Light flooded the floor. They were slabs polished shinily smooth by centuries of feet walking backwards and forwards. Servants. Footmen. Maids. Lords. Ladies. Even knights in armour. An image rose before her mind’s eye. Men clad in silver metal with feathered plumes rising from the crest of their helmets. One breaks the leg off a roast rabbit to toss it to a black dog that sits in front of the crackling fire …
Wakefulness filled her head with a rush. Suddenly she could see properly. She could hear. She knew the stupid thing she’d done.
Kym opened her mouth; her tongue seemed too big for its cavity; she did her best. ‘Bnn … stupid idiot … I’m stupid … I’ve given myself an electric shock, haven’t I? Then dreamt I was skewered by a man in bare feet, while that thing kept on chiming. What on earth is wrong with it?’
Fisher stood watching her with concern on his face. ‘Are you sure you can walk all right? Would you like to sit down?’
Kym blinked in surprise. ‘I didn’t even know I was standing.’
‘When I came in here you were sitting there by the fireplace. You say you suffered an electric shock?’
‘Yes, I touched the terminals. Don’t worry.’ She managed a smile. ‘It’s low voltage. Perhaps made my hair stand on end a little bit.’
Fisher smiled. ‘Your hair’s fine.
‘I should see to the clock. Those chimes were going crazy. Bong, bong, bong.’
‘Really? We couldn’t hear anything.’
‘So you and Marko didn’t leave me?’
‘No, we wouldn’t do anything like that. We stayed up in the gallery. Marko hit the light switch every time they went out. I kept watch to make sure you were OK.’
His concern touched her.
‘Thank you.’
‘Only when the light went out and we couldn’t switch it back on for a few seconds we saw that you’d gone.’
‘Oh, I found my way through the façade by touch. I didn’t want to waste time.’
‘The moment you vanished I came down here. Though I had to wait out in the walkway area when the lights went out. The switch is crap. It must be faulty. It takes a minute or so to reactivate.’
‘So you didn’t see the man in bare feet? Or hear the chimes go crazy?’
From the way Fisher smiled, Kym realized he thought she was pulling his leg. ‘Chimes? Bare feet? I don’t get it.’
‘No, neither do I now, Fisher.’ She sighed. ‘You know something? I must have blacked out when I was fooling around with the bare wires. I think the shock got reality and dreams all mixed up inside my head.’
‘Are you sure you’re OK? You don’t want to sit down?’
‘I want to get out of here before the lights go again. But if you will allow me to take your arm?’
His smile was a warm one. ‘By all means. Let me know if you need to rest.’
‘I will, Fisher. Thank you.’
Fisher made it to the doors to the entrance hall, with Kym linking her arm with his, before the timer tripped the light out again. He paused in the doorway as The Promenade that ran beneath the frowning façade of the medieval house was plunged into darkness once more.
‘Oh?’ she exclaimed.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I forgot to switch off the clock. Those chimes will drive everyone crazy.’
‘Don’t worry,’ he told her. ‘I ripped the power cable out of the junction box. It’s dead.’
Fisher felt her palm through his shirt as she lightly touched his chest. Her dark eyes caught the daylight falling through the hallway windows. ‘Thank you again.’ Her smile and her Eastern European accent captivated him. ‘I think you have saved my life today.’
Fisher had feared she’d been dying as she sat there by the fireplace in that weird house within a house. Her eyes were dull. Her chest had been jerking in convulsive starts as she choked for breath. What he didn’t tell her was that she’d been sobbing as she sat there. A heart-breaking sound of sheer grief.
Marko ran lightly down the stairs. ‘What ho, captain,’ he called cheerfully. ‘Got it done?’
Kym answered for him. ‘He has. And he rescued me, too.’
‘Did you need rescuing?’ Marko asked in surprise.
‘Yes. Fisher, my hero, rescued me. I don’t know what to do to repay him.’
Fisher quelled any comment Marko might have planned to make with a glare.
‘I guess Fabian will be expecting us to report back,’ Fisher told her.
‘OK. I’m going back to my room to rest. Gentlemen.’ She nodded at them. ‘I’ll see you later.’
When she’d walked away Fisher saw that her balance had returned.
Marko winked. ‘When you going to collect payment from her, Fisher?’
Grinning, Fisher put his arm around the man and pressed his fist against his face. ‘Go play your drums, Marko, and don’t say another word.’
Marko grinned back. ‘Yeah, but you don’t know what I’m thinking, do you?’
‘Behave, you strange little man.’
Marko’s grin grew even wider. ‘I’m imagining you. And I’m imagining Kym. She’s wearing a silk robe as she glides toward you.’ He adopted an Eastern European accent. ‘Oh, Mr Fisher. Thank you for saving my life. Take what you want. Only be gentle with—’
‘OK, I warned you.’
Marko bolted down the corridor in the direction of the ballroom. Fisher followed trying to shout threats but finding his laughter made the words come out all wrong.
In the ballroom, Fabian stood at the keyboard. He shuffled pages of music. With barely a glance up he asked, ‘What kept the pair of you?’ Then the hidden clock chimed three times. Annoyed, he stabbed his finger into the air. ‘And weren’t you going to put a stop to that?’