Part 57 (2/2)
He did apologize for h the shop s Lennox strolled, as if he didn't have a care in the world; I wasand so forth I kept expecting soetting I had a vanash, and who knehat else? One of the things I needed to ask hiht, crap No talking
I was over the whole angry-with-hibut he wasn't to know about that For all he knew I had given up on hi someone elsethat's itI had a new boyfriendBallard
Old Town Surely the entrance to the Districts was here sohtly-colored housesall kinds of shops Book dealers had their wares stacked neatly outside
Iabout the fortune that had been left to me Books, alembics, chalices, athames, crystals, candles, fiery wands There was a whole world of Wicca to tap in to!
A world of cauldrons and broomsticksfamiliars and unfamiliars: swords and potions and so-forths
I realized that that hat the soul spirits werethe things that were in Ballard and me, and within Lia and Gaven, and all the Romuluses and Remusesnot to mention the benandantiwitches and wizards traditionally kept dogs and cats as familiars What if they were born with them? Had I had this little soul parasite in me forever? What was it?
Asher had once told ed wanderers without any Housewere often the result of wizards or witches who'd mated with shape shi+fters in an effort to produce Wizard shi+fters, what I was trying to become
Had either my mother or father been an Eclectic? And was that why Rayven had been sent? To squash out my animal?
Dark-eyed beautiful men and women passed me in the street ”Hold on,” said Lennox He went up to a newspaper vendor and took out what looked like several silver coins ”Just as I thought Attacks have been happening two-a-day in Letna Park,” he said, reading the newspaper He pointed ”You see it, over there?”
I looked A plateau of trees high above the city, looked down on us ”Joggers, people out walking their dogs” said Lennox ”When you get back home, take out a subscription to several of the dailies; I do”
”Have attacks been happening a lot lately?” I asked, thinking about Rayven, and if whether or not Lennox was up to speed Of course he was! The benandanti watched and waited, but so did va seeing everything around you die
”You have to read between the lines to see the supernatural at work,” said Lennox ”but yes, Halsey! Co into the darker parts, when he warned ue! You'll see”
I took his word for it
Just thena shoutso past They had blue eyes, like headla in the dark Lennox pressedmy jaw We disappeared into the shadows
Froed witch pull back her sleeve and shout: freki, ulfr, valdyr!
Three gigantic wolfhounds erupted froertips; they were like s too old for this,” she said, before disappearing down the lane after thee is that?” I asked ”I've heard it before”
”It's Grigori Come on,” said Lennox ”We're nearly there”
I followed hi as the witch chased after the aetherheads Apparently, they'd stolen her purse Several bangs issued from the direction they'd cohtnot a place sane people would go, I thought
It was a reaffiric could be invoked in a variety of languages; I wished to learn theic?” I asked
Lennox laughed; it was like old ti anymore,” he said
”We're notbut if ere” I said ”Can they?”
”Vampires are powerful creatures; we rely ica little”
”Cool”
It seemed obvious After all, they could live forever My perceptions ofNoas a Wiccan, and I knehat that meant Not a vampire Or a olf
It was halfway to the question I really wanted to have answeredthat of Marek and the Watchtowers and the fact of his having been one Surely, Lennox knew about Marek and his past? He was Lennox's mentor, after all
”It was you in the woods,” I said ”The other scent Laurinaitis spoke of!” My time in the Stromovka seemed like a distant memory
”If I could've come sooner, I would have But they make that difficult,” said Lennox
”And the aetherheads?” I asked
The alley ere in was lit by ht Obviously, if the aetherheads had coic Where were they?
Lennox paused
”Power can be bottled and sold, the sa because they've lost their souls Aetherheads are worse than zo to acquire it We're here”
I had been so busy talking, I hadn't noticed hoisted up we'd become And Mistress Veruschka wanted ate stood before us, I was sure hadn't been there a moment before Instead of the Golden Portal, which led in to Prague, or Golden Lane, dohich we'd co at a Gatethe Gate, in point of fact Because the moment my eyes adjusted, I saw a new, secret lanethe entrance to the Other Prague, as I had called it in ic I wondered how the witches and wizards had ined the explosion to have leveled Prague Only, it had happened in secret As had the First War No one knew about it! It wasn't in any history book I'd ever read! Was there an alternate ical history that I would have to becoic world disappeared on the spot So did the safety blanket of my old world, the place I had co all this! It was unlike any place I'd ever been All-ic I sahat that meant, suddenly!
”We don't have any of this in Roht: Do we?
As for St Martley's, Mistress Genevieve would've whisked us out of a place like this so fast our heads would've spun! There was an endless variety of shops and cafes; if anybody but a witch or wizard saw them, they would need to be silenced, the shops were so obviously nized That must be it But what about a vaic? And was therethis nohat else had I missed?