There was a shudder and a shimmer, and all at once the Phoenix had vanished, and in its place stood the Magus in his long black cloak. He was holding a big iron key.
‘Jack, the doors to the Dark House are open now. I can no longer prevent your coming and going. You are your own master now. But follow me, if you please – this one last time . . .’
Jack was confused. The Magus was his enemy. Why was his enemy talking like a friend?
Jack followed the Magus into the house and into the laboratory. There was a vessel on the floor sealed and wrapped in sacking. Some of the smaller tongs and bellows and stirrers and jars were packed in cases. Wedge was there, frantically wrapping and stacking.
Then Jack saw his mother. She had been carried into the laboratory.
‘I was about to put her with the other statues,’ said the Magus, ‘but as she is your mother, you may decide for yourself.’
‘She is not stone,’ said Jack, a cold fear creeping through him.
‘Is she not?’ replied the Magus mildly, and then he grabbed Jack’s arm, and pulled him to the brazier that leapt with green flames. Jack realised that his own physical strength had greatly increased, and that he could throw off the Magus if he chose to, but because he was afraid, he did not do so.
‘Jack,’ said the Magus, ‘how different it might have been if you had served me. Together we could have ruled the City of Gold and, piece by piece, land by land, the whole world. You as my rightful heir.’
‘You have a son,’ said Jack. ‘His name is William.’
The face of the Magus darkened like a lake at night. ‘I have no son. He failed me. He could not complete the Work. There he is – with the rest.’
Jack shook the Magus off him, and walked into the antechamber beyond the laboratory. He shuddered. All the boys were there now: Anselm, Robert, William, Peter, Roderick . . .
‘Crispis . . .’ he said under his breath, but the child was so small he could not see if he was there or not.
‘Why have you done this?’ said Jack, angry.
‘They are of no further use,’ replied the Magus.
Jack walked sadly towards the statues and put his hand on Robert’s shoulder. His heart was burning with sadness and anger, but he knew he must show nothing to the Magus. He was not ready yet to test his power.
The Magus was timing the progress of the moon. He smiled his dark smile. ‘And now,’ he said, ‘I will give you a free choice, Jack, for you are not my servant but my enemy, yet because you have taken the power of the Sunken King, and because you are the Radiant Boy, I must bargain with you. Here is my bargain. Put your hand in the fire with mine, as the new moon aligns with Mars, and your mother goes free. If you do not . . .’
‘My hand in the fire?’ asked Jack, who was afraid, not of the pain, but of the true motives of the Magus.
‘I must join with you to use your power,’ said the Magus. ‘Only the golden power of the Radiant Boy can complete the Work.’
‘No!’ said Jack. ‘I will not do it.’
The Magus glanced out of the window. There was the moon.
‘Then . . .’ said the Magus.
Jack returned to the laboratory and looked at his mother. As he looked, a hard grey cold began to steal over those warm parts of her that yet remained. He saw her lips half open in surprise, his own half-name just issuing from them like a whisper. Then the air in her nose seemed to freeze. Her eyes implored him. Jack grabbed the Magus by the arm, and with easy power – and he saw the surprise in the Magus’s face – Jack plunged their twined arms into the flames.
The flames leapt up, like snakes, like coils of dark life, for the fire was no ordinary fire, and its brightness was dark, and in truth its heat was dread cold.
All the time that their arms burned, Jack kept his eyes fixed on the Magus, and he saw in those eyes many lives, many secrets, and he thought he saw one single fear. If he could find that fear . . .
The fire burned down and went out. The brazier was void and cool. Jack stood back, shaking his arm, which seemed just as it had been. The Magus nodded his head.
‘Thank you, Jack. You served me after all.’
Then, with a rush of wind, the Magus was gone.
Jack went to his mother. He stroked her hair, but it was stone. He touched her cheek, but it was hard. He kissed her lips, but they were cold. She was motionless and still.
He betrayed me, thought Jack bitterly. I gave him my power, and he betrayed me.
Jack looked around the laboratory. The furnaces were out and the alembics no longer bubbled and popped.
He walked through into the library. The books had gone. The stone shelves were empty. He walked through into the hall – and the place was hung with silence.
A great weight at his heart, and darkness all around him, Jack sat down on the floor. He did not know what to do.
In all his life he had never felt so desolate or so desperate. He loved his mother, and now he had lost her. The Magus was free and powerful. He, Jack, had ruined it all.
‘Please come back,’ he said to himself in a whisper. ‘Mother, please come back.’
He felt something small and warm against his legs. It was Max come to find him. Max licked him and leaned against him, making small noises of encouragement. Jack stroked the dog, but he was too numb to do anything more. He felt as though he had been turned to stone himself.