Darkest Night - Smoke And Mirrors Part 26

"Probably long gone."

"But there're ghosts in the house," Graham added, before Henry could continue, "who were alive when the journal was there. Servants."

"Servants." CB turned his attention back to the house, his expression dismissive. "What makes you think they knew anything about what their employer was up to?"

It was Henry's turn to raise a brow. If CB thought his housekeeper remained ignorant about any aspect of his life, he was being deliberately blind-which was, in Henry's long experience, the best way to deal with a good servant, the fiction of ignorance maintained by both halves of the relations.h.i.+p. "I think there's a very good chance they'd be curious about what their employer spent so much time and effort on, but we also have to consider that these ghosts died under . .

." He considered and discarded a number of words. ". . . familiar circ.u.mstances. One of the maids pushed one of the male servants down the kitchen stairs and then hanged herself from the third-floor landing. They were the first murder/suicide the house evoked and it may have been able to reach the maid because she'd read the journal. Tony has to talk to her."

"So now he's a medium, too."

Henry smiled at the weary lack of surprise in CB's voice. "No. But we know he saw Graham's cousins, so we stopped by his apartment and got this." He tugged at the strap hanging from his shoulder and swung Tony's laptop case into view.

"Is that . . . Arra's?"

"It is."

"And she left something on there that will help?"

"I have no idea, but there's eighty gig of magic instruction on here, so I'm hoping that there's something he can adapt."

"Adapt? Why does that not fill me with confidence?"

"He's a smart guy. He'll figure something out."

"Out. Yes. This may out his abilities to his companions."

"Have you considered that he may not want that to happen?"

It was Henry's turn to stare at the building. He could hear the five lives in the driveway-CB, Graham, the three crew-but nothing from the house. No life, no death-nothing. This house, this Arogoth, was attempting to poach lives on his territory. His lips curled back off his teeth. "Under the circ.u.mstances, what Tony does or doesn't want doesn't much matter. He'll do the right thing." The silence pulled him around. Even with the Hunter masked, those who could meet his gaze were few. With the Hunter so close to the surface . . . Henry could think of only two others who would even attempt it. After a long moment, CB nodded and looked away. "What happens now?"

"Graham will call his cousins to the door, then they'll go to Tony and tell him about the servants and the journal."

"I've pulled them pretty much into the here and now, you know? If this Tony can see them, they can get . . ." Graham frowned. "Unless the house being awake is giving them trouble." He stepped back as both vampire and executive producer turned on him. "But probably not. You guys can just go back to ignoring me."

"Tony," Henry continued, emphatically doing just that, "will pull the laptop into the house, and use the information on it to find a way to talk to the maid. She'll tell him what was in Caulfield's journal, he'll use that information to either defeat the darkness in the bas.e.m.e.nt or work around it and get the house open."

"There are a great many ifs in this plan."

"Got a better one?"

CB snorted. "I foresee one other problem," he said, not bothering to answer Henry's question. "Will the laptop work inside the house? According to my people, equipment batteries were draining rapidly all day."

Henry patted the laptop case. "Ah, but this doesn't run on batteries."

"Magic?"

"Apparently."

CB stepped away from the porch and indicated that Graham should approach. "Then let's begin."

As Graham sidled past him, he paused, and peered up into the taller man's face. "He's a vampire." The merest hint of a glance back at Henry. "Did you know he's a vampire?"

"Yes."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"You speak to the dead."

"Yeah, but I don't suck blood."

"I have only your word for that."

Brianna stepped past the lantern sitting on the threshold- the compromise between all of them crowding into the bathroom and privacy. "Okay, next. And don't worry, the boy's mostly scared about strange people coming in his room."

She glanced around at the half circle of silent faces. "What?"

"What boy?" Ashley snapped.

"The boy whose room it is, Zitface." The younger girl rolled her eyes. "He's not even a little bit gross. I want to see the baby."

"Just hang on a minute." Tina cut off both Ashley's reply and any potential attack on her sister. "There's a boy in the bathroom?"

"Yeah, but you can see through him, so . . ." She pursed her lips and blew a disinterested raspberry.

"You can see the ghost of a boy in the bathroom?"

"Duh."

"Oh, my G.o.d! Oh, my G.o.d!"

Releasing her hold on Ashley, Tina grabbed the wardrobe a.s.sistant's arm, keeping her from bolting. "Brenda, calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down! How am I supposed to calm down! There's a dead person in the bathroom!"

"There's going to be another one right here if you don't shut the h.e.l.l up," Kate growled.

Amy stepped forward and leaned over the threshold, "I don't see anything."

"Maybe that's because you're in on it, too." Kate folded her arms as Amy leaned back to glare at her. "Well, you could be!"

Brianna shrugged. "She doesn't hear the baby neither." She c.o.c.ked her head. "I don't hear the baby."

"Maybe you're too far away?"

"You can always hear the baby."

Kate's lip curled. "Unless Tony's playing ghosts again."

"Oh, for f.u.c.k's sake and for the last time!" Amy snapped. "Tony has nothing to do with this! You don't know him.

Until tonight, you've hardly ever spoken two words to him. You're totally losing it."

"That's not helping," Tina warned as the two younger women moved closer together.

"You people are all nuts!" Whites showing all the way around her eyes, Brenda jerked her arm free and ran for the door of the suite.

Tina swore and raced after her. The other four watched as the script supervisor crossed the dressing room and disappeared into the darkness of the bedroom. They winced in unison at the soft hard crash of flesh and furniture hitting the floor. After a moment, Tina limped back into the light, alone.

"I lost her in the dark, but I think she made it to the hall. I'm sure she'll be able to see the light of the other lantern coming up the stairs. She'll head right for it."

"She'll head right for Lee," Amy snorted.

Kate snickered an agreement.

"Do we go after her?"

"I'll go."

Tina grabbed Brianna's arm on her way by. "No, you won't."

Ashley pushed past Amy still standing by the bathroom door. "You guys can do what you want, but I'm going to pee.

Any boy shows up and I'll slap him stupid."

"She will, too." Brianna tugged experimentally on Tina's grip, and relaxed against her side when it became obvious she Was going nowhere. "She slapped Stevvie so hard his nose bled. It was pretty gross."

"Brenda will be fine." Tina's tone suggested that the Wardrobe a.s.sistant wouldn't dare not be.

Amy shoved her hands into the front pockets of her black cargo pants and rocked forward on her toes. "You know, that sounds a lot like famous last wo . . ." Tina's expression froze her in place. "Never mind."

She hadn't expected it to be so completely dark. Eyes open so wide they hurt, Brenda bounced off the side of the dressing room door and out into the hall. Arms outstretched, swaying in place, she tried to get her bearings.

There was someone with her in the hall!

Someone angry!

Too terrified to scream, she turned and ran.

Stumbled.

Found her balance.

Kept running.

Her left side slammed into something that moved and she grabbed at it as she fell. Wood. Smooth wood. And a handle. The door to the back stairs. It was open, swinging out into the hall. She'd run the wrong way, but she could get down the stairs to the kitchen and then find the others. Find Lee. Lee would make it right.

Eyes narrowed, Amy moved out to the edge of the lantern light. "Did you hear that?"

"It was the toilet." Tina folded her arms and glared at her companions. "I thought I told you no flus.h.i.+ng until we were all done? With the power off, we only have the water in the lines."

"Toilets don't thud."

"Like someone chopping?" Brianna asked brightly. "Whack. Chunk."

"No . . ."

"It was the toilet," Tina repeated. "Keep the girls from running off while I use it."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ashley muttered as Amy took hold of Brianna's arm. "Don't touch me."

"It wasn't the toilet," Brianna insisted.

Kate nodded in agreement. "Sounded like an ax."

The stairs were narrow enough she could touch both sides. She moved as quickly as she could on the steep uneven footing. Stumbled again at the bottom when suddenly there were no more steps. Groped for the table. Hand walked along the long side. Off the end. One hand still holding on, she reached for the wall.

Her fingers brushed something solid. Something cold.

The bas.e.m.e.nt door.

It was in the bas.e.m.e.nt.

"Lee!"

Tony shook off the sound of Stephen and Ca.s.sie's death in time to see Lee leap to his feet and cross to the edge of the circle, stumbling over Adam's legs and ignoring the 1AD's creative cursing.

"Brenda?"