Threshold

by King, R. L.

“You’ll be too busy to work,” Stone told her. “Traditionally when a mage takes an apprentice, he’s responsible for her room and board. Since it isn’t practical for you to live with me, I’ll pay your half of whatever apartment you two find, and a stipend to help with food and expenses. Fair enough?”

  Jason looked sideways at Stone. “Al, are you sure you’re not loaded and just not telling us?”

  Stone chuckled. “No, Jason, I’m not ‘loaded.’ I’m what might euphemistically be called ‘comfortable.’ Let’s just say that I’ve got enough money put away in various investments and whatnot that I don’t really need to work. But don’t set your hearts on any Ferraris or mansions in Atherton or anything. And,” he added, “I wouldn’t turn it down if you continued to cook at my place occasionally, Verity. I haven’t inflicted my attempts at cooking on you yet, but I assure you, they aren’t a pretty sight.”

  “Deal,” Verity said, grinning. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you starve. I need you healthy so you can teach me to blow things up. But Jason—can I come with you when you go to Ventura? I’d like to see home again. It’s been a long time.”

  Jason shrugged. “Sure, if Al can spare you from cutting up frogs and stuff. We can take a bus down and rent one of those U-Haul trucks to bring my stuff back up.” He looked at Stone. “You think it’s safe?”

  “No way to be sure, but it does seem that the Evil have settled down for the moment, at least in this area. It’s probably safer for you to do it now than later. I’ll make a few calls tomorrow, and we’ll see if we can’t both find places we like better than this monument to mundanity, so you don’t end up storing your worldly goods in my garage.”

  The next couple of days passed quickly: Stone took Jason and Verity up to Stanford to check the housing boards, and they jotted down a list of possibilities and headed off to investigate them.

  Meanwhile, the mage hit up his network of fellow professors, and before lunchtime had secured a lease on a small but elegant townhouse not too far from his former place in Palo Alto. This one didn’t have a basement, but it had a large, finished attic that would be perfect for magical activities.

  Jason and Verity spent the day checking out their housing options, and by late afternoon found a two-bedroom apartment in a small building in Mountain View, a few miles from Stone’s new townhouse. They got lucky: the students who were renting it, a young married couple, were desperate to get out of their lease because the husband’s mother had fallen ill back home in China and they needed to leave immediately. Stone lent Jason and Verity the deposit, and Jason signed the lease before the couple could change their minds.

  The next morning Stone dropped them off at the bus station. “We’ll see you in a few days,” Jason told him. “Not quite sure how many, but we’ll probably stay a little while to visit Stan for Thanksgiving and let V get a look around.”

  “I’ll call you if we’ll be gone longer than that,” Verity told him.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Stone said. “Just try to find some time to read those two books I gave you so you’ll have the grounding to get started on the next level of your studies when you get back.”

  “Yes, Master,” she said, grinning.

  He sighed, shooing her away. “Off you go. And remember,” he added, looking more at Jason than at her, “Be careful. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you.”

  Stone spent the time while Jason and Verity were away settling in to the new townhouse. Fortunately he didn’t have much to pack, since most of his possessions and all of his furniture had been destroyed when the Evil tried to kill him and Jason by blowing up his old house. Like the house in Mountain View, this new one was furnished (and with significantly more upscale pieces) so he didn’t have to worry about that. He spent most of the time putting his study in order with a desk, bookshelves—mostly empty, but he would soon remedy that—and a large, comfortable leather armchair. Next would be the attic, but there’d be time for that later. He left Jason’s and Verity’s remaining possessions back at the other house, since he didn’t want to invade their privacy, and he had the lease on it until the end of the month.

  After his new phone was hooked up, he made a few calls to the mages who’d attended Eleanor Pearsall’s funeral, as well as Reverend Blodgett at the church where the portal was located. He didn’t give them any specifics about the nature of the Evil, but just told them that he’d discovered evidence of a supernatural force that might be trying to invade mages’ minds. He warned them to keep their mental defenses strong, and asked them to call him if they noticed anything suspicious or odd.

  More locally, he considered consulting with his old friend Stefan Kolinsky, but when he drove by the black mage’s East Palo Alto shop, he found it closed. A note concealed behind the wards indicated that Kolinsky was out of the country indefinitely. Stone wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed or relieved: on the one hand, he’d have liked to compare notes and make use of Kolinsky’s vast information network, but on the other, Kolinsky had a way of prying out secrets, and Stone wasn’t at all sure he wanted to reveal too much to him. Not yet. Especially since, much as the thought troubled him, he couldn’t be certain that Kolinsky was free of the Evil’s influence. A black mage of his caliber would be a powerful and dangerous ally for them, if they could convince him to join up.

  By the third day, Stone was bored. As much as he prized his privacy and was altogether content with his own company, he was forced to concede (albeit grudgingly) that he missed Jason’s cocky irreverence and Verity’s cynical enthusiasm. He hoped they were enjoying themselves down in Ventura, but he also hoped they would return soon. He found himself writing down lesson ideas, spells he planned to be teach Verity, supplies he’d need to show her how to cast a rudimentary circle. He even made a trip to Madame Huan’s magical supply store to pick up the items he would need for the next few weeks’ worth of lessons. He wished he had his classes to occupy his time, but the holiday break had begun, and the next quarter didn’t start until January.

  Part of what frustrated him was that he was having no luck figuring out why Verity experienced so much trouble with the Overworld. Most mages had initial difficulty with the first two or three trips; it was a frightening place and certainly unlike anything they had ever encountered before. But to have such a violent reaction without even having seen any of the creatures that normally frightened new visitors must mean something in Verity’s mind was reacting badly to the mere existence of the Overworld. Stone remembered how Jason had claimed to hear the creatures speaking to him, luring him off by confusing him—the mage wondered if there might be something hereditary going on, but couldn’t do much to test his hypothesis without them there. Their mother had been a powerful mage; maybe that had something to do with it. Stone jotted a few notes down to remind himself to pursue that further when the two of them got back.

  The other thing that continued to prey on his mind was the Evil themselves, and his own inability to do anything about them. He had no idea how widespread they were, or how much of the country they had managed to infect, but the fact remained that people’s lives were being destroyed every day by their interference, and the only people who knew anything about them were either mentally challenged or unable to disseminate the information.

  The problem was, they’d only get one shot at this. They could inform the authorities, but they had no way to know which authorities the Evil possessed, or whom they had influence with. If Stone and the others told the wrong person, they’d set themselves up for anything from simple disbelief to incarceration in some asylum to assassination when they least expected it by any random passerby that the Evil’s leaders decided to sacrifice to the cause. Stone wasn’t even sure his other mage friends would believe him, since he technically had no way to prove anything he said. And even mages weren’t infallible—Stone knew quite a few of his colleagues who didn’t have the good sense to maintain discretion about such a secret. He made
a few more calls to a few other scientifically-minded mages, giving them the same warning he’d given those at the funeral and the same request to let him know if they discovered anything, but still fell short of describing the Evil in detail. He wasn’t sure it was the best course of action, but at least it might help turn up useful information without causing a panic.

  For now, that left him, Jason, and Verity frustrated as they continued to watch the Evil’s machinations play out, without any clear idea of their ultimate plan—or if they even had one. Stone sighed, scribbling random sketches on a piece of paper and struggling to find answers.

  The phone rang, and he snatched it up. “Yes, hello?”

  “Al? It’s me.”

  Stone put the pen down, brightening. “Jason! How are you? Is everything all right?”

  “Everything’s fine,” Jason replied. “Just wanted to let you know we’ve got everything packed up down here and we’ll be heading back tomorrow. Figured it would be good to tell you, so you’d have time to clean up after the magic orgies and frog innards and stuff before we get back.”

  “I’ll get right on that,” Stone said dryly. “So no trouble?”

  “Not a bit,” he said. “Real uneventful trip. Just packed up my stuff, visited with Stan, ate too much turkey, and let Verity get a look around, since it’d been awhile since she was down here. We’re both ready to come back.”

  “You didn’t—let anything slip to Stan, did you?”

  “Nah, but it was hard sometimes. He wanted to know what was up with the murder and everything. I think I gave him a pretty believable story that was mostly the truth, and we got out of there before he could ask too many of the wrong questions.”

  “Good, good.” Stone nodded. “And Verity’s keeping up with her studies?”

  Jason sighed. “Yes, unfortunately. She’s been levitating every damn thing she can get her hands on. Other day she did it to my double cheeseburger, then got distracted by something shiny and dropped it right in my lap.” In the background, Verity’s laugh could be heard.

  Stone chuckled. “Those things will kill you, you know. She probably did you a favor.”

  “Yeah, encourage her. That’s just what she needs,” Jason said. “Hey, listen, Al, we gotta get going, but we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay? Think you can survive without us until then?”

  “I’ll manage,” the mage said. “Hmm...maybe I’ll nip off home for a bit. I’ve been needing to pick up some things from my library over there—this might be as good a time as any to do it.”

  “Home? You mean England?” Jason sounded dubious.

  “Right. I’ll be back long before you return, don’t worry.”

  “Well—be careful.”

  “I’m always careful, Jason. And besides, like I told you—if you keep your wits about you, the whole thing’s safe as houses.”

  “Hate to remind you, Al, but lately your houses haven’t been all that safe.”

  Stone set out for Sunnyvale an hour later. He decided he’d have to see about getting a new car soon. The rented tan minivan had served its purpose, providing them with generic and unremarkable transportation when the DMW had been looking for them, but Stone didn’t care for driving anything so dull. He’d be glad to finally turn it in and get something more interesting. But that was for later.

  A Passage to India’s dining room was nearly empty when he got there. Marta, David’s tall, thin partner, came out of the back to meet him. She looked distracted. “Hello, Alastair. Didn’t expect to see you back so soon. Are you here for a meal or a trip?”

  “Trip this time,” he said. “Is David here?”

  She shook her head. “No, and I’m beginning to get a bit worried, to be honest. He left early this morning and I haven’t heard from him since. He missed the lunch rush, and he never does that without calling.”

  Stone frowned. “Anything I can do to help?”

  “No, I don’t think so. You go on—he’ll probably be back any time now. He hasn’t been feeling too well lately—bit of insomnia, and he says he’s been having bad dreams. I’m guessing he just lost track of the time.”

  Stone nodded, but he wasn’t entirely convinced. “All right, then. I should be back by your dinner shift—if he hasn’t shown up by then, I’ll help you look for him, all right?” He often wondered at the difficulties of maintaining a relationship with a mage when you weren’t one yourself. In his experiences with previous mundane girlfriends, there were a lot of things you couldn’t share. He supposed with enough love, though, it would be possible to surmount the differences. David and Marta, who had been together as long as Stone had known them, certainly exemplified that. They gave him hope that one of his relationships might someday work out.

  “Thank you, Alastair. I’d appreciate it.” She waved him toward the back of the restaurant. “I won’t go down there with you, if that’s all right.”

  “Of course.” He patted her hand as he passed her. “I’m sure he’s fine, Marta.”

  She smiled faintly and nodded, but her worried look didn’t go away.

  The trip through the portal was uneventful. It was dark when he emerged from the crypt in the graveyard that hid the portal’s other end; he hadn’t called to let Aubrey, his caretaker, know he was coming this time, so he had to tramp up to the house in the dark. The old man was surprised, but happy to see him—he’d been about to go to bed, but cheerfully came back downstairs to fix up a pot of tea and plate of cakes while Stone retrieved the items he’d come for.

  “Not staying, then?” Aubrey asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

  Stone shook his head. “Can’t be away too long this time—expecting my friends back tomorrow. Might come back again soon, though. I thought about hitting Tolliver’s, but forgot about the time difference. Need to do that soon.” Tolliver’s, in London, was one of the world’s largest magical supply stores, with a far more varied selection of items than Madame Huan had available back in Palo Alto.

  He spread out the items he’d gathered and looked them over: several old books, a small handful of colored crystals, an amulet with two blood-red stones set as the eyes of a silver bird’s skull, and a golden knife.

  Aubrey chuckled when he saw them. “I’m not even going to ask you what you plan to do with all that.”

  “Ah, right, I forgot to tell you—I’ve got an apprentice now.”

  “Indeed?” The old man’s eyebrows went up. “I never thought I’d see that day come again.”

  “Nor did I. But her mother was Lenore Thayer. Don’t know if you remember me ever mentioning Lenore, but she was Jason’s mother, too. The one I brought here a couple of weeks ago, remember?”

  “Of course I remember, sir. Both of them.”

  “Verity—that’s the girl—she’s almost eighteen, and she’s got quite a lot of potential.”

  Aubrey smiled. “I wouldn’t expect you to take on anyone who didn’t, sir.”

  They spent the next hour or so just chatting; Aubrey told him about the repairs he’d been doing on the house, and a lady he’d started seeing down in the village, and Stone talked at further length about Verity and what he planned to teach her. He didn’t say anything about the Evil or anything else that had been going on the past few weeks, nor did he mention their trip to Vermont.

  After a time he glanced at his watch, then gathered up the items and began putting them in his bag. “And I’m afraid I’ll need to be off. Still have things to do tonight before it gets too late back in California.”

  They said their goodbyes and Stone, now carrying a flashlight Aubrey had insisted he take, tromped back across the chilly fields to the cemetery and took the portal back to A Passage to India. One nice thing about traveling by portal was the lack of jet lag. It was also nice to get eight hours back on the return trip. He slung the bag over his shoulder and headed back upstairs and through the kitch
en.

  By this time the early edge of the dinner crowd had begun to arrive, and five or six couples and small groups were seated in the dining room. Marta leaned on the wall near the door to the kitchen, still looking concerned.

  “Did he show up yet?” Stone asked, coming in.

  She jumped, noticeably startled. “What? Oh. Alastair. You scared me.” She let her breath out, then shook her head. “No, he’s not back yet, and I really am getting worried now. This isn’t like him at all.”

  Stone nodded, concerned too. “I assume you’ve already called all the places he’s likely to be. Do you know where he was supposed to be going?”

  “Up to San Francisco. A restaurant up there was going out of business and he was hoping to pick up some fixtures. I called them—he arrived there early this morning and looked over the items until noon or so, but they don’t know where he went after that.”

  “Odd...” Stone murmured. He’d known David and Marta for years—they were the original staid middle-aged British couple. It was highly unlikely David had gone off to do anything that would take this long without checking in with his partner. “Did he—” He stopped as the phone rang.

  Marta, standing near it, held up a finger and picked it up. “Good evening, A Passage to India. May I help you?” She listened for a moment. “Yes, this is she.”

  Stone watched her as she spoke. In the space of about ten seconds the expression on her long, bony face went from professional blandness to wide-eyed shock. Tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. “I—are you sure? When—Yes. Yes—thank you for letting me know. I’ll—I’ll be there shortly.” She lowered the receiver in a nerveless hand.

  Stone took it from her gently and hung it up. “Marta? What is it? What’s happened?”

  She didn’t look at him. She stared down at the phone, as if she expected it to ring again and take back whatever news she’d just been given. “That—was the police,” she said in a monotone. “There’s been—an accident.”