CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Jane’s head was throbbing. Blood trickled from the wound, tracing a crimson line down her cheek. Carter and McKinley were still holding her, but they had lain her down on the floor.
She looked at them blearily. ‘Did Raj get out?’
The two men exchanged looks. Jane read the message passed from eye to eye. She struggled to sit up. ‘You left him in there,’ she said angrily, shrugging her shoulders to free herself.
‘All that was Raj’s doing,’ Carter said, jerking his thumb at the closed door. He could still hear the wind whistling around the room and the splintering of furniture.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Raj’s not a physical medium. His powers are strictly mental.’ She got to her feet, impatiently wiping the blood away from her face.
‘John, you tell her,’ Carter said. He knew McKinley had been as vulnerable as he was to what was in the room.
‘He’s right,’ McKinley said. ‘He was controlling everything. It must have affected him when he opened up to the forces in the house.’
Jane glared at him. ‘Well I’m not going to abandon him.’ She reached for the door.
Carter pulled her back.
Jane spun on her heel and slapped him across the cheek. ‘Get your bloody hands off of me!’ she said and lurched for the door again.
As her hand gripped the handle the noise stopped. The silence was almost as deafening.
Jane took a breath and turned the handle. The door swung open.
Raj sat on the floor in the middle of the floor, head bowed, one fist rammed into his mouth as if to stop himself from screaming. The library was devastated. Bookshelves were bare, the books themselves turned into confetti that littered every flat surface. Furniture had been turned into kindling, and the drapes, unmoving now, were shredded.
Jane glanced back at the others. ‘Wait here. I don’t want to freak him out.’ She stepped into the room. Raj didn’t move, not even to raise his head to acknowledge Jane’s presence.
‘Raj,’ Jane said softly, then spun around, sensing someone behind her. ‘I said wait outside,’ she said to Carter who had followed her into the room.
‘Jane, I really think…’
‘Just get out of the room, Robert, and leave this to me.’ She said it quietly, but her tone left no room for argument.
Carter’s shoulders sagged slightly in resignation and he returned to join the others.
‘Shut the door,’ Jane said.
He looked back over his shoulder. The expression on his face said, I hope you know what you’re doing. Then he pulled the door shut behind him.
‘Have we got a live video feed to the library?’ he said to Kirby who was sitting on the floor, hands still clasped to her bleeding face.
Kirby nodded.
‘Can you get it on your laptop?’ Carter’s voice was urgent; there wasn’t much time.
Kirby nodded her head again.
‘Bring it here. Now.’ His voice raised, the manner not allowing any discussion or argument. There could be no delays.
‘I’ll get it,’ Kirby said, casting a concerned glance at Carter.
Kirby returned moments later and flipped open the laptop, punching a few keys. ‘There you go,’ she said, handing the computer to Carter.
Carter studied the image on the screen. Raj was sitting in the middle of the floor, head bowed, Jane two paces away from him. Jane’s mouth was working.
‘Can you get sound as well?’ Carter said.
Kirby reached across and hit another two keys. Jane’s voice issued from the laptop’s inadequate speakers. She sounded tinny and far away.
‘…blame yourself for this, Raj. We’re all under a lot of stress.’
Silence. Jane took a step towards him.
‘ We must talk about it,’ Jane said. ‘Or at least talk to Robert. He’ll know the best way to proceed.’
Carter winced at this. He had no idea what had just happened, and was at a loss to know what to do next. He watched Jane move closer still to Raj. The man w asn’t responding. He could be carved from stone. Carter squinted his eyes to get a closer look at him. He was starting to get a very bad feeling about this. ‘Can we zoom in on Raj?’
Again Kirby reached over and pressed a couple of keys. The image of the man sitting on the floor filled the screen. Carter studied the image closely, and then froze. ‘What’s that in his hand?’
Kirby zoomed in closer.
Clenched in Raj’s bloodied fingers was a shard of glass, six inches long and wickedly pointed.
‘Pull back,’ Carter shouted.
The camera retreated in time to show Jane crouching down in front of Raj.
‘Jane, no!’ he shouted and, tossing the laptop to Kirby, ran to the door, wrenching the handle. Locked. He started beating on it with his fist. ‘Jane! Get out of there!’ He remembered the broken window. There was still a chance. He pushed through the others and ran to the front door.
In the library Jane glanced back at the door with irritation. She turned back to Raj who had now raised his head and was staring at her. Raj’s lips moved and Jane leaned in closer to catch what he was saying. And as she leaned in Raj lashed out, swinging his arm in a wild arc.
The shard of glass sliced through the soft tissue of Jane’s arm, missing the artery but causing blood to pour from the wound.
Jane slapped Raj around the face. The blade of glass fell from his fingers. With an angry roar Jane picked up the glass and swiped it across Raj’s neck, severing his windpipe and cutting his carotid artery. As blood pumped from his neck Raj tumbled backwards, hitting the floor, the impact sending a fresh spray of blood into the air. His fingers scrabbled at his throat, trying in vain to close the wound, but the more he struggled the more the air pumped from his lungs and he could feel the warm breeze from his windpipe on his blood-wet fingers.
As he lay there on the carpet, his life draining away in a crimson pool, Raj was changing. His face was shifting, stretching and ageing, until Jane was staring at her mother’s disapproving features.
‘Such a disappointment, Jane.’
‘I know, Mum. I’m sorry.’ She moved her lips but spoke the words in her head.
‘Such a disappointment.’
Raj’s eyelids fluttered shut.
‘Raj!’ Carter was at the window, frantically trying to haul himself over the sill, but there was still enough glass in the shattered window to impede him. ‘Jane!’ he shouted.
‘You’re too late,’ Jane said. She was standing now, the bloody shard of glass still gripped tightly in her hand.
Carter stared at her, torn between revulsion and uncertainty. A slow smile spread across her lips. ‘Much too late,’ she said, and started to sink through the floor. A few feet away from her Raj Kumar gave a final red-speckled exhalation and quietly died.