SUMMONED
TOR TEEN BOOKS BY ANNE M. PILLSWORTH
The Redemption’s Heir series
Summoned
Deeper (forthcoming)
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SUMMONED
Copyright © 2014 by Anne M. Pillsworth
All rights reserved.
A Tor Teen Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3589-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-2657-1 (e-book)
CIP DATA—TK
Tor Teen books may be purchased for educational, business, or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or write [email protected].
First Edition: June 2014
Printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Deb, my wife and first and best beta reader, without whom Sean would still be summoning monsters only in my head. The page is a safer place for him.
Acknowledgments
The people behind this book are many. Way back in time, there was my storytelling Irishman of a father and my more practical mother, who supplied the slate-blue Royal portable I lugged around for so many apprentice years.
My first auditors and the actors in so many dramatizations of my juvenilia were niece Amy and nephews Tom and John and Bob and David. Special thanks to niece Buffy and nephew Sean for badgering me into telling them the whooooole story of The Lord of the Rings every time they visited. It was an invaluable exercise in epic structure and characterization!
Gretchen Robinson led a great writing seminar at the Attleboro Public Library, which led to the creation of my writing group, Interstate Writers. Thanks to them all, especially Ken!
Jared Millet, whom I met during a National Novel Writing Month, was one of the first to critique Summoned, and thanks must go to his sensibility and eagle eye.
James Frenkel acquired Summoned for Tor and did a fantastic edit from the finest points of grammar to the subtlest of big-picture themes. His suggestions have greatly enriched the underlying themes of the series. My editor, Miriam Weinberg, has added many fresh insights, and her contagious enthusiasm is a constant inspiration.
Craig Tenney of Harold Ober Associates is simply my dream agent. He is also a telepath, because every time I needed encouragement and a nudge, he sensed it and was there with a call or e-mail. I think I traded in most of my good-karma stamps when I found him, but it was a trade-in more than worth it!
And thanks far from least to Charles Arouth, my spiritual guide. He kept me going through many a down period with sage advice, such as “If you can think it, you can do it.”
I could always think it. With the help and encouragement of all above, I’ve finally done it.
Breath taken. Let’s do it again!
SUMMONED
1
Every occult Web site agreed: For weird-ass books, Arkham was the center of the New England universe, and Horrocke’s Bookstore was the black hole at the center’s heart. Dad said that Sean had enough crazy stuff to read, since Uncle Gus had given him his Lovecraft collection. But Uncle Gus had also spilled that Cthulhu (aka Old Squid-Head) wasn’t just a monster Lovecraft had invented, he was a god in a totally legitimate mythology way older than the Egyptian and Greek ones. Since then, Sean had been nuts to go to Horrocke’s and get the real dope on Cthulhu, and so when Dad drove to Arkham to price a window restoration Sean and Eddy hitched a ride. Eddy insisted on sightseeing first, but once they hit the bookstore and found the weird-ass section even she had to admit the place lived up to its reputation. “Little Shoppe of Mysteries” was what TrueTomes.com called it. Hokey but accurate, because as Sean pulled a thick volume off the Cthulhu Mythos shelf a mystery ambushed him. .
Like its neighbors, the book he pulled (Infinity Unimaginable) was glossy new. The book that dropped, that he just managed to catch, was old as hell; even at arm’s length, it exuded the smell of an open tomb. Not a nasty mildewy rotting-flesh kind of tomb. More like a tomb in the desert, a Pharaoh’s crib, all cloves and ginger and—what was that other spice thing, the bitter one?—yeah, myrrh.
Sean shifted Infinity Unimaginable under his arm so he could inspect the mummy-book. It was in decent shape, the black leather spine intact and the stamped gold title only a little rubbed out. The Witch Panic in Arkham by Ezekiel Greene Phillips. Sean and Eddy had probably seen the guy’s grave in the Lich Street Burial Ground, where everyone was an Ezekiel or a Hepzibah or a Zacharias or some other Puritan name with a z in it.
He got a better armpit grip on Infinity and opened The Witch Panic.… Paper fluttered to the floor, but thank you, Jesus, it wasn’t a page from the book. The fallen bit was a newspaper clipping someone had used as a bookmark a hundred years ago, from the look of its brown and brittle edges. Sean parked both books and picked up the clipping. He’d been close on the hundred years. In fact, the clipping was older: At its top, he could make out ham Advertiser, March 21, 1895. “Ham” had to be Arkham. The city’s newspaper was still the Advertiser, dumb name, made you think the paper was one big classified section. Speaking of which, a couple columns of classified ads was what he lifted closer to his face, squinting at the minuscule type. One ad was circled in faded red:
Wanted, an apprentice in magic and in the service of its Masters. For particulars, apply to the Reverend Orne, [email protected].
That “apprentice in magic” part was freaky enough. It took Sean a second reading before he got the true freakiness of the ad. You were supposed to apply to the Reverend Orne by e-mail? In 1895?
“Eddy!” he said. Okay, he kind of yelled.
Her voice came from the back of the store. “What? God, tell the world.”
Sean grabbed his finds and threaded through stacks of new and used books to the locked cases that housed the really old stuff, the tomes. Eddy had been drooling over them since they’d arrived. She hadn’t run out of saliva yet, judging from the way she crouched in front of the current case, fingertips to carpet, a sprinter ready to explode out of the starting blocks and right through the protective glass.
“Look,” she said without turning to him. “This is like a wizard’s library.”
The case guarded books in Latin and German and French, in Greek and Arabic, in English rendered undecipherable by some kind of curly-swirly Gothic type, and the whole bunch of them were beat up with age. Sean would have been dripping spit, too, except what he had in his hands was even more exciting. “Eddy, check it—”
“Keep it down, will you?”
What, were they in church? He lowered his voice. “Check it out. I found this book.”
“One we can afford?” Eddy tapped a discreet price list posted on the glass, and there was nothing under a thousand dollars. She stood up sighing.
“This one about the Cthulhu Mythos.” He glanced inside Infinity Unimaginable. “It’s only twenty bucks.”
“Let’s see.”
“Wait, here’s something cooler.” He had put the newspaper clipping back in The Witch Panic for safekeeping. He eased it out. “Read that ad.”
“This is crazy old.” Eddy handled the clipping gingerly. “‘Gentleman recently graduated from Miskatonic University seeks position as tutor.’”
“No, the circled one.”
“‘Wanted, an apprentice in magic—’” Eddy shut up. Sean watched her eyes dart over t
he rest of the ad, then dart to the top of the clipping. Back to the ad. Then she turned the clipping over, but all it showed was a woman in a dress with sleeves a mile wide and waist about an inch around. Finally Eddy looked up, her forehead corrugated. “Where’d you get this?”
“When I got down the Mythos book, another book fell off the shelf. The ad was inside.”
Eddy relinquished the clipping and took The Witch Panic in Arkham. “This old book was with the new stuff?”
“Yeah. Only I didn’t see it until it fell. I guess it was stuck behind the other one.”
“Like someone hid it there?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
She leafed through the pages. “This was published the same year as the newspaper. Except the clipping’s got to be fake. Like a hoax. Or not even a hoax, because who’d believe in an e-mail address from 1895? Somebody made it for a joke.”
“It’s a damn good fake. It even smells old.”
“That’s because it’s been sitting in this smelly book.”
Leave it to Eddy to come up with a reasonable explanation. She had to be right, but Sean teased her a little. “I bet a time traveler went back to 1895 and put the ad in the newspaper, except he forgot how there wasn’t any Internet yet.”
Eddy kept leafing. “We better give Witch Panic to Mr. Horrocke. It probably belongs with the rare books.”
“And then the time traveler was all, ‘How come nobody’s answering my ad?’”
“Shove it.”
“And so he sends the ad into the future in Witch Panic, and it lands on the shelf behind Infinity, just as I’m taking it down.”
“No, because if that happened, the book and the ad would be new.” Eddy had reached the index and was trailing her finger down the page. “There,” she said. “That’s what I thought.”
“What?”
“The guy in the ad, redemption@RevOrne? Redemption Orne’s mentioned in this book. He was married to Patience.”
And Patience Orne was a total rock-star witch. Sean had been reading her name on historical markers all day. “Here’s where Patience Orne lived.” “Here’s the courthouse where Patience Orne was tried.” “Here’s the base of the gallows on which Patience Orne swung.” “But if Redemption’s from Puritan times, how come he’s advertising in 1895?”
Sean had walked into it, and Eddy pounced without mercy. “Because he’s a time traveler?” she said.
“Ouch.”
“Got another explanation?”
“No, but you do.”
“Because some crazy Redemption Orne fan boy stuck a fake clipping in the book?” Eddy handed Sean The Witch Panic. “It’s almost five. We’ve got to meet your dad. Are you buying Infinity?”
“I’m buying them both.”
“You won’t have enough money for the old one.”
Probably not, but he was going to try. When a book jumped at you from a shelf, what else could you do?
In the front room at Horrocke’s, where a college girl stood behind the counter and the smell of hazelnut coffee filled the air, books wouldn’t have the nerve to jump at customers. The back room was a whole different world. First off, you came in through a door with a brass plaque that read: QUISCUNQUE QUAERAT, INTRA. According to Eddy, who’d just aced her sophomore year of Latin, that meant “Whoever seeks, enter” or, in plain English, “Looking for something? Get your butt in here.”
They had gotten their butts in, and they had been rewarded with row after row of enticingly labeled shelves. No SELF-HELP, GENERAL FICTION, or COOKBOOKS here. It was ALCHEMY, ASTROLOGY, CABALISM, NECROMANCY, VOODOO, WICCA, and more. Lots more, including the cases of tomes beyond which Mr. Horrocke sat, dwarfed by his mahogany desk, sipping espresso from a tiny white cup.
Horrocke had been sipping from the cup when they’d first ventured into the back room. For someone who put away so much caffeine, he looked amazingly sleepy. He was a skinny old guy to begin with, in a navy suit with a red silk handkerchief in the breast pocket. The handkerchief looked like the tongue of a smart-ass who’d been sucking a cherry Popsicle. Even creepier, Horrocke’s own tongue was Popsicle red. As Sean and Eddy approached, he touched it to his lower lip and set the tiny cup on a tiny saucer. Under the desk, his jittering feet clicked on the floorboards as if he wore tap shoes. Maybe after they had gone, he would dance it up around the stacks.
The idea of Horrocke getting down almost made Sean lose it. Good thing Eddy started the talking. It sounded like she’d already made friends with the old guy, probably while he was mopping up her drool with the red handkerchief. “Hey, Mr. Horrocke. I think Sean’s found a book he wants.”
On cue, Sean put down Infinity Unimaginable.
“Ah,” Horrocke said. “An excellent choice’ Edna. I always recommend Professor Marvell’s books. He’s chief archivist at the Miskatonic University Library, you know. One of the world’s foremost authorities on the Cthulhu cult. Indeed.”
Would Eddy explode at Horrock’s use of her real name? Though, duh, if Horrocke knew her real name, she must’ve given it to him. Sean stopped holding his breath and said, “That’s great, Mr. Horrocke. There’s this other book, though. I found it behind Infinity. It kind of fell on me.”
“Indeed? I hope it didn’t hurt you.”
“Ah, no,” Sean managed. “I caught it all right. I don’t think it got hurt, either.” He put The Witch Panic down next to Infinity.
Horrocke drew the old book toward himself, using a pencil hooked over its top. Before he opened it, he put on white cotton gloves. Oh man, and here Sean and Eddy had been pawing it with their grubby hands. Delicately, Horrocke turned pages. “The Greene Phillips, 1895, first edition,” he murmured.
First edition. Bad. Read: expensive.
“In good condition. Minimal foxing, sound text block.”
Better. At least Horrocke couldn’t accuse them of having foxed the crap out of the book, whatever that meant.
Horrocke had come upon the newspaper clipping and balanced it on his gloved fingertips. While he read, Sean caught himself holding his breath. If anybody could explain the circled ad and how the clipping had been faked, it had to be Horrocke. You didn’t throw around words like foxing and text block if you didn’t know all about books and documents and forgeries.
Horrocke studied the clipping even longer than Eddy had. A couple times his Popsicle-red tongue touched his lower lip. A couple times he glanced toward the cases and the stacks, as if he expected to see someone there. Once he stared straight up at the ceiling, as if he followed the progress of something across it. Sean looked for a fly or spider. He saw nothing. Maybe the old guy had overdosed on espresso after all.
At last Horrocke gave up on the invisible bug. He tucked the clipping back into the book, closed it, and pushed it toward Sean. “Indeed,” he said.
Indeed what? Sean and Eddy waited, but Horrocke seemed lost in contemplation of his gloved hands.
“So is that newspaper ad a crazy joke or what?” Eddy asked.
Horrocke started taking off the gloves, finger by finger. “I have no opinion of the advertisement, miss. However, I can tell you that I don’t have a first edition of The Witch Panic in Arkham in stock at the moment, only modern reprints. I don’t know how the book came to be on the shelf.” He looked at Sean. “Since I don’t own it, I believe the book is yours.”
His? That easy? “That doesn’t seem right, Mr. Horrocke.”
“On the contrary, it’s exactly right. The book came to you of its own accord.” Horrocke’s laugh sounded like somebody playing a botched scale on a flute. “I imagine it’s your destiny.”
The Witch Panic in Arkham? As destinies went, that didn’t sound too hot. But who could argue with free? “Well, thanks, Mr. Horrocke, if you’re sure.”
“I’m quite sure.” Horrocke had folded his gloves. He put them back in his desk and took out a notepad and pen. On the top sheet, he wrote: “NO CHARGE FOR THE GREENE PHILLIPS, N. Horrocke.” He handed the sheet to Sean. “Give t
hat to Miss Anglesea at the cash register, when you pay for the other.”
Sean grabbed both books off the desk. “Okay, thanks. I guess we better go now. We’re supposed to meet somebody.”
Horrocke’s lips stretched in what he probably meant as a smile. “I imagine you are, Sean. Indeed. I hope you enjoy your books.”
Sean couldn’t get out of the bookstore fast enough. As soon as he and Eddy were through the door, he started laughing. It was part victory laughter—he’d scored a free first edition! Uncle Gus would flip when he heard about that.
It was also part freaked laughter. “That was insane,” Sean said.
“What: Mr. Horrocke?”
“Him and getting this book for nothing. Got the fake ad for nothing, too!”
Eddy’s cell phone rang. “Text from your dad. We’re late.”
She took off up High Lane, toward the old railroad station that had been converted into a boutiquey mall. The college-girl cashier had tucked Sean’s books into a navy-blue plastic bag, and he shot a quick look inside to make sure The Witch Panic hadn’t bailed now that it had seen him in the light of day.
Dad was parked outside the station Starbucks when Sean and Eddy ran up. “I was about to call you again, Sean,” he said. “No, wait. I was about to call Eddy, since you forgot your phone.”
Dad had griped about the AWOL phone the whole ride from Providence to Arkham. “We were at the bookstore,” Sean said. He showed the bag.
“Say no more. I know how Eddy is around books. You guys want anything here, or do we go to the pizza place in Kingsport?”
“I vote pizza,” Eddy said. She and Sean piled into the backseat of the Civic. “How’d your consultation go, Mr. Wyndham? What was Ms. Arkwright like? Scary?”
The consultation must have gone well, because Dad only snorted at Eddy. “Why should Ms. Arkwright be scary?”
“Because her house is. We walked by it when we were doing the witch tour. How about that big old plaque? The Arkwright House. Anything that’s the Blankety-Blank House has to be haunted.”
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