“What? Come back! You’ll get killed.”
Amy picked her way along the top of the dam until she stood in the very center. She faced Fay and waited. He floated to within twenty feet of her, then stopped and hovered there.
“You defeated Zabel,” Amy said.
“Yes,” Fay said. “I must admit he was somewhat more formidable than I had anticipated. Good thing I disposed of him. He might have actually been able to do something with the stone if he’d obtained it.”
“I talked to Margaret,” Amy told him. “You’re a traitorous bastard.”
“Margaret?” Genuine surprise in his voice. “Well, the old bat had one last trick up her sleeve. Interesting.”
“You got past Zabel,” Amy said. “But you won’t get past me.”
“I’m sorry, but are you high or something?”
“I’ve been studying my craft. I’m more powerful than you think. Much more powerful than Zabel.”
Fay held his belly and laughed hard. He wiped a tear from his eye. “Oh, yeah. You’re one mighty sorceress. Just like your friend Clover. You should have seen the surprised look on her face when I killed her.”
Amy went red, fury boiling within her.
“Tell you what,” Fay said. “I’ll just float here. You go first. Seriously. You cast your mightiest spell.” He laughed again. “I mean it. Let’s see what you got.”
“Okay.” Amy raised her hands, formed an arcane gesture. “You asked for it.”
“Let’s go,” Fay urged. “Cast away.”
“Right.” She reached behind her under her shirt and came out with the.50-caliber Desert Eagle. “Suck on this, motherfucker.”
She squeezed the trigger, and the pistol bucked and thundered. Blood and flesh erupted from Fay’s shoulder. He spun in midair, screamed.
Fay tried to right himself, twirling slowly in midair like some lazy weather vane. He reached out with one hand and flayed Amy with a weak blast of blue lightning.
Amy contorted, spasms of shock spreading to every inch of her body. She threw her head back, eyes shut tight. The electricity dissipated, and Amy went to her knees with a splash, barely catching herself before falling back into the pool of icy water.
Fay had stabilized, floated toward Amy with both hands outstretched, hellfire in his eyes. “Bitch! That’s cheating.”
Amy lifted the heavy pistol, closed one eye, sighted along the barrel.
She fired twice more, flame flashing from the gun. The slugs smacked into Fay’s side, exploded out his back. His mouth fell open in a noiseless gasp; eyes wide with disbelief. He crumbled and plummeted, trailing blood in the air. He landed with a splash and a crunch.
Amy turned and ran from the dam to join Allen on the narrow path that led back up to St. Vitus Cathedral. She stumbled, fell forward.
Allen barely caught her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, panting. “Just a little woozy. Let’s get out of here.”
“One more thing,” Allen said. “Can you take her? Are you strong enough?”
Amy grabbed Penny under each armpit, dragged her up the path. “Hurry.”
Allen went to the edge of the dam, peered over. Fay lay at the bottom, still moving. The wizard looked up and saw Allen. “You… little shits. I’m going to h-heal. Going to heal up and then I’ll d-drink wine out of your f-fucking skulls.” He coughed, flecks of blood covering his bottom lip.
“I don’t think so,” Allen said.
He pulled the grenade Father Paul had given him from his pocket, jammed it into a niche between two stones. He pulled the pin and ran.
He just made it to the passage back to the daylight when he heard the explosion behind him.
FIFTY-FOUR
When the grenade went off, I saw the whole thing. A pretty good show.
The small explosion only damaged the dam a little at first, rocks and dust flying. But Allen had put the grenade in just the right spot. Never underestimate dumb luck. Geysers spouted from the dam, opening fissures. Jackson Fay had a front-row seat when the dam finally broke, tons and tons of water and rock tumbling down on him.
The water swept through the caverns, wrecking Roderick’s machine, smashing lenses, washing away bodies.
The rush of water was so powerful that it even sent the lead box with the philosopher’s stone rolling and tumbling along deep underground caverns, through a shaft that emptied itself into the Vlatva. The box sank into the mud at the bottom of the river.
What happened to it after that, I can’t say. I’ve come to the end of my part in the story.
I didn’t know that at first, but I know it now. I can feel it. I’m going someplace. Events have come to fruition, and I’ve been released. I know now that I’ve waited centuries to finish this, to witness, to tell you about it. I don’t know what happens next.
I see the big, deep gray loom before me, and I’m afraid. I don’t want to go. For hundreds of years I’ve prayed for release, but now I don’t want to go.
I can help you.
Who is this?
You know who this is.
You’re me, aren’t you?
I’m you an hour from now. You know how funny time works here.
What are you doing here?
It was difficult, so I’ve come back to help you.
How can you help?
You need to start thinking. You need to face up to some things. It’ll go quicker if you start now. I resisted, and it took longer. It was… uncomfortable.
What do you mean?
Think about what you’re doing here. Why are you a ghost? What happened?
Nothing happened. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Yes, you do.
Go away. I don’t need your help.
Remember Roderick. Remember how he died, the agony. From exposing himself to the stone.
Is it because of the emperor’s cousin? Am I being punished for that? He died just like the vampire. Because I smudged the lens. Is that it? It was worth it. Rudolph sealed up the caverns after that. He didn’t think the machine worked. It was a good thing. I’m sorry about the emperor’s cousin, but it was good he thought the machine a failure.
You know that’s not what I’m talking about.
I don’t want to speak to you anymore.
Remember Roderick’s agony. How he withered away. You were exposed to the stone too.
Shut up.
You didn’t want to die like that, did you? So much pain.
Shut up!
So what did you do?
I didn’t do anything. Go away.
WHAT DID YOU DO?
I t-took a rope. A noose. I put it around my neck. Oh, God.
It’s okay.
Oh, God. I remember. Oh, my God.
Let it out.
I wept. I don’t know how long. It’s hard to tell when you’re disembodied, when you can’t feel warm tears roll down your cheek. I wept and wept.
There. Feel better?
I don’t know. I feel tired.
I’m going on ahead. I’ll see you there soon. You’ll make it okay now.
Okay.
And I feel myself being pulled along. Not like when Zabel summoned me to his rooftop. More like floating along with a gentle current. I’m floating into the gray. There’s no tunnel of light. No choir of angels. Just the long gray. And I’m going there.
Toward an ending. And a beginning.
Into all things.
FIFTY-FIVE
After fleeing St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle, they returned to Penny’s apartment, where Allen and Amy laid Penny on her bed. She woke several hours later, pleasantly surprised to be in her own room. Allen and Amy filled her in on what she’d missed.
Penny cried for Father Paul.
They all slept, aches and bruises and fatigue forcing them into the deepest slumber of their lives.
The next day, Allen and Penny walked Amy to the nearest tram stop. Amy wore a pink T-shirt, white shorts, and sandals, her toenails painted the same pink as the T-shirt. She wore a small backpack over one shoulder. She looked like she was on her way to a sorority beach party.
“I knew I never had any powers,” Amy said wistfully. “But to be a member of the Society, to have a place. I’m not very independent, I guess. I needed to belong.”
“What are you going to do now?” Allen asked.
She shrugged. “Maybe in the fall I’ll go back to school. Finish my dissertation in astrophysics.”
Astrophysics?
“Until then I suppose I’ll bum around,” Amy said. “I’ll take the tram to the train station. Catch the express to Vienna. It’ll be nice to be an ordinary tourist.”
Penny offered her hand, and they shook. “I know we didn’t hit it off at first, but I hope we see you again.”
Amy smiled. “I’d like that.”
The tram pulled up to the stop, and Amy climbed aboard.
She suddenly jumped off, grabbed Allen’s face, and planted a hard kiss right on his lips. Allen stood speechless.
Amy flashed a devilish grin at Penny. “I know he’s all yours. But he sure is cute, isn’t he?”
She hopped back aboard the tram as it pulled out, and they watched Amy wave from the back window. The tram rounded a corner and trundled out of sight.
Penny and Allen strolled the sidewalk.
“It just occurred to me,” Allen said. “I don’t have to research a chapter on Kafka for Professor Evergreen anymore. Looks like I have a whole summer and nothing to do.”
Penny’s hand found his, and their fingers laced. “Well, I just don’t know what you’re going to do. I hear Prague’s kind of a dull town.”