Serafina and the Twisted Staff (The Serafina Series)

by Robert Beatty

  Serafina stared at Lady Rowena in stunned disbelief. The girl was a walking encyclopedia of house gossip and intrigue.

  ‘Well,’ Lady Rowena said in response to Serafina’s look of surprise, ‘I’ve been rather bored here all alone. I had to take up some sort of hobby, didn’t I?’

  ‘What about Mr Olmsted?’ Serafina prompted her.

  ‘What does he have to do with any of this?’ Braeden asked.

  ‘What have you seen, Rowena?’ Serafina persisted.

  ‘Well, he lurks in his gardens late in the afternoon. After dinner, he spends endless hours in the library looking over old sketches and photographs as if he’s pining for the bygone days. But every morning at breakfast Mr Vanderbilt asks where he’s going for a walk that day, and he says he’s just wandering, going wherever the wind takes him. He’s lying, though, just like Mr Grathan.’

  ‘Lying?’ Braeden asked in surprise.

  ‘Mr Olmsted is lying to Mr Vanderbilt?’ Serafina asked.

  ‘Oh, yes. Definitely. He says he’s going for a leisurely stroll, but he goes straight out like a shot in the same direction every day, like he’s on some sort of mission out there in the woods.’

  ‘She seems to be a font of observations,’ Braeden said, amused by this sudden turn.

  Serafina took in everything Rowena had said, then focused on the next step. ‘Braeden, do you remember the four stallions I told you about?’

  Braeden nodded. ‘I went to the stables and checked into it, but the stallions were gone. The stablemen told me that they were only here for a short time, and they hadn’t seen them since.’

  Serafina frowned. ‘Can you find out exactly who they belonged to?’

  ‘Normally, I would ask Mr Rinaldi, may he rest in peace. But I could go back and see if he registered the horses’ owners in his logbook.’

  ‘Good, please do that,’ Serafina said. ‘It might give us more clues about how all this fits together.’

  ‘And what about me?’ Lady Rowena asked. ‘If Braeden has a job, then so should I.’

  Serafina studied her. It was hard to believe that this was the same Rowena as before, but she truly did seem like she wanted to help and be part of their group.

  ‘If there’s spying to be done, then I’m your girl,’ Rowena said. ‘What do you want me to find out?’

  Serafina wasn’t sure how far she could trust Rowena, but she’d give her an assignment as a test.

  ‘I want you to get a list of all the guests staying at Biltmore and what rooms they’re in. Every bedroom has a name, so learn them, just like you did with Mr Grathan’s room. And if anyone new arrives we definitely need to know that. We also need to know everything that’s talked about at dinner, especially involving Mr Grathan.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Rowena said. ‘I’m so pleased about this. This is so much more interesting than sitting around with the old ladies, sipping tea. Are we going to have a secret handshake?’

  ‘A what?’ Serafina asked in confusion.

  ‘You know, like real spies.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Serafina said.

  ‘What about secret code names?’

  Amused, Braeden looked at Serafina and smiled. ‘Yes, what about secret code names, Serafina?’

  ‘Look,’ Serafina said, ‘if anyone sees anything unusual, like the arrival of a new stranger or an unexplained shadow in the garden, anything like that, then you need to find me and tell me right away.’

  ‘Got it,’ Braeden agreed.

  ‘You can count on me,’ Rowena said.

  ‘And, Lady Rowena,’ Serafina said, ‘this is important. You can’t tell anyone else about what we’re doing. No one. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do you swear?’

  ‘I swear,’ Rowena said.

  ‘For any of us, at any time, if something happens and it’s an emergency, then stop the master clock and the other two will see it.’

  Braeden nodded, liking the plan.

  ‘For heaven’s sake, how are we supposed to do that?’ Rowena asked in bewilderment.

  ‘There’s a large clock in the carriage house courtyard,’ Braeden explained. ‘It runs on gears. It controls fourteen other clocks throughout the house so that every room is on standard time, just like in my great-grandpa’s train stations.’

  ‘What a marvellous way to make sure the servants don’t have any excuses for being late!’ Lady Rowena exclaimed.

  Serafina shook her head.

  ‘So, how do I set this signal?’ Rowena asked.

  ‘On the third floor of the carriage house, there’s a small room with the clock’s gear mechanism inside,’ Braeden explained. ‘Simply pull the lever to stop the clock. But don’t break anything or there’ll be hell to pay from Serafina’s pa.’

  ‘Not to mention your uncle,’ Serafina added. ‘If anyone sets the signal, then we’ll all meet out on the roof right away. But only use the signal in case of extreme emergency.’

  ‘On the roof?’ Lady Rowena exclaimed. ‘How do I get on the roof?’

  ‘Take the stairs up to the fourth floor, cross through the hall, go down the corridor on the left and climb out of the second window,’ Braeden said, as if this was the simplest thing in the world.

  ‘Remember, don’t stop the clock unless it’s an extreme emerg–’ Serafina began, but before she could finish her sentence, she heard someone coming up the darkened path. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

  ‘Get down!’ she said, pulling Lady Rowena and Braeden into the bushes.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Lady Rowena complained. ‘My dress might get snagged on a thistle!’

  ‘Shh!’ Serafina said as she dragged the girl to the ground and covered her mouth with her hand.

  Serafina spotted the flicker of approaching torchlight on the leaves of the surrounding trees. She heard the sound of coming footsteps, heavy boots treading across the ground.

  A dark figure came towards them up the path. Her chest tightened when she saw the man’s long, weathered coat. Then she saw his spiralling cane and his dark hair. Her heart pounded. It was him! It was the rat-fiend Grathan. Rowena had been right. He wasn’t going into town for the evening. He was coming right towards them!

  As he strode rapidly up the path, a murderous determination clenched Grathan’s scarred face. It was as if he’d uncovered some new piece of information. He was no longer going to investigate, interrogate or spy. He was going to kill. He gripped his cane in his hand as if he could transform it into a savage weapon at any moment.

  Serafina glanced at Braeden as he hunched low to the ground, his eyes fixed on their enemy. Lady Rowena began to squirm in panic, her chest rising and falling in her corset, but Serafina held her tight. She tried to keep them all quiet, but her chest was pulling in air too now, fast and hard, preparing her body for battle. Her muscles buzzed, ready to explode.

  Grathan was thirty feet away, moving quickly. She could hear the shift of his clothes along with the pound of his feet.

  Twenty feet away now . . .

  If it came to it, she thought she could run fast enough to escape him, but Rowena couldn’t in her long dress.

  Ten feet away now . . .

  Serafina decided that if Grathan spotted any one of them, she must immediately attack.

  He was right on top of them now. She crouched down, poised for the lunge.

  For a moment, nothing happened. She thought he was going to pass them right by without ever seeing them hiding in the bushes just a few feet off the path. But then a beast howled in the distance.

  Braeden and Lady Rowena both startled, their eyes flaring wide. Serafina grabbed their arms and held them in place.

  Do.

  Not.

  Move.

  Hearing the howl, Grathan stopped abruptly on the path. All Serafina could hear now was the sound of his breathing and the flame of his torch. Peering up through the ferns at him, she slowed her breaths until she was perfectly quiet, not moving
in any way. But around her, her companions shifted nervously. Even their rustling clothes made too much noise.

  Grathan gazed up the path in the direction of the howl. The scars on his face looked like the claw marks of a wild animal. When she saw the glisten of the torch’s flame reflected in his eyes, Serafina felt a twist of fear coiling through her body.

  Serafina watched Grathan as he stood on the path. He tilted his head as if listening for the sound of another howl. Then, after several long seconds, he hurried up the path with new urgency.

  When Grathan finally went round a bend in the path and disappeared, Serafina held her position. She sensed that Braeden and Rowena were anxious to move. They weren’t used to long periods of stillness like she was, but she kept them there, her hands holding them in place for several minutes longer, until she was sure it was truly safe.

  Finally, she looked at her companions, lifted her finger to her lips and then pointed towards Biltmore. The three of them ran home without saying a word.

  Serafina could easily run faster than both of them, but she took up the rear, watching behind them to make sure Grathan hadn’t doubled back. She knew there would come a point in the near future when she would have to fight him, but the last thing she wanted was to confront him now, unprepared, in the darkened forest with her two companions. She had to find a way to gain an advantage over him.

  As they reached the outer edge of the gardens, she was glad to see the faint lights of Biltmore in the distance.

  ‘Did you see that?’ Lady Rowena said proudly as they hurried towards the mansion’s side door. ‘He walked right past us and didn’t even see us!’ She crouched down and moved her hands in front of her like she was a master of stealth. ‘I was totally invisible! I was like a thief in the night!’

  Serafina smiled, but Braeden looked confused. ‘Where was he going?’ he asked. ‘What’s out there in the woods?’

  ‘I told you we can’t trust that man,’ Rowena said.

  ‘Let’s hurry back to the house,’ Serafina said as they crossed the lawn.

  ‘There’s a formal dinner tonight,’ Braeden said, seeming to sense what she was thinking, ‘so the house is going to be very busy.’

  ‘As soon as things quiet down, after dinner is over and everyone goes to bed,’ Serafina said, ‘I’ll sneak up to the third floor and search Grathan’s room.’

  Serafina took them through the side door, and then they hid in the shadows beneath the Grand Staircase and gazed out across the Entrance Hall.

  The house was softly lit with candles placed here and there on the mantels and tables, which gave the rooms an almost ethereal feeling. It was very quiet, save for the gentle music of violins and cellos playing in the Banquet Hall. It was good to see the Vanderbilt families and all their friends celebrating together. Serafina loved all the ladies’ sparkling dresses. Christmas Eve was just a few nights away.

  A beautiful, formally dressed young lady in her early twenties and a handsome young gentleman slowly descended the Grand Staircase arm in arm. The young man wore black tails, a white tie and white gloves. Serafina loved the way the silver buttons on his shirt and vest glinted in the candlelight and matched the watch chain dangling from his pocket. The young lady on his arm wore a voluminous silvery dress with capped shoulders, a taut corset, and a long train that swished as it dropped from step to step as she came majestically down the stairs. She wore graceful white satin gloves and carried a silvery folding fan that matched her dress. A ring of shimmering pearls encircled her neck. Her dark hair had been swept up and arranged into the most elaborate coiffure Serafina had ever seen.

  ‘Who’s that?’ Lady Rowena asked, entranced.

  ‘Her Grace Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough,’ Braeden said quietly. ‘And her husband, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, the ninth Duke of Marlborough. My cousins.’

  Serafina smiled. She had no idea how he remembered names like that, but the girl sure was pretty. She loved the way Duchess Consuelo lilted her fan as she walked.

  Serafina watched breathlessly as the young couple sauntered through the Entrance Hall and around the Winter Garden on their way to the evening meal.

  In the Banquet Hall, the servants were preparing the forty-foot-long main table for the eight o’clock dinner as all the gentlemen in their black tails and white ties escorted their ladies in their long, formal dinner gowns. The shine of silver platters and the sparkle of crystal glasses in the candlelight seemed bright compared to the darkness from which she and Braeden and Lady Rowena had just come.

  ‘Y’all better go on upstairs and get changed for dinner,’ Serafina whispered to her companions. ‘When you go to bed tonight, stay safe. Lock your doors. Tomorrow, get that information we talked about. And keep your eyes peeled for new clues.’

  ‘Got it,’ Braeden said.

  ‘Will do,’ Lady Rowena agreed.

  As Lady Rowena split off and went up the Grand Staircase, Serafina couldn’t help but feel surprised by the girl. She was not at all what she had expected.

  ‘What are you going to do now, Serafina?’ Braeden asked when Lady Rowena was gone.

  ‘I’m going to keep watch,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll watch with you,’ he said.

  Serafina looked at him. ‘You don’t have to do that, Braeden. Go to dinner with your family and then go on to bed. Get some sleep. I’m just glad I’m home.’

  ‘I couldn’t sleep when you were gone, and I’m sure not going to sleep now that you’re back,’ he said.

  She looked at him and felt the warmth of his words moving through her. ‘Thank you, Braeden,’ she said. ‘It was the same way for me. I’m none too eager to run away again – believe me.’

  Smiling, Braeden said, ‘Let me go tell my uncle that I’m back, and then I’ll meet you here.’

  ‘What about your dinner?’ she asked, gesturing towards the glittering folk gathering in the Banquet Hall in the distance.

  ‘What about yours?’ he asked, moving his hand in an inviting way towards the gathering. ‘I’m sure we can find a gown for you to wear.’

  Serafina smiled uncomfortably, feeling a new kind of fear roiling up inside her. ‘Thank you,’ she said hesitantly, ‘but I’m not quite ready for that.’

  He nodded, understanding. ‘Then where are you going to eat your dinner?’

  ‘My pa grills chicken on the cookstove in the workshop,’ she said.

  ‘Sounds good, if you and your pa wouldn’t mind another mouth to feed,’ he said.

  ‘Um . . . yes . . . that would be . . . f-fine,’ she stammered, surprised and a little scared of the idea of Braeden eating supper with her and her pa. ‘What about Lady Rowena – won’t she miss you at dinner?’

  ‘Oh, Lady Rowena may need us in the woods, but she doesn’t need us at a dinner party. That’s her home territory, and she’ll do fine without us. Let me just go ask my uncle to excuse me from joining the dinner tonight, and I’ll send a message on to Rowena so that she doesn’t think I got absorbed into a black cloak or something.’

  Serafina smiled, and before she could stop him he walked away and did exactly what he’d said he would. He spoke briefly to his uncle and, to Serafina’s amazement, walked right back to her. There was no conflict or argument.

  ‘Lead the way,’ he said, grinning. ‘I’m starving.’

  When she walked into the workshop with Braeden at her side, her pa nearly dropped dead from shock, but he made the best of the situation as quickly as he could. He pulled up a bench stool and wiped it off for Braeden to sit on. He gave Braeden his sharpest pocketknife to cut his chicken with. And he even managed to cobble together what looked impressively similar to a napkin for Braeden’s lap. Serafina just sat back, ate her chicken and smiled at the sight of the two of them sitting together and trying to chat.

  Braeden used such refined English and her pa used such mountain talk that sometimes she had to help them understand each other. For the first time in her life, she felt like she didn’t just
belong, but like she was the glue that held the world together.

  After dinner, Serafina invited Braeden to do what she imagined friends all over America did after a good meal together. They went rat catching.

  ‘My pa told me that some sort of rodent has been chewing at the wires,’ Serafina explained.

  ‘Then let’s get to it,’ Braeden agreed.

  As the last of the gilded ladies and gentlemen upstairs retired to their bedrooms for the evening, and as the servants cleaned up the Banquet Hall, Serafina led Braeden through the back rooms of the basement. In an hour or so, when everyone was asleep, she’d sneak up to Grathan’s room on the third floor and search it, but until then, the hunt was afoot. They prowled the darkened corridors and shadowed storage rooms of her old domain, bringing back memories of her life in the world below.

  After all that had happened to her over the last few weeks, she thought catching a couple of wire-chewing rats would make for easy pickings. But she and Braeden searched and searched and they couldn’t find them. As the night wore on, it became more and more perplexing. She used her eyes and her ears and her nose just as she always did, but the rats were nowhere to be found. Her pa had said there were rats in the house. And she was the Chief Rat Catcher. She always found her rats. But for some reason, she could not find them tonight.

  ‘Is it me?’ Braeden asked. ‘Am I making too much noise?’

  ‘No, I don’t think that’s it,’ Serafina said. ‘We’re checking all their favourite hiding spots. If they’re down here, we should at least be seeing them.’

  ‘What about upstairs?’

  She shook her head. ‘There aren’t any rats upstairs. I never let them get that far.’ She frowned, not sure what to do.