Miss Priss made a face. “The worst part was that disgusting ‘Hand of Glory,’ BB. Filthy! Obscene! The hand of an executed criminal holding a candle made from the fat of a vee-eye-are-gee-eye-en. Ugh!
“And that’s all it was, Regina? Just a game of trying to raise the Devil?”
“That’s all, BB.”
“The incense was only intended to magick him?”
“That along with all the other stage-effects.” Regina gave an amused sigh. “All the work we put in!”
“Just the eight of you?”
“That’s all, unless you count Pi, but she refused to play with us. Too frightened, I think.” Regina smiled tolerantly. “Her class still believes in the old superstitions.”
“Perhaps other guests to assist?”
“None, dear. We play our games in private.”
Gretchen grinned. “Any luck? Any sort of diabolical epiphany?”
Nellie Gwyn was awed again. “The words she uses! Will you listen to her!”
“Nothing, BB. Not a sign of Satan, although Sarah claims she felt a twinge when she was rehearsing the Invocation.”
“ ‘Twas NOT a twinge. It was a THRRRILL! A huge cloudy symbol of a high romance. John Keats.”
Gretchen hesitated, then decided to gamble. These bee-ladies were all so openly friendly toward her. She pursed her lips and shook her head judgmatically. “You know,” she said slowly, “I really can’t believe it.”
“Can’t believe what, dear?” Regina asked.
“That the ceremony had no results, exotic or erotic. The incense is elaborate and expensive enough to raise something, even if not the Devil.”
“If she means what I think she means,” Nell Gwyn began, “we can strip a man naked and—”
“And that will do, Nell,” Regina said firmly. To Gretchen, “I wish you were right. BB, but nothing happened. Nothing.”
“ALAS! Alack! Wellaway!”
“Are you sure, Regina?”
“Quite sure.”
“And so say we all.”
“Oodgedye and Udgedye not dissenting.”
Inchoate designs and constructs began to prickle Gretchen—the architechtonic instinct intruding—These eight ladies were all so adorable and amusing and friendly, but what realities lay underneath? “Newton’s Third Law, courtesy of Blaise Shima,” she thought. “For every charm there is an equal and opposite—What?”
Aloud, she said, “D’you know, Regina, I’d like to see for myself.”
“Our wicked ritual?”
“Yes, as an observer.”
“But it’s just a fun game, BB.”
Gretchen’s tone transposed to the serious. “It may be more than just a fun game, you know.”
“Nonsense!”
“No, listen, all of you. Perhaps something is happening, but you don’t notice because you’re all too close to the ceremony. You know the old saw about not being able to see the forest for the trees? Why not let me watch?”
Miss Priss became so uncomfortable that her stammer was pronounced. “B-but we c-couldn’t let a stranger watch us, c-could we, Regina?”
“BB isn’t really a stranger, Priss. She’s our new friend… most simpatico… We all feel that and welcome her.”
“W-Well, that’s true. All r-right. But sh-she is new and she’d m-make us self-conscious.”
“ME, madame? S*A*R*A*H self-conscious? !NEVER!”
“Perhaps Priss is right, Sarah,” Regina said graciously. “All the same, BB may be right, too. We may have been too busy with the ritual to notice any results.”
Nellie Gwyn was skeptical. “But I thought the Devil wouldn’t just sneak in like a kid after-hours; I thought he’d prance in like a Regency Buck with black fire and diabolical laughter.”
Gretchen smiled. “Maybe the Devil makes an entrance in his own style, Nell.”
“BB is right, right, RIGHT. A quiet entrance is grrreat T+H+E+A+T+E+R!”
“That backwards Hebrew is enough to make anyone blind and deaf to anything,” Yenta growled.
Again, the twins joined the majority. “BB’s making sense, Regina. We’ve been too busy to notice any action. We vote to let her observe.”
“We can’t do it that way, Oodgedye.”
“I’m UD-gedye.”
“Oh, of course. Sorry dear. We must make BB a part of the ceremony so that we’ll all feel comfortable. But how? All the parts are taken.”
There was an intense pause while all the gears tried to mesh. Then Sarah Heartburn arose majestically and stood like a statue of Justice, but without the blindfold and scales. Gretchen choked back a burst of laughter and Regina winked at her.
“Ladies, mark me! Aye, MARK ME, I say…”
“Watch out for that lamp, Sarah.”
“I have the so-lieu-see-on of the D?I?L?E?M?M?A.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“And what, pray, is T+H+E+A+T+E+R without S!U!S!P!E!N!S!E? ‘Tis the divine torture. No matter. Here is my solution. Let BB hold ‘The (Ych!) Hand of Glory’ (Pfui!) Now, mesdames, what have you to say to THAT?”
There was a round of applause.
“Bravo, Sarah,” Regina laughed. “You’ve found the answer. Now come, we must all be serious and sincerely dedicated to evil. Pi-girl! Clear away the coffee things. Bring out the pentacle and the lights and smells. We’re going to raise the Devil again.”
11
“And nossing she hoppen, Gretch?”
“Nossing.”
“Damn!”
“No damnation. No demoniac laughter. No Satan.”
Shima cocked an eye at her, then bellowed, “GEWERKSCHAFTSWESEN! OZONHALTIG!”
“What the hell’s that?”
“My notion of demoniac laughter,” he grinned.
“Sounds more like a libretto in search of Richard Wagner. You didn’t really hope I’d tell you that the Devil actually appeared, did you?”
“Certainly not, but I was hoping for something realistic like goon-type geeks hanging around and cashing in. Any heavies in this Winifred Ashley’s apartment house?”
“Impossible. It’s a beautifully protected Oasis.”
“Corrupt servants, maybe?”
“The pie-faced girl’s the only servant, and she’s too timid to be suborned by anyone or anything.”
“The bee-ladies did use Salem Burne’s Promethium incense with the rest of the sorcery?”
“Yep. Nellie Gwyn… that’s your Ildefonsa Lafferty sexpot… kept shooting me funny looks and mugging and Regina was peeved because Nell wasn’t sincere and dedicated enough to Lucifer.”
“Did the bee-ladies get any vibes from the Pm stuff?”
“Nope.”
“You?”
“Nope.”
“Will you kindly tell me how that Pm got from their séance into your goon bones?”
“Easy. Our Golem carried it.”
“Was it there?”
“No.”
“How did it get it?”
“Not known.”
“How did it carry it?”
“Not known.”
“Why did it carry it?”
“Unknown.”
“Will you lucidly tell me what the Hundred-Hander-Golem thing has to do with your bee-ladies and their playtime witchcraft.”
“I haven’t the foggiest.”
“Could it be sort of hanging around, out of sight?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“No idea.”
“Where?”
“Same answer.”
“This is frustrating, Gretch. I thought we were closing in on some kind of answer.”
Shima was so deflated and depressed by the disappointment that the words of his grandfather flashed through her mind. “Ah, le pauvre petit. He will never be able to cope with the hard knocks.”
She tried to comfort him. “Maybe we are, Blaise. Maybe it’s there, only I haven’t spotted it yet. I’m going back to the hive.”