The Sound of Dead Silence
October 12
“Hey, Sis,” Mart said quietly, poking his head through her open doorway. “How’s the homework coming?”
Trixie leaned back in her chair and groaned. “Awful? I mean, it’s not really that I’m not getting it, but there’s so much of it. Do teachers hate students? Is that the problem?”
“Well… it does tend to add up when you blow it off for too many days in a row,” Mart pointed out. He walked into the room and perched himself on the end of her bed.
“You’ve been just as busy with… other stuff as I have. How come you aren’t drowning in stacks of textbooks and notes, too?”
“I can usually finish up a lot of my work in class. And most of my teachers will let us do homework from other classes if we finish our assignments early.”
“Geek,” Trixie muttered, rolling her eyes.
Mart merely grinned at her half-hearted insult. “Yeah. I am a geek. I own it.”
“Are you still planning to go over to Lisgard House with Dan this afternoon?”
“Yeah. He texted me about twenty minutes ago. I guess Regan is kinda insisting on coming along.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. Dan told him about the trespasser-possible-thief and apparently now Regan’s worried that we might run into trouble if whoever it was comes back. Well, that, and to be fair, he is offering to help us secure the property better. He and Dan are going to buy some lumber to cover the hole in the library wall and we’re going to rehang the front door and get new locks.”
“Oh, boy. You better hope we’re still on the spirit no-go list then, because if someone tries to talk to you while he’s there…”
“I know. It ought to be an interesting afternoon, to say the least. Have you spoken with Honey at all today?”
“Uh, huh. I called her right after lunch. We’d planned a couple of days ago that she was going to come over here and help me with my physics assignments, but after last night, I convinced her to hang with Di this evening and hopefully do some damage control.”
Mart grimaced and huffed out a breath. “Yeah. By the time she was done yelling at us last night, I pretty much wanted to crawl under the table and never come out.”
“I think she’s still not entirely sure we aren’t pulling some crazy, elaborate prank or something. She’ll come around eventually.”
“I hope so. I’d hate for this to break up the remaining Bob-Whites.” Mart glanced over at the framed photo Trixie kept on her nightstand. Taken two years before, it included all seven of the original members of their club. “For that matter, have you considered what we’re going to tell Brian and Jim when they come home Halloween weekend?”
“I’m purposely not even thinking about it,” she confessed. “Brian will probably immediately go to our parents and insist we need to be admitted to a psych ward somewhere.”
“Yeah. And then Jim will lecture us about stupid stunts and the importance of honesty and not lying to our family and friends even in the name of a practical joke.”
“True. Yeesh. You may technically be a big brother yourself, Bro, with all the self-imposed responsibility that the title comes with, but of the three of you? Even if you are a total geek? You’re definitely the coolest one. Not that I will ever admit to it outside of this room.”
Mart laughed as he stood. “I’ll take a compliment where I can get it.” He left her to her work and wandered back to his own room. He wasn’t meeting up with Dan for another half hour. Meanwhile, he decided to spend some time reading the book he’d borrowed from the library. Mrs. Cramer had given him an odd look as he’d checked out The Magnificent Magical Properties of Herbs, commenting that it didn’t fall into his “usual” reading preferences, and he’d found himself babbling an excuse about writing a short fictional story for his English class. He had no idea if she’d bought it, but it had been the best he could come up with spur of the moment.
He propped up his pillows against his headboard and settled down to read, keeping a spiral notebook at his side to record anything he thought might at some point come in use.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m guessing the books weren’t all tossed around like this before,” William Regan said as he surveyed the mess in the Lisgard House library, “but it looks like this place has been in terrible shape for years, regardless of whatever your thief did.”
“Yeah. Mr. Gregory’s lawyer told me that he did get an inspector out here, but the final consensus was that trying to repair everything would be more trouble than it’s worth. They’re gonna raze it and build something new.”
Regan reached out and tapped on the wooden doorframe. “Still seems a shame that it can’t be saved somehow.”
“I know, right? I mean, they even managed to overcome however much damage the fire did to the original structure. But I guess time itself has finally done its worst. Next spring, it’s coming down.”
“Well, let’s get the van unloaded and we can start with patching up that wall. We’ve probably got several hours of work in front of us, and I’d like to get it all done while there’s still enough daylight to see by.”
They walked into the foyer and Mart and Dan stumbled to a halt. They were not alone. A young woman in a long, old-fashioned white nightgown stood by the window in the formal dining room. Her head was bowed forlornly and she made no indication that she was aware of their presence.
Regan was through the front door before he realized they were no longer following him. “Something the matter?” he asked with a slight frown.
“Ah… uh, no, Uncle Bill,” Dan said, shooting Mart a “Now what?” look. “We’re right behind you.”
“Distract him,” his friend mouthed back.
“How?”
Mart shrugged both shoulders and held up his hands in a helpless gesture.
Perfect, Dan thought, thanks a lot, buddy. “You know what, Uncle Bill? Uh… why don't you and I unload the supplies while we have Mart do a quick check of all the rooms downstairs to see if there are any other repairs that need immediate attention.”
“You haven’t done that already?” Regan asked skeptically. “I woulda thought that would’ve been one of the first things you did after you picked up the keys.”
“Well, yeah… but, you know… it’s possible whoever trashed the library maybe did more damage in one of the other rooms. We haven’t had time to check for that yet.”
“Hmm. All right. But if it turns out we need additional materials, it may have to wait until tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll have time for another run to town tonight.”
“Yeah. No. I know. If we need, I can go by the hardware store after school.”
As soon as Dan and Regan were out the door, Mart hurried into the dining room. “Hello?” he asked uncertainly. “Miss?”
She slowly raised her head to look at him. “Yes. I know,” she said in a resigned tone. “I’ve been warned. Do your worst.”
“My worst?” he echoed, thoroughly confused. “I don’t even know what you mean by that. Warned about what? By who?”
She stared at him with dull eyes, not speaking.
Mart grit his teeth in frustration. Why did they have to keep encountering difficult spirits, for crying out loud? “Listen, if you need my help, I’ve only got a few minutes to spare, tops.”
“Help? You want to help me?”
“Uh… If I can?”
“Oh. I see. That’s completely different,” she murmured quietly before disappearing.
For a moment, Mart stood perfectly still, half-expecting her to return. Her words had left him baffled and her behavior was equally perplexing to him. He simply did not know what to think.
Suddenly, he became aware of the silence around him. It was eerie and unnatural, as if the house itself was a living thing, holding its breath in anticipation of some imminent event. He felt it, this sense of waiting and watching, and it held him spellbound in place, somehow unwilling to move.
“Mart?”
He jumped and whirled around, letting out a startled shriek.
“Whoa!” Regan exclaimed. “Hey. Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you like that. Are you okay?”
His heart was thundering in his chest and he found he had to consciously force himself to draw a breath.
Dan stood behind his uncle, holding a tool box and sheet of plywood, his expression both concerned and questioning.
Unfortunately, with Regan present, as much as Mart wanted to talk, it would have to wait. He was aware that the groom was regarding him strangely, waiting for him to answer. “I… uh… yeah,” he stammered. “I’m fine.”
“You sure? Maybe you ought to go sit down for a couple of minutes. I think you’re letting this place get to you. What’s that old saying? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trixie needed a break. She’d reached the point where she was reading the words on the page but they held absolutely no meaning for her. They might as well have been in another language. Latin, she thought sourly.
She glanced at her clock. She still had some time before she was due in the kitchen to help her mother with cooking. She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and slung it over her shoulders. Even if it was only for fifteen minutes or so, she was sure a walk outside would do her good.
She paused to pat Clyde on the head. He rolled over on her bed, yawned, and promptly went back to sleep. “Good guard kitty,” she said dryly as she left him to his nap.
She let herself out through the kitchen door, crossed the back patio, and skipped lightly down the steps. Overhead, the clouds were low in the sky, thin and hazy and tinted a dull red from the setting sun. She decided she would walk down to the lake, cutting across the farm’s vegetable garden for the path that provided the shortest route.
She had just passed under the cover of the preserve’s towering trees when she realized she had a shadow. “Bobby,” she called, shaking her head. “If you’re going to try to follow me in secret, one of the first things you’ll need to do is not wear a bright orange coat.”
Her youngest brother stepped out from behind a tall oak, his expression close to a pout. “You always see me!”
“Uh, huh. Like I said. Orange.”
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere exciting, Bobby. Promise. Just down to the lake.”
“Boring! How come you’re never home anymore? You and Mart are always gone.”
Trixie sighed and offered him an apologetic smile. He was right. They were never home. And along with neglecting their chores, they’d been neglecting their family. “School and… uh, other things have kept us pretty busy,” she told him. “But how about tonight we hang out and play a game or watch a movie after dinner?”
He visibly brightened and she was glad she’d made the suggestion. “Movie!” he said decisively. “Let’s watch something spooky, for Halloween!”
Of course, she thought ruefully. Of course. What had she expected after all? Bambi?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Their conversations were brief and whispered, a few words here and there when they were reasonably sure Regan wouldn’t overhear them. In the end, they'd agreed it would be easier and better to simply wait until later that evening when they could have a serious talk, one that would include the girls as well.
Mart watched as Regan walked along, rapping his knuckle against a wall to determine the best place to nail his board.
“Something’s different here,” the groom said thoughtfully. He smoothed his hand across the wallpaper, then reached up and tugged on a peeling strip. It came away without much difficultly. “What the-? Get a load of this. It looks like someone once glued the pages of some kind of journal or something to the wall before papering over them.” He tore away more of the faded floral print to reveal a wide section of the wall beneath, covered in the handwritten pages.
Dan and Mart exchanged stunned glances, each knowing what the other was thinking.
They’d found Sarah’s missing spell book.
“Hey, Sis,” Mart said quietly, poking his head through her open doorway. “How’s the homework coming?”
Trixie leaned back in her chair and groaned. “Awful? I mean, it’s not really that I’m not getting it, but there’s so much of it. Do teachers hate students? Is that the problem?”
“Well… it does tend to add up when you blow it off for too many days in a row,” Mart pointed out. He walked into the room and perched himself on the end of her bed.
“You’ve been just as busy with… other stuff as I have. How come you aren’t drowning in stacks of textbooks and notes, too?”
“I can usually finish up a lot of my work in class. And most of my teachers will let us do homework from other classes if we finish our assignments early.”
“Geek,” Trixie muttered, rolling her eyes.
Mart merely grinned at her half-hearted insult. “Yeah. I am a geek. I own it.”
“Are you still planning to go over to Lisgard House with Dan this afternoon?”
“Yeah. He texted me about twenty minutes ago. I guess Regan is kinda insisting on coming along.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. Dan told him about the trespasser-possible-thief and apparently now Regan’s worried that we might run into trouble if whoever it was comes back. Well, that, and to be fair, he is offering to help us secure the property better. He and Dan are going to buy some lumber to cover the hole in the library wall and we’re going to rehang the front door and get new locks.”
“Oh, boy. You better hope we’re still on the spirit no-go list then, because if someone tries to talk to you while he’s there…”
“I know. It ought to be an interesting afternoon, to say the least. Have you spoken with Honey at all today?”
“Uh, huh. I called her right after lunch. We’d planned a couple of days ago that she was going to come over here and help me with my physics assignments, but after last night, I convinced her to hang with Di this evening and hopefully do some damage control.”
Mart grimaced and huffed out a breath. “Yeah. By the time she was done yelling at us last night, I pretty much wanted to crawl under the table and never come out.”
“I think she’s still not entirely sure we aren’t pulling some crazy, elaborate prank or something. She’ll come around eventually.”
“I hope so. I’d hate for this to break up the remaining Bob-Whites.” Mart glanced over at the framed photo Trixie kept on her nightstand. Taken two years before, it included all seven of the original members of their club. “For that matter, have you considered what we’re going to tell Brian and Jim when they come home Halloween weekend?”
“I’m purposely not even thinking about it,” she confessed. “Brian will probably immediately go to our parents and insist we need to be admitted to a psych ward somewhere.”
“Yeah. And then Jim will lecture us about stupid stunts and the importance of honesty and not lying to our family and friends even in the name of a practical joke.”
“True. Yeesh. You may technically be a big brother yourself, Bro, with all the self-imposed responsibility that the title comes with, but of the three of you? Even if you are a total geek? You’re definitely the coolest one. Not that I will ever admit to it outside of this room.”
Mart laughed as he stood. “I’ll take a compliment where I can get it.” He left her to her work and wandered back to his own room. He wasn’t meeting up with Dan for another half hour. Meanwhile, he decided to spend some time reading the book he’d borrowed from the library. Mrs. Cramer had given him an odd look as he’d checked out The Magnificent Magical Properties of Herbs, commenting that it didn’t fall into his “usual” reading preferences, and he’d found himself babbling an excuse about writing a short fictional story for his English class. He had no idea if she’d bought it, but it had been the best he could come up with spur of the moment.
He propped up his pillows against his headboard and settled down to read, keeping a spiral notebook at his side to record anything he thought might at some point come in use.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m guessing the books weren’t all tossed around like this before,” William Regan said as he surveyed the mess in the Lisgard House library, “but it looks like this place has been in terrible shape for years, regardless of whatever your thief did.”
“Yeah. Mr. Gregory’s lawyer told me that he did get an inspector out here, but the final consensus was that trying to repair everything would be more trouble than it’s worth. They’re gonna raze it and build something new.”
Regan reached out and tapped on the wooden doorframe. “Still seems a shame that it can’t be saved somehow.”
“I know, right? I mean, they even managed to overcome however much damage the fire did to the original structure. But I guess time itself has finally done its worst. Next spring, it’s coming down.”
“Well, let’s get the van unloaded and we can start with patching up that wall. We’ve probably got several hours of work in front of us, and I’d like to get it all done while there’s still enough daylight to see by.”
They walked into the foyer and Mart and Dan stumbled to a halt. They were not alone. A young woman in a long, old-fashioned white nightgown stood by the window in the formal dining room. Her head was bowed forlornly and she made no indication that she was aware of their presence.
Regan was through the front door before he realized they were no longer following him. “Something the matter?” he asked with a slight frown.
“Ah… uh, no, Uncle Bill,” Dan said, shooting Mart a “Now what?” look. “We’re right behind you.”
“Distract him,” his friend mouthed back.
“How?”
Mart shrugged both shoulders and held up his hands in a helpless gesture.
Perfect, Dan thought, thanks a lot, buddy. “You know what, Uncle Bill? Uh… why don't you and I unload the supplies while we have Mart do a quick check of all the rooms downstairs to see if there are any other repairs that need immediate attention.”
“You haven’t done that already?” Regan asked skeptically. “I woulda thought that would’ve been one of the first things you did after you picked up the keys.”
“Well, yeah… but, you know… it’s possible whoever trashed the library maybe did more damage in one of the other rooms. We haven’t had time to check for that yet.”
“Hmm. All right. But if it turns out we need additional materials, it may have to wait until tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll have time for another run to town tonight.”
“Yeah. No. I know. If we need, I can go by the hardware store after school.”
As soon as Dan and Regan were out the door, Mart hurried into the dining room. “Hello?” he asked uncertainly. “Miss?”
She slowly raised her head to look at him. “Yes. I know,” she said in a resigned tone. “I’ve been warned. Do your worst.”
“My worst?” he echoed, thoroughly confused. “I don’t even know what you mean by that. Warned about what? By who?”
She stared at him with dull eyes, not speaking.
Mart grit his teeth in frustration. Why did they have to keep encountering difficult spirits, for crying out loud? “Listen, if you need my help, I’ve only got a few minutes to spare, tops.”
“Help? You want to help me?”
“Uh… If I can?”
“Oh. I see. That’s completely different,” she murmured quietly before disappearing.
For a moment, Mart stood perfectly still, half-expecting her to return. Her words had left him baffled and her behavior was equally perplexing to him. He simply did not know what to think.
Suddenly, he became aware of the silence around him. It was eerie and unnatural, as if the house itself was a living thing, holding its breath in anticipation of some imminent event. He felt it, this sense of waiting and watching, and it held him spellbound in place, somehow unwilling to move.
“Mart?”
He jumped and whirled around, letting out a startled shriek.
“Whoa!” Regan exclaimed. “Hey. Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you like that. Are you okay?”
His heart was thundering in his chest and he found he had to consciously force himself to draw a breath.
Dan stood behind his uncle, holding a tool box and sheet of plywood, his expression both concerned and questioning.
Unfortunately, with Regan present, as much as Mart wanted to talk, it would have to wait. He was aware that the groom was regarding him strangely, waiting for him to answer. “I… uh… yeah,” he stammered. “I’m fine.”
“You sure? Maybe you ought to go sit down for a couple of minutes. I think you’re letting this place get to you. What’s that old saying? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trixie needed a break. She’d reached the point where she was reading the words on the page but they held absolutely no meaning for her. They might as well have been in another language. Latin, she thought sourly.
She glanced at her clock. She still had some time before she was due in the kitchen to help her mother with cooking. She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and slung it over her shoulders. Even if it was only for fifteen minutes or so, she was sure a walk outside would do her good.
She paused to pat Clyde on the head. He rolled over on her bed, yawned, and promptly went back to sleep. “Good guard kitty,” she said dryly as she left him to his nap.
She let herself out through the kitchen door, crossed the back patio, and skipped lightly down the steps. Overhead, the clouds were low in the sky, thin and hazy and tinted a dull red from the setting sun. She decided she would walk down to the lake, cutting across the farm’s vegetable garden for the path that provided the shortest route.
She had just passed under the cover of the preserve’s towering trees when she realized she had a shadow. “Bobby,” she called, shaking her head. “If you’re going to try to follow me in secret, one of the first things you’ll need to do is not wear a bright orange coat.”
Her youngest brother stepped out from behind a tall oak, his expression close to a pout. “You always see me!”
“Uh, huh. Like I said. Orange.”
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere exciting, Bobby. Promise. Just down to the lake.”
“Boring! How come you’re never home anymore? You and Mart are always gone.”
Trixie sighed and offered him an apologetic smile. He was right. They were never home. And along with neglecting their chores, they’d been neglecting their family. “School and… uh, other things have kept us pretty busy,” she told him. “But how about tonight we hang out and play a game or watch a movie after dinner?”
He visibly brightened and she was glad she’d made the suggestion. “Movie!” he said decisively. “Let’s watch something spooky, for Halloween!”
Of course, she thought ruefully. Of course. What had she expected after all? Bambi?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Their conversations were brief and whispered, a few words here and there when they were reasonably sure Regan wouldn’t overhear them. In the end, they'd agreed it would be easier and better to simply wait until later that evening when they could have a serious talk, one that would include the girls as well.
Mart watched as Regan walked along, rapping his knuckle against a wall to determine the best place to nail his board.
“Something’s different here,” the groom said thoughtfully. He smoothed his hand across the wallpaper, then reached up and tugged on a peeling strip. It came away without much difficultly. “What the-? Get a load of this. It looks like someone once glued the pages of some kind of journal or something to the wall before papering over them.” He tore away more of the faded floral print to reveal a wide section of the wall beneath, covered in the handwritten pages.
Dan and Mart exchanged stunned glances, each knowing what the other was thinking.
They’d found Sarah’s missing spell book.