The two Blotters frowned when we approached them, and they looked relieved to hear me ask about maps, instead of insisting about lovechildren and that kind of outlandish subject. Mr. Blotter seemed to assess there was no risk to the family’s honor in that and left Ann Lori to comply with our request.
She led us back to the mahogany table, cleared half of it by the effective method of piling up binders at the other end, and opened another big book like the blue one. It contained maps and blueprints of every single property the Blotters had ever owned.
They were all bound together, so there was no way to take the Manor’s blueprints out of the book, not even to make a copy of them. So we took several pictures of them for later printing. However, both Brandon and I wanted to take a good look at the originals, so we asked her for a magnifying glass.
While she went to get it, he set the camcorder on his tripod across the table, making me place two chairs v
The nice ladies at the Historical Society hesitated when they saw Brandon walk in already filming. Until one of them recognized him. Then it was all smiles and giggles and a rush to help us. Soon we were sitting at a table covered with old maps and government records since the time Hardwick had been first settled by white people.Brandon set his camcorder on a tripod at the other side of the table, almost against the back wall, to keep in frame not only us, but also the loads of documents before us.We’d spent about thirty minutes going through records when one of the old maps caught my attention.“Look,” I said, showing it to Brandon. “See this town, Greenwich? It was flooded when they built the Quabbin.”He leaned in, studying the area I was pointing at with a curious frown. “So? What’s so special about it? Flooded graveyard or something like that?”I rolled my eyes. Of course the West Coast alien d
I didn’t have the heart to watch Brandon make a mess of my bedroom, so I left him take whatever he wanted upstairs and I headed to the library. Joseph was in the study with Isaac and Trisha, while Edward took a break from keeping Cristine at bay. I found him reading online, but he disconnected the tablet right away to talk with me.“What do you think is happening?”I shrugged and explained to him Brandon’s theory, about Cristine’s arrival being related to Ann’s departure.“So she’s part of the family?”“She may be. I think your brother Henry could’ve met her mother while he was serving in Paris. The dates sort of add up.”“You mean she’s my niece?”“I think so. The people at the Foundation deny having correspondence or financial records that would allow us to see if your brother was in contact with Cristine’s mothe
There was only one thing I loved more than falling asleep in Brandon’s arms, and that was waking up in his arms.It was awfully early, judging by the fading blue of the sky out my window, where I could still spot a couple of stars over the woods. Brandon was sound asleep. He had dared to remove one of his arms away from me, but only to hold my hand to his chest like he used to. I was wide awake, and I knew there was no way I could get out of bed without disturbing him. So I tried to go back to sleep. To no avail. I tried to sneak my fingers away from his soft grasp. If I managed to do it, I had a chance. I was about to make it when his hand pressed mine and his lips brushed my forehead.“Morning, kid,” he muttered, eyes still closed.Don’t ask me why, but hearing him call me that in this situation launched my romanticism through the roof. So no getting up yet. I had better things to do first. He didn’t fully wake up, he just let me
We could hear Isaac’s loud voice from the third-floor landing. Plain to see he and Brandon had already set to monitor the live feeds, because he shut up the moment I opened the study door. “Come in. It’s safe,” said Joseph right away. “Thank you, Joseph,” I murmured, looking around at the mess the room was. “How is she doing?” “She throws things now and then. But she’s still where you left her.” “By the loveseat?” “Yes. Be careful.” “Wish me luck.” I traded a look with Trisha, who nodded with a quick encouraging smile. “Cristine, c’est moi, Fran,” I said, facing the end of the loveseat where I’d seen her the night before. “Can we talk?” Trisha translated. Nothing happened, so I stepped closer. The circle of spices and herbs had been blown away, but Amy had explained to me the oil worked to imprint it on the floorboards and sustain the barrier. I sat down on the floor, about thr
Mike and I left Susan on the second floor, getting ready to start with my room and Isaac’s, and went on to the third floor. The poor man halted at the doorway, gaping at the mess around, speechless. I walked in, looking around too. With the two big shelves up again, the work left was plenty but easier.We decided we should start by clearing the furniture from the front half of the room, so we could pick up all the books Cristine had been throwing around and clean that side. Then we’d move everything over to that side to work on the other half of the study.We’d been working for about twenty minutes, trading occasional comments, when I thought he might know something about the water diviner marks.“D’you know if there was a well in the grounds? One that was dug shortly after the inauguration of the Manor?”Our newfound trust made him take my question like one of my usual weird inquiries, surely related to the ghosts or s
Brandon paused his camera for a minute, just enough to hand me a tri-field meter on a handle mount that also had a GoPro to film the device readings up close.“There. You man that, I’ll shoot the whole thing.”“Yessir. Where are we going?”“Basement first.”“Shouldn’t we let Isaac and Trisha do it? I mean, at least shoot them doing it.”Brandon looked up at the ceiling, sighed, and nodded. I could see he hated stepping aside, so I grabbed the meter from the mount and handed it to him.“That doesn’t mean we can’t go check it.”He smiled, grabbing the device. “Let’s go.”It was the first time I’d ever been to the basement since we’d released Kujo, and it felt sort of weird. I mean, it was so empty. Just a regular basement full of old stuff. I didn’t realize I’d stopped a few steps in, looking around, lost
I’m not sure whether Susan was eager to make amends or see what had happened on the third floor, but she volunteered to stay longer to clean up the study. So Mike dropped his gardening plans to lend her a hand.After lunch, I called St. Aloysius to make sure Father Thompson would be there. The old priest was waiting for us, so I helped Brandon load his truck with everything he would need for the interview and tried to send him on his way, feeling he could use a while alone. But he wouldn’t even hear about it.“I have all the time in the world alone back home,” he replied. “So go grab your jacket, ‘cause you’re coming.”“Yessir,” I murmured, spinning around to do as he said, only not that happy anymore about his bossing me around. And ranting to myself about his drama queen ways to speak. All the time in the world alone back home. Sure. Jumping from bed to bed, the bastard.As soon as we
I followed Brandon without a word all the way up to the third floor. He made me walk into the study first and locked the door behind us. Okay, no interruptions whatsoever? What was going on?I was still looking around, amazed to see the large room completely restored in such a short time, when his arms showed up from behind me and wrapped around my chest. The warm touch of his lips brushing my ear caused me a chill.“Let’s talk now,” he whispered. “I wanna clear this outta the way.”I turned my face toward him and brought up a hand to run my fingers through his short hair, kissing him.“I love you,” I murmured.“Me too, kid.” He let go of me to go to the loveseats. “C’mon, let’s have a seat.”“Jesus, you sound awfully serious.”I didn’t dig the way he raised his eyebrows. “Because I am. Come.”Not like I had a choice. I s
The traveling crews came back to Los Angeles for the holidays a couple of days later, and Brandon decided he felt brave enough to host a dinner for all of them at one of the restaurants they used to go to.It would be like his big comeback to society, leaving behind almost four months of reclusion and darkness. And to mark the occasion, he warned me that Cake had leaked the date and place to a few reporters.“Meaning my friends will be there?”“Guess so. The problem is that ban on you. I don’t want them to leave you out of the report. The other way around: I want everybody to know we’re together.”I looked up at him with a heartfelt sigh. But like it always happened over the last week, meeting his eyes focused on mine made me so happy, I couldn’t refuse. So I called Greta Arbosky, who said she would take care of letting them know about this one exception. I disconnected and faced him, raising my eyebrows.&
Against all odds, Brandon was the easiest, most complying patient in history. I think the scare of almost losing all his sight gave a whole new meaning to this opportunity to restore his eyes to full health. He never complained about the awful cream he had to apply directly on his eyeballs, he never missed drops or meds time, he slept on his belly, and kept his eye shields on around the clock.The first week was the hardest, of course, while he still wore the dressings. However, his determination to walk the line, no matter how hard, annoying or frustrating, helped us find our way around it faster than I’d ever expected. Just like the doctor had said, Brandon had been so stressed up over the last two or three weeks, he was plain exhausted, so he slept a lot over the first three days.My hovering tendencies kept me always within a few steps from wherever he was. At first, I thought he would soon get sick and tired of my relentless watch over him, but it was actual
I jumped to my feet when I heard Brandon move. His fingers flickered slightly and I covered his hand with mine, my heart hammering my chest. His head tilted a little toward me and his lips parted.“Hey,” I whispered. “Easy there.”He tried to speak and frowned.“It’s okay, Bran. The surgery worked alright.”He frowned deeper, trying to press my fingers. I took his hand to my lips to kiss it.“It worked, Bran,” I repeated, just in case. “You’re gonna be fine.”His shaky sigh told me he’d understood. His other hand came slowly up to brush the dressing covering his eyes.“That’s gonna stay there for a few days.”“Did it?” he mumbled, as his fingers explored the dressing further.“Yes, love. It worked. If we do what the doctor says, you’re gonna be fine in a few months. Maybe even better than before the inf
We woke up early the next morning. Brandon couldn’t have breakfast before surgery, but we were both too anxious to even feel any hunger. Cake arrived as we were coming down to the first floor, looking rested and ten years younger than the night before. On the way to the hospital, I took advantage of being alone in the backseat of the car to send a few texts. To Amy, to let her know I’d gotten to LA fine and everything was peachy. To Isaac, to let him know I was already in town, going with Brandon to the hospital, and I’d text him how the surgery had gone as soon as I found out. And finally to Harry, to ask him to remind Hugo to send all his light and all his angels to come lend a hand.“Who are you texting to?” asked the control freak from the passenger’s seat.“The press, obviously. Your NY Barbie and her gossiping friends will be waiting for us at the hospital.”He turned in his seat, frowning at me from behind h
I woke up at about three. Brandon was sound asleep, so much so that I was able to sneak between his arms without him even flinching. Back from the bathroom, I heard noises downstairs. Then I remembered the disaster zone the living area was when I’d come into the house. I got dressed and headed to the first floor, still trying to tie my hair in a ponytail.Guadalupe had arrived while we were upstairs, and her grin when she saw me threw me off. She and Cake had sort of cleaned up the living area, but the place still looked like the guys from A Clockwork Orange had dropped by to say hi. The kitchen was still a mess, with a lot of glass and smashed mugs all over the floor, wine and all kinds of things spilled on the floor. And when I say all kinds of things, I mean even mayonnaise. So I wore an apron, put on rubber gloves and set to clean up disaster zone number two.Guadalupe and Cake materialized in the kitchen, looking spooked. I faced them with
I had a glimpse of the whole living area completely trashed, like a hurricane had blasted through it, but I couldn’t care less. I rushed to the stairs and up to the second floor, to storm into the master bedroom. I froze just past the doorway. My heart, which was about to crack my chest open, suddenly stopped, and everything spun around me.Because Brandon was lying on his bed, unconscious, a bleeding cut on his forehead that had sprayed blood all over him. Cake was right by his side, lifting his limp legs up to the bed.“He tripped in the kitchen and hit his head with the isle,” Cake managed to say, panting after carrying Brandon all the way upstairs.I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move.“Fran! Bring me a wet towel!”His shout made me snap out of my shock. I dropped my bag on the floor and ran around the bed to the bathroom, where I grabbed the first towel I
I sneaked out of the sleeping bag the moment Brandon left his seat.“Gina!” I called, crawling on all fours out of the tent.“What is it, Fran?”“Gina, I’m so sorry, but I can’t stay to come tomorrow night,” I said, wiping my tears away just to make room for more to rain down my face.“It’s okay, Fran. Don’t worry about us.”“Kujo protect,” he said, coming to stick to my side.“You guys sure?”“Yes. Go do what you have to do.”“Okay,” I mumbled, and got back into the tent to grab my phone.The first morning flight from Philadelphia International to LAX was scheduled to live after six AM. Shit. It was hardly past midnight. Whatever. Better late than never. I bought a ticket online, already doing the math. I could check in about five thirty, so I had to leave Pennhurst
Brandon walked across the Manor garden in the sunset, hands in his pockets, looking around absentmindedly as he spoke.“I had to watch the footage to actually remember what had happened, and her words shocked me. She called me a puppet. She knew what was going on. Back then, I only understood they wouldn’t let me get to her, especially when Isaac turned his back on me. I couldn’t believe it. He’d betrayed me! My best friend! How powerful could this demon be to turn the man who had been my best friend for the last twenty-five years against me? I was trapped, all alone. I might have to fight for my life.” He looked at the camera. “You must be wondering if I stayed. The answer is yes. Why?” He let out a bitter chuckle. “The truth is I have no idea.” He shrugged. “I was so out of my mind that night, I can count at least half a dozen reasons why I stayed. And none of them make any sense.”They cut back to the
“Here she comes,” Brandon said, his voice reflecting exactly the same as his face. “The little witch comes to protect the demon. Not this time.”I felt Kujo brush his face against mine and realized I was holding my breath, still shaking from head to toe. His warm touch helped me snap out of it.Brandon kept taunting and provoking Kujo until I got there, trying to burn him with his holy water. And then he’d come at me, triggering Kujo’s reaction. After Kujo attacked him, hurting me in the process, I saw him jump back to his feet and try to fight Kujo with his bear fists, punching through him like a madman, almost stomping on me, ‘cause I was pretty much unconscious at his feet. Amy stormed down the stairs as Isaac managed to pull him away from me, and forced the camera into his hands to carry me up the stairs in his arms, while Amy kept Brandon at a safe distance.“Kujo mad.”“But y