The Complete 1st Freak House Trilogy: Box set (The 1st Freak House Trilogy)

by C. J. Archer

  Tears pricked my eyes, but I held them back. I walked to the door and opened it myself. The cool breeze was sheer relief on my hot skin and helped calm me a little. "Speaking of not being welcome," I said.

  His moustache twitched with indignation.

  Tommy offered him his hat, but as Lord Wade reached for it, he pulled it back. He strode to the door and threw it down the steps.

  "Good day, milord." Tommy bowed as Lord Wade stormed past him. He slammed the door shut and winked at me. "You look like you could do with a cup of tea."

  CHAPTER 4

  Our efforts in the attic produced nothing but dust and cobwebs. We abandoned the search at lunchtime after which Jack and I retreated to our training room. It was a small room situated at the top of the southern wing. The walls were covered with woolen hangings, the floor with woolen rugs, and most of the furniture had been removed. It was sparse, grim, and well suited to be occupied by someone who couldn't control her fiery temper.

  I hated it. It was horribly similar to the attic I'd lived in at Windamere Manor. The difference was, those rooms were my entire life. Aside from the brief walks we could take on occasion, Vi and I had not been allowed out of the stark parlor and bedroom. At least at Frakingham, I was only holed up for an afternoon here and there. Our training sessions had grown shorter each day. We seemed to be making no progress at all, something that frustrated not only Jack and myself, but August Langley too. I wasn't sure if that was because he wanted me to be in control of my fire, or because he wanted me to leave. Our agreement had been that I was free to go once I'd learned to control my affliction like Jack.

  "You still seem a little rattled," Jack said when we were alone together.

  "Seeing Lord Wade again was more disturbing than I'd expected it to be. I've never spoken to him like that before. Never dared confront him or question him." I tried hard to sort through my feelings where Wade was concerned. On the one hand, he was the austere head of a grand household, but on the other, he was the only father figure I'd ever had. He may have been a largely absent one, but he didn't need to be in the same room as me to have an influence over my life.

  "He wasn't as intimidating as I thought he'd be," I said.

  "Perhaps because you're harder to intimidate now."

  "What do you mean?"

  He sat on a footstool across from me and rested his elbows on his knees. His eyes turned soft and a smile hovered on his lips but didn't break free. "You're not a child anymore. You've seen and done things in the few short weeks of your freedom that most women haven't seen and done in a lifetime. You've changed, Hannah, and your perception of things and people has changed too."

  "I suppose so." It wasn't only because of the new experiences I had every day, but also because of my fire. I wasn't a weakling who fell asleep at the slightest provocation as I used to think, but a fire starter. It gave me a kind of power, even if I couldn't control it. "I won't let men like Lord Wade intimidate me again."

  "I know." He traced his fingertip down my knee and a spark shot onto my dress. He extinguished it before it did anything more than scorch the fabric, but I still felt the responding heat rise within me.

  "Sorry," he said, bitterness threading the word. "I couldn't help myself." He rose and paced the room, dragging his hands through his hair. "I hate this, Hannah. I'm going to go crazy if I can't…you know."

  It felt like claws raked my heart, leaving an exposed, throbbing wound. I wanted him to caress me and hold me, and I wanted to hold him in return, but there was nothing that could be done. Perhaps one day when I learned to control the fire, I could also control it during tender moments with him, but that day seemed a long way off.

  I stood up in front of him, halting his pacing. "Jack—"

  "Don't!"

  He turned to the window and stared out at the lake and abbey ruins on the other side of the park. It was early afternoon. The muted light made the scenery look like a painting. We stood side by side yet far enough apart to avoid sparks and stared out at the winter quiet together. After a few moments I felt my face cool, my blood calm. I'd not realized how hot I was.

  "We'll find a way," I eventually said. "No matter how long it takes."

  He sighed. "Until then, I must go swimming. Lots and lots of swimming."

  "It cools you down?"

  "Oh yes."

  Like almost everything he tried, Jack was an excellent swimmer. I liked to stand on the lake's edge and watch him glide through the water. It soothed me as much as it seemed to soothe him. He'd once asked me to join him, but I'd refused. I couldn't swim and had no intention of getting into a deep body of water. The hideous bathing costume Sylvia had shown me in one of her copies of The Young Ladies' Journal made the decision easier.

  Besides, there would be no wandering near the lake or anywhere else while that demon was on the loose. Langley had given strict instructions that everyone was to remain inside. The gardeners had been given time off. Even Olsen took Jack with him when he tended the horses.

  "I wonder where it is," I said.

  "I wish I knew."

  A piercing, unnatural scream answered us.

  "Bloody hell!" Jack sprinted out the door and raced down the stairs.

  I followed, but couldn't keep up. "Don't go outside!" I called after him.

  He didn't answer. I heard the door unlock and crash back on its hinges. When I finally reached it, he was long gone. He was so fast that I didn't have a hope of catching him.

  Sylvia rushed up to me and slipped her arm around my waist. "Has he gone after it?"

  I nodded.

  "Such a pig-headed fool! Why can't he let the authorities do it? It's their job after all."

  "They'll have even less chance of catching it than he does." I believed what I said, yet I didn't like Jack being out there any more than she did.

  Tommy joined us. He carried a piece of firewood as long and thick as his forearm and the smell of animal grease followed him. In his other hand, he carried a box of matches to light the grease that must be smeared on the end of the wood.

  "Which direction did he take?" he asked.

  "You're not going after him!" Sylvia declared. "It's much too dangerous."

  "I can't let Jack do this alone."

  Sylvia stood between him and the door.

  "Move aside, Miss Langley."

  She put her hand on her hip. "You will have to move me yourself."

  He set the wood and matches down and, to Sylvia's horror, picked her up.

  "Stop! Put me down!" She pounded her fists against his shoulder, but her blows had no effect whatsoever. "Tommy Dawson, I'm ordering you to put me down this instant!"

  "As you wish, Miss Langley." He carried her to the staircase and set her on the bottom step. I rather think he enjoyed disobeying. He certainly looked too cheerful for someone about to venture outside with a dangerous creature on the loose.

  "Uncle will hear how you manhandled me."

  "I doubt it," he muttered under his breath as he passed me.

  "I don't think it's wise to go out," I said as he picked up his torch and matches.

  "Do you want Jack to do this on his own, Miss Smith?"

  I couldn't meet his steady gaze. Of course I didn't, but I didn't want to send anyone else out there either.

  Tommy left before Sylvia could reach him and drag him back inside. She stamped her foot on the floor and glared at the door as if she'd rip it off its hinges.

  "I'll have to tell Uncle. He cannot be allowed to speak to me like that, Hannah, and he certainly shouldn't be touching me." She pressed a hand to her heart and stretched her neck, tilting her chin out. "It's wrong. He's a footman, and I am the niece of his employer. He should remember his place."

  Samuel came through the arched entrance to one of the corridors. "So you two heard it?"

  "Yes," I said. "Jack and Tommy have gone after it."

  "Tommy too?" He shook his head. "Bloody fool."

  "He took a torch," Sylvia said with a sniff. "He
's no fool."

  First she railed at him for following Jack, and then she defended him. I understood her about as well as I understood her uncle.

  "He'll be all right," she added and walked off, hugging herself. "They both will."

  I stood by the window, but the view was limited on the ground floor. Upstairs would be better and I told Samuel so.

  "Why not come into the parlor where it's warmer?" he said.

  "I don't need warmth."

  "Oh. Of course. Right. The fire thing." He shook his head and followed me up the stairs. "I'm still puzzled by your…ability. It's so extraordinary that I can't quite fathom it. My poor scientific brain has trouble comprehending things that can't be explained."

  "Your hypnosis ability can't be explained," I pointed out.

  "Beside that."

  "August Langley seems to have no such trouble, and he's a scientist."

  "That puzzles me even more. The man is a curiosity. For example, how did his involvement in the supernatural come about?"

  "I don't know. Why not ask him?"

  He snorted. "I have. He refused to answer. I also asked him why he took both you and Jack in. Again, I received no answer. Do you know, Hannah?"

  "Jack is his nephew!" Although I had my suspicions on that score, I wasn't ready to confide in Samuel. It wasn't his business. It wasn't even mine.

  "What about you?" he asked. "Why are you living here?"

  "I told you what Lord Wade said to me yesterday. I suppose Langley feels some responsibility toward me since he was the one who placed me in Wade's care. When he learned I was in the attic, he must have felt compelled to retrieve me." Except he hadn't known I was in the attic. Not then. Later, yes. Clearly I hadn't been abducted for any charitable reasons, despite what he said. "He thought it time to teach me to control the fire."

  "And how is that going?"

  I reached the landing on the top-most floor and turned to face him. "As well as can be expected."

  He stood one step down from me, yet he was still taller, and cocked his head to the side. "That is not an answer."

  "Speaking of taking people in, why has Langley allowed you to live here, Samuel?"

  "He's a patron of the sciences and sees my research as having merit."

  "You've not yet explained what your research is about except to say it involves the human mind."

  "I wouldn't want to confuse you."

  It was my turn to cock my head to the side. "You think a woman can't comprehend it? I'd not thought you so prejudiced against the female sex."

  His eyebrows lifted. "It has nothing to do with you being female and everything to do with you not being a scientist."

  "Humph." I spun round and stalked off toward the training room.

  He followed. "Come now, Hannah, let's not quarrel." His tone was soothing, melodic. Hypnotic. "We've been such good friends ever since we met. I'd like to keep it that way."

  "Don't try to hypnotize me, Samuel Gladstone."

  He reached around me and opened the door. "Don't, Hannah," he said heavily. "I would never do such a thing without your consent. Not anymore."

  I swallowed, nodded. "I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't employ unscrupulous methods."

  "I hope you mean that. If you don't believe me, there's no hope that anyone else in this house will."

  Where before he sounded fully in command of himself, now he sounded somewhat morose. I took his hand and squeezed a smile out of him, albeit a sad one.

  We watched for some time out of the training room window. Sylvia joined us, carrying a tray of tea and cakes that she and Samuel ate. I didn't feel hungry, which troubled Sylvia.

  "You're too thin, and lately you seem quite gaunt around the cheeks. You should eat. Tell her, Samuel."

  "She's right, Hannah, but I'm sure you have a lot on your mind right now."

  Sylvia huffed at him. "That was hardly a convincing argument. Perhaps you could try hypnotizing her and ordering her to eat something."

  He winced. "That is quite unethical."

  "Not to mention unhealthy," I added. "What if I overeat?"

  "Then you'll have a nice plump figure," Sylvia said. "You could do with some fattening in…certain areas."

  I gave her a withering glare while Samuel looked out the window, no doubt pretending not to know that she was referring to my chest.

  "Here they come!" he shouted, leaping off his chair.

  We peered past him. Jack and Tommy approached the house together, their arms around each other's shoulders. It wasn't until they drew closer that I realized Tommy was limping and Jack was helping him.

  Sylvia gave a little squeal and raced out of the room. Samuel and I followed her down the stairs to the door as Jack and Tommy entered. Blood darkened a gash in Tommy's trouser leg, and he winced as he set pressure on his left foot.

  "You stupid, foolish, idiotic idiot!" Sylvia shouted. "You deserve that for going outside when I warned you not to." Her fists pumped at her sides, and her face turned red. If she had my affliction, she'd have set the entrance hall on fire by now. "Take him into the parlor and put his leg up. Fetch some water, cloths and bandages." When she realized there were no servants present except the injured Tommy, she clicked her tongue and sent Samuel off to find the supplies.

  Jack helped Tommy into the parlor and sat him down. I pushed a footstool closer and he rested his injured leg upon it. "What happened?"

  "I was searching through the woods," Jack said, "looking for signs of the demon being near. I found the deer that must have been its last meal."

  "Oh, the poor thing."

  "I was following what I think were its tracks when I heard Tommy calling my name. When I reached him, I saw the demon crouch, preparing to attack. It pounced before my fireball reached it."

  "But you stopped it from doing anything worse." Tommy rolled up his torn trouser leg, revealing four bloody gashes below the knee. The scratches were even in length and width apart, and could only have been made by a claw.

  Sylvia plopped down on the settee, her face white. All her anger and indignation had drained away, leaving an empty shell.

  "I was just poking around the woods," Tommy said. "I found nothing and was about to come back when it came out of nowhere."

  "That's because it's invisible," Sylvia said, showing signs of life again. "You already knew that, and yet you still went."

  "It's not invisible anymore," Jack said.

  "What?"

  I sat down beside Sylvia. Both of us stared at him. "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "I saw it," Tommy said. "Not until it was too late, but I still saw it."

  "Was it as Jack described?"

  He and Jack exchanged glances. "Not exactly. It looked…a little more human."

  Sylvia caught my hand. I gave hers a reassuring squeeze, but I felt no reassurance myself. "Would you care to elaborate?" I said.

  Tommy shook his head.

  Sylvia sniffed and I held her hand tighter.

  Samuel came in with Langley, wheeled by Bollard. "Mrs. Moore wanted to tend the wound," Samuel said, "but I told her it wasn't too bad and that one of you ladies would do it. I didn't think we wanted her to overhear our conversation." He held out the supplies to Sylvia and me.

  She didn't seem in any fit state to tend anything so I took the bowl of water and dampened the cloth. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did know the wound needed to be cleaned if only to see how bad it was. Tommy winced and sucked air through his teeth, but I managed to remove the blood.

  "I don't think it's too deep," I said, inspecting the gashes.

  "From now on, no one goes anywhere without Jack," Langley said, speaking for the first time. "If anybody leaves this house again without my permission, their pay will be docked. Understand?" His glare and his words were aimed rather sharply at Tommy.

  The footman lowered his head and nodded. To my surprise, Sylvia didn't seem at all triumphant that she'd got her wish. Relieved, yes, but not happy.

  I wound a le
ngth of bandage around the wound, eliciting more wincing from Tommy.

  "If it's not caught by the time you all must leave for the trial, then those of us remaining behind will have to manage without Jack," Langley said. "We can stock up on supplies before you leave and dismiss the servants. With only Samuel and me here anyway, they won't be needed."

  "I'd forgotten about the trial," Sylvia muttered.

  Reuben Tate was scheduled for trial the following week. Jack, Sylvia, Tommy and I were to be called as witnesses. The detective inspector in charge of the case said it wasn't likely to take long and would result in a verdict of guilty. He was absolutely certain. It was such a relief to have it almost over. Perhaps that was why I'd felt so on edge lately and somewhat exhausted. Just thinking about our ordeal with Tate was both tiring and terrifying.

  "Samuel, help Tommy to his room," Langley said. "Sylvia, fetch me my smoking jacket and slippers, please. I'm cold."

  The three of them left, leaving just Jack, Langley, Bollard and me. I suspected there was a reason the others had been sent away, and I didn't have to wait long to find out what it was.

  "How is your training coming along?" Langley asked. "Any progress?"

  "None," Jack said.

  "Hannah, do you feel like something has shifted within you?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Do you feel different in any way, even small?"

  I shook my head. "I feel exactly the same. I am happier, I suppose."

  "Happier?"

  "Being here with Jack, Sylvia and Samuel is much better than being locked away at Windamere. I do miss Vi sometimes, and I do feel more tired from all the training and the worry about the trial and now the demon, but overall I'm happy. Knowing what I am is an enormous relief, as is no longer being a narcolpetic."

  He grunted. "I don't want you to be happy. I want you cured."

  "Thank you, I think. It's kind of you to worry about me."

  "Don't read sentimentality into it. I want you cured because I want you gone. You're disruptive. I had no idea it would be like this."