Arcane Wisdome

by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  “Black is probably best. Not red. Not anything light. It has to stand out from the paper." Lucy reached for the broadest of the markers. “This should do the job.”

  “We’re on it,” Curtis said, not waiting for Ben to give him a marker.

  Niki and Curtis spread out the first six feet of the banner, smoothing it and taking care to make it lie flat on the table, with boxes at each end to contain the parts of the banner they weren’t working on.

  “I’ll do the upper sequence; you can do the lower,” said Curtis, reaching for a felt-tipped marker.

  “You guys get started while Ben and I set up the candles." She handed three lengths of ribbon to Tom. “If you’ll write the same sequences on these ribbons? Just like Niki and Curtis are doing, but much smaller. And be careful to make it legible." She was amazed at how confident she was sounding when she considered how much of this was a first-time experiment.

  Tom laughed as he took the ribbons. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Ben, I want you to use one of those thumbtacks to copy these sequences into the wax of the candles.”

  “Legibly,” he said as he took two push-pins from the canister and handed her one.

  Tom glanced around the garage. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

  28

  “The circle’s done,” said Spencer as he came back inside and closed the door behind him. “No gaps, and the bridge circle is right outside the door.”

  “Great,” said Tom. “How’s the number-writing going?”

  “About half done,” said Curtis; Niki nodded in agreement and helped Curtis move the next portion of the banner into place on the table.

  “And you, Lucy?" He swung his chair back to get a straight look at her.

  “Almost finished.” Lucy said as she carefully carved 4*3*4 into the wax. “I suppose you have the ribbons done.”

  “That’s a yes. What do you want me to do with them?”

  “I’d like it if you’d tie one around your computer, one around your keyboard, and one around your screen. Use a bow-tie, or slip-knot, since you’ll have to get them off again later, without cutting them, once your screen is clear again.”

  Bruce went to get a second doughnut. “Did it ever occur to you that this might just be a virus?” he asked no one in particular.

  “Yes, Bruce, it did,” said Niki with extreme patience. “But it isn’t that, or anything else we have protection against.”

  “Well, excuse me, dudette,” said Bruce, going back to the couch. “I can’t help it if this still looks ozwonked to me. I am the Angulator for the group. I’m supposed to look at things from a different angle.”

  “And you do that very well,” said Niki, making a face at him. “Only now’s not the time.”

  “And you’re supposed to be Ramificatrix,” Bruce went on relentlessly. “It doesn’t look like you’re watching the ramifications for this. We all have our functions. Tom and Curtis are the Techwhizards — ”

  “Niki’s right — this isn’t the time,” Tom declared, fixing his gaze on Bruce.

  “Okay.” Bruce held up his hand in mock surrender. “Okay. But it’s still ozwonked.”

  Lucy wanted to know what they were talking about, but wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted. She could find out later, when this was over.

  “It kind of is, but it works,” said Ben in such a reasonable way that Bruce glared at him.

  “You should try gaming, Bruce,” Spencer recommended in his most superior voice. “You’d understand.”

  “Gaming,” Aaron scoffed.

  Bruce gave Lucy a sidelong glance. “I got better things to do.”

  “We’ve got a job here, guys,” Niki reminded them all as she continued to copy the sequences with care.

  “Yeah. Let us not interfere,” Aaron said. “They’re doing magic.”

  “Shut up, Aaron,” said Spencer in a falsely genial tone while he poured himself a cup of coffee.

  Aaron took another doughnut and crammed half of it into his mouth, a defiant shine in his eyes.

  Niki and Curtis continued writing their number sequences, getting toward the end of the banner; Tom tied the ribbons around his computer, his screen, and keyboard; Ben finished carving numbers into his candles about two minutes after Lucy completed hers.

  “Okay, what’s next?" Tom asked.

  “As soon as Niki and Curtis are done, we’ll tack the banner all around the garage,” said Lucy.

  “Like before,” Ben seconded.

  “Then we’ll use the last of the salt to make an inner protection ring for us in here, just in case."

  “What do you mean, just in case?" Bruce asked. “I thought you had this all under control.”

  Lucy rounded on him. “If this infestation is what I think it is, then I do have it under control. I’ve worked every variation I could think of into my preparations. But if there’s a factor I don’t know about, then I’ll have to be doubly careful, so that none of us is exposed to whatever that other factor is. I just don’t want to take any chances, is all.”

  “And we appreciate that,” said Niki.

  “What kind of factor might it be, that you couldn’t deal with it? How risky is this?" Curtis asked.

  “Numbers, people. Do the numbers,” said Tom.

  * * *

  It took almost twenty minutes for the Geeks to tack up the banner, and another five to align the candles properly on paper plates set out on the old coffee table in the middle of the garage between the couch and the sofa. Finally, everything was in place.

  “Okay, Tom, turn off your computer, then restart it and come over here with the rest of us." Lucy could feel her pulse grow faster, and she did her best to keep from rushing the rest of the experiment. This would be the most crucial part of the entire process, and she knew it even if none of the rest did. “As soon as he sits down, circle the sofa, table, and couch together with salt." She held out the box to Spencer.

  “Clockwise?” Spencer asked, anticipating the answer as he accepted the box with a resigned sigh.

  “Clockwise,” Lucy confirmed.

  “Rigmarole,” said Aaron, not too loudly.

  Bruce chuckled contemptuously. “This is too ozwonked for words. You guys can’t — ”

  Niki rounded on him. “Keep it to yourself, Bruce.”

  Bruce grinned. “She wants me.”

  “Give it a rest,” Spencer recommended as he waited for Tom to turn on his computer.

  As soon as the machine began to whirr, Tom dropped back onto the sofa and Spencer started to pour out the salt around them all, moving carefully as he formed their protective barrier. Lucy waited until Spencer was done, then lit the candles, east, west, north, south. “Everyone, keep reading the series of numbers in unison, upper row first, then the lower one.”

  This quickly became a droning chant, with only Bruce and Aaron refusing to join in.

  “ — eight one five dash two dash six five four five." Pause. “Five dash eight dash seven dash five dash two dash two." Pause. “Four dash three dash four." Pause. “Two." A longer pause. “Five five seven three two nine five eight four five six five." Another longer pause. “Five dash five three dash seven dash eight one five — ” They kept at it as the room grew more shadowed and a thin trace of horrid-smelling smoke rose from Tom’s keyboard.

  “Aren’t you going to take care of your keyboard?" Aaron asked.

  “Not just now,” said Tom. In spite of the mid-day heat, the garage was getting chilly, and there seemed to be a thin, cutting wind blowing through it.

  “But if it catches fire ... ” Bruce chimed in.

  Niki pulled her thin sweater more tightly around her shoulders. “Not likely if this keeps up.”

  “Then I’ll probably have to get a new keyboard when this is over,” said Tom, sounding resigned. “For now, unless it bursts into flames, we all stay where we are.”

  “The fire extinguisher is next to the coffeemaker,” Niki reminded them all.

  “Good t
o know,” said Ben. “Just in case.”

  The room grew darker and colder, and the stench of burning was stronger.

  “Keep repeating the numbers,” Lucy told them all sternly.

  “But shouldn’t we do something about ... you know, fire?" Aaron asked, shifting his position on the sofa.

  “Not until there is one,” said Lucy.

  “I think you’re taking a big chance,” said Aaron, hunkering down still more,

  “Yeah, we are,” said Ben. “But we didn’t start this, did we?”

  Aaron bristled, “Are you saying I had anything to do with the numbers? Just because I’m the Calcuwhizard?" He swore comprehensively. “You’re uberozwonked. You’re not even a Geek yet.”

  “No, not yet,” said Ben. “But I’m here, and that counts for something.”

  The candle flames danced and flickered, strummed by an invisible breeze that smelled of burning oil.

  “Don’t let them go out,” Lucy warned. “And keep reciting the numbers.”

  Ben reached for a pair of binders on the floor next to the table and set them standing protectively around the candles as the garage continued to get darker and colder; the candle flames sank down to small, blue snouts.

  Niki and Curtis recited the numbers more loudly and the shadows retreated as the flames rose again.

  “What the ganz was that?" Bruce asked, for once losing his leer and his smarm.

  “That’s what we’re trying to force out,” said Lucy. She noticed a tingling in her hands, and she stood up slowly, extending her arms toward the desktop computer. “Zero! Zero! Zero!" she commanded. “By air, by earth, by water, by fire, I banish you!”

  Something popped around the garage as if attempting to break through a barrier, and the air in the garage made a noise as if a man in metal armor were being dragged through a gravel pit. The stench of burning intensified, oil and rubber mixing foully.

  “Zero! Zero! Zero! By air, by earth, by water, by fire, I banish you!" Lucy heard a rushing in her ears as if she were standing under a waterfall. “I banish you!”

  “What the sh — ” Spencer exclaimed, and moved to hunker down between the sofa and the couch, next to the table.

  “I banish you!" Lucy shouted, her hands quivering with energy and something that she had no words to describe.

  “I’m getting out of here,” said Bruce, starting to rise.

  Curtis grabbed him and held him down. “No, you aren’t.”

  “Then I’ll go,” Aaron announced, lurching to his feet.

  “You stay where you are,” Ben told him. “And everyone, shut up.”

  “Zero! Zero! Zero!" Lucy chanted, and this time Tom and Ben joined in. Then Niki and Spencer did the same, and finally Curtis, repeating the word like a drumbeat.

  There was a low humming in the garage, deeper than the lowest pedal note on an organ. Slowly the numbers began to blink off the desktop screen, vanishing in clusters that matched those on the banner around the room.

  “I bind you never to come to this place again. If anyone should summon you, I charge you by air by water by earth by fire to mark your summoner with a zero on the hand, so that we may know him or her." As the garage appeared to enlarge even while the area of light shrank again, Lucy flung back her head and shouted, “BE GONE!”

  For an incredibly long instant, the garage and everything and everyone in it felt suspended in time. Then the air cracked, and the Foster’s garage no longer seemed like a cavern filled with malice and danger, but just a garage with a small computer club gathered within it for a day of the usual programming and games that had been the whole point of the Gothic Geeks for more than a year.

  With a sound between a cough and a squeak, Lucy, her head ringing, collapsed onto the sofa.

  29

  Ben was the first to move; he went to Lucy and took hold of her hands. “Are you okay?”

  Lucy blinked, feeling dazed, wondering for half a second where she was, then realizing that she had fallen back onto the sofa and had nearly landed in Bruce’s lap, she took hold of Ben’s hand and hauled herself to her feet. “Are we all still inside the circle?" she asked, panting a little.

  “Yeah,” said Tom. “Aaron almost left, but Curtis stopped him.”

  “That’s good,” said Lucy, repeating, “That’s good,” with more certainty.

  The odor of charring rubber evaporated, leaving behind only a faint, lingering scent of smoke.

  “So tell me,” said Aaron, “What did all this uber-silliness do? Other than make you look special?”

  Lucy pointed to Tom’s desktop screen. “That,” she said. “Look.”

  In the center of the screen glowed a single 0.

  Tom started forward, but Ben held him back. “Not til she says it’s clear." There was no doubt about who she was.

  “Thanks,” Lucy flashed Ben a smile. “This shouldn’t take much longer." She looked around the garage. “Okay. Niki and Curtis and Tom and Spencer, each of you choose a candle, and when I tell you, blow them out, starting with Tom. You might want to move the binders first. The wax will probably spatter.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” said Ben, removing the standing binders and setting them on the end of the coffee table.

  “Does it matter which ones we blow out?" Niki asked. “I’m nearest the west candle.”

  “Try the south one. And Tom the north, Curtis and Spencer can sort out the remaining two,” said Lucy, feeling her hands begin to tingle again. “Okay. Get ready. Tom, as soon as you and Niki blow yours out, step over to your computer and pull the ribbons off your computer, then keyboard, then screen, as the next three candles are blown out. Everyone got that?”

  “Will this put an end to this number hacking?" Spencer had taken the western candle.

  “It should, for now,” said Lucy, being very careful to make sure she didn’t promise more than she could do. “It would help if we could find out who’s behind it. Then I could work out a formula that — ”

  “Can we just get this done, so Aaron and I can go have lunch?" Bruce directed this outburst directly at Lucy.

  “Tom, blow your candle out and move,” Lucy said, doing her best to pay no attention to Bruce. “Ready? On one." She held up her hand. “One.”

  “One,” said Tom, blew out his candle, then crossed the line of salt on the small circle bridge and reached for the chair in front of his keyboard. “Okay.”

  “Niki,” said Lucy. “Two.”

  Niki said “Two” as she leaned forward to blow out her candle.

  Tom loosened the ribbon around his computer; it fell away, landing next to the small tower.

  “Curtis. You’re next.”

  “Ready,” he said.

  “Three,” said Lucy.

  Curtis blew his candle out as Tom removed the ribbon from his keyboard.

  “Spencer?" Lucy asked.

  “Yo.”

  “Four,” said Lucy, and Spencer blew out his candle and Tom undid the bow that held the ribbon around the screen.

  “All done?" Aaron asked mordantly.

  “Almost,” said Lucy, and gathered up the candles. “Tom, will you hand me your ribbons?”

  “There you are,” he said, holding out the ribbons.

  Lucy wrapped them around the candles and put them away in her tote. “Okay. Spencer, bring me a broom and a dustpan so we can get up most of the salt. I’ll dispose of all of this later, away from here.”

  “Let me do it,” Ben offered, seeing Spencer frown.

  “Okay. But nobody else move until this is finished." Lucy pointed to the small salt circle that made the bridge. “Step out on that.”

  “I will." He rose and left the circle, taking care to put his foot in the circle next to the sofa.

  “The broom and dustpan are in the alcove next to the coffee-maker,” said Tom, staring at the large, glowing zero on his screen. “What do I do now?”

  “Restart it,” said Lucy. “It should work fine.”

  “Hoo-hoo-hoo,” said
Bruce, making spooky gestures with his fingers.

  “Shut up, Bruce,” said Niki, sounding bored. “If you don’t like this, you can always resign from the Geeks.”

  “Hey, Niki — ” Spencer began, but went silent as Niki shot a warning glance in his direction.

  Bruce stared at Niki in angry disbelief. “That’s what you’d like me to do, isn’t it? Did you stage all this to get rid of me? Well, it won’t be that — ”

  “The restart’s on,” said Tom.

  “Can we watch?" Curtis asked.

  Ben swept away a section of the salt circle, taking care to get all the grains he could into the dustpan.

  “It’s okay,” said Lucy, a bit queasy now that the experiment was over.

  Spencer and Curtis got up and went to stand behind Tom’s chair; Niki leaned over to Lucy and asked, “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  “Yes,” said Lucy. “Please.”

  “Stay where you are — I’ll get it for you. You like it with anything?" She got up and went to the coffee pot.

  “A little milk, thanks for asking." Along with the queasiness, she felt a bit light-headed and her hands still prickled. “How’s your computer doing, Tom?”

  “Just fine,” he said, his keyboard clicking beneath his hands. “No problems so far.”

  “I think you should keep a saucer of salt next to it for today. I’ll dispose of the salt after our meeting tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Tom, sounding a bit distracted.

  “Can we go now?" Aaron asked as if he were completely bored.

  “Sure." Tom swung his chair around. “You going to be here tomorrow?”

  “Ask her,” said Aaron, slouching to his feet and pointing at Lucy.

  “We’ll see,” said Bruce with a significant arch to one eyebrow.

  “Whatever,” said Niki, coming back to the sofa with a mug of hot coffee in her hand.

  Bruce made a point of slamming the door on his way out.

  * * *

  It was getting hot by the time Lucy gathered up her tote and left the Foster’s garage; she was still a bit sickish, and so was glad that Ben was keeping her company as she made her way down the street.