Page 15 of Feathered Web

“It reminds me of the Pest House Cemetery over in Whisper Hollow. I wonder if they’re all like this. So much death and pain and loneliness can’t help but imprint on the area,” Kerris said. She began to walk toward one of the mausoleums. It was small—they all were—but still impressive.

Shrines to the dead, I thought. Set up to stop the hands of time, to push back against mortality and remind people that the inhabitants had once walked this Earth, as alive and vibrant as we were now.

Death was an odd thing—we traveled through life and then, often in the blink of an eye, we faded away, left behind. Or gone ahead, perhaps? To another world? Whatever direction, we were no longer woven into the tapestry that made up the living mass of humanity. And all our dreams and plans and hopes faded into the past.

“Are you all right?” Rowan asked.

I shrugged. “Just thinking about death. It’s the one thing most of us fear, and yet it’s the one commonality we all have. Regardless of our differences, regardless of our similarities, we all come to that day when we must say goodbye. And then…we become memories for others.”

“We travel on, though,” she said. “You know there’s no end to the spirit—to the essential self. We transition, we change. We move on ahead. We go ’round on the Wheel again and again, and with each journey, we hopefully evolve until we’re ready to let go of the physical and move on to another realm, beyond the physical. Beyond the spirit world.” Rowan glanced at Kerris. “Can you pinpoint where Penelope is?”

Kerris began walking around the graveyard, stopping at each mausoleum. The first, she shook her head at. And the second as well. But the third one, at the far end of the cemetery, she paused and nodded.

“Here—” she started to say but quieted when Abernethy reappeared. He was breathing heavily as though he’d just run a marathon.

“I’m back,” he said. “I need to ask you to go back inside. While I was there, I got a call from one of my employers. He’s going to arrive shortly and I can’t have you out here.”

We hustled out. I didn’t want to be around if one of the Covenant of Chaos members showed up.

“We have to leave anyway,” I said. “Thank you for the tour. We’ll talk to you soon.”

“What about my great-grandma—” Abernethy started to say, but we were back at the house and heading for the front door.

“I’ll talk to you later. I didn’t find her grave yet, but I’ll be glad to give it another try,” I said, waving as we hurried out the door and toward the parking lot.

Leaving a bewildered Abernethy behind, we were in the car and pulling out when a large, black sedan pulled in. The windows were tinted—probably to an illegal level—and we averted our gaze, trying to remain anonymous as our car passed theirs. Another moment and I did my best to snap a picture of the back of the car, trying to get the license plate.

As we headed home, I leaned back against the seat. “Well, what do you think?”

“She’s there,” Kerris said. “I think we should sneak back at night. Otherwise, Abernethy’s going to notice that we’re there. And I want to do it quickly, before they have a chance to move her or try to destroy her. While I don’t think they could kill her, so to speak, I don’t want them to disrupt her.”

“There’s another issue besides Penelope,” I said. “Agnes and the doctor. I’d like to help, if I can.”

“Who do you think summoned him back?” Kerris asked.

“Who else but the Covenant of Chaos?” Rowan said. “I wonder what they’re planning.”

“Agnes seems to think it was Penelope. Anyway, I might be wrong but I have the feeling they may reopen the Pest House as a haunted B&B. Did you notice how neatly all the bedrooms were made up? There have been some renovations done there lately.”

“That would make sense,” Rowan said. “And you know it would draw ghost hunters of all kinds.”

“Agnes told me this: If we don’t help, he threatens us with obliteration. I don’t want to frighten people. I don’t like being used as a sideshow feature. So yeah, I think the future of the Pest House is headed toward the haunted house route.” I shook my head. “Can you imagine being dead and being forced to play up to tourists? Being imprisoned and used as a prop?”

Both Rowan and Kerris grimaced.

“That’s so wrong,” Kerris said.

“When we get home, let’s look up this Dr. Myopa. And we can make plans to return to look for Penelope. You said you think she’s in that third mausoleum?” Rowan asked.

Kerris nodded. “I know she is. You know, if they do try to turn it into a hotel, then it would make sense to have a Gatekeeper. But only if she was under your control, because her job is to help spirits cross through the Veil. In this case, they’d want to keep the spirits around.”

“Is the Gatekeeper strong enough to prevent them from crossing over?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, she could do that. But only if she’s under their control.” Kerris frowned. “That would kill two birds with one stone—if you’re right. It would get her out of Whisper Hollow, for the Hounds, and then it would also prevent the dead from leaving the Pest House, for the Covenant of Chaos. But they’d have to figure out how to control her.”

“How would you do that?” I asked.

Rowan let out a deep sigh. “There are ways. Old spells, meant to control the dead. I think we need to visit Charles Crichton at the library. He can help us with research. He’s well-versed in local lore, and the Pest House is close enough to Moonshadow Bay that he should know something about it.”

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