"Where?"
She shook her head. "The security office, in administration."
"Right," I said. "This place have a phone?"
"Of course."
"Take me to it."
She did, back in the little place"s tiny kitchen. I picked it up, got a dial tone, and slammed Murphy"s phone number across the
numbers. If the bad guys, whoever or whatever they were, were afraid of attracting attention from the outside world, I might be
able to avoid the entire situation by calling in lots of police cars and flashy lights.
The phone rang once, twice.
And then it went dead, along with the lights, the music playing on the speakers, and the constant blowing sigh of the heating system.
Several short, breathy screams came from the front of the bistro, and I heard Thomas shout for silence and call, "Harry?"
"The security office," I said to Sarah. "Where is it?"
"Um. It"s at the far end of the mall from here."
"Easy to find?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "You have to go through the administrative hall and-"
I shook my head. "You can show me. Come on." I stalked out to the front room of the bistro. "Thomas? Anything?"
All the larpers had gathered in close, herd instinct kicking in under the tension. Thomas stepped closer to me so that he could
answer me under his breath.
"Nothing yet," Thomas said. "But I saw something moving out there."
I grunted. "Here"s the plan. Molly, Sarah, and me are going to go down to the security office and try to reach someone."
"Bad idea," Thomas said. "We need to get out of here."
"We"re too vulnerable. They"re between us and the cars," I said. "Whatever they are. We"ll never make it out all the way across the parking lot without getting caught."
"Fine," he said. "You fort up here and I"ll go."
"No. Once we"re gone, you"ll try to get through to the cops on a cell phone. There"s not a prayer of getting one to work if Molly and me are anywhere nearby-not with both of us this nervous."
He didn"t like that answer, but he couldn"t refute it. "All right," he said, grimacing. "Watch your back."
I nodded to him and raised my voice. "All right, everyone. I"m not sure exactly what is going on here, but I"m going to go find security. I want everyone to stay here until I get back and we"re sure it"s safe."
There was a round of halfhearted protests at that, but Thomas quelled them with a look. It wasn"t an angry or threatening look. It was simply a steady gaze.
Everyone shut up.
I headed out with Molly and Sarah in tow, and as we stepped out of the bistro, there was an enormous crashing sound, and a car came flying sideways through the gla.s.s wall of the entranceway about eight feet off the ground. It hit the ground, broken gla.s.s and steel foaming around it like crashing surf, bounced with a shockingly loud crunch, and tumbled ponderously toward us, heralded by a rush of freezing air.
Molly was already moving, but Sarah only stood there staring incredulously as the car came toward us. I grabbed her around the waist and all but hauled her off her feet, dragging her away. I ran straight away from the oncoming missile, which was not the smartest way to go-but since a little perfume kiosk was blocking my path, it was the only way.
I was fast, and we got a little bit lucky. I pulled Sarah past the kiosk just as the car hit it. Its momentum was almost gone by the time it hit, and it crashed to a halt, a small wave of safety gla.s.s washing past our shoes. Sarah wobbled and nearly fell. I caught her and kept going. She started to scream or shout or ask a question-but I clapped my hand over her mouth and hissed, "Quiet!"
I didn"t stop until we were around the corner and the crashing racket was coming to a halt. Then I stopped with my back against the wall and got Sarah"s attention.
I didn"t speak. I raised one finger to my lips with as much physical emphasis as I could manage. Sarah, trembling violently, nodded at me. I turned to give the same signal to Molly, who looked pale but in control of herself. She nodded as well, and we turned and slipped away from that arm of the mall.
I listened as hard as I could, which is actually quite hard. It"s a talent I seem to have developed, maybe because I"m a wizard, and maybe just because some people can hear really well. It was difficult to make out anything at all, much less any kind of detail, but I was sure I heard one thing-footsteps, coming in the crushed door of the mall, crunching on broken gla.s.s and debris.
Something fast enough to snap a man"s neck with the whiplash of its pa.s.sage and strong enough to throw that car through a wall of gla.s.s had just walked into the mall behind us. I figured it was a very, very good idea not to let it know we were there and sneaking away.
We got away with it, walking slowly and silently out through the mall, which yawned all around us, three levels of darkened stores, deserted shops, and closed metal grates and doors. I stopped a dozen shops later, after we"d gone past the central plaza of the mall and were far enough away for the s.p.a.ce to swallow up quiet conversation.
"Oh my G.o.d," Sarah whimpered, her voice a strangled little whisper. "Oh my G.o.d. What is happening? Is it terrorists?"
I probably would have had a more suave answer if she hadn"t been pressed up against my side, mostly naked from the hips up, warm and lithe and trembling. The adrenaline rush that had hit me when the car nearly smashed us caught up to me, and it was suddenly difficult to keep from shivering, myself. I had a sudden, insanely intense need to rip off the strings on that red bikini top and kiss her, purely for the sake of how good it would feel. All things considered, though, it would have been less than appropriate. "Uh," I mumbled, forcing myself to look back the way we"d come. "They"re...bad guys of some kind, yeah. Are you hurt?"
"No," Sarah said.
"Molly?" I asked.
"I"m fine," my apprentice answered.
"The security office," I said.
Sarah stared at me for a second, her eyes still wide. "But...but I don"t understand why-"
I put my hand firmly over her mouth. "Sarah," I said, meeting her eyes for as long as I dared. "I"ve been in trouble before, and I
know what I"m doing. I need you to trust me. All right?"
Her eyes widened for a second. She reached up to lightly touch my wrist, and I let her push my hand gently away from her mouth.
She swallowed and nodded once.
"There"s no time. We have to find the security office now."
"A-all right," she said. "This way."
She led us off and we followed her, creeping through the cavernous dimness of the unlit mall. Molly leaned in close to me to
whisper, "Even if we get the security guards, what are they going to do against something that can do that?"
"They"ll have radios," I whispered back. "Cell phones. They"ll know all the ways out. If we can"t call in help, they"ll give us the best shot of getting these people out of here in one-" Lights began flickering on and off. Not blinking, not starting up and shutting down in rhythm, but irregularly. First they came on over a section of the third floor for a few seconds. Then they went out. A few seconds later, it was a far section of the second floor. Then they went out. Then light shone from one of the distant wings for a moment and vanished again. It was like watching a child experiment with the switches.
Then the PA system let out a crackle and a little squeal of feedback. It shut off again and came back on. "Testing," said a dry, rasping voice over the speakers. "Testing one, two, three."
Sarah froze in place, and then backed up warily, looking at me. I stepped up next to her, and she pressed in close to me, shivering.
"There," said the voice. It was a horrible thing to listen to-like Linda Blair"s impression of a demon-possessed victim, only less melodious. "I"m sure you all can hear me now."
And I"d heard such a voice before. "Oh, h.e.l.l," I breathed.
"This is Constance," continued the voice. "Constance Bushnell. I"m sure you all remember me."
I glanced at Molly, who shook her head. Sarah looked frightened and confused, but when she caught my look, she shook her head, too.
"You might also remember me," she continued, "As Drulinda." And then the voice started singing "Happy Birthday." The tune wasn"t even vaguely close to the actual song, but the lyrics, sung "to me," were unmistakable.
Sarah"s eyes had widened. "Drulinda?"
"Who the h.e.l.l is Drulinda?" I asked.
Sarah shook her head. "One of our characters. But her player ran away from home or something."
"And you didn"t recognize her actual name?"
Sarah gave me a slightly guilty glance. "Well. I never played with her much. She wasn"t really very, you know. Popular."
"Uh-huh," I said. "Tell me whatever you can about her."
She shook her head. "Um. About five four, sort of...plain. You know, not ugly or anything, but not really pretty. Maybe a little
heavy."
"Not that," I sighed. "Tell me something important about her. People make fun of her?"
"Some did," she said. "I never liked it, but..."
"c.r.a.p." I looked at Molly and said, "Code Carrie. We"re in trouble."
The horrible, dusty song came to an end. "It"s been a year since I left you," Drulinda"s voice said. "A year since I found what all
you whining losers were looking for. And I decided to give myself a present." There was a horrible pause and then the voice said, "You. All of you."
"Code what?" Molly asked me.
I shook my head. "Sarah, do you know where the announcement system is?"
"Yes," Sarah said. "Administration. Right by-"
"The security office," I sighed.
Drulinda"s voice continued. "The entrances are closed and watched. But you should feel free to run for them. You all taste so much better when you"ve had time to be properly terrified. I"ve so been looking forward to seeing your reaction to the new me."