The Finder of the Lucky Devil, page 27
“But Alf, they’re going to take the bar—”
“No, I made a necessary deal to save the bar… House.” He looked at the well-dressed woman.
She sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s technically true. The Kodiak Company will take your bar. It’s all very neat, really; I get you, and he gets his wizard house, or something…” She waved a dismissive hand toward Alf.
“No, this is not for me. I do this to preserve the dignity of the House of Magdalene. I shall hold it in trust for the true Heir of the Magdalene according to my duty and privilege,” Alf informed her.
“Yes, but I don’t really give a damn about that,” the well-dressed woman said, condescendingly.
The true Heir of the Magdalene?
“Choose!” Rune, who struggled not to feel weak as Anna, almost screamed under the pressure of that word in her skull. “Choose!”
How? Alf was right. She had so little magic. How could she be this Heir of the Magdalene?
The prisoner blinked as she realized that was a bald-faced lie … that Anna had always told herself. She had magic. Both when she had been Anna and when she had called herself Rune, she had always had magic within herself; she could feel it now that she couldn’t “unsee” it. Anna had hidden it, to keep herself safe. Anna suppressed it. Anna lied to everyone about it. It had been a choice Anna had made, that Rune continued, to do whatever it took to stay safe.
“Choose,” the House pleaded.
Choose? Choose. Between being Anna or being Rune? The choice was obvious.
Rune’s eyes widened as the voice that had been Anna faded, but with her … something else was going… something Rune didn’t want to lose.
“Choose!” The House repeated again, urgently.
Like electricity, Rune felt a jolt pass through her. Magic. Raw, true magic was set free at last within her being. It was hers, all hers, coming naturally and easily. A sense of relief washed through her as the torn parts of herself healed the prolonged separation from her internal source of magic. Her second sight opened cleanly with no pain.
Rune saw Anna through the second sight. She knelt—was kneeling—will kneel across from Rune.
“They will hurt us. No one will save us,” Anna said, had always said. She pulled away—was pulling away, from Rune. Rune felt the magic going with her again. No. She needed—will always need this part of herself, no matter how much it hurt.
Rune grasped Anna, holding her close.
“I found me, Anna.” A laugh, a merry, light-hearted laugh, pealed through the magic, making it sparkle as Anna and Rune became one. “I finally found myself.”
Chapter 16
Easily, Rune Anna Leveau stood up to face the well-dressed woman, who seemed to sense that something had changed.
“Maddie left this place to me,” Rune said, closing her second sight again so she could focus on the present world. Her heart still beat with fear—that would never fade—but she knew with iron certainty, nothing would ever push her down to her knees again. They were going to take her bar, her House, her last connection to Maddie. Stopping them was far more important than her fear.
Alf squared up to face her. “You cannot claim it if your retainers do not acknowledge your claim,” he said coldly.
Rune realized he was right. The House had its own magic, and the pressure of it was still calling to her. That was the key that was keeping her from reaching out to it and fully claiming it as hers. Though Rune had chosen, she now needed to be chosen in return.
A small whine caught Rune’s attention, and she slid her gaze sideways to see Ally hiding under the table.
“Since I am the only retainer left of this House and do not acknowledge you…”
“Oh, that’s enough. We all get the point,” the well-dressed woman snapped.
“Ally,” Rune whispered. She had an idea. Turning her gaze back to the well-dressed nightmare in front of her, Rune focused all of her will on staring her down.
“I … am … the Mistress of this House. And you are not welcome here,” Rune stated carefully.
“What did you say to me?” the woman asked, her voice turning deadly. “A last-ditch effort to be brave. It’s so obvious that you are still so very afraid.”
Rune swallowed but did not give up. “I am Rune Anna Leveau, Heir to the Magdalene.”
“You are not—” Alf started to say, but Rune didn’t let him.
“I only need one retainer to acknowledge me as Mistress and Heir. I call forth Ally Janowski, retainer of this house. Changeling child.” Rune turned to Ally, who popped her head out from under the table, her tail wagging so hard it was making her whole body shake. “Ally, you declared yourself a retainer of this House, correct?”
“Yes!” Ally barked.
“What is the meaning of this?” Alf shouted, but Rune pushed on.
“Ally, do you acknowledge me as your Lady and Mistress?!”
“Yes!” Ally barked.
Something changed in the room then. There was a sort of listening, as if there existed an audience, silently surrounding the room, waiting to see what happened next. And then Rune realized … all the devils were looking at her.
“Ally, no!” came the piteous cry of Ally’s mother, whom everyone had forgotten. Tears streamed down the woman’s face as she wrung her hands around a shredded pile of tissues in her hand, blood seeping into it from rubbing too long and hard. “Ally, please,” she pleaded.
The little dog girl’s tail slowed at the sight of her mother, but she did not go to her. Instead, she walked forward and sat herself beside Rune.
“No,” Ally barked twice.
“She says no,” Rune translated gently. “I’m sorry. I tried to bring her back to you.”
“You…” Ms. Janowski turned to Rune, her grief morphing into rage. “You stole my daughter from me!”
“No, I…” But what could she say? In a way, it was true.
“Enough. Let’s go. Tigerman, take her,” the well-dressed woman ordered, straightening up on her high-heels, tugging her white jacket straight, but she seemed more agitated as her eyes darted toward the devils on the wall. Ally started barking and growling, positioning herself to defend her mistress. Rune knelt down and wrapped her arm around the little dog, ignoring the oncoming Jasper, and looked toward the devils scattered around the room. They all looked down on her, their flat eyes waiting. She needed to do something, but nothing came to her.
“I am the Mistress of this House,” Rune tried again. Her voice echoed in the new space, getting louder as it drifted away. Then she looked straight at Jasper. “You will not touch me.”
“Shut up. I’ve had enough,” the well-dressed woman snapped. “No one’s going to help you!”
“There is always help to be found at the Lucky Devil!” Rune shouted, her voice booming like thunder.
As one, every devil turned its head to look at the well-dressed woman, and for once, she was struck dumb. The devils were no longer statues but pseudo-living creatures.
“Christ on a cracker,” Alf muttered under his breath as he stared wide-eyed around him before his gaze landed on Rune. “It can’t be possible. Only a true mage can be the mistress of a House. Even if you have a Talent, that’s not enough—”
“What is this?” the well-dressed woman shrieked.
“She has called the devils,” Ms. Janowski said, her mouth and eyes wide as she looked around the room.
“What does that mean?”
“The House has accepted her as its Mistress!” Alf shouted, his voice near panic.
“What are you talking about? It’s just a house, not even that! It’s a bar,” the well-dressed woman said with disgust, which was strange since she had explained this, just moments before.
“A wizard’s House is not just a house or a castle or a place. It’s so, so much more,” the well-dressed woman said, her voice harsh again.
Both Alf and Ms. Janowski jumped as the well-dressed woman answered herself.
“You’re not her, from six years ago. You’re just a nightmare with her face,” Rune proclaimed, calmly taking in the creature before her. The strength in Rune’s voice had an inverse effect on the well-dressed woman, who flinched and retreated a few steps.
“I am her. I am!” the thing screeched, shrilly.
“Then what is your name?” Rune asked, stepping closer. The eyes of the devils followed, the small moves amplified by their large number.
“I asked you a question! Who are you?” Rune demanded.
“I… I… you know my name,” the woman laughed as if she was being teased at a cocktail party. She stumbled against one of the table chairs, knocking it over, revealing the well-dressed woman’s growing panic.
“No. I don’t. You never told me. I was only allowed to call you ma’am,” Rune said, shaking her head.
The well-dressed woman’s face fell, becoming small, the fragile confidence and arrogance she radiated moments before now dissolving as she struggled to remember such a simple fact.
“Are you even human?” Rune asked, with a serene laugh, like she was already laughing at the punchline before she could even finish the setup. Her nightmare became even smaller before her.
“Yes, Rune, she is human, but she may not be all human anymore,” Alf said, moving a few steps away from the well-dressed woman, literally and figuratively abandoning her.
“She’s demon-possessed, isn’t she?” Rune asked, finally putting it all together.
“No. No.” The well-dressed woman struggled, then she refocused on Rune, her features twisted again. “Yes, yes. Once the Master has taken your home and taken your friends and taken your name, then he will come for you. You and I are going to be great friends again. I will present you to him to redeem this worthless woman and keep my side of our bargain when he comes to claim you.”
“That’s not going to happen today,” Alf said as he made it to the wall and grabbed something down from it.
The well-dressed woman turned on him then, spit flying from her lips as she screeched, “Tigerman, don’t stand there! Take her.”
“This is all against protocol—” Jasper said, but the well-dressed woman slashed her hand in the air to cut him off.
“Don’t lecture me on protocol, you Animal.” Rune winced at the sound of the racial slur. Jasper said nothing, but his ears flattened. “Take her now, or you will get nothing!”
Jasper didn’t hesitate any longer, surging forward, his clawed hands outstretched toward Rune.
Rune felt strangely calm as she stood watching him come for her. With ease, she opened her sight. She saw Jasper’s fear and his determination as he charged her. She felt some compassion for him then. Even though she didn’t know what it was, she could see he had something truly desperate on the line. Refocusing, Jasper seemed to slow so that she could see all of him. A black shadow covered his future, present, and past selves.
“He is caught in a situation that contradicts how he sees himself,” she heard herself say out loud, her voice echoing strangely. Or maybe it was in her head. “It is, he fears, how others see him. He is trying to find the right answer, to remain who he thought he was supposed to be. I can relate.”
Rune closed her sight, and time resumed at normal speed, but it moved even faster than she could react. Jasper was almost on top of her. Instinctively, Rune raised her too-slow limbs to block him. Suddenly, a body blocked Jasper’s movement forward, grappling with the large Tigerman with equal strength. Rune stumbled back, landing in Lucky Devil’s booth, now vacant.
“Holy cannoli!” Rune called out as she realized it was the Lucky Devil, moving as if alive.
The other devils cheered, making a ruckus like fans in a stadium. Finally, Lucky Devil got the upper hand, his wicked grin still plastered to his face as he forced Jasper several steps back toward the bar. Ms. Janowski squealed as they crashed near her, knocking stools in her direction.
“Ms. Janowski, this way!” Rune called, waving her hands to catch the woman’s attention.
“My… my lady, please forgive… my betrayal—” she started to say as she scuttled over, but Rune waved her off and pulled her into the booth.
“Never mind that, we’re all having a bad day,” Rune said quickly. She picked up Ally, who continued to bark, and handed her to her mother. Rune asked, “You used to be a changeling too, right? Can you explain to your daughter how to change back into a person?”
“No, I cannot remember…” Ms. Janowski stuttered, more tears threatening as she stared down into her daughter’s doggie face before pulling her into a hard hug. “Oh, my baby girl. My baby girl. I am so sorry! I am sorry I denied you.”
Ally moaned, licking her mother’s tears just as desperately. Letting the mother and daughter reunion unfold, Rune turned her attention back to the fight. Jasper had managed to throw off Lucky Devil, clawing at the figure, sending pieces of paint and wood flying. Rune groaned inside, wondering how much it was going to cost her to repair Lucky Devil, provided he was in mostly one piece when this was all over.
She didn’t see the well-dressed woman until it was almost too late. She was on Rune like a wild creature, gripping her hair and pulling her out of the booth in the most painful way possible. The woman was a disheveled mess, her cool, collected persona destroyed as her hair flew every which way. Her pristine, white clothes were now marred with dirt and something wet that had landed on her from the bar brawl. On a hunch, Rune opened her second sight. Instead of a being, moving forward and backward through time and space, a corpse stood rotting even as it moved. Black tendrils of smoke ate away what was left of her flesh before drifting to the dark places in the expanded bar.
“You fucking bitch! You monstrous bitch!” the corpse screamed as she pulled out a gun and pointed the barrel at Rune. As the gun came toward her, she snapped out of the second sight. The idea that she was about to die passed through her mind. Time slowed, and Rune knew she could not move away in time. The nightmare, that this woman would someday kill her, was coming true. Yet, Rune simply didn’t feel as afraid as she thought she would.
“You can’t control me anymore.”
The well-dressed woman’s hand shook with rage. “I can still make you die!” she screamed, spit frothing from her mouth. Her finger tightened on the trigger.
The shot never came.
“Protect your mistress!” a man’s voice called as he moved to stand between Rune and the gun, his shorter form seeming larger than ever before. It took several blinks for Rune to realize who protected her.
Alf stood between her and the gun.
In one hand, held aloft, was the 18th-century mining lantern that usually hung as a decoration in the Main Bar. In his other hand was one of the long, tapered lighters used to light the tea lights inside the glass votives on the tables. He clicked it on and directed the flame toward the wick inside the lantern. There was a spark, and a sickly, yellow-green light washed across the room, drowning out the pale light coming from the overhead lamps. Two winged devils alighted on either side of the well-dressed woman. Her face twisted in terror as their clawed hands sank into her shoulders.
“Hold her still!” Alf shouted at the devils, then shot back at Rune, “Don’t just stand there—do something! Gods, woman, you’re just useless in a fight.”
Rune shivered when the green light touched her, like insects marching all over her skin. The well-dressed woman screamed and recoiled from the light before it could touch her, her force so strong the devils lost their grip. There was a ripping sound as her coat tore away, and smoke wafted up, darker from the tears. She shot a black look at Alf. “You… you…”
“You’re not welcome here, creature! Be gone. I banish you from this House!” Alf shouted over the woman.
She opened her mouth and emitted a strange, strangled scream and then turned as if to go. Instead, she simply disappeared into one of the dark patches in the wall, like she had wiped herself from existence. In her wake lingered a crackling sound, similar to eggshells being ground underfoot; it persisted, infusing the entire room. Then the green light flashed and dissipated.
People suddenly appeared all around Rune, looking at her, as if they had been there the whole time. A wash of dread at all the concerned, staring faces overcame her, turning her legs to jelly. Then they buckled.
“Liam, pick her up, get her out of here,” Alf’s voice came, and two pairs of hands stopped her backward descent. Rune immediately calmed herself as she reached back and gripped her young bartender’s arm for reassurance. Alf went to the bar where the new server now stood, gingerly setting the ancient lamp down on the bar surface.
“Shouldn’t we call the sheriff, or an ambulance, or something?” Liam asked, his voice coming from right over Rune’s head as he tried to help her stand. Her legs still wobbled, but she managed to get them under her.
“What good are they going to do for her?” Alf scoffed.
“We should call an ambulance!” one regular patron said.
“Is anyone here a doctor?” another called.
“What was that? What just happened?” someone asked as they came in through the door.
“Did you see all the devils?”
“I was frozen in place!”
“We were frozen in place. That was real magic.”
“Why couldn’t I see you?”
“Perception magic? Maybe?”
“The real Magdalene House! That was amazing!”
“Someone should inform the Sheriff’s department.”
People continued chattering around Rune, but she ignored them and smiled weakly at Liam.
“I think… I think I might throw up,” she said, as the rising tide in the back of her throat piled on the pressure.
“Out of the way, octopus,” Alf ordered, appearing before her with one of the rag buckets that usually lived behind the bar. “If you’re going to hurl, do it in this,” he added callously.
