Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
M y name sounded like water.
A soft gentle stream of words stringing together.
My eyes fluttered open. The library was bare. I sat slowly, holding my pounding head. The pain radiating through my body. I hissed through my clenched teeth.
“It’s okay. You’re safe here.” The words echoed around me. Light flooded in through the windows floating in the cold breeze. Flecks of dust dancing in the light.
I stood slowly making my way over to them. The lace soft against my fingers. A pair of delicate hands gripped my shoulders. The scent of indigo and paint brought a pang of tears to my eyes.
“I’ve got you, my sweet girl.” Mother’s voice crooned. Her lips pressed against my hair just as they always had, gentle and warm.
A sob broke through my chest. She held me closer, holding my back to her as my knees grew weak. We slid to the floor but she didn’t seem to mind. Instead holding me firmly against her. Her breath cold against my neck.
“Shhh.” She soothed. “You’re okay. Mummy is here.”
The words hit like a dagger.
I twisted in her grasp. Burying myself in her neck.
“I love you.” I choked out.
“I love you more, darling girl. Long have I waited for you to tell me that again in my arms.”
“Am I dead?”
She chuckled, shaking her head. “I thought it was time I let you know you're not alone here.”
“You could see me?”
“Always. But I didn’t know you could see me,” She said softly as she wiped the hair from my forehead. Her face unaged. Glowing in the light. Just as beautiful as she always had been.
“It was a blessing.”
“But also a curse,” She murmured as she looked over at me. Taking my head in her hands she studied me before cracking a wide smile.
“My daughter, the beauty. Who would have guessed the little old gloom would turn into the most beautiful bloom.”
“You know about his name for me?”
She laughed again, the sound like bells in the wind. “I know everything. I knew he was yours before you were even a babe.”
I furrowed my brow.
“Your soul recognises him. Your soul is his.”
I longed to bury myself in her chest. To remain with her, forever within her heart. But it was a dream one could not achieve. All I craved was her. To know she was still here was a blessing and a curse.
“But Vespera, things are coming. Very bad things. I can sense them. The attacks have been no accident. You have let your guard fall. You may be blind to death but you are not invincible. You must stay strong. Find who has done this to you and our family. Bring them to justice for us.”
“If I do, will you finally rest?”
“When the time comes for you to come with me, my sweet babe, we will cross together.” Her words were final. There was no point in arguing. No one ever argued with her and came out victorious. I traced the paint still splattered across her arms even in her afterlife. How could a ghost have paint on them after all this time?
“I had just finished painting when I died,” She said, seeing the question in my eyes. Her smile sad. I had never seen that final portrait.
I deflated slightly. Hearing her say she was dead was too hard to hear. To know it was true hurt but to hear her spirit admit it was like a nail to the bone.
My eyes slowly fluttered closed as I embraced her warm hold despite the ice she radiated. Her hands drew circles on my back. “I watch over you, my sweet girl, always. I always have.”
“I wish I had known that earlier.” I confessed. Mother chuckled lightly. The sound illuminated my soul. I pulled from her grasp. Facing her fully, her hands cupped my cheeks.
“Do you like my final painting?” She smiled.
I quirked a brow. “I don’t think I have ever seen it.”
She grinned before pulling my head to her chest like a child.
“When you see it again you will know.”
I embraced her warmth. The feeling of a mother’s touch so long craved finally sinking in. tears filled my eyes as she silently wiped them with her thumb. Holding me close in perfect silence. I didn’t want to leave. All I wanted was her. To feel her love forever more.
“I don’t have much longer, my sweet winter child. But please know, I love you more than stars and sky combined.” I gripped her tighter. Unable to say the words back before the darkness devoured me once more.
My scream shook the air as I awoke. A protest to take me back to her hanging in the halls.
Dorian hovered beside me. Her wild eyes bored into mine. Fear and sorrow reflected within. She didn’t need to speak. She knew she was in there. It only hurt that I could only see her in a vision. Why had she not made herself known beforehand instead of scaring me? My mother was always strange, I suppose.
Maybe she didn’t want me chasing after her. Little did she know that once this mess was done, I would follow her into every life beyond this one.
I needed to breathe.
The following days were nothing if not stifling. Maaier had grown distant since Father’s arrival. I ached for him but I could not bring myself to delve into that desire. I needed to focus on my killer. I chose to believe that he was giving me space for my task. If only to heal the hurt of losing so much so quickly… yet again.
A dinner had been planned for my birthday just shy of a week away. I protested against it. Demanding it was a waste of time. I did not find the need to celebrate turning twenty five.
I was already an old maid in the town's eyes. Or a freak. Always the freak. Surprisingly a lot of people said yes to attending the function despite the weather and murderer lurking the streets.
The maids had grown quiet. Not discussing their fellow maid as the trial approached. They said the evidence was as good as found. I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. It was all too strange and didn’t match the poor girl's character in any capacity.
My breath fogged the expanse as I leant against the glass of the library. The wind blows lightly through the barren branches. The last of the winter's snow beginning to slow. The soft flurry still fell like ash to the ground. A pang hit my stomach. Ash just like my beloved greenhouse.
Father had assured me he would build another one himself to replace mine but I didn’t want it.
I wanted my safe place with all my most beloved memories and secrets. I watched as Dorian and Victor bickered in the yard below. Dorian no doubt scolding him for something.
Victor however was grinning mischievously. Bending down low to scoop snow in his hands when her back was turned. He rolled the snow slowly between his hands before throwing it at her. The snowball hit her square in the right shoulder. She turned quickly. Her eyes narrowed before she made a snowball of her own. I could hear her laughter. A sound rarely heard from Dorian without her being manic. She deserved it. She deserved to be joyous for once. But something in the breeze made her stiffen. Her shoulders became rigid. She ran from Victor. Heading straight toward the path to the river.
With a curse, I sprinted outside to follow her. Leaving my cloak behind. With my skirts in hand, I ordered Victor to stay put. Whatever Dorian was seeing was enough to throw caution to the wind. Was it bad? Was it her future or mine. Or could it even be ours? She had said we wouldn’t survive. Has she seen our ends again? Or was she talking metaphorically? Having a seer as your best friend was more work than anyone could imagine. But I wouldn't trade her for anything. I would remain colourless my entire life, for eternity if I had to, just to see her smile.
I called her name. My voice rough with exertion. Curse Mary and these tight corsets.
Dorian materialised through the brush.
“Vessie, come!” She ushered cheerfully.
I huffed out a breath before kneeling beside her at the river.
“They called for us,” She whispered. Her focus on the water running below. She lifted her hand. Skirting her fingers along the frozen surface. I frowned.
“Who called?”
“Them.” She pointed to the centre of the river. I stood slowly. The ice was thick. But it wasn’t overly strong. I stepped forward, testing the weight of my body on the ice before placing both feet on the surface. The ice creaked beneath me. I took a small step and shuffled until I reached where she was pointing. I turned around to find Dorian with a flask in her hand. She threw it to me, barely giving me time to catch it.
“Where did you get that?” I hissed.
“Pour it on the surface!” She said, eyes wide as she watched the surface beneath my feet. I shuffled back. The sound of a knock beneath the ice rippling through the air.
Slowly, I untwisted the top. My heart was pounding as I poured the liquid onto the surface. The ice grew clearer. I looked down. The shadow of a hand floated just under the surface. My heart leapt into my throat.
The ice creaked beneath me. This time louder. The cracks set in like lightning under my feet. Bursting through the surface. My foot slipped. The ice disappeared as I plummeted into the water. Dorian rushed forward. Catching me just in time before I fell in. The ice broke until we hit the edge. Falling into the abyss below. The hard surface gave way to the secrets hidden beneath. Two white lumps crested the hole where I had just stood. My skirts, now heavy and damp.
Their long hair clumped with leaves. Two small girls bobbed through the ice water. Suspended by a log.
“What do we do?” Dorian fretted her lip. I took her hand.
“We find Arthur?” I suggested.
“Why that daft old toad?” She shook her head in disgust.
“He will know what to do. Victor doesn’t need more mess to clean up.”
Dorian nodded before scurrying off. I trembled in the cold. Waiting for Arthur to return with Dorian. Who were these poor children? Surely they would not have wandered out here alone. Not at this age. Most children that dared were into their early teenage years. The younger generations were mostly scared off by stories of ghosts. As they should be. I could only imagine how many within our walls were yet to make themselves known to me.
The pair panted as they arrived. The sound filling the silent air apart from my heart pounding in my ears.
Arthur braced his hands on his knees. Gasping for air as he took in the scene around him.
“Why were you on the ice?” He swallowed thickly before panting again.
“I don’t know.” I lied. Although it wasn’t truly a lie.
Arthur swore as he looked at the young girls. His face paled at the sight.
“What do we do?” Dorian said as she moved to stand beside me.
“We can’t tell the police.” He shook his head.
“Why not!” I barked, horrified that he would keep this from the authorities.
“Think about it.” He faced us. “Your father returns home and two girls show up in the river by the house. They will suspect him immediately. They will ask how you knew the girls were there. What are you going to do? Tell them you had a hunch? They would crucify you for that.”
“Then what do we do?” Dorian pressed.
“You two will go get warmed up. Leave this with me. I will dispose of them closer to town so that it looks like they died there.”
“Why not let them float?”
I shot an incredulous look at Dorian.
“What the fuck do you mean?” I swore, gaining a scald from Arthur in return.
“Too many branches.” Arthur waved her help away. Dorian looked at the girls again. Her body shook as she released the weight of the sight.
The two young girls looked so similar, both young with swollen faces. The only difference was their hair, one thick and dark, the other thin and light. Dorian looked over the two corpses once more, drawing the same connection as she looked at me. They looked just like us.
“Take her to the manor. I need you to find your father. I need you to find out if he was by the river at all.”
I nodded. Wrapping my arm around Dorian’s shoulders. Her saddened sniffs hurt my heart.
“It is too much of a coincidence that they died in the same place your mother did.”
“And Aunt Magdelena.” I added.
Arthur studied me. Wondering how I knew that Magdelena was burnt not too far into the woods from here.
“And her yes,” He said sadly. The memory of his sister playing in his mind. His shoulders slumped. I pulled Dorian away, leading her up the path.
We broke free of the trees. The yard was now bare of people. Apart from the ghosts of the two small girls now making their way up the front stairs. Their hands clasped together as they entered the house of madness.