The Nightmare Game (51 page)

“You’re bluffing,” I said as defiantly as I could,
but it was hollow, for I knew that in fact it was I who was bluffing.

“You think so? Fine, go ahead, look out the
window.”

When I didn’t do as he instructed, he took his
other hand, the one not holding my arm in a vice grip, and forcefully turned my
head until I had no choice but to look out of the window.

“Okay, toots, now you tell me if I’m bluffing or
not,” he said harshly. “What do you see?”

Where, when I had previously peeked out of the
curtains of my room, the night sky had been black, it now contained a moon so
full and so bright it illuminated the grounds below with its soft, cold light.

“Why is it so bright now?” I asked, genuinely
confused. “It was such a dark night before.”

“Because I asked for it. I put it in what you
could call our ‘suggestion box’. Haven’t you learned by now that if we want
something, we usually get it? Arrosha’s very generous to us that way, something
you’ll never get a chance to experience. Now if that answers your question,
I’ll say it again, what do you see out there?”

I searched the view, looking for whatever it was
that Geoffrey wanted me to see. The window faced the front of the house, whose
landscaping was so different than that to the rear of the house, and revealed
to me only its obvious, the lush lawn, the path leading up to the mansion,
which I barely remembered, lined with large, old, live oaks dripping with
Spanish moss. It all seemed so otherworldly, so icy-blue, bathed as it was in
nothing but cold moonlight.

“I don’t see anything, only the grounds,” I said
truthfully.

“Look closer,” Geoffrey commanded, leaning into
me, whispering into my ear as if he were performing the darkest seduction.

Having no choice, I did.

My vision, now better than perfect, revealed the
danger in a way it could never have before. On the outskirts of the grounds I
made out a figure, almost still but not quite, moving slowly back and forth,
swaying in place as if lying in wait for someone to come into its territory. I
gasped audibly and turned my head away from the window. Theorizing that those
creatures would still be out there was bad enough. Actually seeing one with my
own eyes was quite another.

“Oh, don’t stop looking now, Ashley,” Geoffrey
continued to whisper in his diabolic manner. “That fellow out there is by no
means alone, my dear. Oh, no, he’s brought his friends with him. Keep looking.”

I did as he said and true enough, the perimeter of
the grounds was littered with more of the ghoulish monsters all simply standing
in place, slowly yet clumsily swaying, doing nothing except waiting patiently
for someone to come out for them to suck out the life. Waiting for me.

I could take no more of this. The night had been
far too bizarre a reality for me to be able to absorb anymore. I had to get
away from Geoffrey and his cruelty. I needed protection, I needed to find Ben.
Geoffrey had let go of his hold upon my arm while he was gazing out of the
window, gloating, so I seized the opportunity, jerked myself away from him,
bolted toward the door and ran. He lunged for me and missed, but rather than
pursuing me, I just heard him laugh.

“Go ahead, Ashley, run!” he taunted. “Run away,
run out of the house, run to your little ‘friends’!”

I reached the spiral staircase and for a moment
glanced back. Geoffrey was just outside the store room door, smirking, walking
toward me slowly with no intention of catching me, only making sure that I
remained within earshot.

“You saw them, they’re still out there, they’ll
always be still out there. You can’t run, Ashley,” he shouted. “There’s nowhere
for you to run, there is no escape. They want you to join them, Ashley. They’re
hungry and they want to have you over for dinner. I know how you’d hate to
disappoint them!”

Geoffrey’s jeers and cruel laughter followed me
as, frantic, I headed down the spiral staircase. Midway, I stumbled and was
forced to seize the banister, holding on tightly in order to keep from tumbling
down the steps. Regaining my footing, I continued running down the stairs to
the second floor gallery and then toward the only place I knew to run, my room.
At the end of the gallery, turning the corner, I slammed into Ben.

“Ashley! What’s going on? I heard an argument,” he
said.

All of the composure I had worked so hard to
maintain while I was at Geoffrey’s mercy, all of my bravado, crumbled in a
flash as streams of tears ran hot down my cheeks and my breath became so fast
and shallow I could not speak.

“Ashley, calm down. You’re starting to
hyperventilate. What is it? What’s wrong?”

Consolingly, he took my hand, but I felt trapped
by even this gesture. I jerked my hand free and managed to spurt out
“Geoffrey!”.

“What about Geoffrey?” Ben asked, alarmed. “What
happened?”

I forced myself to gulp in a few deeper breaths so
I could speak.

“He’s after me! He wants to kill me!”

Ben bent down to my eye level, looked at me with a
serious, concerned expression and began to stroke my hair lightly to comfort
me.

“Surely that can’t be. I could hear a commotion
going on, but this must be some kind of bad misunderstanding.”

I shook my head vehemently.

“Where is he?

I pointed to the gallery. “Staircase,” is all that
came out.

“Well, let’s go find him, then, and see if we can’t
straighten this out, okay?”

Instinctively, I shrank. Confronting Geoffrey
again was an idea that appalled me. Ben noticed this and in a fatherly manner
put his arm around me.

“Don’t worry, Ashley, I won’t let him hurt you.”

We turned the corner into the gallery and saw
Geoffrey standing casually on the stairs, a sneer still on his face.

“Problem, Ben?” he asked nonchalantly.

“I’ll say there is, Geoff. Ashley’s scared to
death and you woke up the whole house with your yelling. Mind telling me what’s
going on here?”

“Why, nothing, Ben, my dearest, nothing at all,”
he said calmly while he leisurely descended the stairs and sauntered over.
“It’s only that I’ve discovered that our seemingly innocent little guest Ashley
is, in reality, a traitor that is out to destroy not only us but our beloved
Goddess Arrosha as well.”

“What? Geoffrey, are you out of your mind?”

“No, sweet Benjamin, just informed.”

“I certainly hope you’ve got proof to back up this
accusation.”

“Oh, yes, darling, lots and lots of it.”

“You want to show it to me?”

“I’d love nothing more than to show it to you,” he
answered, walking back toward the spiral staircase. “Just make sure that
someone keeps an eye on that one,” he said, pointing to me, “and follow me.”

By now the rest of the household were standing in
the hallway, silently watching the scene unfold. Ben called Illea forward.

“Illea, can you take Ashley back to bed?”

“Sure, Ben,” she said, a worried look upon her
face. “No problem. C’mon, Ashley, let’s try to get you some rest.”

“Ashley,” Ben asked. “Can I trust you to stay in
your room until I can get this straightened out?”

I nodded wearily. I was emotionally exhausted and
there was nowhere else I could think to go.

As Illea and I walked by the others, who were now
looking at me as if I were suddenly dangerous and whispering earnestly among
themselves, Ricky approached me, tentatively voicing the questions everyone
else was thinking.

“Ashley, what happened with you and Geoffrey? Are
you really here to hurt us?”

I couldn’t tell them the truth about myself, but I
was too worn out mentally to make up a convincing lie, so I kept my answer as
simple as possible.

“I would never want to hurt any of you guys,” I
told him. “I really have no idea why I came to be here.”

“Is it true that Geoffrey has proof of his
accusations?” Robert asked me in a manner that belied that I was no longer as
attractive a prospect to him as I was before.

“I don’t see how what he showed me could be
considered proof of anything to any of you,” I answered truthfully. It had been
to me, but only because it had reawakened my memories. It had been to Geoffrey,
but only because, when pieced together with Arrosha’s private instructions to
him, his paranoid brain had actually stumbled upon the truth. In actuality,
until Arrosha backed him up, all he really had was a group of photos clipped
together. That meant I had a little time before the whole story hit the fan,
but probably not much.

“Alright, everybody,” Illea said. “That’s enough.
Ashley’s going back to bed now. She’s been through a lot tonight. I’m sure that
Ben’ll be down in a few minutes and then he’ll tell us everything that’s going
on.”

We walked through the now-silent group on our way
to the bedrooms. No one else made another comment except for the Three Sisters,
who merely giggled in unison as we passed them.

We entered our room and Illea closed the door
behind us.

“Let’s keep the curiosity seekers out, shall we?”
she said, softly closing the door. “Ashley, you need some water right now. Why
don’t you sit down and I’ll get you some”

“No!” I exclaimed so forcefully it set Illea
aback. I could never take another drink of that poison again. I wasn’t thirsty
at all, but I had to admit that I now intensely craved the liquid in order to
calm my nerves. “I mean, thanks a lot, but I just really need to sit down right
now. Sorry,” I added because she looked hurt. “Didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m
just feeling really shaken right now.”

“Here, let me at least get you a fresh glass for
your night stand. You’ll want some later and it’ll be right here, okay?”

Under normal circumstances, I would have
appreciated Illea’s need to mother people, but right now she was just making me
even more nervous. But I just nodded and said, “Sure, Illea, thanks a lot. I
appreciate your help.”

Still feeling stunned, I sat down on the edge of
my bed while Illea performed the task she needed in order to keep herself busy
and calm. She was visibly upset by the small part of Geoffrey’s scene that she
had overheard, as I was sure were most of the others. Apparently, over the
years, the water had succeeded in its job of keeping them all harmonious and
docile. Tonight’s events were a rare, upsetting aberration. After placing the
full glass on my night stand, she sat on the bedspread next to me and searched my
face for any information that she could find there.

“Ashley, what happened with you and Geoff?” she
asked.

“It was so strange,” I told her, trying to
dissuade much questioning. “I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Do you need to talk about it?”

“No. Thanks a lot, Illea, but if it’s okay with
you, I think I’d rather be alone. Tonight’s been so bizarre that I really need
to be alone with my thoughts and try to make sense of what happened.”

“Sure, Ashley. I understand completely. You can
stay here, lie down and relax if you can. I’m going to go out and wait with the
others for Ben. There’s no way I’m going to be able to go back to sleep until
this thing gets resolved.”

“Thanks, Illea,” I said half-heartedly, wanting to
be alone but realizing that the odds of anything at this point being resolved
in my favor were slim to none.

As she closed the door behind her from the
outside, I walked over and locked it, doing the same with the bathroom door.
The last thing I wanted was for either Geoffrey or those three strange women to
barge in on me. I just wouldn’t be able to handle dealing with them right now.
I walked over to the bed and flopped down upon the bedspread, finally able to
take in a few deep breaths. My mind raced as it sunk in fully just how screwed
I really was. I didn’t see how I could survive this. Unable to relax, I got
back up a minute later and, turning the light out, I peeked out of the drapes
to see if escape looked as dismal from this side of the house. Once again I saw
the twinkling lights in the grounds down below, lights I no longer found
charming now that I knew what they actually were. A full, bright moon shone
down upon the land, and I could see that the rear grounds rose slightly as they
went back, enabling me to see with my so recently improved vision so much
farther than I would normally be able. The fiends were standing in wait at the
perimeter. They were just inside the woods, not very far past the reflecting
pool where I had stood yesterday, blissfully ignorant and completely unaware of
their presence. Had they been hiding in those woods the entire time, just
waiting for me to set foot outside of some invisible barrier? The thought made
me shudder.

I closed the drapes and turned the lights back on
again. What was I going to do? I had to get out of here. My urge to run was
overwhelming; that I had nowhere to run was the only thing keeping me here. But
wait, there was a way out of here, wasn’t there, a way that lead to New
Orleans, a way that lead back to the real world. Geoffrey had upset me to the
point that I’d forgotten about it in the fracas because I’d never actually seen
it or used it. The mysterious voice last night was calling me upstairs to the
third floor, to escape through an exit that must have been the one that the
group used all the time. I had almost completely forgotten about it. There were
several drawbacks right off the bat. First, I didn’t know exactly where the
gateway was or even what it looked like. Second, it lead directly to The Crypt
and I didn’t want to go there, but at this point, almost anywhere was better
than here. Whatever it was, it had to be on the third floor, the one place I
was not allowed, the one place that I needed Rochere’s express approval to be
and now I knew the reason. That’s why the voice called me up there to escape,
that’s why Geoffrey was so angry at my attempts to climb the spiral staircase.
I needed to go up there, it was my way out. I couldn’t do that at this moment,
because Ben and Geoffrey were there now, but as soon as they came down, I would
sneak up to make my escape.

The knock on the door was soft, but even so, it
made me jump. I stopped my unconscious pacing as the person addressed himself.

“Ashley, it’s Ben. Can I come in? I need to talk
to you.”

“Sure,” I answered, hit by a sick feeling in the
pit of my stomach, a feeling I normally associated with the anticipation of a
breakup or getting fired from a job.

I walked over and unlocked the door. Ben entered,
a serious, worried look on his face. I could see that he didn’t want to tell me
his news any more than I wanted to hear it. We both walked over to the foot of
my bed where he sat down, indicating I do the same.

“Ashley,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.
Geoffrey’s making some very serious allegations against you.”

“I know,” I admitted.

“Are any of them true?”

“Honestly, Ben, after all that Geoffrey said to
me, I still don’t know how he came to any of his conclusions. I have no idea
why I wound up here.” I felt safe giving him pretty much the same generic
answer that I gave the others because it was almost true.

“He said that you knew who the people that were in
the clippings and photos in the trunk.”

“No, Ben, he’s wrong. I don’t,” I answered him.
While I recognized who the people in the separate box were, I did, in truth,
not know who those in the trunk were. While I suspected they were those that
Edmond had called that hadn’t made it through the game, it was still only an
educated assumption on my part. Even when it came to Virginia and Marcus, I was
acquainted with them, but I couldn’t actually claim to know them. I realized I
was being disingenuous, but the whole truth would be dangerous to me now.

Ben looked deeply into my eyes, studying them,
trying to see if I was keeping anything from him. I kept my expression as
neutral as possible, concentrating my thoughts on what I did not know rather
than on what I did. I knew I was a bad liar by nature and wanted to avoid
having to lie to Ben outright. He was a trusting man but still astute. I wanted
to tell him everything, I wanted to tell him that I needed his help, that I
needed him to get me out of here, back to the city, but I couldn’t. Even though
Ben was a good man that I most likely could have trusted with my life under
normal circumstances, I could tell by the suspicion upon his face that I
couldn’t trust him now. Geoffrey had accused me of being far worse than a mere
infidel to the goddess that he worshiped to the very depths of his soul, a
goddess he thought to be true, a goddess that I alone, in this entire mansion,
knew to be false, knew for the horror she really was. He’d accused me of trying
to destroy this entire group. Geoffrey, with his self-serving ways, was
dangerous enough. Would Ben, who was not only simply a true believer but also
the closest thing to a high priest that this cult had to offer, be even more
dangerous? I couldn’t chance it. There was a lot more at stake here than even
my life.

When he said nothing, to break up the tension, I
added, “I do know, though, that Geoffrey’s hated me since I came here.” That
much was certainly true enough. “He admitted as much tonight.”

“Well,” he said, finally taking his intense
scrutiny off of me,” I do know that in whatever is going on, if it even does
amount to anything, Geoffrey badly overstepped his authority tonight. He should
never have treated you that way and I’m sorry that he went off on you like
that. He’s lately had a talent for blowing things out of proportion. He loves
the drama. If he had suspicions, he should have come to me first and even if he
didn’t want to do that, he should especially have talked it over with Arrosha
first. He most certainly should never have gone over her head.”