The Mysteries of Holly Diem (Unknown Kadath Estates Book 2) (32 page)

“In an indirect manner,” she admitted, examining
Sumire’s nails with an indifferent nod. “Did it hurt?”

Yael and Dunwich eluded their pursuit, clambering up
one of the larger rocks protruding from the sandy bottom of the Tidal Chamber.
The masked girl contemplated the scene beneath her briefly, drawing the
attention of the fish-people below. Yael nodded to her cat, and then hurled a
canister into the crowd. It burst into a cloud of green powder, scattering the
majority of the Servants. Girl and cat fearlessly launched themselves at those
foolish enough to remain.

“Yeah,” Sumire admitted, clobbering a Servant over the
head two handed, and then lifting and tossing it into the crowd. She advanced
another couple meters. “I got this sweet new robot arm, though, so that kinda
makes up for it.”

My feet sunk deep into the sand, and my sneakers
nearly tore free with each step. The Servants of the Deep squeaked and squelched
behind me. I lost track of Yael, so I just had to hope that this was all
working the way we planned it.

Of course, the plan hadn’t factored in hundreds of
fish-people, so I wasn’t confident.

“Life is full of surprises,” Madeleine advised. “Make
the best of it.”

“I am.” Sumire used one of the Servants as a battering
ram, bashing aside the last few opponents separating her from the trap door –
and Madeleine. “Believe me.”

“I do, my dear. I do.”

Madeleine snapped her fingers, and a group of Toads
detached themselves from the roof, dropping into the shallow water around
Sumire like congealed blobs of snot. Sumire cried out in frustration as the
surge pushed her away from the trap door, struggling with pseudopods, as fresh
waves of fish-people poured into the Tidal Chamber.

The tide of the battle turned. Dunwich and Yael were
separated and harried, as Sumire disappeared beneath a combined mass of Toads
and fish-people, battling furiously.

I stepped quietly around the slender throne, and put
the business end of the scalpel to Madeleine elegant throat. I could tell that
she smiled by the way the muscles in her neck tensed.

“Is that you, Preston?”

“It’s me, Maddy. I guess everyone lost track of me in
the confusion.” Not true. A couple fish-people paid attention, which had slowed
me down. “Wanna make a deal?”

“Of course!” She turned and smiled at me, utterly
disregarding the blade at her neck. I almost opened her jugular on accident.
“I’ve been trying to do that since you first arrived!”

“Great. Now, tell the Toads and the fish guys to
stop…eating Sumire, or whatever they are trying to do.”

“No, thank you.” Madness in a doll’s eyes. She took a
step forward, and it was all I could do to avoid impaling her. “Do you want to
make another offer, or shall I go?”

I glanced over at Yael, whose struggles had become
markedly more desperate. Dunwich was lost in a crowd of fish-people. I couldn’t
even see Sumire beneath the frog pile.

“I will kill you, Maddy. Swear to god.”

“You cannot. Why so angry, Preston, dear? My sister
described you so differently.”

“You took April. That’s beyond the pale. And…the cat.”
She appeared confused. “Lovecraft. The black cat who lived at our building.”
Madeleine shrugged. “The Toads killed him, Maddy! When you had April kidnapped.
They killed a poor old cat.”

“That’s sad, true, but surely you can’t hold me
responsible…?”

“For Lovecraft dying during the commission of a
kidnapping you planned? You’re damn right I can.”

Madeleine sighed and put her hand to her forehead.

“If you are determined to be difficult…”

“Let the girls and the cat go, Maddy, and maybe I’ll
remember how to be easy.”

She laughed, and took another step. I retreated to
avoid killing her, and found myself perched at the very end of the dais.

“I have no such intentions. My turn?”

I looked around helplessly. Yael suffocated. Sumire
probably also suffocated.

“Yeah. Okay.”

“Drop the scalpel,” Madeleine suggested. “Amuse yourself
with my unconscious sister’s company. I will be done with Yael Kaufman, and the
creature you call April Ersten, shortly. After, we could perhaps have tea and
chat?”

Madeleine waited hopefully while I stalled for
inspiration.

I let the scalpel fall from my fingers, and heard it
clatter against the stone of the stairs. At the same time, I shook something
else out of my sleeve, and into the palm of my hand.

“I won’t let you hurt April,” I said, grinding my
teeth as I stood over her protectively. Yael had started to make strange
noises; I did my best not to look. “You know that.”

“There will be no pain,” Madeleine assured me,
touching my face with Sumire’s fingers. “I will replace her arm with something
nice. Take comfort in the idea that you could have done no better.”

“Maybe.” I stepped forward assertively, seized her
wrists. “Maybe not.”

She smiled as the fish-people grabbed hold of me. I
struggled just long enough to clasp the crude bracelets around her wrists. Madeleine
dropped to her knees, and sighed like the wind through the cavities  of a
gutted building. The fish-people and the Toads wavered in their assault, unable
to make headway against the force of nature that was Sumire.

“Not again,” Madeleine moaned. “How is this possible?”

“Your manacles,” Yael explained, kicking her way free
of a fish-person. “The restraints from Constance Diem’s observatory. Sumire
gathered them for me, earlier. I melted the ankle ones down into something
pointy. Figured they might be potent.”

I crouched down beside April, worked the cloth gag out
of her bloodied mouth. She was unconscious, but breathing, and no more injured
than the last time I had seen her.

“You were right,” Madeleine said ruefully. “They are
cold iron, after all. The same as the handcuffs I used on Holly. Witches cannot
abide the stuff.”

“Oh.” Yael peeled off her mask; she was pale and
embarrassed beneath. “Would any iron have worked?”

“Oh, don’t feel bad,” Madeleine assured her. “This is
much better. These have sentimental value.”

“Ah…it’s just…we went to a lot of trouble, when we
could have just gone to the hardware store. I didn’t even know witches had a
problem with iron!”

“Don’t feel bad,” Madeleine insisted. “I can tell you
really tried.”

Yael bent to check on Holly, while I carefully
arranged April in a sitting position against the throne.

“This resolution is unfair,” Madeleine moaned, holding
up her bound hands. “Haven’t I spent enough time caged?”

“Not necessarily.” Holly’s bonds rattled as she rose,
setting Yael firmly aside. “It has been some time, dear sister. Can there be no
accommodation between us?”

Madeleine’s face became something I had never seen
before, something very ugly.

“No.” She whispered it like a curse. Her mechanical
arm rattled, her teeth chattered. “Not ever.”

“A pity,” Holly said, sounding very sad. “For my part,
I still love you very much, sister.” Holly leaned close, and kissed her
sister’s pale forehead. “I find it sad – so, so sad – that we cannot get along.
Can you imagine how lonely I have been? How many secrets I have to keep, now
that I cannot whisper them to you?”

Madeleine lunged at her sister, teeth bared. The
manacle around her mechanical arm shattered, but the other held firm, leaving
her grasping at the air. I grabbed Madeleine by her shoulders and held her
back.

“I’m glad you came to rescue me, Preston,” Holly said
softly. “I won’t forget it.”

Those eyes, that smile. It would never be the same.

“Not happy with you, Holly. Not one bit.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Holly promised, her eyes
making even more promises. “Don’t be angry.”

“She’s as guilty as I am!” Madeleine wailed, her cheeks
wet. “This is Holly’s game as much as it is mine!”

“Be quiet, Maddy,” Holly said coolly. “You’ve caused
me enough problems already.”

“Don’t you act all smug and superior! I was sitting on
you just five minutes ago!”

“I remember,” Holly said ruefully, rubbing her back.
“Have you gained weight, Maddy?”

“Why are you always so mean to me?”

“Why can’t you control yourself? First the thing with
Constance…”

“That’s was so long ago!”

“…and now this. Why can’t you play nicely?”

“What kind of sisters are you? You need to learn to work
out your problems in an adult manner.” Yael glanced down the stairwell, and
then dropped one of her desiccant canisters. “Without cutting off arms or
manipulating people.”

Yael waited until a puff of white powder emerged from
the top of the stairwell, then she took out what looked very much like a small
bomb, and lit what looked even more like a short fuse atop it. She tossed it
down the hole and then threw herself to the ground. Most of us followed suit in
time to avoid being bowled over by the explosion.

“Do you realize how many people got hurt, because of
the two of you, and your stupid games?” Yael demanded, blinking back tears
while the debris settled. “Lovecraft is dead, Holly. And Elijah – well, I’m not
sure there is any of Elijah left to be upset over.”

Holly’s smile disappeared. The hurt on her face was
the most genuine expression I had seen there.

“Lovecraft? And Elijah? What happened?”

“You and Madeleine couldn’t get along, so you ruined
everything, both of you.”

“Actually, I think Kim’s moving out, right this
minute,” I blurted out, suddenly furious. “That’s on you, too, Holly.”

“Kim is leaving? But, why?”

“Because you are terrible, and Lovecraft is dead!”
Yael sniffled, looking miserable and very much her age. “Why would you do
this?”

“This wasn’t the way I meant for things to happen,”
Holly said, looking dazed and a bit frantic. “You have to believe me!”

“I believe that much, Holly,” Yael said, shaking her
head. “That’s the problem.”

“Please, all of you, I’m sorry,” Holly said tearfully.
“I never meant for this…”

“You didn’t try very hard to stop it,” Sumire said,
folding her arms. “I thought better of you, Holly.”

“Sumire, I never wanted you to get hurt. That wasn’t
the idea at all. I’m so sorry.”

“We are your tenants,” Yael scolded. “You have a
responsibility.”

“I’m pissed, too,” I added. “Did I mention that?”

“I am very sorry,” Holly insisted. “This wasn’t
intentional.”

 “Maybe not,” Yael said, pinning the trap door at the
top of the hole closed with one of her metal spikes, and then hastily marking
it with a paint pen with an image I recognized as the Yellow Sign. “The two of
you aren’t fit for regular society, though. Not until you can learn to get
along with each other.”

Yael nodded wearily at us and then headed for the
entrance to the Tidal Chamber. Sumire gave Holly a sympathetic glance, damn her
generous heart. I picked up April with difficulty and followed them.

Both witches initially watched us go without comment.
We were partway across the Tidal Chamber before Holly called out to us.

“Wait! Please, wait!” Holly waived her chained hands
at us frantically from the top of the dais. “What are you doing?”

“Giving the two of you some time,” Yael explained,
while Sumire held the door for me. “Somewhere you can’t involve other people.
Professor Dawes assures me that you cannot starve or drown, so the setting
shouldn’t be an issue. Madeleine’s bonds will prevent her from harming you, or
vice versa, and the doors are wedged shut and warded.”

Madeleine laughed and gnashed her teeth like a
madwoman, the sound echoing through the Tidal Chamber.

“You can’t mean…stop for a moment!” Holly pleaded
tearfully, bosom strategically heaving. “Let’s discuss this.”

“Moral ambiguity has its perils. Consider that, and
who your friends are, Holly. Work out your issues with your sister.” Yael
cocked her head thoughtfully, toying with her final metal spike while I
prepared the door. “We will return, probably.”

We walked out, while Holly stared, appalled. The door
was heavy and sand was wedged beneath, making moving it a production. That part
took longer than anyone was comfortable with, listening to Madeleine’s
hysterics bounce off the coral.

“Preston!” Holly screamed from the other side. “You
can’t let her do this!”

I could, though, as it turns out, and I did.

We waited three days, incidentally. Sumire proposed mercy on the way
home, and April became moody the morning of the second day, while Yael and Professor
Dawes started to advocate for leniency around lunch, but I held the line for a
full seventy-two hours.

Various absences haunted us during that interval.

I escorted Yael back to Innsmouth on the following day
to collect her metal pegs, but we found evidence of neither Elijah Pickman nor
the Pallid Mask. April warned me that was my last chance to make things right,
before we left, and then watched in wonder and quiet fury when Yael returned
from Innsmouth in good health and spirits.

I avoided being alone with April as much as I could,
after that. I’m a big believer in postponing the inevitable.

Kim Ai left before we returned to the Estates, sending
movers to collect her possessions a few days later. She left handwritten
letters for each resident of the Estates, excepting only myself. I made gentle
inquiries after April finished reading her letter, but she got upset and locked
herself in the bedroom. Yael spent the days out on the streets, returning after
dark, exhausted and grim, refusing to explain herself. I knew she was hunting
for Jenny Frost among the squats and homeless camps of the Nameless City,
blazing with righteous anger over Lovecraft. As far as I could tell, Yael had
no luck – if locating Jenny could ever be called lucky.

When we opened the Tidal Chamber, Holly Diem offered
smiles, charm, and contrition, and in turn, her tenants were all hugs and
tears. There was no sign of her sister Madeleine, aside from a pair of iron
manacles, mangled and discarded, not far from where the furthest waves reached
during a high tide in the Chamber.

The mood on the train ride home was stormy. The ghost
of poor Lovecraft loomed large. The Professor gave a homily on the virtues of
honesty and fidelity. Sumire chimed in occasionally and laughed
inappropriately. Yael added a few well-chosen, cutting words. April hid beneath
Sumire’s flesh and blood arm and brooded. I looked out the window at the angry
water of the harbor and the rotting piers and refuse-filled canals of
Innsmouth.

Holly appeared humbled and bedraggled, and I am sure
we appeared to be rather smugly satisfied in her persecution. I am sure our
fellow passengers thought that we were witnessing a forcible cult induction, or
perhaps a baroque instance of domestic violence.

The walk home was quieter, moods softened by the
sunlight and the slow warmth of the afternoon. Halfway back to the Estates, on
the quiet expanse of Leng Street, Holly attempted to take my hand in her own.
Mindful of April and nursing my anger, I eluded her grasp.

A series of stern lectures, followed by an afternoon of
recriminations. Strong words were exchanged and tears shed, turning gradually
to heartfelt apologies from most involved as the evening gathered – and then the
tenants of the Kadath Estates seemed to move on by general agreement. No
uncomfortable questions were asked – hell, Josh didn’t bother to show, and
Professor Dawes left early to attend a symposium. When Holly hugged me, she
smelled of lilacs and whispered indecent promises and profane apologies that
left my heart racing.

Nothing was really the same, but I got the feeling
that everyone preferred not to talk about it. We buried Lovecraft in the
overgrown garden behind the Estates, while Holly and April wailed, and then
went up to Holly’s rooftop garden for a chaste sort of wake. Yael and Holly
chatted beside the bougainvillea with guarded good humor, while Sumire chased
April around the potted roses. I shared a drink with Professor Dawes, Dunwich dozing
not far from our feet. The evening was mild and the new moon was distant.

Happy ending.

***

“You’ve been having fun without me,” April scolded, pointing at me with
narrowed eyes. “Out every day and all night with other girls. Don’t you have
any shame, Preston?”

I didn’t, obviously, but we both knew that.

“Don’t be
too
angry with him…”

This was not going to be helpful.

“…he is only a man, after all. In an atmosphere of
such constant temptation, what do you expect?”

April’s cheeks reddened faintly.

“And you,” she said, shifting her attention to the
other side of the table, “have been playing with my toys.”

“Is that so?” Holly sipped her tea and smiled gently.
“I don’t really see it that way.”

“You like to take chances.” April stirred her tea, and
then surreptitiously added another sugar cube when she thought I wasn’t
looking. “Not just with me. The secrets you keep, Holly, almost got all of us
killed.”

“That often happens, when a secret catches up with
you.” Holly frowned, glanced out the window. It had started to rain again, but
it was finally starting to warm up. “As you should well understand. Both of
you.”

“I don’t begrudge you your games, witch.” April’s
expression was taut, her voice frigid. “I understand them very well, actually.
I won’t let you play with my pieces, though. Do you understand?”

Holly set her teacup down, toying with an earring and a
delighted grin.

“Not as such, no. Won’t you elaborate?”

“I allow you to spend time with Preston. I allow you
to flirt and make a fool of yourself in public. As I am a guest in your home, I
do not interfere.”

“How polite,” Holly murmured. “I’m touched.”

“Common sense,” April said, adding milk to her
untasted tea for a second time. “I’d rather not have us fight, Holly.”

“I would imagine not.” Holly winked at me. “You seemed
to have enough trouble with my little sister.”

“That said; you cannot have him.”

“What?” Holly fluttered her hands as if shocked. “Why,
whatever do you mean, April?”

“You know very well,” April said, taking a small sip
from her cup, frowning, and then setting it down again. “I tolerate the two of
you
misbehaving
. For Preston’s benefit. Interests outside a relationship
are healthy, I think.”

“And?”

“You insist on pushing boundaries.” April and Holly
were locked in a staring contest, all pretense of tea forgotten. “The game you
played was costly for your tenants. You aren’t sorry at all, are you?”

“I miss Lovecraft.” Holly dabbed at her eyes with her
napkin. “Elijah suffered a terrible setback in his studies and career. Also, the
Tidal Chamber you locked me in was quite damp, and the salt water was terrible
for my skin. I’ll be weeks, recovering, even with the assistance of a rather
excellent day spa in Iram. Perhaps I should visit the mud baths near Mnar? They
are rumored to have restorative qualities…”

“If you are going to play rough,” April said sternly,
“then play with your own things. Is that understood?”

“Naturally,” Holly purred. “Where we differ, I think,
is in our understanding of what belongs to whom.”

April deliberated over a plate of fresh cookies. The
kitchen still smelled of cinnamon and ginger.

“You are being a bother, Holly.”

“Oh, April. I’m a witch!” Holly punctuated the
admission with a giggle. “It’s in my nature to meddle. You shouldn’t be so
possessive, in any case. Nothing is real in the Nameless City, and we are
permitted anything.”

Holly smiled like that should have meant something to
me.

“I have known Preston since the very beginning,” April
explained confidently. “You cannot expect to lay claim.”

“Can I not?” Holly glanced at me with her head cocked.
“Tell me – if I called for him, do you think he would come?”

If April had looked at me, she would have seen a look
of utter fidelity. She didn’t bother, however, continuing to focus on
assembling a mountain of baked goods on her plate.

“Do you really want to quarrel?” April gave Holly a
sober appraisement, much to Holly’s amusement. “This all seems rather petty.”

“Nothing of the sort,” Holly rejoined, popping a piece
of melon into her mouth and chewing it thoroughly. “I simply refuse to accept
limitations, dear. If you will forgive some advice – and I know you will – then
I would suggest you do the same.” Holly smiled. “It will make things so much
more interesting for all of us – Preston in particular.”

April added a cinnamon twist to her collection.

“I will say this much,” Holly added, with a distracted
air. “You may think you know something of me, now that my unfortunate family
history has become public. You may think that you have taught me a lesson, or taken
my measure.”

April smiled thinly.

“That would be a mistake.” Holly’s voice was light and
generous, but the look in her eyes was icy. “The secrets you have learned pale
in comparison to those I know. What you really are, for example – your maker
and your origins. I know all about the lure embedded inside you, and the way
you use it. I admire your tenacity, April, and your lack of scruples. I brought
you and Preston here for a reason, after all. That game is nearly set to begin,
and I have
such
high hopes for the two of you. Yael as well, of course,
and Sumire – but you are definitely among my favorites.”

Another pause.

“Unless…”

A long sip of tea.

“Unless you decide not to play along,” Holly
concluded, smiling pleasantly. “Consider carefully, dear. After all,” Holly
added, with a flamboyant wink, “your lease
is
month-to-month.”

April bit the head from a gingerbread man. I touched
nothing at all.

I know too much about witches, these days.

***

“You like her?”

“No.”

“You
like
her.”

“It’s not that.”

My decision, come back to haunt me.

“Don’t lie. It’s obvious. Boys are so obvious.”

“I’m not lying. You’re misunderstanding the situation.
You missed a bunch of stuff, you know.”

I knew this was coming from the moment I allowed Yael
to walk out of the Tidal Chamber, pride, health, and virtue intact. That was
not at all what April had asked – told – me to do. Up until now, I’d done such
a good job, too, following instructions.

“I do know. Whose fault was that?”

I considered the usual suspects.

“Mine.” I did my best to appear chastised, and braced
myself for consequences. “But, it was all for your benefit! I was worried about
you getting involved, especially after what happened to Sumire. Madeleine
wanted your limbs, too…”

“You were looking after me, then? How sweet. Nothing at
all to do with Yael Kaufman, then?”

I didn’t respond. That seemed the safest. Defiance is
out of character for me, where April is concerned, so we were both in
unfamiliar territory.

“You played the hero, Preston.” Curled beside me like
a cat, head resting on my leg. Eyes never leaving the television. “You played
the hero for
her
.”

“I did not. I rescued you.”

“You did that. You did some other things in the
process, though, didn’t you? Things that didn’t exactly need doing? Unless…”

“I got you out safely. Anything else was incidental or
advantageous. For us. For you. Like always.”

“Really? The way you stood up for Yael, then, with
Madeleine Diem and her lawyers. Was that incidental or advantageous?”

There was no point in wondering how she had heard
about Yog & Sothoth. April just knows things, sometimes, and it is best not
too many questions.

Particularly when she’s already mad.

“Advantageous.” I meant it. “The Cats of Ulthar fall
all over themselves to do Yael favors. Holly and Jenny both treat her like an
old friend or something. She’s worth having on our side.”

“Our side? Or yours?”

“Don’t start.”

April started flipping channels; one after the other,
a slideshow of kinetic image, with no discernable means or end. I suspected
there was a message embedded in the intervals, the channels she lingered on for
a few seconds and those she dismissed instantly, the alternation of blank
screen with instances of frenetic color and sound.

“Yael is skinny.” The channels flipped faster now, a
fraction of section of dark, and then a burst of light and sound. “And bossy. Scrawny
rich girl.” Venom dripping from each syllable. “Sometimes the boys on TV like
that, though. Do you like that, Preston? Because she’s stuck up? Do you want to
take her down a peg, Preston? Do you want to put her in her place?”

“Stop it.”

“Underneath you?”

“Stop. Enough.”

“Make me. Why do you like her, Preston? Do you think
she’s pretty?”

“Not really. Too skinny, like you said. Can we stop
this, please? This whole situation is a misunderstanding.”

“What’s to misunderstand?” Eyes like the space between
the stars, tracking movement like a snake, fragrant skin dotted with beads of
perspiration. “You disobeyed me, Preston.”