“No!” came a disembodied voice, startling everyone. “It is so dark here.”
“That’s Ernest’s voice!” exclaimed Helene.
“But he’s definitely dead,” came the doctor’s reply after checking Valdemar’s pulse again.
Carmichael leaned in. “Valdemar, can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you.”
“Where are you, Valdemar?”
“I’m surrounded by darkness. It’s so dark, and . . . people, multitudes of people.”
“Valdemar . . .”
“No! No!”
“You will sleep!”
“No!”
“Stop it! Just let him die!” cried Helene.
“Let him go, Mr. Carmichael!” came the doctor’s order.
“My liege, should we interfere? Your father said . . .”
“I know what my father said, Erik. Perhaps a compromise is in order.” He stepped closer to the bed and shouted, “Listen!” Everyone became quiet. “Mr. Valdemar, can you hear me?”
“Nico, save me.”
“Mr. Valdemar, did you promise Mr. Carmichael he could test some mesmerizing hypotheses on you at the moment of death?”
“I did.”
“No, please,” begged Helene.
“Madame, I propose a compromise,” said Nico. “Mr. Carmichael, you have a week to experiment with Mr. Valdemar. After that, you must hand him over to his wife for a proper burial.”
“I need more time,” began Carmichael.
“Two weeks, that’s the most I can allow.”
“Oh no, only I can release him. I will take as much time as I please!”
Nico got in his face. “Don’t be so sure about that. Two weeks, Mr. Carmichael; after that, I might have to call in the police, and you wouldn’t want that, now would you?” Mr. Carmichael pursed his lips. “Two weeks, are we in agreement? Mrs. Valdemar?”
Helene nodded. “I think that’s reasonable.”
“Doctor James?”
“If he goes beyond the allotted time, I’ll go for the police myself.”
Nico nodded. “Thank you, Doctor. Mr. Valdemar, think you can hold out for two more weeks?”
“I . . . don’t know; let me be at peace, please!”
“Valdemar, be still! Now . . .” began Carmichael.
Erik interrupted with, “We are in agreement, Mr. Carmichael; you should be grateful you have more than a day to do this.”
Carmichael glanced at them, and a hint of anger flashed across his face before it disappeared. “Very well, two weeks it is.”
Nico nodded. “Good, now if you don’t mind, I would like to retire for the night. Erik, if you please?”
“Of course, my liege.” Erik turned and bowed to the others. “Good night.” He followed Nico to his room and helped him get ready for bed. “Carmichael will not keep his promise.”
“I know.”
“What is your plan?”
“Leave for the last days and stay away for a few days after the two weeks are up, checking periodically.”
“Are you hoping Carmichael will slip, thinking the doctor is the only one to deal with?”
“At least make him act faster.”
“What for?”
“If love can defeat death, who’s to say it can’t defeat mesmerizing?”
“Brilliant, but risky, very risky.”
“It’s the only thing we have at the moment. Valdemar will only listen to Carmichael’s commands, and if we killed Carmichael . . .”
“There’s a slim to none chance we could snap him out of it.” Nico nodded.
Erik sighed. “Very well. Do you have an excuse ready, or should I come up with one?”
Nico shrugged. “You’re the nephew.”
“And you’re the lord.”
“Of course, fine, I’ll think of something,” grumbled Nico as he crawled into his bed. “Good night.”
“Bonne nuit,” came Erik’s reply. Nico grumbled as Erik closed the door, but he was sound asleep in no time.
The next week passed fairly uneventfully; Helene, Erik, and Nico were moved out of the house by the doctor as Ernest’s moaning’s echoed throughout the house, interrupting their sleep. That left Carmichael staying at the mansion as he took care of his research. But Erik, Nico, and Dr. James did check on his progress from time to time. It was the eleventh day into the experiment when Erik pointed out that they had no excuse to leave.
“I know, I know,” Nico responded. “Give me a bit more time, please.”
“A bit of time is all we can afford if we are going to put your plan into action.”
“I know, I’ll have something tomorrow.” Though Nico said that, he was panicking, for he really couldn’t think of anything.
But he did have an excuse by dinner. It, in fact, came in the guise of a letter. It was from Hades, congratulating him on reaching a compromise, and that if there was any trouble with Carmichael, to send a note directly to Hades as he had his own people working on a way to free Valdemar from the mesmerize from their side. Hades also suggested Nico use the letter as an excuse to get away for a while, one of Hades’ messengers having told the god Nico’s plan. Nico did use the letter as an excuse, and it worked perfectly since it was written in Italian.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Nico, was that a letter from your father?” asked Helene when Nico emerged from his room for dinner.
“Yes ma’am, it was. He was wondering if Erik and I could take care of some business for him in, uh, Bordeaux? Is that how you pronounce it?”
“It is; it is where the wine got its name, after all,” pointed out Erik.
“Oh, right, well, I wasn’t sure if the French pronounced it differently, but Father would like it if we could take care of it since we’re in France and he’s still in Italy. He said we could have another month here if we took care of it fairly quickly.”
“Then shall we leave by the first train tomorrow morning and get it over with quickly?”
Nico nodded. “I think so. Sorry, Doctor, I know you were counting on us to be here when the two weeks were up, but it looks like we’ll be gone for a few days.”
Doctor James sighed. “I know, I will go over there tomorrow to remind him about ending it.”
“Thank you. We’ll try to make this quick and get back here as soon as possible.”
The next morning, they were off, heading south. They only went a few miles southwest of Paris, stopping in Versailles, and waited.