“What city?”
“Um … I don’t know. I’ve been there, but I really don’t know where it is.”
“Sorry, sir, I have to know what city.”
“Well, what cities are there?”
“Pardon, sir?”
“What cities do you have?”
“Sir, I can check the New York metropolitan area for you.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“What name?”
“Linda.”
“Last name, sir?”
“Oh. Uh, Bar … Bar something. Barkey. Bar-kay.”
“Spell that?”
“What?”
“Can you spell that for me, sir?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“One moment, sir…. Sir, checking the New York metropolitan area, I find no listing for a Linda Barkey, or Bar-kay. I do have an L. Barcus on West Forty-seventh Street in Manhattan.”
“No, I want Linda. Uh, never mind. Thanks.”
Click.
Well, that was that. Of course, he could just start walking again, but that sure as heck wouldn’t do much good. Halfway House was a good hike, he knew that.
And most of all … Great White Stuff, was he hungry!
Human food just didn’t make it. He could eat the stuff, but … gods, it was like eating water. Nothing to it, no taste.
It would be a real embarrassment if someone caught him guzzling drain cleaner and eating bath soap, as he had taken to doing of late. The soap was nothing, but the drain goop packed a real punch. Good stuff.
Dave had looked real puzzled when Snowy came home with a grocery bag filled with paraffin wax candles and ten bottles of Thousand Island dressing. That got Snowclaw worried.
But apparently there wasn’t any real cause for concern, because Dave told him that Nunzie had a new job for him.
“There’s a truck with contraband goin’ to Pittsburgh. You’re ridin’ shotgun. Nunzie likes you. Thinks you’re doin’ real good.”
“Uh-huh. Okay.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, it’s a milk run. Cigarettes, that’s all it is.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. They come up from the South. You know, without tax stamps on ’em? Then we ship ’em all over. We make two hundred percent profit. Even at that, it’s peanuts, really, but it’s part of the family business.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yeah. If you do good, Nunzie might put you on with the cash crop shipments. You know, the coke, the smoke, and the poke?”
“Uh-huh.”
Dave smiled and thumped him on the back. “You’re okay, Snowy. A little strange, but okay.”
“Uh-huh.”
Twenty
Castle
“Man, I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to this place,” Jeremy said, walking with Linda down a dim corridor. He had no idea where he was.
“Sure you will. It took me a couple of months before I got to know my way around. But when I did, everything was fine. The place feels like home now.”
In passing, Jeremy peered into a dark embrasure and got the vague sense that something big and sinister stood watching within. Of course, he got that feeling all the time around here. When would he stop jumping at every shadow? Back in the real world, it could always be said that there was really nothing to be afraid of. A dark place was just that, a dark place. Here, though … wow. There were spooks here. Real ones.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think it’s gonna take me a long time.”
“Fiddlesticks. You’ll be a veteran in no time, with your talent — whatever it is.”
“Yeah, I wish I knew what it is, too.”
“Did you guys try running spells through your computer?”
“No, we never got that far. It sounded interesting, though. The funny thing is …” He heaved his shoulders.
Linda looked at him sideways. “Yeah?”
“Well, it’s weird. I just keep getting these strange feelings when I run programs. You know, just fooling around, like I usually do. Trying different things.”
“What kind of feelings?”
“I can’t put a name to them. I feel … good. No. Well, powerful. Like I can do anything. All sorts of new possibilities. It just feels good.” Jeremy scratched his head. “I can’t explain it.”
Linda pursed her lips and gave a knowing nod. Then she said, “Sounds like something’s brewing, all right.”
They had almost come to the wide arched entrance of the Queen’s dining room.
“Geez, how did you find your way back?” Jeremy asked.
“Just a sixth sense you get. Hungry? I don’t know what else there is to do, not until —”
“Lady Linda?”
A servant approached. It was a young page.
“Hi!” Linda said. “Are you new around here?”
“Yes, milady. Lord Incarnadine wishes to see you.”
“Boy, that was quick. Lead on.”
“This way, milady.”
“C’mon, Jeremy.”
The boy led them down a long hallway, then up a flight of stairs. When they reached the landing, there came a high, insistent beeping, as from some electronic device.
“What’s that?” Linda said.
“Huh?” Jeremy looked down. “Hey. It’s my computer.”
He knelt, cracked open the case, and flipped up the readout screen.
“Hey.”
“What does it say?” Linda asked.
“It reads ‘Extreme Danger.’“ Jeremy looked up. “What’s going on?”
“You’re asking me? It’s your gizmo.”
Bewildered, Jeremy shook his head. “It’s not supposed to do that. I had it shut off. And besides, there’s nothing running except the operating system, and that’s —” He closed the case. “This is getting too weird.”
Linda looked around. “Tell the truth, I’m getting a strange feeling, too.”
They both looked at the page.
“Where are you taking us?” Linda asked him.
The page appeared a trifle edgy. “To Lord Incarnadine, milady.”
“Where is he at the moment?”
“With the chamberlain, milady.”
“In Jamin’s quarters?”
“Yes, milady.”
“You look worried about something. Are you sure you’re not fibbing?”
“No, milady. I mean, yes, milady!”
Linda chewed her lip, then said, “I can’t believe you. Something’s wrong, and I want to know what it is.”
The page’s eyes darted about in desperation.
“Well?” Linda said. “I’m waiting.”
The page spun round and dashed away, vanishing into darkness, his footsteps echoing.
Jeremy whistled. “What got into him?”
Linda’s forehead creased into a worried frown. “I should have made him talk.”
“How?”
“Conjured a dozen monkeys to tickle him to death. Set nasty spiders and things all over him. No end of ways.” She sighed. “But he’s just a kid, and I couldn’t do it.”
“Should have,” Jeremy said. “He was lying through his teeth.”
“I know. Something’s up.” Linda fingered the handle of the dagger that hung from her belt. “Jamin. I wonder if he knows —?”
The floor began to heave, and they both dropped to ride out the disturbance. This time, however, the convulsions did not want to stop.
The walls became rubbery, shivering and quaking. The ceiling dropped, and the corridor changed dimensions. The stairway dematerialized, replaced by a vaulted chamber with no outlet. Partitions appeared out of nowhere, sliding down and rising back up again like backdrops in a theater.
Gradually the convulsive transformations ceased. Linda got up cautiously, then brushed off her tunic and the knees of her tights.