Heretics book 3 - The Apocryphile Press

THE KINGDOM :: 289
“I wish we hadn’t. Now we’ve got two of our brothers in
a coma—”
“One,” said Richard.
“What?”
“You’ve only got one Lodge brother in a coma. Randall
Webber died.”
Richard watched as the horror descended on Larch’s features.
His mouth was agape, and his lower lip trembled.
“Oh, God, no....”
“I’m sorry. But I’m mostly sorry for Kat, his sister. And I
mostly blame you and your ‘brothers.’ Dane’s a force of
nature—he’s going to do whatever will serve his greed. But
you’re smarter than that, Larch. I know you are.”
Larch did not reply, but only stared at his hands, still in
shock. “Is there no way to save him...?”
Richard wasn’t sure whether Larch meant Webber or the
magician still in a coma, but it didn’t really matter. He waited
until Larch could speak again.
“Kinney, I beg you, you’ve got to stop him.”
“Who?”
“Dane.”
“You stop him. Or better yet, just stop working for him.”
“You don’t understand. We...don’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice, man.”
Larch looked him in the eye. “No. No, we don’t. He’s
going to make us do it again. He’s going to put another one
of our brothers into a coma. You’ve got to help us.”
“I don’t see how your cowardice translates into my problem,”
Richard answered.
“It’s not going to be dogs this time,” Larch snapped.
“That would be hard, given that there are no dogs to make
disappear anymore. So what’s it going to be?”
“I don’t know. I won’t know until tonight.” He stared at
his shoes again. “The ritual will be tonight. Midnight.
Please. You have to stop him...us.”