Monster Planet(53)

'He sees future, knows all,' the Tsarevich announced. 'Can read you like book.'

The lich's bony hands stole across her belly, grabbed at her buttocks. She leapt away but knew better than to attack him. The liches chuckled at her discomfort. Semyon Iurevich reached out again and she let him touch her. She closed her eyes and thought of Sarah, of just how far she would let this go if it meant keeping her promise to Dekalb, if it meant seeing Sarah again.

The lich's touch grew more clinical, less intrusive. He focused on one small patch of her left arm as if the information he sought was written there, as if he'd found the right page of her book. Finally he looked up. She saw, with a start, that he wore a toupee.

Energy passed between them. Ayaan's soul lurched in her body. Her heart would have gone wild with palpitations if it still could beat'this evil thing, this lich was really looking into her, his power was real. She knew that at any moment he would see through her game.

Then it was over and the hands lifted away from her skin.

'Is not one of us,' the lich told his master. 'Not as yet. But is safe, with precautions.'

Only the fact that she was dead and no longer needed to breathe kept Ayaan from sighing with relief. She didn't know how'maybe the naked ghost had come to her aid'but she had fooled them. 'I don't want anything but to rest,' she said. 'And maybe get something to eat. I can see now that there's no beating you.'

The Tsarevich's image nodded and stepped even closer to her. Another step and his nose would be in her navel. At least the projection of his nose would touch the leather covering her belly. He looked up at her like a toddler addressing his mother. 'No rest for wicked,' he told her, 'but maybe is not so bad. I have mission here. I have great work to complete. So many things to do, and not so many hands. I take a chance, yes? Is work for you, if you will have it, and it proves you. Otherwise, you stay here, you be like new Least.You interested?'

'I... I guess so,' Ayaan said. She bit her lip and looked away. She had never tried to look coy before and she thought she must be overdoing it ridiculously.

'Is good!' The boy nodded happily and his smile lit up the whole room. 'You do good, now. You do good, come back, you see man behind the curtain.' He pointed at the car at the end of the tracks where his real body still sat out of view. 'You do bad, we have provision for this as well.' He pointed again, this time at the device the werewolf held. The hairy lich touched one of the black knobs and the vacuum tubes lit up with a dull orange glow.

Ayaan felt something tickling her neck. She put a hand on her throat and felt the silver tattoo there. It felt warm, though the rest of her skin was disturbingly cool. The tickling turned to a tingle, and then a sensation of uncomfortable heat. It only took a few seconds to become painful. She clawed at the tattoo but that only made it worse.

The Tsarevich waved his wand and the searing stopped instantly. Ayaan rubbed at her neck but the warmth was gone.

'Is called ward, and is very strong magic. No way to undo it now without cutting off at neck. Be good now, or he turns it up all way.' The little boy looked as if this was the last thing he ever wanted to happen in the whole wide world. 'He turns it up, and your head is to catch fire, yes?'

She nodded. Bide your time, the ghost had told her. Wait for the right opportunity.

'I'll be good,' she promised.





Monster Planet





Chapter Nine


Sarah couldn't let go of Gary's tooth. She could feel it digging into her hand as if he were trying to bite her by remote control. He held her prisoner with her own power turned against her. He let her look away for just a moment and she stared at Dekalb. Her father's face had set in a mask of concern but he wasn't doing anything. He should be protecting her.

Hah! My buddy here's not much of a fighter.

'He fought you. He turned you into a bony little freak,' Sarah said, her voice stuck in her mouth. Her throat could move but not her tongue. She couldn't move her facial muscles, she couldn't scream for help but he was letting her talk to him, and him alone. She imagined he had the power to stop that as well, if he wanted.

She supposed if a lich were locked in his own skull for twelve years he might learn a few magic tricks. Especially when he was the second most powerful lich who ever lived.

Magic?he asked, perhaps reading her thoughts.I know all kinds of magic. Who do you think taught Marisol how to tame a ghoul? That's right, yours truly. I sold that secret for a breath of fresh air. I knew nothing about the outside world. Your Dad kept me jailed here where nothing ever happens and I couldn't even see the sun. So I learned to send my consciousness outward, to project myself astrally, I suppose. Marisol's was the first brain I touched'she and I go way back, of course. She was scared, too, just like you are right now, sugar beet. When I came to her in her dreams, when I started telling her things that only Jack would know, she was frightened already. The colony here was in bad shape back in those days. People were getting sick and dying. The crops weren't coming in. Once she realized I could teach her useful things she let me take control of her body for a few minutes a day. I never did anything drastic. Most of the time I just stood in front of a mirror and touched myself, to be brutally honest. Have you seen that woman? She's a knockout.