Spirits from Beyond

SEVEN

JC followed Brook up the stairs, sticking close behind the barman so he couldn’t slow down, or have second thoughts. Brook stepped out onto the landing, looked quickly around him into the gloom, took a deep breath, and turned on the lights. JC moved quickly off the top step and onto the landing beside the barman. After listening to Brook’s tales of terror about what the rooms got up to, JC was ready to see the landing with new eyes; but instead he was pleasantly surprised to find it looked like a landing. A long corridor stretching away to both sides, illuminated by reassuringly steady electric lights, with all the doors safely closed. Nothing moved anywhere, and everything seemed entirely still and quiet and peaceful.

JC looked at Brook. The barman was doing his best to look prepared and composed, but already a fresh sheen of sweat was appearing on his grey, haunted face. He looked like a man going to his own execution. He looked like a man. . who had good reason to be scared. JC patted Brook on the shoulder, and gave the barman his best reassuring smile. Brook did not appear particularly convinced.

After looking up and down the corridor several times, Brook gathered up his nerve and led the way down the left-hand corridor. The only sound on the quiet of the landing was the steady tread of shoes on thinly carpeted floor-boards. JC kept a careful eye on every door they passed, braced for any one of them to suddenly swing open, so Something could jump out and drag them in. . but the doors were only doors, and didn’t so much as stir as JC and Brook passed.

Until they came to the final door, at the very end of the corridor. It looked like all the other doors. Brook stood and looked at it for a long moment, and JC had enough sense not to hurry him. Brook leaned in close, almost but not quite pressing an ear up against the wood, and listened. Then he straightened up, took out his key ring, selected one, and unlocked the door. Another deep breath, and he threw the door open and stepped back, gesturing for JC to go in.

JC looked thoughtfully at Brook; but the barman stood his ground. The expression on the barman’s face made it very clear that he had no intention of going into the room. JC could go in if he wished. . but on his own head be it. Brook would be staying on the landing. JC shrugged quickly, gave Brook another reassuring smile, and strode confidently in. On the grounds that there was nowhere he feared to tread. Because this, after all, was just another haunting; and JC knew what to do with ghosts.

* * *

Once inside the end room, JC immediately understood why Brook had first mistaken the haunted room for another Timeslip. The ghost girl hadn’t only brought herself back; she’d manifested her old surroundings as well. The room reeked of the 1970s. The decade that taste forgot, or at least gave up on. JC recognised the era immediately, from the terrible earth brown and faded yellow colours, the Laura Ashley wallpaper, and the big, chunky furniture. JC stood in front of the open doorway and looked around, taking his time. He could sense Brook hovering behind him, peering in from a safe distance. Daylight from some past Time poured in through the window, filling the room with a cheerful, midday glow. It all looked very real, very solid, for one dead girl’s memory.

Lydia was sitting in a chair by an empty fire-place; and JC knew her immediately for a ghost. She looked real enough, solid enough; but you only had to look at her to know she wasn’t alive. Lydia sat at her ease in an overstuffed chair, reading a copy of Nova magazine with a photo of a young Germaine Greer on the cover. She seemed completely absorbed in her reading, so JC cleared his throat politely. Lydia raised her head, looked around, then smiled easily at JC. She seemed a little surprised but not in any way disturbed or frightened, at finding a strange man in her room. As though she knew she had nothing to be scared of. She started to get up, and JC gestured quickly for her to remain seated.

Lydia looked to be seventeen, eighteen-a pleasant-looking girl. Average height, perhaps a little heavier than current fashions would allow, with a broad, pretty face and a great mop of curly black hair that tumbled down to her shoulders. She wore jeans and a blue-and-white blouse, and a pale blue bandana across her brow to hold her hair in place. She studied JC openly, reacting to his appearance quite normally, as though both of them were real.

“Hi!” said JC. “Sorry to intrude; I must have the wrong room. I’m JC Chance, visiting Bishop’s Fording.”

“That’s all right,” said the ghost girl. “I’m Lydia. My dad runs this place. Are you staying here long?”

“Just passing through,” said JC.

“Is my father looking after you all right?” said Lydia. “We don’t get many staying guests these days.”

“It’s been an interesting visit, so far,” said JC. “Lots to see and do.”

They both smiled and chatted easily together for a while. JC did his best to be kind and gentle with her and not say anything that might challenge her view of reality. She clearly didn’t know there was anything unnatural going on. She didn’t know she was dead. Didn’t remember hanging herself, in this very room. Didn’t know the father she talked about so easily had been dead for decades. She still thought she was another teenage girl, with everything to live for. Though JC did notice that she didn’t ask him some very obvious questions, like why was he wearing sunglasses indoors.

“I’m waiting for my boyfriend, Adrian,” Lydia said cheerfully. “Though. . it does feel like I’ve been waiting for him for some time now. . I hope he’ll be here soon.”

JC smiled and nodded. He didn’t see any point in telling her she’d already been waiting forty years.

Lydia frowned for the first time. “I hope nothing’s happened to Adrian. .”

“I’m sure he’s not far off,” said JC. “Are you all right, here?”

“I suppose so,” said Lydia. “I’m comfortable, I’ve got everything I need. . Though every now and again the door opens, and this old man looks in. He isn’t any bother, he never says anything; but he always looks so sad. .”

“Do you recognise him?” JC said carefully.

“Oh no,” said Lydia. “He’s far too old to be anyone I’d know!” She leaned forward, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “Of course, there is a good chance that he might be a ghost! This pub is famous for them, you know.”

“Yes,” said JC. “I know.”

“Though I can’t say I’ve ever seen one,” said Lydia, grinning.

“You’re not frightened of ghosts?” said JC.

“No,” said Lydia. “I don’t know why anyone would be. They’re just people, after all.”

“I’ve bothered you long enough,” said JC. “I’ll leave you alone now. Nice to meet you, Lydia.”

“Good-bye, Mr. Chance,” said Lydia. “You couldn’t do me a favour; could you? Take a look down the corridor and tell me if you see my Adrian coming?”

“Yes,” said JC. “I’ll take a look.”

He left the room and shut the door behind him. His last glimpse of Lydia was of her returning to the magazine she’d been reading for forty years. Out on the landing, Adrian Brook stood with his back to the door, his shoulders shaking as he fought to hold back tears.

* * *

After a while, they headed back down the landing, to the top of the stairs. It took JC a while to realise that there was something wrong with the light. The electric light bulbs were still burning steadily; but the nature of the light had changed. It had deepened, into an unpleasant orange-red glow, like sunlight that had soured and gone off. The sound of their footsteps had changed, too-softer, muffled, as though the floor-boards underfoot had gone rotten. The air on the landing smelled flat and dusty, like air in a room that’s been left shut up for too long. And, one by one, the doors ahead of them began to open, swinging slowly inwards; without making even the slightest sound. They hung back, invitingly, offering access to the rooms beyond, and all that they contained. Brook started to say something, and JC put a steadying hand on his arm.

“Don’t look into any of the rooms,” JC said quietly. “Look straight ahead and keep walking. There’s nothing in any of these rooms that you or I would want to see.”

They walked on down the landing. As they passed each door, it slammed loudly shut behind them, in a bad-tempered sort of way. JC kept his hand on Brook’s arm, squeezing it reassuringly now and again. He didn’t want the barman panicking, so close to the stairs. He had a very strong feeling that this would be a very bad place to show weakness. He remembered Brook’s telling how Space itself had become unhinged, here on the landing, stretching away forever. . JC didn’t want to have to cope with that.

They’d almost made it to the top of the stairs when there was a sudden movement in the last room they passed; and JC shot a quick glance through the open doorway, in spite of himself. He caught a quick glimpse of something like a roomful of vegetation, stirring and rustling; and then he pulled his gaze away. They reached the top of the stairs, and JC allowed himself a small internal sigh of relief as he looked down the stairs and found them perfectly normal and unchanged. This time, he led the way down. Making a deliberately loud clatter on the steps so that Happy and Melody would hear him coming. Melody did still have her machine-pistol, after all, and a frequently stated willingness to shoot first and ask questions at the funeral.

* * *

As it turned out, the pair of them barely looked round as JC and Brook re-entered the bar. Happy and Melody were sitting perched on their high stools, at opposite ends of the bar-counter. Melody was bent over her lap-top, glaring at the screen and hitting the keyboard so hard the whole machine jumped under her pounding fingertips. Happy was sitting quietly, staring at nothing, or at least nothing any of the others could see. His face was empty, his mouth a flat line; he looked more thoughtful than anything. Brook hurried past JC and went behind the counter to pour himself another large measure of the good brandy. He seemed a little more settled, back in his own territory. But he still had to hold his brandy glass with both hands, to keep it steady. JC moved in beside Melody.

“All quiet upstairs,” he said cheerfully. “More or less. Though quite possibly, the quiet that comes before the storm. I met Lydia-charming young lady. Bit sad, of course, but reasonably composed for someone who killed herself forty years ago. Are you even listening to a word I’m saying, Melody? Or are you still sulking because you haven’t got all your proper equipment to play with?”

Melody growled under her breath and slapped at the lap-top, to make it clear how annoyed with the machine she was for not doing what it was supposed to do.

“Absolutely nothing useful to report, JC. This piece of shit is acting up like you wouldn’t believe. If I had my proper equipment, I could do you a full scan of this pub and the surroundings, and get you some proper answers. As it is, the scanners aren’t picking up anything, near or far, and I can’t get a single reading on the local power source, wherever or whatever it is.”

They both looked around, startled, interrupted by the rising sounds of the storm outside. The wind and the rain were growing steadily louder and more aggressive. The windows jumped and rattled in their frames as the wind slammed against them. The rain was really throwing it down now, pounding against the leaded glass of the windows; while outside the King’s Arms, the wind howled and shrieked and prowled around and around the inn, like some great beast trying to find a way in.

And maybe it was, thought JC.

“That storm is not natural,” said Happy.

They all looked at him until it became clear he had nothing more to say on the subject.

“I wish Kim would come back,” said JC. “I don’t like to think of her alone out there, in that storm.”

“You sent her outside,” said Melody.

“Yes, thank you, Melody,” said JC. “I am aware of that.”

“Kim is probably the only one of us who isn’t in any danger,” said Happy, in a calm and only slightly far-away voice. “The only one of us the storm can’t touch. I wonder if she could make an umbrella out of her ectoplasm. . I think Kim has demonstrated that she is a girl who can look after herself. .”

“Listen up, people!” Melody said loudly. “Got something. . I’ve managed to access the latest weather reports, from the local television news. . Apparently, this storm we’re experiencing is extraordinarily local. As in, it’s only raining over this pub and its surroundings. Nowhere else. In fact, outside of a very limited area, it is bone-dry, without even a breath of wind. Meteorologists are baffled.”

“Okay,” said JC. “That is. . interesting. It’s almost as though Someone or Something has arranged this storm for us.”

He peered over Melody’s shoulder at the lap-top screen; where the local weather-man was gesturing silently at the animated weather map behind him. Melody worked on the sound, and the weather-man’s voice was suddenly there, trying hard to sound knowledgeable and, unfortunately, funny. And then he stopped abruptly, his professional smile falling away as he stared directly at JC and Melody. The weather map behind him disappeared, replaced by the same soured orange-red light JC had seen on the upper floor. The weather-man stepped forward until his face filled the screen. His eyes collapsed and ran away down his cheeks, in dark bloody streams. He grinned and grinned, until his cheeks cracked and split apart, showing the blood-smeared teeth underneath.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, in a painful, rasping voice. “You’re all going to die in this awful place. And after you die, the really bad things will happen to you. Ask your little ghost girl, Kim. Except you can’t because she won’t be coming back. We have her now, and oh the things we’ll do to her. .”

“Liar,” JC said calmly. “If you did have her, you’d show her to me. But you can’t because you don’t. Because Kim is far more powerful than anything you’ve got. Now get out of Melody’s lap-top, or I’ll have her show you what the exorcism function can do.”

The bloody-faced weather-man disappeared in a moment, replaced by the head and shoulders of a pretty young blonde woman with cold, dead eyes.

“That’s her!” said Happy; and JC and Melody both jumped a little because they hadn’t heard him come over to join them. He looked over Melody’s shoulder and jabbed a stubby finger at the young woman on the screen. “That is the woman I saw in my room!”

The blonde woman smiled out of the lap-top screen, entirely calm and composed, and when she spoke, her voice was ordinary, and matter of fact.

“You’re going to die here. And you won’t like it at all. Death isn’t what you think it is. Being dead isn’t what you think it is. This whole building is soaked in death and suffering and horror. They killed me here. A human sacrifice. The priests nailed my guts to the old oak tree and sang sacred songs to drown out my screams. They told me it was an honour; but I still wouldn’t volunteer. They laughed and did it anyway. Because, they said, it was necessary. They should have known better. By sacrificing me in a place of power, they made me powerful. My time has come around at last, and I shall have my revenge on everyone. And taking those won’t help you at all, Happy.”

JC looked around sharply, to see Happy necking several different colour-coded pills, one after the other. Melody saw it, too, and made a low, soft sound of distress. Happy ignored them both, washing his pills down with several large gulps of the good brandy. He smiled beatifically, then leaned over to stare happily at the face on the screen.

“That’s what you think, Blondie. You don’t know me at all. These aren’t pills to pump me up; they’re ammunition. I can See you now, See you for what you really are. You’re not real. You’re not a person. You’re not what you appear to be at all, not a ghost or any kind of surviving personality. You’re the door I saw in my room. The blood-red corridor that leads only to death and destruction. You’re the last angry, defiant screams of a murdered young woman, given strength and purpose by a place of power. You’re the storm. You’re what’s outside. And if you had any sense, you’d run away and hide, because you. . should be afraid of us. You’ve never met anyone like us.”

The lap-top shut itself down, and the screen went dead. Melody struggled to get it up and running again, but it didn’t want to know. She pushed herself back on her stool and turned her glare on Happy. JC and Brook were staring at him, too. Happy smiled serenely back at them.

“I feel good!” he said. “I’m not scared of anything. Which is, in itself, I’ll admit, a bit scary.”

“What have you taken?” said Melody. “How much have you taken?”

“Like it would mean anything to you if I explained,” said Happy. “Enough to do the job, that’s the point. Let us talk about Blondie.”

“She said she was killed, sacrificed, by priests,” said JC. “And given how old this inn is supposed to be, I think we can safely assume they were Druid priests. According to all the reports, the Druids never met a problem they thought they couldn’t put right with a sacrifice. They used everything from sacrificial altars in rings of stones to burning whole communities alive in giant Wicker Men. But what was the point of this particular sacrifice? And why did it go wrong? Why is it still. . persisting, clinging on, after all these centuries?”

“And why does Blondie want us dead?” said Melody. “I mean, she doesn’t even know us!”

“I’m sure she’d like us if she knew us. .” murmured JC.

“We’re not dealing with the ghost of a murdered girl,” said Happy, “but her last dying emotions, manifesting in this world as the angry storm outside.”

“Is it me?” said Brook. “Or is the storm getting really loud now?”

In fact, the storm was howling so loudly that they’d all had to raise their voices to be heard over it. They turned to look at the rain-lashed windows and jumped pretty much in unison as Kim came running through the wall and back into the bar. She stopped abruptly and looked wildly about her.

“I found something!” she said. “I found something out there; and I think it’s followed me home!”

It took them all a moment to realise she wasn’t in her white nurse’s outfit any more. In times of crisis, Kim always reverted to the long green dress she had been wearing when she was murdered. She moved quickly over to stand before JC, huddling as close as she could get without actually overlapping him. He wanted to hold her and comfort her but knew he couldn’t. So he made slow, calming motions to her with his hands and gave her his best encouraging smile.

“What did you see out there, Kim?”

“It’s more what I didn’t see,” said Kim. She was slowly regaining control of herself though her voice was still very small. “The stars have all gone out. . and the moon is gone. It’s all gone dark, JC! Take a look out the window; see for yourself.”

JC started towards the windows, then paused when he realised Kim wasn’t coming with him. She gestured for him to go on. JC nodded gruffly and went over to stare out the nearest window. Happy and Melody were quickly there with him, staring out the next window. They looked out at the night; but the night wasn’t there. Only an endless, impenetrable darkness. Brook listened to their gasps and cries and came reluctantly out from behind the counter to join JC at his window. He leaned in close, almost pressing his face against the glass, and still couldn’t see anything but the dark. Brook stumbled backwards, his face slack with fear and disbelief.

“There’s nothing out there,” he said numbly.

“Nothing but the dark,” said JC.

“Kim’s right,” said Melody, in a shocked, unsteady voice. “No stars, no moon; not even any lights from the town at the end of the road. . This can’t be right.”

“And,” said Kim, still not budging from the counter, “there’s Something out there.”

JC looked back at her. “In the dark?”

“I think it is the dark,” said Kim.

It occurred to JC that Kim was seriously frightened. He hadn’t seen her look that scared since both of them were nearly destroyed in the hell train down in the London Underground. He was sure he hadn’t seen her look even seriously worried since then. He started to say something; and all the lights in the main bar went out. And stayed out. Everyone made some sort of noise. They couldn’t help themselves. Things were bad enough already, without this. The dark seemed so. . absolute, this time. Like the kind of dark you find at the bottom of the sea, down in the depths where the light has never penetrated.

JC turned his head quickly back and forth but couldn’t make out a damned thing anywhere.

“It’s all right!” said Brook. “I’ve got some candles behind the counter, for emergencies! You stay put, and I’ll go back and find them! I know this bar like the back of my hand!”

Several loud bangs and crashes and a certain amount of rough language suggested that might not be entirely true, but Brook did make it back to the counter. They could all hear him, scuffling and searching behind the bar. Picking up things that probably felt a lot like candles and putting them down again. JC turned in what he hoped was Melody’s direction.

“Melody! Try your lap-top again! The light from the screen should give us something to work with!”

“Way ahead of you, JC,” said Melody’s voice from over by the counter. “I’ve got my lap-top, but it’s dead in the water. Nothing’s working. I think the faces manifesting through the screen screwed it over, big time.”

JC thrust one hand into his jacket pocket. “All right, nobody panic, I’ve got my lighter here with me.”

“Who’s panicking?” said Happy. “Who said anything about panicking? I’m concerned, for Melody’s sake. And what are you doing with a cigarette lighter? You said you gave up smoking ages ago.”

“I did,” said JC. “But a lighter is still a very useful thing to have about your person in this business.”

Everyone made emphatic and very satisfied sounds as JC’s lighter burst into flame. The cheerful yellow glow didn’t spread far, but the simple dancing light was enough to warm all their hearts after so long in complete darkness. JC held his lighter up high, but the glow didn’t even travel far enough to reach the counter. It was only just bright enough to illuminate his hand and arm.

“Now if this were a movie,” said Happy, “that lighter would provide us enough light to do emergency surgery by.”

“Hollywood lies to you all the time,” said JC. “Get used to it.”

“I am not panicking!” said Happy. “In fact, in my current highly medicated state, I don’t think I’d panic if an elephant stood on my foot. And then danced Gangnam Style.”

Brook set out several assorted candles, in various assorted holders, on top of the bar-counter, and lit them up, one after the other. A flickering pale yellow light illuminated the bar, and everyone hurried forward to stand in the narrow pool of light. JC put out his lighter and tucked it away. Making a careful note of which pocket he put it in, in case he needed it later. Happy moved quickly over to be with Melody, who had given up on her lap-top and pushed it away. Brook was breathing more easily, his eyes fixed on the candlelight. JC had almost reached Kim when she looked suddenly back at the windows and made a loud sound of distress. They all turned to look.

Darkness was seeping through the closed windows, right through the solid glass. It passed swiftly through all the windows and spread out across the far wall, like so much sticky black treacle. It oozed through the windows, without breaking or even affecting the old leaded glass, and covered the entire wall from floor to ceiling in only a few moments. As though the darkness from outside the inn had. . pressed forward and broken into the main bar. It was inside now and still moving forward. Edging slowly across the floor, eating up the open space, and replacing it with darkness.

There was no sense of physical presence, no sense there was anything in the dark. Just the darkness itself-a huge, impenetrable wall or curtain of utter darkness. A brutal implacable absence of light. Drawing steadily closer to the small, beleaguered group in their pool of yellow light.

“The night’s come in here after us,” said Kim.

“I really don’t like the look of that,” said Melody.

“Should we run?” said Happy.

“Where to?” said JC, angrily. “Use your head! There’s nowhere to go!”

“We could go upstairs,” said Melody.

“Bad idea,” Brook said immediately.

“Why isn’t my tech working?” said Melody, picking up her lap-top and shaking it, then slamming it down hard on the bar-counter. “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be working!”

“Hold on, Mel,” said JC. “Don’t let it get to you. Happy, are you picking up anything?”

“I’m getting nothing,” said Happy. “And I mean nothing. I can’t See or feel anything. There’s a total absence of any kind of presence. Which is. . weird.”

“Have you noticed?” Kim said suddenly. “The storm’s gone, too. Not a sound anywhere, not even a murmur. It’s all gone quiet.”

They all stood very still, listening. The entire main bar seemed stuffed full of an eerie, oppressive silence.

“As though. . the storm isn’t there, any more,” said Kim. “As though there isn’t anything outside this room. Like the darkness has. . swallowed everything up.”

“Nicely put, Kim,” said Happy. “Very smart, very succinct, and evocative. Oh yes. If you have any more insights like that, do feel free to keep them to yourself.”

“No disagreements in front of the enemy, children!” said JC. “Put on a brave face and a united front and stare the darkness down! I’ve got an idea.”

He grabbed the brandy bottle off the top of the counter and strode forward. He emptied the bottle’s remaining contents out over the nearest chair lying on its side on the floor, right in the path of the creeping dark. JC used the last of the liquor to lay a thin trail back to the counter, put the bottle back, knelt, took out his lighter again, and lit the trail of brandy. A puff of blue flames sprang up from the trail, shooting forward to ignite the liquor-soaked chair. It burned brightly with the same blue flame, blazing away in the face of the approaching dark. It made loud crackling and creaking noises as it burned, while everyone watched silently from the counter, waiting to see what would happen. The light from the burning chair helped illuminate more of the bar; but the light stopped dead where it met the approaching dark. Until, finally, the dark wall rolled over the burning chair and engulfed it, stamping out its light in a moment.

And now the darkness covered more than half of the main bar.

“Bugger,” said JC, succinctly. “I was hoping for rather more than that. . Okay, everybody fall back, and get behind the bar with Brook.”

By the time he had finished talking and joined them, they were all lined up behind the counter, standing huddled together, shoulder to shoulder. For company and support. Kim stuck as close to them as she could get, staring wide-eyed at the slowly moving dark. The light from the candles on top the counter stopped where it met the creeping darkness; and inch by inch the dark pushed the candlelight back towards the counter.

“JC,” said Kim, in a very small voice. “I’m scared.”

“Don’t be,” JC said immediately. “Take it easy. We’ve faced worse. It’s just. . dark.”

“What have you got to be scared of, Kim?” said Happy. “You’re a ghost! You’re already dead!”

“I don’t think the dark cares whether you’re alive or dead,” said Kim. “It’s the end of everything. Can’t you feel it?”

“I’d offer you one of my pills,” said Happy. “Except I don’t think I have anything that would affect ectoplasm.”

“Thanks for the thought, though,” said Kim.

“Have you got anything incendiary?” said Melody.

“Only metaphorically,” said Happy.

The darkness was still moving steadily forward. It had almost reached the counter. Everyone backed up against the back wall, staying inside the candlelight. The flickering, unsteady light only held on behind the counter itself now, as the rest of the room was swallowed up by the dark. The yellow light seemed to shrink back from the approaching dark, as though it were afraid of it. The darkness came right up to the far edge of the bar-counter, so close now any of them could have reached across the counter and touched it. JC picked up an empty brandy glass and threw it out into the dark. They all tensed, straining their ears, waiting for the crash of breaking glass. . but it never came. No sound at all from inside the dark.

“It’s cold,” said Happy. “Can you feel that cold? It’s sort of like a traditional cold spot-an energy drain. The temperature’s plummeting. It’s like the darkness is sucking all the heat out of the room. Or the energy. Maybe all the life. .”

“You can usually Do Something to stop things like that, Happy,” said JC. “Are you sure there isn’t anything you can do about this?”

“There’s nothing here to do anything to!” said Happy. “I keep telling you; there’s nothing alive or conscious in that dark, so there’s nothing there for me to work with! We’re trapped here, and we’re helpless. Go on, say something encouraging; I dare you.”

The darkness swept over the far edge of the counter, and edged forward, inch by inch. The candles disappeared into it, one at a time, their light snapping off. JC and Brook grabbed a candle each and pulled them right back to the inner edge of the counter, to preserve their light. JC, Brook, Happy, and Melody, and the ghost girl Kim, all huddled together, looking desperately around them; but there was nowhere left for them to go. The dark had already swallowed up both ends of the bar, and they couldn’t back away any further. They were already pressed up against the empty shelves that had once been full of bottles. Until they’d exploded.

Brook looked bitterly at JC. “You’re supposed to be the great expert; you’re supposed to know what to do about things like this! Do Something! There must be something you can do!”

“I’m thinking,” said JC. “If anyone else has an idea, feel free to contribute.”

“I’ve still got my machine-pistol,” said Melody. “But without something to aim it at. .”

“Hang on to it,” said Happy. “In case we need. . a final way out.”

“Really not helping, Happy,” said JC.

He yanked off his sunglasses, took a step forward, and glared at the darkness creeping across the counter like a great black wall. His eyes glowed fierce and golden. And the dark stopped, holding its position on the counter like a dark dividing line. And then it pressed forward again.

“Ah,” said JC. “I was hoping for rather more than that.”

He broke off as the dark surged forward. It came on in a rush, like a predator pouncing on cornered prey, rolling right over the last of the candlelight. The dark slammed forward and filled all the room. The candlelight disappeared, gone in a moment, and even the golden glow of JC’s eyes blinked out. The dark hit the far wall behind the bar; and there was nothing left but darkness everywhere.

* * *

“Everyone stand still!” JC said sharply. “Nobody move an inch! Now, sound off! Is everyone still here?”

“I’m here, JC,” said Kim.

“I’m somewhere here,” said Happy. “Can’t see a damned thing. Melody, are you here?”

“Of course I’m here!” said Melody. “Right beside you. Here, this is my hand. Grab onto it. That way we can’t be separated. I will never let you go, Happy, never leave you. You do know that, right?”

“Yes,” said Happy. “But I do like to be reminded occasionally. I can feel your hand in mine, feel your shoulder pressing up against mine. But I can’t feel your presence, can’t feel anything. .”

“Brook?” said JC. “Adrian? Speak up, man; are you still with us?”

“Yes,” said the barman. “Sorry. Couldn’t say anything there, for a moment. It’s hard to. . to. .”

“It’s all right,” said JC. “Trust me; we’re all as shaken as you are.”

“Maybe more,” said Happy.

“Shut up, Happy,” said JC. “All right; everyone stay exactly where you are! This would be a really bad time to go wandering off on your own and get lost. Adrian, you may hold my arm if you like.”

“Got you,” said Brook.

“I said hold it, not crush the bloody thing!”

“Sorry.”

“I wish I could hold you, JC,” said Kim. “I feel divorced from the world at the best of times, and this really isn’t helping.”

“Okay,” said JC. “It’s important we all to stick together. The light might have gone out of the world, but we haven’t gone anywhere. We’re still in the bar. I can feel the floor under my feet and the shelves digging into my back. So the dark hasn’t transported us anywhere. That’s important. We’re still in the bar, still in the King’s Arms. We just have to figure out how to get the lights back on.”

“Very practical,” said Melody. “Almost inspiring. Can’t say it’s helping me feel any better. I’ve never known anything like this, never encountered a darkness as. . complete as this. I really can’t see my hand in front of my face. I know it’s there because I can feel my palm bumping against the tip of my nose; but I can’t see anything. Not even those little flashes of light you sometimes get when you turn out the light to go to sleep. And it is so cold, JC! I mean really cold! I am freezing my tits off!”

“It’s the dark,” said Happy. “No light, no energy, and eventually no life. We can’t stay here, JC. The dark is killing us by inches.”

“Come on, Happy,” said JC, a bit desperately. “Are you sure you can’t sense anything here in the dark with us? Any motivating force?”

“No,” said Happy. “I can’t sense anything; as though the dark is suppressing my ESP. I can’t See anything; and normally I could See your souls shining at the bottom of a coal mine. Small and insignificant things that they are. . I can’t hear anything except your voices. And all I can feel is the cold. My hands are going numb. Soon I won’t be able to feel your hand, Melody.”

“Don’t say that,” said Melody. “I won’t be separated from you. I won’t.”

“What are we going to do?” said Brook, his voice rising hysterically. “I hate this! I hate being here. It’s horrible.”

“Well, not crushing my arm with your hand would be a good start!” said JC. “Seriously, Adrian, calm down! Or I swear I will find your head in the dark and slap you a good one!”

“Sorry,” said Brook.

There was a clicking sound, followed by several more.

“What was that?” Happy said immediately. “You all heard that, right? Somebody tell me what the hell that was!”

“I’m trying to get my lighter to light,” said JC. “Ah! Damn!”

“Now what?” said Melody.

“I burned my hand on the lighter’s flame,” said JC. “And yes, it does hurt quite a lot, thank you all for asking. So the flame is quite definitely burning, but we can’t see it. We’re being prevented from seeing it, by the dark. Okay, I’ve turned it off again. Now I have taken off my sunglasses. Can anyone see my eyes shining? Even a little bit?”

“No,” said Kim. “Not even a glimmer. And I can usually see them even when you’ve got your eyes closed, when you’re sleeping.”

“Far too much information there,” said Melody.

“It’s like the dark at the end of the world,” said Happy. “When the sun and the stars have all gone out because it’s all over.”

“It’s not over until I say it’s over,” said JC. “Now everyone hush and let me think.”

They stood together in the dark for some time. They had no way of knowing how long. It was hard to get any feel for time passing with nothing to judge it against. Minutes could feel like hours in the dark. Every insomniac knows that. JC glared helplessly about him. He still had his sunglasses in his hand, hoping his altered eyes would let him see something if he gave them enough time to adjust. . but there was nothing around him except the dark. And the cold. And the silence. JC’s thoughts raced frantically back and forth, unable to settle on anything for long, as he raised and discarded one desperate plan after another. There had to be something he could do. . He’d never felt so small, so helpless and vulnerable. . It was like being a small child again, abandoned by his parents to the long marches of the night, after the night-light had finally been switched off.

No-one ever really remembers how scared of the dark we are as children because we couldn’t bear it.

“I really don’t like this,” Happy said miserably. “I was very afraid of the dark as a child. Until my psychic abilities kicked in; and then things got really bad. Because then I knew for sure that there really are monsters in the night.”

“I was scared of the dark when I was a little girl,” said Melody. “I thought there were things in the shadows, in my bedroom, watching me. Bad things. Waiting for me to fall asleep so they could get me. As I grew older, I swore I wouldn’t let myself be afraid of anything. And mostly I’m not.”

“Only mostly?” said Happy.

“I’m scared of losing you,” said Melody.

“Never happen,” said Happy. “Though I must say, it is entirely typical of you to wait till we’re trapped together in the dark, to guilt-trip me.”

They laughed quietly together in the dark.

“I hated the dark when I was young because there could be anything in it,” said JC. “Anything at all.”

“How the hell did you people ever get to be professional Ghost Finders?” said Brook.

“Therapy,” said JC. “And pay-back.”

“How’s that working out for you?” said Brook.

“I found Kim, in the dark,” said JC. “And that makes up for everything.”

“Darling,” said Kim. “You pick the oddest times to say the nicest things.”

“Hold everything!” said JC. “Hush, people; let me think this through. It’s just. . dark. Right? Nothing actually there. No physical threat at all apart from the cold. So we’re not in any real danger at all. .”

“I like the sound of that,” said Happy. “Keep talking. .”

“If we stay in the dark long enough, we’ll freeze,” said Melody.

“Or maybe even. . fade away,” said Kim. “I think the dark is erosive to our minds and our souls. No living thing can hope to survive for long in conditions like these.” She paused, as a thought struck her. “JC, the dark followed me back here. Followed me inside the inn. Maybe, if I was to leave the inn again, the dark would follow me out. I could lead it away; and you’d all be safe in the light again.”

“We are not giving anyone up,” JC said firmly. “And especially not after I got you back.”

“But I’m already dead!” said Kim.

“No!” said JC. “We don’t give up anyone on the team to the forces of evil! Not ever! Especially when I’ve suddenly had this really excellent idea. The dark is stronger than any one of us. But all of us together? Do you remember, Happy, when you joined our minds and souls together to make contact with the ghost of the old god Lud, in the dark of London Undertowen? We all glowed so very brightly, pushing back the dark. We all glowed golden, like my eyes.”

“Yes!” said Kim. “I remember! We shone like the sun. .”

“I can’t see your eyes glowing now, JC,” said Happy doubtfully.

“But that’s only me,” said JC. “If you can bind us all together again. .”

“Happy?” said Melody, when he didn’t immediately reply. “Can you do that?”

“I don’t see why not,” said Happy; and they could hear his smile even if they couldn’t see it.

Happy reached out with his mind, forcing it through the resisting dark, jumping from one mind to another, linking them in one formidable thought. He even pulled in Brook’s mind, much to the barman’s surprise. And then Happy led them all in one great shout of defiance against the dark. They blazed with a great golden light, as though some inner fire had ignited their souls. They burned so brightly in the dark, visible to each other at last, despite all the dark could do to stop them. Like living candles, made of light.

The darkness fell back, unable to face this new light.

It retreated back over the counter, and back across the room; and more and more of the main bar returned, visible again. The dark swept back, in full retreat now, unable to face or block the power of this new, overwhelming light. Until, finally, the dark hit the outer wall, and the windows, and disappeared back through them. And was gone. The main bar was back, looking exactly as it had, every detail sharp and clear in the steady electric light. Happy let out a great sigh, and collapsed, utterly exhausted. His esper link disappeared in a moment, and everybody was alone in their own head again. The golden glow snapped off. Melody was there to catch Happy in her arms as he fell and hold him. JC vaulted over the top of the bar-counter and ran across the room to peer out the window.

He grinned back at the others.

“I can see the moon! And the stars! Everything’s back. . and listen! You can hear the storm again! Everything’s back to normal!”

“Well,” said Brook, uncertainly, “I don’t know about that. As near to normal as it ever gets around here, perhaps.” He shook his head, frowning. “Funny; it feels like I’ve forgotten something, but I can’t remember what. A dream of. . glowing, like a star. But it’s already fading.”

“Best way,” said JC, striding back to the counter. “Let it go.”

Kim burst through the bar to meet him, and did her happy dance in the middle of the room, circling JC and stamping her feet and waving her arms. JC even accompanied her for a few steps.

“Since we are now in a winning mood,” he announced loudly, “I say we go upstairs and sort out all the bad rooms. Do something positive about the ghost girl Lydia, and the Timeslips, and find out what’s in the room that eats people and kick its nasty arse. Because that’s what we’re here for.”

“Cocky,” Happy said to Melody, as he got his strength back and his feet under him again. “Definitely cocky. I swear, if I could reduce him to pill form, all my troubles would be over.”