Jimmy the Hand Part 21

'Mandy,' he whispered.

She looked up at him and he went over to perch on the side of her bed.

'What?' she whispered back.

'Do you ever feel like...like someone you can't see is watching you?'

Reaching out, Mandy grabbed him by the neck and drew him close. 'Shut up!' she said through her teeth. 'Talking about it, or thinking about it, just makes it worse.' She smacked him, then said out loud, 'Now get off my bed.'

Mandy spent the rest of the day glaring at him and refusing to talk, and he couldn't really blame her. She'd been right, things had gotten worse.

All that day he'd felt as if people were standing close to him, leaning over him and staring. He tried to ignore it, but it was so unpleasant that he'd hardly been able to eat supper. Then later that night he'd been wakened by the sense that someone had touched him. He opened his eyes to see the black silhouette of a man standing before him. And then the man was gone, just like that. Rip lay still, absolutely still, feeling as though the man was still standing there and that he meant no good, and that he had no face but what Rip had seen, a blackness like a shadow made solid.

Rip was so scared he could hear his own heartbeat and he wanted to cry but he didn't dare, so his throat ached and it was hard to breathe and his mouth was as dry as cotton and he had to use the pot but couldn't. He wanted to wake one of the others so that he wouldn't be alone in the dark, but he was afraid to speak out loud. Rip was so wide awake it never occurred to him that he might go back to sleep. But somehow he did. And when he woke, it was with the feeling that someone unseen was leaning over him. He lay there thinking, I've got to get out of here.

Twice a day a fat man with a mean face and a bad smell came to bring them food and take away the slops bucket, replacing it with an empty one. Other than that the door was locked and there were bars on the windows and they were up high anyway. So Rip would have to get out when the door opened.

'I'm going to get out of here,' he told the others.

The girls just looked at him; Mandy in scorn, Neesa with eyes wide. Rip didn't think she knew what he was talking about.

'Oh, they'll come and get you really soon now,' Kay teased. 'And they'll chop off your head, whoos.h.!.+' He pretended to be waving a sword.

'They'll probably come for you first,' Rip snapped. 'You've been here longer than me!'

Kay gasped, taken by surprise by Rip's vehemence and the truth of what he had said. Then he got mad and made to run at Rip.

'Stop it, Kay!' Mandy snapped.

By the way the other boy stopped in his tracks Rip knew he'd been right about Mandy teaching Kay a thing or two about behaving himself. Kay still glared, but he did it from a safe distance.

'How do you think you can get out?' Mandy said.

'I don't know,' Rip said. 'Maybe we throw a sheet over his head and while he's trying to get it off we run out of the door.'

Kay made a farting sound and laughed. 'That's so stupid! He's twice as big as you. All you'd be able to do is throw a sheet over his b.u.m and his brains may be there, but his eyes and hands are what you have to worry about.' He laughed and pointed at Rip. 'Stupid!'

'Shut up, Kay!' Mandy snapped. 'It's what we've all got to worry about. We've been lucky so far, but that's not going to last.' She glowered at him, then lowered her voice. 'Besides...it's getting worse.'

Kay's eyes widened and he cast a quick look around. Clearly he was startled that she would even hint at the presences that haunted them.

'Yeah. So stop pretending that you're not just as scared as the rest of us and help us think up how we're going to do this,' Rip yelled.

Kay looked resentful and mulish, but then he suddenly brightened. 'Hey! I know, we can trip him! Then we can throw a sheet over him.'

Mandy looked thoughtful. 'And we could maybe tie it around him so he couldn't get loose.'

'We could take his keys,' Rip said, 'and lock him in.'

'We could whack him on the head!' Neesa cried gleefully. 'Bonk! Bonk, on the head!'

The others laughed. 'Good idea!' Rip said and patted the little girl on the back. 'That's just what we'll do.'

When their burly caretaker came with their breakfast Rip and Kay were on opposite sides of the room playing catch with an apple. The man turned to put the tray of food on the table that was usually by the door only to find it had been moved to the centre of the room and shrouded in a sheet that trailed out onto the floor.

'What's that doin' there?' he growled.

Neesa raised the sheet on one side and said haughtily, 'It's my house and this is where it's s'posed to be.' She dropped the sheet.

'You two,' the man said to the boys, 'move that back over here.'

'No!' Neesa shouted. It was amazing that so much angry sound could come from such a pet.i.te source.

'Please,' Mandy said, looking pained, 'can we wait until she's finished playing with it? If we move it, she'll yell the house down.'

'No! No!' Neesa screamed, startling even her friends with the increase in volume.

'All right!' the guard shouted. He shut the door by kicking it with his foot, but couldn't lock it because of the heavy tray. He glared at the children and the two boys slumped down and sat on the floor, Mandy continued to lie upon her bed with her eyes wide and Neesa was crooning to her doll under the table. Satisfied that no one would move, the guard marched toward the table.

Which was when Rip and Kay yanked the satin rope that had tied back the bed-curtains from its hiding place under the rug to about ankle height and the big man went down, the tray and the food on it going flying with a colossal crash.

The guard tried to break his fall with his hands, but the explosion of breath from him when he hit the floor and a quick, deep groan of pain as somethingwrist, or armbroke, was followed a moment later by the loud crack of his chin hitting the stones.

The man's eyes rolled up into his head and he lost consciousness. The two boys traded places, winding the rope around the guard's legs. Mandy leapt off the bed and pulled the sheet off the table and dropped it over the guard's head; then she and Neesa gathered the points on either side of him and Mandy tied them in a knot, encasing him in a bag.

'Let's go!' Rip said.

The children gathered up the spilled bread, cheese and fruit in pillowcases and ran from the room. To Rip, it was like leaving warm water for frigid air and his teeth gave an involuntary chatter. He looked at the others uneasily and they looked back, pale and obviously frightened. Mandy glanced back into the room behind them.

'No!' Rip said and slammed the door, turning the key he was happy to find still in the lock. 'We can't go back. Let's get out of here.'

Their heads swung left and right and they found they were in the middle of a corridor which looked identical at either end; stone walls, high small windows on one side, tiled floors, huge blackened beams high overhead.

'This way,' Neesa said, pointing to the right.

'Why?' asked Mandy.

Neesa said, 'Because that's the right way.'

Mandy glanced at Rip and ignored Kay, then shrugged, heading off to the right. It might be the wrong choice, but at least it was a choice. Judging from the view from their narrow window they must be at the top of the house. 'Look for stairs,' Neesa whispered.

Mandy gave Neesa a look, but didn't say anything.

Rip felt awkward, because he had been the one to force the idea of escape on the others, but someone had to do it. He didn't know why the older children were content to let whatever horrible things happened to the children who had gone before continue, but he wasn't going to endure it. He didn't know if he could act like a leader, no matter how many times he had played one in his imagination, but someone had to do things. If he hadn't locked the door they all might have bolted back inside. It wasn't safe in there, but out here felt really dangerous. It seemed to be getting colder for one thing and he felt as though a lot of people were crowding the hallway, or were about to.

Stairs, Rip thought desperately. Where are the stairs? Where are the stairs?

Neesa was crying, quietly in a tired and really frightened way. Tears poured down her face and she was struggling not to make much noise, but still gave out a high-pitched moaning that didn't seem to involve breathing since it was continuous. She clutched Rip's hand like a hot vice, tugging him along, one way, then another. No one else had an idea where they were going, so they just let her lead.

Rip thought she was too scared to complain. He knew he was. He held her hand as much to rea.s.sure himself as to keep her close. Otherwise all he'd have to think about was the invisible something that always seemed just about to pounce on them. Or the biting cold that let him see his own breath even though it wasn't even close to autumn yet.

They'd been creeping about this huge house for what seemed like hours and they were all exhausted. They'd found stairs, but when they'd gone down two flights they'd had to turn around to avoid someone coming up the stairs. Whoever that was had them running up three flights before they took off down the corridor to the next turning. They'd ducked into a room while footsteps paraded up and down outside the door and something seemed to hover just above their heads. At least it had been rest of a sort or by this time they wouldn't be able to move. After the footsteps had stopped they'd sneaked out and managed to get down two flights but until now they'd still been trapped on the same floor they'd started on.

And all the rooms were empty and full of dust and unseen watching eyes.

Rip released Neesa's hand and tiptoed to the staircase. Crouching down, he looked over the edge and watched, straining his ears to hear any motion on any of the floors below. Satisfied at last, he waved the others on and they crept down the stairs. Before they could get to the next staircase they heard footsteps and went racing down the corridor in front of them, hearts pounding.

The sense of an invisible pursuer sharpened as a feeling of anger reaching out to smash them began to build. The children ran faster and found it hard going, the air here seemed thinner somehow and the cold bit deeper causing them to stumble and to sob.

We've got to hide, Rip thought.

Down the corridor before them a door seemed to beckon. He grabbed the handle and pulled, only to find it locked. Yanking out the guard's key he tried to fit it into the lock, but his hands were shaking too much. It was like a live thing struggling to get away and he let out a frustrated sob. Mandy grabbed his shoulder and he gasped in surprise.

'Let's go!' she said in a shrill whisper. She tugged on his s.h.i.+rt.

But Rip grabbed onto the door handle, not meaning to be dragged away, and by a miracle it turned. It had only been stuck! Now he grabbed Mandy's skirt and opening the door dragged her in after him; the two other children followed. He and Mandy together shut the door and leaned their weight against it. Something on the outside hit it hard, rocking the door in its frame and causing a trickle of plaster dust to hiss to the floor.

Rip had a sense of something foul striking the door and then recoiling in hurt or fear. But it hadn't gone far; he could feel that too. Still, for the moment he felt safe. Safer even than in their prison up above. He turned to look at the room they were in. Kay and Neesa stared at him, pale and frightened. Beside him Mandy gave a sigh and slid to the floor, huddling in on herself, her eyes staring at nothing.

Rip looked around. They were in a bedroom. It was furnished with stark simplicity, and yet the furnis.h.i.+ngs themselves were finely made, like more of old Emmet's stories, or the ones Ma had told him about palaces in the sky. The furniture was all carved delicately out of dark wood, and polished, and there was cloth on the seats, fine weave with a pattern in it. There were no mirrors or pictures on the walls, or the large cloth hangings like in the other room, but Rip knew this room was used by gentlefolk. Then he noticed Neesa was staring and he turned to see where her eyes looked; opposite where he stood was a doorway.

Neesa pointed and said, in soft tones, 'She's in there.'

As though drawn, he went toward it, but when he got there he hesitated. Something bad was behind this door. Not something wicked in itself, like what waited for them out in the corridor. It was as if something bad was happening in the room behind the door.

But Rip had to see and fear didn't hold him long. He opened the door. The room was dim, as though some of the shades of night still lingered there and candles brightened it only slightly. There was a bed in the middle of the room and on the bed was a beautiful young woman. Asleep? No, she wasn't breathing. The woman was dead. He took an involuntary step backward, then stopped.

Rip looked closer at her, fascinated and appalled. He took in a long, slow breath of horror, having realized somehow that though she should be dead, she wasn't. Then he slammed the door and leaned against it, feeling sick. When he looked up he saw that the others had also seen what he had. Did you feel it? Did you feel it? he wondered, but didn't dare say anything out loud. It was like the presences: for some reason he didn't think it would be wise to acknowledge what he'd felt. he wondered, but didn't dare say anything out loud. It was like the presences: for some reason he didn't think it would be wise to acknowledge what he'd felt.

'That's a dead lady,' Kay said, whiter than ever.

Neesa whispered, 'No. She's not dead.'

'But she's not moving,' Rip said. 'She's not breathing.'

'She's not dead,' Neesa repeated. 'She talks to me.'

'We can't stay here!' Rip sounded accusing and panicked.

The others looked at him in surprise. Mandy said, 'Where else can we go?'

Rip insisted. 'We can't stay here!'

Kay sat on a chair nearest the door and said, 'I can't move.'

Neesa came and put her hand on Rip's shoulder. 'It's all right. We'll be safe here...for a little while.'

Rip didn't know what to say. He had no idea where else they could hide, so he sat on the floor. He was tired and hungry and scared. Right now, despite the lady in the other room, this place felt safer than any place he had been since waking up.

Rip looked around the room; there was a decanter on a table beside the bed and a goblet. He went over to it and took a sniff. Wine. He wrinkled his nosehe didn't like wine unless it was well watered. But he was thirsty enough not to really care. He poured himself a draught and he took a swallow.

His eyes flew open. It was good! It spread a fragrant warmth through his mouth and down his throat all the way to his belly. From there it sped to warm his skin. He looked uncertainly at Neesa, then decided that she wouldn't be harmed by just a little. No doubt she was as thirsty as he'd been.

'Let's eat,' he said. Then bringing the decanter and cup with him, he sat down in the middle of the floor.

Mandy licked her lips, then nodded and fetched out the bread and cheese from her pillowcase. Neesa gnawed a chunk off the loaf with a look of fierce concentration that almost made Rip laugh.

'We can't eat here!' Kay said, barely containing his whisper. 'There's a dead woman in there. We'll die!'

Mandy snorted. She took the loaf from Neesa and broke herself off a piece. 'We will not!' she said. 'That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You always eat when someone dies. Gran died, and we all ate these pastries and things; even Mother, and she was crying.'

'Drink this,' Rip said and offered Kay a goblet of the wine.

Kay recoiled, his face full of disgust. 'I'm not going to drink that! It's probably poisoned.'

Rip rolled his eyes. 'It's not poisoned. I just drank some, do I look like I've been poisoned?'

'Besides,' Mandy said, offering Kay a piece of bread and a chunk of cheese, 'who would keep poison on their night table?'

'I'll take some!' Neesa said, reaching out for the goblet.

Rip gave it to her. After she swallowed three times, Mandy forced her hand down and said, 'Just another sip. Can't have you pa.s.sing out on us.' Rip nodded. Like any farm-boy, he had witnessed the effects of too much wine on his father and the other men in the area during festivals and he knew it wouldn't take much to get the small girl completely drunk.

Neesa seemed on the verge of complaint when Rip pulled the cup away, but kept her objections to herself. Kay reached, shamefaced, for the goblet.

'Wait your turn,' Mandy said and took it for herself.

Kay gave her a weak smile and backed off. He went to the window and looked out. 'Could we get down from here if we knotted the sheets together?' he asked.

Rip went over and looked out of the window. It was a sheer drop of perhaps forty feet onto a flagstone courtyard. He just looked at Kay and walked back to the others.

Kay turned from the window, pouting, and slid down the wall to sit in a crouch and eat his bread. After a moment, he began to sob, then to cry in earnest. He made a sad and unattractive sight, his face bright red, his mouth wide open, revealing half-chewed gobbets of bread.

Rip and Mandy looked at one another uncomfortably, uncertain how to react. This was so unlike Kay, who would have laughed unmercifully if one of them had broken down so completely. Neesa looked at Kay for a moment, then pushed herself up from the floor and went over to pat him on the shoulder. 'Don't be sad,' she said.

After a moment Kay looked up at Rip, tears pouring down his face. 'I'm sorry,' he said, his voice hoa.r.s.e. 'I'm sorry. But I am so scared.' He leaned over, putting his cheek against Neesa's head, and continued to weep.

Neesa frowned, then put her hand up to the top of her head. 'You're getting my hair wet,' she accused.

'Sorry,' Kay said and lifted his head. He got his crying under control.