Betrayal - By Lee Nichols Page 0,11

side of the door, as though guarding the room. “I don’t mean to frighten you,” she said. “You’ll be fine.”

“Emma’s not afraid of anything,” Bennett said.

I took a deep breath, hoping he was right.

I smiled at one of the ghosts, but he ignored me while the other opened the door. After that, I expected a throne room or something, but Bennett led me into a small chamber, decorated like a library where you’d find Sherlock Holmes solving the case. It was all cherrywood, leather-bound books, and red and gold Oriental rugs with a fire blazing in the ornately carved fireplace.

Three men sat on leather couches, taking in the heat of the fire. They stood as we entered, and the oldest, an Asian man wearing wire-rim glasses, his long gray hair in a ponytail, stepped forward.

“Emma Vaile,” he said, subjecting me to an unsmiling inspection. “You are not as impressive as I’d imagined.”

“You must be Yoshiro,” I said, with a fake smile. “I thought you’d be taller.”

Beside him, the dark-haired younger man coughed, smothering a laugh, then introduced himself as Gabriel. He had a Spanish accent, and the sort of smoldering spark of one of those ugly European guys who’s somehow incredibly attractive.

“A pleasure to meet you, Emma,” he said. For the record, “Emma” sounded really pretty with a Spanish accent.

“Welcome to the Knell,” the third man said, a middle-aged black man dressed in intellectual chic. “My name is William. I remember your mother and father fondly.”

“Thanks. It’s kind of hard to imagine them here.”

Yoshiro cleared his throat. “Sit.”

I almost said something snotty about barking and rolling over, but Bennett nudged me toward one of the couches. Everyone sat except Yoshiro, who paced for a minute, then turned suddenly and considered me.

“Except for your youth, your likeness to the tapestry is exact.”

“And my hairstyle.” She looked like me dressed up for a Renaissance fair. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s genetics. Probably happens all the time, except other people don’t have medieval tapestries lying around.”

“Yoshiro believes it’s more than that,” Gabriel said.

“Your powers are unprecedented,” William said. “And your resemblance to at least two dead ghostkeepers is also unprecedented. That’s not a coincidence.”

“Maybe not. But I’m not the first Emma, I’m not that medieval lady. I’m just a—” I looked at Yoshiro. “An unimpressive girl who doesn’t want to battle ghosts and kill wraiths. There’re only three things I want. To find my family. Dispel Neos. And to—” I stopped suddenly, and didn’t know where to look.

“Yes?” Yoshiro said. “The third thing?”

“To be with me,” Bennett said.

Yoshiro made a disgruntled sound. “You are too close.” He waved his hands between us. “This is dangerous.”

“We’re okay,” I said. “Thanks for the concern.”

“You are okay,” Yoshiro said. “But you are not the one in danger. You have a strange way of showing Bennett your regard, by undermining his ability.”

This time, my snappy retort dissolved into flushing with embarrassment, and I squirmed a few inches away from Bennett.

Like a hero, Bennett changed the subject. “What have you learned about Neos?”

Yoshiro crossed to the fire and watched the flames, leaving William to answer. “He’s something new, something nobody’s faced before. Stronger than any of us—except perhaps you, Emma. And except for the Knell, when we all act together.”

“What about my parents and brother?”

“They’re obsessed with Neos—with stopping him,” Gabriel said. “They warned us this might happen. But it’s like they’ve dropped off the face of the earth.”

“They knew he’d come back as a ghost?” I don’t know why I was surprised. I suppose they must have figured out it was Neos who attacked me as a child. And Aunt Rachel had filled in some of the missing pieces.

“They are not your concern,” Yoshiro said, turning. “Not now. You must focus on Neos. He is gathering strength in the Beyond, summoning wraiths and other, even more unwholesome spirits, forcing them to join his crusade.”

“Crusade against who?” Bennett asked. “Emma?”

“She’s half of it,” William said. “The other half is the Knell. That’s why we’re taking security even more seriously. Yoshiro hasn’t left his archives in weeks, and Gabriel and I don’t leave the building anymore.”

“So what’re we going to do?” I asked.

“We’re bringing the veteran teams home,” Gabriel said. “And forming new ones.”

“Just like the old days,” Rachel said, with a glint in her eyes.

“I’ll need Bennett on my team,” I said. “And Natalie.”

William and Yoshiro exchanged a dubious look. Gabriel simply looked on in a gorgeous Spanish manner.

Rachel nodded, though. “Emma’s not one of our soldiers. She