little under a year. Father would have probably come with me and Thomas and
spent many hours examining each and every room in the Hall, but there’s my
mother, you see. She has been ill during the past year. She is fine now. I would
very much like them to visit.”
I was walking quickly away from that awful room, and Amelia had to skip to keep
up with me. “What was your mother’s illness?” I asked when we had walked halfway
down the corridor. When she didn’t answer, I turned to see that she had stopped,
and was staring into a room whose door was open about six inches. A wildly
bright splash of sunlight shot out into the dim corridor.
“How odd,” she said, and walked into the room. “Just a moment, Andy.” I stopped,
then shook my head and prepared to follow her, when suddenly the door simply
slammed shut in my face.
Why had she done that? “Amelia? Open the door.
What are you doing in there? Amelia, answer me.”
I heard her call out once. “Amelia!” I threw my shoulder against the door, but
it didn’t budge. I
fought with the doorknob, but the door was locked.
I felt utter terror, and for a moment, I was witless, locked into that terror. “Amelia,
I have to get help.”
The wide corridor of the west wing wasn’t quite dark, but dark enough, since all
the doors that gave onto the corridor were firmly closed and there wasn’t a
single window about. Shadows were everywhere, everyone of them coming at me,
wanting to suck me inside them.
“Stop it, you idiot!” I yelled at myself, my breath lurching out hard and deep.
I finally reached the massive central staircase and went flying down the steps.
I nearly tripped once, but grabbed the railing and righted myself.
“Lawrence, John! Help! Come here, quickly!”
There wasn’t anyone anywhere. There were dozens of people in this huge house. I
called out again, as loud as I could. I wondered, though, how loud it really
could be, since my heart was pounding louder than a clap of thunder.
I was nearly down the stairs when suddenly, someone flung open both of the great
front doors so wide they banged back against the walls of the Old Hall. Dazzling,
blinding light poured into the dim Old Hall, more light than I could imagine,
overwhelming white light that filled even the shadowed corners, that touched the
ancient suits of armor against the back wall, filled everything with such blank
whiteness that it was painful. I screamed at that crushing white light, lost my
footing, and tumbled down headfirst the remaining three or four steps.
I must have scrambled my brains, because everything was blurry and vague, and I
really didn’t care. I heard a man’s voice, above me, saying my name over and
over again.
I managed to get my eyes open to look up at him. He seemed to float above me,
this creature who seemed all dark, yet he was in the middle of all that blinding
whiteness. And then I knew. I was dead.
Thank God I’d made it to Heaven.
“Are you an angel?”
Chapter Eleven
The angel blinked, I could see him that clearly. Those very dark eyes of his
blinked yet again. He gathered me to him, so close that I felt his warm breath
on my forehead, sweet and dark.
“Perhaps,” said an equally dark voice.
“Maybe I was wrong about Heaven. Is this Hell instead? You’re all dark, even
your voice, like sins kept secret for a very long time. Are you one of the devil’s
angels? Grandfather always believed that the devil had his angels just like God
had his. Is that what you are? Your eyes are nearly black. How can you bear all
that white light?”
“It isn’t all that strong. Hush now.”
“It’s like Heaven has split apart, and everything is gushing out of it. It’s too
much, really, it’s just too much. I don’t understand any of this.”
And I closed my eyes again. My brain went blank, but deep down, I didn’t want to
be in Heaven or in Hell. I didn’t want any angel at all to be with me, and if it