Housed on the main level were the department offices and the college’s computer labs. The first floor was the only one in the building that was air conditioned. The machines needed their environment kept cool all year round. No one cared if the students roasted, but the computers required pampering. During the summer, the lab was the most popular spot on campus.
Jack whistled softly as he counted eleven red caps in the moonlight. Though they were invisible at ground level, he had no trouble spotting the gang members from forty feet above the street. Megan hadn’t exaggerated. The bad guys were out in full force tonight. Jack smiled ruefully. It was nice to know they considered him that dangerous.
“Spot any good-lookin’ women, Jack?”
The sound of Simon’s voice, only a few inches away, caught Jack completely off guard. Sweat froze into icicles on his back. Slowly, he turned and faced the faerie. His hands gently circled the changeling’s neck.
“Don’t ever sneak up on me again,” he said quietly. “Or I will strangle you.”
“Sorry,” said Simon, with a wan smile. “I warned you. It’s my nature. I can’t help yielding to temptation. You weren’t at your office, so I came searching for you. Old Winston told me you were still here. What’s so fascinating outside?”
Silently, Jack released his friend, then pointed. Simon’s eyes bulged in shock.
“And you accused me of scaring you,” said Simon. “That’s the second time today I made the mistake of looking out a window at your prompting. Remind me not to do it anymore.”
The changeling sighed. “I walked right past them and didn’t see a thing. Obviously, the devils were waiting for a bigger prize. Lucky you caught sight of them first.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” said Jack, and he proceeded to tell Simon about his dream conversation with Megan.
“Incredible,” said Simon, “absolutely incredible. Despite all the talk about psi powers, wild talents and ESP, thought communication is extremely rare. The effort requires an incredible amount of mental energy. Merlin’s daughter, huh? And you conducted an actual conversation with her? Very interesting.”
“It never happened to you?” asked Jack.
“Nah,” said Simon, dismissing the idea with a wave of the hand. “Faeries don’t dream. You say this Megan is beautiful as well as talented? She sounds like a very special lady. One certainly worth a bright grad student’s pursuit.”
“She’s extremely beautiful,” said Jack wistfully. “Smart, too. Unfortunately, being Merlin’s child, she’s probably seven hundred years old. I don’t mind dating older women, but one the age of a giant redwood would be stretching things a bit.”
“But she’s…” Simon began, then clamped his mouth shut. Eyes twinkling, he patted Jack on the back. “The path of true love never runs smooth, my young friend. But, remember, affairs of the heart usually work out in the end.”
“Oh, yeah?” said Jack sarcastically. “Like Samson and Delilah? Or Tristan and Isolde? Or Romeo and Juliet? Or…”
“Enough,” interrupted the changeling. “I concede the point. Still, I have a feeling the future holds a few surprises for you. Supposing, of course, that we survive the night.”
“Good point,” said Jack. “It seems to me our best course of action is to remain here till tomorrow. If the Border Redcaps can’t enter the building, and that appears to be the case, I don’t see any way they can drive us out. No reason for us to suffer in the meantime. Let’s order a pizza and relax in the faculty lounge. I have a key.”
“We won’t have problems with campus security?” asked Simon.
“There shouldn’t be,” replied Jack. “The guard locks up the computer lab early, but the rest of the building stays open all night. It’s not uncommon for grad students to remain till dawn in their offices grading papers or studying for finals. Friday evening, we should have the building completely to ourselves.”
“Let’s hope so,” said Simon. “Fighting the forces of evil is enough trouble without having to worry about innocent bystanders as well.”
“Agreed,” said Jack. “There’s a pay phone in the hall. I’m ready to place that order for pizza. Which do you prefer—deep dish or thin crust?”
15
“What’s the time now?” asked Simon nervously.
“Five minutes later than before,” said Jack irritably, not bothering to look at his watch. “Ten minutes later than the time before that. And so on back for the past hour. You’ve asked me that question at least a dozen times tonight. It’s made reading this novel awfully difficult.”
“Sony,” said Simon. “I’m a mite nervous, that’s all. No reason for you to snap at me.”
With a sigh, Jack dog-eared the page he had been trying to finish for the last twenty minutes and closed the book. Grunting with the effort, he laid the volume on his desk. An immense historical novel entitled With Fire and Sword, it weighed nearly five pounds. The first of a trilogy dealing with war and rebellion in 17th-century Eastern Europe, the book was considered the national epic of Poland. Jack had been reading it in his spare moments for much of the spring term. Well over 1200 pages, the novel read like Robert E. Howard’s swords-and-sorcery adventures crossed with War and Peace. Jack originally harbored vague hopes of finishing the book before he finished school. Now he hoped he would reach the conclusion while still alive.
“I understand why you’re worried,” said Jack, rising from his chair. “But there’s no reason to be scared.”
He peered out the window of his office. The Border Redcaps had emerged from hiding once the security guard left the building. Nearly fifty of them crowded the plaza in front of the mathematics complex. An equal number waited at the rear entrance. Silently, they watched and waited, never once making any effort to approach the doors of the building.
Cookie-cutter monsters, Jack mentally noted, studying the features of the evil faeries. Each Redcap was a virtual duplicate of every other. They were all a little over six feet tall, big and bulky, with swarthy features, and skin the color of old leather. Each of them had a pushed-in pug nose, flat ears and greasy black hair that poked out in wild disarray from beneath their identical red baseball caps.
The rest of their outfit consisted of metal-toed motorcycle boots, faded blue jeans, and shiny black leather jackets cluttered with studs and chains. All of them wore dark leather gloves. Jack suspected they all spoke with the same accent. Their gathering resembled a Hell’s Angels clone convention.
“I wonder if the school founders built this complex on top of an old Indian burial ground or someplace like that,” said Jack. “Maybe that’s the reason the Redcaps can’t enter.”
“Not very likely,” said Simon. “No reason Indian religious beliefs would effect Old World Faeries. Maybe they hate mathematics.”
“Placing them squarely in tune with a majority of Americans,” said Jack, chuckling. “I can’t see how the subject, no matter how distasteful, could prevent a supernatural being from entering a building. Besides, you’re inside.”
“I’m good. They’re evil,” said Simon. “That’s the one big difference between us.”
Jack’s brow furled in concentration. “If mathematics actually bothers the forces of darkness,” he said thoughtfully, “it would partially explain why Merlin chose me…”
The ringing of the campus church bell halted Jack in mid-sentence. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, the clapper chimed loudly, announcing the hour.