Page 131 of Dead Beat

We need Danny. He can fence. He can fight.

But then Daniel Arlington hadn’t answered the door. He had disappeared into the belly of Black Elm. His demon had won.

Maybe his great-grandson would finish the job. Or maybe they would fail as the first pilgrims had. They were an echo of an old song, and now it was up to them to change the tune or die trying.

47

Darlington told Penny he’d be happy to meet her at Scroll and Key, but she insisted on coming by Il Bastone. She had always loved the house, and they could walk over to the tomb together—wouldn’t it be nice to catch up? It wouldn’t, but the reality was he felt guilty. He and Penelope had dated for almost a year when he was a junior and she was a senior. They’d broken up when she graduated, and they’d agreed to stay friends. He had certainly meant to keep in touch, but then he’d been swallowed by a hellbeast.

When the doorbell rang, he hurried out of the parlor to find Dawes and Alex perched on the sunflower staircase like a couple of gargoyles.

“Are you my chaperones?” he asked.

“One foot on the floor,” said Alex. “And don’t get handsy.”

Dawes looked a little too pleased with herself. She’d never liked Penny.

When he reached for the doorknob, it wouldn’t turn.

“Oh come on,” he said. “This is all for the cause. Alex, would you please get your pet house to stand down?”

Alex patted the banister and the knob turned in Darlington’s hand.

“Danny!” Penny exclaimed, throwing her arms open for a hug.

She was impeccably dressed in a belted wool trench and boots, her brown hair arranged in an artfully disheveled braid.

He embraced her, and a wave of nostalgia struck as he inhaled her perfume: tuberose and all the easy happiness and hopeful ambition of his junior year. Penny had been only a year older, but she spent every summer in the Hamptons and every winter in Prague. She seemed to know everything and everyone, and he’d been flattered and thrilled by her interest in him.

“How was Spain?” she asked.

“An education.”

“I’m stunned Lethe was willing to part with you. Did you end up getting stuck with the charity case?”

He tried not to cringe. “I did.”

“Was it more or less of a catastrophe than you thought?”

“More,” he said and glanced over his shoulder, wishing Alex couldn’t hear all this. “But it turns out I needed a little catastrophe.”

“Oh gosh,” Penny said as she realized they had company. “I feel like a complete ass.”

Alex stuck her hand through the spokes of the banister. “Alms for the poor?”

“Shall we?” said Darlington, casting a baleful look back as he shut the door and Alex and Dawes doubled over in laughter.

The air was cool and moist as they walked toward campus.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch,” he said. “Last year was more challenging than expected.”

“I was surprised,” she admitted with a smile. “I thought I made more of an impression.”

She had, but that wasn’t a path he wanted to go down. “How was the dig?”

“We’ve found a lot of gold, so the government is happy, but not much else, so our sponsors will probably pull funding.”

Penny had been working at an archaeological site at Teatro Cressoni in the hopes of discovering a secret temple connected to the symbols above the Porta Alchemica in Rome, but apparently it had been a bust. She talked about her plans for the next year, and he asked after her parents. He talked about improvements for Black Elm that he was no longer sure he wanted to make. He was relieved when they finally arrived at Scroll and Key.