Under stress, thrown into close proximity with him for so long, perhaps she does not even know herself what she really feels. And then there is whatever spell Veitch has cast over the three of you-’
‘Will both of you shut up!’ Tom snapped. ‘It’s only love. Anybody would think you were fretting about something important.’
‘Haven’t you ever been in love?’ Church responded sharply.
‘Why, yes. I fell in love with the queen of the Court of the Yearning Heart. She kidnapped me from my home and had me torn apart and rebuilt by that bastard Dian Cecht. I think that’s what you call a metaphor. Never again.’
Church sighed. ‘All right, beats me.’ He pushed his empty glass towards Tom. ‘Make yourself useful. And have a small sherry yourself while you’re at it.’
Muttering and grumbling, Tom went to the bar.
‘I’m not going to give up on Ruth,’ Church said to Shavi. ‘I crossed two thousand years to get back to her. This won’t stop me.’
‘That is good.’
‘There’s something else.’ Ever since he had arrived in New York, he hadn’t been able to bring himself even to think about the devastating revelation that had emerged in the Forbidden City, but it loomed darkly over everything he did, and everything they planned. ‘In Beijing, while you were off with Tom, I was given a vision of my future. There’s no easy way to say this: the Libertarian is me. I become him, sometime in the future, because of how I feel about Ruth. Everything falls apart because of me, because of my failure. I become that sick killer working for the Void.’
Outside in the street, police sirens blared past.
‘All that slaughter he carried out as he moved through time — how could I do that? It’s all got to be inside me, somewhere. Is the Pendragon Spirit just a lie?’
‘Nothing is written, Church. You know that. Time does not exist. Reality is not fixed. These concepts are all just illusions we create so our poor human brains can cope with what is out there. Remember, reality changes, like the globe that Dian Cecht showed you in the Court of the Final Word. Put pressure on one point and another part shifts to accommodate it.’
Another police car sped by.
‘Matter cannot be destroyed,’ Shavi continued. ‘Nor can energy, which is why no one ever really dies. It all just reforms in endless new shapes. Whatever you were shown, you can change it.’
‘I wish I could have your faith.’
‘I told you — that is why I am here, so you do not have to.’ Shavi followed Church’s gaze to Tom at the bar. ‘Why did you wait until Tom had gone to tell me about the Libertarian?’
‘He’s getting back his old flashes of the future. Why didn’t he say anything about me becoming the Libertarian?’
‘Because he is protecting you as he always has, from the moment you met. He is the best friend you could ever hope for.’
Church watched Tom wind his way back through the drinkers, just another sixties burn-out mourning Jerry Garcia, no sign of all the scars he kept assiduously hidden away.
‘Yeah, I’m a useless friend, aren’t I? One day I’ll get over this whole self-obsessed thing.’
‘I think we are all allowed one flaw.’
Church took his drink from Tom and raised his glass. ‘Here we go, then: no happy endings!’
They all drank to it.
2
‘It’s a big city. How are we supposed to find the Second Key before Veitch?’ Church stood outside McSorley’s looking uptown. ‘He could already have him.’
‘I think we would know,’ Tom replied. ‘Probably from the hell-fire raining all around.’
‘No luck with the ring?’
Tom twisted the gold ring around his finger, bitterness darkening his expression. ‘Next to useless here. I think it’s because we’re not exactly sure what our heart’s desire is,’ he added pointedly. ‘Is it me or is it cold?’
‘It’s you. You’re old.’
Shavi returned from the alley where he had been attempting to meditate. His frustrated expression gave away his failure. ‘This is the most unspiritual city on Earth. Even with the power of the Blue Fire at its height, I am finding it near-impossible to tap into anything.’
‘We’re lucky it didn’t spit us out of the Blue on the city limits,’ Church said, enjoying the feeling of being slightly drunk.
‘We could always petition whatever gods we have awakened in this Great Dominion,’ Shavi said.
‘I’d steer clear of that lot wherever possible,’ Tom warned.
Not too far away, the police sirens had congregated. The drone made Church’s head ache. ‘I wish this Mundane Spell would shatter once and for all.’
‘It’s the disguise the Void wears,’ Tom said. ‘It’ll hold on to it until there’s no hope of maintaining the illusion.’
‘And then?’
‘Then the Army of the Ten Billion Spiders will come out and take everything apart so they can start all over again.’
Shavi tugged on Church’s sleeve. ‘Look at that.’
Amongst the tall buildings, the
‘A portent,’ Church said. ‘Bad times ahead. As if we didn’t know.’
‘No,’ Shavi insisted. ‘They are moving differently this time. Do you see?’
The birds always appeared to have an eerie intelligence, but now they were acting with an out-of-character singular purpose. Fleeting shapes appeared in the apparently random pattern of their flight. After a moment, Church began to see them more clearly.
‘Is that a key?’ Shavi said.
‘And an arrow,’ Tom added.
‘They are trying to guide us,’ Shavi exclaimed.
‘I don’t get it,’ Church said. ‘They’ve never done anything like this before. Why now?’
Despite his doubts, Church allowed himself to be persuaded by Shavi and Tom, who both argued that they had no other lead. They made their way towards the Bowery. The police sirens had died but there was still activity all around, cars driving too fast, people running, glancing over their shoulders, others talking intensely into mobile phones.
High above the cityscape, Church got a fleeting impression of a burning figure in the sky, but it was lost to the lights and the looming buildings. Before he had time to consider what he had seen, tyres screeched as a Lexus swerved across the road and mounted the kerb next to them. Two men in casual suits were out before the engine had died. Both had guns. One held out a police badge. He had an acne-pitted face and thin ginger hair.
‘Stay where you are.’ He identified Church as the main threat. ‘These the ones?’ he asked his partner.
An African-American, almost too tall to fit in the car, checked his BlackBerry, glancing up and down a couple of times before grunting, ‘Sure looks like it.’
‘Whatever you think we’ve done-’ Church began.
‘You just opened your mouth,’ the ginger-haired one said with faux incredulity. ‘I wouldn’t do it again. Turn around.’
As handcuffs were snapped on, the other detective radioed for support and ended his conversation with a hearty, ‘No shit!’
Turning to his partner, he said, ‘Eddie, you are not going to believe this.’
‘I believe everything you say, Detective Brinks. You’re my mom, my priest and Superman, all rolled into one.’
