I could barely think, let alone move. My struggles grew weaker. I just couldn’t deal with the strength of such an ancient spirit. I tried to reach for my pocket, unsuccessfully. Maggie, I managed mentally, I think you were right. This was a bad idea.
She didn’t answer.
A sudden noise arrested the flurry of violence. It took me a moment to recognize it: a da-nah-nah-nah repeating over and over again. It was my phone alarm. During the fight, my phone must have fallen from my pocket, and now it was going off from somewhere by the ruined pallet of rice.
I choked out a laugh and saw specks of blood appear on the tips of my tusks.
“What is that?” the ghoul demanded.
“That,” I said, “means you’re out of time.”
“What?”
Over the ghoul’s shoulder, I saw a trickle of crimson and orange smoke. It shimmered and coalesced into an olive-skinned woman who looked to be in her midtwenties. She was around five foot six, with long black hair tied neatly over one shoulder. She was stark naked, and she looked super annoyed.
The ghoul dropped me and spun toward her, a new arm growing from the stump of his left as quickly as he could swing it. Maggie batted it away with a petite hand, her feet barely shifting, and reached out to grab the ghoul by his bottom jaw. The undead’s body flailed in her grip, its mangy fur shimmering as it struggled to change.
“Alek, now!” Maggie called.
I summoned everything I could manage and pulled Ferryman’s stepping mirror out of my pocket. I slapped it against the ground, then grabbed a handful of the ghoul’s fur and pressed three fingers against the mirror. The effect was instantaneous. The world went black, every noise suddenly gone, as if we had been swallowed by a cave deep inside the earth. I could still feel the ghoul’s fur in my hand. There was a hesitant snuffling noise, and suddenly I was snatched up again.
“What is this?” the ghoul roared. “Where am I?”
“Put him down, little dog,” a voice said calmly.
I was cast aside, and suddenly a light flickered into being. It was the one on Ferryman’s damn card table. He sat behind it, dealing out a new game of solitaire. The light of the lamp barely touched the ghoul’s face, casting its body in dangerous shadows. “Who are you?” the ghoul demanded.
Ferryman looked up, but he wasn’t an old man in the AC/DC T-shirt anymore – he was a grinning skull. “I’m the one thing you never wanted to meet.”
The ghoul hesitated. For the first time, I saw real fear in its eyes. It took one step back into the darkness, then another, snuffling cautiously. “Get me out of here,” it said to me. “Get me out!”
“You may go,” the skull told me.
I blinked, and I was back in the gymnasium, lying on the floor in a slick puddle of blood and rice. I craned by head to search for Maggie, only to find her procuring a large hoodie from one of the pallets of stolen goods. She pulled it over her head, turned, and spotted me. Running over, she exclaimed, “Holy shit, Alek, are you okay?”
Everything hurt. It was worse than the car accident by far. Even the muscles in my fingers and toes felt like they’d been crushed beneath a boulder. I flexed my arms to make sure they’d still move and checked my thigh. Even with Maggie’s cauterization, it still bled. I took a deep breath, receiving a sharp pain in my chest as a reward.
“Cracked ribs,” I told her. “Probably cracked other things. I should probably get some X-rays.” I forced my tusks back down and let her help me off the ground. I blinked against the pain and took a close look at her. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face haggard. “Are you okay?”
“I shouldn’t expend that kind of energy right out of the ring,” she said with a weak smile. “I’ll be okay, but I’m glad you could still move, because I wouldn’t have been able to hold him for more than a few seconds.”
I pulled her into a hug. “That’s all that I needed,” I said.
“Delivery made?” she asked.
“Delivery made,” I confirmed.
She put her shoulder beneath my arm, waving away my protests even though I could tell she was swaying on her feet. “Let’s get you to a hospital.”
“I’ll be okay,” I told her. “Help me to the car. We have somewhere to be.”
Chapter 15
We arrived at a nameless little beach on the coast of South Carolina at about six o’clock in the morning. The very first rays of the sun were visible over the rolling ocean, and as I pulled into the parking lot, I stopped to look at Maggie’s small form curled up in the passenger seat. Her face was serene, the wrinkles gone. A little real-world sleep had returned her strength in a way that I could only be jealous of. My own body was a mess. Breathing hurt. Talking hurt. Driving hurt. I’d almost passed out three times on the drive down, but I’d be damned if I ever told Maggie that.
I gently touched her shoulder and watched her eyes flicker open.
She sat up slowly. “Where are we?” she asked, and froze in midstretch as she spotted the beach. She let out the kind of squeal one might expect from a little girl opening Christmas presents rather than from a seven-hundred-year-old jinn. She threw the car door open, stripped off her pilfered hoodie, and ran naked toward the beach, diving into an oncoming wave without hesitation.
I couldn’t help but grin as I slowly pulled myself out of the car and walked gingerly out onto the sand. Someone had left behind a folding beach chair. I sank into it and put my head back, watching Maggie as she frolicked in the surf like a kid. I lay there peacefully as the sun rose, until I felt the heat of my barcode suddenly cut through all my other pains.
I pulled out my phone. It was crusted with dried blood that I had to wipe away to see that I had nine messages from the past twenty-four hours. One was from Justin, two from Nadine, and six were from Ada. A shiver of fear went through my belly that I’d somehow screwed up – that the job wasn’t finished and she was going to kill me for running out in the middle of work. My mouth dry, I dialed her number.
“Where the hell are you?” she asked.
“I’m in South Carolina,” I told her.
“Excuse me?”
“I had a promise to keep to a friend.”
I could feel her glaring through the phone. “Ferryman called last night,” she said without pressing further.
“And?”
“He paid in full. He said you did an amazing job and that I should treat you better.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I don’t disagree,” I replied.
“Whatever. Don’t be a prick about it. He said you’re hurt?”
“Yeah. Some cuts. Probably a bunch of cracked bones. A lot of blunt-force trauma.”
“What did you fight that can crack your bones?”
“A ghoul.”
“I don’t know what the hell that is.” She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. You have the next five days off. I expect you back in the office by Thursday. And you can…” she muttered something under her breath.
“I can what?” I asked. Five days? That was unheard of. Ferryman must have paid her an absolute fortune.
“You can have bank holidays off this year. Ferryman’s request. Seems he knows about our little arrangement and thought I should throw you a bone. This year only, mind! Enjoy your damn trip.” She hung up.
I checked Nadine’s messages, but she was just trying to let me know that Ada was looking for me. Finally, I listened to the message from Justin. It was from Thursday morning.