Eva tilted her head to consider. ‘As for your question… It will, a bit,’ she said. ‘Glass throws sound back, so you can get some echo. But once the room’s full of people and furniture, it’ll settle. We just need to be sensible with speaker placement.’
Maddy nodded, satisfied. ‘Cool.’
And on they walked.
But as they reached the door of the ceremony hall, a problem was immediately obvious.
The polished wood near the far wall was a different colour from the rest of the wood, darker. The cause soon revealed itself as a drop fell from above to add to the spreading dark puddle. Then another.
Eva’s gaze lifted slowly to the ceiling. A bloom of water was pushing through the plaster.
Before she could say anything, a door banged somewhere down the corridor. Footsteps approached at a gathering speed, then a man in a Hawthorne Manor waistcoat half-ran, half-skidded into the room, clutching a toolbox. Ralph, the manager.
‘Morning. So sorry, just, er, small issue,’ Ralph said breathlessly, already dragging a bucket under the leak. ‘We’ve got it completely under control.’
Another drop hit the bucket loudly. Then another. Then a small, steady stream. Eva folded her arms.
‘I see,’ she said.
Ralph laughed a little too loudly. ‘Yes, well, these old buildings, you know how they are.’
As if on cue, there was a soft crack above them. A thin line split across the ceiling.
Maddy made a small noise. ‘Is it supposed to do that?’
‘Yes,’ Ralph said immediately. ‘Absolutely. Totally normal.’
A piece of plaster broke off and hit the floor with a wet thud. They all looked at it.
‘That,’ Eva said, very evenly, ‘does not look great.’
‘No, well,’ Ralph said, crouching to examine it as if that might help, ‘it’s… part of the process.’
‘What process?’ Maddy asked.
Ralph opened his mouth. Closed it again. ‘Umm…’
Another crack, longer this time. Water began to seep through properly now, not dripping but leaking, spreading across the ceiling. Ralph stood up quickly, wiping his hands on his already damp trousers. ‘Right. Nobody panic.’
‘Has anyone ever told you that using the word panic actually induces the feeling?’ Eva repeated.
He laughed nervously. ‘Ha, yeah. I’m just going to pop upstairs. Won’t be a moment,’ he said, already backing away.
Another chunk of plaster dropped behind him as he turned. He paused, glanced back at it, then at them, and gave a big shit-eating smile.
‘All fine,’ he said, and disappeared.
Water continued to fall, steadily now.
Maddy turned to Eva. ‘This doesn’t feel fine.’
Eva watched the spreading stain, the widening crack.
‘No,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t.’ She sighed. But it felt good. A problem to solve. Eva liked it. It made sense to her. Unlike anything else.
‘I’m on it,’ she told Maddy.
Maddy nodded. And Eva fled happily in the direction of the disaster.
