Part 12 (1/2)

”This isn't helping my decision any,” Steven said.

”I turned out all right,” Roy said.

”What, you cheated your way through college? What did you get your degree in?”

”Forestry. One of the nice things about the gift is it really frees you up as far as a profession is concerned. You can be better than most people in any field.”

”So your degree is bogus?”

”No, it's real. I earned it. Plus I put in another twenty five years with the Forest Service, which is how I learned how f.u.c.ked up the government can be.”

”Supplies you with a nice pension check every month,” Steven said. ”I don't see you complaining about that.” Steven knew this was the wrong thing to say, but sometimes he couldn't resist Roy's bait.

”I earned that pension,” Roy said, becoming irritated.

”And I earned my diploma,” Steven said.

”All's I'm saying is that knowing how to use the gift properly will help Jason while he's in school, not hurt him. It woulda helped you, but there was no getting through to you when you were in college.”

”No getting through?” Steven said. ”I don't recall seeing you at all when I was in college.”

”That's because you hauled off halfway around the country,” Roy said. ”And when we did see you, you thought you knew everything already. You were a hard set skeptic at that point, not open to anything unless it came from a professor or your text books. I was never going to convince you of anything. It took Lukas Johansen to open your mind. You should be grateful Jason's not like you.”

Steven considered this. Roy was right, there was no way he would have listened to any mumbo-jumbo during those years. His mother's Christianity had kept him s.h.i.+elded from Roy all the years he was going up, and higher learning had kept the s.h.i.+eld going for decades after.

”I suppose you're right,” Steven said. ”I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Jason doesn't seem to need that.”

”That's because you raised him to have an open mind,” Roy said. ”And it's happening to him naturally, as it would have with you, had you been open to it. You worry too much. Meet with Jason and explain it to him.”

Steven thought about it. Roy had softened him up. Perhaps his plan to wait a year with Jason was more for his benefit than it was for Jason's. Maybe Roy was right, maybe it would help Jason in school rather than distract him. Jason was different than he had been at that age. He shouldn't a.s.sume he was a carbon copy of himself. Perhaps he could talk to Jason, and see if he'd promise to complete college if he told him. That could work.

”Alright,” Steven said, ”I'll consider it. After we finish with June.”

Chapter Nine.

”I'm sure by now my doorstep and your shadow are great friends,” Judith said as they entered the second floor sitting room. Judith was arranged on the day bed in exactly the same position as they'd seen her on every previous visit. Steven was beginning to think she slept on it overnight.

”I must apologize for meeting here and for not standing up to greet you,” Judith said. ”A touch of my arthritis has come on, and this weather makes it much worse. I'm afraid I wouldn't even be able to see you if it weren't for my wonderful medications.”

”No need to apologize,” Steven said. ”We've brought the mirror.”

Judith sat upright, her arthritic-ridden hunch suddenly gone.

”You haven't broken it in any way, have you?” she asked.

”No, it's fine,” Steven said. Roy handed her the mirror.

”Would you do me a favor?” she asked Steve, ignoring the mirror. ”Get me that cloth you see on the shelf over there? Third shelf from the bottom.”

Steven walked over the shelves she indicated and hunted for the cloth. It was a red felt square, neatly folded. He brought it to her. She unfolded the cloth, and then turned back to Roy.

”The mirror, please,” she said, extending her hand with the cloth. ”I can't take the risk of touching it myself. Most demons know me, and several have a score they'd like to settle. This helps keep me anonymous.”

Roy pa.s.sed her the mirror, and she looked into it. Steven could tell she had slipped into the River, and might be entering a trance. She turned her face back and forth, as though she sought different angles of view. Her brow furrowed; she looked perplexed. Finally she withdrew from the trance and lowered the mirror.

”We have a problem,” she said.

”What?” Steven asked.

”There are only two demons in here,” she said. ”The lantern showed three. The third is still with the child. And worse, it no longer has to battle with these two for control. The demon has the child all to himself now.”

”I thought you said the mirror would trap them all,” Steven said.

”And so it would have, provided my directions were followed exactly.”

”They were,” Roy said. ”We trained the boy exactly as you instructed.”

”Then Aka Manah somehow tricked the boy,” Judith said. ”He makes the wrong seem right. The boy probably thought he did the correct thing. The two demons trapped in this mirror were the stupid ones. Aka Manah is not stupid. He's been alive for thousands of years, has stolen many souls. Why is he so interested in this boy?”

”What do we do now?” Steven asked. ”Is the boy in danger?”

”He's in great danger, more now than before,” Judith said. ”The other demons may know the reason. I'm going to try and communicate with them. Bring me an item from the shelf, please.”

Steven walked to the shelf once again. ”It looks like a top, made of tin. Like a child's toy.”

Steven grabbed the top and ran it back to Judith. She placed it on the mirror, and once again entered a trance.

Steven jumped into the River. The top had changed shape it now looked like a gla.s.s tube, flattened on one end, the end Judith had placed on the mirror. The tube rose out of the mirror, becoming thinner and thinner, until it ended in a circle about a foot from the mirror. Judith was staring into the circle. Steven watched as a bubble formed around her, an indication she was entering a trance. Wisps of black smoke emerged from the gla.s.s circle, and Judith leaned forward to inhale them. This repeated five or six times, then Steven saw Judith ending the trance and coming out of the River. She removed the top from the mirror and asked Steven to replace it on the shelf.

”Well?” Roy asked impatiently.

”The child would be valuable for just his markings, and the fact that he's gifted,” Judith said. ”But it's worse than that. He's the offspring of a demon. Combine it all, and it makes him infinitely more valuable.”

”Evie is a demon?” Steven asked, shocked.

”I took you for smarter,” Judith said. ”Not his mother, his father. His mother mated with a demon. The boy is the result. The father is a rival of Aka Manah. He not only wants the boy's power, which is significant, he wants the boy as an insult to his rival.”

”Evie must have known,” Steven said.

”There's no question of that,” Judith said. ”She was likely saving him for the demon she mated with. That's usually the arrangement.”

”Why?” Steven asked. ”What did she have to gain?”

”It's usually something like money or power,” Judith said. ”Something she needed at the time she mated, probably something trivial in retrospect. Demons make it easy they trick you into believing you want something. Then they offer a 'take now, pay later' deal that stupid people find hard to resist. Especially if the person making the deal is already on the dark side, which this woman most a.s.suredly was.”