Modern Sorcery: A Jonathan Shade Novel Page 22

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’ve seen the ads for our competitors on late-night television,” I said as if reading from a script. “But rather than have you call us, we figured that since we’re real psychics, we’d call you.”

  “Is this Trifon? You’re going to get in trouble if Ms. Miller catches you goofing off.”

  Kelly nudged me. “Quit playing around,” she said.

  “No, this isn’t Trifon,” I said. “This is Jonathan Shade calling for Naomi Miller. Can you put her on the line, please?”

  “I don’t want to make waves,” she said. “Ms. Miller has already fired three people.” She lowered her voice. “And when I say ‘fired,’ I mean that in the literal sense.”

  “Fine. What button do I push to get her office?”

  She didn’t comment on my psychic shortcomings. She simply said, “Thirteen-oh-seven.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I turned to Esther. “Can you go up and keep tabs on Ravenwood? Let me know what he does after I talk to him.”

  “All right.” She vanished.

  I punched the button labeled 1307.

  “Candy gram for Ravenwood,” I said. “Candy gram for Ravenwood.”

  “Who is this?” Naomi’s voice said.

  “The ghost of Christmas Future.”

  “Mr. Shade.”

  “Got it in one,” I said. “I’m flattered. Listen, we’re having a grand old time down here opening up the Dragon Gate, and we thought we’d invite you to the party. Is your dance card filled?”

  “You can’t open the gate, Mr. Shade. You’d die.”

  “Good thing I’m not the one opening it, then.”

  “Your Sekutar friend can’t open it either.”

  “She’s standing beside me right now. Guess you’ll just have to go for curtain number three, which includes an all-expense-paid trip directly to hell, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars.”

  “Your ghost friend is here in my office, so you brought someone else with you.”

  “Give the girl a cigar.”

  “What is it you people say these days? Fuck off, Mr. Shade.”

  “You make it sound so sexy. Have it your way. I’ll just have my friend open the gate, and we’ll see what comes out. Have fun rounding up all the weird critters. I understand it’s a tad more difficult than herding cats.”

  I clicked off the intercom. Kelly and I started down the hall to join Sharon when Esther appeared before us.

  “He’s sending his torpedoes down.”

  “Ravenwood isn’t coming?”

  “Nope.”

  Sharon turned from the gate with a ward in her hand. “I think I can change his mind. You just have to speak a language he understands.”

  She motioned with her hands, and fire shot out of the gate and whipped toward the ceiling. She made a pushing movement skyward, and the fire burst through the rock and blasted upward through the ground floors.”

  “Stop!” I said. “There are innocent people working in the offices on the lower floors.”

  “All right,” she said and pulled the fire back down. Molten rock dripped to the floor. Chunks splattered on the ground and sent wisps of smoke twirling up.

  “The warriors are taking the elevator?” Sharon asked.

  “Definitely,” Esther said.

  “There won’t be any people in the elevator with them, so let’s go with that.” She sent the fire down the hall. It roared through the elevator doors and shot upward.

  I couldn’t see what happened, but as I understand it, the fire slammed into the elevator car, shot it up through the shaft, and blew it out the top of the building. It landed three city blocks away. The warriors lived but I suspect they had to have been at least shaken if not stirred.

  We didn’t have to wait long for the fire to rocket back down the shaft. Ravenwood, in Naomi’s body, stepped out of the elevator doors behind the fire. He pushed the flames back toward the gate. It seemed to be taking all of his energy to push it along.

  Sharon winked at me. “One sorcerer, hold the magic.”

  Ravenwood jammed the fire back into the gate. He waved his hands, and new wards popped into existence, holding the fire back.

  Once he’d set enough wards to keep the gate closed, he turned to Sharon. “Congratulations. You just got on my bad side.”

  “You have a good side?” Sharon asked.

  He unleashed a powerful blast at her, and she spread her arms wide, leaned back her head, and soaked up all the energy he threw at her.

  “That feels good,” she said. “Keep it coming.”

  “How much magic does he have?” Kelly asked.

  “A lot.”

  I realized a few seconds too late that we shouldn’t have spoken. After all, when Ravenwood came down, he was focused on closing the gate. After that, he was focused on Sharon. Now that we’d spoken, he turned Naomi’s eyes on us. He threw an energy blast our way, but it changed direction and shot toward Sharon instead.

  “Sorry,” Sharon said. “I’m a selfish bitch.”

  “Works for me,” Kelly said.

  The energy seemed to drop in intensity. I could see the exertion taking its toll. I moved over to Ravenwood. Had he been in somebody else’s body, I’d have punched his lights out, but I couldn’t bring myself to hit Naomi. Unfortunately he didn’t have any reservations about using her to hit me—or kick me in this case.

  He brought Naomi’s knee up into my crotch. At first, I thought it wasn’t a direct hit because I’m pretty quick when it comes to protecting the boys, but then I realized I was too slow. I had that moment of no pain when I realized how much it was going to hurt in a second. The agony ripped through me, and I dropped to my knees.

  Ravenwood pushed an extra-wide shot at Sharon then pulled it back. His shift surprised Sharon, and she stumbled forward, off balance, and fell to the ground hard. While she was distracted, Ravenwood spun and blasted Kelly. The energy blast wasn’t as strong as his earlier shots, but it still knocked Kelly off her feet.

  Ravenwood took off running down the hall. He passed the obliterated elevator and kept going.

  One of the bound wizards shifted and opened his eyes. I lay on the ground, gazing at him, pain holding me in place. His eyes looked unfocused, but that may have simply been my impression through my pain. I knew I needed to do something before all four of them awakened.

  Sharon pointed down the hall. “He’s weakened! He’ll need at least fifteen minutes to regain enough strength to use any serious magic.”

  Esther knelt beside me. “You have to go after him!”

  “Give me a minute,” I said, still trying to catch my breath.

  “You don’t have a minute.”

  “I have about fifteen minutes.”

  “I’ll stay with him,” Esther said and popped away. As she disappeared, I saw the first wizard focus his energy and snap the zip-tie.

  “Shit,” I said, knowing I couldn’t move fast enough.

  Kelly’s foot came down hard on the wizard’s head. His face planted into the floor with the sound of cracking teeth. Kelly leaned down and helped me to my feet.

  Sharon slapped the other wizards awake then smacked their heads down hard on the ground. “Mild concussions should keep them off of us for a while,” she said.

  Kelly supported me. “Can you stand on your own?”

  “I think so,” I said.

  “Good thing you’re not planning to start a family.”

  “Let’s get after Ravenwood,” Sharon said. “If you want the girl to survive, you’ll need to make sure he doesn’t kill her to escape.”

  That was all the reminder I needed to push myself through the pain. We rushed down the hallway.

  Esther appeared before us. “He saw me,” she said. “I’m not going to be much help now.”

  “Why not?” I asked, but as we moved around the next corner, I saw the reason. The necklace with the typewriter key lay on the ground up ahead.

  I stopped to pick it up.
“Where did he go?”

  Esther pointed. “There are stairs over there.”

  We raced to the stairwell. I took the stairs two at a time, expecting to find Naomi’s corpse on a landing.

  Fortunately her body wasn’t in the stairwell.

  Unfortunately the stairs kept going and going and going. By the time we reached the top, I was out of breath. We burst through a door that led to the sidewalk on street level. We were about half a block from my car. I looked in every direction. I gasped for breath. “I . . . don’t . . . see . . . Naomi.”

  Kelly nodded toward an RTD bus.

  “Get the . . . car,” I said to Kelly since she still had the keys. I tried to run toward the bus where a woman who might be Naomi climbed aboard. I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

  Kelly and Sharon ran for the car. Neither of them seemed tired.

  I clearly needed to get in better shape.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  I staggered down the street but couldn’t reach the bus before it pulled away from the curb. I stopped and placed my hands on my knees as I doubled over. I leaned back and tried to pull air into my seizing lungs. Every breath burned.

  Kelly pulled up beside me. The passenger door flew open, and Sharon, without a single complaint, crawled into the backseat with Esther.

  “You just going to stand there?” Kelly asked. “Get your ass in the car!”

  I hopped into the passenger seat, and before I’d closed the door, Kelly peeled out and tore down the street after the bus.

  As we drove, I rolled the window down, happy that my breath was coming easier now. I opened the glove box to get my spare key so I could remove the passenger side T-top.

  I lifted the T-top off and handed it back to Sharon. She set it on the seat through Esther. Esther probably complained about it, but I didn’t hear her because by then, I was standing on the passenger seat, holding on to the edge of the roof. Kelly caught up to the bus. I strained to look through the windows, but I couldn’t tell whether or not Naomi was aboard.

  I crouched down. “Esther, I need your help.”

  “What can I do?”

  “I want you to jump into the bus and tell me if Naomi is there.”

  The bus moved down Arapahoe Road at forty miles per hour.

  Esther looked over at it. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  “Sure you can. You just jump through it.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Of what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You can’t get hurt,” I said. “Come on. You can do this.”

  She looked nervous but nodded and joined me on the passenger seat. She climbed up so her feet were on the top of the passenger door. She crouched there, holding on to the roof. She looked at the pavement rushing by beneath us and shook her head. “I can’t do it.”

  “Yes,” I said. “You can do it. Focus on the bus then jump over.”

  She looked up at the bus. She took a moment to work up her nerve. She looked back at me, and I gave her a nod. She nodded in return then looked at the silver metal and vaulted through the side of the bus.

  I tried to see her through the window.

  Kelly slammed on the brakes, and I had to grab hold to avoid flying out of the car. The tires screeched and as the car slowed, Esther flew through the back of the bus and hit the road. Cars ran through her as she bounced along beside us. She popped back into the Firebird, cussing up a storm.

  “You’re all right, Esther,” I said.

  “Says you!” She patted herself down. “Am I in one piece?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Is Naomi there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Ravenwood still possessing her?”

  “Oh yeah. He spotted me but then I got bum rushed from the bus and—”

  “Sorry, Esther,” Kelly said. “As you can see, the asshole in front of us stopped.”

  “Be fair, Kelly. It’s not just the guy in front of you.” I pointed down the road. The left turn lane overflowed into our lane.

  “I don’t see the bus,” Kelly said.

  I stood on the seat and looked out. “They got stopped at the light too.”

  “If someone gets off the bus, it could be that Ravenwood switched bodies,” she said.

  I watched three people exit the bus. I wished I had a pair of Mike Endar’s glasses. “Esther, let’s check those passengers.”

  I hopped out of the car and Esther followed.

  We moved around the stopped traffic. Several drivers looked at me as if I were insane. The left-turn arrow switched to green.

  I trotted up to the first person who exited the bus. “Excuse me,” I said. “Do you know what time it is?”

  The man stopped and checked his watch. “Quarter to one,” he said. Esther passed through him and shook her head.

  Traffic started to move behind us. I raced over to the next couple, a woman and her young daughter. Esther passed through them and shook her head.

  Horns sounded behind me, and I turned to see that Kelly had wheeled over to the curb, blocking traffic. I ran over and hopped into the car. The driver behind us flipped us the bird. Kelly floored it and the tires barked as we took off after the bus.

  “What are you going to do?” Kelly asked as she pulled up alongside the bus again.

  I looked at the side of the bus. I couldn’t jump over. The closed windows were too small. The other side wouldn’t work unless the bus driver would open the door. That didn’t strike me as likely. Besides, I didn’t want to be like Keanu Reeves from Speed. The back of the bus didn’t even have a window, just an advertisement for a comic-book movie.

  “Cut them off,” I said.

  “You got it.”

  Kelly darted ahead and swerved into the lane in front of the bus. The bus driver swerved to avoid the collision and skidded to a halt.

  I bolted from the car and pounded on the door of the bus. The driver opened the doors.

  “What’s wrong with you?” the driver asked.

  “Business,” I said. “Won’t take a second.”

  As I climbed aboard, I heard Naomi’s voice. “Oh my god! That’s the man who tried to rape me!”

  “What?” a big man said and stood up. “That true?”

  “He’s been stalking me. I have a restraining order, but they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Please don’t let him hurt me.”

  I had to hand it to him. Ravenwood learned fast. Naomi’s voice sounded pitiful and frightened. The big guy started down the aisle toward me. The driver closed the doors to prevent me from escaping. “I’m calling the cops,” the driver said.

  “You do that,” I said. I waited until the big guy was close enough then stepped on his foot and shoved hard at his chest. He fell and as I came down on top of him, I dropped my knee into his gut. I stepped over him as he tried to breathe.

  Another man tried to grab me, but I caught his wrist and twisted hard. I pushed him back into his seat. I wondered if Ravenwood was using a bit of magic to help push people to attack me, but I didn’t think he could have recovered enough to do that.

  “Everyone, stay calm,” I said. “Everything is under control.”

  Naomi rose and started touching people’s shoulders while edging toward the set of rear doors. Ravenwood seemed to think I’d believe he’d switch bodies. Somehow, I couldn’t see him giving up the ability to use magic. “Open the doors!” Ravenwood shouted to the driver.

  “Cops are on the way, ma’am,” he said. But the back set of doors swished open. I didn’t worry about whether the driver opened them or if Ravenwood used a bit of magic. Ravenwood darted from the bus and took off running through a crowd of people. I gave chase. The bus driver, too, jumped down from the bus but didn’t try to follow.

  Ravenwood tried to run, but Sharon stepped out of the crowd to block his path. “I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced,” she said and tried to grab him.

  Ravenwood dodged her and raced down the sidewalk to
ward the intersection where traffic moved at a steady clip.

  “Stop him!” I said.

  Sharon slid a finger through the air, opening a rift. She stepped through it, and I saw another rift open at the corner. She appeared there, walking through a portal from one spot to another. It was the same way she’d gone from Boulder to the restaurant earlier. I knew she needed to be careful about doing that too much because it drew unwanted attention.