"I couldn't even do anything," Mike said, his voice hoarse from trying hard not to cry. "I don't know how it happened, but...I was just so...not in control."
Amy hugged her boyfriend, her eyes full of concern. Alan tried to look sympathetic, but just managed annoyance with the twins, who clung to his legs hard enough to cut off circulation. "Why won't you go to sleep?" he moaned.
They shrugged in unison, blinking adorably up at him. "Not tired," they chorused.
Alan sighed. "Can't you just go...watch TV?"
They complied instantly, dashing out of the kitchen and into the living room. Mike put his head down on the table. "It's impossible," he muttered. "How can that happen? I mean, it's impossible."
"Very little is truly impossible," Mari intoned.
* * *
Jenna continued her desperate attempts to talk with the albino. This proved difficult, since his attention was captured frequently by the twins, and since that snakelike hissing of Emory's cigarette lighter was burning deep into her mind. It was actually starting to hurt. It was too close to the unpleasant ring of dead silence, so similar to the hiss of steam when fire was doused.
The dark and the quiet - a dangerous combination that could drive even the sanest mad.
Eventually she gave up. Her sister had left the stories and the red pen on the chair, so Jenna picked them up and started doodling on the back of one. When this lost her interest, she flipped it over.
'Xenophobia: An Essay by Isaac Bernard.'
Isaac Bernard? Why did that name ring a bell in her mind? She started to read, then reluctantly remembered that Mike had not done anything about the flooding basement. She really ought to remind him...
Leaving the essay behind, she shuffled into the kitchen, her ankle paining her at every step. "Mike?" she asked softly.
He raised his head from where it had been cradled in his arms. "Yes?"
"The...the basement. The water..."
"Oh, right."
Hannah raised an eyebrow. "What's this? More insanity?"
"Sorry." And Jenna explained again what had happened.
Kristen and Amy volunteered to go down, find the controls for the plumbing, and turn off the water. Mike glanced at his girlfriend, relief in his eyes.
"Just don't go into the third room on the left."
"No," Kristen agreed, and the women left.
Jenna perched on a vacated chair, staring curiously at the shattered remains of the small chandelier. "Things just keep getting weirder," she remarked.
"You don't seem...sad," Liza said softly.
"I imagine I'll have time to grieve after we're out of this hellhole." The girl turned to Mari, who she knew best of her sister's friends. "Who's Isaac Bernard?"
Mari and Hannah both winced. Hannah recovered first. "He was a teenager who...died here, not too long ago. I'm investigating his death."
"He was in one of my classes," Mari said. "Brilliant kid, not the sort to get mixed up with those kids he was with when he died. Shaped them up, that's for sure." She laughed bitterly.
Hannah sighed. "Why do you ask, Jenna?"
"Because I found his essay. The one about xenophobia."
"Oh, that one," Mari said thoughtfully. "His best work, I thought...he never got his grade, he died the day after he turned it in..."
"I'd like to see it, if I may," Hannah said, her eyes sparkling with joy at finding what might be a clue.
"Yeah, whatever." The two left the room, leaving Liza to stare at the chandelier in fear.
"This house holds so much death," she whispered. "We've got to get out of here as soon as we possibly can."
Jenna shivered involuntarily, suddenly desperate for less depressing company. But where could she go? Emory's lighter would surely drive her mad, and she'd probably get lost if she tried now to find Josh, Nick, and Alicia. She refused to even consider running after Amy and Kristen - so where to, then?
She wandered aimlessly out of the kitchen and was met at the front door by Shannon. Jenna blinked; she hadn't even noticed the woman's absence. There was a peculiar expression on her face. She made as if to go around Jenna, then paused, looking thoughtful.
Finally, Jenna couldn't stand the silence. "What?"
"Come with me. There's something you should see."
Jenna followed her sister's former friend out into the dark, cold night, agony flashing through her ankle with each movement.
* * *
Emory stared at the TV, seeing nothing but static though he knew that there had to be something more, because Kelly wouldn't laugh at nothing. The twins - Jenna's nieces, he thought idly - laughed with her, but he could tell they didn't understand the jokes. Intelligent they might be, but one had to remember that their experience was limited to seven years.
His thumb continued its steady clicking of the lighter, a sound that comforted him. He sat up and stared at the adults. He wasn't sure of their names. The dark-skinned woman seemed utterly bored, while the other, sun-streaked brown hair falling over her eyes, bent over a paper with an eagerness that surprised him. How could anyone be happy in this dreadful place?
He missed Randy. The short, sardonic boy had always been there, a little follower always willing to please. It seemed impossible that Emory would never see his friend again.
He mulled that over. "Friend." The word had never occurred to him before, at least not to be used with his gang. They were companions, not "friends." Emory Wilson didn't have "friends."
He touched his cheek where the glass had cut it, only hours ago. It seemed eons had passed since he had clambered through the window, intent on the hazing. That had been trivial, and now he was going to his death - of that he was sure. If it hadn't been for Zareh...
He tried to focus on the albino, but as always his eyes slid off. Emory couldn't look straight at Zareh, only out of the corner of his eye. He hated it, didn't understand it, but then he hardly understood anything anymore.
Frustrated, he returned his jaded gaze to the adults.
* * *
Hannah read the essay twice, then frowned. "He knew about the 'curse' and seemed to believe in it," she said. "He liked the supernatural. Isaac never would have come here, if all this is true. He would have been afraid."
Mari shrugged. "It was a dare, the gang kidnapped him, there's any number of explanations. It's the death that confuses me. Heart attack, you said? At the age of seventeen?"
"Impossible, I know. Like what Mike said happened to that other kid. I don't believe in ghosts, Mari. I don't know what's going on in this house, but people are dying, and it has to stop."
"How do you intend to stop it, mademoiselle?" Mari grinned. "You couldn't stop Paul dying, you couldn't stop Isaac dying, and now that kid and the guy in the car. What makes you think you can interfere with death, when so far you haven't been successful?"
Hannah tried to glare, but upon finding the underlying malice in Mari's dark eyes, she looked over at the children. The dark-haired one - Ethan or whatever his name was - gazed back, emotions hidden.
"I'm going to find the killer," she said suddenly, addressing Mari but watching the boy. "You're coming with me. We'll search the house top to bottom - or bottom to top, whichever you prefer."
Something flashed in those dark eyes and the boy jumped up. "I'm coming too," he announced. "And you should start at the bottom."
The albino turned to stare at them, then suddenly abandoned the clapping game he was playing with Anna, fear in his pale eyes. "Me too?"
"I don't think so," Hannah began, but Mari cut her off.
"They can both come. We could use the help."
The four walked out of the living room and to the basement steps together, Hannah looking absolutely furious. Kelly watched them go, but made no move to get up. The twins, torn between following their new friend and remaining here to wait for their mother's return, eventually did neither and slipped quietly out the front door.
* * *
Alicia was lost long before they mounted the steps to the third floor.
"And how, pray tell, do you intend to find our way back?" she snapped at Nick, wishing desperately for a beer.
He shrugged. "If we turn on the water in all the rooms, we can tell where we've been."
Josh touched the Band-Aid that clung to his ear and made it difficult to hear. "I...still think we shouldn't be here. Without Jenna and Randy, I mean. Won't they be upset?"
Alicia tsked. "How little you know, newbie. Jenna couldn't care less, and Randy - well, he's an odd one. Although his lockpicking skills might come in handy. Handy Randy, hee hee."
Nick gave her a weird look. "Did you just say 'hee hee'?"
"Hee hee," she snapped.
The three turned a corner and came to a halt facing the picture of the apathetic foreign girl. For a moment none of them spoke; then Josh said, "It's nice."
"Scary chick," Nick noted. "Rather looks like you, Alicia."
She swatted him. "You are an imbecile. Probably she was one of the old owners of this place."
Josh gazed thoughtfully at the portrait. "It's old, then. Shouldn't we take it? Could be worth something," he added belatedly.
Actually, he didn't care if he could get money for it. The portrait was well done and actually pretty, in a depressingly inhuman way. He thought, privately, that others deserved to be allowed to see it. His knowledge of art wasn't that great, and his knowledge of time less, so he didn't notice the lack of aging or dust on the picture, and he put the startlingly alive black eyes down to that painter's trick - pursuant eyes, was it called?
"That chick is evil," Nick said suddenly, showing a shocking amount of insight. "Someone should burn that thing, and this house. Soon. Very soon. Maybe Em is right and we are going to die. She'd kill us if she could."
"That's silly," Alicia said, though she was privately concerned. This paranoia was more like Emory, or Randy - not her Nick, the oh-so-practical boy with no sense of right and wrong, good and evil.
He backed away from the picture. "Things are out of our control now, can't you see that? We're falling prey to these forces that would destroy us, if they could."
"Stop," she whispered, aware of Josh's confused gaze falling on them. "You're being so -"
"Cautious?" he asked. "People have died here." He pointed at the portrait. "She was one of them. And now...I don't know. I don't believe in ghosts, but if there was ever a ghost, she's it."
Josh had a sudden urge to turn on all the faucets - anything to drown out Nick's disturbing words. Unnoticed by the other two, he entered a room.
It was a bedroom, dustless, done in shades of dark green. The canopy bed's covers were rumpled, as though someone had slept restlessly in them and then forgotten to smooth them out. Josh quietly closed the door, drowning out the argument and leaving him in absolute silence.
Another portrait of the Armenian girl hung on the wall opposite the bed. She looked happy; there was a sparkle in her eyes, a smile curving her lips. Josh sat on the bed and looked around, then drew his legs up with an oath when six large rats dashed out from underneath.
They stared at him, beady eyes glittering. He grabbed at the pillow, prepared to - what? Hit them with it? That wasn't any good.
A sudden stabbing pain reminded him of his ear. He cried out in agony and brought his hand up, closing his eyes and digging his nails into his palm.
When the pain dissipated and he opened his eyes, the rats had vanished, but he didn't dare try to get up.
* * *
Shannon walked quickly, head bowed, hands in her pockets. Jenna, following, established a hopping limp that tired her, but cut the pain in half.
They came to the broken wall. The flames had died, reduced to a few smoldering embers in the grass. Jenna stared at the twisted remains for a moment. "What?"
"Some guy Hannah knew crashed and died. But the body's gone. I want to find it."
Jenna backed away, wincing. "No. My sister saw a dead body and it ruined her life. Not me."
Shannon's green eyes narrowed. "She told you?"
"Yes, a few years ago."
"We weren't meant to tell anyone. We swore it, on pain of death."
Jenna snorted. "Yeah, like you never told anyone, ever."
Shannon flushed. "Let's - look."
"You did!"
"My boyfriend, all right? I was scared and I couldn't keep it to myself. He got nervous and broke up with me. That was senior year and I was miserable."
"Tough." Jenna reluctantly picked her way over the debris. "Oath-breaker."
The twins watched from the shadows. Anna turned to Hayley. "I've never seen a dead body before."
"Me neither."
"Want to?"
"Not really."
They turned and walked slowly toward the front gate. Liza's car, parked on the hill above, was rocked by the sudden wind.
* * *
Zareh held Emory's hand as they descended the steps to the basement. It took everything he had to direct Her mind from this teenager. They had been safe in the closet, but then those others had found them...
The albino wasn't sure why he'd taken such a liking to this corrupt, smoking human. There was just something in Emory's eyes, something he couldn't explain. Something that had been in Eric's eyes, all those years ago. Zareh hadn't given Eric his chance, but he was determined that Emory should have it.
* * *
Seda walks along the dusty road, blue dress fluttering around her ankles in the light breeze. It is a bright autumn day, the leaves are slowly turning beautiful colors, and she has never been happier to be in America.
"Seda! Seda Katmarzeyan!"
Her name is woefully mispronounced on his lips, but she smiles anyway, stopping to allow him to catch up. He is a boy in her class, so different from her. Where her skin is pale and burns easily, his is tanned golden, the same color as his short, fair hair. Her dress is long and hides most of her skin, even in the warm weather, while he is currently wearing trousers cut off at the knee and a shirt with short sleeves.
"Eric Hopkins," she says, the smile widening. "Good afternoon."
"Sure is." He falls into step beside her and offers to take her books. She allows him, the fire of newly-awoken passion glowing in her eyes.
"So, Seda. You like baseball?"
"I have never seen it."
His blue eyes widen considerably. "Wow! What kind of country did you live in, that they didn't have baseball?"
She stares at the ground and absently begins to braid her long, dark hair. "Women did not have the freedoms they have here, and men of my class worked all day long. There was no time for baseball." The word is heavily accented, but he does not correct her, charmed by her foreign accent and beauty.
"Want to watch my practice today?"
"I am sorry, but I cannot. I must walk my brother home."
"Oh. Where is he?" Eric looks around, half-expecting some large, dark foreigner to come out of the shadows and tackle him.
"His school is just down the road. I...I will see you tomorrow, and then perhaps I can come. But if I am late without telling her, my mother will worry."
"Oh. All right. G'bye."
"Farewell," she says, watching sadly as he veers off onto a side street.
Zareh joins her almost immediately, since he has been following them from the shadows for some time. "Who was that, Seda?" he asks in their own language.
"Speak American," she reminds him. "We really ought to."
He shrugs and continues, not changing languages. "I don't want you to be with him, Seda."
A faintly amused look touches her face, as he is half her size and nearly four years her junior. "What would you know of love?"
"It is not love. He is bad news. All Americans are. They hate us, Seda. I see them and I hear them when they think I cannot."
"Give him a chance."
His dark eyes bore into her. "No."
* * *
Zareh sighed and squeezed Emory's hand. After that, things had only gone downhill.
Poor Seda...
Hannah and Mari continued their search. Hannah insisted upon looking in the room with Randy's body, and backed out again, swearing under her breath. "Poor kid..."
Emory began clicking his lighter again as the search progressed. Eventually they came to a door that would not open, and saw the water leaking slowly out.
"What on Earth?" Hannah whispered. She proceeded to plant a sharp karate kick on the door, just below the knob.
Zareh shoved Emory aside and dragged the adults out of the way as the table gave, and water laced with electricity cascaded through the two-inch-wide opening. Emory pulled him back, and they took refuge in another room.
"Ouch, dammit," Mari snapped, pulling off her sneakers. "God, what was that? Look at this - the rubber's all melted. Ouch."
Zareh and Emory looked at each other. 'Her?' Emory mouthed.
Zareh nodded. It was definitely her, all right.