Ghostfinders 02 - Ghost of a Smile

wrong kind of attention. I’ve already been touched by forces of Good from Outside. I really don’t want to be noticed by the other side.”
    “You have got to let me run some tests on that when we get back,” said Melody.
    “Wouldn’t do you any good,” said JC. “As far as science is concerned, it’s only a preserved monkey’s paw. And you don’t want to try investigating it from the other side.”
    “Why not?” Melody said immediately. “Knowledge is knowledge.”
    “Because you don’t want to attract attention to yourself, either,” said JC. “Bad enough if Outside forces take an interest—can you imagine what the Boss would have to say if she found out? At best, she’d take it away. At worst . . .”
    “There are still places where they hang you for knowing such things exist,” said Happy.
    “Right,” said JC.
    Happy shook his head. “Who looks at a monkey’s paw and thinks— That isn’t dangerous enough? I must make it into something even nastier? ” He stopped abruptly and looked at JC. “Something this powerful . . . It worked against the Beasts. Would it work against the New People?”
    “Only one way to find out,” said JC.

EIGHT
    HUMAN IS
    “No more stops, no more investigations, no more distractions,” JC said firmly. “I think we’ve all had more than enough of taking it floor by floor, and I don’t see that there’s anything more we need to know or learn. So, to hell with whatever may or may not be lurking on the remaining floors. I say we go straight to the top of this benighted building and cut to the damned chase. We need some serious face-to-face time with the New People.”
    “Assuming they have faces,” Happy said gloomily. “If they’re as far above us as the Beasts were below . . .”
    “You always have to look on the glum side,” said Melody. “Look at it this way—the sooner we crash the party on the top floor and put our case to the New People, the sooner we can all go home, and I can get back to doing disgusting things to you in the bedroom. We’re not even half-way through that book I showed you.”
    “I’m quite looking forward to meeting the New People,” said Kim. “I’ll bet they’re all sparkly and glamorous and . . . and all the colours of the rainbow!”
    Melody sniffed. “Somebody read far too many flower fairy books when they were little . . .”
    “Oh I loved those!”
    “Later, Kim,” said JC. “I think we need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that these New People aren’t going to be anything we expect . . . or can accept.”
    “What if they’re not superhuman?” Happy said doggedly. “What if they’re posthuman? What if they are gods?”
    “Good question,” said JC. “In which case, presumably some kind of sacrifice will be required, and I will nominate you.”
    “Are you really planning on using that Hand of Glory thing against the New People?” said Melody.
    “Not if there’s any other option,” said JC. “The Hand is very definitely a last resort. If you see me draw it, start running.”
    “Way ahead of you there,” said Happy.
    “No-one said anything about taking on gods and monsters when I joined up with the Institute,” said Melody.
    “Should have read the small print,” said JC. “Onwards and upwards, my children.”

    They made their way slowly up the last remaining stairs, taking their time. They were all really tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally. They paused to glance at each set of swing doors they passed, straining their ears against the quiet, but they never saw or heard anything on any of the other floors. The only sounds were their feet scuffing on the steps and their own harsh and laboured breathing.
    But the higher up the building they went, the heavier the atmosphere became. Every floor they passed brought them that much closer to the territory of the New People and added an extra weight to the body and the soul. JC struggled on, every step that little bit harder, calling for more strength, more nerve, more concentrated will. As though he was fighting a part of himself that didn’t want to go any further. That didn’t want to know who or what these New People might be. It is a terrible thing, to contemplate placing yourself in the hands of living gods. But JC lowered his head and bulled on because he was damned if he’d give in to any pressure, from outside or inside. He had a job to do, and he was going to do it. It was perhaps the only thing he really