Once Upon a Dark October

Chapter Thirteen

I ran into the cloakroom that adjoined the front parlor, pulling the door closed behind me. It took but a moment for my vampiric eyes to adjust to its suffocating dark. A slanting ray of firelight spilled through the keyhole. Crouched on the floor, I shoved aside the cloaks and jackets and forgotten cleaning supplies to peer through it. The vantage point was frustrating, though I could feel Morrigan—feel her power snaking its way toward me, coiling tight in my blood.

Palms braced against the doorframe, I went still. The skittering in the eaves became a terrible cacophony of shrill squeaking. The fire in the hearth went out in a cloud of acrid smoke, from which a swarm of bats burst forth. They flew down through the chimney and filled the parlor with their screeching and restless wings, wheeling about Morrigan’s head, knocking the teacup from Josephine’s hands, accosting Gwen with claws and fangs. Hundreds of them, their fluttering shadows thrown across the walls by the low-lit gaslamps.

Then the creatures and the shadows became one. And Lady Tremaine—Sonia—stood in our parlor in their place, draped partially in shadow.