Simon Green - Spirits from Beyond

And maybe it was, thought JC.

“That storm is not natural,” said Happy.

They all looked at him until it became clear he had nothing more to say on the subject.

“I wish Kim would come back,” said JC. “I don’t like to think of her alone out there, in that storm.”

“You sent her outside,” said Melody.

“Yes, thank you, Melody,” said JC. “I am aware of that.”

“Kim is probably the only one of us who isn’t in any danger,” said Happy, in a calm and only slightly far-away voice. “The only one of us the storm can’t touch. I wonder if she could make an umbrella out of her ectoplasm. . I think Kim has demonstrated that she is a girl who can look after herself. .”

“Listen up, people!” Melody said loudly. “Got something. . I’ve managed to access the latest weather reports, from the local television news. . Apparently, this storm we’re experiencing is extraordinarily local. As in, it’s only raining over this pub and its surroundings. Nowhere else. In fact, outside of a very limited area, it is bone-dry, without even a breath of wind. Meteorologists are baffled.”

“Okay,” said JC. “That is. . interesting. It’s almost as though Someone or Something has arranged this storm for us.”

He peered over Melody’s shoulder at the lap-top screen; where the local weather-man was gesturing silently at the animated weather map behind him. Melody worked on the sound, and the weather-man’s voice was suddenly there, trying hard to sound knowledgeable and, unfortunately, funny. And then he stopped abruptly, his professional smile falling away as he stared directly at JC and Melody. The weather map behind him disappeared, replaced by the same soured orange-red light JC had seen on the upper floor. The weather-man stepped forward until his face filled the screen. His eyes collapsed and ran away down his cheeks, in dark bloody streams. He grinned and grinned, until his cheeks cracked and split apart, showing the blood-smeared teeth underneath.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, in a painful, rasping voice. “You’re all going to die in this awful place. And after you die, the really bad things will happen to you. Ask your little ghost girl, Kim. Except you can’t because she won’t be coming back. We have her now, and oh the things we’ll do to her. .”

“Liar,” JC said calmly. “If you did have her, you’d show her to me. But you can’t because you don’t. Because Kim is far more powerful than anything you’ve got. Now get out of Melody’s lap-top, or I’ll have her show you what the exorcism function can do.”

The bloody-faced weather-man disappeared in a moment, replaced by the head and shoulders of a pretty young blonde woman with cold, dead eyes.

“That’s her!” said Happy; and JC and Melody both jumped a little because they hadn’t heard him come over to join them. He looked over Melody’s shoulder and jabbed a stubby finger at the young woman on the screen. “That is the woman I saw in my room!”

The blonde woman smiled out of the lap-top screen, entirely calm and composed, and when she spoke, her voice was ordinary, and matter of fact.

“You’re going to die here. And you won’t like it at all. Death isn’t what you think it is. Being dead isn’t what you think it is. This whole building is soaked in death and suffering and horror. They killed me here. A human sacrifice. The priests nailed my guts to the old oak tree and sang sacred songs to drown out my screams. They told me it was an honour; but I still wouldn’t volunteer. They laughed and did it anyway. Because, they said, it was necessary. They should have known better. By sacrificing me in a place of power, they made me powerful. My time has come around at last, and I shall have my revenge on everyone. And taking those won’t help you at all, Happy.”

JC looked around sharply, to see Happy necking several different colour-coded pills, one after the other. Melody saw it, too, and made a low, soft sound of distress. Happy ignored them both, washing his pills down with several large gulps of the good brandy. He smiled beatifically, then leaned over to stare happily at the face on the screen.

“That’s what you think, Blondie. You don’t know me at all. These aren’t pills to pump me up; they’re ammunition. I can See you now, See you for what you really are. You’re not real. You’re not a person. You’re not what you appear to be at all, not a ghost or any kind of surviving personality. You’re the door I saw in my room. The blood-red corridor that leads only to death and destruction. You’re the last angry, defiant screams of a murdered young woman, given strength and purpose by a place of power. You’re the storm. You’re what’s outside. And if you had any sense, you’d run away and hide, because you. . should be afraid of us. You’ve never met anyone like us.”

The lap-top shut itself down, and the screen went dead. Melody struggled to get it up and running again, but it didn’t want to know. She pushed herself back on her stool and turned her glare on Happy. JC and Brook were staring at him, too. Happy smiled serenely back at them.

“I feel good!” he said. “I’m not scared of anything. Which is, in itself, I’ll admit, a bit scary.”

“What have you taken?” said Melody. “How much have you taken?”

“Like it would mean anything to you if I explained,” said Happy. “Enough to do the job, that’s the point. Let us talk about Blondie.”

“She said she was killed, sacrificed, by priests,” said JC. “And given how old this inn is supposed to be, I think we can safely assume they were Druid priests. According to all the reports, the Druids never met a problem they thought they couldn’t put right with a sacrifice. They used everything from sacrificial altars in rings of stones to burning whole communities alive in giant Wicker Men. But what was the point of this particular sacrifice? And why did it go wrong? Why is it still. . persisting, clinging on, after all these centuries?”

“And why does Blondie want us dead?” said Melody. “I mean, she doesn’t even know us!”

“I’m sure she’d like us if she knew us. .” murmured JC.

“We’re not dealing with the ghost of a murdered girl,” said Happy, “but her last dying emotions, manifesting in this world as the angry storm outside.”

“Is it me?” said Brook. “Or is the storm getting really loud now?”

In fact, the storm was howling so loudly that they’d all had to raise their voices to be heard over it. They turned to look at the rain-lashed windows and jumped pretty much in unison as Kim came running through the wall and back into the bar. She stopped abruptly and looked wildly about her.

“I found something!” she said. “I found something out there; and I think it’s followed me home!”

It took them all a moment to realise she wasn’t in her white nurse’s outfit any more. In times of crisis, Kim always reverted to the long green dress she had been wearing when she was murdered. She moved quickly over to stand before JC, huddling as close as she could get without actually overlapping him. He wanted to hold her and comfort her but knew he couldn’t. So he made slow, calming motions to her with his hands and gave her his best encouraging smile.

“What did you see out there, Kim?”

“It’s more what I didn’t see,” said Kim. She was slowly regaining control of herself though her voice was still very small. “The stars have all gone out. . and the moon is gone. It’s all gone dark, JC! Take a look out the window; see for yourself.”

JC started towards the windows, then paused when he realised Kim wasn’t coming with him. She gestured for him to go on. JC nodded gruffly and went over to stare out the nearest window. Happy and Melody were quickly there with him, staring out the next window. They looked out at the night; but the night wasn’t there. Only an endless, impenetrable darkness. Brook listened to their gasps and cries and came reluctantly out from behind the counter to join JC at his window. He leaned in close, almost pressing his face against the glass, and still couldn’t see anything but the dark. Brook stumbled backwards, his face slack with fear and disbelief.