Book 1 - The Man With the Golden Torc (32 page)

"What?" said Molly. "What is it? Do you recognise him?"

"Hell, yes," I said. "His name isn’t John. This is William
Dominic Drood. And he’s not a rogue; he’s listed as missing. The family’s been
looking for him for years. He used to be head librarian, back at the Hall. One
of our very best research scholars. He just…disappeared one day, and was never
seen again. And believe me, we all looked really hard for him. He knew all kinds
of things about the family and the Hall, secrets we couldn’t afford anyone
outside the family to know. But we never found him. His disappearance is one of
the great unsolved mysteries of my family. And all these years, he’s been…here?"

I stopped and looked abruptly at the surveillance camera in the
far corner of the room.

"It’s all right," Molly said quickly. "I hit it with my illusion
spell the moment we walked in here. They’ll see just what they expect to see,
nothing more. But it won’t last long. So talk to the man. Call him by his right
name. I’ve tried everything I could think of and never got more than a dozen
words out of him. See if you can do any better. But make it quick. Time is not
on our side."

"I know," I said. "Trust me, I know."

I crouched down beside Oddly John’s chair. It was easier to
think of him that way, mostly because of the really unsettling look in his eyes.
Whatever he was seeing out of his window, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see it if
I looked out. Or would want to.

"William?" I said. "William Dominic Drood. Can you hear me?"

He didn’t even look around. The sad, lost look on his face
didn’t change for a moment.

"Try showing him your torc," Molly said suddenly. "That might
jar something loose."

I opened the top buttons of my shirt with my right hand only,
revealing the golden collar around my throat. I took hold of Oddly John’s chin
with my hand and turned his face gently but firmly around to look at me. "Listen
to me, William. I’m Edwin Drood, sent to find you. See my torc. Do you remember
me? I used to be in and out of the library all the time, when I was just a kid."

He looked at the torc, and just like that, he woke up. It was
eerie, even shocking, to see a whole new personality flow into his face, like
water pouring into a glass. He looked sharp and intelligent, and not in the
least mad or drugged. He jumped up out his chair and backed away from me, both
hands held out as though to ward me off.

"Is this it?" he said. "Have you come to kill me at last, for
the family?"

"No, no!" I said quickly. "I mean you no harm. I’m not here for
the family. I’ve been declared rogue, and I don’t know why. I was hoping you
might have some answers, or at least some advice."

He calmed down almost immediately and came back to lower himself
into his chair. "So," he said finally. "Eddie Drood. Of course I remember you.
Always plaguing me with questions, querying everything, borrowing books and
never bringing them back. Best student I ever had. And now you’re a rogue in the
company of the infamous Molly Metcalf. No offence, my dear."

"None taken," said Molly. "Do you remember me coming here
before?"

"I’m afraid not. I don’t…come out much, anymore. Unless I
absolutely have to. There was some talk of transferring me out of here. I soon
put a stop to that…"

"But why?" I said. "What are you doing here, in a place like
this? What happened to you?"

He looked at me sadly. "I can See the ghosts of everyone you
ever killed, Eddie. So many of them…And there’s something inside you, something
other…I See so clearly these days, whether I want to or not." He looked across
at Molly, crouching down now on the other side of his chair. "And you’ve made so
many unfortunate deals to get the power you wanted. To avenge your poor parents.
I can See the chains hanging around you, weighing you down. So much weight to
carry, for one so young…" He looked out his window again so he wouldn’t have to
look at Molly or me anymore.

"What do you See, out there?" I said.

"All the views from all the other dimensions that intersect with
this one. I See a forest of flowers, singing in awful harmonies. I See a great
stone honeycomb, a thousand feet high, with people crawling in and out of the
stone cells and scuttling up the walls like insects. I See towers of pure light,
and waterfalls of blood, and a cemetery where they rise from their graves to
dance in the moonlight."

I looked across at Molly. "You think he really Sees these
things?"

"Who knows?" said Molly. "He’s your family."

Oddly John looked sharply at me. "So; you’re rogue now. What did
you do, Eddie?"

"I don’t know! I was hoping you might—"

"You didn’t come here for help," said Oddly John. "You came here
looking for safety and security, just like me. I faked madness to get into this
place. Faked the symptoms, faked all the paperwork. I was very convincing. I’m
safe here. I’m not locked in; the family’s locked out. They’ll never find me
here. They want me dead, you know. Or at least, some of them do. Because of what
I know. What I found out…"

"I’m going to bring the family down," I said. "Break their hold
on the world. Will you help?"

"No!" said Oddly John, suddenly banging his frail fists on the
arms of his chair. "That’s not enough! The family must be wiped out,
slaughtered, down to the very last of us. Including you and me. We have to die.
The Drood family is vile, evil, utterly corrupt. Because of what we did, and
what we all are…There can be no forgiveness for such a sin. Only death can make
up for such a crime." He grabbed my hand in a painfully tight grip. "Are they
still looking for me? After all this time?"

"Yes. Of course. You’re very important to the family."

"They’re looking for me because of what I know." He let go of my
hand and stared out the window again. "They’ll never stop looking for me."

"What is it?" said Molly. "What do you know?"

"Their agents could be anywhere," Oddly John said craftily.
"Visitors, patients, guards. But they’ll never find William Drood, because he’s
not here. Only Oddly John is here. I hide inside him, so deep no one can see
me…But you’re here. If you found me, so can they!"

He grew really agitated then, whipping his bony head back and
forth. It took Molly and me some time to calm him down again, hushing and
comforting him like a small child after a nightmare. "Why does the family want
to find you so badly?" I said. "What is it that you know?"

"I don’t know," Oddly John said miserably. "I can’t remember. I
made myself forget, you see. I had to. It was the only way to stay sane…I found
out something; I know that. I read a book I shouldn’t have, a very old book, and
it told me something terrible about the family. About what we really are."

"I know," I said. "It was a shock to me, too, to learn that
we’re the secret masters of the world."

"Not that," Oddly John said scornfully. "Who cares about that? I
could live with that…No, this was much worse…Sometimes, I dream I’m back in the
Hall. I walk into the Sanctity, and stand before the Heart…and then I wake up
screaming. There’s something I don’t remember, something I mustn’t remember,
because it’s too awful, too terrible to bear. The secret at the heart of the
Droods…I left the Hall. I ran and I ran and I ran, and finally I came here. I’m
safe here. Safe from everything and everyone; even myself. I don’t know what’s
happening out in the world anymore, and I don’t care. Knowing things doesn’t
make you happy."

"No one followed me," I said quickly. "Noone knows we’re here.
You’re still safe."

"Bless you, Eddie," he said. "I wish there was something I could
do for you. But I can’t help you. I can’t help any of us. We’re all damned, you
see. All damned, because of what we did, and what we are…"

And just like that, he went back inside himself again. William
Dominic Drood disappeared, and there was only Oddly John. The personality
drained out of his face, leaving just the empty shell behind, sitting quietly in
his chair, looking out through the bars on his window at the things only he
could see. Hiding from my family, and from whatever it was he was so desperate
not to remember. What could he have discovered, what truth could he have
stumbled over, that was so much worse than what I already knew? There was no
point in asking Oddly John or William Drood.

If he hadn’t been crazy when he came in here, he sure as hell
was now.

Back at the top of the grassy hill I turned slowly, looking out
over the small town of Flitwick. Picturesque houses, narrow streets, farms and
farmlands off in the distance. All so very ordinary, so everyday, so unknowing
of all the terrible things that shared the world with them. Once it was my job
to protect people like them from all the bad things that hid and lurked in the
shadows; but the more I investigated, the deeper I dug, the more I discovered
just how deep and dark the shadows really were. And now it seemed my family were
looking back at me, out of the shadows. What could William have found out? What
could be so terrible he had to wipe it from his mind? If I found out, would I
end up having to do the same?

I shivered, standing on the top of a hill in the middle of
nowhere, looking out over a world I no longer recognised.

My arm hurt. Even when I was careful not to move it, the damned
thing ached like a bad tooth. There was something inside me, eating me alive.
Three days, four at the most. And always, this constant pressure of needing to
be doing something, anything, so as not to waste a moment of the precious time I
had left to me. And yet for all my digging, all my questions, I still had
nothing certain to lash out at. I knew the names of my enemies, but not their
reasons. I had to think, to plan; and still the clock was ticking, ticking…I
looked at Molly, standing silently beside me.

"Well," I said. "Thank you for bringing me here, Molly. That
was…seriously depressing. Are there any more bright and helpful fellow rogues
you think I ought to meet?"

"I could just portal out of here and abandon you, you know,"
said Molly.

"You’d miss my sparkling personality."

"Look, don’t knock yourself, Eddie. You got a lot more out of
Oddly John than I ever did. And I do have another rogue in mind. Someone who
could be very helpful. He knows a lot of things. He’s called the Mole."

"Now there’s a name that inspires confidence."

"Do you want to meet him or not?"

"Does he have three friends called Ratty, Toad, and Badger?" I
said hopefully.

Molly sighed. "This is revenge for me introducing you to Mr.
Stab, isn’t it?"

"No, really, I can’t wait to meet Mr. Mole in his hole."

She looked at me. "Your arm’s worse, isn’t it?"

"Yes. Let’s go."

Molly summoned up another spatial portal, frowning with
concentration. The process seemed to take longer this time, and sweat ran freely
down her face. The air churned and whirled before us, spinning around and around
like water going down a plughole. It plucked us off the hilltop and into itself,
and we were off on our travels again.

When Molly and I reappeared, we were standing in a toilet
cubicle. It was very cramped. Molly and I were pressed tightly together, face to
face. Anywhen else, I might have taken a moment to enjoy it, but unfortunately I
had one leg jammed down the toilet bowl.

"Oh, shit," said Molly.

"Don’t even go there," I said, struggling to remove my foot from
the bowl. "Do I take it we’re not where we were supposed to be?"

"Of course not! But it could have been worse."

"Oh, shit," I said.

"What?"

"It would appear the previous occupant didn’t flush. Would you
please breathe in so I can get my foot out?"

We struggled together for a moment, banging loudly against the
sides of the cubicle, and finally I was able to jerk my foot free. The bottom of
my trouser leg was soaked, and I didn’t want to think what with. I glared at
Molly.

"Today started out with a knife at my throat and yet still has
managed to go steadily downhill. Where the hell are we?"

"Paddington railway station."

"Really?" I said. "I remember it as being somewhat bigger."

"Fool. We’re in the ladies’ toilet at Paddington. Which
means…someone tried to intercept my portal spell."

Getting out of the cubicle took some cooperation and a certain
amount of brute force, as the door opened inwards, but eventually we spilled out
into the main toilet area. Half a dozen women stopped adjusting their dress and
repairing their makeup to stare at us. Molly glared right back at them.

"Come on; don’t tell me you’ve never thought about doing it in a
cubicle."

"I feel like such a slut," I said. "Promise me you’ll spank me
when we get home, mistress?"

The half dozen women couldn’t get out of the toilet fast enough.
I grinned at Molly, but she wasn’t in the mood.

"All right," I said. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is
this?"

"Oh, I think this one goes all the way up to eleven. Someone
must have tried to override my spell’s coordinates to make us arrive at a
destination of their choosing. Where they could be waiting for us. But, being
the happy paranoid little soul that I am, I long ago preprogrammed my spell to
be prepared for such an eventuality and, at the first sign of outside tampering,
drop me off at a predesignated emergency arrival point."

"God, I love it when you talk technical."

"Shut up. I chose this place because a toilet cubicle is one of
the few places where you can just appear out of nowhere without being noticed.
Do I really need to add that I did not have two people in mind when I chose this
arrival point?"

"Why Paddington?" I said.

"It’s a central London station, with trains always going
somewhere. You can just pick one at random, hop on, and disappear without a
trace. Now, let’s get out of here. The only people powerful enough to intercept
a portal spell would have to be major league sorcerers. Which could mean your
family."