'His son Dmitri, who inherited the house, committed suicide in the early nineties. The next owners, a Doctor Singh and his wife, had the place for a few years, did some renovations, and then someone cut their throats while they were sleeping.' She looked up at Jack. 'This is awful! I hope it's fiction.'
'Read on.'
Gia was liking this less and less. 'The previous owners, the ones before Ifasen, were Herbert Lom and his wife-'
'Not the actor-the guy who played in the Hammer Phantom of the Opera?'
'It doesn't say. He and his wife Sara disappeared after-oh, God.' Something about a mutilated child. Her stomach turned and she closed the brochure.
'After what?'
'Never mind. Jack, this is sick! It's like the place is cursed. He has to be making this stuff up.'
Jack was shaking his head. 'Doubt it. Too easy to get caught. My guess is he's taken a few facts and embellished them to within an inch of their collective lives. Read on.'
'I'd rather not.'
'Just skip to some part that's not gory.'
Reluctantly she reopened the brochure and skipped down a paragraph from where she'd left off. 'Ifasen quotes himself here: 'I chose Menelaus Manor because the violent deaths have left behind strong psychic vibrations. The souls of those who died here do not rest easy, and their ongoing presence weakens the divide between our world and the Other Side, making Menelaus Manor the perfect site for the church I will establish here.'' Gia looked at Jack. 'Church?'
Jack smiled. 'The ultimate scam. Tax-free heaven, and completely legal. Like minting money. How do you think the Scientologists can afford to sue anyone who says a discouraging word about their racket?'
'He says here donations will go toward 'putting the Manor at peace with this world and in harmony with the next.' What does that mean?'
'It means renovations will probably go on forever. Or at least until Ifasen crosses over to the Other Side himself.'
'Careful, Jack,' she told him. 'Keep talking like that and I'll start suspecting you're a cynic.'
'Me?'
Jack pulled into Sutton Square and stopped before Gia's door. He pulled her close and kissed her.
'Thanks for dragging me out tonight. Earthquakes and psychics in cursed manors... you sure know how to show a guy a good time.'
She returned the kiss. 'Anytime. And tomorrow night I'll show you an even better time.'
'Hot-cha!'
Laughing, they got out of the car. Jack put an arm around her shoulders; he started to walk her the short distance to her door, but stopped halfway there.
'Hey. Wait a sec. You never told me your question. What was it?'
'It was nothing. Just some silliness I was playing around with. Don't-'
'Who loves silly more than me? Tell, Gia. I won't go home until you do.'
'All right.' She could see no way out of it. 'I asked, 'How many children will I have?''
'And he told you two.' Jack grinned. 'I wish I believed in this stuff. That would mean I'd be the father of number two. At least I assume I'd be.'
'He said it with such assurance.'
'That's because he's a pro. And because he figured it was a safe number. Consider it from his angle: You look younger than your years; Ifasen figures you've got one child, maybe two. So even if you have no kids, if he answers two or three, he's golden. Three would be the safer number, but I've got a feeling this guy likes to play close to the edge. He took a chance and said two.'
'But if I never have another child, he'll be proven wrong.'
'By the time you know that for sure, you'll have forgotten about Ifasen. Or he can deny that's what he said. He can't lose. So don't waste brain time thinking about it.'
But that wasn't so easy for Gia. She remembered feeling a little queasy this morning. But she couldn't be pregnant. She was on the pill, and she was faithful about taking it every morning...
Except back in June when she and Vicky had flown out to Iowa to visit the family. She'd forgotten to pack her pills. Unusual for her because she never forgot her pills. But it hadn't mattered because Jack wasn't with her. And as soon as she returned she'd immediately started back on them.
But right after she returned she and Jack had...
Gia felt a twinge of nausea. She could think of worse things that could happen, but she didn't want this, not now...
It wasn't possible...
Maybe not. But first thing tomorrow, as soon as Vicky was on that bus to camp, she was picking up a home pregnancy test kit.
IN THE IN-BETWEEN
For a long time it was not. But now it is.
For a long time it was not aware. But now it is.
Barely aware. It does not know what or who it is or was. But it knows that at some time past it existed, and then that existence was ended. But now it exists again.
Why?
It does not know where it is. It reaches out as far as it can and vaguely senses other presences, some like itself, and many, many more unlike it, but can identify none of them.
The disorientation makes it afraid, but another emotion pushes through the fear: rage. It does not know the source of the rage but clings to the feeling. Acceptance makes the rage grow. It nestles in the rage and waits for a direction in which to unleash it...
IN THE WEE HOURS
Lyle awoke shivering.
What was wrong with that damn air conditioner? It was barely cooling the room when he'd gone to bed, now it was freezing him out. He opened his eyes. His first-floor bedroom faced the street, so he kept the blinds pulled at night; the light seeping between the slats now was the yellow glow of the street lamps, not the pale gray of dawn. He blinked the glowing clock display into focus: 2:32.
He groaned softly. He couldn't find the energy to get up, so he pulled his sheet closer around his neck and tried to fall back into sleep. But thoughts of fires and attempts on his life wouldn't allow it.
Someone wanted him dead...
That had kept him up for a while. After a few more beers to take the edge off, he'd hit the rack; but sleep had played coy while he lay awake here in the dark listening for any unusual noises. Finally he'd drifted off.
The room grew colder still, its chill seeping through the sheet to wrap him in an icy embrace. He kicked his leg out over the edge of the bed. Damn it all, he'd have to get up and-
Wait. The air conditioner wasn't running. No mistake about that. This old place didn't have central air so he'd had to buy window units, and they were anything but quiet.
Lyle froze. Not from the cold but from another sensation: he was not alone in the room. He could feel a presence somewhere in the darkness at the end of the bed.
'Charlie?'
No response from the shadows, no rustle of clothing, no whisper of breathing, but the stiff hairs on his arms and the tight skin along the back of his neck told him that someone else was here. He knew it wasn't his brother-
