With a final twist of the sword, Simon withdrew his boot anchors and yanked the blade free. A paroxysm shuddered through the demon. The tentacles whipsawed through the water and churned the silt from the lake bottom.
Holding his breath, Simon turned and ran toward the lake’s edge. Even with the armor’s amplified strength pushing him onward, the going was hard. When he got there, Miriam waited with her sword drawn.
FORTY-FOUR
Who’s the woman?” Miriam demanded.
Sword in hand, Simon looked back over his shoulder. Leah strode from the lake in the one-piece black armor. She didn’t wear her mask. Her hair hung wet and heavy. She didn’t carry a weapon.
“She’s my friend,” Simon said.
Miriam smiled, and it was a ghastly caricature of the expression Simon had seen on her face in times past. “Then ‘your friend’ has come all this way to watch you die.”
“No. I didn’t come here to die, Miriam.”
“Simon,” Leah called.
Simon shifted so that he could keep an eye on both women.
“This isn’t real,” Leah told him. “None of it. You’re dreaming. Or I’m dreaming.”
“This isn’t a dream.” Simon stood his ground uneasily.
“How did you get here?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. The last thing you remember is that you went to sleep, right? Back in the redoubt?”
Simon shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense. I’m here. I feel like I’m here. My sword feels real. That demon in the lake felt real.”
“I know.” Leah’s voice was patient. “I’ve been going through this for days.”
“Going through what?”
“I’ve been taken prisoner by the demons. They’re holding me at the Apple store. They’ve got me in some kind of machine that—”
“Shut up!” Miriam snarled. She whipped a hand forward and a dagger glittered as it spun through the air toward Leah.
Simon reached for the deadly blade, but even his amplified reflexes were too slow. The dagger buried to the hilt in Leah’s chest.
Curious, not seeming at all in pain or concerned, Leah glanced down at the knife protruding from her sternum. “This isn’t real.” She grasped the knife and pulled it from her flesh.
There was no blood, no wound.
She looked up at Simon. “You’re dreaming. Do you see? But it’s dangerous in here. While you’re dreaming, the demons access your mind. You’ve got to wake up.” She threw the knife at him.
Effortlessly now, Simon plucked the twirling knife from the air. It tinked against his armored palm.
Miriam drew a sword from her back and sliced the air. In response, the blade ignited and became wreathed in flames.
“I’m going to kill you, Simon.”
Miriam started forward, and the heat from her sword baked into Simon’s exposed flesh. “You can listen to your little harpy all you want to. She’s just going to be the death of you.”
“Simon, don’t—” Whatever else Leah was going to say was lost when she abruptly faded from view.
Moving slowly, never stepping over his feet, so he remained balanced, Simon kept his sword in front of him. “Where is she?”
“Who?” Miriam’s smile was sweet poison.
“What happened to her?”
“She was never here. Just a figment of your pitiful imagination.” Miriam slashed with her sword, coming close to Simon but not making him yet defend himself. “Are you in love, Simon?”
Simon paced carefully. Miriam was good at swordplay. But this wasn’t Miriam.
“You’re not real, are you?” Simon asked.
In a blinding display of skill, Miriam exchanged a quick flurry of thrusts and cuts, and managed to slice into Simon’s left thigh. Warm blood trickled down his thigh.
“How real do you think I am now, Simon?”
Without answering, Simon attacked. He used his height, longer reach, and superior strength to batter at her defenses. Metal rang and the clangor echoed over the lake.
Then ripples started out in the middle of the lake. Within seconds, tentacles clustered at the top of the water and came toward shore.
“You didn’t think that was the only demon down there, did you?” Miriam struck at Simon’s unprotected eyes and turned him so that his back was to the lake.
Unable to see how close the demons were, Simon tried to get the upper hand and turn Miriam again. She held him fast. When he retreated, hoping to give himself brief respite, she pursued so closely that he had no chance to turn. Sweat coursed down him. His muscled ached.
“You’re tiring.” Miriam smiled. “I’m not going to tire. Either I’m going to kill you or the demons will.”
A tentacle plopped onto the shore. Curling and twisting, it searched for prey. Out of the water, it didn’t move so effortlessly or gracefully.
“I’m sorry.” Simon parried her strike, then parried again.
“For what? I won’t let you bleed on me.”
“For what I’m about to do.” Simon had her rhythm now. Like the real Miriam, this one had a fault in her swordplay that occasionally came up. When she felt she had the upper hand, her bladework fell into a routine as she worked faster and faster.
“You’re not going to—”
Simon parried her sword, but this time he lunged forward as well. It was a bold and dangerous move because he didn’t completely have control over her weapon. The sword’s flames braised his ribs. She held the weapon to him.
“Warning,” the suit AI said. “Failure of defenses and armor imminent.”
Simon ignored the suit AI and the pain baking into his side. He held her sword trapped, then dropped to one knee and hooked her under the opposite shoulder with his free arm. Holding on to her, aware of the tentacle only inches from his foot that slithered over the sand toward him, he whirled and threw Miriam in a judo move.
Cursing, Miriam flew through the air at the bulbous head of the demon in the lake. Tentacles caught her and drew her into the maw. She disappeared in a single gulp.
Before Simon could move, more tentacles whipped round his body and lifted him from his feet. He tried to use the sword, but tentacles quickly lashed his arm to his side. He squirmed and
