Hallow House - Part Two (24 page)

"Naomi found me," he said. "She and Katrina were worried about you and I can see why. I never thought you'd pull a dumb stunt like this. What's wrong?"

How could he ask? Her throat closed with anguish.

"Johanna, answer me!"

She shook her head, plodding beside him on feet that no longer had any feeling. She wished the rest of her was as numb as her feet.

"Are you sick?" He stopped and peered into her face. She refused to meet his eyes.

He grasped her shoulders and shook her. "What's wrong with you? Talk to me. You've never acted this way before."

Johanna twisted from his grasp and spit words at him. "I saw Sue."

He stared at her. "Sure, why wouldn't you. She was your roommate."

"S-Sue told me--she t-told me..." Johanna was unable to go on.

"Whatever she said was probably half a lie--you ought to know her well enough by now."

"D-don't pretend." She pushed past him and hurried to the hotel entrance, across the lobby and to her room, only to find the door locked. Her key she knew, was inside the room. She stumped back to the desk for an extra key, shivering all the way.

When she got back, Brian was waiting by the door. She ignored him, trying to fit the key into the lock with her shaking fingers. He took the key from her, unlocked the door and followed her inside.

"What do you w-want?" she demanded.

"My jacket, for one thing." He lifted it from her shoulders and tossed in onto an unmade bed. He pulled her to him. "Neither of us is going anywhere until you start to make sense. Get out of those wet things so you can stop shivering and then we'll talk."

"You can't stay in my room," she cried, pulling away.

"Want to bet?"

As Johanna kicked off her sopping shoes and yanked down her knee socks, she muttered, "I don't want any l-leftovers." Staring straight at him, she pulled her sweater over her head and unzipped her skirt, letting it fall to the floor. Standing there in her half slip and bra, she reached back to unhook it

"For God's sake, Johanna, go undress in the bathroom," Brian said.

"I'm--I can't--"

"Undress in the bathroom like you did?" she snapped.

He frowned, looking confused.

She unhooked her bra and flung it defiantly aside.

He caught his breath. "You're beautiful."

"Better than Sue?" She pulled down her slip and stepped out of it, naked now except for her panties.

He reached for her, his hands, then his lips hot and exciting on her bare skin. She felt herself melting inside. This was wrong, but right, too...

He let her go abruptly, turned her, propelled her into the bathroom and shut the door, closing her inside. Before she'd decided what to do, he partly reopened the door and began thrusting clothes through the gap--ski pants, a dry sweater, her black and white long johns, the discarded bra. Then he shut the door firmly.

When she was dressed, Johanna returned to the bedroom. Brian sprang up from the chair where he was sitting wrong-side-to and faced her.

"Okay, what's all this about Sue?"

"You had her in your room."

He scowled at her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to m-me. I was in 209 and I saw her half-undressed. You were in the b-bathroom."

Brian's frown vanished. He threw back his head and laughed. "Was she really there?" he asked.

Johanna glowered at him. "I told you I saw her."

"209's not my room, Ralph and Emery Jacobs are sharing it. I'm stuck in 210 with Dum-Dum Harrison--you know I can't stand him. Ralph and I had it all fixed up to trade, but Mr. Travers wouldn't let us switch."

Happiness and humiliation mixed inside Johanna. "Oh. Katrina heard you and Ralph talking and thought you'd traded." A thought struck her. "I wonder if Sue overheard, too."

Brian shrugged. "If she did, she was in for a surprise when Emery came out of the bathroom. You don't seem to understand Sue's not my kind of girl. Too pushy."

Johanna lowered her gaze. "I s-sorry."

He took her hand. "You're more my type. But what I said in the tower is still true. We can't risk the possibility that Vincent was your father as well as mine. We have to learn to just be friends."

"No," she said, freeing her hand.

"Yes."

"A few minutes ago when you t-touched me--"

Brian's frown returned. "That won't happen again. I'm going to start taking Cheryl out. Ralph likes you, why don't you--?"

"That'd be a lie! I can't do it. It's wrong to."

"We have to behave. Look what almost happened in here. Maybe getting to know others better might help. I'm going to try. You should too."

"No, I won't do it."

They glared at one another.

"There's no way to tell what's true and what isn't about my birth mother," she said finally. "But I can't change the way I feel about you. I never will. Why should it make any difference to us what Delores might have done?"

"You know it makes a difference. You told me yourself your father called it incest."

Johanna covered her ears with her hands. "I hate that word. I hate Daddy. Mrs. Gray s-said he k-killed Sergei. His own son."

Seeing Brian's uneasy expression, she dropped her hands. "You already knew that."

"It was an accident."

"Yes, with a g-gun, that's what we were told. But I though Sergei s-shot himself. He didn't, did he? Daddy shot him."

"It was an accident," Brian said again.

"But Sergei's dead. And Delores--" Johanna couldn't bring herself to repeat Mrs. Gray's words.

"If you've been hearing stories about Hallow House, I think you ought to talk to Vera. I only know what Marie told me and sometimes she got things mixed up. Right now we'd better find the others before they come looking for us."

On the way back home, the buses stopped at Badger Pass for more skiing. Johanna went through the motions mechanically, all pleasure gone. She couldn't wait to get home.

The next day her throat was sore and she had the sniffles. Frances made her stay in bed and hovered over her until Johanna was ready to scream.

"We don't want you developing pneumonia," Frances cautioned.

"It's only a cold. I got my feet wet."

Late in the afternoon, Johanna put on a robe and slippers and went in search of her mother. She found Vera in her room, reading on the chaise longue.

"May I talk to you?" Johanna asked.

Vera put down the book. "Of course, dear. Any time."

Taking a deep breath, Johanna plunged right in. "I overheard p-people talking at the Ahwahnee Hotel. About Delores."

Vera smiled encouragingly, but her eyes looked wary.

"It was about how Delores d-died. The woman said Sergei k-killed his--my--mother. Is it true?"

Vera sighed. "I'd hoped you'd never have to know. Sergei was a very disturbed boy. He'd gotten involved in black magic, which he unfortunately believed in, and it deranged his mind. "

"Then he did k-kill her. C-cut her throat."

Vera nodded.

"And I was there."

"A tiny baby, only a few months old. You weren't injured, thank heaven."

Johanna closed her eyes for a moment, thinking that Mr. Gray had said she was all covered with blood. Delores' blood. She forced herself to go on. "Then Daddy s-shot Sergei."

Sadness clouded Vera's eyes and seeped into her voice. "Not then. It happened later and was an accident. While all of this was a terrible tragedy, it occurred years ago and time has helped us to forget."

"How could you ever forget?"

"Come and sit by me, Johanna."

Reluctantly, she obeyed, perching on the chaise. Vera put an arm around her. "I think of you as my daughter. You've always called me 'mama' and I love you equally with the twins--you know that."

"Delores was my b-birth mother, though, my real mother. She had lovers. Uncle Vince f-for one." She look into Vera's eyes. "I wish you'd truly been my mother. Then Brian and I c-could..." Tears prevent her from going on.

Hugging her, Vera said, "Cousins can marry. Even double ones. Whether it's a good idea, is another matter. But it's foolish for you or Brian to plan on marrying anyone for years yet."

"Not c-cousins," Johanna said tearfully. "Not if Uncle Vince was my father, like he is Brian's. Daddy thinks he was--he told me. Isn't it funny? I still c-call him Daddy."

"John
is
your father." Vera spoke in her no-nonsense tone. "Whatever doubts he has, I have none."

"Why not? Everyone else s-seems to."

"Vincent himself told both me and John he was not your father. That's proof enough for me."

"It won't be for Brian."

Vera sighed again. "It's time the two of you experienced a larger world than this valley. He'll probably go to Stanford this fall, young as he is. I think we'll send you to St. Bianca for a year before you start at the university. The separation will be good for both of you as well as the chance to widen your horizons. If the feeling between you persists as you grow older, then you'll know it's real."

"I already know, I don't need time."

"Perhaps you're being selfish. Have you thought Brain might need to be away from you, meet other girls and become more mature before he's ready for marriage?"

Johanna was silent. She could answer for herself, but not for Brian.

"I'm sorry you must face all these unpleasant and frightening facts about the past," Vera said. "I've tried to shield you from them, but I should have known I couldn't do that forever."

"Was my brother Sergei really insane?" Johanna asked.

"I'm afraid so. After what happened, he was better off dead, though your father has never forgiven himself for the shooting accident."

"What made Sergei like he was?"

Vera was silent for a few moments. "I think part of it had to do with Delores. They had an odd relationship--she spoiled him and then withdrew her attention. Then he got involved in this belief about black magic. I think something snapped in his mind."

"But Samara's all right, even though they were twins."

"Samara's wonderful. And so are you." Vera gave her a final hug.

Back in her own room, Johanna realized her talk with Vera had frightened rather than relieved her. Would something go wrong in her mind? Was the compulsion she felt to wear the silver pendant the first sign?

Was it possible Tabitha had been mad, too? To reassure herself, Johanna decided to take a look at the journal she'd found. Opening it, she read:

"Ramos, the Mexican workman, who knows something of magic, has started work on the secret passage to my room behind the black door. I must keep this journal hidden from everyone lest they discover what I have had Ramos do. They think to keep me out of my room by taking my key, but they shall not. The room is mine and mine alone, so they must never find my new entrance nor the hidden place in my closet Ramos has fashioned for this journal.

The Russian pendant Aunt Metta gave me will be secreted with the journal. Only the pendant can protect Hallow House from doom, but I cannot expect unbelievers to understand."

Sometime during the reading, Johanna had slipped the pendant over her head without realizing what she was doing. Now it hung between her breasts like a great weight pulling her from all she knew. She cupped her hand around it, surprised by its warmth, while she mulled over what Tabitha had written.

Goosebumps rose on her arms as she realized what the journal had told her. North tower, secret passage could mean only one things. There was a way to enter the room behind the black door other than through that door. Not that she'd ever want to. Still the idea was fascinating. She flipped through more pages:

"Boris no longer comes to me at night. He is my husband so he must. He will soon enough, for there are ways to bring a man to you, to bind him to your side. The witch book has the recipe. I must take three hairs from Boris' head and knot them thrice. The hairs must be burned in a fire of rosemary while chanting the secret words that will bind his will to mine. The spell will be the more powerful if done in the room behind the black door and I shall wear my silver pendant which makes all spells more potent."

The rest of the pages contained what appeared to be chants and invocations, many of them in a language strange to Johanna. As she closed the journal, she wondered if Tabitha had succeeded in binding Boris to her. Was it possible they actually was a magic spell to do such a thing?

The pendant pressed against her flesh as if in answer.