Never Fear (54 page)

Lewis gulped as the man opened his
mouth to speak.

“
Ah, young Master
Everhart, you’ve got de same energy as your uncle about you. I’d
recognize it anywhere. Allow me te introduce me self. I am Doctor
Antoine Laveau at your service.” Doctor Laveau removed his top hat
and made a deep, formal bow.

“
It’s a pleasure to meet
you, Doctor Laveau.” Lewis tried to match the bow and almost fell
over.

“
Please call me Antoine.”
The burly man picked up Lewis’ luggage. “Come now. I will take you
te your uncle. He wanted ta collect you himself, but he has much
work still te do if he is ta succeed dis night.”

“
Succeed?” Lewis had
absolutely no idea what Antoine was talking about and the man’s
strange accent wasn’t helping.

“
You have arrived on an
evening dat is most auspicious. Tonight your uncle means ta see
beyond de veil and in ta de realms beyond.”

“
Oh.” Not really knowing
what to say to that Lewis simply fell silent. His new home made
less and less sense to him by the moment.

As their carriage made its way through
the crowded cobblestone streets, Lewis struggled to pay attention
to the history lesson that Antoine was offering him. Rather, his
focus lay with the marvelous and strange architecture that
surrounded them.

They passed a beautiful cathedral that
looked like nothing Lewis had seen before, and the streets were
lined with balconies where he could see a wide array of peoples
relaxing and looking out on the people below.

Perhaps what struck Lewis the most
were the Christmas wreaths he saw on every gas lamp. To him it was
the most incredible oddity to see a city covered in holly and
wreaths with no snow on the ground.

As they moved out of what Antoine had
called the French Quarter, the wrought iron facades and colorful
two-story buildings gave way to larger, more American-looking
buildings. Antoine had stopped his history lesson and gone back to
talking about Lewis’ uncle.

“
Gideon is a brilliant
man, but he is misunderstood by many. Dey laugh at his theories and
ask for proof. When he brings dem proof, dey decry it as a
fabrication. Dey mock what dey do not understand. But dough dey may
ridicule his theories, dey respect your uncle. Some of dem even
fear him. You know how I know dis?”

Lewis did not. He indicated this by
staring blankly back at Doctor Laveau, who by the speed with which
he carried on, apparently meant the question to be a rhetorical one
anyway.

“
Because when dey speak of
your uncle, when dey speak of de foolish Professor Gideon Giles and
his far-fetched experiments, dey do so in a whisper.” Antione’s
words were laced with menace but were not as off-putting as the
laughter that followed them.

Lewis wasn’t sure what Antoine meant
by telling him all this. He knew that his mother was not overly
fond of her brother and considered him an embarrassment. In Lewis’
mind that was a point in his uncle’s favor. The truth was he knew
very little about his Uncle Gideon, other than he had fought in the
war and was now a professor of some kind.

Their mud-spattered carriage pulled up
to a mansion that would have been described as palatial if not for
the general sense of foreboding it exuded. Where the other estates
they had passed looked bright and classical in their design, his
uncle’s was more Gothic in nature. It would have been far more at
home in medieval Europe than modern America.

Antoine walked him to the door as the
footman collected Lewis’ baggage. The knocker looked comically
small in his gargantuan hand as he banged it three
times.

The door opened and a small, matronly
looking woman appeared. She gave a quick glance at Antoine before
taking a long look at Lewis.

“
Ah, Doctor Laveau, you
have delivered our weary traveler. The professor will be most
grateful to you. You’ll find him in the laboratory. He was anxious
that you attend to him immediately upon your return.” The woman’s
words were sharp and clear, enunciating each word with clipped
precision.

“
Den I leave you in Mrs.
Dunham’s capable care, young Lewis.” Antoine gave Lewis’ back a pat
and made his way into the house.

“
Right this way, Master
Everheart. Your uncle had me fix up one of the upstairs rooms for
you.” Lewis followed Mrs. Dunham closely, certain that he did not
want to become lost in this place. Myriad stuffed animal heads were
mounted on the walls. Some he recognized easy enough: bears, lions,
alligators, and the like. But some were decidedly strange: the
impossibly large head of a spider, the impossibly small head of a
bull, and a just plain impossible head that looked to be an
elephant with antlers and an extra eye. Lewis thought the shadows
must be playing tricks on him because he would have sworn that the
heads were watching him as he climbed the stairs.

“
Here we are. Prepared
especially for you. You’ll find your luggage in the corner. I’ll
let you get settled. Dinner is at six.” Lewis simply nodded as Mrs.
Dunham went through her checklist. His attention was engaged by the
small firearm that was resting on his pillow, a firearm that Mrs.
Dunham seemed to be taking no notice of at all.

The housekeeper left him, and Lewis
walked slowly toward the bed. He was certain that if he moved too
quickly, the pistol would disappear, proving to be a figment of his
overactive imagination. When he finally reached it, Lewis took it
carefully in his hands. He could tell by the weight that it wasn’t
loaded.

He examined it carefully. It was a
beautiful piece, silver-plated and balanced perfectly. Lewis hadn’t
held a gun since before his pa had died.

“
My father gave me that
gun when I was your age.”

Lewis turned with a start. Standing in
the doorway was his uncle. The man was older than he had looked in
the photo Lewis’ mother had given him, but he was still possessed
of a wiry frame and a certain air of youthful sophistication. It
was the eyes that gave him away, dark brown eyes that somehow
managed to be hard and curious at the same time.

“
Truth be told, I almost
killed your mother with that a few times. Fortunately for you, I
was a rather awful shot back then.” Lewis couldn’t tell whether or
not his uncle was joking. “Consider it an early Christmas present.
I assume you know how to shoot?”

“
Pa taught me a little,
but Mother forbade it once she found out.” And Lewis hated her for
it.

“
That sounds like my
sister dear. Very well. I’ll take you out for target practice
starting tomorrow. No sense you losing an appendage out of
ignorance.” His uncle pulled a whistle out of his pocket and put it
to his mouth. “I have one more present for you.”

Gideon blew the whistle twice and
looked expectantly down the hallway. A few seconds later a rather
large Border collie came bounding into Gideon’s arms. Lewis’ uncle
dropped to one knee and petted the exuberant dog for a few seconds
before commanding him to sit.

“
Lewis, I’d like you to
meet your newest companion. I’m afraid I’ve never been particularly
good at naming things, so it’s up to you to decide what to call
him.” Lewis needed less than a moment to answer.

“
I’d like to call him
Will, if that’s all right. After my father.”

“
I think Will is a fine
name for a dog.” His uncle smiled then gave a sharp cough. “There,
that’s done then. I’ve always said there are three things a boy
your age needs: a gun, a dog, and an education. I’ve taken care of
the first two, and tonight we’ll get to work on the third. Dinner
is at six sharp and Mrs. Dunham abhors tardiness. I’ll leave you to
get acquainted with your new friend.”

Dinner came too quickly for Lewis, but
not wanting to make a bad impression on his first night in his new
home, he pulled himself away from Will and managed to get dressed
and downstairs in time.

Dinner consisted of pork chops
smothered in some kind of gravy, a new species of pepper Lewis had
never seen, stuffed with cheese and beef, and a serving of what
Antoine had called jambalaya. It was all delicious and a vast
improvement on the disappointingly small portions of soup Lewis had
been eating on the way down the river. It was safe to say that the
food on Lewis’ plate had his undivided attention.

Which was good because he had only a
fleeting comprehension of what Gideon and Antoine were
discussing.

“
I accept that there are
things beyond the current understanding of science, but I will not
accept that this will always be the case. To the first cave
dwellers fire seemed to be a gift from the gods. The sun, the moon,
and the stars were all worshiped before we came to understand them
for what they really are. Gravity itself baffled the scientific
community and was held to be merely an extension of God’s will
until a man of intellect proved otherwise. What you call mysticism
is merely a state of natural laws that we have yet to
unravel.”

“
Science is a powerful
ding, Professor. ’Dis is true, but it does not solve all de
mysteries of God’s creation. De spirits are here te guide us, but
dey will not be chained by man’s laws.”

Gideon guffawed at Antoine’s
assertions. “God is a myth. These spirits of yours are no more than
apparitions. Imprints of consciousness left behind. No more than
energy trapped between our reality and another.” His uncle said in
rebuttal.

“
God is all around you,
Professor. You simply choose not te believe. Tonight you will have
de proof you need.” Antoine spoke with supreme
confidence.

“
Yes, I very much believe
I will.”

The conversation continued but became
increasingly more technical and centered on the specifics of this
great experiment that was to occur after supper. And thus it was
increasingly beyond Lewis’ ability to comprehend.

Lewis let his thoughts dwell on his
uncle’s statement that God was a myth. He had never heard anyone
speak such a thought out loud. While it was true that his mother
had been more interested in church activities than his pa, his
father had been able to quote his Scripture by chapter and verse
and had insisted that Lewis be able to do the same.

But with his father dead and his
mother run off to San Francisco in search of a rich husband, he
wondered if there really was a God after all. And if there was, why
was everyone so certain he was benevolent?

After dinner Lewis, with Will now at
his side, was ushered down to what he presumed to be his uncle’s
laboratory. He could only presume because, while it seemed unlikely
to be anything else, it also looked nothing like what Lewis thought
a scientific laboratory should look like.

Incense burned throughout the room,
combining with the odd bits of steam that various gadgets and
doodads were popping out, to make the lab’s atmosphere heavy and
difficult to breathe. Where Lewis would have expected to find the
shelves lined with beakers and sundries, instead they were lined
with hollowed-out skulls and other, more unfamiliar oddities. The
far wall was perhaps the most surprising as it served as a rack for
a variety of heavily modified firearms.

Lewis highly doubted that this room
was typical for a university professor.

“
Stand by the door. If you
see fire, ghosts, or any unnatural atmospheric occurrences, run and
get Mrs. Dunham. Understood?” The oddness of his uncle’s command
was overshadowed by the severity of its delivery.

“
Yes sir,” Lewis responded
fairly bewildered.

Gideon double-checked his equipment
while Antoine drew a circle and some other markings on the floor.
From his spot in the doorway it was difficult for Lewis to see what
they might be. When he was done, he positioned himself in the
center of the circle, sat down cross-legged, and began mixing
various herbs and liquids. Gideon paced impatiently and looked over
the equipment twice more before Antoine spoke.

“
I am ready te begin,
Professor. May de spirits smile upon us.” Antoine produced a flask
from his pocket and took a swig before handing it to
Gideon.

“
Here’s to not blowing
ourselves up.” His uncle took his own long tug on the flask and
threw the switch attached to a large piece of machinery. Cords ran
from the machine to two separate brackets that stood on opposite
sides of the room.

The machine and Antione began to hum
in unison as the lights flickered and dimmed.

“
Come on, work, damn you,
work,” came his uncle’s quiet imploring. Antoine ceased his humming
and began chanting in a powerful voice and blowing some sort of
white powder into the air.

The laboratory crackled with energy.
Sparks flew from various pieces of equipment. Will whined and
barked from behind Lewis’ legs, the poor creature frightened out of
his mind. Gideon cackled as Antoine continued his chanting, calling
to unknown spirits. Madness had taken hold of the room and only
Lewis seemed to notice or care.

Colors began to swirl as the energy
coalesced at the center of his uncle’s contraption. A horizontal
funnel of electricity and fire appeared out of thin air, boring a
hole through reality itself. Wind rushed around the room, sending
papers flying all around.