Nightside 10 - The Good the Bad and the Uncanny

intimidating the truth out of people. You’re not a professional, only a gifted amateur. I’m only prepared to work with you on this because, if we do cross paths with Hadleigh, I need to be able to fight fire with fire.” He suddenly leaned forward to fix me with his cold blue eyes. “I need your gift to find Tommy.”
    “I’ve already tried,” I said. “Right after the War, and many times since. Did you think I didn’t care? Tommy was my friend. But I can’t locate him anywhere. He’s not dead, or my gift would have showed me his body. But I can’t See him anywhere in the Nightside.”
    “How can anyone hide from you?” said Larry.
    “Good question. He hasn’t left the Nightside; I did some asking around. But he’s not here.” I considered Larry carefully. “Of course, I’m not the only one at this table with a special gift, am I? You have a magic wand, Larry. An elven wand. What did you do for the Fae, Larry, that Queen Mab gave you an elven weapon?”
    He looked straight back at me, not blinking, unnaturally still in his seat. “How in God’s name did you find out about that?”
    “You’d be surprised at some of the things I know.” I actually found out by eavesdropping at a party, but I wasn’t about to admit that. “And, I just worked with Puck.”
    “You do get around, don’t you?” said Larry. And that was all he would say.
    I decided to change the subject, for the moment. “You’re part of the new Authorities. Why not go to them for help?”
    “Because Hadleigh’s involved. That makes it family business.”
    “A thought has just struck me,” I said. “And not a very pleasant one. Could Hadleigh be responsible for all these disappearances?”
    “I can’t believe he’d harm his own brother,” said Larry. “I can’t afford to believe that.”
    “He’s your brother,” I said. “Are you scared of him, Larry?”
    “Of Hadleigh? Oh yes ... We got on quite well, when I was young. He was more like a really cool uncle than an elder brother. But then he went away, to the Deep School, and when he came back ... I couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as him. None of us could. Just to look at him ... was like staring into the sun. People aren’t supposed to blaze that brightly. I don’t know what the Detective Inspectre is; but he’s not the Hadleigh I knew. I’m not even sure he’s human any more.”
    Time to change the subject again. “So,” I said. “You don’t drink, you don’t eat, and you don’t...”
    “No,” said Larry. “I don’t. I’m dead. I don’t need the distractions and illusions of life.”
    “So what do you do?”
    “I keep busy. To avoid brooding on the realities of my condition.”
    “You don’t like being dead? I’m told there are advantages ...”
    “I don’t sleep. I’m cold all the time. When I touch something, it feels like I’m wearing gloves. I never get tired, never get out of breath, never feel anything ... that matters. I can’t feel any of the things that make us human. No advantages are worth that.”
    “If you hate being a zombie so much,” I said carefully, “why do you keep going? There are any number of people in the Nightside who could ... put you to rest.”
    “I know,” said Larry. “I’ve talked to some of them. But I have to go on because I’m afraid of what might come next. I did a bad thing once, when I was young and stupid. I did a terrible thing ... so I have to go on until I can put things right again.” He shook his head slowly. “It’s the wand. It always comes back to the wand.”
    “What did you do, Larry?” I said. “What did you do to earn your wand?”
    “I brought Queen Mab up out of Hell.”
    “What?” I said. “How? And more importantly, why? Mab is one of the great old monsters! Everyone knows that!”
    “I didn’t know what I was getting into! I thought it was just another job. I wasn’t a private eye back then. Just a treasure-hunter, trying to make a name for myself. And I always was a fool for a pretty face.”

FOUR
    Larry Oblivion, Treasure-Seeker
    I never told anyone this story, said Larry Oblivion. Whom could I tell? Who would believe me, and believe that it wasn’t my fault?

    Only those who have been damned to Hell while still alive can be brought back up out of Hell, and restored to the lands of the living. To do this, you need a hellgate, a go-between, and one poor damned fool to play the patsy.
    I was a lot younger then. Thought I knew everything.