Stone and a Hard Place (19 page)

Stone gave him a small box of ritual materials and the book he’d referred to, then saw him out, bid him good afternoon, and closed the door behind him. Only then did he let his shoulders slump. He leaned against the inside of the front door, letting his breath out.

Something was definitely going on with Ethan. Something he didn’t want Stone to know about. And something that had to do with magic. It was the only way he could have learned to do what he’d done.

Somebody else had showed him how.

He’d been thinking the boy had perhaps found a girlfriend, or was spending time with friends from school instead of doing his lessons. But if he was getting magical instruction from another source—

Stone sighed. Another problem he didn’t have time for. Why did everything have to happen at once?

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Miguel had spent most of the day doing research, tracking down information about Adelaide Bonham’s house and what might be in it. He didn’t often admit to it because he thought it made him look like a geek, but he was very good at this job. Usually he used it to find out details about the marks that Trin had set her sights on—things like where they lived, what their habits were, and so forth, so The Three wouldn’t have to waste power and time on doing it the magical way. He had a harder time with this one, however. By the time the early evening rolled around, all he’d been able to track down was the historical information about the house, Edgar Sr., Amelia, and the birth of Edgar Jr.

“Sorry,” he told Trin when she asked him how things were going. “Nothing about whatever it is that’s down there. The best I could get was that the woman Amelia might have been involved with the occult, but lots of people were back in those days. Most of them were fakes. She probably was, too.”

Trin frowned. “I wonder if Stone found out any more,” she muttered. “We can’t have him getting ahead of us on this.”

Miguel shrugged. “We could just hit him again. If he’s dead, he can’t go after us.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Too dangerous. He’s bad news, and he’s gonna be harder than ever to surprise now that he’s got his full defenses up and knows somebody’s after him. Look what he did to Oliver. We still don’t know when he’ll be okay.”

They’d taken Oliver to a hospital when he hadn’t responded by the time they reached San Francisco, and he was still there, in some kind of half-awake, half-comatose state. The doctors weren’t sure what was wrong with him; they suspected drugs, but they couldn’t find any evidence that he’d taken any.

“We can’t just let him get away with fucking Oliver up like that,” Miguel protested.

Trin’s eyes narrowed. “Trust me, Stone’s gonna regret ever messing with us. But not yet. Let’s wait till he’s not expecting it. We’ve got more important things to do now.”

“What about the kid?” Miguel asked. “Did you fuck him yet?”

She smiled, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. “I fucked his brains out last night. He wouldn’t say a word against me if you put a gun to his head.”

“So use that,” he said. “Get him to tell you what’s up with Stone. He’s his apprentice—he’s gotta know something. Maybe Stone’s found out more than we have, and he’s told the kid about it, or he can ask.”

“Not a bad idea,” she said, nodding. “I’ll have to handle it right, but if I promise him another night like last night and toss in a little subtle magic, I could probably get him to hand over his mother to me.” She ran a hand down the back of her head, smoothing her hair. “He’s coming up here tonight to help us out with some of the ritual stuff. Let’s see about building some bits into it that’ll help us work on him some more. The more I think about it, the more I think he’s going to end up being the key to this.”

“Oh, one more thing,” Miguel said. “Don’t know if it’s relevant or not, but I found another bit of info about that house. There’s going to be a humongous charity thing of some sort there this Saturday night. All kinds of rich stuck-up types drinking too much and giving money to orphan baby seals or something. I don’t know the details. But it’s gonna be at the house.”

“Hmm...” Trin thought about that. “This Saturday?”

“Yeah.”

“Interesting. Let me work on that. It might be just the break we need.”

Stone called Adelaide, and asked if he could come to the house that night.

“Of course,” she said. “You don’t have to ask. Just come down whenever you have time.”

He also left a message for Megan that he would be going down there, and probably would be there for most of the evening. He didn’t really want to go spend all that time puttering around the house and grounds, and possibly the attic, but he was running out of days. It was already Monday evening and he only had four more days to do something he had no idea if he could do. That, and deal with those three mages if they turned up again, and figure out what the hell was up with Ethan.

Nothing like a having full plate. At least he wouldn’t be bored.

He grabbed a quick dinner on the way down, and arrived at the house a little before seven. It was already dark, and a light rain was falling. Great. On top of everything else, he’d track mud all over everything.

This time, he took the time to set up a simple circle in front of the house before he even went in, searching for any sign of The Three. He found none, which he supposed was one good thing.

Iona came out while he was finishing up. “Dr. Stone? Is that you? What are you doing?”

“Just checking something,” he assured her, picking up the circle components. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Well, come in out of the rain.” She took his arm and hustled him inside.

Adelaide was waiting in the sitting room. “What are you going to do tonight?”

“Spend some more time looking for where this thing is, mostly,” he told her as Iona deftly slid him out of his overcoat and hung it by the fire to dry, then steered him toward a chair. “If you’re feeling it in the library, then odds are it’s somewhere on that side of the house. Does your attic extend across the entire place?”

“Yes,” she said, “but it’s divided into smaller sections if I remember correctly. I haven’t been up there in probably twenty years. It’s all full of old trunks and clothes and furniture and dust and spiders. I’m not even sure it’s safe up there, to be honest. Promise me you’ll be careful if you go.”

“What about a basement? Have you got one of those?”

“Same thing,” she said. “Very big, divided up into sections, and full of old furniture and other things like that.”

“Part of it’s more accessible than the rest,” Iona added. “There’s a big larder down there where we keep large nonperishable food and serving items we use for the various functions we hold here, and a large wine cellar. Those are the only parts I’ve ever seen. The rest of it is locked off. Do you even have the key, Adelaide?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, looking fretful. “I don’t think anyone’s even looked for it there since those young men were here inspecting for earthquake damage a few months ago. They never did end up going down there. Are you going to need to go down, Dr. Stone?”

“Probably,” he said. “I can—er—deal with the lock if you can’t find the key, but my way will be rather permanent.”

“Permanent?”

“You’ll need a new lock, is what I mean.”

Iona stared at him, eyes wide, but didn’t comment.

“Well,” Adelaide said, “If that’s what you need to do. I haven’t the faintest idea where the key is.”

Stone nodded. “No more incidents since Saturday night?”

“Nothing,” Iona said. She hesitated, then asked, “Do you think—well, is there any chance that whatever it is, it’s—gone?”

“Unfortunately not,” Stone said. “I can still feel it. It’s still here. But don’t you worry. I’ll deal with it.” He spoke with more confidence than he felt. Then, to Adelaide: “Did you happen to remember any of the historical information I asked you to think about?”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t. It’s all been so long ago—” She spread her hands. “Like I said before, if there’s anything to find, it’s probably in the attic. I’m sure there are trunks and boxes full of old papers up there. But finding them is going to be hard, especially on such short notice. There’s
so
much junk up there...”

“Don’t worry,” Stone said, getting up and hefting his bag full of paraphernalia. “I’ll get to the attic soon, but I want to start with the basement. If you’ll just show me the way to get down there, I’ll get started so I can be out of here before it gets too late.”

Iona took him out of the sitting room, through the big main room, and down a couple of hallways to a part of the house he hadn’t seen yet. “This is the kitchen,” she said, leading him through a pair of double doors into a large, gleaming area full of long counters and expensive appliances. She pointed to another set of doors. “Through there is the main dining room, and beyond that is the grand ballroom where the charity event will be. But we’re going this way.”

Continuing through the kitchen, she went through a single door on the far side and out into a hallway that was much more utilitarian than anything Stone had seen so far. “This part of the house is where a lot of the service work is done: laundry, dishwashing, and so on—most of it when we have functions. There are other ways to get to the basement, but this one is the most convenient, and the only one that leads to the parts that are easily accessible.”

Stone nodded, just following along. A year or so ago, he’d visited the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose with a former girlfriend who’d wanted to see the Halloween flashlight tour (a visit he preferred to think about as rarely as possible, as it had led directly to another ex-relationship), and been impressed and a little amazed by the size and haphazard construction of the vast house. Adelaide’s place, while laid out with more logic and far less insanity, certainly rivaled it for sheer size.

Iona opened one more door and led him down a stairway to a hall with several other doors. She pointed to the one at the end. “That’s the one you want. Like I said before, it’s locked. I’m sure if we looked around long enough we could find the key, but unless you’ve got some sort of skeleton key...”

“I’ll take care of it,” he assured her. “Go on back to Adelaide. You needn’t accompany me—I’ll be fine on my own.”

She looked dubious, but finally nodded. “Good luck, Dr. Stone. And be careful. If nothing else, there are rats and spiders down here. Maybe even bats!”

He smiled. “I’ve dealt with far worse than rats and spiders, Iona. Don’t worry.”

She gave him one last odd, frightened look, then turned and headed back toward the main part of the house.

When she was gone, he turned his attention to the door. As he suspected there wasn’t much to it; it only took a small spell to break its flimsy lock. He pushed it open and walked inside.

It was very dark in here. He looked around for a light switch and found one, but when he flipped it, nothing happened. This time, though, he’d come prepared: from his bag he pulled a large flashlight and snapped it on. He could have used his light spell, but he didn’t want to waste energy to power it. If he found what he was looking for, he might need all the energy he could summon to deal with it.

He moved down the hallway, the flashlight casting eerie shadows on the stained, unpainted walls. There was nothing elegant or opulent about this part of the house: it looked weathered and sinister. Stone suspected it had not been updated since the days when it had first been built.

It was cold down here, too. He shivered; he was wearing a sweater over his T-shirt, but he wished he’d remembered to reclaim his overcoat. The cold was making his ribs ache more than usual. Too late to worry about it now, though.

He moved further in. The hallway ended in a t-intersection; he shined the flashlight down both directions, then reached out with his magical senses to try to get a feel for which way he should go. The feeling was vague and diffuse; still, though, he sensed something else—brief flutters of activity. Was it asleep? Was it watching him from somewhere while trying to keep hidden? He put a bit more focus into his search, and was rewarded with what he thought was the correct direction: to the right. He was getting closer. The feelings were definitely stronger down here. He rounded the corner and continued on, moving slowly.

No doubt about it, this place was creepy. It was mostly silent, but every couple of minutes something would creak ominously off in the distance. Stone was sure the creaks were simply the house settling, but as he moved further away from the door leading upward, they became correspondingly more eerie. Couple that with the faint distant skitterings of rats, and most sane people would have given up the mission and headed back for the light already.

Stone wasn’t most sane people.

Still, he found himself wishing that he could have brought Ethan along. If nothing else, it would have given him the chance to talk to the boy, to find out what he was up to. Or even to talk to him about anything. After all Stone had seen in his magical career, it wasn’t easy to frighten him, but even then he wasn’t fond of the overly dark and creepy.

There were occasional doors along the hallway he was following now. He ignored most of them because his magical senses were telling him what he sought was still ahead, but a couple times he tested them and, when he found them unlocked, shoved them open for a quick look inside. In both cases they led to small rooms packed full of the large bulky shapes of covered furniture. The moldy, musty odor that rolled out of each was nearly visible in the chilly air, and in the second one, a large, furry form darted out through the doorway, scampered over Stone’s right foot, and disappeared into the darkness ahead. He didn’t open any more doors after that. He did notice that the hallway was sloping subtly downward as he continued forward.

After what seemed like a very long time, but in actuality was probably only about five minutes, the hallway opened up. Stone paused at the entrance, panning the flashlight back and forth to get a better look before he stepped out into the space.