MOON FALL (41 page)

Sometime during the night, Sara awoke from a nightmare
and for a moment she panicked. She didn't know where she
was. Then she remembered and tried to relax.
In her dream, the ghost had come to her, and instead of black
pits, it had Dashwood's eyes. The creature swarmed over her
and she came awake clutching her throat, certain she was
drowning in ice-cold slime, sure her lungs were filled with the
stuff.

Lying there in the dark, trembling and wishing she wasn't
alone, she realized she could hear something-
a voice, not in
her head, but somewhere outside her room. She rose and tiptoed
to the door and opened it a crack.

"I can't open it!" came John's voice, tortured and loud, even
behind his closed door. "Help me!" he cried hoarsely.

He's having a nightmare, too.
She walked to his room and
knocked softly on the door.

"Help me," he pleaded softly.

Opening the door, she saw him thrashing around under the
covers on the tall bed.

She crossed to him. "John, wake up. You're having a bad
dream." She spoke quietly, not wanting to startle him.

"It won't open," he grunted.

In the dim moonlight from the window, she made out his
face, saw his contorted features. She reached out and placed
her hands on his shoulders. "John! Wake up."

He sat bolt upright, eyes opening wide, breath coming in
ragged pants. He stared at her, seemed not to know her, then
relaxed.

“
Sorry about that," he said. "Nightmares. Did I wake you
up?"

''No, my own nightmare did that."

''I hate being alone at night," he said a little shakily.

''Me, too. What do you say we sleep together before we
sleep together?"

He stared at her a long moment. "I'd like that."

She closed the door to his room, then climbed into his waterbed.
It was warm and it sloshed as she positioned herself,
turning on her side and spooning against his body. He put his
arm around her waist and tucked her closer to him, not sayin
g
a word.

Soon he w
a
s asleep and she lay there listening to the soft,
regular rhythm of his breathing. In his sleep he nuzzled against
her neck and pressed his legs against hers so that there was no
space between them. She smiled to herself as sleep finally came.
For all his insistence that he had to protect her, she knew that
he needed her as badly as she needed him.

John squinted as morning sunlight streaming through the
window washed across his face. More asleep than awake, he
turned over and snuggled deeper under the covers
-
and then
realized he wasn't alone. Sara lay on her back sound asleep,
her dark hair feathering across the pillow, her face angelic and
peaceful. God, she was beautiful.

He glanced at the alarm clock and was startled to see it was
past 7:30.
Damn.
He'd meant to set it last night
-
he should
have been up an hour ago.

Moving slowly to avoid waking Sara, he climbed out of bed,
then padded out into the hall and down to Mark's room. He
rapped on the door. "Mark?"

The boy didn't answer. He must have slept in, too-he would
have knocked on John's door, otherwise. He opened the door
and walked in. "Mark? Wake up. You're going to be late for
school." He reached down to shake Mark's shoulder, but his
fingers closed on nothing but soft material.

''Mark?" He pulled the covers back, saw the blanket wadded
on top of the sheet. "What the hell?"

''Mark?" He called his son several times as he walked
through the house. There was no sign of him, not even a note
saying where he'd gone.

''What's wrong?" Sara rubbed her eyes and sat up as John
reentered the bedroom and started dressing.

"Mark's gone."

"To school?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. I don't even think he was in bed
last night
-
he faked it." He tucked in his shirt and buckled on
his gunbelt. "I'm going to make some calls," he said. "This
isn't like him, not at all."

Sara had been surprised when John had handed her the keys
to his blue Nissan pick-up and asked her to drive to Minerva's
to see if she knew where Mark was, but she gladly did it

She'd driven as far as she could, then began walking the rest
of the way. John had been nearly frantic to find Mark, and she
finally asked him if he thought the boy had seen them in the
same bed and taken off. To her relief, he didn't even hesitate
before he said no.

She reached the cottage and the door opened before she
could knock. Minerva's worried face peered out at her, then
the door opened wider. "Come inside."

"Have you seen Mark?" Sara asked, before she even sat
down.

''No, not since yesterday afternoon. He was going to the
Parker place."

''Yes. Caspar Parker said he dropped him off at home around
9:15 and saw him go inside." Briefly, she explained how John
had discovered the boy was missing this morning. ''Minerva,
do you think Mark would run away?"

"No," the old woman said firmly. "He loves his father, and
even if he didn't, it's not the sort of thing he'd do. He's too
conscientious for that."

"John's very worried about him."

''With good reason."

"Minerva, you don't think he's at the abbey, do you?"

"Not of his own free will, but I wouldn't be surprised if
he's been taken there." She rose from her chair and put the
teakettle on to boil. "I have a story to tell you. You may have
heard some of it already, but you must hear it now, because
lives depend on it. John, his son, and Kelly Reed
-
and you,
for that matter-
are all in great peril."

She began the story of the Moonfalls and the Lawsons,
stopping briefly to brew more tea, then continued, telling Sara
things she already knew, as well as facts that were new to her.
Nearly an hour passed before Minerva sat back and sighed.
''And that's why I fear Mark may already have met with foul
play. Tell John to check the school and to take his deputies
with him. Check the basement."

"Where the infirmary is?"

"Yes, and I believe there is a sub-basement as well. Sara,
Mark will die tomorrow night, and so will Kelly. John must
get them out of there."

"He wanted me to ask you if you would keep Kelly with
you if she shows up today."

''Gladly. I should have prevented her return weeks ago."

"You couldn't know."

"Oh, but I did. I thought it best to let her go back. I thought
it would strengthen her resolve to learn the magic of the right
-
hand
path."

Sara nodded, not quite sure what the old lady was talking
about.

"You said John took you to see Dr. Cutter. May I ask why?"

Sara launched into the story, beginning with her gentle dream
and ending with the rape. "I'm not sure how I fainted, but I
woke up in the infirmary."

"You surmised correctly that the thing that attacked you was
the same phantom that nearly took your life at the Falls. It's a
revenant, probably empowered by Dashwood and Lucy. I've
encountered it myself, and it reeks of those two."

''Did it attack you?"

"It has tried." She paused. "Not sexually, not even when I
was young. Lucy hates me too much for that. But it's come
near my house a number of times and tried to scare me with
monstrous appearances and threats. It's even invaded my
dreams now and then. But it never lasts long. It takes a tremendous
amount of energy, you know, even for those two, to make
the phantom take physical form." Minerva took her hands.
''Close your eyes and concentrate, Sara. I want you to think
about that night. Think about walking down the hall to Kelly's
room. Try to see through the fog."

Sara did as she asked. The old woman began speaking words
she didn't understand. Rough and lilting at the same time, the
unknown phrases mesmerized her and her mind began to clear.
"My God," she blurted. "I was drugged. Someone put a rag
over my face. It smelled like chemicals."

''Chloroform, I'd imagine. That was the easy part. The sexual
attack on you must have left them absolutely exhausted."
That didn't make Sara feel any better. "What about the
pleasant sexual dreams that occurred before the attack?"

''There were never any marks on you before the attack?"

''No."

''I expect that was Dash
wood alone, simply visiting you in
your sleep. You've heard of astral projection?"

"Yes, I think so."

''It's simple. Most people can learn to do it. His mind communicated
with yours, so in a way, it was a real encounter. A
mental one that can't hurt you."

"It's so ... invasive."

"Yes. It's horrible. John was right when he stopped you from
spending another night there. You are probably meant to be
one of their sacrifices. The dreams are a way of warmin
g
you
up for what is to come."

"Warming me up? What does that mean?''

"My dear, the sisters and their high priest don't ju
s
t kill
their victims. They torture them sexually and then present them
to their god for sexual intercourse."

"You mean, they rape you in its name?"

"That's the foreplay, Sara. They conjure their demons, who
then have sexual intercourse with the victims. Then the coven
kills them, if the rape hasn't already."

''Dear God." Sara could barely comprehend what Minerva
said, but after the experience with the revenant, she had to
believe her. "Do they attack the boys as well?"

"They attack whatever they wish, though I don't think they
are as violent with the boys
-
the Lawsons, at least. You see,
they've always wanted the Lawson bodies to be found, but
they don't want to give any clue to their involvement in the
deaths.
That's why they always make it
look like an accident
or suicide. They're very cautious."

Minerva cleared her throat. ''Nothing more will happen until
tomorrow night, but John
must
get his son and Kelly away
from there. Tell him he must stop them completely or they will
kill other innocents. He needs to come to me first, though; he'll
fail without my kind of help."

"Who are they?" Sara asked. "John told me about the Order
of Lilith and all that, but who are they? Who is Dashwood?
Are they descendants of the original group?"

Minerva didn't answer for a long time. "I didn't tell this to
John, but you've seen the phantom, so you might be willing
to believe me."

"I'm ready to believe anything."

She nodded. ''They are not descendants. They are the originals.
So am I."

Sara stared at her. "You mean you're ... ?"

"I came here with my husband Jeremiah in 1875. John is
my great-great
-
grandson."

"How old are you?"

"Older than you're guessing. I was born in England sometime
in the late 1690s. The gift ran in my family, and though
my mother did not possess it, my grandmother did. She apprenticed
me when I was twelve, and by the time I was eighteen,
I was proficient enough to be able to slow my aging to a crawl
by normal standards. When I met Jeremiah, I let myself age
normally until he died, then I slowed the process again. For
all intents and purposes, I'm pushing seventy. If I had known
then what I know now, I'd have slowed the process before
Jeremiah died. This body doesn't have the strength it needs."

Sara shook her head. "That's amazing."

"And very hard to swallow, I know, but nevertheless, it's
true. Dashwood and Lucy are older than me. Dashwood, under
other names, is mentioned in histories dating back to the days
of Joan of Arc, and Lucy, nearly as long. Both were active in
the Church in their early days, both rejected it, and when they
found one another, their evil grew a hundredfold. A few of the
sisters are quite old as well. Some came here with Lucy and
Dashwood
."

"Can they be killed?"

''Yes. They are mortal. Like me, however, they have protective
magic surrounding them. Because there are many, their
magic is strong."

"How are they recruited?"

''A practitioner of magic recognizes his own kind. They find
their members many ways, often recruiting them from among
the students."

"Those are the girls that attend the chapel services?"

"Yes. Those who wash out are disposed of. Killed. Kelly
has the gift but she won't bend to their wishes, so she will
di
e."

''What about the nightflyers?"

"As I told John, they are quite real."

''Are they the gargoyles?"

''I believe they comprise some of the figures that ornament
the buildings, but I've never seen a gargoyle take flight, so I'm
not sure. They are part of the evil, though, I promise you that."
The clock chimed nine times. "It's time for you to talk to
John."

"Should I tell him who you really are? Who the nuns are?"

"Only when you truly think he's ready to believe you. I
think it's better to wait and let him concentrate on his son. He
has to understand the danger. That's the important thing."

Minerva saw her to the door. "Remember, go straight back
to John."

"I will."

Sara started up the path to the truck. The day was beautiful
the sunlight compensating for the chill morning breeze. She
heard a screech to the west and picked up her pace, sighing
with relief when John's blue pick-up came into view. When
she was only a few feet from it, a bone-chilling shriek sounded
overhead. She looked up and saw a huge black creature sweeping
over her, its wingspan at least six feet across. Instinctively,
she ducked and ran for the truck, shoving the key into the lock
and opening the door as fast as she could.
She leapt inside, slamming the door behind her. Breathing
hard, she looked up through the windshield. The creature had
disappeared.