by H. P. Bayne
Sully heaved a breath. He wasn’t sure which was more annoying: Dez’s usual mom-like advice or the fact he’d managed to heighten Sully’s own anxieties.
“Thanks, Dez.”
Dez stared at Sully for a couple of seconds, then grimaced. “Sorry, man.”
Sully shook his head and left him at the back door.
A weedy gravel pathway led down to the maze, and Sully used his cellphone flashlight to guide him until he considered the night was clear and the moon, high in the sky, nearly full. As his eyes adjusted, he realized he could see well enough without the light. Just as well since he wanted to spare as much of his phone’s battery as possible.
Seconds after shutting off his flashlight, his phone rang.
“What are you doing?” came Dez’s voice though the earpiece.
“It’s actually pretty bright out. I don’t need the flashlight.”
“I like it. I can see where you are.”
“Tough. I’m trying to save my battery. It’s below half, and I never know how badly a ghost’s going to drain it. Do you really need to stay on the phone with me? Seriously, dude, I can handle it.”
“Famous last words I’ve heard before. This isn’t me being mother bear, all right? This is me remembering a variety of instances where you basically lost yourself and got in major trouble.”
Sully sighed. “Okay, yeah, I hear you. But I don’t have the feeling Mildred wants to put me in any danger.” He meant it. She seemed a little lost maybe, definitely annoyed about people affecting her space, but she wasn’t an angry spirit. The emotional ones could be the biggest challenge, creating visions so intense Sully did as Dez had just said and lost himself in the middle of them. Those ghosts weren’t always so good at pulling back when Sully needed it. He didn’t think Mildred was that kind of spirit.
Now, the Witch of Rhibyn on the other hand … but given she seemed to appear only to Wynne descendants, he didn’t expect her to be a problem.
Even so, he did as Dez requested, putting the phone on speaker and dropping it into the front pocket of his coat.
At the edge of the maze, he paused, scanning his immediate surroundings for the ghost he’d come here to see.
“Mildred? I’m here. I think you wanted to see me. Can you show yourself to me?”
Still nothing around him. The night was eerily quiet, just the whisper of a cold breeze against the branches of the hedge before him. As he stood there, waiting, a few flakes of snow swirled down.
“See?” came Dez’s voice from his pocket. “Like I thought. The Shining.”
Sully managed a laugh he didn’t feel. Then he bolstered his nerve and gazed into the one place he hadn’t really focused: the shadowed entrance to the maze. The moon didn’t quite reach it, and as Sully searched it through narrowed eyes, he finally saw it. The shape of a woman’s head and shoulders.
His skin crawled at the image of the veiled woman, but he bit back the dread and took a couple of steps toward her. “Mildred? I see you. What do you want to show me?”
She turned and drifted off, moving as only ghosts could move. He stepped fully into the entrance in time to see her floating around a corner.
“Here we go,” Sully said for Dez’s benefit. He resolved to once again try to memorize the route so he could get out in a hurry if need be, but his heart thudding the way it was, he wasn’t sure he’d manage it.
He rounded the corner in time to see her disappear around another. One more bend, then another and another. As feared, he was losing track of the turns, the dark making it next to impossible. He’d passed a couple of false paths already, and there was every possibility he’d get caught up in them later.
“Don’t get lost,” Dez said.
“Shut up,” Sully muttered.
He continued to follow Mildred through the hedge maze and wasn’t remotely surprised when they once again ended up at the centre with Mildred standing next to the pool where she’d been drowned.
The last time he’d been here, he’d found himself in the midst of a disturbing vision. He wasn’t sure he wanted to repeat the process and resolved to keep from touching the water.
It turned out Mildred wasn’t going to make it easy. As he eyed her, her right arm came away from her side, a long, knotted index finger extending from the flow of the long cuff and pointing down, toward the pool.
Sully put it into words for Dez’s benefit. “There’s something in the pool she wants to show me.”
“Oh, God, no, Sully. Don’t you even try it.”
But he’d come here for a reason, and this was it. “I have to. I’ll keep talking, all right? If I stop, come find me.”
“Goddammit, Sully.” But Dez said nothing more, so Sully followed through on his promise.
“Do you want me to touch the water?” he asked.
She didn’t move, standing still, finger still extended toward the pool.
Sighing, he closed the remaining distance and knelt next to the pool. He considered how near he must be to where Mildred’s body had lain—maybe exactly where it had lain—and resolved to put it out of his mind.
“Here?” he asked.
No response.
He followed the path her finger was indicating, then leaned over to peer into the pool, but nothing was visible. Nothing but the bright overhead moon glinting off the rippling surface and the blackness beyond.
Sully withdrew his phone and clicked the flashlight back on. He played it against the surface, hoping he could see more this way. Whether by nature or a trick of the paranormal world, the light went nowhere, simply reflecting at him from the pool’s surface.
“I’m going to have to reach in there, aren’t I?”
“Sully, no,” came Dez’s voice from his hand.
Sully ignored him and slipped the phone back into his pocket where Dez could mutter away to his heart’s content.
He knelt on the ground rather than sitting on the edge of the pool. It was uncomfortable and cold, but if he became locked in a vision, he’d have a harder time ending up face down in water. Position established, he placed one hand on the pool’s edge, then cast one more glance at the outstretched hand. Following the path of her index finger, he reached with his free hand toward the pool.
He held his breath, prepared for the worst, but this time, his fingers touched the surface without anything happening.
“I’m touching the surface, Dez,” he said, loudly for the benefit of his phone. “I’m getting nothing off it.”
“Good,” he heard Dez respond.
But nothing wasn’t what he’d come here to get, so he reached in farther, wincing as he did against the chill of the water and the dread over what he might find down there.
The pool wasn’t deep, between a foot and a half and two feet. He’d found the bottom easily enough, pausing partway to push up his coat and shirt sleeves to keep them from getting soaked. He fumbled around on the bottom now, searching for whatever it was he’d been summoned here for.
“Sully?” came a voice from his pocket.
“Searching the bottom,” he said.
“Make it quick, huh?”
Sully held back the sigh and kept feeling around.
He shifted over a little to the right, closer to Mildred. It was then that he found it, the edge of something thin and hard.
“I feel something,” he said.
“A vision coming?”
“No, something hard stuck into the bottom of the pool. Just a sec.”
He felt around further, moving as quickly as he could. The chill of the water meant he was losing the feeling in his hand, and he wanted nothing more than to pull it free and cradle it inside the warmth of his coat. His fingertips brushed at the area around the object, and he felt what seemed to be a crack running lengthwise, into which the object was caught. He moved his fingers a couple of inches farther along and found something else. It was equally hard and thin, but had a curve to it. And suddenly, he knew what he was touching.
“It’s a ke
y,” he said.
He couldn’t quite make out everything Dez said, but he was pretty sure he heard the words, “… for the locked room.”
A thrill of excitement ran through Sully at the thought of it, and he shifted his hand a little more until he could get his fingertips around the curved edge. He thought he could feel an opening, as if for a skeleton key, but it was hard to tell around the increasing numbness. He resolved to get the key free quickly, then gripped and pulled. His fingers slipped off and out of the water, sending a small splash onto him.
“It’s stuck,” he said. “It’s a skeleton key, I think. If I had something to tie around it, I could get it out more easily.
“Or break it.”
Good point.
Sully reached back in to try again. This time, he used his index finger and thumb, managing to hold on as he gently pulled. It didn’t budge, so he tried to wiggle it. At first, nothing happened, but gradually, he sensed a little movement. Sediment had likely settled into the crevice around the key, locking it in place there. Had Mildred been reaching for it when she’d been killed?
Or had she been hiding it?
A few more jiggles and the item came free. Sully pulled it up to stare at it in the moonlight before removing his phone and using his flashlight for a better look.
“It is a key, Dez.”
“You’ve got it?”
“Yeah. Bit rusted from the water, but not bad. Hopefully it’ll still open the lock, if it is for that door.”
“Maybe they have a cleaner we could use around here.”
Sully dried the key on the material of his coat and dropped it into a pocket. When he glanced back up at Mildred, her hand no longer pointed at the water. Goal achieved, then.
“We’ll figure this out, Mildred,” he said. “I won’t let anything bad happen to them.”
Standing, he gave his wet hand a good rub on his coat and slipped it into the crook of his armpit. He took another look at the ghost.
“I could use your help getting out of here. I didn’t do a very good job of memorizing the way.”
Mildred disappeared, and Sully’s heart sank until he turned to find her paused at the gap between the centre and the maze proper. She drifted to the side, and Sully followed.
As she had on the way in, Mildred guided Sully through, never losing him until he’d safely reached the exit. He gave her a quick smile, then returned to the gravel path, where he made his way back to the house, shutting off his phone en route.
Dez was waiting in the doorway, hugging his arms and appearing cold in a T-shirt and jeans.
“Why didn’t you put on a coat?” Sully asked.
“I didn’t want to leave the back door, just in case.”
Sully patted him on the arm, moving past him into the warm interior of the house. Dez closed and locked the door behind them, then accepted the key Sully removed from his pocket.
“Think this will fit the locked door?” Sully asked.
Dez studied it a moment. “Might. Only one way to find out.”
At a brisk walk, they made their way through the house and up the stairs, continuing down to the end of the hall near their rooms.
“Doesn’t look too rusted,” Dez said as he eyed the key. He handed it back to Sully. “Want to do the honours?”
Sully took it back and slid it into the lock. It fit, but didn’t turn immediately. Knowing skeleton keys sometimes took a little jiggling to find the right spot, he shifted it around for a few seconds, attempting to twist it every time he moved it inside the lock. As he finally felt the key turn, he resisted a triumphant laugh, not wanting to wake the Wynnes.
“Yes,” Dez hissed. “What do you think is inside?”
Sully turned to Dez and found his eyes locked on him. “No idea. Like you said, only one way to find out.”
He turned the key until it stopped, having gone a full one-eighty around so it was now upside down from where it had started. Sully took his fingers from the key, then gripped the door handle.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find, but it wasn’t what he saw inside.
“It’s a junk closet,” Dez said, voice revealing his disappointment.
First glance revealed a large vacuum probably made before Sully was even born, a bunch of boxes, several paint cans and a variety of old tools.
“You opened it,” came a voice from behind.
Sully turned to see Neil coming toward them, awe on his face. “How’d you manage it?”
“Mildred showed me the key,” Sully said. “It was in the pool in the middle of the maze.”
Neil grimaced. “You went down there? Just now? In the dark and everything?”
Dez smirked. “Yeah, that’s Sully. Certifiable.”
Sully looked from Dez to Neil. “It was fine. Mildred’s not a threat to anyone. She wanted to show me where the key was.” He cast another glance behind him at the closet. “Now that we’re here, I’m not sure what we’re meant to find.”
“We can go through this sometime tomorrow,” Neil said. “Maybe between Drea, Casey and I, we’ll figure this out.”
“I was kind of hoping you’d go somewhere for the day,” Sully said. “Just until we’ve got the exchange done. I don’t want you guys where anyone can easily find you until we’re sure it’s safe.”
Neil nodded. “Not a problem there. Drea and I work tomorrow, and Casey’s coming with us to school. She’s going to ride out the week in the city, then start school in Willow Valley. Anyway, we can take a quick look in the morning before we leave and go more thoroughly when we get home in the evening.”
It sounded like a good idea to Sully. They could stay up all night digging through this mess, of course, but that wouldn’t help the Wynnes at work and school tomorrow, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be of benefit to Sully and Dez. They’d both need to be hyper-vigilant in the Forks.
They decided to call it a night, so Sully closed and relocked the door, then handed the key to Neil.
“Keep it somewhere safe,” Sully told him. “The closet might not seem like much, but with all the effort Mildred went through to keep this key safe, it’s got to contain something important.”
That said, they each went into their separate rooms to try for sleep.
17
Dez awoke at the crack of dawn the next day. He’d slept remarkably well, considering he’d spent the night in a haunted house.
Just as well, because they might have a fight on their hands in a little while.
He rolled out of bed and pulled his clothes back on, then gathered up his belongings and padded into the hall in his socked feet. The door to Sully’s room was still closed, so Dez knocked once and walked in.
Typically, Sully was an earlier riser than Dez. Not today. Today, he was completely out, hugging the pillow as he sprawled facedown beneath the duvet.
Dez closed the distance to the bed and laid a hand on the back of Sully’s nearest shoulder to give him a little shake. Sully groaned once, peeling open an eye and glaring up at Dez.
“Sorry, kiddo,” Dez said with an amused smile. “Gotta get cracking.”
“Go crack yourself.”
Dez chuckled and left Sully to it, making his way downstairs.
He found Neil monitoring a coffee machine, appearing very much like he hadn’t slept after finding Dez and Sully studying the contents of the upstairs closet.
“Morning,” Dez said.
Neil jumped as he turned, revealing his embarrassment with a light laugh. “Jumpy these days. Sorry about that. Morning. I found a bag of coffee hiding in the cupboard and figured I’d put some on for you guys. Least I can do after everything you’re doing for us.”
“Not a problem. Sully and I are going to have to hit the road once he drags his ass out of bed.”
Neil straightened and stretched, emitting a long, loud yawn before responding. “Sorry. Tired. No worries—I’ve got some to-go mugs I can lend you. You can bring them back next time we see you. I’m assuming you’ll be b
ack?”
“Sure. Sully usually works some magic at the end of these things to help spirits to cross over. You didn’t sleep much, huh?”
One side of Neil’s lips quirked up. “Kept thinking about the damn closet, wondering what’s in there that’s so big a deal Mildred would keep it locked and hide the key.”
“You’ll have a chance to dig through it later.”
“Would’ve done it overnight, except I didn’t want to wake the two of you up. You really think you can end things today?”
Dez dropped into one of the kitchen chairs, facing Neil at the counter. “All we can do is make the exchange and convince them they don’t want to cross us. We’ll put it to them that the money’s from an agent, not from you guys. I don’t want to create a situation where these assholes start thinking they can pull some crap to make you pay more.”
Neil nodded, dropping his gaze to the floor. “You sure you’ll be all right? Much as I appreciate what you’re doing for me and my family, I’d be sick if something happened to anyone because of us.”
Dez spoke firmly to ensure Neil heard his next statement. “Nothing that happens would be because of you. It’s about the gang Callum fell in with. That’s it. Whatever happens today, none of it will be your fault, you got it?”
Neil nodded again, then peered back up at Dez with a smile. “You and your brother, you’re good people.”
Dez smiled back. “You are too. We’ll get this sorted, all right?”
He turned at the sound of movement and spotted Sully stumbling blearily into the kitchen.
“Good thing I’m driving,” Dez chided.
Sully grumbled an incomprehensible reply and slumped into the chair next to Dez.
“Coffee’s on,” Neil said.
Sully managed a small smile. “First good news of the day.”
“Hopefully we’ll have more by the end of it,” Dez said.
To-go cups filled to the brim, Dez and Sully said goodbye to Neil at the door, just managing to catch Drea as she jogged down to say goodbye and thanks.
