Water is Thicker than Blood Read online

  Rue couldn’t stand being in the house anymore. She expected to wake up one morning to find Hank taking the roof apart to sell the planks. She took a job at the bookbinder’s shop cleaning and fixing meals for him while he made paper and worked on his book restorations. Since he was a mute, they didn’t talk. Which suited Rue fine. It was only a few hours a day, but it gave her some money to stash away in the event Hank finally left her for good.

  She left the shop one evening to find Joseph heading inside.

  “Good evening, Ms. Rue. Didn’t expect to find you here.”

  “Oh, I been helping Mr. Max around his shop.”

  “That a fact? Mama said you found a job, but didn’t tell me you were working for old Maximillian. He been treating you fair?”

  “Oh yes. Been real fair. I even learned a little of how to prepare the pulp for his paper.”

  “Now ain’t that something? You get good at it, you just might eventually be able to get work with the Historical Society. Now that is where some money is. Archmage said he heard some big plans about starting public schooling again in a few years. Gonna need plenty of paper for that!”

  “Well, it be a while ‘fore I think Mr. Horton be interested in my skills.”

  “Don’t doubt yourself, Ms. Rue.” Joseph pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the back of his neck. “Ms. Rue, you in a hurry to get home?” Rue shook her head. “I’m just picking up a blank grimoire for my studies. Would you mind waiting a spell? I’d like to talk to you a bit.”

  Rue waited for Joseph, who made quick work of picking up his grimoire. He waited until they hit a stretch of the road with nothing but swamp water on either side before speaking. “Ms. Rue, my mama been real worried about you.”

  “I told your mama not to be telling you stuff.”

  “No, no. She ain’t betrayed your confidence. But I know my mama. And you don’t need to be no mage to see what has been going on with Mr. Hank. It wounds me deeply to have to stand by and watch what he is doing to you.”

  “Well, ain’t no reason for you to be wounded, child. Ain’t nothing you can do about him.”

  “Ms. Rue, that is not entirely true.”

  Rue stopped walking and turned to face Joseph. “What foolishness you talking? You got powers enough to change a man’s mind for him?”

  “Well, there do be powers that exist like that. But no, that is not what I mean. Ms. Rue, you remember how Baron Samedi was talking about people making sacrifices and doing without to help their neighbors?”

  “I do. I most certainly do.”

  “Folks in Bywater are suffering.” He waved a hand toward the pools of stagnant water on either side of the road. “All around us is water, but none of it is life-bringing. All this water and can’t drink it. It just attracts bugs and rot and sickness. You heard tell about those two babies caught malaria?”

  “Yes, those poor little angels. I can’t even imagine what their mamas are feeling.”

  “Malaria carried by mosquitos. And Mosquitos attracted to all this stagnant water. And we can’t do nothing about it ‘cause it’s everywhere and ain’t nowhere to route it. But if we can clean it, then maybe no more babies be dying like that.”

  “Oh child. I’d give anything to help make that happen. But I don’t have no magic like you do.”

  “You don’t need no magic. I just need you recognize the need for sacrifices. Do you know the story of Jephthah?”

  “Jephthah went out to face the Ammonites, and swore to God that if He saw him victorious in battle, he would sacrifice to God whoever met him first when he got home.”

  “And it was his only daughter that met him first, and he kept his word to God, ‘cause God had given him victory over his enemies.”

  “What are you asking of me?”

  “The Archmage don’t understand why the generator don’t work. But I performed a ritual and received a vision. And in that vision, I learned that God is still angry with us ‘cause mankind done blew up what He had created for us. We destroyed what God had built, and He is angry.”

  “You...you had a vision? And what did the Archmage say?”

  “The Archmage is a good man, but he is not a man of faith. He believes that our talents are our own. But I have come to believe that our talents are a gift bestowed upon us. He wouldn’t hear more of what I had to say.”

  “So what does this have to do with me?”

  “I have convinced the alchemists working on the generator of the righteousness of my vision, and they are willing to do what must be done. But I need someone of faith also willing to do what must be done. Just as Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, and God Himself sacrificed his only Son, we need someone willing to offer for sacrifice someone they love.”

  “Wait, you want me to let you kill Hank!?”

  “I am asking you to release him as an offering to God, so that the generator will work.”

  Rue raised her hands to her mouth to hold back a scream. She shook her head violently.

  “Ms. Rue, the truth is he has already sacrificed his marriage to the demons of sloth and gluttony. He offends God by forgetting his vows to you. He takes from you and drowns his soul in alcohol. You know as well as I that it is only a matter of time before he drinks himself to death, and you know what will happen to his soul them.”

  “Stop it! Stop!” Rue put her hands over her ears.

  “Ms. Rue, you still love him, but he is not the man he was. But you can save his soul before the Devil takes it. Offer him to God so that he can wait for you in Heaven.”

  Rue’s hands went over her heart. “Do you understand what you have asked me to do?”

  “Ms. Rue. I am not asking you to do the deed. We will make the offering for you. But it must be made willingly as a righteous sacrifice. His blood will show God that we accept his punishment for our sins, and he will forgive us and grant the grace of His power to the generator. And then the waters of life will flow.”

  “I...I don’t know.”

  “Ms. Rue, you walk the streets of Bywater. You see children growing sick. Babies are dying. Your neighbors struggle just to get water to drink. Innocent children die while your husband sells your belongings to buy liquor. He just as well be spitting in the eye of God.”

  “But...what do you need me to do?”

  “All you have to do, is tell me you offer him as a sacrifice. I can take care of everything else. Just tell me that you wish to offer him as the sacrifice, and then go to my mama’s house. Tell her you don’t want to be home with Mr. Hank tonight. You won’t be lying. Because you don’t want to be there this evening. Stay there with mama. In the morning, it will all be over.”

  Joseph’s eyes were red from holding back tears. His face glowed with a strength of conviction that reminded her of the Baron when he talked about the restoration of Nola. Her body shook. The Lord was calling her to do His work. Joseph was her burning bush.

  She took his hands in hers and clenched them tightly. “I give you my husband as an offering. Bring the light, child. Make the waters flow.”

  Joseph hugged her. “Thank you, Ms. Rue. You are a righteous woman.”

  Rue went to Lula’s house. She told Lula she didn’t want to go home. Lula didn’t ask why as it wasn’t her way to pry. They drank luke warm tea and played checkers by candlelight on Lula’s back porch beneath the mosquito net Joseph had bough her.

  Just before they went back into the house to go to sleep, the area became awash in a soft light. It stunned them both and even caused Lula to drop the box with the checkers in it. Neither Rue or Lula paid any mind to the checkers scattered all over the porch. Instead, they both went around the front of the building and walked down the street toward the Circle of Magi.

  They weren’t the only locals that noticed the light. A bunch of folks were converging on the building and staring up in amazement at the giant glass ball that was glowing with light. Then all of the windows of the building lit up with light. Rue likened it to a Christmas tree, even though
she had ever only seen old and dirty pictures of them.

  “I think that is called a spot light,” said someone in the crowd. “They got some of those at the Engineering commission.”

  “But ain’t no power in Bywater yet,” said someone else.

  “They got something in there,” said another.

  They heard the hum of motors as someone inside the building must have been plugging in other items.

  “What they doing in there?” asked someone with both suspicion and fear.

  “The Lord’s work,” said Rue as she started to cry.

  Archmage Hex came out the front door looking uncharacteristically disheveled, as if he had just been woken up without warning just like the rest of Bywater. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the gathering masses and looked over his shoulder at the lighted building. He did a poor job of hiding his annoyance.

  “Neighbors, I apologize for this sudden demonstration. I had hoped that when we got it working it would be under more...controlled circumstances,” he said as he looked up at the spotlight.

  “What you do in there, wizard?” asked someone in the crowd.

  “The Circle of Magi has been working on a self-contained electrical generator.”

  “Baron said it would be years before we got power,” said someone else in the crowd.

  “This was an independent project from the Engineering Commission. We have been working on this for the self-sufficiency of Bywater.”

  There was a muffled sound like an explosion inside the building. The crowd jumped back. Archmage Hex rubbed his temples and shook his head.

  “What was that?” screamed someone.

  “It’s fine,” he said. Rue thought she heard him mutter “If it wasn’t the building would be gone.” But she figured she might have heard wrong. “They are just testing the power output and stability of the unit. Again, I am sorry. I had hoped that once they got it working they would schedule a better time for testing. But they seem to have gotten excited with their breakthrough and against better judgement are testing it now.”

  People started throwing out questions.

  “You’re their boss. Tell them quit it. People trying to sleep.”

  “Wait, you gonna share that power?”

  “How we get some?”

  “What you need all that light for, anyway?”

  Archmage Hex held his hands up in front of him. “Please! I...fine...I..we had hoped to make an official announcement once we were sure of the generator’s stability. But you deserve answers now, considering the circumstances. The purpose of the generator is to power a water purification system for Bywater. But the power output needs to be stable first before we can connect it to the system. And then once we are sure that the output can support the needs of the purification system, we can consider additional ways to utilize any excess output.”

  “So this is for a big water purifier? Damn mages can’t do nothing simple, can you?” said someone. The crowd chuckled.

  “Mr. Thompson, it is Thompson, yes? Sir, you misunderstand. This system isn’t designed to purify water put into it. It’s designed to purify water ground and surface water.”

  The crowd grew quiet as the implication of his statement took root.

  “You mean like in the old days? Dig a well and have your own water?” asked someone.

  “Just be able to drink water out the ground? Is that possible?”

  “Maybe even go swimming and not get sick?”

  “Yes,” said Archmage Hex. “Yes.”

  “Praise be to the Lord!” shouted someone.

  “Amen!”

  “God bless you!”

  Archmage Hex smiled. Rue thought he looked sad. Or maybe he was just tired. “It will be a while still before we can safely start up the purifier,” he said. “But until then, I’ll make sure future testing is done at a more...reasonable hour so as to not alarm you all.”

  * * *

  “Master Dunwich,” ask Archmage Hex as Joseph opened the door. He walked pass Joseph without waiting to be invited in.

  “Archmage! To what do I owe the honor of you visiting our home? Might you want something to drink?”

  “Is your mother here?”

  “No, no she is not. She went with Ms. Rue across the way to the market.”

  Hex folded his arms in front of him. “I am told that we have you to...thank...for the breakthrough with the generator.”

  “Well, I don’t believe I deserve too much credit. They done did the heavy lifting. I just was able to offer that final little push is all.”

  “Little push? Hm. You and I have different views on the matter. It would have taken months, possibly years, to channel that much arcane energy into the structure. It was an impressive feat of magic for one so young in the craft.”

  “Well, you flatter me, Archmage.”

  “It’s not flattery.”

  “Archmage, I don’t believe I understand—”

  “Don’t. Just don’t. There is only one way a piss ant wannabe con artist like you could have managed a feat like that.”

  “Sir, it is impolite to insult a man in his own home.”

  “It isn’t an insult when it is true. Human sacrifice is prohibited by the Circle!” Joseph made a gesture as if to deny the charge. “Don’t play me for a fool, Dunwich. I’m not some simple-minded commoner easily confused by your charming ways. You think you are the first power-hungry punk to take short cuts? Think you are in control of whatever power you called to? It takes years to master even the simplest of talismans to invoke the netherworld safely. Who did you summon? Astaroth? Vapula? Barbas?” Joseph looked down at his feet and shuffled involuntarily in place. “Did you even stop to consider the repricussions of your actions?”

  “You mean helping save people’s lives by giving them clean water?”

  “I mean the long-term repricussions of your actions. The potential dangers of starting up the generator before the full wards and protections were in place. We could have experienced an arcane backlash that blew up the Circle! It could have imploded under its out output. Did you think of the danger of people now knowing that we can create these kind of generators? I have a meeting with Samedi today about this. What should I tell him if he wants generators for every district?”

  “The Baron ain’t above a few people dying for the betterment of Nola. Tell him the truth.”

  “Tell him the truth? You are completely mad.”

  “Why not tell him the truth? He’s a man himself of occult-leanings. He’d surely understand the neccessity of a single sacrifice for the good of hundreds of people. Or maybe I’ll tell him myself if you disinclined to do it.”

  Hex took two quick steps toward Joseph and leaned into him until there was only a hair’s breath between them. “I can’t do anything to you formally right now, because doing so would threaten the Circle with infighting that we can ill afford right now. You managed to convince the right people on the council that this was a good idea. Good show. I underestimated how conniving you really were. But know this. If you so much as sneeze in Samedi’s direction without my permission, Lady Rae may be alerted to the presence of a bokor in Bywater. And then you can show off to the Voodoo Queen just how much power you think you have.”

  Joseph swallowed reflexively and stepped away from Hex. “Ain’t nothing bad can happen from this.”

  “I’m sure Madame Curie thought the same thing when she carried those glowing tubes in her pocket.”

  “Who?”

  “Marie Curie.” Joseph shrugged. “The mother of radioactivity? We have a library at the Circle. Have you never bothered to use it?”

  Joseph rolled his eyes.

  “This is the point, Joshua! You have no sense of history. It never occured to Madame Curie that her research would one day lead to nuclear weapons that would destroy the world. The history of humanity is littered with people who, blinded by ambition, did not fully appreciate the scope of dangers they unleashed upon the world.”

  “It woul
d seem to me that not everyone at the Circle is as paranoid as you about this.”

  “That is because, like you, they are so enamoured with the power they have gained through their minimal efforts that they fail to understand the powers that have been lost. Our Circle sits on the site of a once magnificant temple of occult knowledge. It was recognized throughout the world. Magicians worked wonders there that we cannot begin to fathom and may never understand. Because after the bombs fell, people needed someone to blame. And their natural fears turned on those they least understood. The original temple was burned to the ground, as was everyone in it.”

  “So how did it come to be that a bunch of plain folk with sticks and torches kill them?”

  Hex shook his head. “You have no understanding of history. You have no understanding of the Inquisition. The old witchcraft trials in Salem. You are ignorant, and you wear your ignorance with a smugness I have seen on the faces of dozens of fools like you. Fools who think they are so much smarter than everyone else. Fools who think the rules don’t apply to them. You took a dangerous short cut to power and temporal fame that cost someone his life and cost you your soul.”

  “If it makes you feel better, Darwin, I didn’t technically offer a human for sacrifice. I just performed the deed for someone else. I may be a murderer, but my soul don’t just yet belong to no demon.”

  “Wait? What did you do?”

  “Archmage!” said Lula as she and Rue entered the house. “Ain’t this a blessed surprise.”

  “Madame,” Hex offered a short bow to Joseph’s mother.

  “You a blessing visiting us this day. You staying for some lunch?”

  “No, I was just leaving. My business with Joshua is resolved...for now.”

  “Don’t feel like you need to rush off on our account. We got plenty from the market. Even got some nice fish I’m gonna fry up with some okra Rue grew in her garden.”

  “Do stay,” added Rue. “You look like you been running yourself ragged. Rest a bit and let’s put some meat on your bones. Like they don’t feed you up at that Circle.”