Book 2 - Daemons Are Forever (26 page)

I strode through the corridors and connecting rooms of the Hall, fuming to myself and glaring at any member of the family who got in my way. Most had the sense to keep well back. None of them spoke to me, just watched silently as I passed. Which suited me. Just one snide comment and I would have knocked them down.

Still, mad as I was, a part of me stood back, shaking its head and saying
This isn’t like you. You always believed in don’t get mad, get even
. When the Matriarch denounced me as a rogue, and sentenced me to death, I didn’t lose my rag; I went straight into planning how to bring her down. But then, I’d known I was innocent; that I hadn’t done anything wrong. That kept me going, despite all the obstacles put in my path. This…was different. There wasn’t room in me for anything but anger, most of it aimed at myself.

Because I screwed up. I got my people killed. My family. And nothing else mattered. By the time I got to the front door, the anger had died down to a dull throb, and I was thinking more clearly. Or at least clearly enough that I was more concerned about Molly than myself. I hadn’t taken her seriously enough, when she said she
couldn’t
live in the Hall; that she needed to live among living things, in the wild. I knew she was having trouble adjusting, but I thought she’d get over it… now I had to wonder if she ever would. If she ever could. This was a woman used to living in her own private forest, after all. While I … had to stay here, in the Hall, or risk losing control of the family.

Martha had already told me to my face that she was only waiting for me to make a mess of things, so she could come sweeping back and restore the Matriarchy. And what then? The restoring of all the old ways? Gold armour instead of silver, paid for by the sacrifice of children? Back to the family running the world instead of protecting it? No. I couldn’t let that happen. My duty to the family outweighed my duty to myself. It always had. I couldn’t turn my back on my family, not even for Molly. It’s always the family ties that matter, whether we like it or not.

I could lose Molly. The only woman I ever loved.

I came to the front entrance, strode through the front door, and then stopped and looked down the long gravel path as an ambulance materialised suddenly out of thin air. This rather caught my attention, as nothing is supposed to be able to materialise in our grounds unless we give permission well in advance. Which mostly we don’t. The ambulance came roaring up the path to the Hall, and then skidded to a halt right in front of me, spraying my shins with flying gravel. The sign on the side of the ambulance said
Dr. Syn’s Fly by Night Delivery Service
. The cab door opened and the driver got out. A cheerful sort in the traditional starched white uniform. He strode over to me, thrust a clipboard and pen into my hands, and saluted briskly.

“Sign here, squire. One looney to go, and no I don’t answer questions. I just drop people off and leg it before they can turn nasty. Sign there, please, on the dotted line. You are acknowledging delivery of one William Dominic Drood, also known as Oddly John. And get a move on, squire; I’ve got this American gentleman and his giant rabbit to drop off yet.”

I signed Harry’s name where indicated, and handed back the clipboard. I’ve always been a cautious sort. The driver saluted me again, went around to the back of the ambulance, unlocked a very heavy padlock, and pulled open the doors with a hearty cry of, “
Come on out you lovely honey, you’re home
.” William Drood stepped out of the ambulance, blinking in the bright summer light, and the driver took him firmly by one arm and brought him over to me.

“Here you are, squire. One headbanger, as ordered. Hours of fun for the whole family. Try not to lose him; you wouldn’t believe the paperwork if I have to chase him down again. Have a nice day! Forgetting you already!”

One more salute and he was back in the cab again. The ambulance screeched off down the gravel path and disappeared in midscreech. The day seemed suddenly, blessedly, quiet.

“What an appalling cheerful person,” said William. “I really must remember to send him a note of thanks. Inside a letter bomb.”

“Welcome back, William,” I said. “Welcome home.”

He nodded vaguely and looked around him. He didn’t seem particularly happy to be back. He did look better than the last time I’d seen him, alone in his cell at the Happy Daze sanatorium. They’d dressed him up in a good suit before sending him home, though he looked distinctly ill at ease in it. In fact, he looked generally uneasy. His face seemed somehow in between expressions, and his eyes were as haunted as ever. As though he was still seeing strange worlds and alternate realities out of the corner of his eyes. And given who he was … I said his name again, and his gaze slowly returned to me. I put out my hand, and after a pause he shook it solemnly.

“Do you remember me?” I said.

“Of course I remember you, Edwin. I’m not completely gaga. You came to see me in … that place. You got a message to me, saying it was safe to come home again. So here I am. I do hope you’re right, Edwin.”

“It’s good to have you back, where you belong,” I said.

“Is it?” he said vaguely, looking at the Hall behind me as though he’d never seen it before. “It doesn’t feel like home. But then it didn’t, even before I left. I found something out, you see, and then nothing seemed the same anymore. I can’t even say I feel like William Dominic Drood, either. I think I was happier as Oddly John. Nobody ever expected anything of him. I think perhaps … I left William here, when I went away. Maybe now I’m back, he’ll come back too. If it’s safe. I saw something, you see, in the Sanctity…”

“It’s all right, William,” I said quickly. “I know what you saw. What you found out. Everyone knows now. The Heart is dead, destroyed, and all its evil with it. We have new armour now, from a new source. There’s nothing here to be afraid of anymore.”

He looked at me sadly. “That would be nice. But we’re Droods. So there’s always something to be afraid of. Comes with the territory. I’ve been afraid of so many things, for such a long time now.”

“Is there anyone particular in the family you want to see?” I said, carefully changing the subject. “Anyone you’ve missed?”

“No,” said William after a moment. “Never had any family of my own. And old friends … so long ago, it seems. I don’t think I want them to see me like this. Not…properly myself yet. Whoever that turns out to be.”

“I know what you need,” I said firmly. “You were the best librarian the family ever had; and I’ve got a wonderful surprise for you. We have rediscovered the old library, after all these years. We need someone like you to put the place in order.”

William looked at me sharply, his face intent and focused for the first time. “The old library? But that was destroyed by fire, centuries ago!”

“No,” I said, grinning. “Just hidden away, waiting to be found. And you’re not going to believe some of the treasures it contains. Come along.”

I took him back through the Hall, and he gawked around him like a tourist, as though he’d never seen any of it before. Perhaps he’d forgotten it all, in his efforts to forget what he’d seen in the Sanctity. He’d had to forget, to survive. He’d put himself in the asylum, hiding from the family and what he’d discovered about it. He pretended to be mad to get in, but as the years went by he had to pretend less and less. He’d been gone so long that none of the people we passed along the way recognised him, and he showed no interest in talking with any of them. I took him through to the library, and he brightened immediately. He walked back and forth among the stacks, smiling as he recognised this book or that, and tut-tuting at the state of the place. He was standing straighter now, his gaze was sharper, and he walked with more confidence. Back on his own ground, more of who he used to be was coming back to him.

Already he was looking and sounding more like the librarian I remembered as a child.

When I thought he was ready, I took him to the portrait of the old library hanging on the rear wall, opened it up with the right Words, and we stepped through the portrait and into the old library itself. The huge depository of ancient family lore and forgotten world history. William took a deep breath, staring at the miles and miles of shelves with eyes as wide and delighted as a child. Stacks and stacks of books, manuscripts, scrolls, and even a few stone tablets, stretching away into the distance for as far as the eye could see. William smiled suddenly, and it was like his whole face came alive at last. I smiled too, glad I’d finally done something right. The Hall might not feel like home to him, but the old library certainly did.

“To get you started,” I said casually, “you might like to do a little research for me. I need everything you can find on Kandarian culture, and in particular any old summoning rites concerning Beings called the Invaders. Take your time. End of the day would be fine.”

“I know, I know,” he said, in a typically snotty librarian’s voice. “Nothing changes. You want the impossible, and you want it to a schedule. Am I expected to do this all by myself, or do I have any staff?”

“You have a staff of one,” I said. “Namely, the current librarian. Rafe? Rafe, where are you?”

A head popped out of the stacks further down, a hand waved cheerfully, and a pleasant young chap with a bright, beaming face hurried over to join us. I liked Rafe. The previous librarian had resigned his post when I took over; not just a Zero Tolerance member but also one of the Matriarch’s cronies, he refused to serve under me. I was forced to promote his assistant to full librarian. He hadn’t done too badly. It helped that he loved his job, and practically went into ecstasies when he first saw the old library. He was currently trying to track down an index, so we could get some idea of just what we had on our hands.

“Hi!” he said to William, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “I’m Rafe. Short for Raphael, which I never use. I am not a turtle. You must be William. You’re a legend, in librarian circles. Which, admittedly, aren’t as big as they might be. But! Here you are, back again, just in time to help me make sense of all this mess. No one’s used this place in centuries, and it shows. I said I needed expert help, but you could have knocked me down with a feather when Edwin said he could get you! And here you are! Really looking forward to working with you!”

“Don’t worry,” I said to William. “He calms down a bit once he gets used to you. And the Ritalin in his tea helps.”

“Let’s get to work,” said William.

And he strode off into the stacks, not looking back at either of us. Rafe nodded quickly to me, grinned, and hurried off after his new mentor. I grinned and shook my head, as William sent Rafe running from stack to stack, searching out ancient volumes and sacred texts, shouting after him like a shepherd with his dog.

With any luck, putting the old library in order would help William put himself back in order too.

When I stepped back through the portal into the main library, Penny was waiting for me. I turned my back on her to shut down the portrait, and then walked right past her without speaking. A little childish, perhaps, but I really wasn’t in the mood to be messed with. Penny just strode along beside me, cool and collected as always.

“You’re not an easy man to track down, Eddie. If someone hadn’t happened to mention they saw William Drood in the corridors, I’d never have thought to look here. Has he really been in a madhouse all these years? Never mind; you were right about the tutors so hopefully you’ll be right about the rogues too. Will you please slow down, Eddie! We need to talk!”

“No we don’t,” I said, not slowing down.

“Yes we do! In your absence, the Inner Circle has voted Harry in as a full member. Everyone agreed. Even the Armourer, though that was probably only because Harry is James’s son…Anyway, the point is the Inner Circle then voted unanimously that you not be allowed to make any more decisions of a military nature without consulting the Inner Circle first. And that you should not implement any such decisions without the full support of the Circle. You do see what that means? Do slow down, Eddie, I’m getting a stitch in my side. Well? Have you nothing to say?”

“Trust me,” I said. “You really don’t want to hear what I feel like saying.”

“Eddie…”

“None of this matters,” I said flatly. “I put the Inner Circle together to advise me. Nothing more.”

“I see,” Penny said coldly. “So you’re the Patriarch now, is that it? You’re running the family all on your own, answerable to no one?”

“Change the subject,” I said, and she must have heard something in my voice, because she did.

“I’ve finally managed to make contact with the rogue known as the Mole. Thanks to some rather imaginative work by our communications staff, who turned out to be far too au fait with underground information systems for my liking…You did say you wanted the Mole brought back into the fold…”

“He could be very useful to us,” I said, just a little defiantly. “When he went rogue he went underground, literally, and put together an information network unmatched anywhere else in the world. He knows things, things no one else knows. And he’s in contact with all kinds of powerful groups and individuals who wouldn’t even dream of talking to us directly. We need the Mole, and his sources.”

“Well, unfortunately the Mole refuses to leave his hole,” said Penny. “Even though we did everything we could to reassure him of his safety here. He’s made it very clear he won’t leave his refuge for any reason. But you must have impressed him, because he has agreed to help us search out information on what the Loathly Ones are up to, and the possible locations of other nests. Right now he’s teleconferencing with some of our brightest technogeeks, and no doubt teaching them all kinds of unfortunate new tricks.”

I nodded and slowed my pace a little. Penny was starting to puff. “That’s really the best we could hope for, with the Mole,” I said. “I’ll talk to him later. Any other rogues surfaced yet?”

“We’ve put the word out,” said Penny. “But it’s up to them to contact us. And many of them have good reason to be … cautious. So; that’s all my news. I am off. Things to see, people to do…”