Chapter 23. Startled, Daniel stared back at the old woman

S tartled, Daniel stared back at the old woman. “I am Daniel Fear,” he said finally. “I believe my grandfather is expecting me.”

The old woman sighed but didn’t reply. She squinted up at him for a long time with her one good eye. Then she beckoned him inside, gesturing with a bony, gnarled finger.

“I am Mrs. MacKenzie, the housekeeper,” she told him, leaning on a white cane as she led him through a long, dark hallway. “I am housekeeper, maid, valet, and butler,” she added with some bitterness. “The only servant who stayed.”

Daniel followed her in silence, carrying his bag. As they made their way through narrow, dark hallways, he tried to peer into the rooms they passed. They all seemed to be dark and shuttered, the furniture covered with sheets.

“My father did not tell me the house was so large,” Daniel said, his voice echoing in the empty hall.

“Your father got away …” Mrs. MacKenzie answered mysteriously.

They continued through the dark, gloomy house in silence. The only sounds Daniel heard were the scraping of his boots on the threadbare carpet and the tap-tap-tap of the old housekeeper’s white cane as she walked.

At the end of a twisting hallway Daniel saw a flicker of orange light from a corner room. “Your grandparents are in there,” Mrs. MacKenzie said softly, pointing. She turned, leaving him in the hall, and disappeared around a corner, her cane tapping its insistent rhythm.

Is the old woman completely mad? Daniel wondered. Or just unfriendly?

He took a deep breath and reluctantly approached the doorway. He saw a low fire crackling in a wide stone fireplace. Setting down his suitcase, Daniel stepped into the room.

His grandmother caught his eye first. Angelica was stretched out on a purple velvet chaise longue beside the fire. She wore an elegant black dress with a white lace collar.

She smiled at Daniel as he approached, but made no attempt to stand up. As she smiled, Daniel saw that her skin was delicate and translucent and tight against the bone, making her face resemble that of a grinning skull. Her hair fell loosely down her back. It was as white as snow.

“Grandmother Angelica,” Daniel said with a slight bow. He reached for her hand, but she didn’t offer it.

“Put another log on the fire, boy,” Angelica ordered.

“I beg your pardon?” Daniel had expected a warmer greeting from his grandmother.

“Do not dawdle. Do as I say,” Angelica insisted coldly, waving a slender white hand toward the fire. “Another log on the fire, boy.”

Daniel hesitated, then hurried to the fireplace to do her bidding. He could find no logs in the wood basket, so he piled on several sticks of kindling.

Then, wiping his hands, he turned back to his grandmother. “I am so pleased to meet you,” he said, smiling sincerely.

“You may go now,” Angelica replied curtly. Before the startled Daniel could reply, she started to scream: “Did you not hear me? Go! Go! Go!”

Daniel gaped at her, trying to decide what to say or do.

“Pay no attention to her,” a high-pitched voice wheezed from behind him.

Daniel wheeled around and-saw a nearly bald old man hunched over in a wooden wheelchair. He had a thin brown blanket tucked over his legs. His face was yellow and sickly in the flickering firelight. He stared at Daniel through square-shaped spectacles with his dark eyes, eyes like tiny black buttons.

“Grandfather!” Daniel declared.

Simon Fear wheeled himself closer, both hands pushing at the large wooden wheelchair wheels. “Pay no attention to Angelica. She is mad! Mad as a loon!” He cackled as if he had made a joke.

Daniel glanced back at Angelica, who lay staring at the fire.

“Grandfather Simon, I am pleased to meet you,” Daniel said, turning back to the frail old man.

Simon extended a slender, spotted hand to his grandson. Daniel reached down to shake hands. He almost cried out. Simon’s hand was unearthly cold!

“Joseph’s boy,” Simon muttered, refusing to let go of Daniel’s hand. Behind the eyeglasses the tiny black sparrow eyes had locked on Daniel’s face as if trying to memorize every detail. “Yes, yes. I see Joseph in you,” he said and then coughed for several seconds, allowing Daniel the opportunity to remove his hand from the icy grip.

“My father sends his love,” Daniel said stiffly.

“Love? What is love?” Angelica chimed in from behind him. “What is love? I would really like to know.”

“Joseph has no love for us,” Simon said darkly, wiping saliva from his colorless lips with the back of his hand.

“I beg your pardon?” Daniel exclaimed.

“My son Joseph abandoned us. I tried to make him understand that we Fears have no choice but to stick together, to band together, to hide together against our enemies. But Joseph chose to disobey me.”

The light seemed to fade from Simon’s eyes. He lowered his head. For a moment Daniel thought that his grandfather had fallen asleep.

“Put another log on the fire!” Angelica ordered impatiently. “Another log, if you please! Why must it always be so cold in here?”

“There do not seem to be any more logs,” Daniel told his grandmother.

An icy hand grabbed his wrist. Simon held him with surprising strength. “I told you to ignore her!” he snapped.

Daniel tried to pull free. The cold from Simon’s hand seemed to sweep right through Daniel’s entire body. “Grandfather—”

“You cannot hide from your blood!” Simon declared loudly, staring up at Daniel, tightening his cold grip on his grandson’s wrist. “I told Joseph that when he was just a boy. You cannot hide from your blood and your fate.”

“Yes, Grandfather,” Daniel stammered, trying to be polite.

“His brothers Robert and Brandon stayed,” Simon said. “But now they’re gone too.”

“I never met my uncles,” Daniel replied softly.

“Now you are here, Daniel,” Simon said, smiling up at him, a frightening smile that sent shivers up Daniel’s spine. “Now you are here to carry on my work.”

Daniel swallowed hard. “Your work? I—I came to celebrate your birthday, Grandfather. I—”

Simon ignored him. He had both hands up behind his collar, struggling to remove something from around his neck. Finally he succeeded. With another frightening smile he tucked an object into Daniel’s hand.

Daniel took a step back toward the fireplace and examined his grandfather’s gift. To his surprise it was a piece of silver jewelry. Disk shaped, it was held by three silver claws, like birds’ feet. On the disk were four blue jewels that sparkled brightly in the firelight.

What a strange gift, Daniel thought. He turned the pendant over. On the back he found Latin words inscribed: DOMINATIO PER MALUM.

“What do these words mean, Grandfather?” Daniel asked, studying the strange silver pendant.

“Power through evil!” Simon bellowed. His loud cry caused him to cough and wheeze.

Daniel studied the strange pendant, turning it over in his hands.

“Put it on,” Simon instructed him. “Wear it always. It has been in the Fear family since our days in the Old Country.”

Daniel obediently slipped the silver chain around his neck.

He tucked the pendant under his dress shirt.

And as the warm disk settled against his chest, he felt a surge of heat—and the entire room burst into flame!

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20