“Come on, Johnny. I have to get this to Brigitte and take you home.”
“No thank you. I’d rather stay down here.”
“You sure?”
He puts his hands in his lap and looks down at the floor.
“Yes. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I think I’m tired of being alive. I’ll miss Tracy and Fiona and I’ll never get to finish the dictionary, but I like it down here. It’s quiet. I don’t think I want to answer anyone’s questions anymore. I want to smell the dirt and be in the dark for a while.”
“You’re welcome to stay here with me,” Muninn says “You’ll have access to all my toys and the Backbone is just a stroll away.”
Johnny looks around the piles of junk that seem to stretch forever in every direction.
“Do you want to ask me things?”
“I’ve been down here for a long time and will be here for quite a bit longer. Life and death don’t interest me terribly much.”
Johnny nods.
“Okay. I’ll stay.”
He turns to me.
“Will you tell Fiona and Tracy that I’m sorry and that I’ll miss them and to not worry about me?”
“Sure. Thanks again, Johnny. When I come back I’ll bring you some jelly beans.”
“That would be nice.”
“Thanks, Muninn. If you don’t hear from me in the next couple of days, look for me out in the Backbone.”
There’s a good shadow by the bottom of the stairs. I step through and leave behind the nicest dead guy I’ve ever known.
I COME OUT in the old apartment. Vidocq and Allegra are studying a pile of books.
“Jimmy, are you all right?” asks Vidocq. “Allegra told me about what happened with the revenants.”
“I’m fine. Everything is fine. This is for both of you, but you in particular.”
I hand Allegra the flask.
“You want to be a healer? Here’s your chance to be a famous one. Follow the instructions on the paper and you’ll be the only person alive who can cure a Drifter’s bite.”n stares at him.
“Hello, my boy. You don’t seem to be alive, but those are interesting choices you’ve made. You wouldn’t happen to be a Sapere, would you?”
Johnny nods and grins, but doesn’t talk. He’s overwhelmed by Muninn’s gewgaws.
“I’ve never really seen one up close before. Saperes, of course, leave the Backbone. They don’t come in.”
“Johnny’s doing me a favor. I’m trying to learn everything I can about Drifters.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is using them as a weapon. And one of them bit a friend of mine.”
Muninn sets down his glass.
“Oh. I am sorry. Is she…?”