Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) (38 page)

Johnathan slapped a twenty dollar bill on the counter. “I understand your concern…” He leaned down and looked at the faded nametag on the guy’s apron. “Marty. You don’t need to worry about Randal. He isn’t coming back.”

He snapped his head up, finally making eye contact with Johnathan. “What… what happened? What’d ya do?”

“That doesn’t concern you. What
does
concern you is this twenty dollars. If you can answer a few questions for us, it’s all yours.”

Marty eyed the money and licked his lips. He reached for the bill, only to have Johnathan pull it away. “Answers first.”

“Okay. I’ll help ya if I can.”

Johnathan looked at me and I nodded for him to proceed. “How long has Randal been coming here?”

“A few weeks, I s’pose.”

I decided I had a question for him, too. “What’s up with these people? I mean, not that I’ve been in many bars, but, shouldn’t they be a bit more lively than this?” I gestured to the half dozen or so pitiful, quiet patrons.

Marty looked me in the eye and frowned deeply. “This is where souls come to die, ma’am.”

I looked at my companions and swallowed hard.

“Not just here,” Marty continued. “There’s places like this all over. Garbage dumps for hope. This one’s just a lot worse ‘n it used ta be. A lot worse.”

Johnathan must have felt the same urgency as I did to get out of there. His next question was to the point. “What can you tell us about a ‘get together’ next week? Randal spoke of it before he… left.”

A shudder shook Marty’s drooping shoulders. He stared off, again in the direction of Randal’s unoccupied stool. “The Gathering,” he whispered.

After a moment of silence, Seth asked, “What’s the Gathering? Tell us what you know.”

“I don’t know much. Just what I’ve overheard. People tend to treat bartenders like they ain’t there. Or, like they’re deaf and blind. Lots ‘a people been comin’ in ta see Randal.” He swallowed. “Scary folks. Not necessarily that they
looked
so scary. They just… I don’t know exactly. They just ain’t
right
. Somethin’ about ‘em. Gave me the creeps, ya know?”

“Yeah. I think we do.” I said.

Marty nodded. “Anyways, I heard Randal tell some of ‘em about a ‘Gathering’. Told one gal her desires would be fulfilled there. Told another guy to make sure he brought his ‘payment’ with him. I don’t think he was talking about money. All these people come to Randal because they want something… ‘cept no money ever changed hands.”

The little bit I knew about Randal made me believe that he wasn’t in the business of getting rich. His fee exacted a much bigger sacrifice than money. I wondered briefly if the losers we’d sent to the Netherworld would say it was worth the cost.

“Do you know when and where this Gathering is taking place?” Johnathan asked.

He looked around, a nervous tick causing his upper lip to twitch. He leaned in close and whispered, “Yeah. I know. I thought Randal was gonna kill me when he thought I’d overheard him. It’s Friday. This Friday. Over by that double arch. By the elephant rocks.”

“What time?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I heard him say midnight to one of ‘em. Not positive he was talkin’ about the Gathering, though.”

“Thanks, Marty.” Johnathan slid the twenty dollar bill across the bar. “You’ve been a big help.”

The Five of us walked the still slightly in-shock Mariah back to her car at the restaurant. She still didn’t seem to want to talk about what had just happened, so we let her walk in silence. Her actions worried me. I hadn’t known her long, but what she’d done seemed out of character for what I’d seen of her up to this point.
I’m going to have to keep a close eye on her.

Surpy had gone on ahead of us, stating that he was hungry and planned to stop and hunt for some mice on his way home.

“Halli, you did a great job finishing up where Paige left off,” Alec said. “My ribs feel much better and the broken arm she completely missed is as good as new. You’re really getting good at healing.” He moved his arm up and down and swung it around a couple of times.

“Thanks, Alec. It takes me a lot longer than Paige, though.” Halli tried to hide a shy smile.

“And,” I said, “just for the record, I didn’t
miss
your broken arm. I was only concerned with life threatening injuries at that moment. The rest could wait.”

We trudged up the hill to Trey’s house. It had been a long day. My stomach growled, reminding me that it was hours passed dinner time. Seth bound up the front porch stairs first. He threw the door open and stepped—right into an invisible wall.

“What the… ?” Seth stumbled backward. When he righted himself, he extended a cautious hand through the door. His hand stopped as it reached the inside edge of the doorframe. He pushed harder. I smiled as I realized what the problem was.

The porch light reflected off clear, plastic wrap that had been stretched taut across the doorway from top to bottom. I laughed. Halli joined me—she’d figured it out, too.

Johnathan and Alec were still confused until Seth let out a frustrated growl and punched his hand through the barely visible wall. He ripped it all down, wadded the plastic wrap into a ball and flung it out into the yard.

Seth stomped into the house, muttering, “Where’s that stupid Imp?”

A warm hand touched my back before I entered the house. I turned and smiled up at Johnathan.

“Let’s stay out on the porch for just a minute,” he said.

Alec made kissy noises as he and Halli went inside. As soon as the door closed behind them, Johnathan embraced me in a fierce hug, lifting my feet off the porch. I hugged his neck with equal ferocity; the stress of the last hour leaked out as my body soaked up his warmth. We stood—well he stood, I dangled—for several minutes.

When he finally released me to the ground, my hands went from around his neck to his face. I cupped his dimpled cheeks in my hands and pulled him toward me. The softness of his lips never ceased to amaze me. It was like kissing a warm rose petal. His hand tangled in my hair, pulling me closer.

The kiss was much too soon interrupted by a commotion coming from inside the house.

“We’d better go see what’s going on. I have a feeling it has something to do with Surpy and Seth.” Johnathan released his embrace with reluctance. I instantly missed the extra warmth he’d been providing me. His hand grasping mine was not enough.

The cause of the commotion we’d heard was quite apparent when we stepped from the entryway into the great room. Seth stood in front of the cupboard that contained drinking glasses. The cupboard door was ajar and a few Ping-Pong balls still dropped to the counter and floor from a box that had been leaning on the closed door. They met up with at least a hundred others. Seth’s face was crimson. Joe, Halli and Alec laughed without restraint.

“Surpy!” Seth yelled, stepping over and around still rolling Ping-Pong balls. As soon as he was clear of them, he broke into a run.

“Halli, maybe you’d better go make sure he doesn’t kill your little friend,” Joe said, still laughing.

She shook her head. “He got himself into this, he gets what he deserves.”

I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.

Halli half-smiled. “Besides, I doubt Seth will be able to find him. He’s a master at hiding.”

She was right. Seth searched everywhere he could think of and finally gave up, returning to the living room where the rest of us lounged on the couches, chairs, and floor.

We filled Joe in on what we’d found out. He creased his brow in concern when we told him about Mariah’s act of violence and subsequent refusal to discuss it. “That isn’t right. Alec, you might want to distance yourself from her.”

That was all he would say on the matter.

When more yawning than discussing was taking place, we decided to go to bed and figure out what we were going to do after we all got some sleep.

The cool sheets of my bed felt wonderful.

urrr-peee!” Seth’s voice resounded throughout the silent house.

Almost afternoon, and Halli and I were the only ones up and about. We sat at the kitchen counter talking when Seth’s bellow reached our ears. We looked at each other before we jumped off our stools and ran to see what the Imp had done this time.

Seth met us at the top of the stairs, coming from the basement where he and Alec had chosen their rooms. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, held there with just one hand. In his other hand was a pair of boxers—frozen solid.

I had to give Surpy credit for his stealth and bravery. He would have had to sneak into Seth’s room sometime the night before to filch the boxers. He had to have soaked them in water then put them in the freezer for several hours before sneaking back into Seth’s room in order to put them back where he’d found them.

“I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Him,” Seth said through clenched teeth.

“He’d probably stop targeting you so much if you’d quit threatening his life, Seth,” I said, trying not to laugh.

Halli took the boxer-icicle from Seth, holding it between her thumb and index finger like it was a rat about to bite her. “I’ll go put these in the dryer.”

“You should go get dressed before you lose that towel.” I twisted my face into a grimace. “I do not want to witness that.”

“Ugh. I really don’t want to put on dirty boxers, but those were my only clean ones.” He grumbled the rest of the way down the stairs.

Seth was the last one to gather in the living room for our pow-wow. He still had a scowl on his face.

“Seth, relax, your boxers are almost dry,” I said.

“Oh, he didn’t just freeze my boxers,” he growled. “He stuck my toothbrush in a cup of water and froze that, too. I just spent the last fifteen minutes running it under hot water so I could brush my teeth.” He dropped to the couch.

“You have to admit, Seth, he’s pulled some pretty cool punks on you.” Alec slapped him on the back as he sat next to him.

Seth responded with a grunt and a scowl.

“So. What’s the plan?” I asked. “The bartender said this Gathering is taking place on Friday—today’s Monday, so that gives us four days.”

Joe’s voice shook with emotion as he spoke. “I’d hoped to have you better trained before you faced something this big. Don’t for one second underestimate the potential danger here.”