The Dark Between (34 page)

They made their way down the staircase in silence, Asher’s heart still thudding at the memory of Marshall’s face when he opened the door. He’d never felt so close to danger in his life. What if Marshall hadn’t leapt to the wrong conclusion? What if he’d pulled out a knife … or a gun? He and Kate were fools for never considering how to protect themselves.

He turned to her. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” she whispered, twisting her hair and stuffing it back in the cap. “That was awfully close.”

“You said you found something.”

“I kept one page of scribbled notes. You took the folder before I could return it.”

His heart leapt again. “Is it enough for the police?”

Kate reached into her pocket and drew out the folded piece of paper. “I didn’t have a chance to finish reading, but these are notes about inducing near-death experiences. There’s bits about mesmerism, nitrous, and even chloroform—that’s what killed my father, you know.”

Asher held out his hand. “Let me see.”

“But it’s dark!”

“I have matches in my pocket. We have good cover here, and no one seems to be about. I need to see this before we leave, Kate.”

Once the paper was in his hand, he struck a match on his shoe and read quickly.

Possible to safely induce mind-altering effects of near-death experience?

Mesmerism disappointing.

Nitrous proves mind-expanding, inspires epiphanies, but effects are temporary and exact nature of epiphany is forgotten.

In small doses, chloroform separates the mind from the body and heightens awareness—but larger doses lead to unconsciousness. Overdose is fatal—remember Stanton.

Fibrillation and defibrillation conducted on animals—too dangerous with humans.

Refinement of apparatus possible, but ethical considerations overwhelming.

He reread the last two sentences aloud, tossing the match when it burned his finger. “You didn’t read to the end, Kate.”

“I didn’t have time.”

“Well, he seems far too cautious to undertake the kind of experiment we imagined.”

“Sounds like he was strongly against
hurting
anybody, much less killing them,” Kate muttered.

“All that trouble and we’ve found absolutely nothing incriminating.” He shoved the paper into his pocket. “Come on, we should go.”

They walked in dejected silence toward the Wren Library cloisters.

Kate sighed. “I really thought we had something.”

“Keep your voice down,” he whispered.

“Who’s there?”

Asher halted abruptly, pulling Kate behind him. They had turned the corner and were mere yards from the ornamental
gate that led to the Backs, but now two men in dinner jackets blocked their path—the same academics they’d encountered before. Judging by their hostile expressions, they’d sobered considerably during the last hour.

“How did you get in?” the stout one barked.

“I’ll get the porter this instant,” his companion said. “Dixon should ring the police. It seems we have a pair of thieves in our midst.”

Asher pulled his hat low over his eyes and did his best to slump like a villain. He didn’t remember meeting these two during his time with Marshall, but one couldn’t be too careful. Should he reprise the story of impressing his lady friend? Appeal to their manly sensibilities? They’d seemed more interested in fictional ladies than flesh-and-blood ones. And how could he make such a confession without dragging Marshall into it?

Kate poked his back. “We can outrun them,” she whispered.

He considered the gentlemen’s bulging midsections, made even more prominent by their stiffly boiled shirts. And there was the gate with its open padlock benignly hanging to the side.

“Asher!” Kate hissed.

He squeezed her arm. “Run
now
. I’m right behind you.”

Chapter 37

“I
want to know why
you
are here.” Simon’s eyes were steely. “Are you … dead?”

“No,” Elsie whispered. “This is where I go when the dead speak to me.”

He looked about him, peering into the darkness. “Have you seen her? Is Amy here?”

“Is that why you did this? To be with her?”

Simon looked behind him, searching the darkness. “Amy, why won’t you show yourself?” He turned wild eyes to Elsie. “Where is she? You told me she was with me always. I thought you saw her that day at the British.”

She shook her head. “Spirits move on. I barely understand it myself.”

Elsie glanced at Tec. He kept to the shadows, his face stricken. Simon did not seem to see him, so she braced herself for the next question. “How did she die, Simon?”

A shadow came over his face. “She took her own life. Her husband was insane, but she couldn’t leave him. I loved her so
purely
. In the end it was still too much for her to bear.”

“You chose this out of grief, because you wanted to join her in eternity?”

“No. I don’t want to die—I just want to open a channel to her.” Desperation contorted his features. “Why can’t I see her?”

Before she could answer, Simon convulsed again, and she was falling … falling back to the hard floor of the old laboratory.

Head pounding, Elsie opened her eyes to see Tec lifting the wires from Simon’s chest and helping him to sit upright. Simon coughed and gasped, clutching Tec’s shoulder until his breathing calmed. Elsie watched mutely as he ran his hands over his chest, his face, and through his hair. He turned to Tec.

“It wasn’t enough time, you fool. I couldn’t find her!”

Elsie pushed herself up to her knees. “What have you done?”

“It seems that I’ve failed,” he said softly.

“But … you’re alive. How?”

“The same jolt that stopped my heart restarted it. It’s as simple as that.” He eased himself off the table and stepped toward her, offering his hand. “Why are you so shocked? You listened closely to our conversation at the Thompsons’ dinner table. When you told me of your gift, I knew I was ready to take the risk.”

“It’s not a gift, Simon.” Ignoring his hand, she shakily rose to her feet. “It’s a curse.”

“Do you know how long I’ve worked to achieve what you gained through sheer accident? I tried everything to bridge the divide between life and death—meditation, mesmerism, even mind-altering narcotics.” He sighed. “And I’ve tested the abilities of every known psychic in England. They’re all frauds. None of them could find Amy for me. But Marshall … he was onto something with his notion of the subliminal self. He’d found anecdotal evidence of people gaining new abilities
after a brush with death. But he was too damned obstinate. He wouldn’t experiment on himself or anyone else, not after Stanton died. So … I had to do it myself.”

Elsie shook her head again, this time in disbelief. “How could you be so sure you would come back from death, Simon? How could you take such a risk?”

“I took a risk, yes. But not without testing.” He gestured at the equipment. “I learned from Stanton’s failings and Marshall’s research. It took years to find the right method.” He paused to lift one of the wires that had been attached to his chest. “The proper voltage and timing were determined through great sacrifice. Undergoing the process myself seemed the only way to honor those sacrifices.”

Sacrifices
.

Elsie’s stomach convulsed. “Billy?”

“The boy was willing enough. So was Tec, for that matter. And I was willing to pay them quite handsomely for their efforts. They knew the risks.”

She glanced at Tec. His expression was eerily blank, but something lurked behind his eyes. Elsie turned to Simon. “But I saw Tec in the dark between.”

Simon blinked. “Where?”

“You and I met in a dark place after your heart stopped. I call it the dark between, and yesterday I spoke with Tec there. I thought he was dead, but here he is, and now he can’t seem to speak at all. Something is terribly wrong with him. I hardly know how to make sense of it, but a part of him has
died
.”

Simon studied the boy. “There’s no denying he is altered. Doors to his subliminal mind have opened, just as Marshall theorized. The boy shows signs of telekinesis, but his supraliminal mind is somehow atrophied, or perhaps it’s still striving to reconcile this transformation.”

“How can you be so detached? Look at him. Look at what you’ve done! He’s barely human anymore.”

“Elsie, help me find Amy.” Simon stepped closer. “Together we could reach her.”

She flinched. “You can’t ask me to do that.”

“You told me once that you loved me.”

He did not touch her, but Elsie could feel his desperation clouding her own mind, and it nearly took her breath away.

“I must reach Amy,” he continued. “She was everything that was pure and beautiful in my life, and I failed her. I was selfish and petulant. I must make amends, and you can help me.”

Somehow he was in her head—not merely his voice but a tangible sense of his urgency. As she stumbled back he moved with her, taking her face in his hands. Tec stood close behind him, his expression still blank.

Simon’s thumbs caressed her cheeks. “You could free me, Elsie.”

She searched his eyes and thought she saw a glint of fear … or was it madness? He’d killed an old man and a child, and he’d damaged Tec beyond repair. Only a monster could imagine these crimes as something necessary or heroic. What other facts had he twisted in his mind?

Could she trust anything he said?

“Simon … did
you
kill Amy?”

The color drained from his face. “Of course not.”

“How can I believe you?”

Her heart leapt as his hands slipped down her cheeks to encircle her neck. “I blame myself for her death, I admit that,” he said, “but I never touched her.” His eyes filled with tears as his thumbs pressed the hollow of her throat. “Help me, Elsie.”

“No,” she whispered. If she gave in, he would surely silence
her afterward. She looked to Tec. “Are you going to let him get away with this? He murdered Billy—your friend!”

Tec blinked.

“Hush, Elsie,” Simon murmured. The pressure on her throat intensified.

“Billy was a child,” she cried. “This wasn’t some venture that turned out badly. He didn’t know the risks he was taking. He
couldn’t
know. I spoke to his spirit, Tec. He didn’t even understand he was dead. All he wanted was to find you—he trusted
you
.”

Tec’s face contorted, and as it did, sparks flew from the wires attached to the curious cylinder behind him.

Simon shifted his grip to her waist and pulled her close. “Don’t listen to her,” he said to Tec. “I didn’t murder Billy. He was an unfortunate casualty of our research, but an accident nonetheless. Now, we must get her out of here—and
quietly
.”

Elsie’s mind grappled wildly for another distraction. She stared at Tec, and it came to her.
Kate
. The poor girl had loved him. Had he returned her feelings?

“What about Kate, Tec?”

The wires sparked again, stronger this time. She searched the boy’s slack face. Tec couldn’t speak, but his mind vented emotion in other ways. She glanced toward the induction coil. It sat near a window … quite near the curtains.

“Elsie, we have to leave this building. Come with me to the Continent.”

Simon’s voice snapped her back to attention. She kept her eyes trained on Tec. “Kate is in danger. Billy found evidence of Simon’s intentions to use innocent people for his experiments—he hid that evidence in your house. Kate read every word. She knows what he’s done. If you don’t stop him,
she
will be his next victim.”

The apparatus wires flailed wildly as more sparks showered the room. Specimen jars and vials on nearby shelves began to shake.

“Calm yourself, Tec.” Simon spoke soothingly, but Elsie could feel his heart pounding wildly. “We are surrounded by flammable liquids.”

He can’t control the boy
. Hope fluttered in her chest as she appealed again to Tec. “You know he’s going to kill us both and leave England entirely.”

As Tec’s eyes widened, two of the trembling jars tipped over and rolled off the shelf. Elsie heard the crash of glass on the stone floor, and the acrid scent of formaldehyde filled the air.

“Quiet, Elsie!” Simon’s voice was husky with panic. “I won’t hurt
anyone
. We must leave this place before Tec burns it down.”

“Tec,” she said in a low, steady voice. “Stop him. Otherwise you and I will both die here. And then he’ll go after Kate.” She looked him straight in the eye, willing him to remember the life he’d once had. “I can help you, Tec. I’ll do everything I can to make you whole again … and take you back to Kate.”

As Tec returned her stare, his lower lip began to quiver. In one swift motion he pulled Simon’s hands from her waist and shoved him hard. Simon stumbled back, careening into a shelf that sent more jars crashing to the floor. Sparks erupted from the apparatus, and suddenly the room was bright with flames that snaked up the nearby curtains. Simon crawled toward the boy, grabbing for his ankles as though to topple him.

Simon looked up at her, his eyes wide with panic. “Elsie, run!”

Elsie stumbled toward the door through the heat and horrible brightness. There was a strange silence, then a deafening bang and whoosh of air. Her body slammed against the wall and she sank into darkness.

Chapter 38

A
s her feet pounded the graveled avenue toward the Queen’s Road gate, Kate’s heart and lungs pulsed in agony. Her breath swelled and knotted in her throat. She couldn’t run like this much longer—something inside her felt ready to explode.

“Don’t stop at the gate!” Asher shouted.

“They
can’t
still be following!”

“I don’t care. Keep running until we reach Clare College.”

She ran on, the stitch in her side threatening to break her in half. Finally, mercifully, she lurched into the safety of the Clare College garden, collapsing into the grass and thinking what a blessing it would be to lose consciousness.