by R. L. King
“What about Verity? Do you want to get her involved in this?”
“I don’t want to take her attention off the case she’s on with Jason. She said she’d call me when she’s done.” He waved Ian off. “Go on, now. Find one of the bedrooms you like and try to sleep. I know this whole night’s been a bit harrowing for you.”
“That’s kind of an understatement. But—and don’t take this wrong—it’s kind of intriguing, too, don’t you think?”
Stone turned away to hide his smile. This night might have gone to hell in a serious way, but it was nice to see that apparently Ian truly was turning out to be his son.
8
Surprisingly, Stone did manage to get some sleep. He woke to his phone buzzing on the nightstand, and for a moment the unfamiliar location confused him until he remembered he was at the London house. He snatched it up and instantly recognized the number.
“Aubrey.” He glanced at his watch: a little after eight a.m. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, sir. Are you? Where are you?”
“In London, with Ian.”
“Are you…feeling better today, sir?”
“That’s a hard question to answer.”
“I trust you took care of whatever the problem was at the house? You must have been there last night.”
“I was, and no, not yet. Something’s up, Aubrey. I want you to stay away from there until I let you know it’s safe. Perhaps it’s a good time for you to take a holiday, or go visit some relatives for a while.”
There was a pause. “Sir…”
“No arguments, Aubrey. Whatever’s there is dangerous, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Another pause. “Dangerous, sir? I…I don’t know what you mean. I was just there this morning.”
“What?” Stone gripped the phone harder. “Aubrey, I told you to stay away—”
“I know, sir. And I’m sorry. But I left so quickly last night that I forgot several things I needed, and I remembered one of the gardeners was supposed to be there this morning. He doesn’t have a mobile, and I didn’t want him walking in on something that might injure him, so I decided to risk a quick trip.”
Stone sighed. Aubrey was a stubborn old man, and he’d have a good laugh at anybody who thought he followed “orders”. “Are you there now?”
“No, I’m back in the village. But I was there less than an hour ago, and…sir, I didn’t encounter anything out of the ordinary.”
“You didn’t?”
“Not a thing, sir.”
“Did you go up to the house?”
“Yes, sir, through the back door near the kitchen.”
Stone’s blood chilled. “And nothing attacked you? You didn’t hear screams, or feel odd in any way?”
“Sir—no. Nothing like that. I picked up what I needed from the kitchen and left the same way. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all.”
“You didn’t go near the great room or the front entryway?”
“No. I didn’t need to. Should I have?”
“No,” Stone said quickly. “What did you do then?”
Aubrey sounded like he wasn’t sure what to make of Stone’s strange questions. “I went back to my truck and left. I was able to intercept the gardener just as he came in the front gate. I told him he’d have to come back later, and I’d ring him when it was convenient.”
Stone let his breath out and sat up. “Well…that’s good news, at least.”
“What did you see in there, sir?”
“I’m not entirely sure. For all I know, it could have all been illusion. I’m sure some of it was.” He got up and pushed aside the heavy drapes to peer out the window. It was a gray day, but he didn’t see any sign of rain.
“Sir…can you tell me anything else about what’s going on? You said something about the cellar—”
“I don’t know yet. Ian thought he heard something last night. He went down to the cellar to check, and discovered a door we’d found down there yesterday—a heavy, carved stone door—was broken in two.”
“In…the cellar? I don’t remember seeing any doors like that.”
“Er—yes. I didn’t tell you yet, but we found a whole network of passageways—catacombs, and some kind of ritual area, hidden under the floor down there.”
“Dear God, sir!”
“I know. I’m sorry—I was trying to keep it under wraps until I had more time to explore it. Please don’t mention it to anyone else. But after Ian went down there to investigate last night, he was attacked.”
“Attacked? By what?”
“We don’t know that either. My working theory is echoes.”
“Echoes? You mean…ghosts, sir?” Aubrey sounded astonished.
“That’s exactly what I mean. I’m not sure if the damage they’ve done is real, illusionary, or a combination of both. But it doesn’t matter—either way, it’s dangerous, and I don’t want you in the middle of it.”
Aubrey sighed. “What…are you going to do, sir? We can’t simply avoid the house.”
“No. We can’t. I don’t care what these things are, that place is mine and they’re not driving me out of it. But I’ve got to figure out what they are, what they want, and how to get rid of them. Based on what they were screaming, I’m thinking they may have something to do with what my ancestors got up to.”
“Your ancestors?”
“They said something to do with ‘a curse on my line.’ That makes me think it’s related to my family somehow.”
The line was silent for several seconds. “Perhaps that’s why I wasn’t affected, then.”
Stone frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, sir, if whatever’s going on up there is related to your family, perhaps that’s why they attacked you and Ian, but not me.”
He almost brushed that off, but then a tingle went through him. “Bloody hell, Aubrey, you might be on to something there. But I don’t want to put you in danger by testing it.”
“I was already inside the house, and nothing attacked me. I’m willing to chance it again, if you want to find out for sure.”
“I’ll—let you know. I don’t like it. Listen, Aubrey—I need to make some other calls. Promise me you won’t go anywhere near that house until I’m there. I need your word. I’d be gutted if anything happened to you because of my buggered-up family.”
“I…promise, sir. I locked the gates, and I’m not expecting anyone else up there today. I’ll ring the workmen and let them know they shouldn’t come back to deal with the cellar tomorrow.”
Stone pictured a flock of angry echoes pelting the innocent workers with household debris, and blood cascading down the walls. Even if they didn’t get hurt, if that story got out to the world the place would be surrounded by camera crews before the day was over. “Good man. I’ll see you soon.”
He found Ian downstairs, seated at the dining room table with a large, white paper bag and two steaming to-go cups in front of him. He wore a snug-fitting T-shirt and jeans, and his hair was tousled. “Morning,” he said. “I was just about to go looking for you.” He nodded toward the items on the table. “I couldn’t find anything in the kitchen, so I went out for some coffee. Have a croissant. They’re still warm.”
Stone frowned at the bag, which had a Paris address on the side. “Where did you go?”
Ian grinned. “Paris. There’s this great little pâtisserie just down the street from where the portal is, so I just popped through. It was faster than trying to drive around here.”
Stone shook his head in wonder and dropped down across from his son. He dragged a cup over and pulled a warm, sweet-smelling pastry from the bag.
“So,” Ian said, “what’s the plan?”
“I was just talking with Aubrey. He’s bloody stubborn, but in this case it might have done us some good.”
“How so?” Ian liberated a second croissant and took a big bite.
“He went to the house this morning, even though I told him not to. Said he needed to
retrieve some things from the kitchen, so he went in through the back door. And nothing attacked him. He didn’t see anything unusual at all.”
“Huh. That’s weird.”
“It might not be. If the echoes have issue with our family, it might be that others who aren’t related to us can go inside safely.”
“You want to test that with Aubrey?”
“No, of course not. But he wants to. And I think he might have a point. You saw the energy around the place—it wasn’t just at the front door, but covering the whole house. And he went right inside, neat as you please.”
Ian tilted his head. “Maybe so. But even if he can do that, how will that help us? He can’t go down in that hidden basement and look around. He’d break a leg or something trying to get down through the hole.”
Before Stone could answer, his mobile rang again. He held up a finger as he pulled the phone out and recognized Verity’s number. “Hello, Verity. How are you?”
“Hey, Doc. Doing great. How about you?”
Stone didn’t reply. “How did your case go? Are you still in Texas?”
“No, we’re back home now. It went fantastic. Couldn’t ask for better. I used a ritual and it led us right to the kid. The kidnappers were trying to smuggle him into Mexico in the toolbox of a truck, but we called the cops, and the Mexican authorities nailed them as they tried to cross the border. The kid’s fine, just a little shook up. He’s back with his parents now.”
Stone couldn’t miss the wide grin in her tone. “That’s brilliant, Verity. I’m so happy to hear it. And proud, too. Am I still allowed to be proud of you even though you’re not my apprentice anymore?”
She laughed. “Sure. In this case, anyway. I’m proud of me, and so is Jason. He did good too—some great detective work to get us to the point where we could do the ritual, and coming up with a good cover story for how we figured out where the kid was. We were gonna go out and celebrate tonight. You want to join us? You can tell us all about Imogen’s wedding.”
“Er. Actually, something’s come up. I’m still in England. I was wondering if you might come over here, if you don’t have anything else planned in the next day or two.”
“Is everybody okay?” Now concern laced her voice.
“Yes, everyone’s fine. The wedding was lovely—it’s not related to that. Imogen and Clifford are probably well on their way to the French Riviera by now. It’s something at the house. We’ve discovered something nasty in the cellar.”
“Something nasty? We?”
“Ian’s here. We’re at the London place right now. If you’ve got a few minutes, I’ll catch you up.”
“Sure, let’s hear it.”
He watched Ian nibble a croissant and sip coffee as he gave Verity an abbreviated rundown of what had occurred since yesterday afternoon. He left out the specifics about his family; she already knew they were a bad bunch, but he’d never given her all the details about the papers he’d found in the crypt at the mausoleum. He’d probably have to now, but thought it might be better to do it in person.
“Wow,” she said at last, when he finished. “That’s…pretty scary. So you can’t go back to the house without getting attacked and screamed at?”
“Apparently not. But Aubrey went in without triggering anything. He thinks it might be related to my family, since he can get in and Ian and I can’t. I’m inclined to believe him. He wants to test the hypothesis, but I’d rather not have him do it alone. I’d be much more comfortable if he had some backup. Specifically, magical backup.”
“Uh—sure. I don’t have anything with Scuro for a couple days, and I can postpone my lesson with Hezzie for a while. Want Jason to come too?”
“If he wants to. Do you think you can get him to come through the portal? I haven’t got time to wait for you two to take a conventional flight.”
“I’ll see,” she said dryly. “You know how he freaks out when we even mention it. Either way, I’ll be there in a few hours. London portal?”
“Yes, don’t take the one at the Surrey place until we’re sure it’s safe.” He glanced at Ian again. “Thank you, Verity. I appreciate it.”
“Hey, this is interesting stuff. I wouldn’t miss it. See you soon.”
9
Verity arrived two hours later, with a nervous Jason gripping her shoulder as if expecting to plummet to his death if he let go.
She’d called just before they left, so Stone and Ian waited for them in the portal room. “Bravo, Jason,” Stone said with a grin, offering an amused golf clap. “You must finally be developing some of your sister’s curiosity.”
“Shut up, Al,” Jason muttered, sweeping a hand across his sweat-dotted forehead. “I don’t like that fucking thing one bit.” Like Verity he carried an overnight bag, and he also had a camera bag slung over his shoulder.
“You didn’t have any trouble, did you?” Stone shifted to magical sight, examining Jason’s aura. It looked disturbed, but within normal parameters for what he’d just done.
“It was fine,” Verity assured him. “No problems at all. Jason’s just a big scaredy-cat with no sense of adventure.” She tugged herself away. “You can let go now, big bro. We’re all safe and cozy in London.”
He glared at her, but released his grip. Taking a deep breath, he scanned the room. “Hey, Ian,” he greeted, and then his gaze settled on Stone. “So, what’s the deal here? You dug up a secret hidden basement, and now your house is haunted?”
“That’s about the size of it.” He gave them both a few more details he hadn’t told Verity over the phone as they trooped upstairs. “So,” he finished when they reached the sitting room, “I’m thinking Verity and Aubrey can go in and check things out. Since the echoes don’t seem to want Ian and me there, if they likewise don’t want you two there I doubt you’ll have much trouble getting out.”
“What about me?” Jason asked. “You want me to go too?”
“Wait a sec,” Verity said, laughing. “I can barely drag you through a perfectly safe travel portal, but exploring a haunted house is no problem?”
“I can fight back against stuff getting thrown at me,” he growled. “We get stuck in that portal with those things and there’s not much I can do about it.”
“Hardly any things to worry about anymore,” Stone said. “If you come along, though, you’ll have to brave the portal again. I don’t want to waste time taking the train down.”
“Yeah, fine.” He glanced at Ian. “You do this all the time, right?”
Ian looked amused. “Yeah. I’ve been all over the world. Nothing’s eaten me yet.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Not this week, anyway.”
“Right, then,” Stone said quickly. “Verity, are you up for it?”
“Oh, sure.” She couldn’t hide her sly smile at her brother’s sudden uneasiness. “Jason, will you trust me? It takes about ten seconds to get from here to Surrey, and you’ll have three mages with you. You’ll barely notice it.”
“Fine.” He glared in Ian’s direction, then shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Let’s do it.”
“Brilliant. I’ll ring Aubrey and let him know we’re coming.”
Aubrey met them outside the mausoleum. “Is everything all right, sir?”
“Fine.” He nodded toward the tiny building, where Ian was following Verity and Jason out. “Looks like a bloody clown car in there. Have you seen anything odd since we spoke last?”
“No, sir. But I haven’t been up to the house. Nothing’s wrong at my flat, and I did a bit of work outside to keep busy. I haven’t heard anyone screaming, and no one’s thrown anything at me yet. I did take a look at the front of the house, though—from a reasonable distance,” he added hastily when Stone opened his mouth to protest. “I saw some evidence of broken windows, and the front door is open.”
“So it’s likely not all illusion, then. Are you sure you want to do this? Jason and Verity could—”
A quiet dignity settled over the old caretaker as he shook his head. “N
o, sir. I want to. I’ve been looking after this place since before you were born. I’m taking it as a bit of a personal affront that something’s trying to drive its master away. I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do.”
They walked through the cemetery and up to the circular driveway in front of the house. As Aubrey had said, half of the double front door yawned open, and the two windows on either side of it were both shattered. Stone switched to magical sight and was not at all surprised to see the green energy creeping around the edges and glowing from inside.
“Wow,” Verity said. She’d obviously been doing the same thing. “That’s freaky looking.”
“What do you see?” Jason asked.
“It’s like the place has its own weird aura. Like radioactive green. And it’s worse inside.” She turned away from the house and back toward Stone. “Echoes can do that?”
“There hasn’t been a lot of definitive study about what echoes can and can’t do. They’re generally fairly mercurial, and don’t like answering questions. But I’ve never seen an aura like that before, so that’s new.” He studied the house again and took a deep breath. The pulsing green light seemed unhealthy somehow, and he couldn’t help envisioning it going red and swallowing his friends up if they went in there. “Perhaps we should take a few more readings before we—”
Verity touched his arm. “We’ll be careful, Doc,” she said softly. “But if you want to figure out what’s going on in there, you need more data.”
He knew she was right, even though he didn’t want to admit it. “All right,” he said with reluctance. “Just…take a quick look around. Keep going if nothing happens, but if you sense anything malevolent, get yourselves out. Promise me.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
“And stay in contact.” Stone pulled out his mobile. “I want to know what you’re seeing.”
