Chapter 22
Hotch held Kahlan's hand as he started up the stairs to the tower. The way went slowly as he tried to focus on the winding stairs in front of him and Kahlan behind him. The closer they got, the slower she went, and he could feel her shaking slightly. "Come on, Babe. There's nothing to worry about," he told her tenderly as they went up.
She took a deep breath, but she didn't say anything. After a few more minutes, she stopped. "There aren't any webs up here," she told him quietly.
Hotch stopped and looked at her. "What?"
"Why aren't there any webs up here?" she asked as she studied the wall.
"Because it's an open stairwell. There's no place for them to accumulate."
She shot him a look that told him she didn't agree and then squatted down to examine to the steps. The candle shook as she moved it closer to the steps. "Those are drag marks."
Hotch bent down to look at what she was referring to. He moved his candle along the steps in front of him and the marks continued up the stairs past them.
"They're drag marks," she repeated.
"I don't think so," Hotch told her as he stood up. At least I'm not going to tell you that they are.
She huffed as she stood back up. "They are not animal tracks."
"It's hard to say what they are," is all he offered. He held out his hand to her. "Come on, we're almost there."
She looked at his hand and licked her lips. "You go ahead. I'll wait here and you can let me know what you find."
He took a step back to her. "No. You are going with me."
She looked behind her and for a second he thought she was going to run back down the stairs, but she joined him on his step as a loud noise came up from the bottom. "What was that?" she demanded as she hid behind him.
With her getting in behind him, he was dangerously close to the edge of the steps, so he went up a step. "Something fell over."
"There wasn't anything down there to fall over!" she insisted quietly.
"Then I don't know," he started and had to hide a smile. "Are you sure you want to go back down there?"
She looked back and forth between up and down as she weighed her options. She moved to the edge of the steps and tried to see down into the darkness. He put his hand on her shoulder as her closeness to the edge made him nervous; he tried not to think about what would happen if she fell, but it was too late and he had to mentally shake his head to get the image to flee. "Up or down?" he finally asked as she moved closer to the wall.
She looked him in the eyes. "Your options suck."
He chuckled. "Yeah, but they are the only two you have at the moment."
The sound of scraping stone coming up from the bottom made her choice for her, and she went past him a couple steps at a time. "Kahlan! Wait up," he yelled as he tried to catch up with her.
She stopped as she breathed heavily. "You going to tell me that was something natural, too?"
He shrugged. "It's hard to say what it was."
"You're not the least bit bothered by any of this are you?" she asked as she studied him.
"No," he told her as he squared his shoulders.
She huffed and then looked back down the stairs as another bang made her flinch. He watched her. He was worried about her falling from the open stairs in a panic and he was starting to regret bringing her. She swallowed hard and took a tentative step up. "Maybe there's another way out of the tower," she suggested weakly.
"Maybe," he told her as she went up another step and he stayed close.
The stairs led to a trap door in the wooden floor of the tower, and Kahlan just stared at it as if would attack her. Hotch got up beside her and looked at the door and then at her. She was biting her lip so hard he thought she might actually bite through it. "Babe?"
She shook her head slowly. "Let me guess, you still can't feel it?"
His look told her he didn't. "Going in?"
A shriek from below made her move in behind him so quickly he almost lost his footing. "Jesus Christ! What the hell was that?!" she asked as she cowered in the corner.
Hotch looked down into the darkness. "I have no idea," he told her slowly. Her breathing was so ragged he thought she might start to hyperventilate. "Could it have been one of the falcons?"
"And it just happens to be in these passageways?"
"There are windows, Kahlan. Maybe the sound traveled from outside," he offered as he bent down beside her and put a hand on her knee.
Her eyes darted around as she considered it. After a few moments, she finally looked at him sheepishly. "I guess I look pretty stupid down here, huh?"
He shook his head. "I would never think that," he told her seriously, but then he smiled. "We can't stay here all night."
She took a deep breath. "I know," she told him as she accepted his hand and stood up. "Our candles would never last that long."
He had to hold back a chuckle. "Going in?" he asked as he looked at the door.
She eyed the latch as she chewed on her bottom lip. Her head tilted to the side as she looked at the ceiling above her. Her brows furrowed as she held her candle up to get a better look. She moved past her husband to look at it further.
"What?" he asked as she moved past him. He watched her, but he was focused on her feet as she got close to the edge of the stairs. When her toes were clearly hanging off the edge, his breath hitched in his chest. "Kahlan!"
"That's blood!" she told him as she pointed up.
He didn't look up; he grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled her back. "Jesus, Babe!"
"Isn't that blood?" she asked as she pointed again.
He finally looked up and saw a dark stain on the ceiling. It was obvious that something had leaked through the floor above at one time or another. "Not necessarily," he offered.
Her look told him that she didn't believe him. "Someone died up there."
"It's a castle. It has seen a lot of turbulent times, so it would surprise me more if no one had died up there."
She pursed her lips as she considered it.
"People have probably died in every room of this place."
Her head snapped to him. "Thanks, Aaron!"
He chuckled. "Well, it has been through a lot."
She took a deep breath.
He reached for the latch. With all of the rust all over it, it was obvious it hadn't been used in a while.
"Maybe it won't open and we won't have to go in it," she told him and he could hear the hope in her tone.
With a little urging from some well sculpted muscles, the latch busted free from its holder. He shot her a look and she cringed as he went up a couple steps and then swung the door open all the way. Several high pitched screams emitted within the tower and the newly opened space was flooded with bats.
A few colorful words escaped Hotch as he ducked his head and stumbled back a few steps to avoid the winged creatures.
Once the bats were swallowed by the darkness of the open stairwell, Kahlan laughed at him sitting on the step at her feet. "You're not afraid of ghosts and evil, but you're afraid of a little Fuzzy?"
Hotch stood up and straightened his shirt trying to recover some of his dignity. "They were a lot bigger than Fuzzy!"
She chuckled. "And yet, I bet you haven't touched Fuzzy either," she said in an accusing tone.
He huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Are we going up?"
She studied him. "You are afraid of bats!"
"I am not!" he countered. "They just startled me!"
"Uh-huh."
"They almost pushed me down the stairs!"
"Yeah, cause all of those bats weighed so much more than you."
He huffed. "At least they were real," he challenged.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "Go, if you are going. If not, move out of my way."
He swallowed hard at the threat in her voice. "I was just kidding, Babe."
"Sure you were."
More scrapping noises from below made her push past him and go up into the tower. He had to grab the open doorway to stop himself from being pushed too close to the edge. Jesus, Babe! He took a deep breath and followed her up.
The moonlight seeping in through the many windows bathed the tower in an eerie light and he surveyed the room quickly: an ancient desk and chair were in front of one of the bigger window openings; a bookcase was set in between two of the other windows and it still housed several old objects; a big animal fur that was obviously used as a rug was folded over next to the trapdoor; there was a big, round metal something or other suspended from the ceiling and the half burnt logs proved it to be a fireplace set up in the center of the room; and off by itself, along the wall, was a huge, beautifully ornate, gilded mirror.
She was standing in the middle of the floor, silently looking around. He turned and shut the trapdoor because he didn't want either of them to accidently fall through the opening. "Doesn't look so bad," he offered as he went up behind her and put his hands on her waist.
She flinched when he touched her and she turned around quickly. "Don't do that!" she insisted.
"What?"
"Sneak up on me!"
"I didn't. I was talking to you," he defended himself as he studied her.
Her eyes left him and strayed to the side. He turned and realized she was looking at the mirror. Her eyes slowly made their way back to him. "Do you feel that?" she asked as she looked at the mirror again.
"What?"
"Like we're being watched."
He put his hands on her face and pulled her attention back to him. "We are the only ones up here, Kahlan."
She locked eyes with him and he could see fear in hers. "Physically that is."
He gave her a look that told her she was being irrational. "Babe," he started but she pulled away from him and went across the room. "Kahlan?"
She held up a hand and silenced him. "Do you hear that?" she asked in a whisper.
He stilled and listened, but he couldn't hear anything. "No."
She tiled her head. "You don't hear that?" she asked so quietly that he had to strain to hear her.
He walked over to her and listened again. "No."
She sighed and looked around.
"What does it sound like?"
She tilted her head again. "Like a beat or a drumming."
"It's probably your own heart in your ears."
She shot him a dirty look. "I know what that sounds like, Aaron!"
He held up his hands in submission. "Sorry. It was just a thought."
The chair by the desk suddenly fell over and she about fell over him trying to get behind him. "I supposed that was the wind, too?"
Hotch eyed the chair. "Had to be."
"And yet I haven't felt any wind."
He walked over to the chair.
"Don't touch it!" she yelled as he reached down for it.
He shot her a look and sat the chair back up. It wobbled and then fell again. "One of the legs is shorter. It's not stable."
She took a step back. "And yet it was standing just fine all this time." A glass globe rolled off a shelf of the bookcase and shattered on the floor behind her causing her to jump again. "Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed as she turned to see what had made the noise. "And what's your reasoning behind that?" she demanded to know.
He walked over to the book case and several things on it moved with the vibration of his walking. "Our walking and your jumping jarred it loose."
Her head snapped to the mirror. "I guess you didn't see that either?" she asked and he could tell she was on the verge of tears.
"What?" he asked gently as he made his way back to her.
She looked away from the mirror and squeezed her eyes shut. "I want to leave now."
He looked at the mirror. "If you saw something in the mirror, it was just a reflection, Babe."
Their candles blinked out and she dropped hers. "Can we please leave now?" she asked weakly.
He bent down and picked up the dropped candle. "Kahlan, there is nothing up here," he told her seriously. "Look at me, Babe," he told her as he put his hands on her shoulders. She slowly opened her eyes. "Whatever you think you are hearing or seeing is just your imagination running away with you, Babe, or a trick of the dim light, or the settling of an old floor that hasn't had anyone on it a long time."
She swallowed hard. "I want to leave."
He studied her and realized she was on the verge of panic again. "Why?"
She shook her head hastily.
He looked at the mirror. "You saw something in that?" he asked as he pointed to it.
She whimpered and nodded, and he noticed her hands were balled into fists. He started to turn her and she tried to pull out of his grasp as soon as she realized what he was doing. "No!" she yelled as he gripped her jacket to stop her from fleeing.
"You made me face myself in a mirror when I didn't want to see what was in it," he told her quickly as he tried to get a better handle on her.
She squirmed and tried, but she couldn't get away from him. "But that was your own reflection!" she told him as she stomped on his foot to try to get him to let her go.
"Ow!" he yelled as he finally let her go. "That's all you are going to see, too," he insisted as he rubbed his foot on the back of his calf.
"You want to see what's in the mirror? Then you see. I am not going up to it," she told him with enough of an edge in her voice that he knew better than to try and change her mind.
"Ok, Kahlan. I just didn't want you to go tearing out of here," he tried to defend himself.
"Do it if you're going to!" she demanded.
He ran a hand down his face and then turned to the mirror. "Alright. You will see that there is nothing to be scared of," he told her as he walked up to the mirror. He looked at her in the mirror and raised his brows as if to say 'see?'
She eyed him coldly.
"Nothing there, just a normal reflection," he told her as he watched her in the mirror.
Suddenly the mirror shattered, fell from the wall, and started to fall forward. Kahlan dove and tackled her husband. As they rolled out of the way, the mirror crashed onto the floor right where Hotch had been standing.
They both sat in stunned silence as they watched the dust settle around the fallen mirror. His head snapped to her and disbelief was clearly etched on his face.
She shook her head at him. "I guess that was the floor settling, too."
He swallowed hard. "You said you wanted to leave?"
"Yeah," she told him as they got up.
"Ok," he told her and went and opened the trap door. She lit the candles and they started their descent.
Once they reached the bottom, she took the lead, and they went the whole way in silence as they were both lost in their own thoughts.
They emerged from the passageway into the hall, blew out the candles, and made their way to their room. Hotch watched her as she went into the bathroom, and he had to wonder if she was still mad at him. He followed her. "I'm sorry I grabbed you like that," he told her as he cleaned himself up and got his pajamas on.
She studied him. "It's alright. I was probably close to running just like you thought." She went up to him and put her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry I stepped on your foot."
He raised his brows. "Stepped? More like pulverized."
She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."
He grabbed her hand and led her to the bed. "It's late. Let's try to get some sleep," he told her as he climbed in.
She waited for him to settle and then snuggled up against his side. "Admit it. That mirror scared you."
He huffed. "Yeah. That thing probably weighs a ton. It could have crushed me."
"You know that's not what I meant."
He reached over and shut off the light. "I have no idea what you mean," he told her and then kissed her on the head.
"Sure you don't."
The dark hid his smile. "Goodnight, Babe."
She snuggled in tighter. "Goodnight, Hun."
XXX
The next morning after breakfast, Hotch caught Coll in the hall when no one else was around. "I want to thank you," Hotch started quietly. "What you did was perfect. You did just enough to keep her from turning back," Hotch told him with a grin.
Coll looked at him questioningly. "The horses got out last night, and I didn't get to go into the passages ways like you asked me to. I was actually coming to apologize."
"What?" Hotch 's heart skipped a beat. "You weren't in the passageways?"
"No, sir. I didn't even get back in from the horses until the sun was coming up."
Hotch swallowed hard. "Oh."
Coll looked at him warily. "So you've already done it? I don't need to do anything?"
"No, but thank you," Hotch told him and Coll walked away shaking his head. Hotch looked back towards the dining room. I will never tease you again, Babe. He ran a hand down his face and fought back a shudder.