“It will be soon,” Jane said to me.
I wanted to ask her what this meant. I wanted the fog in my mind to clear. I had to clear it. I knew something very, very important.
“Stephen,” I said, shaking his arm.
Then Jane let out a tiny, high-pitched noise. The female stranger had moved. I saw her foot twitch.
“Blessed Demeter,” Jane whispered. “Blessed Demeter . . . Sadie? Sadie?”
Then the other one moved. Jane covered her mouth with her hands.
Stephen was not moving. Now I felt panic. He was supposed to be moving. Everything was wrong. His chest didn’t rise and fall, and I felt like I was supposed to know why. The other two gained movement bit by bit. The process took several minutes. Their movements were tiny. There’d be a violent jerk of a knee or an arch of the back. The male figure sat up on his elbows and, with what seemed to be great effort, opened his eyes fully.
“My word,” he said. “I’m not doing that again.”
He looked right at me and broke out into a long, snaky grin.
“Hello, you,” he said.
He turned on one side to examine the woman next to him. He took her face gently in his hand.
“Sadie. Wakey, wakey.”
“Oh . . .” Her voice was like a songbird’s. “Oh, Sid.”
“I know. But it gets better when you sit up.”
He didn’t seem that strong himself, but he managed to help prop her up. She was like a rag doll. Then, as soon as she was upright, she seemed more alert. Her eyes snapped open.
“Sid?”
“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” he said. He managed to get to his knees, and then, with effort, to stand. He extended a hand and helped his sister from the floor. They relished their movement for a moment, flexing their hands, bending their elbows, moving their heads from side to side. This was when they noticed Jane, who was kneeling behind them.
“Jane?” Sadie said.
“It’s been so long,” Jane said. She had been sitting there, like a brook waiting to burble. Now that they had spoken to her, it all came out in a loud, wailing kind of cry. She scrambled to her feet.
“There, there,” Sid said, putting his arms around her and tucking her head to his shoulder. “It’s all right. We’re all here now.”
“Hello, you,” Sadie said, looking down at me. “Do you remember us? We’ve met. You’re Rory.”
“You know me?”
Sadie smiled lightly and extended her arms, offering to help me from the ground. I stayed where I was.
“She’s looking a bit rocky,” Sid said while guiding Jane to the sofa. “I don’t think she was quite as prepared for the journey as we were. Our trip took a bit longer, but we seem to have arrived in better condition. It does pay to go first class, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” Sadie said, looking down at me. “We prepared for months. But you’ll be all right in time. Don’t worry.”
Sadie crouched down by me and took my left arm, flipping it over and examining it. It appeared I’d been cut. Someone had bandaged the wound. This was familiar. I looked over at the rock on the floor and saw some dark red drops on it. That was my blood.
“She’s been cut,” Sadie said. “There’s blood on the stone. Is it hers?”
“I told you there was something about this one,” Sid said.
“There is,” Sadie said. She tilted my chin up so I was looking at her face. “What is it about you?”
Jane managed to pull herself together for a moment. She coughed a bit and wiped at her face and straightened up.
“She’s got part of the Eye of Isis in her,” she said, her voice thick.
“No!” Sadie said. “You are joking. That’s marvelous. Oh, Sid. Isn’t it?”
“It is,” Sid said, giving Jane a shoulder-squeeze. “Jane, you rotten old cleverclogs. You found a living stone. No wonder that one there on the floor was so protective of her.”
“And the stone,” Sadie said, pointing her heavily sleeved arm at the rock. “The Oswulf, I believe. Darling Jane. However did you find it?”
“It took a long time. There’s so much to tell you.”
“I’ll imagine there is,” Sid said. “It looks like you’ve recreated our work, gotten some of the knowledge.”
“I had to get to you.”
“And you did. That’s why you’re our Jane.”
Sadie peeled my bandage back carefully. When I winced, she slowed.
“I’ll be careful,” she said. Her voice was so soft.
The cut was dark and ugly, still seeping blood. But it wasn’t deep. I had been standing in the middle of the floor when I got it, I remembered. I had been standing on the stone. I drank something. This house belonged to someone I’d just met. A doctor. There had been a doctor, and Stephen had been asleep upstairs. It had something to do with Charlotte, but I couldn’t remember what.
“What made this wound?” she asked.
“Right there,” Jane said. “Under the cloth.”
There was a low table in front of the sofa, with a number of strange items on it—a golden bowl and a white cloth stained red. Sid picked this up with his free hand and revealed a curved knife, like a crescent moon.
“This looks familiar,” he said.
“It’s one of yours. It was blessed with water from the river, thrice blessed.”
“That’s quite correct,” Sid said. “You’ve learned the ritual well. You’ve done so much, Jane.”
“I did it,” she said. “I watched. All this time. I never stopped. I’ve kept you safe. I’ve worked so hard. I had to learn so much.”
“It certainly seems that way,” Sid said.
“I’m almost as advanced as you now. I’ve conferred the sight to a non-seer . . .”
“Did you?” Sadie said, cocking her head to the side and looking at her brother.
“Yes. And as you can see, I’ve worked the mysteries. I’m ready. I’ve been waiting all this time. I want to ascend. I want to be with you. We’ll be together, always. We will defeat death once and for all.”
“Jane.” Sid pulled her close once again, kissing the top of her head as he did so. “Oh, Jane.”
“Sweet Jane,” Sadie said.
It happened so fast. Sid’s arm swung up and the blade went right to the exposed side of Jane’s neck. He pulled it straight along the side and hooked it out at the end. I saw something fly out of Jane, and it took me a moment to realize it was her blood. Sid set the knife down and embraced her again, holding her to his chest as she convulsed. I watched his white suit turning red.
“Don’t fight it,” he said, clasping Jane’s head down on his shoulder. “Now, now, Jane. Let go. Almost there. Come now. Almost there. I’ve got you.”
After a minute or so, she stopped moving. Her hand, which had been clawing at Sid’s thigh, went limp. Her entire body sagged, and she dropped in his arms. What was funny was that I was very calm watching Jane die like that. I’d been drugged. I was thankful for it now. It was clouding my thoughts, but it also made the scene bearable. It also helped me remember. I’d come here to rescue Stephen. I’d been in a ritual. He was supposed to wake because of what I’d done. It all rolled back into my mind like some footage from a movie I didn’t remember being in, but clearly had been.
“Oh, Sid,” Sadie said, her voice a sad sigh. “It had to be.”
“I know,” he said. He adjusted himself to let Jane’s body fall across his lap. “But I feel guilty. She’s done such a good job.”
“Don’t tear yourself up about it,” Sadie said. “I’m sure she had a good life.”
“Very true. You see . . .” Sid bent down over Jane’s body to address me as if I were a small child. “This is all quite powerful magic that’s been happening here. Jane’s done a good enough job, I suppose, but it’s not very elega
nt, and there are far too many loose ends. It must seem beastly, but you have to be a bit ruthless with these things. Magic is not for the weak. She was useful, and we cared for her deeply . . .”
“Deeply,” Sadie said.
“You need to be special. I can tell you these things, because you’re special, aren’t you? My sister and I are special too. We knew we could ascend, become more than people who live and die. You need assistance in these things. You need staff. We needed Jane’s help, and poor old thing, she always thought we were going to help her ascend once we’d done it. But you don’t bring the help with you on a journey like that. You don’t share the magic and wisdom of the ages with just anyone. No. The power lies in keeping the information to yourself. You can’t go around giving people the sight and re-creating the mysteries so haphazardly. We did it neatly. We took our little group along with us. But this lot . . .”
“They’ll all have to go,” Sadie said, sounding a bit bored by the idea of another mass murder.
“I know, I know. It’s tiresome. But if Jane touched that stone, then we still have work to do right now. Wait for it . . .”
A shape was taking form by the sofa—something like smoke coming off of Jane. It came together in a rush, as if filling an invisible mold just on top of her.
“Now,” Sadie said.
Sid rolled Jane off his lap violently. She landed hard on the floor. Sadie dragged her by the arms and dropped her on top of the stone. The smoke disappeared at once, and all was quiet. Jane was limp, draped over the stone.
“There,” Sid said, looking down at his hands and then rubbing them on his blood-soaked jacket. He peeled this off and checked the damage on the shirt and pants. “This is my favorite suit. It might be hoping for too much that I can still buy a replacement.”
He went over to the stairs and hung the coat on the banister.
“We’ll have to deal with the rest of them,” Sadie said. “They’ll be back soon.”
“Oh, I know.”
Something in the room had changed. My hand was on the floor, next to Stephen, but he wasn’t as close to my hand as he had been. He had moved several inches over, toward the table. Just as I realized this, his arm shot out for the knife. In the next moment, he had rolled up on his knees and had Sadie caught in the crook of his arm. His face was pale, and he looked a bit shaken by the sudden movement. He was alive.
“Well, now,” Sid said. “Someone’s awake.”
“Rory,” Stephen said, slowly and evenly, “back away.”
“He’s quite a pistol, isn’t he?” Sid said. “I like these two, don’t you, Sadie?”
“They’re fab,” she said. She smiled gently, like Stephen was showing her a baby rabbit.
“Now, here’s the dilemma,” Sid said, leaning against the railings. “You have my sister, and I’m very fond of her. I have to ask myself—is this handsome young policeman prepared to kill her? However, given what you are, I suspect your only interest is that stone. Take it. It’s of no interest to us. We want to go and explore this wonderful new world.”
“That’s not up to you,” Stephen said.
“Isn’t it? In a moment, this house will be full of people, and they’re all going to be upset to find poor Jane here like this. They’ll attack you, and you’ll be outnumbered, and they’ll win. Can’t imagine it will be long now. We can both wait and see what happens.”
“Do you want to test that theory?” Stephen said.
“We love testing theories,” Sid replied. “Don’t we, Sadie?”
“We adore it,” Sadie said. “Boredom is the enemy.”
She reached up to the knife Stephen was holding at her throat, letting her fingers sink into the blade. Without any visible effort, she pulled it away from her neck. Stephen struggled against her, but he was helpless. It was like he was a small child being pushed aside by an adult. She stood up, and the knife came with her, as it was imbedded in the pads of her fingers. She removed it calmly and watched in interest as the blood ran down her arm. Stephen fell back a bit, and I stumbled over to him. He was shaking all over, and I could barely stand. He wrapped his arm around me, and the two of us supported each other to keep from falling down.
“Are you all right?” he asked me quietly.
I nodded. I was in no state to ask him the same. I could only hold on to him. I grabbed his hand and felt it becoming warmer even as I held it. Sid was completely focused on his sister.
“Sis! You impress me. Does that hurt?”
“Not very much. Look. The blood is flowing very slowly now.”
She held the hand up for Sid to see. The wound seemed to be healing even as we looked at it.
“’Struth! That’s very clever of you. And look! I like these two. The stone and the guardian. Can we keep them?”
“You’re not good with pets,” Sadie said.
“I’m not good with parrots. Or cats. This is different.”
“What are you?” Stephen asked.
“You need to understand,” Sadie said to us, her voice full of patience, “we are a bit special, my brother and I.”
“You’ll spoil the surprise!” Sid said.
Somewhere in the room, a phone rang. Sid trailed the sound, producing what looked like the cell phone that I had used earlier to text Jerome. They’d brought it downstairs and set it on one of the tables.
“What’s this?” Sid said. “Annoying noise.”
“It’s a phone,” I said. “Why don’t you answer it?”
Sid held the phone in a pinched grip at arm’s length.
“Strange telephone,” he said. “I suppose we have lots of surprises too. How do you answer this thing?”
I walked over and took it from him and hit Accept. Sid watched in amusement, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest. I put the phone to my ear.
“I’m outside,” Jerome said. “I’ve called 999. The police will be there any minute. Tell them.”
“Oh,” I said, looking to Sid and Sadie. “The police are coming.”
“Are they?” Sid said. “Well, I—”
And then something looped around his neck and pulled him back against the railings so hard that I heard a crack. Thorpe had removed his tie and was strangling Sid. I got teary seeing him. He was all right. Sid was gasping and laughing at the same time. Sadie went to swing the knife at him, and I threw the phone in her face, hard. This surprised her enough to make her drop the knife. Stephen lurched forward and threw himself at her, pinning her to the ground. I looked around for something heavy. Sid was still struggling and kicking and going blue, but smiling all the while. Thorpe pulled back with all his might. Sid’s head went straight back through the railings.
Sadie had thrown Stephen off and was picking up the knife again when the door opened.
“Oh, my God,” Jerome said. “Oh, my God.”
I’d found a bookend made of marble. I brought it down on the back of Sadie’s head with all the strength I had. This caused her to fall forward a bit, and I fell right with her, carried by the momentum of my swing. Stephen pinned her down again, and I got the bowl from the table. It was still full of the disgusting barley drink.
“Get her head up,” I said. I forced the bowl to her mouth and poured. Stephen held her mouth open. She gagged a bit, but I got most of it into her mouth. Her eyes fluttered, and she looked dozy. Above us, there was a very bad sound on the stairs, where Sid had gotten himself free and had his hands around Thorpe’s neck. Jerome ran up the stairs and tried to get him loose, but Sid punched him right in the face and knocked him back against the wall. Stephen pulled on Sid’s lower body, forcing him back through the hole in the railing. Thorpe collapsed, coughing and heaving against the splintered banister. Jerome was picking himself off the stairs and pulling his inhaler from his pocket. Sid got down next to his sister, turning her head in either direction.
�
��Oh, dear,” he said. “Someone is going to have a hangover.”
He scooped her up and stood in one fluid motion.
“It’s been fab,” he said. “It really has. But we must be going. Things to do, things to see. I suppose you’ll have your hands full if that’s been moved.”
He nodded at the Oswulf Stone.
“That’ll be very bad indeed, I think. That’s been holding back some very naughty energy—how many thousands of dead criminals, or worse yet, dead innocents? I couldn’t even guess what might come out of Tyburn. I’d hurry if I were you. I’ll tell you this, though—I wouldn’t put that back where you found it. It looks like simply anyone could take it. What you want to do is get it into the river, in the sewer, ideally. No one wants to go looking for rocks in the sewer.”
He swept past us, passing only a moment to look down at me and smile.
“I’ll see you later, little diamond. We’ll have a wonderful moment.”
With that, he nudged the door open with his foot and carried his sister out of the house, into the fading day. The rest of us were broken and scattered around the room. Stephen fell to his knees right where he was, and I fell too.
“We need to go,” he said. “The stone. We need to get it back into position.”
Thorpe’s face was discolored, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he managed to speak.
“Marigold?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Somewhere in the house.”
“Need to find her. Shut that door. Need to find her.”
“We need to leave,” Stephen said to him. “We need to take this stone and go.”
Jerome was now standing, looking at Jane’s body on the stone. “This woman is dead,” he said.
“Don’t look,” I said to him. “She’s . . .”
“Something’s happening,” Jerome said. His voice sounded very far away. “There was some trouble. Freddie said there was trouble. She told me the address.”
“Trouble where?” Stephen said.
“Marble Arch.”
Stephen got to his feet, using my shoulders to help push himself up. He helped me after that. The two of us were walking like we were drunk. Stephen had just woken from the dead, so this seemed fair enough, but I had no idea what was wrong with me.
The Shadow Cabinet Page 25
