IN THE MOOD
Chapter 34: Moonlight Serenade

We broke to eat after "In the Mood," and then got up again to dance. Most of us made it through another three songs, switching partners every song; it was so much fun to just let loose with the new friends we'd made. After dancing with Steve for a song, I was leaning against the table in the main hall, watching Steve go to Sissy for the next dance, and I smiled at the sweetness of it all. It was then, as the sounds of Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" filled the house, I felt a hand on mine.

"Mrs. Hardaway?" It was Nick. He took up my hand and kissed it. "May I have this dance?"

"You're in luck, sir," I grinned as my husband pulled me in towards him. "I've only one spot left on my dance card, I'm afraid."

"Well it looks as if I've come to you just in time, then," he smiled. We were the last ones dancing, aside from Sissy and Steve; the others had retired to the living room to rest by the fire. Nick and I kept dancing for what seemed like ages.

It was when I was leaning against him, resting my head on his chest, that the exhaustion hit. I could have fallen asleep right there. "Mmm....." I shook my head.

"You alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I just--" I yawned, covering my mouth. "I'm so sleepy."

"C'mon, then. Let's go in with the others."

Finding an empty sofa in the living room, I collapsed, and Nick was right behind me. He sat down next to me, and as I put my head in his lap he drew in his jacket around me. It was a dangerous thing, really; I didn't want to fall asleep right there. Cathy started to worry about Bollinger.

"Oh, he'll turn up," Emery told her.

"And speaking of which, where's Vic?" Pam asked.

"Right here." Vic's voice found us as he walked into the room with a smile on his face. "Anyone care to dance?"

"Oh, not me; I'm pooped," Pam smiled. "Where were you?"

"I lost my book." He held it up.

"So.... Joyce," I nestled up against Nick further, smiling. "How about one more story before bed, hmm?"

"Yes," Nick agreed. "Tell us about Mr. Posey, Rimbauer's business partner."

Joyce nodded. "In nineteen fourteen, the war in Europe was heating up the economy. Omicron Oil was in clover, and the money was rolling in. But John Rimbauer was tired of sharing it. In October of that same year, he gave Douglas Posey the bum's rush."
 "According to family legend, um...." Steve cleared his throat and shifted in his seat next to Joyce. "Uncle Posey had a taste for cowboys."

"Ah. He liked chaps in chaps," Nick kept a straight face, but across the room, Cathy smiled. "Was he into roping, or branding?"

I laughed, swatting Nick, and he smiled at me. "You are positively indecent," I told him.

"Yeah," Steve chuckled. "Probably a little bit of both."

"John Rimbauer bought him out at distress sale prices, and told him never to come back to Rose Red..... but he did, once, in nineteen-fifteen, while John was in Europe and Adam and April were at home with their mom. Apparently Posey hung himself in front of the fireplace here. He tossed Adam his cowboy hat, and to April, he tossed a rose. He then slipped the noose around his neck and kicked out the chair."

"Granddad never forgot Posey tossing him that Tom Mix hat. He wanted to keep it and threw a fit when his mother took it away. And he never forgot that rose, either."

"Why here?" Sissy asked. "Why a year later?"

"If you wanted answers, you came to the wrong place."

"After that, John and Ellen kept Adam out of Rose Red as much as possible. They sent him to boarding school shortly thereafter."

"Yeah, my family tends to keep away from this place. I've been here only a half-dozen times, and only once did I ever go off alone, and I was eight at the time."

"Wait," Joyce puzzled. "I thought your father--"

"My father hated this place. He feared it. It was my mother that brought me. I forgot until today; Nick reminded me, actually. Mom probably couldn't find a babysitter. She was looking for loot, but I think she was drunk. She so often was in those days. After we lost the oil company, we were completely broke."

"So while Mum was treasure hunting, you got lost?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, it- it was no big deal, but--"

I sat up. I could tell by the look on Steve's face Nick was getting to something.

"You were upstairs before you realized where you were, one floor above the mirror library. Or was it three? Ten? Because when this place gets going, when it's feeling lively, when it has energy to draw upon, it can make itself as big as it wants, can't it? And finally, you got to the top, and that's when--"

He was cut off by the doors slamming shut; I nearly jumped clear out of my skin as everything around us began to shake. The lights started to flicker and spark, and soon, the sparks were showering down around us. I shielded my face.

Joyce was up in a flash, checking her equipment. "What is it, do you know?" she shouted over the racket. Pam nearly fell over the coffee table in her confusion and fear, and I raced to catch her.

"I gotcha, Pam!"

"It's a cluster manifestation!" Nick called out to Joyce. "It's like an earthquake!" He shouted for me then.

"I'm alright! I'm right here."

"The house is coming alive!" Cathy wailed.

"No telemetry readings, no..... no nothing! No readings whatsoever!" Joyce cried out, furiously going over her equipment again and again. "Dammit!"

The biggest spark of all ignited straight above us then, and I screamed. Nick was on me in a second, shielding me.

"Oh, God, why won't it stop?!" I howled.

"There are so many of them here, Joyce!" Cathy shouted. "I can feel them!"

Glancing over Nick's arm to the others, I found Emery at the fireplace, just as freaked as the rest of us. He turned to face the fireplace in time-- the flames leap out at him and knock him flat on his back. In a split second, everything stopped, and the only light source in the room was the fire in the fireplace. Nick clung to me tightly as we looked around in confusion.

It was so quiet, even after the craziness we'd just seen. "Liza? You alright?" Nick looked at me.

"I-- I'm fine," I nodded, still a little frazzled. Emery was on his back, panting, when suddenly, an antique little wicker bassinet on wheels came rolling out in front of the fire. Emery flipped over onto his hands and knees, bolting up to glance inside. There was a rag doll, much like the one Annie had brought with her, amongst boxes of dominoes. Annie, thrilled to have a companion for her doll, snatched the new one, against her sister's wishes.

"Do you--" Pam cocked her head. "Wait, do you hear that?"

"Summer Place." Sissy nodded, and her voice dropped. "Annie's favorite song."

And then there it was again-- that same blue light that had appeared to us in the Mirrored Library earlier in the day. It shone upwards and outwards, with the slight indication of a face in there.

"Annie......"

The girl's eyes went wide again in anticipation, and she reached out for the little voice. But that time, Steven was ready. He picked up a glass from dinner and chucked it straight for the light, and it worked-- the blue light disappeared, the electricity came back and the doors swung open.

"I'd advise none of you to go wandering tonight," Joyce smiled. "You'd agree, Steve?"

"As a matter of fact, I would."

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MUSIC:

Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade," of course..… :) It's a beautiful song!