Chapter 32

I began to hear footsteps walking around above my head and voices. The whole household was probably awake. At the moment, the only light in the basement was coming from the candle I'd used to represent fire. I picked up my athame, closed it, and dropped it into the pocket of my pajamas.

All three of my minds were concentrated marvelously. I turned on the light over the sitting area, snuffed the candle, hastily slid all four chairs under the table, and headed for the stairs. I noticed that Harvey's fur was puffed out.

On my way up, I heard Mom say, "Did something explode?" When she saw me, she asked, "Did something blow up in the basement?" Mary was standing beside her, and Audrey was hiding behind her legs.

"Not that I saw," I replied.

Aunt Kate came from the hallway. She was carrying Susan, who was crying. Dad appeared from behind her, and then Andy with Rich and Charlie. Dad had taken the time to pull on a pair of pants; he normally slept in his underwear. Charlie hadn't been crying at first, but seeing Susan doing so apparently set him off, and he began to wail, too.

I couldn't tell which consciousness was in charge of my body. We were all working together without comment or dissent. I headed for my bedroom and pulled on a pair of kakis over my pajamas. I transferred the athame to a trouser pocket and then put on a sweater Mom had knitted. I went back out and headed straight for my boots. I didn't see Dad and Andy, but I presumed they were checking the basement.

"Where in hell are you going?" Mom asked.

"I'm going to look around outside," I said as I continued dressing. Mom wasn't in any mood to argue, apparently, and turned her attention back to calming Charlie. Mary had an arm around Rich. He wasn't crying, but he looked upset. I pulled on my coat and went out the back door into the garage. As soon as the door shut, I began softly singing a Christmas carol.

My star amulet, of course, hung against my chest. I only took the talisman off to bathe. I started trying to call manna while at the same time singing. The Arthur part of my brain took up the song while the "I" part began to chant internally and to picture the manna flowing in: Please come to me. I need you. Please come to me.

I went out the side door to the east and then walked around to the front of the house, the north. It had to be cold outside, but I didn't feel it. My body was on automatic as I walked. Music without my guitar hadn't yet been enough alone to call manna, so the Ursus part of my mind was focused on achieving a light trance in record time. I walked to the end of the driveway and turned around as if I were examining the roof. My gaze, however, was all internal.

Arthur's song was not yet finished when Ursus achieved a timeless moment and filled us with as much manna as we could hold. Ursus and Arthur both turned their attention upon maintaining our grip on the magical energy as I took out and opened the athame and walked closer to the house. I held the knife deep in my hand so that only the point stood out between my thumb and forefinger. It would not do to have someone look out a window and see me waving it around.

I faced the north. While visualizing a line of air flowing from the tip of the athame, I drew the pentagram for air and fed it manna as I did so. "May the elemental power of air bless and protect this circle, this home, and its occupants."

I continued to the east. As I walked, I pictured the line of air slowly turning into a line of earth. I passed through the gate to the backyard. When I reached the approximate center of the east side of the house, I drew the pentagram for earth. "May the elemental power of earth bless and protect this circle, this home, and its occupants."

I continued to the south, crunched through the snow, fed manna, and slowly changed the line pouring out of my athame from earth to fire. At the back of the house, I drew the pentagram for fire. "May the elemental power of fire bless and protect this circle, this home, and its occupants."

I walked to the west while changing the line of fire to water. I drew the pentagram for water. "May the elemental power of water bless and protect this circle, this home, and its occupants."

The other gate hadn't been cleared of snow, but I managed push it open a little and squeeze through while maintaining my concentration. I continued back to the north while visualizing the water turn into air. When I closed circle, I felt Ursus strengthen it with the rest of our manna. That should slow the demon down if he decides to come back, he thought.

At about that time, Dad appeared around front. Presumably, he had come from the same door I had used. "Did you find anything?" he asked me.

"I went all around the house, but I didn't see anything that could have made the house shake."

"Thunder can sometimes happen this time of year, but the sky is clear, so that wasn't it," he said.

Dad, of course, needed to make his own inspection, so I left him to it and went back inside. I hoped he didn't tromp over the protective circle too much and weaken it. As soon as I was through the door, Mom asked me if I had found anything, and I gave her the same answer I had given Dad.

Aunt Kate was rocking Susan in the family room. Andy was with her. Mary and my two brothers were gone. I guessed that Mary was putting them back to bed.

"Why don't you go see if you can get some more sleep?" Mom said.

"That sounds like a fine idea." I went back downstairs. I took off my outer clothes and lay back down on the couch in my pajamas, but there wasn't much chance that I was going to fall back to sleep any time soon. Besides, there were things I had to do yet, once the household settled back down.

Did you noticed what happened outside? Ursus asked.

It was difficult for one of my minds to keep something from the other minds if they wanted to know it, but it was easier to just ask, What?

We managed to think of three different things at once.

Cool! Arthur thought.

Interesting, I thought. Did you know something like that might eventually happen?

I never considered it, but it certainly will be a useful benefit of our condition. We spent some time musing on the possibilities as we waited for the lights to go off upstairs and the human noises to stop. Harvey gave an inquiring mew and jumped up on me. I petted him while he purred.

This magician is a bad guy, then? asked Arthur.

He's calling the wicked type of demon "lord." That's decisive. If he wasn't a bad guy when he started trafficking with demons, he is now.

And we have him thoroughly pissed off at us, thought Arthur.

Indeed, thought Ursus, the demon, too. Consider this a teaching moment. Magic can be dangerous business, and I suspect that being in such a young body has rendered me less cautious than my wont. I underestimated the effective magical techniques known on this node and let us go blundering around. Now, we are in deep shit.

Blame it on hormones! I said.

What are we going to do? Arthur asked.

Ursus, justifiably, ignored me and answered Arthur. For now, we need to shore up our defenses, as we've been doing. Next, we need to get rid of the demon and stop the bad guy from summoning it again, or others like it.

That's reassuringly vague, I thought. Do you mean something like an exorcism? I had seen a movie on television about such an event.

It could be. Or maybe we can kill the demon or trap it in something. All three are possible actions on various nodes. We need to find out more, and fast. Damn it! I haven't felt this foolish in years.

That's the demon. How do we stop the magician? I asked.

I could feel Ursus hesitate before answering. We have to find a way to cut him off from his power, or we have to kill him.

I'm not a murderer.

I could feel Ursus get angry. Neither am I! He sent a demon after us. That's deadly business. If we take him out, it's self-defense.

The law says it's self-defense only in the heat of the moment. You can't calmly plan to kill someone and call it self-defense. That's plain murder.