FORTY-THREE

 

"Hey, can you meet me in my office when you get a minute?" Callie asked, standing in the library foyer, leaning on one of the gates that screeched if anyone tried to leave the library with a book they hadn't borrowed.

Dread curdled the coffee in Catena's belly. "What is it?" It had to be bad news.

"I hit the motherlode on those shoes of yours, but this stuff is dark. Lose your lunch dark, and that's just the stuff in English. In some of my Latin texts...that stuff will give you nightmares. Best I tell you everything in my office, with the door closed. Don't want any of the students overhearing, and deciding to try things out over the holidays. The best thing that might happen is they get arrested."

It couldn't be any worse than Maria telling her to sleep with a gargoyle, could it?

"Sure," Catena said. "I'll pop in when Emily, the girl working the evening shift, arrives."

The afternoon passed swiftly, sped on by the rash of students interested in Moth Men once more. As if this second wave of conspiracy chasing students had been too deep in study to notice the viral video when it first released, and it was doing the rounds a second time. Unless there was a new video...

Catena paused mid-breath, about to tell the student in front of her where to find the nearest fiction bookshop, to see Emily, one of the casual assistants, swan through the doors with a wave and a smile.

Emily waited for the student to depart before she asked, "So where are the Moth Man books, exactly?"

Catena swatted at her half-heartedly with the nearest notebook. "You know the answer to that. Same as last time."

"Aww...but he looks so real in the video! So dark and mysterious, and those moves! I wouldn't say no to a dance with him," Emily teased.

Catena shook her head. "Tell you what. If you can catch a Moth Man, we can set him up in the corner as a special exhibit, for all the students to stare at."

"You'd have to offer a reward better than the one on offer for him for that. I mean, a year's free coffee is pretty hard to top."

"I get free coffee from the university. I'm good," Catena said, lifting her bag onto her shoulder. "There's a stack of books still waiting in the returns slot. Shelve them if you have time, but it's okay if you leave them for me to do in the morning. I'm off."

They said their goodbyes and Catena was indeed off, across the courtyard to Callie's office.

She knocked tentatively.

"I'm busy! Vitally important research project on a deadline!" Callie called.

"I'll come back tomorrow, then," Catena said, turning to walk away.

The door flew open. Callie grabbed her arm and yanked her inside, before slamming the door behind her.

Catena disentangled herself from Callie's grip. "Vitally important project on a deadline, huh?"

Callie shrugged. "Well, it could be vitally important. I won't know unless I've translated it all, will I? So far it's all about how to summon demons and other magical servants, by opening doorways to other realms but no word on how to shut them again once you have. I think it's important to know how to close the gates of hell, don't you?"

"Who's this translation project for?"

Callie grinned impishly. "You, of course. You did ask for stuff on foundation sacrifices. Doorways are just the beginning."

Catena threw herself into Callie's visitor chair. "Okay, hit me with it."

"All right, then! Well, the surface stuff you've probably found already. There's plenty of articles in the literature, and even a couple of theses. All recent, in the last decade or so. So if you're looking for something to put in a research or grant proposal for, you're in luck. It's kind of like the wild west out there – stake your claim, and hope it pans out."

Do her PhD on shoes? Callie had to be dreaming to even suggest it.

"This is just a favour for my neighbour, and maybe a bit of my own presence of mind. I mean, we live in the same building, which is divided into two apartments. So if her half's cursed, you can be pretty sure mine is, too."

Callie clapped her hands together in ghoulish delight. "Oh, you don't know the half of it! Curses, my sweet summer child, are nothing compared to the dark magic I've dug up. In fact..."

The door swung open, and one of the theology professors stood there, his glasses halfway down his nose as he peered down at his phone. "Callie, I need you to do some research for me. There's some sort of creature called a Moth Man, and all my students are asking about it. I must know which level of hell it hails from." He glanced up at her, as though expecting her to answer him on the spot.

Callie rose from her seat and crossed the office to stand in front of him, doorknob in hand. "The bullshit level, Christian. Moth Men don't exist. Now, if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of an important meeting..."

Professor Christian held out his phone, waving it around like it was an incense burner at Easter mass. "But there's a video, and it's clearly a winged demon dancing! How can I have any credibility with my students if I can't identify all the demons in hell?"

"I can't help you, Christian. I'm not an expert in demons, after all. Just the Latin lecturer. Now, if you want any texts you find in your research translated, then I might be able to help you, but I'm very busy at the moment, so you'll have to wait for a spot to open up in my schedule, same as everyone else."

Professor Christian eyed Catena balefully. "Aren't you the junior librarian? You must be able to help me find out about these things."

Now she remembered where she'd met Professor Christian before. He'd come into the library, demanding she provide him with books on this new gang style modern demonic summoning ritual. It had taken the better part of an hour for her to work out he meant Gangnam Style, and an even more excruciating forty-five minutes showing him how to access the music video on one of the library computers.

As if the heavens had heard the prayer she hadn't yet even put into words, Catena's phone buzzed. She didn't even glance at the screen. Even if it was some foreign scammer pretending to be from a bogus government department, threatening to come and arrest her, it would be an improvement on dealing with Professor Christian.

Catena grabbed her things and made a dash for the door. "I really need to take this. I'll talk to you later, Callie!" she shouted as she beat a hasty retreat.

It was a foreign number, she realised. Oh well, she could just hang up on them, mid-threat. "Hello?" she ventured.

"Cat! It's so good to hear your voice!"

Catena blinked. "Is that Sybil?"

"That's me! Fresh from the frozen wastes of the Arctic, back in civilisation for a little while before they send me back to site with the next load of supplies. Would you believe that in this day and age, we have to bring everything in via donkey?"

As Sybil began to describe the day to day workings on the dig she'd been volunteering on for the North Pole summer, in a pit of melting permafrost that had been frozen for more than a thousand years.

"It sounds amazing," Catena admitted. It was the sort of adventure Maria would have worked on.

"I haven't even told you the best part! I've...met someone...and I'll probably be staying for another season, to see what else we can find. I'm learning so much," Sybil gushed. "How about you? Have you decided on a PhD project yet, or did Alethea talk you into joining her company as a consultant instead?"

"I'm finalising my project proposal this week. I definitely want to do my PhD next year, and no, Alethea hadn't managed to talk me into digging up dead bodies with her. Did you know their latest project was digging up an old colonial cemetery?" Catena shuddered. She'd been worried about maybe finding bodies buried in her house. Digging up a whole cemetery full of skeletons was way too creepy.

"Well, you know that's the holy grail up here. Dead bodies. Frozen ones. They're hoping to find another ice mummy like Otzi. My friend says we have a good chance of finding one, too, because it was an ancient trading and raiding route. Thor knows so much about Viking history..."

Catena shook her head. So her new boyfriend was a fellow archaeologist. Maria had warned her never to get involved with her colleagues. Well, seriously, anyway. Some of the stories she'd told about the guys she'd dated or slept with would have curled her mother's hair, if she'd known about them. But she'd never been serious about any of them. Just a bit of fun, she'd said.

"Anyway, what about you? Have you met anyone yet? And what's this I hear about you having a major moth problem? I tried to watch the video, but I only saw a few seconds of his moves before the video froze. The internet connection here keeps dropping out. It might feel like civilisation after the dig site, but it's really just a few storage rooms and a lab, on the outskirts of a tiny town. So, are you going to tell me about him?"

Even on the other side of the world, Sybil had heard of the Moth Man.

"There's nothing to tell, really. Just a silly video of a guy in a coat they're making out to be a monster. He's not, honestly. He's the sweetest, most chivalrous guy I've ever met. He's..." No, she couldn't tell him about Tor. "We're just friends," she finished lamely.

"Uh huh. Sure. Just like me and Thor. I want to know where he learned to dance like that. I expect to meet him when I get home. Or we can video call when we're done. I want to hear every single detail." While Sybil paused, Catena heard indistinct voices in the background. Then Sybil was back. "Sorry, Cat, I have to go. Thor said one of the artifacts is missing, and it's really important. Talk later. Bye."

"Bye," Catena echoed, but Sybil was already gone.

That video really had gone viral, if Sybil had seen it.

It wasn't until she was halfway home that the professor's words hit her – a video with a winged demon dancing. Wasn't that what Emily had said, too? Wanting to dance with the Moth Man? Even Sybil had said something about the Moth Man's moves. The video that had caused all that trouble hadn't involved dancing – just her, Tor and that busker in the dark.

This new flurry of interest must mean there was a new video.

Catena's steps quickened, beating war drums on the pavement. Tor was going to be in deep trouble when she got home.