Darkest Night - Smoke And Mirrors Part 39

He just had to break their concentration for a moment. . .

"My father is going to fire your a.s.s!"

There should've been a light bulb, the idea was that good.

"Look, ballroom people, I know you're dead but just think for a minute." He jerked his head to one side as a flailing fist tried to connect with his nose. "Sure she's young, full of potential power you can use, but do you honestly want to spend an eternity of trapped torment with a tired, obnoxious eight year old!"

"I am NOT noxious! You're noxious! And you SUCK!" The last word echoed and there was good chance, given proximity, that his ears were bleeding.

On the bright side, as the echoes died there was a stunned pause in the chanting.

Tony scrambled backward, dragging Brianna with him. The instant he felt his b.u.t.t cross the threshold-so not questioning how his b.u.t.t knew the difference, but hey, go b.u.t.t!-he rolled back, cleared his legs, cleared Brianna, and slammed the door.

Things thumped against the other side.

"Yeah, yeah, give it a break." Maintaining his hold on the girl, he got to his feet, dragging her upright with him. "Are you okay? Nothing broken?"

"I wanted to DANCE!"

Over the years with Henry, biting had become a s.e.xual thing for Tony. That changed.

"OW!".

Brianna dove for the doors. He caught her again, favoring his bleeding hand.

"Hey, bigger, stronger, smarter here! You're coming with me, so you might as well make it easy on both of us. OW!"

So much for reason. However, actually carrying a fighting eight year old was the next thing to impossible. One option left.

"If you come quietly, I'll take you to see the burning baby."

"Liar!"

"Cross my heart."

"And hope to die?"

"Not in this house."

She thought about that for a moment. "Deal."

"Good. Now let's get back to the butler's pantry before we lose . . ."

The light.

And the lantern was in the ballroom.

"I can't see anything." She sounded more than a little put out.

"Nope. Me neither."

"Wait, turn this way." Small hands tugged him around. "What's that gray thing coming down the hall?"

Didn't seem to be a lot of point in making something up. "I think it's the gardener's right arm."

The snort sounded remarkably like her father. "Is it supposed to be scary?"

"I have no idea. If we hold hands and I keep my other hand on the wall to guide us . . ." He pressed his fingertips against the paneling. ". . . we can't get lost."

"Yeah, right."

"Just walk."

He felt her twist around. "It's following us."

"Of course it is."

Zev met them in the entry hall with the other lantern. A quick glance showed the arm remaining beyond the edge of the light, scuttling back and forth and not looking at all frightening. Still, points for the attempt.

Pa.s.sing the lantern to Tony, Zev dropped to his knees and gathered Brianna into his arms. "You're safe!"

"I was dancing." And this bozo dragged me away! was clearly audible in her tone. My father is going to fire his a.s.s was evident in her body language.

"You can dance later. When we're out of here," Zev amended hastily, tightening his hold. "The important thing right now is that you're safe!"

"I'm safe, too."

He looked up and smiled, and Tony couldn't remember a good reason why they broke up.

"Were you looking for us?"

"No."

The pause as he straightened and took Brianna's hand went on just a little too long.

"What?"

"Lee's missing."

Frankly, Tony didn't have the words.

Brianna did.

"What's he missing? Because if you started doing something without me, I'm telling!"

Chapter Thirteen.

? ? ? "HOW THE h.e.l.l could you just let him walk out?"

Tony demanded of the room at large. "You knew the thing in the bas.e.m.e.nt was getting to him!"

"We didn't let him do anything!" Peter snapped, dabbing at a bit of blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"Kate managed to grab a bra.s.s candlestick out of that lower cabinet, coldc.o.c.ked Saleen-he probably has a concussion, thank you for asking-kicked Pavin in the nuts, and charged the door. Thank G.o.d, Mouse wrapped himself around her leg screaming Don't go!, or we wouldn't have been able to subdue her."

Gray, duct tape shackles wrapped around Kate's wrists and ankles, and she glared up at him over the linen napkin they'd used as a gag. From the way her jaw kept working, Tony suspected she was chewing her way free.

"So what you're saying is, you traded Lee for Kate."

"What?"

Good question. While his brain wondered if he wanted to get fired, his mouth rephrased and repeated. "You saved Kate and just let Lee waltz out of here."

"Wasn't a waltz," Mason said thoughtfully while Peter looked stunned. "I could show you a waltz that would make you weep. I'm exceptionally graceful. I could have been a professional dancer."

Ah the h.e.l.l with it; he'd survived without a job before. His head snapped around and he glared at Mason. "No one cares."

"Tony . . ."

"Shut up, Zev."

Tony had shoved Brianna at Zev and raced back to the ballroom the moment he'd heard Lee was missing. He'd run on instinct through the pitch-black mess, bounced off at least one wall, may have kicked through something numbingly cold. Arriving seconds before the ballroom's replay, he'd placed himself in front of the barred doors. He wouldn't be able to see Lee, but he'd be able to grab him if he tried to push by.

He hadn't. Although Tony could feel the dead brus.h.i.+ng up against the door at his back . . . Heard his name whispered, called, caroled, sung, and rapped with a painful lack of skill. Rap that bad had to have been Tom. Heard nothing that gave any indication things in the ballroom had changed during the replay. That Lee had reached the doors before him.

Or used one of the other two.

d.a.m.n!

The door into the garden required leaving the house, so it was off limits. Obviously. The door the servants used that led into a hall off the kitchen, however . . .

When the replay'd ended, Zev had been there with the lantern and a worried frown-the worry obviously for him, the immediate cause of the frown a little less obvious. He'd followed as Tony raced around to the servants' door.

Padlocked.

The replay was over and Lee wasn't in the ballroom.

Which was of dubious comfort since he wasn't in the butler's pantry either.

Mouse cowering, Mason dancing, Kate taped-no Lee.

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" Zev.

"Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are?" Adam.

"Jesus, Tony, chill." Amy.

"Me, I never trust him." Sorge.

"Now, let's all just calm down." Tina.

All five simultaneously.

Pavin was moaning about his b.a.l.l.s. Saleen sat quietly holding his head. He could hear Ashley and Brianna talking but lost content in the mix.

Peter held up a hand and the babble dimmed. Ginger brows dipped as he fixed Tony with a basilisk stare. "I'll make some allowance for the situation, Mr. Foster . . ." Mr. Foster. CB talk. Peter used it when he was emphasizing he was the boss under the boss. ". . . but I will not be accused of trading my costar for a number two camera. And you should try to remember you're a production a.s.sistant." Emphasis suggested he might not be for much longer.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

Tony stretched out his hand, said the incantation, and the Caulfield journal slipped out of Amy's fingers, across five feet of crowded pantry, and slapped into his palm. "Until we're out of this house, I'm the wizard who's trying to save everyone's a.s.s."

Silence. Even Kate stopped gnawing and muttering.

Peter glanced from Amy's hands to Tony's, his eyes tracking the trajectory of the book. Everyone else merely stared.

Sure, he'd moved Mason's lighter way back when, but that was small stuff. A book looked impressive. It was the most impressive magic any of them had seen him do. Even Amy had only seen him talking to empty air and then convulsing.

h.e.l.l, back when he'd been shooting up, he used to do that all the time.

"And after?" Peter asked at last.

"After?" Tony's shoulder's sagged; he was tired and Lee was gone. "f.u.c.k, can we just worry about during?"

The director nodded. Once. "Sure."

He'd probably never work in this town again. Hard to get worked up about it at the moment, but he had a strong feeling he'd regret that whole mouth first, brain second thing later. "All right. Lee. If he didn't answer the call to the ballroom, where did he go?"

"He didn't go in to see Brenda. I stuck my head in the drawing room before I met up with you," Zev expanded when the mention of Brenda brought puzzled frowns.

Amy wiped the hand that had been holding the journal on her pants and folded her arms. "He's not in the kitchen. He went out the door that leads that way, so I used the monitor and just kind of looked without leaving the pantry. I leaned."

She tilted a little, ill.u.s.trating. "If he's been, you know, possessed, I don't want to end up dead. Like Brenda."

If he's been possessed . . .

Tony couldn't think of another reason why Lee'd leave the others and go wandering around in the dark. Especially when he considered the way he'd been acting. What with the kissing and all.

"So he could be in the conservatory, the library, or up on the second floor." In a house this size that was a lot of territory to cover. "We've got one lantern, a computer monitor, and candles that blow out the moment we open the pantry doors."

"Why not while they're lit in the pantry?" Tina wondered.