by R. L. King
“How many groups are there around here?”
“No way to know, really. We cross paths occasionally and compare notes. Aside from our symbols—I believe Verity told you about them—that’s the only way we have to communicate with each other. Sometimes we leave notes in specific places in public buildings—libraries are popular, naturally.”
“And you pretty much stay in this general area?”
“As much as we can. Sometimes a group is forced to move completely out of its area, but that’s a drastic choice, and not made lightly. Our group moves around from a little north of Palo Alto to the south part of San Jose. It’s safer when we know the area, the safe places, the places to avoid.”
Stone, who’d been silent thus far, nodded and then said, “May I ask you a few questions?”
“Of course. You’re looking much better this morning, by the way. I’m glad.”
“Thank you—and thanks again to you,” the mage said. “You said before that you believe that there are ‘levels’ of Evil. That there are more powerful ones directing the activities of lower-level ones.”
Lamar nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you have any idea how this hierarchy works? Is it a formal structure? Do they literally report up a chain of command? Or is it a more informal thing, where the powerful entities have an agenda, and they communicate it to their minions and leave it up to the minions to implement it?”
“I don’t know that, Dr. Stone,” Lamar said. “I don’t think any of us have any desire to get close enough to the more powerful Evil to be able to figure that out. If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say that the powerful ones confine their influence to more high-level issues—trying to infiltrate government, business, law enforcement—while the lower ones are more concerned with simple mayhem to feed their need for emotion.”
“So—” Stone appeared to be working things out as he went along “—the more powerful entities can gain their sustenance by more abstract methods?”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”
“I mean, if what you say is true, then whatever they seek or need can be supplied in different ways. The weaker ones cause mayhem and misery to individuals or small groups and then drink it up, while the more powerful ones incite their mayhem on a more subtle but larger scale. Perhaps it’s an issue of concentration—if you’re causing pain in one person, you need to cause a great deal of it to get the same effect as you would from causing a large number of people a smaller amount of pain.” He shrugged. “I’m just tossing out ideas now—I’m likely completely off track.”
“It’s as good a theory as any,” Lamar admitted. “As I said, we don’t really have any way to check, even if that were something that we wanted to do. Generally, any of us who come into contact with the Evil’s higher echelons don’t come back to tell the tale.”
“Let’s leave that for a moment, then,” Stone said. “Do these—Evil—have any powers? Do they have abilities like the Forgotten’s, or like a mage’s? Or is their power simply derived from the person they choose to possess? For example, if they possess a gang member then they would acquire his strength, his knowledge of the streets, and so forth, while if one possessed a police chief, its power would be largely in the chief’s influence and his ability to direct the actions of numerous other people.”
Lamar thought about that for a couple of minutes, staring off into nothingness in a way that reminded Jason of Stone in one of his contemplative moods. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them exhibiting any abilities beyond what they get from possessing someone,” he said at last.
“Unless they possess a mage,” Jason reminded them. “And we know they can do that.”
“We know they’ve done that once,” Stone corrected. “As I told you before, I doubt there are many mages who would allow it.”
“And like I said, maybe they don’t have a choice,” Jason said. “And anyway, it’s not once—it’s at least three times. That we know of.”
Stone raised an eyebrow. “Three?”
“Yeah. Don’t you remember the DMW ganger who torched that kid to kill Charles? And the one who said he talked to your spirit thing? You said that there were a few minor talents in DMW.”
“I did, but there’s no proof that the ganger was possessed—or even that the majority of DMW are possessed.” He gave Lamar a questioning look.
“We don’t think they are,” Lamar confirmed. “I wasn’t aware that there were mages in the gang—if there are, there aren’t many. But if there were enough Evil around to possess every member of the DMW along with all the others we’ve encountered—” he shuddered. “I doubt any of the Forgotten would still be alive.”
Marilee came over with Lissy, who was humming to herself. “Mind if we join you?” the old lady asked. When Lamar waved her to a seat, both of them settled down next to the tree.
Stone nodded politely to them, but kept going. “Which brings up another question—do they reproduce?”
Marilee’s eyes widened. “The Evil?”
“Dr. Stone has many questions about the Evil,” Lamar told her. “I’m trying to answer them as best I can.” To Stone he said, “That’s another question we don’t know anything about. Given that they essentially showed up a few years back, we have no idea where they came from, or whether more are able to come from that place. Nor do we have any idea if they’re reproducing.”
Stone nodded. “It rather makes sense that they do—as sinister as they are, from what I understand they operate like any other living entity: they seek out sustenance and they seek to further their own agenda. It only makes sense that they have some way to reproduce, even if it’s simply to split themselves in two.”
“I never thought about that,” Lamar said. “I guess we’ve got enough to worry about with the ones that are already here, without thinking about them producing more.” He tilted his head. “Do you mind if I ask you a question, Dr. Stone?”
“Not at all.”
Lamar nodded. “Why are you so interested in the inner workings of the Evil? I understand that as a mage, curiosity is unavoidable, and this kind of phenomenon must be very interesting to you. But I sense that there’s more to it than that.”
Lissy, unnoticed until now, giggled. “Magic man wants to kill ’em,” she said matter-of-factly, waving a long blade of grass for Marilee’s kitten to bat at.
Lamar and Marilee both stared at him as that sunk in. “Is that true?” the old man asked in a near-whisper. He had a strange expression: not quite fear and not quite hope.
Stone looked troubled. “I don’t know. The thought had crossed my mind. If we can track down the ones in charge, p’raps we can destroy them, or at least force them to go back to wherever they came from. That might put the rest of them into such disarray that they’d be a reduced threat and easier to deal with individually. But there are a lot of problems with that approach. For example, we don’t know where these so-called leaders keep themselves. And if driving the Evil out of a person requires killing that person, then what I’m proposing essentially amounts to mass murder. I’m not really prepared to go down that path.”
“But it doesn’t,” Verity reminded him. “Remember—I can drive them out without killing the person.”
“True,” Stone said. “But you’ve said yourself that you have no conscious control over your ability. And you’re only one person. Lamar said he’s never heard of anyone else with your ability. Even if you were willing to do it, the danger would be immense.”
Verity shrugged. “I don’t care about danger. I’m pissed at these things for taking away a third of my life. If there’s a way to kick their asses, I’m in.”
Jason started to say something, then got a look at his sister’s face and decided not to.
Stone sighed. “Well, in any case, it’s not something we could do overnight, even if we decided to give it a go. It will req
uire thought and planning—and probably more than a bit of help on the part of the Forgotten, if they’re willing. I don’t see any way this can work unless we can identify where the leader—at least the one who’s taken over our area—is located, and I don’t see how Jason or I would be much help there.” He looked at Lamar. “Your group—the other groups you talk to—you see things. You hear things. You communicate with each other. That’s what we’d need. But perhaps you don’t even want to get involved, and I certainly don’t blame you. It could be dangerous for you as well, and I wouldn’t want to put you and your people in danger.” When Lamar started to say something, he held up his hand. “Please. Don’t make any decisions now. I’m not going to either. Just—talk it over with your group, and any others you happen to encounter in your travels. If you all decide you’re willing, then I’ll do what I can to help you.”
“Me too,” Verity said, nodding. She looked at Jason.
He took a deep breath. After a long pause, he nodded. “Back to the Twilight Zone,” he muttered, just loudly enough for Stone to hear.
“Good,” Stone said briskly. “Now, then. I’m going to have to head back home for a while, and I think Jason wants to come along as well. The question is, will it be safe to bring Verity along with us, if we get her back to Susanna’s care by tonight when you’ve arrived at your new location?”
“I think it’ll be okay,” Verity said. “A couple of days ago she left for a few hours and I was fine. I could feel something trying to touch my mind a couple of times, but I think it has to—I don’t know—kind of build up a bit before it really takes hold.”
“A few hours should be plenty of time,” Stone said. Slowly and carefully he got up, and turned to Lamar. “Thank you again for all you’ve done for me—for all of us. Believe me, although there’s no way I can adequately repay you for saving my life, I’ll do my best to help you if we decide to go through with this mad plan.”
Lissy giggled again. “He talks funny,” she announced.
Jason and Verity got up too. “Yeah,” Jason said. “Thanks for everything. I don’t even want to think about what might have happened to V out there on the streets if she hadn’t found you guys.”
Verity went over and hugged Lamar, then Marilee. “You guys rock,” she said. “We’ll be back. I promise. If they try to keep me away, I’ll sneak out and hitchhike.” She looked back at Jason and Stone. “I’m gonna go get my stuff and say goodbye to the others, and tell Susanna I’ll be back soon.”
Jason and Stone waited for her to return, getting the group’s proposed new location and directions from Lamar. “We’ll be back later today,” Stone told him. “Just need to take care of a few loose ends and see if p’raps I can’t do something a bit more permanent to help Verity.”
“So she doesn’t have to stay,” Marilee said a little sadly. When Stone started to speak up, she shook her head. “No, don’t worry about it. Of course she shouldn’t have to stay here. This is no life for a young girl—or anyone—if they have any other choice. Maybe if your plan—whatever it turns out to be—works out, then some of the others of us will be able to go back to their ‘other’ lives.” She sounded wistful.
Stone leaned down and patted her shoulder. “We’ll do what we can to help you all.” He cocked his head toward the kitten, who was now playing with the hem of Lissy’s dress. “After all, I’ve taken a liking to that little one there. I can’t let anything happen to her friends.”
Verity was coming back across the camp now, carrying a small backpack. “Okay,” she said, “I’m ready. Susanna says she thinks I’ll be okay for six or eight hours.”
“Well, then, we’d best get moving,” Stone said.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Amazingly, the car was still where they’d left it, and didn’t look like anybody had messed with it or was currently watching it. Stone let out his held breath in a rush of relief as he opened the trunk and discovered the leather-bound book was still there, safe in its briefcase. “I’m glad I was too out of it to think about this last night,” he said. “I would have been frantic worrying about it.” Leaving it where it was, he climbed into the passenger seat and motioned for Jason to drive.
Verity got in the back. “Nice ride,” she told Jason, grinning. “Very attractive. Never thought I’d see you in something with four wheels. Especially something old ladies would turn down for being too uncool.”
“Yeah, well, Al doesn’t like to ride on the back of my bike,” he told her. “That, and the DMW blew it up.” He turned to Stone. “Where are we going?”
“Back to Palo Alto,” he said. “Ideally I’d like to stop at the nearest restaurant and order one of everything on the menu, but given how we look—and doubtless smell—I think a stop at home for showers all around should be our first destination. Then I want to go to my bank and put that—” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder toward the trunk, “—in my safe deposit box. Then food.”
It took them a little over an hour to get back to their temporary home near campus, clean up and change clothes, and take the book to the bank. They did most of this in comparative silence, each content for a while to just sit back and catch up with his or her own thoughts. It was only after they were all seated around a table in the back of a little diner off El Camino and polishing off pancakes, eggs, and the rest of the sizable late breakfast they’d ordered that they started to discuss their plans.
“So,” Jason said around a large mouthful of sausage, “You think you might be able to help V with her problem?”
“I might,” Stone said. “Once we get back to the house I’ll see. I don’t really understand how these Forgotten powers work—they’ve got to be some sort of magic, but as I said before, it’s no type I’ve ever seen. Nor do I understand the way the Evil—or whatever it is that’s causing these widespread issues—operates. So it might take a bit of effort to figure out how to block it.”
“I hope you can do it,” Verity said. She looked like she was hardly daring to hope that it might be possible. “I want my life back.”
“Too bad she’s not a mage too,” Jason said, offloading more eggs onto his plate. “You have to admit, it would make things easier.”
Verity rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, and while I’m at it, I’ve always wanted a unicorn.” She started to laugh, then stopped abruptly. “Uh—why are you staring at me like that, Dr. Stone?”
At Jason’s words, Stone had stiffened in his chair, fixing his probing gaze on Verity. “Al?” Jason was looking at the mage now, too. “Did I say something wrong?”
“I’m a bloody fool,” Stone whispered, looking disgusted with himself. “I seem to be making a habit of that lately.”
“What’s going on?” Verity demanded.
Stone didn’t answer. He continued staring at Verity, unblinking, until she shifted in her chair. “Jason, tell him to stop looking at me like that. It’s creepy.”
“Al, what the hell is going on?” Jason asked, looking angry.
The mage broke his gaze away from Verity with obvious difficulty, shaking his head as if clearing a vision. “I’m not certain,” he said. “I’d need to do more checking. Finish up—we need to get back home.” There was a certain urgency in his tone now.
“Is something wrong?” Verity asked, looking back and forth between them.
“Al, stop being cryptic, damn it!” Jason’s voice raised a little now, causing an elderly couple two tables down to glance over at them in disapproval.
Stone fixed his focus on Jason. “I didn’t tell you something before,” he said evenly. It was clear he was trying to keep something under tight control.
“What?”
“Remember when we were in England and you were asking about my gateway? I told you it was many years old, and that I came from a long line of mages?”
Jason nodded. “Yeah, and—?”
Stone sighed. “Magical tal
ent is hereditary. It doesn’t always show up—I don’t think anyone’s ever studied the genetics of it, but it’s fairly uncommon, even if both parents are mages. But when it shows up, it’s much more likely to follow the same-sex line, for whatever reason. Fathers tend to produce magical sons—and mothers tend to produce magical daughters.” He emphasized those last words, driving them into Jason’s brain like bright nails.
Sometimes it took Jason a little while to catch on to things—particularly things in the realm of the strange and unbelievable—but when Stone’s words finally sunk in he just sat there, eyes wide, mouth open, looking like somebody had just punched him hard in the soul. “Oh, holy shit—”
“What?” Verity yelled. “Look—I hate to sound like a kid butting into the grown-up conversation here, but it sounds like you two are talking about me. I’d kinda like to be in on the joke.”
“I assure you, there’s no joke,” Stone said. He looked deadly serious.
“V—” Jason turned to face her, forcing himself to be calm. “Al told me before—the reason he agreed to help me find you after we ran into each other. Remember, I told you last night: he knew Mom, a long time ago.”
She stared at him, then turned to stare at Stone. “I forgot about that. You really knew our mother?”
He nodded. “I did.”
“But that’s not all he told me—” Jason continued, dragging her attention back to him. “V—he says that Mom…was a mage.”
