“Good-bye, poppet.”
“’Bye, Jack.”
He disconnected, Belle took the phone from her ear and put it on the nightstand.
She stared at the phone realising she forgot to tell him about Cassandra and her scarves.
She licked her lips and took in a breath through her nose.
Oh well, he didn’t seem overly upset about the rest so Cassandra and her abundant use of accessories probably wouldn’t faze him.
She leaned forward and gave each dog a thorough head rub, saying, “I’m hungry. Let’s see about dinner.”
Baron woofed and Gretl got to her feet and did an excited circle.
Belle got up and walked from the room.
The dogs were at her heels as she made her way down the hall, her mind on her now grumbling belly and wondering how long it would take Jack to fly home.
Therefore, as she reached the top of the stairs, it took her by surprise when both Baron and Gretl closed in and started growling.
She stopped and looked at one dog then the other.
Both were pressing close to her legs, both looking back down their bodies, both had teeth bared.
“What on –” Belle started to say but stopped when movement caught her eye and she looked down the steps.
A young, black-headed boy was racing up them.
Not racing, as in treading, but drifting, swiftly, like a shot.
He was see-through.
Belle’s mouth dropped open.
The boy’s pale, ghostly face suddenly filled with terror and he halted.
“Belle! Watch out!” She heard his eerie, disembodied shout right before the dogs started barking and snapping and she felt what seemed like a hand at her back, shoving.
She lost balance, automatically reaching into the air but there was nothing to grab onto.
Therefore she tumbled down the stairs.
She tried to stop her fall but her head cracked against the fifth step with such force she was unconscious by the time her body rolled to a rest at the foot of the stairs.
* * * * *
Lewis and Myrtle
Myrtle zoomed directly to Belle but Lewis floated in suspended animation in the middle of the stairs and, head tipped back, he stared in horror.
The bad man stood at the top of the steps, grinning.
He could see him, see him for the first time ever.
See him shimmering through.
“You,” Lewis whispered, shocked, scared and angry.