22. The Dog Intuition Plan
Isaac reappeared in the tunnels on the other end of the hallway while Mortimer showed up a few seconds later, just behind him. He stumbled a bit, but Lucius’s weird dimension door was apparently merciful enough to not send him flying onto his face. The landing was, all things considered, not too bad.
He looked around the dark hallway, then forwards where the glowing red rocks of the main tunnels could be seen. Olzu was nowhere to be found, not that he’d expected to see the small demon to begin with.
Isaac released a long sigh. “Well,” he said. “That was a waste of time.”
Mortimer didn’t comment, which Isaac took as agreement. When he glanced the other man’s way, he was moving his hand in a gesture that could only be described as poking the air. He frowned. “What are you doing?”
“The breeze,” Mortimer said by way of explanation. Isaac hadn’t realized the wind spell or whatever Lucius had put on him extended that far out. While it wasn’t necessary in this part of the tunnels, he had no doubt it would prove endlessly useful once they finally reached the death-by-humid-heat area.
“Yeah, it’s cool.” Isaac paused when he realized he’d accidentally said a pun. “Nice,” he amended. Mortimer just hummed, continuing to poke at the air with an oddly focused expression. Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Is there a problem with it?”
He shook his head. “I was just checking something.” Mortimer straightened, apparently satisfied with whatever he’d found or not found. “We’re going to the Woodlands?”
Isaac stared down at his tablet and the pitiful notes he’d taken with narrowed eyes. “Well,” he said, “it’s not like I’ve got many other ideas. So yeah, I guess we’re going with the dog intuition plan.”
“What exactly is a dog?” Mortimer asked.
Isaac frowned, speaking slowly as he attempted to explain. “They’re these animals on Earth, I mean the Upper World. People say they’re good judges of character or something like that. A lot of people have them as pets.”
The half undead man tilted his head to the side. “Are they like cats?”
About a year ago, when Isaac had been taking a break in Mortimer’s shop between jobs, he’d ended up watching a cat video without really thinking about it (no, he hadn’t gone and saved it to the tablet before entering the Underside, of course not). Mortimer had seen and been curious, and suffice to say the man had developed a bit of an obsession for the things as a result. Which, to be fair, cat videos were not the worst Earth thing for Mortimer to be obsessed with.
Isaac squinted. “Sort of? They’re both pets, but they’re pretty different.”
“Are cats not good judges of character?”
He snorted. “Probably, not that you could tell half the time.” He shook his head. “Anyway, it’s not like I’m planning on bringing an actual goddamn dog here or something. That’s why we’re going to the Woodlands, to find… an equivalent. I know, it’s stupid.”
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Mortimer was silent.
“…You could at least say something.”
The half undead man blinked. “Oh, sorry, I was just thinking. It’s not a terrible idea.”
Isaac looked at him doubtfully, but decided that if the man was willing to go along with it, he wasn’t going to stop him. Who was he to deny free help?
“Right. Well, we should start heading over to the Woodlands then.”
Mortimer nodded, and the two turned to head back outside. The stones forming the tunnels glowed an increasingly brighter red the further they walked until they were nearly blinding. Around them, the narrow, closed off walls and ceiling widened until the pathway had grown to many times its original size. It was an entirely different experience walking through the tunnels with the wind barrier, and Isaac took the opportunity to look around while Mortimer led them out, considering he was the only one of the two who had actually been conscious enough to remember when Olzu had taken them through.
They passed by a number of doors, all differing sizes, shapes, and colors. There were openings too, which led into large expansive caverns separate from the central one of the Inferno. It was a labyrinth of passages, winding roads, and forks, and Isaac was glad Mortimer didn’t seem to have any trouble leading them out.
Soon, they reached a dead end that Isaac vaguely recognized as the place they had entered from. He stepped forward and knocked four times, finding that the trick worked here as well. In a flash of glowing red light, the two were transported back into the main cavern. Isaac blinked a few times and felt the winds around him disperse as he stared at the wall they’d just traveled through. He walked forward and knocked four times, and sure enough the rocks rumbled and shifted into an opening, no dramatic running into walls required.
“Fucking Olzu.” He shook his head. “Oh well, let’s get to the station.”
—
When the train pulled up, Isaac did a double take when he saw the exact same demon from earlier seated inside, staring out the window with those same blank eyes. He exchanged a look with Mortimer, who looked rather amused. Isaac shook his head and took a seat on the other end of the train car, away from the demon. At least the group of fey and the fire wisp were nowhere to be seen.
As the train began moving again, Isaac glanced down as his tablet began to glow. Sure enough, Lilith’s familiar voice soon rose from the screen.
“How’s the search going?”
“What, not gonna say hello?” he said sarcastically.
“Aw, don’t be like that! Any progress? Results? Messages?”
“No.” He glanced over at Mortimer, who was watching the tablet warily, his posture a little more stiff than usual. Isaac frowned. “I’m heading to the Woodlands,” he told Lilith. “Don’t expect anything, though. ”
“I only hold the highest expectations for you!”
“I really wish you wouldn’t.”
He heard the woman laugh, the sound bright and crystal clear through the tablet transmission before it faded into silence and the screen returned to black. When he looked up, his eyes briefly met the demon passenger seated across the car, who’d been staring at him with a level of conscious awareness that he hadn’t exhibited at all thus far. It didn’t last; the demon soon turned his head away and resumed staring vacantly out the window. Some things, it seemed, were eternal.
Instead, Isaac turned his attention to Mortimer, who had relaxed into his usual apathetic state again. He furrowed his brow. “Hey, is something wrong?”
“Not at all.” The words were spoken with such a steady lack of inflection that Isaac almost believed him.
The car rocked and shook as the train pulled up to the green line station with a faint screeching noise. The doors slid open. The demon, as expected, made no motions to leave.
Mortimer stood, nodding at the now wide open exit. “Let’s go,” he said. Isaac watched the half undead man’s quickly retreating back, frowning, but he stood and followed him to the Woodlands.