Downcast (28 page)

"Now, you're beginning to see, Mr. Chow," she said, beaming proudly at him. "Delayed reincarnation. Stephanie’s soul was held dormant by the spell while Deborah lived, died, and was reborn. The whole spell was extremely tricky and complex, very binding and comprehensive. Took me ages, literally, to put it together so that Deborah would always know who she was, but that Stephanie would never be able to break the enchantment and realize who she was."

"Then how was Stephanie able to break the spell?" Morris asked.

Katie Jones smiled mischievously and signaled a server for the bill.

"The only saving grace to this whole situation is that every spell must have a loophole because nothing is ever absolute. Basic law of the universe. It's impossible. So, while it's not much of a loophole, it was the best I could do. The ancient Greeks came very close to understanding what was going on with the myth of Hades and Persephone. I’ve always wondered how they managed that.” She paused and gave Haley a long, searching look. He returned her gaze with a smug look of his own. “Anyway, I got my first chance to leave a clue about two hundred years ago, hoping that someday, I could set things in motion so that the clue would be discovered by the right people at the right time."

"The Proserpine Puzzle?" Helen guessed. "Katherine Jones, A.C. Swinburne's mistress, who discovered the long-lost riddle that went with his poem about Proserpine?"

Katie Jones' smile got bigger. "Those were the days. Corsets and fans. I loved it. Of course, toilets had yet to be invented, so that was a drawback, but still, no one was the wiser that I, um, upgraded my chamber pot to flush."

“Wait,
you’re
Katherine Jones?” Morris exclaimed.

“Why do you think I insisted on everyone calling me by my full name? I couldn’t be sure if or when you’d come across the puzzle, but I hoped that the names would guide you back to me. Thankfully, it didn’t need to happen like that, but in a situation like this, you can’t leave anything to chance.”

"I can't believe I'm even listening to this," Helen said, and I could tell her patience had not only worn thin, but that had it left town without a forwarding address.

"This is ridiculous,” she stated. “Complete new age crap. Magic and spells? There is not a shred of empirical evidence to support any of this, and I'm sorry, but if you know anything about our science, you know that truth requires proof."

"No, it doesn't," Katie Jones replied instantly but evenly. "Truth exists with or without human proof. It's only your awareness of the potential for truth but inability to grasp it fully that requires proof as a tool."

She took a calming breath and continued, "Perhaps I can explain magic in Helen-like terms. It actually is quite scientific and stems from a few basic principles. Everything in the universe operates according to certain principles and has a certain energy inherent in it. Everything is also made up of some kind of building block—quarks, atoms, molecules, cells, et cetera. There's also the principle that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Well, the basis of magic is the ability to move energy around, change the building blocks of things and to calculate and control the degrees of reaction. Some humans are born with a weak native ability to do this on a small scale. The actual biology of flesh and blood limits them, however."

"Uh, hey, Katie J?" Zack had apparently finally finished eating and had come up for air. "I think we need to get back to the point here. We have an angry harvest goddess on the loose."

"And, she’s getting closer," Morris mumbled, staring at his laptop screen again.

Collectively, all our jaws fell open at his words.

"What?" he asked defensively, catching our expressions. "Just because I designed a tracking app, based on meteorological variables while you all were having dinner, doesn't mean I'm not—"

"Absolutely brilliant," Katie Jones finished for him, smiling brightly at him.

It was on that warm and fuzzy note that every pipe in the restaurant burst, releasing a rush of water that instantly met up with the flash flood that had just broken down the doors.

THE FIRST THING
I felt was relief. A flash flood is a terrible thing, but this was so real and immediate that it made me feel blessedly normal after all the talk of magic, eternity, gods, and aliens. Not to mention the idea of my mother holding a million-year grudge.

I was relieved, that is, until a huge wave swamped me, pulling me under for a moment, into a murky world of floating lo mein noodles and chopsticks.

Haley's strong hands grabbed hold of me and hoisted me up out of the water. I spluttered and gasped, bracing myself against the sloshing water and drifting furniture.

Everyone in the restaurant was screaming, and Morris was running for the kitchen, his laptop held high above his head, yelling, "Mom! Uncle! Hang on! I'm coming!"

"The water's rising!" Helen cried, scrambling toward the door with long, wet lunges. "We have to get out of here!"

The water was already up to my chest, and I couldn't agree more. I glanced back at the doors to the kitchen, even as I felt Haley start to drag me forward.

"Morris!" I exclaimed. "Is he alright? His family?"

"They'll be fine," Katie Jones replied grimly, her dark hair plastered to her face from the greasy water. "I'll make sure of it."

She turned back and waded to the kitchen.

Zack caught up to Helen and hauled her into his arms, slinging her onto his back, piggyback-style.

Shards of glass from the windows and doors whirled around us like a pool of knives. I saw, up ahead, people bleeding as they tried to crawl through the jagged-rimmed exit.

"Can you do anything about this?" I gasped to Haley, who helped me half-slosh, half-float through the grimy flood.

"Water's not my specialty," he replied through gritted teeth, his eyes narrow and hard, like volcanic stone, polished bright by anger.

He carefully pulled me through the wall of broken glass out into the street that was now full of dirty, rising water. Sirens and alarms filled the air, making my ears hurt.

That was nothing, though, compared to the pain that came next.

A deep, soundless hum filled the air, vibrating so intensely that it knocked every cell in my body out of place, leaving me feeling as if I was being torn apart.

I collapsed in agony against Haley, who caught me and worked to keep my head above water. Through my pain-hazed vision, I could see that Haley and Zack were uncomfortable but that Helen seemed not to feel anything.

"What's happening?" Helen demanded, pounding her fist on Zack's shoulder as she still clung to his back.

“Get her out of here!” Haley yelled to Zack, who took off in a different direction with Helen still clinging to him.

The hum became a thrumming that pounded through my body, leaving me shrieking as I began to thrash about in the water. I was being pulled into pieces, from the inside out, and the agony had turned bright white.

I sensed Haley turning me and picking me up. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders. One of his arms came around me in an unforgiving grip, and the other struck out in a kind of half-swimming stroke to help propel us forward.

His cold body eased the pain only a fraction, but enough for me to stay conscious and hang onto him. I panted into the damp skin of his neck, fighting off the prickly sensation of being sick, even as the pain sliced through my muscles and shattered my bones.

I could sense Haley's unnatural strength and speed as he pushed through the water, racing to get me further away from the center of whatever that awful thrumming sound was. I felt the water levels getting lower as he went faster now, until we were somewhere on the very edge of town, in the parking lot of a dingy strip mall where the ground was barely damp.

"How are you feeling now, princess?" he whispered against my ear, and a small shiver of pleasure made inroads against the receding waves of pain.

"Better," I croaked. "What was that?"

"I will explain in a minute. Right now, we need a vehicle. Unfortunately, the flood wrecked my car, which is a pity, because I really, really liked that car. This, however, will have to do."

He gently set me on my feet and touched the lock of a beat-up Honda Civic. It clicked open as if the lock had just given up and given in to entropy.

"Now, princess," he continued as he opened the door and eased me into the driver's seat. "While my powers give me some ability to release the tension of existence, or, in other words, pick locks, I have nothing to offer when it comes to hot-wiring a car."

I considered the ignition for a moment. At least I couldn't make a zombie out of a car. What's the worst that could happen? I'd overdo the juice and blow up the car and us with it? Well, at least I'd be warm and dry then.

Warily, I touched the tip of my finger to the ignition, imagining only the smallest spark of energy—which was hard because I had no clue what a spark of energy really looked like or any concept of how much it took to start a car.

Nothing happened. I tried again, trying to picture a very, very tiny thunderbolt of life releasing from my fingertip.

The engine roared to life, revving instantly all the way and sending all the dials into the red.

"That will do," Haley said drily, but with a smile. "Now, move over, my love. I am going to take you to safety."

Warning bells went off in my head.

"This isn't the whole Hades kidnapping Persephone and trapping her forever thing, is it?" I asked nervously.

Haley put the car in gear and sighed. "It could be, if you wanted it to be."

"Um, I don't think I'm ready for that."

"I didn't think so," he replied soberly, handling the car with a kind of brutal precision.

"Where are we going?" I asked once we were speeding down the road, the smoky, twilight-wrapped mountains looming ahead of us.

"Home."

"I thought you said—"

"It's a very human home, princess. Zack and I live there for the moment. These human bodies need rest and nourishment."

He flicked on the heat, now that the engine was warm and not having a heart attack, and I thankfully snuggled into the dingy seat and relished the warmth. My body was aching from the pain and numb from the cold.

For a few minutes, I let my mind just rest, paying attention only to the deepening shadows of the hills and the way the pine trees pressed in on all sides. Soon, we drove into a mist. Ghostly wisps flicked over the windshield, and the pines only peeked through here and there.

I had lost track of how far and how long we had driven. I only knew that my clothes had reached that half-dry, half-damp, stiff, sticky stage when my brain finally decided to reengage.

"Helen! Morris!" I blurted out. "Are they okay? Crap! My bag and cell phone and everything are underwater at the restaurant."

Haley smiled, his thin lips curling up like they always did when he was pleased with some sort of inner secret.

"They are well enough," he replied. "Katie Jones and Zack will not let harm come to them. Zack and Helen will join us at the house as soon as they can commandeer a car, which might be a while, as Zack lacks some of my abilities."

"Can Zack pick locks like you?"

"No. He prefers to use his 'thunderbolts' to blow the locks out, which usually ends up destroying the entire driver's side of the car. He has no concept of subtlety."

"Speaking of subtle, what happened back there? What happened to me?"

"Yes." His eyes were as grim as his voice.

"Well?"

"That was your mother. She was near and was trying to call your energy, your essence, back into herself."

"Can she do that? Is that part of the reincarnation thing?" It was best to pretend like I was talking about someone else, because otherwise, it was utterly horrifying to think about.

"Yes...but not without consequences."

"What do you mean?"

"She was...trying to unmake you, to reabsorb your essence into herself. The immediate result would have been the ripping apart of your human body at an atomic level. The end result would have been the erasing of your existence entirely. There would be no more 'Persephone.' There would only be 'Demeter,' goddess of all life."

Pretend it's not you, pretend it's not you, pretend it's not you, I chanted to myself, swallowing hard against the lump in my throat at the thought of my own mother doing something like this to me.

"I guess it's a good thing we got away, then," I said shakily.

"It wouldn't have worked in the end," Haley said quietly. "Your mortal form would have been destroyed, but your essence, your energy, is primary, not hers. You are the spark of new life. She is the growth of it. You are the first moment of the universe's existence. She cannot contain you because while you two are entwined, she was not the first to exist. You were."

"Wait, you mean I'm her mother? No, that can't be!"

Haley smiled. "No, you're not her 'mother.' It's more that together, you form a circle. You create life, she sustains it so that you may use it to create more. I am the balance to only you, though, for I am the overseer of the end of life. Death itself is a compelling force, an energy of its own. I can command it, but it is not the only thing at my service. Entropy, stillness, completion, darkness, cold, silence, I embody all those things. I will be the last living thing at the end of the universe, and then I will turn the stillness upon myself and be no more. I will complete everything that you began."

I blinked against the hot air from the vents. Somewhere, there was the tiniest spark of understanding the whole picture. It was just a flash of a dream that was too big for my mortal brain, but I knew, in my soul, that every word he said was true.

“What about birds,” I asked finally.

“I’m sorry?”

“Birds. Like…ravens.”

“Ah. Yes. I do have some ability to, shall we say, sway the intentions of certain animals.”

“And the rat in the hallway when I was talking to Rob?”