“We don’t need it.” She climbed up to the driver’s seat.
I swallowed my reluctance—it was the first coach I’d touched since my death—and climbed up onto the seat. It was very odd, sitting in the barouche with no horses before us. Clementine made a circular motion in the air and said,“Girar.”The barouche jolted into motion obligingly, rolling over the cobblestones in the most natural manner, as if there were indeed a pair of horses diligently pulling us forward.
My eyes opened wide with wonder. “Clementine,” I said. “This is…extraordinary.”
She glanced at me sideways and gave a quick smile. “I’ve never been able to try it for fear of drawing too much attention.” Looking both ways quickly at the corner of Essex Street, she motioned to the left and called out,“Girar. Con prisa.”The barouche swerved neatly leftward and picked up the pace, eager as a racehorse, coursing along the cobblestones faster than any coachman would deem wise.
Here on Essex Street, farther from the path of the Rabeno, some people still dared to open shutters and windows to look down on the street below, though their doors remained firmly closed. A young man in a second-story window stared at us, mouth agape, as we bounced by. I gave him a cheerful wave before resuming my grip on the handrail. Then, after two more blocks, the cobblestone ended and gave way to the packed dirt of the Salem Turnpike.“Con prisa,”Clem said again, and the carriage, with an air of gleeful liberation, burst into furious speed.
Sam: The Duel
Lucir: This casting will only function upon certain materials. The greater the material’s translucence, the better. Glass, water, and clear oils are most adaptable tolucir.
—Euphemia Parra,Encantos de palabra(translation mine)
Saturday, September 29, 1888
Our original plan had not required racing to the Manse in an enchanted barouche. The Sor Juana Alliance would venture to the Manse while we conducted the séance, and Clem and I would arrive afterward with Roy. But what I’d seen in Roy’s thoughts had upended our plans.
“Tell me,” Clem demanded, as we bolted along the dirt road. She had a grim look in her eye. I’d allowed my appearance to return to normal, and Clem had removed the lacquered comb and given it to me for safekeeping.
“Wister and the other Sor Juanas never arrived at the Manse.”
“What happened?”
“The Cisneros Society attacked Keel House.”
“Demonios,”she cursed. “One of their thews must have picked up a stray thought. How badly?”
“It might have been worse, for as soon as we started the séance, all of Cisneros descended upon the Lyceum.”
“So the Manse is unguarded.” The carriage hit a pothole that jolted us several inches into the air.
“Yes. And the task falls to us,” I said, my solemnity somewhat compromised by the way I was bouncing like a rubber ball. “We’llhave to destroy the portal alone. It’s likely we won’t have help for a while.”
She looked at me grimly before turning her eyes back to the road. “Very well. I understand.”
“We’ll leave again as soon as the portal is destroyed,” I said. “Perhaps we can avoid a confrontation.”
Clem didn’t say anything. We rode on in silence.
The trip to Lynn Woods was accomplished in record time, and unless he’d flown there on the back of some creature created by the Cisneros Steel, Draken couldn’t have reached the Manse before us. As we approached the property, still in the animated carriage, everything seemed calm and quiet within. Clementine halted the barouche with a quick word and alighted rapidly. “Which way?” she asked me.
I pointed toward the trees, a prickle of dread arising at the sight of that familiar entrance into the woods. How many times had I walked this path, preparing myself to enter the realm, calming my nerves, wondering if I would survive? My reluctance slowed my steps, and Clementine vanished between the trees before I’d even reached the entrance to the grove. “Stand guard,” she called to me, unseen. I was glad to do so.
I looked back at the mansion, which in the bright sunlight looked almost inviting. The rectangular fountain, lined by two long flagstone paths, bubbled cheerfully. Water lilies opened their pale faces to the sun, their waxy petals immovable, perfect. A pair of house sparrows tussled near the shrubs that bordered the paths, darting in and out, the branches rustling against their wings. Why was it so different to beinthe world? Watching from the realm of the dead was like kissing one’s beloved through a pane of glass. There was a sense of proximity, but noscent or touch or warmth; one was aware of the separation more than anything. Even here, in this place where I’d experienced mostly terror, the vividness of the living world was overwhelming in its beauty.
My eye was drawn back to the grove into which Clementine had vanished, and I saw a pillar of smoke rising from within. I hurried through the trees to find her.
She stood ten paces back from the cottage, watching it burn. I’d arrived in time to see the door devoured by flames; around it, the stone walls disappeared behind sheets of fire. Then the flames engulfed the wood-shingle roof, racing up one side in a matter of seconds. I watched, mouth agape, as the roof imploded like paper, crumpling into the cottage and collapsing the front wall. It had taken less than a minute. Clementine raised her right hand and closed her fist.“Cesar,”she said quietly.
The flames obediently shrank and then dwindled, leaving a charred pile of stones and tendrils of smoke that snaked delicately upward. All that had survived was the pile of rope by my feet that some unfortunate had used to lash himself to the door. The portal to the spirit realm was gone.
I surveyed the destruction, impressed by its thoroughness. By some instinct or attachment, I reached down to pick up the rope. It wasn’t as good as one of my father’s, but it was sturdy, the fibers whole. “Clem,” I said to her, “I’ve been wondering. Was it real fire or false fire, what you launched at Simeon and Sikes?”
She turned slowly and gave me a smile. “You were watching?”
I returned her smile. “That was the day I first saw you. You’d run afoul of Simeon Trench earlier that day, and I was worried. You didn’t seem well-equipped to defend yourself.”
