Jonathan Barrett 04 by Dance of Death

Author:Dance of Death [Death, Dance of]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"He thinks you're dead?"

"I certainly pray so. I've not seen or heard of him for many years. It would be a good thing for the world if he were dead, but considering how the change toughens us, I would not expect it. It grieves me, for it means he's still probably killing others, but there's nothing I can do to stop him."

"Perhaps the two of us together might do something about him."

She pursed her lips and glanced away. "That is an undertaking I should have to think over very carefully. He's dangerous."

"So am I. So are we both."

"I wouldn't know where to start looking for him, though I suppose I could learn how. Let me think on it, Jonathan.

There's so much more for you to learn first, anyway."

"Such as?"

She stood, as smooth and as supple as a cat, to stretch as much as her corseting would allow. I stayed where I was, watching appreciatively. There was a portrait of Oliver's late father over the mantel; Nora went for a closer look, then gestured at it.

"Do you recall the painting of me in the antique costume?''

"The one in your bedroom? The one that makes it obvious the artist was in love with you?''

My reward was a smile. "That one, yes. What you need to know is that was not a costume, but real clothing. My clothing."

Now was I smiling. "What are you saying?"

"The painting was done over a hundred years ago. Just as you see me here, so was I alive a hundred years ago to pose for it."

I shook my head. Was she joking? But her manner was entirely serious.

"It's a lot to take in, I know, but I've not gone mad. This is a very hard truth, the hardest I shall ever impart to you. Please trust that I hardly believed it for myself when I learned of it, so I'll not take it amiss if you don't believe it, either."

"You're telling me you're over one hundred years old?"

"Yes. Our condition makes it possible. I've not aged since my death years and years ago."

"And...when was that?"

She tucked in her lower lip. "No, I'll tell you later. You're still trying to accept it. Best if you think it over first. You may take as much time as you like. In a decade or two your friends will finally convince you."

Her plain-spoken bearing alone was starting to convince me.

"This is no jest?"

"No."

"We do not age?"

"I think it has to do with how the vanishings heal us. It keeps us young."

"But that's impossible."

"Our very existence should be impossible, Jonathan, yet here we are."

Sitting in one spot, staring at nothing, and no doubt looking like a stunned sheep occupied me for a goodly period. On top of everything else, this particular revelation was just too much to take in, but the certitude that she spoke the truth began to trickle into my overworked brain.

She went on. "We do not age, we do not sicken-I don't know if we can even die."

"But all things die.

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