The Madness Below: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 20)

by R. L. King

  Brittany took the little cup and the larger one, tossing the meds back and following them with a swallow of water. She kept casting glances over toward the far side of the room where Stone and Verity hid behind the illusion, as if trying to figure out where they’d gone.

  The nurse turned to follow her gaze, looking right at their hiding spot while obviously seeing nothing out of the ordinary. “Do you see something over there?”

  Come on, Brittany, just keep quiet.

  Brittany shrugged. “No. Just having trouble sleeping.”

  “Those meds should help. Now come on—settle down and let’s turn off your light.” The nurse’s tone was efficient and businesslike, pleasant but with no hint of kindness or compassion. Stone wondered if that was her usual personality or if she was reacting to Brittany’s supposed crime.

  “I want to leave it on. I was having bad dreams.”

  The nurse hesitated, then made a note on her clipboard and nodded. “Fine. Just lie down and you should go right back to sleep.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” She lay back down, pulling the covers up. “I’m okay. You can go now.”

  The nurse shot her a grumpy look, then nodded briskly to the security guard, who spun and stalked back out into the hall. The nurse followed and the door closed with a clang that echoed through the otherwise silent hall.

  As soon as she was gone, Stone hurried to the window and watched her progress. Brittany must have been the last stop on her rounds, because she and the guard headed back the way they’d come and out past the security station.

  He let his breath out and dropped the illusion. “That was close. I’ll do the door,” he told Verity.

  Brittany sat back up. “How did you do that?” she demanded. “Disappear like that?”

  “It’s—a little parlor trick we know,” Stone said. “Thank you for not revealing us to the nurse.”

  She sat up, scooting back against the wall, and spit something into her hand, which she then held open to reveal the two pills the nurse had given her. “I never take these. I flush them in the bathroom in the morning. They think they check, but I know how to hide the pills so they don’t see. I used to do it with my antidepressants, too. I don’t want to be drugged up.” She stuck the pills in her pocket, then eyed Stone and Verity with narrowed eyes. “I know why I couldn’t see you.”

  “Why?” Verity asked.

  “Because I wasn’t kidding—I’ve been having bad dreams. You’re just another one of them. I should have figured that out before.”

  Stone had a sudden insight. He pushed off the wall and crouched next to the bed. “Brittany,” he said gently, “do you have these bad dreams often?”

  Her brow furrowed. “I—”

  “I mean since the camping trip. Or since you’ve been here at Maple Ridge.”

  There was that uncomfortable shift again, accompanied by another aura flare. “Sometimes I do, yeah.”

  “Can you tell us about them? Are they ever the same, or always different?”

  “This one’s different,” she said, glaring at him. “I never dreamed I had two weird disappearing people in my room before.”

  “But the other ones—are they the same? Do they have the same sort of imagery in them?”

  She shifted on the bed again. “Sometimes…I can’t really remember them very well. Why does a dream want to talk about my dreams, anyway? That’s crazy.”

  “It is,” Stone agreed. “But let’s go with it and see where it leads. You say you don’t remember your dreams very well? What do you remember?”

  She swallowed hard, her hands clutching at her blanket. “Colors, mostly. Red and green.”

  “Like Christmas?” Verity asked.

  “No. Not Christmas. These are horrible colors. Like blood, and…I don’t know. Rot? Like rotten plants? And sometimes I’m drowning. I can’t breathe, and there are these weird creatures all around me, trying to pull me down with their tentacles…” She shuddered. “I don’t want to think about it. It’s…really awful. Sometimes I wake up and I can’t go back to sleep.”

  “That does sound horrible,” Stone agreed. “Is there anything else you can remember? Any other imagery? Sounds?”

  At his last word, her aura lit up, flashing bright red around the pale orange. “Sounds…” she murmured. “Oh, God, I forgot about those…”

  “What did you hear, Brittany?” Verity asked.

  She shook her head, and her shoulders shook again. “This creepy…song kind of thing. Like a bunch of men singing, but it’s not a pretty song. It just…keeps going, over and over. Repeating.”

  A chill fluttered through Stone. “Can you sing it for us? Is it the same one you and your classmates were chanting in the classroom when they found you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Chanting? This is more dream stuff, right?”

  This time, her aura didn’t budge. She genuinely didn’t remember the chanting. Stone pulled his notebook from his jacket pocket. “If I tried to sing it for you, do you think you might recognize it?”

  Shrug. “I dunno. Maybe. But I don’t want to hear it again. It’s ugly.”

  “Please—just for a moment. I promise, nothing will hurt you.”

  When she didn’t answer, Stone located the transcription in the notebook. He took a deep breath, trying to remember the chant’s droning tune from the video, and then carefully tried to duplicate it. He had a good, strong voice and could usually carry a tune, but several times he hesitated, stumbling over the toneless melody.

  It didn’t matter: the effect on Brittany was immediate and galvanizing. Her eyes went wide, her breath increased, and her aura flared brighter than ever before. “S-stop that!” she ordered, her voice shaky and terrified. “Please. Stop! No more!”

  Stone stopped. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to upset you. But was that the song you hear in your dreams?”

  She nodded without looking at him. “Yeah. I don’t know what it is, but it always wakes me up. It feels like it…wants something. Like it’s trying to tell me something, and it won’t shut up until I get it. I know that doesn’t make sense, but…”

  “It does make sense.” Stone went back to his gentle, persuasive tone. “I promise, I won’t do it again. Tell me…do you see the others at all?”

  “The…others?”

  “Your classmates. The others from the camping trip. Have you seen them since you got here?”

  She tilted her head at the odd question. “Yeah…every day in the day room. It’s really boring there. They have these lame games and crappy books people have donated, and this old TV where they only show game shows and stuff. Sometimes they take us out for walks around the grounds, but not together. And they have tutors for us, but I don’t think anybody really cares.”

  “Do you ever talk to the other students? Do you know if they’re having these dreams too?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to. And they don’t want to talk to me.”

  “Do they talk to each other?”

  Another shrug. “I guess. Some of them do, sometimes.” Her expression turned sly. “Allie’s pregnant. Did you know that, dream-British-guy?”

  “I…did not.”

  “Yeah. I heard the nurses talking about it when they didn’t think I was listening. Nobody ever notices me,” she added, with a bitterness borne of long familiarity with the concept.

  “Well—I’ve noticed you, and so has my friend here. Will you let her try to help you? I think she can help you stop having those dreams.”

  For the first time, she looked tentatively hopeful. “Really? I don’t want to have them anymore. I think if I can’t stop them, I really am gonna go crazy, like they say I am.”

  “Really,” Verity said. “Will you let me try?”

  Brittany considered for a long time, alternating her gaze between her hands, some point out in space, Verity, and Stone. Finally she settled it on Verity and something in her expression changed, became more childlike and trusting
. “I want it to stop…” she whispered. “I want things to be back the way they were before.”

  Stone bowed his head. That was something he and Verity, with all their magic, couldn’t do—aside from busting Brittany out of here and spiriting her away somewhere else. That was within their power to do, but would it be fair to take her away from what remained of her family? Would it be fair to do it only for her and not the others? Although none of these kids were at fault for what had happened, even considering doing something like that would be taking the first step down a slippery slope with no good end in sight.

  You can’t save them all. Focus on the big picture. That’s what you’re best at.

  “Okay,” Verity was saying to Brittany. “I’ll do my best, but you need to cooperate with me. Can you do that?”

  “What…do I have to do?”

  “Just lie back and try to relax. I’ll need to touch your forehead, so please don’t resist.”

  “My…forehead? This dream is getting weirder.”

  “But not bad, though, right?”

  “No…this is better than the drowning and the green rot and the tentacles.”

  Verity chuckled. “Hear that, Doc? I’m better than green rot and tentacles.”

  “And I’m so proud of you for that.”

  She tossed him a look over her shoulder and then focused on Brittany. “This won’t hurt. Just try not to resist me, okay?”

  Brittany lay back on her pillow and closed her eyes. “Okay. Go ahead.”

  Stone had already discussed the plan with Verity on the drive over here. They would attempt the same kind of hypnotic bond she’d done with Ian back when he was under Trin Blackburn’s magical oath: the type that would allow her to be a conduit for her subject’s thoughts. If it worked, Stone could then direct his questions at Verity, who would speak for Brittany while bypassing whatever block was preventing her from responding normally.

  If it didn’t work, Verity might not be able to keep her promise that it wouldn’t hurt—mentally, at least—but this had to be done. Stone had confidence in his apprentice’s abilities.

  Verity bent over Brittany, placing three fingers on the girl’s pale forehead. Stone remained silent, watching but not interfering, and occasionally checking the window to make sure no one else was approaching. He listened to his apprentice’s soft, comforting words as she carefully wove the spell.

  It seemed to take longer than it should. A couple of times Verity’s shoulders stiffened or she seemed to tense up, but then she relaxed and continued as Stone tried to determine if he should intervene. Finally, after several minutes, Brittany slumped and her face relaxed, and Verity leaned back against her chair.

  “Brittany?” Stone asked tentatively, directing the question at Verity. “Are you there?”

  “Yeah…” Verity’s voice had a dreamlike quality, much more hesitant than her usual direct, sardonic amusement.

  He looked at the door again. The longer they remained here, the higher the chance that somebody else—a security guard, another nurse, even a doctor—might need to enter this room, and he wouldn’t be able to watch it while he was questioning Brittany. He’d have to make this quick and to the point, but with luck Verity’s spell would make that easier. “I have a few questions for you, all right?”

  “Yeah…sure.”

  “I’d like you to tell me about the camping trip. Did you go off anywhere on your own, or with Joe or any of the other students?”

  “Yeah.” Brittany shifted a bit in her bed; Verity re-adjusted the positions of her fingers, and the girl calmed.

  “When did you do that?”

  “Saturday…night.” Verity’s words slurred a little, as if she were speaking them reluctantly.

  “Who did you go with?”

  “Everybody…”

  “Everybody? Do you mean all the students?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did the teachers go along with you? Mr. Warby and Mrs. Burford?”

  Verity gave a snide little laugh. “No. They were screwing in Cabin Three.”

  “I see. And…where did all of you go?”

  Again, Brittany shifted, more uncomfortably this time. It took Verity longer to get her calmed down.

  Stone leaned in closer. “Where did you go, Brittany?”

  “Up…up the trail.”

  “The hiking trail? Did you go back to where you went on the hike? In the middle of the night?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Joe.”

  “Joe?” Stone frowned. “Did Joe ask you to go?”

  “Asked…everybody. Wish it was just me.” In the bed, Brittany’s cheeks flushed red.

  Stone shifted to magical sight. Her aura was troubled, but it wasn’t flaring like before. He kept a close eye on it as he continued his questioning. “All right. So you all sneaked out of your cabins and went back up the hiking trail. What did you do then?”

  “Don’t…remember.”

  He looked at Verity, who already seemed to be trying to push her way past this new, stronger blockage. After waiting a few moments to give her time to work, he began again: “Did you stop at the same clearing where you rested earlier that day?”

  “No.”

  That was a surprise. “What did you do, then?”

  “Went…off the trail. Followed Joe. He…said he had something cool to show us.”

  “Did he say what it was?”

  “No. We asked, but he said we had to see it. He said…if I was scared, I could walk with him.” Brittany’s face flushed again, but her thin lips turned up in a sleepy smile.

  “Where did you go next? How far off the trail did you go?”

  “Don’t…know.” Her head whipped back and forth, and Verity’s mirrored it. “Everything got strange for a while. I felt…like I didn’t know where I was going.”

  “All right…that’s fine. But do you know where you ended up?”

  Now she seemed uncomfortable, writhing around as if she was in pain. “I…I don’t…”

  Stone glanced at Verity, who had her eyes closed. Her brow furrowed with her concentration as she tried to get around whatever was preventing Brittany from talking. Strong magic was in effect here, that was obvious.

  “Brittany,” he said gently, “I know this is difficult. I know something doesn’t want you to tell me this. But remember the key. Only you can help us find the key so we can prevent more people from being hurt. Please try your best. Where did you end up when Joe took you off the path?”

  Brittany struggled more, gripping her blankets and moving her legs around beneath them. Her head kept whipping back and forth on her pillow, and her face scrunched up. “I…there was a place. Like a building. Only it was buried.”

  Stone tensed. “There was a building out in the woods? What do you mean, it was buried?”

  “It…the top…only stuck out of the ground a little bit.” She swallowed hard. “Covered with leaves and stuff. Really hard to see.”

  “All right…” Stone forced himself to keep his tone even and encouraging. “Tell me about this building. Did you go inside?”

  “Y-yeah…”

  “And what did you see in there?”

  Brittany’s pale face was growing flushed. She squeezed her eyes even more tightly closed, and tears slipped from them and ran down her cheeks. “No…I can’t…I can’t…” Next to her, Verity seemed to be having the same reaction. Her hand stiffened on Brittany’s forehead, and her body shook.

  “Please, Brittany. You’re very close. You’ll feel better if you get it out.” Stone wasn’t actually sure she would feel better, and felt guilty at what he might be doing to her with his questioning. “Please try. This is so important.” He wondered if perhaps he and Verity should try talking to one of the other students, but that wouldn’t be possible tonight. Even if the rest of them weren’t sharing rooms, the effort of maintaining the magical bond tired Verity considerably. She wouldn’t be able to do it again tonight. “Co
me on, Brittany. You can do it. I know you can.”

  “I…” Her head was thrashing back and forth now, so fast Stone feared she might give herself whiplash. If they didn’t get results soon, he’d have to call a halt to this before the girl injured herself.

  But then, suddenly, she stopped thrashing and began to whisper. “I…There was…a room. And a…thing. A horrible thing with eyes and tentacles and…oh, God…”

  Stone gripped her hand. “A thing? Was it alive, Brittany? Was the thing with eyes and tentacles alive?”

  “No! Yes…I don’t know. It…was on a table. But it…it moved. Oh, God…” She jerked upright, her face going dead pale. “Oh God oh God…”

  Verity pulled her hand back, letting her breath out in a long whoosh, an instant before Brittany’s back bucked. The girl lurched to the side and vomited all over the floor next to the bed, then remained there, her head hanging.

  Stone leaped back in time to avoid getting hit, but Verity, in the chair, didn’t have time. Some of it splattered on her boots.

  Brittany was sobbing now, her whole body shaking. “I’m sorry…”

  Verity recovered faster than Stone did. She rubbed the girl’s back and helped turn her around until she once again lay back on her pillow, then pulled the blanket over her. “It’s okay,” she crooned. “Everything’s okay…”

  Brittany continued to sob. “This is the worst dream ever…” she muttered.

  Verity poured her a cup of water from the plastic pitcher and held it so she could drink. “It’s okay…it’s all okay now. You did great.” She glanced at Stone for confirmation—one of the downsides of the hypnotic bond was that, because she became a conduit for the subject’s words, she didn’t remember any of what was said.