Wells is still standing against the wall where I tossed him. I get a good look at his eyes. He’s possessed. Someone is having a grand old time playing with the Vigil tonight.
“Enjoy what’s coming,” said Deumos. I’m not enjoying it one tiny bit.
Now that it’s eaten Mason’s soul, the 8 Ball isn’t putting out the black light anymore. I sprint back to the Shonin’s lab.
A good part of the ceiling is down. I crawl over beams and broken furniture to the magnetic chamber. The door is blown open, but it looks like it’s basically intact.
I run through the calming breath rituals I used before a fight in the arena, trying to relax my mind. Gradually, the 8 Ball slips off my hand. I close the chamber and lock it.
I need to get to Candy. I start out of the lab when a hand closes on my ankle. It’s the Shonin. He’s trapped under a wooden beam. I crouch and slide it off of him. His chest has caved in and one of his arms has snapped in half and dangles by some dry cartilage. I pull him upright and lean him against the wall.
“You calmed the Qomrama. How?”
“I’m not sure. I did the only thing I could think of.”
He grabs my shoulder with his good hand.
“I know why it likes you. The book told me. You’re not human and you’re not angel. To it you’re the closet thing alive to an Angra.”
“It thinks I’m its mother?”
“Maybe an uncle, which will have to be enough to control it.”
Wells come into the lab. His eyes are clear. He’s back to himself again. I don’t think he’s noticed the blood on his nice suit where he shot the Vigil agents as he broke into Mason’s cell.
“Stark,” he says. “What happened to the Shonin? Did you move the Qomrama? Why?”
“I was trying to save the world again. More than you’ve been doing.”
“Mason is dead in there. Did you kill him?”
“Guess again. You did it.”
Wells loses his balance on the wreckage. Takes a couple of steps back.
“That’s ridiculous. You smuggled in a gun.”
He turns to the door.
“Guards. Get in here. Arrest this man.”
“They have you on surveillance putting a bullet into Mason’s skull. You’re fucked. Welcome to my world.”
“Quiet,” he says. “You’re unstable. It was a mistake to ever try to work with you.”
“You might want to start running, Richard Kimble.”
A group of agents comes in, led by Julie Sola.
“Marshal Sola, arrest this man for the murder of Mason Faim.”
“I can’t do that, sir.”
“Why not?”
She takes out her handcuffs.
“Because you shot him. Along with four other agents standing guard. Chief Deputy Marshal Larson Wells, I’m placing you under arrest for murder.”
He looks at them, then at me.
“It’s true, Wells. But it wasn’t your fault.”
I turn to Julie.
“He was possessed at the time. I’ll testify to it.”
Wells gets up. Tries to look commanding. Dignity is all he has left right now. I’ll tell everyone that it wasn’t his fault, but I doubt that’s going to carry much weight with a bunch of Washington suits who think magic is Grandpa telling them to pull his finger.
“What happened in there, Stark?” he says.
“Mason started the summoning ritual, but I got the 8 Ball, so I think I stopped it before it finished. But the gate was open for a few seconds.”
The agents lead Wells away.
“Do something,” he shouts. “Fix this. Mason was your job, so it’s your responsibility.”
I hear it, but I don’t care. I’m already running to another part of the compound.
The door to Candy’s cellblock is jammed. I have to kick three, four times before the lock breaks.
She’s pressed against the bars trying to see who’s huffed and puffed and blown her door down.
“Stark?”
“It’s me,” I say, and go to her cell.
She grabs me when I get there and kisses me through the netting.
“What going on out there?”
“Just a party. These button-down types get wild at Christmas.”
She wraps her fingers around mine.
“They’re putting something in my Jade potion. Doping me. I can’t think. I can barely stay awake. Take me out of here, please?”
“There’s no going back if I do this.”
“The world is ending. Who’s going to come after us?”
“The Vigil will. And it won’t be an arrest. They’ll shoot you like Old Yeller.”
“I don’t care.”
I slip into her cell through a shadow and she throws her arms around me. Not like it’s great to see me. More like she wants to make sure I’m not a drug illusion. She feels weak and drunk in my arms. She is definitely on something. I bring her to a shadow.
“Last chance to not be a fugitive forever.”
“Take me home.”
“I have to come back and talk to the Shonin.”
“I’ll bake an apple pie to pass the time.”
I kiss her and we step through the Room and out again into Max Overdrive.
Kasabian is eating microwave chow mein when he sees us. He blinks at Candy.
“I thought you were under arrest.”
“It wasn’t any fun. And I missed you,” she says.
I have to hold up her upright.
“Get over here,” I say.
“Is she safe?” he says.
“She’s fine. Don’t be such a jellyfish and get over here.”
He puts down the chow mein and comes over. I put her arm around his shoulders. Candy smiles at us.
“Do-si-do, boys.”
I aim them at the stairs.
“Take her to our room. She’ll show you where my guns are. If anyone but me tries to get in, shoot them.”
Kasabian says, “I don’t know anything about guns.”
“You point the hole at the bad guys,” says Candy.
“Just take her upstairs and stay with her.”
Candy blows me a kiss as I head out.
“Bring me some ice cream when you come back.”
“L.A. is closed, dear. There isn’t any ice cream.”
“Then bring me a kitten.”
“Kittens aren’t ice cream.”
“Oh. Then bring me some ice cream.”
“You got it.”
Kasabian steers her up the stairs.
BACK AT VIGIL headquarters things are settling down. Agents are cleaning up the wreckage from the earthquake. Rain still pours through the hole in the roof. It’s gotten worse since I was gone.
I head for the Shonin’s lab.
The door is off the hinges and a couple of agents stand guard. They stop me when I try to go in.
“Shonin. It’s Stark.”
“Is your belly too big to fit through the door, tubby? Come in here.”
The agents give me a look that tells me I won’t get on the group insurance plan anytime soon. I go into the lab.
The Shonin is looking a little better than when I first found him. He’s sitting upright in a desk chair holding a cup of tea. He sets it down when he sees me.
“Your friend. The young Jade. She’s gone, isn’t she?”
“Must have escaped in all the excitement.”
“Marshal Wells won’t be pleased.”
“He’s got his own problems.”
“Like me,” he says, waving around his crushed arm.
“A little while ago, you told me I was the 8 Ball’s uncle. Is there some way we can use that?”
He picks up the teacup and studies it.
“You have something that the Angra need. And I don’t mean the Qomrama.”
“I have a gun, a knife, and a video store. What the hell do they want with me?”
He sips the tea.
“Tell me about your old Hellion master, Azazel.”
“He bought and paid for me when I was still in the arena. I still had to fight sometimes, but from then on I also had to play slave boy to one of the most powerful Hellions Downtown.”
“You were his assassin.”
“Yeah. Mainly other upper-crust Hellions. Anyone with pull. Anyone who pissed him off or got in his way.”