I bit my lip.
“Thank you, Clemenza” I said.“Can you hang on here for a little bit?There’s a chance my friend is…”
The dumpy witch shook her head.
“I’m sorry.I’m headed over to Penn for backup.”
“That’s just around the corner, right?”I asked.
She scratched her head.
“Yeah, but they’re facing something bad.Look, we’re all hands on deck,” she said.“I’ll get kicked off Civil Service if I don’t make my appointment time.Because there won’t be a Civil Wyrd Corps left if they don’t have everybody there.”
“What all’s been happening?”
“Near as we can tell, a series of Hellgates popped up all over the city,” Clemenza said.“It’s bad.The dead are coming back to life, and most malicious-by-nature creatures are being take control of.”
That explained the ducks.
“What’s causing it, do you know?”
“We can’t pinpoint the magic,” she said.“It is magic.It’s just magic like we haven’t seen in centuries.I heard someone got a lead on who it was, but he can’t say the name.Whoever it was got ahold of him and sealed his throat shut.”
“Can you reverse it?”
“Once we find out who all is behind this, sure,” she said.“Until then.It’s every witch for themselves.”
“What about the dead?”I asked.
“They stay dead,” Clemenza said.“I have to go.If you need us, we’ll be at the Mall.If you can catch me, I can give you a ride back.”
“Thanks Clemenza!”I said.
She smiled and nodded at me.
“Sisters supporting sisters, am I right?Hey, you should come hang out at one of our coven meetings sometime.I heard word that you may be a little talented.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” I said.
“Stacey.Magic isn’t just channeled into spells, you know.Magic is in the sky.It’s in the air.It’s in the water.It’s in the words we say, the things we write, and the monuments we leave behind.Most of us use it without even realizing what it is.”
“Really?”I asked.
“Really,” she said.“Why do you think so many idiots get into positions of power?”
“I wondered about that,” I said.
“Ta,” she said, and she and her goose got a running start off the edge of the building.The goose honked unhappily, and they flapped off awkwardly into the night.
“Gotta find Tamara,” I said.
The door to the roof escape was open.That… well… it was something.Something good or bad, I wasn’t sure yet.
I descendeddown the roof access stairwell one step at a time, trying to make as little noise as possible.The power seemed to be out.Faded yellow emergency lights were flickering on and off in the hallways.I could hear my own breath in my ears.In, out.In, out.I kept thinking about the card in my pocket—watching carefully behind me, in front of me.As I hit the top floor—a sign helpfully let me know this was the eighteenth floor—I did some quick calculations.Tamara’s apartment was on the fifth floor.I’d have to go down thirteen levels.
Thirteen levels.My calves were aching already from my earlier spill, and the awkward iron-vise thigh-hug I gave that goose threatened to disturb my chastity.This lady’s gams were toast.I wanted to sit back and cry, but there was nothing for it but to trudge on.
A bloody handprint against one wall smeared over and around another corner.I tried not to look at it—tried to avoid that corridor at all costs.I could hear some people whimpering and whispering behind closed doors.There was a building blueprint next to the fire escape.Theoretically, as I traced it, I realized I could take the fire escape outside all the way down and avoid interior traffic.
