Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“ ‘Changing the world, one problem at a time,’ ” Amira read aloud.
She opened the brochure, and on its cover I saw a photo of attractive people with determined smiles.
Finally, the penny dropped—she was holding one of the brochures the company gave to prospective clients.
“ ‘Surfacing actionable interventions without moral impediments,’ ” she quoted.
“ ‘Solutions guaranteed, no questions asked.’ ” Her gaze lifted to me. “What is this?”
“It sounds like a company that specializes in solving problems,” Lex responded, nudging my arm.
I nodded along. “Right. Yeah. Problems.”
“Problems like whatever is happening to New York right now.” This time, Lex deliberately stepped on my foot with their combat boot.
“Ow,” I protested. At their glare, I added hastily, “I bet the people who work for that company are searching for a way to save the city. Boy, I wonder if they need help. From, I don’t know, a mathematical genius. Named Amira.”
Closing their eyes, Lex pinched the bridge of their nose over the top of their glasses. “I swear to god, Colin.”
Amira lowered the brochure. “I don’t understand.”
Lex focused their attention on her. “Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that a company exists that is trying to stop these disappearances. Would you be willing to help?”
She looked from one of us to the other. “Stop the disappearances? Does that mean someone out there knows what’s happening?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“And they need my help?”
Mutely, I nodded.
A line appeared between her eyebrows, the furrow that indicated she was deep in thought. “And you know this because…?”
I exhaled slowly. “Because I don’t work for a bank.”
No one moved for a long time. Expressions flickered across Amira’s face—worry, confusion, hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me before now?” she finally asked.
“There’s a lot we’re not allowed to say,” Lex told her.
Amira looked down at the brochure in her hand, but I could tell she was thinking. “You said they need mathematical expertise. I’m not a pure mathematician, though. I’m a physicist.”
“You’re literally the smartest person on the Eastern Seaboard,” I told her. “Maybe in the entire country. We both know it’s only a matter of time before they give you a Nobel. You can handle this.”
Eventually, she nodded. “Okay. I’m sick to death of sitting in this apartment, doing nothing. If I can help, I will. But then you and I are going to have a long talk about keeping secrets, Colin Harris. Is that clear?”
It was a relief to finally tell Amira something closer to the truth.
By unspoken agreement, however, Lex and I mentioned nothing about Abominations or ancient rituals or anything specific about Dark Enterprises.
That was going to be a tough conversation, and we wanted to put it off as long as possible.
The three of us squashed onto the sofa and Lex spun some vaguely plausible narrative about what was happening in the city. “There’s an anomaly pulling people into…somewhere else. We think we have a way to stop it, but it’s going to require higher-order geometry that’s way beyond us.”
“An anomaly,” Amira repeated. “Do you know what caused it?”
“That’s a long story,” I said hurriedly. “Right now, we just need to stop it.”
Lex adjusted their glasses as they looked at Amira. “To contain the anomaly, we need to design a multidimensional space beyond standard spacetime. More specifically, we need to represent that space at a near-intuitive level.”
“Meaning what?” she asked with a bemused shake of her head.
Fussing with their mohawk, Lex cleared their throat.
With another person, I would have said they were flustered, but this was Lex.
They were never flustered—they flustered others.
“You’d have to describe a space like that in terms that anyone can grasp.
A blueprint, kind of, or a mental road map.
Something they could follow to conceptualize the geometry in their own mind. ”
I was impressed. Lex hadn’t sworn once in the whole time they’d been here. In fact, they sounded oddly formal. And they were looking at Amira again, whose mouth had curved into a smile as she looked back. My eyes narrowed. What in the Sam Hill was going on?
“It’s a strange request,” she murmured. “I do like a challenge, though.” Then she shook her head again. “I’m aware of higher-dimensional geometry, but I’m hardly an expert. There are mathematicians out there who could do this better than me.”
“They’re not here,” I pointed out. “And I know you can do this.”
She was quiet for a moment, watching me. “This is all very weird. You know that, right? Countless thousands of people have vanished, and then I find out you work for a company that can stop it.” Her brow furrowed. “Is that why you’ve still been going to work rather than staying home?”
“Yup,” I said. “Absolutely.”
“And why is it just you two working on this? Where are your colleagues? Your bosses?”
Oh boy. We were about to start down a very slippery slope of inconvenient questions. Lex and I exchanged glances, but before either of us could think up a reply, my phone vibrated in my pocket and a gnarly guitar riff emerged from Lex’s. We’d both received an email.
From: Executive Board
To: General Employee List
Subject: Restricted Building Access
In an effort to deal with the ongoing Level 5 event, the board will be conducting an important and highly sensitive ritual on company premises.
Due to the potential for catastrophic attrition, all nonessential personnel are hereby restricted from the New York office as well as adjoining realms of existence.
(For a definition of “nonessential personnel,” please consult your employee handbook.)
Security personnel are now at threat condition RED. Report immediately to stations onsite.
Our oracles have forecast an auspicious planetary alignment tomorrow (Monday, June 18th) at 16:43 local time.
If the board is unable to resolve this Level 5 event, intervention from Management will follow, resulting in a permanent shuttering of our New York operations and the immediate termination of all employee contracts.
Should we survive, I look forward to welcoming you back to work on Tuesday morning.
Sincerely,
Ms. Crenshaw
Lex stared down at their phone. “Well, shit.”
“What is it?” Amira asked.
“You wanted to know what our colleagues are doing?” I said to her. “The executive board is going to try to bind…uh, I mean, stop these disappearances tomorrow night.”
“Okay. That’s good, right?”
“I’m not sure.” Reading Ms. Crenshaw’s email again, I looked up at the others. “My boss said this morning that Management expects the board to fail.”
Lex frowned. “Why would They order the board to do something that won’t succeed?”
Leaning back, I stared out the window while thoughts chased one another through my brain. “I think Management is up to something,” I said at last.
They both looked at me in expectant silence.
“Think about it. They could have ended all of this days ago. Instead, They’ve sat back and done nothing, even after we were attac—” I stopped and cleared my throat. “Um. Anyhow. I can’t shake the feeling that Management wants the board to fail.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Lex objected. “What would They gain from doing that?”
“I have no idea. But it’s weird, right?”
“I dunno. Maybe.”
“This company sounds pretty dysfunctional,” Amira observed.
“Among other things,” I agreed. Glancing over at Lex’s backpack, still sitting on the floor, I asked them, “Do we take what we found to Ms. Crenshaw?”
Lex’s eyebrows slowly drew together. “An hour ago, I would have said yes, especially now that we have Amira on board. But you’ve made me suspicious.
” They ran both hands along their mohawk as they frowned at the floor.
“If Management really is setting up the board to fail, then going to Crenshaw would be a waste of time. Plus, we’d be giving up the one real opportunity we have to end this. ”
“So we do this ourselves. The three of us.” I gave them both a smile that fell somewhere between determined and terrified. Neither looked particularly reassured.
“I’m taking a lot on faith here,” Amira said after a lengthy pause. “I believe you when you say you want to stop whatever is happening out there, but this company you work for, the math you’re asking me to do…” She trailed off, her expression troubled.
“I know it’s a lot,” I said quietly. “And I wish we didn’t have to keep things so mysterious. Please trust me when I say it’s for a good reason, though.”
“I do trust you.” Her gaze moved to Lex and she smiled faintly. “Both of you.”
Lex’s pale features reddened and they took a sudden interest in the sofa’s faded upholstery, smoothing it repeatedly with one hand.
“Okay. Let’s figure out how to—” My phone vibrated again in my hand and I glanced down at the screen.
It was Lying Jerkface again. Suddenly irritated beyond all reason, I decided to answer, rising to my feet with a growl and stalking toward my bedroom.
“What do you want?” I demanded as I closed the door behind me.
There was a pause before Eric said quietly, “Hi.”
My chest tightened at the sound of his voice. “What do you want, Eric?” I asked again, more roughly this time.
He exhaled. “I need to talk to you. In person. Please.”
“I don’t want to hear another apology. It would just be a lie.”
“Colin.” He stopped abruptly and I heard him draw a deep breath. Then, in a level tone, he said, “I have something that can help against the thing that’s out there. A weapon.”
That got my attention. “It can stop an Abomination?”
“That’s what the Conclave believes.”
I paused. “Then why aren’t they here, using it?”
There was silence at the other end of the line. “Because they don’t know it’s in New York,” he finally said. “I ‘borrowed’ it from our archives before I came here.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“I thought I might have to use it if things went sideways. But that doesn’t matter now.
I got word less than an hour ago from one of our prophets who’s foreseen that Dark Enterprises is going to try something big.
If she’s right, maybe you can get this weapon to your bosses.
They’re going to need all the help they can get. ”
Suspicion slowly crept over me. “You want to hand a Conclave weapon to Dark Enterprises. Your mortal enemy.”
“If it helps end an existential threat to the entire world, then yes, I’ll hand it over.” His voice softened a little. “I don’t trust them, Colin, but I do trust you.”
Before I could reply, there was a loud noise from the street below.
Hurrying to the window, I peered outside.
A car had driven up onto the sidewalk opposite and wrapped its front fender around a streetlamp.
Steam escaped from beneath the crumpled hood as a tall, cadaverous figure straightened from the passenger window, both hands pushing a pair of kicking legs into the roiling shadows of its face.
The rear door on the driver’s side swung open and a young boy stumbled out, face twisted with fear and pain as blood trickled from a cut on his forehead.
Without thinking, I pressed my free hand against the window, silently urging the boy to run.
It was too late, though. The-One-Who-Hungers flickered and jumped to the boy, then plucked him from the ground with ease, devouring him in a heartbeat.
Numb, I stared down at the Abomination as it straightened its suit jacket and rotated slowly in the air to face me. Lifting one hand, it gave me a jaunty wave before vanishing again.
Backing away from the window, I made a snap decision. “Fine,” I said to Eric. “Meet us outside Dark Enterprises in forty-five minutes.” Then I hung up.
Lex and Amira were standing at the window when I returned to the living room. “A car crashed outside,” Amira told me. “There aren’t any people, though.”
That made me pause. “You didn’t see what happened to them?”
Bemused, she shook her head.
The-One-Who-Hungers had arranged that little show just for me. My stomach writhed. “We need to leave. Right now.”
“And go where?” Lex asked.
“Dark Enterprises is the safest place in the city, at least for the moment.”
Moving closer to me, Lex lowered their voice. “Dude, you saw the email. They’ve closed the building. If they find us in there—”
“The-One-Who-Hungers was right outside,” I interrupted softly.
“It waved at me.” Lex blinked at that, but I pushed ahead before they could speak.
“You need to translate that tablet, right? That means using the Repository. I say we sneak in and find someplace to hunker down. If we’re careful, no one will know we’re there. ”
Lex looked skeptical, but it was Amira who said from next to the window, “If you know somewhere safe, let’s go right now.”
Outvoted, Lex raised both hands in surrender, after which Amira and I quickly gathered a few essentials. It’s like a sleepover, I told myself as I dropped my toothbrush into a plastic baggie. A desperate, unauthorized sleepover at the end of the world. How fun.
Before we left the apartment, possibly for the last time, I returned to my bedroom and opened the desk drawer.
There, blankly innocuous, sat the business card that had doomed us all.
An idea came to me, and before I could question it, I grabbed the card and stuffed it into my pocket.
I also took the seal that had once bound The-One-Who-Hungers, its surface stained with blood.
Then I hurried after my friends, ready to save the world or die trying.