A Cold Legacy

by Shepherd,Megan

  “Hensley?” I called, loud as I dared. “Hensley, wait for us!”

  At the bottom of the stairs, I stumbled into a sudden brick wall that marked the end of the passageway. No call answered mine.

  “Blast, we’ve lost him,” I said.

  A squeak came from the darkness; though whether it was a child or rat or rusty hinge, I wasn’t sure. My heart leaped at the sound. I felt the wall until my fingers grazed a narrow opening, too low and narrow for Montgomery’s wide shoulders.

  “You can make it if you lie on your stomach,” Montgomery said. “Leave me here. I have the rifle. You heard Hensley—the Beast doesn’t know about the passages.”

  I shook my head fiercely. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “You must.”

  I kissed him, trying to convey my love, ignoring what the Beast had said about the secret he was keeping. Then I crawled through the passageway on hands and knees. More sounds came ahead, a sort of scratching that stilled my breath. Was this one of mad Lord Ballentyne’s traps? I couldn’t turn around now, even if I wanted to. I crawled faster, desperate to fill my lungs with air. At last I reached a small door at the end. My hand searched for a handle, a knob, but there was nothing but the smooth end to the tunnel. I pounded on it. Shoved it with my shoulder. Called for someone to help me get out.

  Suddenly the door was flung open. Light stung my eyes. Strong hands pulled me from the slick tunnel. I coughed for air, blinked furiously as a frigid cold bit into my skin.

  I recoiled, fearing the Beast, but no yellow eyes met mine. Beneath me was a familiar stone floor, bodies wrapped in white sheets stretched out on benches, a cross in the wall: I was in the cellar chapel. Holding onto me was a girl with dark hair and eyes as blue as my own.

  “Lucy!” Relief flooded me. Behind her stood Elizabeth and McKenna and all the servant girls huddled together for warmth, and Balthazar pacing near the door.

  “Juliet,” Lucy said. “Balthazar told us what happened. We feared the Beast had gotten you.”

  “I thought he’d gotten you! He practically told me he slaughtered you all!” I hugged her close.

  “He was toying with you,” Lucy said, holding me tight. “He locked us down here this morning after he’d frightened us all he could and grew bored. Where’s Montgomery?”

  “Safe, for now. He’s in the passageways, but he was shot. He’ll need medical attention soon.” I looked around the room, frowning. “Where’s Hensley?”

  A deep wrinkle creased Elizabeth’s forehead. “You saw him? He’s been missing this entire time. Just before the Beast awoke, I’d denied him a second helping of pudding and he flew into a rage and vanished.” She tugged on her sleeves, and I saw angry blue welts there. My heart leaped to my throat—suffocating rats was bad enough, but he even hurt Elizabeth?

  “He helped Montgomery and me escape the Beast, but then he vanished.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “Good. He’ll be safer than any of us. You should go back into the walls as well, Juliet. The Beast will no doubt come down to check on us soon, and he can’t find you here.”

  “If I may, Miss,” Balthazar said to me, knitting his hands together. “I believe I know how you might throw him off. If you can convince him you’ve left the manor for the moors, he’ll leave the house and you can pass safely through the passageways and perhaps help these ladies and girls get out as well.”

  Elizabeth considered this. “That’s not a bad idea. If we could get outside, there’s a hidden cellar in the barn where Lord Ballentyne stored his winter ale. We’d be safe there, with the animals to mask our scent.”

  I hugged my arms for warmth, thinking through their words. We didn’t have much to work with. Montgomery was wounded. Hensley was missing again, and judging by the bruises on Elizabeth’s wrist, he was growing more unpredictable.

  As I wracked my brain, footsteps sounded on the stairs outside the door.

  Lucy whirled on me. “The Beast. Hurry, Juliet, into the walls!”

  “There isn’t time,” Elizabeth said. Her eyes fell on one of the white funeral sheets and she picked it up. “Under here. Lie next to the body. The smell of decay will hide your scent.”

  I sank to the floor, crawling under the sheet, trying to ignore the rigidly cold body at my side. There was a distinct odor, but it wasn’t the sweet headiness of decaying flesh, more like ice and blood. Elizabeth smoothed the sheet over me just as I heard the chapel’s heavy door swing open.

  Footsteps approached slowly.

  UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

  HarperCollins Publishers

  ..................................................................

  NINETEEN

  I CLAMPED A HAND over my mouth. I could hear people breathing, a few of the younger girls crying, and heavy, deliberate footsteps. I kept waiting for the telltale tap-tap-tap of the Beast’s claws on the stone floor, but none came. Were his claws gone completely? I wondered what exactly had happened within that body. The Beast had won, but not without a cost.

  “Well, well,” his voice came as his footsteps wove in and out of his captives. “How are we doing down here? Haven’t frozen to death yet? Pity.”

  “You can’t keep us down here forever,” Elizabeth said. “Not if you like living in this house. You’ll need someone to keep the electricity running and to feed the animals.”

  “The animals?” He laughed, dry and brittle. “You should be far more concerned with your own fate, Mistress. Now tell me, have you had any secret visitors?”

  From the corner of my eye I could see the person whose funeral shroud I was sharing: a girl a little younger than me with wild red hair and freckles. The cold had frozen her eyelids open and iced over the corneas. There was dried blood on her lips. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Visitors?” Elizabeth said. “There’s just the one door, and you have the only key.” She paused for drama’s sake. “Why, has someone come? It isn’t Juliet and Montgomery, is it?”

  “Quiet, woman,” the Beast snapped. “Your only concern should be trying not to starve down here.”

  “That’s just it,” Elizabeth said boldly. “We might starve, but you might, too. Let a few of my girls free, just to work in the kitchen. They can make enough food to keep us all alive, including you.” For a moment there was silence, and I was desperate to know what was happening. “Come now,” she entreated. “What was your plan—slaughtering the lambs in the barn and eating them raw? Not much of a proper meal. Wouldn’t you rather have roasted chops with a rosemary glaze, and buttered potatoes on the side? McKenna makes the most succulent lamb chops, I can assure you.”

  I wondered if Elizabeth had noticed the same thing I had—that the Beast was more human than he was before. Roasted potatoes would never have appealed to him previously. It wasn’t just the lack of claws, but the fact that he’d kept them imprisoned instead of killing them. Could he have found a bit of humanity? Could he possibly be reasoned with?

  “An interesting proposal, Mistress.” I could practically hear his mouth watering. “But I don’t know your servants, and therefore I don’t trust them. I shall take someone of my own choosing.”

  His boots whirled, and then a startled cry came from one of the girls—only this cry I recognized.

  “Lucy,” he said, low and seductive. “You’ve always been in love with Edward, haven’t you? He’s gone, but we do bear a striking resemblance. You can take care of me now. Come.” She shrieked as he dragged her toward the door. “I hope you know your way around a kitchen.”

  The door slammed closed, and the massive lock clicked. It wasn’t but another moment before Elizabeth threw back the sheet. I jolted upright, away from the redheaded girl’s body, gasping for fresh air. I scrambled to the far end of the room, putting as much distance as I could between me and the bodies.

  “He took Lucy,” Elizabeth said.

  “I know.” I pressed a hand against my head, trying to think. “She won’t be safe for long, not once he realizes she d
oesn’t know the first thing about cooking. He might turn on her—any of us—at any moment. I don’t care that he doesn’t look like a monster anymore. He is one, at heart.” I squeezed my fist hard enough that my nails dug into my palm.

  Elizabeth opened the secret door into the passageway and drew a key from a hidden pocket in her petticoats. “I’ve kept this from the Beast. It’s the key to my laboratory. You’ll find all manner of instruments there that can be used as a weapon. If the passageways lead there, I’ve never known about it, so you’ll have to enter the main part of the house.” She pressed a small sewing kit into my hand as well. “For Montgomery.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be back for you all as soon as I can.”

  I started to crawl back into the narrow passageway, but Elizabeth touched my back. “Wait, Juliet. If you see Hensley, please tell him to be careful. But also—be careful yourself. The Beast isn’t the only unpredictable one.” Her hand drifted to her bruised wrist. “Like most children, Hensley is subject to wild changes in moods over nothing. But unlike most children, he has unnatural strength. He doesn’t always realize when he hurts those he loves.”

  I swallowed uneasily. “I understand.”

  I crawled back through the tunnel until it opened more, and I was able to retrace my own footprints from earlier.

  “Montgomery?” I whispered as loud as I dared.

  “Here,” came a faint call.

  I crawled faster until I found him. He’d moved into an alcove protected from view, leaving a trail of small dots of blood. I touched his hair, his face, his arms, to reassure myself he was safe.

  “Take this,” I said, pressing the sewing kit into his hands. “Elizabeth gave it to me for your shoulder.”

  “Elizabeth! She’s alive?”

  “All of them are. The Beast locked them in the cellar.” I paused. “He’s different, Montgomery. He melded with Edward. He’s more human than he was before.”

  In the shadows, I couldn’t make out Montgomery’s face. “Does that change anything?”

  I balled my fist. There were times for mercy, but this wasn’t one of them. “No. He took Lucy. If I don’t stop him, there’s no telling what he’ll do to her. Besides, it isn’t just Lucy I’m worried about. We need to get everyone out of the house, so that you and I can face the Beast on our own. Balthazar came up with an idea. If one of us could lure him out of the house, the other could lead the servant girls to safety using the passageways.” I frowned down at his wounds. “I’m afraid you can’t do either, though.”

  “It’s my shoulder that was hit, not my legs,” he said. “I can walk. I’ll stitch the wound myself and then sneak out of the house and set the goats loose. The Beast will smell them and come outside to investigate. That should give you time.”

  I nodded, thinking. “We’ll need a signal for you to know everyone is safe and it’s time to lure the Beast back into the house.” I tapped my fingers anxiously against the wall. “The windmill. I’ll stain the sheets a different color for the signal.”

  “That will work. Once you’ve gotten everyone to safety, promise me you’ll stay near Balthazar. He’ll keep you safe.” On impulse, he took my hand.

  I intertwined my fingers with his. Who would keep him safe, I wondered?

  “Go on,” he said softly. “They need you. But Juliet . . .” He pulled me closer. “Be careful.” He pressed his lips to mine, and I longed to hold onto him forever. Neither of us was blameless. We both had sins to atone for. And yet my love for him didn’t diminish.

  He broke the kiss. “Go.”

  I crawled between narrow walls, up ancient stone foundations, past another alcove where I found a narrow ladder. It led to a trapdoor that opened into a dark room smelling of animals: fur and feces and straw. It was the secret room where Elizabeth kept the rats. I dusted off my hands as the rats squeaked softly, most likely thinking I was Elizabeth with their daily meal.

  “Shh,” I whispered to them. “You’ll give me away.”

  I took a deep breath. I had only to run through Hensley’s room and climb the spiral staircase and I’d be in the laboratory. I closed my eyes to listen for footsteps. There was nothing save the usual creaking of the house and my own ragged breathing.

  It was now or never.

  I darted through his room and up the stairs as quickly as I could, clutching Elizabeth’s key, afraid the Beast was right behind me. I threw myself at the laboratory door, unlocking it and then slamming it back behind me. My breath came shallow. Had I closed it too loudly? I went to the window. There was no sign of Montgomery or the Beast, but the goats were loose in the front yard. Montgomery must have succeeded in his half of the plan.

  I turned to the laboratory cabinets. Bone saws, surgical knives, scalpels. I snatched up a wicker basket and filled it with anything sharp. My hands wrapped around the instruments like old friends. Any of them, used properly, could yield a deadly blow. In a drawer, I even found a small silver pistol. That went into the basket as well.

  I felt far more confident as I left the laboratory. I retraced my footsteps through the passageways, avoiding Lord Ballentyne’s ancient traps, and peeked through the spy holes until I found the kitchen. There was Lucy, standing alone by the oven with one of McKenna’s recipe books, looking completely lost.

  “Lucy,” I whispered through the spy hole. “Over here.”

  The panel opened wide enough for me to reach my hand out. She shrieked at the sight of a disembodied hand reaching through the wall, but then raced over.

  “Juliet,” she whispered. “You gave me a fright!”

  “The Beast hasn’t come back, has he?”

  “I heard the front door slam about twenty minutes ago—I think he went outside. He left me here to make a feast but took away all the knives and anything sharp. How am I to peel the potatoes? I barely know what a raw potato looks like!”

  “I have a plan. I found weapons in the laboratory, so I’ll arm everyone in the cellar for their safety, and then set them free while the Beast is distracted. Once I give the signal, Montgomery will lure him back to the house. Balthazar and I will be waiting for him. As soon as you hear any commotion, you must hide. There’s a trapdoor to the passageways in the pickling room. Hide just behind the trapdoor and wait for me to come get you—don’t venture deeper into the passageways unless you want to stumble down one of mad Lord Ballentyne’s traps. And take this.” I passed her one of the surgical knives through the spy hole.

  She took the blade with as much dread as if she were handling one of Hensley’s pet rats. Her face twisted in anguish.

  “It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I was a fool to unchain him, but he was so convincing, and he looked just like Edward. I realized too late that he’d tricked me. I had a knife—not so different from this one. I was going to slice Edward’s throat so that Elizabeth would bring him back cured, but I couldn’t do it.”

  I squeezed her hand through the wall. “Be thankful, Lucy. Killing easily is not a trait one should ever desire. Besides, he would have gotten free one way or another. This confrontation would have been inevitable.”

  She studied her reflection in the gleaming knife blade. “If I get another chance, I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  Dread filled me. I didn’t want to leave her in that big empty kitchen, when the Beast might return at any moment. And yet Montgomery couldn’t hold him back forever.

  “Just remember, no matter what he looks like, it isn’t Edward anymore.” I gave her hand one more squeeze, then closed the panel, plunging my world back into darkness.

  UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

  HarperCollins Publishers

  ..................................................................

  TWENTY

  MOVING THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAYS was starting to feel like second nature. I could see why Hensley liked them. Once I learned to navigate the jagged nails and the uneven stairs, it felt so removed from the rest of the world that anything seemed possible.

&nb
sp; I reached the trapdoor to the chapel and knocked out a quick melody I knew Balthazar would recognize: “Winter’s Tale,” the song my mother used to sing. Sure enough, the door swung open and his wonderfully ugly face looked back at me.

  “We have to move fast.” I pulled out the basket of weapons and handed them out to the staff. For the littlest girls, scalpels—the small blades would make them feel safe, but they wouldn’t hurt themselves accidentally. For McKenna and Elizabeth, the largest of the surgical knives. Elizabeth took one look at it and shook her head, reaching in the basket instead for a heavy metal clamp.

  “I prefer my weapons blunt and powerful,” she said.

  “Did you find Miss Lucy?” Balthazar asked, folding his lips in concern.

  “She’s in the kitchen. I’ve instructed her where to hide once things get dangerous. Now, I’m going to lead you all to an outside door, where you can make it to the barn. Balthazar, I want you to take the rear, just in case . . .” I paused, looking at the impossibly narrow opening of the passageway. He’d never fit. “Well, dash it all. You’ll have to stay here. Montgomery or I will come to unlock the cellar door as soon as we can.”

  He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t like it, Miss. You and Montgomery up there on your own against that creature.”

  I gave him a smile, trying to look brave, but something about Balthazar always crumbled the walls around my heart. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I learned a thing or two on the island. I can sneak around this manor without the Beast hearing a single peep. We’ll see you soon.”

  I crawled through first, with Moira behind me, and the younger girls behind her, and Elizabeth and McKenna at the end.

  “Follow my path exactly,” I said to the girls. “Don’t touch the walls, if you can avoid them—there are loose nails. And don’t veer off to the sides—there are some tunnels that plunge down into nothing.” In the near darkness, I could make out their eyes, wide and frightened. “Let’s go,” I said.