It occurred to JC that Kim was seriously frightened. He hadn’t seen her look that scared since both of them were nearly destroyed in the hell train down in the London Underground. He was sure he hadn’t seen her look even seriously worried since then. He started to say something; and all the lights in the main bar went out. And stayed out. Everyone made some sort of noise. They couldn’t help themselves. Things were bad enough already, without this. The dark seemed so . . . absolute, this time. Like the kind of dark you find at the bottom of the sea, down in the depths where the light has never penetrated.
JC turned his head quickly back and forth but couldn’t make out a damned thing anywhere.
“It’s all right!” said Brook. “I’ve got some candles behind the counter, for emergencies! You stay put, and I’ll go back and find them! I know this bar like the back of my hand!”
Several loud bangs and crashes and a certain amount of rough language suggested that might not be entirely true, but Brook did make it back to the counter. They could all hear him, scuffling and searching behind the bar. Picking up things that probably felt a lot like candles and putting them down again. JC turned in what he hoped was Melody’s direction.
“Melody! Try your lap-top again! The light from the screen should give us something to work with!”
“Way ahead of you, JC,” said Melody’s voice from over by the counter. “I’ve got my lap-top, but it’s dead in the water. Nothing’s working. I think the faces manifesting through the screen screwed it over, big time.”
JC thrust one hand into his jacket pocket. “All right, nobody panic, I’ve got my lighter here with me.”
“Who’s panicking?” said Happy. “Who said anything about panicking? I’m concerned, for Melody’s sake. And what are you doing with a cigarette lighter? You said you gave up smoking ages ago.”
“I did,” said JC. “But a lighter is still a very useful thing to have about your person in this business.”
Everyone made emphatic and very satisfied sounds as JC’s lighter burst into flame. The cheerful yellow glow didn’t spread far, but the simple dancing light was enough to warm all their hearts after so long in complete darkness. JC held his lighter up high, but the glow didn’t even travel far enough to reach the counter. It was only just bright enough to illuminate his hand and arm.
“Now if this were a movie,” said Happy, “that lighter would provide us enough light to do emergency surgery by.”
“Hollywood lies to you all the time,” said JC. “Get used to it.”
“I am not panicking!” said Happy. “In fact, in my current highly medicated state, I don’t think I’d panic if an elephant stood on my foot. And then danced Gangnam Style.”
Brook set out several assorted candles, in various assorted holders, on top of the bar-counter, and lit them up, one after the other. A flickering pale yellow light illuminated the bar, and everyone hurried forward to stand in the narrow pool of light. JC put out his lighter and tucked it away. Making a careful note of which pocket he put it in, in case he needed it later. Happy moved quickly over to be with Melody, who had given up on her lap-top and pushed it away. Brook was breathing more easily, his eyes fixed on the candlelight. JC had almost reached Kim when she looked suddenly back at the windows and made a loud sound of distress. They all turned to look.
Darkness was seeping through the closed windows, right through the solid glass. It passed swiftly through all the windows and spread out across the far wall, like so much sticky black treacle. It oozed through the windows, without breaking or even affecting the old leaded glass, and covered the entire wall from floor to ceiling in only a few moments. As though the darkness from outside the inn had . . . pressed forward and broken into the main bar. It was inside now and still moving forward. Edging slowly across the floor, eating up the open space, and replacing it with darkness.
There was no sense of physical presence, no sense there was anything in the dark. Just the darkness itself—a huge, impenetrable wall or curtain of utter darkness. A brutal implacable absence of light. Drawing steadily closer to the small, beleaguered group in their pool of yellow light.
“The night’s come in here after us,” said Kim.
“I really don’t like the look of that,” said Melody.
“Should we run?” said Happy.
“Where to?” said JC, angrily. “Use your head! There’s nowhere to go!”
“We could go upstairs,” said Melody.
“Bad idea,” Brook said immediately.
“Why isn’t my tech working?” said Melody, picking up her lap-top and shaking it, then slamming it down hard on the bar-counter. “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be working!”
“Hold on, Mel,” said JC. “Don’t let it get to you. Happy, are you picking up anything?”
“I’m getting nothing,” said Happy. “And I mean nothing. I can’t See or feel anything. There’s a total absence of any kind of presence. Which is . . . weird.”
“Have you noticed?” Kim said suddenly. “The storm’s gone, too. Not a sound anywhere, not even a murmur. It’s all gone quiet.”
They all stood very still, listening. The entire main bar seemed stuffed full of an eerie, oppressive silence.
“As though . . . the storm isn’t there, any more,” said Kim. “As though there isn’t anything outside this room. Like the darkness has . . . swallowed everything up.”
“Nicely put, Kim,” said Happy. “Very smart, very succinct, and evocative. Oh yes. If you have any more insights like that, do feel free to keep them to yourself.”
“No disagreements in front of the enemy, children!” said JC. “Put on a brave face and a united front and stare the darkness down! I’ve got an idea.”
He grabbed the brandy bottle off the top of the counter and strode forward. He emptied the bottle’s remaining contents out over the nearest chair lying on its side on the floor, right in the path of the creeping dark. JC used the last of the liquor to lay a thin trail back to the counter, put the bottle back, knelt, took out his lighter again, and lit the trail of brandy. A puff of blue flames sprang up from the trail, shooting forward to ignite the liquor-soaked chair. It burned brightly with the same blue flame, blazing away in the face of the approaching dark. It made loud crackling and creaking noises as it burned, while everyone watched silently from the counter, waiting to see what would happen. The light from the burning chair helped illuminate more of the bar; but the light stopped dead where it met the approaching dark. Until, finally, the dark wall rolled over the burning chair and engulfed it, stamping out its light in a moment.
And now the darkness covered more than half of the main bar.
“Bugger,” said JC, succinctly. “I was hoping for rather more than that . . . Okay, everybody fall back, and get behind the bar with Brook.”
By the time he had finished talking and joined them, they were all lined up behind the counter, standing huddled together, shoulder to shoulder. For company and support. Kim stuck as close to them as she could get, staring wide-eyed at the slowly moving dark. The light from the candles on top the counter stopped where it met the creeping darkness; and inch by inch the dark pushed the candlelight back towards the counter.
“JC,” said Kim, in a very small voice. “I’m scared.”
“Don’t be,” JC said immediately. “Take it easy. We’ve faced worse. It’s just . . . dark.”
“What have you got to be scared of, Kim?” said Happy. “You’re a ghost! You’re already dead!”
“I don’t think the dark cares whether you’re alive or dead,” said Kim. “It’s the end of everything. Can’t you feel it?”
“I’d offer you one of my pills,” said Happy. “Except I don’t think I have anything that would affect ectoplasm.”
“Thanks for the thought, though,” said Kim.
“Have you got anything incendiary?” said Melody.
“Only metaphorically,” said Happy.
The darkness was still moving steadily forward. It had
almost reached the counter. Everyone backed up against the back wall, staying inside the candlelight. The flickering, unsteady light only held on behind the counter itself now, as the rest of the room was swallowed up by the dark. The yellow light seemed to shrink back from the approaching dark, as though it were afraid of it. The darkness came right up to the far edge of the bar-counter, so close now any of them could have reached across the counter and touched it. JC picked up an empty brandy glass and threw it out into the dark. They all tensed, straining their ears, waiting for the crash of breaking glass . . . but it never came. No sound at all from inside the dark.
“It’s cold,” said Happy. “Can you feel that cold? It’s sort of like a traditional cold spot—an energy drain. The temperature’s plummeting. It’s like the darkness is sucking all the heat out of the room. Or the energy. Maybe all the life . . .”
“You can usually Do Something to stop things like that, Happy,” said JC. “Are you sure there isn’t anything you can do about this?”
“There’s nothing here to do anything to!” said Happy. “I keep telling you; there’s nothing alive or conscious in that dark, so there’s nothing there for me to work with! We’re trapped here, and we’re helpless. Go on, say something encouraging; I dare you.”
The darkness swept over the far edge of the counter, and edged forward, inch by inch. The candles disappeared into it, one at a time, their light snapping off. JC and Brook grabbed a candle each and pulled them right back to the inner edge of the counter, to preserve their light. JC, Brook, Happy, and Melody, and the ghost girl Kim, all huddled together, looking desperately around them; but there was nowhere left for them to go. The dark had already swallowed up both ends of the bar, and they couldn’t back away any further. They were already pressed up against the empty shelves that had once been full of bottles. Until they’d exploded.
Brook looked bitterly at JC. “You’re supposed to be the great expert; you’re supposed to know what to do about things like this! Do Something! There must be something you can do!”
“I’m thinking,” said JC. “If anyone else has an idea, feel free to contribute.”
“I’ve still got my machine-pistol,” said Melody. “But without something to aim it at . . .”
“Hang on to it,” said Happy. “In case we need . . . a final way out.”
“Really not helping, Happy,” said JC.
He yanked off his sunglasses, took a step forward, and glared at the darkness creeping across the counter like a great black wall. His eyes glowed fierce and golden. And the dark stopped, holding its position on the counter like a dark dividing line. And then it pressed forward again.
“Ah,” said JC. “I was hoping for rather more than that.”
He broke off as the dark surged forward. It came on in a rush, like a predator pouncing on cornered prey, rolling right over the last of the candlelight. The dark slammed forward and filled all the room. The candlelight disappeared, gone in a moment, and even the golden glow of JC’s eyes blinked out. The dark hit the far wall behind the bar; and there was nothing left but darkness everywhere.
* * *
“Everyone stand still!” JC said sharply. “Nobody move an inch! Now, sound off! Is everyone still here?”
“I’m here, JC,” said Kim.
“I’m somewhere here,” said Happy. “Can’t see a damned thing. Melody, are you here?”
“Of course I’m here!” said Melody. “Right beside you. Here, this is my hand. Grab onto it. That way we can’t be separated. I will never let you go, Happy, never leave you. You do know that, right?”
“Yes,” said Happy. “But I do like to be reminded occasionally. I can feel your hand in mine, feel your shoulder pressing up against mine. But I can’t feel your presence, can’t feel anything . . .”
“Brook?” said JC. “Adrian? Speak up, man; are you still with us?”
“Yes,” said the barman. “Sorry. Couldn’t say anything there, for a moment. It’s hard to . . . to . . .”
“It’s all right,” said JC. “Trust me; we’re all as shaken as you are.”
“Maybe more,” said Happy.
“Shut up, Happy,” said JC. “All right; everyone stay exactly where you are! This would be a really bad time to go wandering off on your own and get lost. Adrian, you may hold my arm if you like.”
“Got you,” said Brook.
“I said hold it, not crush the bloody thing!”
“Sorry.”
“I wish I could hold you, JC,” said Kim. “I feel divorced from the world at the best of times, and this really isn’t helping.”
“Okay,” said JC. “It’s important we all to stick together. The light might have gone out of the world, but we haven’t gone anywhere. We’re still in the bar. I can feel the floor under my feet and the shelves digging into my back. So the dark hasn’t transported us anywhere. That’s important. We’re still in the bar, still in the King’s Arms. We just have to figure out how to get the lights back on.”
“Very practical,” said Melody. “Almost inspiring. Can’t say it’s helping me feel any better. I’ve never known anything like this, never encountered a darkness as . . . complete as this. I really can’t see my hand in front of my face. I know it’s there because I can feel my palm bumping against the tip of my nose; but I can’t see anything. Not even those little flashes of light you sometimes get when you turn out the light to go to sleep. And it is so cold, JC! I mean really cold! I am freezing my tits off!”
“It’s the dark,” said Happy. “No light, no energy, and eventually no life. We can’t stay here, JC. The dark is killing us by inches.”
“Come on, Happy,” said JC, a bit desperately. “Are you sure you can’t sense anything here in the dark with us? Any motivating force?”
“No,” said Happy. “I can’t sense anything; as though the dark is suppressing my ESP. I can’t See anything; and normally I could See your souls shining at the bottom of a coal mine. Small and insignificant things that they are . . . I can’t hear anything except your voices. And all I can feel is the cold. My hands are going numb. Soon I won’t be able to feel your hand, Melody.”
“Don’t say that,” said Melody. “I won’t be separated from you. I won’t.”
“What are we going to do?” said Brook, his voice rising hysterically. “I hate this! I hate being here. It’s horrible.”
“Well, not crushing my arm with your hand would be a good start!” said JC. “Seriously, Adrian, calm down! Or I swear I will find your head in the dark and slap you a good one!”
“Sorry,” said Brook.
There was a clicking sound, followed by several more.
“What was that?” Happy said immediately. “You all heard that, right? Somebody tell me what the hell that was!”
“I’m trying to get my lighter to light,” said JC. “Ah! Damn!”
“Now what?” said Melody.
“I burned my hand on the lighter’s flame,” said JC. “And yes, it does hurt quite a lot, thank you all for asking. So the flame is quite definitely burning, but we can’t see it. We’re being prevented from seeing it, by the dark. Okay, I’ve turned it off again. Now I have taken off my sunglasses. Can anyone see my eyes shining? Even a little bit?”
“No,” said Kim. “Not even a glimmer. And I can usually see them even when you’ve got your eyes closed, when you’re sleeping.”
“Far too much information there,” said Melody.
“It’s like the dark at the end of the world,” said Happy. “When the sun and the stars have all gone out because it’s all over.”
“It’s not over until I say it’s over,” said JC. “Now everyone hush and let me think.”
They stood together in the dark for some time. They had no way of knowing how long. It was hard to get any feel for time passing with nothing to judge it against. Minutes could feel like hours in the dark. Every insomniac knows that. JC glared helplessly about him. He still had his sunglasses in his hand, hoping his altered eyes would
let him see something if he gave them enough time to adjust . . . but there was nothing around him except the dark. And the cold. And the silence. JC’s thoughts raced frantically back and forth, unable to settle on anything for long, as he raised and discarded one desperate plan after another. There had to be something he could do . . . He’d never felt so small, so helpless and vulnerable . . . It was like being a small child again, abandoned by his parents to the long marches of the night, after the night-light had finally been switched off.
No-one ever really remembers how scared of the dark we are as children because we couldn’t bear it.
“I really don’t like this,” Happy said miserably. “I was very afraid of the dark as a child. Until my psychic abilities kicked in; and then things got really bad. Because then I knew for sure that there really are monsters in the night.”
“I was scared of the dark when I was a little girl,” said Melody. “I thought there were things in the shadows, in my bedroom, watching me. Bad things. Waiting for me to fall asleep so they could get me. As I grew older, I swore I wouldn’t let myself be afraid of anything. And mostly I’m not.”
“Only mostly?” said Happy.
“I’m scared of losing you,” said Melody.
“Never happen,” said Happy. “Though I must say, it is entirely typical of you to wait till we’re trapped together in the dark, to guilt-trip me.”
They laughed quietly together in the dark.
“I hated the dark when I was young because there could be anything in it,” said JC. “Anything at all.”
“How the hell did you people ever get to be professional Ghost Finders?” said Brook.
“Therapy,” said JC. “And pay-back.”
“How’s that working out for you?” said Brook.
“I found Kim, in the dark,” said JC. “And that makes up for everything.”
“Darling,” said Kim. “You pick the oddest times to say the nicest things.”
“Hold everything!” said JC. “Hush, people; let me think this through. It’s just . . . dark. Right? Nothing actually there. No physical threat at all apart from the cold. So we’re not in any real danger at all . . .”
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