The Watcher in the Shadows (Niebla 3)

‘This way,’ he said nervously. ‘It won’t come back here, at least for a few minutes . . .’

Ismael and Irene were suspicious.

‘You have no option but to trust me,’ Lazarus warned them.

Ismael sighed and stepped inside the room with Irene and Lazarus following. The lamplight revealed a wall covered with photographs and cuttings. At one end stood a small bed and an empty desk. Lazarus put the lamp on the floor and watched as the two young people examined the bits of paper.

‘You must leave Cravenmoore while there’s still time.’

Irene turned to him.

‘You’re not the ones it wants,’ added the toymaker. ‘It’s after your mother, Simone.’

‘Why? What does it want to do to her?’

Lazarus looked down.

‘It wants to destroy her. In order to punish me. And it will do the same to you if you get in its way. You must leave this place. Sooner or later it will return, and this time I won’t be able to protect you.’

At that moment a distant boom was heard somewhere in the house. Irene gulped and looked at Ismael. Footsteps. One after the other, exploding like gunshots, and getting closer and closer. Lazarus smiled faintly.

‘Here it comes,’ he announced. ‘You don’t have much time left.’

‘Where is my mother? Where have you taken her?’ Irene demanded.

‘I don’t know, but even if I did, it wouldn’t be any use.’

‘You built that machine with her face . . .’ Ismael said.

‘I thought it would be satisfied with that, but it wanted more. It wanted her.’

By now the demonic footsteps were approaching their refuge.

‘On the other side of that door, over there,’ Lazarus explained, ‘there’s a gallery leading to the main staircase. If you have a drop of common sense, you’ll run away and leave this house for ever.’

‘We’re not going anywhere,’ said Ismael firmly. ‘Not without Irene’s mother.’

The door through which they had entered shook powerfully. A second later, a black stain spread beneath the doorway.

‘OK. Let’s get out of here,’ Ismael urged Irene.

The shadow wrapped itself around the lamp and the glass cracked. Then the flame went out. In the gloom, Lazarus watched as Irene and Ismael fled through the other exit. Next to him towered a figure, black and impenetrable.

‘Leave them alone,’ he groaned. ‘They’re only children. Let them go. Take me once and for all, isn’t that what you want?’

The shadow smiled.

The gallery in which they found themselves crossed the central point of Cravenmoore. Irene recognised the place where the corridors all met and led Ismael to the spot beneath the dome. Clouds could be seen through the glass windows of the turret, scudding across the night sky.

‘This way,’ said Irene.

‘This way, where?’ asked Ismael nervously.

‘I think I know where it’s taken her.’

Ismael turned to look behind them. There was no sign of movement in the darkness, although he realised that the shadow could easily advance towards them without them being aware of it.

‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ he replied.