“Colton and I saw it over by the drink table,” Barnaby rushed on. “It was a nasty…ugly bastard.” He shuddered.
“Where’s Colton?” Chance asked.
“Shit! He’s outside.” Barnaby felt his way past a few pieces of furniture over to the window and leaned out. “Colton, you there?”
Colton nearly pissed himself when he saw what looked like the disembodied head of his friend. “Barnaby…” his voice shook.
“Dude, it’s all right,” Barnaby reassured him.
“Thank God, man.” Relief washed over Colton. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Barnaby said.
Colton heard a twig snap and jerked his head over his shoulder. His heart thumped wildly. “Shit! Man—hurry up and help me inside…something is out here with me,” his voice shrill.
Barnaby peered further out the window. He didn’t see anything. “Calm down man…I don’t see anything.”
“Easy for you to say, your ass is inside,” Colton snapped.
“Dude, quit your bitching, you’re starting to sound like a girl,” Barnaby laughed out and then swallowed hard. His own voice sounded just as shrill. “Give me your hands.” He leaned further out the window.
Colton grabbed hold. “Pull me up, man!” Colton tried to scramble up the wall but his sneakers slipped on the stone.
Colton was dead weight.
Barnaby let go.
“Ow shit!” Colton’s stomach connected with a sharp object.
“Sorry dude.” Barnaby flinched. “Hold on a minute.”
Colton rubbed his sore belly. “Hurry up!” He jerked around. He could swear he heard something in the bushes.
Barnaby stuck his head back out. “Chance is going to help me.”
“Chance is in there too?”
“Yeah,” Barnaby answered and stuck his hands out the window.
Colton grabbed hold once more.
Chance held onto Barnaby’s belt and pulled back.
Wrapping my hands around Chance’s waist, my boobs squished against his back. “Sorry, Chance.”
“Not a problem.” Chance smiled.
Like a tug-of-war rope, each person pulled backward. After a few failed attempts, we finally managed to get Colton inside the window.
Colton slid through the window and his body thumped loudly on the floor. He rolled and jumped to his feet. “Ah-HA!” He sliced his hands in the air.
Barnaby ducked. “What the hell are you doing Colton? Trying to knock the shit out of me?”
“That’s my stealth-ninja move…you like?” Colton preened.
“Oh yeah, it’s great,” Barnaby deadpanned. “Where’d you learn that?”
“I taught myself,” Colton said. “I watch Bruce all the time.”
“Who, the boss…?” Chance asked.
“Not Springsteen…Lee,” Colton admonished, proudly.
“Right…” Barnaby said distractedly.
“You’re just jealous,” accused Colton.
“Dude, I’m so not jealous of you,” Barnaby said.
“Neither am I,” Chance added almost as an afterthought.
“Well,” Colton said with a smug tone. “You both should be.”
“Why?” Chance scratched his belly.
“Waa!” Colton sliced the air with his hands and kicked out his foot. “These are lethal. They should be registered as weapons,” he boasted, and sliced the air a few more times.
“Yeah, um…okay,” Barnaby said, simply to placate Colton. He was hoping there was a collection of guns hidden away in here somewhere. Colton could use his hands and feet as lethal weapons. Barnaby wanted a fucking Uzi.
42-COMPLICATION
The overwhelming number of books in the room spanned from the floor to the ceiling in cases that lined the walls. In the corner, a wrought-iron spiral staircase wound up to a second level balcony, which housed even more books. A wooden ladder, hooked to brass rails with wheels on the bottom, reached the second level. It reminded me of the one at the coffee house except this was much larger, and of course fancier.
A huge brass telescope, perched on a tripod at the far end of the balcony, was pointed into the middle of a plate-glass and iron-domed ceiling. Dark clouds blotted out most of the light of the moon except for the eerie blue that slipped out the sides. The color gave the room a strange, dream-like quality, and was another reminder of the time I had spent with Adriane. I wished I knew where he was and debated whether to slip out and look for him.
A loud, “Waa,” split the air. I rolled my eyes and tried my best to ignore Colton while he “practiced his mad skillz.” I even resorted to biting my lip to stop myself from groaning out loud. It made me sick to think I had even considered being with him and for my first time no less…gross…a little bit of puke slid up my throat. Now he was gobbing about how cool he was. I turned away, rolling my eyes. “Conceited dick.”
“Where did all the people go?” Chance blurted. He was standing over by the doors that led to the foyer.
“They left, Chance, remember?” Leaning forward, I braced my hands on top of the desk.
“Nah.” Chance shook his head. “You said some came inside…where are they?”
“Oh right.” I had been so preoccupied, I had completely forgotten about all the people I saw pushing through the front door. “I don’t know.”
Chance opened up the door and peeked out into the foyer. He looked up at the massive chandelier. It swung slightly and the chain rattled. He could have sworn he heard footsteps coming down the stairs but when he looked over at the stairwell, there was nothing there. Quickly, he shut the door again.
Barnaby adjusted his glasses. “Are we really the only ones left?”
I noticed he left out the… OH SHIT! Are we really the only ones left? I felt the same, with one small exception—if Adriane was still here…I was glad I was here too.
“Dude—do you see anyone else?” Colton pushed off the wall and sent the ladder sliding down the length of bookcases.
I watched Barnaby shake his head and mumble something under his breath—I could swear it was dumbass and on that count, I agreed wholeheartedly.
‡
It was quiet as a tomb with the exception of a “Waa” being screamed in the air from Colton’s lame ass.
Needing a distraction, I walked over to the bookcase and pulled a few books down. Arms loaded, I carried them over and set them down on the desk.
Several of the books were on the history of Briarcliff Manor and the surrounding area. Most dated back to the early eighteen-hundreds. There were some that didn’t even have copyrights so I had no idea how old those might be. I had no idea there was so much history on the place. On a normal day, I would have enjoyed reading up on it all, but at the moment, I couldn’t appreciate any of it. I was too worried about Adriane. I wanted to go and look for him, but didn’t think any of the guys would be in too big of a hurry to help me. And I hated to admit, even to myself, that I was afraid of going outside alone.
Opening another book, I read the text. I was going on a hunch. In the movies people always looked in books to find the answers, so maybe it would work for me too or at least that’s what I told myself.
“You find anything?” Barnaby stopped in front of me and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Can you see?” His glasses were all fogged up.
Barnaby exhaled. “Hold on.” He pulled off his glasses, lifted his shirt, and wiped off his lenses.
Not meaning to, my eyes drifted down to his stomach. He had one of those sexy stomachs like the kind you see on underwear ads with the cut hips that dipped down. Afraid he could see me, I tore my eyes away. “Hey, Barnaby, how good can you see without your glasses?”
“I can’t see shit,” he said. “Why?”
“Oh, just wondering.” Suddenly curious, I leaned closer to see what color his eyes were.
Barnaby put his glasses back on and let out an awkward laugh.
I jerked back, and knocked a book on the
ground.
We both bent over to pick up the book at the same time. Our faces were really close. I could see the flecks of gold in his green eyes.
His eyes crinkled around the corners. “I got it.” His fingers brushed against mine as he lifted the book and stood.
“Um….yeah…” I stood back up, feeling strangely warm.
“So have you found anything on um…?” He shifted and set the book on the desk. “Gargoyles?” he said so low I almost didn’t hear him.
The warmth of his breath wafted against my face and I felt myself leaning forward, for what…I didn’t know. I shook my head. What is the matter with me? I hugged myself, not sure what my weird reaction to him was about. It wasn’t like how I felt with Adriane, but it was still a bit…unsettling. “Um, no, not yet.” I took a step backward. He was too close.
Barnaby gave me a strange look and an awkward silence hung between us. The look he was giving me kind of reminded me of a little puppy dog. One I might have accidentally kicked.
“Hey,” I said, grasping for anything to fill the weird silence. “What did your mom say?”
“Huh?”
“Remember, you were going to tell me earlier, before…”
His expression snapped back to normal and he ran his hand through his hair. “You mean before that big-ass thing swooped in front of us?”
“I know! What was that?”
“You saw it too?” He laughed shakily. “I thought my ass was seeing things, but then again I have been seeing a lot of weird shit since we got on this mountain.”
“I know, I mean, I don’t really know, before when Adriane told me to run, I couldn’t see what I was running from.”
“Adriane?” he asked, clearly confused. “Oh right,” he said. “So, um, that was the guy you were with by the, ah…trees?” He suddenly felt like a loser for knowing even that much.
“Yeah, he is the guy…I was hanging with,” I finished stupidly, not wanting to say anything more.
“So what’s his deal?” he asked. “I mean where did he come from, and the other two guys…the ones with Heather and Moriah? Who were they?”
“Wait…who was with Moriah?”
“Oh, so you didn’t see them…” He left his statement open ended and his brows drew together.
“Nah…wait…what? Was there something to see?” I didn’t worry about being too close this time. Stepping forward, I turned my head, so he could tell me quietly without the others hearing. I couldn’t believe I was even interested in what Heather had been doing—but Moriah? What was that all about?
Barnaby laughed. He leaned down and lowered his voice until he was almost whispering. “Yeah, Heather was all over this guy.” He pulled back. “Actually, he um, looked a lot like the um…the guy you were with, too.”
I acted like I didn’t notice. “I did see Heather talking to some guy over by the drinks.” It couldn’t have been Adriane, could it? I suddenly felt sick.
“Hey, that’s where we, I mean, me and Colton saw her,” he said. “Before that…thing, came creeping out from the bushes.”
“What thing?”
“The dog,” he said. “The one I was telling you about. At least I think it was a dog.” His brows creased. “I’m not kidding, Evie. That thing was nasty, and huge. I have never seen anything like it except in the movies. It totally reminded me of Cujo, except bigger and uglier.”
“You sure it wasn’t Heather?” I laughed.
Completely straight-faced, Barnaby shook his head. “I’m not kidding, Evie,” he said. “I saw it and no, it was not Heather,” he said in all seriousness.
“I was only kidding.” I suddenly felt stupid and petty.
“Yeah, I know.” He exhaled. “Sorry. I am not trying to be a dick. It just freaked me out really bad.”
“Yeah, I get it.” I waved him off. Even though, to be honest, I had seen some pretty weird shit lately, too and I was taking it all in stride. Unless of course, I was going to lose it at some random moment and have a freaking breakdown, which I hoped wasn’t going to be the case.
“So…”
“Ohmigod!” I cut him off remembering something. “I saw some guy, he was freaked and said there was a mad dog out there. I didn’t believe him at the time but maybe he saw what you saw.”
“Probably,” he agreed. “Where did he go?”
“Oh, tighty-whities?”
Barnaby gave me a weird look.
“He was only wearing his underwear and one sock,” I explained.
“No way,” he laughed. “Really?” he asked.
“Yeah…” I lifted my brows. “It was pret-tay crazy.”
Barnaby’s face paled, suddenly. “Aren’t we gonna try to get out of here?”
“Yeah, of course,” I hedged and then changed the subject since I didn’t want to leave until I found Adriane. “What were you going to tell me about Moriah?”
“Hey, all I know is Colton saw her practically sitting on some dude’s lap.”
“What?” My mouth popped open. “No Way!” I pushed his arm.
“Yes way.” He pushed my arm back, albeit a lot gentler. “Colton told Kingston and his ass took off.”
“What?” I did a double take. “What happened?”
“I have no idea. We split. Then we saw Heather.” He shook his head. “You won’t believe…” He shook his head.
“What? You’re killing me here.”
He smiled and his entire face lit up. “She was going Zombie on some dude’s face.”
“Nooo!” I gaped.
“Yeeess!” He nodded. “Then Cujo’s twin showed and we ran.”
“Wow. Moriah…?” Now that was unbelievable. Of course I wasn’t shocked about Heather…well, I was shocked but in a different way. What guy would want to hook up with that bitch?
“I know, right.” Barnaby was shaking his head. “This place is whacked. I want to get the hell out of here, and the sooner the better.”
“Yeah,” I said absently. I knew he was right but even thinking about leaving without Adriane made me want to go and look for him.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I saw something else messed up.”
“I’m all ears.” I angled my body closer to his. “What did you see?”
“Well, you are probably going to think I’m crazy, but…I saw some weird things flying over in front of the moon, with big-ass wings.”
“Like a bat?”
“I wish…more like Batman,” he said.
The words slowly sunk in. “Like a gargoyle?” As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn’t.
“Now that you mention it…yeah, yeah, it could have been a gargoyle.” His frown deepened. “Not that I’ve seen one that wasn’t in stone, but if they weren’t…I guess that is exactly how they might look, you know, flying and all.”
We stared at one another, both wearing the same freaked expressions.
“This is out-there crazy…like really out-there crazy.”
“Tell me about it,” Barnaby agreed and then took a nervous breath. “Okay…okay.” He rubbed his hands over his face and took another deep breath. “All right,” he breathed. “Let’s use a hypothetical scenario,” he said. “If in fact there are um, you know, gargoyles, what do they want?”
“Barnaby, this is insane.” I felt like I might need to throw up.
“Yeah I know, but what if they’re real. We need to know what they want. I mean, they have to want something because their asses aren’t statues anymore… obviously.” He rolled his eyes and laughed but it wasn’t a funny: Ha, ha, laugh. It was an: I’m scared shitless laugh that said: I don’t know how to handle it so I am laughing and I found I was in complete agreement.
“What I mean to say is, if I am wrong, which I totally hope I am, but if not, we have to make allowances just in case we aren’t hallucinating or insane or whatever. You know.”
“Yeah...” I agreed but I wasn’t really listening to him any longer. Instead, my mind wandered back to Adriane and what he said, “One was a
gargoyle.” Pieces of last night flashed through my mind. “See the color of the moon that is how they know to come…here.” Is that what he was talking about? Was he trying to tell me about the gargoyles and that they were actually coming here? Even as I thought it I tried to tell myself I was crazy, they can’t be real. However, knowing that it was crazy didn’t stop me from having a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach that I may not be as crazy as I hoped.
43-UNCERTAIN
The glass doors thumped loudly against the wall as Kingston kicked them open.
“Kingston, what are you doing?” Moriah huddled behind him.
“Getting inside.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.
“Why are we going inside?” She shrank back.
“Because,” he said. “We need some kind of protection.”
“Protection from what?” she asked.
“HELLO,” he said, like she was stupid. “What do you think everyone was running from?”
“I have no clue, Kingston.” She flinched from his tone. Dick. Obviously, he was scared, but he didn’t have to take it out on her. She was scared, too.
He turned, and softened his voice. “Babe, come on,” he urged. “I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do, but something is up and I don’t want to be out in the middle of it when it happens. At least inside we have some kind of protection against whatever it is.”
Moriah could see his reasoning, but still wasn’t looking forward to hanging out in the creepy house, that was black as pitch. At least outside, the moon gave off a little bit of light.
“Shit!” Kingston grabbed his side.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just a stupid-ass chair,” he gritted and shoved it across the room. The chair toppled and clattered to the floor.
Someone yelped from the corner.
Moriah and Kingston both jumped in unison.
“Who’s there?” Kingston yelled. “You better come out or when I find you I’ll break your fucking neck,” he warned.
Briarcliff Page 17
