I slept a few hours on the settee after the horrible incident, but that had been two days ago. My mind was sticky from a lack of sleep, and my mouth felt perpetually dry. My daughter was right, of course; I would have to truly rest at some point. I would need to return to my room, at least for my clothing, but not now.
What must I do? What can be done? Lettie, dear, where are you?
“Yvette brought water for your bath. The tub is in the servants’ quarters. See? We do not expect you to go back to your room. Come with me, Mama, and we will wash your hair. Clean hair and clothing will help you feel better.”
I sat bolt upright. “I am not sick, Lafonda! Stop treating me like one of your fever victims. What good did your ministrations do for those unfortunate souls? Tell me that, Angel of Death? You let Death into our house, and now look what it’s brought us.”
My daughter was on her feet, her bottom lip trembling. I immediately regretted my choice of words, but I could never admit it. For a parent to confess such a mistake was against the natural order of things. She slapped the table with both her hands, which were so scratched and rough-looking. I wanted very much to touch them, to soothe her fears, but the part of my heart that broke for Jonatan, that broke for myself, would not allow me to do so.
“Then sit here in your stench, Mama. And when you’ve come to your senses, the water will be nice and cold. I will not have Yvette warm it again.” She paused by Lady Rose before stalking out of the room, and I heard the study door slam.
Silence hung in the air like a tangible thing. I was glad I was not the one who had to break it. I thought by doing so I might break too.
Lady Rose came to my table and stood near me, her hands folded neatly in front of her. “In Haiti, they have a name for women like you.” She watched me like I was a bug she was about to smash.
“Oh? And what would that be?” I did not really want to know, but I did want to speak with her. Anxious to encourage conversation, I added quickly, “You spoke to the thing. You know it is real.”
“Fanm kase. That’s what they would call you. Fanm kase. I have seen this before.”
Aggravated that she did not confirm my suspicion, I snorted. “I do not speak that language, so the meaning is lost on me, but I assume it has a demeaning quality.”
“Why would you assume such a thing? It means ‘broken woman’. You are a broken woman. Dangerous things happen when there is a fanm kase about.”
“What would you know about such a thing, Lady Rose? I am sure you have never gone a day in your life without food or hope or love. You would not understand loss as I do.”
“I know a great deal about loss,” she said as she walked around the ladies’ parlor, her voice thin and quivering, like a young girl’s. She rubbed her hand over the mantelpiece and stared up at the empty space. Lafonda had hidden all the treasures in the attic during the fever outbreaks. Desperate times created desperate people, Lettie had warned her. Lafonda had done her best to protect our property, but I did miss that painting. The one of the girl in the coral dress. I could not remember her name. Why should I think of her now?
“Why have you come here? It cannot be to rent a room. Nobody like you comes to rent a room in such a haunted place.”
“Haunted. Yes, it is a very haunted place.” Lady Rose was suddenly kneeling beside me. She took my hand and said in a quiet voice, “I wondered the same thing when I came here, when my feet led me back to this place. For you see, this is the last place I ever wanted to return to. Once I vowed I would never again darken the door at Seven Sisters, but I came anyway. Now I know why. Because you are a fanm kase. I am here to prevent you from making a horrible mistake. Now come with me, please.”
“To where? I will not go back to that room. How can you ask me to do that? You saw it! You know Death is here!” I drew back from her, and my teeth chattered with fear. Oh, my stomach hurt so badly and again thirst struck me.
“If you do not care for yourself, you will see Death much sooner. Now come with me, Jacinta Delarosa. You can trust me.”
And to my surprise, I realized that I did trust her. I put my hand in hers and followed her to one of the servant’s rooms. Just as Lafonda told me, the bath had been filled and the room was nice and warm. To my further surprise, I found myself drawn to the water. What it must be like to be one of these screaming protestants who sink themselves in the river and come up clean! That’s what I needed—a baptism! I wanted that very much. That is what I needed! To be clean and free of everything I knew. Free of everything I’d witnessed.
Lady Rose helped untie my corset strings, which were knotted in a most clumsy manner. It was always hard to dress without Lettie. My hands and wrists ached so much nowadays that even the slightest movement hurt a great deal.
“I will leave you to your bath, but I will send one of the maids back soon with something clean to wear. We will take lunch on the porch, and then you will rest in my room. I will not be argued with or insulted. You will not treat me like your daughter, Jacinta.”
“No, no argument.” I began stepping out of my dress, uncaring that Lady Rose should see my scrawny body. I felt as weak as a new kitten, but I could not take my eyes off the water. The door closed behind me, and I walked toward the tub. The water was slightly tepid, but the room was full of light and warmth with one open window. I left my clothes in a heap on the floor and stepped into the water. A brush and soap were on the table beside the tub. Ah, sandalwood. I swallowed as I held the tan-colored block in my hand. Nobel, I miss you at times. You were a good man, as good as one could be considering everything we went through. I hope you can forgive me.
I shivered as a shadow passed the open window, and I tilted my head to see what kind of creature created it. I saw no one, no bird flew by, yet I could not shake the feeling that someone was there. Indeed, there was someone spying on me. I could hear his breathing. Yes, indeed! The door opened again, and red-faced Yvette stepped into the room with linens and a plain blue dress. It was certainly not my dress or Lafonda’s. It was so plain that I could only suspect it belonged to one of the maids. She hung the dress on a nail and set the linens on the round table she’d placed beside the tub.
“Are you in need of anything else, ma’am? More hot water?”
“No, Yvette. Just privacy.”
Yvette drew back but refrained from sassing me although I knew she wanted very much to do so. I guessed she was angry with me for what I said earlier. Served her right for spying on our conversation. Yvette loved Lafonda like Lettie used to love and care for me. There was an undeniable bond between the two.
Oh, Lettie. Why did you leave me, my only friend?
“Wait, Yvette. Would you mind closing the window? It’s too cold in here now.”
“I don’t feel any cold,” she murmured, but she closed the window and picked up my clothing from the floor. I pretended she did not wrinkle her nose at the smell as she shuffled out of the room. Hopefully for the last time. Yes, I could smell myself now.
What a disgusting creature you have become, Jacinta. And your hands are covered with blood, aren’t they?
“No. No they are not!” I said to the voice that whispered hatefully to me from the window. It was closed, but I could still hear the accusation. And it dug into my sagging soul.
I lifted my hands from the water, and to my horror, blood covered my fingers and hands and wrists. It dripped down my arms, and I gagged at the sight. The water was all blood! Too much blood! Whose blood?
You know, Ademar. Now confess. Confess your crimes…
“No! There is no blood on my hands!” I began rubbing my hands with the soap; the foam melted into the bloody water, and soon the blood dissipated. No, that had all been a dream. A vision. You are seeing things that are not there, Jacinta. I clutched the brush in my aching hand. I was scrubbing my hands too hard; my skin would be as red as Yvette’s if I wasn’t careful. That was my thought, but I feared that the blood would reappear. Troubled by it, I dropped the soap and brush in th
e dirty water and sank beneath the surface.
I tried to imagine myself clean—all clean. Yes, unpolluted from all my past sins. Clean! I held my breath; I was determined to remain underwater as long as I could. Under the water, the sin would not find me.
Sin could not adhere to your soul beneath the water, could it? As long as I was under the water, I was pure!
I held my breath until I could no longer do so. I raised my tired body up, took a deep breath and plunged beneath the water again. I did this again and again, but I felt neither clean nor safe despite multiple baptisms. Water sloshed on the floor, but I was desperate now. After half the tub was empty and I was left drenched and panting, I stopped.
I sat in the water a very long time, until my skin pruned and I shivered in the cold. Oh, it was so cold in here. I climbed out of the tub and wrapped the bath sheet around myself.
Ademar…confess your sins.
“Please go away,” I shouted at the window as the shadow passed again. I clutched the side of the tub as the silhouette stepped closer to the window pane. At first, I could see no face, nothing at all except blackness, but a face did emerge from the endless inkiness.
An unintelligible scream erupted from my throat. I was still screaming when Nobel’s face melted into shadow again. And then he was gone. I don’t know how long I stood clutching my sheet, my hair and skin drenched, but I would never forget what and who I saw.
Now I knew the truth. The monster, the black thing that stalked me, was not Jacques but rather my own husband, Nobel Delarosa. Oh no. Now he knew everything. He knew my role in all this tragedy, and he wanted vengeance.
But you know, Nobel! You know I never asked you to do what you did. I never wanted Jacques dead. And Jonatan…you cannot lay that at my feet!
But the monster that once was Nobel was gone. He did not want to hear my flimsy excuses, nor would he offer mercy. He wasn’t going to be satisfied until I was ruined completely or even worse. But what was worse than that? Ah, death. That’s what he wanted. He wanted me to die, and his daughter was the Angel of Death.
Stop your imaginings, Jacinta. She is your daughter too. She would never harm you. You know that. And Nobel…he would never want that. This is all in my own mind.
And then I heard the Nobel-creature’s voice again, and his words terrified me.
Much worse things are to come, Ademar. Much worse than death.
A flickering of shadow signaled his departure, and I numbly dressed with the complete knowledge that I was dressing for my own death.
Tonight, I would die.
Chapter Sixteen—Cassidy
After a restless sleep and a frantic morning, I was ready to release some endorphins. I tied on my running shoes and hit the pavement, and all the while my mind turned over last night’s events. After I got home, I spent another two hours trying to sketch the thing that Carrie Jo described, but it eluded me. I felt so frustrated and helpless to assist my team. This wasn’t the way this process usually went. I almost always had a good idea of what awaited us on an investigation, but Seven Sisters was tricky. I saw lots of things there, but no one person stood out and demanded to be drawn. No lost soul spoke to me, no one invaded my mind.
And yeah, that disturbed me. Not so much for me, it wasn’t a pride thing, but the feeling that you couldn’t help the family…that was horrible. I guess I’d been around Midas long enough for him to rub off on me.
It rained early this morning, so there were a few patches on the black tar road. Uncle Derek’s house, the one I inherited after his death, was situated in a nice older community. I could hear the buzz of an edger in the distance, and there was a radio playing in the window of the house I ran past. The older woman who lived there always listened to the AM stations when she washed the dishes. Nice lady.
But what about Seven Sisters? Think, Cassidy. Concentrate on the faces.
I paced along the roadway and got out of the way of a passing car as I crossed the street. My ponytail flapped behind me as my mind and body raced along. Another ten minutes was about all I had time for today. I’d woken up late and promised to meet Midas for lunch at Papa Angelos’ diner. And what was up with my fiancé? He seemed so distracted when we left the location last night. So much so that he didn’t take any of the flirty hints I dropped. In the end, I had kissed him goodnight and left him alone with his thoughts. I felt a little sad when his SUV rolled out of the driveway, but it was easy to switch my focus to the sketchbook. Despite hours’ worth of work, I had nothing. Nada. Zippo. A few half-sketches of ghosts gone by, none of which were active in the place anymore. A young black boy, an older man with a horrible expression, a blond woman with perfect fingers and a Mona Lisa smile. All of these I saw and dutifully sketched, although not in detail because they weren’t there anymore. They’d been there but were gone now.
I raced into the small park near my house and paused on the sidewalk to catch my breath. I felt a catch in my side and a cramp in my left leg. That’s what happens when you eat before you run and you don’t stretch first, Cassidy. You know this.
As I leaned against the back of the park bench, I gripped my ankle and gave my calf a good stretch. Something moved out of the corner of my eye just beyond my direct vision. I looked that way, but there wasn’t anyone around, no one that I could see, anyway. Just a lot of trees, pines, a few oaks and a sprinkling of cedar trees. Just beyond this cluster of trees, on the other side of the mini-park, were swing sets and a merry-go-round. Nobody was here on this damp morning except me.
That’s not true. There’s someone else here, Cassidy Wright. You’d be a fool not to think so. You know someone is there, you know it.
I also knew my intuition would not lead me astray. It had carried me this far. “Hello?” I took a step toward the nearest pine, but as soon as my feet hit the pine straw, I felt a wave of hate. I let out an oof and stepped back on the path. I stared at the tree, sure there was something hiding behind it. I couldn’t be wrong, not about this.
“Last chance,” I warned in a grave voice. As if that would help me at all.
Last chance.
Okay, that wasn’t an echo.
I stepped back onto the path and decided to get out of the vicinity immediately. What was I doing out here trying to challenge this entity? This was the thing from Seven Sisters! It knew we were coming for it; it must have felt me trying to connect with it.
And it didn’t want to be connected. Again I got the sense that the entity wanted nothing more than to do its thing, take whoever it wanted to wherever it wanted to steal that unsuspecting soul. In this case, the intended victim was a child named Lily, Carrie Jo and Ashland’s niece. Yes, it was very focused on her, and it wanted to remain undetected and unchallenged so it could come back, again and again, just when things were quiet and calm. That’s when it showed up. It grew strong in the quiet times. And people unintentionally fed it. It had grown quite a bit over the past few decades. I had thought the lady with the dark hair was the threat to the child, but I could see now that I’d been wrong.
The entity slithered out from behind the tree, but I could only see the head and arms. It was all black with dark red eyes, hateful eyes. It hated me with all its being. It hissed like a snake. It wanted me to believe it was some sort of thing, but this thing used to be a person. A man. Then it vanished into a collapse of black leaves that evaporated in seconds.
Damn! I hurried back the way I came; my run would be cut short this morning. I had business to tend to. I had a sketch to draw. Finally, I could see what we were up against, and it chilled me to the bones. When I got home, I picked up the phone and called Midas. I told him everything I just saw, and he couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Naturally, he planned to head straight here.
“Don’t do anything reckless, Cassidy, like touching a painting. Don’t paint this thing, and don’t challenge it again. If it shows up, go outside. Just wait for me. Please listen to me.”
“I’m listening, Midas. I’ll leave the door unlo
cked, and I won’t paint, only sketch. I’ll be out back.” I hung up the phone, kissed Domino and headed out to my studio.
I can see you now, you bastard. I can see you, and soon everyone else will too.
I went inside, closed the door and went to work.
Chapter Seventeen—Carrie Jo
Even after two cups of strong French Roast coffee, I could not shake the grogginess. It was always this way when I took a sleeping pill. Always. I hadn’t taken one since the days when I couldn’t stop myself from peeking into Ashland’s dreams. The pill had worked then, but not now, at least not how I expected it to. If anything, the pill only made my dream experiences more vivid, more immersive. I heard Ashland moving the dresser out of the way this morning, but I just couldn’t get out of bed. He’d returned soon with my first cup of coffee, his cell phone up to his ear. Lily wanted to come home; he’d talked to Rachel this morning and broke the bad news to our niece. She handed the phone back to Aunt Rachel, clearly disappointed about this turn of events, but there wasn’t anything she could do to change our minds. We were going to protect her at all costs, even if she was mad at us for days. And that was certainly possible. That child was one to hold a grudge.
“The black thing—the monster, as Jacinta calls it—it’s not just in her head. It’s really here, and it wants Lily. Jacinta doesn’t like Lily, but she’s not the entity here that wants to harm her.”
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