"When I'm in danger;" "mortal peril even " "I try to find a quiet place of peace in my center." "A place where I can breathe easy, gather myself, and proceed with serenity and calmness." "If you've figured out how to achieve serenity in face of certain death, would you please let me know." "I found one trick that always works when confronting insurmountable danger; running... very, very fast." "Unfortunately, that takes training." "Still, about once a year I decide to really get in shape, do some yoga, go jogging; all that stuff." "Dresden?" "Hey Murphy." "How are you?" "Come in." "Luckily for me, something usually comes up." "Got something you want to tell me?" "Uh, no." "You want to join me for some Yoga?" "I'm serious!" "What did you do?" "What do you mean, what'd I do?" "What?" "I was on my way to work, and I got a call." "Uh huh." "Large explosion 4 blocks from here." "Dispatch said the flames were green!" "Hm." "So help me, if I find out you had anything to do with this." "Murphy, I'm not responsible for every single weird thing that happens in Chicago." "Just most of them." "Thanks." "Okay, look," "I will come with you to check out your green explosion, and then if you want my help you can hire me, to consult... for money." "Only if you promise to use the money on a new wardrobe." "Oh, right, yeah, coming from you," "Lieutenant I only got one necklace, wear it everyday Murphy." "Hey, I like this necklace." "My daughter gave it to me." "Your daughter?" "My daughter, she's nine." "Yeah, I know, but you don't talk about your daughter too much." "Okay, I'll just go get changed." "Activate your defenses!" "Chicago PD, put down your... sword." "Murphy!" "No, no, no!" "Morgan." "I don't have time for this." "Right behind us." "No time." "Mai!" "Okay, in my life a lot of stuff happens really fast, so I'm going to try to bring you up to speed." "Pay attention." "Ancient Mai, head of the High Council for Chicago, powerful wizard, doesn't like me." "Uh, Dresden, who are these people?" "It's really complicated..." "Wallace, Soto, take her to the back." "Morgan, Mai's chief enforcer, also doesn't like me." "And these guys, no clue, but they probably don't like me either." "Morgan, what's going on here?" "Are your defenses up?" "Yeah." "Harry, I thought I heard..." " Bob!" " Oh dear." "Bob?" "Who's Bob?" "Nobody." "What is that?" "Watch your step." "What's with the power?" "Didn't you pay your bill this month?" "Oh, and what happened to the sun?" "Oh, nice trick." "It's not the power." "It's everywhere Dresden." "It's 9 o'clock in the morning." "How can it be dark outside?" "Tell her... nothing." "What do you mean tell her nothing?" "How can I tell her anything?" "None of us know what the hell is going on around here." "Did I just see someone in there?" "Alydia?" "Alydia?" "Soto!" "No!" "That's not good." "How do I get in these situations?" "I mean there I was in a good place for once, when bang, the big boss of the High Council and her pack of wardens come crashing into my place uninvited." "Add Lieutenant Murphy, my main source of income, who isn't even supposed to know about these people;" "seal the door shut with some kind annihilating darkness, and suddenly, what do you know, another bad day for me!" "Gone." "Soul ripped from his body." "His body torn into its component elements." "This can't be real!" "Is this happening?" "Yeah it's real, and it's happening." "I said tell her nothing!" "Morgan is the one talking about soul-ripping and element tearing." "I think the ship has kind of sailed you know." "The barn door is open, the cows are out and the bag is really devoid of cats!" "Calm down Dresden." "Okay, you, for once in your life, are going to tell me the truth!" "What is that?" "Well that, its energy from the other side." "Listen to me, we all come from somewhere, right?" "We come here, we do this life thing, and then we go back." "That stuff, the other side, that's like the middle;" "it's like the transition between here and there." "As living things we can't touch this stuff, because if we do..." "It's death." "Which means none of us are walking out of here while that's out there." "Hey Morgan, your guy, what was his name?" "Soto." "He mentioned Alydia before he touched the darkness?" "His sister;" "she was killed in the line of duty." "Murphy, what you saw was a spirit, on the other side." "The other side?" "Death?" "Ghosts?" "I can't deal with this." "That's just way too much." "Uh, Morgan, can I just get a second?" "I need someplace safe for Mai." "Put her in my bedroom;" "Wallace, Amber, upstairs." "Murphy, sit down." "We need to talk." "How'd you do that?" "I'm not done yet." "So I guess I don't have to say it, huh?" "Pretty obvious." "Everything you ever told me, or avoided telling me - the wizard stuff;" "it was all true." "Yeah." "And the other people, they're like you?" "They're more like you actually." "They're wardens, cops, kind of." "They don't like you very much." "Hey, you don't always seem to like me too much, but I don't hold it against you." "So someone painted your windows with death." "Yeah, it looks that way." "A trap." "Exactly." "Morgan, what is this?" "What have you been messing with?" "I think we've given away enough secrets for one morning." "Why'd you come here?" "Why did you involve me?" "Because you were close and we needed shelter." "You have whatever you were running from follow you right to my doorstep." "Our first concern should be trying to reverse whatever is linking this place to the other side." "So, are you going to help me or not?" "Morgan..." "A civilian, in the middle of this!" "You know when this is done we're going to have to take..." "Listen carefully Morgan!" "Murphy is not going to be erased, dealt with, or anything like that, okay!" "If she is, I'm gonna come after you;" "I'm gonna come after Mai and the entire council and I'm going to my psychopathic, bloodthirsty Uncle look like Mahatma Gandhi!" "You hear me?" "You don't frighten me Dresden." "Really?" "Because I scare the hell out of myself sometimes!" "Morgan, do you have any idea what's going on here?" "I suspect a planar binding." "A thin coating of other side material on the exterior of the building;" "Like a net?" "Or a coat of paint." "So, paint thinner." "A coherent burst of light to blast away the darkness;" "you think you can manage that?" "My soul's not entirely dark Morgan." "Glad to hear it." "You're symbology is inelegant." "You want to draw?" "Grab some chalk." "It'll do." "Oh good." "Okay." "Morgan, what is with you?" "What's the problem?" "Soto." "What?" "I trained him." "I train all the new wardens." "You blame yourself for the kid?" "I'm responsible for them." "Now he's dead;" "destroyed by the darkness." "Who else am I to blame?" "Let's just do this." "We gotta get out of here." "Ready?" "And... go." "It's not working." "Concentrate!" "Some things never change." "Always blowing things up." "I'm not always blowing things up." "Right." "Sometimes you set things on fire." "Oh just..." "What happened?" "We're still stuck." "Harry..." "Morgan." "Harry..." "Let me guess." "Bob!" "At your service." "He just walked through a wall." "He's a ghost;" "it's a long story." "Harry, may I speak to you, in private?" "I am sorry to have interrupted..." "I was trying to be discreet, but as you say, the cat is out of..." "Please don't do that Bob." "Okay, what have you got Bob?" "Well, I've been on to a situation and I have come to a very troubling conclusion, though I'm not certain of the exact nature of the containment spell, I can tell you without doubt..." "It was cast from the inside." " You already knew?" " Yeah." "I checked the defensive." "Of course, Murphy thought she was getting some kind of light show, but they're still intact, which means the spell was not cast from the outside." "It must be one of the wardens." "Morgan?" "Mai?" "Okay, have you found anyway of getting out of here?" "No." "The material from the other side is everywhere." "It's even beneath the floor - if you were thinking of digging." "Okay listen Bob, this is what I need you to do." "I need you to lie low;" "I need you to say out of the way;" "and I need you tell me if you notice anything." "You want me to spy?" "Pretty much." "How clandestine!" "Dresden!" "Dresden!" "What?" "What is it?" "The darkness, it's moving." "What?" " Morgan..." " Dresden..." "Let's get out of here." "What just happened?" "The darkness is closing in and we just lost half a storefront." "We should tell him the truth about the attack." "You heard Mai." "We say nothing." "But knowing what's behind this might help him get us out." "She's right." "This is a hostage situation." "We've been trapped here by some crazy person." "We don't know what they want or how they're doing this, but you people know who it is." "That could be e key to everything." "So out with it." "We arrived at the location for the meeting, Eckard Park, just before dawn." "Eckard Park, right down the street from here." "We never saw what hit us." "There was an explosion, fire." "All right, the fire, was it green?" "How'd you know that?" "I told him." "We got reports;" "that's what I came here to investigate." "So Morgan, you're telling me you don't have a clue what attacked you?" "A greenish flame, an aerial attack." "Logical conclusion would be..." "That's enough." "You have no right..." "That was embarrassing." "Mai, you've got to tell me what's going on." "You have to help us." "You're just like your mother;" "full of ideas about how the world should behave." "Well I'm not a trained monkey, I don't do tricks." "She needs to rest." "She's still hurt." "What she needs is a hospital." "Hospitals won't help her." "I need to sleep, lick my wounds." "Wallace, get her back into the bed." "What about an open resolve with a ritual alignment?" "That will require a sacrificial component." "No one is sacrificing anyone, that's black magic." "We'll find another way." "Hey Morgan..." "Mai's asleep now." "So you know, if there's anything you feel like sharing, now might be a good time." "You should spend your energy trying to help us to escape." "Morgan, you've got to stop jumping at my shadow." "The secrecy's not helping us, okay;" "in fact it's going to get us killed." "So, what was the meeting about - in the park?" "I only tell my secrets to people who I trust, and right now, that's not you." "Murphy, what are you doing?" "Murphy... what are you doing?" "I thought I saw my father out there." "What?" "Your father lives in Florida." "Who told you that?" "I don't know;" "Marie in the evidence room told me." "Said he was living with some hooker or..." "I hope she's right." "I haven't talked to him in over a year." "Well, you know, I think you'd know if your father was dead, right?" "Yeah, I guess." "You know, I hate this." "You and your friends are trying to get us out of here and I'm useless;" "dead weight." "Well, I don't know, I don't think you're useless." "You got Morgan to talk;" "that's more than I can do." "Not like he said much." "You want to help?" "There's a chance, just a chance, that someone in here is working against us." "And you want me to find out who?" "Well, you're the detective right?" "I'm just a guy that knows a few tricks, so..." "Now that is strange." "What, darkness and death outside your window?" "You think?" "I don't know, I mean it's still outside the window." "It's seeping through the glass in the storefront." "Listen, I'm going to go check the front, okay, so you just stay here." "Don't go touching that thing." "Morgan..." "So Morgan, just one question..." "You always have questions." "I just realized something... you can ghost out here whenever you want." "You can vanish like a puff of smoke." "Morgan..." "I don't actually teleport." "What do you mean, I see you come and go all the time?" "Or I don't see it." "Do you?" "Yeah." "Invisibility." "Not precisely." "I just make your eyes choose not to see me." "You'll have to teach me that trick some day." "There was a time when I would have, but not now." "Okay, but if we can make this stuff not see us; somehow..." "And walk through." "Yeah." "It's worth a try right?" "It might work." "Okay, I got 7 protective shields, it's enough for everyone." "And once they're modified, they should hold off the other side for a few seconds - long enough for us to get out." "Are you sure about that?" "We don't know how thick this stuff is." "If you don't have a respirator you don't go into smoke you can't see through." "It's too easy to get lost or turned around." "It can't be that thick." "It's like a coating, right?" "A net?" "Yeah, unless it's not, in which case if we're in there and the charge runs out then..." "We're dead." "We need to send in a scout, find out exactly how much material we have to travel through." "Morgan, I'm not sure we're going to get too many volunteers for that, seeing as this stuff kills any living thing it touches." "Not everyone in this building is alive." "Frankly, I think it's a terrible idea;" "exposing me to the distilled essence of death, on the off chance it might help you escape." "Has anyone ever explained the concept of cost/benefit analysis to you?" "I dropped out of high school, remember." "And you wonder why your life is an unending series of insurmountable intellectual, financial and emotional hurdles." "Open the door." "Bob, listen, are you sure you didn't find out when, you know..." " When I was spying?" " Yeah." "No not very much." "Amber's has been crying;" "she doesn't really want to know." "Wallace keeps sharpening those strange weapons of his." "Mai sleeps." "Murphy paces." "Morgan, well, you know Morgan, is Morgan." "Nothing to tell us who's behind this, how to get out of this?" "I'm just trying..." "you know, anything?" "If by that you mean a better option than me going in there, no." "Okay, look, I have your skull." "If you're gone too long I'll use it summon you back." "Good." "Just like a safety rope." "So it's okay." " All right." " Come on." " Wait." " Yeah." "Are you sure once I go in there I'll still be bound to that thing?" "No, not entirely." "Well, that's a happy thought." "Are you ready?" "Yes." "Bob... you're being really brave." "I didn't know ghosts could be brave." "I didn't know ghosts could be ghosts." "Life is a veritable cornucopia of surprises, isn't it?" "Wish me luck m'lady." "Good luck." "Harry." "He'll be right back." "Bob?" "Bob..." "Hrothbert of Bainbridge I summon you..." "Hrothbert of Bainbridge I sum..." "Summon you." "Hey, it's been over an hour." "Yeah." "He might not be coming back." "I just thought I might... come back through here, so I was just, you know..." "He's really important to you isn't he?" "I've known him since I was 11." "Everyone else in my life is gone and if he doesn't make it..." "See that?" " Did you see that?" " Is it him?" "Hey Bob, Bob?" "Looks like my father." "Harry." "Your father?" "Dad, is that you?" "Harry!" "I have to warn you!" "He's been dead for over 20 years, what's he doing?" "He's trying to warn me about something." "Are you sure about that?" "You saw, you saw it." "You heard it, right?" "I saw it." "I've seen a lot of crazy things today, but I'm thinking it might have been sort of trick; an illusion, whatever." "Look, to me, none of this makes any sense, but right now I'm thinking whatever comes out of that, it's not something that we should trust." "You know what, I don't know what to believe." "I don't know what to believe." "Your ghost!" "Bob!" "He's back." "Bob, Bob, are you all right?" "Yes." "As well as can be expected." "I tried to summon you but the connection was gone." "I know, I know, but it's back now." "I can feel it." "Were you free?" "Were you free?" "Harry, there's no freedom in there; not for me." "In my life my sins were considerable, but there are things on the other side, presences, that love me not at all." "I was fortunate to have extricated myself." "How thick is the energy field?" "Can we walk through it?" "There is no through it." "This is not some sort of energy field, or net, or shell." "Whoever did this shifted this entire building to the other side, completely." "We are, for all intents and purposes, in hell!" "Dresden's judgment may occasionally be flawed, but his record collection is impressive." "How long have you know him?" "Most of his life." "I first met him when I was a newly commissioned warden and he was a teenager, recently orphaned and he was living with his Uncle, Justin Morningway; a man of influence." "Let me guess, Harry was some sort of child genius, destined for greatness." "Quite the contrary, he's a Morningway, like his Uncle and Mother, and Morningways are nothing but trouble." "I could never play like that, even if I had all the time in the world." "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be doing something to try and get us out of here?" "I am." "I'm listening to Jazz and thinking, or I would be if you didn't keep asking me questions." "Well, sorry, it's not too pretty in there." "It wasn't me." "What?" "That's what you're trying to figure out, right;" "if I'm the one who pulled this place to the other side?" "Because it could only have been done from in here, but you know Morgan and Murphy and Mai." "Wallace and I are the strangers so it must have been one of us." "I haven't ruled out anybody." "It's okay." "I think it's you." "You think it's me?" "Mai wouldn't mind seeing you dead." "Morgan is always hounding you and Wallace and I and Soto, we're nobodies." "Disposable..." "I don't kill people." "You killed your Uncle, Justin Morningway, with black magic." "What do you know about that?" "There's a case file on you." "Required reading for all new wardens." "You're the living example of what not to do, and someone to keep an eye on." "I may be expendable, but you're the usual suspect." "Is that so?" "You're a Morningway!" "Those things are expensive you know." "We're running out of time Bob." "I gotta get us out of here." "Amber, Murphy, everyone." "Yes, even the expendables." "You heard that?" "You did ask me to spy." "Harry you are right." "Time is of the essence." "It's in here too." "I know." "Have you thought about using a psycho-pompic ritual?" "Yeah, all that's gonna do is get us on the other side and get us stuck there - dead!" "Necromantic conversion;" "perhaps rendered as in oil." "Been there, done that." "We coat ourselves in that, we're not even going to get in it Bob." "What if we painted the floors or the walls?" "We need gallons of the stuff." "We only have enough ingredients for a few ounces." "Harry?" "Harry!" "I made it!" "Dad!" "Is it really you?" "Don't touch it Harry." "It's from the darkness, made of the other side." "Remember what happened to Soto." "He's right Harry, he's right, you can't be too careful." "Give me a minute Bob." "Are you sure?" "Give me a minute." "Be careful." "Listen to me, it took so much to get me here, so much work to get me here and I don't have a lot of time." "The person who sent me here, she wants you to know that someone betrayed you in this building." "Who's she?" "I'm getting pulled back Harry." "Harry do you hear me, there's a traitor in here Harry." "Dad, I've already worked that out." "You know that, what are you gonna do about it?" "I'm trying to find out who they are." "No, no, Harry." "There is no more time for that, okay." "You have to kill them Harry." "You got to kill everyone in this building." "There's no other way." "You all right?" "Get away from her!" "Amber!" "Amber!" "It's Wallace, he's trying to kill Mai." "Wallace, what are you doing?" "It's one of us;" "one of us is doing this." "You okay?" "There's only one way out and that's to kill you all." "Mai, you have to help her." "Go!" "Bob, watch Murphy." "I shan't take my eyes off of her." "Mai!" "Pathetic." "I'm old and pathetic." "Still weak." "I should be getting better." "something's not right." "Someone's keeping me from healing." "Someone close." "Who?" "You." "Me?" "Mai, I'm trying to protect you here." "Well try harder." "Murphy?" "Single shot straight through the heart." "I just killed a man because... what, he was a wizard trying to kill a bunch of other wizards, in order to escape a magical trap!" "Okay, listen, you said it yourself, it's a hostage situation." "It happens, you lost it, okay, you snapped." "But I don't shoot people." "I arrest people;" "I investigate crime scenes, I write reports." "It was pretty simple until I met you." "It's actually still simple." "He was trying to kill us all and you stopped him, okay?" "Yeah, yeah, I guess." "Yeah." "Harry, Mai's still hanging on... barely." "Never should have trusted her with anyone else." "Oh please." "I was just up there and Mai was just up there and now it's just..." "This is not good." "This doesn't make any sense." "It moves, it stops." "Now it's moving again." "Why?" "What's causing it to close in?" "Okay, listen, I think that is the wrong question." "I think what we should be asking is what is holding it back?" "Or who?" "Mai?" "Mai came back here, the darkness closed in on the storefront." "It wasn't in the bedroom until she wasn't in it anymore." "The weaker she's getting, the faster it's closing in." "So she's been holding it at bay?" "It's not just that;" "she's controlling it." "Think about it;" "Mai was hurt, she said she had to lick her wounds, so she came here, she retreated here to my place." "Like some sort of a cave and then once she was inside..." "She pulled the entrance shut." " Right." " Right." "Then she moved this place to the other side." "This isn't an attack, this is a defense." "Mai's trying to protect herself from whatever is attacking her." "To heal herself." "Yeah." "But she's not getting better." "No." "Something's blocking her ability to heal." "Something is weakening her." "Harry, whoever is preventing her from healing, must be very near her constantly." "Which means the thing that attacked her is in here with us." "But your place is defended, that's why we came here." "It shouldn't have been able to get in;" "not without setting off your alarms." "Dresden?" "Unless it was invited in." "Hey Murphy, come on in." "Took you long enough." "Okay, Morgan, Morgan." "You invited it in." "I thought it was Murphy, what can I say?" "You invited it in!" "Morgan, I..." "What are you?" "Ask Morgan, he knows." "Morgan..." "You're a good man Dresden, polite, nice to your friends, especially Murphy." "Why'd you have to go and choose the wrong side?" "The wrong side?" "As opposed to you, whatever you are?" "Do you think Mai would do the same for you?" "That she's one of the good guys?" "Power, that's all she cares abut." "That's a lie!" "Really, tell you what?" "Just to show you I have a heart, you kill Mai; slit her throat, hand me her corpse, and I'll let you live." "So my entire building is trapped in hell;" "I'm stuck behind a failing magical barrier and something really, really horrible is waiting on the side." "I mean, like I said, I try to take care of myself, but some days things just happen." "Clock's ticking." "So Morgan, are you going to tell me what that thing is?" "It will just depress you." "Morgan, please." "I'm waiting!" "It's a?" ", a Drake." "You mean a dragon, scales, horns, fire breathing?" "A dragon, dragon?" "Magical powers, able to change shape, immortal, that sort of thing." "Oh, that's great." "Fine, you had your chance." "Okay Morgan, you gotta pull the shield tight now!" "What are you doing?" "I'm gonna make Mai sicker." "She'll just lose control of the spell and the darkness will close in around her." "I'm counting on it, I'm counting it, so just pull the shield in tight, please, now!" "It's gone." "Okay, we gotta pour everything we go back into Mai." "We gotta bring her back." "Morgan, Amber, bring her back." "There you go." "Okay." "It's dead, you're safe." "Would you please get us out of here now." "It's done." "Good job Morgan." "Well done Harry." "Well, you don't see that everyday." "Well Harry, we made it." "I'm sorry for judging you." "You're more than a last name in some case file." "Thanks." " We can go." " Good." "Oh Mai, is that it?" "Just, good?" "You trapped us in here;" "two people die." "You could reverse the spell anytime and you didn't?" "Why?" "Because I knew, I knew it was in there with us and the only way to get rid of it was to trap it with us." "And if it came to it, let us die with it." "That's absurd." "So destroying that was...?" "Yes, more important than saving you, or myself." "Is that all?" "No." "One thing." "These Drakes, they can shape, they're magical, immortal and all that." "But you can change your appearance and you're magical and you've been around a long, long time." "Are you inferring something?" "Technically I'm implying, you're inferring." "Well, it's dangerous either way." "You didn't answer my question." "Well you didn't ask one, which at least shows some common sense." "Hey, Dresden, mind if I come in?" "You know Murphy, no, I'm not..." "I was being rhetorical." "There was an explosion in the area this morning, do you know anything about it?" "No, not really." "Gonna introduce me to your friends?" "No." "Sorry." " Leaving?" " We're leaving." "Leaving." "Good day Lieutenant..." "Dresden." "You don't want to know." "Hell, I don't want to know." "Murphy, want to get some lunch?" "Lunch?" " Yeah." " Sure." "I've been craving Chinese." "How about the Golden Dragon?" "Greek." "Okay, Greek." "Greek."