The cold wind rattled the panes of the window. The great empty house seemed full of whispers. She was floating in the air. She turned over, groping in the shadowy tangle of arms supporting her, feeling her legs forced apart and her mouth opened. Yes, do it.
“How can the time be nearly at hand?” she whispered.
“Soon, my darling.”
“I can’t do it.”
“Oh, yes you will be able to, my beauty. You know. You shall see … ”
Forty-eight
THE DAY WAS darkening and the wind was bitter as he got out of the car, but the plantation house looked cheerful and inviting, with all its windows filled with a warm yellow light.
Aaron was waiting at the door for him, layered with wool under his gray cardigan, neck wrapped in a cashmere scarf.
“Here, this is for you,” Michael said. “Merry Christmas, my friend.” He placed a small bottle, wrapped in green Christmas paper, in Aaron’s hands. “It’s not a very big surprise, I’m afraid. But it is the best brandy I could find.”
“That was very thoughtful of you,” Aaron said with a little smile. “I’m going to enjoy it immensely. Every drop of it. Come in out of the cold. I have a little something for you, too. I’ll show you later. Come on, inside.”
The warm air was delicious. And there was quite a large and full tree set up in the living room, and very splendidly decorated with gold and silver ornaments, all of which surprised Michael because he hadn’t known how the Talamasca would celebrate such a feast, if they celebrated such things at all. Even the mantels were decorated with holly. And a good fire was blazing on the large living room hearth.
“It’s an old old feast, Michael,” said Aaron, anticipating his question with a little smile. He set the gift on the table. “Goes back long before Christ. The winter solstice-a time when all the forces of the earth are at their strongest. That’s probably why the Son of God chose it as a time to be born.”
“Yeah, well, I could use a little belief in the Son of God right now,” said Michael. “A little belief in the forces of the earth.”
It did feel good in here. It had the nice cozy feel of a country place after First Street-with its lower ceilings and simpler crown moldings, and the large deep fireplace, built not for coal but for a real raging log fire.
Michael took off his leather coat and his gloves, gave them over to Aaron gratefully, and stretched out his hands to warm them over the fire. There was no one else in the main rooms as far as he could tell, though he could hear faint sounds coming from the back kitchen. The wind beat against the French windows. Rimmed in frost, they were nevertheless filled with the pale green of landscape beyond.
The tray with the coffee was waiting and Aaron gestured for Michael to take the chair to the left of the hearth.
As soon as he sat down, he felt the knot inside him loosen. He felt he was going to bawl. He took a deep breath, eyes moving back and forth over everything and nothing, and then without preamble he began.
“It’s happening,” he said, his voice shaky. He could scarcely believe that it had come to this, that he was talking about her this way, yet he went on. “She’s lying to me. He’s there with her, and she’s lying. She’s been lying to me night and day since I came home.”
“Tell me what’s happened,” said Aaron, his face sober and full of immediate sympathy.
“She didn’t even ask why I came back so quickly from San Francisco, Never even brought it up. It was as if she knew. And I was frantic when I called her from the hotel out there. Goddamn it, I told you on the phone what happened. I thought that thing was trying to kill me. She never even asked me what went down.”
“Describe it to me again, all of it.”
“Christ, Aaron, I know now it was Julien and Deborah that I saw in my vision. I don’t have any doubt anymore. I don’t know what the pact means or the promise. But I know that Julien and Deborah are on my side. I saw Julien. I saw him looking at me through the bus window, and it was the strangest thing, Aaron, it was as if he wanted to speak and to move and he couldn’t. It was as if it was hard for him to come through.”
Aaron didn’t say anything. He was sitting with his elbow on the arm of the chair, and his finger curled beneath his lower lip. He looked cautious, alert, and thoughtful.
“Go on,” he said.
“But the point is that this particular flash was enough to bring it all back. Not that I remembered everything that was said. But I recaptured the feeling. They want me to intervene. They said something to me about ‘the age-old human tools at my command.’ I heard those words again. I heard Deborah speaking to me. It was Deborah. Only she didn’t look like that picture, Aaron. Aaron, I’ll tell you the most convincing piece of evidence.”
“Yes … ”
“What Llewellyn said to you. Remember. He said he saw Julien in a dream, and Julien wasn’t the same as Julien in life. Remember? Well, you see, that’s the key. In the vision Deborah was a different being. And on that damn street corner in San Francisco, I felt both of them, and they were as I remembered them-wise and good, and knowing things, Aaron. Knowing that Rowan was in terrible danger and that I had to intervene. God, when I think of Julien’s expression through that window. It was so … urgent yet tranquil. I don’t have words to describe it. It was concerned and yet so untroubled … ”
“I think I know what you’re trying to say.”
“Go home, they said, go home. That’s where you’re needed. Aaron, why didn’t he look directly at me on the street?”
“There could be a lot of reasons. It revolves around what you said. If they exist somewhere, it’s difficult for them to come through. It isn’t difficult for Lasher. And that is crucial to our understanding of what’s going on. But I’ll come back to that. Go on … ”
“You can guess, can’t you? I come home, private plane, limo, whole number all arranged by Cousin Ryan, as if I’m a goddamned rock star, and she doesn’t even ask me what’s been happening. Because she’s not Rowan. She’s Rowan caught in something, Rowan smiling and pretending and staring at me with those great big sad gray eyes. Aaron, the worst part is … ”
“Tell me, Michael.”
“She loves me, Aaron. And it’s like she’s silently pleading with me not to confront her. She knows I can see through the deception. God, when I touch her I feel it! She knows I can feel it. And silently, she’s pleading with me not to force her into a corner, not to make her lie. It’s like she’s begging me, Aaron. She’s desperate. I could swear she’s even afraid.”
“Yes. She’s in the thick of it. She’s spoken to me about it. Some sort of communication apparently started when you left. Possibly even before you left.”
“You knew this? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“Michael, we’re dealing with something that knows what we’re saying to each other even now.”
“Oh, God!”
“There isn’t any place we can hide from this being,” said Aaron. “Except perhaps in the sanctuary of our own minds. Rowan said many things to me. But the crux of it is that this entire battle is now in Rowan’s hands.”
“Aaron, there must be something we can do. We knew it would happen; we knew it would come to this. You knew before you ever laid eyes on me that it would come to this.”
“Michael, that’s just the point. She is the only one who can do anything. And in loving her, and staying close to her, you are using the age-old tools at your command.”
“That can’t be enough!” He could hardly stand this. He stood up, paced for a minute, and then wound up with his hands on the mantel, staring down into the fire. “You should have called me, Aaron. You should have told me.”