Penult (66 page)

It took no time at all to deliver a
response. I tried to understand what it was telling me but the
knowledge proved both cryptic and elusive. Like a crucial word
hovering just beyond the edge of consciousness, on verge of
retrieval, but never reaching my lips.

What Olivier had told me was true. The
poison could be neutralized. And the Singularity knew exactly how
to get it done. I could sense that it knew. It knew that I knew it
knew and it was trying every way it could to convey the information
to me. I could sense its frustration alongside my own. As we
strained to understand each other, a dark cloud shoved its way into
the transaction and I felt myself growing faint, losing touch with
the Singularity, life, everything. Even the roots kept their
distance.

***

When I woke, we were back on the road,
with the lake shore still on our left. We had not gone very far. I
had not been unconscious for very long.

“
He’s awake again,” said
Jess, kneeling in the passenger seat, her chin propped on the head
rest.

Wendell looked up into the mirror
again. “Hey man. Before you blink out again, I meant to ask you.
How’d things go with the raid? Did you all make it ashore … with
that … thing?”

“
Yeah,” I said, all breathy
and subdued, my tone as neutral as if I were describing an episode
of taking out the trash. “We took down a city … maybe
three.”

“
Three? Really? That’s …
brilliant!”

“
City?” said Jessica,
confused.

“
We took casualties. One of
them … was Urszula.”

Wendell took a deep breath. “Well,
that’s a damned shame. That girl never liked me. For good reason.
But I liked her. That girl had a lot of spunk. You have to admire
that.”

“
What are you two talking
about?”

Wendell glanced over at Jess. “Don’t
you worry about it, sweetie. This is not a place a nice girl like
you will ever have to worry about. Though, who knows, you could be
Penny material.”

Jessica looked offended.

“
I will have nothing
whatsoever to do with those so-called Friends.”

“
Oh, I’m not talking about
the Friends of Penult,” said Wendell. “I’m talking about Penult.
The Erelim and their minions. Nobody lives forever, sweetheart. No
guarantee you end up where you’re expecting unless you’re one of
those who manage to engineer something.”

“
From what I hear from
James, this afterlife business is sounding awful sketchy to me,”
said Jessica. “At this point, if there’s no chance at Heaven, I
think I’d rather my soul just vanish into nothingness.”

“
Wouldn’t we all,” said
Wendell, snickering.

“
Do you think there is a
Heaven?” she asked.

“
Not for souls as imperfect
and damaged as ours. Hate to break it to you,
sweetheart.”

“
Eh. I knew it was a long
shot. So where do you think James will end up this
time?”

“
Depends,” said Wendell.
“You’re not up near any glaciers, are you James?”

“
No. But … I was
flying.”

“
Flying?”

“
Yeah. On the back of a
wasp.”

“
How high?”

“
Well, we were pretty high
at one point. But I made Ubaldo come back down. Below cloud
level.”

“
And then you faded? While
you were up in the air?”

“
Yeah.”

“
You’re fucked.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
What do you think’s gonna
happen when you go back.”

My head was too foggy to think
straight. “I don’t know. What?”

“
What’s wrong?” said
Jessica.

“
He’s got no chance. He’s
gonna get sucked into one of the lower realms.”

“
Like H-hell?”

Wendell frowned. “Well, not exactly. I
mean, there’s no one place that’s Hell per se, but there’s all
manner of realms that qualify, from what I hear. Hot ones. Cold
ones. Dark ones. Empty ones.”

Jessica buried her face in the
headrest. I stretched out my arm and touched her
shoulder.

“
Hey Jess. It’s cool. I’ve
already been to one and come back. I can handle … whatever comes my
way.”

“
It’s just … such a waste.
So unfair. You don’t deserve to die. You didn’t do anything
wrong.”

“
I interfered. I got in the
way of what the big shots wanted done. It was
inevitable.”

“
Well, aren’t I an
accessory then, too? I mean … I helped you. Why aren’t they coming
after me?”

“
They don’t care what
anyone does on this side. That’s not their business.”

“
It’s just … so
unfair.”

Her tears began to dribble. I intended
to say something reassuring but a wave of nausea rose through my
innards and forced me to clam up. But I locked eyes with Jessica
and showed her that I wasn’t worried one bit about what was coming.
And it worked. Her face firmed up and her tears went
dry.

Everything
was
going to be okay. I
really did feel that. It helped knowing from experience that
nothing in this universe was permanent, or irreversible.

***

The road Wendell took veered from the
Loch, following a river valley into the village of Drumnadrochit.
Where the A82 took a sharp right to cross a bridge and resume its
traverse of the Loch shore, Wendell went straight, keeping to the
river and a wide valley of alternating wood lots and
fields.

I could barely keep my eyes open, but
I forced myself to stay alert. Everything was so pretty here. So
green, all of it. If this was the last place I ever saw of this
earth, it was not a bad image to take away. It would have been a
wonderful choice, had it been a choice.

We came to an area with plowed fields
alternating with meadows framed by strips of forest. Wendell pulled
into a dirt track lined with lupines and daisies. He used no GPS
but he seemed to know exactly where to turn. How long had he known
of Izzie’s whereabouts?

The track took us a little farm house
with wide clapboards and outbuildings made of stone, with roofs of
cedar shake. The front walk was lined with rose bushes and
holly.

Wendell stopped the car behind a
weathered and rusted Fiat. A stout, older woman with frizzy white
hair tied back in a green bandanna emerged from behind a trellis
holding a pair of hedge clippers. She looked puzzled to see us, as
if she were not used to receiving visitors riding gleaming vintage
Bentley Arnages.

“
Can I help you? Are you
lost?”

Wendell said nothing. He just sat
there with his elbow propped on the open window. He deferred to
Jessica, who stepped out of the car and offered her hand to the
woman. I remained slumped in the back seat, struggling to stay
upright. At this rate, with my head all muddled and the discomfort
building in my body, I was almost ready to give up and leave this
world.

“
Hello,” said Jessica. “How
do you do? We are … well some of us, happen to be friends of
Isobel’s. We heard she might be staying with you?”

The woman’s quizzical smile
disappeared, replaced by a steely glare. She clutched the shears to
her bosom and stepped back. “You’re not from that so-called church?
You’re not Sedevacantists, are you?”

“
Oh no, ma’am. Not at all.
My name is Jessica. Isobel stayed with us for a time in
Wales.”

The woman’s eyes popped
wide.

“
The goat farm! You’re from
the goat farm!”

“
Jess!” A door slammed and
Isobel dashed off the porch and down the flagstones of the walk.
She barreled into Jessica, hugging her tightly. When she looked up
she spotted me in the back seat.

“
James?”

She peeled away from Jessica and came
over to the window. I smiled gamely but weakly.

“
You look horrible! What
happened?”

I opened my mouth but nothing came
out. Partly, I didn’t know what to say and partly my throat
wouldn’t cooperate.

“
He’s having a bad day,”
said Wendell. “To put it mildly.”

“
Is he okay?”

“
Um, no,” said
Jessica.

“
But … how did you guys
find me?”

“
I promised not to tell,”
said Jessica.

“
Gwen. It was her. Had to
be. She was the only one I told. Well, it’s so wonderful to see
you! I felt so bad about how I left things. I meant to stay in
touch, I really did. But I was afraid I’d be followed. Things got
weird in Cardiff. I had to leave in a rush. And Mrs. Ambrose, she
had taken me in after Karla died. So I went back. I feel so safe
here.”

She kept looking over at me, her eyes
growing worried. I wanted to say something to reassure her, but the
spasms in my throat prevented me.

“
Shouldn’t he be seeing a
doctor or something?”

“
Oh, don’t trouble your
little head,” said Wendell. “We’ve been over this. No worries, hon.
We have it covered.”

I stayed in the back seat, unable to
roust myself from the car. Isobel looked far more mature than the
last time I had seen her. This was no kid anymore. She was a young
woman, at least as tall as Karla, if not taller.

“
Your sister … she’s …
alive,” said Jessica. “I’m not sure if you knew that.”

Isobel looked stunned. “Why would you
say such a thing?”

“
Because … it’s true.
James. He brought her back.”

“
That’s impossible. You saw
her. She was dead. There was a funeral. They buried her
body.”

Wendell grinned. “You should know
better for someone who’s been visited by roots. Things involving
souls and bodies aren’t as cut and dry as they look.”

Isobel ripped open the car door and
stared at me. “James? Is it really true? About Karla?” She still
looked more doubtful than hopeful.

“
Yeah,” I said. “I had
help, but yeah. She’s alive.”

As the truth took hold she grew
excited. “Is she okay?”

“
She’s fine,” I said,
hoarsely. “Far as I can tell. Last time I saw her.”

“
But you’re not well. No,
not at all. Obviously.”

“
No, he is not,” said
Jessica. “He’s not long for this world. He’s been
poisoned.”

Isobel looked horrified.

“
Then why did you bring him
here? Get him to a hospital right away!”

“
I urged the same,” said
Jessica. “These gentlemen assure me that it’s of no use. There’s no
antidote for what he’s been given.”

“
But why not?” Isobel began
to sob.

The tightness in my throat eased a
bit, allowing me to speak more freely for the time
being.

“
It’s just the war, Izzie.
The other side, they wanted me gone from here. Though, I don’t know
why they think that will stop me. But … your sister’s fine. She was
down in Cardiff. Living on the street, I guess. Looking for you.” I
paused for breath, and could not seem to fit enough air into my
lungs. “She’s in the Lim a lot. I’ll try to get word back to her if
I can. You just stay put for now. Be easier for her to find you. At
least you have an address.”

“
Are you sure you don’t
want us to fetch you a doctor?”

“
It’s no good, Iz. This is
it for me.”

“
Well, that’s … terrible.”
Her voice cracked.

“
Preposterous is what it
is,” said Mrs. Ambrose. “What could you have possibly become
poisoned with that would not be reversible?”

“
Ricin,” said Wendell,
flatly.

That momentarily rendered Mrs. Ambrose
speechless. She looked stunned, but quickly regathered her senses.
“Well, we can’t just leave him lying in the car. Let’s at least get
him into a bed.”

“
Nah,” I said, panting.
“Just sit me down in the grass. You don’t want a strange man dying
in your bed.”

“
For goodness sakes, why
not? Mr. Ambrose certainly didn’t think twice about doing
so.”

Jess and Izzie helped me out of the
back seat.

“
Okay guys, so … uh … I
guess I’m gonna get going,” said Wendell. “Gotta catch a flight
back to the States. Looks like business might be starting up
again.”

“
What about our ride?” said
Jessica.

“
I’ll get you wherever you
need to go,” said Mrs. Ambrose. “I suggest we let this gentleman
leave.” She muttered under her breath. “The sooner the
better.”

“
Cool, and … uh … thanks
again, James. For your service. Isn’t that what they always say to
service folks?”

Wendell winked and put his car back in
gear, executing a three point turn, in the process, crushing a rose
bush and squashing a bed of mint on the fringe of Mrs. Ambrose’s
herb garden.

“
Who is that man?” Mrs.
Ambrose asked as the Bentley tore away down the packed clay of the
drive.