Out Of The Dark (9 page)

Mr. Scary? No wonder all those people
disappeared. I had a boss like that I'd disappear too.

"Get back here," Rhonda pulled at my hair and
I would have yelped if I could. I did swat at her where we hid
behind the wall in the waiting room. That's when I noticed Dags was
in a chair behind us, his arms crossed over his chest and he was
bent forward.

I pointed to him to indicate
What up with
him?

"We need to get you and Dags away from this
guy pronto," she moved around me and peered behind the wall. I
moved above her head and looked as well. I'm sure we looked like
two body-less heads floating along the edge of the wall. Dr.
Bonville was moving out of atrium but not before glancing back in
our general direction.

In fact, it looked as if he were looking
around for something.

Rhonda and I ducked back behind.
"Jesus--something about that guy is powerful. It's not him directly
but something
around
him."

I nodded. And freak'n creepy.

She moved to Dags and knelt in front of him
before touching his cheek. "Think you can make it to the car?"

He nodded but didn't look up. All I saw was a
cascade of black hair over a leather pea-coat. When had he taken
his ponytail out?

What the hell's wrong with you?

He did look up then and he was way pale--like
goth pale. "I --I don't know. I just --I'm nauseated. And my hands
are burning."

Rhonda glanced from me to Dags. She pulled
his hands out and moved them face up.

The tattoos were lit up like he had
fluorescent bulbs on the inside of both hands. I glanced back
around the wall--Mr. Spooky was gone. But the atrium still had that
weird metallic feel to it. In fact everything in the atrium had
like a shadowy, metallic after effect to it--almost like a sheen.
It was creepy.

I turned back. Dags' expression was one of
pain, and he was holding it in. The skin around the concentric
circles was red and puckered. I pointed to it and waved at Rhonda.
"Summoning?" I managed to spell, remembering that book on sign
language.

She nodded. "They're summoning circles--but I
don't think he's actually summoning anything. I think he's
being
summoned. And it started happening the moment dark and
creepy walked in. We have to get to Nona's--with her protections up
around that shop he should be fine."

And is if on cue--which my life seems to be
playing out lately--Dags sort of faded. Just --
zzzzzip
. Like
someone reduced the transparency on him from 110 percent to like 70
percent.

Or maybe more like 50 percent.

I don't know why but I felt I needed to touch
him--but not like this. With another glance around to make sure we
were alone in the waiting room I sat down quickly and slipped out
of my body, making sure it was semi-propped up against the
wall.

"What are you doing?" Rhonda hissed.

I waved at her to shush and reached down--now
remember--the last few times I'd done this met with a bad end--for
the other person. But the overwhelming need to touch Dags was
incredible. But apparently Rhonda remembered my Wraith touch and
tried to stop me.

Her hand passed through my arm as I knelt
down in front of Dags and touched his open palms.

Wind, darkness, howling, shadows--it was as
if I were standing on a mountain top overlooking an apocalyptic
scene of mass destruction. Only nothing in the ruins looked normal
to me. There was nothing familiar. Only--

I saw
his
face--a face I'd never
wanted to see again.

The Archer.

And he was angry. He screamed at me as did
all those little weirdoes I'd seen behind Bonville in the atrium
and they charged at me, over and over again, coming up the ragged
mountain.

And then I popped back again, sitting on my
butt in front of Dags --who was looking at me as if I were some
sort of bug. At least he was solid again.

"I don't know what you did," Rhonda was
saying as she reached around Dags' front and grabbed at his wrists.
The marks on his hands were still there but not as bright. "But it
worked. Now get in your body and let's get out of here."

I did as Rhonda said, sitting up in my body
and dusting myself off as I stood. Looking around the wall again
and seeing it clear, I motioned them to follow me. Rhonda helped
Dags along with an arm beneath his shoulder --and in a hospital
this looked fairly normal. So we moseyed on through to the front
door and then across the walk to the parking garage. Once in the
Volvo I took the wheel this time while Rhonda held onto Dags in the
back seat.

I sure as hell hoped she didn't put the moves
on him while he was in this condition. That would be like seven
shades of wrong.

But as we pulled into traffic she called out,
"He's fading again!"

Shit.

I pulled over and Rhonda and I switched
places. I half pulled out of my body and would endure the weird
mountain scene every time I touched him. The worst part of it for
me was that every time I technically "pulled him back" those
buggers were closer up the mountain side.

But I didn't see TC's face again. Only that
first time.

So, what happens if I they reach me before we
get him to Mom's? I really didn't wanna know.

But with Rhonda's Speed Racer imitation we
made it to Little Five Points and up the driveway. Mom and Jemmy
came out the door, the former in her blue caftan and the latter in
that house dress. I slipped back into my body and realized the
whole upper half was on pins and needles --like it went to
sleep.

Weird.

Once Dags was inside --I noticed a weird wave
in the air in the doorway when he crossed through --he was okay.
The tattoos on his hands vanished and he wasn't as nauseated as he
was before. Mom offered him some tea and Rhonda shook her head just
where Dags and I could see (mom's tea's been a little off lately).
He took it out of kindness but then poured it into one of the
plants in the Tea Shop.

Poor Ficus.

Rhonda gave mom one of her highly detailed
recounts of what happened at the restaurant with the odd acting
Shadow Folk and then at the hospital.

Nona frowned. "Who's Charlie Holmes?"

Rhonda gave her a brief history between he
and Daniel. "Evidently Cooper called him in."

"Well if Captain Cooper has confidence in him
I do too."

Jemmy interrupted. "So, Zoë here was moved
same as Dags there. Only his tattoos reacted and Zoë had to go all
OOB and stop him from vanishing?"

Everyone nodded. Even Dags.

Dags waved to get my attention. "You saw them
--moving up the mountain?"

I nodded.
You did too?

"Yeah," he swallowed. "I --I didn't recognize
where that place was. I mean--it didn't look like here. Like
Earth."

And no, it hadn't. It had looked more like
some wacko fantasy landscape in a Tolkien nightmare.

He didn't mention seeing TC, and for some
reason neither did I. But I knew my reasons were more personal. If
I did mention seeing the Archer again, I knew my mom would somehow
lock me away, terrified that creature was going to change me into
something else.

Everyone gathered at the table. Rhonda pulled
out some day-old pastries, some iced tea from the fridge and I
helped get the pot of tea (store bought) brewed and in a container
for hot tea. Mom encouraged Dags to eat and even sat down beside
him. Tim and Steve appeared, looking extremely brighter than
usual.

Mom took the documents from Rhonda and looked
at each one of them. I snacked on an espresso brownie. Zing! I was
gonna be high on caffeine later. Yow! But man -- it was
goooood.

"I think it's a set of contracts," Rhonda
said. "For the Cruorem."

Mom nodded. I got the feeling from her rather
grim expression that this was a bad thing. I sipped at my tea
wishing for a hotdog. Or even a salad with lots of grilled chicken.
I was starving again. Those peanuts just hadn't done it.

"The who?" Jemmy said.

Rhonda had already mentioned them today.
Let's see what mom was going to say.

"A local Ceremonial group. Pretty much known
more for their politics in the magical world rather than their
works," Nona said. She was still looking over the documents.
"Originally they were more of a nuisance --you'd hear about these
public rituals in North Georgia and all the Wiccan groups would
protest, going on camera to say this isn't what magic is all
about."

I pursed my lips. Okay.

Dags looked from Rhonda to Nona. "How do you
know about them like that?"

"Because I was at a few of those protests,"
Nona said. "Anyway --they vanished about three years ago. I figured
internal politics had rotted them from the inside out. But
apparently Dr. Bonville is back in town and I'm assuming he's their
new leader." She looked at Dags. "And from the reaction you had in
the hospital that close to him, unprotected, I'd say he's got a
caller out on you, Mr. McConnell."

I got up and found my dry erase board on the
papasan in the Botanica and came back to the table. I scribbled for
a bit and then held it up. WHEN I TOUCH HIM, WE GO TO MOUNTAIN
TOP.

Mom frowned. Rhonda grabbed up the Big Book
of Everything and started flipping through it.

"Was it a mountain top that overlooked
ruins?" Steve piped up.

I glanced at Dags. He nodded to the ghost and
cleared his throat. He looked a little better. A little. "Yes. But
the sky was all orange, and there were lots of odd shaped creatures
coming up the side toward me."

Mom and Steve exchanged glances before Steve
said, "I think he's using some sort of spell to summon Dags to the
Abysmal."

Dags frowned. "The Abysmal?"

Rhonda gave him a brief explanation of
Physical, Mental, Astral, Ethereal and Abysmal. Dags didn't look
very comforted. "So you think Dr. Bonville is trying to draw me
into the Abysmal –what the hell for?"

"I don't know why—unless he's trying to get
rid of you. If you weren't in physical form, it could be used as a
jail," Steve said. "But since you are and got yanked inside—you'd
die pretty quick. The Physical can't exist in the Abysmal for more
than say a few seconds before the lack of oxygen, lack of any real
atmosphere would cause your body to implode. My assumption? I think
he's using it as a short cut to summon you to him. Like, a portal
between dimensions. A teleporting short cut." He frowned. "Only
with some very ugly side effects if the summon fails."

"Side effects?" Dags squeaked.

Steve nodded. "Yeah, that dying thing I
mentioned."

Dags looked like he was going to throw
up.

Finally Rhonda asked the question. "So, what
happens to Dags if he doesn't pull him out?"

Steve looked irritated. "What part of die
here are we missing?"

Rhonda made a rude noise. "Touchy. Look, I'm
just wondering--since there are four Guardians to represent the
four quarters--then have the other three already been pulled
through? Or is he specifically after Dags?"

Steve shrugged.

Good point.

Mom held up the brown papers. "These
are
contracts --and very much worded like the one you
stumbled on with Hirokumi and the Reverend between the Phantasm and
symbiont. Only these all have blanks in them and there is a phrase
here that talks about the Shadow Realm Walkers."

"You mean the Shadow Folk?" Rhonda said,
looking up from the book. "Like the ones we just ran into at the
restaurant?"

"Oh I don't know if they're the same shadows
--but I think this is a contract between the Cruorem and --well
--maybe the Brownies? I just can't be sure. The language is
evasive."

Aw geez. Erase. Scribble. SO WHY BROWNIE WANT
US TO FIND.

"Yeah," Rhonda said with a nod. "Good point.
And I think we mentioned this to each other--but I got the distinct
impression we --or rather Zoë --was dealing with two different
camps in that restaurant."

Mom shook her head. "What do you mean?"

I nodded to Rhonda to talk. Easier for you,
dude.

"Like we said, when we got there Dags and Zoë
said they saw two of the little buggers and they tried to trip us
up the stairs --but then a third one showed Zoë where the papers
were."

Tim said, "You think there were two different
pairings of Shadow Folk? Two different kinds?"

I nodded. I definitely felt a difference in
them. The first were nasty and the second were nice. But I didn't
scribble this down.

Nona nodded. "It's possible I guess."

Dags cleared his throat. His voice sounded
thin and small. "I have a really weird question --" he looked
around. Everyone was listening. "You said earlier that Shadow Folk
--or the kind we think of as Brownies --weren't originally
human?"

Mom shrugged. "That was the feeling comment.
According to the book, they could have been."

"So," he shrugged. "If I'm understanding any
of this--it is possible to turn someone into a Shadow Person?"

Rhonda shivered. So did I. That thought was
just --well --oogie.

Mom shook her head. "I don't really know. The
book says they're humans touched by the elements. I don't know how
you'd do that. What kind of ritual or event would happen? But if
there is a way to turn living people in to Shadow Forms--" she made
a face. "I think it would call for the death of the living victim.
Since the Folk live somewhere on the Astral, Abysmal or
Ethereal."

"Well, that would make sense if you
considered the transmitter theory we had. If their essence resided
on the Astral, Abysmal or Ethereal planes, then we don't have the
filters to see their true forms. Thus we get shadows." Rhonda
said.

Jemmy grunted. "I say they're on the
we-don't-go-there plane." She shifted in her chair. "But I'm
curious, boy, why you asked that question?"