Black dawn (3 page)

She was alone, and she was still wearing the
Gore-Tex climbing outfit she'd had on at Maggie's
house. Her shimmering fine hair was starting to
dry and lifting up like little angel feathers away
from her forehead.

She was doing something with a brass incense
burner, adding pinches of powder and what looked
like
herbs to it. That was where
the
sickeningly
sweet smell was coming from.

Maggie had planned
as far as she'd planned
anything at all--to
^,
rush right up and get in Sylvia's
face.
To startle her into some kind of confession.
She was going to say, "I need to talk to you." But
before she could get the first word out, Sylvia spoke
without looking up.

"What a shame. You really -should have stayed
home with your .parents, you know." Her voice was
cool and languorous, not hasty and certainly not
regretful.

Maggie stopped in her tracks.

Now, what's
that
supposed to mean? Is it a
threat?
Fine.
Whatever.
I can threaten, too.

But she was taken by surprise, and she had to
swallow hard before speaking roughly. "I don't
know what you're talking about, but at least you've
dropped the weepy-weepy act. You were really bad
at it."

"I thought I was very good," Sylvia said and
added a pinch of something to the incense burner.
"I'm sure the officers thought so, too."

Once again, Maggie was startled. This wasn't
going at all as she expected. Sylvia was so calm, so
much at ease.
' So
much in control of the situation.

Not anymore, Maggie thought.

She just
admitted
it was an act. All that
chokey
stuff while she was talking about
Miles
...

Fury uncoiled in Maggie's stomach like a snake.

She took three fast steps forward. "You know
why I'm here. I want to know what really happened
to my brother."

"I told you”

"You told a bunch of lies! I don't know what the truth is. The only thing
I do
know is that Miles
would never make a stupid mistake like not buck
ling his harness. Look, if
you
did something
dumb-if he's
lying
out there hurt or something,
and you were too scared to admit it
you'd better
tell me right now." It was the first time she'd put
into words a reason for Sylvia to be lying.

Sylvia looked up.

Maggie was startled. In the light of the single
candle by the incense burner, Sylvia's eyes were
not violet but a more reddish color, like amethyst. They were large and clear and the light seemed to play in them, quivering.

"Is that what you think happened?"
Sylvia
asked softly.

"I said
,
I don't
know
what happened!" Maggie felt
dizzy suddenly, and fought it, glaring into Sylvia's
strange eyes. "Maybe you had a fight or something.
Maybe you've got some other boyfriend. Maybe you
weren't even out climbing on Halloween in the first place. All I know is that you lied and that there's
no body to find. And I want to know the truth!"

Sylvia looked back steadily, the candlelight danc
ing in her purple eyes. "You know what your
brother told me about
you?" she asked musingly.
"Two things.
The first was that you never gave up.

He said, `Maggie's no rocket scientist, but once she
gets hold of something she's just like a little bull
terrier.' And the second was that you were a com
plete sucker for anybody in trouble.
A real bleed
ing heart."

She added a few fingernail-sized chips of smooth
bark to the mixture that was smoking in the in
cense burner.

"Which is too bad," she went on thoughtfully.
"Strong-willed and compassionate: that's a real rec
ipe for disaster."

Maggie had had it.

"What happened to Miles? What did you
do
to
him?"

Sylvia
laughed,
a little secret laugh. "I'm afraid
you couldn't guess if you spent the rest of your
short life trying." She shook her head. "It was too
bad, actually. I liked him. We could have been
good together."

Maggie wanted to know one thing. "Is he dead?"
"I told you, you'll never find out. Not even when
you go where you're going."

Maggie stared at her, trying to make sense of
this. She couldn't. When she spoke it was in a level
voice, staring into Sylvia's eyes.

"I don't know what your problem is-maybe
you're crazy or something. But I'm
telling
you right
now, if you've done anything to my brother, I am going to
kill
you."

She'd never said anything like this before, but
now it came out quite naturally, with force and
conviction. She was so angry that all she could see
was Sylvia's face. Her stomach was knotted and she
actually felt a burning in her middle, as if there
were a glowing fire there.

"Now," she said,
"are
you going to tell me what
happened to him?"

Sylvia sighed, spoke quietly.
"No."

Before Maggie quite knew she was doing it, she
had reached out and grabbed the front of Sylvia's
green Gore-Tex jacket with both hands.

Something sparked in Sylvia's eyes. For a mo
ment, she looked startled and interested and grudg
ingly respectful. Then she sighed again, smiling
faintly.

"And now you're going to kill me?"

"Listen, you
. . ."
Maggie leaned in. She stopped.
"Listen to what?"

Maggie blinked. Her eyes were stinging suddenly.
The smoke from the incense burner was rising directly into her face.

"You
..."

I feel strange, Maggie thought.

Very strange.
Dizzy. It seemed to come over her
all at once. There was a pattern of flashing gray spreading across her vision. Her stomach heaved
and she felt a wave of queasiness.

"Having a problem?" Sylvia's voice seemed to
come from far away.

The incense.

It was rising right in her face. And
now
...

"What did you do to me?" Maggie gasped. She
reeled backward, away from the smoke, but it was
too late. Her knees were horribly rubbery. Her
body seemed to be far away somehow, and the
sparkling pattern blinded her completely.

She felt the back of her legs come up against a
bed. Then they simply weren't supporting her any
more; she was slithering down, unable to catch her
self with her useless arms. Her lips were numb.

"You know, for a moment there, I thought I
might be in trouble," Sylvia's voice was saying
calmly. `But I was wrong. The truth is that you're
just an ordinary girl, after all.
Weak and powerless
and ordinary.
How could you even think
about going up against me?
Against my people?"

Am I dying? Maggie wondered. I'm losing myself.
I can't see and I can't move....

"How could you come here and attack me? How could you think
you
had a chance at winning?"
Even Sylvia's voice seemed to be getting more and more distant. "You're pathetic. But now you'll find out what happens
when
you mess with real power.
You'll learn...."