in the name of keeping the balance preserved.
“I control the door back at the tattoo parlor, but I didn’t draw this door,” I murmured. It wasn’t fooling me. I knew exactly where the leash ended for this thing and it was well before I walked into Simon’s rooms.
True. But you could.
The first ripple of temptation washed through me. Setting the door here, I could enter Simon’s rooms without having to worry about anyone else from the Towers mucking around in here. I would have access to all of Simon’s books and notes. I’d also have all the magical items that he’d collected during his life. While I wasn’t keen on the idea of leaving the demon running around the rooms, as long as I strengthened the boundaries again, the only people that it would be a threat to were the witches and the warlocks of the Tower. I wasn’t going to lose a lot of sleep over that thought.
“I need light to work in,” I announced.
Immediately, the lamps in all the rooms came on, filling the chambers with a soft yellow glow. Some of the queasiness returned to my stomach and it had nothing to do with the demon. The chambers were almost unchanged from the day I left so many years ago. The main room held a massive wood table that was about chest high and covered in books, glass beakers and jars, and a sundry of potion ingredients. Papers were scattered everywhere with Simon’s nearly illegible scrawl, where he had been making notes on whatever the bastard had been working on.
Stepping around the table, being careful not to touch it, my eyes slipped over the stuffed chair beside the fireplace. More books were stacked beside it, with one lying open across the arm as if Simon had been pulled from his reading to deal with me.
The main room led into the small kitchen with an old-fashioned iron stove. A fire sprang to life as I passed through and I jumped. The damn thing was still tuned to me, as if Simon couldn’t have been bothered to erase my memory from half the spells that still littered his rooms. There was a complete collection of shining copper pots hanging from the ceiling. Two blocks of knives were on the counter—one for potions and another for cooking. I’d spent most of my time in this room. I slept on a pallet beside the stove and cooked all of Simon’s meals as well as prepared his hot tea throughout the day while he worked.
The final room, off the kitchen, was Simon’s bedchamber. I rarely visited this room during my apprenticeship. I popped in once a day to quickly make the bed and pick up his clothes for the laundry before quickly scurrying out again. Now, there were dirty clothes piled everywhere and his sheets were a tangled mess as if his last sleep had been an uneasy one.
The black mass was gone, becoming invisible to the naked eye, but I could feel it following me from room to room. It hovered close with ill-concealed glee as if excited to have a new playmate as I explored the Tower rooms.
I packed away all my bitter emotions associated with these rooms. Even after all this time, I couldn’t conjure up an ounce of pity or remorse for my old mentor. The world was better off without him and I would soon wipe his memory from these rooms as well.
But the first step was to locate the symbol that Simon had drawn so that I could put some of my own blood into it. It was all part of the agreement you made with what I had thought were the powers of the protection spell. I had been more than a little wrong on that one. Apparently that agreement was made with a demon in return for some degree of control over it.
Unfortunately, after a quick search of the rooms, I hadn’t found the symbol. In fact, I couldn’t remember ever seeing where Simon had placed the symbol. I had stolen it from a book in Simon’s collection. How could Simon have hidden the symbol in his rooms? As far as I knew, the symbol had to be at least five feet across. Not something that was easily hidden. He also couldn’t draw it with his invisible chalk.
Walking back into the main room, I carefully inspected the walls but still didn’t see anything that resembled the demon’s doorway.
You’re getting warmer.
The demon’s voice drifted in