FORTY-FOUR
"Where's he going?" Allen asked.
"I sent him away," Zabel said. "It was almost as difficult as summoning him in the first place."
"Did you find out? What did he say?"
"The Vysehrad," Zabel said. "That's where Roderick is buried. There's a cemetery there. I imagine that's where he is."
"What's the Vysehrad?" Allen asked.
"South," Amy said. "It's a fort."
"Tell us the rest," Allen said. "What else did he say?"
"Come with me." Zabel headed for the hatch in the roof.
Allen hesitated. "Where are you going?"
"This is important," Zabel said. "Hurry." He disappeared down the hatch.
"Come on," Amy said.
They followed Zabel down the spiral stairs and then down to the first floor. Zabel glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were still following. He led them through a cramped kitchen. Another door. More stairs. Down.
In the basement. Allen glanced around. A cupboard. A chair. Shelves with bottles and jars of who-knew-what. A small table with a dirty tablecloth. It was a small room, dimly lit. "What are we doing here?"
"Please," Zabel said. "Stand over by that wall." He pointed to the only wall bare of shelves or other furnishings.
Amy and Allen stood against the wall.
"Hold out your hands," Zabel said.
Amy and Allen looked at each other.
An impatient sigh from Zabel. "Come on, come on."
Amy and Allen each held out their right hand. Zabel placed a smooth chunk of quartz into each upturned palm, muttered a smattering of unintelligible words.
Allen felt himself go rock-solid stiff.
He tried to turn his head, blink his eyes. No go. He was a statue. He couldn't even glance sideways to see if the same thing had happened to Amy, although he assumed it had. He couldn't even feel himself breathing.
"You're both okay," Zabel said. "But I need to keep you on ice while I check this out. It's still hard to believe. The philosopher's stone. But if it is true... well, that's the wizard's jackpot, isn't it?"
Allen thought, Eat shit, cocksucker as loud as he could on the off chance wizards could read minds.
"I might have more questions for you," Zabel said. "So I'm keeping you until I can confirm or deny this fairy tale. I'll need to go up to my office, gather some things, look up a few spells. Then I suppose I'm off to the cemetery. Now, don't go anywhere, you two."
He went back upstairs.
Allen tried to move any part of his body-finger, toe, tongue, eyebrow. He might as well have been carved from marble. How many minutes slipped by? Thirty? Forty? An hour? It was amazingly difficult to measure the passage of time when one was forced to remain utterly motionless. No windows. No sounds. This could drive him mad in no time flat. He could not stop trying to look at Amy.
Allen heard something, almost like a faint scratching. He would have whipped his head around to look if he hadn't been frozen. The door creaked open. Footfalls came down the steps, a strange clicking. Oh, hell. What was coming for them? Maybe Zabel had decided he didn't need them after all and had come to tie up loose ends.
Allen tried one more time to move any part of his body. Stone still.
The wolf's head came into view. There was still an instinctual moment of fear before relief flooded him. Penny. Thank God. He tried to will the wolf to action. Come on, knock the quartz out of my hand. You can do it. Come on, figure it out.
The wolf looked back and forth between Allen and Amy, pacing anxiously. Penny emitted a questioned sound halfway between a whine and a growl, then sat in front of Allen, head cocked.
Get the quartz. Come on. Fetch.
Penny pawed at the air, edged forward, and put her paw on Allen's leg. The wolf snorted. When Allen didn't reply, she got up on her hind legs, put her paws on his chest. Her full enormous wolf weight knocked him back into the wall. His whole body shifted, and the quartz slipped out of his hand, rattled on the stone floor.
Feeling flooded back into Allen's body.
"Oh... shit."
Hot needles scorched his knees and the elbow of the arm he'd used to hold up the stone. He collapsed to the floor, moaned, rubbed the circulation back into his elbow. Who knew standing still could be so grueling?
Wolf Penny licked his ear.
"Turn back into a girl before you do that, okay?" Allen moaned again, rolled over and looked up at the wolf. "Did he see you come in?"
Penny shook her head.
Allen looked at Amy. She still stared straight ahead at nothing, mouth slightly open, hand outstretched, the chunk of quartz still in the center of her palm. "The rock in her hand," Allen said. "Get rid of it."
Penny bumped the bottom of Amy's hand with her head, and the quartz went flying.
"Motherfucker." Amy fell back against the wall, slid into a sitting position, rubbed her elbow, and stretched out her legs. "I need to start doing yoga or something."
Allen looked at the wolf. "You going to change back?"
Penny shook her head.
"She doesn't have any clothes," Amy said.
"Oh yeah."
Amy stood, stomped her feet trying to get the feeling back. "We've got to get out of here. Maybe we can sneak back up the front stairs without Zabel hearing. Run out the front door."
"No," Allen said. "He still has the Kelley diary."
"So what?"
"I'm not leaving without it."
"When did you get all action hero all of a sudden?"
"There's information in it," Allen said. "We've come too far just to let it go."
"Let's look around." Amy headed for a cupboard against the far wall. "Maybe there's something we can use for a weapon."
She opened the cupboard, her hand going to her mouth to stifle a scream. She jumped back. Penny growled.
Allen's eyes went big and round, his mouth falling open.
"Damn, that light's bright," said one of the severed heads in the cupboard.
Six heads. Three on the top shelf, another three on the bottom.
"It talked," Amy said.
The wolf whined, hid behind Allen's legs.
"What day is it?" asked one of the top-shelf heads, who had a thick black moustache and eyebrows. "Can you take me outside? I haven't seen the sun in so long."
"Stop complaining," said the head next to him. "I've been in here longer than any of you."
"You'll have to excuse us, miss," said a bald, bottom-shelf head. "It gets a little tedious in here. Hard to pass the time."
"We could start the choir again," suggested the moustache head.
"All you know are fucking Journey songs," said baldy.
"Jesus," Allen said. "Close the cupboard."
"No!" all the heads said together.
"Let's just leave," Amy said.
"Wait!" said the freshest-looking head. "I know you, don't I? London, about two weeks ago."
Amy squinted at the head. "Pascal?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your name."
"Amy."
Allen said, "You know him?"
"He's a Society official," she told him. "What happened to you, Pascal?"
"It's a long story," Pascal said. "You've got to get me out of here."
"Us too," said one of the other heads.
"Shut up," Pascal snapped. "I'm talking to somebody."
"We can't leave yet," Allen told the head. "Zabel has something of ours, and we need to get it back."
"Where's Zabel now?" Pascal asked.
"He said he was going to his office," Amy said. "Maybe he's still there."
"Don't go to his office," Pascal said. "He's got it rigged with subliminal messages. You'll be helpless."
Allen looked at the wolf. "How did you get in here, anyway? The front door?"
Penny shook her head.
"Did you find an open window?"
The wolf nodded.
"Can you get on the roof?"
The wolf nodded.
Allen scratched his chin, thought for a moment. "Okay, people, here's the plan."
Amy raised an eyebrow, the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You're making plans now?"
"Just huddle up and listen," Allen said. "Amy, I want you on the street. At least one of us needs to get away clean. Head, you're with me. I need inside information. Now pay attention. Here's how it's going to go down."
They eased up the stairs from the basement. When they reached the ground floor, they split up. The wolf padded back to the kitchen to the open window she'd come through in the first place. Amy slipped out the front door, closed it behind her as gently as possible.
"Okay, head, it's just me and you now," Allen whispered. "Where's Zabel's office?"
"Will you stop calling me head? My name's Pascal."
"Why does your voice sound weird?"
"I have a stone in my mouth," Pascal said.
"Why don't you spit it out?"
"Because I'll die," Pascal said. "The office is upstairs."
Allen started up the stairs with the head under his arm. He stopped every few steps to listen. Had Zabel already gone? If so, maybe he'd left the diary behind. Allen could do with a bit of good luck. They reached the second floor. Allen paused again but didn't hear anything.
"Turn right," Pascal whispered. "The office is all the way at the end of the hall."
"You said there was a window that faced the street?"
"Yes, and a small balcony beyond, or maybe it was just a large flowerbox. I didn't get a good look."
"Okay," Allen said. "Come on."
He tiptoed down the hall to the office, pressed his ear against the door but heard nothing. He knelt, looked through the keyhole. He couldn't see much. No movement.
"I don't think he's in there," Allen said.
"Let me have a look," Pascal said.
Allen held the head up to the keyhole.
"I think you're right," Pascal said. "His desk is right across from the door, and I don't see him."
Allen tucked the head back under his arm, tried the doorknob. Unlocked. He pushed it open slowly, stuck his head inside. Nobody there.
The Kelley diary sat in plain sight in the center of the desk.
"Sweet," Allen said. "Let's grab it and get the hell out of here."
"Not so fast," came a voice from behind Allen.
Damn. Allen's heart sank. He turned very slowly. Zabel stood there, an automatic pistol trained on Allen.
"Damn your eyes," Pascal said. "That's my gun."
"I saw no reason to throw it out," Zabel said. "Looks like it came in handy. Pull the trigger on this end, and the bullet comes out the other end, right? Pretty simple."
"You are a giant douche," Pascal said. "Just look at me. This isn't over."
"I think I might take you up on the roof after this, Pascal. See what the crows make of you." Zabel waved the gun at Allen. "Stand back. We're going to have a little talk. For starters, I'd like to know how you got out of the basement."
Allen sighed. "I'm sorry, Pascal."
"Sorry for what?" asked the head.
"This."
Allen tossed the head into the air. It went nearly as high as the ceiling, then arced toward Zabel, who titled his head back to see Pascal's face screaming down at him.
Allen leaped on Zabel, a hand going to his gun wrist. They twisted, went to the ground. The head came down and bounced off Zabel's skull. Zabel winced, let go of the gun.
Allen grabbed it and stood, pointed it at Zabel. "Hold it."
Zabel didn't hold it. He stood slowly, rubbing the top of his head. "That hurt."
"I'll be taking that diary now," Allen said. "Nobody has to get shot here."
"Don't be ridiculous."
Allen lifted the pistol. "You don't think I'll do it?"
Zabel stomped his foot, pretended to jump at Allen. "Boo!"
Allen yelped, thrust the gun at Zabel, and tried to pull the trigger.
But he couldn't.
He looked at the gun, incredulous, pointed it at Zabel again. No matter how hard he tried to pull the trigger, Allen couldn't make his finger obey.
Zabel laughed. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you? I have protections all over my house to keep people like you from doing me any harm."
"I told you!" Pascal was on the floor, facing a corner. "Damn it, what's happening? Turn me around."
"Lars, come here," called Zabel.
"Oh, shit," said the head.
Allen was still trying to pull the trigger. He couldn't believe it.
"For Christ's sake," Zabel said. "Give me that gun before you hurt yourself. You can't harm me, but you'll shoot your own foot off if you keep-"
The window exploded behind him, the wolf leaping onto the desk amid a glittering rain of glass. Penny wore a torn strip of tablecloth around her eyes to protect herself from the subliminal spells.
Zabel screamed.
Allen, who'd known it was going to happen, screamed anyway.
"I can't see," yelled the head. "What's happening?"
The wolf zeroed in on Zabel, snapping its jaws, growling. Zabel tried to retreat, but Penny's powerful jaws clamped down on his upper arm. He screamed again, hit the wolf on the side of the head with his free hand. "Lars!"
Allen tossed the gun aside, leaped forward, and grabbed the Kelley diary off the desk. As he turned, he bounced off the chest of a gigantic wooden monster. He sat down hard on the floor, then looked up at the thing made of patchwork bits of wood, like some kind of murderous arts and crafts project gone horribly wrong.
The monster reached out.
I'm going to die, Allen thought.
The monster grabbed the wolf by the scruff of the neck, flung it against the far wall. The wolf crashed with a pained yelp, knocked pictures off the wall.
Allen crawled past the golem's legs, the diary tucked under one arm. "Everybody out!"
"How am I supposed to do that?" shouted the head. "I have no legs."
Allen scooped him up by the hair and dashed from the room. He took the stairs three at a time, hit the ground floor hard, and sprinted for the front door. He opened it, ran through, didn't bother closing it behind him. He hit the middle of the street, searching for Amy.
He glanced back at Zabel's second-floor window. Had Penny made it out? The plan had been to scatter after Allen got his hands on the diary, but if Penny needed help then-
Fire exploded from the second-floor window, shook the street, chunks of brick and mortar pelting Allen and the sidewalk and street. Tourists screamed and scattered.
Another blast of fire, and the wolf flew through the window, fell limply, changing in midair, fur melting back to flesh. By the time Penny hit the street she was human again, naked and smoking.
"No!"
Allen rushed to her, knelt, set Pascal's head aside and scooped her into his arms. She was unconscious but alive, hair and eyebrows singed, covered with scrapes and bruises. "It's okay, Penny. I'm here. You're fine. You're okay."
Amy appeared at his shoulder. "Oh, my God."
"I thought you were getting a taxi," Allen said.
"I did." She gestured at the smoking window. "He took off when the world exploded."
The head faced Zabel's house. "Ha. Burn, baby, burn. Take that you son of a-ack!" The head choked, coughed, and spit out the bloodstone.
"Oh sh-" Pascal's eyes rolled up, and he was gone.
Allen cradled Penny to his chest. "She should never have come for us. She should have called for help instead."
"She did," came a voice from behind them.
Allen whipped his head around, saw Father Paul standing there with another big priest.
"We've got a van around the corner," Father Paul said. "Bring her and hurry. In about two minutes this place will be a logjam of police and firemen."
