Live and Let Drood: A Secret Histories Novel by Simon R. Green Page B
Authors: Simon R. Green
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and this is looking more and more like a really good time. Get us out of here, Eddie.”
“Cross your fingers,” I said. “And anything else handy.”
I took the Glass out of its subspace pocket and subvocalised theactivating Words, praying they were the right ones for this Glass. Something in the dark said my name in a not-human voice. All the hairs on the back of my neck went up, and Molly grabbed my arm with both hands. The Merlin Glass glowed with a sudden fierce light, coming alive in my hand, as though eager to be used. I shook the hand mirror out till it was the size of a door and it automatically locked on to the coordinates I had in mind. Bright sunlight from the Drood grounds shone through the new doorway, pushing back the dark of the Old Library. Molly snuffed out her witchlight, and together we stepped quickly through the Glass, out of the Old Library and into the open air of the Hall grounds.
I shut the Glass down immediately, shook it back to hand-mirror size and put it away. And then I just stood there, looking out over the extensive grassy lawns, breathing in the sweet and pure open air. Molly stood there with me, both of us quite happy not to talk about whatever it was that had just spooked us. Sometimes…you just know you’re in a bad place. After a while we went for a walk across the lawns, taking our time. Without actually discussing it, we both kept our backs to the ruined Hall. It was easier that way. It might not have been my family, my Hall, but they were still Droods, and I had known people very like them. I would avenge their deaths. After I’d rescued my family. I couldn’t risk losing them twice. Molly turned her head abruptly to look at me.
“Eddie, I have to wonder…What happened to the other Eddie? Their Eddie? I don’t think he was there when the Hall was attacked.”
“Seems like he was declared rogue,” I said. “Much like me. Only I met you and came back. He never did. He might not even know this has happened yet.”
“How terrible,” said Molly. “An Eddie Drood out there in the world, all on his own. An Eddie who never met me.”
“Yes,” I said. “How terrible.”
We shared a smile and kept on walking. There was still something we needed to do, but we weren’t ready to do it just yet.
“Or,” I said, “he could be where we are right now; standing in thegrounds of his world, wondering what the hell happened to his Hall. There could be nothing but a bloody big hole in the ground where his Hall used to be.”
“Or,” said Molly, “there might be another Hall. A third Hall, rotated into place to replace his…”
“Please,” I said. “Let’s not complicate this more than we have to. Instead let’s talk about who could be responsible for all this. Our enemy. It isn’t the Immortals here; I was there when we wiped them out. The Spawn of Frankenstein occupy their castle now, and the few survivors are on the run, keeping their heads well down and hoping not to be noticed. No way any of them could be responsible for . . . this. But who is powerful enough to seize control of Alpha Red Alpha from a distance and use it against us? And strong enough that once it started happening, my family couldn’t wrestle control away from him and stop it from happening?”
“I have another question,” said Molly, determined to be difficult, as always. “Once your family realised what had happened, that they’d been rotated out of our world and dumped somewhere else, why didn’t the Armourer just fire up Alpha Red Alpha again and bring everyone home?”
“I’ve been wondering that,” I said. “It could be that controlling the machine from a distance was enough to damage it. Or at the very least, scramble its coordinates. The Armourer would have more sense than to just activate the machine at random, over and over again, hoping to get home. Remember the alien Earth the first experimenters ended up in? Uncle Jack was very open about the fact that he had only
“Cross your fingers,” I said. “And anything else handy.”
I took the Glass out of its subspace pocket and subvocalised theactivating Words, praying they were the right ones for this Glass. Something in the dark said my name in a not-human voice. All the hairs on the back of my neck went up, and Molly grabbed my arm with both hands. The Merlin Glass glowed with a sudden fierce light, coming alive in my hand, as though eager to be used. I shook the hand mirror out till it was the size of a door and it automatically locked on to the coordinates I had in mind. Bright sunlight from the Drood grounds shone through the new doorway, pushing back the dark of the Old Library. Molly snuffed out her witchlight, and together we stepped quickly through the Glass, out of the Old Library and into the open air of the Hall grounds.
I shut the Glass down immediately, shook it back to hand-mirror size and put it away. And then I just stood there, looking out over the extensive grassy lawns, breathing in the sweet and pure open air. Molly stood there with me, both of us quite happy not to talk about whatever it was that had just spooked us. Sometimes…you just know you’re in a bad place. After a while we went for a walk across the lawns, taking our time. Without actually discussing it, we both kept our backs to the ruined Hall. It was easier that way. It might not have been my family, my Hall, but they were still Droods, and I had known people very like them. I would avenge their deaths. After I’d rescued my family. I couldn’t risk losing them twice. Molly turned her head abruptly to look at me.
“Eddie, I have to wonder…What happened to the other Eddie? Their Eddie? I don’t think he was there when the Hall was attacked.”
“Seems like he was declared rogue,” I said. “Much like me. Only I met you and came back. He never did. He might not even know this has happened yet.”
“How terrible,” said Molly. “An Eddie Drood out there in the world, all on his own. An Eddie who never met me.”
“Yes,” I said. “How terrible.”
We shared a smile and kept on walking. There was still something we needed to do, but we weren’t ready to do it just yet.
“Or,” I said, “he could be where we are right now; standing in thegrounds of his world, wondering what the hell happened to his Hall. There could be nothing but a bloody big hole in the ground where his Hall used to be.”
“Or,” said Molly, “there might be another Hall. A third Hall, rotated into place to replace his…”
“Please,” I said. “Let’s not complicate this more than we have to. Instead let’s talk about who could be responsible for all this. Our enemy. It isn’t the Immortals here; I was there when we wiped them out. The Spawn of Frankenstein occupy their castle now, and the few survivors are on the run, keeping their heads well down and hoping not to be noticed. No way any of them could be responsible for . . . this. But who is powerful enough to seize control of Alpha Red Alpha from a distance and use it against us? And strong enough that once it started happening, my family couldn’t wrestle control away from him and stop it from happening?”
“I have another question,” said Molly, determined to be difficult, as always. “Once your family realised what had happened, that they’d been rotated out of our world and dumped somewhere else, why didn’t the Armourer just fire up Alpha Red Alpha again and bring everyone home?”
“I’ve been wondering that,” I said. “It could be that controlling the machine from a distance was enough to damage it. Or at the very least, scramble its coordinates. The Armourer would have more sense than to just activate the machine at random, over and over again, hoping to get home. Remember the alien Earth the first experimenters ended up in? Uncle Jack was very open about the fact that he had only
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