Stones Unturned (44 page)
Authors: Christopher Golden
"I will stand by your side, Arthur. The darkness that rises now is too great for us to be anything but allies. But from this point on, I warn you never to underestimate me or attempt to deceive me again. If you expect any of us to survive the coming of the Demogorgon, if you expect the world to survive, you have to start taking us into your confidence, treating us like your friends instead of your pawns. Otherwise, the darkness will claim us all, and our fight is hopeless."
Graves extended one spectral finger, pointing at him. "If I think, for even a moment, that your arrogance is jeopardizing our chances of survival in all of this . . . I will remove you from the fight."
Conan Doyle glared at the ghost, spine stiffening, a cold anger rising inside of him. He nodded. "As it should be. And rest assured, old friend, that I will do the same for you."
As chilly as the room had been before, it had become far colder still. The fire burned low in the fireplace, as though the oxygen that fed it had been stolen away.
The ghost stared at Conan Doyle a moment longer and then turned to Julia.
"With your permission, I'd like to see Danny now."
"Please," she said, nodding. "I think it will do him good. If he'll talk to anyone, he'll talk to you."
The ghost drifted from the room. He paused to nod toward Clay, who still stood leaning against the door frame. Clay nodded in return, and then the ghost of Dr. Graves was gone, disappearing into the darkness of the corridor.
Within the parlor, the only sound was the crackling of the fire, the howling of the wind, and the patter of icy rain upon the windows.
Danny lay curled on his bed, ancient Pearl Jam playing low through the ear buds of his iPod. He stared at a spot on the wall, focused on the feeling of his chest rising and falling with each breath. Just breathing. That was what it was to be alive.
The room stank badly of teenager and demon. There was no pretending to himself anymore that the smell was anything else. Despite the chill outside, his window was open a few inches. The cold breeze that whipped through that gap felt good, and it took some of the stink away. At some point, he was going to have to clean his room and do laundry.
A shower wouldn't be a bad idea either.
At some point.
But not now. He couldn't bring himself to get up. His stomach rumbled hungrily, but even that was too much trouble. And it brought too many ugly thoughts into his head. What, exactly, was he hungry for?
So he lay there, letting the battery of his iPod run down, smelling his own stink, staring at that spot on the wall, and feeling himself breathe.
He realized he was not alone. He shifted his gaze away from the spot on the wall for the first time in hours and looked up at the ghost of Dr. Graves, hovering beside his bed.
A spark of something ignited within him, and at first he mistook it for anger. Graves had abandoned him. The ghost had promised to help him, to keep an eye out for him, and when Danny had needed him the most, Graves had been nowhere to be found.
But even those thoughts seemed dull. The spark in him wasn't anger, and he wouldn't allow himself to think it was anything like hope or relief, so he ignored it.
Danny pulled the headphone buds out of his ears.
"You never heard of knocking?" he asked, his throat a growl from going too long without speaking.
Graves mustered a sad sort of smile. "Hello to you, too."
"You're back."
The ghost nodded, his expression all seriousness now. "I won't be leaving again."
Danny frowned in confusion. "But you were going to go . . . to go on."
"Change of plans. I'm here. And I won't be leaving again."
A maelstrom of convoluted thoughts and questions entered Danny's mind. He wanted to talk, but he did not know what to say.
"Maybe you're not ready yet," the ghost said. "To talk about what happened."
Danny nodded slowly. He still had to work things over in his own head a while before he could talk to anyone, even Dr. Graves. He stared at the transparent figure, could see the mess of his room right through him.
"All right," Graves said. "That's all right. I'm going to go, now. But I'll be here in the house, when you want to find me. Before I go, though, I wanted to give you something."
"Okay."
The ghost reached into the pocket of his jacket — a piece of clothing that was just as much a phantom as he was — and withdrew a scrap of thick paper. He offered it, and Danny took it from him. The paper was no ghost, but real and rough like parchment.
"What is it?" Danny asked, glancing at the scrap and at the writing scribbled on it.
"Something to think about," Dr. Graves said.
Then the ghost faded away, vanishing in increments, from figure to silhouette to nothing, and Danny was alone again. He looked down at the scrap of parchment. Upon it was written a quote from
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
"In each of us, two natures are at war — the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our hands lies the power to choose — what we want most to be, we are."
Danny stared at it for a long time, read it over and over again, and eventually simply focused on the final line. He felt a strange, cool, dampness on his cheeks, but only when he reached up and touched the moisture there, put it to his tongue and tasted salt, did he realize that he was crying.
And then he cried all the harder, and he smiled.
He could cry.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the award-winning,
New York Times
bestselling author of such novels as
Of Saints and Shadows
,
The Myth Hunters
,
The Boys Are Back in Town
, and
Strangewood
. He has also written books for teens and young adults, including
Soulless
,
Poison Ink
, and
The Secret Journeys of Jack London
, co-authored with Tim Lebbon. His current work-in-progress is
Cemetery Girl
, a graphic novel trilogy collaboration with Charlaine Harris.
A lifelong fan of the "team-up," Golden frequently collaborates with other writers on books, comics, and scripts. He has co-written three illustrated novels with Mike Mignola, the first of which,
Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire
, was the launching pad for the Eisner Award-nominated comic book series,
Baltimore
. With Thomas E. Sniegoski, he is the co-author of the book series
Magic Zero
and
The Menagerie
, as well as comic book miniseries such as
Talent
, currently in development as a feature film. With Amber Benson, he co-created the online animated series
Ghosts of Albion
for the BBC.
As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies
The New Dead
,
The Monster's Corner
, and
British Invasion
, among others, and has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at
http://www.ChristopherGolden.com
.
CONNECT WITH CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN ONLINE
Official Website
http://www.ChristopherGolden.com
Twitter
http://twitter.com/ChristophGolden
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/christophergoldenauthor
No Rest for the Wicked Blog
http://christophergolden.blogspot.com/
Join the Wicked Street Team
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wickedstreetteam/
THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI is a
New York Times
best-selling author of books and comics for children, young adults and adults. He is the writer of the New York Times best-selling
The Fallen: Vol. 1 & 2
, as well as the popular urban fantasy books featuring angel turned private investigator, Remy Chandler. He is also the only writer ever invited to work on Jeff Smith's international, award winning series Bone, working with Smith on
Bone: Tall Tales
. Sniegoski has just finished writing the third in an original Bone trilogy,
Bone: Quest for the Spark,
for Scholastic Books. The newest addition to The Fallen series,
The Fallen: Forsaken
and the latest Remy Chandler novel,
In the House of the Wicked,
was released in August 2012.
CONNECT WITH THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI ONLINE
Official Website
Twitter
https://twitter.com/TomSniegoski
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ThomasSniegoski
OTHER WORKS BY CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN
THE MENAGERIE
The Nimble Man
[w/Thomas E. Sniegoski]
The Tears of Furies
[w/Thomas E. Sniegoski]
Stones Unturned
[w/Thomas E. Sniegoski]
Crashing Paradise
[w/Thomas E. Sniegoski]
THE BODY OF EVIDENCE SERIES
Body Bags
Thief of Hearts
Soul Survivor
Meets the Eye
Head Games
Skin Deep
Burning Bones
[w/ Rick Hautala]
Brain Trust
[w/ Rick Hautala]
Last Breath
[w/ Rick Hautala]
Throat Culture
[w/ Rick Hautala]
Strangewood
Straight On 'Til Morning
The Ferryman
The Boys Are Back in Town
Wildwood Road
The Secret Backs of Things
The Shell Collector
Bloodstained Oz
[w/James A. Moore]
The Seven Whistlers
[w/Amber Benson]
The Ocean Dark
[As Jack Rogan]
The Collective
[As Jack Rogan]
Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire
[w/Mike Mignola]
Joe Golem and the Drowning City
[w/Mike Mignola]
Father Caetano's Puppet Catechism
[w/Mike Mignola]
SLEEPY HOLLOW HIGH
Horseman
[w/Ford Lytle Gilmore]
Drowned
[w/Ford Lytle Gilmore]
Mischief
[w/Ford Lytle Gilmore]
Enemies
[w/Ford Lytle Gilmore]
THE VEIL
The Myth Hunters
The Borderkind
The Lost Ones
THE HIDDEN CITIES
Mind the Gap
[w/Tim Lebbon]
The Map of Moments
[w/Tim Lebbon]
The Chamber of Ten
[w/Tim Lebbon]
The Shadow Men
[w/Tim Lebbon]
THE SHADOW SAGA
Of Saints and Shadows
Angel Souls and Devil Hearts
Of Masques and Martyrs
The Gathering Dark
Waking Nightmares
GHOSTS OF ALBION
Astray
[w/Amber Benson]
Initiation
[w/Amber Benson]
Accursed
[w/Amber Benson]
Witchery
[w/Amber Benson]
THE WAKING
Dreams of the Dead
[As Thomas Randall]
