By the time we made it to bed, it was around Midnight. I had flopped onto the bed and immediately made with the log impression. I didn't even notice Karrin snuggle up next to me, but that was how I woke up several hours later. She had curled herself into a ball in front of me and rested my arm and a blanket over top of her. I could see daylight out the window, and while I felt a little cranky and didn't want to get out of bed, at least the sun was up this time.
I debated briefly about going back to sleep and decided against it. I carefully disentangled from Karrin instead, who was snoring gently. She stirred and mumbled, but let me go without much resistance. I tucked the blanket around her as I rolled off the bed. I grabbed some clean clothes and made my way to the bathroom for a quick shower. The cold water washed out the last of the cobwebs in my brain. I scrubbed until I felt reasonably clean.
Once I was dried and dressed I made my way to the kitchen and set water to boil for coffee. I poked my head in the living room long enough to look at Yang. She was indeed much less see-throughey. Murphy had lent her some sweats and a t-shirt to use for pajamas. Her mouth hung open as she lay sprawled on the couch. Mister had wormed his way between her arm and her side and lay belly-up. It was adorable; if I'd known how to do it, I'd have filched her scroll and taken a picture.
I saw the wooden skull on the bookshelf across the room; green eyelights had winked into existence. I held up an index finger to my lips. I tiptoed over to it, not wanting to wake Yang, who, despite looking more tangible, was still quite pale. I scooped up the skull and made my way back to the kitchen. I set it down on the table and made coffee. She waited quietly while I made a mug and sat down.
"You're back early," she started. I took a drink of steamy java and savored it for a moment. "Who's the girl? She's neat."
"Yeah, she dropped in yesterday. We didn't have time to stop and pick up your comic books, though." The spirit sighed in mock disappointment. I had been pleasantly surprised to learn that this particular spirit didn't have Bob's flavor of reading material. Much easier to bribe.
"Aw, I suppose that's okay. Batgirl doesn't come out until tomorrow anyway. Oh!" she piped. "I think I settled on a name!" Wonderful. Please don't be Bob Two Point Oh… "Bonnie!" Well, it wasn't terrible, and it would be nice to call her something.
"Bonnie, huh? I like it." I was thankful she'd picked something easy to remember. While I wasn't planning to do it any time soon, calling her name in a fight would be easy. "So Bonnie, how do you feel about a field trip?"
"I'm glad you like it!" she exclaimed. "Where are we going? It's been weeks and weeks since we went anywhere."
"Not so fast, kiddo. We should probably talk about what's been going on first." I spent the next twenty minutes or so explaining the events of the past day. "So we need to go have a chat with Ulsharavas, which means we'll need some supplies. Do you remember them?" I hadn't been able to replace parts of my library yet, and Dumont's Guide was one of the books I still needed to find a copy of. Ebenezer had helped a great deal. I know for a fact that he'd snuck in some 'light reading' that hadn't been in my collection as well. Esoteric theory stuff, but some of it was practical – heck, some of it was just within my grasp, if I could make time for it. I really missed my lab.
"Of course I do. Would you like me to write it down for you? It's a short list, but it is pretty early." Brat. I slurped coffee instead. After an appropriate amount of caffeine intake, I went and found a notepad and pen. Bonnie listed the items I would need and gave me the words to the summoning, which was fairly simple. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do after chatting with Ulsharavas, assuming she was in the mood to talk. I made a second cup of joe, seeking inspiration in the murky depths of the mug. Unfortunately, none materialized.
Bonnie happily chattered away about what she'd been up to for the last several days, and as she was telling me about a silly television show when Yang shambled into the room. She didn't look like she was really awake, but she managed to mumble a greeting, I think, and make herself a mug. Bonnie had piped down when Yang-zombie came in. Yang sat and propped an elbow on the table so she could rest half her face in her free hand. She took a long drink and didn't say anything. I know that feeling.
"Good morning!" Bonnie said cheerily. Yang cracked one eye open and smiled.
"G'morning. What pretty green eyes you have."
"Thanks! They're not as pretty as yours, though," she replied.
Yang looked over at me. "Are there talking skulls everywhere, Harry? Good morning to you too, by the way." I raised my mug in salute.
"No. In fact, Bob and Bonnie here are the only two spirits of intellect that I actually know"
"I see. Where do they come from?" That was an interesting question, in Bob's case anyway. He was around before my time, and I'd never asked him.
"Well, Yang, I couldn't say in Bob's case – he's quite a bit older than me. Bonnie came from me, sort of." Murphy snorted and shuffled into the room. Great. She rarely got a chance to tell the story, and I just knew she was going to do it.
"Well, you see, Yang, when a shadow of a fallen angel takes up residence in a wizard's brainpan…" Yang laughed so hard at Karrin's version of events that tears were streaming down her face by the end of it. I grumbled into my coffee and tried to pretend that I hadn't heard a word.
I had endured the teasing with as much fortitude as I could muster, and eventually convinced the pair of them to have breakfast. Once everyone was fed and dressed, we had clambered into Murphy's car. She'd dropped me off at the parking garage where we'd left Dragula. Murphy and I exchanged brief words and wished each other luck. She'd given me a gentle kiss, and then sent me on my way with a playful shove.
I went to the nearest Walmart and got most of what I'd need for the summoning, needing only one more stop to pick up a bottle of whiskey. Liquor stores open early on a weekday were hard to come by; it took three tries before I found one. In between stops, Bonnie filled the silence with speculations on whether Cassandra Cain would still make a good Batgirl. I'd tried following along, but with all the reboots the comic industry seemed obsessed with, it was convoluted at best. I might be a wizard, but even we have our limits.
Once we arrived at the building that housed Molly's apartment, Bonnie's eyelights went out, and I put her in the duffel bag. I had decided that while I was safe enough going into Svartalf territory, I wasn't about to broadcast that I had a spirit of intellect with me. The security guard took one look through the window and waved me on through.
I made my way down to Molly's apartment – which she had insisted was as much mine as it was hers. I couldn't bring myself to just move in and set up shop, but knew that I occasionally needed a space to work in. I knocked on the door and waited for a good minute before unlocking it and going inside. I'd never interrupted her before, but it was polite to at least give her some warning if she was in. As it turned out, nobody was home.
I went straight to the back of the large room. At some point she'd paid to have a summoning circle made. It was exactly like the last one I'd had before the boarding house – and my apartment – had burned to the ground. Whatever she might be now, Molly was always thoughtful. I'd bet good money she'd gone to the same smith I had to get it made. It was the same five feet across, braided copper, silver, and iron inscribed with focusing runes. The first time I'd seen it, Molly hadn't even been here for me to appreciate it. I may or may not have teared up a little.
I set the duffel bag down on the makeshift work table that had also been set up and leaned my staff next to it. It held a small stack of books and a few items I'd put together myself. Molly probably hadn't been sure what all I might need or want, and had left it up to me to bring my own stuff. I pulled Bonnie out of the bag and set her down next to her stack of comic books she wanted kept here. She read quietly while I set the offerings and doll inside the circle.
I read over the summoning a few times to set it in mind and reached down to touch the cool metals with a small effort of will. The circle closed and I could feel the charge in the air. Setting will to my voice, I called out, "Ulsharavas. Ulsharavas. Ulsharavas. One lost in ignorance seeks you. One darkened by the lack of knowledge seeks your light. Come, guardian of memory, sentinel of the yet to come." I pushed the energy into the circle and waited, palms upturned. I didn't have to wait long. Less than a minute went by before the edges of the circle lit up. Sparkling motes of energy swirled inside and settled on the doll. It stood up and stretched, then sighed in disappointment.
"What is it with you and dolls, Wizard? How hard can a corpse be to come by?" I shrugged. The little blonde doll came up to my thigh this time, at least. Last time I'd used a Cabbage Patch Doll that was quite a bit shorter. This one was an elegant Disney character – Maggie loved Elsa. Okay, so it was probably too on the nose, Winter Knight buying a Frozen doll, but that was the biggest one I could find. "I hope you don't expect me to sing that silly song." Perish the thought. Maggie had sung it a few hundred times, and I knew it by heart.
"I don't, and mortal authorities kind of frown on using corpses for this sort of thing. Dolls are probably the best I'm going to be able to do. At least this one's taller." The doll rolled its big blue eyes and bent down to grab the cup of whiskey in two dainty little hands. She lifted it without much effort and drank it all. Once that was done, she set down the cup and sat sideways, arranging her skirt so it folded neatly under her legs. She grabbed two big handfuls of tobacco and chewed for a few moments before grabbing another handful.
"You wish to know about the Dreamland of Remnant, and how one of its warriors came to you, and how to get her back there." I nodded. "The one I will speak freely about. The second and third will come at a price." Her price had been simple and easy to fulfill last time, and she had offered additional information last time, no charge.
"Let's talk price, then." I waited patiently while she spat out bits of tobacco and took some more.
"The last time we met, Wizard, I asked you if you should think about why you do as you have been. I would like to hear those thoughts, and why you chose to be the Winter Queen's champion – how that responsibility has affected your reasons." I remember the annoyance that her original question had caused, and I had indeed given it a great deal of thought, repeatedly over the years.
"Money and knowledge will take me only so far. Without goals or purpose, they seem like hollow things," I began. "Why build either of those things if not to use them to make the world a better place? This place, if you haven't noticed, is trying it's best to fall apart and go to Hell–"
"It has ever been thus, Wizard. What makes it any different?" Ulsharavas interrupted.
"I've been shown the bigger picture. I might not understand all of it, but I get the basic idea. The White Council is playing a long, dangerous game in ignorance – at least partially – and in the meantime, the rest of us get overlooked or carelessly sacrificed." I couldn't keep the heat out of my voice. "Why do I do it? Because nobody else will. Being the Winter Knight gives me another set of tools to fight with. I'll take whatever I can get to hold on to what we all have." I let out a slow breath. Ulsharavas pondered this for a moment before dipping her head slightly.
"Not the best answer, but still a good one. It is well that you are aware of the Adversary, for it moves within Remnant. Such was not always so." What? Nemesis was loose in Yang's world? The shock must have been easy to read. "You cannot possibly think that the war for creation would be fought on only a few small fronts can you?" I glowered, but closed my eyes and nodded. "The Huntress was sent here to balance the scales. Another from her world came here not long ago." That wasn't really a surprise, but it was nice to have confirmation.
"Remnant is a cycle. Light and dark, one cannot exist without the other. This has been the way for millennia. The Adversary, however, has thrown the cycle into imbalance." I nodded; most of that made sense. "What you do not realize is that what happened last night is something that has never been done." I held my breath. Murphy. "There will be… unforeseen consequences, both in this world and that one. The Vagabond will be forced to move, now." My blood froze in my veins. If she had that much power, what was the other half of that going to look like?
"You will need to see this through in both realms." Great. Wonderful. Lookin' forward to that. "Now, for my last bargain. You will need to learn what the Sidhe call Whisper-walking. When it is time, cross to the spirit realm and call for me. I require that you allow me to guide you for the journey. All three of you must come." I bowed my head and passed a hand down my face, pinching my bottom lip between thumb and knuckle. Murphy had been drawn into this much further than I'd wanted. I knew she would do it in a heartbeat, consequences be damned, but… She was going to have to learn fast.
"Very well, I agree to your terms." The doll nodded and stood, grabbing a final handful of tobacco and chomping on it.
"Then I shall wait for you in between." The doll collapsed and the glowing motes swirled out, then hung and faded into nothingness.
Fantastic. Murphy was definitely going to kill me.