Chapter Eleven Page Seven, Mary and Dani, The Warehouse on North Street

PREVIOUS PAGE 

“The Warehouse on North Street,” he said, “Although honestly, give me a call if you don’t find her soon. I’m starting to feel like the biggest asshole who was supposed to be a good brother.”

“Uh.”

“You know what? Don’t go. I’ll go. I’ll fucking save her from the jaws of death,” he said, “Mary, don’t ever try to become a hero. It’s the worst. You have to go around saving people all of the time.”

“Uh?”

“Exactly,” he said, “Bye.”

He hung up. Mary didn’t wait before leaving. She pulled her old bike from the back of the garage and rode straight for Downtown. She didn’t know what she was going to do if Dani was actually in trouble. Mary had expected that Dani would be the one to do rescuing, if rescuing had to be done.

Certainly not Will though. Mary wasn’t sure how well Dani would take it if Will showed up and rescued her first.

Mary figured Dani would give her a hug.

Will would get a left hook in the jaw.

To Mary’s relief, she got there first. Will lived closer, but Mary knew that a bike was faster. She dismounted, searched in vain for a few minutes to try to find something to chain it to, and then set it down next to the side door of the warehouse. She put her ear to the wall and didn’t hear anything. She grabbed the handle slowly, and turned it even slower.

When she’d pushed the door in a few inches, a pale white hand shot out from the darkness inside and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the dark. Mary fell, unable to right herself, sliding across the floor. The door slammed shut.

“Who was that?” Dani shouted in the dark.

“It’s me,” Mary said. She looked up and saw Dani with her phone out, using it like a flashlight. “Hey.”

“Oh,” Dani said, lowering her phone, “Hey, how’s it going? How was that party last night.”

There was cacophonous laughter in the dark. Mary was pretty sure it could count as cackling. When the quasi-cackling died down, a woman spoke, “Humorous. I would say brave, but you’re both hiding fear right about now.”

“Oh,” Dani said, “Yeah I’ll admit this is the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. Can we go now?”

The woman laughed again. Mary had enough time to locate her in the dark, and so she saw the flash of her eyes and the glint of razor teeth. The teeth vanished quickly, though, reappearing only when the woman spoke, “We haven’t given you your mission yet.” Mary was transfixed. She could swear the woman’s teeth were pointed, a little like a dog’s. And the canines were longer, almost vampiric. “You are both familiar with David Proctor? I ask as a formality. I know that you are both familiar with him.”

Mary nodded. She assumed Dani did too. Mary didn’t keep her eyes off of where the woman was. She saw the eyes flashing in the dark, but only occasionally. Mary was aware that others were in the room, but she could not tell where they were.

“He is to go, on Wednesday, down into the Ember Cave and retrieve an item known as the Candle Crown. The Bricklayers believe it has gone missing, but we have purposefully misled them.”

“Ok,” Dani said, “Yeah, Neil mentioned the Crown. So we gotta, like, lift it. What do we do with it?”

“David Proctor is to bring it here,” the woman said.

“Neat,” Dani said, “We have our mission, then.”

NEXT PAGE