Knight Casefiles Book 1: Revelations

Revelations [Chapter 20]

Chapter 20

There weren’t any dreams this time. Thank God. It was just several solid hours of sleep, black and uninterrupted. When I finally woke up, thanks to the alarm on my phone that a Nordic guardian angel must have set up for me, it was extremely difficult. I felt like I could have used a couple more days in dreamland before Dorothy asked for her shoes back. But the wicked were still working overtime, and that meant no rest for me either. I forced myself to sit up and surveyed the room. When nothing sprang out of some obscure corner and tried to kill me, I felt rather insulted. Insulted and lonely.

One thing I noticed, though, was that the room was too clean. The windows had been fixed and there was no sign of the struggle from last night. I checked into my brain and waited for the paranoia to come. When it didn't, I decided that sitting in the comfy cushions wouldn’t help me in any way.

Groaning, I shambled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Midway through brushing my teeth, I suddenly realized something: there wasn’t any pain. For a panicked moment, I thought the mental walls were still in effect, keeping me from feeling anything and thus not warning me if I was about to collapse from fatigue, until I remembered that the walls had been long gone last night. Skeptically, I pinched myself and was satisfied that I could still feel it. So what had happened?

Sigrun, my mind promptly answered. She must have snuck painkillers in me again while I was asleep. I proceeded to check on my injured leg. It was still bandaged and upon prodding, still aching, but the pain was less noticeable now. Putting the betrayed feeling aside, I methodically cleaned the rest of me while staying clear of the wound.  When I was done, I changed into another t-shirt-jeans combo, and headed down to the dining room. It was even emptier this time, if that was possible. The clock on my phone showed it to be past ten, so I guess I couldn’t blame people to be off and about. What troubled me though was that I hadn’t encountered anyone on my way down. A sick feeling grew in my stomach. What had happened after Huginn knocked me out? I’d woken up so groggy that I didn’t even find the time to wonder.

“Mr. Pierce.”

I whirled at the sound and found the butler who’d received us when we first arrived smiling warmly at me.

“I’m pleased to see that you’ve recovered. Up for a late breakfast?” he asked, the smile never fading.

My stomach growled and I glared at it. “I honestly thought that only happened in movies.”

The butler laughed good-naturedly. “As it pleases you.”

Ten minutes later, I was seated alone at the table while the butler returned with a platter sausages and pancakes, and a tall glass of orange juice. “No coffee?”

“Ms. Bennet thought it healthier for you.”

“Of course she did.”

He nodded at me once I started tearing into the spread and turned to leave.

“Wait,” I said through a mouthful. He waited. “Can you tell me what happened to everyone? After the blackout, I mean.”

He tilted his head in thought as he stared back at me. “Ah yes, you were resting in your quarters when the…events transpired.”

The butler introduced himself as Alfred, which brought a lot of Batman quips from me which he judiciously soldiered through. He gave me a rundown of what happened after the lights went out.

“You could imagine the kind of scene that must have played out. A ghost story being told followed by a séance along with the surprising fire show set up the dominoes for the blackout. Once it happened, all the tiles came crashing down.” His tone grew somber.