The stairs took them down into cooler still air, and she couldn’t stop the shiver, knowing what lay ahead of them. Tilly had felt it before, when she and Ambrose had first come this way, but then she’d had the nerves of confined dark spaces to contend with as well. Now she was surrounded by people and would remain unharmed, so what she felt was due to what had happened in this place.
She turned as someone moaned. Ellen, she realized, seeing her wide-eyed gaze. Gray had moved to her side and held her hand.
Leo and Alex were close to her now too.
“Those are the stairs up to the gentlemen's club,” Tilly said when they reached them.
No one responded. Alex was looking at the drawings on the wall, and his usual calm expression had gone. He reached out and traced one symbol without touching it, his handhovering above the stone, and then let it drop to his side once more.
They passed the cloaks, and Tilly watched Ellen’s step falter as she brushed her fingers along them.
“Ellen,” Gray said quietly.
“I'm all right.” But she did not touch the cloaks again.
Alex did. He pressed his palm flat against the nearest one and closed his eyes, and the color left his face so quickly that Bram stepped toward him.
“Alex—”
“There is a man coming through, someone I believe who wore this but has now passed. I feel his sadness, not for what he’s done, but what he can no longer do, I believe,” Alex said, his voice stripped of its usual warmth. “He was not a good person.” He removed his hand and said nothing more.
Mungo eased Tilly behind him as they reached the room, and she was grateful for his care.
The smell reached her first, just as it had when she’d come down here before.
There was the cold of the stone, and the old, musty scent of rooms that got no light or air. Overlaying those smells was a taint of what could only be blood.
“My God,” Alex whispered.
He was white-faced now, his jaw set. Beside him, Ellen had gone still. Tilly thought she looked to be bracing herself for what was to come and felt her nerves rise.
“If this is too much,” Bram said, his voice low, “the three of you leave.”
“No,” Leo, Alex, and Ellen said at the same time.
“Whatever evil happened here must be exposed,” Leo said. His voice was steady, but he was pale. “We must bring those responsible to justice.” He and his siblings moved to the shelf to examine the contents together.
“I believe there has been much death and pain down here,” Alex said.
“Shut them out, nephew,” Bram said, looking worried.
He loved his nephews and nieces very much. Tilly had seen evidence of this over and over again.
She rubbed her arms, watching them.
Violet slipped an arm around her waist in comfort. “Are you all right?”
“I am. I just keep thinking of who suffered here, Vi.”
“Our club is cleansing whatever horrid things happened in this place, Tilly. Never forget that what you’ve done is good. Good washes away evil.”
She hoped that was right.
“This symbol,” Alex said, his voice sounding stronger now, more like himself. He held up the book from the shelf and pointed to its cover. “The Societas Rosicruciana. A Christian Hermetic order. Members had to be Master Masons already. Ostensibly it was about scholarly pursuit. Kabbalah, Hebrew mysticism, Alchemy, Hermetic philosophy. The writings were attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.”
“Wasn't he a legendary Hellenistic figure,” Tilly said, “combining the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek god Hermes?”
“He was, and I'm impressed you know that.”
