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I swept my eyes over the area. We stood at a four-way intersection. Our trail led to the right, but a soft breeze wafted out of the left-hand path. There seemed to be something on the wind that beckoned to me, like an enticing smell of food after a long fast.
“I-I don’t know,” I admitted as I shook my head. “I just. . .there just feels like there’s something down there.” I nodded at the path of which I spoke.
Ben pursed his lips before he lifted his eyes to the right-hand path. “The person we followed went in that direction. We should follow them. I believe there is an outlet not too far ahead, as well, where the fresh air would do us both some good.”
I nodded, but my heart wasn’t in the motion. Still, I let him lead me onward. True to his word we had only traveled another hundred yards when the path widened to make room for a narrow winding stairs on our left. The tell-tale moss told us our prey had climbed them.
Ben helped me up the broken steps, and as we climbed them the walls around us changed. The dirt was replaced by stone boulders, cut and wedged together to create a massive foundation.
Ben answered my unspoken question. “The old imperial stables.”
We reached the top where the ceiling was a floor of wooden planks. A trap door awaited us, and Ben put his shoulder to it and lifted it to reveal a small shed. Rakes and shovels leaned against the corners, and shelves full of paint cans, rags, and whatnot covered the clapboard walls.
My channel orb illuminated the entire shed and made me nervous. “How do I shut this thing off?”
Ben grasped the orb in his palm and the light was immediately extinguished. “One of the few perks to my condition,” he mused as he tucked the orb inside his jacket.
A door led outside and was slightly ajar. I could just make out the thoroughfare of the Halls of Joy, and a steady stream of shouts came from the direction of Fox Hall. Ben helped me out of the hole that was the top of the stairs and he stepped lightly over to the door with me on his heels. He opened the door just slightly more with two fingers and studied the area.
“What’s all that noise?” I whispered to him.
A bemused smile appeared on his lips. “See for yourself.”
He opened the door wide enough for me to have a full view of the Halls. Though night had completely fallen, the open area and the road were all illuminated by lamps that hung on metal arms attached to the walls of the buildings. The lights cast a soft consistent glow over everything and left little shadow.
The lights also let me see the crowd of some one hundred women young and old congregated at the pair of double doors that led into Fox Hall. It didn’t take me three guesses to know they were fans of the Phantom. Almost half of them wore black cloaks over their clothes, and over a dozen had gone full cosplay with pale faces and beaked noses. Many of them held the posters that advertised the Phantom’s upcoming play dates, and all wanted inside.
What stopped them was the guard we’d met before and a compatriot of his who matched him in height and girth. The pair each stood in front of one of the doors with their arms crossed over their broad chests and scowls on their faces. Their ire didn’t deter the rabid fan girls who waved the posters in their faces.
“We want to see Phantom!”
“He’s supposed to be here by now!”
“Come on, just let us through!”
Our guard from before shook his head. “Nobody gets through, now leave.”
A mood of disappointment swept over the crowd followed quickly by anger. The wave of females surged as one toward the doors, and a dozen tried to slip around the guards. The men swung their huge arms around and scooped up most of them, but a pair reached the doors and tried to tug them open.
“Quit that!” the other guard yelled as he spun around. He still held the other girls in his arms, and they shrieked as they swung with him. The guard winced at the high-pitched sounds so close to his ears. “Stop that whining!”
“Is there a problem?”
The voice came from the back of the crowd, and the calm, soothing words cut through the frenzied mob. Everyone froze and whipped their heads around. The women were fortunately short enough that I glimpsed the top of Phantom’s head.
An earth-shattering scream of delight rose up from the crowd.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
Benand I clapped our hands over our ears, and the guards dropped their loads to do the same. The squealing women stampeded toward their idol, and the Phantom raised his arms before they crushed him with love.
“A moment, if you would,” he pleaded as he lowered his arms and looked about himself. “What seems to be the issue?”
“We just wanted to see you, Phantom!” one of the girls cooed.
Another practically squeezed the life out of her poster as she gave him a pair of big puppy dog eyes. “We wanted to tell you how much we love your music.”
He smiled at her. “Would you also like me to sign that poster?” His offer nearly caused another stampede as everyone tried to shove their way to him. The man was forced to lift his arms above his head and all was silenced. “Everyone will get their chance if you will but make two orderly lines.”
