by Julia Byrd
“We’re done here,” Juno said. “Let’s go home—back. Let’s go back to Maida House.”
With a great crack of thunder, the threatening deluge arrived. Sarah shrieked, more delighted than upset, and sprinted away. She disappeared in the direction of the Hood family tomb and its tunnel entrance. I flipped up the collar of my overcoat to fend off the trickle that wended down my spine. Juno turned her face up to the night. Some of the earlier tension had eased from her expression since her work was completed.
I startled at the sound of the Maida Green gates rattling in their hinges. Clang, clang. Even through the rain, the metallic noise was distinct. Juno jerked her head in the direction of the clamor, and I knew we both remembered Greeley’s previous siege.
“He wouldn’t,” she said. “It couldn’t be him again. Why would he?”
I squinted towards the cemetery entrance, trying to make out a figure, but it was too far to see through the downpour. “I will go and check.”
Clang, clang.
“I’m coming with you,” Juno said. “The gates are stout.”
I did not argue the point. We strode the path and closed the short distance to the gate. A small, dark form gripped the bars of the gate and rattled it again. Clang, clang. The person was too slight to be Greeley.
“Ben! Oh, Ben, come quickly.”
The familiar voice was hazed with fear. I landed my next stride too heavily and splashed rainwater up to my knees. “Mrs. Toth? Is that you? What on earth are you—”
Beneath her cloak, the lace edge of her nightdress was muddy. “It’s Everett, Ben. He was only trying to help me, but they took him, and I don’t know what they’re going to do. Please, please hurry.”
Chapter 22: Trial Rites
I pulled the gate key from my pocket and hastily turned back the bolt so Juno and I could join Mrs. Toth outside the cemetery walls. “Who took Everett? Where?”
“And why?” Juno asked.
Mrs. Toth grasped my arm with iron strength to pull me towards the village, and Juno raised the hem of her skirt and hurried alongside. “It was three men,” Mrs. Toth said through labored breaths. “Colney, Roberts, and one other. They came into the house at this godforsaken hour, without so much as a knock, shouting about Mrs. Colney. I didn’t understand half of what they said. They asked me what I had done. They tried to—they pulled me from my bed.”
She rubbed her free hand over her eyes, clearing the rain. Her plain words simplified what must have been a violent altercation. “And Everett stepped in,” I said. “Where did they take him?”
“They said they were going to the church.”
Juno made a strangled noise upon learning our destination, but my attention was on Mrs. Toth.
“Even if you didn’t understand half of what they were saying, can you tell me the other half?” We entered the village street, and all the houses on both sides were shuttered. The occupants guarded against the wet weather, but the effect was cold and unwelcoming.
“It’s the babes. Too many infants have died, Ben, and now the Colneys’ babe, too. These men, they wanted to blame me. But this is all because of that Sarah Greeley, I just know it. I have never approved of any Greeley. That girl knows more than she should. And now my Everett is in danger because of it.”
“No,” I said as if my denial could change anything. “No.”
“Those men, they’re looking for a solution to a problem that cannot be fixed,” said Juno. “So they invent a problem they can address.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Toth. She craned her head back and considered Juno. “But they should address it with that Greeley girl instead of Everett. I don’t think you know who you are protecting, Mrs. Stephens. Both her parents gave her poor examples to live by. Oh, I wish Everett hadn’t gotten himself into this. I could have talked them into reason, as I have done before.”
She and Juno were two women who dwelt on the margins of our insular village life for different reasons. I had been so absorbed with my suspicions around Juno that I had failed to take the gathering threat to Mrs. Toth seriously. How many times had her name come up in my investigations? Because I knew she was so thoroughly good and Christian, I had assumed others would understand the same truth. But they wanted someone to accuse, and Juno, despite her reputation for oddities, was a more difficult target. She had wealth and milk-pale skin. And in turn, Mrs. Toth wanted to blame poor Sarah.
We came to the forecourt of the village church and saw the doors standing open, spilling out a yellow glow from within. Mrs. Toth released my arm and ran ahead, and I darted after her. In the narthex we stopped, dripping rainwater onto the floor, and peered down the long nave. I glanced back outside, but Juno was gone. That was probably for the best. It wasn’t her affair, and she disliked entering the church. Perhaps it was too dangerous for her to interfere, but I suppressed disappointment that she didn’t care to stay. Turning back, I focused on the group of men. The light came from a single lantern left carelessly on a bench, and someone had lit a branch of thick pillar candles on the altar. Between the pews, in the open space just before the chancel, they held Everett by his arms. He wore nothing but cotton drawers and a loose shirt, and he squirmed when he saw his mother and me. The sight opened a red, snarling maw of anger inside me. How dare they take him from his home? How dare they restrain him? His mother must have felt the same or worse because she strode up the center aisle in a fury.
“That’s my son!” shouted Mrs. Toth. “Let him go, you beasts.”
“What is happening here?” I demanded. My bootheels struck sharp blows on the stone aisle. “What is the meaning of this?”
It was Colney who answered me first. “You know what occurred today in my house, Hood. Even if he works for you, you cannot deny this boy’s mother has had her black hands on every woman who lost a baby this month.”
I shook my head. “Nonsense. We’re all sorry your wife is no longer bearing, Colney, but there was no human crime behind it.”
“And what about my wife?” Roberts stepped forwards. His collar and neck cloth were just as starchy white as when I had met him at his house, but his forehead was pulled into creases. “I’ve been telling her the loss of our boy was unnatural, but she wouldn’t listen. Now it’s happened to Colney as well. My son was alive and well when I last saw him. He should not be in Maida Green. He should still be at home with his mother.”
“So should mine,” said Mrs. Toth. “I had nothing to do with your wife or your son, Mr. Roberts. And you, Mr. Colney—you should thank me. I did nothing more sinister to Martina than bring her apple tarts. Now, release Everett.”
“I don’t want your boy, Adele,” Roberts said. His use of her Christian name was disrespectful. I stepped forwards with no thought or plan in mind other than to be nearer to Everett. “If you’ll turn yourself in to the church and submit to cleansing of your murderous hex, I will release him.”
“Fine. Done.” Mrs. Toth raised her head and advanced, the embodiment of a mother’s sacrifice. The anger inside me growled again.
“Mother, no!” Everett yelled. He thrashed hard against Colney and the man who held his other arm. “You cannot confess to these ignorant pigs for a mythical hex.” In his struggle, one hand flew backward and struck Colney in the face.
“Quit that, boy!”
Mrs. Toth gasped, and Roberts whirled around. Colney gripped Everett’s wrist as Roberts paced towards Everett. “Keep a civil tongue for your betters, boy, or I’ll—” He raised his right hand and slapped Everett.
That was more than enough to snap my thinning restraint. I roared out a wordless protest and flew at Roberts in a rage. Mrs. Toth’s scream was a distant distraction. I clamped a hand on Roberts’ shoulder and spun him away from Everett, then hit him in his soft midsection with no warning. There was no honor in it, no gentlemen’s rules of conduct. The man folded in half and choked around a gagging breath. Everett seized his chance and thrashed against his captors.
I pushed Roberts aside and went afte
r Colney. Anger drove my instinctive desire for violence.
“Benjamin, stop,” Mrs. Toth snapped.
I ignored her and rammed Colney with one shoulder, sending him off balance, then tried to sweep a foot out from under him. His hip knocked against the candelabra, which spilled a cascade of hot wax from all three candles, but the heavy gilt piece did not fall. The man recovered and raised his elbow. I stretched to grab his arm. With a yank, he pulled away from me and slammed his elbow down.
Everett cried out. Something dragged at Colney’s other arm, and I realized it was Everett’s weight. He had gone limp. Colney’s elbow had connected with the base of Everett’s skull.
“No! Stop it, all of you!” his mother shouted.
I made another grab for Colney, but my knees wobbled, and I staggered forward under a sudden impact. Roberts had recovered from my blow and returned it with a vengeance against my left kidney. The hit sent a white-hot shot through my guts and stunned me motionless for a long second. I blew out a choked breath and Roberts pull his fist back for a punishing punch aimed at my face.
“Alfred, no!” A voice rang out from the other end of the aisle.
I did not turn to look. The sound of his name was enough to distract Roberts, and I regained my footing and threw my weight at him in an uncoordinated heave. We both toppled to the stone floor.
“Benjamin! For pity’s sake, stop at once,” said Mrs. Toth.
Her voice barely penetrated the haze of pain and anger through which I grappled with Roberts. Colney moved at the edge of my vision, and I snarled at him to stay back. Mrs. Toth dropped to her knees beside Everett’s still form and laid a hand on his cheek. Roberts slammed a knee into the meat of my thigh, and I dug hard fingers into the tendon between his neck and shoulder.
A voice like lightning split the humid air of the church. “Enough.”
It was Juno. Although she had not shouted, her tone cracked with authority, and the other men and I all paused in our brawling. Mrs. Roberts stood beside her. Juno hadn’t run off, she had gone for help. She progressed up between the ranks of pews, wet locks of hair straggled around her shoulders. I pulled away from Roberts and stood. Juno and I faced each other over the length of the church aisle like bridegroom and bride, but she was not smiling. I had once asked her in jest if she would turn to smoke and ash on the church’s blessed doorstep. She was very much alive, and the sanctified air resounded with her command.
My breath stopped in my lungs. How had I ever thought her capable of evil deeds? She was an avenging goddess, a protector, and, yes, a witch. She would never hurt a child. I could spend years atoning for my suspicions. I pulled in a ragged gulp of air.
“Juno.” I pushed damp, straggling hair off my forehead, then winced at the pain in my kidney. “Mrs. Stephens. We were—”
“Mrs. Toth.” Juno cut me off, all her attention on Everett. Her footsteps demarked a steady rhythm on the stones as she traversed the aisle. “Is your son all right?”
“He’ll be fine, thank God. Had his thick skull knocked by that fool there.” She glared at Colney.
He raised a finger to point at her. “You agreed to turn yourself into the church for judgment—”
“Silence, Mr. Colney.” Juno swept past all of us and ascended the single step onto the altar. We turned our heads to watch her like flowers towards the sun. The candlelight cast half of her stern face into relief. “I understand you feel you have a grievance, but what you have is grief.” Her tone eased. “Martina needs you at home. I want you to leave this and go to her. And Mrs. Roberts, I believe you had a word for your husband.”
The other woman had lingered at the rear of the church. Her posture was poised and cool, hands clasped before her. “Alfred. This is unseemly. Come along, now.”
“Elizabeth, the babes—”
She shook her head. “You know our boy was taken up by God, Alfred. Who are we to argue?”
“But—” The tension bled from Roberts’ form, and his shoulders slumped. “I just don’t understand.”
“I know, my love,” said his wife, softening. “Some things are not for us to comprehend. Will you take me home, husband? I believe this terrible weather is clearing.”
“First, Mr. Roberts,” said Juno, “tell me who taught you that warding.”
“What warding?”
“The one inscribed over Mrs. Toth’s door. Was it something you learned from your mother?”
Mrs. Toth raised her head at the sound of her name. Roberts took a step away from her and Everett. “My grandmother used that mark for protection,” he admitted. “But it did nothing to stop the hex, clearly, given what happened to Mrs. Colney today.”
“There is no hex, you fool,” Mrs. Toth spat out. “And my window? I suppose that was a result of your trespassing, too?”
Roberts said nothing, but his expression flickered through shifting emotions. Then Everett stirred, and Juno and I moved to join Mrs. Toth. When his eyes opened, all three of us crouched over him. He blinked, then jerked his legs. “What is going on—ow.”
“We are all going home,” said Juno pointedly. “Isn’t that right, gentlemen?”
Colney slouched away without apology or a backwards glance, and the other man went with him. Mrs. Roberts extended a hand towards her husband.
“Coming, Alfred?” She beckoned with her fingers. “Adele, please forgive this terrible intrusion. It’s really not like Alfred to be so impetuous. He and Mr. Colney were drinking at the public house, and…well. I think their shared grief overrode their trust in God’s plan.”
I could not see his expression, but Roberts made no audible objection to his wife’s speaking about him as if he weren’t there.
“I cannot understand how my son is simply…gone,” he said. “He was there, and then…I just don’t know.”
“Alfred,” said Mrs. Roberts again. “We’re going home now.”
He slunk away from the scene of the fight. Mrs. Toth inclined her head. “I cannot imagine the loss of a child. I’m just glad you and Mrs. Stephens injected some reasonable thinking. Unlike those who lost their tempers—” She glanced at me and lowered her eyebrows.
In the face of her admonishment, I helped Everett to his feet. He was a little unsteady, but his grip on my forearm was strong. “All right, Ev?”
He managed a lopsided grin. “No worse than the morning after the whisky spell.”
“If I had wanted a barroom brawl, Benjamin, I would have gone to the public house,” said Mrs. Toth in clipped syllables. “When I came to you, my intention was to bring some male authority—”
“Mother—”
“No, Everett, Ben knows I love him as I love my own children. Therefore, I must tell you, Benjamin, that I am sure you are usually a great deal more intelligent than your actions this evening would indicate. And that’s all I have to say on the subject.”
My face burned. Juno looked at me with a mixture of pity and amusement, and I touched a bruise forming on my jaw. “Consider yourself heard, Mrs. Toth. And Juno…” I owed her more than an apology, more than gratitude, but it was not the right moment. “Thank you for your timely intervention. You ran off to fetch Mrs. Roberts?”
“Yes. I knew she could influence her husband, and I suspect he’s the one who exploited Mr. Colney’s fresh grief.”
“Perhaps we could talk about this in the morning,” Everett said. “Mother and I need to get home. Lucy will be worried.”
Juno extinguished the candles, and Mrs. Toth wrapped her arm around Everett’s waist. I pulled the heavy doors closed as we left the church. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, and the night air was fresh.
Chapter 23: Water Rites
By the time I saw the Toths safely settled back at their house, I was beginning to ache all over. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. The sight of Everett captured by ignorant, misguided men would haunt me, and his mother’s admonishment rang true. If I wanted to squash poisonous talk about a hex, I needed to do something cleverer than throw punch
es at grieving villagers. Instead of returning to my cottage in the cemetery, I stayed with Juno on the road back to Maida House. “I’ll sleep upstairs tonight in the manor.”
Juno was shivering. She folded her arms within her damp cloak and gave me a curious glance. “I thought you were afraid to enter the master bedchamber.”
“I am,” I said calmly. “My brother hanged himself there. My mother found him, and I cut him down. But I’m not leaving here tonight so it will have to do.” I held her eyes until she looked away. “Earlier tonight, I thought you had left me to rescue Everett on my own. I’m sorry I thought that, even for a moment, and I’m sorry for…a lot of other terrible things I once believed you capable of.”
“Be specific, please.”
“You’re going to make me say it?”
“Absolutely.”
“All right. I deserve that.” I inhaled and straightened my shoulders. “I’m sorry I entertained suspicions that you might have been involved in the deaths of infants.”
“Human sacrifice, Ben. That’s what you mean by involved.”
“I never said that! You used that phrase. And I know for certain you are a heretic with terrifying, witchlike powers of persuasion, so my concerns weren’t entirely—”
“Best quit before you dig your own grave.”
I blew out a sigh. “Indeed. Do you forgive me?”
“Yes, because I think a significant corner of your heart never believed the worst of me. It was only your brain that doubted.” She was serene and smug.
“Thank you for that.”
“What are we going to do about Mrs. Toth’s doubters? Roberts won’t be the only one. How do we smooth these suspicions once and for all?” she asked.
“I’m not certain. Let me think.”
The house was dark as we walked up the drive. Sarah must have gone to bed after the ceremony in Maida Green. Had she noticed our absence? Once within, I bolted the front door. Juno gave me a tired smile. Without another word, she passed through the foyer and entered the library. The big doors slid shut, leaving only damp footprints to mark her passing.