“I never got a chance to ask him,” said the Matriarch. “Presumably just being so close to Alpha Red Alpha was enough to boost his signal. I still don’t see how the Oblivion Brothers were able to get in, past all our protections.”
“You saw what they did to the scarecrows,” said Molly.
“It’s the Nightside,” said Eddie.
“I am getting really tired of hearing that,” said the Matriarch.
She slammed the front door open and strode into the entrance-hall, followed by Eddie and Molly. And the first thing they saw was the body of a man who’d been burned alive, curled up inside the half-melted remains of Drood armour. Eddie gestured sharply for the Matriarch to stay where she was, while he moved slowly forward for a closer look. He was remembering the dead Droods he’d found in the Other Hall, in the Other dimension Edmund came from.
Eddie knelt beside the twisted body, surrounded by thrown-off pools of melted armour. What kind of heat could have done such a thing? He looked for clues to the Drood’s identity, but the face was just a skull with crisped and blackened remnants of skin clinging to it. The eyes and the nose were gone, and the teeth gleamed in a mirthless grin. There was no way of knowing who had laid down their life to defend the family.
After a while, Molly came over and patted Eddie comfortingly on the shoulder. He got to his feet, saying nothing, and led the way deeper into the Hall. The sound of three sets of footsteps was disturbingly loud on the hush. It didn’t take them long to find more signs of damage. Blackened woodwork and scorched walls, and signs of fires that had burned for a while, then put themselves out, because there was no one to come and see to them. And finally, a great pile of fire-blackened bones and the remains of melted armour. More dead Droods, but no way of telling how many.
“What the hell happened here?” Molly said quietly.
“The Oblivion Brothers,” said William.
They all looked around, as the Librarian emerged from a side corridor. His face was grim, and his gaze was cold, but Eddie had to admit he’d never seen the Librarian look so focused. The Matriarch started to question William, but he talked right across her.
“Ammonia is watching over the Hall, from a distance. She looked inside your head when you arrived and told me what you know. I’ll take you down to the Armoury, so you can find what you need.”
“The rest of the family in the Redoubt,” said the Matriarch. “Are they all right?”
“Most of them,” said William. “Some came out to fight the Oblivion Brothers. You’ve seen what happened to them. Ioreth is dead too. And his new girl-friend.”
Eddie shook his head slowly. He’d liked Ioreth.
“You’re sure all the Oblivion Brothers are dead?” said Molly. “They can be tricky . . .”
“They’re dead,” said William. “I killed Hadleigh to keep him from getting to the Armageddon Codex.”
“How could so much have happened here in such a short time?” Eddie asked.
William smiled. “It’s the Nightside.”
Eddie didn’t think he liked this new version of the Librarian.
“Did anyone else get into the Hall?” said the Matriarch. “Are there any other enemies still at large?”
“No,” said William. “I had the Armourer run a full interior scan and reinforce all the shields and protections. And, of course, Ammonia is keeping an eye on everything. The Hall is secure.”
* * *
• • •
The Librarian led them down into the Armoury. He didn’t have anything else to say, and no one felt like asking him any more questions. There was something about this new William, the air of a man who had remembered when he used to be dangerous. The Armoury was full of lab assistants bustling around in their white coats or struggling with exotic new pieces of high-tech, all talking at the same time and at the top of their voices. It made Eddie feel briefly nostalgic for the way the Armoury used to be under his uncle Jack. The Armourer were fiercely intent on Alpha Red Alpha, so much so that Maxwell and Victoria didn’t even notice the Matriarch was there until she said their names really loudly. They didn’t seem surprised she was back and didn’t even ask how the invasion was going. As always, they’d become so immersed in their work, they’d lost interest in everything else.
Alpha Red Alpha was surrounded by all kinds of diagnostic equipment, set up a cautious distance from the great dimensional engine.
“We tried attaching all kinds of sensors,” said Max.
“But nothing would stick,” said Vicky.
“We’re not actually sure what the surface of Alpha Red Alpha is,” said Max. “It only looks like crystal.”
“Just one of the many secrets the engine’s creator never got around to putting down on paper,” said Vicky. “He kept it all in his head.”
“Which is probably what drove him crazy,” said Max. “Though, of course, it’s always possible he never wrote anything down because he knew that if the family ever found out what he’d used to make Alpha Red Alpha, they definitely wouldn’t approve.”
“So we’re using remote scanners and sensors,” said Vicky. “They’re telling us all kinds of things.”
“Not terribly useful things as yet,” said Max. “But we are starting to get a sense of why Alpha Red Alpha dropped the Hall here instead of in the centre of the Nightside, as intended.”
“At first we thought the centre must be more heavily protected,” said Vicky. “To make invasion more difficult.”
“But now the evidence is suggesting that something from outside interfered in the transition,” said Max. “And deliberately dumped us here, so the family would have to fight its way into the Nightside.”
“Making my plan for a bloodless coup untenable,” said the Matriarch. “Doomed from the start.” And then she stopped and looked sharply at the Armourer. “Why didn’t you take your people up into the Hall when the Oblivion Brothers broke in? Why did you leave it to the Librarian to defend the family home?”
The Armourer looked at each other, genuinely surprised.
“Someone got in?” said Max.
“We didn’t hear a thing!” said Vicky.
“But then, behind the Armoury’s shields, we wouldn’t,” said Max. He looked at William. “You never told us . . .”
“You were busy,” said William.
“We would have helped,” said Max.
“You know we would,” said Vicky.
“Yes,” said William. “I know. It’s all right. I took care of everything.”
The Matriarch looked steadily at the Armourer. “You said something interfered with Alpha Red Alpha. What could be powerful enough to do that?”
“We’re still working on the problem,” Max said carefully, “but we have been able to identify the nature of the energies involved.”
“We’ve encountered them before,” said Vicky. “It was the elves.”
“Puck!” said Eddie. “That’s why he turned up here to meet with the Sarjeant!”
“But why would he want to interfere?” said the Matriarch.
“Because it’s been him all along,” said Eddie. “Everything that’s happened here has been down to Puck. That devious, twisted little . . . He wanted a war between the Droods and the Nightside, to weaken both of us.”
“But what would he get out of it?” said Molly. “Most of the elves are gone now, to Shadows Fall or the Sundered Lands. Whatever grudges they might have had they took with them.”
“Maybe he thinks if he can weaken the Droods enough, the elves will come back,” said Eddie.
“And a depopulated Nightside could make a fine new home for the elves,” said William.
“We have to talk to the Sarjeant,” said the Matriarch. “Tell him what we know.”
“You really think he’ll care?” said Eddie.
* * *
• • •
Razor Eddie came to Strangefellows to talk with John Taylor. He walked steadily between the wounded and the dying laid out on the floor, not even looking at them because he knew there was nothing he could do to help. Razor Eddie wasn’t there for the good things in life. He nodded easily to John at the bar, and his ghostly grey voice was entirely calm as he told him Dead Boy was finally dead, and that the Street of the Gods now belonged to the Droods.
“Let them have it,” Razor Eddie said finally. “It’s not like there’s anyone left for them to kill.”
“You couldn’t help Dead Boy,” John said kindly. “But maybe you can help us. We’re trying to think of something powerful enough to stop the Drood invasion.”
“Have you tried the Gun Shoppes of Usher?” said Razor Eddie.
“Closed,” said John. “For the duration.”
“Use your gift,” said Razor Eddie.
“It’s not that simple,” said John. “My gift needs a specific question before it can provide a specific answer.”
“I’m not sure anything can stop the Droods now,” said Razor Eddie. “They can die; I’ve killed my share. But there are just so many of them.”
Brilliant Chang was suddenly standing right next to them. No one flinched or jumped; sudden appearances were business as usual at Strangefellows. But John thought Brilliant looked tired and drawn, even haggard. He nodded to Alex, who poured Brilliant a large whiskey. Brilliant knocked it back in one gulp, and Alex looked at him reproachfully.
“If I’d known you were just thirsty, I wouldn’t have wasted the good stuff on you.”
“I’ve just been to Saint Margaret’s,” said Brilliant. “I asked Julien Advent to come with me, to broker a peace deal with the Droods. But he wouldn’t leave the hospital as long as it needed defending. And Annie Abattoir has lost her mind since her daughter died. So that just leaves me, the last of the Authorities, to make whatever kind of deal will stop the fighting. I was hoping you’d come with me, Walker. Just to make it clear I can speak for the Nightside.”
“Traitor!” said an angry voice behind them.
They looked around, and there was Annie Abattoir, her face flushed with rage.
“You’re ready to betray the Nightside to the Droods!”
“Take it easy, Annie,” John said carefully. “We’re just talking. Working out our options. We’re all friends here.”
“She won’t listen,” said Brilliant. “She lost her mind when Tamsin died.”
“You’re not fit to mention her name!” said Annie.
She stabbed her elven wand at him. Brilliant’s hands moved impossibly fast, raising a screen of protective magics that howled and coruscated on the air before him. But the elven magics punched right through and exploded him where he stood. Bloody pieces of Brilliant spattered across the front of the bar, only narrowly missing John. Annie turned to face him.
“And you, John Taylor. You’re just as bad. Just as ready to make a deal with the Droods.”
Suzie Shooter was immediately there at John’s side, Wulfsbane in her hand, shedding its terrible light across the scene. Razor Eddie’s straight razors gleamed supernaturally bright in his hands as he stepped forward. Annie looked quickly back and forth between them, then stabbed the elven wand at the Punk God. One of his hands moved too quickly to follow, and his razor cut the magic out of the air before it could reach him. And while Annie was distracted by that, John raised his gift and used it to find the connection between the wand and the elves who provided its power. And then it was the easiest thing in the world for him to break the link, leaving Annie with nothing but a piece of carved bone in her hand. She felt the power go out of it and dropped the wand to the floor.
“What have I done?” she said slowly. “I never meant to hurt so many people.”
“It was the wand,” said John, kindly. “Affecting the mind. There’s a reason why people say never trust elves offering gifts.”
“This wasn’t even why I came to Strangefellows,” said Annie. She struggled to bring her thoughts back together. “I came here to tell you there is a way to stop the Droods. Something I was told about when I first joined the Authorities. Something so dangerous only the Authorities could be allowed to know it even existed.”
“Then why didn’t Brilliant tell us?” said Suzie. She’d sheathed the Infernal Device but was still watching Annie carefully.
“Probably because he was afraid to use it,” said Annie. “And with good reason. I came here to tell you where to find it, John. If you’re ready to risk everything to stop the Droods.”
“After what they’ve done, I’ll do whatever it takes,” said John.
“Under the Nightside, in the deepest part of the World Beneath, there is a Door,” said Annie. “A very special Door, made long ago to give us access to realities beyond our own. Created so the Authorities would always be able to find whoever or whatever they needed to protect the long night.”
“You have someone in mind, don’t you?” said John. “Someone you think we should call on . . . You want to bring back Merlin Satanspawn, don’t you?”
“No,” said Annie, meeting his gaze steadily. “We need your mother, John. We need Lilith, the creator of the Nightside.”
John said nothing, his thoughts racing. At the end of the war against Lilith, when she’d tried to destroy all of her creation and every living thing in it for the sin of not being what she’d intended, John had helped push his mother outside reality. With the help of his father, Charles, who went with Lilith to make sure she could never return. His mother and his father, fighting forever, to keep this world safe.
“My father sacrificed himself to make sure Lilith could never threaten us again,” John said finally. “It wasn’t what I wanted, but that’s how it worked out. And now you want to bring her back?”
“Can you think of anyone more suited,” asked Annie, “to destroy an army of Droods?”
Everyone looked at everyone else. No one wanted to be the first to say anything. In the end, Alex cleared his throat.
“Allow me to be the first to say that this sounds like a really bad idea. And as someone who’s had more than his fair share, trust me when I say I know one when I hear one. I don’t think anyone here doubts Lilith could stop the Droods. Hell, she’d probably eat them up on toast. But how would we stop Lilith, afterwards?”
“You defeated her once, John,” said Annie. “You could do it again.”
“We got lucky,” said John. “You have no idea how lucky. This time, Lilith would be forewarned. I’m not sure anyone could stop her a second time.”
“Are we really that desperate?” said Suzie.
“You can ask that?” said Annie. “With an Infernal Device on your back?”
“We have to think of something else,” said Alex. “Right, John?” And then he stopped because he really didn’t like the look on John’s face. “Oh, come on! Are you seriously considering this? Why don’t we just have Suzie shoot us all in the face; it’ll probably hurt less!”
“I don’t like the idea,” said John. “But what else is there?”
“Maybe this is why the gods left the Street of the Gods,” Razor Eddie said quietly. “Not because of the Droods but because they saw Lilith coming back.”
“She did kill a lot of them,” said Alex. “Even though some were her children.” They all looked at him, and he shrugged. “I keep up with things . . . John, you can’t bring your mother back. You just can’t.”
“We’re losing the war!” said John. “The Droods will kill us all and burn the Nightside to the ground before they stop, and I can’t think of anything else to do! Suzie, we have to go to the World Beneath. Just to see if this Door can do everything it’s supposed to.”
“I’ll bring Wulfsbane,” said Suzie.
“You do that,” said Alex. “Lilith could probably use a snack.”
 
; “I won’t have anything to do with this,” Razor Eddie said flatly. “I will stay here and protect Strangefellows.”
“Me too,” Alex said quickly.
“You’ll need me, John,” said Annie. “Only one of the Authorities can open the Door. And besides, I feel the need to make amends for some of the things I’ve done.”
“Lot of that going around,” said Razor Eddie.
* * *
• • •
At Drood Hall, down in the Armoury, the Matriarch fixed the Armourer with a cold, unwavering stare.
“I need something powerful enough to stop the Sarjeant and everyone with him. What have you got?”
“Are you asking for a weapon?” Max said carefully.
“Something that would kill the Sarjeant?” said Vicky. “Are we really talking about Droods killing Droods?”
The Matriarch made an exasperated gesture. “Not necessarily . . . What about Alpha Red Alpha? Could we just grab hold of the Sarjeant and his people and transport them out of the Nightside? Send them home to cool off and buy us some time?”
“The dimensional engine is linked to the Hall,” said Max, still choosing his words very carefully. “Because that has always been its main function, to protect the Hall.”
“We were only able to bring the family here because they were assembled right outside the Hall,” said Vicky. “If you could lure the Sarjeant and his people back here, then perhaps . . .”
“Not a chance,” said Eddie. “The Sarjeant would never give up the territory he’s fought so hard to take.”
“And you know he’d smell a trap,” said Molly.
“Then, yes, I want a weapon,” the Matriarch said steadily. “Something so appallingly powerful even the Sarjeant would have to surrender rather than face it. Then the family would follow me again, and I could bring this war to an end.”
The Armourer looked at each other, then around the Armoury. The lab assistants had all stopped what they were doing to see what the Armourer would do. It was suddenly very quiet.
“We have all kinds of prototypes here,” said Max. “And even more things ready for testing. But they were designed to take down our enemies, not members of our own family.”