THE 7 ARCANE COLORS OF LIFE
The orphan, Richard Blaine, learns that d ining with evil never ends like you believe.
THE 7 ARCANE COLORS OF LIFE
“Dining with Evil endswith dessert being you.”
– Richard Blaine
“Being with your Enemy and notbeing with Him is the only way you have of measuring time, sir,” I smiled atMr. Morton.
It was a very forced smile. Telling Caligula he has bad taste is never done lightly.
Not only did everyone at thetable stop breathing, (the ones that still breathed that is)
but the very walls of the candlelit chamber seemed to gasp.
What can I say?
I have an allergy to“condescending arrogance” commonly referred to as “smug.”
You know as in “as the prig isbent, so the snob’s inclined” sort of thing.
I tend to break out in suicidal,smart-mouth remarks. It’s another failing I have ... along with compassion.
Mr. Morton’s eyes changed colorsfrom pale, arctic blue to black, becoming holes into the nothingness that washis soul.
Mr. Morton spoke in a timbre thatOrson Welles would have envied, “There are very slow ways to die.”
“I know, sir. I’ve been livingone at St. Marok’s for a while now.”
It had started out a lousy dayand gone downhill from there, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that it hadcome to this.
With the blinking out of MarieLaveau, Night had flicked to Day like the turning on of a light switch.
I heard light pelting of sveltefeet on grass behind me before strong fingers seized my shoulders and spun mearound.
“Oh, Richard, I was so worried.”
Helen Mayfair’s face flinched asshe realized she’d called me by my first name.
“Ah, we were so worried.Sister Ameal and I could find you nowhere on the grounds for two whole days!”
Sister Ameal padded up to me,seemingly disgusted at the world in general and me in particular. “How didMorton hide you from me?”
Not us. Me.
I tucked that bitinto my spinning mind for further reflection … should I survive tonight’sfestivities.
“It lifted me from two nights agoand dumped me into today.”
Miss Mayfair frowned, “It?”
Sister Ameal snorted, “He meansMorton. And the boy ….”
“Young man,” sternly correctedMiss Mayfair, stressing the man.
I tucked that moment away in mymind for reflection, too. Things might be looking up …
which meant that soonthey would take a nosedive.
My life was like that.
Sister Ameal smiled thatinfuriating, knowing smile of hers.
“The young man is correct.Morton is an Entity. One of enormous power that makes me shudder when Iconsider its utter lack of restraint combined with its own dark appetites.”
I said, “Then, let’s go to HeadmasterStearns’ quarters where I might pick up a weapon or two.”
Miss Mayfair frowned, “He keptweapons there?”
Sister Ameal kept smiling. “And alush velvet cushioned bed.”
Helen narrowed her eyes at me,and I hastily added,
“And many, many arcane books. Knowledge is power. Besides,I’m too scared to percolate … especially in front of Sister Ameal.”
Miss Mayfair fought her ownsmile. “I believe that last.”
The students of St. Marok’s partedbefore us like waves of the Red Sea but with infinitely more trepidation than mere unfeeling water.
The glare of Sister Ameal and thememory of Miss Mayfair’s dainty revolver at the small of her back helped a good deal with thatI wagered.
We are what we repeatedly do. Evil,then, is not an act, but a habit.
Headmaster Stearns had been evil.
It lived on after him.
The halls were deserted as weapproached Headmaster Stearns’ quarters.
No surprise.
Even in the daytime,strange growls, moans, and low screams sometimes could be heard beyond therune-carved door
…when supposedly the quarters were empty.
We stopped in front of the door,and I slipped in the odd shaped metal key into the lock in the shape of a dragon’s snarling mouth.
Miss Mayfair asked low, “How canyou sleep in such a place?”
“I don’t. I doze … with acrucifix in one hand and the Mirror of Enigmas in the other ... the small handheld sister of it actually.”
Sister Ameal nodded. “Is the sister of that Mirror what you intend to bring to Morton’s tonight?”
“What is the Mirror of Enigmas?”asked Miss Mayfair.
“It reveals to whoever lookswithin it who that person truly is.”
“Have you ever ….”
“Yes. And all I saw was a mistyoutline of a body … nothing more.”
Sister Ameal cocked her head. “Didthat disturb you?”
“No. If you have to look into amirror for confirmation of who you are … then, you are no one.”
Miss Mayfair frowned, “Thesequarters seem to extend impossibly farther than my eyes can see.”
Sister Ameal murmured, “Purgatoryis like that.”
Miss Mayfair hushed, “We are inPurgatory?!”
I reached within my schooluniform jacket, withdrawing a crude map.
“Stearns drew a map that leadsfrom here to the dining room of Mr. Morton’s estate.”
Miss Mayfair’s frown deepened.
“Then,why did not Mr. Morton enter here from there if he so wished the headmaster’s lostgospels?”
“Yeah, especially since there areno thresholds guarding an orphanage.”
Sister Ameal sighed, “And how doyou know this, young sir?”
“I’ve been reading Stearns’ books."
Miss Mayfair paled. "But they are cursed!"
"Only cursed if you read them to obtain power over others. I was just reading to stay alive."
Sister Ameal looked skeptical. "And that protects you?"
"So far. The path to safety leads along some pretty steep cliffs."
I shivered. “But someof those books were … not light reading."
I shook my head,
"He was a man of narrow means, broad interests, and dark habits … ah, MissMayfair, I would suggest you’d not look too closely at the walls ….”
“Oh, my!”
Sister Ameal rolled her eyes.
“Boy,you know little of women. If you had said nothing, she would not have lookedhalf as close.”
Miss Mayfair hushed, “What onearth is that to my right?”
“The icon of the golden carving forthe demoness of Morton’s first name.”
“It seems to almost be alive.”
“That is because it was paintedin the seven arcane colors of life.”
“Which are?”
“If I name them aloud thatdemoness becomes fully alive … and I imagine after all these millennia, shewill awaken ... hungry.”
Miss Mayfair paled. “Never mind. Itwas merely an idol question.”
Her nose wrinkled like a rabbit’s. “Did you catch the pun?”
Sister Ameal drawled, “No, we didnot, nor we will we catch it if you say it a second time.”
