บท 4: Chapter 4 : Into the multiverse.
I dumped Plover's body in a dark corner of the corridor, propping him up against the wall after stuffing a sock in his mouth and taping up his hands and feet behind him with duct tape. Another piece of tape over his mouth and I was done securing him.
Then, once I made sure the front door was locked, just in case some idiot walked in to check on him, I put on my medical mask, sunglasses and beanie, and went out the back and covered up the backyard camera with duct tape as well. This way he won't know what I was up to, giving me a trump card against his family in case he gets any ideas later.
Now if I remember right, the magical button was on one of the corspes of the housekeeper's children buried in the storm cellar, after Prudence, Plover's sister murdered them. That was what caused the haunting of this house in the first place, the torture and death of the two innocent kids.
The worst part of this whole thing?
The haunting, this ghost movie running on repeat is based on their last moments, hence the Prudence ghost being one terrifying bitch, and that meant the kids kept reliving their deaths over and over again. And if no one did something, they'd likely keep suffering till the sun burns out.
I feel for them, really. Maybe I'll come back later and exorcise them once I have magic. I'm not so cold hearted that I'd just let them suffer forever.
Opening the cellar door with the keys I stole off of Plover, I descended into the damp, dark basement, and flicked on my torch. It was hardly what you'd call a basement, much less a storm cellar. Hell, it was barely a crawlspace, so low I had to hunch down to get in properly. The room inside was normal sized, though my head still dragged along the top, hitting the low hanging beams from time to time.
"Tss!" I hissed as I rubbed my head, and scanned the room further. It was small, about 3 and a half meters across, supported by wooden beams, reinforced with iron. The floor was mostly rough cut stone and mortar, the walls brick and ply. The air smelled of resin and dust.
"Achoo-Ow!" I couldn't help but sneeze, hitting my head on the beams again.
Hrrrngh!
I swear, I will fucking chop the bloody beams down!
Stupid, stupid beams.
I reached up to smack them in rage when I realized something and stopped myself.
Control, Cal. Control.
This house is old. If I smack one beam out of place, I might very well end up buried in here.
I took a handful of deep breaths and calmed myself down.
Didn't make me hate the stupid beams any less though.
At the end of the room, in a dark trough sloped into the floor, I saw the stone floor come to and end, replaced by a small patch of dirt and packed soil, covered half-assedly by a plank of old, rotten wood, with two handcuffs built into it. On its sides I could see faded, bloody handprints. Small handprints, like those of the children.
I sighed.
Poor kids.
But well, clock's ticking. So I got to work. Pushing aside the heavy plank, I pulled out my handy spade and went to dig in when I noticed a shovel at the side. Looking between my spade and the shovel ....yeah.
A garden spade might not be the best instrument for digging up corpses. I tucked the spade away again and grabbed the shovel, bending down over the patch of soil and began to dig in. The ground was slightly soft and damp, and the packed soil slowly but comfortably gave way under my assault, and soon, I felt some shift beneath it, clanking softly against a hard substance.
Is that what I think it is?
A little more work revealed what it was, confirming my suspicions.
Cloth and bone. Quickly I unearthed the shallow grave and pulled out two corpses. A girl and a boy, wearing clothes I had seen on the Plover family pictures in the hall upstairs. The housekeeper's kids.
And in the boy's pockets, I felt something hard. A simple wooden case about an inch in diameter and height, with an equally simple, hinged glass cover. And within it, seated on comfortable purple velvet, an ornate, ivory button.
The magical button that teleports it's wielder into the Neitherlands, the local multiversal nexus.
Once Fillory stopped taking Martin, he begged his sister to help him get back in, back to Fillory by any means necessary and Jane decided to help her brother. She hunted down a Questing Creature, a set of seven magical beings native to Fillory that would grant the wishes of anyone who managed to catch them. And from one of them, Jane requested a method to being her brother back to Fillory. This button was the answer. A pathway into the multiverse.
Now it was mine. And so were the books. I had already packed those before coming down here so I was just about ready to go.
Just one more problem to deal with and then.....
I smiled.
After burying the bodies again and hiding the patch beneath the plank again, I climbed back out and returned to the house to find Plover awake.
"Oh, hey there. How are you feeling?"
"Hrmhe hyunho!" He grunted, flopping on the floor like a fish out of water, in a mixture of fear and anger.
I chuckled at his antics and helped him back to his feet.
"No need to thank me." I grinned, "Now I know what you're thinking. 'What is this man going to do to me?', yeah?
Well here's the thing, Mr. Plover- Or do you prefer Hugh? I'll just call you Hugh, for convenience.
So here's the thing Hugh. I want those books. And I'm going to take them. And once I do, I'll leave you here, tied up, on the floor. All. Night. Long."
I could see the anger in his eyes drain away at the words, replaced by sheer terror as he began to desperately struggled crying out as best he could, pleading with his eyes.
I checked the time again. Almost 6 pm. Sundown wasn't too long now. I myself need to get going soon, lest I get roped into an episode of Ghostbusters.
"Oh, scared? I know right." I pulled out my knife, "Ghost are super scary. Especially Prudence, that old cunt." His eyes widened at the mention of her name. I looked him in the eyes with a cocky grin. The message was clear.
Yeah. I know.
"Then perhaps, would you like me to slit your throat now? Save you the terror and I can only assume, torture? Because Prudence...oh Prudence does not like naughty children." I ran the knife against his cheek, just adding to the terror, "And you've been a very, naughty boy, haven't you Hugh? Hiding the evidence of Sir Plover's pedophilia? The murders of the housekeeper's children. Isn't that why you haven't installed any security systems on the inside of the house. After all, it'd be a shame if the police came over one day and saw the ghost movies of your esteemed ancestor diddling little Martin Chatwin, wouldn't it?" I laughed, "Naughty, naughty~" I poked his cheeks with the knife a little, drawing a single drop of blood, that sent him seizing in panic.
I let him work it out for a moment, really marinate in all that flavor, before I spoke again, offering salvation.
"Now I can help you. I can untie you, and let you go. But you know what you have to do for me, right?"
I gave Hugh a knowing look and he began to nod frantically, like a jackhammer.
I wasn't too keen on murder right now, mostly because not only would it be messy, and draw unnecessary attention to me, it would also put a target on my back and I just don't want that right now.
Getting off with a theft and burglary was easier than murder. That would put me behind bars before I can say Alakazam. I did need to fly back to India after I return from Fillory after all.
The easier and somewhat riskier gamble though, was to convince Hugh here to not spill the beans. And I knew just how to do that.
I snorted with laughter, and gave his head a little pat.
"Good boy~" I smiled menacingly, "Here's what you'll do. You'll go home today, sleep in your own bed, and cherish your life for once. And then tomorrow morning you'll come back here and replace the books I took with other, similar ones, and none will be the wiser." I tapped his cheeks with the knife, "And of course, this goes without saying, but you will report none of this to the police, or else....you know what will happen." His terrified expression revealed that he understood my warning, but I still gave it one last push, just to be sure, "Exposing the sins of your family will be the least of your worries. Because I will come for you. Not immediately, no. But I will come for you. Someday, somewhere, when you least expect it. When you're shopping at the grocery store, or going to the movies with your family. When you're out alone on a walk, or in the middle of the street as you walk to work. You won't know when, you won't know where. But you will know this before you die. You'll wish you had died here, today, at the hands of Prudence." I brought the knife close to his eyes and let out a bone chilling cackle that sent shivers down his spine, "Am I understood? Give me a nod. Go on." I removed the knife from under his eye and he nodded.
"Good." I stood up and cut the tape off his hands and legs, letting him get to his feet before putting one of my hands in my pocket, flipping the cover open on the button's case as I delivered the nail in the coffin to my argument, "Remember, I can be anywhere. Do you know why?" I grinned wide, and pressed my finger against the button, "Because I'm magic."
And with that, I flickered out of existence.
Into the multiverse.
___________________
A bit shorter than usual, at 1700 words, but eh. It's here.
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