Chapter Twenty-Two

Shattered Glass

Lucas sat with his back against the bathroom wall, listening to the water spraying down inside. He had to focus on anything other than the sound to take his mind off the fact that Lacey was in there… His eyes made his way to one of the portraits lining the hallway – it seemed that the Collado Manor was filled with nothing but portraits – depicting a frumpy looking woman holding a tiny thing that could have been a dog under all that fur.

Lucas was still finding it hard to adjusted being in a place like this. It was so far out of his life that it felt almost alien. The carpeted floors upstairs, the polished wooden floors downstairs, the wallpaper that probably cost more than he had ever earned gardening for the old folks. Hell, the property surrounding the Manor seemed to take up half of Eastbourne.

Lucas had only ever known one home – and that home was the streets. The shelters did try but it just wasn't the same. Lucas had never slept under a roof to call his own, never sat around a table with a family, happily chatting about the day. Ever since he had entered the Collado Manor Lucas was self-conscious about his clothes, his hair, and felt like he could feel every single speck of dirt upon his skin. No-one else seemed to notice or care but Lucas felt like he was treading on foreign territory.

Looking away from the picture frame, Lucas tapped the back of his head against the wall, listening to the sounds of running water. He and Zach had been in agreement about Lacey taking a shower after the phone call Naomi had received but in the end Naomi had been correct – they couldn't let Death control their actions; and so far it seemed everything was going fine.

A sudden change in the sound of the water made Lucas' ears perk up. He glanced to the door and listened, straining his ears. He could hear the water like usual but there was something else… like some kind of rattling… right on the edge of his hearing. "Lacey?" Lucas called out, a strange feeling in his stomach making him feel uncomfortable. There was no response. Perhaps she just couldn't hear over the shower. "Lacey?" Lucas repeated, louder. He stood up and put his ear against the door.

He could hear it clearer now – definitely some kind of rattling, accompanied by a strange thudding sound. "Lacey!?" Still nothing. His chest tightened and Lucas let himself call out her name one more time. Still nothing. "I'm coming in!" He called out and pushed open the door, hoping against hope that his feeling was nothing more than paranoia.

Lucas' mind found it hard to adjust to the fact that Lacey was sat down in the shower, weakly moving, holding her hands to her throat. Then he quickly threw away his confusion and rushed forward in a panic. "Lacey!" He pulled open the shower door and looked at the situation with wide eyes.

The shower cord had managed to tangle around Lacey's neck and the floor of the shower was coated in something slick. With the water rushing over his head Lucas quickly put his hands around Lacey's throat, grabbing the cord. Lacey was still weakly moving but her eyes were blood red. It seemed like she couldn't see anything in front of her; her mouth opening and closing lightly. Lucas tried pulling at the cord around her neck. It was too tight – her back trapping the shower head against the wall; he couldn't even get his fingers underneath.

Looking around wildly, he decided to pull at the other end of the cord where it went into the panel that controlled the water. He grit his teeth and pulled as hard as he could, leveraging his feet on the side of the shower. "Come on, come on!" His muscles tensed as he looked desperately at Lacey. Her feet were quivering, her face an awful shade of grey, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. "COME ON!"

All of a sudden the cord snapped and Lucas found himself falling head over heels backwards. The back of his head banged on the hard tile floor but he quickly shook it off and scrambled forward, sliding his hands under the still tight cord. He was able to ease the metal where it pressed against her skin and pulled the cord off.

Almost immediately Lacey started coughing violently and leaned forward, her nails clawing into Lucas' arms. Lucas ignored the pain and hugged her tightly, throwing the cord to the side. Water rushed out of the broken panel, drenching the two of them, but Lucas didn't care. "You're okay, you're okay," Lucas gently pulled Lacey away from the hug and faced her now moving eyes. They were still bloodshot but the colour was already coming back to her face. "You're okay, Lacey… I got you… I got you."

With a light whistle, Zach looked around the impressive library on the third floor of the Collado manor. There were rows upon rows of books of every size and colour imaginable. The shelves reached up to the roof, making many alleys of books. He and Naomi stood in the middle of the room which was made out to be a reading area. Four comfy armchairs with their own lights sat in a circle around a table. To the left and right ran two different main pathways that led into different subject matters. But perhaps the most impressive part of the library stood at the back of the room where a long narrow window stood tall, giving a wonderful view of the gardens.

Zach headed over to this window to look out before turning back to Naomi. "Jesus, Naomi… I knew you came from a well-off family… but this library must contain hundreds of years of knowledge."

"My family have always been avid readers," Naomi said, leaning against one of the chairs. The sun was starting to go down now and left an orange glow through the window, stretching their shadows across the pale green carpeted floor. "But these are not only the books they collected. Whenever they invited visitors, they would ask for books. I expect you would be able to find a book for whatever preference."

"Is there a system to it?" Zach asked as he peered as some large golden letters emblazoned upon a black leather-bound book.

"Not really," Naomi shrugged. "This library is more about discovering new interests rather than finding specifics. But you come to naturally figure out where certain books are and can form your own system, in a way. If you take a book it does not matter where you put it, as long as it is on a shelf."

Zach nodded as he gently slid a long ladder back-and-forth on its rails. There were many of these ladders, to help to get those books that sat all the way to the top of the shelves. It let out a creak as it moved. "It's amazing… really, it is." Zach moved back over to the window. "It makes me think that I should have read more books when I was a kid." He looked at the top shelf of the bookshelf directly next to the window and cocked his head. "What are those ones? They look important."

Naomi followed Zach's gaze and saw the entire row of crimson books. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Ah… Those are… photo albums. My mother's."

"Photos?" Zach suddenly grinned a devilish grin. "I can't miss this chance." He slid the ladder across to the shelf and started to ascend; the wood shaking with every step.

"Do not go up there, Zach," Naomi frowned but Zach was having none of it. He reached up and glanced down to Naomi.

"Come on, photos are always interesting. I'd like to see what you were like when you were younger."

Naomi bit her lip though Zach had turned away before he saw. She didn't want Zach to look at any early photos but he had already taken one crimson-bound book out of the shelf. However, before he could open the book the doors of the library suddenly burst open. Both he and Naomi quickly looked to see Lucas standing in the doorway, looking bedraggled. The boy's eyes immediately saw Zach up high and he ran forward. "Get down, Zach!"

"Wha-?"

"I just managed to save Lacey – we've skipped her! You're next!" Lucas stopped next to Naomi, panting. "It was… It was a close one… It was…" He shook his head, panting.

"Where is she now?" Naomi asked quickly.

"Up in the bedroom. She needed rest… She'll be okay for now, I had to come down and warn you so get down, Zach!"

"Got it," Zach nodded, adjusting his weight to put the book back on the shelf. However the ladder let out another long creak and suddenly shifted its weight. "Wh-Whoa!" Zach's foot slipped and he teetered backwards.

"Zach!" Naomi started forward but Zach managed to grab the top of the ladder.

"Don't worry, I'm fi—" Zach's voice was cut off as the ladder suddenly snapped free of its fittings at the top of the bookshelf. Time seemed to slow for a moment as Zach and the ladder tilted sideways – directly towards the straight narrow window of the library. Zach seemed to sense the danger and decided to let go off the ladder – dropping straight down. He landed hard on his ankle and fell to one knee with a cry of pain. The ladder swung down sideways and crashed into the window.

The glass shattered with a loud crash and the ladder went straight through, tumbling down to the garden below. Zach quickly raised his hands to protect himself from the falling glass. One shard cut into his arm, drawing blood, and he yelled out again. The ladder landed with a thud below and the glass settled, leaving Zach to look a little bit dazed, a little bit bloody, but otherwise okay.

"Ah… Mother of…" Zach slowly pushed himself to his feet, looking at both Naomi and Lucas, both of whom hadn't had a chance to react to the sudden accident. Zach forced a grin and clutched at his arm. "…Don't worry, I'm fine. I guess—" Zach's ankle suddenly buckled and he teetered backwards in shock towards the now broken window. He desperately grabbed at the wall to catch hold but only ended up digging loose shards of glass into the palms of his hands. He cried out in pain and let go instinctively – and lost all leverage.

Lucas was still stuck in shock – too exhausted mentally from discovering Lacey only a few minutes before. Naomi, however, managed to regain her senses. The moment Zach caught the wall she rushed forward. As Zach lost his grip and fell backwards into open area, Naomi managed to lunge forward and grab the front of his collar. She used one arm to brace herself on the wall and hooked her leg against the bottom broken window frame.

There was a tearing sound as the glass ripped through the fabric of her skirt as Naomi and Zach both moved backwards together – but Naomi used surprising strength to push back on the wall and practically threw both herself and Zach back into the room. They tumbled to the floor together, landing painfully on their backs.

Both sat up and Naomi looked to Zach urgently. "Are you okay? Your hands?"

"Never-mind that!" Zach pushed up to his knees – ignoring the blood dripping from his palms – and started to push the hem of Naomi's skirt up to look at her legs.

"DON'T!" Naomi's shout and the way she said it surprised Zach enough for him to draw back as if hit. Naomi quickly moved backwards and stood up with her back against the bookshelf, tugging her skirt down.

"That glass went into your legs—"

"I'm fine!" Naomi shot back before finally controlling her speech. "I am… I am fine. It only caught my skirt."

Naomi stared at Zach as if pleading with him not to continue with that line of conversation. Zach looked at her strangely before shrugging and glancing down to his palms. He winced at the open wounds. "Shit… I guess this is a small price to pay for you saving my life but mother of mercy does this hurt." He grit his teeth in pain. "I'll go wash these off. Do you have a first aid kit around this manor at all?"

"I'll get it for you," Naomi said. "Go, wash that off." Zach quickly limped off to clean up his wounds while Naomi double-checked her skirt. Satisfied, she took a brief glance around the library and went to follow Zach – but as she passed Lucas, he quickly grabbed her arm. "What is it?" She asked.

"I saw…" Lucas started, looking at Naomi strangely.

"You saw nothing!" Naomi hissed, her voice full of venom. "You breathe a single word to anyone…"

"Why hide—"

"I will need your help treating Zach – and Lacey as well, while we are at it. Go up to Lacey, I will be there shortly with Zach." She motioned to the glass shards and the broken window. "We'll clean this up later… I need to phone the others as well… let us go, come on." With that interruption, Naomi strode out of the room, leaving Lucas to watch her, trying to figure out just what it was he saw – and just why it was that she was hiding it. Shrugging to himself, he quickly followed after Naomi, wanting to ensure that Lacey was okay.