Fierce Lessons (Ghosts & Demons Series Book 3) (4 page)

“You’ve got a lot of power now that you’ve changed.”

“I had a lot of power before. Seems to me that me getting horns has changed everyone else, sir.”

“Do you really wonder that your loyalty is questioned now that you’re a half-demon? For instance, what really happened at Castille, Iowa? The place was incinerated. All we have is your story on that. Did you kill any of the humans there? How many? Can we really trust you?”

I had killed one. I kept silent and ran harder. I got to the top and ran along the parapet, past the guards at the machine gun nests. Then I turned so I ran along the top of the snowcapped bailey. Morning fog suffused Brooklyn’s skyline, softening everything, streets and sky alike, to white. “I’m the same person I always was, sir, but stronger. Kurt Vonnegut was of German heritage. He fought the Germans in World War II. And would you suspect every veteran who sacrificed in the US military if they also happened to be Muslim? Lots of Muslims fight for us.”

“You’re talking to a superior, Iowa. You forgot to call me, ‘sir.’”

“I didn’t forget. You’re trying to play mind games with me. You’re trying to push me into some sort of admission. What’s the plan? Piss me off enough and I throw you off the parapet to prove you right?”

“Put me down, Iowa.”

I did.

“I am a superior,” Anguloora said. “I’m concerned that, with all your newfound power, you won’t think of any human as a superior. Haven’t you ever heard what absolute power does?”

“It corrupts. Like you think you have absolute power over me. My first boyfriend was a big Spider-Man fan. I like his take better. ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’”

“Can you handle that responsibility, Iowa?”

“Victor wanted a secret weapon and here I am. You’ve got me. Now I can’t walk around without everyone knowing I was the secret. I didn’t know what I was! Sounds to me like I should be questioning our superior’s motives. Victor should have told me what I was in for.”

Anguloora stepped closer. “That’s what I have to know. If you’d known what was going to happen to you, would you still have gone down into that quarry and broken Rasputin’s suppression spell?”

I paused a moment to think. “Yes. Sir.”

“Well, that’s fine, then.” Anguloora stepped back and turned to gaze at the city. “When the fog lifts, all is revealed.”

He pointed to the parapet’s inner wall. “Do the wall sit until your legs give out. When that’s done, we’ll go back down to the archery range and work on your aim.”

I slid my back down the wall until my knees bent to a ninety degree angle and it looked like I was sitting in a chair that wasn’t there. “This could take quite a while, sir.”

“That’s okay. I love this view of the city.”

After a time, he added, “Your father was Peter Smythe.”

I sighed. “Yes, sir.”
 

“He passed for human for a long time, didn’t he?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You can pass for human, too, you know. Go to the Magical in the deepest part of the stone labyrinth under Command and Control. He could fix you up with a glamor spell. The horns will still be there, though none but Magicals will see them.”

“I already asked several Magicals about a glamor spell to conceal my horns, sir. They all shook their heads and turned away. ‘Demon magic is dark magic,’ is what I was told, sir.”

“Then you didn’t ask the right Magical. There is one who can do that sort of thing. I understand it’s pretty straightforward.”

The important stuff is never straightforward. That’s Lesson 159.

5

I
t took a while for Anguloora to make me tired, but we found out he had a talent for training non-humans, too. When he let me off training for the day, he told me that tomorrow we’d work less on conditioning and more on my bow skills. “You won’t leave until you hit the targets one hundred times in a row, so you better start early. It’s going to be a long day. That’s the key to getting good. Pretend you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I have it naturally, but anyone can fake it till they’re awesome.”

I headed straight to C&C without changing, eager to pursue the archery conductor’s suggestion. Apparently, there was one Magical who could be useful to me and I was excited. If the Choir couldn’t see my horns, then maybe I could get back to the ordinary torments, tortures and terrors of fighting the Ra. Keeping the doors between dimensions locked tight was enough work without worrying that one of my fellow sword singers might stab me in the back one day.

The air cooled as I descended the stone steps toward Command and Control. My damp clothes chilled my skin but I didn’t mind. The Amish warlocks looked away and pointed the way farther into the labyrinth as I passed. I’m not sure if it was the horns that freaked them out or because I was still sweaty from my workout. Given their beliefs, I think they would have preferred I fight demons wearing a long black dress and a bonnet. After it was over, we could celebrate saving the world with a barn raising.

After five turns through the maze, a child met me at a fork in the tunnel. She might have been seven years old, but her hands were still chubby, with babyish dimples instead of knuckles. Blonde hair poked out at odd angles from beneath a blue hat decorated with red ladybugs. “Hello, Iowa.”

“Hi.”

“I’m Fawn.”

“That’s a nice name. I haven’t seen you before.”

“I stay down here. It’s supposed to be safest down here.”

“You never go outside?” To me, the Keep was a fortress. To the child, she must see it as a dank prison.

Fawn revealed she was a mind reader. “My father says most people’s minds are prisons. To a free thinker, there is no darkness and there are no walls.”

“Your dad sounds like a smart guy.”

“My dad is the Great Psymon the Inimitable. He’s not quite as smart as he thinks, though.”

I laughed. “Don’t tell him that.”

“He knows what I think. In my family, we all know what everyone thinks.”

“That sounds like a sure way to make everyone mad at each other all the time.”

“Dad says the sight is a gift because, without lies, we trust each other more. Mom says that’s why they divorced. No matter how much he tried to cover up, she knew when he was ogling other women. Then Mom looked at other guys too long and they live at opposite ends of the labyrinth now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ve got — ”

“Quite a vocabulary for a seven year old. Reading books and people’s minds all day makes that happen quickly.”

“That’s — “

“Amazing,” she said. “You were just going to say that. Oh, and now I’m annoying and you’re worried about what your thoughts will reveal about you.”

“Yes.”

“It’s okay. I keep secrets. I won’t tell anyone about Brad.”

It turns out, even when you’re a badass half-demon warrior for the Choir, your cheeks can flush hot with embarrassment. I didn’t want this little girl poking around in my horned head about my first love. Or anything else.

“Your intention is all cloudy,” Fawn said, suddenly all business.

“I don’t remember this part of the maze.”

“The maze changes twice daily in the power hours of midnight and noon.”

“Oh.”

“You are still deciding if you should ask Mr. Fuentes for permission to talk to the Magical who can cast a glamor spell for you. To get to Command and Control and Victor, go right. Then keep turning left at each corner after the long bend. You’ll find him there at his desk. He has a new standing desk he likes very much. Victor is hungry for lunch and is thinking about ordering in pizza from Grimaldi’s, even though Dr. Moosejaw says he shouldn’t eat it so often. Sometimes Victor wonders what Wilmington looks like without her clothes on, but mostly he worries about how to get into the other dimension where the demons live.”

“I see. You said you keep secrets.”

“I do. I have so many more than that. And you won’t tell anyone, anyway. You aren’t going to the right. You aren’t going to ask Mr. Fuentes for permission, either.”

She was right. I didn’t want to face Victor, especially with the revelation about him picturing Wilmington naked. What should I say to Wil next time I saw her?

“You won’t say anything to Wil. She’s his bodyguard and as long as you say nothing, you won’t make it weird between them.” Fawn pointed to the left. “I can take you to the wizard now.”

“Do we follow the yellow brick road?”

She frowned. “No. Follow me.” However, instead of leading the way, she took my hand. In my calloused palm, her hand felt soft and almost boneless. To my demon senses, holding hands with Fawn was like holding a pile of warm mashed potatoes.

“You shouldn’t compare humans to anything to do with food. It freaks me out,” Fawn said.

“Sorry.”

“And I’m almost eight. My birthday is in February.”

As we walked through unmarked hallways, torches flamed on to light our way. I tried to think of nothing. That’s a sure path to start thinking of something.
 

“Even if you meditated more, it wouldn’t help,” Fawn said. “I can see the stuff you’re thinking and I can see the stuff you aren’t thinking. That’s why my life is in danger all the time. Bad people don’t want me alive.”

“But you’ll always see your enemies coming, right?”

“Mind reading only works if I can see who I’m reading and if they’re close by. Somebody could still trap me. Or get me in my sleep. I’m still just a kid, you know.”

“Couldn’t you pretend you aren’t a mind reader?”

Fawn laughed and I sensed no bitterness or fear. “No. My Mom says no one should hide their light under a bushel of dumb people’s expectations. Everybody has to play their part. Dad says if you’re a great bricklayer, be a great bricklayer even if you know it might hurt your back when you’re old. We all have to be who we are. You’re destined to try to save the world. And if you save the world, I’ll rule it.”

I stopped and stared at her.
 

“Don’t worry,” Fawn said. “There’ll be a vote. Geez. You didn’t
really
think everything would be the same forever even if you keep the demons out.”

“I didn’t think about it at all.”

“Until now. And now that you’re thinking about it you — ”

“I think you should keep your talents secret a bit longer.”

“If I did that, we’d definitely lose the war. Chumele said so.”

“You knew Chumele?”

“All the Magicals did. I called her Grammy. She was nice and she never had mean thoughts about anyone.”

“I’m sorry she died.”

“She knew what she was doing when she took you down to that place. Grammy could see into her future a little bit. She said you were worth the sacrifice. She told me to tell you something when you came back. She gave her life for you to have a chance to win the war and my future depends on you, so don’t screw up.”

Lesson 160: don’t hide the light of your genius under a bushel of dumb and don’t screw up.

“Okay…good talk, Fawn. Good talk. Thanks.” Cute as she was, I couldn’t
wait
to get away from that kid.

Fawn read my mind, squeezed my hand and smiled. “I get that a lot.”

6

T
he way was always down. The tunnel straightened. The Magicals wove elaborate spells to make the labyrinth around Command and Control. However, I was sure we were beyond the cast of that spell and back into the real world, whatever that was.

Lesson 161: The more we know, the more we understand that we don’t know. The concept of the real world is a moving target, a chimera grounded only in the shifting sand of imagination. Lots of so-called facts change. Look at history. Everybody who ever thought they had the world nailed down to one reality turned out to be wrong. Statistically, our chances of being right about what we think we know aren’t that much better now.

(You’ll want to read and reread this lesson when you come to the end of this book. I wish I’d taken it more seriously when I thought of it the first time.)

The tunnel slanted down more sharply and water trickled across the walls in long, reaching rivulets that shone in the guttering flames of the torches. The solid stone walls turned to brick, then rock again and finally to piles of slate. The light dimmed as the torches spread farther apart and, at last, Fawn and I arrived at the edge of a small dark lake.

“Where’s the guy?”

Fawn squeezed my hand and let go. “This is where I leave you, Tamara. Another will take you the rest of the way. You’ll want to give me your phone now. If this goes well, you’ll get it back.”

If? If
this goes well?

I pushed that thought away, fished my cell from my pocket and handed it over. “Take it to Command and Control and I’ll pick it up later, okay?”

“I’m not allowed to go near that room,” Fawn said. “I’ll keep it safe for you. Cross my heart and hope you don’t die.”

When I turned to watch her go, I felt a moment of trepidation. Fawn looked so tiny heading back up the dim passageway alone. I called after her. “Are you sure you’ll find your way back okay?”

“I’m supposed to be the future leader of the world,” the kid said. “I’m not a baby. I never really was. You should be careful. The Magical you’re looking for is the one that none of the others like. At all.”

I turned back to the water. A beautiful woman in her late thirties stood inches away. She was so close I thought she meant to kiss me.
 

I was startled, first by her sudden appearance and second by her piercing ice-white eyes. I stepped back. She smiled. Her hair was long and white, as was her dress. She was soaked and, with the white fabric clinging to her, she may as well have been naked. She was a misty wistful. I guessed she’d died by drowning.
 

“What now?” I asked.

The ghost did not speak. She beckoned me to follow her into the water. It was murky and I wondered how deep it might go. I waded forward. The lake was cold. Something with thick scales brushed my leg. I shuddered and kept going forward until the water rose to my chest.

The misty wistful looked back, smiled wider, and dropped beneath the surface. I edged forward, taking baby steps. The rocky floor dropped away. I tread water a moment, took a few deep breaths and dove under where the misty wistful had disappeared.