“She’s waiting for you,” Maggie said.  I almost jumped at her voice, like I expected her to be silent.  She used her unentwined hand to point, and then, as if noticing she still had her ward up, she collapsed it, wrapping the thread around her fingers with a practiced lack of concentration.  “You still say it isn’t a portal?”

I nodded, and glanced at Matana.  The only portal was the one her parasite pushed open and then allowed to close.  Is it still a parasite if you agree to it, or does that move it to symbiote?  No, it was using her, even if she got something back from it.  I doubt that they were mutually reliant on each other, but then again, I tried to make it a rule to avoid things with fangs. 

“You have to be the hero, don’t you?” Mags said softly.  Soft enough that I didn’t actually know if she said it aloud, or if it was some kind of magic she was working, but I heard it nevertheless.  It wasn’t free of the kind of judgments that had made the last few months of our relationship so stressful, but it did seem to release some kind of tension in that it had just a tint of humour to it, a kind of wry, “I told myself,” into the fray.

“No time like the present,” I said, and Ed frowned.  “Well, in as much as now is always the present I’m experiencing.  Or, um, something pithy and chronomatic.”

“That’s not a word,” Ed said.

“It’s like automatic, but it is played through by time,” I suggested.

“Neat concept, but still not buying it.  Look, is there… is there anything I can do to help?  I’m kind of stuck with this not believing overwhelmed feeling and it’s not really going away, but if you need someone to jump in and spray insecticide I can find… I could be a hero.  I like the idea of being a hero, but my guts are kind of trying to do these flips towards the bottom of my spine and that makes it hard to move.”

I laughed.  “You don’t have to explain it to me, Ed.  You’re an exterminator, not a wizard.”

“Are there classes you can take?  Because really, it’s looking like I need to moonlight or something to stay up with you guys.”  He was grinning.

“You notice the girls didn’t offer to go with me.  They’re closer to wizards than I am,” I pointed out.  Maggie grinned, but Matana didn’t like it.

“I cannot go,” she said.

“This may be one of those things a man’s gotta do when a man’s gotta do it.”

“I was actually going to get busy calling for back-up,” Maggie suggested.  “Hey, Ed.  You want to take Matana and go get your truck?  If E brings anyone out, they might need medical attention or just want to get out of here.”

“You know, get kidnapped by some deviant beasts from another dimension and hey, let’s go grab a cup of coffee now that we’re out?” I teased her.

“Possible, possible,” she said. 

“You’re letting Matana drive my rental?”

“You’re stalling.”

I took a deep breath and nodded.  Actually, the truth was, I had a guilty conscience.  Somewhere in the depths of my brain I was convinced that this was my fault.  I had made this happen. 

Of course, a little voice in my head said some of it was Maggie’s fault too.  I had to listen to the voice (because you can’t just stick your fingers in your brain and tell it to shut up) but I didn’t have to agree with it or act on it.  That’s what being a grown-up was all about, right?

Rhetorical question, I hoped.

I checked my pockets.  My libido.  My pulse.  Well, actually, I didn’t need to check my pulse because it was beating the drums in my head pretty loudly already.  Ed and Matana were driving off, while Mags was busy getting into a meditative pose or something.  She was emitting a pale sort of light again, but I wasn’t about to nickname her “the Human Flashlight.”  I could just be seeing auras after all. 

I take head trauma very seriously, so no jokes there. 

I walked up to the door, reminding myself that at least this time I wasn’t worried about spraining an ankle.  Tripping over flesh locked in some kind of pre-orgasmic loop, yes, but that’s a hazard of the profession. I guess.  This wasn’t supposed to be a full-time job.

“I am going in,” I said to the creature. 

She rolled over onto her back and spread her legs. “About time,” she muttered.  “Strip.”

I couldn’t help but laugh aloud, a sharp bark of surprised laughter from the gut.  I stepped past her, carefully, towards the door.   If it was locked, this whole situation could turn ugly.  But it wouldn’t be.  I remember being with Doloise, entering the skin of the place.  I remember thinking of the interactions between the physical and the metaphysical.

The creature rolled onto her front and watched me, curiously. 

The door was unlocked.  Good, because I would have hated to have to break a window.  I mean, here I was, completely unarmed and walking right back into the spider’s parlour.  My brain told me to fly away.  Instead, I opened the door.

“Hullo the house!” I called.  It was light inside – every lamp in the place was on.  Shades and window coverings were pulled over so the outside couldn’t be seen, which was just as well if you ask me.  How did they get electricity in here?  I was tempted to check my signal, and actually made a move towards my jacket pocket when a roared, “Get him!” came from behind the stairs and I was swarmed.