Page 78 of Spelunking Through Hell

“Sounds like the Empusai might disagree with that,” I said.

But Naga was focusing on Thomas now, seeing him as the greater threat. “Please,” he begged. “Please, understand. The loss of Lemure... we had no warning. The dark pneuma of another world assaulted our own, tearing it away. The invader took its place for a time, tricking our people into terrible bargains that served it and never us. Until the day came when it had exhausted our resources. It could benefit no more, and it left us, moving through the dimensions in search of a fresher host. Most of us died in the cataclysm. Those who survived fled, wandering as exiles through the universe until they found another dimension that could sustain us, another world that would serve as our home, where the native life was less advanced than we were, and willing to share in exchange for the benefit of our wisdom.”

“So this whole time you knew that the crossroads had a connection to your original dimension, and that they might be using it as some sort of deep freeze for the people they took, and you didn’t tell me? You didn’thelpme?”

“Until you found that book, there would have been no way to get you back once you crossed the border. I was keeping you safe.”

“You didn’t get to make that choice!”

Thomas interjected before Naga could answer. “Tell me about the method you used for removing the accumulated pneuma from my wife.”

Naga seized onto the opportunity to explain himself like it was a lifeline, which technically, I suppose it was. “The damage to her physicality tells me that you did a more ad hoc removal of your own. Surely you can see the efficacy of stripping it all away at once, leaving the subject clean and free of outside influences. We were careful to reduce trauma to the host as much as possible, we—”

“Is there any means of removal thatwouldn’thave damaged her? Physically, mentally, or chronologically?”

“Pneuma can be unwound at a more reasonable pace, but it takes time,” said Naga. “Alice has always been an impatient girl. Shewouldn’t have been willing to sit for the time required. We needed to get her in and out as quickly as we could. The method we used with her was the method we use with our own explorers.”

I couldn’t argue with that, even as I turned away from him.

“Humans aren’t meant to shed their skins,” said Thomas. “What have you been doing with them, all this time?”

“They sell very well,” said Naga, still with an air of desperation, still clearly thinking he could talk his way out of this. “More than enough to pay for the cost of her care. If you were looking for a portion of the profits, we could—”

“Stop,” I said, putting a hand on Thomas’ arm. I glanced to Naga. “Both of you, stop. You’re right that I was impatient, and you’re right that if you had asked me, I would have taken the faster, more painful option. But that’sif you had asked me. You never asked, not without taking the memory of it away. You never gave me the chance to remember consenting. So it doesn’t matter how right you were... or weren’t. It doesn’t matter. I’m not working for you anymore. We’re going home.”

“No, I don’t think you are,” said Naga, and grabbed a glass sphere from his desk, hurling it at the floor.

I threw my arm across my eyes even as Thomas was diving for the sphere, shielding me from the bright light that erupted when the glass exploded against stone. It smelled like peppermint. That would have been funny, under other circumstances.

Thomas covered his eyes, too late to prevent the flash from dazzling them, and staggered backward even as I lowered my arm and glared at Naga. He was still behind the desk, foolish enough to open hostilities, too much the comfortable academic to have thought to move.

“I never agreed to let you go,” he said. “This will be easy enough to edit away. What’s one more tragedy? You might have a few nightmares—even the best psychic surgery never takes a weed all the way down to the root—but you’ll be able to function, able to keep doing yourjob.”

“Like fuck I will,” I said, and grabbed one of the guns from my belt, dropping into a steady shooting position.

Naga still hadn’t moved. He just stayed exactly where he was, smiling at me. That made me anxious. People who don’t dodge usually think they have the upper hand. If they don’t, it’s best to demonstrate that quickly. I pulled the trigger.

Or tried to, anyway. My finger refused to move. I tried again and failed again. Looking desperately from my gun to Naga, I tried a third time. Still nothing.

“You’re a dangerous pet to keep, Alice Healy,” he said, finally slithering out from behind the desk. Thomas was still staggering around, unable to see anything around him—unable to see Naga approaching me. “Did you really think I hadn’t taken steps toward domestication at some point? One doesn’t keep a wild animal on a chain without certain precautions. One doesn’t allow a rabid creature its freedom without a muzzle.”

“What did youdo?” I demanded.

“You willingly allowed my Johrlac into your head for years,” he said. “You didn’t fight them. Surely you must rememberthat.”

“I agreed to let them take the pain away,” I said.

“And you thought you were getting that comforting release for nothing? You’re more the fool than I thought you were, when you came to me with breasts still dripping foul mammalian fluids, begging for a way to do the impossible. I told you then that nothing came free. I told you it would come with costs and challenges. You still agreed. You said you’d do whatever I required. You told me that you would be my tool for as long as I wanted you to be, and you weregrateful.”

None of what he was saying sounded familiar, but then again, why should it? He’d been stealing from me for years. There was no reason to think that he hadn’t stolen some agreement along the way, something to salve his conscience. If he had a conscience where foul mammals were concerned.

“What,” I said again, “did youdo?”

“You can’t hurt me. You belong to me.” Naga slithered closer still, reaching for the gun in my hands.

“I’m afraid she doesn’t,” said Thomas. He didn’t sound like someone who’d just had the light of a small sun poured directly into his eyes, and when I glanced at him, he wasn’t staggering anymore, just standing straight and calm, looking at Naga with unflinching eyes.

Naga turned to glare at him. “What?”

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