to the spell as if onto a railing, clutching it until their surroundings steadied down.
The darkness had been replaced by a lowering, sullen-feeling gloom. They looked down as if from a high balcony onto a shadowed island prisoned between chill rivers and studded with sharp spikes of iron and cold stone. Manhattan? Kit asked anxiously, without words.
Nita felt frozen in place like a statue and couldn’t turn to answer him—the spell was holding her immobile. It looks like Manhattan, she said, feeling just as uneasy. But what’s my pen doing there?
Kit would have shaken his head if he could have. I don’t get it. What’s wrong here? This is New York City—but it never looked this this dirty and ugly and… He trailed off in confusion and dismay.
Nita looked around her. It was hard to make out anything on the island—there was a murky pall over the city that seemed more than just fog. There was hardly any traffic that she could see, and almost no light—in fact, in all of Manhattan there were only two light sources. In one place on the island—the east Fifties, it looked like—a small point of brittle light seemed to pulse right through steel and stone, throbbing dully like a sown seed of wildfire waiting to explode. The pulses were irregular and distressing, and the light was painful to look at. Some blocks to the south, well into the financial district near the south end of the island, another fire burned, a clear white spark like a sunseed, beating regularly as a heart. It was consoling, but it was very small.
Now what? Nita said. Why would my pen be in this place? She looked down at the dark grainy air below them, listened to the brooding silence like that of a beast of prey ready to spring, felt the sullen buildings hunching themselves against the oppressive sky. Then abruptly she felt the something malevolent and alive that lay in wait below—a something that saw them, was conscious of them, and was darkly pleased.
Kit, what is that?
I don’t know, but it knows we’re here, and it shouldn’t be able to! His thought was singing with alarm like a plucked string. Nita, the spell’s not balanced for this. If that thing grabs us or holds us somehow, we won’t be able to get back!
Nita felt Kit’s mind start to flick frantically through the memories of what he had read in his wizards’ manual, looking for an idea, for something they could do to protect themselves. It was weird to somehow see some of what he was thinking, as if she was looking over his shoulder while he read. Though part of her trembled at the thought of that dark presence that was even now reaching out toward them, lazy and deadly, Nita concentrated on holding still and looking over Kit’s shoulder at his thoughts—
Kit, stop! No, back one — That’s it. Look, it says if you’ve got an imbalance, you can open out your side of the spell to attract some more power.
Yeah, but if the wrong kind of power answers, we’re in for it!
We’re in for it now if that gets us, Nita said, indicating the huge, hungry darkness billowing upward toward them like a cloud. Look, we’ll make a hole through the spell big enough for something friendly to fall into, and see what turns up.
Nita could feel Kit’s uncertainty as he started choosing from memory the words and symbols he would need. All right, but I dunno, if something worse happens…
What could be worse? Nita hollered at Kit, half in amusement, half in fear. The hungry something drew closer. Hurry up!
Kit started to answer, then got distracted as he put the equation together in his head. There, he said, laying out the change in the spell in his mind for Nita to see, I think that’ll do it —
Go ahead, Nita said, watching anxiously as their pursuer got closer and the air around them seemed to grow thicker and darker yet. You say it. Just tell me what to do and when.
Right, Kit said, and began speaking in his mind, much faster than he had during the initial spelling. If that first
The darkness had been replaced by a lowering, sullen-feeling gloom. They looked down as if from a high balcony onto a shadowed island prisoned between chill rivers and studded with sharp spikes of iron and cold stone. Manhattan? Kit asked anxiously, without words.
Nita felt frozen in place like a statue and couldn’t turn to answer him—the spell was holding her immobile. It looks like Manhattan, she said, feeling just as uneasy. But what’s my pen doing there?
Kit would have shaken his head if he could have. I don’t get it. What’s wrong here? This is New York City—but it never looked this this dirty and ugly and… He trailed off in confusion and dismay.
Nita looked around her. It was hard to make out anything on the island—there was a murky pall over the city that seemed more than just fog. There was hardly any traffic that she could see, and almost no light—in fact, in all of Manhattan there were only two light sources. In one place on the island—the east Fifties, it looked like—a small point of brittle light seemed to pulse right through steel and stone, throbbing dully like a sown seed of wildfire waiting to explode. The pulses were irregular and distressing, and the light was painful to look at. Some blocks to the south, well into the financial district near the south end of the island, another fire burned, a clear white spark like a sunseed, beating regularly as a heart. It was consoling, but it was very small.
Now what? Nita said. Why would my pen be in this place? She looked down at the dark grainy air below them, listened to the brooding silence like that of a beast of prey ready to spring, felt the sullen buildings hunching themselves against the oppressive sky. Then abruptly she felt the something malevolent and alive that lay in wait below—a something that saw them, was conscious of them, and was darkly pleased.
Kit, what is that?
I don’t know, but it knows we’re here, and it shouldn’t be able to! His thought was singing with alarm like a plucked string. Nita, the spell’s not balanced for this. If that thing grabs us or holds us somehow, we won’t be able to get back!
Nita felt Kit’s mind start to flick frantically through the memories of what he had read in his wizards’ manual, looking for an idea, for something they could do to protect themselves. It was weird to somehow see some of what he was thinking, as if she was looking over his shoulder while he read. Though part of her trembled at the thought of that dark presence that was even now reaching out toward them, lazy and deadly, Nita concentrated on holding still and looking over Kit’s shoulder at his thoughts—
Kit, stop! No, back one — That’s it. Look, it says if you’ve got an imbalance, you can open out your side of the spell to attract some more power.
Yeah, but if the wrong kind of power answers, we’re in for it!
We’re in for it now if that gets us, Nita said, indicating the huge, hungry darkness billowing upward toward them like a cloud. Look, we’ll make a hole through the spell big enough for something friendly to fall into, and see what turns up.
Nita could feel Kit’s uncertainty as he started choosing from memory the words and symbols he would need. All right, but I dunno, if something worse happens…
What could be worse? Nita hollered at Kit, half in amusement, half in fear. The hungry something drew closer. Hurry up!
Kit started to answer, then got distracted as he put the equation together in his head. There, he said, laying out the change in the spell in his mind for Nita to see, I think that’ll do it —
Go ahead, Nita said, watching anxiously as their pursuer got closer and the air around them seemed to grow thicker and darker yet. You say it. Just tell me what to do and when.
Right, Kit said, and began speaking in his mind, much faster than he had during the initial spelling. If that first
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