It was approaching eleven and the mood in the city was edgy and volatile. Groups of young men and women moved about the streets, many of them drunk, shouting and laughing. For now, the crowds were still light-hearted, but the promise of violence was everywhere.
Perhaps it was because of the strangeness of the last few days, but Will also sensed, as he had before, that the threatening air about the streets was being caused by something greater than the drink-fueled ugliness they could see all about them.
It was as if the city itself was preparing for some impending catastrophe. There had always been talk of ghosts and darkness here, even in his boyhood, and now that darkness seemed to be seeping from the stones and timbers as much as it was descending from the heavens.
What he didn’t know was whether he saw this now only because of his own mood, because of the confusing events overtaking him, or whether the disturbance he felt all around him was real and, worse, if it was happening because of him.
He supposed he and Eloise made a dramatic pair— pale and dressed in black. Their appearance made them stand out from the crowd and Will heard a couple of snide remarks here and there, similar to the ones Taz had made, but they kept their heads down and walked on.
Eloise could hear the comments, too, and at one point she said, “It’s funny, I hate violence, but it’s nice knowing you could probably see off all these people if you wanted to.”
“Yes, I could,” he said. “Except my existence relies upon keeping a low profile. It’s why I’m uneasy about meeting your friends again.”
“But you’re still coming,” she said, pointing out the obvious.
“I’m still coming,” he said, and smiled, and they turned into one of the narrower streets where it was quieter.
It was eleven by the time they got to the Whole Earth and the last customers were just leaving. Chris was saying good-bye to them and clearing tables, but his expression changed when he saw Will and Eloise approaching. He looked at them expectantly as they reached the door.
“We need your help,” said Eloise.
Chris looked as if this was something he’d hardly dared hope for and said eagerly, “Of course, come in.” He stood to one side and then locked the door behind them, changing the sign from OPEN to CLOSED.
He stood for a moment, indecisive, and then Rachel came out of the main room and smiled broadly as she saw them. “Hello, you two! This is a nice surprise.”
“They need our help,” said Chris. Will saw the same expression in Rachel’s eyes, that of someone whose lucky day had come. He knew this was wrong, and not just because of the wound on his arm, which was almost burning in their presence. Just standing there with them, he felt like a rare moth lured into their light trap. Only Eloise’s reassuring looks kept him from running back into the night.
Rachel smiled warmly and said, “Why don’t you come with me through to the house?”
“I’ll finish up out here,” said Chris as Will and Eloise followed Rachel through the kitchen and into a connecting corridor.
The building had clearly been extended considerably at the back since its early days because Rachel now showed them into their sizeable, if rambling, living accommodation.
Bookshelves covered most of the walls, and where there weren’t books there were crystals and odd little statues. It looked like a more cluttered version of the café.
Rachel showed them into a sitting room where two dark green sofas faced each other across an Oriental coffee table.
“Please, sit down. I was just about to have green tea— would you like some?”
“Thanks, I’d love some,” said Eloise.
“Not for me, thank you.”
“Can I get you something else?”
“Thank you, but I’m fine, really.”
Rachel nodded before walking away.
Eloise took off her coat and sat on one of the sofas. Will remained standing for a moment until Eloise gestured for him to remove his own coat. He did so and sat next to her and looked casually at the walls of books, some of which looked old and rare enough that he might consider them for his own collection.
Eloise was looking around, too, and said, “Isn’t this great? I really like the feel of the place.”
Will nodded and said quietly, “Haven’t you been here before?”
“Not in the house part.”
He wondered if she had a single suspicious bone because she didn’t seem to consider it at all strange that Chris and Rachel should suddenly be giving them such special treatment. Even after Will had voiced his concerns, Eloise still couldn’t see anything sinister here, only good people and honest hospitality.
Before he could say any more, Rachel came back in with a tray. There were three large cups of green tea and a plate with some type of coarse-looking biscuit on it.
She was just setting the tray on the table when Chris also came into the room and the two of them sat on the sofa opposite. As Rachel handed out the tea, she said, “Will, I feel awful you sitting there with nothing. Are you sure there isn’t …”
“Really, I’m fine, but thank you for offering.”
Rachel shrugged in surrender and offered the plate to Eloise. She took a biscuit just as Chris said, “So you said you needed our help.”
The biscuit stayed suspended halfway to Eloise’s mouth as she answered. “Yeah, we need you to tell us what you knew about Jex.”
Will studied the couple closely as she said this. They didn’t look at each other, perhaps because it would have been too obvious, given that they were both facing the same direction. But their reactions were almost identical—both looked slightly surprised, suggesting they were expecting a different question.
Chris hesitated, as if wondering whether he could move the subject back to what he really wanted to talk about, but then gave a big sigh and said, “We don’t know a great deal. He’d been doing a doctorate at the university, theology, I think, but he dropped out years ago, went traveling, then came back here. That was when we first met him, only because he came in here. He became quite a regular.”
Rachel added, “Chris helped him out with some money, but he insisted on repaying it a couple of months later.”
Eloise looked frustrated and said, “Did he ever talk about the city, you know, about its dark side or about its history?”
Chris said, “Sure, he often babbled on about things like that. But then so do we.”
Eloise tried one last time. “So there was nothing else unusual about him?” She used the end of the question to finally take a bite of the biscuit.
They both shook their heads, but then Rachel said, “Oh, except for the blackouts.”
“Yes,” said Chris. “Of course, I didn’t think about that.”
“He had blackouts. Had one in the café once, and while he was out, he began speaking in Latin.”
Will said, “What did he say?”
“I don’t know—it was Latin.”
“You don’t speak Latin?”
Chris looked incredulous and said, “Do you?”
“I do, a little,” offered Eloise.
Will avoided answering by waving his hand at the room as he said, “I just thought you both must be very educated.”
“I suppose we are,” said Rachel, “but sadly, neither of us are linguists.”
As if a door had somehow been opened to other matters, Chris said casually, “What about you, Will, where are you from?”
Will could feel Eloise become tense, and Rachel was equally on edge, trying too hard to look casual now. Chris was a better actor, remaining fresh-faced and open, as though it had been the most innocent question in the world.
Will understood intuitively that the time had come to find out what they were about. They knew something about him and he had to find out what it was before this went any further.
“Where I’m from is less important than where I am. Why have you allowed me into your house?” Rachel and Chris looked at each other, unsure how to respond. Eloise still seemed uncomfortable, but with Will’s tone now rather than Chris’s question. “You know nothing whatsoever about me, yet on our second meeting, here I am sitting in your home. Why? I doubt you afford this level of hospitality to even your most regular customers, so why would you do it for a stranger? Why am I here?”
If they were innocent, if they really knew nothing about him and he’d misinterpreted their stares and Jex’s words, this was the moment at which they’d take offense and ask him to leave. They didn’t.
Rachel and Chris sat immobile, unable or unwilling to answer. Eloise shifted slightly in her seat—he had the feeling she’d have run out of there in embarrassment if given half a chance. It was the kind of awkward social situation she probably spent most of her time trying to avoid and she was undoubtedly wondering why Will had stepped over that mark, but he knew he was right.
Finally, Rachel sighed heavily and said, “Show him.” Chris looked at her questioningly and she said, “Chris, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve made complete fools of ourselves. Besides, I’m not in any doubt.”
“Nor am I.”
She nodded. “Get the laptop—show him.”
Chris got up and left the room and came back a moment later with something that, to Will, looked like a large slim book made out of silver. He opened it up, placed it on the table in front of him, and pressed some buttons.
Chris looked at Eloise then and said, “You know we’re massively into the occult, the supernatural. I mean, we’re not witches or anything, but we’re passionate about it.”
Before Eloise could acknowledge the point, Rachel added, “We’re trying to establish a chair of parapsychology at the university.”
“That’s amazing,” said Eloise, apparently genuinely impressed.
Chris continued, “Well, I suppose we were always interested, but what I’m about to show you is what first really got us going. On the surface, it doesn’t look much, but it made us both believe that there was more to this world than you see on the surface.”
Chris turned the laptop sideways so that they could all see its screen. He was about to press another button, but Rachel stopped him, saying, “Hold on, you’ve got to tell them the background first. You can’t just show the film.”
“Of course,” said Chris. Will got the impression they’d shared this so often, and the story was so familiar to the two of them, that Chris forgot the need to explain anything. “We were students at the university here. That’s how we met, in our first year.”
Rachel smiled at Eloise and said, “Can you believe it? We’ve been together ever since.”
“That’s beautiful,” said Eloise.
“So it’s in our first year, a spring night in 1989,” said Chris, and Will immediately became uncomfortable, realizing that the date coincided with his last period of activity. “I’d just got a camcorder, which was really cool, and we were out to see how it worked at night, just fooling around in the square next to the cathedral, filming each other, being stupid.”
“But the important thing is, it’s the early hours and a weekday, and there was no one else about, no one at all.”
“That’s right,” agreed Chris. “It was just the two of us, so we were pretty freaked out when we looked at the film later and there’s a third person in shot. Was it a ghost? We had no idea, but it was eerie, I know that much.”
Rachel shook her head at the memory of it and said, “I can still remember the hairs on my neck standing up when we first watched it.”
“So that’s the story. Here’s the film.” Chris turned the laptop a little more, making it easier for them to see, then leaned over and pressed the button. A freeze-frame image appeared and then the film stuttered into life.