They were both familiar with Rolf, though neither had ever met him. I told them his story, the swirling circle of color and energy I’d seen, the fact that something else had come out of that circle, and the disappearance of the being he called Richard Cory.
“Interesting,” said Eli, understating things as usual. Victor nodded his agreement.
“Yes, but that’s the least interesting part,” I said. “I saw something there, and when I went back for a better look, I saw something that couldn’t be. And it was no trick of the mind, either. Lou saw it, too.”
“And?” Victor prompted, after I’d waited long enough for the maximum dramatic effect.
“It was Sherwood. I saw her as clearly as I see you now.”
I’m not sure what reaction I was expecting from the two of them. Victor would try his best to remain impassive and politely interested, as always, but Eli surely would be astounded. But the reaction I got was totally unexpected. The two of them instantly looked over at each other, then immediately looked away as if they shared a guilty secret they didn’t want me to know.
“What?” I said. They looked at each other again.
“Are you sure about what you saw?” asked Eli, pretending nothing was going on. I wasn’t buying it.
“What was that look?” I said.
He paused for a moment, thinking if there was a way to finesse it, then decided there wasn’t.
“Victor and I have been doing some research,” he said. He paused, started to say something, stopped, and finally came out with it. “We’re not sure that Sherwood’s actually dead.”
I could say I was stunned, but that wouldn’t be quite right. It was more like being totally blank. I heard the words, I understood what they meant, but at the same time they made no sense at all, as if Eli were talking gibberish.
“What?” I said, unable to muster anything else.
“We’re not sure that Sherwood is dead,” he repeated.
This time it sunk in, but it was the most preposterous thing I’d ever heard.
“What do you mean? You were there. You saw it. Christoph incinerated her before our eyes.”
Eli took off his glasses and cleaned them with the corner of his shirt. At any other time seeing Eli at a loss for words would have been a rare treat, but not now. Victor hauled himself off the couch and stood awkwardly, favoring his bad leg.
“Not exactly,” he said. “Christoph had those gems, remember, and that gave him an unholy amount of power. He threw a blast of energy at her, and it looked like she just melted away. But there wasn’t any body. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of any remains. Just a scorched spot on the grass from the energy burst.”
I thought back to the charred circle on the grass, and her hand reaching out to me in a last desperate attempt.
“What else could have happened?” I asked. “She was there, she caught fire, and she was vaporized. With that much energy, there wouldn’t be much left.”
“Ahh,” said Eli, recovering his voice, “but that’s just it. There should have been something. But there wasn’t. Nothing at all. Not a trace. I looked. So it’s possible her body wasn’t destroyed. She could have been transported to somewhere else, instead.”
“You mean like another dimension?”
“Well, no, I don’t think so, not precisely. But something like that, perhaps. I came across a couple of very similar accounts in some of my more arcane manuscripts, and it could be. In some accounts, the people involved eventually returned, but unfortunately the accounts are silent on where those people went or how they got back. So yes, it could be. But the problem is, I currently have no idea of how to find her or where she might be or how to get her back-if that’s indeed what happened.”
“And just when were you planning to tell me this?” I was seriously pissed, not just at Eli for keeping something so important from me, but for also sharing it with Victor and not me. It felt like a betrayal. Eli was supposed to be my best friend, as well as a mentor.
“Maybe I should have said something, but there didn’t seem much point in mentioning it. It was just a theory, after all, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it even if it were true. I didn’t see any reason to upset you. But now that you actually saw her, or some version of her, I think it’s a different story.”
I walked over to the front window that overlooks Ocean Beach and the Pacific and stared out at the passing gulls. I saw his point, sort of-Sherwood and I had been very close at one time, more than close for almost a year. But still, it was disturbing. I’m no kid anymore, and there was no excuse for treating me like a child who needs to be protected against false hope. Eli walked over and stood silently beside me. He didn’t say anything, which was his way of apologizing. I decided to let it drop. For now.
“I don’t understand,” I finally said. “If this is true, why did she appear now, after all this time-if it really was her.”
“That energy sink,” said Eli. “It’s already brought something uncanny out of God knows where, and it might have attracted her in some way. That, and the fact you were present there-she’s probably more connected to you than anyone else, so your presence could have been the trigger. Your psyche might have been strengthened and enhanced just by your being so close to the pool-on the magical plane, that is. And it must have called to her, and the energy provided a bridge to wherever she is-not enough for her to cross over, but enough so that she could at least make a tenuous contact with our world again.”
“Should I go back there again?”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. It sounds like the energy there is too powerful-whatever comes out of that place is twisted and distorted. Think of the fake Ifrit. If she really is somewhere, still alive in some sense, we might well be able to drag her back. But then, we might not like what returned.”
That sent a chill right through me.
“So what now? Forget it ever happened?”
“No, we can hardly do that. In fact, were going to have to close down that portal eventually-it seems to be a vehicle for some uncanny things to enter our world. I’m surprised there haven’t been more.”
“Maybe there have been,” said Timothy. “Maybe you guys just haven’t run across them all yet.” Another cheerful thought.
“But what about Sherwood?” I asked.
“She managed to establish some sort of contact with you, employing the channel opened by the energy pool. Now that the contact has been made, you should be able to reestablish it away from the pool.”
“Well, that sounds simple enough. How, exactly, if I might ask?”
“One thing I can think of would be to use your emotional connection. Go to somewhere that had a special significance for both of you, for example. Try to re-create how you felt, then try to remember her being there with you.”
I thought about it for a minute, but couldn’t come up with anything. I’m not much for special places, and neither had Sherwood been. Our relationship had developed gradually, in part simply from spending so much time together working for Victor, so there wasn’t even a first-date type of thing to use. There was another first, of course, but I don’t think my bedroom would qualify as a special magic place.
“I can’t think of anywhere,” I said.
“You’re such a romantic,” said Victor.
“Well,” Eli said after a moment, “there has to be somewhere, doesn’t there? You’ve known her forever, and you practically lived together that one year. At least there must have been a place in this world she had a special connection to, even if it didn’t directly involve you.”
“Or if you have no special place, then somewhere like a graveyard would be best, of course,” Victor said. “The veil between worlds. That sort of thing.”
“Yeah,” I said, not sure if it was sarcasm on his part. “Preferably at midnight, on a dank and foggy night with a chill wind swirling through the headstones.” Then I stopped, memory flooding back. “The Columbarium.”