Evermore (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #3)(61)

Somewhere to our left, Adelaide squealed.

"What is it?" Lord Preston forged his way toward her.

"It's all right," came George's voice. "She just saw something...unusual."

"She's not the only one," Louis muttered. He bent down to inspect the contents of a large jar. By the light of my lamp, I could just make out the head of some creature inside it, not human but not like anything else I'd seen either. My stomach rolled. Celia made a gagging sound. Beside the jar was another with what appeared to be a four-legged duck covered in fur, not feathers.

I turned away and tried not to look too closely at any more jars. "There doesn't appear to be many things large enough to store a body the size of Jacob's," I said. We quickly and methodically checked under the tables, in the bigger boxes and crates, but there was nothing even resembling a human body. There was only the cupboard left. It was larger than Lord Preston, rectangular and wooden with two doors side by side. Strange markings were carved into them, but I was too far away to make them out.

George fumbled with the keys, their jangle loud in the thick silence. We all watched. Waited. George struggled with the lock and passed the lamp to Adelaide so he could use two hands. The click of it unlocking was the signal for everyone to hold their breaths.

George opened the doors. Adelaide held the lamp up high and covered her mouth.

I rushed to them in disbelief. Perhaps if I got closer, it would all make sense. But it did not. My heart plunged to the floor, and I crumpled along with it.

"No!" I cried. "No!"

The cupboard was empty.





CHAPTER 14





"He must be here somewhere." Lady Preston stepped into the cupboard and knocked on the walls. Each knock grew louder until she was pounding so hard I thought the wood would crack. "Where is he?" She swung round and fixed me with a wild glare. "You said he'd be here! You told me my son was alive! Where is he?"

I looked around the storeroom, but we'd checked everywhere. There were no more rooms, no more boxes or cupboards, nothing. "I don't know." My legs were too weak to hold me, so I remained on the ground, dirtying my beautiful ball gown. I didn't care. Celia held me, but I hardly noticed her and I did not feel comforted in the least. "He told me it was here. Price lied."

"Come, my dear," said Lord Preston to his wife. "Let's go home."

I bent over and pressed my forehead to the cold wooden floor and cried until I ran out of tears. My body was wrung out, all the moisture squeezed from me. I had nothing left.

"Jacob," I whispered. "Jacob, come to me."

But he did not. Either he didn't have the strength, or he was already gone.

God, it hurt.

"Bloody 'ell, what a racket." The child's voice startled me into sitting up. A boy sat cross-legged on the floor beneath one of the tables opposite. He wore a cap over scraggly hair and a patched up coat with sleeves that didn't reach his wrists. His feet were bare and his face dirty. He was also dead. "You 'eard me?" he asked, surprised.

I nodded. "I can see spirits. Who're you?"

"Dan." He crawled out from under the table and stood. He was perhaps eight or nine, or even older. It was difficult to tell with children who lived on the street. So many were under-fed that they were smaller than others their age. And I was quite sure Dan was a street child. His clothes were rather a giveaway.

"Who are you talking to?" George asked.

"There's a child here," I said. "A little boy."

"Who you callin' little?" the boy demanded, arms crossed over his thin chest.

I apologized. "It's hard to see in this light. Did you die here?"

"Aye. Got killed, I did."

"Killed? You mean murdered?"

He shrugged. "It were an accident, really. They didn't mean to do it." Another shrug.

"They?" It all suddenly clicked into place. I knew who this boy was and who "they" were. My heart kicked inside my chest as if it had suddenly re-started. "A lady put you to sleep, didn't she? With a syringe? And there was a man with her?"

"The street urchin is here?" George came up beside me and lifted the lamp although he couldn't see Dan no matter how much light he cast.

"S'ringe? Like this it was." Dan indicated the size with his hands. "She poked it in me arm and I fell 'sleep. I were s'posed to say some words, but I couldn't r'member 'em. The lady said she'd bring me back alive, but nothin' 'appened. I been waitin' 'ere for 'em. Thought maybe she meant I had to wait awhile b'fore she'd do it. But they ain't come back."

"They're not going to, Dan," I said gently. "The man is dead, and so are you."

Behind me, Lord and Lady Preston's footsteps had halted. They'd stopped to listen. Celia, Adelaide, and Louis moved closer.

The boy stuck his bottom lip out. "So that's that then. S'pose I can go now." He looked to the ceiling. "What's it like up there?"

"Nice," I said. "They'll take care of you."

"Is there food?"

"There's everything you'll ever need. You'll never want for anything again." I took his hand and he jumped in surprise. Then his fingers closed over mine and he shuffled close. The poor boy trembled. For all his bravado, he was just a child about to go on a strange journey alone. "Dan, have you been here in spirit form when the man, Price, has returned?"