by Amy Cross
“I was just -” Turning back to Emily, Kate suddenly realized the girl was gone. She glanced around, but there was still no sign of her.
“I'm sorry,” the woman continued, “but this is a private orchard, tourists aren't allowed in. I thought the gate was locked.”
“It was,” Kate replied, as she got to her feet. “I came over the wall.”
“You did?” The woman paused. “Well, like I said, it's a private orchard.”
“I'm sorry,” Kate told her, “I just -” Looking down at her hand, she saw the weeds the girl had given her a moment ago. “I followed a little girl,” she explained cautiously, starting to feel as if something was very wrong with the situation. “Her name's Emily, she -”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Emily,” she continued. “That's what she told me, anyway. She gave me these -”
“What are you talking about?” the woman asked, suddenly seeming a little flustered. “Who are you? What are you doing on my father's property?”
“I didn't mean to intrude,” Kate told her, taking a step forward, “I just followed Emily after she threw a rock at me.”
“Is this a joke?” the woman replied, before hurrying to the gate and fumbling to pull a key from her pocket. “Get out of here! Now!”
“I'm sorry, I -”
“Now,” the woman said firmly, pulling the gate open with trembling hands. There were tears in her eyes, and she seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. “Get out!”
“I really didn't mean to upset you,” Kate said, making her way over and then stepping out into the alley, before turning back to her. “I just spoke to Emily for a few minutes, she said -”
Before she could finish, the gate was slammed shut in her face, and a moment later she heard it being locked again from the other side.
“I'm sorry,” she called out. “Please, can I just talk to you for a moment?”
The only reply was a series of sobs.
“Please,” Kate continued. “I only want to ask you a few questions.”
Hearing footsteps hurrying away on the other side of the gate, she took a step back. After a moment, she realized she was still holding the weeds she'd been given by the little girl.
II
Opening her eyes slowly, Anna looked across the dark room and listened to the sound of the other girls sleeping. On the far wall, large black drapes had been weighted at the bottom to ensure that they stayed in place, blocking out all but the thinnest sliver of sunlight.
Finally, after a few minutes, she sat up and looked around.
There were close to a hundred beds in the dormitory, most with a sleeping figure curled up in a mass of blankets. Some of the other girls, however, preferred to sleep under their beds, for reasons that Anna still didn't quite understand. She waited, listening to the slow, steady breaths all around her, which almost seemed synchronized, and then finally she swung her legs over the side and got to her feet. Making her way to the central aisle, she looked around and saw that everyone else seemed to be fast asleep, so she quietly made her way to the door at the far end, before pulling it open and leaning out into the corridor.
“Hello, Anna,” Ms. Eversham said, smiling as she stood nearby.
Anna held her breath.
“It's okay,” the woman continued, reaching out to her with a gloved hand. “I could sense that you were restless and that you might get up again. I have a kind of sixth sense when it comes to these things, I always know when one of my children is restless or distressed. Perhaps you'd like to come with me?”
Slowly letting her breath out again, Anna stared at the hand. Finally, she turned to go back to bed, only to feel Ms. Eversham's hand on her shoulder a moment later.
She froze.
“You're troubled, aren't you?” Ms. Eversham continued. “Come, let us not disturb the other girls. They're sleeping so soundly.” Pulling Anna back gently, she shut the door. “Tell me what's on your mind, child. My job is to look after you, so if there's anything I can do, anything at all, you must let me know at once. You're not the first little girl to have trouble settling at Raven's Briar, but we always find a way to make things okay in the end. You'll learn to fit in.”
“I...” Anna paused, before looking along the corridor and seeing a window at the far end, through which a patch of sunlight was shining. “Why do we sleep in the day?” she asked cautiously. “And why do we get up and do everything at night?”
“Would you rather be out in the midday heat?”
“I used to play outside in the day,” she replied, as Ms. Eversham took her hand and led her toward the far end of the corridor. “I had to stay in the shade most of the time, because it was too hot, but my mother always said it was good for me to be outside. I used to be in the yard a lot, playing with the chickens.”
“Do you miss those days?”
Anna paused, aware that she was supposed to say that she didn't, even though that wasn't the truth. “Can I go home now?” she asked finally.
“Home?”
“Back to my mother.”
“That's not your home, silly girl. This is your home.”
“I want to go back to Thaxos.”
“That dusty rock? Whatever for?”
“I just do,” Anna replied, sniffing back tears.
“It's okay,” Ms. Eversham continued. “You're the newest girl here and the newest girl always struggles to fit in. I always find that the new girls improve drastically when someone even more new turns up, because it gives them someone to whom they can compare themselves.” Leading her around the corner, she stopped as they reached another door. “Do you remember what happened last night, Anna? During dinner?”
Anna shook her head.
“Think hard, child. One of the older girls caused a commotion, did she not?”
“Someone got into trouble.”
“That's right. And do you remember who?”
Anna frowned. “The girl with red hair. Meredith.”
“Exactly. And what did Meredith do that was so unforgivably naughty?”
“She tried to take food from one of the other girls.” She paused. “We're not allowed to do that.”
“No, you're not, because it's greedy and it's wrong. You must never steal, Anna. That's one of the most important rules we try to instill in the girls here at Raven's Briar. Stealing is a very human trait, so it's one of the things we try to iron out of you all at the earliest stage. Meredith had been here for a long time, she should already be cured of such things.” Reaching up to a panel in the door, she slid it aside and then picked Anna up so the girl could see through. “And now Meredith's in the naughty room.”
Staring through the panel, Anna saw a red-haired girl on the concrete floor, curled up in the corner as if she was trying to keep as far away as possible from a patch of blazing hot sunlight that was shining through the bars of the window. She hadn't spoken to Meredith much, but she'd seen her around; one of the older girls, in her mid-teens, Meredith had always seemed a little fidgety and restless.
“That wasn't the first thing Meredith has done wrong, either,” Ms. Eversham continued. “Why, Anna, before you came to us here, Meredith caused some real problems. She tried twice to escape, and she even ripped out one of her nice new teeth. Can you believe that? After everything I tried to do for the girl, she just wouldn't accept my kindness. I felt as if I was beating my head against a wall, trying to make her fall into line, but some souls... Some souls just can't be tamed.”
Anna stared at Meredith and saw fear in the girl's eyes.
“Meredith,” Ms. Eversham barked suddenly, “show Anna your teeth!” She waited for a moment. “Meredith!” she shouted. “Obey!”
Slowly, Meredith opened her mouth to reveal one sharp fang and one bruised, blooded section of gum.
“Meredith doesn't accept her new nature,” Ms. Eversham continued. “Oh, I've tried and I've tried with the poor girl, I've done everything possible to get her to come around to our way of thinkin
g, to make her understand that she belongs here now, with the rest of us. Finally, however, I've come to accept that she's never going to fit in.” She paused for a moment. “Do you know, Anna, what we do at Raven's Briar with girls who are never going to fit in?”
“Go to hell,” Meredith whispered.
“I beg your pardon?” Ms. Eversham replied with a smile.
“You heard me.”
“Did we hear her, Anna?”
Anna paused, before slowly nodding.
“Go to hell!” Meredith shouted, her whole body convulsing with pain and anger.
“Oh dear,” Ms. Eversham said, “that's not really very polite, is it? You know, Anna, I'm starting to think that all efforts with Meredith are doomed to failure. I hate writing a girl off like this, but for the good of the entire orphanage, I think perhaps it's time to take a much tougher approach. Regrettably, we sometimes have to make some difficult decisions here at Raven's Briar.”
“What does that mean?” Anna asked.
“It means that Meredith is beyond help, but that doesn't mean she can't be useful. In fact, I think the time has come to use her as an example for the rest of you.”
***
“Gather round, girls,” Ms. Eversham said a short while later, once the dormitory had been woken and all the children had been led out onto a shaded balcony that ran along the rear of the building. “I know you were all sleeping soundly, but it's time for an instructional event that I hope will strike a chord with each of you.”
Bleary-eyed and tired, the girls lined up at the edge of the balcony, looking down at the sun-soaked yard. Among them, only Anna had any clue as to what was about to happen, although she was praying she was wrong.
“As you all know,” Ms. Eversham continued with a smile, “one of your number has seen fit to break the rules of Raven's Briar on a number of occasions. I'm quite sure you all know who I'm talking about, since her rebelliousness has been plain for everyone to see. This simply cannot be tolerated, and I'm afraid my patience has run its course.” She paused. “I know, girls, I know. You think of me as a woman of never-ending kindness, but even I have my limits.”
As she spoke, Constant appeared in a doorway on the other side of the yard, leading Meredith by a thick metal chain that had been placed around the girl's neck.
“No,” Anna whispered as soon as she saw Meredith. “Please, don't do it.”
“I hope,” Ms. Eversham added, “that none of you will feel too sorry for Meredith. Most of you have been here long enough to know that she's a wild, unruly child who has squandered opportunity after opportunity to demonstrate her respect for this facility. Although it pains me to say this, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing that can be done for her. I do hope, however, that her example will strike you all. Into this dusty yard, but for the grace of God, could go any one of you.”
“What are they going to do?” whispered one of the girls, Emily, as she watched Meredith being hauled along by Constant.
“They're going to punish her,” Anna replied, with tears in her eyes.
“I've seen this happen to someone before,” said another girl. “It's horrible, but it's necessary.”
“Today is such a hot day,” Ms. Eversham continued, as her smile grew. She looked down at Meredith, who was cowering in the doorway, trying desperately to keep from being dragged out into the direct sunlight that soaked the yard. “Meredith has long been so vile and resistant, as if she wants to leave the sanctuary we provide here at Raven's Briar. That being the case, I think it's only fitting to let her venture out into the heat of the day.”
“Now?” Constant called up.
“Now,” Ms. Eversham replied.
“No!” Meredith shouted, as Constant began to pull her toward the sunlight.
“Watch, children,” Ms. Eversham continued, “and see to it that you never end up in such a situation.”
“Please,” Meredith begged, sobbing as she was dragged on her knees. “I'll behave, I promise!” Reaching up, she tried desperately to lift the chain from around her neck.
“No more chances,” Ms. Eversham said calmly. “You want to leave us, Meredith. Fine. Off you go.”
With a grunt, Constant released the chain from Meredith's neck and pushed her forward onto the ground, where the unrelenting midday sun was beating down and bleaching the dust. Making his way back into the shadows, Constant slammed and bolted the door from the inside, leaving Meredith trapped in the sun.
“Please!” Meredith screamed, getting to her feet. “Don't do this! I'll change, I swear! I'll do anything!”
“It's too late,” Ms. Eversham called down to her. “You wanted to leave Raven's Briar, girl. Well, now you can. Go on, off you go. Run home!”
“No!” Meredith shouted, looking up at the balcony as the sunlight began to sear her face, causing her skin to start blistering and slowly turning red.
“Stop,” Anna whispered, as tears ran down her face. She turned to Ms. Eversham. “Stop!”
Slowly, Ms. Eversham raised a finger to her lips, signaling for Anna to be quiet.
“Don't say anything!” Emily hissed, nudging Anna's arm. “Do you want to end up down there too?”
In the middle of the yard, wisps of smoke were starting to rise from Meredith's body. Turning, she began to run from the building, as if she was trying to find a patch of shade, but there was nowhere for her to hide and after just a few steps she dropped to her knees. She hunched over, as if she was trying to keep as much of her skin as possible from being exposed to the sunlight, but the effort was futile: after a moment, smoke began to emerge from the few patches of skin that she couldn't hide, and finally she let out a pain cry as she tipped over onto her side.
“Please!” she screamed. “Let me back in!”
“She's burning,” Anna said, taking a step back before putting her hands over her eyes.
“You must look,” Ms. Eversham said suddenly, stepping up behind her and forcing her hands away. “That will be you one day, Anna, if you don't accept your place here.”
Struggling to her feet, Meredith ran back toward the building and threw herself against the door, which refused to budge. Dropping down again, she let out a shrill cry of pain as her skin continued to blister.
“Pain consumes her,” Ms. Eversham whispered.
Wide-eyed and horrified, Anna watched as Meredith raised her head again, staring up at the girls on the balcony as her skin burned in the sun's heat. Blood was bursting through in several places, and Meredith's eyes were trembling, almost as if they were starting to melt, until finally ripples of flame began to dance across her skin. She let out another cry of pain, before starting to get to her feet, only to slip and fall back down in the dirt. Tilting her head slightly, she looked straight up at Anna, their eyes meeting for a moment as Meredith's entire body burst into flames.
“Watch,” Ms. Eversham whispered in Anna's ear, “and take heed.”
Fire was tearing through Meredith's bones and flesh now, and rose high into the air above the yard. For a few seconds, a dark figure could be seen trying desperately to crawl forward in the heart of the inferno, before slumping down. An arm reached out, blackened and charred, as the flames grew stronger and stronger, before slowly the fire started to fade again. After a moment, Meredith's burned corpse could be seen crouched on the dusty ground, with every inch of her body having been consumed by the flames that were now dying away.
“Come,” Ms. Eversham said, taking Anna by the hand and leading her along the balcony.
“Where are we going?” Anna asked.
“I want you to see.”
“No,” Anna whispered, “please, I don't want to!”
Heading down the steps, they reached the edge of the shade, at which point Ms. Eversham put a hand out to stop Anna.
“Wait here, child,” she said, before stepping out into the bright sunlight and approaching the blackened husk in the center of the yard.
“Please,” Anna said, staring in horror
at what was left of Meredith.
“Let this be a lesson to all of you,” Ms. Eversham announced calmly, crouching in front of the burned body. “There are rules here at Raven's Briar. You will all follow them, or you will end up like the poor wretch you see before you today.”
Suddenly, Meredith's burned corpse flinched, and her charred face turned, opening its mouth to slowly let out a faint, guttural moan.
Ms. Eversham simply smiled, put her lips together, and blew gently. Immediately, the flakes of Meredith's body dissipated, leaving nothing but flecks of burned flesh drifting through the air.
“Return to your beds,” Ms. Eversham said finally, standing and turning to look up at the girls on the balcony. “You must sleep, and if you cannot do that, then perhaps you should reflect on the mistakes that led Meredith to this moment, and on the ways you must change in order to ensure that none of you meet the same fate.” As she spoke those words, her gaze fell back onto Anna. “Some of you,” she added, “are closer to being punished than others, and my patience will not last forever. If you doubt that, ask Meredith.”
III
“You can't beat a good mojito,” Madeleine said, holding the glass up for a moment and allowing the afternoon sun to shine through her drink. “It has been so long since I was able to work on my tan and sip drinks like this. If only there was a swimming pool here, life would be complete.”
“Still playing the waiting game?” Kate asked, sitting in the shade as she continued to examine the map.
“Yep,” Madeleine replied. “You know, it's at times like this that I'm particularly grateful for the fact that I'm a warm-blooded vampires. Those poor cold-bloods have to avoid direct sunlight, in case they burn up. Wretched things. They should be wiped from existence.” With a smile, she sipped from the straw in her glass. “I'd gladly volunteer for the job.”
“You really hate cold-blooded vampires, don't you?”
“You've met Quillian. Surely you understand.”
“He's just one man,” Kate replied. “They can't all be bad.”