Chapter 30
Even here, even now, Gwen was an inveterate rule follower. Arthur had accused her of being a good little hobbit—by which he
meant domestic and tidy and homey and rule-following. And he was right. There were signs warning visitors to keep their cells
off in the hospital, to avoid interfering with sensitive diagnostic equipment, so Gwen did not activate her iPhone until she
was making her way across the lobby to the sliding doors. Her insides felt stretched out and throbbed with pain. She supposed
women felt much the same way after they delivered. She was pregnant herself, with her own death. The embryo was a shard of
bullet, but it was never going to have a chance to grow to its full potential, because her abortion was scheduled for Easter
morning. She felt clammy with sweat, her shirt already stuck to her back. The sliding doors opened and she made her way out
into an unexpectedly sweet coolness, smelling of dew-soaked lawns. Her hand was damp and weak and she fumbled the phone while
she was trying to open Uber. It slid through her fingers and cracked against the concrete.
“Piss on it,” Gwen said. She bent to pick it up and the crutch slipped from under her arm and she knew she was going to eat
it, she was going to face-plant on the concrete.
Robin caught her by the shoulder and steadied her before she could fall. “I’ve got it, you dumb cow.” She collected the phone
and handed it back to her.
Gwen’s pulse thumped in her neck. She looked into Robin’s good, cheerful face, and then past her.
Donna sat behind the wheel of Colin’s cherry ’49 Caddy.
Allie leaned against the side of the car, hugging herself against the chill.
Tana had one haunch up on the hood and was sipping a coffee from Dunkin’.
“What’s this?” Gwen asked.
“What’s it look like?” Tana said. “It’s a fuckin’ ambush.”
“We figured we’d practice our sneak attack on you,” Allie said, “before anyone tried it out on King Sorrow.”
Gwen opened her mouth.
“You want to plan your next words carefully,” Donna said. “You can sit up front next to me or you can ride in the trunk. Up
to you.”
It surprised Gwen to feel the smile spreading across her face, the good feeling opening inside her chest.
“Okay,” she said. “I know when I’m beat.”
Once she was in the car, Robin took her crutch away and laid it across the floor in the back seat. Tana slammed the door on
her, as if Gwen might change her mind and try to leap out. It felt good to get off her feet. There was a hot twist of pain
in the small of her back and she wondered if she was bleeding through the gauze already. She was shaky from exertion and thought,
No way, NO WAY I can fight him like this.
“Do you have to do this in the Brooks Library?” Donna asked.
“I think so. It survived the big fire a century ago—it was the only place on campus that didn’t burn. The walls are a foot
of solid stone. Even at his full strength, King Sorrow would have some work to do, knocking that down. Also, it’s spring break.
No students around to get hurt. Most of the on-campus staff will be gone too. It’s a ghost ship.”
“Arthur loved it there,” Allie said.
“It’s where all this began,” Gwen said. “It’s fitting to try and end it there.”
“Okay then,” Allie said. “It’s only open from nine to six today and I checked the rotation.
One librarian on duty and one volunteer.
I booked Conference Room A for late morning.
You know where that is? East wing, first floor.
There’s a door in there into a utility room.
Bigger than a closet, but not by much. It used to be a break room for the custodial staff.
Now they’ve got the library servers in there.
You guys hide in the server room and I’ll leave just before closing.
I’ll come back a couple hours later. Someone can let me in through one of the windows in the basement. There are bathrooms down there and—”
“Hang on,” Gwen said. “Why would we all hide anywhere? Why would you come back?”
The Caddy glided along the broad avenue in a deep, leather-padded hush.
Allie began, “Gwen—”
Robin cut her off. “You can’t do this alone, darling. Never mind battling a dragon like ye bold knights of old. How are you
going to pick up a sword? You can barely hold your iPhone. You need us. We can help with the séance, and when the dragon shows
up, we can run interference.”
“You can get killed is what you can do. I told you to stay out of it. You all get burned up with me, there won’t be anyone
left to fight King Sorrow after Easter.”
“If we all get burned up,” Allie said, “King Sorrow will be done anyway. He can’t keep coming back to our world if we’re all
gone. We win if we win. But we also win if we lose.”
Tana said, “To be fair, it’s harder to celebrate your big victory when you’ve been reduced to a pile of fackin’ charred sticks.”
“I don’t want you there,” Gwen said.
“Tough shit,” Donna said. “You need the mirror and the martyr’s robe, and I’ve got both. Wanna wrestle me for them?”
“Goddamn it, Donna.”
Gwen felt ill from the motion of the car, from the racing motion inside her. She kept her hands pressed to the dash as if
bracing for a crash.
Tana said, “What about campus security?”
Robin said, “I’ve been to the library myself, to do a little recon. The Special Collection has windows that face the lobby,
but there are shades. We can roll them down. I think turning on the lights is out of the question, but we’ve got an almost
full moon tonight—”
“’Course it’s a full moon,” Tana said.
“—and as long as we keep our voices down, I think we’ll be fine.
Campus security might take a pass through the lobby once or twice, but there’s no permanent presence in the library.
Not that I’ve seen, and I spent most of one night parked on the street, where I could watch the place through the school gates. ”
“Is everyone in this car out of their minds?” Gwen asked, her voice shaking with emotion. “Can’t you understand, I don’t want
anyone else to die for me?”
“Oh, will you unknot your panties?” Donna said. “No one is going to die for you. If things get too hairy, I’ll just give your
head a sharp twist and kill you myself. King Sorrow’s gotta go away as soon as you’re dead, and then we can all try again
at our leisure.” She drove for a moment, then added, “I hope that sets your mind at ease.”
The car glided along the almost empty streets in silence. Gwen lowered her hands back to her lap and exhaled very slowly.
“Yeah, Donna,” she said. “It’s a load off my mind.”
“See, and I’m always hearing I’m not a people person,” Donna said.