Part 106 (1/2)
”Bystanders can't lie to a Keeper, but we're actually very good at lying to...” Sara ducked and the old leather-bound registration book whipped over her head and slammed corner first into the wall. As the ancient binding gave way and yellowed pages fluttered to the ground, she measured the dent between thumb and forefinger. ”Nice try, Jacques. I'm amazed you managed that much ectoplasmic energy.” Leaning toward Dean, she whispered, ”He must've gotten lucky in the last couple of days.”
Eyes watering, Dean turned his head away. Her breath would've peeled the paint off the gut cans at the processing plant.
”Hey!” A fingernail opened a small cut in his cheek. ”You sleep for that long and see what kind of a morning mouth you wake up with.”
The bra.s.s bell rose off the counter and smacked into her shoulder.
”This is getting tiresome, Jacques.” She turned to face the office. ”Technically, I should have dust and ash for this, but we'll just have to make do with an abundance of dust.” A gentle push sent Diana down the hall toward the bas.e.m.e.nt stairs. With both hands free, Sara sc.r.a.ped a bit of fuzz off the front of her skirt and drew two symbols in the air.
Dean braced for bad poetry, but he needn't have bothered.
Both symbols glowed red.
Jacques snapped into focus between the symbols. Eyes wide with terror, he twisted and fought, and when Sara smacked her palms together, he exploded into a thousand tiny lights that scattered in all directions.
Praying silently, Dean worked his left hand free and snagged two of the lights as they went by. They burned as they touched his skin, but he closed his fingers around them and faced Sara with both hands curled into fists.
”Well,” she said, ”that takes care of him. You, however, I can use.”
SHE'S GOING TO TRY IT AGAIN!.
WOULD YOU STOP WORRYING! A FEW DECADES AT HER BECK AND CALL AND THEN WE'RE FREE.
AND YOU THINK SHE'LL WANT h.e.l.l WAITING FOR HER WHEN SHE DIES?.
After a long silence, h.e.l.l muttered, YOU MIGHT HAVE BROUGHT THAT UP BEFORE.
SHE'S SEALING THE PIT! WE CAN'T STOP HER!.
NO. NOT FROM IN HERE....
First there were no doors, and then there was nothing but doors. Claire'd charged into three saunas, two walk-in freezers, something animated she couldn't identify, and more hotel rooms than she wanted to count.
”Yoo hoo! Cornelia! Diana! I was taking Baby out for his walkies and I just popped by to see if you...” Mrs. Abrams froze on the threshold, her mouth opening and closing but no sound emerging. Finally she managed a strangled, ”I remember you!”
”That was an oversight on somebody's part,” Sara observed as she tied the laces of Dean's work boots together. ”Please, come in and close the door.”
One hand pressed against the polyester swell of her bosom, Mrs. Abrams shuffled forward.
”And the door,” Sara prodded. ”Don't forget to close it.”
Although her movements were pretty much limited to impotent thras.h.i.+ng, Diana managed to bring herself closer to the wall. Twisting left, she slammed her heels into the plaster.
Mrs. Abrams jerked at the sound and took a step backward, toward escape.
Sara raised a hand, and Diana found herself wrapped even more tightly in power. All her strength, all her attention, focused on drawing air through constricted pa.s.sageways.
”Margaret Anne. Close the door.”
Margaret Anne Abrams, nee Groseter, had been fifteen the last time Sara had commanded her. A lot of water had pa.s.sed under the bridge since then, and little old ladies were not without power of their own. Taking a breath so deep it stood each orange hair on end, she rallied. ”Don't you talk to me in that tone of voice, young woman! I'll have you know that I'm the head of the Women's Auxiliary at our church and I've five times been volunteer of the year at the hospital. Look at you, you're all covered in dust. If I were you I'd be ashamed to go out in that...” Her voice trailed off as Sara's pale eyes narrowed and she expelled the last of the breath in a squeaky cry for help. ”Baby!”