“I wish I knew what I’d done to deserve the attention. You’re meant to be dead,” Seth said. “I saw you surrounded by Adherents on the rooftop.”
“Those shadowmen weren’t my Adherents. They would never have attacked me like that. They were part of the hospital.”
“Annoyed that you didn’t invite them to your little party in the inner sanctum?”
“Do you think it’s wise to mock me?”
“Look at me. You’ve won, I’m at your mercy. Mocking you is about all I’ve got. So, how did you do it?”
“Escape? I wouldn’t say I came away from that encounter completely unscathed.” Adam turned and shone his torch against his features. Seth gasped. The face had once belonged to a young man named Johnny Oswald, and whilst he had been a treacherous Adherent, he hadn’t deserved Adam stealing his body and letting it decay like this.
Seth held his breath but found it impossible to avoid the stench of death creeping up his nose. The fire had done plenty of damage to Johnny’s features, but there were other injuries. Great scratches ran across the face, one had gouged deep close to his right eye and had crusted over, seeping fluid along the bottom edge. His left eye had completely gone. And there were what looked like sores across other parts of his face.
“I’m sure you’ve never looked better,” Seth said eventually. “What do you want with me? Why didn’t you just kill me?”
“Don’t worry, that is still an option.”
“That body didn’t last you very long. Johnny would not have been happy to see how poorly you’ve taken care of it.”
The fist struck Seth hard against his cheek and his head bounced back off the headrest.
“My Adherents are glad to be of service.”
“You’re sure about that? Johnny can’t have been born when you were last walking the earth. Who was it back then? Graeme Lowman wasn’t it? Yeah, Johnny never had the pleasure of meeting you as Graeme. I doubt he’d have given up his body so freely if he had.”
“Your ability to antagonise is wasted on me. You’ll find that I really don’t care what you think.”
The pain in his cheek suggested otherwise.
“It must come as quite a shock, being brought back from the Almost Realm, finding yourself in the middle of an Adherent ceremony. Disorienting?”
“You’ll discover that I’m always prepared for every eventuality. Nothing takes me by surprise.”
“Really? We all get surprised from time to time. To be honest, I’m surprised that you’re keeping me alive. I’d have thought you’d want me dead.”
Adam laughed. “You’re alive because I want to know three things from you.”
“And when I tell you, you’ll kill me? Let me guess. I’ve a choice in whether that’s a quick and painless death or a slow and tortuous one.”
“I’m not giving you a choice.”
Seth felt the blood drain from his face.
Adam moved out of sight. Seth heard metal moving against metal, then Adam was before him again. “The builders are so messy, always leaving pieces of equipment lying around.” In his hand he had a screwdriver. The point of the screwdriver edged along Seth’s arm, then across his chest, the pressure burning white hot. “How did you survive the fall from the roof?”
“I’ve got very springy legs.”
The screwdriver tip wavered in front of Seth’s right eye.
“I’m not playing games.”
“I fell through a doorway,” Seth said finally.
Frown lines appeared on Adam’s face. “Through a doorway? That’s not possible.”
“It’s true. I’ve always had an affinity to the doors.”
“And one appeared just when you needed it?”
Seth nodded. “My sister. Remember the one your goons accidentally murdered. She made it appear for me.”
From the confused expression in Adam’s face, it was clear that he was having trouble processing any of this.
“Your sister died over twenty years ago.”
“You should know. You were there.”
“An unfortunate night.”
“Because my sister was murdered or your host body finally found the strength to kill himself and send you back to hell?”
Adam chuckled. “The Almost Realm is not hell. It’s a wondrous place. But you’ve been there if you’ve been through a doorway. Tell me what you saw.”
Seth hesitated. He suddenly felt on the back foot but this wasn’t a new question to him. Ever since that night he’d been trying to remember exactly what it was he had seen.
“It takes time to adjust to surviving in a different realm,” Adam intoned. “I can understand why you might not be sure of what you experienced. I can tell you what it’s like for me if that will help.” He waited for a response but Seth resolutely glared ahead, refusing to play Adam’s game. Whatever this was, he wanted it to be over: one way or another.
Adam continued. “It’s a shapeless void to many. There are no edges, no sense of direction. No knowledge of anyone else being there with you, and yet, you’re never alone in the realm. The first time I found myself there, I wondered whether it was heaven or hell, but settled on it being somewhere other. I could think and I thought I could see. And seeing meant light. And warmth and hope. I hoped that I would get out of there. Time means nothing, not there where I had all the time I could want. When a doorway appeared, I realised I must have lost my mind. In the centre of this void where nothing and everything existed, a plain wooden door appeared. There is no up nor down, nor direction, so it seemed impossible to get any nearer to this remarkable object. So, I got closer. And then I made it open.”
“How long had you been gone?” Seth asked, fascinated and terrified by the story he was being told.
“I’ve no idea. I’ve no idea where I had appeared either, but that didn’t matter as it felt like a rope was pulling me back. I’d managed my first trip out of the Almost Realm and it had been for a monumental two seconds. I should have been disappointed, but all I could be was flabbergasted that I’d done this incredible thing. And as I existed back in the prison of the Almost Realm, I had a feeling that I’d not experienced in a long time, a hunger for more than I had.”
Adam stopped and put his hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Tell me, is that what it was like for you?”
Seth shook his head. “I can’t remember, but even if I could, I wouldn’t be sharing my story with a nut-job like you.”
Adam dropped the screwdriver and punched Seth across the jaw.
“You’ll find that mocking me is not for the faint-hearted.”
Seth blinked away tears and tried to focus on anything other than the white fire burning from his jaw. “You better ask your last question before I pass out.”
Adam shrugged. “You’re an interesting man, Seth. I can see why my Adherents sought you out.”
“I’m the life and soul,” Seth said through gritted teeth. “I’ve got a question for you. Quid pro quo.”
Adam tipped his head. “Go on.”
“Your injuries aren’t just from the shadowmen on the roof, are they? I mean, I can see the scratches easily enough, a lot have healed, but there’s more there than just physical wounds.”
Adam smiled. It cut through Seth like razor wire.
“It’s an unfortunate side-effect of taking a body. The more they resist, the faster the decomposition.”
“And Johnny’s resisting more than you expected.”
“He has proved himself disloyal. He should not be fighting me. It’s forcing our ending. But don’t worry. He will pay the ultimate price for his betrayal.”
“What about Graeme Lowman? You held onto him for years.”
“He was a good friend for many years. Obedient.”
“What happened at the end? He killed himself on the night my sister died.”
Adam shook his head. “You’ve had your question. I’ve been generous. Now, my last.” Adam paced the room. “You’ve been to my home and my grave. What were you doin
g there?”
“I think you know that.”
The edges of darkness around the wall were shifting, undulating in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. The light from the windows wasn’t enough to dispel the gloom from the room then Seth realised he wasn’t looking at shadows. There were Almost Realm doors open here. He tried to focus on one particular spot opposite the door he’d entered through and with concentration could just make out the hard edges of one of the unnatural doors.
Figures moved out from the dark. Red eyes burning as tiny berries of fire.
“You were looking for the painting at the house. That much I gathered. It’s surprising that your uncle would choose to get you involved. Your family has always proved to be troublesome to my cause.”
Seth could make out two shadowmen behind Adam. They were impossibly tall, and so close he could feel the chills as they moved. Seth tried not to look at them, but he’d never been as scared of them as he was at this moment. Adam was right, Charlie was the one thing that had held them back. They’d been interested in Seth all these years and had repeatedly kept their distance, but without his own personal hitcher, he was vulnerable.
“So, you went to my house,” Adam continued, “then dug up my grave. Why? What were you hoping to find?”
“I thought I’d ask you for an autograph.”
“You’re running out of time. I don’t think I can hold these two back for ever. They’re coming to take you and without your friend…”
“I was looking for some reading material,” Seth replied. “I’d heard you kept your copy close.”
“My copy… You were searching for the Book of the Fourth. Why would you be interested in that?”
Seth thought of Kelly. The man before him had left the Almost Realm several times. Kelly wouldn’t want to take over another body, but what if there were other ways he could communicate with her, or failing that, ways to free her from the limbo?
“I wanted to know why you killed my uncle. I knew of the book and wanted to see why the Adherents were so precious about it.”
“So why did you come here tonight?” Adam tapped a burnt finger on his lips. “You saw a copy through there.” He pointed through the black opening that led to the inner sanctum. “And thought it would still be there.”
“Is it?”
Adam shook his head. “Gone. Destroyed in the fire.”
Damn. Seth tried to ignore the sinking icy feeling in his stomach.
“I can tell you’re disappointed. Who knows though, maybe if you join us, you’ll be able to make your own copy one day.”
“You’re a bunch of freaks.”
Adam rounded on Seth; his face thrust an inch away from Seth’s own. The stale breath and rancid stench of his rotting face made Seth gag. “Where is the missing piece?”
“Missing piece?”
“Don’t play the innocent. You’ve seen the painting. Part of it is missing. Where is it?”
Seth’s mind was racing. What missing piece?
“And if I told you…”
A slap against his cheek. “I’ve no time for your insolence. Where is it?”
“I never saw the painting. I didn’t know there was anything missing. Why are you so bothered about it? What’s it for? Why did you have to kill my uncle?”
The screwdriver appeared in front of Seth’s eye again. It pressed forward, brushing against the eyelid.
Seth looked Adam in the eye. “I don’t know where your missing piece is.”
“You’re quite sure?”
“Positive.”
Adam stood back from the treatment chair. “And that means, I’m afraid that your usefulness to me has expired. It’s time to say goodbye.”
He gestured and stepped back, allowing the shadowmen to close in on Seth.
24
It all happened so fast.
The shadowmen bore down on Seth and they were so close that he was lost in the burning eyes of the nearest creature. He had time to gather his thoughts and ruminate on what his last words on this earth would be.
“I know about the unravelling.”
Adam was desperate enough to have two shadowmen in the room. Seth knew that would be a mistake. He hated being right.
The nearest creature reached a clawed hand out and lightly touched Seth’s chest. The burning was almost too much to bear, and he stifled against a scream, not wanting to give Adam the satisfaction. But just when he thought he wouldn’t be able to take any more, the second creature added its hand to Seth’s forehead, and the pain intensified.
“Fuck you!” Seth shouted against the dark and squirmed in his confinement.
The first shadowman, the taller of the two, turned its head to its companion and an impossible growl escaped from it. There was nothing like a mouth that Seth could see. He’d been right about the shadowmen considering his body a prize worth fighting over. The taller figure drove a clawed hand across the other’s body, striking it hard. A noise that could have been pain came from the shorter creature and it fell back, surprised. But it hadn’t given up. A moment to recollect itself and it charged at its companion, pushing them both back away from Seth and the treatment chair.
Adam shouted for them to stop, and Seth redoubled his efforts to work on his restraints, twisting his hands and dragging them painfully against the wrist cuffs. They were buckled far too tight for him to make any headway.
The shadowmen were in a full-blown struggle now, their bodies blurring around the room, slamming each other into walls, Seth able to keep track of them by the burning red of their eyes.
Malc and Judy’s interruption came at the right time.
The door to the treatment room burst open and his friends fell inside.
“I’ll get Seth,” Judy told Malc.
Malc ran at Adam. Seth caught sight of something in his hands. A cricket bat? His friend shouted something incoherent and charged across the room, bat raised above his shoulder. A sound of wood hitting plaster and then Judy was beside Seth, fingers scrabbling at his restraints.
“Watch out,” Seth called.
“I see them,” Judy replied, her voice trembling.
And the shadowmen seemed to take notice of the newcomers then, perhaps realising that there was suddenly an excess of bodies and that there was no longer a need to fight.
Judy’s fingers undid the first of Seth’s wrist buckles and she moved to work on his ankles, leaving Seth to undo his left buckle.
Shit, the shadowmen were close, but there was something unsettled about them. They moved slowly, less confidently. Judy glanced nervously at them but focused on freeing Seth.
The sound of a struggle behind him came to an abrupt end and Malc suddenly appeared by Judy’s side, working on the remaining strap. “He’s got away.” And there was a cut above his friend’s eye, blood streaming from the wound.
“Don’t worry about him. Worry about them,” Seth said, pointing at the shadowmen who were now approaching with the calm, detached demeanour of those that know they are unstoppable.
The pressure on the last restraint vanished and Malc hauled Seth out from the treatment chair and towards the door. Judy was right behind them.
When she cried out, Seth’s heart skipped a beat and he turned to see the taller of the shadowmen bearing down on her. He slipped Malc’s grip and headed back for her, meaning to grab her arm and pull her out, but it was too late.
Judy had everything in control.
She punched the closest shadowman in the chest and for a moment, Seth could have sworn he saw an impression of light appear on the creature’s chest.
How was that possible?
The shadowmen retreated, suddenly not interested in the people they had before them.
Without saying another word, Judy grabbed Seth and Malc and ran from the room.
Seth thought he’d never run so fast as he did just then, almost falling down the main staircase in their escape. He winced as he collided with the bannister; the wood striking his chest where th
e shadowman had touched him.
Malc tried the doors at the entrance. “Locked. We’ll have to go out the way we came in.”
“Where’s Adam?” Seth asked, rubbing his jaw. That bastard had struck a good punch.
“Gone,” Judy said.
“Why would he go when there’s something he wants in the hospital?”
“You don’t think his body is here?” Malc asked.
“It’s not his body he’s after. He kept going on about the painting. Part of the painting was missing.”
“What painting? The one stolen from your uncle’s house?”
Seth nodded. “It has to be. He said that part of it was missing and he was convinced I knew where it was.”
Malc frowned. “Do you?”
“No. I never even saw it in the flesh. Only a photo that my uncle kept in his ledger. Joceline never mentioned the painting was missing a piece when we spoke to her.”
“So, your uncle damaged it after he took possession?”
Seth shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is that we were on the wrong track thinking about Adam’s empty coffin. It all comes back to the painting.”
“Wait, what’s Adam’s coffin got to do with anything?” Judy asked.
“Yeah, we dug it up,” Seth replied, somewhat sheepishly. “I was looking for his book. I’d hoped that they had buried it with him.”
“What book?”
“The Book of the Fourth. It’s like the sacred text of the Adherents. Adam wrote it over a hundred years ago, and they still use it in their rituals.”
“There was one here wasn’t there? When we were held in the inner sanctum.”
Seth nodded. “It burned in the fire.”
“Why were you looking for it?”
“I’m hoping it would go some way to explaining what Adam’s plans were.” Seth broke her gaze and pretended to be interested in the other exits.
“But his coffin was empty?”
“Just stale air and a note warning me to keep out of things.” Seth watched her reaction. She was taking this remarkably in her stride. “I’m sorry for dragging you back into this.”
Seth got to his feet and looked up the staircase. It wouldn’t do to spend more time than they needed inside the hospital. Connecting with all those portals to the Almost Realm had stirred something he didn’t much care for. The space felt like it was closing in on him and after his experience on the Correction Floor he doubted that Ravenmeols would let them sit all night talking.
The Dark Corners Box Set Page 38