The Price Guide to the Occult(57)

Nor jumped to her feet. The man drew the light away. “Come on,” he said, motioning for Nor and the others to follow him. “We need to get you out of here.”

Gage gave Nor a look. Should we trust him? he asked with his eyes, but Nor was too distracted by the man to pay much attention to anything else.

“Hey,” Savvy said, gently shaking Nor’s shoulder. “Who is this guy?”

He had three long scratches, like claw marks, across his cheek, and his eyes were the same gray-blue she saw when she looked in the mirror. “I think he’s my father,” Nor said quietly.

Savvy looked at her with widened eyes. “No shit,” she breathed.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Quinn Sweeney said urgently. “This place is going to be nothing but ashes by dawn.”

Gage reached down and took Nor’s hand. “Let’s go,” he said quietly. Nor nodded mutely. Of all the things that might have happened here, she’d certainly never expected to find him. Father. Even the word itself felt foreign.

They followed Quinn Sweeney up the winding staircase, their feet splashing through water that had already risen over the first few bottom steps. At the top of the stairs, they paused to let him catch his breath. He coughed wetly into a handkerchief. A splatter of blood stained the white linen.

They were standing in what, many years before, must have served as the Halcyon family’s dining room. As it was now, nothing was left to suggest that the room had ever been grand. A stained and moldy mattress lay on the floor. A thick layer of dust and debris covered everything but the broken grand piano in the far corner of the room. Quinn dropped tiredly onto the piano bench and ran his fingers across the out-of-tune keys.

A gust of wind blew in through the broken window. It whipped Savvy’s blue braids back and forth like flags caught in a storm.

“So what’s the plan?” Gage asked. “How do we get out of here?”

“Out?” Quinn gave an empty laugh. “There is no getting out. Trust me, I’ve tried every possible escape route there is out of this hellhole.”

A feeling of dread washed over Nor: the only door that led to the rest of the hotel had been boarded and nailed shut. “What do you mean?” she asked warily.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think escaping was possible,” Quinn said. “I’m afraid all I’ve done is delayed the inevitable for you. Your mother’s power may be waning, but that hasn’t made her any less dangerous. If we try to escape, she’ll only kill you, and whatever death she has in store for you will be far worse than anything you’ll experience down here.”

A surge of water suddenly gushed up from the cellar. Savvy scrambled onto Gage’s back. Sena Crowe splashed across the room and attempted to kick down the door. But it was no use.

“Your mother has killed just about everyone else. I didn’t think any of us who are left would want to die alone.” Quinn watched the water rise with indifference. “You know, at first I thought we’d die in a fiery blaze; instead we’ll drown. I find that comforting. I’ve never much liked fire.”

The water was rising so fast Nor couldn’t keep her balance. She toppled over and landed with a splash, banging the side of her hip painfully against the floor and planting her hand on a shard of broken glass. Outside, the wind screamed and howled. The sky had turned a hopeless black.

“She won’t kill me, but at least now she won’t be able to kill you because of me.” He hesitated, then said, “Like she killed my mother and so many people before her.”

Nor looked at Savvy, who was trying to stay on Gage’s shoulders as the icy water inched higher. Sena Crowe was turning his shoulder black and blue by throwing himself against the door again and again.

“There’s no point,” Quinn called. “Even if you do escape, Fern will kill anyone left here if she thinks it might bring back her power. She will make it rain fire. She will make the earth split open and swallow us whole.”

Nor pulled the shard of glass from her palm. She stood and walked quickly through the water. It was painfully cold. The closer it got to her chest, the harder it got to breathe. Where is it all coming from?

She nudged Sena Crowe away from the door. After wedging her fingers behind one of the boards nailed across it, she pulled until she felt the wood give and crack. Splinters pierced the soft flesh under her nails. One by one, she ripped the boards away from the door and tossed them into the water while the others watched, dumbstruck.

“Go!” she sputtered. Gage hoisted Savvy higher onto his back. The water circled them like a beast. Though there wasn’t a hint of weariness in his face, Nor could see that it took everything Gage had to keep himself and Savvy from being swept away. With Sena Crowe’s help, he managed to get through the doorway. Sena Crowe stepped through after them.

“Nor!” Gage yelled. “Come on!”

The water had risen to her collarbone. If it rose any higher, she wouldn’t be able to keep her feet on the floor. Some water splashed into her mouth, and it had a metallic taste, like limestone or granite. Or blood.

Nor looked back at the piano, where her father had been sitting. He was gone. She swam to the piano and groped around under the water until she found her father’s wrist and pulled. “Don’t do this!” she cried when he surfaced.