Modern Magick

The Striding Spire: 16

'You've found the Spire?' echoed Val in disbelief. 'The actual building itself?'

'The actual one.'

'Where is it?'

'I don't know, but we are sitting on it.'

'...that's the roof you're stuck on?'

'Right.'

'And you don't know where you are?'

I told her about the cottage, and the secret barn, and the window we had climbed out of. 'I cannot tell if we are in Dappledok Dell anymore,' I concluded. 'I see a valley below with a lagoon in it, the latter having weird iridescent water, and I don't remember that from the Dell. I've a glimpse of sea, more normal colour. And that's it. No houses, no settlements, no sign of habitation whatsoever.'

'Can you get down?'

'No. Not without calling Adeline, and for one thing I am not sure she could make it to wherever we are. For another, I don't fancy trying to get on her back while she's hovering in mid-air about fifty feet off the ground.'

There was silence for a moment. 'Hang on, Ves,' said Val, and hung up.

I looked at Jay.

'Does this kind of thing happen often?' he asked. He had his knees drawn up to his chest and his jacket wrapped around them. We were both getting cold.

'Predicaments of this exact type, no, but in a more general sense... constantly.'

He nodded thoughtfully. 'There is a window,' he said after a moment. 'I explored a bit while you were talking. It's on the other side, about eight feet down.'

'Open?'

'No. But big enough to climb through.'

That did not really augur much. Setting aside the problem of how to reach the window without falling to our deaths, what would happen if we did? Would it prove to be another window like the ones in the barn, and we'd climb through it only to end up somewhere else? I did not want to lose track of this Spire just yet.

On the other hand, we could not just sit on the roof forever, either.

'Levitate?' I said, without much hope. Our joint performance at that art had not covered either of us in glory earlier on.

Jay looked as dubious as I felt. 'I think we'd die.'

'Chances of it are high.'

'If I die without saying goodbye to Indira, she'll kill me.'

'A fate worse than mere ordinary death by falling off a building, no doubt.'

'Much worse.' He looked around, perhaps hoping someone might have left a convenient chair on the roof somewhere. Or a bookcase, we were not picky.

'Did you come across any loose slates while you were daringly risking a plummet to the ground?' I asked him.

He gave me a flat stare. 'You are not witching up a roof tile.'

'I know it's dangerous, but—'

'Dangerous? Have you seen the size of these things?' He selected one to demonstrate with, thus answering my question as to whether or not he had found any loose ones. 'You could barely fit both feet on it,' he said, holding the dark, aged slate up to show me. 'It is windy up here, there is nothing to hold onto, and you would die.'

'There is a building to hold onto!'

'Yes. An extremely tall building, and we are at the top!'

'I just want to use it as a levitation aid. We can inch our way down, stone by stone—'