Long Hot Summoning (9 page)

“Actually,” Claire announced in a tone that suggested she’d neither forgotten nor forgiven the earlier
too old and too well fed
observation, “we’ve got to get back to the other end of the mall. We appreciate your assistance, but we have a job to do here.”

Kris shrugged. “So do I. And my job says I take new people in to see Arthur.”

“Claire . . .”

“Diana?”

She flashed Kris a smile, grabbed Claire’s arm, and yanked her close enough to mutter into her ear. “I know that time is a factor, I mean, it is
my
Summons and all, but these guys are a factor, too, because who-ever’s running this segue isn’t going to be able to finish it while they’re still here. I mean, we weren’t expecting indigenous life.”

“They aren’t indigenous!”

“Maybe they didn’t used to be, but they are now.‘”

“All right, fine.” Claire pulled her arm free. “But if this thing goes critical while we’re talking . . .”

“Then we’ll be in the right place because it can’t go critical until the forces of darkness attack and destroy this last bastion of the light.”

“The forces of darkness are throwing scented candles!”

“Yeah, but they’re throwing them really hard. And besides, you know as well as I do how fast things can change on the Otherside.” Diana patted Claire’s bare shoulder in a comforting sort of way and turned back to Kris. “So, take us to your leader. He is your leader, right?”

Claire sighed. “Well, if he isn’t, you’ve just wasted that line.”

“He
is
our leader,” Kris told them, and this time when she indicated they should start moving, there was very little room for arguing with the gesture.

As the Keepers stepped away from the barricade and Sam jumped down to walk between them, Will fell in on one side, Kris on the other. They were clearly being escorted. Diana decided to think of it as an honor guard.

“So,” she prodded after a moment. “This Arthur; what’s he like?” Kris glanced over at her and shrugged. “Not like us.”

“Like you are or like you were?”

“What’s the diff?”

“You know; the whole ears, thick flowing tresses thing.”

“The what?”

Bystanders could lie to Keepers; they just couldn’t get away with it. Kris honestly didn’t know what Diana was talking about. Apparently their perception of themselves had changed as they had changed. Now why they’d changed the way they had; that was a whole different question without an answer. “Never mind, it’s not important. So, how
is
Arthur different from you?”

“He came from outside.”

“Outside?” Diana was beginning to have a bad feeling about this.

“Yeah, outside the mall.” Kris waved to the tall, slender girl standing guard at the intersection of the main concourse and the short hall leading to one of the outside doors. “We don’t know how he got in, ‘cause we can’t get out, but he understands this place. He keeps us together; he made us strong. We were getting our asses kicked by all sorts of strange shit until he showed up.”

“And he made you the captain of his guard?”

“Yeah. He did. You got a problem with that?”

“No. Of course not. You’re obviously really good at it and you, you know, you’re in charge and urn . . .”
Babble much? She’s going to think you’re an idiot. Get
a grip!
Diana took a deep breath and ignored Claire’s raised eyebrow. “So, were you the first one who crossed over?” A muscle jumped in Kris’ jaw. “Second.” Something in her tone made Diana remember all the things Austin had listed that were worse than BAM. Splat. Crunch. Grind. Chew. For some reason, especially chew.

They were heading toward the large department store at what had been the west end of the mall. Cosmetic counters had been stacked on their sides to make a solid wall across all but a small section of the store’s wide entrance. A nod of Kris’s head and Will lounged in the opening.

“Just so you know,” Claire said, delivering a speaking look to her sister, “you can’t hold us.”

Kris shrugged. “Just so’s
you
know, I’m not planning on it. But I believe in coverin‘ my ass, just in case.”

“Of what?”

“Whatever.” She led Diana, Claire, and Sam into a large open area where the faint, antagonistic scents of a dozen different perfumes lingered, told them to wait, and disappeared between two racks of plus size winter coats.

“You know they might be able to hold us,” Diana murmured, with a quick glance at Will’s back. “This being the Otherside and all. If there’s enough of them wanting us held . . .”

“You were the one who wanted to see their leader. I just think we should go in from a position of strength.”

“They had to rescue us from walking cat food throwing scented candles,” Sam pointed out, tail lashing as he paced the perimeter. “Oh, yeah, that’s a position of strength.”

Claire glared at the cat.

Diana punched her lightly on the arm. “Missing Austin?” Claire shifted her glare up and over. After a moment, she sighed. “Yes. A lot. I hope he’s all right.”

“Don’t worry, he’s with Dean. On second thought, worry about Dean.”

“Very funny. I’m sure Austin will be a huge help to Dean at the guest house.”

“You’re delusional. You know that, right?”

Claire smiled tightly. “It helps when you work with cats.” They watched Sam explore nooks and crannies they couldn’t see and listened to the distant sound of someone beating a drum kit to death with a couple of guitars and an electronic keyboard.

“So, Arthur,” Diana said at last, rubbing her nose and moving away from a particularly strong patch of Phobia™ for Men. “He came in from outside the mall to bring them together and make them strong.”

“The name could be a coincidence.”

“Oh, please.”

Claire sighed as deeply as the weight of her backpack allowed. “They needed a leader; he’s what their subconscious created.”

Fur between his eyes folded into a darker orange “w,” Sam frowned up at them both. “Do you guys know this Arthur?”

“Not
this
Arthur, but he’s just the sort of opportunistic archetype who’d show up in this kind of story. And you never just get him, do you?” Her own brow furrowed, Diana folded her arms.

“We should be glad they’re not a little younger,” Claire reminded her. “Or we might have been dealing with Peter Pan.”

“Yeah, but they’ve turned themselves into elves. Wouldn’t Oberon make more sense?”

“I doubt this lot’s read much Shakespeare, but you have; you’d honestly rather deal with Oberon?”

Diana considered it for a moment. “Okay, good point. Ass ears; not a great look. But still, that whole Immortal King crap just gets up my nose. Follow me, serve me, love me . . . gag me!”

“Your opinion aside, Arthur is a nice, classic, archetypal answer to a leadership dilemma.”

Arthur turned out to be a tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped young man in his late teens with startlingly blue eyes and a wild shock of blue-black hair that kept falling attractively forward over his face in spite of a silver circlet.

“Okay,” Claire said slowly as they walked toward him, drawn by the brilliant, perfect white crescent of his smile. “So he’s a nice
anime
archetypal answer to a leadership dilemma.”

“And we can be grateful they’re becoming elves, not pokemon,” Diana added.

Dressed in black and silver-jeans, boots, T-shirt, leather jacket, lots of buckles-and wearing a very large sword across his back, he waited for them in the electronics section of the department store. The sword, at least, should have looked out of place. It didn’t.

A burgundy leather sofa and two matching chairs, heavy on the rivets, defined three sides of the space.

Under the furniture, was a square of carpet patterned in shades of gray. The fourth side was a massive, rear projection television-its screen a reflective black. The mere lack of accessible electricity wouldn’t have been enough to keep the TV off had enough of the mall elves wanted it on but, subconscious desires or not, the programming would have been beyond their control. Diana had seen a TV in one of the bleaker Otherside neighborhoods that showed nothing but reruns of
Three’s
Company.
Next to the Girl Guide camp, it was as close to actually being in Hell as she ever wanted to get.

There was no sign of Arthur’s usual entourage and although the coffee table had smoothed corners, it could in no way be called round.

“When Kris said that a pair of Keepers had crossed over, I thought the news was too good to be true,” Arthur announced, moving to meet them as they stepped onto the carpet. “And yet, here you are.” He looked so pleased that Diana found herself grinning foolishly in response. A quick glance over at Claire showed she was having much the same reaction.

“Sire? About some us heading out scavenging?”

“Of course.” Arthur nodded toward the Keepers. “If you’ll excuse me.” When he turned his attention to Kris, it seemed almost as though the lights had dimmed.

Oh, great.
Diana scowled at her reflection in the television.
That’s so
not
good.

Wait a minute, the lights
have
dimmed.

She glanced up at the ceiling. The huge frosted squares over the fluorescent tubes were becoming distinctly gray. “Claire . . .”

“I see it. I think this store is almost real and the mall in the real world is closing down for the day.”

They were right under one of the emergency lights. As the rest of the store filled with shadows, the area defined by the sofa, the chairs, and the television remained, if not bright, at least lit. “But it’s barely midafternoon.”

“A little past.” Claire thrust her wrist and watch into Diana’s line of sight. Six fifteen. The second hand swept around the dial almost too fast to see. Six sixteen.

Seventeen.

“Give me one good reason why I should feed you anything different than I would if Claire were here?” Dean demanded, lifting Austin off the table and out of his supper.

“Claire’s not here.”

He thought about that for a moment then cut the cat some cold beef. “Okay.

Good reason.”

“But time was running one to one when you checked at the Emporium.” Claire nodded toward Arthur, who was still speaking quietly with Kris. “I think he’s a time distortion. He’s pure Otherside. Whoever’s running this segue can’t control him.”

“Yeah, but they clearly can’t control the
elves
either.”

“It’s June.” Austin settled himself in tea cozy position on the coffee table.

“Why are they still playing hockey?”

“Because they’re not finished.”

“You know, the world made a lot more sense when I was young.” Dean twisted the cap off a beer and toasted his reluctant companion. “Oh, yeah, I’ll drink to that.”

“They had no trouble controlling the elves before Arthur showed up. Kris said they were getting their asses kicked.”

“Okay, so these kids get caught in the segue, but it happened over time, so the darkness had to know about it, which means it has to want them here to . . .” Diana glanced around at the department store, complete to the sale banners hanging from the ceiling. “. . . to help define this end of the mall- which is where they’d end up, running from the darkside at the other end. The darkness figures it can remove them easily enough before the segue’s complete, but it doesn’t count on them banding together and being able to bring in outside help. Darkness underestimates Bystanders, the latest in a continuing series. But it must have realized that Arthur was a threat to its plans-so why hasn’t it moved to destroy him and his merry men?”

“Watch it, you’re mixing archetypes.”

“So? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“T can think of a dozen really bad movies that essentially answer your question,“ Claire told her in a low voice. ”And bits from any of them could show up if you’re not more careful!“

Diana shuddered and checked out the surrounding shadows. So far, they seemed clear of movie clichés. “Sorry. But I’d still like to know what the darkness is waiting for.”

“Maybe it’s not waiting. Maybe it’s just that the other end of the mall’s running a lot slower than this end.”

Time was relative, sure, but the Otherside took it to extremes. “Given your vast years of experience, what are the odds that our presence acts like a catalyst for a little localized Armageddon?”

“Pretty good.”

“How good?”

Before Claire could answer, Arthur clapped Kris on the shoulder and sent her on her way. Forgetting Armageddon, Diana watched her leave, watched the swing of her hips and the movement of her hair against her back until she disappeared around a corner. Then she stared at the corner as though wanting could make the other girl come back. Actually wanting
could
make her come back. As Kris reappeared, looking confused, Diana forced herself to think of other things.

Like being overrun by the forces of darkness.

On second thought, let’s not think too hard about
that
either.

“Come, drop your gear. Sit and we will speak together.” Arthur’s voice was deep and a little rough.

It was a voice that spoke of fairness and trust and responsibility and the kind of values people always said they were looking for but never much liked once they found them.

He sounds just like the kind of guy you’d buy a new operating system from,
Diana realized suddenly.
And he sounds a lot older than he looks. Which he is. Thus
the immortal part of that whole Immortal King thing. Duh.
Still, losing the backpack seemed like the best idea anyone had had in days. Diana let it slide down her arms, caught it just before it was about to drop, and fell back gratefully onto one end of the sofa.

“Here, let me help.” Arthur stepped forward and lifted Claire’s pack off her shoulders. He showed no surprise at the weight, merely settling it to one side as Claire thanked him.

Stronger than he looks
, Diana noted.
Just another piece of the whole, too good
to be true, package
.

He waited until Claire and Sam were sitting before shoving his sword back out of the way and sprawling bonelessly over one of the armchairs. Archetype or not, he still sat like a teenage boy.