‘Actually, those are mourning doves, not pigeons,’ Braeden said, but he looked towards the doves and then looked towards the falcon. ‘I suppose,’ he said uncertainly, ‘but I don’t want her to stress her wing. And I don’t think she’s hungry. I fed her some chicken à la crème this afternoon, and she seemed to like that very much.’
Serafina smiled. Classic Braeden. Stealing gourmet meals from under the nose of Biltmore’s French chef to feed to his animal friends. When Serafina’s stomach growled, she realised she wouldn’t have minded some of that chicken something-something herself.
‘So it can’t actually do anything useful, then,’ Lady Rowena said. ‘You haven’t taught it any tricks.’
Braeden quietly knelt down and petted the fox’s head and ears. He finally seemed a little discouraged by Lady Rowena’s words. ‘I have an idea,’ he said, standing once more. ‘Let’s try this . . .’ He walked a few feet and picked up a stick.
‘What are you going to do with that?’ Lady Rowena asked.
‘Kess’s wing is still on the mend, but let’s see if she wants to play a little.’
Braeden hurled the stick up into the sky, then gave a long, whistling call.
The whistle and the flashing, somersaulting stick caught the falcon’s attention immediately. She rolled, tucked her wings and plunged into a stoop. She dived, plummeting at high speed through the air. At the last second, she pulled back her wings, thrust out her talons and grabbed the stick.
‘She got it!’ Braeden exclaimed.
Serafina’s heart leapt with the thrill of seeing the bird in action.
‘Well, look at that,’ Lady Rowena said.
Even Miss Hoity-Toity is impressed, Serafina thought with a smile.
But then the falcon came gliding towards Lady Rowena at head level.
‘What is it doing?’ Lady Rowena asked, cowering back and shielding herself with her parasol. ‘Why is it flying at me? Tell it to stop!’
The falcon flew over her head and dropped the stick on her. ‘Help! It’s attacking me!’ Lady Rowena screamed as the stick bounced harmlessly off her parasol and fell to the ground. The fox darted in, grabbed it and trotted over to Braeden as if they were all playing a grand game of fetch.
‘They’re just playing with you,’ Braeden assured Lady Rowena.
As he knelt down and petted the fox again, he gazed up at the flying falcon. ‘She’s such a wonderful bird,’ he said. Serafina could hear the admiration in his voice, and maybe a little sadness. ‘Once her wing has healed all the way, she’ll be ready to fly long distances again, and she’ll continue her migration to South America. Can you imagine flying all the way to the jungles of Peru?’
‘Well, I have to say, it seems a shame to let it go after all the work you’ve put into it,’ Lady Rowena said. ‘You don’t want to lose it. Perhaps you can use a rope to tie it to a branch so it can’t get away.’
‘If you tied her with a rope, she couldn’t fly,’ Braeden said, horrified by the thought.
‘A string, then, or a steel wire, something to control it. A steel wire would definitely work.’
As Serafina fumed over Lady Rowena’s horrible suggestion, Braeden whistled a low warbling call.
The falcon turned and flew towards him.
‘Watch out!’ Lady Rowena cried.
But the bird came in for a nearly perfect landing on his arm.
‘Kess is my friend,’ Braeden said. ‘Friendship is more powerful than the strongest wire.’
As the fox trotted into the woods, and Braeden and Lady Rowena walked back towards the house, Braeden carried Kess on his arm. ‘Would you like to come to the stables with me while I put Kess away?’
‘Of course not,’ Lady Rowena said, wrinkling her nose.
‘Come with me,’ Braeden urged her. ‘I’ll show you the mew we built for Kess.’
‘I don’t go into stables of any kind. I might get my clothes dirty,’ Lady Rowena said haughtily. ‘I shall go upstairs and change for our stroll.’ With this, Lady Rowena separated from Braeden and went into the house.
Serafina quickly followed Braeden as he walked towards the stables. She hoped she could talk to him alone. But as she came up behind him, her stomach felt like it was spinning. What could she say that would make any difference to him? How could she explain what happened? Before she could work up the courage to say something, the stablemen came into view and she lost her chance.
A few minutes later, as the sun was beginning to set, Braeden met Lady Rowena out in front of the house again.
Serafina was surprised to see that the English girl had completely changed her appearance in a short amount of time. Her hair, her clothing and her accoutrements were all different. Apparently, going for a walk on the wooded paths of the estate required a completely different outfit from what she’d had on while standing on the terrace.
Lady Rowena now wore what looked like a girl’s hiking outfit from a grand shop in London, with a formfitting buttoned jacket, a long dark skirt, and jaunty leather ankle boots. And, of course, the outfit came complete with a matching hat, a small pair of opera glasses, presumably to better enjoy the natural scenery, and a fancy, obviously useless feather-adorned hiking staff.
Braeden and Lady Rowena walked side by side down the estate’s wide, perfectly manicured paths. These were just the type of fancy folk that Mr Olmsted had designed the paths for, to give them the feeling that they were in nature, that they were in the deep parts of the forest, but without the inconvenience or discomfort. Serafina followed at a safe distance, trying to figure out what to do. She needed to talk to Braeden, but here Lady Rowena was again, blocking her way! As they passed through a grove of hemlock, oak and maple trees, she couldn’t quite manage to hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be deep in conversation about something.
As Braeden continued to talk with Lady Rowena, Serafina felt an itch creeping up her spine. At first she thought it might be the aggravating tone of Lady Rowena’s high and mighty accent or the annoying tilt of her overly stylish hat, but she slowly realised that it was something far more serious than that.
Serafina scanned the forest. She spotted a dark shape on a branch, high up in a nearby tree. The sight of it put a lump in her throat and she became very still, not wanting to move another inch lest it notice her. It was deep in the cover of branches and difficult to see, but from its silhouette it appeared it might be an owl or some other type of large bird. She couldn’t make out the details or colours of the creature, but she could see that it had a rounded head and no ear tufts. Owls normally slept in the day, of course, but, as night came on, this one seemed to be perched there in the canopy of the trees, silently watching Braeden and Rowena on the forest floor below.
Serafina decided that she could wait no longer, whether Rowena was there or not. She had to talk to Braeden.
As she rose to approach him, she remembered Braeden on his knees crying in anguish in a pool of blood at Gidean’s side and Rowena screaming at her to get out of Biltmore. She remembered biting the footman and running away in shame. A hot flush flashed through her body. Her legs wobbled beneath her. But she pushed herself on. She stepped out of the bushes, walked up behind Braeden and Rowena, and spoke.
‘Braeden, it’s me . . .’
‘Serafina . . .’ Braeden said gently. He did not move towards her or say more. It was as if he was gazing upon some sort of rare animal in the forest and he didn’t want to scare her off.
She did not move. ‘Hello, Braeden . . .’ she said, her voice trembling. All the emotions she was feeling were in those two simple words – the sadness for what had happened to Gidean, the sorriness for her part in it and the fear of his reaction.
‘You’ve come back . . .’ Braeden said. When she heard the faint, uncertain trace of surprise and hope in his voice, she realised that he did not hate her; he had missed her, and that was far more than she had hoped for.
She nodded to let him know, that, yes, it was her intention to come b
ack. ‘I’m right sorry about everything that happened,’ she said.
Just as Braeden started to move towards her, Serafina noticed Lady Rowena again, standing behind him. Serafina expected the girl to be angry, maybe even start yelling at her to go back to the forest where she belonged, but she didn’t. Rowena’s face was white with fear.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked warily. ‘Why have you come back here after what you did?’
‘Rowena,’ Braeden said, lifting his hand to assuage her.
‘You are not wanted here,’ Rowena said to Serafina.
‘Rowena, stop,’ Braeden said, touching her arm. ‘You’re wrong. She is wanted here.’
‘Thank you,’ Serafina said softly to Braeden. She knew she didn’t deserve his loyalty, but she was relieved to have it. ‘I think I know what happened to Gidean, why he attacked me.’
Braeden did not seem to absorb her words. ‘Did you hear what happened to Mr Rinaldi?’ he asked her, his voice trembling with misery and confusion.
‘My pa told me that he was kicked by a horse. Was it one of those stallions?’
‘No . . .’ Braeden said, the shame in his voice so heartbreaking that she wanted to hug him. ‘It was one of my horses,’ he said.
‘It wasn’t your fault, Braeden,’ Serafina said emphatically.
‘But I was the one who trained them,’ he said, lowering his head. ‘I never thought one of my horses would ever do something like that.’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying,’ Serafina said. ‘It wasn’t your horse’s fault. And it wasn’t Gidean who attacked me. The animals were under someone else’s control.’
Braeden raised his head. ‘What do you mean?’
Rowena suddenly stepped between them. ‘She’s talking about witchcraft. She’s trying to trick us!’
‘She’s not trying to trick us,’ Braeden said.
‘You can’t possibly want this creature here,’ Rowena said.
‘Yes, I do want her here,’ Braeden said. ‘She’s my friend.’
‘But you saw her,’ Rowena said. ‘She bites!’
‘Many of my friends do when they’re cornered,’ Braeden said.
Serafina smiled. But Rowena stopped and looked at Braeden, confused, her brows furrowed. Serafina could see by the expression on her face that Rowena was truly struggling to understand what was going on. But how could she? So many awful, incomprehensible things were happening at Biltmore.
Serafina turned towards her. ‘I know this must all seem very strange, Rowena,’ she said, ‘but I didn’t mean to hurt Gidean. I would never do anything to harm him or Braeden, or anyone else at Biltmore, including you.’
Rowena looked at her and seemed to take in what she said, but she was still suspicious. She looked uncertainly at Braeden. ‘What she’s telling you about the animals can’t be true,’ she said. ‘Black magic isn’t real.’
‘Trust me,’ Braeden said firmly. ‘Sometimes it is.’
‘Are you saying you actually believe her?’ Rowena asked. It wasn’t anger but genuine astonishment.
‘I do,’ he said. ‘It all fits.’
‘This all makes sense to you?’ Lady Rowena said in disbelief, shaking her head.
‘Braeden and I have been through this together before, Lady Rowena,’ Serafina said. ‘We’ve learned to trust each other.’
‘And we’ve learned to trust what we see even when what we see seems impossible,’ Braeden said.
Rowena looked at Braeden. ‘But is this truly what you want, Braeden? You want to be around this ragged girl?’
‘Yes, I do,’ Braeden said. ‘I should have never doubted her. She’s my closest friend, Rowena. But that doesn’t mean Serafina and I can’t be your friends as well.’
Rowena’s face roiled in dismay and she turned away from them. She took several steps down the path. For a moment, Serafina thought she was going to walk back to Biltmore on her own even as night fell.
But then Rowena hesitated.
Serafina knew that she had disliked Rowena from the first moment she’d seen her horseback riding with Braeden, and she hated the way Rowena was frightened of the things she didn’t understand, and the girl had definitely jumped to all the wrong conclusions about her, but as Serafina watched Rowena standing there in the path she thought maybe Rowena was far smarter and tougher than she’d first appeared. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who had jumped to conclusions. Rowena seemed to be thinking everything through now, trying to understand the situation she was in.
Serafina watched as Rowena exhaled a long, uneven breath, then turned and looked at her and Braeden.
The aloofness and disdain that had always been Rowena’s armour had broken down a little bit and moulded into something else. There was a seriousness in her eyes that Serafina hadn’t seen before. She looked like a girl who wasn’t going to give up, who was determined to figure out where she fit in, where she belonged. And that was a girl Serafina could relate to.
Serafina stepped slowly towards her.
‘I know that you and I are very different,’ Serafina said, ‘but I am not your enemy.’
Lady Rowena did not reply, but for the first time she was looking at her and truly listening to her.
‘We have both said things and done things around each other that we shouldn’t have,’ Serafina said, ‘but there’s a danger at Biltmore far more important than any of that – black magic, evil spells, whatever you want to call it – but it’s very real. And we’ve got to stop it.’
Rowena studied her without saying a word for several seconds. Serafina could not tell if it was suspicion or wariness or fear, or if somehow she’d managed to get through to her. But then Rowena spoke.
‘You know,’ Lady Rowena said to her, ‘you’re a rather fierce person.’
‘And you’re altogether too well dressed,’ Serafina said. ‘We all have our faults’
As Lady Rowena looked at Serafina, the edge of her mouth curled into a little smile. ‘We do indeed,’ she said finally.
While they were talking, the setting sun had been gradually withdrawing its light from the trees, slowly pulling the colours from the world around them, and bringing the details of the forest to life in the way that Serafina was used to.
‘Now, tell us what you found out, Serafina,’ Braeden said. ‘What’s going on with the animals?’
‘First, tell me about Gidean,’ Serafina said. ‘How is it possible that he’s walking?’
‘Gidean is still weak, but he’s healing very quickly,’ Braeden answered Serafina’s question.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ Rowena said.
‘That’s such good news,’ Serafina said, relieved, but she sensed Braeden’s confusion.
‘When I saw Gidean lying there on the floor in all that blood,’ Braeden said, ‘I swear he was dead – or just about to die. His body was broken. His eyes were closed. I got down on my knees, and I leaned forward to say my last words to him. When I put my hands on him, his body was so still, so lifeless. I thought I was too late, he would never hear my words to him, he was already gone. But then I felt his heart start beating. And a few seconds later he opened his eyes and looked at me with such emotion in his eyes.’
Serafina swallowed hard. ‘How is that possible?’
‘I don’t know,’ Braeden admitted.
Feeling a shiver run down her spine, Serafina glanced up into the trees just in time to see an owl open its wings and disappear into the darkness.
‘Do you remember what happened before, Braeden, with the Black Cloak . . .’ she said. ‘I think it’s happening again – not the cloak itself, but something else like it. I encountered the bearded man again. He’s some sort of conjurer. The mountain folk call him the old man of the forest. The Cherokee call him the Darkness. I think that Grathan is his spy here at Biltmore. Or maybe one of his demons or his apprentice. I’m not sure. But they’re working together. We need to watch Grathan and figure out how we can defeat him.’
Braeden
nodded. ‘We should find out what room he’s staying in, and when we’re sure he’s not there we should search it.’
‘Are you talking about Detective Grathan?’ Lady Rowena said. ‘He’s staying in the Van Dyck Room on the third floor.’
Serafina and Braeden both looked at Lady Rowena, surprised that she knew something about their enemy that they did not.
‘I overhead him telling the staff that he’d be going out this evening and he wouldn’t be back until the morning,’ Rowena said.
Braeden smiled, obviously impressed.
‘I could be much more useful if I actually understood what we’re talking about,’ Rowena said.
‘If what you say is true, then you’ve already been useful,’ Braeden said.
‘But hold on,’ Serafina said doubtfully. ‘You said he was going out tonight?’
‘Yes,’ Lady Rowena said confidently.
‘But why?’ Serafina asked. ‘What reason did he give for going out at night? The house is surrounded by nothing but gardens and forest for miles.’
‘He told the staff that he would be taking his carriage into town,’ she said. ‘But of course I knew he was lying.’
‘You did?’ Serafina asked in surprise. ‘How?’
‘He had the wrong kind of shoes. He had his old, cracked muddy boots on. Positively dreadful. No one in their right mind would wear such hideous things into town.’
Serafina smiled. She was liking Rowena more and more. ‘Tell us what else you noticed.’
‘Well, he’s an extremely poorly dressed person – that I can tell you without hesitation. His coat is badly worn and altogether of the wrong season. Someone needs to tell that man that it’s 1899.’
Serafina nodded. The fashion critique was expected, but then Lady Rowena continued.
‘Yesterday, the nasty man followed me through the Rose Garden. He probably thought I didn’t know he was there, but a lady knows when a man is following her, whether he’s a proper gentleman or a commoner like Mr Grathan. He’s been watching Braeden very carefully as well. And he’s been looking for you, Serafina. Did you know that? He asked me at dinner two nights ago if I knew whether you had truly left Biltmore. He stays well clear of Mr Vanderbilt and Mrs King, but he’s been cornering the servants and asking questions about somebody called Mr Thorne and something about a sculpture of a stone angel in the forest. I don’t know what it all means, but at dinner every night he pulls guests aside and practically interrogates them.’
Serafina and the Twisted Staff (The Serafina Series) Page 16