The Beasts Of Valhalla

Stepping forward, I grabbed his right wrist with both hands and pulled. The notion that I could pull Garth to his feet against his will was ludicrous, but I was looking to make a point. 'Garth, I can't believe you got us this far. They weren't looking for us, which is the break of our lives. That kind of luck isn't going to last. For one thing, we're carrying a whole library on genetics and evolution in the trunk of the car. Leviticus and the others are going to want to know why we're interested in such unholy things-and the answer could come with a phone call at any moment. We have to get in, find the information we're after, and get our asses out of here fast. We may need the minutes we're wasting here.'

Garth twisted his wrist free, grabbed my wrist. 'We can't outrace a phone call, Mongo. What with all this 'visions of Father' bullshit, Leviticus or somebody else in the commune may already have called the people we're looking for-in which case, an unwelcoming committee is already forming and these minutes won't matter. They matter to me now, because I need to get straight with you.'

Not understanding what he meant but responding to the emotion in his voice, I shrugged and sat down on the tree limb.

'I could tell you that I didn't mention the fur growing on my body because I didn't want you to worry,' Garth continued in a flat tone as he released my wrist. 'That would be a lie. The fact is that I was ashamed and disgusted, and that's why I didn't show you. I was wrong not to tell you. If there's any hope at all of us surviving this Goddamn horror show, there can't be any walls between us. I won't keep secrets from you again.'

My response was to slip my right foot out of the sandal. I raised my foot, spread my toes and wiggled my web at him. 'Speaking of shameful and disgusting secrets, welcome to the club.'

Garth looked at the web, then suddenly burst into laughter. He pushed my foot away from his face, leaned over and put both his hands on my shoulders. 'Well, our friend Jake never promised a rose garden when he shot us full of that shit, did he?'

'Now that you mention it, I don't recall that he did.'

Garth rose to his feet, grabbed the collar of my robe, and pulled me to mine. 'Come on, Brother Boris. It's time to work some more miracles.'

The cusps of day-dusk, and the aura just before sunrise-were the most dangerous times for me, periods of a half hour to forty-five minutes when I was almost totally blind; there was enough sunlight to inflict pain on my uncovered eyes, but not enough to penetrate the smoked glasses. Now it was dusk, and I was content to close my eyes and traipse along on Garth's arm.

'Slowly turning into a beastie is a bitch, isn't it?' Garth said drily.

'What the hell are you complaining about? At least you seem to be staying with the mammals. I seem to be slipping off to join the reptiles.'

'It's your sneaky, slimy nature, Mongo.'

'Another crack like that and I'll pull your fucking fur.'

'How's your nose?'

'One hell of a lot prettier than yours.'

'Seriously. Do you notice anything different about your sense of smell?'

'No. Do you?'

'I've got another flash for you. Besides providing me with a built-in fur coat, that shit Bolesh gave us has been working overtime on my olfactory nerve. With this new schnoz, I'll go one-on-one with any bloodhound. It turns out that the world is really a pretty smelly place. Right now I can smell apples on the trees, as well as those rotting on the ground. I can smell leaves, wood, dirt.'

I stopped walking, pushed the smoked glasses down on the bridge of my nose, and squinted up at the red- haloed figure of my brother. 'Back there, you said you knew Leviticus was going to let us in because- '

'I could smell it,' Garth interrupted, pushing the glasses back up on my nose and pulling me along. 'Don't do that again. You're supposed to be blind, remember?'

'Jesus, you were serious, weren't you?'

'Yep. No joke. I seem to be able to smell emotions-at least I have to believe they're emotions; the odors come and go quickly, and I've noticed a correspondence with people's behavior.'

'Pheromones?'

'Must be. Different emotions, it seems, smell differently.'

'What the hell did you smell on Leviticus?'

'Religious ecstasy.'

'How would you know what religious ecstasy smells like?'

'Certainly not from sniffing around you,' Garth replied drily. 'Your problem is that you don't understand religion, or religious people. Deep down, you think that people who say they believe in a deity, or miracles, are just funning you. They're not. You let me handle these people, Mongo.'

'I am letting you handle them. You didn't answer my question.'

'I picked up the scent from the two boys and the girl when I first told them that we'd come to join the commune; at the time I didn't know what it was. At first, Leviticus just smelled of suspicion and hostility-until I told him about the vision of Father. Then he smelled like the others. These people believe in magic; they believe that it will literally rain cats and dogs if God, or Father, wants it to. They were looking for a miracle, so I gave them one. As you see, a miracle is as good as a password any day.'

'What does religious ecstasy smell like?'

Garth thought about it. 'Turnips,' he said at last.

'I'm sorry I asked.'

'They believe that Father sent us here for some purpose.'

'What purpose?'

Garth laughed. 'How the hell should I know? You think I talk to Father?'

'That's great material, Garth; I love it. I can't wait to see what miracle you conjure up to stop a bullet.'

'This miracle comes with a strictly limited guarantee; one phone call to or from either of the Loges, and it's canceled.'

'Meaning we're canceled. With some luck, we may have a few hours. I'll go out tonight and poke around. All we need is one clue to the whereabouts of the Loges, and we'll be gone before dawn.'

'We also have to get our clothes and the car back. I doubt we'll get very far on foot, dressed in sandals and green robes.'

'I wonder where the hell Lippitt is?'

'He's probably dead,' Garth said distantly. 'Regardless of the reasons he gave for taking off on his own, he took the heat off us-and he knew what he was doing. As you know, Lippitt was never one of my favorite people-but the man had guts.'

'He also saved our lives. I'm not so sure he's dead.'

'He's an old man, Mongo. How long can he keep running and dodging? The Loges and the Pentagon probably have half the world looking for him.'

'You saw what he can do with a shotgun. He's a tough old man.'

'No question about that. You know, half the world's going to be looking for us if we manage to pull off this little commune caper. We're going to be up to our asses in alligators.'

'Gee whiz, Garth, I'd hate to think we could be in any serious difficulty.'

'I wish we could call Mom and Dad, at least let them know we're alive.'

'No way. If there's a tap on their phone, it would only cause grief for them and us. Right now, a poll of any reasonable group of men and women would guarantee that we're dead. Let's keep it that way.'

'Always the eternal optimist. Listen, brother, I'm counting on my close proximity to you to pull me through this. You've got more lives than a litter of cats.'

'The problem is that I'm feeling distinctly reptilian of late.'

'I guess there'd be no point in getting in touch with the folks, anyway. I mean, what would we say? Hi, Mom and Dad, we're alive, but we can't come home because we have to catch a crazy before his crazies catch us. Any day now we're likely to turn into a couple of slimy blobs, but not to worry. Oh, and by the way, do you know of anything that will remove fur and webs between the toes?'