“Who’s Ollard?” Elisa asks.
“Billy,” says Keith. “Listen to me. The important thing at the moment is that we get out of here. The Right-Hand Path has people working on the Ollard problem. It’s not a thing that you need to worry about.”
He envisions Laurent and Barry, tries to imagine them up against Ollard. Tries to imagine them triumphant. It’s not an image that coalesces easily.
“I just don’t—” Billy begins.
“Billy,” everyone in the room says at once.
“Fine,” Billy says, and he gets his shoes back on and takes his spot at the end of the line, following the rest of them through the doorframe and out into the hallway, leaving Lucifer behind.
“Whoa,” Billy can hear Elisa say. And when he gets out there he can see why.
The air in the hallway is split. A great seam open in space, spilling incandescent torrents of light out over them. It gives off a low sound that’s half children’s choir and half roaring vacuum cleaner. Little susurrating vortices spume off of its edges. Something fascinating is happening inside it, like a set of geometry problems solving themselves very rapidly. Elisa, Jørgen, and Billy all stop in their tracks and just peer into it for a second, transfixed like deer on a rural road, deer who are about to be plowed into by some sportsutility vehicle.
“Don’t look at it directly,” Keith says to them all, and Billy averts his eyes, opting to honor this recommendation. Despite everything, he does feel humbled by this whirling, thrumming piece of magic; he does feel a little in awe of his father for ripping this magnificent hole into Hell. For the first time, Billy thinks Maybe it would be cool to learn some magic. He wonders what was in all those books his dad used to try to get him to read.
“Okay,” says Jean, drawing them all into a loose huddle. “This is a Class A Fiat Gate. Basically, it’s a portal that will take you more or less anywhere you command it to take you. This works fantastically—catch is, you have to maintain an image of the place in your mind. You have to be already familiar with the place where you’re going.”
“This presents us with a problem,” Keith says, regret in his voice.
“What problem?” Billy says.
“The problem is that we want to go to the Right-Hand Path HQ, and unless you’ve been there before, you’ll have to go with a guide. Jean and I can serve as guides, but only for one person apiece, and there’re three of you.”
“We had bad intel,” Jean says, remorsefully. “We thought there were only two.”
“Everybody always forgets about the girl,” says Elisa.
“So,” Keith says, “one of you will have to wait. Then we’ll have to reopen the Gate and come back for whoever stayed behind.”
“That’ll take time,” says Jean, “and the person left behind will be at risk during the time the Gate is closed.”
“Well, wait a sec,” Billy says, popping up his hand. “I’ve been to the Right-Hand Path HQ.”
Billy’s dad frowns at him. “What? When?”
“I told you, I met them. I was with them this morning,” Billy says. “So the picture of their HQ in my mind or whatever is pretty fresh.”
Keith and Jean exchange looks.
“You can visualize it well enough to manifest yourself there?” Keith says.
“Yeah, sure,” Billy says, although he doesn’t try to do it. “I even have their address.” He fishes Laurent’s business card out of his pocket and holds it up. It is bent and moist but still in one piece.
“Yeah, but, Billy, the address isn’t going to help you,” Keith says. “It’s not like you’re putting it into a GPS. You have to concentrate on—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Billy says, waving him off. “Maintain an image of it in your mind. I got this.”
Billy’s dad fixes him with a familiar skeptical look.
“Keith,” says Jean. “It’s time. Let’s go. Doing it in one trip makes sense; it’s safer.”
Keith frowns, looks at Billy, looks at the portal. His frown deepens.
“It’ll be fine,” Billy says. A desperation to please that he remembers all too well creeps into him. “Hold an image of the place in your mind. How hard could it be? Is there another, more complicated step, that you’re leaving out? Do I have to release the clutch at some point?”
“Not really,” Keith says, a little grimly.
“Okay, then,” Billy says.
“Okay, then,” says Jean. “It sounds decided.” He reaches out toward Elisa. “We’re going.”