At the end of the path, Laney stopped, gasping for breath again. The cold air gripped her lungs and stung her throat as she crossed the parking lot. Grady’s sedan sat behind Taylor Hall. Did Jonas have him, or was he lost looking for her dorm? She hurried up the stairs towards the castle after finding the car empty. Richard lounged on the bench, reading a book.
“Delaney, I’ve been waiting for you.” He stuffed his book into the pocket of his coat and stood up.
“Richard. I’m glad I found you. We’ve got to find Grady.”
He placed a hand on Laney’s shoulder. “I found your grandfather wandering around, so I brought him to a warm place before coming to find you.” He patted her arm. “After searching for a while, I decided to sit down and wait for you to come to me.” Richard took her elbow and led her towards Taylor. “Let’s go inside and fetch him. He’s pretty worried about you.”
“Richard.” Laney touched his coat. “I just escaped Jonas in the woods.” She paused for a moment, letting the words sink in. “He’s pretty intoxicated, so I doubt he’ll follow me to campus.”
He glanced toward the path, perhaps searching for the Ender. A squirrel scampered across the entrance, but otherwise it remained desolate.
“Then I suppose we should hurry.”
They traveled in hastened silence toward Taylor through an empty campus. The early-risers she’d seen in the dining hall for breakfast had probably headed home early for Thanksgiving break.
“Grady must’ve been happy to see you.” They walked up the sidewalk to the front entrance. Richard removed a key, unlocking the large wooden door.
“It’s always a joy to see an old friend.” Richard held the door open for her. “Did you have any luck finding the Gate Keeper?”
“You didn’t tell me that the Gate Keeper is actually the gate itself. William and I are sure we know who he is, but we haven’t had a chance to convince him to help us.” Stepping inside, the entrance was different without the bright lights of the fluorescents; only the natural light from the windows lit their path.
Richard shook his head. “I think you will come up disappointed. The Gate Keepers are resolute in their neutrality.”
“It’ll have to wait until after break. William and I are going to Grady’s for the holiday. Father’s orders.” Relief rushed over her thinking about keeping her grandfather safe. They had agreed never to leave his side the entire time they were at his house — the protection they failed to provide for Jason.
“Grady told me that you were leaving.” Richard turned and locked the heavy door behind him.
“Why’d you lock the door?”
“I’ll get in trouble if the college finds students wandering through here when class is not in session. Besides, you have a drunk man after you.” A sparkle of mischief crossed his eyes as they crossed the main lobby. “Have you led a sheltered life with an overprotective father?”
“That’s an understatement. I tried to convince him that Jason’s death was a suicide, but he wasn’t having any of it.” It was quite possible that her father had hired his own private investigator to look into the whole incident.
“Why did you lie to him?” Richard stopped in front of the staircase that led to his office. Of course, Richard would know that Jason’s death wasn’t accidental.
“Because I knew he’d overreact. He always does. That’s why I’m leaving before any of my exams.”
“And your grandfather is here to carry out your father’s orders?” Richard grinned lightly, touching her lower back as he guided her away from the staircase.
“Didn’t you take him up to your office?” Laney pointed to the stairs.
“No.” He led her down the hallway through the offices. “I took him to Wentworth’s chapel. I thought he might enjoy the history. When I went to look for you, he asked if he could stay there to say a prayer.”
At the top of basement stairs, Laney hesitated, placing her hand on Richard’s arm, ever so slightly. Her heart raced. Something wasn’t right. The stairwell to the lower chambers was illuminated in the dim beams from the lamps. The darkness suffocated the light, casting strange shadows that danced in and out of the flickering glow. Silence surrounded Laney as she descended the stairs, feeling an impending doom with each step.
“You could be in trouble with the powers that be, whoever they are, for helping out a Weaver.”
“Not a problem.” Richard removed his key from his pocket before they reached the chapel door. “Grady helped me with a nagging problem I had which couldn’t be solved by my incompetent assistant.”
Richard unlocked the door. Before she could respond, he shoved Laney into the dark room. She fell to the floor from the force of his push before he slammed the door behind her. The darkness and confusion was disorienting, so she lay still on the floor where she landed. Pain shot through her knee where she scraped it on the cobblestone floor. Panic rose in her stomach. How could she have been so stupid? Laney lifted herself and hobbled to the door. It was locked. Her breath caught in her throat as panic spread through her body.
In the silence, she heard a quiet grunting noise coming from a corner of the room.
“Who’s there?” Laney called out into the tiny room. She backed against the door, trembling. What type of creature lived in this dark world?
Her voice seemed to strengthen the grunter, who now appeared to be human. He began to make banging noises. She crawled through the darkness, reaching out in front of her because she didn’t want to run into the pews.
“Grady?”
“Erggggggh!” Her grandfather kicked the wall with full force.
“Calm down. I’ll find you.” She held her hand in front of her, searching for his face before releasing the handkerchief that gagged his mouth.
He drew in a sudden breath. “We’ve got to get out of here.” Grady placed his hand on her arm. “See if you can untie my hands and feet.”
She worked at the knots, but it was difficult in the pitch black. “I know everything.” She slipped her finger between two of the ropes. “I’m a Weaver, too. My Ender is drunk out in the forest. He threatened to kill you if I didn’t finish my story.” She crawled across the floor to find the table in the front. A box of matches lay at the edge of the platform. Fumbling through the box, she struck a match on the side and lit the candles.
“Then why don’t you end him?”
Laney thought about that statement for just a moment, thinking to herself how easy it would be, but she had created him. Even though he’d killed Jason, Laney wasn’t going to pick up a weapon, even if it was just her pen. She couldn’t do it.
“I can’t . . . he’s a person. And I feel responsible.” She sat back down next to Grady.
Her grandfather placed his bound hand on her shoulder. “I know you can’t. But there might come a time when you have no other choice. I’m afraid they plan for both of our stories to end tonight.” The knots around Grady’s hands fell free, and he helped her with the knots around his feet. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. When you came to my house that night, I didn’t want to believe that you had the trait, too.”
“You know I don’t blame you, but I don’t understand how Richard is tied into this.” It didn’t make sense for Grady to beat himself up. “I thought he only translates and remains neutral. Why does he want to hurt us?”
A loud creak came from above them. Dropping the knot, Laney worked her way over to the entrance of the chapel and began banging.
“Help! We’re locked in the chapel!” Her voice echoed through the hallway. “Help us!” The footsteps — two pairs — stopped in front of the door. She heard a key enter the lock, so she stepped back. The lantern light from the hallway revealed Richard, followed closely by Jonas. Backing away from them, Laney bumped into a pew.
“It looks like Miss Holden needs to be silenced as well.” Richard moved to the side to let Jonas through.
Jonas grabbed her arm. Richard strolled to the front of the room, flicking a switch
that illuminated the electric lanterns and then snuffing out the candles, while the Ender pushed Laney into a chair near the front. Using another rope from the pocket of his coat, he tied her to the seat.
Grady rushed toward them, pushing Jonas’s hands away from the ropes. With one swift move, he kicked her grandfather in the gut.
Grady fell over, hitting his head against the wall. The smack of her grandfather’s skull hitting the stones reverberated through Laney’s ears. Her heart sank as she swallowed a scream. She tugged on the ropes with all her might, needing to get to Grady, but it was no use.
“You moron!” Richard glared at Jonas, before rushing to Grady’s side.
Laney watched him lift Grady’s head, feel for a pulse, and examine his eyes. She struggled with the ropes binding her to the chair, but instead knocked the chair on its side. Pain pulsated through the entire right side of her body from the impact of hitting the floor.
“He’s going to be out for a couple of hours, and who knows whether or not he’ll be in any condition for writing.” Richard lowered Grady’s head.
“I didn’t mean to kick him so hard. It’s Anne’s fault that my muscles are so big.” Jonas flexed, flashing a suggestive smile in Laney’s direction.
“Would you stop calling me that?” Her fingertips tingled from the lack of circulation to her hands. “And could you use your muscles to get me off the floor?”
“I’m sorry. Does my little nickname agitate you?” Jonas moved toward her, invading her comfort zone once again. “Maybe this will take it off your mind.” In one swoop, he lifted her chair back to all fours, then reached behind and yanked her head back by the hair.
The pain from the fall and her hair being ripped out filled her with an intense shock. Laney bit her lip to hold back her suppressed scream. With his free hand, Jonas held her neck to the chair. His body odor intensified in the small, confined room.
He bent down and kissed her neck, then moved his lips to her ears. “I’ll enjoy killing William.” Jonas moved back and held up her notebook. “I will not be fooled twice. Besides, this time I have something to motivate you to write.” He took out a knife, walked over to Grady, and held it to his neck. “It’s your choice. It’s your grandfather’s life or yours. Which will it be?
Richard sat in one of the pews, taking in the whole scene. He cleared his throat. “Are you done playing around? I think Laney deserves some answers.”
“What’s going on, Richard?” Laney’s voice was raspy, but she pushed on through the aches that ran down her body. “I thought you were the Translator. You said you couldn’t help Jonas. You said you couldn’t help me.” The thought of the trust she’d put in this man tortured her more than any physical punishment Jonas delivered.
Richard leaned forward on the bench, making him appear less frail. Ten years melted off his age as he stood up and walked toward her, his hands in his pockets. “It might surprise you to hear that I loved your grandmother.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed, not quite sure how to respond.
“When Grady wrote The Diner, he carelessly threw me in the book on a whim. He thought I’d add an element of jealousy to the novel, a way to show that even a humble, worthless bus boy who worked in the back of the diner would gravitate to Rebecca’s looks. If her beauty was the only thing that drew me to her, I’d have given up and moved on. But your grandmother was the most amazing woman I ever met.” Tears formed in Richard’s eyes as he reached forward to touch Laney’s face. “You remind me of her.”
She flinched at his touch. “You didn’t deserve Rebecca.”
Richard continued, “When I came here to make Grady end his story all those years ago, I watched her. She was so happy in this miserable world. I let her be because I loved her, even if it meant lifelong suffering.”
He sat down on the chair beside the table with a loud sigh of self-pity. Removing a roll of papers from his coat, he tossed them on the table. “But now that she’s gone, I have no reason to stay in this place and time. This misery has gone on long enough. Grady means nothing to me.” He glanced over at her grandfather, unconscious, Jonas’ knife still held to his throat.
“Then keep him alive for Rebecca. She loved him. To see you treat him this way would break her heart.” Her only plan right now consisted of reasoning with Richard, an apparent madman.
“Your grandmother is dead. It doesn’t matter anymore.” His look was flat, unemotional, the twinkle gone from his eyes.
“So your ring is the symbol of an Ender?”
“You catch on quick. No wonder you rose to the top of my class.” Richard held up the ring. “The skull is actually Death’s Head, the ancient symbol for the ultimate ending.”
“Listen, Rich, can we get a move-on with this operation?” Jonas shifted from foot to foot, shooting frequent glances at the door. “There’s still a Watcher out there.”
“If you weren’t so incompetent, Laney’s part would be written and the Watcher would be dead. Don’t get impatient with me.”
Jonas gritted his teeth, a blackness growing in his eyes. Even though evil ran through his veins, she knew how the man operated. Like a stretched rubber band, he held his anger inside until he snapped.
“Just don’t underestimate William Clarke.” Jonas’ eyes darted in every direction.
Laney’s heart said a prayer at the sound of William’s name.
“Well, let’s get started. Give me the notebook and I’ll keep an eye on her writing.” Richard snatched the notebook from Jonas and then worked on untying the ropes around Laney. “You can tell her what to write.”
“Why should I write? You can’t kill either of us if you want the stories finished. And you don’t even have Grady’s manuscript.” She crossed her freed arms over her chest and put on the smuggest smile she could muster.
Richard returned it with a wicked smile of his own. He picked up the stack of papers from the table and waved them in the air. Laney’s heart beat fast, seeing this look on his face for the first time.
“Of course I have the manuscript and no, we can’t kill you.”
He moved toward Jonas, took the knife, and made a tiny incision on Grady’s neck. A drop of blood trickled down to his chest. No sound came from his lips, as he was still unconscious.
Laney’s own blood completely drained from her body.
“But we can torture you. Every time you make so much as a letter off track from Jonas’ recitation, he will carve another mark into your grandfather. When he wakes, we will do the same with you.”
Laney’s hands shook, taking the pen from Richard. She knew that she could easily make a mistake in her writing because of the small earthquake in her hands. She flipped through her notebook until she reached the section with Jonas and Anne in the woods. Her mind raced through all the stalling possibilities, but nothing seemed feasible at the moment.
This was it. She knew what Jonas had planned for William. She either had to let him kill the man she loved or torture her grandfather lying helpless on the floor. Richard stood over her shoulder while Jonas dictated:
In that moment, it became apparent to me that Jonas was a kind, handsome man. To feel his lips on mine would be true pleasure.
“Jonas! Get to the point. Now I’m the one growing impatient.” Richard barked across the room.
Laney thought she caught a hint of red under Jonas’ greasy locks.
A man entered from the clearing. His slow, labored walk made it clear that he had a limp. Blood darkened his upper pant leg and his eyes were incoherent, most likely from the loss of blood. As he limped closer, I recognized William’s distinctive locks and ran to him.
He did not recognize me, but slumped when I pulled him down to the ground. I ripped off a piece of my dress to use as a tourniquet but stopped when I heard the click of Jonas’ gun.
“Step away, Anne. This is between me and William.”
Just as Laney finished the last quotation mark, the electric lanterns went out, leaving them in the dark.
“Keep dictating, idiot!” Richard felt his way through the darkness. “I’ll find a way to get these lights back on.” She heard him stumble down the altar stairs and bump into several pews searching for the lanterns.
“I can’t write in the dark. The words won’t come out right and anything could happen.” Laney rejoiced in this small victory, but also hoped that the blackout came from a source other than a power failure.
“These lamps won’t turn back on. The electricity must be out.” Richard grumbled as he worked with the mechanisms. “It must be the circuit breaker down the hall. I’ll be right back.”
Laney heard Jonas’ breathing through the darkness, but then another faint sound broke through — a squealing sound, like the sound of a freight elevator in a warehouse. It came from up above. It must be the dumbwaiter, its contents making their way to the chapel through the dark shaft.
She listened as Jonas felt his way over to the elevator shaft. The dumbwaiter came to a squealing stop on the other side of the metal hatch. No sound came from behind the door. Laney’s heart picked up its pace. She used Jonas’ intense focus on the shaft as an opportunity to creep towards the exit.
Footsteps sounded in the passage, stopping right on the other side of the door from Laney. She backed away, not wanting to be hit by Richard. Whoever was outside made no attempt to unlock the door. He seemed to be waiting for someone inside to let him into the chapel.
“Who’s in there?” Jonas banged on the door of the dumbwaiter. There wasn’t an answer. He banged on it again.
The person on the other side of the door was Laney’s only hope. Jonas opened the shaft door, knife in hand. At the same moment, Laney opened the chapel door, notebook in hand. Her ears were the only sense she could rely on. Jonas grunted and a loud thud came from his direction. Someone stepped back when Laney opened the chapel door and flashed a light into her eyes.
“Delaney! You’re all right.” Brian’s voice pumped new adrenaline into her veins. “Step aside so I can get in there and help William.”
Across the room, Laney saw William with his own flashlight, kneeling next to Grady. He shined his light at her.
The Weaver Page 19
