The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman Read Online Free Page A

demon locked up
because it would contain almost all of its magic. But, that also
means any magic done in here would be incredibly more powerful
because it's being compressed, held tightly in such a small,
earth-clad room."
    "Oh, so do you think that's why Lydia used the
room for her spell?"
    "Definitely," she said. "Even a mortal could use
very effective magic in here."
    "Well, cool, then, we know the first part of the
riddle," he said. "It's after five, now, will you have enough time
before dark?"
    "I don't know," she said. "There is no handbook,
you know? We have to learn everything on our own."
    "Izbet?"
    "Hmm?" She seemed to be thinking about something
and not listening very closely to what he was saying.
    "Are you sure about this?" he said. "Do you
really want to die? You seem to be doing fine as you are."
    "Why does it matter to you?" She looked up at
him. He had her complete attention.
    "My wife and I have been trying to have a kid,
you know?" he said. "It may take her a little time to get used to
you, but..."
    "I have a soul someplace," Izbet said. "Not
here, not inside me, but someplace. I can only release it by
finding it again."
    He smiled and nodded. A part of him was
relieved, but a part, perhaps just a single blue stone of his soul,
wanted her to accept the offer. "So, what do you want me to
do?"
    "We need something that will renew the marks on
the floor," she said.
    He hadn't noticed them before, but there was a
faint outline of some sort of design, a double circle and a diamond
shape. He looked around the small room. "Oh, wait, there's a
workbench out in the basement, might be something there." He was
gone only a few seconds and came back into the root cellar.
"Carpenter's chalk."
    "Okay, good," she said. "Now, just trace over
the lines."
    "What is this design?" he said. He finished one
line and it became perfectly clear. It was the number '5'. The
other side of the design was also a '5', but drawn as a mirror
image, so that the two numbers, '55' came together to form the
design. "Very clever, you demons."
    "I prefer being called devious ," she said
with a smirk on her face.
    "Okay, traced out," he said. "Do you just go
through the numbers?"
    "Yes," she said. "Lydia's plan was to spin time
ahead so quickly that the contract would lose its magnetic hold,"
she said. "I pronounce the renewal spell, but then have to reverse
the big to small section and make it small to big so it applies to
my contract."
    "And the last part, the 'youngest is the
biggest' part?" he said. "What does that mean?"
    She shrugged. "Not sure, it might not even be
needed, or it might be something that will be obvious after the
first part of the spell has opened the portals of time." She walked
to the design and put one small bare foot in each circle.
"Ready?"
    He nodded. "If I don't get the chance to say
goodbye..."
    "Close the door," she said. And as he did, she
began the ceremony. " Kehr mir die Zung im Arss umb !" she
said. She held out her arms and closed her eyes and as she chanted
M arukka Asaruludu Namru Asarualim , she rose off the floor
and her hair turned black again. And as the tiny sparks appeared,
she opened her eyes which had turned solid white and seemed to
emanate light. The room began transforming itself, but not renewing
itself, it was falling even more into decay. The wooden ceiling
slats began falling, spider webs disintegrated to dust. "The small
curse on the large one be reversed!"
    Allan backed away as the sparks got bigger and
hotter, falling to the floor like the flairs from a child's
sparkler. But, nothing else was happening.
    " I am not afraid; for though I am the
youngest, I'm the tallest ," she said.
    Still nothing. She suddenly fell to the floor in
a lump as her hair changed to blonde and her blue eyes
returned.
    "So?" he said. "Anything?"
    She waited a moment, and then got to her feet.
She waited a while longer. "Nothing," she said. "Something isn't
right."
    "It's that last part," he said. "I could tell.
It all