Simply Irresistible Part 29

The dog licked his fingers. Even that seemed like an effort.

Sadie watched, and Toto trembled. The rabbit continued to stare at the elevator, as if willing it to arrive.

"How many pets are here?" Vivian asked.

"I don't honestly know," Dex said. "I'm afraid of the number."

"Then how do you know you have all of them?"

He scratched under Portia's chin. The dog's tail wagged. "Magic. I know I use too much, but--"

"But it's for the right cause," Vivian said.

Dex nodded, but it was an absent gesture. "Let me get that last box."

He hurried down the hall. Toto watched him go, still trembling. Portia sighed and laid down.

Dex saw his magic as a burden, a gift he couldn't properly use. Vivian hadn't really understood that completely until she saw Portia. There was a lot of suffering in the world, and Dex didn't like any of it If he had his way, this place would be perfect, with no one hurting and nothing evil around them.

But because he wanted things that way, he had two hideouts and trouble with his own judiciary. He had to hide his good deeds.

Maybe Vivian would talk to the Fates about that. Maybe Dex's ploy would work. Maybe after taking care of the kittens, the Fates would understand what Dex was struggling with.

The elevator clanged. Sadie whined, as if she were urging Dex to hurry up. Toto trembled again, and his trembling seemed to strike fear into the rabbit. The creature was completely immobile, only its nose twitching.

Dex came out of the bedroom carrying the last box. Vivian wondered why he wasn't spelling them to the bas.e.m.e.nt, as he called it. It would certainly be easier.

He arrived just as the elevator opened. He set the last box inside, then helped Portia. Sadie nudged the rabbit forward, and Toto followed.

"Go on," Dex said to Vivian. She nodded and stepped inside. She felt like she was stepping off a cliff. This was harder than the sudden appearance/ disappearance thing. This was a conscious choice to get on an elevator that probably shouldn't exist, to go to a place she didn't know, with a group of animals that behaved like--well, like drugged people.

Sadie waited outside until Dex stepped in. Once he crossed the elevator's threshold, Sadie entered too.

The door closed as Dex pushed the bas.e.m.e.nt b.u.t.ton for the final time. The elevator lurched once, then plummeted, almost as if it were out of control.

Vivian grabbed onto the railing behind her. Toto whined and leaned on Vivian's leg. Vivian found the trust oddly touching. Sadie didn't move. The rabbit stayed in the middle of the floor, its nose twitching. Dex braced Portia so that she wouldn't fall.

Vivian made herself breathe. "How come you didn't just magic us down below?"

"Magic leaves a trail that can be followed," Dex said. "Or it should. Somehow O'Connell has figured out how to defeat that too."

"The signature you were talking about with my neck?"

"That's part of it," he said.

Portia sighed. The dog was in a lot of pain, but she was healing. Vivian wanted to touch her but knew better.

"Why bring the animals?"

Dex kept one foot braced on the box, so it wouldn't slide into the frightened dogs and rabbit. "Think about it, Viv. If someone wanted information from me, what would be the best way to get it?"

"They'd hurt these creatures?"

"I don't know for sure," Dex said. "But I can't risk it."

The elevator lurched again. It seemed to be picking up speed instead of losing it.

"Do you run drills to get them to do this?" she asked.

"You mean like grade school fire drills?" he asked.

She nodded, imagining Dex with a whistle, herding animals toward the linen closet. 'Now, cla.s.s. No pushing and shoving. No fighting. One at a time through the doors. The quicker you do this, the safer you'll be. . . '.

"I wish it were that easy," he said. "I tried a whole bunch of things. First I used food, but that only got the healthy or the hungry pets. Then I tried having Sadie herd them, but that made some of them hide."

Sadie looked up at Dex at the sound of her name. Her tail thumped once, as if acknowledging his mention; then she turned her attention to the elevator again.

"In the end, I had to use a bit of magic to explain to them the importance of going into the bas.e.m.e.nt. Once the animals know that this is for their own safety, they cooperate."

Vivian smiled at him. She had never met anyone like him. "You could have spelled them down there the first time, right? Then they wouldn't have been so frightened."

"Actually, no. The bas.e.m.e.nt is--" He stopped and shrugged. "Well, you'll see."

The elevator stopped suddenly, bouncing on its cables. Vivian was very glad she was still holding the interior railing.

The door opened, revealing a herd of animals on the floor outside. Vivian couldn't see beyond the cats and the ferret. Toto was still leaning on her leg, and the rabbit was blocking their exit by refusing to move.

Dex picked it up. "Everyone, into the kitchen."

The cats dispersed, and none of them went in the same direction. The ferret took its time. Once it was gone, Dex set the rabbit on the floor outside the elevator. He turned around, picked up the box, and set it outside, next to the other two boxes. Then he picked up Portia and carried her out.

"I have to feed diem now," he said. "Their reward for being good. When I'm done, I'll show you around."

He and Portia turned left, disappearing down a long hallway. Sadie gave Vivian a worried look, as if she was preventing Sadie from doing her duty.

"It's all right," Vivian said. "I'm coming."

Sadie woofed softly, then hurried after the others, with Toto at her heels. Vivian left the elevator slowly.

The room she stepped into was huge. It wasn't a room so much as a great hall or an antechamber. The ceiling--several stories above her--glittered with its own light, as if a hundred stars had been captured against its darkness.

A large corridor opened to her left. The wall, black and shiny, curved away from her on the right, widening as she stepped into the great hall. A series of lamps, designed to resemble torches, flickered against the blackness, their fake flame reflected in the surface.

More lights illuminated five steps that led into the hall proper. Vivian walked toward them.

The great hall wasn't really a hall. It curved, the walls protecting it on all sides. More stairs led down to another level. A car was parked there. Vivian saw its rounded hood and oddly shaped headlights, and found herself thinking of the Batmobile.

She supposed it wasn't unlikely for Dex to have a tricked-up car a la James Bond. After all, Dex had said he had a lot of enemies, and he had taken a lot of his ideas from comic books. Clearly this place was based on the Bat Cave, and Professor X's secret rooms, and all those hidden chambers that showed up in various superhero myths.

It just startled her. The house above--way above, if that elevator ride had been any indication--had seemed so normal. So single-guy chic.

This wasn't normal at all.

A desk, also made of the same shiny black material, protruded from the far right wall. A black leather chair, pushed up against it, was nearly invisible until she came upon it.

Computer screens receded into the wall, all of them dark. She saw no keyboards, so she touched one of the screens. It instantly turned white.

"Unauthorized access," said an androgynous voice. It echoed throughout the entire chamber, and probably down the corridor. "Security breach. Security breach. Securi--"

And then, as quickly as it started, the voice stopped. Vivian heard a clunk, and then Dex's voice, sounding small, said, "I'll show you around, Viv. Just give me a minute. Don't touch anything else."

The screen before her was still white. Gradually it faded to black again. Vivian clutched her hands behind her back, resisting the urge to touch the other screens. She didn't even know how to answer Dex.

Instead, she walked toward the steps leading to the car. She pa.s.sed a cabinet, its front covered in smoky gla.s.s. She thought she saw clothing inside, but she couldn't be sure. She wanted to cup her hand against the gla.s.s, block out the ambient light so that she could see inside, but after that last encounter with the screen, she knew better.

Vivian shivered. The temperature down here left a lot to be desired. She wasn't wearing warm clothing, and she had nothing else with her. She hoped that somewhere down that long, mysterious corridor, Dex had a blanket. Or a sweater. Or a thermostat.

Then she reached the stairs and looked down. The car wasn't some cartoonish contraption, with rocket jets instead of a combustion engine and wings that made it soar across canyons. It was a 1930s Packard convertible, an old-fashioned, stylish car, the kind people thought of--or at least the kind she thought of--when she thought of elegant vehicles.

The Packard was black too, and just as shiny as the walls around it. The roof was down, and the leather seats looked new. But the interior, right down to the wood radio in the dash, all dated from the period. As she peered inside, she realized that the gearshift was slightly worn, and the leather padding on the driver's door had a small rip in it.

"Like it?" Dex's voice sounded loud, and it echoed, overlapping itself before fading away.

Vivian turned guiltily, clasping her hands even tighter behind her back. "It's beautiful. What's it doing down here?"

Dex was standing at the top of the second flight of stairs, near the cabinet. He looked sad, and smaller than he had in his house. "It draws too much attention these days, and it doesn't really like the rainy weather. I don't have the money to detail it every time a bit of rust shows up."

Sadie walked up behind him, then sat down. She looked tired and wary, as if just being down here made her nervous.

"Animals fed?" Vivian asked.

"And shown to their rooms," Dex said.

He wasn't smiling and she couldn't tell if he'd made a joke. She wouldn't put it past him to have a bedroom for each creature he brought down.

"Let me show you around," he said. "Come on."

He led the way up the stairs. When Vivian reached the top, Sadie stood too, as if Vivian were one of the dog's charges. Nurse Ratched had come down the hallway, tail switching. She looked like she was hunting for trouble.

"No, Ratchey," Dex said. "You know this area is off-limits."

The cat sat down as if she had understood him and proceeded to clean her face with her right paw. She looked regal amid the shiny black stone, as if the entire place had been built for her.

Sadie walked to the edge of the great hall, blocking Nurse Ratched's ability to come any farther inside. Dex led Vivian past the cabinet and the computer system as if they weren't even there.

"This is security, as you already know." He grinned at her. She shrugged. She hadn't meant to set it off.

"Regular security?" she asked. "Not magical security?"

"No, there's magical too," he said. "No magic spells--at least spells that I know can be done-- can reach down here. This place is fortified with rock that prevents magical conductivity, and it's got some magical shielding. The normal security is for regular people. There are a few outside entrances. I did manage to do this inside a neighborhood."

"With all the zoning clear, and the permits?" She couldn't restrain the grin, but he didn't smile back at her.

"I did the first version of this around the time everyone was building bomb shelters. No one thought it was strange."

She nodded, then thought of something. "How come no one thinks it's strange that you haven't gotten older?"

"You know," he said in a conversational tone, as if he was speaking to someone he didn't know well, "the men in my family look a lot alike. Everyone always said I look like Uncle Dexter. I was named for him too."

Vivian laughed. He slipped his arm around her and led her to the corridor.

Sadie stepped aside to let them pa.s.s, yet she still managed to block Nurse Ratched. The cat glared at the dog, then turned away from the great room, as if she'd been interested in Dex all along. Nurse Ratched led him down the corridor, her tail high.

Sadie followed Vivian, toenails clicking on the black floor. Vivian didn't see any of the other animals. She had no idea where they could have gotten to.

The corridor went on for a long distance with no visible doors on either side. The ceiling was not as high as the great chamber's, but it was higher than any ceiling Vivian had ever seen in a corridor before.

"How come you didn't bring the Fates here?" she asked Dex.

"I thought about it," Dex said. "I didn't want them that close."

"And you were afraid they'd blow this place's cover." The phrase was not one that Vivian normally used. She had to have plucked it, word for word, from Dex's brain.

He looked at her, startled. "There are a lot of ways out of here. Even if I disabled the elevator, the Fates would have found the other exits. And probably at the wrong moment, if I know those women."

"This place is very important to you," Vivian said.

'Not as much as it used to be'. The sentence came to her, as clearly as if he'd spoken. If he hadn't been right beside her, and if she hadn't been watching his lips, she would have thought that he had spoken.

"It's my safe place," he said as the corridor dead-ended into a 'T'. The wall in front of Vivian was the same shiny black material, but to her right, the black had been replaced by normal white walls. To her left, the corridor continued, the same black color, the same monotonous walls.

He led her into the white-painted corridor. Or rather, Nurse Ratched led all of them. The cat picked up her pace, trotting forward as if she'd seen a bird.

The ceiling here was at normal height, and Vivian felt relieved. She had no idea that high ceilings made her nervous, but apparently they did. Or maybe it was the way she expected s.p.a.ces to be-- and this place did not conform to those expectations.

Doors opened off this corridor. The first room nearest the black corridor was filled with ancient computer equipment. She recognized the remains of a Mac Plus, an Apple //e, and several IBM clones. A Kaypro sat on top of a heap of wires and discarded disk drives as if it had won a game of king of the hill. Old CDs, manuals, and floppy disks were scattered on a desktop, and in the middle of them, two cats slept as if it were the most comfortable place on Earth.

The next room held the remains of an even older computer system. Vivian recognized this one-- which filled the entire room--from 1960s Disney movies and the doc.u.mentaries she'd seen on the s.p.a.ce program. She had no idea what that computer--which had component parts taller than she was--was called, but she could see the slots where the punch cards went.

In fact, there was a stack of punch cards holding the door open.

No cats were in that room, but the ferret was sniffing its way toward the back as if it hadn't seen the area before.

The third door was open, and the light was on. The room held cushioned beds and medical equipment, including a refrigerator. Portia was the only occupant. She was asleep on one of the beds, her breathing labored.

"Is she going to be all right?" Vivian asked.

"It took her a lot to get down here," Dex said. "But she's got a fighter's spirit."