Empty Heaven, page 17
Flora nodded. “We need to be together. I’m not going back in alone just to be sure, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s so cold in there that I thought I was gonna die.”
“What did you see in her head?” I asked.
The sisters looked over at me.
“Is there someone else controlling him? Controlling Good Arcturus?” I asked. I was thinking about what Senovak had said on the phone.
Jasper and Alex gave me confused looks, but Flora just sighed. She looked worried, which made me even more worried. “I don’t know if we can stop this from happening,” she said. “But there are a few things we can try.”
“There are a lot of cracks in reality around the Quabbin,” Friday said. “Bad things. Good things. Thin spots. That mall in Wickford—”
“The lost cemetery in North Dana,” Flora said. “The altar in Wickett, the islands in the water down by Rabbitville, the Prince of Spring—”
“She means whatever goes on at the school over there,” Friday said, gesturing vaguely in what I thought was the direction of Cold Falls Prep, “not to mention the underneath of the Quabbin itself.”
“Or the things that live in the woods around Route 202,” Surendra said.
“What about Sad Sam? The reservoir Bigfoot?” Alex asked.
“He’s not real,” Flora said. Alex looked incredibly disappointed.
“But there’s always been a cold wind blowing out of Kesuquosh,” Friday said. “Catching people in its chill. Creating victims, like Surendra’s mom. I don’t know how tourists can stand it. It’s like walking into a room full of mannequins.”
I’d had that exact thought, about mannequins, the night that KJ was sacrificed to Good Arcturus.
“We don’t go there,” Flora said. “Not even for the awesome pizza.”
“That’s our pizza!” Alex said. “We’re them! The… that’s my family’s pizza place, I mean.”
“What I’m saying is, we want to help you,” Flora said. “You don’t deserve to be prisoners.”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “We’re all being controlled by the Thought Police.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper touch his fingertips to Alex’s hand.
“Typically, I do the mindwork and Friday does the spellwork,” Flora said.
“You’re a psychic and she’s a witch?” I asked. I tried to keep any hint of incredulity out of my voice.
“We don’t put it like that,” Friday said, dazzling me with her smile. “Praecantrix sounds so much more expensive. But yes, basically.”
“What’s the report?” Aunt Judy asked, appearing in the room. She used her silver walker to make her way over to the bed, then sat down carefully next to Surendra.
“So I can feel two consciousnesses inside this kid,” Flora said. “They go allllll the way down. Very deep and very cold. You can sit up for a minute, KJ. And I need Friday to come with me, poke around inside her mind for a bit. But in a perfect world, I could send KJ out of her head while I did it, and have a little tête-à-tête with the thing in there.”
“How are you going to send KJ out of her own brain?” Alex asked.
“Should be easy. She’s barely using it on a good day,” Jasper said.
“You know what would make it easier…,” Friday said. She and Flora exchanged a look, and then Flora turned back to us.
“I know these two aren’t magic users,” Flora said, gesturing to the bed, “but I don’t suppose any of you have gifts? Premonition, intuition? Power of persuasion? A gut feeling about things?”
“I have good taste in music,” Jasper said. “Does that count?”
“He doesn’t really have good taste in music,” I said.
“I’m just, like, kind of starting my journey of self-discovery,” Alex said, “but I don’t feel like a witch.”
Then Flora raised an eyebrow at me and KJ.
“WE ARE CHARMING AND A WONDERFUL LIAR,” KJ said. “BUT NOT, WE THINK, A PRACTITIONER OF MAGIC.”
“A so-so liar,” Jasper said.
“A bad liar,” Alex said. “Like about the dumbest stuff.”
“Not that it would matter right now for you, KJ. You’re the one who needs to be magicked at,” Flora said, and looked at me pointedly.
“I’m not a witch,” I said. “I don’t believe in anything. Except Good Arcturus. My aunt Blanche was the last shield or Incorporation or whatever, but I don’t think that gives me a home field advantage?”
“We can test them,” Friday said. “See which one of them will need to take KJ into their mind. Maybe get the rock out now?”
“Take KJ into their mind?” I asked.
Flora started digging around in the tote bag they’d brought.
“Oh, the rock!” Jasper said. “Now we get to stone you to death, KJ!”
“Speaking of getting stoned,” Alex said, “KJ, what happened to all the weed you were selling? Is that what you were rolling up, Aunt Judy?”
“I would never buy that low-quality garbage,” Aunt Judy said. “No offense, cupcake.”
“NONE TAKEN,” KJ said. “WE HAVE A POUND IN OUR CAR. IF WE END UP DYING ON HALLOWEEN, OR WHATEVER, YOU GUYS HAVE TO GO TO MRS. KERSH’S PLACE ON CHURCH STREET IN RABBITVILLE AND RETURN IT. THAT IS THE STASH HOUSE.”
“In the PDA?” I asked. “We’ve been driving around with a pound of pot?”
“Here we are,” Flora said. She held up a gleaming chunk of amethyst. The purple facets of the rock caught flickers of firelight when she held it up.
We were doing freaking crystal magic. It made me think of the girls I knew at Pelham who were really into dumb New Age crap. I tried to look like I was taking it seriously.
“What’s that for?” Jasper asked. He sounded incredulous, but restrained. Probably because Aunt Judy was right behind him, watching for any signs of rudeness.
Flora handed the rock off to Friday.
“This specific crystal has been imbued with a metric ton of magic, over a period of several years. We have a bunch like this at home. It can be used for many things,” Friday said, and grabbed my hand. She lifted my arm and pushed down the sleeve of my coat, exposing the lines on my wrist where Birdie Plum’s nails had scratched me at the culmination of the Great Harvest Hallow.
“For example,” she said, and touched the rough points of the amethyst to my arm.
And then—before my very eyes—the marks healed. I could feel a light coolness on my skin, left behind from the stone, as the shallow scratches knitted themselves back together.
“Uh,” Jasper said, staring. “What the fuck?”
Aunt Judy laughed from up on the bed.
“Pfft. That’s barely a party trick,” Flora said. “This rock can do lots of stuff.”
“But it’s best for traveling,” Friday said. “While it is pretty unfortunate that none of you is gifted, I think we can work with you just the same.”
“Traveling?” I asked.
“You’ll all need to let Flora look at your minds, and see who is the most equipped to share their consciousness,” Friday said.
“Can’t you do it? Share your consciousness or whatever?” I asked, but Flora shook her head no. “I need my sister with me when I’m gonna be communicating directly with Good Arcturus. I could get lost otherwise. He makes human consciousness look like ant consciousness.”
“He’s not supergood at flirting, though,” Jasper said.
“Or driving,” I added, while KJ turned and gave us a highly indignant look.
Flora said, “Alex, you can go first. Head on the mat, please.”
“Okay,” Alex said. “It will probably be me, just saying. We’re twins, you know? We like, shared a womb. We shared an egg.”
“Familial connections can make powerful magic,” Flora said. “But they have almost nothing to do with sharing consciousness. You gotta be able to hold another person within yourself without being subsumed, without endangering them, without losing focus. This is about strength of mind, not compatibility of mind.”
So it was going to be Jasper. He was the strongest-minded individual I knew.
Alex laid back, and Flora did the same deal with the head touching and the blue chalk that she’d done to KJ before. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes, and she and Friday went over her weird runic chalk art. Then she erased the marks and gestured to me.
Alex got up. “I didn’t feel anything,” he said.
“I’m very quick and very quiet,” Flora said. “And I’m looking, not touching. Darian, your turn.”
I looked over at KJ. She had finished her strudels and was eating her way through a package of Twizzlers that she’d pulled out of her pocket.
“IT IS ALL RIGHT,” KJ said. “YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THEM.”
Reassuring me about the Freys like I had reassured her earlier. When I laid back, I thought I could feel something. Like cool fingers—not on my skull but inside my head.
But then it was gone. Flora tapped me on the shoulder, and I got up and changed places with Jasper, who gave me an Is this bullshit? kind of look.
I don’t know, I tried to communicate in return, with a shrug.
When they’d done the chalk procedure to all three of us, Friday and Flora went into the orange kitchen and whispered to each other for like thirty seconds before coming back.
“Okay, so describing another person’s consciousness is inherently going to be an act of oversimplification,” Flora said. “I just want to be clear—you all have all the aspects of human beings. And you’ll only become more complex as you grow older.”
“Some people become simpler as they grow older, more narrow-minded,” Friday said. “But I don’t see that for any of you.”
“Alex, your soul is a doorway,” Flora said. “Open to everything. That’s why you love to read, I think, and why you’re going to do just fine being a real person.”
“Okay,” Alex said. “Is that good?”
“It sounds like you’re a big dipshit,” Jasper said, and Flora turned her eyes on him.
“Your soul is a bonfire, Jasper,” Flora said. “Very powerful. Being in love must be intense for you, huh?”
Jasper’s eyes widened. He looked like he wanted to say something rude, but embarrassment won over, and he stared down at the carpet.
“Don’t tease him,” Friday said. “It’s a good thing. That inner fire has kept you warm and sane in a town full of mindless people. You should be pleased.”
“Yeah, you should. But it’s not a hospitable environment to invite other people into,” Flora said. “You’re too emotional. There needs to be a bigger element of control—for a normal person to do this, I mean. If you were a witch it would be easier.”
“Great,” Jasper said.
“KJ, not that it matters for this, but your soul is a body of deep, dark water—still above, currents below,” Flora said. “Nice brain. Very complex. Definitely not the place for unskilled visitors.” She paused for a second, then added, “And the thing inside you has no soul—at least not like we do—but if it did, I think its soul would be a field of endless flowers.”
“RAD,” KJ said. “WE ARE AWESOME.”
“Darian,” Flora said. I suddenly didn’t like the way that she and her hot sister were looking at me. I didn’t want to be summarized like the others. I already felt scrutinized… and I hated it.
“Your soul is a vault,” Flora said. “You have more control than Alex and less volatility than Jasper. Which makes you perfect for this next part.”
“What next part?” I asked, even though I already knew. I was hoping to get out of it, I guess.
“You already know,” Flora said. “You’re going to let KJ into your mind.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Monday, October 30, 2000
Jasper and Alex were banished to the kitchen and told to make us all coffee. Aunt Judy went with them, but Surendra stayed to observe, looking fascinated.
“This should be interesting,” Friday said. “I normally perform a spell like this on one regular person plus myself, not between two regular people.”
“What do I need to do?” I asked. I was starting to feel really nervous.
“You both lie back,” Friday said. “Facing each other. Keep the mat between you. Surendra, will you dip one of those pieces of kindling into the fire, please? Just for a second. I need it smoldering, not blazing.”
“Can do,” Surendra said, hustling over in his flowery bathrobe. He looked delighted to be included.
“WE CAN SIMPLY MAKE THIS MIND TRANSFER HAPPEN, IF YOU LIKE,” KJ said. “IT DOES NOT PRESENT A CHALLENGE TO OUR ABILITIES.”
“No,” Friday said. She was kneeling over both of us, and she reached out to take the smoking piece of wood from Surendra when he offered it.
“BUT WE COULD MAKE IT MUCH SIMPLER—”
“You can’t interfere,” Friday said. “I can’t have you using your god powers, because we need to talk to Good Arcturus. Alone. He can’t be occupied with a spell.”
“Is it safe?” I asked. “He’s… a pretty powerful monster. What if he hurts you guys?”
“I don’t think he’s going to,” Flora said. “Now try to relax and let Fri do what she needs to do.”
I turned my head and looked at KJ, who was laying down about two feet from me. Her red eyes were wide open, glowing with an inner light. Her eyelashes were, as always, long and dark—her high cheekbones, a worried crease to her brow—all of it so familiar and so alien at the same time. I kept my eyes locked on hers.
“DO NOT BE AFRAID,” she said.
“I’m never afraid,” I said, which was a big lie.
With her free hand, Friday placed the chunk of amethyst between me and KJ, directly in the center of the yoga mat.
“Each of you place your hands against that,” Friday said. “You with your right, KJ, and you with your left, Darian.”
We both reached out and touched the amethyst. Our fingers tangled together around it. KJ’s hands were unnaturally cold, like the red sinews of Good Arcturus. And I could feel endless movement just under her skin—but not the movement of a heartbeat, or blood in the veins. The movement of him.
“These burnt offerings to the mind of all minds,” Friday said. She shook her smoldering stick over our connected hands. Little embers rained down. One burned my arm for a second before dying. “These joined hands to the soul of all souls,” she continued. “This skull to that skull. This life open to all life. This heart an abyss. In our smallness. In our nothingness. In our power, in our vastness.”
Something changed in the air. I thought for a second it was just KJ’s creepy ozone-buzz ramping up. But it smelled like… pine trees. Dead ones, the kind that are sold by the hundreds in little paved lots decked with string lights right around Christmastime. The sharp smell the air gets when it’s about to snow. A trace of gasoline. It smelled like winter in New York, a smell so familiar to me that I almost couldn’t register it. I heard the jingling of bells. Somehow I knew they were Salvation Army Santa bells. And car horns honking.
“Do you guys… hear that?” I asked. It felt like my words weren’t coming out distinctly.
Then Friday reached down and pulled a strand of hair right out of my head.
“Ow,” I said. But lazily. I couldn’t even muster up any indignation at the pain.
“Swallow this,” Friday said, and pressed one bleached strand of hair to KJ’s lips. KJ opened her mouth and licked the strand of hair off Friday’s fingers.
“I wish you guys would make out,” I said. “That would be so cool.”
Everything felt really slow. Thoughts were just tumbling out of my mouth. Approximately a million minutes after I said that, Flora laughed from the other side of the mat.
“I think she likes you, Fri,” Flora said.
“How flattering,” Friday said. “I’m not going to kiss a teenager, though. Sorry, kid.”
“I do like you,” I said. I had no filter at this point. I felt drugged, which might ordinarily have made me panic—but I was too out of it to panic. “I think you’re so pretty. But I don’t like you like you. I like KJ.”
“We know that,” Flora said.
“Howwww?” I asked.
“We are psychic witches,” Flora said. “It’s part of why this spell might work, even though you can’t do magic. You two are compatible. You’re like…”
“Soul mates,” Friday said. “For lack of a better word.”
I shook my head—or tried to. “I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe in soul mates.”
“I know,” Friday said. “Try to relax, Darian.”
“Is she all right?” Surendra asked from somewhere that felt extremely distant.
“Yeah. I’ve just never seen someone fight a joining spell so hard in my life,” Flora said. “Gotta hand it to the kid.”
“When I finish this speaking part, and snap my fingers, you’re going to feel a lot of power coming from the amethyst,” Friday said. “And you’re going to fall asleep on the wave of that sensation. Like hypnosis. Okay?”
“THAT IS… ACCEPTABLE,” KJ said. She sounded almost as tired as I felt.
“Now listen. Darian. Your mind is like a river. Fluid. Changing. Neurons firing. But when you have a guest, everything gets more solid. There will be structures in the river. I’m going to send KJ down into the deepest parts of your mind. It’s the best way to keep you from just rejecting the spell and—mentally spitting her out, so to speak. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said. I thought I said it. Friday was talking again, but I couldn’t figure out what she was saying. She sounded like she was really far away, high above us. The sound of the wintry city was all around me. Car horns and bells ringing and people laughing.
“Do you guys hear that?” I asked. I looked over at KJ. She was looking back at me with her red eyes slitted.
All of a sudden, my left hand felt like it was on fire. The amethyst was burning me. I tried to drop my fingers, tried to scream. Nothing came out. Then there was a silence—an unnatural silence. And the world got dark, so dark. I was being pushed down into an endless night.
