Rise of the Poison Moon (16 page)

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Authors: MaryJanice Davidson

Tags: #Magic, #Fantasy fiction, #Dragons, #General, #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Spiders, #Shapeshifting, #Epic, #Good and evil

BOOK: Rise of the Poison Moon
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“You mean, the Quadrivium that failed?”
“Don’t be immature about this. You could learn from these people. Half of them were thought dead by Tavia herself.”
“Terrific. I can learn how to play dead.”
“There’s more to it than that.”
“What—I can learn how to keep secrets? How to be supercautious? How to lay intricate traps that take decades to unfold? Who gives a shit about any of that? What good does it do?”
“You don’t know until you ask. They’re willing to help. To teach.”
“No, Andi. They’re not here to help or teach. They’re here to take over. To control. Like my father
had
to control, and Tavia and Edmund after him.”
“Are you kidding? Tavia and Edmund did so much for you. They protected you. They gave you precious time.”
“I didn’t need their protection or time!” Skip kicked a boiling pot off the lower rack. It skidded and slammed into a pile of lids, all of which dumped onto the linoleum. “I can handle what’s out there on my own!”
“Your mother? Your half-sister? Get real, Skip. You were as scared as I’ve ever seen you when they appeared on the Mississippi.”
“They won’t be able to stop what I have in mind.”
“What’s that?”
Before he could answer, the shadows from under the racks and appliances converged on Andi and seized her. She let out a shriek of alarm as the ground collapsed under her feet, eroding her thickness and distributing her across a single plane. It was petrifying feeling, not least because she had no idea how to move. It turned out not to matter—whatever shadows had trapped her here pulled her away.
His startled gaze followed her.
“Andi!”
Skip, help me. I don’t want to . . .
CHAPTER 25
Andi
“. . . leave you.”
Andi stirred, opened her eyes, and started. In Skip’s place were the four people on the earth she least wanted to be with.
“Relax,” said the second wife of the late Jonathan Scales. “You’re in Winoka Hospital.”
“My mother decided not to amputate,” added the younger daughter of the late Jonathan Scales.
“She has convinced us to try diplomacy,” explained the first wife of the late Jonathan Scales.
It won’t work. They’ll see that. Then you’ll die.
“Evangelina.” Andi nodded through a cold sweat. “Dianna. Jennifer. Dr. Georges-Scales.” It was quiet. The door was open. Andi was not restrained, and she wondered how many guards were out in the hallway.
We don’t need guards in the hallway.
“Stay out of my head,” she snapped, sitting up in the bed. She began thinking of a discordant tune, anything to throw off the telepaths in the room. They probably wanted information, and she would not give it to them so easily. “Why did you kidnap me?”
“Don’t see it as a kidnapping,” Dianna replied. “See it as an invitation. Even a rescue, if you like.”
“Rescue. That’s funny, coming from the woman who raised me in an inescapable void for over a decade.” Andi’s forearms began to itch, but she refused to scratch them here.
“The rescue was my idea,” Elizabeth said without a smile. Andi examined the woman; it was her first good look up close at the rangy blonde who had provided leadership for this town after Andi’s assassination of Glory.
Focus
and
polite
were the first two words that came to mind.
Dangerous
was the next one.
“Can we get you water? Dianna tells me interdimensional travel can dehydrate certain tissues.”
“Sure.”
Elizabeth motioned to Jennifer, who stalled, then rolled her eyes and headed for the corner sink.
“You’ve been living on the edge of town for some time,” the doctor noticed, taking the fabric of Andi’s jeans between two fingers. “Why don’t you tell us your story?”
“My story? You know my story, Dr. Georges-Scales. I’m the offspring of Esteban de la Corona, a man so self-involved he abandoned his daughter and called himself The Crown, and Glorianna Seabright, a woman so self- involved she gave up on motherhood so she could keep killing her enemies.
“Instead of parents, I had Dianna here as a sort of dark nurse. Based on her track record with Evangelina and Skip, you can imagine what that was like for me. Once I was properly trained, she and her two incredibly well adjusted colleagues, Otto and Edmund, put my musical talents to work on the Quadrivium’s attempt at universe-shifting. Your own daughter put a stop to that, and I hitched a ride back to this world. I’ve been liking it okay, though I have to admit it was more fun when schools and restaurants were open. Now, there’s no reason to come into this town.”
“Perhaps you could help us with that.”
“Thanks, Jennifer.” She took a gulp of the water, watching the girl’s expression over the rim. There wasn’t much hate visible for what had happened to her father; perhaps she was hiding it. “I don’t think I can be much help, Dr. Georges-Scales.”
“You knew Edmund Slider.”
“No better than you did.”
“Surely he must have told you and Skip something about this barrier, before he put it up.”
“We were as surprised as all of you when he created it. We had no idea what he would do—what he did, for Skip. Skip didn’t want him to. He even tried to stop him that night.”
“Why didn’t he?”
Andi paused. She had slipped into a conversation—or been slipped into one. Polite and dangerous, indeed. “I don’t see the point in discussing this further.”
“Andi, please!” Jennifer cried out in exasperation. “You know Mr. Slider didn’t want this! He was a teacher, he liked his students, he wouldn’t want all of us and our families to die!”
“Maybe just Glory?” This was Dianna, her voice seeping under Jennifer’s harsh plea like oil under rocks.
“Of course he wanted Glory to die. But she’s dead, and the wall is still up. I don’t know anything else!”
Elizabeth massaged the bridge of her own nose. “Jennifer, you were on the right path. Mr. Slider wanted more than dead people. He cared for things. He cared about his students. He probably cared a great deal about Skip, too. He wanted to protect him.” She looked up at Andi. “Right?”
“I guess.”
“So if Edmund wished to put up a barrier that would protect Skip, he’d want it to last. That suggests multiple conditions before it would come down.”
“Glory’s death could be one of those.”
“Yes, Dianna. We’ve established that as a possibility. But it also suggests that Skip may need to reach a certain age or accomplish something, before the dome will fall.”
Andi tried to sit very still.
“Can you think of what that might be, Andi?”
Several moments passed. Andi wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Was the doctor right? Skip had said he had “something in mind.” If so . . . would the barrier protect him anymore?
And even if it did, how could they stop his mother and sister? Did the barrier even matter anymore?
Her forearms began to itch madly.
Can we kill her now?
“
No one
is going to kill her.” The doctor sighed. “She been through enough. And this universe hasn’t been as kind to you as you’d like me to believe, Andi. You can’t tell me life with Skip has been ideal.”
Jennifer snorted. Andi shot the girl a look. “It hasn’t been so bad.”
“Really? He’s a good match for you? Because I had a higher opinion of you than that.”
The comment stung. Andi didn’t know why Jennifer’s opinion mattered, but it did. Maybe it was because Jennifer had shown her kindness in both universes. Maybe it was because the girl had stood up for herself, even when she was utterly alone. Could she do that? Could she stand to be alone?
“Have you thought about what he’s doing?” Dr. Georges-Scales took Andi’s wrist lightly in her hand, feeling for a pulse and timing it. “You know he’s killed people in this town.” Now she grabbed a blood-pressure cuff from the nearby table, rolled up Andi’s sleeve, and attached the cuff to her upper arm. “Not only my husband. Dozens of others, buried under the rubble of the police station.”
Squick, squick, squick,
she pumped the cuff. “Soon it will be hundreds, under more ruins. I doubt Edmund Slider ever wanted that.”
“You had something to do with those murders, Andi. You’ve been helping my son.”
“Please, Dianna. I can handle this. Andi, I would imagine the sorcery that you and Skip generate together makes you feel special.” She released the cuff and pulled out her stethoscope. Pressing the metal end on the girl’s chest, she listened briefly. Then she put the scope away and pulled out a flashlight and tongue depressor. “Say ‘ah,’ dear.”
“Aaahh.”
“Thank you. It can be easier to feel special like that, when you don’t see the consequences of your actions.”
“Nnnnn?”
“Yes indeed.” The flashlight went in one ear, then the other. “Perhaps you could stay with us a few hours. You could visit with some of the patients we’ve brought back from the police-station site.” In a flash, a rubber hammer was out and bumping the girl’s knees.
Poomp
, her feet kicked out. “If you like, we could take you down to the site itself.”
If you like, we could bury you there.
“Fucking. Interrupt her.
Again.
” Jennifer had a hand on one of her sheathed daggers, and a glare for her half-sister.
Amateur.
“Shit-chomper.”
“Children.”
Andi wondered how lethal the doctor could be with that small, rubber mallet.
“How’m I doing?” she asked.
The doctor considered her. “Your pulse is a bit low, but within normal limits for beaststalker adolescents. Your blood pressure is higher than I’d like, but I don’t have much to offer you here in the way of medicine. Try picking up more fruits and vegetables from the grocery store north of town, drink low-fat milk, and skip the salty prepared foods. Reflexes are good, as I’d expect from someone with your genetics. Your left ear has a wax buildup, and what I saw in your mouth suggests you don’t floss, though you must brush your teeth since your breath is passable, and no teeth are falling out. It’s good in some ways, I suppose, to have a boyfriend you’re trying to stay attractive for. Overall, physically, you’re keeping it together.”
“Holy crap, you say a lot between the lines.”
“Stay with us. Help us figure this dome out. Help us rebuild this town into what you remember. We can change the world, starting right here.”
“Change the world”? I’m going to vomit.
Jennifer drew both blades. “Go play a card game. Maul a trailer truck. Suck the life out of a blue whale. Go do something—
anything
—
anywhere else
!”
Come with me, and we’ll play together.
“Blades down, Jennifer!” and “Evangelina, enough!” came out simultaneously. Both young women snarled and backed down.
The doctor turned back to Andi. “What do you say?”
“Dr. Georges-Scales, I’ve never had anyone worry over me over fifteen years, the way you’ve worried over me in fifteen minutes.”
“There’s a lot going on in there I’m worried about.” A finger went to Andi’s temple.
“I’m okay, Dr. Georges-Scales. I like Skip. He’s good to me. He makes me feel special, powerful.”
“Does he?”
“Yeah. He scares a lot of people, I know. Maybe he scares you because you can’t control him. Not like I’ll bet you can control everyone else.”
Dr. Georges-Scales widened her eyes at the mild shot. She motioned to the other three. “Does this look like a crowd I can control?”
Andi felt a smile try to crease her face. A wave of guilt smashed her insides, and she shook her head so hard the room teetered. “I’ve got to go, Dr. Georges-Scales. I appreciate what you’re trying to do for me, but—”
“Don’t say you appreciate it if you’re going to blow it off. Say what you mean.”
“Okay. What I mean is, I’m sticking with Skip. He loves me. I love him.”
“He loves you. You love him.” Dianna licked her lips and looked carefully at the doctor. “You realize what a horrific cliché you sound, dear.”
“Yes. The cliché of the teenager nobody ever listens to or believes.”
“Oh, give me just a
small
break . . .”
“Dianna, if you’ll let me—”
“No, with all due respect we’ve tried it your way, Dr. Georges-Scales. You’ve gotten a fine blood-pressure reading on Jonathan’s murderer here, but you haven’t gotten much else to show for it . . .”

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