The world swam.
“I’m fine. Go on, Holly. What happened next?”
“I got away. I mean I woke up. The ghost cat at the hotel, Miss Annie Patches, she jumped on the bed and licked my face and I woke up.” Holly’s eyes darted, searching Adeline’s. “I know that sounds stupid.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Adeline smiled faintly. “So you’ve met Miss Annie.”
“She’s come to see me every night. Well, maybe not last night. I don’t remember.”
“I’ve heard about Miss Annie for a very long time. You’re lucky. She’s looking out for you. She’s your familiar.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Adeline smiled. “I’m glad she’s chosen to visit you. I think that’s wonderful.”
Holly returned the smile. “Me, too. I think she saved me.”
“Saved you from the nightmare? Most certainly.”
“More than that.” Holly peeled off the shirt she wore over her tank top. “I’m not sure it was a nightmare.” She turned, showing Adeline the bruises - still dark and angry but the red had faded a little.
With effort, Addie kept her voice steady. “Pearl Abbott did this to you? In your dream?”
“Yes.”
“Holly, this-”
“It happened to Steve, too. Last night, he followed a big cold spot from the elevator into the backroom and the basement door was open. Something grabbed his leg and tried to pull him down the stairs. He has the same bruises as me.”
Fighting off another round of vertigo, Adeline shook her head. “My Lord.”
“Adeline? Why is Pearl Abbott hurting people?”
“Pinching Pearl - what she did in life, she does in death. She was a sadist.” Adeline paused. “Holly, honey, you need to leave Brimstone. It’s not safe for you there.”
“I don’t want to go back to Van Nuys.”
“I know. But you shouldn’t be sleeping at that hotel.”
“I’m going to sleep over at Becky Granger’s house tonight and then I’m going camping with them for a few days.”
“That’s a good idea. But when you come back you still shouldn’t sleep in that hotel.”
“Why?”
“Because they want you. A long time ago, they wanted Carrie. And they wanted me.”
“They?”
“Pearl Abbott and Henry Hank Barrow.”
“Why?”
“Because of our eyes. Holly, you have abilities you don’t even understand yet. Henry Hank had eyes like ours, too, and he used the gifts that came with them for evil. But he didn’t have as much gold as Carrie, or me. And, Holly, honey, you have more than all of us put together. You aren’t safe here.” She hesitated, hating that she was telling a child all this. But she had to. “Holly, the dragon you saw, that was the Brimstone Beast. That was your great-great-grandfather.”
“The voice called it the Beast,” Holly said. “But it’s an Indian legend, so how could it be my great-great-grandfather?”
“Yes, it’s a very old legend. Henry Hank perverted the story to his own use. At first, he did it just to impress people. Later, he used it to further his power and feed his greed.”
“Infurnam Aeris.” Holly said.
“How do you know about that?”
“Steve showed me the tile picture in the room behind the lobby.”
Adeline nodded. “Henry Hank was schooled in the dark arts and used his knowledge to make himself one with what everyone called the Brimstone Beast. It’s a thought form - sort of a mental creation that can be powerful enough to interact with other people if the creator really wants.” Adeline bent close, eye to eye. “Holly, that is why you must leave. He’s strong enough to show you the thought form, to communicate with you.”
More intrigued than frightened, Holly looked up at Adeline. “You saw the dragon?”
“A very long time ago Carrie and I both dreamed of it. And once, on the day she died, we saw it.”
“How did Carrie die?”
“All in good time. First, we need to discuss your powers.”
“My powers?”
“The ones that come with your eyes. Like how you made those boys leave Keith Hala alone. And made the waiters go away.”
“I was mad when that happened.”
Adeline nodded. “So you said, but what did you feel like while you were doing it?”
“Mad.”
“What else?”
“Well…” Holly thought. “Nothing except that I could see really clear, sort of like things are magnified. I just see a ton of details or something. It’s hard to describe.”
“I’ve experienced that same thing in a minor way.”
“Like in a movie where the camera zooms up on something important for a minute and everything else gets blurry?”
Adeline nodded. “I understand. Now, Holly, can you show me show me how your eyes turn gold?”
She smiled. “No. I’m not mad.”
“Were you actually mad at those waiters when you spoke to them?”
“Yeah, well, no, not exactly. I just really wanted them to go away and not look at Miss Delilah.”
“Okay, well, I think that means you’ve already learned a little about how to use your gift.” Adeline smiled. “Tell me, sweetheart, do you usually get whatever you want?”
“No, Cherry doesn’t have much money or anything, so I don’t think about buying stuff. That’d make me sad.”
“How about when you want to watch a TV show and your mom doesn’t?”
Suddenly, Holly understood. “Yes! My mom hates that I watch Dark Shadows after school if she’s home, but I really, really love it and it’s like she says no once but I keep thinking about how much I want to watch it and then she tells me it’s okay. But she’s not very strict, so, I think she just gives in easy.”
“Hmm. Holly, let’s try something. You go over to the candy display and concentrate on something you’d really like. Don’t tell me, just think about it. I’m going to turn my back. Go ahead.”
“Well, okay.” Holly walked around the counter and looked over all the candy. Her favorite was there. She thought, I want a Jolly Rancher Apple Stix as hard as she could.
“I think I know,” Adeline said. “But keep thinking it, don’t stop. Think very hard.”
“Okay.” As Holly concentrated, she became aware of every detail - the tiny bubbles and ripples in the green stick of candy, of how it must have flowed and hardened before it got cut and wrapped.
Adeline stood up suddenly and reached across the counter, picked up a Jolly Rancher and stared into Holly’s eyes.
“That’s right!” Holly said.
“Keep thinking about it.” Adeline reached out and touched Holly’s chin, lifted it and stared into her eyes for what seemed like forever. “Holly, you’re amazing.”
The back door opened and Ike Chance entered the store. “Well, goodness, what are you two up to?”
Adeline glanced back then looked at Holly again. “See if you can get Ike to pick you out another candy bar.”
“If you really want me to.”
“I do.” Adeline turned to her husband. “Look at Holly’s eyes when I tell you too, Ike.”
He joined his wife, with a grin for Holly. “I never ask why, I just obey.”
Holly smiled then looked over the candy. Next to Apple Stix, her favorite candy was Mounds Bars. She concentrated until her vision seemed to magnify.
“Look now, Ike,” Adeline ordered.
Ike gasped. “Lord Almighty!”
“What?” Holly asked.
“Keep thinking, sweetheart.”
Holly obeyed as Adeline pulled her purse from under the counter and dug out a compact. She flipped it open, turned it toward Holly. “Think hard and look!”
Holly saw her own eyes swirling with so much gold that she could barely see the blue. Suddenly dizzy, she grabbed the counter and blinked, then stared into the mirror again. Still, they were mostly gold. Finally, she rubbed her eyes and looked onc
e more. The gold was almost gone, save for the flecks that always showed.
“Holly,” Ike said, handing her the Mounds Bar. “You’ve earned this.”
“And this.” Adeline pushed the Apple Stix toward her.
“I don’t understand.” Holly looked at the fleck of gold in Adeline’s eye. “Can you do that?”
“Not that I know of,” Adeline told her.
“When Addie’s all fired up, that little gold beauty mark of hers looks like it’s pulsing,” Ike said.
Adeline nodded. “So did Carrie’s.”
“What about my great-great-grandfather? Could he do it?”
“Not like that,” Adeline said, “but his fleck would get brighter - although I’d call it more of a sulfur-yellow than gold, and only for a second or two.” She shivered. “The day Carrie died, we saw it.” She paused. “Holly, show Ike your arms.”
Holly lifted them, turning to display the marks to Ike.
He bent close. “Somebody really grabbed onto you, young lady. Hurt much?”
Holly shook her head. “Only when it happened.”
“Pinching Pearl Abbott did that to her.” Adeline’s hands went to her hips. “She’s back. She got Steve Cross, too.” Shooting Ike a look, she added, “Holly saw her. And she saw Henry Hank in the form of the Beast.”
“Lord save us all.” Ike shook his head.
Holly turned to Adeline. “So, you think Pearl Abbott grabbed Steve, too?”
“Most like, sweetheart, most like.”
“They didn’t call her Pinching Pearl for nothing,” Ike added.
“I thought it might have been my great-great-grandfather.”
“It was Pearl. That was the kind of thing that old witch was known for.” Ike winked at her. “She was a witch with a capital B, if you get my drift.”
“Ike!” Adeline elbowed his ribs. “Enough.” She looked at Holly. “But he’s right. She was a mean one. Even the patients tried to stay out of her reach.”
Ike cleared his throat. “I once saw her lead one of her nurses out of the hospital by the ear. Poor girl was sobbing.”
“Holly,” Adeline said, all business, “did Steve have any idea about how that basement door got unlocked? Henry Hank’s lair was down there and it should have been locked up tight.”
“No idea.”
“Well, someone unlocked it and I doubt it was anyone breathing.” Adeline sat down with Holly. “Don’t go near that basement door. Don’t go in the backroom, either. Promise me.”
A shiver traveled down Holly’s spine. “I promise. I’m not taking the elevator anymore, either.”
“Good.” Adeline took a gas station business card from behind the counter and scribbled on the back. “This is our home number, Holly. I want you to call me anytime, day or night, if you see anything or anything happens. Call me even if you have a nightmare. Do you understand?”
Holly nodded, feeling a little annoyed. Adeline was taking everything so seriously that it was starting to seem ridiculous.
“And, Holly?”
“Yes?”
“If you encounter something - anything - that scares you, remember, you have a very great power within you. You can use it, just like you did on those bullies on the playground and the waiters in the restaurant. Just remember, don’t be afraid.”
Holly stood. “I will.”
“Are you going back to the hotel now, sweetheart?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking of going down to the drug store.”
“If you do, it’s very hot out, and we’re a mile up, so the air is thinner than you’re used to,” Ike chimed in. “You might want to walk your bike back up at least part of the way.” He winked. “And stop by here. There’s a soda with your name on it in the cooler.”
Holly smiled up at Ike, then Adeline. “Thank you.”
As she left the building, Adeline called after her to be careful. That felt kind of nice.
Ike put his hands on Addie’s shoulders as she stood watching Holly biking toward town. “What’re you thinking, old girl?”
She faced him. “I’m going to have to speak to Dee about Holly’s safety.”
Startled, Ike asked, “How are you going to manage that?”
Addie swallowed. “The mountain won’t come to Muhammad, so ...”
He didn’t even try to hide his surprise. “You swore you’d never go up there again.”
“I know.” Addie straightened the red bandana in his pocket matter-of-factly, but a fine tremble betrayed her. “It’s been a lifetime, Ike, but frankly, I’m more afraid of Delilah Devine than any old ghosts.”
Lip curling in annoyance, Arthur Meeks looked at the Do Not Disturb sign on Little Miss Fancy Pants’ door. He doubted she was in there, but he couldn’t be sure since she’d taken to putting it up whether she was there or not. Damned little bitch.
He made it a point to explore every guest room and he especially wanted to explore hers, but the little bitch was cramping his style. Disgusted, he crossed the corridor and used his skeleton key on Cherry Devine’s room. Obviously, she still hadn’t been back. On a previous expedition, he’d already found her vodka in the freezer and filled his favorite flask with the stuff - he knew from long experience she’d never notice that he’d topped her booze off with water. He’d found a baggie of marijuana in the freezer too, and had taken it to sell in town. What was she going to do? Report it missing? The cheap cunt wasn’t that stupid.
He opened her drawers and rifled through her things - he’d already lifted a pair of satiny red panties that smelled like sweaty pussy and he rarely took more than one article of clothing from most females. One was all he needed, after all. Disgusted, he left the room and took the elevator down to the lobby. He’d polish a few carts to keep Meredith from nagging him and get a gander at the register. There were several new guests whose belongings he had yet to visit, and he especially wanted to check out the family in the second floor suite. They had three kids, and two were girls. Mom wasn’t too shabby either.
33
Stinkeye
When Holly arrived in downtown Brimstone, she was already dreading the ride back up. It was so hot that damp strands of her ponytail stuck to her neck and the relentless sun was already pinking her arms and legs. But that was nothing compared to her thirst.
She parked her bike in the rack outside Gower’s Drugs. The druggist was the person she really wanted to talk to. After double-checking the change in her shorts pocket - there was plenty for a root beer float and a bottle of soda to drink on the way home - she stripped off her outer shirt and dropped it in the bike basket - it was too hot to wear it and she really didn’t care about strangers seeing the bruises.
Bells tinkled as she pushed the glass door open. Inside, she shut her eyes and let the refrigerated air fan over her body.
When she opened them, Eddie Fortune, in a white cap and apron, was leaning on a broom watching her, a big grin on his face. “You’re sunburned.”
She felt herself blush and hoped the burn hid it. “Hi, Eddie.” His blue-gray eyes, the sweep of his brown hair across his forehead, and the dimples when he smiled made her feel funny, like she’d just stepped off a roller coaster.
“Can I help you?” Another heart-stopping grin. “Or are you just here to cool down?”
“Yes, I mean, I want to buy a root beer float.”
“Mr. Gower is at the soda fountain. He’ll make you a big one.” Eddie paused. “You were here the other day.”
“Right, with my grandmother.”
“And your name is . . . Don’t tell me. Holly!”
She grinned. “How did you know that?”
“My cousin, Steve.”
“I like Steve. He’s great.”
“He is.”
“He says you know even more ghost stories than he does.”
Eddie’s gaze intensified. “He said that?” A wide grin.
“He did.”
“Ha! So, he finally admits it. I collect ghost stories. And UFO
stories and stories about cryptozoology.”
“Crypto-what?”
“Weird animals, like the abominable snowman. Come on.” He began walking toward the soda fountain. “You know about the abominable snowman?”
“A little. It’s very interesting. All of it.” She climbed onto a red stool and he spun her toward the counter.
“Mr. G? Customer for you!” Eddie called then went back to sweeping the aisles.
The old man came out from behind the cash register at the far end of the counter and gave her a smile. “What’ll it be, young lady? Another root beer float?”
Holly was surprised. “Another?”
“Once you've had one, you have to have another.” He smiled. “Root beer floats are the secret of my success.”
“Yes, please.”
“Coming right up.” Gower scooped ice cream into a silver cup. “How’s your grandmother today?”
“Fine.”
“Glad to hear it.” Slowly he added root beer, careful not to let it foam too much. “Here you go, little lady. Holly, isn’t it?”
“Thank you.” She couldn’t believe he remembered her name, too.
“You’re very welcome. You put me in mind of Delilah’s big sister, Carrie, may she rest in peace.”
Holly sipped the creamy, fizzy perfection. “Miss Delilah told me that, too. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He hesitated then stared at her with somber eyes. “Those are some serious bruises you’ve got on your arms.”
Holly tasted the ice cream. “Steve Cross says you knew Pearl Abbott a long time ago.”
He nodded. “And he told me you had a run-in with her.”
Ben Gower glanced around the drug store then, satisfied, turned back to Holly and spoke softly. He nodded at the bruises. “Pinching Pearl did that to me on more than one occasion.”
“When?”
“When she was among the living, back when I was a delivery boy.” He leaned against the counter, hands folded. “Steve came by asking about Pearl. Says you saw her in the elevator.”
Holly nodded. “And I had a dream and she grabbed me in it. I woke up with bruises.”
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