Rise of the Discordant: The Complete Five Book Series

by Christina McMullen

  “Yes, Donna used to have a field day bringing that poor man shards of pottery from my workshop. She tells me you suspect he might have found something genuine this time?”

  “Originally, yes. I thought perhaps he’d run across an artifact that made him susceptible to demonic possession. But to be honest, I think he found information that humanity was never meant to find.”

  Myrna’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing again. “No,” she said. “Surely we would have known if that were the case.”

  “Well, that’s where we are running into complications,” I explained. “It seems as if our wraith has gotten itself stuck inside Mr. Marsden’s body. I don’t think I need to explain to you how a demon ends up in such a predicament.”

  “Well, I have to admit, about a month after he was discovered to be missing, the chief of police asked me to do a reading.” She caught my surprised expression and blushed. “I have to make a living, Desmond. Social Security and the occasional Etsy sale of my pottery doesn’t go very far.”

  “Fair enough,” I said with a smile. “I am simply surprised that the police officers here would be open to psychic evidence.”

  “Oh, they’re not,” she assured me. “Any time that I’ve been able to provide a lead, they go out of their way to fabricate a tangible cover. But as I was saying, I was asked to trace Mr. Marsden’s energy signature. This wasn’t very easy to begin with because the man was not very social and had little if any ties from which I could draw a lead. I was able to trace him to a specific area, but then he disappeared completely. No search turned up any evidence of him until he wandered into town earlier this month. But now that you mention it…”

  She trailed off and excused herself, returning a moment later with a laptop. Its sleek modern design was at odds with the cozy kitchen that was outfitted with retro-style appliances. She caught the surprise in my eye and scowled.

  “Just because I’m as old as the dinosaurs doesn’t mean I’m out of touch.”

  “I didn’t say anything at all, my dear. Need I remind you that I pre-date electricity myself.”

  She made a tsk sound and pulled up a website. “The area I traced him to was near the legendary Spider Creek Caves. Fascinating stories, but they always seemed more like an urban legend.” She scrolled through a page until she found what she was looking for and pointed to the passage. “Yes, here it is. Spider Creek Caves are a series of tunnels that run through a remote and difficult to traverse region just inside the Oklahoma border. Named by early settlers of the region for their labyrinth-like layout that reminded them of a web-like trap. Few people have made it out of the caves alive and rescue parties have been wildly unsuccessful in their attempts to recover the missing in that area. There have been but a handful of explorers who have returned from the caverns, though none unscathed. All had claimed that they had made a pilgrimage to the center of the earth, where they discovered wonders too great to properly describe.”

  “Interesting, but if these caves held the Ultimate Truth, the survivors would have been too out of their mind to even articulate as much,” I noted.

  “You didn’t let me finish,” Myrna admonished. “Of the seven documented survivors of Spider Creek Caves, six were dead within a week, all of apparently self-inflicted head trauma. The seventh remains hospitalized and heavily sedated after falling into hysterics that no amount of therapy has been able to lessen.”

  “Okay, well, that’s another story entirely,” I said, logging the information. “I’m going to have this area investigated. It definitely sounds like a rift we need to shut.”

  “But Gary Marsden,” Myrna said with a frown. “The man was always a little… touched, I admit. If anyone was going to accidentally stumble across forbidden knowledge and then find themselves possessed by a demon, it would be that poor soul. But what will become of him? Without the demon holding back his mind, he’ll go insane.”

  “That is likely,” I admitted. “But I have seen his injuries and I believe that he suffered enough head trauma to cause damage and obliterate the memories of what he learned.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “Permanently, no. I have doubts that the magnitude of that type of knowledge could be repressed by anything less than fatal head trauma. Temporarily, however, is entirely plausible. But you are correct in that the damage is done. I was hoping you might know if there is a way to permanently remove the knowledge.”

  “I’m afraid I do not, but I will check with the coven. Do you have the… er… tool for removing the Discordant?” she asked with a grimace. Understandably. Even the concept of a corpus vessel could be unnerving.

  “No, not yet, I’m afraid,” I explained. “Harry has petitioned the church for me. In fact, he said he’d have a reply today. I should probably get going so that I can check with him on that.”

  “I suppose I’ll have to go with you,” she said with a sigh of exasperation. “There may be a slim hope for the coven to remove the forbidden knowledge, but exorcisms are the exclusive domain of the church, which means we’ll need some cooperation between the two. I’m going to assume that you’re already aware of Harold’s feeling on the young ladies.”

  As I had used the trans-cyclical method of transportation, Myrna Rose drove us back downtown to meet Harry at the Five Penny. I soon discovered that Myrna shared her daughter’s inability to treat the road as anything other than her own personal raceway. I might have been technically immortal, but I was not too keen on the idea of finding out what it felt like to have my insides violently thrust from my body.

  Harry, at least, had good news. His contact in Rome had managed to procure a corpus vessel, but the transfers and paperwork would take a week at the very least. After that, it was a matter of transport. There was no protective spell known to mystic-kind that would allow a preserved human heart to pass through the postal system unnoticed. Instead, a network would need to be set up to get the relic out of the Cycle and into the hands of Arkady, my contact in Laboratory Q outside the Cycle. Once Arkady had the vessel; it could easily be passed to me through the trans-cyclical pocket in my jacket.

  There was still the issue of what would happen to Gary Marsden once Harry completed the exorcism. If the damage to his brain was still strong enough to hold back the maddening information, then it might be possible for the witches to place a physical ward inside his head that would keep the information hidden. As Myrna predicted, Harry was not pleased with the concept of working directly with the coven. Personally, I was more worried about the girls playing brain surgeon on the poor man and had to rationalize that there really wasn’t much they could do to further damage what was already broken.

  That there was nothing more I could do about the wraith was frustrating, but in some ways I was grateful that it left me the ability to focus my energies on ridding Blackbird of the nuisance Discordant that were continually drawn to the place. Granted, the wraith was half the reason that the vampires and pixies were drawn to the high school, but they were easily dispatched with the teens’ cooperation.

  To be honest, I was surprised that Nai had been willing to cooperate after the inexcusable disaster with the vampire that she tried to dispatch on her own. But after that day, most of the texts that warned of Discordant in the area came from her, not Jem. Admittedly, that was likely because she was skipping class and going out of her way to look for them, but at least she wasn’t trying to kill them any longer.

  Yet I still had worries. Her typically confrontational personality turned an about face and she’d recently taken to long periods of pensive silence, punctuated only by the sounds of her scribbling in the notebook she now carried everywhere. We were no closer to knowing what it was that made her and her brother different, but it was getting harder to ignore. Not only could Nai do things that only I should have been able to do, but her brother was showing an aptitude for mystic magic and protective wards that neither Seth nor I could begin to fathom. We were both resigned to the fact that the Creator had i
ts reasons for sending the teens to us, even if said reasons were beyond our level of comprehension.

  I had a nagging suspicion that Seth knew something that he wasn’t telling me. On the day that he’d gone to meet with Gary, he returned with a subdued Nai in tow. Knowing that her classes would not be over for another hour, I’d expressed concern that the child was going to end up repeating the year for all the school she missed.

  “It was for the best,” Seth had informed me cryptically after she’d gone up to her room. “You were right on both counts.”

  “And Nai?”

  “Knows you were lying to her. I… She still doesn’t know the whole story, but I impressed upon her the notion that going after the wraith would put Mr. Marsden’s life in danger.”

  “And you think that would stop her?” I asked, incredulous.

  “Of course not,” Seth said wryly, “which is why I told her that putting his life in danger would warrant the immediate retirement of her soul without trial. She’s dangerous, Desmond, but she’s not stupid.”

  Dangerous, but not stupid. Seth’s words echoed in my head as I watched Nai get ready to spend yet another night hanging out at Louie’s diner, albeit alone. It was Friday night and Jem had already left for the football game and the party that would be taking place afterwards. When he asked my permission, I had revealed my ignorance of high school social hierarchies when I assumed that Jem was asking permission for both he and his sister to attend. I should have known that Nai’s less than effervescent personality would not be winning her many friends, but I was still taken aback.

  For her part, Nai seemed unfazed by the slight. If anything, she seemed to act as if social functions were more of a hassle than they were worth and I can’t say that I did not agree with her. Still, I would have felt a whole lot better about allowing Jem to go if I knew his sister would be with him. That there would likely be drinking and maybe even drugs was the least of my concerns. I knew Jem well enough to know that he wouldn’t do anything dangerous. My worry was that a group of emotionally unstable and possibly inebriated teenagers was going to attract Discordant to the area. Jem promised to contact me if anything more dangerous than a pixie showed up. I didn’t want to embarrass him or make him think that I didn’t trust him by hanging around the area, but I did make a mental note to have one of the witches snoop on the area every so often.

  “It’s almost ten,” I reminded Nai as she came through the kitchen, wearing one boot while carrying the other and whispering to herself.

  “Huh? Oh! I was just looking for my other boot,” she said. “You don’t have to wait for me. I highly doubt I’m going to get mugged.”

  “No, I’d definitely be more worried for the unfortunate who tried to attack you,” I joked. “But seriously, Nai, I’d feel better if you weren’t wandering alone tonight. Weekends are crazy. You know that.”

  “I know,” she said with a scowl. “I just… never mind.” Her eyes flashed with anger for a moment before softening. “Thanks, I guess,” she said with an embarrassed smile. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  In my own way, I did feel bad that I couldn’t trust Nai enough to leave her to make it to the diner on her own. I couldn’t feel too bad because my lack of trust stemmed from her history of untrustworthy behavior and she knew it. But as we walked in silence, it was clear that something was bothering her, despite the fact that she vehemently denied this. After making her promise that she would contact Seth or me if she saw anything out of the ordinary, I left Nai at Louie’s and continued to the Five Penny.

  “Get ready. There must be a full moon,” Seth warned me as I sat down at the bar.

  “Oh? I didn’t see any werewolves.”

  “Figurative full moon, Desmond,” he said, shaking his head at me. “I haven’t sensed any Discordant, but give it time. There are a lot of unbalanced emotions flying around.”

  I took a deep breath and concentrated. Seth was right; the overall mood was just off balance enough that I too could sense the difference. “What do you think is happening?”

  “I’ve got a theory,” Donna said as she filled a glass with ice. “Gin and tonic, hold the gin?” she asked with a wink.

  “Yes, thank you,” I replied with a grateful smile. “What’s your theory?”

  “I think your wraith is on the move. I’m not sure if it’s significant, but today is the autumnal equinox.”

  “A load of pagan hooey ain’t gonna mean much to a demon.”

  “Harry?” I turned around at the sound of the caretaker’s voice. I was surprised to see him. He didn’t like crowds and wasn’t the biggest fan of the Five Penny after he found out that I had a demon and a witch tending bar.

  “I’ve got bad news.” His shoulders slumped as he looked around nervously. “The item we were waiting for isn’t coming.”

  “What happened?” I asked, trying not to let the news anger me.

  “A dragon in Nepal happened. We lost several dozen souls before they could destroy the creature.”

  “Fair enough,” I sighed. I couldn’t even be mad. A dragon was even more destructive than an angel and so far, we’d suffered no casualties. Still, the setback meant we no longer had any plan for dealing with the wraith.

  “But the witch is on to something,” he grudgingly admitted. “Something’s on the loose out there and I think it’s the demon.”

  “I sent a message to Betty and Louise,” said Donna.

  “I’d already asked them to keep an eye on the party spot,” I said. “I’m going to have to go make the rounds. And someone is going to have to check on Nai,” I added.

  “I’ll take care of that,” Seth said, slipping on his jacket.

  “I’ll go with you,” Harry offered.

  I made sure that Donna and Bogie had everything they needed to keep the bar safe and was about to leave myself when another unusual visitor walked through the door. Myrna Rose strode up to the bar, looking grave.

  “Oh good, you’re here,” she said, sliding into the seat next to mine and snapping her fingers to get Bogie’s attention.

  “Young lady, I’m gonna need to see some ID,” he said with a wink.

  “Sorry kiddo, I left the stone tablet it’s chiseled on back home,” she quipped. “Get me a vodka and water, hold the water.” Apparently, along with her lead foot, Donna had inherited her sense of humor from her mother as well.

  “Nice, I’ll have to remember that one,” Bogie said as he poured the drink.

  “Since when does my mother drink?” Donna asked as she pulled herself away from a group of college guys who were doing their best to impress her.

  “Since when does my daughter use her boobs to make tips?” Myrna shot back with a shaded look at Donna’s low cut top.

  “What boobs? I’m not the Rose woman who used to be a stripper,” Donna countered, causing Bogie to nearly overflow Myrna’s glass. To be fair, I was just as surprised by this unsolicited bit of information.

  “Exotic dancer,” Myrna corrected her. “We had class back then.”

  “Okay, I’m a steppin’ outta this one!” I had to agree with the runt.

  “Look, never mind any of that,” said Myrna as she fished her phone out of her handbag. “I did a little research on these Guardians of yours. Were you aware that their father was Professor Norman Nye?”

  “Nye? Nai Nye? Yer kiddin’ me right?” Bogie asked. “Sheesh, that poor kid never had a chance, did she?”

  For the second time in as many minutes, I found myself in agreement with Bogie. But unfortunate names aside, this was big news.

  “Of this you are certain?”

  Dr. Norman Nye was credited with the discovery of the philosopher’s tomb, a torture chamber uncovered in an ancient Greek city. A deep pit dug into the earth with smooth walls, it had been rigged to slowly drive its inhabitants mad. It was not long after Dr. Nye’s discovery that the chamber caught Order’s attention. It was a rift. Those trapped inside the tomb went mad not because of the ingenious rigging of the tr
ap, but rather because they were presented with the Ultimate Truth, the forbidden knowledge of Order. Agents were sent to close the rift before the excavation team was able to further explore the site. In fact, the team that had been sent in had been puzzled by the fact that Dr. Nye had managed to uncover this secret without going mad himself.

  “Positive,” Myrna nodded. “It would appear that soon after the discovery of the tomb, Dr. Nye was married and became a father. Colleagues note that after the birth of his children, he took a long break from archeology, focusing instead on the study of historical texts. I don’t doubt his children had much to do with this decision, but not for the typical reasons.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You said that you thought Gary Marsden wasn’t possessed when he returned to Blackbird, correct?”

  “Definitely,” Bogie chimed in. “I’da recognized if he was.”

  “I’ve got the feeling he wasn’t the first explorer to be spared madness by demonic possession.”

  “Wait. You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying.” It seemed as if Myrna was suggesting that the wraith possessing Gary Marsden had previously possessed Dr. Norman Nye. There were just a few too many coincidences for me to believe.

  “Talk to Harry,” she said. “There’s a reason their soul was split and a reason why it failed. In fact, I don’t think their supposedly accidental death before their eighteenth birthday was a coincidence either.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said, remembering how upset Nai had been when we altered her identification. “Equinox… Dammit!”

  Just as I started to put two and two together, my phone lit up with multiple incoming messages. The message from Seth said that Nai was not at Louie’s. Betty’s message said that Gary was headed toward the riverside party spot. But Jem’s message, garbled nonsense that contained no discernable words, was the one that worried me the most.

  Chapter 11

  An Old Family Recipe