Tanya Haff - Long Hot Summoning

3. LONG HOT SUMMONING

ONE

THROWING HER BACKPACK OVER ONE SHOULDER, Diana raced out the front door and rocked to a halt at the sight of the orange tabby crossing the front lawn. Or more specifically, at the sight of what dangled from the cats mouth. With one of its disproportionately long arms barely attached and dragging on the grass, and something that looked like intestine wrapped around one bare ankle, the bogey was unquestionably dead. An eyeball bounced gently against its bloody forehead with every step. Nice catch, shenoted, half her attention on the approaching bus. Where did you find it?

Ood ile, Sam told her proudly, his voice distorted by the body.

You know you cant eat it, right?

Amber eyes narrowed, he let the bogey drop and fixed Diana with an incredulous glare.Do I look like an idiot?

No, but you havent been a cat for very long Six months ago, hed been an angel. Angels didnt concern themselves with the small things that slipped through the possibilities. and you know how my mother feels about that whole puking on the white wool rug thing.

Once! I did it once!

Yeah, so did I, and shes never let me forget it either. With a scream of abused brake linings, the bus stopped more or less at the end of the driveway. I dont have time to bury it now, so try to leave it where Moms not going to trip over it. Turning, she took two steps and turned again, pulled around by the weight of Sams regard. Oh, right. Sorry. You are a mighty hunter. Your skill with tooth and claw is amazing. Fast. Deadly. I stand in awe.

Hey! Sarcasm.

Not sarcasm, Diana protested hurriedly. There were any number of imaginative places the dead bogey could be left. But Ive got to go. Mr. Watson wont wait forever.

Im amazed Mr. Watson stops at all.

Yeah, well, need provides and all that. Remember, Ill be home early, she added, trotting backward up the path, just in case theres anything you dont want me to catch you doing.

A presented cat butt made his opinion of that fairly plain.

Mr. Watson looked more nervous than impatient. He nodded a silent reply to Dianas cheerful good morning, closed the door practically on her heels, and jerked the bus into gear. Had Diana not already been reaching into the possibilities, shed have landed on her ass as he burned rubber trying to outrun half-buried memories. Fully burying them would have messed with his ability to drive, so only the less likely edges had been fuzzed out, leaving him in a perpetual state of nearly remembering things hed rather not. Which was actually a state fairly common among school bus drivers.

Diana tried not to resent his attitude, but it wasnt easy. This semester alone shed stopped a black pudding from devouring an eighth grader, saved Chrissy Selwick from a three-headed dog attracted to the aconite in the herbal body mist shed been given for Christmasmight as well have had eat me tattooed on her foreheadand prevented a Gameboy from taking over the world. Handheld computer games were more competitive than most people thought.

Shed also stopped Nick Packwood from hanging a second grader out the window by his heels, but since she still wasnt entirely certain the kid hadnt deserved it, she usually left that particular incident off her reasons Mr. Watson should thank his gods Im on the bus list.

Making her way back through the rugrats, Diana noticed without surprise that the last six rowsthe rows reserved for the high school students on the routewere nearly empty. On this, the last day of the high school year, only two freshmen had been unable to find alternative transportation.

My brother was going to give me a ride, said the first as she passed. But he had to go to work really early.

Yeah. I was going to ride my bike, but I had, like, an asthma attack, the other explained, holding up his inhaler for corroboration.

Diana ignored them both. First, because a senior acknowledging freshmen would open up all sorts of possibilities she had no desire to deal with. Second, as the youngest, and therefore most powerful Keeper, as one of the Lineage who maintained the mystical balance of the world, as someone who had helped close a hole to Hell and faced down demons, she didnt need to justify her reasons for taking the bus.

Settling into her regular seat, she thanked any gods who might be listening that this would be the last day shed ever be at the mercy of public education.

*

Frowning, Diana crossed the main hall toward the stairs, trying to get a fix on the faint wrongness she could feel. It wasnt a full-out accident site; no holes had been opened into the lower ends of the possibilities allowing evil to lap up against closed doors leading to empty classrooms, but something was out of place and, as long as she was in the building, finding it and fixing it was in the job description. Actually, it pretty much was the job description.

As far as Diana was concerned, all high schools needed Keepers. Nothing poked holes in the fabric of reality faster than a few thousand hormonally challenged teenagers all crammed into one ugly cinder-block building. Unattended, that was exactly the sort of situation likely to create the kind of person who developed an operating system that crashed every time someone attempted to download an Amanda Tapping screen saver.

The sudden appearance of a guidance counselor actually emerging from his office and heading straight for her nearly sent Diana running toward the nearest washroom. She didnt want her last day ruined by yet another pointless confrontation. Fortunately, she realized he felt the same way before her feet started moving.Fuck it. Whats the point? flashed into the thought balloon over his head and he slid past without meeting her gaze.

The thought balloons had appeared back in grade nine when, after half an hour of platitudes, shed wondered just what exactly he was thinking. An unexpected puberty-propelled power surge had anchored the balloons so firmly shed never been able to get rid of them and shed spent the last four years finding out rather more than she wanted to about the fantasy lives of middle-aged men.

Pamela Anderson.

And hockey.

Occasionally, Pamela Anderson playing hockey.

Some of the visuals were admittedly interesting.

The wrongness led her up the stairs, through the first cafeteria and into the secondweirdly, the hangout of both the jocks and the music geeksempty now except for a group of girls whod laid claim to the far corner by the northwest windows. A flash of aubergine light pulled her toward them. The senior girls basketball team, Diana realized as she drew closer. Probably hanging around in order toremain the senior girls basketball team. Over two thirds of them were graduating, so once they stepped out the door, theyd be a team no longer.

so I said to him, Im not puttingthat in my mouth. Tall, blonde, ponytailDiana didnt know her name. First of all, I dont know where its been and secondly, this lipstick cost twenty-one dollars.

And what did he say? asked one of her listeners.

Oh, you know guys. He took it so personally. All like, you would if you loved me.

So what did you say?

That I loved my lipstick more.

In the midst of the laughter and catcalls that followed her matter-of-fact pronouncement, Blonde Ponytail looked up and spotted Diana.

Did you want something? she asked icily.

Uh, yeah. Diana leaned a little closer; trying to get a better look at the heavy bangle Blonde Ponytail wore around her left wrist. Please tell me where you got your bracelet.

This? At Erlkings Emporium in the Gardeners Village Mall. I got it last weekend when I was visiting my father in Kingston.

Great.

Kingston.

Where there used to be a hole to Hell.

Oh, sure. Itcould be coincidence.

Its silver, you know.