Shadow of a Doubt

by Hunter Blain

  Locke turned as he pulled on the door, looked at me for a second with conflicted eyes, and stepped into the clinic without a word. I stood alone and let my armor shimmer away, leaving me in my usual garb, albeit with some holes in my new shirt.

  “At least I’m not the only one,” I said to the empty parking lot. As I walked to the door, I glanced skyward, trying to see if I could spot the black hole. Of course, I couldn’t, and felt stupid for even trying. But it was a compulsion I couldn’t help.

  Passing through the lobby, I noticed the glass had been all swept up. I shouldered my way into the OR and saw as the door that led to the back room where the bathroom was swung shut. Locke needed some alone time. Lilith, so did I.

  Ludvig, who was looking at the same door I was, turned his gaze to me and asked, “What’s wit him?”

  “We had a tough visit with a seer.”

  “What did she say?” Ludvig asked. It took everything in me to keep my eyes from drifting to Magni out of reflex.

  “A lot. And nothing at all,” I said as I ran a hand over my face. Only that my worst fear of going to Hell for all eternity was going to happen. No biggie, right?

  “How do we stop the black hole?” Magni asked. I looked at the ground, still unable to meet his gaze.

  “I don’t know. Believe in myself and reach for the stars or some crap.”

  Ludvig and Magni remained silent, waiting for more information. But just as I had to bathe in the shower of ignorance, so must they.

  Doc Jim appeared from the stairway that led downstairs. He was holding his tablet and staring at it intently as he walked, tripping on the last step at the top. He caught himself before looking up at me.

  “What did ya find out, Doc? Anything yet?” I asked.

  “His physiology is…fascinating. Dead, but alive like a vessel.”

  “Yeah, that’s neat and all, but did you find out anything about how we can stop, or even reverse, it?”

  “Not yet. Silver and iron work, of course, but I suspect only while under the light. At least from what your friends have told me,” Doc said, looking between Ludvig and Magni.

  “It’s important that you do not let Dawson get into the darkness. Lolth could escape.” I looked around and noticed Depweg’s clothes in a neat pile on a counter near the back door. “He still not back?” I asked, hope leaving my voice.

  “No, I’m afraid not,” Doc responded.

  “We will go and get him,” Ludvig declared, standing strongly on his own two feet.

  “Well, glad to see you back with us, big guy,” I said with a smile that I tried really hard to make convincing. I just had too much damn weight on my shoulders right now and was starting to buckle from the pressure.

  Locke came into the OR from the back room with some water in his hair and on his black tactical shirt. He seemed to have gotten his shit together while splashing his face because there was a calmness about him.

  He set the body armor he had apparently taken off on a counter and walked to stand next to Ludvig and Magni. As if to accentuate his return to mental stability, he looked at me with steady eyes and nodded once slowly. I returned the nod before looking around at the ragtag group we had to save the world with.

  Ludvig stood with chest puffed and arms crossed, ready for battle. Magni seemed to stand a little straighter in direct reflection to his master. Locke remained where he was, cool as stone now.

  I clapped my hands before rubbing them together and said, “Well, boys, it’s time to save the world.”

  21

  Right. Save da world. Um, how do we do dat?” Ludvig asked. All eyes fixated on me, prompting me to unveil my master plan that would make Sherlock blush.

  “Oh, I have no fucking idea,” I answered. “I was hoping you guys had thought of something.”

  “Well, you have approximately twenty-one hours to figure it out,” Doc said, glancing at his phone.

  “Doctor Jim, did you find out anything else from Lolth? Did she say anything?” Locke asked.

  “My apologies, but she won’t speak to me.”

  “Let me try,” Locke said with a coldness that made my hairs want to stand on end. Warlocks had the ability to steal souls from their victims, and Dawson was but a vehicle to transverse this mortal realm. Lolth was the driver.

  “Um…” Doc started.

  “No, it’s okay,” I said, “Locke can try to get some information out of her. I’ll work with Ludvig on some elemental magic.” I remembered the static between Locke’s fingers while in Faerie.

  “Uh, okay,” Ludvig said, shifting on his feet. “Not sure how much I can teach in only a few hours, broder.”

  “I’m a quick study,” I said, winking.

  Locke disappeared down the stairs as the wall closed behind him while Ludvig, Magni, and I made our way out back.

  “What would you like to attempt to learn first?”

  Thinking back to our fight with Lolth and how Magni had almost gained the upper hand, I said, “Lightning. I want to be able to surprise Lolth when I see her again.”

  “Okay. Are you able to conjure any elemental magic right now?”

  “No. Wait! Yes! I can make fire. That’s elemental, right?” I said excitedly.

  “Yes, exactly. How do you do it?”

  “I just ask the molecules to excite in an area, and bam, fire.” I held out my hand and ignited the air, creating a small ball of fire.

  “Good, you have a basic understanding. Now we need to expand on dat. Here,” Ludvig said, holding out a smooth wand.

  “Hey, where are all the swirls and stuff?” I asked, looking it over.

  “De runes enhance de wielder’s abilities. You are not ready for dat just yet.”

  “Bah, fine,” I said, holding the wand to my side. “You just walk around with noob wands in your back pocket?”

  “It’s mine,” Magni said.

  “It was yours. You did so well last time dat I am giving you dis one,” Ludvig said proudly, holding out a wand with runes etched sporadically down its length.

  “Okay, so you just walk around with intermediate wands in your back pocket?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “It is my backup. Don’t you have a backup weapon at de small of your back, John?” Ludvig asked with a smile.

  A hand reflexively wandered to my lower back where the silver kukri was, primed for action.

  “Fine. Point, match, Lude,” I said as I looked at Magni’s wand. “Why not have a full backup? You know, like an exact copy of your main weapon?”

  “It takes many years to properly create a wand. Each rune is etched with a skilled and delicate hand while de maker meditates on de power it enhances. You must pour a lot of your own energy into making such an important and effective weapon.”

  I looked at my own wand with a renewed respect and desire to see its full length etched in runes of power.

  “To create a bolt of lightning,” Ludvig started as he pointed his own powerful wand into the sky, “you must excite de molecules so dey bump and grind into each odder to create de charge. Den, you connect de dots, and bam!” As he finished, an impressive bolt of raw electrical energy shot into the clouds, forking over and over from his wand. He stopped it shortly after beginning, looking at me with a shit-eating grin.

  “Holy neat! That was shit! I mean…eh, never mind. You know what I meant. Now watch and behold my mighty power!” I said as I held up my own wand and focused on exciting the molecules around it. I released them, and the biggest torrent of lightning ever conceived launched into the sky, catching the very air on fire—OR the smallest fizzle of static popped like one of those little white popper things you gave kids on the Fourth of July. You know the ones, they run around throwing them on the ground while giggling. So, between the two options, I’ll let you decide which one actually happened—kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure story.

  Magni fell on the ground laughing, clutching his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. Tears welled at his eyes from mirth and I thou
ght to myself, “This is it. This is how you kill him.”

  “Try again,” Ludvig said, having fully expected that result.

  “Bump and grind the molecules,” I whispered to myself, hating the Swede’s analogy. Or was it a metaphor? I did as instructed, but instead of just asking the molecules to move at a ludicrous pace, I focused on them rubbing on each other like a balloon on someone’s head. As they did, I made them go faster and faster, grinning with glee as I felt the charge build up.

  “Be careful, John,” Ludvig warned as he took a step back. Magni had gotten back to his feet, face serious now that he felt the air charging around us.

  “I got this,” I proclaimed as the air around me began to waver before catching on fire. I yelped, releasing my focus, and a bolt of lightning erupted into the sky with an earth-shattering crack. I said “bolt,” but it had been more like a “skyscraper” of energy being launched into the clouds. Ludvig and Magni fell to their backs, holding their ears, as power transformers burst in an explosion of sparks. Lights flickered as far as the eye could see before going out, including the ones at the clinic.

  “Oh. Em. Gee,” I enunciated slowly as I looked at my wand like it was actually a primed nuclear warhead. Glancing upward, I saw a massive hole in the clouds directly above me.

  “John!” came a muffled cry from inside the dark clinic.

  “Oh shit!” I cried out before running back inside. I made it to the stairs in two bounds before gracefully descending the steps to the basement. Of course, by gracefully descending I did not mean tumbled toes over nose to the basement floor.

  Getting to my feet, I used my preternatural sight to spot Locke, who was summoning a tiny ball of light.

  I ran over to him and looked inside the prison to see a lifeless torso lying on the floor, unmoving.

  “Fuck!” I cried out.

  “What just happened outside? What was that?” Locke asked, panting in frustration laced with confusion.

  “Um…Ludvig did it.”

  “Forget it,” Locke said, holding his tiny ball of light up to see before walking toward the stairs.

  “Did you at least learn anything?” I asked, hoping for some good news.

  “Yes,” Locke said as he disappeared into the OR. I followed closely behind to find Ludvig holding his hands over Magni’s ears and chanting in a whisper. His hands glowed for a moment before he removed them and repeated the healing process on his own bleeding ears. A pang of guilt passed through my gut.

  Locke lifted his hand in the center of the room and left the ball of light hovering so we could see each other.

  Once healed, Ludvig looked at me and said, “Dat’s why you don’t get de rune wand.”

  “Fair enough,” I answered before turning to Locke. “What did Lolth say?”

  “In her weakened state, I was able to put a spell on her that made her reveal the truth. She told me that if she were to die, all the darkness would die with her.”

  “Well, neat! That’s really good information. Good job, dude!” I said, patting Locke on the back a little harder than intended.

  “There’s more,” Locke interjected heavily as he straightened his back after my pat-attack.

  “Of course there is,” I said, rubbing my temples in little circles. “What is it?”

  “Lolth has infected the world tree.”

  “Yggdrasil?!” Ludvig called out, taking a step forward and looking between Locke and myself in repeated succession. “She’s poisoned Yggdrasil? Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” Locke said, crossing his hands in front of him and looking at the ground. “If we don’t kill Lolth, Yggdrasil will die, leaving all the planes that are attached to be consumed by the darkness.”

  “Let me guess. Earth and Heaven are part of the tree, aren’t they?” I asked, looking toward Ludvig for answers.

  “I honestly do not know if de afterlife is part of de tree or not, but I can confidently confirm dat Midgard is,” Ludvig answered, using the Nordic term. I could tell there was a hint of shame in his voice at not having all the answers when we needed them. It made him…endearing, somehow.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said, setting my jaw and assuming control of the conversation. “We know for sure that the Earth is in jeopardy—again—and that’s all we need to know. Everything else is inconsequential to the mission.”

  “I don’t know if I would say that,” Locke started.

  “Would it change our plan? We already have all the motivation we need to kill the bitch,” I said authoritatively. “Locke, where do we think Lolth is?”

  “I don’t know, John. I was getting to that part when the damn lights went out,” Locke challenged.

  I waved off his sassy comment and said, “Then we go to Faerie. Lolth’s there somewhere. I just wish we had someone who could help us on the other side.”

  “You don’t mean…” Locke started; his mouth hung open in disbelief.

  “I’ll take whoever’s help I can get right now,” I answered.

  “What about Taylor?” Doc asked from the corner of the room where he had been watching the back and forth.

  “Taylor’s in Vegas, I think. Plus, I don’t have a phone anymore.”

  “I do,” Doc said, holding up his hand in a L shape and bringing up his contacts list. I could see from beneath the screen Taylor’s name spelled backward from this angle.

  “Call him,” I instructed. My heart sunk a little as my excuse to see Lily—who might not have screwed me over by ten years—was overruled.

  Doc hit the name and I watched as he brought his thumb up to his ear and positioned his index finger in front of his mouth.

  After a few moments, Doc said, “Taylor, it’s Doc. Yes. Yes, I’m doing well, thank you. How are you?” I moved my hand in a circle, in a gesture that said, “Could you pretty please hurry up and maybe get to the point?” Doc held a hand up, signaling that he understood and he would get to that momentarily.

  “Listen, the reason I’m calling is because the boys need a guide in Faerie. Hmm? Yes, a guide. Seems they need to locate Lolth or the world tree will die.” At that, he pulled the phone away from his ear quickly as if it had burned his face. I could hear Taylor freaking out on the other side.

  Placing the phone back to his ear—or should I say fingers? Damn kids and their eight-track cassette players—he said, “So you’ll come? That’s excellent! When can you be here?”

  There was a small pop and I turned to see Taylor standing in the OR as he pulled his fingers from his ears and pressed End on the floating screen.

  “Now,” Taylor said without levity. He walked to where Doc was standing and extended a hand. Doc shook it with a smile of one who was greeting an old friend.

  “Why is it dark in here?” Taylor asked, looking up at the dark ceiling and then the glowing ball hovering in the middle of the room.

  “John learned some magic,” Locke said sarcastically.

  “Did he, now?” Taylor asked, impressed.

  “I only gave him a basic wand, showed him how to channel de elements, and he nearly killed us all wit lightning,” Ludvig said.

  Taylor turned and regarded the hunters with a nod and an articulated, “Oh, hello there,” before making his way to me.

  Ludvig nodded in return while Magni lifted a hand awkwardly in greeting.

  Taylor and I stood facing one another for a moment before we both went in for a hug at the same time. Where Doc and Taylor might have a business relationship, Taylor and I had experienced too much together at this point for a mere professional handshake.

  “So, you know elemental magic now, do you?”

  “Dude, I have so much to tell you,” I told him as we broke the embrace.

  “You can tell me on the way,” he said before turning to address the room. “Before we depart, there is something you must know.” Everyone in the room looked nervously at each other, knowing he wasn’t going to tell us he had ordered pizza for the group. “Queen Mab is dead, and with her death, her castle has fa
llen.”

  “Yeah, Oberon told me that personally,” I said, feeling relieved that the situation hadn’t gotten worse.

  “Did he tell you that Mab hadn’t killed all the supernatural refugees? She was planning on enslaving them, forcing them into things like menial public service jobs for her court nobles, at least the weaker of them. For the more dangerous, she was planning to add them to her army for when she invaded Midworld.”

  “What are you saying?” Locke asked. “That we still have supes that might be able to defend the Earth from Satan?”

  “What I’m saying is that Lolth has infected them with darkness,” Taylor informed us, making my blood run colder than normal.

  “Which ones? The army?” I asked, fearing the answer.

  “All of them,” he said, and I could swear the room felt like it had elongated around Taylor like in a horror movie. “Rest assured that even the smallest of the infected can transmit the darkness unto you.”

  “Then I should go alone,” I appealed to the room.

  “No,” Ludvig asserted. I noticed Magni looked back and forth between us, unsure of himself.

  “You don’t get it,” I said, turning to the big man. “Only Taylor and I will have our abilities in Faerie. You’ll be completely human.”

  “I can still fight,” he said, touching the hilt of his sword.

  “That, I don’t doubt. I’m simply afraid you’ll be a liability.”

  Taylor spoke up then, “If I may ask, how is it you think you’ll also have your abilities while in Faerie?”

  With the simplest of thoughts, the celestial armor shimmered into existence, complete with flaming gladius. The light from the sword created wavering shadows against the walls. Locke raised his hand and twisted it, like turning on a faucet, and the ball of light in the center of the room brightened, making the shadows fade. I didn’t know if it was a show of power born out of jealousy or if he was simply being helpful.

  “Ah, I see,” Taylor said, breaking my thought. “Then I agree with your thought process. You and I will go to Faerie alone.”