Silence - eARC (20 page)

“I, for one, am glad that we have some new blood here. Keeps things fresh. And, besides, Finn,” Bradan said, “I’ve noticed that it’s been a long time since you have brought anyone new to our table. And no one as interesting as Staci. And her friends, of course.” He inclined his head first to Staci and Sean, then to the rest of the gang before fixing Finn with a stare. “I think you’re finished eating. You’re excused.”

Finn stared back for a tense moment, before grinning and putting his napkin over his plate. “You’re right. I am quite finished.” He stood up quickly, almost knocking his chair back, and left the room, sending servants scurrying out of his path.

That briefly put a stop to conversation. Then one of the female cousins laughed. Morrigan glared at her, but that didn’t stop her. “Welcome to
Family Feud
,” she said merrily to Staci and her friends. “With this many of us in a room at the same time, it was bound to break out sooner or later. Just ignore Finn. He doesn’t think anyone who doesn’t polish his shoes with their tongue is worthy of life.”

Bradan was smiling, and said, with only a
tiny
touch of rebuke, “Now, Brigette, that is scarcely fair.”

“True sir. He prefers the tongues to operate somewhat higher than the shoes.” Brigit smirked.

Bradan actually laughed out loud at that. “Brigit, either someone is going to murder you in your sleep, or you’ll go far.”

She smirked even harder. “Hey, at least it will be entertaining, sir.”

The rest of breakfast was incident-free. Once everyone had their fill of the delicious food, Sean announced a special treat for everyone; since the preparations for the party that evening were going to cause a bit of noise and commotion around the pool, he had arranged for a trip to one of the nicer beaches in the area, with plenty of refreshments of course. “It will be an old-fashioned New England clambake,” he said cheerfully. “Something that has, sadly, long been absent around Silence.”

“That’s because you’d freeze your patooties on the beaches around Silence,” Seth observed. “Nobody sane here ever goes to the beach.”

Bradan excused himself, but wished everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves; “Work, of course. It seems that it’s never done, sometimes.”

“Go run up and get what you need, there will be cars waiting out front,” Sean told them. “We’ll meet you there.”

Staci did just that; she’d warned the others to bring suits. She stuffed hers into the beach bag she found waiting on her newly made bed, and ran down again.

This time she wasn’t the first; the boys had gotten there already, and were climbing into a limo—this time one of a line of four that were waiting for passengers. Thankfully, it seemed that Finn was not going to join them. Apparently his exchange with Bradan over breakfast had been enough to cow him—for now, at least.

The limos rolled through the forest on what appeared to be a private road, until, suddenly, the sun broke through the ever-present clouds and shone down on…a cliff-side parking lot, which the limos lined up on. Clutching her beach bag, Staci got out of the car with the others, and went to the edge of the lot.

There was a zigzag staircase made of white-painted wood making its way down the cliff and ending at a perfect beach—a half-moon of sheltered white sand, currently bedecked with portable cabanas, changing pavilions, and even, prosaically, a pair of port-o-potties. There were servants—at least Staci guessed they were servants—moving among the tents, setting out stacks of towels, unfolding lounge chairs, digging the pit for the clambake, getting out food and drinks.

“Holy crap,” Jake said, “How did they get all of this out here? If it wasn’t the Blackthornes, I’d suspect magic!”

The others laughed. Staci did too…but she had to wonder, how much of it
was
money, and how much magic? So far, what she’d seen and done herself had all been small…she supposed you could count making gold chains out of nothing “small.”
Could
you do something like—create or transport all this stuff by magic?

Then she realized she didn’t care, and it didn’t matter. Because it wasn’t as if she could find out by herself, and if you
could
do that sort of thing, Dylan would almost certainly already know.

“What, someone brought a bag of holding?” Staci said mockingly, and punched his arm lightly. “Come on, let’s get down there and enjoy the first sun I’ve seen since I got here!”

Chapter Fifteen

By the time the cars were ready to take them back to the Blackthorne Estate, it was past dark. They had campfires burning, had had a
second
clambake, this one with lobsters, and were munching on a high-end version of s’mores, with exotic chocolates and handmade marshmallows. To be honest, Staci would just have soon stayed here. It was still actually warm on this beach, and aside from the ritzy food, this was the most normal things had been since she arrived at Silence.

But it was clear that the rest of the guests, her gang included, wanted to get back to the estate to find out just what the Blackthorne idea of a “horror movie night” was. So they all changed out of their swimming gear, climbed back up the cliff to the waiting limos, and piled in.

This time Sean came in the same car as the rest of the gang.

“Are we doing costumes again?” was the first thing that Seth wanted to know when they all settled down comfortably. It was pretty clear to Staci that he’d loved his ’50s Scientist getup.

Sean smiled. “Only if you want to,” he said. “Some of the other guests are very into…cosplay?”

Wanda nodded. “Cosplay’s the right word.”

“Some of the cousins don’t see the point. So some people will be in something like the costumes we were wearing last night, some will be in casual attire, and some will be…well…you’ll see.” He smiled even larger. “Strangely enough, Father and his guests are
extremely
fond of…cosplay. So even if you see them, I am certain enough to place a bet on it that you will never recognize them. There
are
a selection of costumes hung up in a storage closet that we’ll open up for everyone, since there are more people from Silence coming up tonight. Feel free to costume or not.”

With that, everyone retired to the house to freshen up and, if they wanted, to get changed into costume. Seth was practically skipping the entire way up to his room. Staci and Wanda decided that they were just going to dress normally; Riley and Jake decided to pick out a pair of the provided costumes, so that Seth wouldn’t be the only one dressing up again. This time, Seth changed up his costume a little bit; black PVC gloves over a white lab coat, goggles of course, and white rain boots. He was going for a
Dr. Horrible
vibe, he said, with enthusiastic recommendations that Staci borrow the DVD he had of the character. Riley was able to put together an Ellen Ripley cosplay, while Jake modified a Vietnam soldier costume so that it more closely resembled “Dutch” from
Predator
; his Arnie accent wasn’t half bad, though he did sputter a few times trying to get it just right. Wanda just got into her overnight bag and brought out more of her Goth gear: black yoga pants, black spike heels, and a black poet’s shirt with big puffy sleeves and a black beaded belt holding it in at the waist. Staci got out her vintage black silk jumpsuit again; this time she wore it over a dark green silk turtleneck with a dark green fringed “pirate” sash. She already knew that when she did that, it looked like an entirely different outfit.

When everyone was ready, they made their way downstairs and to the backyard. The house staff had to have some sort of SFX experience among them; the effect of all of the decorations was breathtaking. The entire area had been transformed; the swimming pool had fake moss-covered stones and reeds around its perimeter, giving it the appearance of a natural pool. Most of the underwater lights had been turned off, with only a couple of dim, green lights left that gave no hint to the depth or the shape. Mist emanated from the surface, seeping out onto the rest of the yard. The trees had been done up with spider webs, and strange lights would occasionally shine through the branches; it looked like a UFO abduction was happening in the distance. The rest of the lighting was muted, casting long shadows onto everyone; some torches were set up here and there for extra light. The outdoor theatre had been made up to look like a graveyard, complete with chairs made of pillows that looked like mounds of moss and leaves, and backrest-headstones; the headstones actually had guests’ names on them, with either disturbing or comical inscriptions. Finally, there were speakers cleverly hidden everywhere; spooky sounds played over them, the finishing touches on the creepy horror movie ambiance complete. Nor were the effects confined to the pool area; out in the larger gardens and the maze, mist billowed, strange lights came and went, and there were more sounds, some of them…unsettling. Absolutely every bit of it looked real. Not one piece was out of place, or looked artificial.

Seth just stared. “Whoa.”

“Seth, you have a knack for understatement,” Wanda drawled.

There were several buffet tables set up, as usual. All of the servants were dressed up as either mummies or zombies this time, shuffling around with trays of drinks and food. There were townies milling about, eating, drinking and talking. Sean spotted the gang, freeing himself from a group of his cousins; several were in costume, but most were not. Of the costumes that Staci spotted, most were on the female cousins. One was a Victorian woman in full mourning, complete with a head-to-toe veil. One was in an Italian Renaissance gown in a garnet-red velvet; she carried a golden, jewel-studded goblet that looked real. Two more were in medieval gowns. Staci didn’t know what time periods they were from, but one was dark blue and high-waisted with a broad gold belt, and long, pendulous sleeves lined with gold and a fancy headdress; the other was a tight-fitting cream-colored gown with a kind of loose sleeveless gown over it half blue and half red, the sides open to almost her knees, showing the gown underneath. She wore a simple gold circlet on her head.

That one Staci recognized, it was Niamh, who sidled over to her. “I’m Queen Isabella, also known as the She-Wolf of France,” she giggled. “When Isabella got competition from one of her husband’s
special friends,
she had him tried for treason and killed by being impaled on a red-hot poker, so the murder wouldn’t leave any outside marks. And Caelen is Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary.”

“Isn’t she the one that’s supposed to be like a female Dracula?” Staci said, thinking she remembered a movie about that—vaguely.

“Oh, Bathory was
much
better,” Niamh whispered. “She not only drank virgin’s blood, she bathed in it to stay young.”

“Trying to scare my girl, Niamh? It’d be better to wait until after the movies, when everyone is good and jumpy.” Sean walked calmly up to them, towering over everyone and interspersing himself between Niamh and Staci, putting an arm around Staci’s waist.

“I just thought she’d enjoy a little
history
with the cosplay,” Niamh pouted. “It’s not as if we were being so lazy as to dress up as Eddie and Bella. Caelen and I put a lot of work and thought into our outfits! You
could
say,” she continued, her eyes shining oddly, “that we know those time periods so well, it’s almost as if we lived then.”

Staci did her best to just laugh along with Sean and the others.

For the next hour, everyone made their rounds of the party, sampling the food and drinks—strictly non-alcoholic for Staci and her friends, though she did see several of the townies partaking, and heavily at that—talking with the cousins and some of the other guests, and enjoying the production value of the decorations. Seth, Jake, and Riley got to be as nerdy as they could, talking trivia about old horror movies. Wanda was a little more reserved, staying near Staci and the Goth Blackthorne cousin, Mori. Sean whisked Staci to and fro between the different groups, making her feel included in every conversation and having nothing but good things to say about her. Thankfully, neither Finn nor Meaghan were anywhere to be seen; apparently Bradan’s chastisement had caused the pair to go off somewhere to lick their wounds.

After everyone had a chance to eat and mingle, Sean called the partygoers over to the theatre. It was going to be a triple feature tonight: first,
Evil Dead,
followed by the original
Hellraiser
, then one that Staci hadn’t heard of before,
The Descent.
From the way Seth and Jake were talking about it, it was supposed to be gory and scary as all hell. The gang took their assigned seats, with Jake and Riley paired up, Seth and Wanda next to each other, and Staci in a loveseat with Sean. Or perhaps it should have been called a “double tomb” since that was what it looked like.

Evil Dead
, even though it was made before she was born, still managed to scare her plenty of times. She found herself clutching against Sean’s chest more than once. She didn’t even touch her popcorn during the second half of the film. When the screen finally went black and the credits started to roll, Jake, Seth and Riley were all whooping and clapping, along with a few of the other cousins. They had seen the movie before, of course, and didn’t get as freaked out as Staci did.

“That was intense,” she said, blowing out the breath that she had been holding in anticipation of another scare.

“Can’t beat the classics, sometimes.” Sean peeled himself out from under Staci, standing up and facing the crowd. “I think it’s time for a little break in the action. Say, half an hour? Everyone can stretch and get something more to nibble on or drink. Then we’ll dive into
Hellraiser.
” A few people started stretching in their seats, but most of them got up and made their way to the buffet tables. The gang did the same, Seth leading the way.

But then a servant, incongruously
not
in costume, intercepted Sean. The servant whispered something in Sean’s ear that made him frown. He turned to Staci.

“Something’s come up that Father can’t handle. I need to deal with it. Nothing
terrible,
but it is urgent. You’ll be all right until I get back?”

She wanted to say she would go with him, or that she really didn’t want to be left alone, but that would sound awfully clingy. Plus…she
had
promised Dylan to do some more snooping, and so far she’d been sticking so much with Sean that she couldn’t. This might be the right opportunity. For instance, she was feeling more and more certain that the gazebo at the heart of the maze wasn’t what it seemed to be. Now that she knew how to get to the center and out again, this would be the perfect time to have a closer look at it.

So she smiled and said, “Of course!” And as soon as he was out of sight inside the house, she made her way as obliquely as possible to the entrance of the maze. The rest of the partygoers were otherwise occupied; her gang was distracted by the food, so they wouldn’t be any trouble. If they noticed she wasn’t there, they’d probably assume that she had gone off somewhere with Sean for a little “private time.”

Entering the hedge maze, Staci was wary. She kept her hand inside of her shoulder bag, clutching the cell phone charm that Dylan had given her. She didn’t want to be taken by surprise if she could help it; one run-in with a Red Cap was enough for a lifetime, but she was ready to defend herself if it came down to it. The sounds of the party grew faint the deeper that she went into the maze, but the mist from the pool had drifted over the ground here, too, and added to the spooky atmosphere. It didn’t take her long to retrace her steps from when she and Sean walked through the maze; she arrived at the small clearing with the gazebo. It still looked beautiful in the pale moonlight, but also…sinister. As she got closer, she felt the hair standing up on her arms, and her breathing became shallow.

Because…when she looked
through
the gazebo, she didn’t see the other side of the clearing, and the hedges on that side.

Instead, it was as if the arches of the gazebo framed the entrance to another world. It was a world of moon and forest, trees with bone-white limbs dripping dark moss, a world with no stars in the sky, and between the floor of the gazebo and the edge of the forest stretched an expanse of silver sand.

Despite the fear that made her shake, she felt drawn to that place. She didn’t want to go there, but somehow, she could not keep herself from putting one foot slowly in front of the other, until she was mounting the three shallow steps, then crossing the floor—

Then she felt for a moment as if she had been struck by lightning.

The shock drove her off the floor of the gazebo, stumbling, then falling onto the sand on her hands and knees. It should have been soft, like the sand of the beach this afternoon, but it felt…harsh, as if every grain was made of sharp edges. She got to her feet and turned around.

It should have been the gazebo that was standing there behind her. But instead, there was an arch of bones, intricately fitted together to form a sort of macabre lacework. And framed by the bone was the clearing of the maze and the hedges she had just come through.

Before she could even think of stepping back through the gazebo-portal, she heard a blood-chilling howl. The howl was
close
. She whirled around to where she thought it had come from, and felt all the blood drain from her face. A pack of gigantic dogs, their shoulders easily coming up to her head, were charging towards her. There was no way she could make it back to the gazebo before they reached her; their path was going to cut right past the gazebo. Staci didn’t think; instead, she ran for all she was worth.

She could hear the dull thud of the dogs’ paws hitting the dirt, hear them panting and barking right behind her. Still she ran. Ahead of her, she saw a young man; his clothing was ripped and he was bleeding from several places. She recognized him as one of the townies who had been at the party earlier. He was looking around frantically, and his eyes bugged out of his skull when he caught sight of Staci and the pack at her heels.

“Run!”

The young man didn’t need the encouragement; he was already back on his feet and sprinting by the time she caught up to him.

“Oh god, we’re going to die! Shit, we’re going to die!”

He was limping, and Staci could tell that his wounds were slowing him down; she was getting ahead of him, and there was no way he could go on for much longer.
He’s not going to make it. I can’t carry him, and if I tried we’d get overrun by those…whatever they are. But I’ve got to help him!
Staci swallowed her own fear, grabbing the boy by the shoulder and forcing both of them to skid to a stop.