本帖最后由 sammy 于 2011-6-29 14:14 编辑
by Jeff Tidball
The ritual robe hung heavy on Lucy's naked skin. The others similarly clad -- stood in a circle around her, chanting in what sounded like Latin. She could only see a few of them at a time, her hood blocking most of her vision.
KEEP FAMILY BUSINESS TO SELF STOP
STRANGE MEN ASKING AROUND AND ABOUT YOU STOP
HOPE YOUR SUMMER IS SWELL FULL STOP
The telegram was from Lucy's older brother. She could hear the condescension in his voice and the disingenuousness in his wishes for her summer.
It arrived a week after the **. Lucy'd gotten no closure about the event's strange end, but enough people around Arkham had told her what a fun time she'd had that she almost accepted it.
Almost.
Lucy ran into Mr. Dart in Arkham the day after the telegraph came, literally bumping into him as he emerged from the barber shop, bringing with him a whiff of its leathery smells.
"My word!" he said, reaching out to steady her. "How clumsy of me."
Lucy laughed, flustered. As the two of them stood there, she felt the need to fill the silence.
"I had a wonderful time at the **," she said, "even though it was such a whirlwind I can't remember much about it."
"You'd be surprised how many of Garfield's soirees are like that," he said, smiling. But then his face turned more serious, and he shepherded her away from the door, out of the sidewalk thoroughfare.
"Speaking of old Garfield, Miss Jennings, he and a few of the others have asked if they might meet you again."
As Lucy drove the Tremaines' car over country roads to the Garfield estate, she worried.
It was entirely improper for her to visit on her own, but Dart had been clear. And anyway, the elder Garfield certainly didn't have romantic designs on her. The man was a pillar of the community (and nearly eighty!).
But who were "a few of the others?" It hadn't occurred to her to ask.
Lucy hoped she'd see Mr. Dart, at least.
The mansion was changed from the ** - dim now, quiet - although the same butler who'd supervised the staff then ushered her inside now.
A phalanx of somber men and a few women awaited her in the ballroom, Garfield at their center. Lucy saw Mr. Dart among them, but the warm smile by which she knew him did not lighten his face now.
Lucy's stride faltered at the forbidding assemblage, the confident smile she'd put on outside falling from her face.
"Welcome, Miss Jennings,'' Garfield addressed her. "We're glad you've come."
The chant ended and two of the hooded figures stepped from the circle.
The first, a stooping figure with white hair who Lucy suspected was Garfield, took up a weathered tome from a lectern.
The other one produced, from the depths of his robe, a curving dagger of wicked aspect that gleamed and glinted in the flickering torchlight that was the room's only illumination.
Lucy sucked in her breath as the pair approached her and she caught Mr. Dart's features in the deep folds of the second man's hood.
"We're a very special group," Garfield said. "A very old society. Extremely selective. We stand for knowledge and for the authority it confers. The Arkham Lodge of the Order of Silver Twilight stands assembled before you."
Lucy hadn't realize how soft the old man's voice was until Mr. Dart spoke with booming contrasts: "You will make a fine addition to our number, Lucinda Church Jennings."
Dart raised the dagger.
Lucy took a step back, only to discover - when they grabbed her arms - that two men from the circle had approached her from behind.
Dart brought the dagger down in agonizing slow motion, its point seeking her breast...
... but then he simply pressed it flat against the front of her robe, and reached out with his other hand to trace the path where blood would have flown down her stomach. His touch - even through the robe - sent shivers through Lucy.
Garfield stepped forward and touched his book to her chest.
"By the hands of the Order is your old life ended, and by the Order's might is your new life begun. Into your hand is given the piercing blade of its dominion."
The men holding Lucy let go, and the entire group shouted another phrase in the strange language. Lucy jumped and thunder clapped outside.
Mr. Dart put the hood of his robe down, and Lucy saw that his smile had returned. "Welcome to the Order, Lucy. I'm pleased to inform you that I'll be your mentor."
"I look forward to..." She wasn't sure what to say, didn't know what was appropriate, what might be expected. Finally, she ended, "... to doing what's expected."
"That's good news," said Dart. "We have a very important task in mind."
所有的**都是 p a r t y
