Twilight Heart

by Adam J. Wright

  “Unless you want me to throw you back down those stairs, shut the hell up,” I said. “This woman suffered at his hands. Can you blame her for wanting revenge?” Okay, Tia’s timing sucked but I wasn’t going to tell Chance that.

  He went quiet. As we climbed the stairs, we had to step over and around dead bodies. Most of them were jackal guards like the ones we’d fought in the room above but there was also some sort of demon dog and a weird thing that had membranous wings like a bat.

  It must have taken thirty grueling minutes to get up the steps and into the room where we’d first fought the jackal guards. Leon, Michael, and Mallory were waiting for us there.

  We ascended the shorter flight of stairs to the doorway and descended the side of the pyramidal structure.

  “Would you like me to take the lady, sir?” Michael asked.

  “Thanks, Michael.” I passed Tia over to him. He was probably a lot stronger than me and he carried her as if her weight was nothing.

  Going down the steps was just as bad as going up them. An insidious weakness began to creep up on me and I knew it was because of the anti-magic spell I’d cast earlier. If it was going to drain me the same as the other spells did, I was probably going to pass out at some point.

  We finally made it to ground level and together, we plunged into the pool. In the inky water, I saw a blue glow in the depths and swam toward it.

  The next thing I knew I was being deposited roughly on the stone floor in the pillar room. I looked around to check that everyone had made it through. We were all here but maybe we weren’t all okay.

  Tia was lying on the floor on her back where Michael had placed her. Mallory was sitting next to her, crying.

  I went over and checked for a pulse in Tia’s neck.

  There was nothing.

  At some point during the journey back, she’d died. Rekhmire had killed her after all.

  “I’m sorry,” I said to Mallory. “I know she was your friend.”

  “She was more than that,” she said through the tears. “All that time we spent together in Shadow Land, we became like sisters. We relied on each other, trusted each other, helped each other. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  She stroked the sorceress’s black hair and cried quietly.

  “Carlton,” I said. “You can remove the Janus statue now.”

  He did so and the portal vanished. The Pillars of Khonsu were just ordinary pillars again and between them, where there had been a portal to another dimension, there was now only the dusty air of the room.

  I checked my watch. Thanks to the grueling climbs involved, we’d only just made it back within the two hour deadline.

  A sudden gasp came from Tia’s body. She sat up, her eyes wide.

  “You’re alive!” Mallory said.

  The sorceress nodded and stroked Mallory’s hair. “Yes, of course. I am kept alive by magic. Rekhmire would have killed me if he had taken my heart but you prevented him from doing that. Thank you.”

  “I’m sorry you didn’t get the revenge you wanted,” Mallory said.

  “Something tells me you’ll get another chance,” I said to Tia. “I don’t think that’s the last we’ve seen of him, especially if the Cabal has its way.” I shot a look at Chance.

  He merely shrugged. The Cabal knew where the Pillars of Khonsu were located now and they had the spell that opened the portal. There was no way they’d just leave a powerful being like Rekhmire in another realm. I had absolutely no doubt that they’d try to recruit him into their nefarious organization.

  The temple room vanished and suddenly we were all in Frobisher’s Glade. The cold air bit my skin, reviving me a little from the lethargy I felt.

  “Who wants to join me for a drink?” Leon said. “I’m buying.”

  He had a number of takers, even the Blackwell sisters. Only Chance and I declined. I had to get home because I knew I was going to be suffering from exhaustion pretty soon and he had to go back to whatever rock he’d crawled out from under.

  I drove him back to my place where his car was parked. We rode in silence all the way. He was probably what a win for the Cabal today was. Rekhmire was released from his prison and they knew how to get to him. I was thinking what a win today was for Mallory. The curse was lifted.

  I should probably call Felicity and tell her all about it but after the last call, I figured she was pretty busy. She said she’d call me so I’d respect that and wait until she was ready.

  When we got out of the Land Rover outside my house and Chance was about to get into his own car, I said, “Hey, before you go. Do you know my mother.”

  He chuckled to himself. “I know of her.”

  “She’s pretty high up in the Cabal, is that right?”

  He scoffed. “Not since we found out what she really is.” He opened his car door and slid inside.

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked.

  His window buzzed down. “You mean you don’t know? Wow, not only was she lying to us for all those years, she was lying to her own son too.” He laughed and drove off, leaving me bewildered on the sidewalk.

  I went inside and felt a sudden drop in my energy level. So sudden that I had to lean against the wall to make sure I didn’t fall over.

  There was a knock on the door. Maybe it was Chance coming back to explain what he’d meant about my mother. I opened the door. It was Merlin.

  “Go away,” I groaned. “I need sleep.”

  He stepped inside and took me by the shoulder, leading me into the living room. “It isn’t sleep you need, Alec. You need something much more potent.”

  I dropped onto the sofa and closed my eyes. The tiredness weighed me down. It even weighed my eyelids down.

  “Are you still here?” I asked Merlin.

  “Yes, Alec, I’m here.”

  “Go away.”

  “You need my help, dear boy. You wait right there while I get the cure for what ails you.”

  “Wait,” I said.

  “Yes?”

  “How are the police officers? The ones in the hospital.”

  “They’re fine. I had to sneak past the nurses to apply my poultice but you’ll be pleased to know that the two officers are on the mend.”

  “Good. Now go. I want to sleep.”

  I heard him go down to the basement. My mind drifted into a black void.

  I felt a jolt of energy spark through me like lightning bolt. My eyes snapped open and all thoughts of sleep were gone. I felt as if I’d never need to sleep ever again.

  Merlin had placed Excalibur in my hands.

  I tried to push the sword away but he put his hand over mine, pinning my hands to the sword’s handle. “Don’t fight it, Alec. Let the sword feed you. Doesn’t it feel good?”

  I couldn’t deny that it felt good but it didn’t feel right. Because I was sure that no matter how much energy the sword gave me, it was also taking something from me. Something intangible maybe but still something of mine that the sword was leeching away.

  If the sword made me feel this good, did I care? If not for Excalibur, I’d be out cold right now and in a couple of hours, I’d be waking up with a splitting headache.

  This was much better. I settled into the sofa and gratefully received the energy the sword was giving me.

  “That’s it,” Merlin said. “Just accept it.”

  23

  Felicity drove home after visiting the cemetery. When she got inside, she put the kettle on and sat at the kitchen table while she waited for it to boil. Even though her life had fallen apart, she felt happy. She’d helped Jessica Baker and her mother and also any would-be future victims of the man the police had arrested.

  Also, after the terrible treatment she’d received at the hands of Nigel Lomas and whoever else he was working with, meeting Charlie Sutherland’s ghost had affirmed her faith in human nature. There were good people in the world. Well, not exactly in the world in Charlie’s case.

  She made the tea and took it into the living roo
m, where she stood at the window and looked out at the street. This wouldn’t be her home for much longer. Once she told Nigel Lomas to shove his fake job, she could be sure of that. What was she going to do next? She supposed she could visit her parents in Sussex, stay with them for a while, but that felt like taking a step backwards.

  She sipped the hot tea and let her mind wander over the possibilities. She could get a research job, particularly in the field of Egyptology if there were any going. That would make her parents proud as she’d be following in their footsteps.

  She could teach Ancient History at a university or college. That sounded okay but she was afraid she might find it boring.

  In fact, after everything she’d done while working for the Society, she probably find everything boring.

  That didn’t leave her many options. It was the Society of Shadows or nothing. Not much of a choice.

  She noticed a black van parked up the road. She was sure it was the same one that had been sitting outside the office. Why the hell were they watching her? She went to the kitchen and took a pair of compact binoculars from her handbag. Returning to the window, she unfolded them and trained them on the van.

  It was the same van. Her Clairaudience symbol was still there on its side panel.

  That gave her an idea. She got the scrap of paper that had the spell on it from her handbag and went out to the Focus. The symbol was still on the radio. The spell had faded away last time but she might be able to reactivate it.

  She chanted the words and the same two voices came out of the radio. This time, though, instead of sounding bored, they sounded excited.

  “I’m telling you,” the woman said. “I saw him. The target. So call it in. Let’s get everyone out here and nab him.”

  “Should we though? What if we take him ourselves? We’ll be heroes.”

  “He’s supposed to be dangerous. I’m not sure we can take him.”

  “What? The two of us? Of course we can!”

  “I don’t know,” she said, obviously considering it judging by her voice. “Maybe we could.”

  “They’d never put us on shitty stakeout duty again,” he said.

  “Wait a minute. Maybe they would. If we show them that we’re really good at it, then they’d put us on it again. And again.”

  “Bloody hell,” he said. “Maybe we should call the cavalry then.”

  “Yeah, maybe we should,” she agreed.

  “Right, I’m calling it in,” he said. There was a pause, presumably while he dialed his superiors, and then he said, “This is Oscar Lima Two Zero. We have seen the target.” A further pause, then, “Near her home. He was in a car. A black Land Rover Defender.”

  Felicity frowned. Hadn’t she just seen a black Land Rover drive past? She looked up and down the street. Yes, there it was. Behind her. She couldn’t see the driver clearly because he was too far away.

  “There he is!” the man in the van said. “The target. He’s on this street right now.”

  The Land Rover accelerated past the van and skidded to a stop next to the Focus. Felicity was out of the car and pulling on the Land Rover’s passenger door. She had to know who was inside.

  She got the door open and her eyes widened when she saw who was behind the wheel. Thomas Harbinger. Alec’s dad.

  “Mr Harbinger!”

  “Jump in, Felicity. These bastards have made it hard for me to make contact with you so it’s now or never.”

  She got into the Land Rover and closed the door. From her own car radio, she heard the van man shouting, “In pursuit! We are in pursuit!”

  Thomas pressed the accelerator and the Land Rover sped away. Felicity checked the road behind them in the passenger side mirror. The van was pulling away from the curb.

  “We’ll get away as long as they haven’t got any friends on the roads up ahead,” Thomas said.

  “I don’t understand what’s happening,” she said. “Why is the Society hunting you?”

  “Because they think I stole something from them.”

  “Why do they think that?”

  “Because I stole something from them. Well, that’s not exactly true. It was many years ago and I was acting under the authority of a higher power than any of those idiots.”

  “A higher power? Do you mean God?” She’d never known him to be a religious man but maybe he had been years ago when he’d stolen whatever it was he’d stolen.

  “No, witches.”

  “Witches? Now I really don’t understand.”

  “All will be revealed shortly.”

  He took a left and increased his speed. “We just need to lose these bastards first.”

  Thomas got to the bottom of the road and then turned the wrong way along a one-way street.

  “What are you doing?” Felicity asked.

  “Losing them.”

  “Don’t get us killed in the process.”

  “That’s the trouble with the Society,” he said. “Everyone has had the same training so they think they know what I’m going to do to evade them. That’s why I have to do the unexpected.”

  He checked the rearview. “There, I think we lost them.”

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

  “Of course. Ask me anything.”

  “Why did you disappear? We heard you went walking in Hyde Park and just vanished.”

  He grinned. “Ah, yes, my little ruse. Quite clever. That left them all scratching their heads, I can tell you.”

  “And us,” she told him. “Alec was worried about you?”

  A touch of tenderness flickered in his eyes. “Was he?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Well, I didn’t realize he would be. I’ll apologize to him when there’s a good time.”

  “As soon as we stop this car would be a good time,” she said.

  “No, that’s not possible. I can’t make contact with him yet.”

  “Well can I tell him I saw you?”

  “No, that’s absolutely out of the question.”

  She shook her head in frustration. She could hardly speak to Alec and not tell him that his father was all right.

  “Listen to me closely, Felicity. Not a word of what we’re about to discuss must get back to Alec. Do you understand?”

  “No, actually, I don’t understand.”

  “No, of course you don’t understand but do you agree? If you don’t, I’ll drop you off here. After calling a taxi for you, of course.”

  She wasn’t exactly sure what she was agreeing to. And she wasn’t very good at lying. The only reason she’d gone to work at Harbinger P.I. at all was because Thomas had hired her to spy on Alec. Her cover had been blown within five minutes.

  But if she didn’t agree with Thomas, she’d never know what this was all about. Her curiosity won out. “All right, I agree.”

  “Excellent. I know you’re a woman of your word so now we can speak freely.”

  “Why were the people in that van talking about a prophecy.”

  “A prophecy?” He seemed to think about that and then grinned. “The clever bastards. They wanted to track me down so they looked up any prophecies about me that might give them a clue as to me whereabouts. This meeting we’re having right now is very important so there are bound to be prophecies foretelling its occurrence.”

  “Really? This meeting?”

  “You don’t understand what’s at stake yet.”

  “So tell me.”

  They’d left the city and were driving by the moors. Thomas pulled over and killed the engine. He turned in his seat to face her. “Forget about the Society. It’s fallen into chaos and soon it will be nothing more than rubble. A relic of a bygone age. Forget about being a P.I. Soon, there won’t be any P.I.s.”

  “What do you mean there won’t be any P.I.s? Of course there will.”

  He smiled but there was a sadness in his eyes. “The world is about to change, Felicity. This is why I sought you out. I know that you wanted to be a P.I. because y
ou have a desire to help people.”

  She nodded. “That’s right.”

  “If you join me, you won’t only be helping people, you’ll be helping to save the world.”

  She sighed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “But you’re willing to listen to what I have to say?”

  She thought about it and nodded. “Yes, I’ll listen.”

  He grinned. “Excellent. Wait here.” He opened the glove compartment and took out an item that looked like a Fabergé egg. He got out of the Land Rover and placed the egg on the road. Then climbed in behind the wheel again.

  “It’ll happen in just a moment,” he said.

  Felicity had no idea what was supposed to happen.

  The egg exploded in shower of blue and gold sparks, creating a portal in the middle of the road. Through the portal, Felicity could see another road, this one cutting through a forest to a large building with many windows.

  “Right,” Thomas said. “Let’s begin.” He drove the Land Rover into the portal and it closed behind them.

  THE END

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