The creatures glanced about, as if trying to decide where to go. Suddenly they spotted him and started in his direction. Travis stepped back quickly, ready to slam the library door shut and brace himself against it. But as the goblins drew closer, he saw that they were oddly translucent, the way he had imagined a ghost would look. They were here, and yet not here.
He decided that, transparent or not, he didn’t want to face them. He closed the door and braced himself against it, then decided that was inadequate. Fearful something might try to enter before he had a chance to secure the door, he raced to the table and shot back with a chair, which he propped under the doorknob.
He waited, expecting to hear goblin swords beating against the door at any second.
The only sound that came to him was the rain beating against the windows.
Had the goblins gone past? He wanted to open the door and see. But what if they were waiting in silence to trap him? Perhaps the moment he opened the door, they would come leaping through and slash him to bits with their swords.
He pressed his ear against the wood.
Nothing.
Could they be gone?
You have nothing to fear, said a voice, the same voice he had heard before. You are the Master Mage. Let me in—I will protect you.
Travis looked around wildly. “Where are you? Who are you?”
I am Karno! Let me in.
“No!” cried Travis. “No! No! No!”
Falling to his knees, he clutched at his temples, trying to hold out the icy fingers prying at his mind.
Tansy, Matt, and Charity stood at the entrance to the attic. Matt could see that Charity was speaking, but he couldn’t hear a word of what she was saying.
“What was that all about?” he asked when Charity’s lips stopped moving.
“She said there’s something here,” replied Tansy. “Something that doesn’t belong here.”
“Great. Did she tell you what it is?”
“No. But she says she’s scared.”
“She’s scared? What about us?”
Tansy clapped her hand across his mouth to silence him.
“What’s she scared of?” asked Matt in a whisper after Tansy had removed her fingers from his lips. “They can’t hurt her—she’s already dead.”
Tansy bent her head to listen to Charity, then repeated her words to Matt: “The torments of the soul are worse than those of the body.”
He snorted. “Sounds like a sermon.”
“Charity says she wouldn’t know about that,” said Tansy after a moment. “She was a wicked girl and almost never went to church.”
“For Pete’s sake,” said Matt. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s find that ring and get out of here! Where did you decide it was? You sure perked up when Travis gave you that last clue.”
Tansy smiled. “As soon as he said, ‘Search for it where smoke is rising,’ I knew I had it. There’s a big chimney at the other end of the attic. It’s got to be hidden there.”
“I never liked it down there,” said Charity. “It always made me uneasy.”
“What’s bothering her now?” asked Matt. “She looks scared.”
Tansy repeated what Charity had said.
Matt took Tansy’s hand. She understood that the gesture had nothing to do with romance. “Well, come on. The sooner we find that thing, the sooner we can get out of here.”
They entered the attic and began walking rapidly along the aisle, ignoring the clutter on either side. Suddenly a rat scuttled across the floor in front of them. Its eyes glowed red in the beam of Tansy’s flashlight. Even worse, its body was easily two feet long, larger than a big cat’s. Tansy and Matt stopped so abruptly that they nearly knocked each other over.
“We never had rats here before!” screamed Charity as the creature disappeared behind a broken-down armchair.
Matt and Tansy stared after it, neither of them willing to move until they were sure it wasn’t coming back. Finally Matt swallowed uncomfortably and said, “Well, we’ve killed plenty of giant rats in our gaming careers. I guess we can handle one or two more, if we have to.”
Swinging his flashlight around the piles of stuff nearest them, he located a broken kitchen chair. He handed Tansy the flashlight, then wrenched the chair apart. Keeping one of the legs for himself, he traded another to Tansy for his flashlight. Face grim, he said, “These will do for weapons, until we can find something better.”
They moved forward again, shining their lights in all directions.
After a moment Tansy said, “Did you notice that the rat seemed a little …” She fumbled for an appropriate word. “A little dim?”
“I never saw a rat that looked real intelligent.”
She made a sound of exasperation. “No. Like it was fading out or something.”
Matt thought for a moment, then said, “If the house is overlapping with some other reality, maybe the rat wasn’t really here. Or we’re not really where it is. Or something. Geez, Tansy, I don’t know what the hell is going on.”
They heard another scuttling, and two more rats darted in front of them. Charity let out a little shriek. Matt and Tansy moved closer together.
The rats did not seem to notice them.
They waited until the rats were out of sight, then moved forward again.
“Well, this is it,” said Tansy when they stood facing the large stone chimney a moment later. “Let’s start looking.”
The mortar around several of the stones appeared loose, and Tansy had the feeling that perhaps Travis had hidden the ring behind one of them.
Lightning flickered outside, and Tansy crossed to peer out one of the windows. At first she could see nothing. But when the lightning flickered again, she cried in horror. “Matt! Look!”
Matt glanced out the other window as the lightning flickered a third time. “So what was I supposed to see?” he asked, after the darkness returned. “It’s a nice view, but we don’t have time—”
“You didn’t see anything strange?” demanded Tansy.
“No. Just a lawn and shrubs and—”
“Come here. Look out this window.”
Matt crossed to stand beside her. It was very dark outside, and at first all he could see was droplets of rain spattering against the window, making trails down the glass. Then there was another flash of lightning.
It was Matt’s turn to cry out in shock. What he had seen out the first window was the backyard of the Gulbrandsen estate. Through this window he saw something else altogether—a strange, rocky landscape cut with gorges and ravines, dotted with sparse, straggling trees, and pocked with oily pools. A misshapen creature slouched away from one of the pools, heading in the general direction of the house.
“Let’s find that ring and get out of here,” said Matt after a brief silence. “Now!”
Tansy began poking at one of the stones that looked loose. Matt took out his pocketknife and prodded at the mortar, trying to find a crumbly patch that might indicate a hidden compartment.
Suddenly he looked up. “Did you hear that?” he asked nervously.
“Hear what?”
“I thought I heard someone call my name.”
“Ignore it!” said Tansy. “Shut it out of your head! And keep looking.”
Matt continued to work away at the mortar. Twice more he glanced up, disturbed. But he said nothing.
“I think I see a loose one, miss,” said Charity. “It’s up pretty high. You’ll need a chair to reach it.”
“Show Matt,” said Tansy. “Matt, watch Charity. She’s going to point out a likely stone to you.”
Matt looked up. He nodded, then dragged an old chair out of a pile of debris. He stood on it and began to work at a stone some seven feet from the floor. Tansy continued to work at stones closer to the bottom of the chimney.
Suddenly they both cried out in triumph, “I think I’ve got it!”
Confused, they glanced at each other, then continued to work at the loose stones they had found.
Matt managed to free his first. After pulling it from the chimney, he reached into the space behind it.
“Bingo!” he crowed as he extracted a large golden ring.
It was not a finger ring, as he had expected, but a band made to fit around a person’s arm. It appeared to be made of solid gold. Set in ornate patterns on its surface were several dozen emeralds and rubies.
Before Matt could show Tansy his find, she succeeded in prying loose a much larger stone from near the base of the chimney. The stone fell to the floor with a crash, followed by a tinkling clatter.
With a cry of horror, she jumped back.
13
INTO THE CLOSET
Derek switched on his flashlight. “So you think the rod is in one of the bedrooms up there?” he said to Denise.
She nodded. “The first clue said something about ‘sleeping power.’ I think it was a pun. And this time Travis said, ‘Seek it in the Master room, Where the Master met his doom,’ which I figure has to mean the master bedroom. One of the Gulbrandsens must have died in bed or something.”
“We should have asked Travis if it was guarded,” said Jenny as they reached the top of the stairs.
“I don’t think that would have done any good,” said the creature. “He doesn’t know what’s going on now any more than we do. The whole thing is out of his control.”
Denise looked uneasy. “Speaking of guarded … did either of you hear anything funny when you were searching before?”
“No,” said Jenny. “Why?”
Denise looked away for a second, then said, “I thought I heard someone calling my name—my name for the game. I didn’t like it.”
“Maybe it was your imagination,” said Derek.
Denise snorted. “If it was, that would make it the only imaginary thing that’s happened so far tonight.”
“I guess you’re right,” said Derek. “But maybe that part is over.” He pointed the flashlight down the hallway. “Any idea which of these is the master bedroom?”
Denise shrugged. “No. I had only got through about half of them when I heard Matt yelling. And I wasn’t looking for a master bedroom then, just another clue of some kind.”
“Let’s pick up where you left off,” suggested Jenny.
With Denise in the lead, the three teens and the monster walked down the hall. All were uneasily aware that there might be something lurking behind any door, waiting to leap out and attack them.
The first three rooms they tried were obviously wrong. They were pleasant, or would be in the daytime, and once they were cleaned and scrubbed. But each was too small for a master bedroom.
“Look at this,” said Denise as they crossed the hall to try a fourth door. “It’s a long way to the next door—which could mean this is a big room. Maybe it’s the one.”
“Allow me,” said the creature. It slithered a tentacle past the three searchers and deftly twisted the doorknob.
The door swung open with a creak. Jenny rubbed her arms, trying to smooth down the goose bumps.
Derek stepped in and swung his flashlight around the room. “Looks good,” he said. “It’s still furnished.”
The others crowded in behind him.
“Look at that bed!” said Denise. “This has got to be it.”
The bed was a huge four-poster, covered by a dark, tattered canopy.
“I bet it’s someplace around that,” said Jenny. “Let’s look!”
Staying close together, they crossed the room. Denise got down on her hands and knees to search under the bed. Derek and Jenny looked on either side.
“Do you suppose it might be in that closet?” Jenny asked, gesturing to a door on her side of the bed.
“We’ll check there next,” said Derek.
The creature had extended two tentacles to the top of the canopy. Contracting them, it pulled itself up so it could peer over the ruffles. “Nothing up here,” it said. “Except dust.” It began to choke. “Faugh! All this dryness is bad for my skin!”
“Nothing down here, either,” said Denise at last. Climbing to her feet, she added, “Looks like we’ve struck out.”
“Try the closet, Jenny,” said Derek.
“Wait!” cried Denise.
The warning came too late; Jenny had already begun to open the door. As she did, their flashlights died, all three of them going out simultaneously.
Voices rose in panic as the room was plunged into total darkness. Jenny’s scream cut above them. “Derek! Derek, it’s got me!”
“What’s got you?” cried Derek. “Jenny, what is it?”
A flash of lightning illumined a sight that made Denise cry out in horror. An emaciated arm, robed in black, had reached out of the closet and grabbed Jenny by the hand. Now it was trying to pull her through the doorway, back into the closet. She was struggling fiercely, her feet braced against the doorsill, her free hand clutching the woodwork.
As quickly as it had come, the lightning was gone, and the darkness returned.
“DEREK!”
Jenny’s scream reverberated through the darkened room.
Derek leaped across the bed. “Jenny! Jenny, hang on!”
The closet door slammed shut.
The screaming stopped.
Jenny was gone.
Travis poked his head out of the room, then stepped into the hallway. Looking furtively to the right and then the left, he walked slowly back to the library.
A misty-looking ogre went strolling past him, a club over one shoulder, its knuckles dragging on the floor.
Travis ignored it.
He entered the library, sat down at the table, and closed his eyes. A moment later he shook his head and opened them again, wondering what had happened.
“Boy, I don’t know how I can be sleepy with all this going on,” he said, stretching and giving a hearty yawn. “It must be really late.”
He turned back to the game book, trying to figure out what to do when the others got back.
The shadowy, black-robed figure floating behind him rubbed its hands and smiled with satisfaction.
With his foot braced against the wall, Derek tried to wrench open the closet door. When that failed, he threw himself against it, trying to batter it down.
“Jenny!” he cried. “Jenny, can you hear me?”
He flung himself against the door again and again, screaming her name.
The door was solid as an ancient oak.
No sound came from the other side.
Finally Derek collapsed against the door and began to sob.
A tentacle wrapped itself about his waist and dragged him away from the door. “Let me try,” said the creature.
Denise put her arm around Derek. Together they watched as the creature wrapped a long tentacle around the doorknob. Then it stretched two other tentacles toward the bed, coiled them around the posts, and began to pull.
The bed slid across the floor.
“No good,” grunted the creature.
It twisted around, looking for something else to grab as an anchor. The room contained nothing heavy enough.
Turning back to the door, the creature slapped one tentacle after another against the wood. Carefully it wriggled the tips into the crack between the door and the frame. Contracting the tentacles, it lifted its whole body from the floor, then pressed itself against the door. It slapped three tentacles out to either side.
They heard a slurping noise, and Derek could see that the creature was pulling against the door with its whole body, which seemed to function like a gigantic suction cup. “Come on!” he cried. “Come on! You can do it!”
The creature’s body was expanding and contracting like the throat of a gigantic toad. Throbbing veins rose up all across its back. A low groan issued from its throat.
Still the door wouldn’t open.
Finally the wall itself began to crumble. As great chunks of plaster pulled away, the creature lost its hold and tumbled to the floor. Two of its tentacles still extended to the top
of the door, it lay gasping and choking, its body trembling with exhaustion.
“No use,” it gasped at last. “The door is sealed by magic.”
A pained silence settled over them. Derek stared at the floor.
“Denise,” said the creature after a moment. “Would you help me? I’m stuck.”
When Denise realized what the creature meant, she said, “Oh, sure. Derek, give me a hand.”
“What?”
“I said give me a hand. Its tentacles are stuck.”
Numbly Derek crossed to the door and bent down. Cupping his hands in front of him, he gave Denise a boost up.
The tentacle was disgusting. She had seen a dead rat once, beside a gutter. It was wet and soggy looking. For some reason the tentacle reminded her of that. It was the same thickness, and when she closed her hand about it, it felt just as she had always imagined the rat would have if she had picked it up. She flinched back.
“Please,” said the creature softly. “I’m in pain.”
Denise nodded. Setting her jaw, she grabbed the tentacle firmly in one hand. Pulling it away from the door, she was amazed at how the creature had been able to stretch and thin it in order to insert it over the top. With her other hand, she pinched the flesh just outside the wood.
“Ow!”
“I’m sorry. But I can’t see any other way to get you loose!”
“It’s all right. Go ahead.”
She pulled.
Nothing happened. The tentacle was stuck tight.
She pulled again, harder. The tentacle stretched and thinned even more. The glow of the flashlight showed right through the flesh.
What would happen if the tentacle broke?
“Keep trying!” cried the creature.
Pinching tighter, in the desperate hope that it might somehow help keep the tentacle from breaking, she gave a last yank. The tentacle pulled free from the door. She dropped it, and it fell to the floor with a splatting sound.
“Thank you,” sighed the creature. “Now the other one.”
Denise repeated the process, then leaped down.
“Now,” said the creature, “we have to figure out what to do about your friend.”
Derek looked at him with sudden hope. “Do you really think—” He was interrupted by the closet door swinging open. “Jenny!” he cried joyfully.
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