The Empty Grave (Lockwood & Co. #5)(99)

‘We both talk with spirits. We both seek out the mysteries of the dead. We have both walked on the Other Side, and seen things forbidden to mortal eyes. Your Talent is as great as mine. We share it – and could share so much more.’ The smile broadened. ‘Eternal life, Lucy, can be yours, if you join yourself to me.’

I noticed that though she had left her chair and walked towards me, away from her floating companion, she was still tied to its radiance. Golden rays clung about her like a wreath of chains. Suddenly I thought of Charley Budd. I said, ‘That’s a nice offer, but I’m not sure I like the look of that glowing thing by your side.’

The woman smiled; she played with a lock of her long dark hair. ‘You have your Type Three to guide you. I have mine. See? We are alike.’

‘Except that Lucy’s got good taste,’ the skull put in. ‘You don’t remember, lady, but I talked to you years ago. I gave you my words of wisdom, had quite a civilized chat. Then what happens? I stay stewing in this jar, while you shack up with golden boy here. However you call it, that’s just plain wrong.’

‘Silence, Wisp!’ The luminous spirit flared majestically. ‘Do not interrupt Marissa when she’s—’

‘Sorry, I do interrupt quite often, don’t I? Oops, clumsy me! Just did it again.’

There was a growl of irritation. ‘If you weren’t in that jar,’ the golden voice said, ‘I’d grind your plasm into dust.’

‘Yeah? You and whose army?’

Marissa’s eyes narrowed. She glanced down at the ghost-jar for the first time. ‘It so happens that I do remember you, vile spirit. I thought you evasive, cheeky and lacking in intelligence.’

The face in the jar frowned. ‘Really? Sure that wasn’t some other skull?’

‘No, she remembers you all right,’ I said.

‘Charming.’

‘This obnoxious skull held no interest for me, Lucy,’ Marissa said. ‘Its many deficiencies aside, I already had my beloved Ezekiel. Since I found him as a little child, he has shown me wondrous things. He has guided me in all my works. He led me and Tom Rotwell to experiment with Sources; it was his insights that enabled us to first explore the Other Side.’

She held up her arm on which the jade bracelet twinkled, and Ezekiel’s golden rays moved to twine about her fingers playfully. Marissa laughed; there was wildness in the sound. Slowly, imperceptibly, I stepped a little nearer. I was gauging her distance from me, estimating the jump I’d need to make to strike her down. I wanted her close. Even so, she unnerved me. There was a darkness in the laughing eyes, as if something moved inside them, came separately to the surface to gaze at me. The golden aura playing on her hair looked like the tiara worn by La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

She reminded me of La Belle Dame in other ways too.

‘Tom was slow and held me back,’ Marissa went on. ‘He could not listen to Ezekiel, could not understand the deeper truths. But you can, Lucy. You can. There has been no one else who could sit beside me with honour all these years.’

‘She does gabble on, doesn’t she, Lucy?’ the skull said. ‘I reckon you’d be bored to tears if you started hanging out with her.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I would.’ With that I leaped forward, swung the rapier with all my strength at the woman’s side. It didn’t seem to go quite where I wanted. It slowed, slowed, came to a sickening halt a couple of feet from her neck. I tried to wrestle it nearer, but the air was gluey.

‘Let us remove temptation from you,’ Marissa said. ‘Ezekiel?’

The golden figure raised an arm. A buffet of air slammed me backwards. I hit the side of the wooden cabinet standing by the wall; the force of it drove the breath from my lungs, sent me crashing to the carpet. I dropped the ghost-jar and the sword. Another buffet caught the rapier, sent it speeding across the floor.

Panting, cursing, I struggled to my feet. My whole body ached. The woman stood watching me.

‘Why do you think you came here tonight, Lucy?’ she said softly. ‘Why come up here on your own? And no’ – there had been a snort of outrage from the floor – ‘I don’t include that Lurker in the jar. Why come without your friends? Without your charming Lockwood, above all? It can’t be because you truly think you’ll destroy me. No, it’s for a deeper reason. You’re lonely, Lucy – you need companionship. You need someone who can understand and share your deep desires. Your friends are valuable, of course, as far as they go. I don’t deny it. But they’re not enough. They don’t understand your fear of death. Indeed, they worsen it! You know full well that Lockwood’s recklessness is practically suicidal – that his emotional emptiness will drive him to the grave. But how would it be, Lucy, if you had in your power ways to save his life – to keep him with you always? To keep him – and you – for ever young, like me?’

I wiped a trace of blood from my lips; my body still trembled with the impact against the wood. At my back, the cabinet door had opened; it swung slightly ajar. And now the golden figure came drifting near, and the woman was stepping close too. Her fragrance almost overpowered me.

‘We need to finish this,’ the spirit said, ‘one way or another.’

‘Well, Lucy?’ Marissa smiled. ‘You’ve heard my offer. What do you say?’