earth. So maybe...'
'But what does all this have to do with this afternoon?' Lyle said.
'I'm getting to that. This past spring I learned the hard way that the elements in the Otherness responsible for creating the rakoshi wanted my head for killing them. They missed me but a few people and a good-size house vanished from the face of the earth.'
'Ay, yo, I remember readin' 'bout that,' Charlie said. 'Someplace out on Long Island, right?'
Jack nodded. 'A little town called Monroe.'
'Right!' Lyle said. 'I remember trying to think up a way to take credit for it, or at least come up with a way- out explanation that would buy me some PR. But about half a dozen mediums in the city beat me to it.' He looked at Jack. 'You're telling me that was you?'
'I didn't cause it,' Jack said. 'I just happened to be on the scene. And I wasn't the only one there. Both sides were represented. On the Otherness team was a guy calling himself Sal Roma. Not his real name-he'd stolen it. He seemed pretty tuned in to the Otherness, like he was its main agent here. His name has popped up a couple of times since then, once I think as an anagram.'
'An anagram?' Lyle said. 'That's interesting. Means there's a good chance his real name is hidden in those letters. I've read that ancient wizards used to operate under aliases for fear that someone who knew their True Name could have power over them.'
'I think this guy's just playing games. But if I ever learn his True Name, I'm going to find him and...' Jack stopped himself. 'Never mind.'
Charlie said, 'You gotta personal beef with this Roma?'
The thought of Kate made the old pain new. 'You could say that.'
Jack glanced at Gia. She smiled her sympathy and took his hand under the table. They'd talked a lot about this in the past month or so. Gia believed. She'd seen the rakoshi, so she'd been well down the road to acceptance when he'd explained all this to her. But even after what they'd seen today, the Kenton brothers probably thought he was nuts.
He took a breath. 'But back to the big hole in Monroe: Sal Roma and some nasty sort of pet of his were there for the Otherness; the anti-Otherness side was represented by a couple of guys who looked like twins. I was caught in the middle, and the twins were ready to sacrifice me for their purposes-which showed me firsthand how unbenign this so-called Ally power is. Things got kind of complicated, but the upshot is, I walked away and the twins didn't.'
'You know,' Lyle said, 'this is all really fascinating, but what's it got to do with our house?'
'I'm getting to that. I've since learned-or at least I was told-that I've been drafted into the service of the anti-Otherness.'
'Drafted?' Lyle said. 'You mean you don't have any say about that?'
'Not a thing, apparently. My guess is that because I'm somewhat responsible for the demise of the twins, I'm supposed to replace them. But if the Great Whatever that drafted me thinks I'm going to go trotting about putting out Otherness-started fires, it better think again. I don't know about my predecessors, but I've got a life.'
'What you mean, 'Otherness-started fires'?' Charlie said.
'Not sure, but I've got an idea that most of the strange things that happen in this world-what people like to call paranormal or supernatural-are really manifestations of the Otherness. Anything that terrifies, confounds, and confuses us, anything that brings out the worst in us makes it stronger.'
Charlie banged his fist on the table. 'You talking 'bout Satan, dawg! The Father of Lies, the Sower of Discord!'
'Maybe I am,' Jack said, wanting to avoid a theological argument. 'And maybe I'm not quite so sure of as many things as I used to be. But I'm pretty sure that I'm tagged as anti-Otherness, and because of that, I'm the one who triggered everything that's been going on in your house.'
Jack looked around the table and found Lyle staring at him. 'You're telling me you triggered that earthquake?'
'Either that, or it's all pure coincidence. And I've been told no more coincidences in my life.'
Lyle's eyes widened. 'No more coincidences... that means your life's being manipulated. Now that's scary.'
'Tell me about it.' Jack's gut crawled every time he thought about it. He looked at Gia. 'So can you see now why I don't want Gia near that house?'
'Oh, yes,' Lyle said, nodding. 'Assuming what you've told us is true-and so far you haven't struck me as schizo-then yes, definitely. And as much as I hate to say it-because I've always thought they were such a lame joke-we seem to be dealing with a bona fide ghost Would something like that be related to this Otherness of yours?'
Jack felt himself bristling. 'First off, the Otherness isn't mine. I did not come up with the idea, it was pushed on me, and I'd be a much happier man if I'd never heard of it. Second, no one's handed me a book or a manual and said, 'Here, read this and you'll know what you're dealing with.' I'm piecing this together as I go along.'
'Okay. I misspoke. I'll rephrase: Why should we think this ghost is related to the Otherness?'
'Maybe it's not. But then again, maybe all the violent deaths in Menelaus Manor somehow created a focus of Otherness. Maybe that focus was concentrated in the fault line beneath the house. When I crossed the threshold I hit a trip wire and... boom.'
Lyle shook his head. 'I still think that little girl's connected to Gia.' He turned to her. 'Did she look at all familiar to you?'
Gia shook her head. 'Not a bit. If she is a ghost...' She shook her head. 'I've never believed in ghosts either, but what else can you call her? If she is one, I think she may have died in the sixties. She looked dressed to ride a horse, so her clothes don't date her, but she kept singing a song-'
''I Think We're Alone Now'?' Lyle said.
'Yes! You heard it too?'
'Yesterday. But I didn't see her.'
'Well, it's a sixties song-late sixties, I think.'
'Nineteen sixty-seven, to be exact,' Jack said. 'Tommy James and the Shondells on the Roulette label.'
Lyle and Charlie stared at him in surprise. Gia wore a wry smile; she was used to this.
Jack shrugged and tapped the side of his head. 'Chock full of useless information.'
'Not so useless this time,' Gia said. 'It gives us an idea of when she might have been killed.'
'Killed?' Charlie said. 'You think someone killed her?'
Gia's face twisted. 'You didn't see her. Her chest had been cut open.' She swallowed. 'Her heart was gone.'
'That could be symbolic,' Jack said, giving her hand a squeeze.
He wished to hell Gia had never come within miles of Menelaus Manor. This was all Junie Moon's fault. And his for agreeing to drive Junie to her medium. If they'd stayed at that damn party...
'After all the blood we just saw?' Lyle said. 'If that's symbolism, it's way overboard.'
'Tell them about Sunday night,' Charlie said.
Lyle looked uncomfortable as he told them about the shape in the shower, the blood-red water flowing into the drain.
A real Psycho moment, Jack thought.
He described the writing on the mirror before something shattered it. Then...
'I'd seen blood on Charlie's chest on Friday and Saturday nights. Maybe seen isn't the right word. Had visions? Hallucinated? But Sunday night was different. I was the one with blood down my front then, and when 1 pulled up my shirt it looked like my chest had been cut open. I...' Lyle looked at his brother. 'We both could see my heart beating through the hole.'
'Dear God,' Gia whispered.
'It lasted only a second, but if whatever's there thought that would scare us off, it was wrong. Sleep's been pretty hard to come by since then, but we're staying. Right, bro?'
Charlie nodded, but Jack didn't pick up a truckload of enthusiasm there.
'You think that's what it's trying to do?' Jack said. 'Scare you off?'
'What else? It's sure not trying to make friends. And it doesn't seem to want to hurt us-'
