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Molly hit him over the head from behind with the Manx Cat statuette, and he crumpled to the floor, unconscious. He’d been so taken up in taunting me that he never even noticed Molly sneaking up behind him. The Manx Cat cracked into pieces, crumbled, and fell apart. Molly looked at me, shrugged and smiled, and brushed the last few bits off her hands. The Kandarian amulet had spilled out of Sebastian’s hand as he collapsed, and now it lay on the floor between us. Such a small thing, to be so evil. I stepped forward and stamped on it, and the ancient stone crumbled into dust under my heel.
But with the Manx Cat shattered, the power sustaining Molly’s tangle spell was gone too, and the dozen black-uniformed men scrambled to their feet again, raising their guns. Mad as hell at being taken out so easily, they all opened fire on Molly. The bullets hit her again and again, sending her staggering backwards under the repeated impacts. Blood spurted from dozens of wounds, snapping her head back and forth, and she couldn’t get enough breath to scream. Finally the men stopped firing, and Molly fell, as though that was all that had been holding her up. I fell to my knees beside her and grabbed her hand. She tried to say something to me, blood gushing and spraying painfully from her mouth, and all I could do was hold her hand until at last the life went out of her eyes. I looked up at the armed men, and they all fell back a step, afraid of whatever it was they saw in my face.
But I wasn’t going to kill them. That wasn’t enough.
I finally thought to hit the button on my reverse watch and rewind time. I’d almost left it too long. The watch didn’t want to take me far enough back, but I just hit it again and again and again, until finally it took me back to the point where the armed men were just starting to train their guns on Molly. I threw myself in front of her, between her and the bullets, armouring up as I went. The living metal swept over me even as the bullets flew through the air; and fast as the bullets were, the armour was faster. Every single shot that would have killed Molly ricocheted off me instead.
I threw myself upon the armed men, beat the crap out of them, and tossed them around the room for a while, until Molly finally stepped in and stopped me. Not for their sakes, but for mine. She knew I’d feel bad afterwards, if I killed them. I armoured down and smiled tremulously at her. I’d come so close to losing her.
"I’m a witch," Molly said slowly, holding my eyes with hers. "I see things, and remember things, that others can’t. I remember lying on that floor, dying…and then you rewrote history, changed the world itself, just to save me. And risked your own life doing it. You couldn’t have been sure the armour would cover you in time to save you from their guns. Why would you do that, risk that, to save me?"
"Because I had to," I said.
"Eddie…" she said.
"Molly…" I said.
"Oh, God," said Molly. "Are we having a romantic moment?"
We looked at each other; and it would be hard to say which of us was more appalled at the thought.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Gone Fishing, on Golden Pool
"I’ve made a decision," I said to Molly.
"Good for you," said Molly.
"I’ve decided I don’t want to meet any more rogues," I said.
"Not if they’re going to be like the ones I’ve already met. I mean, one crazy, one shut-in, and one moral cripple? Is that the kind of future I’ve got to look forward to if by some miracle I survive the next few days?"
"Probably," said Molly. "If you give up, like they did. They were all afraid to do anything that mattered. How about you?"
"I’m going home," I said. And just like that, I was certain. "It’s all that’s left to me. I’m going back to the Hall, and the library, and my backstabbing family. Because they’re the only ones I can be sure have the answers I need."
"Good for you!" said Molly. "I’m coming too!"
"No, you’re bloody not," I said. "This is going to be difficult enough without having to look after you as well."
"I do not need looking after," said Molly, her face clouding up dangerously.
"You could die in a hundred ways just trying to get onto the Hall’s grounds," I said, trying hard to sound reasonable. "My family is protected in ways even I don’t like to think about sometimes."
"If you think I’m going to miss out on an opportunity to stick it to the Droods where they live, you’ve got another think coming. I’ve dreamed of revenge like this! Usually after eating cheese. I’m going with you, and you can’t stop me!"
"Will you please keep the noise down?" growled Janissary Jane. She sat up slowly, wincing and groaning, and then peered blearily about her, taking in the unconscious Manifest Destiny soldiers piled up around her. "Must have been a hell of a party…Shaman? That you? Where the hell am I? And what have I been doing…? It feels like someone took a dump in my head."
"You were possessed by Archie Leech," I said, helping her to her feet.
"I drove his spirit out of your body, and then destroyed it. He won’t be coming back. Ever."
"Leech? That rat turd? He must have sneaked in while my defences were down. Hold everything; you destroyed him? No offence, Shaman—I mean, well done and thanks for everything and all that—but I never really saw you as being in Archie Leech’s league."
"Yeah, well, that’s because he isn’t Shaman Bond," said Molly. "He’s been fooling us all for years with that mild-ma
"Molly? You’re here too?" Janissary Jane squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slowly. It didn’t seem to help. "Well, if he isn’t Shaman Bond, who the hell is he?"
"There’s no easy way to say this," I said. "I’m a Drood, Jane. Eddie Drood, field agent, at your service. Only I’m not an agent for the family anymore. They made me rogue, so I’m on the run from everyone."
"I go to fight in the hell dimensions for one lousy month, and the whole world stops making sense while I’m gone." Janissary Jane studied me suspiciously. "You’re a Drood, Shaman? You? Bloody good disguise…Eddie. You two-faced little shit. Wait a minute; I’m still catching up here. You’re a rogue? What did you do?"
"I don’t know. But my family wants me dead. That’s why Archie came after me." I thought it best to keep the explanations simple for the moment. And I didn’t think I’d tell her that Archie had targeted her specifically just to get back at me. I could do that later. From a safe distance.
"At least you killed the bastard," Janissary Jane growled, ru
"If I hear one more person use that word…" Molly said ominously.
"You mutilate a few cattle, abduct a few aliens, and you get a reputation…"
"Let us please not go there," I said quickly. "Jane, Molly and I are working together for the moment. On matters of mutual interest."
"Like what?" said Janissary Jane. "What could you two possibly have in common?"
"We’re going back to his old family home to take names and kick arse," Molly said happily. "And possibly burn the place to the ground while we’re at it."
"You’re not much of a one for keeping secrets, are you?" I said.
"You want to break into the Hall?" said Janissary Jane. "Better you than me. I’ve been to hell and back so many times they made me up a special visa, and I still wouldn’t go anywhere near the Hall. You couldn’t bust through their defences with a tactical nuke. The Chinese tried, in ’sixty-four."
"Nineteen sixty-five, actually," I said.