Page 89 of The Society of Unknowable Objects
Then Lukas sprang to his feet, surprising Magda with the speed of his movement.
“This is me?” he asked Frank, holding the loose page towards the older man. “This is why I don’t have wings?”
“What wings?” Frank scowled at Lukas, bushy brows pulling down over his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“You made me?” Lukas said, regarding Frank with wide eyes.
“No, boy,” Frank snapped. “I didn’t make you. I would never—”
But Frank didn’t finish. Lukas spoke again, cutting him off. “Make another,” he said, eyes boring into Frank.
“What?” Magda asked, unease stirring deep within her.
“Make another me,” Lukas said to Magda. “Make someone like me so I am not alone.”
Magda stared at the man, torn between horror and overpowering sadness.
Is that all that he wants? To not be alone?
“No,” Frank answered, the word as solid as granite. “No, we won’t do that. I’m going to do what I should have done years ago. I’m going to destroy the book so that nothing like you can ever happen again.”
“Let’s not piss him off, Frank,” Henrietta muttered, loud enough that Magda could hear.
“What does it matter?” Frank replied, jerking his hand through the air as if dismissing an irritating person. “I’m too old to not speak the truth.” He glared at Lukas. “You shouldn’t exist. I am sorry about that, but you are lonely because you are alone. You are unique. You never should have been created.”
Lukas lifted the bag again, passing the strap back over his head as his other hand dipped inside briefly. Magda watched that movement, alarm bells ringing in her mind.
“If you won’t do it,” Lukas said, looking at Frank as he removed his hand from the bag, “I will find someone who will.”
Branches whipped towards Frank once more, but Henry was still holding Frank’s arm, and they caught nothing but free air.
“You don’t have to do this, Lukas,” Magda tried, taking a step towards him, trying to draw his attention to her. “Let’s talk about it.”
Lukas looked at her, tilting his head slightly. “Why do you want to talk to someone you hate?”
Oh god. He’s never going to listen to us now.
“Comeon,Frank,” Henry urged, behind Magda, trying to pull Frank away.
“You,” Lukas said, his gaze fixed on Henrietta now.
“Just go, Henry,” Magda pleaded over her shoulder.
“I can see your ring,” Lukas said, taking a step towards them, his eyes dropping to Henry’s hand.
“You can’t do anything to me, chum,” Henry said, even as she tried to pull Frank away. “We are ghosts.”
Lukas lifted a clenched fist. “I can control you.” He opened his hand and Magda saw the chess piece there. She saw Frank and Henry both look at the item, Frank’s eyes widening.
“Go!” Magda begged, but Henry didn’t reply. She and Frank stared straight ahead now, expressions suddenly waxy as if they were dummies.
“I can’t touch you,” Lukas continued. “But I can make you take off your ring and give it to me.”
Magda watched on in dread as Henry started moving, fingers releasing Frank and her hands coming together. Branches curled through the air, leisurely now, like ribbons, winding around Frank’s now entirely tangible neck and arms and pulling tight, compressing clothes and flesh. Magda heard a cough of air released from his lips, but he was unable to move, unable to resist. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, unblinking. Meanwhile Henry’s forefinger and thumb pulled the ring along the finger of her other hand, rotating it to ease it free.
“Lukas, stop, please,” Magda begged. Overcoming her fear, she walked towards the man and took hold of his arm. His smell filled her nose, the smell of full bins on a hot day. It was stale and unclean and rotting, and as it mixed with the overpowering scent of the roses Magda wanted to be sick.
Lukas looked directly at her, with his awful, flat eyes. “Will you make another person like me?”
