Zombies Sold Separately

THIRTY-EIGHT



Friday, December 31

Night


Three cabs were waiting that Colin had called for while I was in the bathroom. Plumes of white exhaust, tinged with red from the cabs’ taillights, rose in the frigid air.

Joshua took one of the cabs with the unconscious Candace to drop her off at the human part of Columbia University Medical Center. Joshua would meet us at the hotel as soon as Candace was safe at the hospital.

Colin, Olivia, Desmond, and Angel, along with me in glamour, split up between the two other taxis.

When the taxis pulled up to the curb, we practically ran up to the Mandarin Hotel’s entrance. Since Dark Elves would likely cause a stir in the hotel I remained in glamour. Still, I half expected the hotel’s staff to stop us. Despite the cleansing spell, Olivia and Desmond looked scruffy.

Fortunately the staff was busy with other hotel patrons and we managed to get by. It was New Year’s Eve after all.

Just when I thought we were home free, at the elevators we were met by a uniformed human. “I need to see your keycards before you can get onto the elevator,” the male said. “Only registered guests are allowed on the upper levels.”

Desmond walked up to the man, stared him in the eyes, and smiled. “Have a pleasant New Year’s Eve.”

“And you.” The male bowed and gestured for us to pass.

“How did you do that?” Angel asked, and Desmond shrugged.

“Now there’s a useful skill,” I said as we caught an open elevator and headed up to an executive suite where the rest of the Trackers were gathered.

Tracey opened the door to a roomful of watchful, tense Trackers and Rodán. The Trackers clearly relaxed when they knew it was us for sure. Rodán looked calm and knowing as always.

Ice, Mandisa, and Penrod had all made it there.

It was a somber bunch and it was easy to tell that Meryl’s death was affecting everyone, as well as the fact Lawan was still missing.

Angel and Olivia were welcomed back and our group expressed relief that the pair was okay.

Rodán interrupted. “Nyx has much to tell you all and we have little time.”

The group quieted and I gave a brief outline of everything that had happened from the time we’d all met at Colin’s apartment in Queens to our escape from Amory’s manor in the Doran Otherworld.

After I finished relaying the news, I said, “Desmond has a lot to say regarding the Sorcerer Amory and how we are going to stop this from happening.”

Desmond stepped forward. “We can’t stop the Sentients or Amory from crossing over nor do we want to.”

“What the hell do you mean, we can’t and don’t want to stop the Sorcerer?” Olivia said among more rumbles of disapproval.

Desmond held up his hands. “I didn’t say Amory couldn’t be stopped. I said we can’t stop the Sentients or him from crossing over.”

“What is this bullshit?” Ice said.

“Half a million Sentients, and half a million stones,” Desmond said. “Think about that. The number is almost unfathomable.”

“Then we need to notify the authorities,” Tracey said. “They need to clear out Times Square.”

“Claim there’s a terrorist bomb,” Fere said.

“And stay out of the streets so that we’re not trampled to death like everyone else?” Ice said with sarcasm in his voice. “Yeah, that’s the ticket.”

“It would create pandemonium that would be deadly,” I said with a nod, my mind whirling.

“With the kind of crowd that will be in Times Square,” Robert said, “it will be like shooting fish in a bucket for the Sorcerer.”

Desmond said, “The only way Amory can be defeated is to do it on our turf. We must draw him in where he can be taken on in this world.”

Olivia moved her hand in a motion for Desmond to hurry on with it. “Get to the part where we defeat the Sorcerer.”

“We don’t,” Desmond said. “I do.” He held up his hands, indicating we should hold off commenting further. “Amory is far too powerful for any of you to combat. He has not only his own immense power, but mine as well.”

At that the room went silent. I felt the raw edge of panic start to set my nerves on a high thrum.

“I explained to you once before that Amory took my magic on Doran and left me powerless there,” Desmond said. “But what he doesn’t know is that I have my magic here.

“With Amory having his own magic as well as mine, I’m not as powerful as he is.” Desmond lowered his hands. “But he thinks I am powerless.”

“You’re saying he’s more powerful than you,” Kelly said. “So what is it that you think you can do?”

“What we have is the element of surprise.” Desmond began to pace in front of the other Trackers in the suite. He looked nervous yet at the same time almost excited. “His guard will be down. Mine will not. He will be too supremely confident that no one can touch him.

“We have hope.” Desmond sounded almost like he was talking to himself. “It is my intense desire to see him destroyed. That makes up for any power that I do not possess. Sometimes it is not the strongest, but the most determined who wins a battle.”

Kelly made a scoffing noise. “And you’re going to beat this guy by desire?”

“Yes.” Desmond stopped pacing, his attention fully on us. “Vengeance is a strong motive. Fear or protecting those you care about is another. I have both.”

Desmond looked around the room and met each Tracker’s gaze. “You have heard of norms doing superhuman things like lifting a car off of someone injured. It is similar with my power. The vengeance I feel for those I lost in Doran is an intensity I have never felt for anything.”

He continued, “And the desire to protect those here in the Earth Otherworld that I care about knows no end. I care about every person in this world.”

“How much of a chance does that give us?” Nadia asked. “In practical terms.”

Desmond sighed and my stomach sank at the sound of his voice, a lessening of his enthusiasm. “It is hard to say. I have never done this before … Maybe less than twenty-five percent. But it’s our only chance.”

“Twenty-five percent?” Olivia said with incredulity on her features and in her voice. “That’s it?”

“I don’t know of any other way.” Desmond slipped his hand into his pocket and drew out a cloth-covered stone. When he unwrapped it, and let the stone rest on the cloth in his palm, I recognized it as the keystone.

“I will create a concentration of power and will transfer Amory’s essence into this stone,” Desmond said. “When I do, all that he has done can be reversed. If I fail, I will be forever locked in the stone myself, and his plan will not be stopped. I know of no way then to defeat him.”

“That’s it?” Kelly said. “You don’t really think you can win and if you don’t succeed we are toast?”

Desmond looked solemn. “I will do all I can to defeat him. But yes, in your terms, you are toast.”

Everyone was quiet with the exception of Ice who muttered, “Twenty-five percent.”

Rodán came forward, his gaze serious, intent. “The mind is a powerful thing … most of it is untapped by not only norms but paranorms as well. My hope is that will be the difference here tonight with all of us. It appears it is all we have on our side.”

“Don’t forget all of the insurmountable odds that we have overcome,” I said.

“Yes,” Rodán said. “Do not forget that. And that you are Night Trackers. The best of the best of all paranorms.”

“We will break up into teams to search the city for the portals and the Sorcerer Amory,” Desmond said.

Joshua shifted where he was standing with his shoulder hitched against a wall. “Portals? There’s more than the one we went through?”

Desmond nodded as he wrapped the stone in the cloth and then stuffed the whole thing into his pocket. “The keystone showed me where they are.”

“Great,” Angel shook her head. “Like one portal isn’t bad enough.”

“The one we knew of,” Desmond said, “and four other portals.”

“Five,” Nadia said.

Desmond gave out the locations for the five portals—Riverside Park, Battery Park, Hudson Yards, Waterside Plaza, and the portal we’d gone through at the homeless shelter on Thirty-second Street.

We were down to twenty-four Trackers without Meryl. Rodán assigned teams of four per portal.

My team consisted of myself, Colin, Penrod, Fere. We would stay with Desmond on high alert in Times Square in case Amory got past one of the five portals.

If Amory was tracked down at one of the portals, we would go straight to it. The four of us were the fastest Trackers outside of Ice and Joshua, and we all could perform glamours. Colin had the ability to transport other beings with him, so he’d be able to get Desmond anywhere he needed to go.

“How do you know the Sorcerer is not already here?” Nadia asked.

“When Amory walks through one of the portals,” Desmond said, “I will know it. I will feel his magic signature. Right now I feel nothing. I know he is not here.”

Desmond held his hands a foot apart. Green light crackled from between his hands and a holographic image of Amory floated in the middle of the room.

Surprise made me blink. “You’ve never seen him in that body.”

“The keystone showed me his new appearance.” Desmond twirled his finger and the image of Amory rotated so that we saw him from all sides. “For those of you who have not seen him, study and remember the face. Your job is not to capture Amory but to follow him and report his location.”

Rodán looked grave as he gave a slow nod. “Each team will be assigned to a portal and to communicate with the others when you see him. Follow him without being seen and report his position or movement until we can get Desmond and the stone in place for the fight.”

I went through the team assignments, then everyone left with their professional game faces on and attitudes in check.

Rodán joined my team. We headed downstairs, all of us in glamour with the exception of Desmond.

It was dark outside the hotel, already after nine PM, yet the New Year’s Eve night was brilliantly lit, more than any other time of the year.

Millions of holiday lights were strung through trees, along the streets, around storefront windows. Glittering angels, snowflakes, stars, and glowing orbs and snowmen brightened the night.

This could all be gone if we didn’t stop the Sorcerer Amory.

I was glad to have my weapons with me and my elements were at the ready. They stirred inside me, the power of earth, air, water, and fire ready to aid me.

Fere, as a Tuatha D’Danann Fae warrior, was able to fly in glamour to Times Square where he would take his place on one of the buildings.

Colin would transport himself and Desmond to the Square, keeping them both in glamour until Colin had Desmond safely within the barricades. Then Colin would shift into his Dragon form and find a high perch, like Fere, and watch for Amory from the advantage of height.

Rodán, Penrod, and I would both patrol the Square in glamour and stay close to Desmond who was prepared to take on Amory.

I ran to Times Square and made my way through crowds. In glamour I slipped past hundreds of people holding stones and a sick feeling twisted my stomach.

Amory had done something to the stones. Something that made them look like they belonged in the streets and in the hands of the New Year’s Eve revelers.

The stones glowed.

Eerie, neon glows like glow sticks. The crowd held them over their heads and swayed to music pouring from the massive loudspeakers. Thousands and thousands of glowing stones were being waved in time to the music.

Thousands and thousands.

Every other person held the glowing stones.

My stomach twisted and adrenaline pumped through me. We had to stop this. We had to stop Amory from stealing these peoples’ essences and turning their bodies into Hosts for his Sentients.

When I reached him, I held onto Desmond’s arm to keep him in glamour as we were jostled by media and other people who were allowed inside the strip of barricades that led to the countdown stage.

I looked around us at the dazzling lights and the colorful indescribable brilliance of the square. We weren’t looking to see the sights. We were looking for Amory. And I didn’t know how we were going to find him in time to stop him.

My senses felt almost overwhelmed by the press of hundreds of thousands of people around the barricades and the bustling energy of so many souls anticipating the drop of the ball down the flagpole atop the building. My ears rang with the sounds of countless voices and the smells of so many bodies packed together was almost too much.

Everything was so intense, the noise at such an extreme level that if I didn’t have such excellent hearing, I might not have heard my phone when it finally rang thirty minutes from midnight.

Desmond shuddered and said, “He’s here,” before I had a chance to answer the phone.

“We’ve got him,” Angel said when I answered. “Battery Park.” She sounded breathless. “I don’t think he knows we’re watching him.”

I looked at my team. “We’ll be right there.”

“We won’t let him out of our sights,” Angel said and disconnected.

“Battery Park,” I said just as I saw Rodán on his phone and frowning.

“Joshua called,” Rodán said. “The Sorcerer just arrived through the portal at Waterside Plaza.”

“What?” I said and the five of us looked at each other.

The phone rang again. I felt frantic as I looked at the caller identification screen. “Olivia,” I said as I rushed to answer.

“Hudson Yards,” she said. “Hurry.”

Ice called. Then Nadia called for Mandisa who never talked. Both reported Amory having come through the portal they were watching.

“What is going on?” My heart beat faster. “How can this be?”

“Decoys.” Desmond looked grim. “Our only hope is to figure out which one of the five is the real Amory … in time to stop him.”