“Can I help you?” he asked. He was a little too aware, too in control of himself and his every movement, and his accent was nearly impossible to place.
“Yes, I hope you can.”
He smiled warmly, and watched my every move behind bright eyes. “I shall do my best.”
Samantha had told me that she thought Archibald Maximus—who looked nothing like an Archibald Maximus, I might add, was an alchemist, as in, someone who was a true master of potions. In my mind, this made him a bit of a wizard, but what did I know? Samantha had also thought he was part of a bigger network of those who battled evil. Or, as Maximus had put it to her a while ago, he and others like him were to balance the dark with the light.
Who knew for sure, but earlier today, after discussing with Sam what I might be dealing with, she had thought it best that I head out to Orange County...and find Maximus for some real answers. And now, here I was.
“Samantha Moon suggested that I talk with you,” I said boldly.
He nodded, smiling.
“She also suggested that there was a very good chance I would never find you, and I almost didn’t. I walked right past it.”
“Most don’t see it, it’s true. Funny what happens when you simply...ask to be shown the way.”
I could only nod.
He went on, “Just imagine what other mysteries are waiting to be revealed.”
“I-I suppose so.”
“Now, how can I help you, Allison?”
“I...” I closed my mouth. “I didn’t tell you my name.”
“And I didn’t tell you mine either,” he said. “And yet you know it.”
“This is weird,” I said.
“Isn’t it?”
“But Sam told me your name.”
“And Millicent told me yours. We’re even, I guess.”
“So weird,” I said.
“We’ve established that,” he said, winking. “Now, let’s see if I can help you.”
* * *
I caught him up on what I knew about Billy and Liz, and the demon in their house.
It was hard to know if the Librarian already knew what I was talking about, or if this was new information. He gave away little, and revealed even less. There was no doubt that the young man standing across the help desk was an enigma. That he was kind of cute, too, was just a bonus. That he might not be a young man at all, but a very old soul, was in question. That I might be losing my mind...nah, I’ll let Samantha worry about all that. Hell, outside of dealing with psycho killers from this world and the next, I was having a blast!
When I was finished telling him about it, he said, “You have seen this entity, you say?”
I nodded. “When I was at their home. It was sort of creeping down a hallway, watching us.”
“And you saw it in the young lady’s aura, as well?”
“Yes.”
“Would you mind if I accessed these two memories, so that I can have a better understanding of what we’re dealing with?”
“Access?” I asked. The word might have come out a little squeakier than I’d intended.
“Yes, I will ask you to remember these two events again, while I briefly slip into your thoughts. It’s not dissimilar to the connection you have with Sam. But mine will be brief and only this one time.”
“Okay,” I said. “But I’m going to warn you. It’s cluttered in there.”
“No problem.” He smiled warmly and gestured for me to come closer to him, which I did, leaning on my hands over the counter.
“This isn’t going to hurt,” he said.
“Good to know.”
He reached over and placed his palms on either side of my head, just above my ears, holding me gently.
“I bet you do this with all the girls,” I said.
“Only psychic witches who have seen a very rare, and very old, entity.”
I had opened my mouth for another sassy comeback, but his words shut me right up. I closed it again, and couldn’t escape the fact that my heart was now thumping loudly just inside my eardrums.
“Okay, Allie. I want you to think back to the first time you saw the creature. Just go back to that moment in your mind.”
His touch was not unpleasant. The fact that I couldn’t hear him breathing was slightly unsettling. Samantha rarely, if ever, breathed, either. And if she did, it was only to appear normal...and that was only when she remembered to do it. Her touch, however, was ice cold. His was warm, gentle...and soothing. I decided I liked his touch.
Hi, Allie.
The words manifested just inside my ear, in the same place where I “hear” Samantha Moon talking to me.
Fancy meeting you hear, I thought, joking around with him.
He smiled at me. Now, think back to the first time, please...and I’m glad you like my touch.
I felt my face heat up as I closed my eyes. I cast my thoughts back to my meeting with Billy, when I had been sitting with him on the couch, and when I had been looking down the hallway.
As I thought this thought, my mind strayed to Archibald’s touch again, his warmth, and the way he gently cradled my head in his hands...and I lost all focus. I opened my eyes and smiled shyly at him.
“Um, sorry,” I said.
“No reason to be sorry,” he said softly, giving me a crooked smile.
I closed my eyes, and decided I liked his smile, too. “Let me try again.”
Please do, came his silent words, and I like your smile, as well.
Uh-oh, I thought, and sensed him smile.
I did what I was asked, and focused all my thoughts on the scene at Billy’s house. When I felt my thoughts stray, I reined them back in. I replayed the memory as best as I could, and did it over and over again.
Good, Allison. Now, show me what you saw with the daughter.
I nodded as he continued holding my head. I would have expected him to breathe on me. His face was, after all, just a few inches from mine. A handsome face.
Dammit, I thought, feeling the heat spring to my face, knowing he had just picked up on my stray thought.
I am flattered, came his gentle words.
I took in a lot of air, and this time, replayed the events as I’d seen them at the jail, as the darkness clouded Liz’s aura, as we’d done our best to try to banish it, only to see a trailing darkness remain. I repeated the scene again, over and over, quickly, until he released my head.
“Ah,” he said, settling back into his space behind the help desk.
“What, exactly, does ah mean?” I asked.
He pulled at his small goatee on his narrow chin. He did this while I waited, and while I waited, I saw something curious from the back of the Occult Reading Room, where thousands upon thousands of books crowded the bookshelves. I saw a slow darkness appear from one of the books. The darkness swirled briefly, took the vague form of a human shape, and then returned to the book. What, exactly, that was, I didn’t know, but the Librarian didn’t seem concerned. Now, as I waited for Archibald Maximus to mull over what he had seen in my head, I realized that almost all of the books in this collection emitted a dark energy. I couldn’t always see the energy, not like the swirling dark mist, but I felt it, and, if I listened hard enough, I could almost seem to hear it. Whispering, rattling, chanting...