Page 88 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
“They had an idea and ran off a while ago.” She closed the book with a puff of dust. “I found this collection of letters written by some of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. They wanted to use atomic weapons to rip open spacetime and access other realms. Can you believe how insane that sounds?”
“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work. But hey, you’re not the first scientist to dabble in the arcane. That’s something, right?”
Before she could reply, Lex jogged up, breathing hard. “Hey,” they wheezed, holding up a golden chain made of flat links. “I found something that might help.”
“Way too gaudy,” I decided. “Who wears giant gold chains anymore?”
Lex gave me an irritated look before turning to Amira. “I remembered cataloging this months ago. It allows two people to share minds, and I think it’s exactly what we need.”
Her brow furrowed. “Share minds? How?”
“I have no idea, but if it works, I’ll have access to your mathematical understanding and you’ll be able to follow the ritual design. It’ll be way more efficient than trying to coordinate things separately.”
Amira glanced at me, then studied the chain dangling from Lex’s hand. “I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “The idea of sharing my mind with someone else is…” She trailed off, her expression troubled.
Lex paused before asking quietly, “Do you trust me?”
After a moment, Amira’s expression cleared. “Yes,” she said simply.
“Okay, then,” Lex said, their face reddening a little. They looked at me. “Did you find everything you needed?”
I patted my pockets—Sunfire sphere and Eric’s golden disc in one, scalpel and business card in the other. I’d shoved the Black Blade behind my belt and it rested now in the small of my back, waiting to be drawn. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, forcing myself to smile. “Oh. I also learned where the board is conducting their ritual: the roof.”
“Huh.” Lex frowned thoughtfully. “Makes sense, I guess. Plenty of open space. Probably still protected by whatever defenses the building has left. The lobby would be another good option.”
“Then let’s take the lobby.”
Lex nodded. “I’m not certain, but Ithinkwe’ll attract that thing’s attention as soon as the ritual begins. Assuming the board lasts that long.”
I touched my pocket again. “It’ll come to us. I’m sure of it.”
Amira pulled out her phone. “We have a little less than two hours.” Her gaze rose to us. “No cell service, though.”
The end of days truly was nigh if the cell providers had failed us.At least the building still had power, probably thanks to a generator in the basement into which someone was feeding interns. “Do you have the supplies you need for the ritual?” I asked Lex.
“I thought we’d grab them from the third floor on our way.”
We all looked at one another. Deliberately, I held out my hand, palm down. “Who’s ready to save the world?” I demanded.
They both stared blankly at me.
I sighed. “Fine. Let’s just go.”
We felt the first tremors as we hurried through the empty corridors of Supplies and Procurement, little more than faint vibrations under our feet. By the time we found the last component we needed, after almost an hour of pilfering one storeroom after another, the entire building was shaking around us. “The board must have started,” I said as we backtracked to the elevators.
“But the planetary alignment isn’t due for another thirty minutes,” Amira protested.
“Something tells me The-One-Who-Hungers isn’t waiting for the alignment.” Lex stabbed the Down button next to the elevators. “If we’re really going to trust those Conclave jerks, you’d better get them here right now.”
Reaching into my pocket, I closed my hand around the golden disc and said aloud, “Eric—it’s time.”
Thirty-One
The first floor was darkand very quiet when we stepped off the elevator. High above, huge light fixtures swung gently back and forth in response to the tremors running through the building, their illumination almost too faint to reach us. As we moved into the center of the cavernous space, a powerful ripple passed through the floor, causing the smoked glass walls of the lobby to vibrate with a low and unnerving hum.
A trio of figures were dimly visible on the sidewalk outside as I hurried to the abandoned reception desk and bent over the computer keyboard. There had to be a way to unravel the wards around the revolving doors—they were designed to identify and sequester unfamiliar magicks, and most of our contractors were covered in the stuff—but it took me a solid two minutes to figure out the convoluted menu subsystems and accessed the correct command. The thousands of tiny sigils incised into the doors glowed briefly with orange light, and as it faded I waved Eric and the others in.
While I futzed with the computer, Amira had been drawing alarge circle on the floor with powdered human bone, sifting the gritty dust through her fingers. Now she retraced her path, this time sprinkling animal blood, while Lex sketched unfamiliar sigils behind her with a greenish sludge that smelled like rotting meat. The revolving doors thumped and whispered, and I went to meet Eric as he stepped warily into the lobby. He wore jeans and a T-shirt and his leather jacket, just like he had on our first date. Behind him, Corrine and Ivan glowered at everything, both dressed in formfitting black.
