“But I’m not,” says the young Hildy. “I take over your mind before he gets anywhere near you. You won’t experience Hell; it will be like you’re asleep.” Her bottom lip trembles with emotion. “Let me do that for you.”
“No way,” Marcus laughs, but the pitch is too high to be believable. “Just because you’re a prodigy, you think you have to cover everyone else’s ass.” His voice lowers and his eyes fill with love. “Let me do this for you. You’ve had enough pain.”
Hildy looks away. “If you say so.”
Marcus offers her a shaky smile. “You have my Looking Glass still, don’t you?”
Hildy pulls up the sleeve on her right arm, showing another purple looking glass there, this one holding Marcus’s image.
He shakes his head in amazement. “How do you have two going at once? Few casters can manage one.”
Hildy smiles. “Let’s say I’m motivated.” Marcus closes his eyes, and Hildy’s turn completely white.
“You know the rules,” snaps the Teschio. “You’re not allowed to telepathically communicate without permission.”
“Thank you, Hildy.” Marcus opens his eyes. “Same here.”
Hildy’s pupils return to their mismatched hues. “Good.”
“Enough idle chatter,” snaps the Teschio. “Where is our esteemed client?”
Hildy checks the Looking Glass on her opposite wrist. “Arriving right…Now.”
“Hello everyone!” Connor strides through the entryway.
“Welcome, Your Highness.” The Teschio gestures with his bony arm to the interior of the room. “Let me introduce you to Hildegard.”
Connor claps his hands together. “Well met! It’s taken me years to find you, Hildegard. And if you don’t mind my saying so, it took even longer to bribe this old bag of bones into letting you work for me.” He nudges the Teschio in the ribs. “That was quite a lot of gold and convincing, eh?”
The Teschio’s voice takes on a menacing edge. “We still haven’t seen a shiny coin.”
“Can you blame me? I’ve heard a lot of pretty talk about what this one can do, but haven’t seen a thing.”
“Tests are risky,” says the Teschio. “We don’t do them on a whim.”
“Which is why you waited until we struck our deal,” says Connor. “I understand that. And now, you have to understand that I’m withholding payment until I see a demonstration of her powers.” He turns to Hildy and smiles. “Are you ready?”
Hildy nods quickly. “Yes, I suppose so.”
The Teschio bows. “We will begin by showing you how a Master Monopsyche works. Marcus will step into another room, and then Hildegard will draw him back here. Teleport, if you will.”
“Oh, I’ve seen that before,” huffs Connor. “Plenty of monopsyches do that.”
“Only four, Your Highness,” says the Teschio. “It’s quite a rare skill.”
“Well, perhaps there’s a new twist you can show me.” Connor stares for a long minute at Marcus. “If he walks out into the hall, can she teleport him back to anywhere? Now, that I’d like to see.”
“No, it doesn’t work that way,” explains the Teschio. “Hildy can only call back her mark to wherever she stands. The spell works because of their mental bond, like magnets attracting. There are other houses of magic that specialize in teleportation, but as you already know, they can’t meet your strict requirements.”
“Quite right,” says Connor. “Well, get on with it. Show me someone getting pulled out of Hell. I’m ready to pay a pretty penny for this girl and I want to be sure she can deliver.”
“Of course,” says the Teschio. He snaps his fingers and the chains disappear from around the Cruor’s neck and hands. Immediately, the demon wraps all four lanky white arms around Marcus.
“To the torture pits!” screams the demon.
“No!” cries Hildy. “That’s too fast. I have to form the links first.”
Marcus shivers under the demon’s grip. “Do it, Hildy!”
Hildy’s eyes turn all white while Marcus’s close tightly. The demon continues to grasp his prey with all four arms as the pair sink through the floor into Hell. Hildy pulls up her sleeve, showing the Looking Glass of Marcus. “Someone tell me when he’s in Hell.”
Connor steps up and peers at her wrist. “Not quite yet,” his mouth curls with disgust. “Ah, he’s in the torture pits now.” Connor steps away, his hand pressing over his mouth. “Bring him back.”
Hildy raises her arms above her head into a ‘v’ shape, her palms glowing with purple light. She raises her all white gaze toward the ceiling, her lips silently moving with incantations.
In one swift movement, Hildy lowers her hands, claps them together at chest-level, and then positions her arms into a reverse V-shape by her hips. Nothing happens.
“I didn’t have time to make the bond properly,” cries Hildy. “I can’t pull him back.”
Hildy tries again and again to retrieve Marcus. Nothing works. Finally, after an hour of fruitless attempts, a ghostly version of Marcus appears before her, his body made of shifting purple mist. Bit by bit, his form becomes more solid until he’s standing before us in the flesh.