Crossroads (21 page)

Sparks and tongues of fire shot from the spirit’s halo of fire, touching the piles of paper and books all over the room. The dry paper caught instantly and, in the blink of an eye, the apartment turned into an inferno.

“Noooooo!” Gordon shouted. “My work! All my work!” The flames spread quickly across every surface, greedily licking at the papers, printouts, and books, the dry cloth and dry wood. I heard a low, hissing sound. Whether it came from the flames or the spirit, or both, I couldn’t say.

Without hesitation, Boom barreled for the door of the apartment, with me right behind, leading an incoherent Dr. Gordon as he continued to scream and moan. The big troll almost made it to the door before the spirit, all fire and shadow, moved like a leaping spark to intercept him. Boom howled in pain as he struck the spirit's burning body and stumbled back, nearly knocking the both of us over.

“We’re not going out that way.” Boom said, slowly backing away from the door. He clutched his hand to his chest, but I couldn’t see how seriously he was hurt. The room was filling with thick smoke, and I knew a rickety place like this, on the edge of the Rox, had no fire alarms, no smoke detectors. The old wooden structure would burn like a house of matchsticks. Metroplex fire services wouldn’t come out here except to contain the blaze and, perhaps, sift through the ashes for bodies or any valuables not destroyed in the fire. We had to get out on our own.

“Into the other room! I can try and get us out that way!” I shouted over the roaring of the fire. Boom was smart enough not to question me. He slipped past me and headed for the doorway. I backed away from the spirit, holding Dr. Gordon’s wrist. He stood staring in horrid fascination as his life’s work went up in flames around him, like an accident victim unable to tear his eyes away from a horrible crash.

The spirit began moving toward us, slowly. I had the distinct feeling it was playing with us, trying to corner us before moving in for the kill.

I pulled on the doctor’s wrist. “We have to go!” I shouted.

Gordon jerked his wrist out of my grip. “No! My work . . he moaned.

“We can’t save it.” I said. “Damn it, we’ve got to get out of here!” I was starting to choke on the thick smoke and my eyes were tearing, my vision blurred. The spirit circled to the side. I thought it might try to break past us and get at Boom.

“You can save it.” Gordon said. He didn’t seem at all affected by the smoke or the heat. He turned to me, his face streaked with soot and ash, his bright eyes standing out in stark contrast. “You can carry on what I began.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Tell me you’ll do it, Talon. Tell me you’ll continue my work to protect everyone from the things that are coming. Keep them safe.”

All I could think of was that we had to get out of there, pronto. The smoke was making me dizzy. “Doctor . . .”

“Promise me. Please.”

The spirit coiled to strike.

“All right, I promise. I’ll do it.” I said. I drew Talon-claw from the sheath at my hip.

“Then go!” Gordon cried and pushed me toward the other room with far more strength than I could have imagined from the looks of him. The spirit, about to be deprived of its prey, hissed and leapt through the air.

“Hold, spawn of fire!” Gordon shouted. “Hold, creature of the pit!”

The elemental stopped as if it had hit a brick wall. It roared and flames shot out of its open mouth. Gordon stood his ground and held his hands wide over his head, fingers crooked in a magical gesture. Flickering energy seemed to arc between them, leaping out to touch the spirit’s flaming aura with a pale blue light.

“Avant, ye elemental!” Gordon intoned. “Avant, ye nature unbound! Begone from this place and trouble it no more!”

The spirit shrieked and thrashed against invisible bonds, struggling to reach the frail mage. It inched closer and Gordon faltered back a step. I stopped in the doorway, watching them struggle. I held out a hand and prepared to call the power to me to strike the creature with a spell, but the words of invocation caught in my throat as I coughed.

“Talon!” Boom called from the other room, coughing and choking. The smoke was almost too thick to see through, and the flames were everywhere.

Gordon turned away from the spirit for a moment to look at me, his eyes fierce, his hair wild. “Go, damn you! Go!” he shouted.

The spirit seized the moment of his distraction to lash out with its serpentine tail. The blow sent the old man to his knees, but he held his hands high and shouted more words of power. The spirit recoiled, shrieking.

“Talon!”

I looked for an instant more as the dark smoke obscured the battle between the mage and the spirit, then turned and raced into the other room.

Boom had already torn down the heavy drapes and smashed the narrow window. Smoke poured out, but it was still difficult to breathe. The troll clutched his injured arm as the flames continued to spread into the room. The map of the metaplanes covering the wall blackened and shriveled as the fire crawled up the ceiling.

“No fire escape.” Boom said with a nod toward the window, “and I don’t exactly think they had trolls in mind when they designed the windows.”

“Let me take care of that.” I said. I stood in front of the window and sent out the call across the depths of the astral plane. When I felt a response, I gathered power to me, holding it with my will like a tightly coiled spring, drawing it tighter and tighter. I narrowed my eyes and brought my hands down, thrusting them out at the ancient brick wall.

“Shatter!” I yelled and released the power I held. It flowed through me like a lightning bolt, and an invisible wave of power struck the wall with the force of a speeding truck. The casement and brickwork exploded outward, raining in flaming shards down to the street below.

I gazed out into the night air as it filled with dark smoke and I spoke my command. “Carry us from this place and bring us safely to earth.”

The wisps of smoke swirled and danced in the cool autumn air and took on a vaguely human-like shape that bowed and spread its arms wide.

“Jump.” I said to Boom.

“What are you .
.

“Jump!” I said, and I stepped out into empty air. With only a second’s hesitation, Boom followed.

Instead of falling, we hovered for a moment, embraced by a cooling breeze. Slowly it lowered us to the street, where a small crowd of people gathered. They backed away from us as we touched down lightly on the cracked and broken sidewalk.

As soon as we touched the ground, I sent out the call again, feeling a different presence respond to it.

What is your will, Master?
spoke a voice in my mind, like a rushing stream.

“Go into that dwelling.” I said. “Destroy the fire spirit there and quench the flames.” The invisible astral presence of the water elemental sent a flowing feeling of obedience and moved to obey. We stood and watched for a few minutes as the flames shooting from the windows and the hole in the wall above slowly flickered and died.

Smoke continued to pour from the blackened ruins of the apartment as my water elemental returned.

The fire spirit is gone, Master,
it said,
and the flames are quenched.

“What about the human inside?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

He is dead, Master,
the spirit replied.
His spirit has gone.
Its words were without emotion or concern, simply relaying the facts.

I closed my hand tightly around the sheets of paper in the pocket of my long coat, and Dr. Gordon’s words seemed to echo back to me.

Protect everyone from the things that are coming. Keep them safe.
Then I remembered his other words, when he’d touched my chest.

“The real enemy is not out there.” Gordon had said. “It’s in here.”

17

As the first light of dawn poked through the cracks around the covered windows of the old church, Trouble came over, holding a steaming mug, which she held out to me. “No, thanks.” I said.

“Talon, you should at least drink something.”

I shook my head. “I’m fasting. It helps to clear the mind and spirit and I’m going to need it. Have you heard from the others?”

She nodded, setting the plastic mug down on the nearby windowsill. “They’re making the arrangements.”

“Good. Boom can handle it, especially with Hammer backing him up.”

“You’re also going to need to be rested.” Trouble said. “You haven’t slept since yesterday.”

“Sleep deprivation can help create the right state of consciousness, too.” I said. “I’m going to be in a trance
for a while, and it’ll help facilitate..

“Bulldrek.” she said. “You’re just saying that, Talon. What good is it if you’re exhausted?”

I looked up from where I crouched. “We don’t have that kind of time. The elemental Garnoff sent after us means he’s playing hardball. Before, Garnoff and his people only tried to capture us—gel rounds, stun weapons.

This last spirit wasn’t trying to knock anybody out, it meant business. Garnoff is scared, and that means we don’t have a lot of time.

“Besides.” I said, standing up and brushing off my hands. “Today is Samhain, so it’s the best time to do this. It’s when the paths into the depths of the astral plane are the most open and accessible. If I’m going to do this, there’s no better time.”

Trouble looked down at my handiwork.

“Looks pretty elaborate.” she said.

It was that. The old slate floor at the front of the church was just perfect for the kind of work I had in mind, once I pushed aside the remains of the old carpet. The pockets of my long coat were filled with the various tools I needed to do magic: chalk, bits of string, candle stubs, crystals, and fetishes like strands of my shorn hair woven into a cord.

I took chalk in several different colors and drew a double circle in red on the floor, three meters wide. Between the bands, I scribed magical runes and symbols of protection and travel. Outside the circle I drew eight red triangles, pointing outward like arrows toward the eight airts, the primal directions of the compass. In the center of each triangle was a different rune or symbol associated with that direction. At the point of each triangle was a small white candle, stuck to the floor with drops of hot wax.

“It’s not perfect.” I said, “but it’s the best I could do with the space I have to work with in here.”

“You’ve been working on it all night.”

“Well, everything has to be just right, or else the circle
won’t be able to protect my body while I’m journeying astrally.”

“I’ll keep an eye on things.” she said, with a hint of reproach in her voice.

I turned to look at her again. “I know you will. That’s not what I meant. The circle doesn’t offer any physical protection, really. It only creates an astral barrier to protect my body from spirits and magic. If Garnoff sends another magical attack, I want to be ready.”

“Now that it’s ready, when are you going to go?”

“Soon.” I said.

“Look.” Trouble said, toying with the rim of the cup, “I wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened before. I shouldn’t have presumed . . .”

“It’s okay.” I said. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“I want you to know I’m not in the habit of throwing myself at every guy who comes into my life.”

“I know, I know. It’s all right. I’m very flattered.”

“Just not interested.” she concluded.

“No, but I want you to know it’s not you. I don’t... I’m not good with relationships.”

“Okay.” she said coolly. “I understand. We keep this strictly business.”

“I don’t know about that. I consider you a friend. This isn’t business for me. It’s personal.”

“For me too.” Trouble said. There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again. “Do you really think this plan is going to work?”

“It’s the best shot we’ve got.” I said.

Trouble swallowed hard and picked up the mug, her unbound hair hiding her face as she bowed her head to drink. “All right, then, you’d better get to it.” she said. “I’ll make sure everything else is taken care of.”

I sat in the center of the circle in a lotus position, calming my mind with meditation, preparing myself for what was to come. I thought about what I’d told Trouble, that I wasn’t interested in a relationship. It wasn’t a lie exactly, but it wasn’t the whole truth, either. I wasn’t ready to explain all of it to her. Not until we took care of Garnoff and whatever he was involved in. We all had enough on our minds right now. I pushed those thoughts aside and focused, quietly chanting mantras to calm and center me, body, mind, and spirit. Breathing slowly, calmly, in and out, letting the breath flow, letting the energy flow.

I opened my senses to an awareness of the astral plane, to the complex play of energies and life force all around me. Although the church was no longer consecrated, it had been the focus of worship and caring for many years, leaving a pleasant warmth lingering in the astral atmosphere of it. I let the gentle touch of it comfort me.

When I was ready, I opened my eyes. The interior of the church was dim and silent. The pages I got from Dr. Gordon were spread out on the floor in front of me. I used the diagrams to help construct the hermetic circle, and I would use the imagery to help guide me along the journey to where I needed to go.