Page 19 of Come Tumbling Down

In the end, he was able to find trousers, a white linen shirt, and suspenders that fit him almost identically to his normal jeans and T-shirt. They felt like clothes, not a costume, something that he tried not to dwell on too much as he followed Sumi back out onto the stairs.

She gripped the rail and leaned out as far as gravity allowed, shouting, “We’re properly dull now! Are you done playing with corpses?”

“Show some respect, you incomprehensible beast,” Jack called back—but there was no rancor in her voice. If anything, she sounded relieved, like she’d been hoping for a distraction.

“No,” said Sumi. “Do you think if I jumped from here, I’d break both my legs?”

“If you do, I’ll build you new ones,” said Jack.

Sumi laughed and went dancing down the stairs, Christopher following after. Jack and Alexis had draped a sheet across Dr. Bleak’s body; if not for the unpleasant void where his head should have been, it would have been almost possible to pretend he was asleep. The void, and the tubes running from the body to the dialysis machine, which was clicking along, making strange grinding sounds that must have been perfectly normal, since neither Jack nor Alexis looked alarmed.

The tubes were filled with thick red fluid the consistency of raspberry jam, and much as Christopher wanted to tell himself that it wasn’t blood, it was blood. His capacity for self-delusion had never been terribly high. If it had been, he might have been better at lying to his parents, and his life might have turned out very differently.

Jack had also taken the time to change her shirt, wipe the blood from her face, and put on a fresh pair of gloves. There was still a faintly disheveled air to her. It made Christopher nervous. Jack wasn’t supposed to be disheveled. Jack was supposed to be arrogant, immaculate, and utterly self-assured. She was falling apart more quickly than the rest of them realized—maybe more quickly than she realized. She was doing her best, though. That had to count for something.

It would, if they stood by her and made sure she got her happy ending. Whatever shape it took. “What do we do, Jack?” asked Christopher. “This is your world. Tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”

“We can’t march on the village at night; that would be suicide, and without Dr. Bleak to harness the lightning, none of us would come back from that, which means no one would be able to fetch Cora and Kade back from the Drowned Gods,” said Jack. “I think Miss West would be quite cross if I got that many of her students killed.”

“If you got any of her students killed,” said Christopher. “Say it with me: Miss West would be pissed if you got any of her students killed.”

Jack waved a hand dismissively. “Death is a temporary setback. We can go to the village at dawn. The Master’s housekeeper, Mary, remembers me from when Jill and I first found our door. I believe she’ll let us into the castle if I ask nicely, and if I promise that she won’t be held responsible for the Master’s actions, should our side win. For now, tonight, I have another destination in mind. We need backup, and we need to recover our friends before something dire happens to them.”

“Define ‘dire,’” said Christopher.

“The Moors are more complicated than they seem at first glance. We’re in the Master’s protectorate, where my status as Dr. Bleak’s apprentice grants me a certain measure of protection. It’s easy to dismiss the rest as the part of the map that reads ‘here be monsters,’ but that’s not quite accurate. The werewolves hold the high mountains and the forested places; apart from the gargoyles and a few very ancient, very powerful vampires, no one challenges their dominion. They have too many teeth to be safely argued with. The heath is divided among a variety of lesser monsters, such as the Master and Dr. Bleak—and one day, if I keep to my studies, me.” Jack smiled, quick and bright as a knife in the darkness. “Every monster has its natural counterbalance. Vampires and mad scientists are well-matched enough to keep the peace, even if it’s sometimes kept in pieces.”

Only Sumi laughed. Christopher and Alexis looked at her, and she shrugged. “What? For Jack, that was a very funny joke. We should give her a gold star for trying.”

“As I was saying,” said Jack. “Dr. Bleak is dead and I am his heir: technically, a challenge has begun. The other monsters of the flatland will be watching to see who comes out on top, and they won’t interfere. If the Master kills me and turns Jill, an imbalance will be established, and those same monsters will come to correct it. I’m sure that will lend some small measure of comfort to my loved ones.”

Alexis glared at her.

“So where are we going?” asked Christopher.

“To the seashore,” said Jack. “The Drowned Gods have taken Cora. They’ve given us nothing in return. I want her back or, if they refuse, I want their help in setting things right.”

“Now hold on,” said Christopher. “Cora’s not a bargaining chip. She’s not going to stay with these ‘Drowned Gods’ of yours, no matter what they say.”

“You misunderstand,” said Jack. “The Drowned Gods are horrors beyond comprehension. We won’t approach them directly. We’ll be speaking with their High Priest, who can hopefully give aid to our cause—and return Cora to us unharmed.”

“Unharmed, but not unscathed,” said Sumi. Jack and Christopher turned to look at her. She shrugged. “I listen to what you’re not saying. Water changes things.”

“Yes,” said Jack. “It does.”

“Just so you know,” said Sumi. “This sounds like a good way to not get anyone killed. Let’s do it.”

“Anyone else,” said Jack.

“What?”

“We might be able to do this without getting anyone else killed,” said Jack. “Dr. Bleak is dead. Even if we’re able to undo it—and I can’t guarantee we will be; he died at least once before I came to the Moors—he will still have been killed. He will still have died for the sake of giving me, and Alexis, the chance to get away. We don’t get to ignore that.”

“Alexis has died twice,” said Christopher. “She’s fine.”

“I’m not, though,” said Alexis. She twisted her apron in her hands. “I have lightning where my heart should be. If it goes away, my body stops functioning. I love Jack more than I ever thought it was possible to love another person, but it wouldn’t matter if I stopped loving her, because I can never leave her. There’s not another windmill within three days’ ride. I wouldn’t make it to another table, another lightning array, before I collapsed, helpless, food for whatever monster might come along. I can never safely bear my own children. I can never have my own home. I’ll be in this windmill as long as I’m alive, and sometimes living hurts. So no, second resurrections aren’t the easy things people want to pretend they are. Actions have consequences.”

Jack looked at her gloved fingers. “As my lovely lady so clearly states, we can’t count on bringing anyone back. It would be better if we could do this with a minimum of bloodshed.”