As he thought that Cyprus disappeared, as did the physician’s office with its fine velvet couch. He and Lydia were on their own. Seven felt a momentary flash of dismay—there were so many things he’d wanted to ask Cyprus first—but it was too late for questions. He looked around, expectantly. The environment was changing, doubtlessly because of Lydia’s beliefs, and Seven wished fervently that he had a better idea of just what her beliefs about the gods really were.

Chapter Five

The Beginning of the Search and a Demon in the Foothills

Lydia was feeling petulant. “I thought that after death, you were supposed to know all about God, or whatever,” she said. “And even though I didn’t believe that I had a soul when I was physical, I thought that souls—if they existed—would at least know the answers. Instead, here I am, helping my oversoul go tracking down the gods. After all I’ve been through, I’m not certain of anything.”

“Shush. Will you be quiet?” Seven cried, exasperated. “We’re in someone else’s territory. I can tell.”

Lydia grabbed a cigarette from the pocket of a hastily hallucinated trench coat and looked around nervously. “What do you mean, someone else’s territory?” She squinted; things were changing. There were walls and walls of shadow that weren’t there before. And they were advancing. To test her perceptions, Lydia stood still. And sure enough, the walls seemed to come closer, stealthily.

“On earth, it would be like an alien country,” Seven said, “when you don’t know the rules and don’t like the looks of the place. Just take my hand and be quiet.”

He sounded much more confident than he felt. The area was drenched with personality characteristics that he found most distasteful. Fear was draped invisibly but definitely over everything; like a heavy suffocating vine that choked out all other growth. And anger crawled in and out of all the tiny crevices that suddenly opened up around their feet, spreading like miniature earthquakes. Seven didn’t like the feel of it at all. But as yet, the various elements were diversified. By steering Lydia and himself carefully, he managed to follow the few clear spots still open.

At the same time, Oversoul Seven felt the fear and anger collecting itself; it belonged to someone or something.

Lydia hadn’t made a wisecrack in what seemed a century. She was beginning to shiver. Instantly she hallucinated a big brown handbag with a revolver inside. The bag swung from shoulder straps that fit over her trench coat.

The automatic hallucination of objects was something Seven had tried to teach her without success until now. But she was so frightened that she never noticed her success.