‘Oh God!’ said Valerie.
‘I don’t want to hear Voices,’ said Jimmy. ‘I’m having enough trouble coping with what’s going on in my head as it is.’
‘Shut up, Jimmy!’ Eileen said kindly.
‘Can you see anything different about the kitchen, Ishmael?’ said Valerie.
‘Not yet,’ I said. ‘I’m going in. You all stay put while I have a good look round.’
‘Damn right I’m staying put!’ said Jimmy. ‘You couldn’t get me into that room if you pointed a gun at my nads.’
‘Penny?’ I said. ‘Anything happening in the dining room?’
‘All clear!’ she said loudly.
‘Wait a minute, wait a minute!’ said Eileen. ‘I’ve just realized something. The blessing we put on the kitchen door didn’t work!’
‘What?’ said Jimmy. ‘Oh … yes. We all made the sign of the cross over the door, didn’t we? Does that mean none of our blessings did any good?’
‘Not necessarily,’ said Valerie. ‘All the blessings are designed to do is keep evil out. Not stop one of us from going to meet it.’
‘That’s something, I suppose,’ said Eileen.
I moved slowly forward into the kitchen. Everything was still, and almost defiantly peaceful. Staring back at me with calm normality. There was no sign of Albert anywhere, and no trace of any struggle. Something must have taken him the moment he closed the door. He’d been suddenly and silently carried away with eerie efficiency, as if something had been waiting for him.
I opened all the cupboards and rummaged through the contents. I opened all the drawers and even peered inside the oven. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Whatever it was, I didn’t find it. I dragged the fittings away from the walls so I could look behind them. A few resisted and I lost my temper. I hauled them away from the walls by brute force, not caring how much I damaged them in the process. Blank grey stone and cracked plaster stared calmly back at me. I tore the fittings apart with my bare hands as if they were made of cardboard. I smashed the work surfaces with my fists and threw the pieces around. I raged back and forth across the kitchen, making loud noises that didn’t even make sense to me, wrecking everything I could get my hands on. Just to make myself feel better.
I was revealing my more than human strength to the others watching from the doorway, but I didn’t give a damn.
That thought was finally enough to shock me sane again, and I lurched to a halt in the middle of the kitchen, breathing hard. More from the force of my emotions than anything else. I wasn’t used to feeling helpless, stupid and beaten. I glanced at the shocked faces in the doorway. They looked scared of me.
I took in the mess I’d made of the kitchen and didn’t blame them. In just a few moments I’d reduced a kitchen full of the very latest appliances to nothing more than wreckage and debris. Even the electric oven was lying on its side on the floor, torn out of its setting. Good thing it hadn’t been gas. A single piece of jagged wood protruded from one wall like a spear. I nodded jerkily to the others and gave them my best reassuring smile.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I lost it there, for a moment. But I’m back in control now. Everything’s fine. Really.’
No one said anything. They didn’t appear convinced. It was possible my smile hadn’t been as reassuring as I’d hoped. The only one who didn’t look frightened was Penny. She looked disappointed in me.
‘Everyone, go back into the dining room,’ I said. ‘There’s nothing to see here.’
‘Not now there isn’t!’ said Jimmy.
Valerie took him by the arm. ‘Really not the moment, Jimmy …’
‘What are you, Ishmael?’ said Eileen. ‘Really?’
‘Seriously upset,’ I said. ‘Go back to the table and sit down. Single file, hands on shoulders. Off you go.’
Valerie, Eileen and Jimmy moved away, sticking close together, muttering agitatedly under their breath. They didn’t look back at me once. Penny stayed in the doorway, looking me over carefully.
‘Are you all right, Ishmael?’
‘Not really,’ I said. ‘I stayed on to protect these people but don’t seem to be making too good a job of it. I should never have allowed Albert to come in here on his own.’
‘He didn’t give you a chance to stop him,’ said Penny. ‘It was almost like he wanted to be taken.’
‘Maybe he really was hearing Voices,’ I said.
‘Come back into the dining room, sweetie,’ said Penny. ‘There’s nothing more you can do here.’
I looked around the ruined kitchen. ‘Doesn’t look like it,’ I said.
Penny stepped cautiously forward into the kitchen and took me by the hand. Her grip was reassuringly strong, to make it clear nothing and no one would ever take me away from her. She led me back to the table in the dining room and we sat down facing the others. All of us were back in our usual seats, except some of them were empty now. Jimmy, Valerie and Eileen looked at me watchfully, but said nothing. And then Jimmy pushed back his chair and peered under the table. He quickly re-emerged, and smiled weakly round the table.
‘Just thought I’d check. I mean, we’ve looked everywhere else.’
‘Bogeymen usually hide under the bed,’ said Eileen.
‘You’re just mad because you didn’t think of it,’ said Jimmy.
Eileen surprised me then, with a brief bark of laughter.
‘We have to talk this through,’ said Penny. ‘People can’t just vanish into thin air. They must go somewhere.’
‘But if the demon can open doors in space …’ said Valerie.
Jimmy rounded on her. ‘Will you listen to yourself! Do you really believe what you’re saying?’
‘At least it’s an explanation,’ said Valerie.
‘Is it?’ said Eileen.
Valerie slumped in her chair. ‘I don’t know what to believe any more. But we have to believe in something.’
‘If the demon, or alien, is powerful enough to open a door in reality itself,’ I said, ‘why do people only disappear when we can’t see what’s happening?’
‘Because if we could see what was going on, we’d see how it was done,’ said Penny. ‘And then we’d know something the demon doesn’t want us to know.’
‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘Which sounds a lot like human planning to me.’
‘Are we really back to that?’ Valerie said tiredly. ‘Do you honestly believe any human being could make three people vanish so completely?’
‘It only looks like magic until you know how the trick is done,’ I said.
‘Do we have to keep going over this?’ said Eileen. ‘All these theories are making my head hurt.’
‘My stomach hurts,’ said Valerie.
Jimmy leaned in beside her, immediately concerned. ‘Do you feel sick? Could it be something you ate?’
Valerie managed a small smile for him. ‘Stop panicking, Jimmy. If it was the meal, we’d all be feeling it by now.’
‘Just worried about you …’ said Jimmy.
‘It’s only nerves,’ said Valerie. ‘My stomach aches because I’m tense all the time. Never able to relax, even for a moment, waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Waiting for someone else to disappear, and worrying that it might be me.’
‘Like a solider in the trenches,’ said Eileen. ‘Listening for the next bullet and wondering whose name will be on it. Does it make me a bad person that I don’t feel so bad about Albert being gone because I never really liked him that much? Not even back in the days when we were all supposed to be such good chums. I only put up with him because he was Olivia’s boyfriend. He never bought a round and always depended on us for transport, and he let Olivia walk all over him.’
‘He had his good points,’ said Valerie.
‘Name one …’ said Jimmy.
‘I thought he was your friend!’ said Penny.
‘He was,’ said Jimmy. ‘One of my oldest and closest friends. Doesn’t mean I actually liked him all that much.’
‘It
’s often that way,’ said Eileen. ‘Perhaps because we value our friends more and forgive them more. I will miss him.’
‘You always knew where you were with Albert,’ said Valerie. ‘When the pressure was on and it really mattered, you could always rely on Albert to let you down.’
‘And there’s no denying he screwed us all royally over the Castle,’ said Jimmy. ‘Both Albert and Olivia did.’
‘At least he’ll never leave his precious inn now,’ said Valerie.
‘And you think that’s a good thing?’ said Jimmy.
‘If we stay here much longer, we’ll find out,’ said Eileen.
‘We’re not staying,’ I said. ‘It’s too dangerous. I know you’re all reluctant to leave the inn because of the dark and what might be outside …’
‘Yes!’ said Jimmy. ‘With good reason! At least in here we can see what’s happening and defend ourselves!’
‘And how has that worked out for you so far?’ Penny said kindly. ‘The light didn’t protect Olivia, or Thomas or Albert. Ishmael is right. We have to get out of here while we still can. We know bad things happen here, we don’t know that about the way back to town.’
‘What if the hanging tree is back?’ said Valerie.
‘Then give it plenty of room,’ I said. ‘It might come and go, but it’s still just a tree. I really don’t think it’s going to rip up its roots and chase us across the car park.’
‘Oh thanks a whole bunch for that highly disturbing image!’ said Jimmy. ‘Like I needed something else to worry about.’
‘But what if there is someone, or something, waiting for us out there?’ said Valerie.
‘Like the face at the window?’ said Eileen.
‘If there is a face I will punch it,’ I said. ‘And if there’s a person attached, I will slam them up against the nearest wall until they start giving me answers as to what the hell is going on here.’
‘Actually, I think I’d pay good money to see that …’ said Jimmy.
‘But what if we go outside,’ Eileen said slowly, ‘and there’s nothing there?’
We all looked at her. Eileen’s sour but determined strength seemed to have deserted her. She looked somehow smaller and less certain. Like a boxer in the ring who’d been hit too hard and too often. And there was something about her voice. She sounded … almost fey.
‘What if the demon has opened a door big enough to swallow the whole inn?’ she said. Her eyes were a little too large than was good for her, as she stared at something only she could see. ‘What if we go outside and the world we know is gone, replaced by something else? What if there’s nothing outside … and this is all there is now?’
For a long moment no one said anything.
‘OK …’ said Jimmy. ‘Someone has just jumped right over the edge and taken common sense with her. You need a drink, Eileen.’
‘Jimmy!’ said Valerie. But her heart wasn’t in it.
‘Oh come on!’ said Jimmy. ‘The vicar’s wife has lost the plot big time. This is crazy talk!’
‘And what’s happened already isn’t insane?’ said Valerie.
‘No,’ Penny said sharply. ‘It’s weird, but that doesn’t make it crazy. Just something we don’t understand yet.’
‘Now we have to go outside,’ I said. ‘If only to reassure ourselves that the world is still out there.’
‘Do we?’ said Jimmy. ‘Because if it has all gone away, I think I’d be much happier not knowing that.’
‘We’re going outside, Jimmy,’ said Valerie. ‘Because my stomach will never feel right again until I do.’
‘The words “frying pan” and “fire” come to mind,’ said Jimmy. ‘And not at all in a good way.’
We all rose to our feet. Jimmy and Valerie had to help Eileen. Her mind had drifted off in a dangerous direction, and she couldn’t seem to find her way back. Hopefully a good look around a perfectly ordinary car park would help put her back together again. Eileen had been the strongest member of the group; but the strongest are often the first to break, when they discover strength isn’t enough to protect them or those they care about.
I organized everyone into a straight line, single file, with a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them. I took the lead, and put Penny at the back again because I needed someone there I could trust. I marched them down the long room to the front door, and then stopped.
‘You’d better put your coats on,’ I said. ‘It’s cold outside. And once you’ve all seen that everything is as it should be, we are all of us walking back to town. No arguments, no detours, no hanging around.’
Nobody argued. Though they did look to me for permission to take hands off shoulders before they went for their coats. I nodded brusquely, and they rummaged quickly through the pile of coats I’d dumped on the floor when I used the coat stand to wedge the front door shut. I waited till they were all done and back in line before I retrieved my coat. I shrugged it on, and then couldn’t resist checking my pockets. Just in case my phone and car keys had magically reappeared. They hadn’t.
I went over to the front door, pulled the wooden coat stand away and leaned it against the wall, and took hold of the door handle. The door wouldn’t open. I stepped back and stared at it.
‘Ishmael?’ said Penny, from the back of the line. ‘What’s the problem?’
‘The door’s locked,’ I said.
‘How is that even possible?’ said Jimmy, so angry that for a moment he actually forgot to be scared. ‘We just used it, only a few minutes ago!’
‘How is any of this possible?’ said Eileen. ‘The inn has gone bad. It’s working against us.’
‘Eileen, will you please go back to being a “quiet space” case?’ said Jimmy. ‘I can cope with that better.’
‘Screw you!’ said Eileen.
Jimmy smiled suddenly. ‘That’s better. Much more you.’
Eileen managed a small smile for him.
‘Someone is messing with us,’ I said, ‘they really don’t want us to leave. So they sneaked round and locked the door from the outside. But that’s not going to stop us. Penny, keep a watch on the dining room while I sort this out in case it’s another distraction.’
‘On it, darling,’ said Penny.
‘Is she always this positive?’ said Jimmy.
‘Mostly,’ I said.
‘How do you stand it?’
‘Practice.’
I studied the closed door carefully. I couldn’t open it with a shoulder charge, like I had with the kitchen door, because this one opened inwards.
‘Would it be easier to smash one of the windows?’ Jimmy said tentatively. ‘Get out that way?’
‘Given how thick those old-fashioned leaded glass windows are, I doubt it would be easy,’ I said. ‘And anyway, we’d be left with an opening we couldn’t easily block off afterwards.’
‘What does that matter?’ said Valerie. ‘We’re not coming back. Are we?’
‘We might have to,’ said Eileen. ‘If there’s nowhere out there to go.’
‘And I thought you were getting better …’ said Jimmy.
‘I do feel a bit better now we’re doing something,’ said Eileen. ‘I’m just being practical.’
‘You mean paranoid,’ said Jimmy.
‘Paranoid?’ said Eileen. ‘Is that what they’re saying about me?’
And again, they shared a small smile. Valerie laughed quietly, just for a moment.
‘We are leaving through the front door,’ I said. ‘I’ve got this.’
I reached into a hidden pocket in my coat and brought out a flat leather pouch. Unfolded, it contained a number of slim steel probes. Lock picks. I sorted through them carefully, looking for just the right tools to use on the old-fashioned lock.
‘Wait a minute! Throw everything into reverse and slam on the brakes!’ said Jimmy. ‘Are those what I think they are? Where did you get them?’
‘I do security work, remember?’ I said. ‘A lot of which can depend on my being able to g
et inside places where I’m not supposed to be.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Jimmy.
‘Would they work on the cars?’ Valerie asked hopefully.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Now hush, children, and let me work.’
I had the lock open in a few moments, though I had to use a lot of strength to turn the heavy tumblers. One of the steel probes actually bent in half under the strain. I put the lock picks away, braced myself, and then opened the front door and pulled it all the way back. The car park was still there, completely deserted under the familiar star-speckled sky with its dull half moon. I looked back at the others.
‘Everything outside is exactly as it should be. Dark and cold, and just a bit windy. Nothing at all to worry about. No hanging tree, no one peering in through the windows, and absolutely nothing between us and the road back to town. So get yourselves in line, people, hands back on shoulders. We are leaving, and we are not stopping for anything. Follow me.’
Outside in the car park the wind had died down but the air was freezing cold. Our breath steamed thickly. Moonlight shimmered across the open expanse, more than enough to let us see where we were going. Probably not enough to light the way once we were inside that long leafy tunnel through the woods, but the road was pretty straight, with no side turnings. I didn’t see how we could get lost. As long as we stepped it out, we should be back at Black Rock Towen in no time.
‘See?’ I said, glancing back over my shoulder. ‘Nothing’s gone and nothing’s changed. We’re still exactly where we should be.’
‘Sorry,’ said Eileen. She was standing a little straighter now, as she looked out into the night, and her gaze was sharp and fierce again. ‘I lost it there, for a while. But I’m back now.’
‘Imagine my relief …’ said Jimmy.
‘Shut up, Jimmy!’ said Eileen, and he nodded happily.
And then Eileen turned her head suddenly, to look back at the inn. We all turned to look, as well.
‘What is it, Eileen?’ said Valerie.
Eileen stared at the Castle. Bright light streamed from its windows and spilled out of the open door, but nothing was moving anywhere.