out of bed, and then the lights went out." Permanently, I thought but didn't say. The eye focused on my face, really seeing me, for the first time. "And who the hell are you?"
"Just visiting," I said, edging toward the door.
"Not so fast." The face reappeared in my path. The wandering eye caught up with the other one and there was some jostling around while they fought each other for forehead space. When they finally settled, he looked at me accusingly. "You can see me!"
"I'm clairvoyant."
"Good. Then tell me who did this. Someone is gonna pay!"
I had a sudden idea. "Maybe we can work something out," I offered.
"Whaddya mean?"
"I need to know about the Codex," I said tenuously.
"Which one?" he demanded, suddenly businesslike.
"There's more than one?"
"A codex is a compilation of knowledge, babe. Which one are we talking about here?
I swallowed. "The Codex Merlini. The lost volume."
His gaze sharpened. "What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't. Do you know anything?"
"Possibly."
I sighed. "I'm Cassie Palmer," I admitted, and the ghostly eyes visibly brightened.
"Okay, then." Saleh's voice turned brisk. "The Codex was lost centuries ago, but that isn't the main problem. Even if you find it, you won't be able to read it."
"It's in code?"
"Better. Codes can be deciphered, sooner or later, no matter how good. He was a little more creative than that."
"He? You mean, there really was a Merlin?"
"No, they called it the Codex Merlini because it was written by a guy named Ralph," Saleh said impatiently. "You know that old story about Merlin getting younger every year, instead of older?" I nodded. "Well, the storytellers got it mixed up."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that it wasn't the mage who aged backwards. He spelled the Codex so that, if it ever left his possession, it would start aging in reverse."
"Why would he do that?"
Saleh gave me a look that said he was starting to suspect that my IQ equaled my bust size. "So it would begin unwriting itself, of course! In our time it's just a bundle of blank parchment."
"But if someone was to go into the past??
Saleh slid me an evil smile. "Then that someone could possibly retrieve it."
I felt my stomach sink. My new position meant that, among other things, I had the fun job of policing the timeline. But without some of those lessons I was missing, every time I went back, I risked messing up something I wouldn't know how to fix.
"Where is it?" I asked, knowing I wasn't going to like the answer.
"Wrong question," he murmured. "You should be asking where was it. Because you need to go back to a time when the text was still mostly intact, yet after it left Merlin's hands."
Someone rapped smartly on the door, and I jumped. "We need to go." Pritkin's voice carried clearly through the thin wood.
"Then where was it?" I hissed quietly. The only person who hated my jaunts into the past more than I did was Pritkin. I wanted to make the deal before he interfered and possibly screwed it up.
Billy suddenly zoomed through the wall like a firecracker on speed. "The mage is right, Cass. We gotta get gone. Now." He pulled up at the sight of the djinn's spectral face. "Who's that?"
"Saleh. I found him."
"Great. So let's go. There's a cadre of war mages coming up the elevator."
"Give me a minute."
"You don't have a minute."
"Billy! I may have found something!"
Pritkin started beating on the door. "What's going on? What's wrong?" Too late I recalled being told once that his hearing was super sharp.
I looked at Saleh. "What do you want?"
He gave me an eye roll. "What do you think? You're clairvoyant. I want to know who did this."
"I don't control my gift," I told him desperately, as Pritkin started throwing himself against the bathroom door.
"Then I guess I'll hang around with you until it decides to manifest," Saleh said pleasantly.
"Oh, I don't think so," Billy said, glaring daggers at the djinn.
I stared at Saleh, who gazed peacefully back. I sighed and gave in. "When did you die, exactly?"
"Monday morning, sometime around ten."
I glanced at Billy. No way was I going back to an apartment full of murderers in a vulnerable human body. "Some help here," I said urgently.
My body needs a spirit in residence to maintain life, but nobody ever said it had to be mine. I'd been told by someone who ought to know that I didn't need Billy to babysit my physical self whenever my spirit took a little jaunt. Just shift back