Chapter 3
Tim was walking into the cemetery...no, he was dancing into the cemetery, arms out as if he was holding a partner. His eyes were open...for all that it mattered.
Tony looked at Gibbs.
Gibbs got out his gun and Tony followed suit.
Then, they got out of the car and ran for the cemetery.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
She was so beautiful. Tim didn't think he'd ever had such a beautiful dance partner. She melted in his arms. Steps he didn't know came to him with ease and they whirled in the dance together. He'd heard before that dancing was a vertical expression of a horizontal desire. He'd never believed it.
Until now.
He was in ecstasy as they danced, whirling together, as one.
The lights in the ballroom began to dim. He slowed.
"Don't stop," she said. "You can't stop until the music is over."
Tim smiled.
She smiled, too.
They continued to dance.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim danced into the cemetery before they could get to him. In spite of the situation, they actually paused. Everyone in the town was afraid of going into the cemetery after dark. They'd seen the gate open without anyone there to do it.
Something was going on...
...but if Tim was getting pulled into the same thing that killed the other two men, they weren't going to stand by and wait.
They ran into the cemetery.
...and stopped, in shock, in the ballroom.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
The lights were almost out, but the music kept playing.
"I'm getting tired."
"We can't stop until the music stops."
"How long will the music last?"
"Until it's over."
She smiled and twirled in his arms.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
If they looked back, they could see the dark street. They could see the gate.
If they looked forward, they could see a ballroom, the lights getting dimmer and dimmer.
Full of people.
Dancing.
The music, though...
"What is going on?" Tony asked in a whisper.
No one seemed to notice them.
"Find McGee. That's all that matters."
"I think being able to get out of here afterward will matter, too."
"Yeah...but we're not leaving without McGee."
The room was large. It was full.
They started into the crowd.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
The music didn't end. It kept going and going.
Tim was getting very tired. He had tried to stop.
He couldn't.
His partner didn't seem affected at all.
"When will the music stop?" he asked.
"When it's over," she said again.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tony barely suppressed a shout of surprise when he got his first clear look at the dancers.
There were ball gowns. Suits.
...and skeletons.
Everyone dancing was a skeleton.
"They're dead," he said, in shock.
"The dance of death," Gibbs said softly.
"Does that mean that Tim is..."
"No. He's alive. Meaning that he should stand out."
Tony nodded, glad to go along with what Gibbs said.
The music continued without ceasing.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"I can't keep dancing," Tim said, tiredly. "I need to stop."
"You can't stop. Not until it's over."
Tim tried to pull away from his partner.
He couldn't.
Then, he really looked her in the eye for the first time.
...and there was no eye.
Instead of the deep blue eyes he'd thought she had, he was looking into the empty holes of a skull.
"Keep dancing," the skeleton said. "We have to keep dancing...until it's over."
Tim tried to pull away more frantically.
He couldn't.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"I can't get a good look at anyone, Boss," Tony said.
Gibbs looked at the whirl of dancers. Never stopping. The speed of the dance seemed to increase, making it even harder to see in the almost darkness of the room. It was almost a frenzy instead of a dance.
"McGee!" he shouted.
Nothing.
Gibbs looked at Tony.
Tony didn't particularly want to attract the attention of a whole bunch of dead people to himself, but he could see Gibbs' point. They took a breath and shouted together as loudly as they could.
"MCGEE!"
The whirl of dancers stopped. For a terrifying moment, there was a mass of skeletons staring at them.
Then, the ballroom vanished, the dancers vanished. ...or most of the dancers vanished.
They were standing in the cemetery.
In the darkness.
Tim was in the grip of a woman. He was fighting to get free.
He looked pale, almost transparent.
The woman glowed in the dark.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"We can't stop until it's over," she said again.
"When will it be over?" Tim asked.
"Never."
She smiled.
"MCGEE!"
The sound penetrated the music all around him. Tim frantically tried to pull away from his partner. His captor.
The ballroom faded away. He was in the cemetery beside the statues. The woman was there, no longer looking like a skeleton, but no longer looking human, either. Her face was superficially human but there was something else in her features.
"No!"
"We will not stop until it's over," she said again.
"McGee!"
Tim tried to turn toward the sound, but he couldn't. He couldn't move away. He couldn't fight her. Things started to get fuzzy for the first time in the two days of strange events.
"I must have you!" she said. "I must!"
"Let him go!"
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim was started to fade. Literally. Somehow they knew that if they didn't stop this, there would be another body on the ground, another mysterious death that couldn't be explained by anything in the real world.
"Let him go!" Gibbs demanded.
The woman...for lack of a better word...looked at them. Her eyes seemed to glow with an unearthly light.
"We will not stop until it's over," she said.
They had their guns, but would they help?
Tim was obviously trapped, but would she have a body they could really shoot?
The glow of her eyes surrounded Tim and he began to sink toward the ground. She let him go, seemed to grow larger, brighter.
Gibbs didn't even pause. He fired.
But she didn't react until the bullet hit the statue. The light flickered.
Gibbs looked at Tony and, as one, they started shooting at the statue. The woman began to scream.
So did Tim.
"He is MINE!" she screamed.
"No way," Gibbs said. "He belongs to me. He's on my team and you can't have him."
She came toward them, her hands out, ready to grab hold. The glow around Tim was fading. It collected around her hands. She reached Tony, grabbed hold of him.
Instantly, he felt himself start to weaken.
"I will not lose you!" she said. "I will not!"
Tony tried to fight her, but something was stopping him.
Then, suddenly, she screamed again and again.
He felt stronger and pulled away from the glow.
One last scream.
"I will not go!"
Tony fell to his knees.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
The statue.
Somewhere inside him, he noticed that the statue was being destroyed and it weakened her.
The glow was gone. He felt as though he was nothing, but if he was, he would try to stop her before he disappeared completely.
Weakly, he pulled himself to the statue. He tried to stand. He tried to fight for energy he didn't have. He pushed at the statue.
Nothing happened.
He pushed again.
It tottered.
Once more.
It fell from the pedestal and smashed to pieces on the ground. He turned.
A black shape appeared and began to surround the woman.
He could see a human...ish...figure. Arms around her. The black cape swirled about the pair of them. It was almost intimate.
"It is your time. Long ago. It is your time."
She screamed.
The blackness around her was complete.
She screamed.
She vanished.
The music stopped.
Tim fell to the ground.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Gibbs knelt beside Tony.
"You all right?"
"Yeah...McGee."
Gibbs pulled Tony to his feet and they ran over to where Tim was lying on the ground beside the shattered remains of the statue.
He wasn't moving.
"Tim," Tony said.
They rolled him over.
"Tim."
He was pale.
He wasn't moving.
Tony looked around the cemetery.
It was empty.
"Come on, McGee, snap out of it. I wanna go home."
Tim still didn't move.
A swirl of black.
Gibbs stood and faced the dark shape.
"It's not his time," Gibbs said.
Tony shook Tim.
"Wake up, Tim. Wake up!"
"You have the one you should have," Gibbs said quietly. "It's not his time."
There was a moment of complete silence. Then, the black shape whirled away.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim took a breath and opened his eyes.
He was on his back...in the cemetery. He sat up quickly.
Too quickly.
A black curtain started to fall over his eyes. He began to fall back, but someone caught him.
"You all right now, McGee?"
"Tony?" Tim asked.
"You blind, McGee?"
Tim blinked a few times. His vision began to clear. He looked at Tony.
"No. I don't hear the music anymore."
"Good. You shouldn't be hearing that music."
"She was dead," Tim said.
Gibbs knelt down.
"They were all dead."
"Yeah, they were," Gibbs said.
"Why?"
"Don't know...but I think she's gone now," Tony said.
"You think you can get up?" Gibbs asked.
"I don't know."
"Why did you leave the hospital?"
"I heard the music."
"What music did you hear there?"
"The music," Tim said.
"Let's get you out of here," Gibbs said.
Tim nodded, but he was still wondering about everything that had happened. Gibbs and Tony lifted him to his feet, and he nearly collapsed again.
"Gotta stay awake until we get out of here, McGee," Tony said.
"Sure...okay...just..." Tim looked around.
"Let's go, McGee," Gibbs said. "Let's just get out."
They made their unsteady way to the gate.
It was closed.
"It was open before," Tony said.
Tim looked at the gate. He was too tired to worry about it. He sagged lower and then felt Gibbs push him over onto Tony. He walked to the gate, fiddled with the lock for a few minutes and the pushed open the gate.
Tim felt Tony lug him to the gate. As they went through to the street, Tim felt a sudden pull. He heard a burst of music and he turned back. He thought he saw lights...
"Keep moving, McGee," Gibbs said.
"But...the music..."
"There's no music," Tony said. "Let's go."
Tim allowed himself to be pulled out of the cemetery.
As soon as they were on the sidewalk, he felt himself fading away. He sagged again.
"Wait until we're in the car, McGee."
"Don't know if I can..."
"You can," Gibbs said.
The curtain of black fell over his vision again. He was leaning against the car, unable to see anything.
Then, he was sitting in the car. Then, he was lying on the seat.
"Now, you can pass out, McGee."
"Okay," Tim said.
...and passed out.