Read Online Pure Dead Brilliant by Debi Gliori - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Debi Gliori
Ads: Link
computer, a new dialogue box was telling him
Y OU HAVE MAIL
The thought crossed his mind that his laptop was haunted, but dismissing this instantly, he pressed E NTER .
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
21/02/XXXX
Dear Mr. Strega-Borgia:
As per your faxed instructions of 28/07/XXXX, we are pleased to inform you that your new car will be delivered to your home address in approximately six weeks' time. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further requirements, and be assured that we will
contact you closer to the delivery date to receive your final instructions.
Yours sincerely,
Piers Brooke-Shepherd
Senior Managing Executive (Sales)
Aston Martin Limited
London WC1 1AM
e-mail: [email protected]
Mystified, Titus watched as this message was replaced by another.
Titus,
are we still on for sat? cant remember if you're back from ny late frid or sat a.m. dyou need a lift from the airport? let me know.
lots of love,
M
Frowning in total incomprehension, Titus watched helplessly as this was replaced by
Get rid of it. Don't take it. It will consume the taker. Destroy it for it will destroy all who seek to possess it. Somehow the Borgias have to break the chain. You'll never know how
much I regret . . .
Totally alarmed by the tone of this last message, Titus stood up, shivering uncontrollably. From a long, long way off came the sound of mocking laughter. Unnerved, Titus glanced at the screen. White fingers of ice were running across it, reaching out to obscure the words that Titus saw, just before his courage failed him entirely.
Help me please
Hel h
Ex
The laughter changed to a hissing repetition of one word. Over and over, increasing in volume and menace, Titus heard himself summoned,
Titusssss . . . Titusssssss . . . Titussss . . .
He clutched at his throat, a feeling of suffocation overcoming him. In the dim light from the screen he saw the walls of the map room begin to move and shift, in and out, like a giant stone heart beating all around him.
Stumbling back out of the map room, Titus fled. He crashed blindly along the flagged passageway, hardly able to breathe for terror and, coming to the stone steps that led up to the kitchen corridor, fell to his knees and began to scrabble upward.
“Ah . . .” came a familiar voice. “Splendid. My brother in the full-on grovel position. Heavens, Titus, what brought
this
on?” Standing on the steps above him, Pandora looked down to where he knelt, tear-stained and in desperate need of a handkerchief, incoherently gibbering an explanation for his distraught state.
“Map r-r-room. Mail. Got loads of mail. Horrible . . . It's dead, but it was
working
. Got to help m-m—”
Pandora tutted. “Tell me, Mr. Strega-Borgia, have they changed your medication recently? Forgotten to take it, perhaps? Ughh—don't wipe your nose on
me
.”
“Pandora. Listen to me, please. Something awful's going on down there.” Titus gestured behind him, down into the gloom. “Come and see, you have to believe me. My computer—” Aghast, he saw Pandora was shaking her head and walking away. He scrambled to his feet and followed, temporarily delayed by a trio of his mother's guests, who were attempting to roll a vast, pockmarked cauldron along the narrow corridor leading to the kitchen. Consequently, by the time Titus overtook Pandora, she was halfway up the main staircase.
“What's wrong with you? Why are you ignoring me?” he demanded, blocking her way upstairs.
Pandora regarded him with scientific detachment, as if he were some undistinguished species of slug, too common to merit more than a cursory glance. “It was the word ‘computer' that did it,” she sighed. “Titus, when will you ever get it through your pointy little head that I'm not interested? I simply don't understand your complete obsession with modern technology. Look,” she explained, “I like computers almost as much as you like spiders. I came to find you because
Y OU HAVE MAIL
The thought crossed his mind that his laptop was haunted, but dismissing this instantly, he pressed E NTER .
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
21/02/XXXX
Dear Mr. Strega-Borgia:
As per your faxed instructions of 28/07/XXXX, we are pleased to inform you that your new car will be delivered to your home address in approximately six weeks' time. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further requirements, and be assured that we will
contact you closer to the delivery date to receive your final instructions.
Yours sincerely,
Piers Brooke-Shepherd
Senior Managing Executive (Sales)
Aston Martin Limited
London WC1 1AM
e-mail: [email protected]
Mystified, Titus watched as this message was replaced by another.
Titus,
are we still on for sat? cant remember if you're back from ny late frid or sat a.m. dyou need a lift from the airport? let me know.
lots of love,
M
Frowning in total incomprehension, Titus watched helplessly as this was replaced by
Get rid of it. Don't take it. It will consume the taker. Destroy it for it will destroy all who seek to possess it. Somehow the Borgias have to break the chain. You'll never know how
much I regret . . .
Totally alarmed by the tone of this last message, Titus stood up, shivering uncontrollably. From a long, long way off came the sound of mocking laughter. Unnerved, Titus glanced at the screen. White fingers of ice were running across it, reaching out to obscure the words that Titus saw, just before his courage failed him entirely.
Help me please
Hel h
Ex
The laughter changed to a hissing repetition of one word. Over and over, increasing in volume and menace, Titus heard himself summoned,
Titusssss . . . Titusssssss . . . Titussss . . .
He clutched at his throat, a feeling of suffocation overcoming him. In the dim light from the screen he saw the walls of the map room begin to move and shift, in and out, like a giant stone heart beating all around him.
Stumbling back out of the map room, Titus fled. He crashed blindly along the flagged passageway, hardly able to breathe for terror and, coming to the stone steps that led up to the kitchen corridor, fell to his knees and began to scrabble upward.
“Ah . . .” came a familiar voice. “Splendid. My brother in the full-on grovel position. Heavens, Titus, what brought
this
on?” Standing on the steps above him, Pandora looked down to where he knelt, tear-stained and in desperate need of a handkerchief, incoherently gibbering an explanation for his distraught state.
“Map r-r-room. Mail. Got loads of mail. Horrible . . . It's dead, but it was
working
. Got to help m-m—”
Pandora tutted. “Tell me, Mr. Strega-Borgia, have they changed your medication recently? Forgotten to take it, perhaps? Ughh—don't wipe your nose on
me
.”
“Pandora. Listen to me, please. Something awful's going on down there.” Titus gestured behind him, down into the gloom. “Come and see, you have to believe me. My computer—” Aghast, he saw Pandora was shaking her head and walking away. He scrambled to his feet and followed, temporarily delayed by a trio of his mother's guests, who were attempting to roll a vast, pockmarked cauldron along the narrow corridor leading to the kitchen. Consequently, by the time Titus overtook Pandora, she was halfway up the main staircase.
“What's wrong with you? Why are you ignoring me?” he demanded, blocking her way upstairs.
Pandora regarded him with scientific detachment, as if he were some undistinguished species of slug, too common to merit more than a cursory glance. “It was the word ‘computer' that did it,” she sighed. “Titus, when will you ever get it through your pointy little head that I'm not interested? I simply don't understand your complete obsession with modern technology. Look,” she explained, “I like computers almost as much as you like spiders. I came to find you because
Similar Books
