Book of the Art (02): Everville by Barker Clive

Author:Barker, Clive [Barker, Clive]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Horror, Modern, Science Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
ISBN: 9780060177980
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1994-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

II

The trip took him five days, and brought him at last to Mammoth, Arizona, and a street corner where a woman with a voice like water over rock called him by his name. She was tiny, her skin like brown paper that had been used and screwed up a dozen times, eyes so deeply set he was never quite certain if they were on him at all.

“I’m Maria Lourdes Nazareno,” she told him. “I’ve been waiting for you sixteen days.”

“I didn’t realize I was expected,” Harry replied.

“Always,” the woman said. “How is Tesla, by the way?”

“You know Tesla?”

“I met her on this same corner, three years ago.”

“Popular place,” Harry remarked, “is there something special about it?”

“Yes,” the woman replied, with a little laugh. “Me. How is she?”

“As crazy as ever, last time we spoke,” Harry said.

“And you? Are you crazy too?”

“Very possibly.”

The response seemed to please the woman. She lifted her head, and for the first time Harry saw her eyes. Her irises were flecked with gold.

“I gave Tesla a gun,” the woman went on. “Does she still have it?” Harry didn’t reply. “D’Amour?”

“Are you what I think you are?” Harry murmured.

“What do you mean?”

“You know damn well.”

Again, the smile. “It was the eyes that gave it away, yes? Tesla didn’t notice. But then I think she was high that day.”

“Are there many of you?”

“A very few,” Maria replied, “and the greater part of all of us is Sapas Humana. But there’s a tiny piece”—she put thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch apart to demonstrate how little—“a tiny piece of me which Quiddity calls to. It makes me wise.”

“How?”

“It lets me see you and Tesla coming.”

“Is that all you see?”

“Why? Do you have something in mind?”

“Yes I do.”

“What?”

“Kissoon.”

The woman visibly shuddered. “So he’s your business.”

“Is he here?”

“No.”

“Has he been here?”

“No. Why? Do you expect him?”

“I’m afraid so.”

The woman looked distressed. “We thought we were safe here,” she said. “We haven’t tried to open a neirica. We don’t have the power. So we thought he wouldn’t notice us.”

“I’m afraid he knows you’re here.”

“I must go. I must warn everyone.” She took hold of Harry’s hand, her palms clammy. “Thank you for this. I will find some way to repay you.”

“There’s no need.”

“Oh, but there is,” she said, and before Harry could protest further she’d gone, off across the street and out of sight.

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