“Yes,” Nic agreed. “See if you find anything here.”
Nodding, I let my eyes rove over the displays, moving from case to case as slowly as I could make myself, though excitement hurried my steps.
I reached out with my new abilities, touching the shadows that hid amongst the bright lights. Something to my right called to me, and I followed the tug on my senses.
Before long, I came to a case in the back of the exhibit area. It was a heavily protected case full of priceless gems on loan from private collections. A guard stood nearby. My eyes were immediately drawn to a dark blue stone that sparkled with thousands of lights about the size of my fist. It was round and oh, so beautiful. I didn’t point, but I glanced at Nic. He nodded.
“What do we do?” I looked around, but no one seemed overly interested in us.
Nic put his index finger to his lips as he thought. “I’m not sure.”
Robby joined us, studying the gems in the case. “Well, that sure is pretty.”
I noticed he didn’t let his gaze linger on any of the pretty minerals for long. I pulled my attention away from what had to be the physical manifestation of Dio’s essence. He was right. We didn’t know if we were alone or not.
A reflection in the glass caught my attention. I froze, meeping softly as I tried to contain a scream. The big red nose matched the angry red eyes and contrasted sharply with pale skin. Big, poofy, plastic-looking hair in multiple colors framed the wide, angry smile. Fucking hell. I put my hand over my mouth and twisted around, expecting to find a horror movie clown looming over my shoulder. Nothing.
Well, there were people. One of them, a taller man wearing a gray suit, stared at us. His intense gaze felt as if it burned a hole through me, and his amused smirk sent shivers down my spine.
When I looked back at the glass, just before Geraint grabbed my arm and dragged me away, I again saw that creepy-ass clown, with the same amused smirk on its face. What the hell?
“We are being followed,” Robby pointed out unnecessarily.
“No shit,” I growled. “Did you see the creepy-ass clown?”
Robby’s eyes widened. “I did not.”
“Then who the hell else is following us?”
“Vampires,” the jester replied tightly. “Furious ones.”
I whimpered. “Which is worse, the vampires or the clown?”
“The clown,” Nic replied.
“Why are they after us now?”
“Well, either they think we can lead them to the things they’re after, or we already have, and they simply want us dead,” Robby answered, sounding almost jovial as we pushed our way through the crowd.
“Seriously?” I muttered.
“I’m always serious, Spark. You know that,” Robby said.
We headed for the stairs, but at the last minute Geraint jerked me away, and Nic and Robby followed. I still couldn’t see what was after us, but I trusted the men. I just hoped we weren’t going to get captured. I’d cause a disturbance that would make the news to avoid that ever happening again.
Nic led us to another part of the museum. We hurried into the display and pulled up short as the dude in the suit with the creepy smile blocked our way.
Every reflective surface showed the same clown I’d seen before, pointed teeth bared.
“Oh, my god,” I breathed.
We spun around, but two women and a man blocked the exit. They looked normal enough, wearing jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes, but all three of them were unnaturally attractive, and they moved with a fluid grace most dancers couldn’t match. Even they cast uneasy glances at the man behind us.
“Though I normally quite like games,” the man said, voice cruelly amused. “Today, I simply want answers. Where is he, and what are you doing here?”
They didn’t know. Or at least these beings didn’t. But then what kind of facility was the mental institute?
“Why are you working for the enemy?” I said, instead of answering. “They’re trying to destroy your world.”