Muse Unchained (The Last Library Book 3)

by Jill Cooper

  “They are our neighbors.” Scotty shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled around the room. “If anyone would catch on to us, it’d be them.”

  “The rebellion needs new members. I thought… I’m not sure yet. I’ll continue to scope Dani out, but I think she’ll work. She sings when she works. She doesn’t think anyone hears her, but her voice is beautiful.”

  Scotty nodded, his lips turned down in appreciation. “Don’t tell her anything yet. We have to move slow.”

  “She saw my paint and hid the fact she did. I have a good feeling about her,” Alessa whispered. Scotty took her hands and led her over to the bed.

  “Forget all about that now. About them, our trouble, and the rebellion. I have much more pressing matters to attend to. To please you and love you.” Scotty took her hand and kissed it, his kisses leading up her arm.

  ****

  Alessa stared into the fire the next morning as the oatmeal cooked. Baby Ben was already awake, laying on a towel in the living room. Not mobile yet, he kicked and pulled at the air and practiced his coo for all to hear. It had risen Alessa from a deep slumber to hear their boy calling out from the nook in the kitchen that was his room.

  He might not have been her flesh and blood, but Alessa loved him like he was. As far as anyone was concerned, they were a happy, normal family—or at least what passed for such things in the world of ministers and death hunters. Plus, it proved one thing:

  The ministers and death hunters weren’t as all powerful as they pretended to be. They had no idea she had stolen the baby. Being Beantown’s only midwife had its perks, didn’t it?

  Alessa scooped oatmeal out into two bowls and placed them on the table when she heard Scott fastening his belt. When he stooped down to kiss Ben hello, Alessa was happy to see that Scotty’s face was dirty with grime, looking like he had day old scruff on his face. His baggy shirts and suspenders hid how slender his frame really was.

  Shoes up a size hid how small his feet were.

  Things would get more challenging when Ben was older, they’d always be living a lie, but at least they’d be together. That was something.

  “Morning, sweetheart.” Scotty caressed her waist as they shared a kiss. “You ready for the day?”

  Alessa nodded she was. They sat down and ate some dry porridge and drank tiny glasses of milk. “Time to beat the rugs, fetch the eggs, and feed the chickens. The normal things.”

  “I’ll be heading into town to pick up some feed, among a few other things.” Scotty paused and licked the oatmeal off his spoon. His eyes on Alessa as she shifted with discomfort in her chair. “It has to be done, Ally. One of us needs to head into town and it’s going to be me. You get sick too easily.”

  She sighed and sat up straighter. “Fine.”

  Scotty smirked. “It’s not fine, but I love you for saying so.” He leaned across the table and kissed her cheek. “I’ll keep my distance. I promise. I won’t be catching an illness today, that much I promise you.”

  A woman of his word, Alessa thought. Scotty had never broken a promise to her, and she was sure, this time he wouldn’t, either.

  ****

  “Town?” Dani’s eyes widened and she sat down at the breakfast table without meaning to. “Whatever for?”

  “Supplies and to bring our rations down to the waiting ministers. You knew I was going to have to go eventually, Dani.”

  “I spent time with some wives yesterday and heard stories about the plague. It’s hit the square hard. I don’t want you to go there.”

  Timothy smiled and took her hand. “It’s nice that you have friends, but I’m sure they were exaggerating.”

  “If I lose you… we won’t survive. The baby and me. Please, Timmy.” Tears shined in Dani’s eyes and she wished they didn’t. She wished she had no reason to cry, but the sob lodged in her chest was as scared as she had ever been.

  “I promise I won’t stay long. I won’t touch or talk to anyone I don’t have to. I’ll even wash my hands with soap.” Timothy smirked like it was all a joke, but Dani wasn’t pleased. Not at all.

  “I can come with you,” Dani offered with a kindly raise of her eyebrows. “We’ll go together and—.”

  “Not now. Not with you pregnant. You can barely get up the hill. It’ll be quicker if I go alone.” Timothy rose from his seat at the table and put on his hat.

  Dani rose slowly from her chair and hurried after him. They met at the door. “You come home right away, Timothy Richardson.” She chastised him, an angry scowl on her face.

  Timothy caught her by the waist and ducked in close to her lips. “You’re beautiful when you’re angry. I never noticed it before. Probably because you were never allowed to be angry before.”

  Dani wanted to yell at him but she fell for his kisses and his warm embrace. It endeared her to him more than before. She clung to him and felt happy—but afraid—to have him in her life.

  “Hurry home to me. To both of us,” she whispered.

  Timothy bid her good-bye, pausing his hands on her high and full stomach. “In less than a day, I’ll return. It’ll be a grand hello for the both of us.” He opened the door and paused to look at her before heading outside.

  Dani held onto the door and watched him go. She didn’t leave from her place until he was no longer in her sight. A bad feeling, a horrible tremor, inside of her that she couldn’t shake free.

  Chapter: Timothy

  The small carriage was loaded up with their monthly rations for the ministers, the horse was fed and Timothy was off on the small country road toward the city. The road was muddy and the temperature outside was the coldest it had been since the move. He tried not to think about it as he held the reins and they started the long trek.

  Off in the distance, Timothy could see the tops of the small buildings that made up downtown, he saw a few horses and carriages, but very little in the way of people. He hoped that just meant they were still inside. It was early, after all. He hoped that nothing was as wrong as Dani feared. He’d do his business and return home to his wife in a few hours’ time.

  His wife. The notion of being married and becoming a father, even if it was in name only, would’ve been absurd to him a month ago. The idea he’d actually like her, a simple house servant, but he found she was pleasant. Kind. And she showed him ways of the flesh, Timothy hadn’t imagined could be pleasurable.

  In the mornings he rose excited to see her, and when they came together, his heart could barely handle the excitement. Maybe it wasn’t love. Maybe it was obligation and lust for her curves, the way she felt in his hands as he made her his. The heat that rose off of them intensifying every day.

  Whatever it was, Timothy couldn’t stop thinking about her and thought, one day, maybe it would be love if given the chance.

  The road was caked in mud and the horse had trouble pulling the carriage through. By the time Timothy arrived in town, one wooden wheel was coming loose and it was past lunch time. His stomach grumbled with hunger as he found the minister cart station positioned behind the small hospital building.

  A sign hung by the windows of a drawing of a bed with a big red X drawn through it. No more beds for the sick, Timothy thought, and felt a bit heartsick. Disease, dying, starvation, all things he hadn’t worried about just weeks ago. Now it was a common concern. Something he thought about all the time, even if he put a brave face on for Dani.

  The minister popped his hat off to greet Timothy. “Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson. Well, that’s quite the load you have here. Want a hand?”

  Timothy bowed. “I can handle it, Minister. No need for any favors.”

  The minister laughed. “Big words for a city boy. All right then. Let’s see what you have.” The minister hopped down off the cart and watched as Timothy moved everything over. As he worked, Timothy fatigued, listening to the sound of horses trotting, carts coming to a standstill, and fifteen minutes into his task, a loud bell began to ring.

  Timothy wiped the sweat off his brow and
gazed off past the roofs of nearby buildings, where the bell gonged.

  “Bell of the dead,” the minister said mournfully. “This plague season has hit us hard. Bodies will have to be burned in hopes that the death won’t jump to anyone else.”

  Timothy threw his last bag of corn down onto the cart. “That’s horrible.”

  “Unfortunate.” The minister nodded. “Quite the collection you have here, but a little short on the goat’s milk.”

  “We did the best we could in such a short span of time.”

  “Oh, umm-hmm, I’m sure you did. Still, standards must be met.” The minister handed Timothy over a few meager bills and coins.

  Timothy did the quick math in his head, knowing he had less then fifteen credits. “Thank you, Minister. Better than nothing, but my wife is pregnant. Seven months along, we believe. We need food and supplies before winter strikes. We—.”

  The minister turned his back on Timothy, heading to the front of the cart. “Then you better get serious about your work. I cannot afford to play favorites no matter the reason.”

  Timothy sighed. “Sir, please—,”

  “Do not sir me.” The minister turned and poked his walking stick into the air. “There are many who would be grateful for that money. Do I need to take it back?”

  Timothy hung his head, his shoulders rolling forward. “No, Minister. I’m grateful for whatever you can provide.”

  “That sounds better.” The minister walked away with his hand stuffed inside his pocket. In an ominous voice, he spoke. “You best get home to your wife before dark. You can’t afford to stay out past curfew on your first month in Beantown. The plague likes to prey on the weak and misguided.”

  He turned with a chilly smile upon his face. Timothy shuddered and began to wonder if the ministers were lethal enough to decide which citizens would be struck with the plague… and which would not.

  ****

  He was still in the city square when the tire on his wagon cart splintered in two pieces, breaking off. Sitting on the side of the road, Timothy used some old wire to hold the pieces together, but he didn’t think he would be able to get all the way back home before it broke even worse.

  Timothy sighed and hung his head. He could ride the horse back, but then what would they do for a cart? Without one, he couldn’t transport the monthly rations to the ministers and wouldn’t receive the minimal pay they received. He didn’t even want to imagine what he’d tell Dani.

  Life in Beantown was harder than he ever imagined.

  “Problem, neighbor?”

  Timothy looked up to see Scott walking toward him. “I’m afraid so. Broken wheel.”

  Scott took the wheel and turned it around, inspecting every broken piece. “This won’t hold up. I have an extra wheel of this size in the back of my cart. Why don’t I get it for you? Then you can get home.”

  “Thank you. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.” Timothy stood and rubbed his hands together, watching Scott hurry over to his cart.

  A whistle blowing caught Timothy’s attention and he watched as a series of hospital workers emerged from a home with a wheelbarrow. Inside of it was the corpse of a woman, her hand flinging back and forth. Timothy gasped and looked away, unwilling or able to stare at her.

  Beside him he heard a hushed whisper. “Suicide, wasn’t it?”

  The woman standing in front of Timothy turned around and nodded. “That was Lucy Tanger, once. Lost her baby in a still birth almost six months ago. Poor thing swore it was born alive. She hadn’t been the same since then. Plague got her or something far worse.”

  “Nothing anyone could do,” the man replied. “Alessa’s the finest midwife Beantown’s ever seen. If she said it was still born, it was.”

  “Alessa Mayor?” Timothy asked.

  The woman nodded. “That’s right. Everyone knows dear Alessa. Bred of the best stock in Effletown, now of Beantown. When she speaks, you listen. It’s just too bad Lucy was unable to move past it.” The man frowned, his mustache swallowing his top lip.

  He and the lady went on their way and Timothy watched them go. He felt a bit odd about the exchange, though he couldn’t put his finger on why.

  “Here we go,” Scott said upon returning, a smile on his face. “I’ll show you how to slide this on lickety split.”

  “Thank you.” Timothy tried to shake the feeling of sadness he had but was unable.

  “You all right?” Scott asked as he crouched down beside the wagon and slid the wheel on, tightening it with the cart’s ropes and wooden washer.

  “I guess so. Just watched them cart a woman out of her home. Dead. Some said suicide, of all things.”

  “Suicide?” Scott’s eyebrows rose. “Hopefully not. The death hunters will make sure her living relatives pay for such a crime against the workmen.” He shook his head. “Did you catch her name?”

  “Lucy. Tanger, I think.” Timothy scratched his chin.

  Scott fumbled with the wheel and nearly cracked the wooden nut keeping it in place. “Well… that’s unfortunate.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow. Timothy noticed that his hand shook as he did so.

  The news had shaken his new friend. “Were you friends with her? Or her family?”

  “No. I didn’t know her.” Scott answered abruptly and stood up.

  “Oh,” Timothy’s forehead crinkled with confusion. “They said she was a patient of your wife’s, that she delivered the still born baby.”

  “We don’t talk about her,” Scott hissed. “I’m sorry. Bad… bad memories, I mean, no disrespect. There’s… not reason for me to be upset with you. Please accept my apologies.” Scott hurried away and Timothy was left standing alone.

  Wondering what it was he had done wrong.

  ****

  “And just like that, he snapped at me and ran away,” Timothy said. He was back home after a long journey, and half an hour past curfew. Lucky for him, the ministers hadn’t been around to catch him.

  Late as it was, Dani was up in her nightgown and robe, waiting for him. Her hair was pulled off her face with a bandana, and her cheeks shined from being freshly washed. Now Timothy had her in his arms, telling her everything that he had seen and that had happened.

  “Oh, it sounds horrible, Timmy. I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sure if Miss Tanger thought her baby was born alive and couldn’t accept the truth, it was hard for Alessa and Mr. Major. It must be hard to lose a baby, even if it isn’t Alessa’s fault.”

  Timothy nodded, feeling like Dani spoke the truth, but he felt a nagging doubt in the back of his mind. “It was horrible there, as you feared. So many dying lay in the streets, coughing. The death bell rang five times. If it doesn’t pass soon, I fear what will be left of Beantown for us.”

  Dani sighed as they placed their foreheads together, taking comfort in each other’s warm embrace.

  “We have each other now,” Dani said. “We’ll do what we can to get through.”

  Timothy took solace in her strength as he stroked her cheek. “I’m just glad I made it back.”

  She smiled. “As am I.”

  ****

  After Timothy’s long journey, Dani let him sleep in. She made his breakfast and kept it warm in a wrapped tin beside the fire and got to work. She milked the goats, picked the eggs, and fed the pigs. As she was leaving the barn, she heard a friendly voice on the other side of the fence.

  “Alessa!” Dani smiled and carried her basket of goodies over toward the fence. She held her lower back as she did so, trying to alleviate some of her displeasure.

  Her friend smiled widely. “Just was coming to check on you and Tim. I heard about his tire and I hope he’s doing all right.”

  “Oh, yes. He made it home just fine. You’ll have to thank your husband for us. I don’t know what we’d do without either of you.”

  “Our pleasure, of course. I have something for you.” Alessa handed Dani a package wrapped in paper. “Now that you’re further along, I wante
d you to have those maternity dresses we spoke of. Some smoked bacon, too. And a brick. If you run into trouble, go into early labor, fall ill, throw it into the fire. I’ll see the strange smoke and run straight to you.”

  “Thank you so much,” Dani hugged the package to her chest. “I don’t know what we’d do without you. You and your husband both are too kind.”

  Alessa smiled and slipped an arm around Dani’s shoulders. “I’m hoping you’ll never have to find out.”

  Chapter: Tarnish Rose

  Another day of travel and we’d reach our destination, as long—as long as we survived the stretch of bog that lay in our way. We stood before it, surveying how wide it really was. In the middle of the swamp was wreckage of metal beasts, towering structures, and crumbling buildings all slowly dissolving into the muck.

  I sighed, feeling the despair coming from the group. “Where are those eagles when you need them?” I said, referencing to a favorite fantasy book of mine I had read passages of before.

  Ella raised her eyebrows and cast me a dirty look. She’d been relatively quiet since we had left camp a few night’s past. Whatever power she had, the evidence was beginning to upset her, even if she wouldn’t say so. I could see it when she tried to sleep but tossed and turned the night away.

  “We’ll be careful. One at a time, using the wreckage to keep from sinking into the mud,” Sebastian said.

  “Great. Long as Tarnish goes first.” Ella crossed her arms as we moved forward.

  I had no problem going first, but Robbie held out his arms to stop me. “She’s the important one on this task, this you know, Ella. I’ll go first and then Beatrice. Ana will close the group off and go after you and Sebastian.”

  “So, I’ll be near the back?” Ella’s voice rose into a squeak. “I didn’t say I wanted to go in the back.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I said calmly, hoping it would steady her nerves.