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xp_logsFollowing the conversation with Angelo on the roof, Amanda meets Nathan in her study. Serious magic goes down, and some rather literal facing of personal demons.
It was, perhaps, far too soon for her to be doing this. Strange would have said it was ten years too soon, but Amanda couldn't wait that long - it was time to finish this whole saga, for once and for all. Her hands shook a little as she drew the appropriate symbols on the floor - a triangle within a circle, the whole thing about two feet across. Egyptian hieroglyphs at the point of each triangle, symbols of life and death and rebirth. Cain would have her hide for using chalk on the floorboards, but right now the groundskeeper was the last of her worries. At least her side wasn't giving her too much trouble – Moira had redone the stitches, lecturing her all the while.
Finally the preliminaries were done. Now all she had to do was wait for Nathan.
Nathan paused in the doorway, watching her as she straightened and eyed the symbols on the floor. "Can I come in?" he asked quietly, not quite sure what was going on here and not wanting to stride in and disrupt anything.
She looked up and nodded. "Can you sit there?" she asked, pointing at a spot on the floor outside of the circle opposite her. "Don't touch the chalk - 's a bindin' circle, an' I don't want anythin' gettin' out." There was an air of quiet determination around her - tired or not, hurt or not, she was going to do this.
Nathan settled down on the spot she'd indicated, his eyes lingering on her face. She was calmer than he'd expected. This was probably a good thing, he told himself, trying to relax a little as he watched. "Just tell me what you need me to do," he said, keeping his voice low. There was a hushed feeling to the room; he didn't think he was imagining it.
"This spell... It's serious shite. I've never done it before, an' I ain't sure what'll happen, if I have enough in me t' do it. If I need you to, can you shut me down? Like you did that night in Manny's room?"
Nathan paused, frowning a bit. His reserves of energy were fairly low, but he was a lot healthier, psionically speaking, than he had been that weekend. "I can," he said finally, steadily. It might drain him right down to the dregs, especially if she was in the middle of a panic, but he was fairly sure he could manage that. If it went that far, Charles or Betsy or Moira would sense it, one way or the other, and help probably wouldn't be too long in arriving.
She nodded, letting out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "I'll try not t' need it," she said with a small smile. "But seein' who it is I"m summonin' here, it's best t' have a backup." Taking another breath to get her calm back, she went on. "There's... tests with this sort of thing. T' see if I'm up to it. It's really important Nate - whatever you see, don't interrupt. The only time I'd need you t' step in is if he gets out of the circle. It won't be pretty, mind, but it won't be permanent, only for the start of the spell. I get it right, there's nothin' t' worry about."
"Don't intervene," Nathan confirmed. "Do you need me to stay quiet entirely?"
"Only when I'm doin' the summonin'. If I know him, he'll be a mouthy bastard and he'll probably have somethin' clever t' say. He won't have any power t' hurt you, tho'." She paused, then went on. "There'll be a time when I need you t' use what I gave you back in April, after Mexico. I'll tell you when. You get me?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Not entirely," he said quietly, giving her a ghost of a smile. "But I improvise well."
"You'll know, when the time comes. Hard t' miss, actually," Amanda said, an answering smile flitting across her face. "Right, think that's it," she said with a shaky laugh. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be, mi'caehla." He smiled again, a little more steadily this time. "I'm right here," he said even more softly. "Don't forget that."
"I won't." Pulling herself into a kneeling position, she lay her hands on her lap, palms open, and began reciting the ancient Egyptian words of Summoning.
"~I call upon Anubis, who weighs the scales of Life and Death. I call upon Osiris, who passed into Death and beyond. I call upon Tem-Khepera who produced himself on the thighs of his divine mother. I call upon those who dwell in Nu who have been made wolves, and those who are among the Tchatcha Chiefs who have become hyenas.~" The room, lit by candles arranged at various strategic points, dimmed perceptibly, and the air chilled. Amanda shuddered a little, the amulet around her neck beginning its tell-tale glow, but went on, her voice sounding harsher. "~Behold, I will gather together to myself this spirit of the person with whom it is and from the place wherein it is and it shall come to me quicker than a greyhound, and swifter than light. ~"
The shadows deepened, as did the cold, goosebumps raising on Amanda's arms and her breath clouding. From somewhere that sounded very far off, something howled. In the centre of the circle, darkness began to pool.
Nathan stayed very still, the prickling sensation barely registering beside the assault on his psychic senses. His shields were holding strong, but this felt so, so strange... His eyes went to Amanda, focusing on her, rather than the growing darkness inside the circle.
"~Hail, thou who bringest the Ferry- Boat of Ra, thou holdest thy course firmly and directly in the north wind as thou sailest up the river towards the Island of Fire which is in Khert-Neter. Behold, thou shalt gather together to thee this spirit from wheresoever it may be, and from whomsoever it may be with and it shall come to me quicker than a greyhound, and swifter than light,~" Amanda chanted, her voice rising. The distant howling became mush closer growling, and long, parallel scratches appeared on Amanda's face and arms, as if made by invisible claws. She flinched, but carried on regardless, forcing the words through gritted teeth. The darkness in the circle was building, flowing upwards in a man-high pillar, writhing and churning as if being forced into a shape against its will.
Nathan winced at the scratches and her obvious reaction of pain, but he remembered what she had said. No intervention on his part. Not yet.
Sweat was standing out on Amanda's forehead despite the almost deathly chill in the air, and a sudden wind whipped up, scattering papers and books around the room, extinguishing the candles. The light from the amulet was more than enough to illuminate what was going on in the centre of the room however - the shadows were dividing into a rough man-shape, featureless and waiting. "~Behold, these words of power are mine, and he shall come unto me from wheresoever he may be, or with whomsoever he may be, quicker than greyhounds and swifter than shadows.~" The room seemed to... flex somehow, a sudden pressure that made their ears pop, and Amanda sagged momentarily. Blood was beginning to drip from her nose, and she reached up, wiping it away with her fingers and flicking it into the centre of the circle. "I call forth the spirit of the departed," she continued in English, forcing the words out. "Let him come into the circle, summoned by rite and blood and sacrifice." She opened her eyes, and Nathan was startled to see they'd turned entirely black. "Let him come forth," she repeated, her tone almost commanding now. "By my name, I command it. By his name, I call him from the darkness of death." She paused as the wind buffeted her, trying to forcibly push her away. "Richard, you are Summoned."
Silence, like the world holding its breath, broken by a voice, faint at first, but gaining strength. Or was that distance?
"Hello, blossom. I was wondering how long it would take you to work it all out. Then again, you always were a slow learner."
Where the shadow-man had been the late and not-so-lamented figure of Rack stood. He looked as he had the day he died, dressed in light cotton shirt and khakis, the tanned skin incongruous given the circumstances. Only his eyes, like holes cut into infinity, showed his true state. Dead and evil. Now he tilted his head at Amanda, where she knelt, head bowed and panting, and gave her an approving smile. "Love what you've done with your hair, pet."
Rack. Nathan's blood turned to ice and he stared hard at the spectre for a moment, before he looked back at Amanda. I'm right here, he thought, not quite projecting it. I'm right here.
Amanda's shoulders straightened a little as she caught Nathan's not-quite-thought, and she raised her head. The scratches had vanished, and her eyes returned to their normal blue. With a gesture and a word, she relit the candles, the light falling short of the edges of the circle. "We've got unfinished business," she said quietly.
Rack snorted. "And you really think you're up for it, blossom? Looks like something's been having a bit of a nibble on you, doesn't it?" His smug grin said he knew exactly what had attacked Amanda. "Lovely friends you have. Set you up well and proper, one of them did."
What did that mean? He'd heard that Jubilee had some involvement with the demon, but not what; no one seemed really clear on the details. Nathan's eyes shifted back to Rack, taking in more of the details. He found himself wishing, quite sincerely, that the bastard wasn't already dead.
Feeling Nathan's eyes on him, the spirit turned. "Oh-ho, so this is my replacement, is it? Big scary daddy-figure to keep the bad things away? Only, he's not so good at that, is he?" Rack's immaterial lip curled, and those empty eye sockets seemed to hold malicious glee.
"Shut up! You don't know nothin'!" Amanda burst out, losing control momentarily, and Rack looked smug.
"Let's see, how many times has she ended up in the hospital now? And how many of those were your fault?" he asked Nathan, ignoring Amanda for the moment.
Nathan merely smiled. Coldly, with an edge of distaste and amusement. "I've had some experience with the dead," he said simply. "Trust me, when it comes to being able to get under my skin? You have nothing on the ghosts in my head."
'Go Nate,' Amanda thought, taking a certain pleasure in seeing Rack's face twist in annoyance. What he had said about her friends had bothered her, but she didn't have time for distractions. Which was exactly why he'd said it. Steeling herself, she brought to mind the Spell of Unbinding, the same one given to her by Doctor Strange all those months ago. "What was done, be undone. What was bound, be loosed. What was caged, be set free..." she began. The strain was bad, after the summoning, but the flavour of the magic less dark, more wholesome in a way. Definitely one of Strange's spells.
Rack scowled at Nathan for a moment, then tried a different track as Amanda started the unbinding. "She was a right tasty morsel in that outfit, wasn't she? The leather? Tight in all the right places, showing just enough... She'd let you, if you wanted to. Gives it up for everyone. Doesn't always charge, even..."
"Again, you're dead," Nathan murmured, as if talking to someone particularly slow-witted. "Dead man, speaking dead words on the wind. I know who she is. What she is. Nothing you say is going to make one ounce of difference to me."
"Tough man... Wish I'd met you before. Would have been fun to see how long you'd last as I fed you your own guts." Rack turned back to Amanda. "Oh, I see what you're trying now, blossom. Points for creativity. Won't make a lick of difference, though. You're mine, you always will be. No amount of make-believe that you're a normal girl will change that."
"You said that last time," Amanda reminded him, pausing in her incantation. "Yer gettin' borin', Rack." Around them the small room vanished, and they were on the pebbled, wind-swept beach of her mind. The circle remained, Rack bound within it. "I cast you out by the strength within me," she continued, and around them the sky crackled with a sudden lightning-bolt. "I deny you and all your works..."
Rack grimaced and writhed, the words cutting into him like blades. "You forget, blossom, it's not just me you're fighting. Got me a little ally, don't I?" He opened his arms, as if unfolding someone from a hug, and the white-clad figure of a small girl appeared, hovering in space. She cradled a small black kitten in her arms, and the look on her face was Not Pleased.
"You can't hurt Daddy!" she declared. "I won't let you!"
Oh. He understood now. Nathan smiled very faintly. "Gemile," he called softly. The little girl looked at him, her eyes widened. "Do you remember me?" he asked gently. "I've been here before."
She nodded, eyes large in her thin face. "You were here when Daddy went away," she said, and in her arms the kitten squirmed, trying to get down and run to Nathan.
"Daddy didn't go away, blossom, he's right here," Rack said, laying a firm hand on the girl's shoulder, and she shrank back from him a little as his fingers dug into the nerve points there. On the other side of the circle, Amanda gasped slightly, hand moving up to her shoulder as she felt the pain inflicted, but she continued to murmur the words to the unbinding spell.
"But Daddy, he knows my name," the little girl pointed out, whimpering slightly. "Names have power, you taught me that."
Rack's grip tightened. "Yes I did teach you that," he said mildly, but there was real fear in his voice now. "But you love me, don't you, pet? You won't leave me?"
"Gemile," Nathan said again, his voice low, soothing and persuasive. "Do you want to see my beach? I always intended to show you. It's very different than yours. You and I and your kitten can walk along the sand and look at the stars, if you like?" He reached out a hand in invitation. "I was there to help, remember? You can trust me... you know that."
The girl tried to take another step closer to Nate, but Rack's hand held her fast. "No-one loves you but me, blossom," he reminded her. "No-one can love you but me."
The circle binding Rack was beginning to fade, and Amanda herself was sagging. This had to be finished soon. As if sensing this, Rack's grin grew wider, and he tightened his hold on Gemile. Then he abruptly snatched his hand away with a cry of pain, the black kitten hanging off it, teeth sunk to the gums in the webbing between thumb and forefinger. The child fell forward, the restriction on her suddenly gone, and into Nathan's reach.
Nathan took her hand, tugging her gently towards him. "He's wrong, Gemile," he repeated firmly, his voice soft. The little girl didn't resist the tug, and as she came closer, Nathan smiled. "I love you," he told her. "And I'm not the only one." The kitten let go of Rack and came bounding over. "Why don't we let them finish things?" he murmured to her, tugging her down beside him and putting a comforting arm around her.
Amanda's head snapped up, and the words of the unbinding spell came stronger, pushed by a sudden confidence. "By Earth and Air..." The ground beneath them trembled, and a wind whipped up around them. "By Fire and Water..." Flames erupted from the binding circle, searing the spirit within, before being quenched by a sudden downpour of rain. "By the strength of my will and the power within me, I cast you out."
Rack screamed, the 'flesh' shredding away from him, becoming wisps of shadow. "You ungrateful bitch," he rasped at her. "This isn't over it'll never be over, you're not strong enough!"
"I'm stronger than you think," Amanda told him. "An' I have people t' help when I ain't." She stretched out her arms sideways, as if reaching for something. "By the faith of those who love me, I cast you out." The entire mindscape shook, as if beneath their feet a great slumbering beast was stirring.
Nathan got a dizzying flash of faces. Manuel, Angelo, Pete, Romany, Moira... his own, others that went by too fast to distinguish. Gemile clung to him, and he wrapped both arms around her, squeezing his eyes shut and holding her tightly as the mindscape quaked around them. Dimly, he was aware of the kitten jumping up onto his lap, purring.
"What was done be undone, what was bound be free..." Amanda was half-screaming the words now, to be heard over the chaos. In the circle, Rack was writhing and wailing as he disintegrated, his curses becoming meaningless gibberish. "You have no power over me!"
As the last words left her lips, a blinding white light flared up from the circle, obliterating the spirit, and as abruptly as a switch being flipped, everything went silent, save for the gentle lap of waves against the beach. Amanda was huddled forward, head resting on her knees panting and shaking with the effort, the binding circle nothing more than a charred spot in front of her. As Nathan was about to call her name, she looked up, giving him a brilliant smile despite the tears running down her face. At the same time, the clouds above them parted, and for the first time Nathan could remember, the mindscape was bathed in sunlight.
"Well," Nathan murmured, aware that the little girl was still huddled in his arms. "Will you look at that." He drew back a little, peering down at her and then looking up at Amanda again. "I think that's what's known as kicking his ass but good, Trouble."
"Somethin' like that," she said with a shaky laugh. "Bloody hell, I didn't think I had that in me..." There was a cautious 'mew' and the kitten poked its head up from the little girl's lap. The noise stirred her, and Gemile looked up at Amanda with an almost lost expression on her face.
"He's gone," she said sadly. "Daddy's gone."
"Gone for good," Amanda confirmed. The kitten mewed again, and Gemile stroked its head. "What's his name?" Amanda asked gently, recognising it as the one Charles had 'given' her.
"I call him Machka," Gemile said. "But that isn't his name, is it?"
"You're right." Amanda thought for a moment. "Slobuzenja," she said. "You know what that means, right?"
Gemile nodded. "Freedom," she said, and as she said the word the mindscape vanished, and it was just Amanda and Nathan in the somewhat less-tidy study, books and candles and various furnishings tossed haphazardly around the room, no trace of the binding circle on the floor. With a tired sigh, Amanda looked up at Nathan. "'S done," she said.
Nathan shook his head, shaking off a residual flash of dizziness at the sudden transition. "I'm glad," he said, getting up slowly. Around them, the room started to re-order itself, Nathan not really conscious of the telekinesis he was expending. He came over to Amanda, offering her a hand up. "Glad I could be here for you, too," he said more quietly. She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet without effort.
"Ow, pins and needles," Amanda grimaced, shaking out her feet, before wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against him. "Thank you. I couldn't have done it without you." She laughed a little, leaning back so she could look up and see his face. "A bit more 'n rabbits out of hats, eh?"
"Thoroughly impressive, yes," he said, a smile tugging at his lips. He left his arm around her shoulders and turned, leading her towards the door. "I think some fresh air is called for. You?"
"An' food. Think I could eat a bloody horse." She stumbled slightly as she began to walk, knees a bit rubbery, but she didn't stop grinning. She felt so good. "I feel like I killed the bogeyman under the bed," she confided with a giggle.
"That would be because you did," Nathan said, supporting her easily. He looked down at her, his smile softer. "I'm really proud of you. That took... well, you know better than I do what it took. And yet look at you." He squeezed her shoulder, the smile turning into a grin. "A little wobbly on your feet, yes, but walking out under your own power."
"I think... things're gunna be a lot different," Amanda said thoughtfully. "'S quieter, up here, for one." She tapped her temple. "No more bad dreams."
Nathan felt a thankfully brief flash of envy that he managed to keep out of his expression entirely. "Your head's your own again," he quipped lightly. "Make the most of it, I'd say."
"Well, mostly. Manny still has some of it." She leaned against him a little more, the gesture affectionate rather than out of need. "~The hardest battles are those with yourself,~" she said in Askani. "But we've both got people t' help out."
"You drew on some of them in there, didn't you?" Nathan asked, thinking of the faces he'd seen. "Will they have felt that?"
"A bit. Not enough to hurt. I should say somethin' so they know it wasn't me havin' another bloody crisis." The grin was still there, slightly impish now. "Or at least, it was a crisis, but the good sort."
It was, perhaps, far too soon for her to be doing this. Strange would have said it was ten years too soon, but Amanda couldn't wait that long - it was time to finish this whole saga, for once and for all. Her hands shook a little as she drew the appropriate symbols on the floor - a triangle within a circle, the whole thing about two feet across. Egyptian hieroglyphs at the point of each triangle, symbols of life and death and rebirth. Cain would have her hide for using chalk on the floorboards, but right now the groundskeeper was the last of her worries. At least her side wasn't giving her too much trouble – Moira had redone the stitches, lecturing her all the while.
Finally the preliminaries were done. Now all she had to do was wait for Nathan.
Nathan paused in the doorway, watching her as she straightened and eyed the symbols on the floor. "Can I come in?" he asked quietly, not quite sure what was going on here and not wanting to stride in and disrupt anything.
She looked up and nodded. "Can you sit there?" she asked, pointing at a spot on the floor outside of the circle opposite her. "Don't touch the chalk - 's a bindin' circle, an' I don't want anythin' gettin' out." There was an air of quiet determination around her - tired or not, hurt or not, she was going to do this.
Nathan settled down on the spot she'd indicated, his eyes lingering on her face. She was calmer than he'd expected. This was probably a good thing, he told himself, trying to relax a little as he watched. "Just tell me what you need me to do," he said, keeping his voice low. There was a hushed feeling to the room; he didn't think he was imagining it.
"This spell... It's serious shite. I've never done it before, an' I ain't sure what'll happen, if I have enough in me t' do it. If I need you to, can you shut me down? Like you did that night in Manny's room?"
Nathan paused, frowning a bit. His reserves of energy were fairly low, but he was a lot healthier, psionically speaking, than he had been that weekend. "I can," he said finally, steadily. It might drain him right down to the dregs, especially if she was in the middle of a panic, but he was fairly sure he could manage that. If it went that far, Charles or Betsy or Moira would sense it, one way or the other, and help probably wouldn't be too long in arriving.
She nodded, letting out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "I'll try not t' need it," she said with a small smile. "But seein' who it is I"m summonin' here, it's best t' have a backup." Taking another breath to get her calm back, she went on. "There's... tests with this sort of thing. T' see if I'm up to it. It's really important Nate - whatever you see, don't interrupt. The only time I'd need you t' step in is if he gets out of the circle. It won't be pretty, mind, but it won't be permanent, only for the start of the spell. I get it right, there's nothin' t' worry about."
"Don't intervene," Nathan confirmed. "Do you need me to stay quiet entirely?"
"Only when I'm doin' the summonin'. If I know him, he'll be a mouthy bastard and he'll probably have somethin' clever t' say. He won't have any power t' hurt you, tho'." She paused, then went on. "There'll be a time when I need you t' use what I gave you back in April, after Mexico. I'll tell you when. You get me?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Not entirely," he said quietly, giving her a ghost of a smile. "But I improvise well."
"You'll know, when the time comes. Hard t' miss, actually," Amanda said, an answering smile flitting across her face. "Right, think that's it," she said with a shaky laugh. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be, mi'caehla." He smiled again, a little more steadily this time. "I'm right here," he said even more softly. "Don't forget that."
"I won't." Pulling herself into a kneeling position, she lay her hands on her lap, palms open, and began reciting the ancient Egyptian words of Summoning.
"~I call upon Anubis, who weighs the scales of Life and Death. I call upon Osiris, who passed into Death and beyond. I call upon Tem-Khepera who produced himself on the thighs of his divine mother. I call upon those who dwell in Nu who have been made wolves, and those who are among the Tchatcha Chiefs who have become hyenas.~" The room, lit by candles arranged at various strategic points, dimmed perceptibly, and the air chilled. Amanda shuddered a little, the amulet around her neck beginning its tell-tale glow, but went on, her voice sounding harsher. "~Behold, I will gather together to myself this spirit of the person with whom it is and from the place wherein it is and it shall come to me quicker than a greyhound, and swifter than light. ~"
The shadows deepened, as did the cold, goosebumps raising on Amanda's arms and her breath clouding. From somewhere that sounded very far off, something howled. In the centre of the circle, darkness began to pool.
Nathan stayed very still, the prickling sensation barely registering beside the assault on his psychic senses. His shields were holding strong, but this felt so, so strange... His eyes went to Amanda, focusing on her, rather than the growing darkness inside the circle.
"~Hail, thou who bringest the Ferry- Boat of Ra, thou holdest thy course firmly and directly in the north wind as thou sailest up the river towards the Island of Fire which is in Khert-Neter. Behold, thou shalt gather together to thee this spirit from wheresoever it may be, and from whomsoever it may be with and it shall come to me quicker than a greyhound, and swifter than light,~" Amanda chanted, her voice rising. The distant howling became mush closer growling, and long, parallel scratches appeared on Amanda's face and arms, as if made by invisible claws. She flinched, but carried on regardless, forcing the words through gritted teeth. The darkness in the circle was building, flowing upwards in a man-high pillar, writhing and churning as if being forced into a shape against its will.
Nathan winced at the scratches and her obvious reaction of pain, but he remembered what she had said. No intervention on his part. Not yet.
Sweat was standing out on Amanda's forehead despite the almost deathly chill in the air, and a sudden wind whipped up, scattering papers and books around the room, extinguishing the candles. The light from the amulet was more than enough to illuminate what was going on in the centre of the room however - the shadows were dividing into a rough man-shape, featureless and waiting. "~Behold, these words of power are mine, and he shall come unto me from wheresoever he may be, or with whomsoever he may be, quicker than greyhounds and swifter than shadows.~" The room seemed to... flex somehow, a sudden pressure that made their ears pop, and Amanda sagged momentarily. Blood was beginning to drip from her nose, and she reached up, wiping it away with her fingers and flicking it into the centre of the circle. "I call forth the spirit of the departed," she continued in English, forcing the words out. "Let him come into the circle, summoned by rite and blood and sacrifice." She opened her eyes, and Nathan was startled to see they'd turned entirely black. "Let him come forth," she repeated, her tone almost commanding now. "By my name, I command it. By his name, I call him from the darkness of death." She paused as the wind buffeted her, trying to forcibly push her away. "Richard, you are Summoned."
Silence, like the world holding its breath, broken by a voice, faint at first, but gaining strength. Or was that distance?
"Hello, blossom. I was wondering how long it would take you to work it all out. Then again, you always were a slow learner."
Where the shadow-man had been the late and not-so-lamented figure of Rack stood. He looked as he had the day he died, dressed in light cotton shirt and khakis, the tanned skin incongruous given the circumstances. Only his eyes, like holes cut into infinity, showed his true state. Dead and evil. Now he tilted his head at Amanda, where she knelt, head bowed and panting, and gave her an approving smile. "Love what you've done with your hair, pet."
Rack. Nathan's blood turned to ice and he stared hard at the spectre for a moment, before he looked back at Amanda. I'm right here, he thought, not quite projecting it. I'm right here.
Amanda's shoulders straightened a little as she caught Nathan's not-quite-thought, and she raised her head. The scratches had vanished, and her eyes returned to their normal blue. With a gesture and a word, she relit the candles, the light falling short of the edges of the circle. "We've got unfinished business," she said quietly.
Rack snorted. "And you really think you're up for it, blossom? Looks like something's been having a bit of a nibble on you, doesn't it?" His smug grin said he knew exactly what had attacked Amanda. "Lovely friends you have. Set you up well and proper, one of them did."
What did that mean? He'd heard that Jubilee had some involvement with the demon, but not what; no one seemed really clear on the details. Nathan's eyes shifted back to Rack, taking in more of the details. He found himself wishing, quite sincerely, that the bastard wasn't already dead.
Feeling Nathan's eyes on him, the spirit turned. "Oh-ho, so this is my replacement, is it? Big scary daddy-figure to keep the bad things away? Only, he's not so good at that, is he?" Rack's immaterial lip curled, and those empty eye sockets seemed to hold malicious glee.
"Shut up! You don't know nothin'!" Amanda burst out, losing control momentarily, and Rack looked smug.
"Let's see, how many times has she ended up in the hospital now? And how many of those were your fault?" he asked Nathan, ignoring Amanda for the moment.
Nathan merely smiled. Coldly, with an edge of distaste and amusement. "I've had some experience with the dead," he said simply. "Trust me, when it comes to being able to get under my skin? You have nothing on the ghosts in my head."
'Go Nate,' Amanda thought, taking a certain pleasure in seeing Rack's face twist in annoyance. What he had said about her friends had bothered her, but she didn't have time for distractions. Which was exactly why he'd said it. Steeling herself, she brought to mind the Spell of Unbinding, the same one given to her by Doctor Strange all those months ago. "What was done, be undone. What was bound, be loosed. What was caged, be set free..." she began. The strain was bad, after the summoning, but the flavour of the magic less dark, more wholesome in a way. Definitely one of Strange's spells.
Rack scowled at Nathan for a moment, then tried a different track as Amanda started the unbinding. "She was a right tasty morsel in that outfit, wasn't she? The leather? Tight in all the right places, showing just enough... She'd let you, if you wanted to. Gives it up for everyone. Doesn't always charge, even..."
"Again, you're dead," Nathan murmured, as if talking to someone particularly slow-witted. "Dead man, speaking dead words on the wind. I know who she is. What she is. Nothing you say is going to make one ounce of difference to me."
"Tough man... Wish I'd met you before. Would have been fun to see how long you'd last as I fed you your own guts." Rack turned back to Amanda. "Oh, I see what you're trying now, blossom. Points for creativity. Won't make a lick of difference, though. You're mine, you always will be. No amount of make-believe that you're a normal girl will change that."
"You said that last time," Amanda reminded him, pausing in her incantation. "Yer gettin' borin', Rack." Around them the small room vanished, and they were on the pebbled, wind-swept beach of her mind. The circle remained, Rack bound within it. "I cast you out by the strength within me," she continued, and around them the sky crackled with a sudden lightning-bolt. "I deny you and all your works..."
Rack grimaced and writhed, the words cutting into him like blades. "You forget, blossom, it's not just me you're fighting. Got me a little ally, don't I?" He opened his arms, as if unfolding someone from a hug, and the white-clad figure of a small girl appeared, hovering in space. She cradled a small black kitten in her arms, and the look on her face was Not Pleased.
"You can't hurt Daddy!" she declared. "I won't let you!"
Oh. He understood now. Nathan smiled very faintly. "Gemile," he called softly. The little girl looked at him, her eyes widened. "Do you remember me?" he asked gently. "I've been here before."
She nodded, eyes large in her thin face. "You were here when Daddy went away," she said, and in her arms the kitten squirmed, trying to get down and run to Nathan.
"Daddy didn't go away, blossom, he's right here," Rack said, laying a firm hand on the girl's shoulder, and she shrank back from him a little as his fingers dug into the nerve points there. On the other side of the circle, Amanda gasped slightly, hand moving up to her shoulder as she felt the pain inflicted, but she continued to murmur the words to the unbinding spell.
"But Daddy, he knows my name," the little girl pointed out, whimpering slightly. "Names have power, you taught me that."
Rack's grip tightened. "Yes I did teach you that," he said mildly, but there was real fear in his voice now. "But you love me, don't you, pet? You won't leave me?"
"Gemile," Nathan said again, his voice low, soothing and persuasive. "Do you want to see my beach? I always intended to show you. It's very different than yours. You and I and your kitten can walk along the sand and look at the stars, if you like?" He reached out a hand in invitation. "I was there to help, remember? You can trust me... you know that."
The girl tried to take another step closer to Nate, but Rack's hand held her fast. "No-one loves you but me, blossom," he reminded her. "No-one can love you but me."
The circle binding Rack was beginning to fade, and Amanda herself was sagging. This had to be finished soon. As if sensing this, Rack's grin grew wider, and he tightened his hold on Gemile. Then he abruptly snatched his hand away with a cry of pain, the black kitten hanging off it, teeth sunk to the gums in the webbing between thumb and forefinger. The child fell forward, the restriction on her suddenly gone, and into Nathan's reach.
Nathan took her hand, tugging her gently towards him. "He's wrong, Gemile," he repeated firmly, his voice soft. The little girl didn't resist the tug, and as she came closer, Nathan smiled. "I love you," he told her. "And I'm not the only one." The kitten let go of Rack and came bounding over. "Why don't we let them finish things?" he murmured to her, tugging her down beside him and putting a comforting arm around her.
Amanda's head snapped up, and the words of the unbinding spell came stronger, pushed by a sudden confidence. "By Earth and Air..." The ground beneath them trembled, and a wind whipped up around them. "By Fire and Water..." Flames erupted from the binding circle, searing the spirit within, before being quenched by a sudden downpour of rain. "By the strength of my will and the power within me, I cast you out."
Rack screamed, the 'flesh' shredding away from him, becoming wisps of shadow. "You ungrateful bitch," he rasped at her. "This isn't over it'll never be over, you're not strong enough!"
"I'm stronger than you think," Amanda told him. "An' I have people t' help when I ain't." She stretched out her arms sideways, as if reaching for something. "By the faith of those who love me, I cast you out." The entire mindscape shook, as if beneath their feet a great slumbering beast was stirring.
Nathan got a dizzying flash of faces. Manuel, Angelo, Pete, Romany, Moira... his own, others that went by too fast to distinguish. Gemile clung to him, and he wrapped both arms around her, squeezing his eyes shut and holding her tightly as the mindscape quaked around them. Dimly, he was aware of the kitten jumping up onto his lap, purring.
"What was done be undone, what was bound be free..." Amanda was half-screaming the words now, to be heard over the chaos. In the circle, Rack was writhing and wailing as he disintegrated, his curses becoming meaningless gibberish. "You have no power over me!"
As the last words left her lips, a blinding white light flared up from the circle, obliterating the spirit, and as abruptly as a switch being flipped, everything went silent, save for the gentle lap of waves against the beach. Amanda was huddled forward, head resting on her knees panting and shaking with the effort, the binding circle nothing more than a charred spot in front of her. As Nathan was about to call her name, she looked up, giving him a brilliant smile despite the tears running down her face. At the same time, the clouds above them parted, and for the first time Nathan could remember, the mindscape was bathed in sunlight.
"Well," Nathan murmured, aware that the little girl was still huddled in his arms. "Will you look at that." He drew back a little, peering down at her and then looking up at Amanda again. "I think that's what's known as kicking his ass but good, Trouble."
"Somethin' like that," she said with a shaky laugh. "Bloody hell, I didn't think I had that in me..." There was a cautious 'mew' and the kitten poked its head up from the little girl's lap. The noise stirred her, and Gemile looked up at Amanda with an almost lost expression on her face.
"He's gone," she said sadly. "Daddy's gone."
"Gone for good," Amanda confirmed. The kitten mewed again, and Gemile stroked its head. "What's his name?" Amanda asked gently, recognising it as the one Charles had 'given' her.
"I call him Machka," Gemile said. "But that isn't his name, is it?"
"You're right." Amanda thought for a moment. "Slobuzenja," she said. "You know what that means, right?"
Gemile nodded. "Freedom," she said, and as she said the word the mindscape vanished, and it was just Amanda and Nathan in the somewhat less-tidy study, books and candles and various furnishings tossed haphazardly around the room, no trace of the binding circle on the floor. With a tired sigh, Amanda looked up at Nathan. "'S done," she said.
Nathan shook his head, shaking off a residual flash of dizziness at the sudden transition. "I'm glad," he said, getting up slowly. Around them, the room started to re-order itself, Nathan not really conscious of the telekinesis he was expending. He came over to Amanda, offering her a hand up. "Glad I could be here for you, too," he said more quietly. She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet without effort.
"Ow, pins and needles," Amanda grimaced, shaking out her feet, before wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against him. "Thank you. I couldn't have done it without you." She laughed a little, leaning back so she could look up and see his face. "A bit more 'n rabbits out of hats, eh?"
"Thoroughly impressive, yes," he said, a smile tugging at his lips. He left his arm around her shoulders and turned, leading her towards the door. "I think some fresh air is called for. You?"
"An' food. Think I could eat a bloody horse." She stumbled slightly as she began to walk, knees a bit rubbery, but she didn't stop grinning. She felt so good. "I feel like I killed the bogeyman under the bed," she confided with a giggle.
"That would be because you did," Nathan said, supporting her easily. He looked down at her, his smile softer. "I'm really proud of you. That took... well, you know better than I do what it took. And yet look at you." He squeezed her shoulder, the smile turning into a grin. "A little wobbly on your feet, yes, but walking out under your own power."
"I think... things're gunna be a lot different," Amanda said thoughtfully. "'S quieter, up here, for one." She tapped her temple. "No more bad dreams."
Nathan felt a thankfully brief flash of envy that he managed to keep out of his expression entirely. "Your head's your own again," he quipped lightly. "Make the most of it, I'd say."
"Well, mostly. Manny still has some of it." She leaned against him a little more, the gesture affectionate rather than out of need. "~The hardest battles are those with yourself,~" she said in Askani. "But we've both got people t' help out."
"You drew on some of them in there, didn't you?" Nathan asked, thinking of the faces he'd seen. "Will they have felt that?"
"A bit. Not enough to hurt. I should say somethin' so they know it wasn't me havin' another bloody crisis." The grin was still there, slightly impish now. "Or at least, it was a crisis, but the good sort."
