Such Wicked Intent

by Kenneth Oppel

  I realized in that moment that Elizabeth wasn’t simply sleepwalking.

  She was possessed.

  “Shall we put the baby to bed now, Elizabeth?” I said, my voice shaking. I had no idea what to do. No plan effortlessly constructed itself in my head. I was just myself, unaided by supernatural forces, and all I knew was that this creature could not be allowed to exist.

  “Not yet,” Elizabeth replied serenely. “I want to hold him.”

  “I can tuck him up with his blanket,” said Henry, walking toward her with his arms outstretched. This was wise. She’d always trusted Henry with the child.

  Elizabeth smiled. “You’ll have to destroy me first.”

  And at that moment the creature turned its muddy head to look at Henry and gave a rattling shriek. Its mouth bristled with serrated teeth.

  “Good God,” Henry breathed.

  “Elizabeth,” I said, “you must let us take care of the baby properly.”

  “So you can kill him?” she asked calmly.

  “The baby must be tired,” said Henry soothingly. “His eyes are drooping, see? He needs his sleep if he’s to grow.”

  Elizabeth’s own eyelids drooped, and she nodded. “All right.”

  Henry stepped closer, and the creature sprang from Elizabeth’s body toward Henry, its jaws wide. It didn’t bite him, merely knocked him backward and sprang off him toward me, hissing like a feral cat. I struck out with my arm. I felt its teeth catch my cloak, trying to bite deeper, before I threw it off. It sailed across the cottage and landed somewhere in the darkness.

  Panting in terror, Henry and I tried to track its quick scuttling movements across the floor. So many hiding places.

  “Konrad!” Elizabeth cried. “Where are you?”

  Against all instinct I had the sense to rush back and close the cottage door firmly. We couldn’t let this creature escape into the world. I grabbed a thick burlap sack, seized a lantern, and leapt up onto the table, hoping for a better view. But there was so much debris upon the floor, so many tools and shadows, that it was quite hopeless. To my left a scrabbling, then to my right. The little monster moved with supernatural speed. I saw Henry pick up a rake. Elizabeth was looking about, distraught, urging the creature to return to her arms.

  Then the scuttling ceased. Elizabeth stopped calling out. A terrible silence lowered over the room like a night mist.

  Upon the table I turned slowly in a circle, never letting my eyes settle on any one place, watching for a blur of movement in my peripheral vision. I was fervently hoping it had fallen asleep, and then our dreadful job would be much easier.

  A ghastly pain pierced my toes, and I looked down to see the creature’s jaws biting through my boot as it climbed up from underneath the table. I tried to kick it off, but its grip held, and the thing’s compact weight was enough to throw me off balance. With a cry I toppled and hit the table hard. The monstrous thing was jarred loose and leapt on all fours for my face. I threw my sack at it, and the creature dropped, entangled, to my stomach, thrashing. But it quickly freed itself and jumped for me again. I rolled off the table altogether, and as I hit the floor, I heard the sound of breaking glass and a terrible screaming.

  I scrambled up and stared. The creature had landed on the lantern, cracking the glass. Soaked in oil, it flailed about, burning.

  Elizabeth grabbed the sack and threw it over the creature, trying to smother the fire. But the abundant oil saturated the burlap, and it too burst into flame. Within moments the mud creature became still and hard, like something blasted in a kiln. But from the center of its chest, I caught sight of a spiraling tendril of darkness trying to break free from the clay. The flames licked at it hungrily, devouring it as quickly as they would a strand of hair, and by the time the mud body had cracked into several pieces, the spirit had been reduced to ash.

  With the rake Henry flung some soil onto the table to extinguish the last of the oily flames.

  “You murderers!” Elizabeth wailed at me.

  There was, suddenly, a hammer in her hand, and she swung.

  A peal of pain and light exploded through my head, and I crumpled to the floor clutching my temple. When I could see again, Henry was wrestling the hammer from her grip, but then she came at me again like a lynx. She was preternaturally strong, empowered by the spirit upon her. It was all I could do to fend off her blows.

  “Help me pin her down, Henry!” I shouted. “We need to get that spirit off her!”

  Henry helped me force her to the floor, fighting hard the whole time.

  “We’re too rough!” he cried in distress.

  “Hold her, Henry!” I shouted, for I knew I didn’t have the strength to do this alone.

  I clambered atop her kicking legs while Henry tried to keep her flailing arms away from me.

  “How dare you!” she cried. “You brutes, both of you! Get off me!”

  “The flask!” I yelled to Henry.

  He reached back to the table and tossed it. I knew I had but one chance, for these things were quick and wily.

  “He needs a new body!” she wailed.

  I pulled her hair back from her ear and saw it, a darker bit of shadow. Swiftly I plunged the flask’s opening hard against her flesh.

  The spirit was trying to squeeze beneath the rim, and with Elizabeth thrashing so hard, I feared I’d lose it.

  “Light!” I cried. “Turn her toward the lamp!”

  We wrenched her over onto her side, and the sudden flare was enough to startle the spirit deeper into the flask. At that moment I slid the seal securely over the rim and trapped it.

  The instant the spirit left her body, Elizabeth stopped fighting and instead seemed to wake, as though from sleepwalking. Eyes wide with childlike confusion, she gazed all around, at me and then Henry, and then she pressed her face into Henry’s arm and wept. I envied him more than I could say as he held her and stroked her hair.

  “There, there, now,” he said.

  I knew she didn’t love Henry, but at that moment I wondered if she could ever love me.

  “Tell me what happened,” she gasped after a few seconds.

  Between us we told her what we knew. She sat, incredulous, staring at the dark spirit whirling frenzied against the glass.

  “I was almost certain I saw it on you yesterday,” I said, “but now I wonder if you had one from the very beginning.”

  “I can’t believe it,” she murmured.

  “Maybe that’s why you were so devoted to the creature and kept making excuses for it,” I said, “even when it bit me and tried to ravish you. It must’ve urged you to take that piece of bone from the burial chamber.”

  “And when I was sleepwalking,” she said with a shudder, “to come here and make a new body for whatever’s in that pit. And afterward…”

  She sat up and felt the pocket of her nightgown. She brought out the key to the cottage and, with a frown, a small brown vial.

  “What is that?” Henry asked.

  “The spirit elixir,” I said. “Her own private store. You meant to make the baby tonight and take it into the spirit world for the pit god to inhabit—right away.”

  She looked astounded, and then gave a small nod, as if remembering.

  We were all silent for a moment, imagining Elizabeth rearing the pit god as it grew with freakish speed into its full giant form.

  “You said you were meant to be its mate,” Henry said, looking ill.

  “Dear God,” she murmured. “What have we done?”

  The immensity of it was almost too much to grasp.

  “That thing, that pit god—”

  “Please don’t call it a god,” said Elizabeth fiercely. “It can only be a demon.”

  “It stole from us to make itself strong,” I said. “Every time a butterfly spirit touched us, it stole our energy and used it to wake the demon. And whenever I brought a butterfly out from the spirit world and then returned, it was bloated with my life—I saw it—and carried that to the demon too.”
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br />   “Why weren’t you possessed like me, then?” Elizabeth asked.

  I rubbed at my bruised head. “I was, just differently. Your spirit promised you Konrad. Mine promised me knowledge and power and release from pain. And it needed me to keep coming back for more so I could wake the demon from its slumber.”

  I looked at Henry cautiously. “And no doubt you have one on you as well, my friend.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Me?”

  “How else do you explain this new valor and confidence?”

  He looked away shamefaced for a moment, but when he looked back, there was defiance in his eyes. Wearily I wondered if I would have another fight ahead of me.

  “Check me, then,” he said.

  We placed the remaining lanterns nearby, and Elizabeth turned away as he disrobed. I checked every inch of his body, with growing consternation.

  “Incredible,” I said. There is nothing on you. Nothing.”

  “Ah,” he said wryly.

  “I don’t understand how…”

  “Perhaps, Victor,” he said, pulling his shirt back on, “some people can just change all on their own.”

  I sank down onto the dirt floor, exhausted, sickened by the noxious vapors still emanating from the charred remains of the mud creature.

  “We have to go back and warn Konrad and Analiese,” I said. “We have to finally destroy that thing in the pit.”

  “Can we truly destroy it, though?” Henry said.

  “We have to try!” I said, standing. “And now!”

  “Just wait, Victor,” Henry said, lifting his hand. “You yourself said it wasn’t fully born, that it needed our lives to waken it.”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, then, if it gets no more life energy from us, it can’t be born. And maybe, if it’s starved, it’ll go back to what it was, an ancient block of stone.”

  “You’re suggesting we never go back inside again?” Elizabeth said, her pain obvious in her voice.

  “Can we risk it?” Henry asked us. “There are too many butterflies now, and they’re devious. If even one feeds on us, that might be all it takes to unleash the pit demon.”

  His logic was true; it was also unbearable.

  “But I promised I’d go back,” I said. “I said I’d think of something…”

  “Henry’s right. There’s nothing you can do,” Elizabeth said quietly. “If only we hadn’t interfered from the start. At least this way Konrad will be gathered and will find his new home. Which is as it should be.”

  “I won’t accept it,” I said. “There must—”

  “Accept it, Victor,” Henry told me.

  “No.”

  In my dream I’d seen him. He’d been ahead of me on the ice, but I was going to catch up.

  And suddenly I had my answer. It was such an obvious one.

  I flung open the cottage door and ran, ignoring the urgent calls of Henry and Elizabeth. Where my strength and speed came from, I didn’t know, but I sprinted through the night. They could not keep up as I bolted back to Château Frankenstein, to bring my brother back to life.

  CHAPTER 19

  THE BODY THIEF

  FOR A SECOND I LIE VERY STILL ON MY BED, LOOKING ALL ABOUT my room. There’s no sign of black butterflies lying in wait like vampire bats. Outside my windows the eerie white mist gathers angrily and thumps against the glass. I’m suddenly aware that this is the second time I’ve entered the spirit world in a single day—something the instructions warned us was dangerous. But it’s too late for worries now. Hastily I steal from my bedchamber and make my way down the hall, checking in Konrad’s room. Empty.

  I won’t call out. I want no unwanted attention. As I put my hand upon the library door, a shrill howl of frustration rises up from the depths of the house, sending my heart into a gallop. But at least I know that thing is still trapped in its pit.

  When I open the door, I fully expect to find Konrad here, armed, a crossbow aimed at the secret doorway. The weapons are still laid out ready on the table, but the library is abandoned except for a small cluster of butterflies. I close the door quickly behind me, hoping they didn’t sense my presence. I slip down the great staircase and make my way toward the armory. The house is so quiet and still.

  What if Konrad has already been gathered? The thought should make me happy, but a spasm of sadness racks me. I will never see him again, and our parting was such a bitter one.

  The armory, too, is empty. I walk past our ancient chapel and stop to peer inside. My heart unclenches, for I see him sitting alone in a pew near the altar, hands clasped in prayer. Warily I look all around, and see no black butterflies. I enter.

  “Konrad,” I whisper.

  He turns in astonishment.

  “Victor!”

  “Shhh!”

  He stands, walks toward me, scarcely squinting, his kind face furrowed with regret. “I’m sorry. My behavior last time, it was ugly.”

  “Never mind. I understand completely.” I take a breath. “The creature in the pit seems to be staying put.”

  “It howls, but I can’t bring myself to go down to look.”

  I quickly tell him what happened after we left him, including what just passed in the cottage.

  “The body you grew truly was malignant, then,” he says. He smiles bravely. “There’s no hope of my returning. Victor, you must go. Tell Elizabeth I love her, and tell Henry he was my dearest friend, and go.”

  “I won’t say good-bye to you this way.”

  “There’s no way out for me, Victor! Resign yourself. I have.”

  “You needn’t.”

  He shakes his head and almost laughs. “Victor, when will you stop playing God?”

  Beyond the narrow stained-glass windows, the spectral wind wails, shaking the casements.

  “Konrad, I’ve got a way for you to return. The simplest of ways.”

  He says nothing, his brow creased.

  From my hand I take my ring talisman. From my pocket I take the spirit clock. Both of them I place on the pew and step back.

  Konrad stares at them.

  “Do you understand?” I ask.

  He swallows. “Don’t do this, Victor.”

  “Take them. Take my body.”

  He is silent.

  “Come,” I say with a chuckle meant to be jocular, but it comes out sounding parched. “It’s not such a bad deal for you. Only three fingers on the right hand, and a difficult personality, but you can take care of that in short order. Your soul was always the better.”

  “You can’t mean this,” he whispers.

  “Why do I deserve life when you’ve lost yours? Elizabeth is yours, and she’ll never love anyone as she loves you. I’ve promised you so many things. And I’ve not made good on any of them. This time I deliver. Take them and go. Now!”

  He cannot rip his gaze from my ring and clock, the two things that will take him back to the real world, in my body. I can see the hunger in his eyes.

  “Don’t tempt me this way,” he murmurs.

  “For God’s sake, Konrad,” I growl, “don’t be a bloody fool. Do it before I change my mind!”

  He takes a step closer to the ring and clock. “It’s like murder, don’t you see?” he says. “It is me stealing your life.”

  “No. I’m giving it to you!”

  He tears his gaze away and looks at me. “Your light’s dimmer than ever, Victor, and scarcely any heat comes off you. You’ve weakened yourself more just coming here. Now say good-bye to me, Victor. And do not come back!”

  I shake my head.

  He storms out of the chapel. I stand there, and wait. He’ll return. How can he resist such an offer? I couldn’t. But he doesn’t come back. The stubborn idiot! Doesn’t he know what it cost me to make such an offer? Does he think I can be noble for much longer? Cursing under my breath, I pocket the ring and spirit clock and go to find him.

  In the hallway I see Analiese at the foot of the great staircase.

  “Analiese,�
� I call out, surprising her, “have you seen Konrad?”

  “Going upstairs in great distress. I was about to follow to see what the matter was.”

  “It was my doing,” I tell her. Her face is so sympathetic, I find myself telling her about our conversation, the offer I made.

  For a moment she says nothing, and when she does, her voice is thick with emotion. “From the very first your love for your brother was obvious, but I don’t think I’ve ever known such selflessness.”

  She has never been so close to me, and she is so beautiful. If I reached out, I could touch her.

  “Are you really so willing to part with your life?” she asks me.

  I look away. “I can’t fail him again. If this is to be the only way, so be it.” I think of Elizabeth in anguish, knowing she’ll never properly love me, knowing my very nature makes me unlovable. I think of my many faults, the unceasing pain in my hand. Right now to be free of these things would be almost a relief.

  “Did you know,” Analiese says calmly, “that your light has gone out altogether?”

  Stupidly I hold out my arms, as if I’ll see a difference. How could this happen? Panicked, I cast around, but I see no sign of colorful butterflies. Then I look down. On the floor three of them scuttle silently under my pants and up my legs. Whirling, I look over my shoulder and see six of them on my back, blazing with light, feeding on me.

  “Did you see them coming?” I cry out, knocking them off in a crazed fury. I try to catch some of them as they abscond with the last of my light, but they are hummingbird-quick.

  Devastated, I turn back to Analiese, and she punches me hard in the face. This is no breezy touch, like the last time Konrad struck me. This is real contact, without any protective veil. Her fist snaps my head back with a sickening crack, and my legs buckle. I hit the floor. Dazed, I watch as this small young woman strides toward me with a terrifying detachment and kicks me in the stomach. A wave of nausea breaks through me, stealing my breath.

  “Your idea isn’t new, you know,” she says as she plunges her hands into my pockets and plucks out the spirit clock and ring. “A clever fellow thought of it some three hundred years ago when he stole my body.”

  As I cough and retch, she steps back, mutters some words I don’t comprehend, and grasps the neckline of her black dress. A single downward rip, and the dress explodes toward me like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece a black butterfly, its wings perforated with suture marks and trailing the threads that once bound it into this supernatural fabric. When the cloud of butterflies disperses, I see that Analiese is gone and before me stands Wilhelm Frankenstein, as though he’s just stepped from his portrait.