Dream a Little Dream (The Silver Trilogy) (F) (32 page)

But Anabel and Arthur had already left the school building. When I reached the entrance door, they were already out in the street and just getting into a taxi.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Anabel! Arthur! Wait!”

Anabel turned her head to look at me, but then she followed Arthur into the car and closed the door.

Damn.

I ran down the steps and crossed the school yard. Slowly, the taxi began to move away. Another taxi was waiting behind it, obviously intended for the elderly teacher who had opened the ball with the headmistress, because he was making straight for it. I couldn’t stop to think of that now. I pushed him aside and flung the car door open.

“Young lady!” said the white-bearded teacher indignantly.

“I know I shouldn’t do this, sir, but it’s an emergency,” I replied. I didn’t wait for his answer but dropped into the back seat and said something that would never have crossed my lips if I hadn’t been so desperate. “Follow that car, please. And fast.”

30

I’D HAVE GIVEN ANYTHING TO WAKE UP.

But this wasn’t a dream, in which I was crossing Highgate Cemetery in the middle of the night, barefoot, and wearing a ball dress. It was only too real. My silk stockings were in shreds, but to be honest I could hardly feel my feet. It must have been the adrenaline. Arthur and Anabel had a flashlight to show them the way along the overgrown paths, and that made it easier for me to follow them. They were holding hands and walking on as purposefully as if they had been here hundreds of times.

Was Henry on his way yet? Had Emily delivered my message to him correctly?

I’d hoped so much that I was wrong and Arthur was simply taking Anabel home to sleep off her hangover. But my taxi had followed theirs straight to the gate of the cemetery, and when I’d seen them both disappear through the churchlike entrance, I could no longer persuade myself that I was suffering from an overactive imagination. I went through the gate just after them.

And now I was running through the darkness, with no clear plan in my head. I only knew that I must keep Arthur from doing anything to Anabel. Did she really mean to sacrifice herself of her own free will, or had Arthur been making it up? I still couldn’t imagine anyone—even Anabel—going so far as to get herself killed for this demon business, guilty feelings or not, and never mind the amorous tsunami.

In the darkness, I saw weathered gravestones and broken crosses, and the whole place seemed to be rustling. Rats, owls, werewolves…?

I was breathing heavily. The cold night wind blew through the trees, and I realized that the slight noise I heard was my own teeth chattering.

I knew I mustn’t panic. Henry would surely arrive soon. He could talk to Arthur. I’d realized last night how much influence he had over him. He’d persuade Arthur to change his mind, and together we’d rescue Anabel and—where had they gone? There! The beam of the flashlight moved over a tomb and showed me a door. I thought I knew the two stone angels on guard outside it.

In my fright, I stumbled over a root on the ground. If I hadn’t put out my hands in time to save myself, I’d have hit my forehead on a statue lying on the plinth in front of me.

I struggled upright, and only then did I see where I was: This was the tomb where the scary stone dog had attacked us in last night’s dream. It looked as menacing as ever now, with its empty stone eyes, but at least its paws stayed put. I had plenty of other problems, thank you very much.

Anyway, Arthur and Anabel didn’t seem to have heard me. They disappeared into the mausoleum, and when the door closed behind them, I was alone in the dark.

Silence.

And no sign of Henry anywhere at all.

Oh God, what an idiot I was! I ought to have jumped Arthur from behind on the way here! He wouldn’t have had a chance. Now, inside that tomb, it was going to be much more difficult.

I closed my eyes for a moment. Maybe I was simply overreacting, and in my panic I’d just been following a pair of lovers who didn’t want to be disturbed.

Yes, exactly. In this cemetery, by night. Inside a mausoleum.

Because this was such a cozy place.

It was no good—I couldn’t wait any longer.

If necessary, I’d deal with Arthur by myself. He might be tall and fit, but I was good at kung fu, and I had the advantage of surprise on my side. Okay, so it might be silly. It certainly wasn’t particularly clever, to face up on my own to someone who was seriously expecting to liberate a demon from the underworld—and who didn’t shrink from the idea of human sacrifice—but what choice did I have?

I stared at the shape of the sleeping stone dog beside me. Suppose Henry didn’t turn up at all? Suppose Emily hadn’t passed on my message? I could believe it of her, in view of what she’d said about Grayson’s friends. And maybe she simply hadn’t understood a word of what I’d been shouting.

I had to make my decision. Running back to the street in search of help wasn’t really in the cards. By the time help came—if it came at all—it would be far too late. No, I couldn’t wait any longer. Who knew what was going on inside that mausoleum at this very moment? Did Arthur have the nerve to draw pentagrams and declaim unctuous sayings in Latin? Maybe he’d go straight to the essential part, hoping to get it over and done with fast and painlessly.

I slowly put my shoes on again. They might not be much good for running, but in a fight they could turn out to be very useful.

My hand was shaking as I opened the mausoleum door, cautiously stole in, and looked around. It occupied an area of about ten to twelve feet, and the dim light came from candles placed in niches along the walls. Anabel was just lighting a torch, and Arthur was standing against the long side of the oblong tomb, looking at me. Not shocked, not even surprised, but as if he’d expected to see me there. The flickering light showed the outline of his perfect face.

“Liv,” he said, taking a step toward me. I didn’t wait for him to come any closer. His hands were empty and held no weapon, so I swung up my right foot and caught him just under the chin as I jumped. Still in the air, I turned at an angle of 180 degrees, and when I landed, my left forearm caught him in the stomach. I didn’t have to kick his shin, because he collapsed like a felled tree. The ugly sound that had followed my first kick made me suspect that I’d broken his jaw.

Okay, I hadn’t planned to do that. But it had been effective.

I was just thinking, with satisfaction, that the advantage of surprise had definitely worked, when something (an iron torch holder, as it turned out) came down on me. Only when my head hit the stone floor beside Arthur’s, and everything went black before my eyes, did I realize that I’d made a mistake—I’d forgotten Mr. Wu’s fighting principle number one: Tackle your most dangerous adversary first.

*   *   *

“I do like it when a plan works out,” said Anabel as I returned to my senses. She’d stolen that from a movie too, and once again I couldn’t remember what movie it was. My head hurt as if a small bulldozer was driving around in it—my whole body hurt, and now I could even feel the sore soles of my feet. I was lying on the hard stone floor, and someone—Anabel, I assumed—had taped my wrists and ankles together, but even without that, I wasn’t sure I could have moved my limbs. Even opening my eyes hurt.

“Oh, good,” said Anabel, pleased. “I was afraid you’d miss your own execution. Poor Arthur probably will, and I’m not ungrateful to you for that. I wasn’t sure whether he would go through with this, anyway.”

My throat was dry, so I could only croak, “You? Why…?” That was all I could get out. Anabel had crossed my hands over my breast, and I could hardly breathe.

She bent over me and checked my bonds. “Why
what
?” Although the tomb was lit only by candles, the pupils of her eyes looked unnaturally small, and it occurred to me that she might actually
be
the demon. “Why do you have to die tonight?” she asked, laughing. “I wouldn’t take it so personally if I were you. Although it’s your own fault for being so nosy. I had a few other virginal candidates in reserve. They’re not as rare as Jasper thinks.” She seemed to be in high spirits. “But then you slipped into Grayson’s dream. I don’t believe in coincidences. I think that
he
showed you the way into that dream himself. And tonight your blood will bring him back to life.”

No, she wasn’t a demon. She was only a crazy girl who believed in demons. But from my point of view that was almost as bad. Particularly because the book from which Arthur had read the ritual when I joined the circle was lying over there on the floor, and beside it was the hunting knife, with its blade shining unpleasantly in the candlelight. I glanced at Arthur, still lying motionless in the same place. How stupid could I get? While Anabel was coldly luring me into a trap, I’d knocked out the one person who might have been able to help me.

“The open cemetery gate … that was idiotic of me too,” I murmured. “You were planning for me to follow you all the time.”

Anabel giggled. “Hmm, yes, not very intelligent. But in case you wonder how I arranged for the gate to be open—well, night watchmen have dreams too. And if you have some personal item of theirs, you can easily find out what you need. For instance, where the duplicate keys are kept. These dreams offer so many opportunities.” Anabel sighed with pleasure as she bent down to pick up the book. “This is Arthur’s family mausoleum, by the way. All the Hamiltons who died before 1970 were buried here. I knew at once that it would be the perfect place for the ritual.” Only now did I see that the round things in the niches—I’d taken them for stones—were really human skulls. “
Your
ritual! You should feel honored. It will be your blood that changes the face of this world, ushering in a new age. The Lord of Shadows will rise again to claim his rights in this world.”

She was talking nonsense, but at least she was talking. I knew about that sort of thing from TV. As long as they could be kept talking, they didn’t kill you. I really had to make sure that she didn’t stop.

“You manipulated them all!” It was a shot at random. I felt something wet at the back of my head. Blood? “All that about virgin blood…”

Anabel laughed. “That was simple! They didn’t understand the difference between innocent blood—
innocens
—and virgin blood—
virginalis
. It doesn’t specify anywhere that you needed the blood of a virgin to break the first seal. That
would
have been a problem, because none of us had virgin blood, me least of all. And believe me, Arthur if anyone should know.” She was coming toward me.

“But … but he was jealous of Tom.…”

“Yes, you bet he was. And more than horrified when Tom died. That was one of many lucky coincidences … although we agreed that there aren’t any coincidences, didn’t we?” With a sunny smile, she knelt down on the floor of the tomb beside me. “The boys have stopped trusting each other. When Henry came to lend me a hand in Switzerland, he seriously asked whether Arthur was treating me well. I’ll tell you something—it’s incredibly useful to look frail and be blond. They all feel they have to protect you.”

I was fighting against my bonds, but crazy as Anabel might be, she was also thorough. Talking … I absolutely must keep her talking.

“And about your dog…?”

“Lancelot, the dearest little dog in the world?
What’s the matter with him?
” she said, imitating my voice. “The rat poison was really horrid. Poor dear, he suffered horribly. But I had to do it to keep the boys doing as I wanted. So that they’d see how serious it was and work hard to get a sweet little virgin like you into the circle.” Her eyes were shining. “I’m almost sorry it will be over today. I’ve had so much fun,” she went on thoughtfully. “Those boys are so good looking and so clever! Except for Jasper, of course. He’s just good looking.” She sighed. “I couldn’t have found better collaborators.”

Damn it, I wanted a way to turn all this around somehow. Unfortunately I couldn’t think of one. I needed more time, not to mention superhuman powers.

“But mustn’t you gather Henry, Arthur, Grayson, and Jasper together to complete the ritual?”

“Oh no—I really needed them only to break the first seal.” Anabel leafed through the book. “Wait a moment—here it is: ‘the Circle of Five, a circle bound by blood, wild, innocent, honest, brave, and free, will give the Lord of Shadows access to the first dimension.’ I could have done all the rest of it without them, but it wouldn’t have been nearly so much fun on my own. And now all I need for the last seal is your blood, virgin blood. And plenty of it. Or rather,
all
of it.” She leaned forward again and laid her finger against my neck.

My throat felt tight with fear.

“It’s somewhere around here …
Arteria carotis externa
,” murmured Anabel. “You’ll die quickly once I’ve cut it.”

It couldn’t be all over now, could it? I liked my life. Sixteen years wasn’t very long. I didn’t want to die yet.

I squinted down at myself. I couldn’t move my hands, but if I managed to turn on my side, I could reach one of those torches with my feet. And with a little luck, then I could kick it toward Anabel. All those layers of tulle would surely burn like wildfire.

“One more thing,” I said quickly, wondering what question to make up.

“I can understand that you don’t want to die without knowing everything,” said Anabel. She had opened the book at the place where the last seal held two pages together. It looked nasty. “But it’s about time we finished all this.” She got to her feet with a graceful movement. Oh God, no! Now she was holding the knife. This couldn’t be happening.

“Anabel,” I said pleadingly, and at the same time I tensed all my muscles. Now. I had to do it now, when she wasn’t looking at me. When she bent to pick up the knife, I flung myself aside with a sudden movement, kicking out with all my might. But my kick wasn’t enough to send the torch flying, only to give it a gentle nudge.

The torch fell over, but as if in slow motion, and stopped a good three feet away from Anabel’s tulle skirts. So much for my good idea. Frustrated, I closed my eyes, while Anabel began laughing at my failed attempt.