half-lich 02 - void weaver by katerina martinez Page A

leather jacket covered in dust. “Did you get it?” he said.
    “It’ll be back. I don’t think bullets will kill the old man.”
    “You know what that thing was ?”
    Alice marched down the hall, past Cameron, and grabbed him by the arm. “I do, and we need to get the fuck out of here.”
    “What? Wait! We just got here. What about Raegan and her mom?”
    “Raegan is gone, and Raegan’s mom is all over your jacket and all over this house. We need to leave and get someplace safe—someone will have heard those gun shots.”
    She ran past him, then, heading straight for the front door and yanking it open in her stride. Raegan’s apartment was the one at the end of the hall. When Alice turned to head out of it into the dark, light-less corridor stretching before her, she noticed something was different. The doors to the apartments along the hall were open. Had they been open before? She didn’t think so.
    When Cameron came rushing out of Raegan’s apartment, he found Alice staring into the long hall—almost frozen.
    “What is it?” he asked.
    “Dust…” she said, and she pointed.
    From behind the threshold of each open door, thin puffs of shimmering dust were being exhaled. And from behind the clouds of dust, things were beginning to emerge.
     

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 10

     
    Blood of a Shadow
    The only door in the dark, cramped room led Isaac through an equally dark and stuffy corridor. The walls and ceiling were lined with pipes and rubber tubes, and though the darkness was near-total, Isaac could see the distinct shapes of two other doors—one to the right, and one at the end of the corridor.
    Jim led the way, and Isaac followed his silhouette. When Jim arrived at the far door, he placed his hand on the locking mechanism, and said “Ouvrir”—the French word for “open.” The wedding ring on Jim’s hand suddenly flashed with soft blue light, there was a click, and Jim pulled the door open revealing to Isaac exactly where they were.
    They were in the subway.
    Isaac stepped out of the corridor and onto the tracks, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up as he went. This tunnel was dark too, but in a moment it filled with soft blue light emanating from Isaac’s magic bangle. He raised his arm to chest height and the light touched cables that ran along the floor like black snakes, train tracks that disappeared into an open mouth of nothingness, and struts and support beams which cast sinister shadows that seemed to follow Isaac’s movements.
    “Where the hell have you brought me, Jim?” Isaac asked.
    “We’re underneath the Warwick district,” Jim said, “In a section of the subway which has been shut down for about, oh, fifteen years or so.”
    “That’s good to know.”
    “Don’t worry. This place hasn’t seen a train in as long as that. Barely sees any humans, either. I’m the only one who comes down here; the only one who can come down here.”
    In the darkness rats squeaked, water dripped, and shadows watched.
    “What do you mean by the only one who can come down here ?” Isaac asked.
    “This place is one of my protectorates,” Jim said, “I have set up magical wards to keep it obscured from humans and free from interference by other supernatural entities. As best as I can, in any case. Creating any kind of lasting, blanket protection is difficult even for a trained librarian such as myself.”
    “Don’t you have help? An assistant, perhaps?”
    “I had considered it, but I’m a private man, Isaac, and I like to be in control. I didn’t want to risk anyone knowing my secrets. Any mage worth his salt will know the location of the majority of the areas I maintain, but this place is a secret I hope to keep for a very long time.”
    “Aren’t you about to break your own promise to yourself by bringing me here?” Isaac asked.
    “I’m willing to make an exception in this case.”
    “Why?”
    Jim stopped walking and turned to look at Isaac. In the soft blue glow, he looked like