Read Online And Eternity by Piers Anthony - Free Book Online Page B

no guilt should attach for a burden imposed by another party. Is this not the one for whom you interceded so recently?”
    “Yes, she is. I learned that the Incarnation of Night had the soul of her baby, so I guided her there, and Nox played a cruel game before agreeing to help. Even then, she set horrendous conditions.”
    “That is not like her. She has been indifferent to mortal and immortal affairs throughout my tenure. What conditions did she set?”
    “An item from each of the active Incarnations, to facilitate correction of the malady of the baby’s soul.”
    “What item from me?”
    “A blank soul.”
    There was a pause. Then the skull turned toward her.
    “If that is typical, the chances of completing that list are minimal.”
    “But better that Orlene try, than that she give up hope,” Jolie said, hoping it was true.
    “Perhaps it is a deliberate diversion, intended to be an endless quest for her.”
    “But why would Nox do that? She could have denied the interview entirely if she didn’t want to give up the baby!”
    “The Incarnation of Night is excellent at keeping secrets.”
    He said no more, and Jolie didn’t dare pursue it. She had mentioned the item listed for him, and that was as far as she could go on her own; Orlene would have to pursue it herself, when she was able. Jolie’s task was to enable Orlene to resume her quest; then the decision would be Orlene’s.
    The vehicle halted. They were in a bad section of the city of Kilvarough, where rundown tenements were scheduled for demolition in favor of modern megabuildings. Thanatos led her to a grimy chamber where a teenage girl lay sprawled asleep on a flimsy cot. “This is Vita,” he said. “She is a harlot being addicted to Spelled H. Her individual volition is almost gone; she responds merely to the voice of authority supported by force.”
    Jolie was aghast. “Luna has need of such a one?”
    The grinning bare teeth seemed to grin further. “There is a rationale. We did not feel free to ask any other to undertake this task, for there is much discomfort in it, and you may avoid it also.”
    “No, I said I would do it, and I will,” Jolie said. “But I can see that I won’t enjoy it.”
    “True. I leave you, then, to your devices.” He turned and walked back the way they had come, in a moment fading from view. Jolie knew that he had not truly disappeared; rather, he was not visible or memorable to anyone who did not have reason to see him, and her reason had passed. As a ghost she could perceive him far more readily than living mortals could, but even so, it was only because he permitted it.
    She walked to the sleeping girl, dragging Orlene’s soul. Prostitution and Spelled H, a combination for disaster! She would have to do something about that immediately!
    “Very well, Orlene,” she said. “I will carry it at first, but it is for you I am doing this.” She embraced the soul and stepped into the body.
    She felt the effect of the drug immediately. The girl was not in a natural sleep, but in a stupor. Jolie was not conversant with the cycle of Spelled H, for the drug had appeared centuries after her time, but she understood that its effects varied with the dosage and the time following the dose. Once a person was habituated to it, she depended on it to be functional; there was a certain euphoria followed by depression, which could be abated by another dose. Properly managed, it could keep a person in the pleasant in-between state during the waking hours. Too much made the addict hyper; not enough brought an agony that was not merely of the body. Gaea had cured several musicians who had been addicts, but short of direct intercession by the Incarnation of Nature, few broke free. This would require iron willpower!
    Orlene settled into the host and found the mood compatible: hellhound. Jolie, freed of the need to hold on to Orlene constantly, got to work on Vita.
    “Up, girl,” Jolie said, using the host’s sodden lips.