The Lie Spinners (The Deception Dance) (53 page)

“
I
am surprised you are this stupid, Nathan or whatever your name is,”
Mængmum’s voice says to our backs as we descend. “But
I am glad you are—”

He
silences as we turn around. The whole pavilion silences. Even the
steady clicking made by the spiders clinging to the web, silences.

Mængmum
starts yelling out in Thai.

“
Silence,”
Andras orders, not loudly but Mængmum immediately obeys. Andras
says, “I am here to see The Spider.”

Mængmum
begins, “What do you want from me—?”

“
Not
you.
The
Spider
,”
Andras says, dismissively, “The Hellfire Widow.”

Both
my body and I turn from gazing at my body’s feet to Andras’
smile.

Andras
just grins down at me and pats our joined hands tenderly, before
turning back to the stage.

I
gaze up to the dais as well; the same people fill it, as if they have
not shifted. Except the demon Chauncey, she’s gone.

May
rises up from her kneeling position, looking at us with her almost
entirely black eyes. She stands, calmly, and says, “You are a
day early, Grand Marquis Andras.”

I’m
suddenly even further from myself, floating… floating away.
So, so far away I watch Mængmum jump out of his throne, rabid
with fury, “You stole my power!” he yells, leaping for
May, fist swinging.

May
flicks her wrist almost lazily and Mængmum flies back into his
chair, smacking it with an audible ‘
thwack
.’

“
My
love,” she says demurely, stepping onto and walking over the
backs of the other fire dancers who still haven’t shifted, “I
did not steal your power.” She jumps down in front of Mængmum’s
throne. Setting down one dainty hand to caress his bald head, she
says, “You never had any.”

The
moment she touches him the hundreds of spiders on Mængmum’s
skin swarm onto May; rather than crawling over her skin, they merge
into her, disappearing into her skin like it’s the surface of a
pool and they’re plunging down into it. Her web too sinks into
her skin. “You’ve never understood Mængmum, power
is like water, it will pool in the deepest well; every time you
collected another’s power, it came to me. Every bit of power
you have ever had, I lent you. And, my love, I am tired of being
generous.”

“
You
lie...” he whispers, hoarsely.

“
No,”
she says, caressing his head, “You have never questioned how
the spiders can do what they do, have you? You never wondered how
these spiders could weave spells you yourself could not. When you
ordered me to bring you spiders, you never once asked me where I got
them. You just transformed them—enlarged them and transformed
yourself, thinking you could control them. They are all Hellfire
Widows; I created all of them, designed them and crafted them from
fire. They have always been my creatures; they listened to your
orders because I told them to. You did create one beautiful spell,
the power web, siphoning power by making a line into hundreds of
magicians’ power-centers; but the moment you greedily connected
your power to mine, the web, the power web, it was all mine.”

Mængmum
looks up into the web canopy above, then down at May, then back to
the gigantic spiders that all seem to just be sitting there, waiting
for orders. Mængmum stares up at May with something between
terror and awe.

Fire
spreads from May’s fingers, consuming Mængmum in one
quick white burst. A small pile of ash remains in a vacant throne.

The
people around the throne scream, then, run in all directions. They
run, then fall, screaming as they ignite like lit wicks then burst
into nothing more than ash, one by one.

May
still has Linnie
.
The realization tears into my safe place, slicing into my peace. I
look back to Father Dixon who now floats beside me; then I look down
to my body. When I turn again to Father Dixon, he nods slowly, and
then smiles at me, not a happy smile, but one filled with limitless
love. I reach for him, wanting to tell him that I’m not ready…
but he fades away.

Suddenly,
I’m hurdling forward and plunging into my body, filling my
unwanted shell.

I
don’t want to be here… I don’t want to be here,
don’t want to be in my body…

I
hear my own voice screaming as the world around me snaps into vivid
color, vibrant white and black and red; I punch out wildly at the
body next to mine. Kicking and screaming and kneeing.

A
strong arm wraps around me clamping down my arms like a straitjacket.

“
I
did nothing to her!” May calls down, frantic sounding, as she
wheels to face us on the dais.

“
Shhh,
shh, Raven,” Andras hushes me, his face pressed against my
hair, “Stay calm for me now and stay quiet.” He clamps me
to him with his arm and I’m stuck, restrained, his arms might
as well be steel bars around me.

But
I’m not going to stay quiet; I scream out, “You have my
sister! Where’s my sister?”

One
of the fire-dancers jumps for the web, and burns midair, then, just
ash.

“
Why
are you killing all these people?” My face feels so hot and
body so cold, if Andras keeps clutching me this tightly I might be
sick all over this mirror floor.

May
smiles at me. “I’ve collected all I could from them; I no
longer have any need for them nor for any of these pretenses,”
May says. Bowing to Andras, she calls out, “I have fulfilled my
side of our bargain, my Lord.”

“
What
have you done with her?” I yell.

“
I am very
impressed with your results,” Andras answers May, completely
ignoring me. “But there is one last thing you must do, bring me
the Earth Witch and I will consider it fulfilled and will fulfill my
side of our bargain.”

May
nods and the giant spiders on the web start clicking and descending.

Another
realization. “Pom never took the venom, did he?” I call,
“It was in the whisky!”

“
Very close,”
May says, calmly, “I poured two vials of demon blood in the
whisky. Demon blood in the whisky, I thought it was a nice touch, if
not a little cliché.”

“
You infected
them with demon blood…and Pom just because he was there…”
I say, “…all to enhance Stephen’s body so that
Andras could steal it without burning through it. What have you done
with my sister?” I yell, one more time.

“
I
kept her safe. You’re welcome,” she snaps. Giant cords
drop with hundreds of spiders swarming down, belaying not one but
five sacks to the dais, and dropping each one before May. Several
Spiders drop onto each sack, flipping then between each other as they
quickly unwrap five people. The first is Nicholas. The next Cassidy.
The third, Jones. The fourth, Madeline. And the fifth, Linnie. Linnie
is still dressed in the clothes she was wearing when I abandoned her
in the ship. “I’ve brought you five,” May says.

They’ve
all been here.

“
Wake
them all,” Andras says.

May
nods and immediately they simultaneously cry out in pain, their
bodies flopping.

I
thrash in Andras’ arms, screaming, but he won’t release
me. My screams subside into growls of anger, then horrible whimpers.
My sister sits up first, shocked and wide awake. The rest follow.

May
didn’t even try to wake Linnie entirely on the boat, everything
she did was scripted, planned out; and I unknowingly followed all her
plans.

People
are never so easy to fool as when you are giving them what they want,
Kasem told me; but I didn’t understand then. I understand now.

The
rest of the group pops up, like jack-in-the-boxes, springing out of
sleep. It takes them only a minute to orient themselves and five
pairs of eyes find us. First they each simultaneously show confusion,
then shock, then unimaginable horror.

No
one moves.

Then
Madeline wails a bleating sound like an animal dying of agonizing
pain. She falls forward.

Nicholas
gets to his knees sobbing and bellowing. “Stephen!” He
cries, “Stephen.”

Linnie
sobs, great ragged sobs.

And
the realization hits me once again
…Stephen…is…gone
.
I slump forward.
Father Dixon, come back, please.

But
he doesn’t.

With
a roar, Cassidy’s body rips into the body of a lion; in one
leap she hurtles through the air at us. Cassidy’s pelt suddenly
bursts into flames; she twists midair, falling short of us on the
stairs. She bounds back up the stairs and the moment she’s on
the dais the fire extinguishes. Fur still smoking, Cassidy, in lion
form, just lies, whimpering.

Richard
Jones doesn’t attack but his face fixes into an expression of
rage.

“
Madeline,”
Andras says calmly. “Come here, Madeline.”

May
stands up from where she still bows behind the group. She crosses
over to and grabs Madeline, who doesn’t fight her. “Be
warned, the earth witch is the only one who can descend these stairs
without burning,” May says.

Madeline
seems incapable of holding her own body weight; she flops forward,
releasing pitiful cries. May wraps her arms around Madeline’s
chest from behind and drags her backwards down the stairs; though
Madeline, now six months pregnant and showing, probably weighs thirty
pounds more than tiny May, May shows incredible tenderness and care
when carrying Madeline. She sets Madeline down about ten feet from
Andras and me, but stays standing over her.

“
Bring
me to her, Raven,” Andras whispers in my ear. I almost think
about refusing, but...I do as he says. Andras releases me enough so
that I can walk but holds onto my arm. I lead him to Madeline.

“
She
has brought Stephen to you,” Andras says, “Raven Smith’s
life debt is fulfilled.”

“
You’re
not Stephen!” she wails.

“
Now
you have fulfilled your side of the bargain, May.”

“
Yes,”
May bows to Andras then grabs a handful of Madeline’s red hair.

Madeline
snaps up her gaze, looking at May. “How do I know you?”
she whispers, horrified.

“
Yes
you do know me,” May says almost tenderly, though her grip on
Madeline’s hair shows anything but tenderness. “I’ve
been your doctor for years. Then we spoke each time I delivered my
notes about The Spider to you, don’t you remember?”

“
My
doctor? The messenger? You couldn’t have fooled me—I’d
have sensed a spell—”

“
Oh,
no, they were all me. Those transformations were using natural magic,
fire magic, my sister. I have done all of this, created all of this,
to save your child. I’ve been planning for years.”

Andras
holds up a vial, “The blood of Satan, bestowed.”

May’s
eyes widen and breaths come short, she takes the vial with her free
hand, unfastening the stopper with her trembling thumb.

“
Don’t
do this! She’s pregnant!” I shout, lunging; but Andras’
arm yanks me back into his restraining embrace.

“
I
am saving the child, “May says. “It is a gifted male, it
would die, be born stillborn. This blood will save its life. I should
have been the one to conceive the Antichrist; I have all six
abilities, I am the strongest natural witch in centuries. No one told
me that demon blood stills the womb. But when I found her, a witch
with five abilities, I decided I will have to settle for just raising
the Antichrist.”

“
What
?
I thought that I was the...” I don’t finish.

May
laughs, making Madeline wince as she tugs her hair. “You can’t
even say the word! How could you think that you were him? I do not
know what you are and how you can do what you did, but you are not
the
Antichrist
.
First of all, he is male, and second, he has great power bestowed
unto him by the dragon, Satan. Satan has never had the ‘key of
the bottomless pit;’ so whatever you are, it could not have
been bestowed by Satan.”