The Screaming Stone: The Otherworld Series Book 2 (20 page)

He glanced down at their joined hands and saw what she meant.  His hand was indeed gripping hers too tightly as her hand was beginning to turn white.  “Sorry,” he muttered raising her hand and giving her white knuckles a quick kiss of forgiveness.

She snorted in an attempt to hide her laughter.  “I thought that would convince you to let go of my hand.”

“No,” he said shaking her head and rewarding her with, what he hoped was a devastating smile.

She sighed dramatically before returning her full attention to their current problem like he had asked her to do moments before they had rejoined the others. “Got it,” she announced right as earthen wall before them evaporated without a sound.  She turned around to face the others, a big smile adorned her face and laughter was dancing a wild jig in her eyes.

“What?” she asked as she innocently batted her eyes at them.  “You didn’t see the triquetra etched on one of the stones?”

No one answered.

She shrugged her shoulders and pulled Duncan along behind her and stepped out into the fading light of the day.  Twilight was coming.  They had very little time left.

Chapter Eighteen

Corpse Candles in the Graveyard

The passage way emptied into the graveyard and was surrounded by hawthorn trees that stood like sentries blocking any possible view of the hill and the screaming stone.  The passage way had been so dark that they all had exited shielding their eyes and squinting at the sudden change in lighting even though the sun was rapidly sinking in the western sky.

Annie looked around quickly trying to get her bearings.  They had come out just a few feet from where they had talked to the Patrick.  They were surrounded by aging gray-green moss covered grave markers that in the fading light of the gray-blue sky looked as if they had erupted from the lush green grass rather than being placed atop of it. 

A shiver ran through her.

The last time she had been near a graveyard a ghoulish Redcap had appeared like a ghostly harbinger of death.  She had never been a fan of graveyards; but this one was layered with an eerie silence, rapidly fading light and the surrounding air was thick and heavy with the feeling of magick. 

Salem was a magickal place but this was different.  This was ancient magick.  The streets of her adopted home town had never frightened her once the sun set; but the idea of being trapped on this ancient site without the protection of the sun terrified her.  Duncan sensing her unease gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as he scanned the horizon, squinting into the distance at some unknown point.

A muffled curse from behind her drew her attention.  As she turned she saw Robert sprawled out on the moist ground.  “Och lad I be sorry,” apologized Autie with a sad shake of his head as he extended a hand offering to help him up.

“Why did you put that stone in my way?” he asked as he refused the offered help and got to his feet under his own power.  He tried, in vain, to brush off the pieces of moss and grass that clung stubbornly to his pants.

“No, I’m sorry ‘cause ye tripped, and here I barely know ye,” he replied with a heavy sigh.

Kat reached up and began pulling pieces of moss and twigs out of Robert’s wild hair.  Robert swatted away the motherly action as his temper began to grow thin.  “Is this another of your silly superstitions?” Robert asked squinting suspiciously down at the Knocker.

“Tis no’ silly,” Autie said defensively crossing his arms in front of his chest.  “Ta trip in a grave yard means yer death in less than a year.” 

“Well than that gives me a year to torment you,” a snarky Robert informed him.

“Enough!” Annie shouted.  “I’ve heard enough of death.  We are surrounded by it now,” she said indicating the grave markers that surrounded them, “Let’s not talk about it as well.”

Griffin, who had taken up the rear position, finally emerged from the passage.  Annie took a quick count and seeing that everyone was accounted for turned her attention to getting out of the cemetery and away from the shadows of death.  There was a path winding through the graveyard disappearing through a small group of trees.  Without a word she began walking, hoping the path would lead them out and on towards her destination.  A lead ball began to form in her gut and she hoped that once they were clear of the grounds of the church that the strange sensation would ease a bit. 

She was lying to herself and she knew it because with each step she took the sensation grew.  Something was going to happen, something frightening, something bad.  She prayed to whoever would listen for the courage to face whatever lay outside the ring of trees.

A crow screeching in the distance made them all jump; startled she looked around and was pleased to see that she was not the only one on edge.  Kat broke first.  Her nervous laughter caught on quickly until they were all infected by it.  As Annie wiped a stray laughter inspired tear from her eye a strange light appeared in the corner of her vision.  She kept her head still afraid that if she moved the light would disappear.  It didn’t move but just seemed to hoover a few inches off of the ground.  Her first thought had been Dryads.  They had visited her before and although the lights were similar in illumination she realized that the color was off.  Dryads glowed in shades of green, like the trees they inhabited.  These lights were ghostly in color, hoovering somewhere in between blue and white.

“What are they?” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth to Duncan.

“Don’t know,” he replied as he tugged on her arm pushing her to keep walking.  “Do no’ look upon ‘em.  Do no’ touch ‘em either.  Keep moving and mayhap they’ll let us pass.”

She nodded her head in understanding and did as he suggested.  What had at first been one light had turned into many.  The eerie lights flickered and flared surrounding the group as they cautiously and quickly walked down the path towards the exit.  Some zigged and zagged in between them jumping from the ground to over their heads, but most just stayed still as if they were watching the parade of life that had come to visit them before the onset of twilight.

“Are they ghosts?” Robert whispered to anyone who would answer.

“Nay,” Knackers replied quickly.  “They’re will-o-wisps.”

Annie picked up her pace.  She knew all too well what will-o-wisps were and what they could do.  Some legends said they lured people off the path or road they were traveling on to their death; while others said they were the lights of the dead sent to lead all those who saw them to the afterlife.  Annie kept her eyes focused straight she kept her feet moving and locked on to the path underneath them.  She would not allow them to hypnotize her away from the end of the road and the more open air of Tara.  They were almost there and Annie had to slow her pace as her fear was screaming at her feet begging them to run.

“Corpse candles,” Autie mumbled behind her in quiet awe, “The lights of death.”

“Stop looking at me like that you crazy old miner,” Robert hissed.  “Griffin help me out here,” he implored.

Griffin had been silent, and although it was not unusual for him to keep quiet, especially when Robert was being teased, Annie found his silence now strange.  Griffin was a student of the occult.  He loved to learn, if he came across some book he had never read before he bought it, if he witnessed something he had never seen he asked questions.  His silence meant one of two things, either he had witnessed corpse candles and will-o-wisps before or he was too afraid to ask more questions.  If Griffin was afraid…well Griffin was never afraid.

“Griff, are you alright?” asked a concerned sounding Kat. 

Annie refusing to turn her head, fearing if she did she would wander off the path and become forever lost amongst the tiny balls of dancing light that danced around them.  Instead she opened her ears to listen to the quiet conversation going on behind her.

“Griffin-,” Kat began and stopped when Griffin finally answered.

“I’ve been here before,” he murmured in reverence.

“Griff I’m not going to lie you are kinda starting to freak me out.” 

Kat sounded panicked.

Kat never panicked.

Annie’s feet shuffled to a halt.  She was just about to turn around when Duncan yanked on her arm, hard.  Her feet began moving again as her pace quickened to keep up with him.  She did not like being pulled and was just about to let Duncan have it when he spoke out first.

“Doona stop,” he warned.  “Keep on the path and doona look back.  We’re stuck in the
Inbetween
.”  Annie frowned at him.  “Do ye no’ believe?” he scoffed.  “Look at the exit.  Why is it no’ closer?  At the pace we’ve been keeping we should be clear of the graveyard.”

Annie looked and then she saw.  The path was only a few hundred feet long, they had been walking for a few minutes, and although she had never been very good at math, especially word problems, she knew Duncan was right.  Something was not adding up.

“What is going on?” she asked no one in particular.

“The
Inbetween,”
answered Autie as if that made everything clear.  It did not.

Annie’s feet threatened to stop again.  They were tired; they had been walking for so long.  Suddenly she wanted to sit down and rest.  Duncan refused to allow her to stop.  He pulled on her arm again.  “Doona stop,” he repeated harshly.  “We must keep movin’,” his words seemed slow and forced as if he had to work really hard to speak.  “Knackers, Autie doona let the others stop!” he hollered back at them without slowing the pace he had set.

“Why am I suddenly so tired,” Annie asked through a yawn. 

The air around them had grown thick and heavy with oppression.  Her feet shuffled over the path too heavy and too tired to work properly.  Her eyelids threatened to close and her vision grew hazy.  All she could see were lights; some winking at her, some burning strong and vibrant, some were bright white and painful to look upon, while others were pale and dull.  Her skin felt strange, almost as if she had walked through a spider’s web.  With her free hand she began pulling the imagined webbing off of her as she tried, in vain to rid herself of the creepy feeling they instilled.  Sound failed to register in her ears.  It was almost as if she were listening to the world around her while being trapped underwater.  The air around her had no smell, no taste.  Her chest heaved and strained as it tried to draw oxygen into her body.  It was as if she were lost and adrift in a space that was no place.

Inbetween

That should mean something to her.  She had heard someone say it just a moment ago but she couldn’t remember who had said it.  She couldn’t remember anything.  She did not know where she was, she did not know who she was with, and she did not know who she was. 

The lights knew though.

They had begun to whisper to her.  Even though she knew, or at least thought she knew, that there were others surrounding her all she could hear was the lights as they whispered softly to her.

“Follow us…”

“We’ll show you the way home…”

“Follow us Annie…”

“Come with us…”

“We’ll show you the way home…”

“Annie…”

“Annie…”

“Annie…”

“Annie!  Annie!”

Someone was shouting at her.  The whispering voices were gone.  Her eyes began to focus, her lungs sighed in relief as fresh air filled them, and her ears began to hear. Someone was shaking her. Someone was screaming at her.

“Annie!  Annie look at me!  Annie talk to me!”

Annie, that was her, that was her name.  Look at someone, look at him, who was he?  Duncan, she reminded herself, his name was Duncan.  She was in love with Duncan.  Yes she was beginning to remember now.  Duncan was tall, she remembered that first.  Duncan had dark hair, a serious yet beautiful face.  Her memories started to trickle back to her.  Duncan had strange stormy eyes that shifted between blue and gray depending on his mood. 

Did she have eyes?

Well that was the silliest question she had ever asked herself.  Of course she had eyes.  If she opened them she might even be able to see.  She might even be able to see him.  She should look at him; after all he was very nice to look at.  She loved looking at him.  She loved him.

And that was when she fully woke up.

She swore she heard her eyes ‘pop’ when they opened. They were having a hard time adjusting to the reality of the world where she had always existed.  It was as if she had just exited a cartoon-like dream where voices had no sound.  Where that which should not be able to be heard was heard and where feelings were felt.  The lights had talked to her.  She had felt the web-like essence of them as they still clung to life.  She felt sluggish and disorientated as her eyes sought to find an anchor.

The first thing she saw was him.  He was tall, his hair was dark, his face was beautiful and serious and his eyes were definitely stormy.  His name was Duncan and she realized that she had just admitted, hopefully only to herself, that she loved him.

“Annie are ye alright?” he asked.  His stormy eyes were filled with concern as he cupped her face between his hands. 

She nodded her head unable to speak as her voice was still trying to catch up with the rest of her.  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against his chest.  His thick, strong arms squeezed her close as his chest heaved out a sigh of relief teasing a few strands of hair on top of her head.  She relaxed for a moment in the comfort of his embrace.  His solid warmth seeped into her infusing her with a new found strength.

“What the hell was that?!” shrieked Robert.

She snickered against Duncan’s chest.  She still could not find her voice but it had been the first thing Robert had recovered after escaping the…

“Twas the
Inbetween,
” explained Autie, “A place where the lost dead wander.”

“It is home to the Slaugh,” Duncan said explaining further.  His arms were still wrapped around her and she began squirming as she tried to escape his embrace.  After a few moments of silent struggle she gave up.  She wouldn’t escape unless he let her go.

“What are sloo?” she asked his chest.

“They’re also known as the Underfolk, the unforgiven dead.  They have no loyalty but ta their king.  They were traitors in life, the worst of the Fae and of mankind,” Autie explained as he spit on the ground.  “Yer Patrick led us into a trap,” he accused Duncan.