The Shimmering Door: Stories by Katharine Kerr

The Shimmering Door: Stories by Katharine Kerr

Author:Katharine Kerr [Kerr, Katharine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061053429
Google: AHr3AAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0061053422
Goodreads: 558660
Published: 2022-09-03T02:56:17+00:00


D E A D A N D G O N E

2 1 5

Elaine sat back down on the couch, clutching her purse like a shield.

Her tears stopped abruptly and her eyes went wide with fright.

“Shadow!” Vince heard his own voice boom in the ghostly Voice of Command, then he grabbed the cat and bundled it back into normal feline dimensions. “No!”

Shadow’ squirmed and growled, but at last settled down.

Vince looked to Elaine and gave a nervous grin. “Cats. Gotta love

’em, huh?” He grimaced. Oh God, he knew something like this was going to happen.

Elaine bit her lip. “He’s dead too, isn’t he?”

“Uh, yeah.” It was an attempt to make conversation, at least. “1 got him at the pound. They’d, well, had a haunting problem. Listen, if you want to go … ” He began to get the door.

“No, no, it’s all right.” She reached into her purse and got out a tissue. “It’s just— ” She dabbed at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I came here under false pretenses. I didn’t really want a date.”

Vince went over to the couch and sat down, holding Shadow’ in his lap. “I sort of figured that.”

“It’s not— Well, yes, it is, maybe. It’s just that my brother died, and, well, I w’anted to talk to him.”

“Have you tried a seance?”

“First thing. I borrowed every Ouija board on the block. Nothing.”

Elaine looked at the black marks of mascara on the tissue, then up at Vince. “I must look awful.”

Vince smiled. “Not half as bad as I do. Trust me.”

Elaine looked at her lap. “Okay. The police said Gary’s death was an accident and his soul had just passed on. No murder, no suicide. But I knew something like this was going to happen. I did. I get premonitions sometimes— not like an oracle, nothing clear or anything—but sometimes I know’ when something bad is going to happen, or has happened. And it’s like that now. My . . . gift . . . isn’t anything documented, and it’s easier for the police to just dismiss me as crazy than to believe in wildmagic, but I know there’s something wrong. Very wrong.

Gar}’ would have come back to talk to me. He promised. We both did.

Except now he’s gone and the only thing left is necromancy and I never could afford to hire— ” She broke off, her throat catching. “When I saw your ad, I— I’m sorry. I’m just desperate.”

“That, and smart,” Vince said. “You did your homework. A lich is the only sort of necromancer who can’t get into trouble for disturbing the dead without a court order, right?”



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