Not over there-not by the stereo. Probably inone of the bedrooms in back,changing.
It was as she moved toward the little hallwaythat led to the bedrooms that Maggie really noticedthe strangeness. Something about this apartment,about this party... was off. Weird. It gave her thesame feeling that Sylvia did.
Danger.
This place is dangerous.
Everybody there was so good-looking - or elseugly in a really fashionable way, as if they'd juststepped off MTV. But there was an air about themthat reminded Maggie of the sharks at the SeattleAquarium. A coldness that couldn't be seen, onlysensed.
There is something so wrong here. Are they alldrug dealers or something?Satanists?Some kindof junior mafia? They just feel so evil....
Maggie herself felt like a cat with all its fur standing on end.
When she heard a girl's voice coming from thefirst bedroom, she froze, hoping it was Sylvia.
"Really, the most secret place you've ever imagined." It wasn't Sylvia. Maggie could just see thespeaker through the crack in the door. She waspale and beautiful, with one long black braid, andshe was leaning forward and lightly touching theback of a boy's hand.
"So exotic, so mysterious-it's a place from thepast, you see. It's ancient, and everybody's forgotten about it, but it's still there. Of course, it's terribly dangerous-but not forus...."
Not relevant, Maggie's mind decided, and shestopped listening. Somebody's weird vacationplans; nothing to do with Sylvia or Miles.
She kept on edging down the hall. The door atthe end was shut.
Sylvia's bedroom.
Well, she has to be in there; she isn't anywhereelse.
With a surreptitious glance behind her, Maggie crept closer to the door. She leaned toward it untilher cheek touched the cool white paint on the wood, all the while straining her eyes toward theliving room in case somebody should turn her way. She held her breath and tried to look casual, buther heart was beating so loudly that she could only hear it and the music.
Certainly there was nobody talking behind thedoor. Maggie's hopes of eavesdropping faded.
All right, then, I'll go in. And there's no point intrying to be stealthy; she's going to notice.
So I'll just do it.
It helpedthat she was so keyed up. She didn't even need to brace herself; her body was at maximum tension already. Despite her sense that therewas something menacing about this whole place, she wasn't frightened, or at least not in a way that felt like fear. It felt like rage instead, like being desperately ready for battle. She wanted to grab some thing and shake it to pieces.
She took hold of the knob and pushed the dooropen.
A new smell of incense hit her as the air rushedout. It was stronger than the living room smell,more earthy and musky, with an overlying sweetness that Maggie didn't like. The bedroom was even darker than the hall, but Maggie stepped inside.There was tension on the door somehow; as soon as she let go of it, it whispered shut behind her.
Sylvia was standing beside the desk.
She was alone, and she was still wearing theGore-Tex climbing outfit she'd had on at Maggie'shouse. Her shimmering fine hair was starting todry and lifting up like little angel feathers awayfrom her forehead.
She was doing something with a brass incenseburner, adding pinches of powder and what looked like herbs to it. That was where thesickeninglysweet smell was coming from.
Maggie had plannedas far as she'd plannedanything at all - to,rush right up and get in Sylvia'sface. To startle her into some kind of confession. She was going to say, "I need to talk to you." Butbefore she could get the first word out, Sylvia spokewithout looking up.
"What a shame. You really -should have stayedhome with your .parents, you know." Her voice wascool and languorous, not hasty and certainly notregretful.
Maggie stopped in her tracks.
Now, what's thatsupposed to mean? Is it athreat? Fine. Whatever. I can threaten, too.
But she was taken by surprise, and she had toswallow hard before speaking roughly. "I don'tknow what you're talking about, but at least you'vedropped the weepy-weepy act. You were really badat it."
"I thought I was very good," Sylvia said andadded a pinch of something to the incense burner."I'm sure the officers thought so, too."
Once again, Maggie was startled. This wasn'tgoing at all as she expected. Sylvia was so calm, somuch at ease.' So much in control of the situation.
Not anymore, Maggie thought.
She just admittedit was an act. All that chokey stuff while she was talking about Miles...
Fury uncoiled in Maggie's stomach like a snake.
She took three fast steps forward. "You knowwhy I'm here. I want to know what really happenedto my brother."
"I told you"
"You told a bunch of lies! I don't know what the truth is. The only thing I do know is that Miles would never make a stupid mistake like not buckling his harness. Look, if you did somethingdumb-if he's lying out there hurt or something,and you were too scared to admit ityou'd bettertell me right now." It was the first time she'd putinto words a reason for Sylvia to be lying.
Sylvia looked up.
Maggie was startled. In the light of the singlecandle by the incense burner, Sylvia's eyes werenot violet but a more reddish color, like amethyst. They were large and clear and the light seemed to play in them, quivering.
"Is that what you think happened?"Sylviaasked softly.
"I said, I don't knowwhat happened!" Maggie feltdizzy suddenly, and fought it, glaring into Sylvia's strange eyes. "Maybe you had a fight or something.Maybe you've got some other boyfriend. Maybe you weren't even out climbing on Halloween in the first place. All I know is that you lied and that there's no body to find. And I want to know the truth!"