The Dark at the End 7

After arranging a time to meet here at the Lady's and drive her into the wilds of the Jersey Pine Barrens, Weezy left to meet Eddie, and Jack stayed behind.

As Glaeken rose and started for the door, Jack said, "I want to show you something."

He pulled off the long-sleeved T he was wearing and angled his wounded left arm toward him.

"Remember that from yesterday?"

The butterflies were gone and the wound had further healed. No dressing necessary.

Glaeken peered at the arm, then looked at Jack with concern in his eyes.

"You're healing ... quickly."

"Too quickly. What gives?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?"

"It's obvious in a direction I don't want it to be moving, so tell me something else. Please."

"I wish I could, but the answer is clear: As I begin to fail, you are progressing."

"Toward what?"

Jack knew the answer but needed to hear Glaeken say it.

"Toward what I used to be. You are the Heir, after all. And as you well know, upon my death, you assume my old place as Defender."

Jack did know.

"Swell."

Glaeken looked at the wound again and heaved a sigh. "I can only assume this means I haven't much time left."

That saddened Jack. Yeah, he wanted Glaeken to live forever for his own selfish reasons - so he wouldn't have to take on the Defender mantle. But he had others. He'd grown attached to the old guy. Glaeken had a quiet nobility that appealed to him. He was a walking trove of arcane knowledge. With his passing, humanity would lose someone unique and infinitely valuable.

"How much do you think? I mean, this is all new to me."

Glaeken smiled. "It's new to me as well. I've never died before, so I have no idea." The smile faded. "But I'd hoped to outlive Magda. Without me..." He looked at Jack. "May I ask you a favor?"

Jack sensed what was coming. "Look after her? Sure. Gia and I will see she's well taken care of. And you know Weezy will pitch in."

"Thank you. That's a comfort. I want her to stay right where she is. Any change in her surroundings worsens her confusion. If she was moved to another apartment, it would upset her terribly. I don't want her upset."

Jack slipped back into his T-shirt. "Don't worry. I'll see to it."

"Good. I knew I could count on you." He turned toward the door, then swung back. "Oh, and don't worry about paying for her care. I - "

"I've got plenty of money stashed away."

"You won't need it. I've left everything to you."

"What do you mean, 'everything'?"

"All that I own. You are the Heir, after all, so you will be my heir as well - my sole heir."

"You don't have any kids?"

"Hundreds. But they're all gone. And Magda and I never had any, so you're it. You'll own this building and all my other holdings, including the Foster tract in the Barrens."

Jack shook his head. Me ... owning a building on CPW -

"Wait. I can't inherit anything. I don't exist. No Social Security number, no property, never paid taxes."

He'd run into this problem when Gia was pregnant. Without an official existence, he couldn't be a child's legal parent.

Glaeken smiled again. "I'm aware of that. And I've been aware of you for a long time. I knew this day would come, so, maybe a dozen years ago I had someone create an alter ego for you. You, as you are now, have a corporeal life but no legal existence. This other entity has a legal existence but no life. He draws a salary from me and pays all proper taxes on it. He has your face and your fingerprints. He is named in my will and you will assume that identity whenever you need to access the assets I will leave to you."

"But I don't need - "

"A few billion dollars? Of course you don't. No one does. But it's got to go somewhere."

Jack swallowed. "Billions?"

Glaeken shrugged. "Give or take. I'm not sure of the exact figure. I've had a long time to accrue treasures and property, and they all tend to increase in value over time."

Billions ... the responsibility was daunting. But then ...

"This is all working under the assumption that there'll be anything to inherit. People who've had a peek at the future say it all goes dark sometime in the spring. That's not far off."

Glaeken nodded gravely. "Yes. If Rasalom gets his way, if he succeeds in bringing about the Change, this conversation becomes moot. Ironic in a way. He's wanted me dead for all these millennia. But now that he has the upper hand, now that he's so close to succeeding, he wants me to live - so he can rub my nose in the Change before he destroys me. And in a way, I will deserve that."

That startled Jack. "Deserve? How?"

"Because I could have ended the One back in the fifteenth century when I trapped him in the Keep. But I didn't. I thought our existences were linked, and if I destroyed him, the Ally would have no further use for me, and would destroy me in turn. So I locked him away for what I thought was forever. Well, not forever, just until I tired of the world. I wanted the decision to make my exit to be my own, and to choose the time of that exit. When I was ready I would return to the Keep and end him. But the German Army ruined that plan."

"You couldn't have known."

He shook his head. "Pure selfishness on my part. I'd lived for thousands of years. I could have risked it. So now, if we lose, I deserve whatever happens to me."

Jack found the thought intolerable.

"Not if I find him first."

"But should I die before anything happens, promise me you'll use some of the inheritance to keep Magda comfortable."

"Of course. Absolutely. Anything and everything she needs."

He clapped Jack on the shoulder. "Good. Good."

Glaeken headed for the hall and the elevator, leaving Jack alone with the Lady.

"I have sensed you undergoing a change for a while," she said.

She hadn't moved from her place at the table. Her gaze was serene, her voice low.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I know you do not want it. The realization has caused you only pain. What purpose would telling you serve?"

Good point. He was glad he hadn't known. He cocked his head toward the door where Glaeken had exited.

"And him? Any idea how long he's got?"

"Not long. His heart is failing - not his will to live on and fight. Those will never fail in that one. But the pump itself is old and it is tired. He will not see midsummer's eve."

"When's that?"

"In the latter half of June."

Shaken, Jack pulled out a chair and dropped into it. One thing to say he hasn't got much time left, but to hear it narrowed down like that. Early March now ... that meant ...

"Glaeken's got less than four months to live?"

The Lady nodded. "I cannot say the exact day, but the way his light is fading, it cannot last too long."

Jack felt his throat constrict. He'd bumped into Glaeken - as Mr. Foster - once as a kid, but had come to know him only last May, not even a year ago. Yet he felt as if he'd known him all his life.

"I'm going to miss him."

"You're going to miss him!" the Lady said. "He's been my friend since the First Age. We've been the only constants in each other's lives over these many millennia." She pointed at Jack. "It rests in your hands to see that his few remaining days are not reduced to even fewer by the One."

Right. Eliminate Rasalom first.

"Any sense of where he might be?"

She shook her head. "I sense him most often to the east, but he seems ever on the move."

"To the east ... Monroe?"

"Where he was conceived ... perhaps. Perhaps farther. Perhaps Europe."

This was no help.

"Well, tonight I'm going to meet with someone who might know the One's whereabouts."

"Someone who knows is not likely to tell you."

"Oh, if he knows, he'll tell me."