“Here, Rocky.”
That was enough. The old dog pushed itself to its feet and ambled over, head down, tail giving a few tentative wags.
Rasalom slowly drew the meat back, enticing the animal closer and closer until he could lay his wrist stump on its back. Deep within the furry chest, he felt the heart beating.
He focused in on the beat.
And stopped it.
The animal stiffened, coughed once, and then its legs collapsed. It landed on the floor with a thump, shuddered, and did not move again.
Rasalom popped the piece of turkey into his mouth-after all, he needed it more than the dog.
Now… what was the cow’s name?
“Sadie! I think something is wrong with your dog.”
The cow rushed in. Her eyes darted to the corner where she’d left the dog, then to the still brown lump on the carpet before the couch.
“Rocky?” she said, her voice rich with anxiety.
When the lump did not respond, she bent and touched its flank.
“Rocky?” A delicious burst of fear accompanied the word.
When her fingers sent the message that no life lingered in the inert flesh beneath them, she dropped to her knees beside her companion and screamed.
“ Rockyyyyyyyyyyy! ”
Rasalom leaned back, closed his eyes, and bathed in the cataract of grief and loss, absorbing it like a dry sponge, feeding his needy cells, abating a hunger that could never be fully assuaged.
Yessssss.
2
“I should move in here,” Weezy said as she and Eddie entered the Lady’s apartment.
She placed the backpack with the Compendium on the table.
The Lady smiled from her usual seat. “If you have no place to stay, you are always welcome here. You know that. I will not forget how you sat at my side that night.”
Neither would Weezy. She’d been sure then that she was seeing the last of the Lady.
She glanced over at Dawn’s baby in his playpen. He was chewing on a bone, just like yesterday.
“Where do you get the soup bones?”
“A local butcher delivers them.”
“It looks raw,” Eddie said, making a face.
“He prefers them that way. He wears them down to the marrow. He likes the blood there.”
Weezy remembered the blood she’d washed off his face that first day. She’d assumed it was from his teeth. Now she wondered…
She shook it off. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Do you know why Jack asked us here?”
The Lady shook her head. “He did not tell me.”
“Nor me,” Glaeken said as he entered and eased into his seat at the head of the table. “But he seemed… enthused.”
Weezy could think of only one thing Jack had been enthused about lately.
“Then it must have something to do with killing Rasalom.”
As if on cue, Jack entered.
“It does.” He dropped his bomber jacket onto the remaining seat opposite Weezy but remained standing. “I think I’ve found a solution to the Other Naming Ceremony problem.”
He seemed a different person from the surly grouch of yesterday’s gathering. He appeared unable to sit still. He was psyched about something.
“Which problem?” Weezy said. “Not knowing the name, or no one to perform the ceremony?”
“The latter.”
Weezy glanced at the Lady, then back to Jack. “You’ve found someone else who can read the small folks’ writing?”
“No. But I think I can convince the Lady to perform it on me.”
“I will not,” she said with rock-solid finality.
“Give me a chance here. I’ve been up half the night thinking about this.”
That would be Jack. Give him a problem to solve and he was like Dawn’s baby with a bone: He’d gnaw it down to the marrow.
He turned to Weezy. “Could you read us that paragraph about the ceremony?”
“I don’t need to read it.”
“Okay. Would you recite it, please?”
Weezy pictured the page and began to read from it.
“‘ No two humans may have the same Other Name. The First-named shall be powerless as long as the Second-named lives. The First-named shall hear the Name within the Second and thus be able to resolve the duplication.’ ”
“Thanks,” Jack said. “Now, the second half is the part that’s causing the problem. The Lady here thinks it’s a death sentence. I disagree.”
The Lady said, “The One ‘shall hear the Name’ within you. That means, even if you never speak the Other Name you have been given, you will know it… it will be in your mind. He will hear it just as he hears ‘Rasalom’ whenever it is spoken. He will follow that name to you, wait until you are vulnerable, and slay you.”
Jack held up a finger. “Ah, but what if I don’t know the Other Name I’m given?”
“How can you not?” Weezy said. “You’ll have to go through the ceremony.”
He looked at the Lady. “Does the ceremony require me to say the name?”
She shook her head. “It does not.”
“Well, then,” he said, “what if I’m unconscious during the ceremony? Then I won’t be aware of a word being said.”
Weezy stared at him. She noticed Glaeken, the Lady, and Eddie doing the same. She voiced what she knew they were all thinking.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Not at all.” He began wandering around the table. “We can hire an anesthetist to put me under during the ceremony. I called Doc Hargus this morning and he said he could fix me up with one.”
Weezy couldn’t help it. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Jack glared at her. “Can I speak to you a minute? Alone? Outside?”
She hesitated, taken aback by his expression and the strange request. What couldn’t they say in front of Eddie, Glaeken, and the Lady? But how could she refuse?
“Sure.”
She followed him into the hall where he shut the door behind them and lowered his voice.
“Why are you so negative about this?”
“Because it’s crazy, Jack.”
“What’s crazy about it? Look at the situation: Rasalom is down but not out. In fact, he’s coming back and we don’t know how to find him to finish the job. As soon as he’s well enough, he’s going to want payback. How long do you think it’s going to take him to figure out I was behind the Nuckateague attack, if he hasn’t already? That means he’ll be coming after me anyway. So why not render him ‘powerless’ before he does? That will at least level the playing field.”
“But we don’t know what ‘powerless’ means. It could simply mean unable to bring about the Change. All his other advantages could very well remain intact.”
“But at least he’ll no longer be the One. There’ll be two with his Other Name, and that’s got to hamper him.”
“I don’t think that’s going to change the Lady’s mind.”
“It might. But I’ll never convince her with you constantly sniping at me.”
“I’m sorry, Jack, but I’ve got to say what I feel, and I think it’s a bad idea. What if you’re wrong?”
“Even if I’m wrong, can we afford not to take the chance? If Rasalom finds a way to extinguish the Lady, this whole opportunity goes with her. The option of the Other Name is entirely off the table because there’ll be no one to perform the ceremony.”
Was this why he’d wanted to talk in private-didn’t want to discuss the Lady’s demise in front of her?
“But he’s got nothing left to throw at her. If he did, he would have used it instead of trying that ambush.”
Jack’s mouth twisted. “That was just to test if she was still immune to Earthly harm.”
“Which means if he had another option, he would have used it.”
“I think Dawn’s child might have been part of his plan.”
Weezy’s heart clenched. She’d had the same feeling but hadn’t wanted to voice it.
“How could that baby be used against the Lady?”
He shook his head. “Wish I knew.”
“Let’s go back inside and ask the Lady herself.”