Zombies Sold Separately (32 page)

I waited for him to gather himself and tried not to let the feeling of sadness take away from my concentration on what was happening now, in this world.

When I finally spoke, I said, “One is from Otherworld.” I gestured toward the larger of the two still-wrapped stones, then to the smaller one. “The other we got a hold of last night.”

“Have you touched either of them?” Desmond asked.

“The larger one, when I brought it back from Otherworld,” I said. “I haven’t touched it since the Magi gave me the cloths and told me to keep it wrapped.”

“Damn.” The Sorcerer pushed his hand through his wavy hair. “You touched one.” He stood and pointed at me. “I have no choice but to do this.”

Desmond’s finger sizzled green right before he zapped me with a powerful dose of magic. An electrical sensation rolled over my skin. I tried to move but I was frozen in place. It was a helpless feeling and my chest constricted with fear.

My heart pounded. I couldn’t move my lips, much less speak, as he strode over to me. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn’t as he pushed my hair from the left side of my face and looked behind my ear.

He gave what sounded like a sigh of relief. “It must be benign if there was no instant transfer.”

A moment later I could move again.

As he went back to his seat on the couch I straightened in my chair, narrowed my eyes and glared. “Don’t ever do that again, unless you want to be eating one of your own paintings.”

“I needed to make sure you were not a Host since you have touched a stone,” he said.

I was still glaring at him. “Why did you look behind my ear?”

“When a Sentient takes a Host body and removes its essence,” Desmond said, “the entry and exit point are always behind the left ear. Neurologically this is because it is the analytical part of the brain that processes the information it receives and allows the Sentient to take control of the Host.”

Science and Sorcerers. It still took me aback as he explained.

“The fact that you touched a stone can draw the Sentients and Zombies in,” Desmond continued.

“That must have be how the coffee shop attack happened to me and Colin, another Tracker,” I said.

Desmond nodded in agreement. “That is how it happens.”

I tried to process the information he was giving me even as I asked, “So what does this have to do with why you were looking behind my ear?”

“There is always a burn mark behind the left ear where the entry and exit point is,” he said. “When it heals, which is very fast, a scar remains.”

“In the shape of a crescent?” I pictured both Olivia and Candace Moreno. He nodded and I said, “When we were leaving I saw a mark like that behind my partner’s ear.”

He nodded. “That is correct.”

I gestured toward the second stone. “And I noticed one on Candace after she was hit by the truck.”

“Explain.” He looked with a wary gaze at the stone. “Although I have a good idea of what you have here.”

I told him what had happened and about what looked like a real woman in the stone.

Desmond pulled the chain on a Tiffany lamp on an end table. Muted patterns of green, blue, purple, and orange scattered on the coffee table as the light made its way through the lampshade’s colored glass. “Go ahead and unwrap the stones,” he said.

I started with the smaller one and turned it so that the glossy side was facing us. The woman was in the stone just like she had been last night.

Desmond was studying the stone but not touching it. Almost like a doctor examining a patient.

I leaned forward so that my forearms were resting on my thighs again. My eyes met Desmond’s. “She’s in there, isn’t she? The woman’s essence was stolen and put in that stone.”

“Yes.” The Sorcerer’s voice was quiet. “And a Sentient took control of her body.” He moved his gaze from the stone to me. “Where is the Host now?”

“Probably in the infirmary,” I said. “She was hit by a truck and went into a coma. At least I hope she’s still alive.”

“She is,” Desmond said. “Or the stone would be empty. If the Host body dies then the essence dies in the stone as well.”

I thought about Olivia. “What about my partner? Where is the stone that contains her essence? Is it possible to return her to her normal self?”

“Yes, it is possible,” he said. “If you can get the stone back from the Sorcerer in the Doran Otherworld.”

“She’s not here anymore?” My skin went cold. “How do I get to her and bring her home?”

“I have to think on it.” Desmond stood and started pacing again. “I didn’t expect this to happen here so I am unprepared.” He stopped and his expression was serious. “It won’t be easy, but I will do whatever I can to aid you and the people of my adopted world.”

“Thank you.” Thoughts of Olivia made it hard to concentrate on anything else. “How is it that you didn’t hear about the disappearances and the attacks on all the media reports,” I asked.

“When I came here, I chose a lonely life,” he said “I do what I love and I love to paint. It is how I make a living. I visit with very few people and choose not to get involved in this world in any other way. I watch no television nor read any newspapers. So that is why I have missed any reports.”

I drew out my cell phone. “I need to call my boss again.”

When I reached Rodán I explained that I was in Greenwich Village with the Sorcerer, and then I told him about the crescent-shaped burn mark. “Hold on a second,” I said to Rodán.

To Desmond I said, “Wouldn’t the mark heal or go away when a being shifts?” I asked. “Like a Doppler, Shifter, or other being that can transform?”

Desmond shook his head. “It is a permanent mark magically received so it cannot be removed by any means.”

I relayed that information to Rodán. “Check Lawan,” I added. “She was missing for that time period and didn’t call in.”

I told Rodán that I’d be getting back with him again to explain what I was learning about everything that was happening. “The enemy knows all that Olivia would know,” I added. “We have to be on high alert from this point on.”

When I ended the call, I looked at the essence of Candace Moreno. “What’s going on in there with her?”

“Time means nothing to a being when his or her essence is transferred to a stone.” Desmond glanced at Candace. “What will be years to us will be but moments to them. At least they have that.” He picked up the cloth and dropped it over the stone and I couldn’t see Candace anymore. “Like the Magi told you, cover it and keep it safe.”

“If the Sorcerer takes all of the stones,” I asked as I took the cloth and wrapped the stone, “why is this one here?” I slipped the stone into my purse.

“It is likely she had just taken over the Host and had not returned to Amory yet,” Desmond said. “Which would mean she is not sealed by the Sorcerer.”

“You mentioned sealing earlier,” I said, “but I’m not clear on it.”

“Because the Candace Host is probably not sealed, another being could take the place of the Sentient who made Candace her Host,” Desmond said.

“Which probably makes it still dangerous to touch,” I said.

“Yes.” Desmond gestured to the other stone on the table. “Let’s see that one.”

When it was sitting on the table, Desmond was staring at it with shock on his features. “You have a keystone.” He looked at me. “A
keystone
.”

“That’s what the Magi called it.” My stomach did a little flip from either excitement or concern, I wasn’t sure.

“Incredible.” He leaned forward from his seat on the couch but didn’t touch it. “You obtained this in Otherworld?”

I nodded. “I’m not sure how it was found but a Drow Seer kept it all of these years.”

“This stone will help you find a portal to Doran.” Desmond flicked his gaze to me. “It will help you get to the world where your friend’s essence is being kept in a stone.”

“How?” I asked.

“When we’re ready,” he said, “it will show us.”

I thought about that for a moment. “Are you sure?”

Desmond rubbed his jaw again. What hours ago had been a day’s growth of stubble now looked like two days’ worth. “I will show you how it works once you are prepared.”

I told him what happened with the Magi with the keystone. That I’d seen New York City, then a world of incredible beauty with lavender skies, and a man. I described the male I’d seen, one with a featureless face and colorless skin.

Desmond didn’t say anything so I asked, “Where do we go from here?”

“First,” he said, “tell me what’s been happening.”

I started from where I came in—the massacre at Riverside Park, our research on other instances, and even what seemed like ties to the homeless.

“What people are seeing are not homeless people,” Desmond said when I paused. “Zombies and Sentients have been sent here on a mission.”

I gave a frustrated shake of my head. “What is this mission and what is happening?”

“The Sorcerer isn’t just taking Host bodies.” Desmond sighed. “He’s infiltrating this world and he intends to conquer it.”

“That’s impossible,” I said.

He cocked an eyebrow and I was reminded of the conversation with Colin when Desmond said, “Is it?”

“Please continue,” I said.

“Amory and his people are ruthless, aggressive conquerors.” As Desmond told me that Amory’s people had probably been here for months, more and more horror twisted my gut. According to Desmond, Amory and his people were likely busy transforming Hosts and testing the atmosphere.

His expression was grim. “They will and probably have been infiltrating major financial hubs, military, law enforcement, municipal and national governments, and those in control of natural and synthetic resources. As I said earlier, they will take people of influence and power as Hosts first.”

“But why was he going after the homeless people first? That was where the attacks began.” I explained how reports said that people claimed they were attacked by homeless individuals.

“I don’t think he would go after the homeless at all,” Desmond said. “My guess is that perhaps the portal is near a homeless shelter. The high numbers being reported of homeless people are actually Sentients who have crossed over and have not yet found their Hosts. That, and it could be their Shells, or Zombies, left behind that were not well programmed by Amory.

“As far as Zombies go,” Desmond went on, “the desire to destroy is difficult to contain in a Zombie, even for Amory. They have an instinct to feed. That instinct actually originates in the Sentient who now lives in the new Host. There is some connection there.”

Desmond frowned. “The Sentient in the new Host draws power and energy from those beings which the Zombies kills. Eventually when all of the Sentients have found Hosts, Amory will release the Zombies on those he does not want spared in order to strengthen his people with the power and energy of others.”

I sat there overwhelmed. It all had a surreal feel to it.

“Once they have control, those beings who Amory does want spared from the Zombies will be enslaved.” Desmond stared a long time at the keystone. “The Sentients would have lists,” he said. “Lists of norms and paranorms who they want as Hosts and those they will enslave. Likely all paranorms and then those norms who are in positions of power as I mentioned.”

Unreal. All of it. “How are these lists prepared,” I asked.

“Amory likely had his trusted people visit this world. They would have carried stones. Those stones would draw in the profiles of every person. They would categorize and prioritize who he wants to take as Hosts, who he wants as slaves, and who’s left would be for his Zombies to devour. The stones do the work for him and gather all the information he needs.”

Desmond explained more about how Amory and his people took over Doran and its people, and how Desmond no longer had magic in that world.

“What he hasn’t known,” Desmond said, “is that I’ve been here and that I have power in this Otherworld. He may now know I am here, but he couldn’t possibly know I have my powers. He will not view me as a threat. If he sent your friend’s Host and the Sentients after me it could be that he does know or they could have been after you. Whatever the case in the end, he will view me as a mere inconvenience.”

“Why is the Sorcerer bent on infiltrating and ruling this Earth Otherworld?” I said.

“Like we spoke about earlier, my world must have turned on him and his people, too.” Desmond started tapping his fingers on the edge of the couch. Green sparks of light trickled from his fingertips and bounced on the floor until they rolled away and disappeared.

“There is only one way we’ll be able to defeat the Sorcerer.” Desmond was staring in the direction of a painting of a forest in moonlight and he seemed to be speaking to himself. “What must be done, must be done. We have a lot of work to do.”

I was grateful that he’d said
we
.

I wasn’t so grateful when he said, “You will need to switch bodies with a Sentient so that you can find the portal and infiltrate the Sorcerer’s world.”

My jaw dropped. “You want me to go into a stone?”