Castleview by Gene Wolfe Read Free Book Online Page B

wolves, or witches. For the first time it occurred to her that people talked about such things to end the awful stillness, the age-old quiet of wood and stone. A wolf or a witch would be one heck of a relief, she thought.
    She said, “It’s not one o’clock now—it’s not even anywhere near midnight. It’s only six-fifteen. At seven-thirty, my mom and I are supposed to meet Dad for dinner at the Golden Dragon.”
    “That’s the good thing about a night like this. It doesn’t have to be after one. You might see it anytime. They come in a lot closer in weather like this, right? They think we won’t see them.”
    “Who comes in closer?”
    “The people in the castle. There have to be people, right? It figures. They’re watching us.”
    “Why should people in a castle watch this one little town?”
    “How should I know?” For an instant Seth seemed irritated, then he laughed. “If we meet some we’ll ask them, okay? Maybe there’s a weak spot right here where they can sneak through. Or maybe this reminds them of someplace else.”
    “Aren’t there ever any other cars on this road?”
    “Not this late,” Seth told her.
    He had no sooner spoken than she saw one, not really on the road but pulled off onto the shoulder: an old rusted-out sedan, dark and silent. In a second it was past, no longer in their lights, lost, vanished, disappeared into the darkness, the mist, and the rain.
    The road angled sharply to the left, and there were no more trees on her side, only unending empty night. Seth twisted the wheel again, more sharply still; the car slowed as he tapped the brakes. A low stone wall rose from the rain dead ahead. “Here we are,” he announced.
    “Yeah. I don’t see how we can see anything out there.”
    “After I turn off the lights and our eyes get used to it.”
    The Olds crept toward the wall. Mercedes wondered how fast they would have to hit it to go right through and over the cliff she felt sure was on the other side. Hadn’t anybody ever done that? Seth wouldn’t, Seth was being careful—though not really as careful as she would have liked—but what if she came up here sometime with somebody else? Maybe with somebody who was drunk or something. She pictured herself in another car, the old dark car she had seen beside the road, plunging over the cliff, down, down, down, until at last it hit the rocks and burst into flame. Some guy was in that car right now making out with some chick, Mercedes thought. Bet on it.
    They stopped; Seth put the car in Park and set the parking brake. Mercedes was glad he had done that; most guys, she knew, would not.
    “Now,” he said. He switched off the headlights—two quick clicks—and turned off the ignition.
    She edged nearer him. “You know, it’s kind of scary, way up here at night in the dark.” She put her Coke on the floor, between her feet.
    “Not really,” Seth said. “It’s not like Chicago, where you have muggers and so on. Pretty safe here.”
    “I don’t think it’s muggers I’m afraid of—mad slashers or something. I don’t know.”
    “Well, don’t worry.” He put his arm around her shoulders, as she had hoped he would.
    “I bet you’re on the football team.”
    He nodded—she felt the motion of his head. “Wide receiver. But I was only second string last year. I still got to play a lot. I lettered.”
    “Maybe they’ll want you where you’re going, too. Galena? Maybe they need a really good wide receiver, somebody with good hands who can run.” Mercedes did not know much about football, but she knew what a wide receiver did; she congratulated herself on that now.
    “We’re not moving,” he said. “Not since my dad died.”
    “Oh,” she said. “Oh, gosh.” She felt good, and she felt awful. What kind of a person was she, feeling good because his father was dead? Yet she did.
    “I mean, there isn’t any reason to, any more. It was just because of his job. We might still sell the house. Grandpa and Grandma