Chapter 8
Tammy entered the Old House. It was daytime, and Barnabas had given her a key (even if he did not bother to lock up at all)
It looked so desolate in there. No one to be with her. She found herself resenting the fact that Barnabas was resting comfortably behind the library. How could he sleep? How could he be so cut off from the world around him?
She knew that it was unfair and ridiculous to blame him. Yet, if he and Quentin had not insisted on saving Adam, this would not have happened.
She went down the cellar, where the statues were kept. Maggie and Joe, next to each other. Former sweethearts reunited at last. No one could pry them apart now...
She wept freely. Then as her tears flowed, an idea came to her...
Maybe...
Using her fingertips, she pressed her tears against Joe's cheeks. Maybe that was all that was needed, after all... She touched Joe's lips and eyes, then stepped back hoping to see a change...
No change came. This was no fairy tale.
But there had to be a way! And if her tears did not do the trick, then...
She pressed her lips against Joe's, breathing into his mouth, willing him to live.
And it did not good.
Damn it, was there anything at all that would work?
"Urien, what are these pills?" David showed them to Urien.
"They help me sleep. And they are legal."
"I know that they are legal. And that you can get hooked on them too."
"I am done with drugs... And frankly I do not want to deal with the stuff again. I am not like the other students who think that they can play with them, because if it gets too bad their families will rescue them. I have more sense than that."
"Yeah, I have no worry that you will keep away from pot, and heroin, and cocaine, or meth, for that matter. But still there are dangers."
"Not me."
"Students take sleep aids to help them sleep. And then pep pills to keep themselves awake when they are studying for tests. All legal, all taken with the best intentions. And they screw up their systems that way. I do not want that to happen to you."
"I...I needed them."
"Yes, you did. But you should try sleeping without them."
Urien did not answer. Could he confide on David, tell him about the dreams about Robert Loomis? And that Loomis did not come alone... Or tell him about the feeling of dream in this apartment?
He wished that he could discuss it with Barnabas. Or Dr. Hoffman. But they had enough troubles of their own now...
Adam did not know for how long he had been in the box. He was aware of being hungry at times, but there was something about his state that dulled his senses, so it came and went...
The wizard had questioned him extensively, and he had given up and told all. It might not have been wise, but he could not stop himself.
The wizard had not been convinced when he was done. He had put on the lid and said that he would return the next day, and that he'd better think what to tell him next time, or the questioning would get ugly.
He was in a pickle... and he could only blame himself,. He should have listened to Angelique and Quentin...
The lid lifted and a bright light shone on him. Above him loomed the face of the disciple.
"He is asleep" the disciple said. "He does not wake easily. Now you will tell me what you did not tell him."
"I told him all."
"No, you didn't. You were sent here by an enemy of his, only you got caught. We can help each other."
"I can't help you." Adam shook his head "I am not what he thinks I am. I only came to help people who live far, far away."
"You will help me kill me. That's the only way I will be free. Tell me what the price is, and I shall pay it."
Adam shook his head. "There is nothing that I can do."
"Oh, yes, there is. Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you think that I still serve him, that he sent me to you. Or that his punishments have so terrified me that I dare not betray him. It is not so."
"You can't prove it"
"He inflicts pain and more pain on me. He takes his pleasure with me, but only if I am writhing in pain when he does it. He heals me, but not before. he satiates his lust."
"I know. And I also know that he teaches you the Art., and that you wish to know more."
The disciple went pale, and Adam knew that he had guessed right.
"I hate him! I will kill him when I can."
"And you can't yet, because he has much to teach you yet... Anyway, I can't tell you more than I told him. That is the truth."
They young man bit his lips and picked Adam up.
"You will tell me. If not to help me, then to save your own skin."
He took Adam into the kitchen. The food gathered there made Adam's mouth water... if the young man were to feed him..
He did not. He just laid him on the ground.
And not far away was a huge cat.
"Markbooher is a good mouser." the young man said. "and you do look like a mouse. Now, will you tell me what I want to know, or do I set him loose on you?"
"But I can't..." Adam looked with horror at the huge cat, its large paws, its teeth, so huge... And it had seen him. It followed him with his eyes, ready to pounce on him as soon as the young man gave him permission.
"Who sent you to spy on the old man? Who is it what wants him dead? Tell him that I will cooperate if only I can have his severed head."
Adam said nothing and the young man picked up the cat.
"Do I loosen him on you?"
The cat, emboldened, threw a swipe of its paw at Adam.
Adam managed to evade it.
The cat tried again, coming closer, it mouth opening to crush that most attractive morsel he saw in front of him.
Adam flattened himself against the wall, screaming, sure that it was no use, that this was the end.
And then he was gone.
The young man scrammed in rage, and so did the cat.
The wizard stood at the door. "So you failed, too."
"I thought that he would tell me." he answered "but he vanished."
"Vanished? Where? In the cat's gullet?"
"No, just vanished. I would not let the cat get him... He was just there, and then he was gone. Whoever sent him to us must have called him back."
"Of course. That's why I put him in that box. But taking him out, you allowed him to escape."
"I did not mean.."
"I know what you meant. It is not thus that you will kill me. But there is a price for failure, and you will pay it."
The boy paled. The wizard was going to kill him.
The wizard laughed. "Not such luck. You will live. I will flay you alive, of course, but you will live. You know that I always heal you afterwards."