Vvvelcome to our next issue. Mwa ha ha.
I'd like to thank the folks who wrote in with comments on
last issue, namely Ben Rawluk, Jamas Enright, Brian Smith,
Kelly Pekrul, and Rory Bryant.
Enjoy!
=========================================================================
DERELICT Press Presents
The thirty-fourth issue of
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" In Passing "
Echo: Part 2 of 6
A psuedo-Acraphobe title
._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.'COVER`._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
The Net.crominicon sits on a pedestal, covered in a glass bell.
Its coated with dust and cobwebs, though the bell is shiny and clean. In
it's reflection is a dove, wings outspread, eyes a blaze of neon green.
)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
One hour until false dawn. LNHHQ.
Allen sprinted down the corridors, heading for Occultism Kid's
room. Savannah would probably be asleep, and Bryan with her. Kismet never
came in off the roof. None of them would be any help.
He had beaten on Brittany's door, tried to shoot a hole in the
wall around it, anything to get in. Every effort had been met with a
glowing green ward, and failure. Then a great feeling of exhaustion had
come over him, a ghostly touch of lips against his own, and sleep.
He had dragged himself out of slow dreams and blurred memories
hours later, and found no change to the wards. For all he knew Paytan was
slitting her wrists in that room, and he couldn't to do a thing about it.
But he knew someone who could.
He came to the door he wanted and slammed his fist against it.
Then again, and again. "Occultism Kid! Hey! HEY!!"
"Just a moment!" yelled an irritated voice from within the room.
"Paytan's put up wards around Brittany's room, and she won't
come out!" yelled Allan.
There was the sound of a book slamming shut, and some strange
rustling noises, then the door was flung open. Occultism Kid stood
scowling out into the dim corridor lighting. "What?"
"Paytan's walled herself off. I tried to get in, and she put me
to sleep somehow -- "
"What is she doing?"
"I don't know. But the air around the door feels energized.
Prickly. That's gotta take a lot of power. It's getting worse."
Occultism Kid closed his eyes for a moment. "You're right. I can
sense it. Let's go."
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Luke could not believe his luck. Emily had gone out and left him
here, and he couldn't find Ravencroft anywhere, so he'd been up all night
practicing his lurking in the convoluted hallways of LNHHQ. It looked
like it was going to pay off sooner than he'd hoped.
He saw the net.hero bang on Occultism Kid's door, watching with
interest as they both rushed off down the hallway. Something was going
on.
He followed them, but it was harder to lurk when you were
running, and he'd lost track of them after a couple of turns. After a
couple more turns he lost track of himself. He'd already noticed the
LNHHQ was, well, mazelike, but he hadn't realized it was this bad before.
He wandered for a few more minutes, and it was with great relief that
soon he found himself back in the familiar hallway that housed Occultism
Kid's room.
Then he saw _her_.
Occultism Kid had left his door slightly ajar when he went out.
Perdition stood in front of it, her ram's horns arcing out of her temples
in graceful curves, and where her eyes should have been were two glowing
pits of neon green. Her clothes were disheveled and her hair hadn't been
combed in days.
She looked positively _tortured_. He ached to find out how she did
it.
She reached out, and brushed her fingers against the wood of the
door to push it open further. Instead of moving, the door set off a
shower of sparks and she yanked her hand back with a frown.
He drifted grandly out of the shadows as she took a step back and
the air began to heat up all around them. She tensed when she saw him,
and the temperature dropped back to normal. He caught the faintest hint
of sulfur when he inhaled, but it faded fast.
"Looking for something?" he asked quietly. Smooth, he just had to
stay smooth. He hoped he hadn't rubbed off any of his makeup during the
night. She watched him for a moment, silent.
"Why yes. I need a book." She spoke softly, paused, smiled at
him. "There are wards on the door."
"I may be able to help with that." She had smiled at him! He
barely kept himself from grinning back at her like a child. He reached
out, and tentatively touched the door. Nothing happened.
He pushed it, and it swung open to reveal the rest of Occultism
Kid's room, a mess of bookshelves, books, and various arcane
paraphernalia. Luke got the distinct impression that he was messing with
things he shouldn't be. But he took a deep breath and steeled himself. It
was just a room full of books, and he had already faced far worse. His
sister, for one...
Act suave, that's what he had to do. Suave, and mystical. "It
seems the wards are reacting to something. Perhaps your demonic nature.
My own talents may be stealthy enough that they go unnoticed."
He stepped into the room, and nothing happened. Internally, he
breathed a sigh of relief, but outwardly he simply turned back to the
door, putting just enough swing in his shoulders and hips so that the
trenchcoat flared out behind him as he did. "You wanted a book?"
"It's old. He will keep it apart from the other books. Separate."
He turned back to the room, his gaze skipping over pile after
pile of books. Maybe afterwards, if he timed it just right, she'd let him
in on whatever dark deeds were afoot. Wouldn't Emily just turn green with
envy! And the more time he spent with Paytan, the better they got to know
each other...
His eyes fell on the book. There was nothing else it could be,
truly ancient, sitting on it's own wrought iron stand. A glass bell sat
just off to the side, as if it had been recently uncovered.
"I think I found it, Perdition -- "
"Paytan," she called in from the hallway.
"What?"
"No one calls me Perdition. My name is Paytan."
He reached out, and gently lifted the book. It felt far heavier
than it should, and his hands went cold as if he were carrying a jar full
of ice, though the leather bindings of the book felt warm to the touch.
Outside he heard Perdition -- no, Paytan -- curse.
"What is it?"
"You tripped some minor alarms. It's nothing," she said. "Hurry."
He came out of the room, and by now the tips of his fingers were
cold and numb. He could barely feel the book he held in his hands. She
reached out and took it from him gently. "Thank you...?"
"Luke."
"Thank you, Luke. You were a great help." Then she grinned.
For a moment he was mortally offended. Trenchcoaters didn't
_grin_. People associated with dark forces never _grinned_. But she held
it for a second too long, and it did not reach her eyes.
It was a mask.
A chill ran through him, up his spine and deep into his chest.
But inside he was cheering. If _this_ wasn't a trenchcoater's life, then
what was? Paytan kept grinning, her fingers caressing the surface of the
book, back and forth, back and forth. Maybe he shouldn't have given it to
her, after all. But it was worth it.
Then Occultism Kid and Allen rounded the corner at the end of the
hallway, and Luke perked up. Things would probably get really interesting
now, and whatever he'd gotten himself into, he was sure they could fix.
But when he looked back at Paytan, the grin had dropped from her
features, and she was beginning to glow a pallid neon green. A shock of
color rose up around Luke, and he felt her send him away from the
impending battle to another part of the HQ with as much ease as he threw
on his trenchcoat every morning.
He began to think he might be wrong.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Savannah was sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her
knees, rocking slowly back and forth. Bryan lay beside her, snoring
gently.
Her room was dark and quiet around her, but she couldn't sleep.
Whenever her eyes were closed pictures were moving across her mind, and
she could not get free of them to escape into dreams. Between the
pictures and the empty pit inside her she felt like a movie screen. The
film ran, flickered through space and time, but there was nobody at the
helm. Just empty, empty light.
The building shook around her. Just a little, enough to be one of
the larger flight.thingees landing in the bay, or something going on in
the Peril Room. She kept rocking. She heard Bryan stop snoring for a
moment, then start again. He had walked her back from the funeral, held
her until he drifted off.
The building shook again, more strongly this time. Bryan started
awake beside her.
"No, not now," she whispered. If some supervillain, if some hero,
if some _thing_ -- she didn't think she could handle it. She didn't even
know if she could stand. Every time she moved she could feel the brittle
walls inside her begin to crumble, weakening with every step.
"What was that?" whispered Bryan. She shook her head. He wrapped
his arms around her and held her, tight enough to stop the rocking. The
building shook again, this time accompanied by the crash of things
breaking. "I think we'd better get up," said Bryan.
He managed to get her off the bed and standing. But she stopped,
and he had to go to the door alone. The hallway outside was empty, and he
turned back to her. "C'mon. Something's up."
"Bryan, it's four in the morning." Another concussion rocked the
building.
He reached out a hand to her, and she braced herself, took a step
forward. Took another. Then her hand was in his and they were moving down
the hallway, with slowly increasing speed.
Allen caught them on the stairway. He was livid, and panicked.
Not to mention covered in plaster dust.
"Paytan's gone nuts," he said, meeting their eyes for a second.
Then he disappeared down the next flight of stairs and was gone from
sight. Savannah and Bryan looked each other in the eye for a moment. She
saw him flinch, just a little, as he always did when she looked directly
at him. Then she closed her eyes and ran, letting Bryan lead the way,
calling out the landings as they came.
She opened her eyes when they reached the bottom level. Nothing
was touched here, or destroyed. She heard the main doors in the Lobby
burst open as Allen rushed out into the night. They were right on his
heels.
Then they were outside, and Paytan was standing at the edge of
the LNHHQ lawn with a huge grimy book in her hands, looking more broken
than Savannah had ever seen her before. Even in Hell. A man in
trenchcoat stood with his arms raised, clearly casting some kind of spell
on her. Savannah stopped.
Suddenly it didn't matter what was going on or why. It was
_Paytan_ on the lawn, and without Brittany it was just the two of them
now, and NO ONE was going to touch her. Savannah took two steps onto the
lawn, grabbed the guy's shoulder with one hand, drew back with the other
and clocked him.
Her knuckles exploded into pain, and he fell like she'd shot him
with a tranquilizer dart. Allen yelled something, his voice full of rage,
but she couldn't make it out. He ran toward Paytan, who flung out a neon
green bolt that sent him sprawling back into the grass. A tear ran down
her cheek.
Savannah turned, slowly, one hand clutched in the other. Silence
fell. She was still hunched over from the run, feeling too frail to
stand.
"Paytan, come back inside." Her voice shook. Paytan smiled and
looked at the ground, shaking her head.
"No."
Allen stood up and looked ready to make another run at her.
Paytan raised her hand again, green glowing all around it, and Savannah
saw him check himself, very reluctantly.
Savannah took a deep, shaking breath. "Paytan, could you -- "
"No." This time it was firmer, stronger. Paytan was still looking
at the ground, still shaking her head, as if by rote. As if she could
not look up, for fear of breaking. The night crouched heavily around
them, stars glittering like a hundred holes stabbed through thick black
fabric, too bright. It was cold outside. Empty.
Savannah took a step forward, and this time she did feel the
internal walls begin to crumble, the tears begin to threaten at the edges
of her eyes. Paytan did not look up.
"I can't do this anymore 'Vannah," she said. And took a step
back, further into the darkness.
"Paytan, PLEASE! PLEASE!" She yelled, and her voice went raw, the
tears broke over.
Paytan spread her arms to the sky. "Doesn't it feel different to
you? Doesn't it? You wanna sleep under _this_ for the rest of your life?
Screw it!" She laughed sharply. "I don't!"
"We have to, what else are we going to -- "
Paytan's head snapped up. "A man gave his soul once for riches
and fame. What would you give for the sky four nights ago? Before." Her
voice shook, her hands shook, even as she glared. "I'd give a lot. I'd
give everythi -- "
"She stepped out on that roof so they wouldn't hurt us! Are you
going to throw that all away!?" yelled Savannah.
And at the same time, Allen. "She was stupid!"
Paytan didn't even move.
One of the upper story windows shattered outward with the force
of a swarm of white bodies hurtling through the air. Brittany's doves
spun down toward Paytan, wings flaring out at the last instant to catch
themselves and hurl themselves into a dance around her, a shifting cloud
of white. Their eyes glowed neon green, and when Paytan smiled their eyes
and hers flared at the same instant.
Then she was fading into the shadows and gone, the doves banking
away and hurtling toward the dark night sky. They should have been able
to see her eyes, the neon glow giving her away.
But the night held its secrets close, and though they searched
for hours the only things they found were shards of glass and hundreds of
white feathers, scattered across the lawn.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Kismet soared over the city of Net.ropolis. Lights were
everywhere, even though it was the very pit of night. It never failed to
amaze her. At home, things always went dark when the sun set.
She had stayed too long already. She'd stopped eating entirely
now, and there was only a day or two left, at most. But the thought of
finding Paytan and Savannah and telling them this made her stomach
clench.
In the end, she'd have to say something. She couldn't just leave,
and hurt them again so close on the heels of this loss. Kismet closed her
eyes and turned slowly over in the air, then opened them again to look up
at the stars glittering so far overhead. She sailed into a chill wind,
raising tiny bumps across her arms. She would tell them in the morning.
That decided, she changed headings and soared back in the
direction of the LNHHQ. She was most of the way there before she noticed
the hole in the building, and the figures out on the lawn.
She sped up, wings propelling her through the air like a javelin.
It looked like someone had been inside the building and blown outward.
She cautiously searched the skies for the cruel man she had fought
previously, the one who looked like Paytan's lover. But he was dead and
had evidently stayed that way, for she saw no sign of him. As she got
closer her stomach began to sink. Savannah was one of the people on the
lawn, and Allen and Bryan. A man lay crumpled off to the side. She didn't
see Paytan anywhere.
She landed and ran toward the tiny cluster of people, just in
time to see Allen turn away and fling his hands up.
"Where would she go!? Where?" asked Savannah.
"Why do we spend most of our time LOOKING FOR PEOPLE!?" yelled
Allen.
"Because they keep running from us!" yelled Savannah. Brian put
his hand gently on her shoulder. Kismet got within speaking distance.
"What happened?" she asked.
Savannah glanced at her, tearstreaks glittering faintly on her
cheeks. "Paytan's run off, we don't know -- my God, Kismet, what's
wrong?"
Everyone's gaze turned her way. Kismet looked down at herself,
then back up. "Oh, it is almost time for me to, to go away. Home." She
smiled, but the stunned expression on Savannah's face did not change.
"You're starving."
"I'm _changing_," Kismet sniffed. Just because they didn't do the
same thing when they reached a certain age, something had to be _wrong_.
"Like those bugs you have. Imago. I used to be like you, now I'm like
this, and soon the whole thing will be finished. I'll be an adult."
Brian looked at her curiously. "So it's normal? I mean, you
looked really thin when -- " He glanced at Savannah. "When we were in the
Amazon. But now you're almost anorexic."
"It's normal. I... " Have to go home soon. Tomorrow, or at most
the day after. At least that's what she wanted to say. But she couldn't
make the words leave her mouth. "It's normal. Don't worry."
"We don't have time for this," snarled Allen. "Does anyone know
where Paytan would head?"
"She never went out much, even before the horns," said Savannah.
"She used to go up on the roof a lot, but not lately. I don't think she
knows the city that well."
"Where did Paytan go?" asked Kismet, at Allen rounded on her.
"WE DON'T KNOW! THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"
"EVERYBODY! Calm down!" shouted Bryan. He turned to Kismet.
"Paytan stole a very powerful book, and we need to find her before she
does something we're all going to regret."
"I should have put a tracking device on her," said Allen.
"Look, what did she take with her? A book of magic," said
Savannah. "Very powerful magic. So we need a way find someone when
they're using it."
A moan came off from the side. They all turned to look at
Occultism Kid, stretched out unconscious on the lawn.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Paytan holed up in one of the warehouses at the edge of the city
just as the sun rose. She was tired, and needed rest. First things first,
however.
She sent the doves out, as watchdogs and information gatherers.
Set up the strongest wards she knew around the Net.cromincon, layers of
them. The last thing she needed was someone tracking her down through the
book's emanations. Interrupting her work. She found a long scrap of
metal, and used it to bar off the warehouse doors from inside.
She was left alone in the inside of what was basically a huge
barnlike building made of rusty corrugated metal, with nothing inside it
but her. Beams of light shone inside through the intermittent holes,
illuminating a floor covered in dust and refuse. Paytan sat down in the
very center of the place and opened the book in her lap.
Demons could never be trusted. Any deal made with them would be
followed to the letter, not the spirit. Call one of them up, and the most
she'd get out of the deal would be a golem, or a puppet-stringed creature
without any life. But demons were the only thing she knew, and could
control.
Her fingers traced the brittle pages of the Net.crominicon. This
book held more within in it than knowledge of demons. Bound inside were
words describing greater powers, not all of them from the Hell
dimensions, and far more likely to truly fulfill any promises they made.
All she had to do was find them.
She sat for hours, as the angle of the light changed, the patches
of illumination crawling slowly over the debris, washing over her, then
away.
Until she stopped at a single page, and read it again. Neon green
eyes narrowed, then turned up at the edges as she smiled. She tore a
scrap of cloth off her shirt, and laid it on top of the page, then softly
closed the book. She looked up for a moment, at the rafters high above,
then closed her eyes and slammed the book to her chest, cradling it with
both arms. Like a child with a favored doll, or an astronaut with his
last tank of oxygen.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
The five of them sprawled across the front steps of the LNHHQ as
the sun rose. Savannah and Bryan sat close to each other, she leaning
against him. Kismet had wrapped her wings around herself, the metal
flowing around her like water to form a shell somewhat like a blanket,
while Allen sat with his gun in his lap. Occultism Kid held his head in
hands, and glared at Savannah.
"I should turn you into a frog," he said. Bryan's arm tightened
around her.
"My hand is swelling, if it's any comfort," she said dryly.
"No, it isn't. Do you have any idea the power of what she took?
She could bring everything down around our ears."
"That's not what she's trying to do," said Savannah.
"She's going to summon a demon," said Allen.
"But we don't know why they've been leaving her alone. If they
think she's dead, or if they're afraid of her but she pisses one off
now -- "
"She doesn't have Dirmarw anymore. There's nothing to protect her
if she gets dragged back."
Bryan shook his head. "So we find her before she gets too much
done. How can we track her?"
"She has wards up around herself, or I'd be able to find her
right now," said Occultism Kid. "Around the book, too."
"What about when she's actually using magic?" asked Bryan.
Savannah shook her head.
"Her ability to summon demons is natural, not spell-based. So we
can't track that. If she starts casting actual spells, though..."
Occultism Kid nodded, fingers tapping against his leg. "We may
actually be able to track her summonings as well, not by the use of
magic, per se, but the breaks the demons' entrances and exits cause in
the dimensional wall."
"Can we do both?" asked Savannah.
"The best bet is the dimensional wall breaks. There's already so
many sorcerers and such in Net.ropolis that any kind of magic detection
device is going to go haywire. There's a little less teleportation and
summoning going on, so there'll be less noise," said Occultism Kid. "I
have a pendulum of sorts in quarters that can act as a divining rod.
It's a little tricky to learn, but..." he raised his eyebrows at
Savannah, who began to nod. Allen leaned forward suddenly.
"Teach me," he said. Brian gave him a funny look.
"Why does it have to be y -- "
Allen cocked the gun. "She fell once before, and I lost her. I'm
not going to let her fall again."
Savannah waited a moment, then nodded. "Okay guys, let's go."
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Five artifacts. One for each point of a pentagram, to break
through the dimensions to the beings she needed.
Paytan sat crosslegged in the center of the warehouse, a small
fire burning before her. The Net.crominicon lay closed at her side. She
recognized two of the names. Dirmarw had told her about them, but the
other three were mysteries.
Dirmarw had been training her to recapture the first, among other
things. Or rather, had intended to train her. But she still remembered
the steps, the necessary ingredients. She didn't know where the other
four were, and chances were they weren't easy pickings. First step, then.
Location.
She stood, and took a deep breath. All around her the temperature
rose, up and up until it reached the hundred. The air went bone dry and
brittle, until space itself crumpled and flaked away to a black pit. With
a rush the air cooled down again, and four demons with long limbs and
large wings crouched before her, eyes glowing. They barely came up to her
hip, but everything about them screamed speed and cruelty, greyhounds
with enough venom in them to drop a small town. They bared their teeth in
unison, and tossed their heads.
Paytan went to each one in turn and whispered a name into it's
ear. Then she stood. "Find these things, do not let yourselves be
noticed, and report back to me. Each of you will be accompanied by one
creature. Do not let it be harmed."
Paytan snapped her fingers, and four doves fluttered down from
the rafters, perching carefully on the demon's shoulders.
"Go." The demons stood and loped into the shadows, were gone from
sight. Through the eyes of the doves Paytan could see city streets
rolling by fast and low as the demons headed farther and farther out.
Good. Next step.
She sat down again, in front of her little fire. To recapture the
first artifact, materials must be had. Sacrifices must be made. And
Paytan knew the perfect candidate.
She drew from one of her pockets a long braid of hair that had
been messily slashed at the base. It was brown, and covered with flecks
of dirt, picked up when the original owner had sent it rolling across a
dirty roof on a hot day in the middle of the Amazon.
Paytan ran it through her fingers, the thickness of the hairs and
the weight of it in her hand like a rope. Then she pulled a single strand
from it and held it dancing over the flame for a moment. She let go, and
it fell, consumed in an instant, leaving only the faint smell of scorched
things.
Paytan smiled, and drew out another.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Kyoko sat in LNH reception, her feet propped up on the top of the
desk, deep in a magazine. She could hear the dialogue from an afternoon
soap all the way from the rec.lounge, but it wasn't one of the ones she
followed so she zoned it out. Someone knocked on the door.
Kyoko glanced up, then back down at her magazine. After a moment
she looked up again. No one ever knocked. They burst in, shattered the
doors, or just walked inside, but no one ever knocked. She went to the
door and opened it, just a crack.
A junior high school-age girl stood on the LNHHQ steps,
disheveled and bruised, her arms full of a bookbag, a jacket, and various
other things. A long cut ran down the side of her face, to her neck, and
disappeared beneath her shirt. It was fresh.
"Hi." The girl's voice shook. "Hi, I think I'm in trouble, there
are these men after me, and these, these _things_ --"
"It's okay, you're at the right place. Come on in." Kyoko held
the door open, and the girl scurried inside. The LNH receptionist looked
outside for a moment, eyes keen. Nothing moved.
She turned and shut the door solidly behind her, then froze.
Because for the first time she got a really good look at what the girl
had in her hands.
A bookbag, dull green. A jacket, badly torn. And a medium-sized
glass fishbowl.
Within it a tiny fish, the color of new pennies and sunsets.
________________________________________________________________________
Kismet, Out-of-It Lass, Perdition, the new girl, copyright Jennifer
Whitson, 1995. Occultism Kid is Josh Geurinks', wherever he may be. Used
without permision. Allen is Enright's, on nigh permanent loan. Luke
belongs to Ben Rawluk, used with permission. If I've missed someone, I'm
sure they belong to somebody out there. Somewhere.
Next Issue:
Paytan gets hold of Nei. She moves ever closer to her goal.
The new Avatar of Binky gets introductions all around, while the
rest of our crew start tracking down Paytan. Will they reach
her in time?
========================================================================
Ben Rawluk
Jamas Enright
Kelly Pekrul
Rory Bryant
=========================================================================
DERELICT Press Presents
The thirty-fourth issue of
/~~\/~~\ {] /~~\ (^^^ || ***** /~~\
/ /\/\ \ [) ~\__ (^^ || ,' ~\__
/__/ \__\ (} \__/ ( || ', \__/
" In Passing "
Echo: Part 2 of 6
A psuedo-Acraphobe title
._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.'COVER`._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
The Net.crominicon sits on a pedestal, covered in a glass bell.
Its coated with dust and cobwebs, though the bell is shiny and clean. In
it's reflection is a dove, wings outspread, eyes a blaze of neon green.
)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
One hour until false dawn. LNHHQ.
Allen sprinted down the corridors, heading for Occultism Kid's
room. Savannah would probably be asleep, and Bryan with her. Kismet never
came in off the roof. None of them would be any help.
He had beaten on Brittany's door, tried to shoot a hole in the
wall around it, anything to get in. Every effort had been met with a
glowing green ward, and failure. Then a great feeling of exhaustion had
come over him, a ghostly touch of lips against his own, and sleep.
He had dragged himself out of slow dreams and blurred memories
hours later, and found no change to the wards. For all he knew Paytan was
slitting her wrists in that room, and he couldn't to do a thing about it.
But he knew someone who could.
He came to the door he wanted and slammed his fist against it.
Then again, and again. "Occultism Kid! Hey! HEY!!"
"Just a moment!" yelled an irritated voice from within the room.
"Paytan's put up wards around Brittany's room, and she won't
come out!" yelled Allan.
There was the sound of a book slamming shut, and some strange
rustling noises, then the door was flung open. Occultism Kid stood
scowling out into the dim corridor lighting. "What?"
"Paytan's walled herself off. I tried to get in, and she put me
to sleep somehow -- "
"What is she doing?"
"I don't know. But the air around the door feels energized.
Prickly. That's gotta take a lot of power. It's getting worse."
Occultism Kid closed his eyes for a moment. "You're right. I can
sense it. Let's go."
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Luke could not believe his luck. Emily had gone out and left him
here, and he couldn't find Ravencroft anywhere, so he'd been up all night
practicing his lurking in the convoluted hallways of LNHHQ. It looked
like it was going to pay off sooner than he'd hoped.
He saw the net.hero bang on Occultism Kid's door, watching with
interest as they both rushed off down the hallway. Something was going
on.
He followed them, but it was harder to lurk when you were
running, and he'd lost track of them after a couple of turns. After a
couple more turns he lost track of himself. He'd already noticed the
LNHHQ was, well, mazelike, but he hadn't realized it was this bad before.
He wandered for a few more minutes, and it was with great relief that
soon he found himself back in the familiar hallway that housed Occultism
Kid's room.
Then he saw _her_.
Occultism Kid had left his door slightly ajar when he went out.
Perdition stood in front of it, her ram's horns arcing out of her temples
in graceful curves, and where her eyes should have been were two glowing
pits of neon green. Her clothes were disheveled and her hair hadn't been
combed in days.
She looked positively _tortured_. He ached to find out how she did
it.
She reached out, and brushed her fingers against the wood of the
door to push it open further. Instead of moving, the door set off a
shower of sparks and she yanked her hand back with a frown.
He drifted grandly out of the shadows as she took a step back and
the air began to heat up all around them. She tensed when she saw him,
and the temperature dropped back to normal. He caught the faintest hint
of sulfur when he inhaled, but it faded fast.
"Looking for something?" he asked quietly. Smooth, he just had to
stay smooth. He hoped he hadn't rubbed off any of his makeup during the
night. She watched him for a moment, silent.
"Why yes. I need a book." She spoke softly, paused, smiled at
him. "There are wards on the door."
"I may be able to help with that." She had smiled at him! He
barely kept himself from grinning back at her like a child. He reached
out, and tentatively touched the door. Nothing happened.
He pushed it, and it swung open to reveal the rest of Occultism
Kid's room, a mess of bookshelves, books, and various arcane
paraphernalia. Luke got the distinct impression that he was messing with
things he shouldn't be. But he took a deep breath and steeled himself. It
was just a room full of books, and he had already faced far worse. His
sister, for one...
Act suave, that's what he had to do. Suave, and mystical. "It
seems the wards are reacting to something. Perhaps your demonic nature.
My own talents may be stealthy enough that they go unnoticed."
He stepped into the room, and nothing happened. Internally, he
breathed a sigh of relief, but outwardly he simply turned back to the
door, putting just enough swing in his shoulders and hips so that the
trenchcoat flared out behind him as he did. "You wanted a book?"
"It's old. He will keep it apart from the other books. Separate."
He turned back to the room, his gaze skipping over pile after
pile of books. Maybe afterwards, if he timed it just right, she'd let him
in on whatever dark deeds were afoot. Wouldn't Emily just turn green with
envy! And the more time he spent with Paytan, the better they got to know
each other...
His eyes fell on the book. There was nothing else it could be,
truly ancient, sitting on it's own wrought iron stand. A glass bell sat
just off to the side, as if it had been recently uncovered.
"I think I found it, Perdition -- "
"Paytan," she called in from the hallway.
"What?"
"No one calls me Perdition. My name is Paytan."
He reached out, and gently lifted the book. It felt far heavier
than it should, and his hands went cold as if he were carrying a jar full
of ice, though the leather bindings of the book felt warm to the touch.
Outside he heard Perdition -- no, Paytan -- curse.
"What is it?"
"You tripped some minor alarms. It's nothing," she said. "Hurry."
He came out of the room, and by now the tips of his fingers were
cold and numb. He could barely feel the book he held in his hands. She
reached out and took it from him gently. "Thank you...?"
"Luke."
"Thank you, Luke. You were a great help." Then she grinned.
For a moment he was mortally offended. Trenchcoaters didn't
_grin_. People associated with dark forces never _grinned_. But she held
it for a second too long, and it did not reach her eyes.
It was a mask.
A chill ran through him, up his spine and deep into his chest.
But inside he was cheering. If _this_ wasn't a trenchcoater's life, then
what was? Paytan kept grinning, her fingers caressing the surface of the
book, back and forth, back and forth. Maybe he shouldn't have given it to
her, after all. But it was worth it.
Then Occultism Kid and Allen rounded the corner at the end of the
hallway, and Luke perked up. Things would probably get really interesting
now, and whatever he'd gotten himself into, he was sure they could fix.
But when he looked back at Paytan, the grin had dropped from her
features, and she was beginning to glow a pallid neon green. A shock of
color rose up around Luke, and he felt her send him away from the
impending battle to another part of the HQ with as much ease as he threw
on his trenchcoat every morning.
He began to think he might be wrong.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Savannah was sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her
knees, rocking slowly back and forth. Bryan lay beside her, snoring
gently.
Her room was dark and quiet around her, but she couldn't sleep.
Whenever her eyes were closed pictures were moving across her mind, and
she could not get free of them to escape into dreams. Between the
pictures and the empty pit inside her she felt like a movie screen. The
film ran, flickered through space and time, but there was nobody at the
helm. Just empty, empty light.
The building shook around her. Just a little, enough to be one of
the larger flight.thingees landing in the bay, or something going on in
the Peril Room. She kept rocking. She heard Bryan stop snoring for a
moment, then start again. He had walked her back from the funeral, held
her until he drifted off.
The building shook again, more strongly this time. Bryan started
awake beside her.
"No, not now," she whispered. If some supervillain, if some hero,
if some _thing_ -- she didn't think she could handle it. She didn't even
know if she could stand. Every time she moved she could feel the brittle
walls inside her begin to crumble, weakening with every step.
"What was that?" whispered Bryan. She shook her head. He wrapped
his arms around her and held her, tight enough to stop the rocking. The
building shook again, this time accompanied by the crash of things
breaking. "I think we'd better get up," said Bryan.
He managed to get her off the bed and standing. But she stopped,
and he had to go to the door alone. The hallway outside was empty, and he
turned back to her. "C'mon. Something's up."
"Bryan, it's four in the morning." Another concussion rocked the
building.
He reached out a hand to her, and she braced herself, took a step
forward. Took another. Then her hand was in his and they were moving down
the hallway, with slowly increasing speed.
Allen caught them on the stairway. He was livid, and panicked.
Not to mention covered in plaster dust.
"Paytan's gone nuts," he said, meeting their eyes for a second.
Then he disappeared down the next flight of stairs and was gone from
sight. Savannah and Bryan looked each other in the eye for a moment. She
saw him flinch, just a little, as he always did when she looked directly
at him. Then she closed her eyes and ran, letting Bryan lead the way,
calling out the landings as they came.
She opened her eyes when they reached the bottom level. Nothing
was touched here, or destroyed. She heard the main doors in the Lobby
burst open as Allen rushed out into the night. They were right on his
heels.
Then they were outside, and Paytan was standing at the edge of
the LNHHQ lawn with a huge grimy book in her hands, looking more broken
than Savannah had ever seen her before. Even in Hell. A man in
trenchcoat stood with his arms raised, clearly casting some kind of spell
on her. Savannah stopped.
Suddenly it didn't matter what was going on or why. It was
_Paytan_ on the lawn, and without Brittany it was just the two of them
now, and NO ONE was going to touch her. Savannah took two steps onto the
lawn, grabbed the guy's shoulder with one hand, drew back with the other
and clocked him.
Her knuckles exploded into pain, and he fell like she'd shot him
with a tranquilizer dart. Allen yelled something, his voice full of rage,
but she couldn't make it out. He ran toward Paytan, who flung out a neon
green bolt that sent him sprawling back into the grass. A tear ran down
her cheek.
Savannah turned, slowly, one hand clutched in the other. Silence
fell. She was still hunched over from the run, feeling too frail to
stand.
"Paytan, come back inside." Her voice shook. Paytan smiled and
looked at the ground, shaking her head.
"No."
Allen stood up and looked ready to make another run at her.
Paytan raised her hand again, green glowing all around it, and Savannah
saw him check himself, very reluctantly.
Savannah took a deep, shaking breath. "Paytan, could you -- "
"No." This time it was firmer, stronger. Paytan was still looking
at the ground, still shaking her head, as if by rote. As if she could
not look up, for fear of breaking. The night crouched heavily around
them, stars glittering like a hundred holes stabbed through thick black
fabric, too bright. It was cold outside. Empty.
Savannah took a step forward, and this time she did feel the
internal walls begin to crumble, the tears begin to threaten at the edges
of her eyes. Paytan did not look up.
"I can't do this anymore 'Vannah," she said. And took a step
back, further into the darkness.
"Paytan, PLEASE! PLEASE!" She yelled, and her voice went raw, the
tears broke over.
Paytan spread her arms to the sky. "Doesn't it feel different to
you? Doesn't it? You wanna sleep under _this_ for the rest of your life?
Screw it!" She laughed sharply. "I don't!"
"We have to, what else are we going to -- "
Paytan's head snapped up. "A man gave his soul once for riches
and fame. What would you give for the sky four nights ago? Before." Her
voice shook, her hands shook, even as she glared. "I'd give a lot. I'd
give everythi -- "
"She stepped out on that roof so they wouldn't hurt us! Are you
going to throw that all away!?" yelled Savannah.
And at the same time, Allen. "She was stupid!"
Paytan didn't even move.
One of the upper story windows shattered outward with the force
of a swarm of white bodies hurtling through the air. Brittany's doves
spun down toward Paytan, wings flaring out at the last instant to catch
themselves and hurl themselves into a dance around her, a shifting cloud
of white. Their eyes glowed neon green, and when Paytan smiled their eyes
and hers flared at the same instant.
Then she was fading into the shadows and gone, the doves banking
away and hurtling toward the dark night sky. They should have been able
to see her eyes, the neon glow giving her away.
But the night held its secrets close, and though they searched
for hours the only things they found were shards of glass and hundreds of
white feathers, scattered across the lawn.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Kismet soared over the city of Net.ropolis. Lights were
everywhere, even though it was the very pit of night. It never failed to
amaze her. At home, things always went dark when the sun set.
She had stayed too long already. She'd stopped eating entirely
now, and there was only a day or two left, at most. But the thought of
finding Paytan and Savannah and telling them this made her stomach
clench.
In the end, she'd have to say something. She couldn't just leave,
and hurt them again so close on the heels of this loss. Kismet closed her
eyes and turned slowly over in the air, then opened them again to look up
at the stars glittering so far overhead. She sailed into a chill wind,
raising tiny bumps across her arms. She would tell them in the morning.
That decided, she changed headings and soared back in the
direction of the LNHHQ. She was most of the way there before she noticed
the hole in the building, and the figures out on the lawn.
She sped up, wings propelling her through the air like a javelin.
It looked like someone had been inside the building and blown outward.
She cautiously searched the skies for the cruel man she had fought
previously, the one who looked like Paytan's lover. But he was dead and
had evidently stayed that way, for she saw no sign of him. As she got
closer her stomach began to sink. Savannah was one of the people on the
lawn, and Allen and Bryan. A man lay crumpled off to the side. She didn't
see Paytan anywhere.
She landed and ran toward the tiny cluster of people, just in
time to see Allen turn away and fling his hands up.
"Where would she go!? Where?" asked Savannah.
"Why do we spend most of our time LOOKING FOR PEOPLE!?" yelled
Allen.
"Because they keep running from us!" yelled Savannah. Brian put
his hand gently on her shoulder. Kismet got within speaking distance.
"What happened?" she asked.
Savannah glanced at her, tearstreaks glittering faintly on her
cheeks. "Paytan's run off, we don't know -- my God, Kismet, what's
wrong?"
Everyone's gaze turned her way. Kismet looked down at herself,
then back up. "Oh, it is almost time for me to, to go away. Home." She
smiled, but the stunned expression on Savannah's face did not change.
"You're starving."
"I'm _changing_," Kismet sniffed. Just because they didn't do the
same thing when they reached a certain age, something had to be _wrong_.
"Like those bugs you have. Imago. I used to be like you, now I'm like
this, and soon the whole thing will be finished. I'll be an adult."
Brian looked at her curiously. "So it's normal? I mean, you
looked really thin when -- " He glanced at Savannah. "When we were in the
Amazon. But now you're almost anorexic."
"It's normal. I... " Have to go home soon. Tomorrow, or at most
the day after. At least that's what she wanted to say. But she couldn't
make the words leave her mouth. "It's normal. Don't worry."
"We don't have time for this," snarled Allen. "Does anyone know
where Paytan would head?"
"She never went out much, even before the horns," said Savannah.
"She used to go up on the roof a lot, but not lately. I don't think she
knows the city that well."
"Where did Paytan go?" asked Kismet, at Allen rounded on her.
"WE DON'T KNOW! THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"
"EVERYBODY! Calm down!" shouted Bryan. He turned to Kismet.
"Paytan stole a very powerful book, and we need to find her before she
does something we're all going to regret."
"I should have put a tracking device on her," said Allen.
"Look, what did she take with her? A book of magic," said
Savannah. "Very powerful magic. So we need a way find someone when
they're using it."
A moan came off from the side. They all turned to look at
Occultism Kid, stretched out unconscious on the lawn.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Paytan holed up in one of the warehouses at the edge of the city
just as the sun rose. She was tired, and needed rest. First things first,
however.
She sent the doves out, as watchdogs and information gatherers.
Set up the strongest wards she knew around the Net.cromincon, layers of
them. The last thing she needed was someone tracking her down through the
book's emanations. Interrupting her work. She found a long scrap of
metal, and used it to bar off the warehouse doors from inside.
She was left alone in the inside of what was basically a huge
barnlike building made of rusty corrugated metal, with nothing inside it
but her. Beams of light shone inside through the intermittent holes,
illuminating a floor covered in dust and refuse. Paytan sat down in the
very center of the place and opened the book in her lap.
Demons could never be trusted. Any deal made with them would be
followed to the letter, not the spirit. Call one of them up, and the most
she'd get out of the deal would be a golem, or a puppet-stringed creature
without any life. But demons were the only thing she knew, and could
control.
Her fingers traced the brittle pages of the Net.crominicon. This
book held more within in it than knowledge of demons. Bound inside were
words describing greater powers, not all of them from the Hell
dimensions, and far more likely to truly fulfill any promises they made.
All she had to do was find them.
She sat for hours, as the angle of the light changed, the patches
of illumination crawling slowly over the debris, washing over her, then
away.
Until she stopped at a single page, and read it again. Neon green
eyes narrowed, then turned up at the edges as she smiled. She tore a
scrap of cloth off her shirt, and laid it on top of the page, then softly
closed the book. She looked up for a moment, at the rafters high above,
then closed her eyes and slammed the book to her chest, cradling it with
both arms. Like a child with a favored doll, or an astronaut with his
last tank of oxygen.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
The five of them sprawled across the front steps of the LNHHQ as
the sun rose. Savannah and Bryan sat close to each other, she leaning
against him. Kismet had wrapped her wings around herself, the metal
flowing around her like water to form a shell somewhat like a blanket,
while Allen sat with his gun in his lap. Occultism Kid held his head in
hands, and glared at Savannah.
"I should turn you into a frog," he said. Bryan's arm tightened
around her.
"My hand is swelling, if it's any comfort," she said dryly.
"No, it isn't. Do you have any idea the power of what she took?
She could bring everything down around our ears."
"That's not what she's trying to do," said Savannah.
"She's going to summon a demon," said Allen.
"But we don't know why they've been leaving her alone. If they
think she's dead, or if they're afraid of her but she pisses one off
now -- "
"She doesn't have Dirmarw anymore. There's nothing to protect her
if she gets dragged back."
Bryan shook his head. "So we find her before she gets too much
done. How can we track her?"
"She has wards up around herself, or I'd be able to find her
right now," said Occultism Kid. "Around the book, too."
"What about when she's actually using magic?" asked Bryan.
Savannah shook her head.
"Her ability to summon demons is natural, not spell-based. So we
can't track that. If she starts casting actual spells, though..."
Occultism Kid nodded, fingers tapping against his leg. "We may
actually be able to track her summonings as well, not by the use of
magic, per se, but the breaks the demons' entrances and exits cause in
the dimensional wall."
"Can we do both?" asked Savannah.
"The best bet is the dimensional wall breaks. There's already so
many sorcerers and such in Net.ropolis that any kind of magic detection
device is going to go haywire. There's a little less teleportation and
summoning going on, so there'll be less noise," said Occultism Kid. "I
have a pendulum of sorts in quarters that can act as a divining rod.
It's a little tricky to learn, but..." he raised his eyebrows at
Savannah, who began to nod. Allen leaned forward suddenly.
"Teach me," he said. Brian gave him a funny look.
"Why does it have to be y -- "
Allen cocked the gun. "She fell once before, and I lost her. I'm
not going to let her fall again."
Savannah waited a moment, then nodded. "Okay guys, let's go."
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Five artifacts. One for each point of a pentagram, to break
through the dimensions to the beings she needed.
Paytan sat crosslegged in the center of the warehouse, a small
fire burning before her. The Net.crominicon lay closed at her side. She
recognized two of the names. Dirmarw had told her about them, but the
other three were mysteries.
Dirmarw had been training her to recapture the first, among other
things. Or rather, had intended to train her. But she still remembered
the steps, the necessary ingredients. She didn't know where the other
four were, and chances were they weren't easy pickings. First step, then.
Location.
She stood, and took a deep breath. All around her the temperature
rose, up and up until it reached the hundred. The air went bone dry and
brittle, until space itself crumpled and flaked away to a black pit. With
a rush the air cooled down again, and four demons with long limbs and
large wings crouched before her, eyes glowing. They barely came up to her
hip, but everything about them screamed speed and cruelty, greyhounds
with enough venom in them to drop a small town. They bared their teeth in
unison, and tossed their heads.
Paytan went to each one in turn and whispered a name into it's
ear. Then she stood. "Find these things, do not let yourselves be
noticed, and report back to me. Each of you will be accompanied by one
creature. Do not let it be harmed."
Paytan snapped her fingers, and four doves fluttered down from
the rafters, perching carefully on the demon's shoulders.
"Go." The demons stood and loped into the shadows, were gone from
sight. Through the eyes of the doves Paytan could see city streets
rolling by fast and low as the demons headed farther and farther out.
Good. Next step.
She sat down again, in front of her little fire. To recapture the
first artifact, materials must be had. Sacrifices must be made. And
Paytan knew the perfect candidate.
She drew from one of her pockets a long braid of hair that had
been messily slashed at the base. It was brown, and covered with flecks
of dirt, picked up when the original owner had sent it rolling across a
dirty roof on a hot day in the middle of the Amazon.
Paytan ran it through her fingers, the thickness of the hairs and
the weight of it in her hand like a rope. Then she pulled a single strand
from it and held it dancing over the flame for a moment. She let go, and
it fell, consumed in an instant, leaving only the faint smell of scorched
things.
Paytan smiled, and drew out another.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Kyoko sat in LNH reception, her feet propped up on the top of the
desk, deep in a magazine. She could hear the dialogue from an afternoon
soap all the way from the rec.lounge, but it wasn't one of the ones she
followed so she zoned it out. Someone knocked on the door.
Kyoko glanced up, then back down at her magazine. After a moment
she looked up again. No one ever knocked. They burst in, shattered the
doors, or just walked inside, but no one ever knocked. She went to the
door and opened it, just a crack.
A junior high school-age girl stood on the LNHHQ steps,
disheveled and bruised, her arms full of a bookbag, a jacket, and various
other things. A long cut ran down the side of her face, to her neck, and
disappeared beneath her shirt. It was fresh.
"Hi." The girl's voice shook. "Hi, I think I'm in trouble, there
are these men after me, and these, these _things_ --"
"It's okay, you're at the right place. Come on in." Kyoko held
the door open, and the girl scurried inside. The LNH receptionist looked
outside for a moment, eyes keen. Nothing moved.
She turned and shut the door solidly behind her, then froze.
Because for the first time she got a really good look at what the girl
had in her hands.
A bookbag, dull green. A jacket, badly torn. And a medium-sized
glass fishbowl.
Within it a tiny fish, the color of new pennies and sunsets.
________________________________________________________________________
Kismet, Out-of-It Lass, Perdition, the new girl, copyright Jennifer
Whitson, 1995. Occultism Kid is Josh Geurinks', wherever he may be. Used
without permision. Allen is Enright's, on nigh permanent loan. Luke
belongs to Ben Rawluk, used with permission. If I've missed someone, I'm
sure they belong to somebody out there. Somewhere.
Next Issue:
Paytan gets hold of Nei. She moves ever closer to her goal.
The new Avatar of Binky gets introductions all around, while the
rest of our crew start tracking down Paytan. Will they reach
her in time?
========================================================================
