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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 61 #LisaMason #SFWApro
45 The doorman narrows his eyes so sharply at my Dooney & Bourke handbag, I’m convinced he can see my Beretta through the pebbled leather. If he refuses to admit me, I’ll have to barge past him and...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 62 #LisaMason #SFWApro
46 We whirl though the shimmering surface, and I feel a pressure, a thickness like water without wetness. I hear no crash or shatter of glass. I look up, as surprised as I am relieved. I feel no pain,...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 63 #LisaMason #SFWApro
The much-too-beautiful people laugh and whisper among themselves, then drift off into the whirling crowd. The pink-haired man slaps Alastor on the shoulder. “Your plaything has power, my Prince. How...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 64 #LisaMason #SFWApro
I could live the rest of my life without pulling back that tarry curtain and peering in that doorway. Why? Because even with the curtain drawn, I can smell the nauseating stink of blood, offal, and...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 65 #LisaMason #SFWApro
At last I stand at the shimmering threshold of the mirror leading to the Garden of Abracadabra, the vast opalescence rising up before me. The surface on this side of the mirror is opaque. I can’t see a...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 66 #LisaMason #SFWApro
Part III The Right Road 47 It’s after noon, another scorcher of a day, when I meet Jack Kovac for a tryst at the Alameda County Morgue. He’s got a knack for picking madcap romps. I need to take a peek...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 67 Lisa Mason #SFWApro
We pull up chairs in Doc Eve’s austere office. A functional desk, metal chairs, state-of-the-art electronic equipment, metal credenzas, and a Krups coffeemaker decorate the place. A statuette of...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 68 Lisa Mason #SFWApro
48 “Maria, Ben, thanks for stopping by. You can go now,” Kovac says. “Oh,” Valdez says to Lofland, “we can go now.” “You know what that means,” Lofland says to her. “It means we can go and we will go....
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 69 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
49 “We’ll need blood, fresh sacrificial blood, and plenty of it,” says Damian Vortex, Professor of Demonology. “To draw a magic circle of the size and power to call forth the entity you’re asking about...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 70 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
50 A grotesque twist of darkness glitters outside the circle of blood. “Why did you scream his name?” Vortex whispers. “I met. . . .that man. . . .thing. . . .entity last night. In Avichi. I saw him....
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 71 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
51 We pay an encore visit to the infirmary. Vortex staggers between Kovac and me, his arms slung over our shoulders. Vicious purple bruises dapple his plump white neck, and he’s still breathing in...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 72 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
52 We walk down Hillegass, Kovac and I, to where we’ve parked our cars along the curb. The world seems a less substantial place, a gauze of light behind which lie mysterious realms. We walk slowly,...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 73 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
53 Maybe wearing all black is edgy and slimming and sophisticated or maybe wearing all black is depressing and drains your face of color. But if wearing all black means serious business, then there’s...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 74 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
54 I tell Jack Kovac through the speaker’s static to wait for me in the lobby while I take care of one last bit of business. I intend to bring nothing with me to Avichi that Alastor can take away from...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 76 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
56 I back away, searching desperately for a way to the Garden of Abracadabra. But the shimmer of the mirror momentarily blinds my eyes. Alastor seizes my shoulder in a bone-crushing grip. “Here’s how...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 77 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
57 “Abby Teller!” Jack Kovac’s voice grows louder. Clearer. Closer. I twist my head toward the sound like a blind person listening to a seeing-eye guide to salvation. Kovac is sending his power through...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 78 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
58 Alastor swings his sword at Kovac’s neck, the blade hissing through the air before the tip makes impact, and, for a horrifying moment, I fear he means to have Kovac’s head. But no, the tip of the...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 79 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
59 The eerie discordant wail shatters the silence. Kovac and I trade alarmed glances. He reaches for my hand just as I reach for his. We intertwine our fingers and hold on. The horn blares, and blares...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 80 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
60 Alastor, mounted on the raven-headed chimera, holding a longbow, a quiver of arrows strapped on his back, looks down at us. His much-too-beautiful masculine face a grotesque mask of arrogance. How...
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The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason, Serial 81 #Lisa Mason #SFWApro
61 Run? I practically fly, fueled by the bracing lightness of pure fear. Greasy resin dripping from the trees smears the forest floor like an oil slick, and my high heels slip and slide. I half-fall to...
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