chapter 35
“WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW FIRST?” DANTALIAN asked. “Where the amulet is? Or where your Nix thinks it is?”
“Back up,” Trsiel said. “This amulet. If by some chance she gets it, will it work?”
“Of course it will work. I designed—”
“I meant will it work for her?”
“For anyone with demon blood.”
“And if she fails to get it, is there any other way she can achieve her goal and take on human form? Some rite or mystical object she can use? When she first made the leap, she used a witch spell—”
I interjected, “Which will no longer work or she’d have used it long ago. Likely a side effect of her now being a ghost.”
“Yes,” Dantalian said. “As a ghost, she is restricted to ghost methods of possession. Without the amulet, she could only use full spiritual possession, through a necromancer.”
I nodded. “Which any necromancer who’s powerful enough to perform is also smart enough not to perform. So she’s stuck with the amulet. Good. Well, then we should go after the amulet…” I hesitated. “No, the Nix is our primary target. If we get her, we don’t need to worry about her getting the amulet or finding some other way to dimension-jump. We’ll get her, and then…” I steeled myself, knowing what I needed to say, but having to force the words out. “And then Trsiel can retrieve the amulet and put it away for safekeeping. I—we don’t need it.”
I could feel Kristof’s gaze on me. I didn’t look, but knew that if I did, I’d see not relief, but skepticism, as he searched my face and tone, trying to figure out whether I was telling the truth or saying what he wanted to hear. I wasn’t sure which it was, either.
“Okay,” I said, facing the demon—or his direction—again. “So where is she?”
“I sent her to a building, one that once housed half a million scrolls, which later were said to have fed the fires at the public baths; a thousand years of knowledge destroyed to keep bathwater warm. And one wonders why humans—”
“The Great Library of Alexandria.”
His laugh boomed through the room like a furnace blast. “You are quick. And that’s where you’ll find your Nix, in the ghost-world Great Library, searching madly for my amulet among those half-million scrolls.”
“And the amulet?” I said.
“Oh, that’s closer. Much closer. There’s a tunnel under Glamis, connecting it to Castle Huntly. It’s—”
“A legend,” Trsiel said. “The tunnel doesn’t exist.”
“Nor does this room, my dear mongrel angel. Your sorcerer has bound me to tell the truth. If I say the amulet is in that tunnel—”
“Then it is,” I finished. “But if it leads to another castle, I’m guessing there’s a fair bit of tunnel to travel.”
“Fifteen miles.”
“Uh-huh. Care to be more specific, then?”
“Not really.”
“You gave your word,” Kristof said.
Dantalian’s sigh fluttered around us. “That I did, and I will keep it. But she asked whether I cared to be—”
“Be more specific,” I said. “Please.”
“It’s in a room, inside a drawer. I cannot be more specific than that. There are many rooms down there. When I hid it, I had no time for drawing maps. Search and you’ll find it.”
A soft laugh fluttered from behind us. A feminine laugh.
“Thank you, Dantalian,” a lilting voice said. “I intend to.”
I wheeled to see the Nix, her face pushed through the wall across the room, where she’d been listening on the other side. Dantalian roared. Trsiel’s hands shot up, the sword invocation flying from his lips. The Nix pulled back to the other side. Kristof and I both raced into the hall, Trsiel at our heels, but the Nix was gone.
“Downstairs,” I said to Trsiel. “To the tunnel. Kris…”
Our eyes met.
“Go,” he said. “And be careful.”
“Wait someplace safe.”
“I will.”
Trsiel and I hurried down the stone steps to the basement, and came out in…
“A cafeteria?” I said. “This is the castle catacombs?”
“You’d prefer a dungeon maybe? A few skeletons chained to the wall?”
“Well, yeah. What’s a castle without a dungeon?”
As we talked, we walked in opposite directions, each scanning a side of the cafeteria. There was no sign of the Nix.
“Washrooms, kitchen, cloakroom,” I said, reading the signs. “‘This way to the tunnel’ would be too much to ask for, wouldn’t it?”
“There is no tunnel,” Trsiel said as he walked through a storage closet door. A second later, he returned, still talking. “It was a hoax. In 1939, the last owner of Huntly, a Colonel Paterson, claimed to have unearthed a tunnel linking Glamis to Huntly while carrying out renovations on his castle. No evidence of it has ever been found to support that claim.”
“Which makes it false? What happened to this Paterson guy?”
“Drowned a year later, in a boating accident.”
“Aha,” I said, as I ducked my head into a closet. “I smell conspiracy. Who owns Castle Huntly now?”
“The state. It’s a prison.”
“And they claim there’s no tunnel leading out of it? Very convenient.” I glanced over at Trsiel. “I know you’re convinced Dantalian found a way to lie to us, but humor me. Which direction is Huntly?”
He paused. “North.”
Trsiel headed for that side of the room, but I waved him back.
“Keep checking these rooms,” I said. “If we’re searching for the tunnel, so is she. You look for her. I’ll look for it.”
“Don’t go anywhere—”
“Without you. I know. I don’t need to. X-ray vision, remember?”
I used my Aspicio power all along the north side of the room and up a short hall. It took another twenty minutes, but I finally looked through a section of stonework and saw something besides solid dirt on the other side.
“Got it,” I said.
He took my hand. “Lead on.”
We stepped into the wall and darkness enveloped us. Using my sight, I led us through the dirt and into the empty space beyond. After a moment in there, my night-vision kicked in, and I could make out a dirt tunnel, no more than four feet wide. I took a step and banged my forehead on a chunk of soil.
“These medieval Scots…not that tall, were they?”
“Apparently not,” Trsiel said, ducking as he stepped up beside me. “It looks like it gets shallower still.”
“So you can see okay?”
He nodded.
“Does that mean she can, too?”
“Probably. It’s a common demonic power.”
I hesitated. “I suppose her hearing works fine in the dark, too.”
A soft laugh. “Yes, we’d better switch to telepathy.”
I ducked and started forward again. After a few feet, I scraped the top, and got a soil shower.
“Uh, Trsiel?” I said, mentally forming the words. “Why are we hitting the ceiling?”
He glanced back at me, brows lifting. “Because we’re tall?”
I socked him in the arm and motioned for him to continue walking. “I’m serious. Why are we hitting the ceiling instead of walking through it?”
“You’re right. Huh. That’s strange.”
“That’s not the answer I’m looking for.”
“Well, uh…” He looked around. “This kind of thing happens sometimes. It’s an interdimensional warp in the fabric of time and space.”
“You have no idea, do you?”
“No, but that sounded good when they said it on Star Trek. Honestly, I can’t explain it. But I know it does happen. Either this tunnel has somehow vanished in the living world, which explains why it hasn’t been found, or it does exist, but is under some kind of demonic influence.”
“Which would explain how Dantalian, a noncorporeal demon, could open a drawer and drop off the amulet.”
“Right. I think.”
“Works for me. And speaking of hiding places, here’s the first room.”
I cast a light-ball inside. The room was crammed with stuff—the kind of stuff someone must have considered worth hiding, but was now garage-sale reject trash—moldering carpets, rotted wooden furniture, mildewed paintings, and more.
“Got four words for the Glamis family,” I murmured. “‘ Climate-controlled storage units.’ So now what? Search for the Nix or the amulet?”
“Let’s keep going.”
In less than a mile of tunnel, we hit two more jam-packed rooms. Fourteen miles to go. Shit. No wonder Dantalian didn’t remember where he’d put the amulet.
All these rooms were filled with furnishings. Knowing we were hot on her trail, the Nix must have raced past these, looking for more amulet-friendly storage. But if you want to hide jewelry, is it better to put it in a room filled with other treasures? Or stuff it in a desk drawer?
When I mentioned this to Trsiel, he agreed that the amulet might very well be in one of these home-decor-packed rooms. Since we knew the Nix would be moving forward, there was no harm in me lagging behind to search for the amulet. So I started to look while Trsiel took off in search of the Nix.
Dantalian said he’d put the amulet in a drawer. That gave me a place to start. With the stuff crammed in so tight, some drawers had no room to open, and others were stuck shut by swollen wood or rusted hardware. I gave each one a tug, but the moment they resisted, I didn’t waste time yanking, just used my Aspicio powers to look inside.
With both the light-ball spell and the X-ray vision to help, I whipped through the first room in about ten minutes. The only drawer that wasn’t empty held only the crumpled remains of papers. Probably ancient letters detailing some illicit royal affair, or the deed to some misappropriated property, now lost to history forever.
I was in the fourth room when I peered into a stuck drawer and finally saw a glitter of silver. I tried to get a better look, but the angle was wrong, and all I could see was what looked like a length of chain. I tugged on the drawer, but it wouldn’t budge. Bracing both feet against the front of the chest, I grabbed the drawer handle, then yanked as hard as I could…and fell flat on my back, holding the broken handle.
“Goddamn it,” I muttered.
I looked around, then crawled over a dismantled bed and tugged a metal hanging rod from a tapestry. Back at the drawer, I wedged the narrow end of the rod into the top gap. The bar was slightly too thick, and it took some work to shove it in there, but finally I had enough through. Then I moved alongside the bar, put both hands on it, and slammed the bar down. Wood cracked. The drawer gave way, and I stumbled forward, catching myself before I fell. I looked back, to see the drawer still in place—but the front panel lying on the floor.
“That’ll work, too,” I murmured.
I reached into the drawer. My fingers clasped metal. I pulled it out…and found myself holding nothing but a silver chain.
“Goddamn it!” I whipped the chain across the room. “After all that…”
I cursed again, spun on my heel to stomp out, then stopped. Slow down and be sure. I turned back to the chest, crouched, and peered into the dark depths of the broken drawer. Empty. No—be absolutely sure.
I waved my light-ball down. As it moved, the light glinted off something in the very back of the drawer. I reached inside. My fingers found the top edge of a disk wedged in the back of the drawer. I traced my index finger over a half-circle of cool metal. The rest of it was stuck in the crack between the drawer’s rear panel and base.
Resisting the urge to rip the drawer apart, I carefully worked the piece out. Finally it came free, and the drawer popped open. I wrapped my hand around the metal disk and pulled it out. It had better not be a worthless old coin, or I was going to scream loud enough to bring both Trsiel and the Nix running.
I straightened, then slowly opened my hand. There, on my palm, lay what did indeed look like a cheap coin, a plain silver disk with writing around the edges. Yet I didn’t even need to glance at the inscription to know that this was the amulet. I could feel it, the power of it, pulsating against my skin.
The power of transmigration. The power to inhabit a corporeal being, to fully occupy and control that body, to enact one’s will on the living world. This was what I’d been searching for. I was half-demon. I could use this amulet. I could see my daughter, be with her, speak to her, touch her. Protect her.
If I’d had this that day in the community center, I could have protected her, instead of being forced to stand by, helpless.
And what would you have done? whispered Kristof’s voice. Leapt into the nearest person, jumped into the bullet’s path, and killed your host, only to discover Savannah wasn’t even in danger? And how will you make sure you’re there if something like that ever happens again? Do you plan to follow her around every hour of every day, a spectral guard dog, always at her heels?
I shivered. I couldn’t be there all the time. I didn’t want to be there all the time. I wanted…
I squeezed my hand tight around the amulet and closed my eyes.
I wanted my own life. Here. In this world.
Eyes still closed, I put in a mental call to Trsiel. Almost immediately, I heard soft footfalls in the tunnel.
“Thank God,” I murmured.
I hurried to the door. I stepped out and saw a dim figure down the corridor—a figure far too small and too blond to be Trsiel. The Nix.