Beautiful Darkness(80)

“It's an Arclight. Marian gave it to me on All Souls. It belonged to my mom.”

Liv tried to hide her irritation. “Professor Ashcroft had an Arclight all this time, and she never showed it to me?”

“Here you go. Knock yourself out.” I dropped the sphere into Liv's hands. She held it carefully, as if it was an egg.

“Careful! Do you have any idea how rare these are?” Liv couldn't take her eyes away from its glossy surface.

Link sucked down the rest of his Coke until he hit ice. “Anyone gonna clue me in here? What's it do?”

Liv was mesmerized. “This is one of the most powerful weapons in the Caster world. It's a metaphysical prison for an Incubus, if you know how to use it.” I looked at her hopefully. “Which, unfortunately, I don't.”

Link poked at the Arclight. “Like Incubus kryptonite?”

Liv nodded. “Something like that.”

There was no doubt the Arclight was powerful, but it wasn't going to help us with the problem at hand. I was out of ideas. “If this thing can't help us, how do we get into the Tunnels?”

“It's not a holiday.” Liv handed me the Arclight reluctantly. “If we're going to get into the Caster Tunnels, it has to be through one of the Outer Doors. We can't go through the Lunae Libri.”

“So there are other ways in? Through these Outer Door things?” Link asked.

Liv nodded. “Yes. But only Casters and a few Mortals, like Professor Ashcroft, know where they are. And she's not going to tell us. I'm sure she's packing my things right now.”

I had expected Liv to have the answer, but it was Link who came up with it. “You know what that means?” He grinned and put his arm around Liv. “You're finally gonna get your chance. Time for the Tunnel of Love.”





Fairgrounds after the fair were just grounds. I kicked a clump of dirt and weeds.

“Look, you can still see the indentations where the rides were.” Liv pointed, Lucille trailing behind her.

“Yeah, but how do you know which rides the marks are from?” It seemed like a good idea at the Dar-ee Keen, but now we were standing in an empty field.

Link shouted and waved from a few yards away. “I think this is where the Ferris Wheel was. I can tell by all the cigarette butts. That old carny was chain-smoking all day.”

We caught up with him. Liv pointed to a black patch in the distance. “Isn't that where Lena saw us?”

“What?” I stumbled over the word us.

“I mean, saw me.” She blushed. “I think that's where the popcorn machine blew up when she walked by. Before she popped the clown's balloon and made the little children cry.” How could I forget?

It was hard to find the impressions in the ground under the tall grass. I bent down and pushed the weeds out of the way, but there was nothing. Just a few paper snow cone cups and tickets. As I stood up, I felt the Arclight heating up in my pocket again, and a dull buzzing. I took it out of my pocket, and it was glowing a clear blue.

I waved Liv over. “What do you think this means?”

She studied the sphere, watching the color intensify. “I have no idea. I've never read about them changing color.”

“What's up, kids?” Link wiped the sweat off his forehead with his ratty Black Sabbath T-shirt. “Whoa. When did it start with the mood ring action?”

“A second ago.” I don't know why, but I started walking slowly, a few steps at a time. As I walked, the glow of the Arclight grew stronger.

“Ethan, what are you doing?” Liv was right behind me.

“I'm not sure.” I switched directions, and the color began to fade. Why was it changing?

I turned around and headed back the other way. Sure enough, with every step the Arclight grew warmer in my hand, the vibrations stronger. “Look.” I opened my hand so Liv could see the deep blue color radiating from it.

“What's happening?”

I shrugged. “It's like the closer we get, the crazier it goes.”

“You don't think …” She stared down at her dusty silver high-tops, thinking. We were thinking the same thing.

I turned it over in my hand. “Could it be some kind of compass?”

Liv watched as the sphere glowed so brightly that Lucille was leaping along beside us, like she was trying to catch fireflies.

When we reached a bleached patch of grass, Liv stopped.

The Arclight was swirling a dark, inky blue. I looked at the ground carefully. “There's nothing here.”

Liv bent down, pushing the grass aside. “I'm not so sure about that.” A shape emerged as Liv brushed away the dirt.

“Look at the lines. It's a door.” Link was right. It was like the trapdoor under the rug in Macon's room.

I knelt next to them and ran my hand along the edges of the door, clearing away the remaining dirt. I looked at Liv. “How did you know?”

“You mean, aside from the fact the Arclight is going crazy?” She looked smug. “The Outer Doors aren't that difficult to find if you know what you're looking for.”

“I hope they aren't too difficult to open either.” Link pointed at the center of the door. There was a keyhole.

Liv sighed. “It's locked. We need a Caster key. We can't get in without one.”