CARNACKI: The New Adventures (22 page)

Dodgson.
And yet something changed your mind.

Carnacki.
What gives you that impression?

Dodgson.
You’re wearing the thing now.

Carnacki.
So I am. Queer old thing, isn’t it? Quite . . .

Dodgson.
Don’t touch it.

Carnacki.
Dodgson?

Dodgson.
Sorry. I thought you might be trying to take it off, you know.

Carnacki.
Ah, yes. Good man. That’s right. I studied the note for some time while Doctor Witton was examining Miss Allenby. I had little else to go on, you understand, besides some rather vague and unsettling notions planted by the images the young lady described, the chasm and so forth. At any rate, I began to make out some sense among all the flimflam and hocus-pocus, which led me in turn to further questions, such as—but they’ll have occurred to you by now.

Dodgson.
Well, I suppose the question is, if this charm or talisman is such a potent protection against the curse, then why didn’t it protect Robert Allenby?

Carnacki.
And let’s not forget all the victims before him. As far back as anyone can remember, Mrs Allenby said. And that question raises another.

Dodgson.
I’m afraid I’m not quite—I mean, I can see that things don’t quite fit, but—

Carnacki.
If no one alive remembers the charm actually saving anybody, then—

Dodgson.
Oh. Of course. Why do they keep passing it down? Why does Mrs Allenby set such store by it?

Carnacki.
I asked her the same question. She was in the sitting-room, sealing a letter to her husband the major, who I gather is abroad on manoeuvres. I asked her: “Do you expect that feather bracelet to protect your daughter, Mrs. Allenby?”

Late afternoon.

Mrs. Allenby.
Expect? No. I can but hope.

Carnacki.
You can, and I see that you do. But it did nothing for your brother-in-law. I take it he did wear it?

Mrs
. Allenby.
He did. But the Lord can’t help those that won’t help themselves.

Carnacki.
Its protection is conditional, then? “Imbued afresh with the faith of the bearer . . .”

Mrs
. Allenby.
No devil could touch Robert while he wore that charm. But they whispered in his ear, and they showed him wonders, and they bargained, and they made promises, and before the sun had been down an hour he’d slipped it off and thrown it nearly into the fireplace. His father saved the charm, but no one could save Robert then, not once he had it off.

Carnacki.
And so—what? No Allenby in living memory has successfully resisted the temptation to remove the charm?

Mrs
. Allenby.
It’s no reflection on Robert or any of his line, you understand? The curse showed them things no mortal man was ever meant to see.

Carnacki.
I didn’t mean that. I only meant, why trust your family, your children, to a power no one’s ever seen to work?

Mrs
. Allenby.
We had to put our faith in something before you came along, Mr. Carnacki.

Carnacki.
I prefer a solution that doesn’t depend on faith at all.

Mrs
. Allenby.
And have you found one?

Carnacki.
Well, Miss Allenby herself clearly trusts the charm, albeit unconsciously.

Mrs
. Allenby.
The charm won’t save her. She’s too much of your stripe. A latter-day Pandora. Why do you think you’re here?

Carnacki.
I see.

Mrs. Allenby.
So?

Carnacki.
I’ve nothing definite just yet. I’m working on a few theories.

Mrs
. Allenby.
And just how long will these theories take to prove?

Carnacki.
I shall be able to narrow down the possibilities considerably once Doctor Witton finishes his examination.

Mrs
. Allenby.
I can tell you now he’ll find nothing of note.

Carnacki.
If that’s the case, the most likely explanation seems to be that this cry, which is presumably some sort of psychic vibration, of whatever origin, perhaps conducted by some property inherent in Allenby family physiology—I’ll need to investigate further to confirm a lot of this, but in any case, the cry seems to have shaken your daughter’s psychic body free of her physical one, and with enough force to propel it across the line of retraction into some far-flung backwater of the Outer Circle.

Mrs
. Allenby.
You mean her spirit is . . .

Carnacki.
Dissociated from her body, yes. But still connected. Left to its own devices, it ought simply to reel back in. Remember, though, that all this is still only theory, and Doctor Witton may yet disprove it.

Mrs Allenby.
Yes, yes. But if you’re right, then why did Robert not simply—?

Carnacki.
If I’m right, the likelihood is that Miss Allenby’s psychic body will not be left to its own devices. The Outer Circle is home to all manner of things that might do harm to a disorientated young interloper. And then there’s the matter of the cry’s origin. It may be some natural phenomenon, but if it is a creature, if it has consciousness, even only that of a beast, then the effects of its cry may be part of some design, and it may not wish that design to be foiled by the reunion of Miss Allenby’s scattered constituents.

Mrs
. Allenby.
The Lord save us.

Carnacki.
Funny you should say that. It actually isn’t unheard of for certain powerful entities to intervene when a human spirit is threatened by the Outer Monstrosities. Not the Lord Himself, you understand, but forces in His employ—who knows? I’ve been wondering why no Allenby was ever spared that way. At least, that’s one avenue I’ve been exploring.

Mrs
. Allenby.
I shall be praying to a higher power, Mr. Carnacki, as will Florence’s brother and sister, and Tilbury and the household. I was rather hoping that you might have a more specialist solution. Tell me you have more between your ears than theories.

Carnacki.
I really can’t say any more until Doctor Witton’s made his diagnosis.

Mrs
. Allenby.
Go, then, and chivvy him along. The sun’s already sinking.

Carnacki.
To
Dodgson
.
This I did. You know Witton, I think.

Dodgson.
Yes. Hardly the right man to call up for a case of this sort, I’d have thought.

Carnacki.
On the contrary. His was exactly the sort of mind the case demanded.

Dodgson.
Hard-headed, I think you called him. Unimaginative.

Carnacki.
Unimaginative. Precisely. Witton stands no kind of nonsense, as he sees it. He can be counted on for an absolutely unvarnished medical opinion, which was what both I and Miss Allenby wanted. When he’d finished his examination I enlisted his help in a few more of my own, and he observed that the girl’s eyes reacted unusually when I asked her to focus on the shapes or creatures she saw around her, and especially when I had her inspect her surroundings through my jar of treated spa-water. That was enough to convince me that the things she described were genuine signals being received by her mental eye, and not spectres conjured up by an addled brain. Witton suggested no useful remedy, so I sent him away, and a little before dusk I had the library furniture cleared away and set-to constructing a barrier about Miss Allenby.
Begins unpacking the Electric Pentacle.

Evening.

Florence.
Starts wandering towards something only she can see.

Carnacki.
Miss Allenby!

Florence
.
Halts. Squints.
Carnacki?

Carnacki.
I’m here.

Florence
.
I can’t see you when you stay still.

Carnacki.
Takes her hand.

Florence
.
Flinches.

Carnacki.
Here. Hold on to the trunk, like this. That’s solid, isn’t it? That’s real.
Begins assembling the electric pentacle.

Florence
.
Where are you going?

Carnacki.
Not more than a few feet away.

Florence
.
Keep talking, won’t you?

Carnacki.
Of course.

Beat.

Florence.
Carnacki?

Carnacki.
Yes, still here. Sorry.
Beat.
What, ah, what explanation did Doctor Witton give for your symptoms?

Florence
.
He didn’t tell you?

Carnacki.
He told me you seemed medically sound, but under great stress.

Florence
.
He told me I was hysterical. Recommended I sleep it off. The nerve! And he called you a snake-oil peddler behind your back.

Carnacki.
Did he, now?

Florence
.
I mean, I’m not saying I agree with you all of a sudden about Unseen Worlds and Outer Monstrosities and such, but at least you don’t think I’m making it all up. Do you?

Carnacki.
No, of course not. I’m quite convinced now that what you’re seeing is a genuine image of a genuine place.

Florence
.
I don’t much like that idea either.

Carnacki.
No? I’d have thought it would be comforting.

Florence
.
Not remotely. Sorry.

Carnacki.
It means you’re not poisoned, diseased, mad, or a fantasist.

Florence
.
But it means this horrible, dark place exists. And these horrible, twisted things exist.

Carnacki.
We share the cosmos with plenty of unpleasant creatures. At least these ones are a long way away.

Florence
.
Not from me.

Carnacki.
We’ll have you out of there before long.

Florence
.
They’ll still be there. I’ll still know.

Carnacki.
Yes, you’re privy to something few mortals ever get to glimpse. It’s quite a privilege.

Florence
.
I’d rather never have seen it.

Carnacki.
Now you are beginning to sound hysterical.

Florence
.
For goodness’ sake, that’s just a word men use for behaviour they don’t understand.

Carnacki.
Wishing ignorance upon oneself? No, you’re quite right. I can’t understand that.

Florence
.
You would if you could see.

Carnacki.
Can you still see the physical plane at all? Can you see me?

Florence
.
You’re like a ghost. I think if I woke up now, newborn, seeing this, I’d think you and the library were the figments. It’s all happening too quickly.

Carnacki.
It’s because the sun’s going down. You’re seeing more clearly with your mental eye now.

Florence
.
Does that mean it’s going to get worse?

Carnacki.
I’m afraid so.

Florence
.
You’ve been in these sorts of situations before, haven’t you?

Carnacki.
Many a time.

Florence
.
Does it make you feel safer, knowing?

Carnacki.
Knowing what?

Florence
.
I don’t know. Everything. All those theories and explanations.

Carnacki.
Well, knowing the cause of a thing is the first step towards being able to combat it, so yes, I suppose it does make me safer.

Florence
.
And what if there is no way of combating it?

Carnacki.
I think I’d still rather know what manner of thing did me in.

Florence
.
I’m not sure I would.

Carnacki.
Well, in any case, you won’t need to worry yourself about any of that tonight. This bit of apparatus has saved my neck more times than I can recount. In a few moments you’ll be perfectly safe. That is—you are still wearing the charm, are you?

Florence
.
Shows
Carnacki
the charm.