Orphan of Mythcorp (35 page)

My whole frame jerked back as the door was
thrown open. Faustus shifted to the left as he entered the landing.
He set Izzy down, grabbed his chest and gasped. “Cheese and
crackers. I thought you were one of them. Where the flip have you
been?”

“
Where was
I
? Where were you? Nimrod frigging tore us up
down there.”

Izzy’s peepers were scanning my body, which,
any other time, might have been dynamite. Faustus wasn’t paying
attention. “Where’s Kana?” He stepped over to me, pulled me up by
my flannel.

“
In the atrium.”

He dropped me. I caught myself against the
railing as he headed down the stairs. “You can’t leave and you
can’t help her. Nimrod . . . he . . .”

“
He what? Don’t start stuttering now,
Mister Flamingo.”

I looked down at Izzy, who looked away.
Faustus was in my face, or the nearest alternative, as he was
half-a-head shorter. “What about Nimrod? Did he hurt Kana? I’ll
kill him, and then resurrect him so I can kill him again.”

“
She’s just conked out,” I explained.
“A dart. I don’t think he’ll hurt her. He was more interested in
Malthus. Man, I can’t believe he got the better of the big
guy.”

“
You left Kana with that monster?” Izzy
accused.

Castor laughed. He was now standing erect and
floating over the gap between the stairs. ‘I wonder if she’s
referring to Nimrod, or to Malthus?’

Faustus puffed out his chest. “I’m going to
help them.”

I moved to stop him, but even as I did this
we all heard footsteps clopping up the steps.

“
Is that Malthus?” Izzy flicked her
fingers around nervously.

Faustus shook his head. “If it were Malthus,
we wouldn’t be seeing a shadow,” he pointed at the black silhouette
darkening the stairwell below. “I have to go see that Kana’s
okay.”

I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “You
can’t.”

Faustus shrugged out of my grasp. “Don’t tell
me what I can’t do. This is your fault. You were the one who conned
us into coming. If she dies I will drag you back to the King’s
Court and have Waldo finish you off.” He made for the stairs
again.

I flipped the cane around, gripping the
bottom, and swung the silver-crow-head at Faustus’ right ankle. His
leg jerked and he swiveled around, avoiding my well-aimed swing.
“You hear that?” I asked.

He couldn’t help himself. “That’s the
sound of a thousand terrible things, heading our way. Qui-Gon Jinn
said that in
Episode One, the Phantom
Menace.”

“
Yeah. But in our case, it’s the sound
of just one terrible thing: a maniacal hunter who wants nothing
more than to add all our heads to his trophy room.” I looked back
at Izzy, who was peeping through the iron railing down at the
Nimrod shadow.

“
But we still don’t know where the
cryonics lab is.”

I nodded. “No, but Castor does.” I’d actually
given this a bit of thought during my break.

“
Castor?” asked Faustus.

“
One of my spooks,” I said as we
started creeping down the hallway. “He was an Iconocop.” The hall
was a carpeted deal even darker than the stairwell. Moonlight
trickling in through skinny windows set in the doors was our only
light. “Castor, where is the cryonics lab?”

‘
Why should I help you?’ he asked,
hovering along beside us.

“
He’s here right now?” Izzy wondered.
She sounded like maybe she was over her Morgan-hating period. “Am I
walking where he’s . . . ghosting around?”

“
No,” I smiled, “you’re good. He’s over
here.” I gestured to my right where Castor floated. We’d almost
made a complete circuit of the hallway by then. I could see the
stairway door exit sign through which we’d come. “If you help us,”
I said to Castor, “maybe we can get the sorcerer to help you cross
over or whatever.”

He mused—or at least pretended to muse—on
this. ‘Twelfth floor, northeast corner.’

“
Twelfth floor, northeastern
corner.”

“
Good—” Faustus froze. I followed his
gaze behind us; standing a few yards away, bleeding, was Nimrod.
Faustus yelled. “Boy I hate being right all the time.” He hoisted
Izzy without asking permission, and whisked her towards the door.
The Hunter pursued. We burst through the door and tore up the
stairs. I grimaced at the agony in my leg, like it was filled with
glass shards.

A few dozen risers away from the eleventh
floor landing, when I was ready to drop dead, Marie fluttered down
from the ceiling. ‘They’re waiting for you outside the doors on the
twelfth. Get out at the next landing.’

“
Thanks Marie.”

Sanson

Officer Graham must’ve been fighting the
Mesmer; climbing the stairs behind him, I could see his hands
shaking, and every couple steps his right leg would jerk and he’d
have to grab the railing to keep from falling.

It occurred to me then, there in the
lightless stairwell, that this man’s resilience might come in
handy, and that if I were to place the chem-shades on his face, we
might just turn the tables on these pale-faced yahoos. I had to get
my curse lifted before I could stage a rebellion, though.

Hang on, Officer Graham, we’ll avenge your
partner’s murder before the night is through.

“
One more flight and we’re there,” Ash
chirped. He was in excellent spirits, but then, aren’t most
homicidal maniacs? “Okay, you first,” he commanded Officer Graham
when we reached the door to twelve.

The officer removed his pistol. He concealed
his shakes by gripping the gun with both hands and keeping it
pressed to his thigh. He shoved on the push bar. Moonlight spilled
into the stairwell. Seconds later the cop called out: “All
clear.”

I followed Ash through out onto the empty
floor. “Where are Agravaine and Lamorak?”

“
Right here,” Agravaine called from
behind us. Officer Graham raised his pistol and aimed at the
approaching Morai. They stopped cold. “Whoa.”

Ash placed his hand on the officers’ arm,
forcing him to lower his weapon. “Calm yourself.” He turned to his
brothers-in-crime. “I assume you found the cryonics lab?” They
nodded, still watching the officer with worry in their eyes. “Good.
Now, Officer Graham, if you don’t mind I’d like you to stay here
and guard this door. Don’t let anyone but Nimrod through.
Understand?”

Officer Graham, having no alternative,
nodded.

“
Excellent,” Ash smiled. He turned to
Agravaine and raised his hand, “Lead on, then.”

I, having no alternative, followed the three
Morai down the hall towards the cryonics lab.

Sporadic moonbeams seeping through
dust-filmed windows did nothing to dispel the sensation that I was
walking through a dream. Not the kind of dream you enjoy and want
to continue dreaming, but the kind where something so terrible and
visceral happens that it transcends its dream-confines and effects
your real life: you fall out of bed and smash your head on the
hardwood floor.

The beige industrial carpet lining the
hallway muffled our footsteps. For this small mercy I was grateful.
Last thing I needed was a barrage of hair-raising echoes.

It was too silent. The Morai aren’t big on
small talk. “So what’s the deal with Nimrod and that huge beast
thing?” I said. “I mean, what’s up with that? Are they jealous of
each other, did Nimrod steal a girl from him, call him the Hulk,
talk about his momma?”

“
Nimrod stole Malthus’ DEW,” Ash
answered after a pause.

We rounded the corner, losing sight of
Officer Graham. “Um,” I said. “I know it’s not cool to steal
another dudes’ pop, but . . .”

“
No,” Ash answered. “DEW. Dee Eee
Double-you. Directed-energy-weapon. Based on Tesla’s ray gun
design. He stole it from the demon almost sixteen years ago and
Malthus has never gotten over it.”

Hmmph. “Talk about holding a grudge.”

“
We’re here,” Agravaine stopped us in
front of a monstrous stainless steel door. Engraved in a blue plate
attached to the door at eye level was the single, evil word:
CRYONICS.

The two bigger Morai were looking at Ash with
identical mystifying expressions. Ash withdrew the golden key card
he’d used on the front doors. Without pausing he slid it into the
code-reader on the big door.

The light on the digital screen bleeped and
turned green. The words KEY CARD ACCEPTED appeared on the screen
while below it a one-inch diameter slip of metal withdrew,
revealing an old school key hole. Below that was a secondary red
light.

Ash sighed. “Any ideas?”

“
Get the cop to shoot it out?”
Agravaine offered. Obviously, he wasn’t here for his
smarts.

Lamorak snorted at him. “Shoot. It. Out? Do
you have any idea what’s inside a cryonics lab? No, of course you
don’t. You’re failing science.” His insult complete, Lamorak turned
to Ash. “We can’t shoot or blow our way through this door, but you
told me the demon has megabomb strength.”

“
That’s right,” Ash said.

“
I’ll bet Agravaine’s left nut Malthus
could shove right through this door without damaging anything
inside,” Lamorak explained.

All three Morai stopped moving and
simply traded looks. Twenty seconds later Ash spoke up. “Right.
Even I probably couldn’t Mesmerize
that
one
. So, any other ideas?”

“
Knox.” Lamorak and Agravaine said. Ash
nodded.

“
Who’s Knox?” I asked. No answer. It
was like I wasn’t even there.

“
They’re coming for Knox. We let the
demon bust through,” Ash began. “Let them take Knox,” Agravaine
continued. “And then, when they’re out of the way, we simply waltz
in and wake the sorcerer,” Lamorak finished. More shudder-worthy
silence as they looked at each other. Ash then resumed the
conversation as if it had never ended. “If they try to wake Knox
inside, we’ll intercede. And if they try to take
Crowley—”

“—
we’ll intercede,” Agravaine
interjected.

My thermal beeped once. I was back down to 59
degrees.

“
No matter what,” Ash said, “Knox can
never be wakened. His actions convinced congress to close Mythcorp.
It’s his fault our kind was hunted during the Purge. Once Crowley
is awake, we’ll deal with Knox.”

“
And what happens when Morgan and his
friends try to stop you?” I took a swig of Nanex. It would be a
shame to go ‘statue’ right outside the door to the room holding the
one man on the planet capable of lifting my curse.

“
Anyone who stands with Knox,” Ash said
slowly, “will fall with Knox.”

That didn’t leave much room for argument, so
I didn’t argue.

“
Run back to Officer Graham and ask him
to come to room—” Ash ordered Lamorak while crossing the hall to
read the room number off the door opposite CRYONICS “—one-eleven.
After that, go and find Nimrod. We’re going to need his skills
shortly.”

I liked how he said ‘ask’, like it would be a
request and not a Mes-frigging-mer.

Once Lamorak was out of sight, the three of
us entered room 111 and closed the door behind us. There was a
large window with blinds (coated with fifteen years worth of dust)
through which we would peek across the hall. Another single beep
from my thermal: 58.

I also noticed that Ash had left his key card
in the lock.

A couple minutes later Officer Graham came
shuffling around the corner. Ash beckoned him inside. Five or six
minutes after that (in the interval I’d noticed Officer Grahams’
hands jittering worse than before, and his eyes were flicking side
to side, so I’d situated myself between him and Ash) Morgan marched
down the hall.

He looked banged up and generally in worse
shape than Officer Graham. Flanking Morgan was a red-headed man who
didn’t so much walk as saunter, like he knew something no one else
did; on the other side of Morgan marched a short fierce-looking
woman dressed in tattered clothes. Her long black hair waved as she
bounced down the hall, shimmering every time it caught a stray
moonbeam. Behind them, struggling to keep up was a familiar-looking
dwarf.

“
Whoa,” I whispered before I could stop
myself. “Ash, that’s Izzy Macawber. I have Science with her. She
has nothing to do with Knox. You can’t hurt her.”

“
That’s up to her,” he
murmured.

“
What!”

Agravaine clamped a hand around my mouth and
yanked me to the floor. I grabbed his hand and peeled the fingers
back. He stepped off. Fragile indeed. Hmmm.

I gave Ash my best Evil Eye. Or at
least, I thought I did. Either way he wasn’t paying attention to
me, his focus was on the big CRYONICS door across the hall, where
Morgan and his weird friends were lingering. “Where the
hell
is Malthus?” Ash
hissed.

I smiled. Couldn’t help it. “Nimrod went
after him, remember?”

The group babbled among themselves for a few
seconds, and then Morgan pulled something that looked like a silver
pen from his jeans front pocket. He fiddled with it, stepped up to
the lock and, after wriggling his arms a bit, turned the handle. He
then stepped back.

“
He picked the lock,” Ash said, awe
flavoring his voice.

The fierce-looking woman brushed everybody
back and then shoulder-slammed the door. Under her strength it blew
open. A hiss of air gushed out of the Cryonics lab. I caught a
whiff of cloves and bleach.