Chapter 32
ELLA
WISSEN MANOR
Watching Jacob walk away feels like someone doused the only fire keeping me warm, leaving me behind, shivering in the dark. But Fritz has a point. Splitting up is better. Fritz and I tiptoe down the hall, following the sounds of laughter and the clinking of glasses.
I peek around the corner. A fire roars in a hearth flanked by stone wolves. Two wing-backed chairs face the fire. I can’t see the faces, but a full skirt billows out from the sides of one chair. A paper and an inkwell sit on a small round table by the wall. That might be the contract.
“To infinite power,” Wissen’s recognizable voice says as he raises a wine glass. The woman in the other chair clinks her glass to his, finalizing their toast. “They’ll fight, of course. And lose.”
The woman chuckles. “They always do.”
“Looks like your intended is having a fabulous time with his lady friend,” Fritz whispers from my side.
“Shush,” I scold him. “I’m going to get the contract.”
Holding my breath, I creep along the shadows on the walls as the two talk. The pounding of my chest drowns out their conversation. The fire pops, and I freeze.
“You’ll be at the ball, yes?” Wissen asks.
I let out a breath and continue. I’m reaching for the slip of paper on the table when a clanking fills the hallway. Heart pounding, I vaguely hear Wissen saying it’s just his servant. I snatch up the paper and duck back into the hall, victorious.
“Someone is coming,” Fritz whispers to me.
A servant is shambling down the hall, holding a candle in one hand and a platter covered with a large metal lid in the other. His glassy eyes are focused on the floor. The jangling comes from chains binding his ankles.
“Hide,” I order Fritz and drag him with me into an alcove, except I realize the servant will still see us when he gets closer. We’re doomed.
Something hard and round pushes into my back. A doorknob! Quickly, I open the door, and the two of us tumble into the darkness. I barely push the door shut when the clanking passes by.
“That was close,” I say, releasing a breath.
“This was a bad idea,” Fritz says. “You just locked us in here.”
Sure enough, there isn’t a doorknob on this side of the door. I try to push and then dig my fingers under the crack in the floor to pull it open, but it’s no use.
“It’s unfortunate, but at least I got the contract,” I say, trying to stay calm as I stuff the paper into my pocket. “I’m sure there’s another exit.”
“I like your positive outlook,” Fritz says, “but I’m not so convinced.”
I turn to discover we’re standing on the top landing of a rickety wooden stairwell that leads into a stone-lined hallway. Unlike the other corridors of the house, this one has lanterns hooked into prongs on the walls.
“Such a bright and cheerful home,” Fritz notes as we begin our descent. “And to think this will all be yours.”
“Not funny, Fritz.”
“Why did your father agree to this marriage?”
“Because my father and stepmother need the money,” I explain. “Personally, I think my stepmother is determined to have me married off so I can’t go to the ball.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Most mothers would go to extreme ends to be a part of the royal family.”
“It’s all about my stepsisters. She wants the prince to notice them. I don’t know why she’s worried. He won’t give me the time of day anyway.”
He’s silent for a moment, and then, “No, it isn’t. I’m sure all other maidens would pale in the sight of your fierceness. You might be the bravest girl I’ve ever met.”
“That’s very sweet of you.” I flash him a kind smile.
“I wouldn’t say I’m brave, just desperate not to be married off like a piece of property.
If we can find evidence to lock Dr. Wissen away, then I’ll be free.
I want more than to be married off to a wealthy man.
When my father was gone, I managed our property. I really enjoyed that.”
“You and I have more in common than I first thought.”
“That said, a part of me just wants to go to the ball for fun. I’ve never been to a dance.”
“I wouldn’t exactly categorize the king’s dances as fun. More like a battlefield of silk and champagne.”
“At least you’ve been to one.” I chuckle despite our dismal surroundings. “It feels cooler down here, doesn’t it? I’m guessing we’re below ground.”
The sound of fluttering wings catches my attention. A dove, scrawny and molted, flutters about in a cage dangling from a hook in the ceiling. It squawks, and I rush to it, trying to push my fingers through the bars to console the poor thing.
“You shouldn’t be caged,” I coo to the creature.
“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear,” it says. “’Tis a murderer’s house you enter here.”
I freeze and turn to Fritz. “Did you hear that?”
“Squawk, squawk?” He grimaces. “If it keeps up the ruckus, it’ll alert the doctor we’re here.”
“He said we’ve entered a murderer’s house.”
“He said that, did he?” Fritz chuckles.
I press my lips together. He thinks I’ve lost my mind. Might be true. Regardless, I can’t allow the bird to stay locked up. I unlatch the cage and hold out my hand. The bird hops out and perches itself on my finger quite happily. He cocks his head, assessing me.
“I think the bird likes you,” Fritz says.
“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear,” the bird sings the words this time. “’Tis a murderer’s house you enter here.”
“Thank you for the warning, friend. But you must free yourself, too, if you can.”
The bird flies off down the hall and around the corner. The flapping of its wings echoes against the stone.
“We should follow the bird,” I say. “I think it knows its way out.”
“This is utter madness, but we have no other options,” Fritz agrees.
The hallway turns, and we stumble into a room only to find it occupied.
I scream in surprise, and Fritz grabs my arm, as if to hold himself up.
But as my terror subsides, I realize it’s only an old woman, stirring a bubbling mixture in a giant kettle.
A few strands of hair dangle at her shoulders.
Her skin is weathered like dried-out apricots, and dark warts pock her face.
Her head snaps at attention. “What are you doing here?” she asks in a rusted voice.
“I—I came to see where my betrothed lives,” I manage, trying to calm the drumbeat in my chest.
“Alas, poor child,” she says. “Why did you ever come? You should’ve turned around and run far from this place. You have come to a murderer’s den, a place of horrors. Yours will be a marriage of death. Your bones will rot in the garden, giving magic to the trees in the Death Forest.”
“Death Forest?” Fritz gulps.
“She must be talking about those white trees we passed through,” I whisper to him.
“Listen, my dears. You seem like nice, sweet folk. You must leave with haste while you’re still free and alive.”
She points her spoon to the shackles attached to her ankles. It’s just like the ones the servant upstairs wore.
“I’ve been forced to cook for Wissen’s army. They’ll be hungry and will be here soon. Run away, and fast, before the master comes. Bride or no bride, it won’t matter. He’s married many a wife and none live to tell the tale I’ve just told you.”
“But why?” I ask, needing to know. “Why bother with the marriage ceremony if only to kill me?”
“The murderer believes the body of a wife gives the trees magic. A sacrifice of a loved one brings ultimate power, yes?”
“We should go!” Fritz begs frantically, peering around the edge of the room.
But I need answers. “Power?” Wingbeats clatter against my ribs. “How can bodies possibly give trees power?”
“Ah, you’re smarter than the others.” She starts stirring with her wooden spoon.
“The trees soak the power of the dead into their roots. The doctor uses that wood to build chests, doors, chairs, and such. Then he carves them with faces of animals or humans. The magic inside the wood enchants the lumber.”
“Are you saying his carpentry pieces are magical?”
“He can see through the eyes of the carvings using the saws he cuts the wood with.”
“The box he gave me.” My eyes widen, and I turn to stare at Fritz, who is swaying a little. “It had a face on it. He was planning to spy on me. I bet that’s how he gets information on everyone in the town. He’s been spying on all of us.”
“Perhaps even the king,” Fritz says and clutches my arm like he’s about to pass out.
A clomp of footsteps echoes in the hall.
“Quickly now!” the hag whispers. “Hide! Slip behind this hogshead where you won’t be seen.”
I move only to find Fritz has vanished. There’s a croak at my feet.
“Oh, you didn’t,” I grumble. Quickly, I sweep up the plump green frog and tuck him into my pocket.
“Be still as a mouse,” the hag whispers as I dart into the hiding place, hoping she’s not tricking me.
I hunker in the dark silence, praying every prayer I know while trying to ignore the foul stench of the hog’s head and the sticky floor.
“What was that sound I heard?” Dr. Wissen’s voice booms into the room.
“That silly bird,” the hag says. “What a ruckus it was causing. Flew right in here and scared the death from me.”
He grunts.
“The bird is missing,” another man’s voice says. “Should I go find it?”
I peer around the edge even though I know I should remain completely still. The doctor is staring into the pot, sniffing at it, while the other stands by the door, thick-corded arms crossed.
“No time for that,” Wissen says. “Find the intruders.”
“Yes, doctor.”
I listen, fear trembling through me as the footsteps tromp down the hall. Quickly, I scramble out of my hiding spot.
“Thank you for keeping me a secret,” I tell the hag.
“Did I not tell you you’ve come to the house of death? Now go, and make sure you never return.”
“But what about you?” I ask. “How can you stay here?”
She looks down at the chains binding her feet. “Nothing to be done about it.”
“I can’t leave you knowing you’re chained against your will. He must keep a key around here somewhere.”
“Don’t waste your pretty life on me,” she grumbles.
But I refuse to leave this woman. I scour the room for a key until I discover one above the doorframe. My hands shake as I slip it into the key lock. It clicks open.
“There. You’re free,” I say as the chains clatter to the ground.
“How peculiar.” She rises from her stool, looking a bit lost. “What should I do with myself?”
“Take this.” I pull off the bird necklace my mother gave me.
It had been my backup plan to sell it to pay for my escape.
But if it were not for her, I would already be in Wissen’s hands.
As much as it pains me to part with it, I couldn’t live with myself leaving her here helpless.
“The sapphire is valuable. Find a convent or a master in need of a…a good cook.”
“Bless you, child,” the hag says, eyeing me with this strange look. “May the favor be returned to you. Now hurry!”
Before I go, I toss the contract I found in Wissen’s study into the fire and then race into the next section of the hall when more footsteps, quicker than before, come stampeding down the hall.
Terror roots me in place. I’m too far from the hogshead to get there in time.
But then Jacob and Wilhelm’s faces emerge, running toward me.
Not caring for decency, I throw myself into Jacob’s arms. He practically lifts me off the ground, holding me tightly.
“I thought we were too late,” he says, voice trembling.
“Fritz,” Wilhelm says. “What happened to him?
“Oh!” I extract myself from Jacob and pat my cloak pocket. “He’s safely here with me.”
“Excellent.” Jacob nods. “Let’s go.”
We careen out into the hall and tumble down the dark corridor the way the bird went. As we push open the door and stumble outside, the air fills with the sound of howls.
They haven’t eaten yet. They’ll be hungry.
“Werewolves,” I whisper, realizing what the hag meant. “Wissen’s hunters were the wolves.”