The Summoning (31 page)

“Richard, are you under some sort of spell so you can’t hear things, or understand things in this house?”

He looked back at me, still frightened, hardly hearing what I said, but he tried to answer. “I… I don’t know.”

The door was opening on the far side of the room. A light flashed. Someone had a flashlight. I said softly, “I’ve got something around my neck. Put it on for a bit, why don’t you? Maybe that will help.”

I had my eyes on the figure across the room but I felt Richard’s light fingers find the cord on my neck, draw out the talisman, and lift it over my head, disentangling it from my hair. Until that second I’d known absolutely that it was Suzie coming toward us across the floor. She’d left the door open behind her, where a pale light shone, and a small amount of air preceded her into the room. Suddenly, I could smell nothing, as though that part of my brain was erased, and my hearing was dulled as well. I sniffed hard, franticly, even though I knew what had happened, and that sniffing harder wasn’t going to make it any better. My senses were deadened, so I didn’t know for a moment why all of a sudden every hair I had was standing on end, but I said to Richard, “You’d better get out of here—” I looked over at him.

He was squatting on the ground next to me, the cord looped over his head, holding the talisman in his hand, and I thrust myself back from him so hard that the cuffs on my wrists and ankles dug deep in my skin. He was human and darkness at the same time. He was a mass of wild, seething energy rising from depths I couldn’t fathom, overlaid by the form of a beautiful human youth, and I saw in an instant why John Dee had kept him in a cage for those years, throwing everything he had at him, trying to contain him. Richard turned to look at me at the sound of my voice. His eyes were wild—and yet the same. And as I jerked back from him, his whole being softened and for an instant he was the Richard I knew again.

The flashlight beam hit me in the face and I turned to it, just as I remembered why for a second I’d been unaware that Suzie was almost upon us. “Richard, give me that—”

But Richard was gone.

Richard had left the candle, and it was out of my reach. Suzie bent over the cage, looking in, and then squatted down to peer inside the bars.

“Hey, there,” I said. I hated not being able to smell her. My shoulders and back were beginning to ache again. But it was hard to concern myself with what Suzie was up to when my hair still felt electrified by whatever it was that Richard had been possessed by that last moment before he disappeared. I did wonder where he had disappeared to. And how he had gotten in and out of the cage in the first place.

“You must be a powerful sorcerer indeed.” Suzie was staring at the candle.

I thought I’d go along with that. I didn’t think it would be a good thing for them to know that Richard could get in and out of the cage when he—or when I—wanted. “Yeah? Your dad already knows that. That’s why I’m here.”

She shifted along the bars, moving closer. I squinted as she trained the light in my face, and she lowered it again. “I have come to ask you for help.”

I almost laughed out loud. “Sure,” I said. “I’ll help anyway you want as soon as I’m unchained and out of this cage.”

She looked at me solemnly. “I cannot unchain you. The moon is not yet down. I know that as a werewolf you could not help killing me—”

For the gods’ sake! I opened my mouth. I almost bit back at her. Did she think there would be any of the wolf kind left if we were that undisciplined? Honestly! But I didn’t say a word. I just let her jabber on.

“—and that unless you are kept in contact with the purest silver, you cannot help but change, until the last light of the full moon has departed the Earth. But I swear to you, as soon as it is safe I will release you, if only you will help me.”

“Help you?” With all my senses dampened again, since I no longer had the talisman, I couldn’t tell what she was feeling, so I couldn’t tell if she was lying her head off. But I was pretty sure I’d be a fool to trust anyone in this house.

“Tell me the name of your demon, and I will set you free.”

“Oh, I see. So you can pretend to your dad that you’re the talented one he’s been looking for to be his heir.”

“He wants no heir!” she hissed at me. “There will never be an heir. He tests us for the talent as soon as we are able to speak. The ones who have even the smallest ability, they are gutted of their souls, and killed. He wants no one near him to have power but himself. No one. And once he possesses the demon, he will not even want us as his slaves.”

“Where is my demon?” I asked.

She looked across the cellar, flashing her light as she did. Across the room, on the floor, I saw the outline of a small rectangular box. A rage rose up in me. It didn’t look big enough to hold a man.

“That’s—not very big,” I sputtered. I wondered again how he’d gotten into the cage with me.

“Upstairs, in his rooms, my father has in his possession the tools of a diviner. He is teaching the demon to diminish himself, so that he can fit into a certain bottle.” She added bitterly, “My father has always coveted a demon in his service, that he could keep in a bottle.”

“He’s been making Richard smaller?”

“With the correct tools, one can force a demon to shift its shape,” she said primly. She looked smug. I didn’t need wolf senses to figure out she’d been playing with her daddy’s tools, or guess what she had done to him.

I threw myself at her so hard the cage shifted even as the cuffs bit. She leaped back. When she was sure I was still chained, she came and stood over me. “You may have power, you may bear the wolf’s curse, but I have stood in your rooms. You are no practitioner! You are not the one to wield such a weapon as the demon can be, for the right master.” Her eyes lit strangely in the darkness as she bent over me. “With such a tool I could scour all evil from the face of the Earth. I could weigh the souls of the righteous and reward them as they deserve. I could bring a golden age to the world and reign over it for all time.”

“You’re kidding,” I said. The idea of this girl in charge of anything was scary. Besides, “How does the demon do all that?”

“The demon must do whatever his master commands. Quickly! Give me his name! Everything will be for the best, if you tell me—” She glanced back to the door, where a flash of light revealed the opening. “My brothers. They are coming.” She dropped her voice. “I have lost my father’s favor. He has spared me this long because I am dutiful and obedient, but now… if you don’t help me, I will become like them.” She bent close to me. “Please!”

Her brothers arrived at the cage. Two of them were holding what looked like cattle prods. I stayed perfectly still while the cage was unlocked, and the whole roof of it was lifted up on hinges, like a big box. Well, Richard certainly hadn’t gotten in and out that way. I would have noticed that. But now I could guess how he had managed it. Suzie pretended to her brothers that their father had sent her to me, and was giving commands right and left to prove she was really in charge. They put a new set of silver chains on my hands and feet before they removed the old ones. They were sure being careful of me. Now that’s what I call respect. I went with them. I didn’t want to be zapped. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy it.

Suzie clasped my arm when I stood up, and put her face close to mine. “Please! I beg of you.…”

I wondered if there was any way I could get the talisman back without giving up every card I held at this point. I had the feeling that every single separate one was going to be necessary if I was going to get out of this house without becoming another of al Hassan’s mindless slaves.

“Bring me my demon,” I told her.

She shook her head. “I cannot.” As we passed, she pointed her flashlight at the heavy metal box on the floor. There was a sword on top of it, crossed with some kind of wand. It was surrounded by a pentagram sketched in chalk, and that was surrounded by a circle made up of some kind of grain. There were bunches of magical signs and symbols in and between the points of the pentagram. I supposed that was a kind of respect for Richard. Then I noticed there didn’t seem to be any air holes. I felt an emptiness inside as I wondered suddenly just how many times Richard had died since he’d been brought here.

We climbed the basement steps, and emerged in a wine cellar. We climbed those steps and came into a passageway that led to a larder, and then walked through a large kitchen, where more of al Hassan’s happy children, clad in aprons and little white hats, were working away, methodically chopping, mixing and cooking what was probably food, though I couldn’t be sure, because I still couldn’t smell a thing. We went out the kitchen door and down a few corridors, and through the heavy door into Daddy’s work room.

I was taken straight to the table. No pretence that I was an honored guest or just a visitor this time. I wondered if he’d changed his mind, and thought he should go ahead and get my soul now. I wondered if he’d decided that was more important than getting the name of my demon from me.

I hesitated at the table. I thought I was already under enough restraints. There’s no way I was going to be laid out on that stainless steel operating table if I could help it. So I stopped walking. The guy behind me pushed me forward. I rocked forward and then back again and stood my ground. One of the guys with the cattle prod stepped up, and I dropped and rolled under the table to the other side.

“You fools!” Ibrahim al Hassan swept in through the other door, accompanied by some more of his children. He made a gesture and they came for me, two diving under the table while the other two went around it.

It’s fun when they’re stupid and slow. And when they dive at your feet it’s like they’re practically begging to be kicked, and I like to oblige, when I can. I aimed a good one at one of their heads, which turned out to be not such a good idea as I’d forgotten the length of the chain between my ankles. My kick was shortened by a good foot and I fell backwards, tripping myself. This gave me a wonderful view of two of the soulless children meeting over my head in a classic double head-crack as they tackled me from either side of the table. I fell down laughing. It didn’t last long, as one of them fell on top of me, the two on the floor hadn’t stopped, and two more were coming. They got me, all right, but it took six of them. By the time they hauled me up and had me pinned, al Hassan was glaring.

They dragged me towards the table, and I made up my mind that if I was going to go down, I was going to kill a few of them first, and al Hassan if I could, so I was going to have to blow my cover and change—but al Hassan said, “Not that one!” He turned and pointed at Suzie, who waited in a submissive posture by the side of the room. “Her!”

She looked up at him, appalled. “But, Father—No!”

Two of her brothers grabbed her. When they had her fast, al Hassan stalked toward her. “Do you think I do not know of your rebellious thoughts? Do you think, after all the children I have raised, I cannot tell when the mind of one begins to stray from my service?” His hand came up as though to strike her, and she cringed, but the gesture changed as it reached her head, and he caressed her hair briefly. “Oh, my little one, do not be afraid. I do not discard you utterly. You will still serve me, but in a new way. And see? Your two sisters have arrived. Do not fear that I will have no one at all in this great house to talk to.” He gestured through the door where two small dark heads, covered with black shawls, peaked through the doorway, tentative and scared. “Come, little ones. Yes, come to me, now.” He raised a finger, and two skinny little girls scuttled to his side. He put an arm on each of their shoulders. “You must attend now, my dear daughters. This is Maryam, your older sister, and she has disobeyed my will. She has dreamed of departing my service without my leave. I do not tolerate insubordination. Behold her fate, the fate of any of my children who disobey me. Or who are slow in learning to serve me.”

He gestured, and Maryam was the one who was lifted onto the table. She cried and yelled, she begged her brothers to wake up, to stop what was happening, to help her. She begged her father to listen to her, she told him that he was mistaken, that she had never had a thought but how to please and serve him. He paid no attention to her. Her brothers fastened her to the table with cuffs and straps that were molded into shape from long use.

Al Hassan went over to the shelf and made a show of consulting the little girls as he chose a bottle. He picked up a round, clear, cut-glass bottle, one that wasn’t shining like the ones on the upper shelves. One that was still empty.

“My little birds.” He gestured the two girls to the counter behind the table. They scrambled to follow him. He lit the gas burner that stood on the counter and adjusted the blue-white flame. He selected a little white ceramic cup and dropped in it a short length of silver wire. He picked up a lump of wax and handed it to one of the girls. He fixed the cup in a pair of tongs, and handed it to the other. “Now, I depend on you to do this carefully. Heat the crucible until the wire is just hot enough to begin to soften. Never take your eyes off it. It must not become too hot. When the wire just begins to lose its shape, take the cup off the flame and drop the wax into it. Use this little prod to mix the wire into the wax. Do not fail me,” he said, patting their heads in a kindly way. He handed the empty bottle to one of his sons who had his hands free. And then he approached his older daughter.

“Be still, my little sparrow. Be quiet.” He stroked her head and she was quiet, but no less panicked, staring up at him with huge, frightened eyes. “You will serve me yet. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Of course it is. Every child longs to please her father.

“Listen, I have made a new plan. Why should I keep that—” he pointed at me, the pig “—alive in my house? All I need for my experiment is the soul. It is her soul that makes her change. I have studied the phenomenon all night. If you carry her soul, I will be able to make my experiments without any added danger to my household. But, you say, there is one small problem.” He waved his hand across her face. “You already have a soul. There is no room for another. But for that, I have the answer.”