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‘Don’t call him my friend,’ she spat,
‘Don’t ever call him that.’

‘All right, but he’s a tool of the En
Sof.  He did that to his own father.  What more will he do to those who oppose
his master?’

‘Serves him right.’

‘Oh come on.  Don’t be like that. 
Whatever he did to you, he did not deserve that.’

‘Didn’t he?  If only you knew.’

‘Then tell me; for God’s sake, tell me.’

Cherry did not reply.  Instead she began
to sob.

And Jake felt very small and completely
useless.  There was nothing he could do other than to be there and provide an
emotional support.  He placed his arms around her and held her tightly.

Some short while later Cherry fell quiet,
‘Thank you, you were marvellous.’

Jake smiled.  That was exactly how he
felt.

‘We’d better continue.’

His arm still about her shoulders he led
them through the mire and past the throng of the dead.  He was still concerned. 
Whatever had happened to Cherry when she had split up with Sam was enough to
cause real hatred.  It could make her so weak during the next stage of their
journey.

They reached another group.  This time
they did not appear so disgusting.  Just a body of men, women and children who
wandered around quite listless.  That was when Cherry stopped in her tracks.

‘Wait, Jake.’

‘What is it?’

And her eyes were alight with something. 
A fervour, a fond smile of memory.  She had seen someone else she knew.

‘I’ve got to go to him.’

‘No, you mustn’t.  If he’s here it’s for a
reason.  You can do nothing for him.’

‘But, you don’t understand...’

‘I do.  Believe me...’

‘No you don’t.  How can you?  He died...”
but she only choked on her words and Jake knew that here was another piece to
the puzzle that was Cherry Linford.

‘Daddy,’ she called, ‘It’s me, Cherry.’

‘No!’  Jake commanded, but it was too
late.  One of the listless spirits lifted his head and looked at them.  The
change in him was instantaneous.  One moment he, like his fellows, had an
expression of utter despair in his eyes and then, as soon as he caught sight of
his daughter, the look vanished.  It was as if a light had been switched on
inside him and there was a glint of something alive, something good, in his
face.  It was the one thing he had been lacking.  Hope.

Cherry had broken the cardinal rule.  She
had provided hope for one of the damned.

There came a low rumbling.  It was
everywhere.  The ground shook, a mild tremor, building in strength and the epicentre
was beneath Cherry’s feet.

‘Run.’

‘I can’t.  I can’t move.’

But even as she spoke there was one
almighty heave and the marshland drew back as if it was desperate to escape
from the girl whom God had forsaken.

In unison both Jake and the spirit of Cherry’s
father screamed her name but both knew that it was futile.  If there was to be
salvation it had to emanate from the Divine and Jake began to pray.  He called
upon God Almighty, the Creator, the Lord of the Heavens and the Earths, to
spare the girl from the punishment for her actions but it was not to be.

The ground began to split and tear and
with a wrench parted beneath Cherry’s feet.

As gold and crimson flames leapt into the
air Cherry dropped screaming straight down into the Pit.

At once there was calm as the gash in the
world’s fabric repaired itself.  The only sign that Cherry Linford had ever
existed was the ring, the ring taken from Lilith, that lay there forlornly
where once its mistress had stood.

Fiona ran.

She ran for her life.

She ran because running was the only thing
left for her to do.

She pelted through streets that seemed
eerily silent in that blackest of nights with no thought as to where she was
going.  All she knew was that she had to get away.  In any case Hounslow was
one of those less affluent areas so unfamiliar to Fiona that normally that she
would shun.  Terraced houses of quite uniform appearance, how Diana could live
here she just could not understand.  Fiona was well and truly lost.

That hideous vision still haunted her. 
The mother suckling her young on her own blood.  She knew that it could not be
real.  An illusion created by the En Sof to confuse her.  It could make her see
anything it wanted.  Worse...it could control her thinking; make her believe the
impossible; drive her to her destruction as it had to so many others before
her.

No, she had to fight.  Her mind was her
own.  She was not a tool of anything.  She had to be strong.

Light traffic; a main road; not far away;
people maybe.

Fiona slowed and headed in the direction
of the sound.  Was it possible that she could find help?

And then the breathing started.  No, not
breathing, heavy panting, an animal sound not that far behind her.  A dog, or
something else.  Something dark, something evil.  The En Sof in all its
hideousness.  She had seen some aspect of it already but to see the monster in
all its glory would mean total and utter mental breakdown.

Again Fiona ran.

The panting grew louder, closer.

It was gaining on her, there was no
escaping it.

The road was never ending.  The sound of
traffic was not coming any closer.  On the contrary, it was receding.  She was
going further away.

‘Sweet Jesus, help me.’

The creature growled.

Ahead...the street was coming to an
end...literally.  Beyond there was complete and absolute nothing...and, without
conscious thought, Fiona ran directly into the void.

But still the creature followed until
Fiona stopped.  The En Sof’s weapon was illusion.  None of this was real.  She
would face up to her nightmare.

Fiona turned and saw...

...the golden retriever she had seen in
her dream.

As before it was beginning to change.

‘Go back, I don’t believe in you.’

It was turning into the phallic satyr.

‘Fiona.’

‘Go away.  You’re not real.’

‘Fiona,’ it called again, its voice subtly
different, almost familiar.

It approached her, cautiously, warily; as
nervous of Fiona as she was of it.

‘Fiona.’

‘Go away...please, I beg of you.’

She shuddered as the thing grabbed her
hard by the shoulders and shook her roughly.

‘Please, leave me alone.’

‘Fiona, Fiona, snap out of it.’

But that voice...it was familiar.

‘For God’s sake.  It’s me, Brian.’

‘Brian...’

‘Yes, Brian.  Your brother-in-law.’

Fiona blinked and looked again at the
thing that was attacking her.  The world spun, twisting in on itself.  The
black night becoming lit by the glow of sodium street lamps and the Great West
Road magically appearing before her.

The creature had vanished.  In its place
stood Brian.  The En Sof had confused her mind again.

It was relief as much as anything that
caused Fiona to break down and to cry uncontrollably.

‘Come on.  I’ll take you back to Di.  You
ran out like a mad thing.  What happened to you?’

But Fiona was incapable of replying.  All
she wanted was for someone else to take over and she allowed Brian to take her
weight and leaned on him as he led the way back to the car.

He sat her in the passenger seat and
belted her in.  Fiona’s sobbing meanwhile becoming less hysterical.

‘You rushed out,’ Brian stated as he
started the engine, ‘I thought something’d happened.’

‘I’m sorry, Brian.  I really am.  I...I
had a hallucination.  Don’t ask me about it, please.  I just want to forget.’

‘But you can’t go on like this.’

‘Don’t you think I know that?  There’s
nothing you can do.’

‘Oh Fiona, there must be something.  Di
filled me in on what you told her.’

‘Then you know.  This thing is
supernatural, it can alter the way we think.  What chance have we got against
it?’

‘But, damn it all, there must be someone
who can help.’

‘There is.’

‘Who for God’s sake?’

‘Who do you think?  The people I was
running from when I got to you.  They’re the only ones.’

‘Then, what choice do you have?’

‘None.’  She felt the tears coming on
again.  ‘That’s the trouble.  I’ve no choice.  I’m completely trapped.’

………………………………………

By the time they returned to Brian’s home
Emmett was fast asleep again leaving the three adults the chance to talk.  They
reached the inescapable and quite unpalatable solution.

It was Brian who put through the call to
Lapski.

‘He’s sending a car for you,’ he reported
when they finished.

‘I don’t want to go back there.’

‘Oh Fee, we know, but what else can you
do?  Look, why don’t I come with you?’

‘No!  I don’t want you hurt.’

‘Then, let me go to the police.’

‘No, don’t you understand.  In this
they’re powerless.  Lapski’s unleashed a creature that is beyond anything the
police can deal with.  It can manipulate people like puppets and make them do
whatever it want.  It can make people murder for Chrissakes.

‘I’ve got to go back there.  If there’s
anything I can do then I’ll do it.  If there’s nothing, then, at least I can be
protected.  All the En Sof wants is for me to reveal what I know to Lapski.  I
don’t know what good it’ll do him but if I do tell him I’ll be safe.’

‘I hope so, I really do.’

………………………………………

The car soon arrived with Lapski’s bully
boys driving.  Despite forceful protests from Diana and Brian, however, Fiona
went without fuss and sat quietly in the back seat during the thankfully
uneventful drive home.

…………………………………………

Lapski greeted her on the threshold.

‘So, you and the Ferret have been plotting
against me.  Tell me everything.  The Professor’s not saying anything.’

‘Go to hell.’

‘Ah spirit,’ Lapski laughed, ‘You think
you are clever, do you?  You know that the En Sof can destroy your mind..., and
yet you fight me.  Is that not curious behaviour.  Come...your mentor, the
Professor is dying to speak with his co-conspirator.’

‘Where is he?’

‘Locked in the downstairs toilet for the
moment.’

‘But that’s...’ and a vision of the
cramped windowless room came to mind.  It was a natural cell, however, with no
exit other than the door.

‘Let him out.’

………………………………………….

Ben was cursing at the discomfort of
sitting on the closed toilet seat for so long.  Lapski had put him in the
downstairs cloakroom hours ago once he had realised that Fiona Tranton was
missing. 
Mumzer
^[22]
!

Someone was coming.  Yes, the lock was
turning and one of Lapski’s people appeared.

‘Right, you, out.’

  As pleasant as ever.  Ben,
diplomatically decided to stay
shtum
.  Instead he followed the guy to
the lounge where he saw Lapski sitting with Fiona on the sofa that was still in
the place they had moved it to make room for their representation of the
Sefirotic Tree.

Lapski stood to greet him.

‘Well, well, Professor.  I trust you did
not find the accommodation too uncomfortable?’

Ben just scowled.  He was not prepared to
rise to the bait.

‘So, neither of you wants to tell me
anything.  That is not acceptable.  Now, Fiona, I will ask you again.  Why did
you run?’

Fiona stayed silent.  Good for her.

‘Professor?’

‘I have nothing to say.’

‘Come, come.  Stop being so petulant. 
Fiona was doing something for you.  We all know that.  So what did you want of
her?’

‘You’re wasting your time, Alex.’

‘Am I, Professor?  I wonder.  Now listen
to me.  I will tell you what I’m going to do.  The En Sof has already
established a link with Fiona.  If she doesn’t tell me what I want to know then
I’ll call back the En Sof and let it finish the job.’

‘No!’ they both cried.

‘It’s up to you, Professor.’

‘You can’t do that.  You know that.  You
can’t control that thing.’

Lapski laughed, ‘Oh, Professor.  I’ve been
thinking about it.  I let you confuse me.  The En Sof will do exactly what I
want as long as we want the same thing.’

‘And when you don’t?’

‘Then I have my insurance policy.’

‘And what’s that?’ but Ben already knew
what Lapski would say.

‘Light.  I will have the Light in my
control.’

‘And when you give it up to the En Sof?’

‘But that’s the clever bit, dear
Professor.  I will not give it up.  Once I have it in my power I can send the
En Sof right back to the limbo from which it came and there is not a thing it
can do stop me.’

‘You hope?’

‘No, Professor, I know.  So, tell me what
I want or see Fiona’s mind snapped by the En Sof.’

‘You wouldn’t do that?’

‘Wouldn’t I?  Try me.  Shall I begin? 
It’s only a call away, you know.’

‘You always were a
mumzer
, weren’t
you Alex?’

‘And you’re not?’  Come, come; we’re two
of a kind, Professor.’

‘Never.’

Lapski laughed, ‘What is it the English
say?  When the cap fits, eh.

‘So, I’ll ask you again.  What happened?’

‘You leave me little choice.’

‘I know.  Well?’

And Ben told everything.

‘So,’ Lapski began when his former
professor had finished, ‘All three of them are descendants of Cordozo.  How
interesting.  You’re right, of course.  We must keep that from the En Sof at
all costs.  If it learns that Shmueli Isaacson is capable of utilising the
stones then it will use him instead of Jake.  All right.  We three are the only
ones who know that.  I’m sure we can shield our minds.’

Ben nodded.

‘So, Professor, if I understand you
correctly you think you can send someone into the other realms?’

‘Yes.  I imagine that they are all in the
Arka, in Abaddon probably.  The wall between this world and that is thin.’

‘But only for those who die.’

‘True, but we should be able to punch
right through the barrier if we find a weak spot.’

‘And how will we do that?’

‘If there are any living people there they
should sufficiently weaken the fabric of that world to enable us to break
through from here.  We should be able to locate any of the travellers.’

‘And then what?’

‘We can tell Jake what he should do,
assuming he has not been destroyed by Lilith, and we might be able to bring
back Mitch if we can establish contact at a time when the En Sof is not
possessing him.’

‘It’s worth a try.  All right.  Fiona
you’re the one.’

‘What?  No, for God’s sake, no.  Haven’t I
been through enough?’

‘I’m sorry.  I can’t go as that means
leaving the Professor in charge and I certainly won’t send him.  No, it must be
you.’

‘But...’

‘No arguments.  My mind is made up.  You
will go.  Tomorrow, Professor.  Tonight we sleep.’

A sentiment no-one challenged.  There was
one thing, however, for Ben still to do.

He walked to the Sefirotic Tree and spoke
the words.

‘It is done.  Tonight we shall sleep
easy.  The En Sof cannot enter this house.’

……………………………………….

Shmueli looked at the house.  A typical
product of inter-war development.  The semi was quite unfamiliar to him though
his Guardian Angel had assured him that he had been a prisoner within those
very walls.

‘Your enemy is inside.  Even now he
seeks your downfall.  You will find a way to enter and await an opportunity. 
The Ferret will die.’

‘But how do I enter?’

‘Do not anger me, foolish boy.  There
are open windows.  Find one that you can reach.’

That was not right.  Gaining access
through a window.  It was breaking and entering.  It was illegal.  He could not
do that.

‘Why do you hesitate?’

‘I can’t do it.’

‘You must.  If you do not kill The
Ferret he will destroy you.  Only you can do it.  He will not expect you to
attack him.  He will be unprepared.  You must strike before it is too late. 
Remember what he did to your parents and to Rabbi Tashlich.  Do not forget.
’

Unbidden, a vision of the way Rabbi
Tashlich and his wife, Chava, had died intruded into his thoughts and then
another of his mother, her skin flayed, headless.  Yes, yes, he had to do it.  Tiferet
was evil, evil.

Shmueli checked the front of the house. 
Nothing, but there was a side gate over which he could climb.  He would go
round the back.

Cautiously, he walked onto the paved
footpath leading to the front door.  No-one spotted him.  He clambered over the
rotten wood of the side gate and passed along the passageway to the rear
garden.  It was small with a tool-shed against the far fence.

He looked again at the house.  There was a
window open.  A bedroom probably but it was too high.

 
‘Try the shed.’

It was unlocked and cluttered with all
sorts of junk.  In the darkness it was hardly possible to see what lay within
but it seemed far too small anyway to hold a ladder tall enough to reach the
window.

There was nothing he could do.  For some
reason Shmueli felt quite relieved at that thought.  He wondered what his
Guardian Angel intended.  To his surprise it did not speak until some few
minutes later.

‘You will go to the neighbouring
house.  They have a suitable ladder.  They will provide it to you.’