Free Thief of Always by Clive Barker Page A

sorry..."
          "Can I look?" he asked.
          "Not yet. Let me...leave...first..."
          He closed his fingers around the gifts she'd given him, trying to make sense of them by touch. What were they? Pieces of frozen stone? No, they were carved. He could feel grooves on one; a head on another. And now, of course, he knew what he held: three survivors of his ark, dredged up from the depths of the lake.
          The answer was no comfort to him; quite the reverse. He shuddered as he put the puzzle of Lulu's silvery gleam together with the knowledge of what he held. She had swum down to the bottom of the lake to recover these figures, a descent that was beyond the capacity of any land dweller.
          No wonder she'd retreated into the shadows, ordering him not to look at her. She wasn't human any longer. She was becoming-or had already become-a sister to the strange fish that circled in these dark waters, cold-blooded and silver-skinned.
          "Oh, Lulu..." he said, "...how did this happen?"
          "Don't waste your time with me," she murmured, "just go while you've a chance."
          "I want to help, " he said.
          "You can't..." came the reply, "...can't help me...I've been here too long. My life is over..."
          "That's not true," Harvey said. "We're the same age."
          "But I've been here so long I don't even remember..." Her voice trailed away.
          "Don't remember what?"
          "Maybe I just don't want to remember," she said. "It'll hurt too much..."She made along, choked sigh. "You have to go..."she said in a whisper,"...go while you still can."
          "I'm not afraid."
          "Then you're stupid," she said. "Because you should be."
          He heard the thicket shake as she started to retreat from him.
          "Wait," he said. She made no reply. "Lulu!"
          The din of her departure grew louder. By the sound of it she was almost throwing herself out of his range. Breaking his promise, he opened his eyes, and caught a glimpse of her as she fled; a shadow in the shadows, no more. He started after her, not knowing what he would say or do when he caught up with her, but knowing he'd never forgive himself if he didn't somehow help.
          Maybe if he persuaded her to go with him, out of the shadow of the House, its vicious magic would be undone. Or maybe he could find some doctor for her in the outside world who could cure her of this malformation. Anything rather than leaving her to return to the lake.
          Its waters were in view now, gleaming darkly between the branches of the thicket. Lulu had reached the bank, and for a moment the meager starlight found her. All that Harvey had feared was true, and more. A fin grew from her bent and scaly back, and her legs had almost fused together. Her arms had become short and stubby, her fingers webbed.
          But it was her face, glimpsed as she turned back to look at him, that was the greatest shock.
          Her hair had fallen out, and her nose disappeared. Her mouth had lost its lips and her blue eyes turned to swivelling silver balls, lidless and lashless. And yet, despite their freakishness, there was human feeling in those eyes, and on that mouth: a terrible sadness that he knew would never leave his heart if he lived to be a thousand.
          "You were my friend," she said as she teetered on the bank. "Thank you for that."
          Then she tumbled into the water.
          He went to the edge of the lake at a dash, but by the time he reached the place from which she'd dived the ripples were disappearing and the bubbles breaking. He watched the icy waters for a minute or more, hoping she would see him and surface, but she'd gone where he couldn't follow, and that, it seemed, was the end of it.
          Clutching her gifts to him like talismans, he trudged away from the lake and down the lawn to keep his rendezvous with Wendell.

    [[pg 107