Read Bone Island 03 - Ghost Moon for Free Online Page B

the evil is on the loose, and it’s growing.”
    The mummy wasn’t real. The mummy was dead. Liam had said so.
    Terror filled her. She heard her name called. She turned. Liam was there, a tall, lanky teenager, reaching out to her. “Come here, come to me, it isn’t real, the mummy is dead, it’s in your imagination, in all the stories. Don’t believe in it, Kelsey—take my hand.”
    There seemed to be a terrible roar. She turned, and the mummy was a swirling pile of darkness, a shadow, and the darkness was threatening to consume her.
    Kelsey awoke with a start. She was in her charming living room, in her charming bungalow apartment, and she had fallen asleep with the television on.
    And the movie channel she watched was showing Boris Karloff in The Mummy.
    She laughed aloud at herself, turned off the TV, and decided that she was going to get things done, batten down the house, pack so she could leave in the morning, and then get a good night’s sleep. She wasn’t a coward; she had spent her childhood with Cutter, and really, she had to have some kind of sense of adventure.
    I owe you, Cutter! I’m so sorry. I should havecome to see you. I never should have let you die alone like that.
    Please forgive me.
    She wasn’t afraid.
    The house was just a house.
    And Cutter’s mummy was just preserved flesh that could now find a good home in a museum. Everything in perspective.
    Cutter himself needed to rest at last, in peace.
    She would see to it.
     
    Liam shouted the officer’s name. “Ricky!”
    There was no answer. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, however, he saw him on the floor, caught in the glow of light from his own fallen flashlight.
    “Ricky!”
    He rushed over to the man. Hunching down, he called for backup and an ambulance. He instantly checked for Ricky’s pulse, and was relieved to find that it was beating steadily.
    Ricky groaned, and moved.
    “Lie still. Where are you hurt? What happened?”
    There was no sign of blood anywhere near Ricky.
    As Liam spoke, Ricky opened his eyes, staring at Liam for a moment and then jerking around in panic. He stared across the room in the darkness. Liam aimed his flashlight beam in the area that seemed to be causing Ricky so much fear.
    His light fell upon a suit of armor.
    Ricky let out a scream, trying to choke it back.
    “Ricky,” Liam said evenly, “it’s a suit of armor. Probably real, historic and worth a mint.”
    “It moved!” Ricky declared.
    Liam walked toward the armor. It was just that. Metal. It was buckled together by leather straps that had been made to replace the originals. They were probably period, but not historic.
    The metal display stand was not on rollers. It hadn’t moved.
    Liam turned to look at Ricky. He was rubbing the back of his head. It appeared that the man had seen the armor and backed himself into the edge of one of the display cases on the other side of the room.
    “I swear to you, it moved!” Ricky told him.
    He’d called for an ambulance. Even as Ricky stood, rubbing his head, and Liam checked all around the suit of armor, they heard the sound of a siren. Help was on its way.
    Ricky winced, looking sheepish. “It moved. I’m telling you, it moved.”
    “It’s dark down here, and you’ve heard all kinds of rumors about this place,” Liam said. He sighed, shaking his head. “Or maybe it did move, Ricky. Maybe a trespasser was in here, hiding behind the suit of armor, and when you knocked yourself out, he got away.”
    Ricky’s mouth fell open. He was young, twenty-five years old. He was a good officer. Strong, usually sane and courteous. He could break up a barroom brawl like no other.
    He protested weakly. “No…no, I would have seen a person.” He cleared his throat. “Oh, Lord, LieutenantBeckett, please…maybe we could not mention this?” he asked hopefully.
    Liam was irritated; he might have just lost his chance of finding whoever had broken in. But he said, “I’m not going to say anything—hell,