by Gary Jonas
“Can you check that mythology book you found?”
“I have it here. Hang on.”
I heard pages flipping. I wondered about that. I’d never heard of anyone removing one of the Forbidden Texts from the collection. I wondered if she were in the stacks now. But if she were there, how could she get a signal to use her cell?
“There’s no reference to any crystal on the pages near the one that referenced Ravenwood.”
“Okay. Thanks, Sharon. I owe you.”
I got off the phone, turned to Kelly and Esther, and filled them in.
“My guess,” Kelly said, “is that there were never any crystals. I know Ravenwood is real because you saw him and he killed my students, but other than that, I think those damned wizards lied to us about everything.”
“But why?”
“How should I know?”
I shook my head. “No, I think they told the truth as they knew it. I think they went out of their way to keep any information about Ravenwood and the crystals out of the historical record. That way they wouldn’t have to worry too much about anyone trying to track down the crystals to restore him. It doesn’t take long for bad guys to seem good to some people. There are women who’d marry Charles Manson, for example, and folks who don’t believe the Holocaust ever happened.”
“So you think what exactly?”
“I think that after a few centuries, Ravenwood was reduced to the level of myth but only passed down by word of mouth through the wizard community with that one exception in the Forbidden Texts.”
“Those creep me out,” Esther said.
“That’s why they’re forbidden,” Kelly said. “No sane person would ever want to go through them.”
“So your librarian dame is crazy?” Esther asked.
“Not exactly,” I said. I figured the less said about Sharon’s true nature, the better.
Kelly paced the floor. “So we’re dealing with a sorcerer who’s only known as myth in the oral tradition and our only source of information is from people who don’t want us to know anything.”
“That about sums it up,” I said.
“Wonderful. Do you have that printout you got of DGI employees?”
“It’s in the car. But I think we should try to find Naomi.”
“If she left on her own, she won’t be easy to find,” Kelly said. “And if she was abducted, you’ll probably get a phone call.”
“Unless they killed her,” Esther said.
“You’re both so helpful. All right, Kelly, can you get the printout? I’ll go through Naomi’s phone and see if I can shake anything loose.”
“You got it.”
She left and I scrolled through the names in Naomi’s phone. I tried Cantrell first, but it went directly to voice mail. So I tried Al. Same result. I didn’t bother to leave messages. I recognized a few of the names in the phone but not many. When Kelly returned with the printout, I scanned the names on the list again and thought I might recognize a few, but I wasn’t sure. The only person I knew but hadn’t tried was Lina.
I figured she’d be more likely to answer if I used Naomi’s phone.
She answered on the first ring.
“Hello, dear,” Lina said.
“Hi, Lina.”
“You’re not Naomi.”
“It’s Jonathan.”
She was silent.
“Have you heard from Naomi since last night?” I asked. “It’s important.”
“You have her phone.”
“She left it here.”
“I haven’t heard from her, but I don’t know that I’d tell you if I had.”
“Fair enough. Have you talked to Al Davidson or Frank Cantrell?”
“Not for years. I don’t run with that crowd.”
“That crowd?” I asked.
“What I mean,” she said, backtracking as if she’d said more than she intended, “is that I’m not a part of Dragon Gate Industries.”
“Neither is Frank.”
“I have nothing more to say to you.” She didn’t sound upset, but she did sound frightened.
“Naomi is in danger,” I said.
“So are you, Jonathan. And you’re bringing that trouble to me too. I am not involved in this.” She said the last as if she were speaking to anyone else who might be listening. Then she hung up on me.
I imagined her either putting up extra wards around her home or packing her bags to run away until things blew over, three or four hundred years from now.
If Naomi had skipped out on us, she would have taken her phone. I felt that in my soul. I didn’t mention that to Kelly because she’d say Naomi left it on purpose in hopes that I’d play pit bull and chew away at her Ravenwood problem until I killed him or he killed me. I didn’t believe that. Naomi had been taken away. I couldn’t accept any other explanation.
As soon as I came to that conclusion, the door opened and Naomi entered the apartment with a box of doughnuts in her hands. She smiled at me.
“Hey, sleepyhead, I brought breakfast.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Kelly grabbed a sword from the wall and darted toward Naomi.
“Whoa!” I said, jumping between them.
“It’s not her, Jonathan! It’s Ravenwood possessing her.” Kelly shoved me aside.
“Paranoid much?” Naomi asked. She had her back to the wall, sword tip to her throat.
Esther shook her head. “Don’t trust her, Jonathan. She wants to bump you off.”
“With doughnuts?”
“This isn’t a game,” Kelly said.
“So run me through,” Naomi said. “I know you’d like nothing better.”
“No. If you’re Ravenwood, you’re trapped there until you touch someone or you kill your host body.”
“That would make sense if I were Ravenwood. But I’m just me. I slipped out to grab breakfast for everyone.” She held up the box of doughnuts as proof. “Didn’t you get my text, Jonathan?”
“You left your phone here.”
“I texted you before I left.”
I felt stupid. I hadn’t checked my phone. I’d answered the call from Sharon but hadn’t looked to see if I had any messages. I reached into my pocket for my cell.
“Why didn’t anyone see you leave?” Kelly asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I’d have seen you,” Kelly said. The sword tip pressed hard enough to draw blood.
I finally got the phone unlocked and pulled up my texts. Sure enough, there was one new message. It read, Getting food, BRB - N.
“She’s telling the truth. I have a text here.”
“Why didn’t your phone go off?” Kelly asked.
“I might have turned it off accidentally.”
“Or she might have just sent the text magically.”
I opened Naomi’s phone and checked it. “It’s in her phone too, as a sent text.”
“She’s not stupid, Jonathan. She could send it both places. That’s minor magic.”
“Kelly is right,” Naomi said. “I could easily do that but I didn’t. I don’t know what to tell you to make you believe me. I went out the back door to the balcony and took the fire escape. If you go look, you’ll see that I left it down.”
“Why didn’t you come back that way?” Kelly asked.
“I didn’t want to drop the doughnuts.”
“Bullshit.”
“There has to be a way to prove I’m me,” Naomi said.
“I can tell,” Esther said.
I watched to see if Naomi had a reaction to what Esther said, but she didn’t seem to have heard. Naomi simply looked at Kelly. “Or you can just kill me.”
I turned to Esther. “How can you do that?”
“She’ll just run me through,” Naomi said, looking at me like I was an idiot.
“Take me closer,” Esther said. “I’ll walk through her. If that Ravenwood palooka is in there, I won’t be able to go through her without feeling him.”
Kelly looked at me. �
��Did Esther say something?”
I nodded. “She said she can tell if it’s Naomi. Hang on.” I went to the kitchen table, picked up the typewriter, and carried it over to Naomi. “Okay, Esther. Check her out,” I said.
Esther stood before Naomi.
“What’s she going to do?” Naomi asked, looking around. She seemed a little nervous.
I didn’t answer.
Esther reached out a tentative hand and touched Naomi’s shoulder. She pushed and her hand went through Naomi into the wall. Esther turned her back to Naomi then took a step backward so she stood inside her.
Esther stepped forward. “She’s all jake.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“It’s all right, Kelly. Esther says we’re all clear.”
Kelly didn’t lower the sword.
“Kelly?”
Kelly stared hard at Naomi. Then slowly she lowered the blade.
Naomi smiled. “Anyone for doughnuts?”
“You probably poisoned them all,” Kelly said.
“You want me to take a bite out of each one?” Naomi asked.
“That would only prove you’ve spent years building up a tolerance.”
“Oh, like I’ve been planning to bring you poisoned doughnuts for years,” Naomi said. “You know, yesterday I was afraid of you, but now I just think you’re a bitch.”
Kelly grinned. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Kelly grabbed me by the shoulder. “A word,” she said. She glanced over at Naomi. “In private.”
“Go ahead,” Naomi said. “I’m hungry.” She took a glazed doughnut out of the box and took a bite. Then she rubbed her stomach. “One nice thing about magic is I never have to watch my figure.”
I followed Kelly outside to the balcony. I kept the typewriter in my hands so Esther could join us. The fire escape had indeed been lowered. Kelly pulled it back up.
Then she turned to me and rested a hand on the typewriter to include Esther. “You can’t possibly trust her now.”
“I want to,” I said. Kelly didn’t understand that when I saw Naomi, I saw five years of my life wasted that should have been spent with her. She was not good for me and I knew that, but I didn’t care. I still loved her in spite of everything. But I knew I was kidding myself. I knew I was destined to spend my life alone. So I shook my head and faced reality. “I really want to, but no, I don’t trust her. She’s not telling us everything.”
“Tell her to scram,” Esther said.
“I know you’re both trying to look out for me, but who’s going to look after Naomi?”
“Who gives a shit?” Kelly said.
“I do. I know she’s not being completely honest with us, but she came to me for help. It’s not the first time a client has lied to us.”
“They do that all the time,” Kelly said. “But this is different.”
“How so?”
“She’s not lying about having slept with a maid or something. She’s lying about being involved with a dangerous sorcerer. And I have the bodies of twelve of my students piled up downstairs to prove it.”
“Naomi didn’t kill them.”
“She’s complicit.”
“Maybe. Tell you what,” I said. “I’ll keep my eyes open every step of the way for any sign of betrayal. You both watch my back, but unless you see something real, I want you to stop bitching about her.”
“Why do you think she left by the fire escape?”
“I can think of a reason,” I said. “And I don’t think it has anything to do with not wanting to wake me. I think that you might be right to a degree. She may be helping Ravenwood, but I don’t think it’s intentional.”
Kelly gave me a confused look.
“Think about it,” I said. “She left here by the fire escape, but she left her phone.”
“So?”
“I think maybe Ravenwood was here. I think he came in through the back door, possessed Naomi, and took her away to find out what he could from her then transferred to another host and sent her back here.”
“She’d know that, wouldn’t she?” Kelly asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“Whether or not it’s intentional, I say we proceed with the assumption that anything we tell her, she tells Ravenwood. As such, when you and I talk about anything we want kept secret, we do so in private so she doesn’t hear.”
“What about me?” Esther asked.
“As long as you think the coast is clear, you can talk to me openly, but if I respond, I won’t give any details I don’t want Ravenwood to know.”
“I can do that,” Esther said. “But you have to keep me with you.”
“How are you going to explain carrying a typewriter everywhere?” Kelly asked.
“A half-truth. Esther is with us to watch out for Ravenwood. Naomi will be cool with that.”
“And if Ravenwood possesses Naomi?”
“Don’t let her touch you,” I said. “And if Ravenwood tries to control you, I want you to get away fast.”
“He won’t be able to control me,” Kelly said.
“He’s controlling other warriors, and he isn’t even touching them.”
“I’m not like them.”
“Whatever. If you feel him trying to control you, though, I want you to get away even if you think you can remain in the driver’s seat. We can’t take the chance that you’re wrong. I don’t want you killing me for him.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“You wouldn’t. He might.”
Kelly shook her head. She obviously thought I was crazy to think anyone could take her over, but she had to understand where I was coming from. The sorcerer had been able to control at least three Sekutar, and we knew from Naomi that there were at least four others still alive.
“We good?” I asked.
Kelly and Esther nodded.
We went back into Kelly’s apartment. Naomi smiled and moved toward us. She threw her arms around me and planted a kiss on my lips. “My ears were ringing.”
“I’ll bet,” Kelly said. “If you’d heard what I said, your ears would be bleeding.”
“I don’t care what you said.”
“You should care,” I said. “I need you to be honest with me.”
“About?”
“You slipping away without being seen or heard.”
Naomi sighed and closed her eyes. She turned away from me. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you can be honest, or you don’t know what happened?”
She took a deep breath and stared at the floor. When she spoke, her voice was practically a whisper. “I remember going to sleep,” she said. “Next thing I knew, I was at Winchell’s accepting change from the cashier.”
“Ravenwood.”
“I’m sorry,” she said with tears welling up in her eyes. “I couldn’t say anything. Kelly would have killed me.”
“That’s not true. As long as you’re really you, no one will hurt you.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.” I hugged her then tried to lighten the mood a bit. “Did you save me a doughnut?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The clock on Kelly’s wall read 10:00. We’d polished off the doughnuts, and the empty box sat open on the kitchen table. Esther’s typewriter sat next to the box, and Esther herself occupied a chair across from me. She glared at Naomi. It was wasted effort because Naomi couldn’t see her, but Esther didn’t seem to mind. Kelly had gone downstairs to teach her morning classes. I wondered how the students would feel if they knew about the twelve bodies stacked in the back room.
“I want to see where Ravenwood broke free,” I said.
Naomi shook her head. “I can’t take you there. It’s a secret DGI installation.”
“We just went through this. Open and honest. Remember?”
