I took a step towards her, and my lamp flickered. It was getting low on oil. She had a sweet look, but something terrible was behind her eyes.
"Is your name Claire?" I asked slowly.
"It's my birthday," the girl said. "Did you bring me a present?"
"I'm sorry," I said, without thinking. It occurred to me how odd it was to be talking about birthday presents. "Do you know how you got here?"
She didn't answer.
"Do you remember what you said to me before? When you woke up? You said you knew my name."
Anger flashed on her face, but then it vanished. When she spoke, she sounded sweet.
"I... I was looking for you. It's my birthday."
"That's nice." I hesitated. "Look, I need to find my friends. Have you seen anyone."
"Yes, there were some others."
"Where are they?"
"Oh, you won't find them."
"Why not?" I felt something sour in my throat.
"They didn't want to sing."
"What are you talking about?" I took a step back.
"I sent them to bed with no supper."
"Where? Where did you send them?"
"I put them to sleep. They wouldn't sing to me."
I backed out of the room, then ran down the hall, throwing open door after door until I found them. Pearl, Gertrude, Ravenna and the others. Even Henri. I shuddered when I saw her. It was hard to believe that face could be behind killing four kids. All of them were laying on the stone, pale and still as corpses. I fell to the floor fearing the worst as I pulled Pearl into my arms. Then I stopped and listened. I could hear breathing. They weren't dead, they were only asleep.
I glanced around the room and noticed there were others in the room with us. It was the four dead fallings, laying in the corner. At first they looked like they were asleep, but Little Sae cracked her eyes open and looked at me. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to tell myself the dead girls weren't real, but when I opened my eyes they were still there.
"We were never really asleep like the others," Little Sae said. "We were just pretending."
"Help me wake them." I started shaking Pearl and Ravenna as the four dead fallings crawled out of the corner and joined me. I remembered the spider and skull. Henri had them when she was in the Caldroen. I put Pearl down and searched Henri, but she didn't have anything. Mazol must have taken them from her already.
"You won't be able to wake them," Claire said behind me. I turned and saw her standing in the doorway.
"What have you done to them?"
She stared at me, but didn't answer.
Something was wrong. Could this be my imagination? I tried to think; I had to get control of my mind.
"Are you real?" I said slowly.
She giggled. "Of course I'm real." Then she stopped and looked seriously at me as if a terrible thought just occurred to her. "Are you?"
This wasn't getting me anywhere. I decided to try a different tactic.
"It's your birthday, isn't it?"
She gasped in excitement. "How did you know?"
"I... Uh, just had a feeling. I got you a present. Would you like to see it?" She nodded and I felt around in my pockets for something to give her. All I had were the rubrics, but I didn't want to give her those. I should have thought before I spoke. If I didn't give her something now, she would be even more angry.
Then I had an idea. Claire must be a sapient, I could practically feel her power pulsing inside me. So if I had a hard time figuring out what was real and what wasn't, she must have the same problem. Maybe I could make her believe something was real just by suggesting it.
I slid my hand out of my pocket slowly, as if I was pulling something out.
"It's a book," I said, holding my empty hand out in front of me.
She looked at my hand for a moment and I realized I had made a mistake. This was going to backfire. She was going to get angry.
But after a moment, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "I've already got one of those. My Papa gave it to me."
She reached into her dress and pulled a small leather book from her pocket. It was exactly like the one in my elusian.
"Papa said I had to kill you."
"Papa?"
"Yes, my father, Terillium."
It couldn't be true. If Terillium was her father, that made us... brother and sister.
"Do you have his permission," she said. "To be here."
"I don't understand." I was having a hard time paying attention—I refused to believe this girl could be my sister. She was just trying to manipulate me.
"This is my father's house. I used to live here too, but it burned down."
"I think you're confused. This is Daemanhur castle. I've lived here all my life."
"Oh well. Perhaps you're right. I guess I have to kill you now."
"I'd rather not die," I said, stepping backward, trying to buy time. I moved to Claire's side so her back was to the door. I held up my empty hand again and said, "I'll give you this book, if you let me go."
Her eyes flashed at me, anger burned like flames in them. But her face softened again before speaking in a sweet tone. "It's you I want. I can't find my father... I'm so lonely and scared. Will you be my friend? Will you help me find my father?"
"Umm, yeah." I said, feeling terrible for lying. "I'll help you if I can."
Claire was obviously unwell and I was taking advantage of her instability. I gestured with my hands behind me to the four dead girls. They seemed to get the hint and I watched out the corner of my eye as they began to carry the sleeping girls from the room behind Claire.
"Do you know the birthday song?" Claire asked.
"You sing it and I'll start as soon as I know the words."
She sat down against the wall began to sing as I stepped towards the door. It was thick and swung into the hall, unlike the door in the first room I searched. That meant I could keep it forced shut if I blocked it from the outside.
The words to the birthday song were simple and I picked them up as quickly as I could. This seemed to make Claire immeasurably happy. I stood just inside the threshold and was about to step through, ready to slam the door shut behind me. I felt another pang of guilt, but I didn't have time to waste. Yesler and Mazol were still lurking around the castle, waiting for the right moment to start killing fallings.
I felt a tapping on my shoulder.
It was Little Sae.
"You've really got to stop this," I whispered, glancing nervously at Claire to see if she noticed. Thankfully, she was absorbed in singing to herself. "Didn't we talk about you not being real?"
"Yes, but I thought you should see something."
"What?"
She pointed down the hall and I felt my jaw drop. I looked back inside the room and Claire was still there, singing softly to herself. But, here was another Claire, wearing the same orange dress, walking towards me out of the darkness in the curved hall. There were two of them. I really was losing my mind.
The second Claire stopped when she reached my side, her eyes darted around, her shoulders were shaking like she was cold.
"I've been looking for you," she said, but she didn't look at me when she spoke. She kept looking behind her nervously and she seemed frightened of the girl in the room who I had been talking to. I noticed the two of them were not exactly the same. The second Claire was a little shorter and her face seemed younger.
The girl I thought was Claire who had been singing noticed the girl standing next to me and suddenly stopped. "I was wondering why you kept calling me Claire."
"You're not Claire?"
"Of course not. I'm her sister. Terisma."
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Claire
Friday
10:05 pm
44 minutes until the Falling
The boy I was supposed to kill was standing in front of me. Father trusted me to finish what he wrote in the letter if he died, but I didn't want to hurt anyone. He told me I was too young to u
nderstand. He said the world wasn't black and white. He said Evan Burl was dangerous.
He didn't look dangerous, at least on the outside. He was kind of cute, actually. But I felt something inside of him. Something dark. Something that reminded me of my sister when she turned into Terisma.
I turned to Anastasia, something wasn't right with her—even more than usual. It felt like a hurricane was simmering under her skin. She was sitting in the flour pantry. Why was she sitting in the flour pantry? Why was there no flour on the shelves? Had the servants forgotten to order it?
Everything was wrong. I couldn't remember what happened.
There was a fire. The house was falling around me.
There was a shadow in the house.
And a knife.
And my mother.
Papa was stabbed.
Then I was falling.
My body felt light and wind rushed through me.
Everything went black.
Then I show up here, back in my own home.
I thought it had been destroyed. Was this a dream? The kitchens were around the corner, I wondered what the cooks were making for supper tonight. My stomach growled. I felt like I hadn't eaten in a month.
Someone was screaming. Her voice was louder and louder. But no one else seemed to hear it. It was inside my head. It hurt, I wanted it to stop.
Please make it stop.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Evan
Friday
10:14 pm
35 minutes until the Falling
As soon as I realized Terisma was not Claire, I could see the difference. I don't know how I missed it before. I could practically feel the difference.
Claire looked scared and confused.
Terisma looked like a nightmare pretending to be a candy cane.
But they were the same in one way. I didn't have time to deal with either of them, even if they were my sisters.
Slipping into the hall behind me, I grabbed Claire by the hand hand pulled her away from the door then slammed it shut on Terisma. Bracing my shoulder against the door, I looked around for something to keep Terisma from escaping. Something banged loudly against the other side of the door and my ears rang. Claire sank to the floor, clamped her hands over her ears.
"Make it stop," she said over and over—a lot of use she was going to be. I thought of the huge iron stove just around the corner in the kitchen, but there was no way to get it without leaving the door unblocked.
I heard the sound of snapping iron from the kitchen, followed by an ear splitting screech. I realized something was rushing through the darkness towards me like a charging bull. I held up my lantern to the darkness and saw it just as it came around the bend. The cast iron stove from the kitchen was sliding out of control along the stone floor, it's feet sparking on the stone. Leaping out of the way just in time, I watched it crash into the door.
It took a moment to realize I was the one responsible; I pulled the stove from the kitchen without even realizing what I was doing. It wasn't exactly as subtle as I would have liked, had I taken the time to think about it before hand. Surely Mazol would know where I was now if he didn't already, but I hoped it would hold Terisma long enough for me to deal with him.
I reached for Claire's hand, but she was gone. I held my lamp up to the darkness, but no one was around. It was exactly what I needed—an insane girl who might decide to kill me lurking around the castle. Limping, I dashed back into the entrance hall, but I was already too late. Mazol, Yesler and Ballard were standing over the girls. The skull pendent and a large metal spider dangled from two metal chains in Mazol's hand.
From somewhere behind me, screaming and banging echoed into the entrance hall. The stove, shoved against the door holding Terisma captive, screeched on the stone floor. She was pushing it open.
Henri began to rustle, then she moaned. I caught her eye.
"Evan, help me," she whispered.
"I know what you did," I said.
Something like an explosion went off behind me, dust billowed into the entrance room from the small hall where I left Terisma. She must have escaped. I watched the darkness, but nothing came. Maybe she would run, like her sister. Maybe they would work together, wait until later and hunt me down in the jungle. Maybe they were watching me just beyond the reach of my lantern light. I thought I saw eyes flicker, but Mazol spoke and they disappeared.
"It's over," he said.
I turned back to Mazol. I didn't know how the spider worked. For all I knew, if I took a wrong step, he could kill me before my foot hit the ground. It wasn't worth the risk. Ballard stood behind Mazol, my fate in the giant's hands.
I tried to mouth the word "now" to Ballard, but he just stared at me. I tried again, more obviously. Still he ignored me.
"Don't leave me," Henri said, she was trying to stand up, but looked dizzy and drunk.
"Ballard, now!" I yelled. He startled, then, as Mazol looked up at him, he grinned. Popping him on the head, Ballard grabbed the spider and skull in one movement. Mazol crumpled to the ground.
"I think I hit him too hard."
"What are you doing idiot?" Yesler said as Ballard tossed the spider and skull in a high arc through the air to me. I lost sight of them flying through the darkness but managed to catch a chain as it flashed in my lantern light.
It was the skull pendent. Just the skull.
"Where's the spider?"
Coughing, Mazol tried to laugh, then coughed again, spitting some blood onto the polished marble floor.
"You'll never guess," he said. Something clanked in the darkness, but it was on the opposite side of the entrance hall from where I trapped Terisma. I felt like they were surrounding me.
"Don't listen to him Evan," Henri said. She had managed to stand, and was swaying above the sleeping girls.
"Shut up Henri," I said and she flew backwards, landing on her side. Where was Little Sae? She could hold Henri for me, but... Little Sae wasn't real. I had to do it without her.
I imagined leather straps tied around Henri's feet and arms and a second later, Henri began to squirm as if tied. I caught a glimpse of Little Sae holding Henri's arms. She flashed me an encouraging smile as if she was proud I was starting to understand, then she disappeared.
I pushed my knee into Mazol's chest, pulled the staff from my belt and pressed it against his neck.
"I want answers."
"It's too late."
"Where's the spider?"
He coughed blood again, but this time he didn't laugh. "I don't know, I swear."
"I saw you with it! Ballard took it from your hand."
"You're insane. You're seeing things."
I hated to admit it, but he could be right. I tried to think back to what I saw. Had the spider really been there, or was it a trick of my sapience? There was no way to know for sure. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yesler come at me with a balled fist, but Ballard plucked him up by the shirt just as he swung. I felt the swoosh of his fist missing my ear by inches.
Yesler cursed, but Ballard smacked him and he shut up.
I turned back to Mazol. "Why do you want the fallings dead?"
"I didn't kill them."
"I know what happened," I said, glancing at Henri, "but you wanted to kill them. You were going to finish them off today."
"We had to run. We couldn't take them."
"Why not just leave them behind?"
"I knew they'd grow up someday. They might come looking for me. I didn't want to worry about getting stabbed in the back for the rest of my life."
"You didn't have to abuse them."
He started to say something, then hesitated. I pushed the staff into his neck harder.
"I was desperate for money," Mazol said weakly. "We had enough to live on for a hundred years, but one day it was gone. Someone stole it. I didn't have a choice. I had to make a deal."
"Who?"
"We never met him. It was always through other men, letters. We were told he would kill us
if we used his name."
"Tell me."
"Cevo."
The man from Terillium's letter? The man Terillium said would try to help me? How did Mazol know Cevo?
"He gave us the clankers so we could do a job," Mazol continued. "We never would have survived if the fallings didn't work. They can't die; by the age of 10 they can do more work than me and Yesler combined."
"You could run with them."
"We barely had enough money as it was. Hiring a caravan of runners is expensive and we have a long way to travel."
"You could have found a way."
"You don't get it. Those fallings over there, they can't pass into the jungle."
"What are you talking about?"
"If they leave the castle, they die. The man Cevo set it up..., the magic works until they turn sixteen."
My face went numb. At first I refused to believe it, but there was no way to prove him wrong. No one had ever left the castle. If he was right, sending Henri out of the castle was a death sentence.
"Why take me with you?"
"You wouldn't understand."
I pushed my knee harder into his chest. "Try."
"As long as we made our deliveries, Cevo kept sending the money we needed to survive. But there were rules. We had to stay here forever. We could, none of us, ever leave..."
He stopped to cough and I let up the pressure.
"...but you were all getting too old. I knew you'd turn on us sooner or later. Then you discovered the truth about yourself and our time was up. I knew I'd be dead in a few days."
"I was your bargaining chip."
"Maybe you're not so stupid after all."
"You knew Cevo wanted me. You were going to trade me to him if you were caught."
"We have something in common, you and I. We're survivors. You could come with us. We could make it in the jungles together."
"I'd rather die."
"You have no idea what you're up against. There are nightmares out there that would turn Ballard into a whimpering fool."
Evan Burl and the Falling Page 31