“Links,” I told her. “Sort of like landmarks. Usually, the creature you’re calling up can serve as its own point of origin. Whoever is opening the way across is usually the destination.”
“Can anyone be the destination?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “You can’t call up anything that isn’t…” I frowned, looking for words. “You can’t call up anything that doesn’t have some kind of reflection inside you, a kind of point of reference for the spirit being. If you want evil, nasty, hungry beings, there’s got to be evil, nasty, and hunger inside of you.”
She nodded. “Does the way have to be opened from this side?”
“Generally,” I said. “It takes a hell of a lot more oomph to get it done from the other side.”
She nodded. “Go on.”
I told her about my plan to turn the phages back upon their summoner.
“I like that,” she said. “Using their own monsters against them. But what does that leave me to do?”
“You buy me time,” I said. “There will be a moment just when the phage or phages cross over, where they will be vulnerable. If you’re able to see one and distract it, it will give me more time to aim them back at their summoner. And it’s possible that my spell might not work. If it goes south, you’ll be near enough to help clear people out, maybe do them some good.”
Murphy began to speak—then she paused, turned around, and asked, “Harry. Is there someone in the shower?”
“Uh. Yeah,” I said, and rubbed at the back of my neck.
She arched a brow and waited, but I didn’t offer any explanation. Maybe it was my way of getting petty vengeance for her brutal honesty in the elevator.
“All right then,” she said, and took up the candles. “I’ll get downstairs and look for Rawlins. Otherwise, I’ll grab one of my guys from SI.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
Murphy left, while I started planning out my redirection spell. It didn’t take me long.
Mouse lifted his head suddenly, and a second later someone knocked at the door. I went over and opened it.
Charity stood on the other side, dressed in jeans, a knit tank top, and a blue blouse of light cotton. Her features were drawn with stress, her shoulders clenched in unconscious tension. When she saw me, her features became remote and neutral, very controlled. “Hello, Mister Dresden.”
It was probably the friendliest greeting I could expect from her. “Heya,” I said.
Standing beside her was an old man, a little under average height. What was left of his hair was grey, trimmed neatly, though hardly a fringe remained. He had eyes the color of robin’s eggs, spectacles, a comfortably heavy build, and wore black slacks and a black shirt. The white square of his clerical collar stood out distinctively against the shirt. He smiled when he saw me, and offered me his hand.
I shook it, smiling, and had no need to fake it. “Father Forthill. What are you doing here?”
“Harry,” he said amiably. “Lending some moral support, by and large.”
“He’s my attorney,” Charity added.
I blinked. “He is?”
“He is,” Forthill said, smiling. “I passed the bar before I entered the orders. I’ve kept my hand in on behalf of the diocese and my parishioners. I do some pro bono work from time to time, too.”
“He’s a lawyer,” I said. “He’s a priest. This does not compute.”
Forthill let out a belly laugh. “Oxymoronic.”
“Hey, did I start calling you names?” I grinned at him. “What can I do for you?”
“Molly was supposed to be waiting for us downstairs,” Charity said. “But we haven’t found her. Do you know where she is?”
The universe conspired against me. If Charity had asked the question ten seconds sooner, I would have been fine. But instead, the bathroom door opened, and Molly appeared in a swirl of steam. She had a towel wrapped around her hair, and was holding another around her torso. Hotel towels and Molly’s torso being what they were, the towel didn’t quite get all the way around her, and barely maintained modesty. “Harry,” she said. “I left my bag out he—” She broke off suddenly, staring at Charity.
“This, uh, isn’t what it looks like,” I stammered, turning back to Charity.
Her eyes blazed with cold, righteous rage. An old Kipling axiom about the female of the species being more deadly than the male flashed through my mind, right about the time Charity introduced my chin to her right hook.