Pay Dirt Read online

  “Lilian,” I breathed.

  8

  My gun was in my hand. I didn’t remember pulling it out of my pocket. As I crossed the room I snapped the revolver’s cylinder open and replaced three of the cartridges with the silver bullets I’d brought with me.

  I didn’t rate my chances against the hag if it came to a fight. But I could make her hurt, at least.

  I dropped to one knee beside the black box. There were dials on it, and black needles jumping across numbers I didn’t understand. I couldn’t find an off switch, so I ripped the damn cables out.

  The humming stopped, and all the needles dropped to zero. Lilian let out a low groan.

  My breath caught in my throat. I glanced toward the stairwell. Had the hag heard? I needed to get Lilian out of here before the hag worked out what was happening. I didn’t know what the hell she was doing to Lilian, but I wasn’t going to stop and ask. It wasn’t too late for her to turn me into a newt.

  “Lilian,” I hissed, moving to the cage. “You have to be quiet. I’m getting you out of here.”

  She let out another soft moan, her eyelids flickering weakly. I jammed my revolver back into my pocket where I could reach it easily and pulled out my lock picks. Keeping one eye on the stairwell, I slid the picks into the padlock and started to work. My hands trembled. I forced myself to take a long, slow breath. I didn’t have time to fumble this.

  It had been Holden who’d taught me to pick locks, of course. Hell, Holden had taught me most of what I knew. All the antisocial stuff, anyway. I’d had a few occasions to use the skill in my capacity as a cunning man. But right now I felt like a novice again, waiting to hear the shout of a security guard or the owner of whatever junker we were swiping that day. I could almost feel Holden beside me, whispering calmly, urging me on.

  The final pin shifted into place. I twisted the pick and the padlock snapped open. Heart thudding, I shoved back the deadbolt and pulled the cage door open. It squealed on its hinges. I cringed at the sound.

  No time to remove all the wires, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to start tugging the nails out of Lilian’s skull right here in the hag’s basement. I just gathered all the wires together, pulled them out of the way, then grabbed Lilian under the shoulder.

  “Come on,” I whispered, pulling my gun back out of my pocket. “Up and at ’em. We’ve got to move.”

  She groaned, her eyes opening into slits. “O…Ozzy?”

  “Who else? Can you walk?” I lifted her out of the cage.

  She nodded groggily, one hand rubbing her head. “Yeah…yeah I think…” Her fingertips brushed one of the nails sticking out of her skull. She blinked a few more times, her gaze becoming clearer as she looked around. “What are you—?”

  “I’m getting you out of here. Hag had you locked up, doing Christ knows what. Come on, let’s go.”

  Lilian gasped. With a sudden burst of strength, she twisted out of my arms and grabbed for the cage.

  “Lilian, what the hell are you doing?” I tried to grab her arm, but she shook me off. “We have to go now.”

  “No! You don’t understand.” She clambered back into the cage and slammed the door closed in my face. The clang rang out like a goddamn cymbal crash. I went to pull the door open again, but she reached through the bars, pushing the bolt home and snapping the padlock closed.

  “Shit!” I shot a look at the stairwell. The hag had to have heard all the ruckus. Was she coming? Or was she just going to wait at the top of the stairs, catch us on the way out? I dug the lock picks back out of my pocket. “Lilian, I know you’re disoriented, but you’re really screwing things up for us.”

  I started to slide my picks back into the lock, but Lilian’s hand reached out and grasped mine.

  “Don’t,” she said. “Let me explain.”

  “We don’t have time. The hag—”

  “She isn’t going to hurt us, Ozzy.”

  “Like hell she isn’t.” I tried not to, but I couldn’t keep my eyes from drifting back to the nails driven into Lilian’s skull. “She was giving you the world’s worst electroshock therapy.”

  “No, she wasn’t,” Lilian said. “I was.”

  I paused. “You?”

  She nodded. “Me.”

  Sighing, she released my hand and leaned against the bars. The cage swung slightly, the chain creaking as Lilian’s weight shifted. She stretched her long arms above her head so that her fingertips brushed the top of the cage. Her shoulder joints popped.

  “You remember I told you how I first came to Lost Falls?” she said. “Alcaraz caught me in one of her monster traps. I was wild. Mindless. A corpse powered by nothing but rage. Alcaraz figured out what I was, brought me to the hag. And the hag…fixed me. Kind of.”

  “Too bad she couldn’t do anything about your face,” I said. It was a weak attempt to lighten the mood, slightly diminished by the fact I kept glancing toward the stairwell with a gun in my hand.

  Lilian seemed to appreciate it, though. She gave me a lopsided smile and shrugged. It was only then I noticed how deep the bags under her eyes were, how pale and washed-out she looked. I could see the faint shadows of blood vessels beneath her skin.

  “Guess she wanted to focus her efforts on the parts of me that could be saved,” Lilian said. The smile faltered. “The hag suppressed the urge for revenge, gave me some humanity back. It was the hag who gave me my name. Did you know that? I don’t know what I was called before I…before I died.”

  “And this is the part where you explain how all that somehow results in you caged in the hag’s basement getting ten thousand volts through your skull.”

  “The hag did what she could.” She licked her lips. “But the spell, it’s…fading. Becoming less effective. Has been for some time. I’ve been doing my best to maintain control, but I can feel it coming back, little by little. The rage. The need for vengeance.” She glanced away, not meeting my eyes.

  I exhaled. I suddenly felt stupid, with my gun quivering in my hand. I put it away and touched the cold iron bars that held Lilian.

  “I didn’t know,” I said.

  “Because I didn’t want you to. Didn’t want anyone to.” She smiled weakly and held out her hands. “Surprise.”

  “So, last night…”

  “I don’t know what it was. That…that coin, or whatever it was. As soon as I touched it…” She shook her head, her fists taking hold of the bars and tightening. “The monster in me nearly took over, Ozzy. It was so close. A hair’s breadth. And if it had taken over, I think that would’ve been it. No going back.”

  “Hell.”

  She nodded slowly. “I’m trying to restrain the monster again. But the chains are weaker now. Until the hag and I figure something out, I have to stay here, Ozzy.”

  “You’re afraid you’ll hurt someone.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll hurt a lot of people.” She pushed her hair off her forehead, touched the heads of the nails jammed into her skull. “This is an experiment. Something of mine, actually.”

  I looked at the wires trailing down around her shoulders. “Like you did with that hobgoblin a few months back?”

  “Sort of. The hag’s magic alone doesn’t seem to be enough. So I thought I’d try some of my own. What I can remember, anyway.”

  I’d only experienced Lilian’s own brand of magic a couple of times before, and it was never pleasant. As I pictured her twitching and convulsing on the floor of that cage, though, I decided this was the most unsettling yet.

  “Is it working?” I asked.

  “I don’t know yet. Some big clumsy asshole came along and pulled the plug.” She smiled a little to take the bite out of her words.

  I scratched the back of my head, grinning sheepishly. “My bad.”

  “That coin,” she said. “Did you figure out what it was?”

  I put my hand into my pocket to touch the coins, but I didn’t pull them out. I didn’t know how Lilian would react if she saw them again.

  “It’s bound
with some kind of charm,” I said. “I know that much. And it may or may not be related to some sect of witch-finders.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” I hesitated. “The hag mentioned something. A name, I think. Morley the Profane. That mean anything to you?”

  Her eyes narrowed just a fraction. She chewed her lip. “I don’t know. It feels…like I should recognize it. From before. But I can’t…I can’t.” She shook her head. “Sorry.”

  “Worth a shot.”

  “Did you work out who sent it to you?”

  “Yeah. I think so.”

  She waited for me to elaborate, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. How could I explain Holden to her? How could I explain why I was on this stupid damn hunt? Hell, I barely understood it myself.

  I looked at Lilian in her cage. It seemed so wrong, seeing her like this. Lilian wasn’t much of a homebody. She wasn’t the sort to be cooped up.

  “What can I do?” I asked her.

  “Nothing.”

  “Want me to bring you a book or something? A burger? A six pack?”

  She smiled, but shook her head. “Once I get a lid on this, it’ll be all right.” Her smile faltered. A second passed. “Can I tell you something, though?”

  “Shoot.”

  “I’m scared, Ozzy. I’m so fucking scared.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t want to lose myself. The thought of it terrifies me. I don’t know who I was before. I’m just getting the hang of who I am now. To lose that…it’d be like dying all over again, don’t you think?”

  I didn’t know. Whatever she was going through, I couldn’t understand. Not really.

  I reached my hand through the bars. She flinched at first, her muscles tensing. But she relaxed a little as I touched her cheek.

  “You know, whatever happens—”

  “I know. Thank you.” She let her eyes close for a moment, and I left my fingers where they were. She started to turn, like she was going to brush her lips against my knuckles. Then she sighed and drew back with a smile. “You ever tell anyone I said I was scared, I’ll have your head, Turner.”

  “I don’t think they’d believe me if I told them. Oh, hey, I do have one thing for you.”

  “What?”

  I reached into my bag and pulled out the handbag Alice had tasked me with returning. “You left this behind last night.”

  She gestured to the wires sticking out of her head. “I’d blame all this if I didn’t forget it somewhere every other week. Thanks, Ozzy. You can leave it over there.” She gestured to the armchair.

  As I went to put it down, she spoke again. “Oh, crap, another thing I forgot. Early’s birthday gift. I didn’t manage to give it to him last night. It’s in the main pocket. Can you get it to him?”

  “Sure. What did you get him? Booze?”

  “Cologne.”

  “Seriously?”

  She shrugged. “Give me a break. He’s hard to buy for.”

  I unzipped the bag and found the gift wrapped in blue paper. As I tugged it out, something else came with it.

  The thing fell to the floor. I bent to pick it up. It was a strange little contraption. It had a clear glass tube, a little wider than a test tube, filled with what looked like some kind of preserving fluid. Inside was some scrap of unidentifiable flesh.

  The tube was sealed, but through the plug ran a couple of electrodes which were hooked up to wires that fed into some weird electronic contraption taped to the tube. There were more wires there, along with a handful of small vacuum tubes and other little gizmos I didn’t recognize. The whole thing was topped with a switch that was covered with a protective plastic bubble.

  I turned the thing over in my hand, then glanced at Lilian. She was watching me intently. Her expression was unreadable.

  “Just something I’ve been working on,” she said in response to the unspoken question.

  I nodded. I wasn’t going to pry further. It was an accident I’d seen the thing in the first place.

  I started to put it back in her bag, but she spoke again.

  “No,” she said. “Maybe you should hang onto it for now.”

  “Why? I don’t even know what it is.”

  “Just…keep it safe for me. Okay?”

  I sighed. For some reason, I felt a little like I was being asked to hold onto someone’s drug stash until the heat died down. But I slipped the strange device into my bag anyway.

  Lilian must’ve caught the concern in my eyes. She gave me a smile.

  “Anyway, don’t you have things to do?” she asked.

  “Yeah, probably,” I said.

  “Then get out of here. You’re boring me.” She sat down cross-legged and jerked her head toward the black box on the floor. “Plug me in again, will you?”

  I hesitated. “You’re sure this is the best way?”

  “No,” she said. “But right now it’s all I’ve got. Plug me in.”

  I reluctantly moved to the box, gathering up the wires I’d tugged out of the machine. I glanced back at Lilian.

  “Call me when you’re out of here, huh?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  I gave her one last nod, and then I plugged the wires back into the box.

  The humming started immediately. Lilian went rigid, her eyes rolling back in her head. Her muscles resumed their convulsing dance.

  I couldn’t bear to watch more than a couple of seconds. I stood up and went to the stairs. I didn’t look back.

  The hag was still working on her potions when I got upstairs. Her familiar squawked at me as I came through the doorway. I showed the bird my middle finger.

  “The girl’s nature can’t be held back forever, cunning man,” the hag said as I headed for the exit.

  I stopped, glanced back.

  The hag didn’t look up from her work. “We may be able to suppress it this time,” she said, “but one day it’ll break free. She’ll become who she truly is.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

  Her lips spread in a wide, gummy grin. “It’s foolish to fall in love with monsters, cunning man.”

  “Yeah, well, that won’t be a problem,” I said, turning away. “You’re not my type.”

  It was a relief to tug open the door and stride out onto the deserted street. Fresh air at last. And even the disconcerting effects of the wards that protected this street were nothing compared to the gut-twisting anxiety that came from being in the hag’s presence.

  I started back toward my van. I’d had the tracking potion maturing on my dashboard, bathing in the sunlight. With luck, it’d be nearly ready, and then I’d be able to go looking for Isidora, the Wicked Witch herself.

  Halfway back to the van my phone started buzzing. I didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hello?” I said, putting the phone to my ear.

  “Is this the cunning man?” A girl’s voice.

  “Yeah, this is Osric Turner. Who’s calling?”

  “It’s me. Sal, from the train yard, remember?”

  Now that she said it, I recognized the voice of the teenage ghoul.

  “I remember,” I said. “I’m told you found me in the workshop and called my friend Early. I wanted to thank you.”

  “Uh-huh.” The ghoul seemed distracted. I heard a sound, like she was nervously scratching her skin. “You told me to call you if Habi turned up.”

  I stopped in my tracks. Finally, some good news. “You found him?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Most of him, anyway.”

  9

  I stomped on the brakes and brought my van skidding to a halt on the narrow dirt road. A cloud of dust swept past the windows, obscuring my view for a moment. I jumped out of the van, hitting dial on my phone once again and bringing it to my ear.

  Straight to voicemail. Again. Grinding my teeth, I waited for the beep.

  “Early,” I barked into the phone, “what the hell is the point in you even owning a phone
if you never answer it? We’ve got a real fucking shit-show of a situation down here, and I’m way out of my depth. Call me, goddamn it.”

  I jammed the phone back into my pocket and took a deep breath. What would the old man do if he was here? He’d be the calm in the storm. He’d go in, professional yet compassionate, playing the role of de facto community leader. He’d have all the right words.

  But Early wasn’t here. So the poor bastards were stuck with me.

  There were a dozen of them up ahead, just off this dirt road a half mile from the train yard. The ghouls were clustered around an abandoned car that was older than I was. Tall grass threatened to swallow them all. I spotted Sal lingering on the edge of the crowd, her hood lowered. She hugged herself with one hand and chewed on the fingertips of the other as she peered past the other ghouls at whatever was inside the car.

  As I approached, she caught sight of me and raised her hand in a little wave. She broke away from the others and scurried over to me, greasy hair bouncing as she moved.

  “Is it definitely him?” I asked as she reached me. “Definitely Habi?”

  “I think so. Kinda hard to be sure without…you know.” She brought her hand back to her mouth and chewed on her thumb. The apathetic coolness she’d affected before was gone now. Now she just looked like a scared kid who’d seen more than she ever wanted to.

  And considering she ate dead human flesh for breakfast, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see it either.

  “Who found him?” I asked as I stomped toward the rusted car.

  “Couple of kids my age. They come out here sometimes.”

  “More friends of yours?”

  “Not really.”

  “Hell,” I muttered, eying the crowd. “They’re going to screw everything up. I told you to keep the rubberneckers away.”

  “I tried!” Sal said. “They wouldn’t listen.”

  I grunted. Wasn’t fair of me to take out my frustrations on the kid. She was shook up enough as it was. “It’s okay,” I said. “You did good, calling me. I’ll take it from here.”

  I tried to sound confident. Because I sure as hell wasn’t.

  As I fought my way through the waist-height grass, the other ghouls started to take notice of me. The ones who saw me first nudged their friends, and soon most of them were staring at me with bulging, red-rimmed eyes.