The student had begun to rock on his side of the booth. Michael is the archangel Tiphereth, he told her. And Tiphereth is the sixth circle emanating down the tree of life . . .

Rachel finished the sixth circle.

The sun is Michael’s planet. The student rocked and closed his eyes. A child is his magic image.

“EL,” she was almost singing. Her voice was clear and strong and everything the student had told her about the archangel Michael came back to her at once. His symbol was the hexagram, his flower the rose. She passed the curtain for the last time. A damp breeze came through the one open window under the ceiling and she smelled mud, but she concentrated on Michael. His season was summer, his color was gold. Dear Michael, she thought, beloved Michael. She went back to her place in the star.

The other two made their seven circles in front of the flowered curtain. Then they bowed, first to the south, because everything was supposed to be backwards, then to the north, the west, and were turning to the east: when they heard steps on the stairs and, one after the other, Levy, Luria, and Dworkin came into the basement.

Hawkins and Garfield froze, but Rachel finished the ritual. She bowed low to the east and straightened up. She and Luria faced each other. He looked excited and young. Levy was standing next to him with his eyes half closed, and for the first time in years, Hawkins saw Levy.

He wanted to run to Jacob, hug him, talk to him. But Jacob didn’t seem to see him, or if he did, he didn’t recognize him. He was a man in a trance, and all he did was stare with something like longing at the box in the corner. Hawkins tried to rouse him.

“Jacob,” he said softly. “Jake.”

Levy didn’t even blink. Hawkins followed his eyes to the unmoving curtain over the box, and for the first time, he thought there was something behind it.

Luria was watching him. “Abe found poor Walinsky,” he said, “and he came to get us . . .” Luria looked from Hawkins to the box, then back to Hawkins, and he smiled. “So here we are,” he said softly, and then he crossed the room and tugged at the curtain. Hawkins wanted to shut his eyes, but he couldn’t. Even from across the room, he could feel Jacob’s body tense with expectation. Luria pulled the curtain, but it wouldn’t slide. Then he yanked it, and rod, curtain, everything, came loose, fell, and hit the night light. The night light crashed on the floor, and the basement went dark.