From a Drood to a Kill - Simon R. Green Page 0,136

on the stone floor. But at least we all had shadows.

After a while, I made out a small group of people up ahead, standing in front of an oversized altar. They seemed to be waiting for us. Still too far away for me to be able to make out any of their faces, but it did seem to me there was something decidedly familiar about the way one of them was standing. Something in the way she held herself . . .

She stepped forward, away from the others, and called out my name. Her voice echoed through the great open space, hanging on the air. My name, spoken in a voice I knew like my own. I broke away from Walker and the Somnambulist, running past them, sprinting across the great open space of the nave, and Molly came running towards me. It seemed to take ages before we finally met and crashed into each other. We hugged and held each other tightly, crying out each other’s name, tears on our faces.

“Oh Molly, my Molly,” I said, fighting to get the words out past the ache in my heart, “I am never letting you out of my sight, ever again.”

We finally let go of each other, and stood back to look into each other’s face, our hands still on each other’s shoulders. We were both laughing and crying at the same time, and not giving a damn. I wiped the tears from her face with my hand, and she did the same for me.

“I thought you’d never get here,” said Molly. “Where’s the cavalry?”

“You’re looking at it,” I said.

Molly actually looked a little outraged. “No Iz, or Lou? Not even some of your appalling family?”

“It’s been really hard to track you down,” I said, just a bit defensively. “And even harder to get here.”

“Not as hard as it is to escape from,” said Molly. “And believe me, I’ve been trying.”

There was a polite clearing of the throat, and we both looked around to find that Walker and the Somnambulist had caught up with us. Molly and I stood side by side to face them. Molly sniffed loudly.

“I see you’ve met two of our jailors. A dead man and a traitor. After everything I did for you, Carrys!”

“She can’t hear you,” I said. “She’s asleep.”

“I know!” said Molly. “It’s so infuriating, not to be able to give the ungrateful cow a piece of my mind. You wait till you wake up, my girl . . .”

“I’m not even sure she can hear me,” said Walker. “And I’m supposed to be able to give her orders.”

“Have you tried?” I said.

“Not as such, no . . . She is very good at anticipating. For someone who’s fast asleep.”

I looked at Molly. “Have you met the people in charge here yet? The Powers That Be?”

“No,” said Molly. “None of us have. They’re keeping themselves well in the background. Only make their wishes known through Walker. Which leads me to think . . . We might just know them, if we saw them.”

“Well,” I said, “it’s not like we have a shortage of enemies.”

“I know!” said Molly.

I had to smile. She sounded so proud. Molly looked down her nose at Walker, hovering nearby.

“Why can’t you stay dead?”

“Too much to do,” Walker said calmly. “Come along, Eddie. There are people waiting up ahead that you’re going to want to meet.”

Molly surprised me then, by nodding and smiling in agreement. “You really won’t believe who’s here, Eddie.”

Walker led us across the vast nave to the small group of people waiting in front of the oversized altar. Two of them stood hand in hand, as though they belonged together. The other three stood stiffly on their own. Because of the sheer size of the nave, it took a while to reach them. Molly stuck close by my side, her arm tucked firmly through mine, as though determined not to be separated from me again, even for a moment. The Somnambulist brought up the rear, perhaps to keep any of us from falling behind, or escaping.

But when we finally got to the altar, I recognised the couple standing together. My heart lurched in my chest, and for a moment I couldn’t get my breath. I knew this older man and woman, knew their smiles. They looked so happy to see me.

“Mum?” I said. “Dad?”

I ran forward, and Molly let me go. Though I didn’t realise that until later. I ran to my parents and hugged them both in turn,