“I don’t get the connection,” I said.
“Well, I never heard anything and I never saw anything, but I did feel something.” He waved his hand toward the swirling pattern. “Feel that energy? I felt the same thing coming from the other side of the hill. I don’t know what came out of that thing, but whatever it was, it took Richard.”
“Maybe he just decided to leave,” I said, hearing how lame that sounded the moment I said it.
“I can’t do anything about it,” Rolf said. “I can’t mingle like you can, so I can’t really look for him. I can’t get around like you can. You were pretty good at figuring things out the last time you was here, though it took you a while.” He straightened up and became oddly formal. “If you can find Richard Cory, or even tell me what happened to him, I’d be beholden to you.”
That could be useful. It wouldn’t hurt at all having Rolf owe me. Maybe he could even hunt down the Ifrit creature for us-if anyone was suited for the job, it was him. Besides, I was partly responsible for what had happened. I’d like to know what else we’d unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I said. “Is there anything else you can tell me? Any idea at all what it is I’d be looking for?”
Rolf shook his head.
“If I knew what it was, I wouldn’t have to ask you for help,” he said.
We started back toward the gate. I was happy to get some distance between me and the color swirl. It made me nervous to stand next to it. As we approached the gate, I turned for one last look to see if I could find it from a distance now that I knew it was there. There was the faintest glow, more at the corner of my mind than my eyes, but it was there. And something, barely visible in the shadows, right behind it.
Lou had noticed it as well, of course. He was standing stock-still, focused, but without his usual warning growl to alert me to danger. He finally took a few steps toward it, but then stopped again, one paw off the ground, motionless. I can read him pretty well. He’s as expressive as any dog in body language, and a lot more in facial expression. He was… “baffled” is the word that came to mind.
“What is it?” asked Campbell, looking at the two of us.
“I don’t know,” I said. “You might want to stay back, though.”
I walked back toward the swirling pattern, Lou paralleling my steps. As I got closer, it became apparent there was a figure standing in the shadows, right behind the energy source. The closer I got, the more familiar it seemed. Then it stepped forward and the glow from the energy bands lit up its face for a fraction of a second.
My mouth turned dry and I had trouble catching my breath. Lou made a sound unlike anything I had ever heard from him-not a bark, not a cry, almost like a human gasp. The figure was no ghostly apparition; it was as solid and real as your next-door neighbor. It took another step forward, stepped into the swirling mass of colors, and disappeared, sinking through and leaving not so much as a ripple of disturbance in its wake.
It was Sherwood. But Sherwood had been dead for more than a year.
THREE
I DIDN’T TELL CAMPBELL WHAT I HAD SEEN-mostly I tell her everything, but this was something I needed to think about for a while. She didn’t stay the night, even though it was late and a long drive back to her cabin up at Soda Springs. I dropped her off at Victor’s, where she could check on him and pick up her car.
I had no idea what it was I’d seen, but one thing was for sure-it couldn’t have been Sherwood. She and I had been together for almost a year, and although it had ended, it hadn’t ended badly. We remained friends, and once we stopped trying to be a couple, we became good friends. But then she’d been murdered, killed right before my eyes by another practitioner, and there was nothing I could have done to stop it.
That practitioner was now dead himself. I had killed him, but that hadn’t helped Sherwood any. And although I’ve come across my share of odd things and supernatural creatures in my time, I’ve never seen a ghost and I never expect to. A lot of my beliefs have been tested in the last couple of years, but one thing I still do know: human, animal, or other, dead is dead and spirits of the departed do not return and walk this earth again.
But not surprisingly, that apparition by the energy pool had got to me. I didn’t get much sleep that night, and the only thing that kept me from a complete meltdown was the knowledge that Eli would be back from his conference in the morning.
I’d been to a few of his lectures over the years. So I’ve seen him in his element and he’s impressive. As an African American, he automatically stands out among the pale scholarly types that typically frequent history conferences. Plus, he’s six feet four and two hundred fifty pounds or so, as befits a former football lineman. When he steps up to the lectern he dwarfs it. When he hunches over the microphone to speak, you half expect the lectern to collapse under the strain. Couple that with a professorial beard, wire-rimmed glasses, and a deep, mellifluous speaking voice, and he dominates any room without trying.
Eli’s been my best friend and mentor for years, and not much throws him. He’d know what was going on here, or at least have an idea; that much I was sure of. At least I hoped he would.
I woke up early and had my usual breakfast of multiple cups of coffee, adding a toaster waffle to soothe my nerves. Lou, as usual, turned up his nose at breakfast kibble, so I relented and made him a toaster waffle of his own. I know that’s not good for a dog, but he isn’t really a dog, is he, now? Besides, if I held firm, he’d just duck out the dog door and disappear until he found a breakfast more to his liking. God knows what he’d find-for such a picky eater he’s not picky at all once he’s out on the street.
Eli was just on his way to Victor’s house when I called him. By time I got there he was already upstairs, taking a close look at Victor’s leg. Timothy was trying to get a look as well, hovering and trying not to get in the way. He was worried, but Eli didn’t seem to be.
It had been several days since I’d last seen Eli, and he looked different. When you see someone almost every single day, you don’t notice changes. They happen in such small increments that they’re invisible to the everyday eye. But even a week’s absence will give you a fresh perspective. He must have lost close to twenty pounds in the last few months, and although no one would ever call him svelte, he was looking good. He probably hadn’t been this fit since his college football playing days, although I hadn’t known him then.
He’d trimmed his usually scraggly beard as well, and had replaced his old wire-rimmed glasses with a more modern set of frames. He’d told me that he’d finally reached the stage of life where he realized he had to take care of himself. I took him at his word. I’m sure it was mere coincidence that for the first time in years he now had a woman in his life. Eleanor was her name, and although she wasn’t a practitioner, she was a powerful woman. She’d have to be to get Eli to change his ways.
Eli finally straightened up from where Victor lay on the couch with a grunt of approval. Victor’s leg already looked normal, except for some swelling and redness.
“I can’t leave you two alone for even a few days,” Eli complained. His relief at finding Victor in such good condition allowed his grumpiness to come out.
“That creature was faster than I expected,” said Victor. “Next time I’ll be ready.”
“That creature isn’t the only thing we have to worry about,” I said. Victor gave a theatrical sigh.
“What now?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s connected and I don’t like the sound of it, not at all.”