Daughters of Arkham

by Justin Robinson

  The group resolved into men. Sindy recognized some, all the servants of prominent Daughters. One of them—Abelard!—had a motionless sack over his shoulder. Finster and Edsel held another shape between them. This one struggled.

  “Since our Abigail does not know who the father is, she will have to consume them both.”

  The servants threw two bound bodies onto the steps of the church. Bryce Coffin was unconscious but Nate Baxter was fighting against his bonds, glaring hate at all around him. When he saw Sindy, his eyes softened and then quivered with the horrible realization that he’d been betrayed.

  Sindy turned away and tried not to weep.

  77

  Missing

  ‘abby awoke in the middle of the night on Sunday. Her belly was roiling. She thought at first it had been something she ate, bad enough to bring her out of a dead sleep. It wasn’t—just some phantom pain. She wondered if it was something lingering from her experiment with her grandmother’s pin, or if it was some new and terrible revelation.

  She did not sleep for the rest of the night.

  She wanted to tell Nate and Bryce about it when she got to school. Bryce would tease her, but it was important that there be no more secrets between them. She couldn’t find him, and Nate wasn’t in any of their classes. At lunch, she was alone in the cafeteria. She began to worry. It felt like she had just stepped off a rollercoaster and was attempting to walk a straight line.

  The only person she did see was Sindy. Her maybe-former friend was pale, even by her standards. Her eyes were wide and empty. She looked ill. She didn’t talk to anyone; she just sat on the edge of her social group as Charity and Ophelia chatted away with the boys. Abby almost went over to her, but it would have been strange. The distance that had returned between them could not be bridged that easily.

  Abby left the cafeteria and stepped into one of the empty classrooms. Nate might be sick. Bryce might be ditching. But… Both of them, at the same time? It didn’t seem likely; maybe something had happened. She texted both of them, then tried calling them. Neither one answered. Her worry began to escalate into panic.

  Abby almost screamed as her phone started buzzing. It was Nate’s house. Thank God. He’s sick and he just left his cell someplace, she thought as she picked up the phone.

  “Hey, stupid,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

  “Abby! Have you heard from Nate?” The tension in Lana Baxter’s voice could have been plucked like a string.

  “What? Mrs. Baxter… I mean—He’s not at home?”

  “Oh God. Oh God.” She was crying. Abby couldn’t remember ever seeing Nate’s mother without a smile on her face. The idea of her sobbing into the phone broke her heart.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t come home last night and he’s not answering his phone. Do you have any idea where he might be? Have you seen him?”

  “I didn’t see him last night. But don’t worry—I’m sure he’s okay,” Abby lied.

  “I called the police this morning. Chief Stone took the report himself. He said it would be their top priority.”

  Abby felt a cold spike of dread pierce her down to her very soul. Chief Stone didn’t work for people like the Baxters. She took a deep breath. “I’ll ask around the school. And then I’ll go look for him. Don’t worry. I’ll find him.”

  “Thank you, Abby. I need to go pick up Vero.” Lana was breaking down on the phone, and Abby felt like she was making it worse.

  “I’ll start now. Talk to you soon.”

  Abby ended the call. It was possible they were at Bryce’s. Maybe they had fallen asleep while working on the investigation. She called his house directly. It took a moment, then a woman’s voice answered. “Yeah?”

  “Mrs. Coffin?” she asked, uncertain. Telephone etiquette was usually better amongst the Arkham blue bloods.

  “This is she. Who is this?”

  “Um, Abby Thorndike.”

  “Right, yeah, the pregnant girl.”

  Abby’s face burned. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “One second, I’ll check.”

  Abby heard some muffled voices, then Mrs. Coffin returned to the phone. Her voice, which had been breezy and slurry, had deepened a bit.

  “I’m afraid Bryce is not available.”

  Abby was silent. Her shame turned back to fear. Mrs. Coffin knew where Bryce was. She was lying, and she wanted Abby off the phone.

  “Um, okay. Just tell him I called, please.”

  She ended the call and put her phone aside. She didn’t know where to turn to for help. There was no one left she could trust. Except maybe… Mr. Harris. He wouldn’t want her looking into this, but she didn’t have much choice. This was more important than his disapproval.

  He wasn’t in his classroom. Abby headed for the teacher’s cottages behind the school, but the walk was difficult. She was as big as a house and anything more than a couple steps was a chore. By the time she reached Mr. Harris’s door, her feet were in open revolt, and her hair was stuck to her forehead. She knocked and then plopped on his stoop.

  The door opened behind her. She couldn’t have turned her back on any other Crow, but Mr. Harris had shown, that despite his appearance, he was her friend.

  “Abby?” he said.

  “I’m sorry. I walked here. I’m exhausted.”

  “Let me get you some water,” he said. A moment later, his glabrous indigo paw pressed an ice-cold glass into her hands. His skin felt like a wet beach ball.

  “Thank you.”

  “Should you be walking in your condition?”

  “I don’t know, but I needed to talk to you and I don’t have your number.”

  “Abby, this is somewhat irregular.”

  She had to chuckle. “Mr. Harris, you and I are in complete agreement.”

  She heard him give the same wry laugh. “All right, I hear you.” He settled onto the stoop next to her. “What can I do for you?”

  “Nate Baxter and Bryce Coffin are missing.”

  “Missing? That’s a matter for the police, Abby. You should fill out a report.”

  “Nate’s mom already has.”

  “Then let them do their jobs.”

  “You and I both know that if the Daughters are involved, the police aren’t going to try very hard to find my friends.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The men in this town, at least the ones who marry the Daughters of Arkham, disappear after they conceive daughters of their own.”

  “Abby, what did I tell you about—”

  “Just listen, Mr. Harris.”

  He fell silent.

  “I tried to get answers. I thought that if these men had been murdered, I might be able to speak to them.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “For the same reason I can see through your disguises. The same way I can see things that happened in the past. And ghosts.”

  “Ghosts?”

  She nodded. “A few. I haven’t seen any of the missing fathers, though.”

  Mr. Harris sighed. “That is because you are only thinking in terms of murder.”

  “Yeah. How else would I be thinking?”

  “Sacrifice.” Mr. Harris said the word with a fearful reverence. “When a person is sacrificed, they die, yes—but the intent is different. A murder destroys the body and mind, but a sacrifice… consumes the soul as well.”

  Abby wrapped her arms around herself, shivering in the heat as Mr. Harris continued. “They are turning the person over to a deity, and a god is never satisfied with mere flesh. If your friends have been claimed by the Daughters, then that is the terrible future that awaits them. They will be consumed by the Mother of All Daughters… and denied the comfort of afterlife.”

  78

  Sindy’s Choice

  ‘sindy hated that she was wrestling with this. Two of her friends were on the menu for a cult. She should have felt no hesitation. She should have gone to the police, to Abby, t
o someone, and filed a report or told or something.

  But she didn’t.

  It all came back to the drop of blood she had fed to Eleazar. She understood now that those drops had bound him to her. And sometime in the past, her mother had done the same to Abelard; Ophelia had done it to Finster; Charity had done it to Edsel; and so on, back for hundreds of years. The power she had felt during that small ritual had only intensified during her initiation ceremony. She knew there was so much more. She’d had a glimpse at the sheer majesty of Yidhra and the promise of her own exaltation above all others. There was a desperate yearning in Sindy that she couldn’t ignore.

  All she needed to do was let Bryce and Nate die. After that, the ancient power of the Daughters would be hers to claim. This was her final test. Hester needed to know for certain that her protégé had the ovarian fortitude to see this through.

  Above all else, sisterhood.

  The pin on her lapel pulled her down with the weight of hundreds of choices and arbitrations. How many had died at the casual whisper of a Daughter? How many more would die before Hester’s hunger was sated? She was willing to put her own granddaughter at risk to serve the Daughters; could Sindy not do as much with two friends… two male friends?

  Above all else, sisterhood.

  She would have to watch as Abby murdered Nate and Bryce… or she would have to betray Corinne, Hester, her mother, and her new sisterhood.

  Tears crept down her cheeks, thawing the cold frost that had formed over her heart. She trembled, then shook.

  Above all else, sisterhood.

  Sindy opened her eyes and the world sprang into crystal clarity for the first time in weeks.

  The Daughters of Arkham were not her sisters.

  Abigail Thorndike was.

  79

  I Choose Family

  ‘constance had just finished getting ready. Her hair and clothing were impeccable and her new concealer was doing an admirable job of hiding the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t been able to sleep through the night since her talk with her mother. Every night, she found herself awake around two o’clock. Every night, she wandered to Abby’s suite to peek inside and watch her daughter sleep.

  She used to do the same thing when Abby had transitioned to her first ‘big girl bed.’ Abby had been so excited about her big, fluffy, princess bed, but Constance had worried she would tumble out of it onto the hardwood. It never happened. Constance remembered thinking how grown up her little girl had looked those first few nights, even as little Abby clutched the cow with the chewed-ragged ear she’d had since birth.

  Abby still looked like a little girl to Constance. She still slept with her stuffed cow.

  An insistent knock at the front door jolted her from her reverie. She almost called for Bertram but remembered he was preparing for the ceremony. She took a deep breath, straightened her dress, and put on a false smile, ready to face the world. She wasn’t ready to see Sindy Endicott on her doorstep, glistening with sweat.

  “Sincere,” she said. “Are you all right? You’re not due for another hour.”

  Sindy panted, smoothing out her dress and trying to fix her hair. “Um, hi, Mrs. Thorndike. I know I’m early, I was just hoping I could talk to Abby for a minute.”

  Constance appraised Sindy with an arched eyebrow. Sindy looked away, pulling at the stray hairs clinging to her sweaty forehead.

  “You’re going to see her very soon. What’s so important?”

  “School,” Sindy blurted. “School. There’s a test tomorrow. And I don’t have the notes. And you know, Abby’s still pulling straight A’s. So I thought… I’d ask her.”

  Constance stayed silent. She had known Sindy since the day she was born. The girl had spent almost as much time in Harwich Hall as her own home. Sindy and Abby were as close as blood. Constance had watched this girl grow into a lovely and intelligent young woman, one braver than Constance had ever given her credit for. She struggled to maintain her haughty composure and fought against the sudden weight of tears behind her eyes.

  “Abby is in her room. Don’t take too long, dear. There isn’t much time.”

  Constance watched Sindy disappear upstairs. She wasn’t quite certain why she’d let her inside. Sindy couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d been wearing a sign that said, I WILL TELL ABBY EVERYTHING.

  It was for Abby, she realized.

  Had it been any other situation or any other person… Constance would have had Sindy restrained. But Abby deserved a chance. Constance couldn’t just throw her daughter to the snakes, the way Hester had with her.

  “Who was at the door, Constance?”

  Speak of the devil. Hester hobbled into the front hall, leaning heavily on her cane. She would be spry for a month after this ritual, perhaps even two. There was a time when a ritual could sustain her for a full year, but even the Iron Maiden had to yield to time eventually.

  “Sincere Endicott. She wanted to see Abby.”

  “What about?”

  Constance faltered. The lie she had ready crumbled in the face of her mother’s cold gaze.

  Hester’s face hardened to stone. “Please fetch Miss Thorndike and Miss Endicott.”

  Servants materialized from the shadows and headed upstairs. Constance started to shout a warning, but Bertram clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her into the other room.

  80

  Found

  ‘abby was in her room, gazing dully at the dollhouse. The mold inside had stretched green-black tendrils out of its hiding place and it was spreading to the edifice. Its steady evolution was perversely fascinating, in a way.

  Someone hammered at her door. It was a desperate banging that pulled her to her feet with a creaky groan. Her heart leapt as she pictured Bryce in the hall, exhausted, maybe with a single, artful cut on his cheek that would fade into a rugged scar, but otherwise unscathed. He must have uncovered something and escaped.

  “Come in,” she said, her voice catching.

  Sindy lunged through the door and bolted it closed behind her. Her eyes were wild and her skin was slick and shiny. Even her dress looked like it was all twisted about. It was completely unlike Sindy.

  “Sindy?!” What the hell was she doing here? What had happened?

  Sindy leaned on the door a moment, then collapsed to her knees to take Abby’s hands in her own. “Abs. You’re not going to believe me. But I need to tell you something, and then we need to figure out what to do, and we have to do it quick, okay? There isn’t a lot of time. But before that, before any of that, I need you to forgive me.”

  “What?”

  Sindy shuddered and pressed her head against Abby’s hands. “Please Abby. I need you to forgive me. I need you to tell me that it’s going to be okay, that you’re still my family. I need to not have ruined this forever, because I can’t do this without you.”

  She looked up at Abby. Silvery tears cut across the flush of her cheeks.

  “I need my sister back, Abby.”

  Abby took Sindy’s hands and pulled her to her feet. She used the sleeve of her shirt to blot the tears from Sindy’s face. Her voice quivered as she said, “No matter what happens, or whatever stupid thing we fight about. You and me. Us. We’re forever.”

  Sindy clutched at Abby with a heart-wracking sob, clinging to her like a life raft. Abby stroked her hair and held her close.

  “Do you understand me, Endicott? You will always be my family.”

  Sindy nodded and whispered a soft, “Thank you,” into Abby’s hair. She pulled back but didn’t let go of her.

  Sindy told her what happened to the fathers: about the terrible rituals to the goddess called Yidhra. That’s why the graves were empty. There was never anything left to bury. Then she told her the most important thing: The Daughters of Arkham had taken Nate and Bryce prisoner.

  “Hester is going to make you prove your loyalty to the Daughters, but they don’t know who the father is, so they’re going to kill them both, and then…” Sindy co
uldn’t say it.

  A slow-burning rage replaced Abby’s horror. No one would ever force her to do anything against her will. She wouldn’t harm her friends, or anyone else. But she also knew that whether or not she played along, Nate and Bryce were not going to survive their imprisonment. They had seen too much.

  “We have to go to the police,” Sindy said. “I thought maybe with the two of us—”

  “No. We can’t. The Daughters own the police.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. But if anyone is going to rescue Nate and Bryce, it’s going to have to be us.”

  81

  Escape from Harwich Hall

  ‘a spike of fire tore through Abby. She groaned, putting two tender hands on the sides of her belly.

  “Abs?” Sindy asked. She held her hand to her.

  “No, I think it’s my uterus.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. We have to do this soon. Check the hall,” Abby said, gritting her teeth. She rode through the pain until it subsided.

  Sindy nodded, though she kept a concerned eye on her friend. She opened the door a crack and Abby saw the shock and dismay explode over her friend’s face. She shut the door.

  “Bertram and a bunch of the other servants are coming up the hall,” she whispered.

  Abby glanced at the window. Not possible—not this pregnant. “The bathroom.”

  Sindy nodded and helped Abby into the large bathroom connected to her bedroom suite. The pain in her hips had begun to subside when it speared her anew. In the flash of agony, she saw the bathroom change into the gray and sooty place of the other side. Then it was gone, and she saw the world as her eyes beheld it.