“In simple English, please, for the magically challenged among us.”
She grinned. “Sorry. Basically, the spell works by constantly assaulting our minds with false sensory input. The trick to overcoming such a spell is to block out the false input so that our senses can detect reality once more.”
“Sounds like quite a trick.”
“It is. But I think I know how we might accomplish it. Remember I said that as half Bloodborn I possess a certain amount of psychic ability? While I haven’t been trained in its use, I believe I may be able to sense in which direction the Sprawl lies by focusing on the combined mental energy of all the celebrants there. Ordinarily, I might not be able to accomplish such a feat, but this time of year there are so many people crowding the streets of the Sprawl and the emotional atmosphere is so charged, that even with my untutored powers I should be able to get a fix on it. And once I know where the Sprawl is-”
“You’ll be able to shut out the glen’s spell and lead us across,” I finished. Earlier, I’d been wishing for a compass. Now it looked like Devona had found us a psychic equivalent.
“There’s a problem, though,” she said.
I smiled. “Only one?”
“You’ll still be affected by the spell.”
“Why is that a problem? You can guide me.”
“And if Amon attacks and we become separated?”
“You can use your powers to locate me.”
“I don’t know if I can maintain my fix on the Sprawl and locate you at the same time. And even if I could, Amon might take the opportunity to finish one or both of us off while I’m looking for you.” She shook her head. “No, it would be better if we both were able to home in on the Sprawl.”
“That would be nice, but I’m afraid a set of psychic powers wasn’t included in my zombie membership kit.”
“You don’t need powers of your own; we can link minds. That way you’ll be able to sense what I sense.”
“Link minds?” I tried to imagine what it would be like to have my mind joined with someone else’s, but I couldn’t. The closest I could come to was some sort of psychic equivalent to a phone connection, and somehow I doubted it would be like that.
Devona must have sensed my reluctance because she hurried to add, “I really believe it’s the only way.”
It wasn’t like we had a lot of options to choose from. “Have you ever linked with anyone before?”
She looked down at the ground, and when she answered, she sounded embarrassed. “I’ve had a few Shadows of my own over the years. And I’ve linked with some of them.”
She said Shadows but the word I heard was lovers. I don’t know why it bothered me-we were both adults, and Devona was older than I, in her seventies chronologically. And for that matter, I was a zombie. I had no business being jealous-but I was.
“Will it work on me?” I asked. “However my brain functions, I’m sure it’s not the same as a living man’s.”
“I don’t know, Matt. We’ll just have to try.”
I didn’t like the idea of anyone invading my mind, no matter who it was. But it didn’t look like I had a choice. “Okay. But we’d better hurry before Amon attacks again.”
Without another word, Devona reached out with both hands and placed her fingers lightly on the sides of my head. I wondered what her touch felt like.
Nothing happened at first, and I was afraid that my zombie mind wasn’t capable of linking with a living one, when all of a sudden a warm, bright light flashed behind my eyes. And then I felt Devona inside me.
There are moments in every person’s life when they feel close to someone else. It could be something as simple as a shared look, a moment when you exchange glances and know that each understands the other perfectly. Or it could be a joke that you share, one that always makes the two of you break up even though no one else around you ever seems to get it. Holding hands while walking at sunset; running your fingers slowly, gently along each other’s skin after making love; hugging each other tight, bawling like babies as your hearts are breaking.
Being linked with Devona was all of these things and more.
It had been so long since I had felt this close to another person-no, I had never felt this close to another person: not any of my friends, not my ex-wife, not even my partner Dale. And I didn’t know whether to feel joy at this sharing of souls with Devona, or sadness because I had never allowed myself to experience it before.
And then I looked to the far side of the glen, and although it didn’t appear any different than before, somehow I could tell that it wasn’t very far away at all. Only a few minutes’ run at most.
Race you, Devona said in my mind.
Not with the hunk Amon took out of my leg, I responded. How about a fast walk?
You’re on, she thought playfully, and we set off.
Together.
I expected Amon to attack just as we reached the other side, but he didn’t. We stepped out of the glen, through the trees, and then the night sky and stars vanished, to be replaced once more by Umbriel and the featureless gray-black sky it hung in.
And there, not more than fifty feet away, lay the Obsidian Way and the Bridge of Forgotten Pleasures, the crossing point from the Wyldwood to the Sprawl. We’d done it.
Without thinking about it, Devona and I hugged each other. Linked as we were, the gesture was automatic and completely natural, a physicalizing, however imperfect, of the closeness that we shared.
And then the link dissolved and one became two again.
Devona stepped back. “I’m sorry. I was so excited to see the bridge, I lost concentration.”
“That’s okay. The link had served its purpose anyway.” I had never felt more alone in my existence. I felt like half of my soul had been ripped away. And yet, an echo of Devona remained inside me, the merest trace, like a memory of shared laughter, or a kiss that lingers on the lips long after your lover has departed.
I reached out and took Devona’s hand. “Let’s get out of here before Amon comes after us.” I led her toward the bridge.
“But he said we’d be free if we made it across the glen.”
A guttural voice came from behind us. “I lied.”
I whirled around to see a massive yellow-eyed grizzly bear standing on all fours at the edge of the glen. Amon roared and charged. I raised my gun to fire, but before I could pull the trigger, the bear was upon us.
With a powerful blow of his huge paw, Amon knocked the 9mm out of my hand. It flew through the air, struck the ground, and discharged. It would have been nice if the bullet had happened to strike Amon, but it went flying off into the trees, wasted.
One bullet left.
Devona leaped onto the bear’s back and grabbed double handfuls of its coarse brown fur. She then bared her fangs and sank them into the beast’s back, using them like knives, slashing and tearing at Amon’s ursine flesh.
Amon bellowed in pain and reared up on his hind legs. He tried to shake Devona off, but she clung to his back as if she were the world’s largest and most determined tick. Amon then tottered toward the bridge in the stumpy-legged gait bears have when walking erect.
I ran-well, given the state of my chewed-up right leg, I half-ran, half-hobbled-toward my gun. I retrieved it, and galumphed toward the Bridge of Forgotten Pleasures.
Amon had crossed onto the bridge, and technically Devona and he were no longer in his Dominion. But he didn’t show any sign of stopping his attack, and I didn’t expect him to.
Devona continued ripping away at Amon’s flesh. Her face was covered with blood, and she looked as savage and wild as the bear she battled. It was hard to reconcile this Devona with the one I’d so recently been linked to. But I didn’t have time to think about that. Amon had backed up against the iron railing and his form began to shimmer and change.