Read Online The High House by James Stoddard - Free Book Online Page A

end. An ominous whispering fled around the shelves, but when he looked, he saw nothing but the books. The sound grew louder until he could almost understand it, and he became afraid. There was something menacing about the way the bookcases leaned toward him, threatening to pounce.
    With the logic of dreams, he decided to push the books off the shelves and make his way out of the library by crawling between the spaces. He withdrew a handful of volumes at eye level.
    The blank face of the Bobby stared at him from the other side, a white emptiness without eyes, nose, mouth, or ears. Carter bellowed in surprise and fled back against the shelves.
    “Come to me,” the Bobby said, low and earnest. “Join us. Or do you want the Room of Horrors again?”
    Carter rushed back down the rows of books, the whispering all around him. “Join us,” it said. “Join us or die.”
    He tried to turn a corner, banged into a shelf, and fell to his knees. Far away, he thought he heard the growling of a large animal, a hunting beast. Looking up, he saw the bookcases changed, half-organic: leaves branched from the volumes, moss grew down the tops and sides of the shelves. A jungle of books , he thought, rising to run again.
    Around the next corner he found Brittle stalking along the aisles, poking between the books, a bright sword in his hand. Gold specks danced on its point.
    “What is it?” Brittle demanded, seeing Carter’s expression.
    Carter halted. “Didn’t you hear the noise? The Bobby pursues me. Come with me.”
    Brittle stood and listened. “It is very faint to me. And it is hard to see as well. They are controlling the dream, but they won’t have it all their own way. You should hurry.”
    “Come with me,” Carter urged again.
    “Not yet. You go ahead. Find Hope. He is in danger as well.”
    Carter paused, confused. It was a dream, wasn’t it? It even felt like a dream. Yet, he could not escape the inordinate sense of fear. What was the saying, that if a person dreamed they were falling and hit the bottom before they awoke, the shock would really kill them? But who had ever hit the bottom and found out?
    He continued down the maze, turning right, left, then right again, nearly colliding with the man waiting for him, a long knife in his hand, the very same man who had helped abduct him many years before.
    “Been looking for you,” the man said.
    Carter backed up, while his assailant followed. Reaching to the side, he grasped a book and threw it with all his force, striking his opponent in the forehead, sending him reeling. Carter fled once more down twisted aisles resembling more and more a wildwood; branches drooped from the ceiling; bird calls filtered down through heavy foliage.
    He turned another of the endless corners and found Mr. Hope standing perplexed.
    “Carter, what the devil is happening?”
    Carter had no time to reply before one of the bookcases toppled toward Hope with a loud rumble. He yanked the attorney away, saving him from being crushed as a whole row of shelves fell in domino fashion. Out of the dust and rubble, Brittle came running, brandishing his sword before him.
    “They are right behind me!” the butler cried. “Continue ahead! Seek the second floor; there is a door to the north.”
    From behind the fallen bookcases came the Bobby, the other man with him. A large black beast proceeded them, like a great cat, but a shadow creature with a continually shifting form. The chandeliers rattled as it roared.
    “You can’t stay here!” Carter cried.
    “Someone must hold them off,” Brittle said. “You are the one they want. Hurry!”
    Carter turned, Hope with him. He thought himself a coward, leaving Brittle like this. But wasn’t it all a dream? They rushed down the aisle, dodging and turning through the maze. They had gone no more than fifty yards when they heard the scream of the dark animal, this time crying in pain, and Brittle’s ancient voice, shouting, “For the High House!”
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