to do, nothing else. 

Harrow hadn't anticipated what would happen when she used her talents, but then how could she?  There had never been a city as big as New York in her time, certainly not one so densely populated.  And none of these mundanes knew their place.  In her time, she could have scared most of them into behaving themselves, but here they kept trying to fight her the moment her control relaxed.  So far, there had been no response from the local government to her offer of a truce, yet she couldn't help wondering if they’d realised that she’d bitten off more than she could chew.  Sorcerers who spread their minds too far tended to eventually lose all cohesion and die.

But she had survived Enchanter’s prison, where the only thing between her and death had been her sense of self.  Right now, she
couldn't
spread herself far enough to kill her, even if she couldn't secure her control over the city.  Given enough time, she’d have enough loyalists to take control of the mundanes, allowing her to relax.  And then she could proceed with her original plan. 

Calvin’s memories had never suggested the danger, but then she hadn't really taught him to be aware of the limits of magic.  Or, rather, the limits of the human mind. 
Mana
needed direction to be focused and that direction could only come from a human mind, one with the discipline to impose its will on the universe.  Harrow was easily the most advanced sorceress in the modern world, at least until the remainder of the Thirteen emerged from their cage, but even she had difficulty handling so many different problems at once.  It didn't help that local
mana
levels were already dropping because of her demand.

She stood up, staring out over Manhattan.  Flames and smoke drifted up from unattended fires, where her mobs had gotten out of control; she could hear alarms howling all over the city.  The modern city was so big...but it had fallen.  There was no true opposition left, even among those stubborn enough to hold out against the mobs or her mental pressure.  She could relax slightly and allow the mobs to roam the streets, while she gathered herself for the next phase.  Locating other magicians wouldn't take long at all.  One advantage of the city’s sheer size was that it
had
to have a number of potential magicians within her sphere of control.  And they could be sacrificed to boost her power, even if she did have to do it personally.

And then, with enough power, she could start unlocking the rest of the prisons.

She stopped as something caught her attention.  Someone was saying her name, the name she had chosen and bound to her power.  She could hear him...and then there was another, and another, and another.  Hundreds of thousands of people were saying her name.  Her mind started to jump from place to place as they spoke, confusing her; suddenly, it was hard to hold her thoughts together.  They were
all
saying her name.

***

“Fucking eerie,” Matt muttered, as the Coast Guard boat turned into Long Island Sound.  “Look at the sky.”

Manhattan seemed to be wrapped in dark clouds that glowed with an eerie, unpleasant light.  Brilliant flashes of lightning seemed to break through the gloom for a long moment, before fading away and vanishing into nothingness.  A cold wind blew from the city, carrying with it hints of fire and death.  The Coast Guard had reported that hundreds of boats had fled the city in the early hours of Harrow’s conquest, but now they were alone on the waters.  Harrow didn't seem to have thought about capturing the patrol boats before it was too late. 

Water transport was less important in her day
, he thought, remembering Golem’s endless lectures.  Magic had screwed up the world, providing portals that allowed people to step from one town to another instantly, rather than risk a long journey through the wilderness.  He wondered just how it must have been when the magic had faded away, shattering trading networks that then had to be rebuilt, with roads instead of magic paths.  Golem had talked about spells to deter bandits from attacking travellers, spells that must have failed along with the rest of the magic.  The bandits must have had a field day before the swordsmen built proper armies. 

New York itself looked strange, almost alien.  The massive skyscrapers seemed to cast long shadows that didn't quite match their shapes, while there were very faint distortions running through the air that reminded him of the desperate encounter at Arlington.  He couldn’t tell if Harrow was already sacrificing hundreds of people or if it was just a side effect of her presence, but it sent a chill running down his spine.  It was impossible to ward something the size of New York, according to Golem, yet there was no reason why Harrow couldn't have scattered a thousand warning spells around the city.  She might know they were coming already.

But she should be distracted
, he thought.  The media had been ordered to tell everyone to say the name Harrow, time and time again.  If only ten percent of the American population said her name, it would be spoken
millions
of times.  Matt wasn't entirely sure of the link between Harrow, her power and her name, but Golem seemed convinced that she would hear every single time it was uttered.  It wouldn't have been a danger in her time, yet in the modern world it would be a massive distraction.  They’d just have to hope that she couldn't retaliate against the speakers.

“The mobs just seem to be roaming at random,” Lesage said.  The SEAL held out a small pocket terminal, hardened against EMP and electronic distortion.  No one knew just how well it would perform in a high-
mana
environment, although the WANDs indicated that the
mana
level was definitely dropping.  “If there’s a pattern there, we can't see it.”

Matt scowled.  In his experience, mobs tended to lash out at everyone nearby and then loot, pillage and steal before the cops arrived.  The fact that Harrow’s mobs
weren't
causing more than a limited amount of property damage suggested that she was keeping them under firm control, yet why was she allowing them to run riot at all?  She might be searching for stragglers, assuming that there were people who had managed to keep their minds shielded against her, or she might be relaxing her grip.  There was no way to know. 

“Yeah,” he said, finally.  On the downside, the speed that the mobs moved though the city would make them damn hard to avoid.  “Where do you want to dock?”

Lesage shot him a sharp look.  The SEALs would have preferred to make their approach to the city underwater, or on one-man gliders, but most of the team was utterly untrained in their favoured infiltration tactics.  And Golem was probably too heavy to use a glider.  He’d told Matt how he’d walked from Atlantis to the United States, completely underwater. 

“Here,” Lesage said, finally.  “The UAVs think there’s no one nearby, so we can come ashore and start walking into the city.  You got a location for the bitch yet?”

“Here,” Misty called.  She’d been working with Mindy – and Calvin – to locate Harrow, by taking bearings as they approached the city.  “I think she’s near the Empire State Building.”

Matt winced.  If places of power were places that had been touched by trauma, Harrow wasn't too far away from the former World Trade Centre, a place that might well be usable in a bid to release the rest of the Thirteen.  It was just another confirmation that they needed to learn much more about how magic worked before the remainder of the Thirteen got free.  Jorlem was already suggesting that the Thirteen wouldn't stand a chance, assuming that the modern world had a year or two to develop new tactics that combined science and magic.  But how long would they have before the shit hit the fan.

He smiled at the thought, glancing at his watch.  They had six hours, thirty-seven minutes before the nuke was launched at New York City.  If Harrow wasn't dead by then, New York would fry, along with its entire population.  They had to stop it, whatever it took.  And if the nuke didn't kill her...

“They made themselves immortal,” Golem had said.  But he didn't know
how
– and all of their speculation had turned up nothing more than useless theories.  “The best we might be able to do is render them helpless.”

Matt looked up again at the looming skyscrapers and shuddered.  Rendering a magician, even someone untrained, helpless was clearly easier said than done. 

“Here we go,” Lesage said.  There were two SEAL teams on the boat; one to provide an escort, one to spread out through the city and provide a diversion.  They were the best America could produce, Lesage had assured him, but Matt hadn't been able to avoid the feeling that they were going to their deaths.  “Once we pull into the dock, I want a complete sweep of the surrounding area.”

Matt braced himself, holding his rifle in one hand, as the boat slipped into the private dock.  The SEALs moved at once, jumping out of the boat and spreading out, hunting through nearby facilities for any signs of life.  Matt listened as the reports came in, one by one, announcing the discovery of several dead bodies, all torn apart by brute force.  There was no sign of anyone living.

“I saw something like this in Yemen,” a SEAL said.  “There was a shopkeeper who was accused by his enemies of selling food contaminated by pork.  The mob just appeared out of nowhere and tore him apart.”

“Bastards,” Lesage commented.  “Matt, the local area is secure.  It's time to move.”

Matt looked over at Misty, who looked terrified, and Mindy, who seemed to take it all in stride.  But then, the ghost of her brother was right behind her, barely visible even to Matt.  The local
mana
field was definitely weakening; as far as they’d been able to tell from a handful of tests, ghosts drew on the
mana
field too.  And then they were only visible to people with magic sensitivity of their own.  Golem was the only one who looked completely calm and it was impossible to pick out expressions on his face anyway.

“Come on,” he said, quietly.  “It's time to go.”

***

Mindy could
feel
Harrow’s presence pervading the air as she climbed out of the boat and started to walk towards the edge of the dock, her legs still wobbly from the voyage.  The evil sorceress seemed to have the entire city under her control, even those who weren't under her direct control were absorbing some of her influence.  Calvin had no idea how she managed to maintain a field of such power, but everyone within its sphere of influence would fall to her, sooner or later.  Mindy could understand, finally, why Calvin had allowed himself to be lured astray.  Harrow had the power to seduce almost anyone. 

Mindy had grown up in the suburbs and she’d only visited Manhattan once, back when her family had attended a memorial ceremony for those who had died on 9/11, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to be deserted, even now.  There should have been vast numbers of people thronging through the city, yet the streets were empty, without even a single moving car.  She could hear the sounds of animals roaring in the distance, but she couldn't see a single living creature.

The streets were littered with crashed cars, as if the drivers had been in motion when they’d collapsed into madness and slammed their cars into other cars, or the nearest building.  She caught sight of a body within one of the cars and shuddered, doing her best to conceal her reaction so that Miss Reynolds wouldn't see and send her back to the boat.  It was funny, but she’d never realised what death actually was, not until she’d grasped the true nature of Calvin’s crimes.  His victims would never be able to return to life, even when the
mana
field rose to truly vast levels.  The best any necromancer could do was either reanimate their body, creating a zombie-like creature, or summon a spirit back to the mortal world.  And Calvin’s sacrifices might have even swallowed up their souls...