They snuck back to the falls the following night, Arthur, Jade, and Zhang in his physical body, outfitted with raincoats and flashlights. The power and thunder of the water falling under the moonlight put goose bumps on Arthur’s skin.
The elevator at street level at the top of the falls was, of course, closed for the night. Zhang kept watch for security as Arthur picked the padlock. Jade, whose telekinesis was precise enough she could start a car engine, managed the lift’s controls as the three of them descended 125 feet to the base of the falls.
“There is a hydropower tunnel,” she said, as they stepped out of the lift onto the viewing platform. “But I think we want to stay as close to the water as possible. I’m not sure how far the veil of power will extend.”
Arthur looked up the falls, a silvery sheen that extended up toward the sky. “Zhang was able to get his projection at least partway into the tunnels earlier.”
“But the moon is in play now,” said Jade. “And we’re hoping it’s strengthened the magic-dampening effect.”
“It has.” Zhang’s eyes were closed. “I can only go as far as the door.”
Jade rubbed her hands. “That’s promising.”
Zhang opened his eyes, nodding. “There may be deeper parts of the tunnels where magic still works, but I can’t get to them. Let’s aim for the window that overlooks the falls.”
The pomander was in its heavy lead box, tucked in Arthur’s coat pocket. He hadn’t forgotten what it was like when it was out of its box, the terrible scent that had choked his throat and made him retch. He wasn’t looking forward to opening it again. “Well, we should know fairly quickly if the falls’ dampening effect works on the pomander,” he said grimly, “because this relic reeks.”
The lock on the door to the tunnels gave way easily enough to Arthur’s lock picks. There wasn’t anything to steal, after all; the locks were only a safety measure designed to keep out daredevils and thrill seekers.
They turned on their flashlights and stepped inside, the gray rock shiny and wet in the beams. Arthur hadn’t been here since childhood, and the new tunnel built last year was longer than the old one he vaguely remembered from the tour his family had taken. It was strangely quiet in the deepest parts of the tunnels, the pounding water distant.
But as they turned down a long tunnel and approached the back of the waterfall, the volume grew again. Finally, they were standing at the end of one tunnel, just behind the guardrail that separated the last few feet of tunnel from the opening cut like a window into the rock directly behind the falls.
Arthur’s flashlight beam danced over the streaming water just beyond the rock’s edge. “How’s your magic, you two?”
“I’m trying to lift off Zhang’s hat,” Jade said wryly, “and it won’t budge.”
“I can’t project at all,” Zhang added.
Arthur put the flashlight beam on his watch. “It’s just oh-three-hundred now,” he said. “Moon is at its zenith.”
“We’ll need to get close as we can to the water,” Jade said, but in the edge of the flashlight, Arthur saw her make a face.
“Something wrong?” Zhang asked her.
Her expression turned almost sheepish. “I don’t like unpleasant scents.”
Zhang blinked. “Scents? Really?”
“You’re a telekinetic, bootlegging ex-spy,” said Arthur.
“I like perfume!” she protested. “Flowers, fresh fruit, those sorts of things. Not...” She waved a hand in the general direction of Arthur’s pocket. “You know. That thing. I already know the scent made grown men vomit.”
“I was one of them,” Arthur muttered. “For what it’s worth, when Hyde opened it on that ocean liner in Philadelphia, it hit me much harder than it hit him. I was vomiting; he was barely slowed. And it became easier to bear when Rory remade the link, so perhaps being paranormal will give you protection.”
“Hyde’s magic had been altered by Baron Zeppler and a relic, though,” said Zhang. “He’d lost his ability to shift back to fully human form, but his magic was likely stronger than ours and gave more protection. And down here, where our magic’s dampened, we may not have any extra protection at all.”
“So we’re all going to hate it.” Jade sighed. “Come on. It’ll be worse if we put this off.”
She’d dressed in combat boots, not her usual heels, and climbed gracefully over the railing that kept viewers from the slippery rocks closest to the falls. Arthur followed, then Zhang, and the three of them huddled on the rocks as the spray from the falls soaked their coats and faces.
Arthur pulled out the pomander’s box. He set it carefully on the rocks. “Brace yourselves,” he said, raising his voice over the thundering water, “because if the falls aren’t powerful enough to dampen its magic, the smell could knock you over and right out of the tunnel.”
Taking his own advice, he gripped the soaked and slippery rocks of the circular tunnel mouth as best he could with his left hand, and then opened the box with his right.
The stench of rotting flowers burst into the tunnel, as sickly sweet and choking as it had been the night on the ocean liner. He heard Zhang retch and Jade choke as his own stomach promptly revolted with so much force his hand slipped on the rocks.
He still might have caught himself, except a slash of unfamiliar pain suddenly cut across his chest.
He gasped. His arm seized up and he was tumbling forward, toward the opening and the waterfall, as the much more familiar sensation, the sizzle of Rory’s magic, erupted against his skin.
A hand closed on Arthur’s arm. “The box!” Zhang called, as he yanked Arthur back, away from the edge.
There was a hiss of pain from Jade as she slammed the lid of the pomander’s box shut. A moment later, the smell was gone, disappeared into the mist of the unending water.
Arthur was breathing hard. He rubbed his chest, but the strange pain had vanished, almost as if it had been driven away by the static electricity of Rory’s magic.
What the hell had that been?
Jade had scrambled forward, taking Arthur’s hand in her own and helping to pull him deeper into the tunnel. “Thank you,” Arthur managed to say to them both.
Zhang squeezed his arm and let go. “Any time.”
They moved back from the tunnel’s mouth, close enough to the guardrail to get out of the worst of the splashing. “How did that compare to the last time you were around the pomander?” Zhang asked, settling next to Jade. “Did the scent seem any less?”
“It nearly sent you tumbling to your death,” Jade said, looking like she’d had a scare. “So my guess is no.”
“Unfortunately not.” Arthur sat back against the wall of the tunnel, breathing in the welcome clean scent of the water misting his face. His heart was still racing and his skin was prickling, but the sensation was muted, like a lightning storm under a blanket. “I can feel Rory’s magic.”
Zhang’s eyebrows flew up. “Is that normal?”
“I wouldn’t say normal, exactly, but I do feel it sometimes,” Arthur said. “Except the times I have, it’s always been far stronger than this.” He ran his hands over his own arms, the lightning bolts more of an echo than their usual miniature storm. “The waterfall is working.”
“But it’s not strong enough to fully suppress Rory’s relic-enhanced, insubordinate magic.” Jade sighed. “And not enough to suppress the pomander.” She gave Arthur a look of concern. “It hit you hard.”
“I suppose vomit behind Niagara Falls has never been on my to-do list,” Arthur admitted.
“It’s hardly your fault,” said Jade.
Zhang looked deep in thought. “You’re very far away from Rory right now,” he said, and really, Arthur was quite aware of that already. “I’m just guessing here, but the waterfall could have initially buried Rory’s magic.”
“And then Rory’s magic woke right up when your aura was exposed to four-hundred-year-old violation magic,” Jade added. “I’m glad for that.”
“Me too,” Arthur said softly. The prickles of Rory’s magic were starting to fade, like a storm rolling on into the distance, and Arthur felt a fresh pang of loss. Don’t go yet, he thought, with a desperate edge, like it could hear him. He ran his hands over his arms again, willing the magic to stay sparking in his veins. I’m not ready to lose you, don’t go.
Zhang let his head fall back against the railing. “So what now?”
“We go back to New York as planned.”
Arthur turned in surprise, but Zhang was already nodding at Jade’s words.
“We need to do further research,” Jade continued. “We need to plan. We can do both of those things in New York.” She gave Arthur a small smile. “And we can celebrate Rory’s twenty-first birthday while we’re at it.”
Thank you, Arthur mouthed at her, as he felt Rory’s magic settle.
He missed the prickles, but as the rock behind him seemed less cold, all of a sudden, he realized he was far warmer than he should have been in the cold tunnel with his face and coat soaked with waterfall spray.
And that was Rory’s magic, reminding him it was still around. Because maybe Rory couldn’t send telegrams or postcards, but he never left Arthur alone.