A Circle of Crows (20 page)

So far, all her digging had turned up nothing, zilch, nada. She had even gone to see some antique dealers and taken Gran's drawings and not one of them was even slightly helpful.

She had realized that the reflective surfaces all tied into nature somehow. At least the ponds and lakes did anyway. After she had researched the time of year of the children's disappearances around a body of water, she then checked what the lunar cycle had been at the time of the abductions. They all occurred during a full or blue moon, except for those inside the inn. They did not fit the pattern with the other disappearances. Morgana's did coincide, but the date scrolled above Gran's illustration of passing into the mirror did not. Rachael wished she had her sisters here to get their opinions. Picking up the picture beside her computer, Rachael stared at their faces.

She jumped involuntarily when she heard barking from the second floor, and she could tell it was both dogs. She shot out the door and up the stairs, heading for the Winter Room. She flung open the door and looked wildly about, but no dogs.

She heard them again, in Raena's suite.

Marie, the new live-in maid/concierge, came out of the bathroom upstairs and said, “Is everything alright?"

Patrons were also beginning to peer out of their rooms, to find out what all the ruckus was about.

"Everything is fine. The stupid dogs just need to be put out, that's all. Marie, please go and make sure all the guests are comfortable.” She hoped her face appeared calm, and was not reflecting the panic welling up in the back of her throat.

In search of the dogs, she went into Rae's suite. Solomon was growling in the next room. Entering Raena's hallway, she saw both dogs there—hackles raised and ears lying flat against their heads.

She looked around for the source of their agitation, but saw nothing ... which made her even more nervous. “Crikey, Rae. No wonder you drink."

Then she heard it, ever so slightly—scraping sounds, clicking like small animal claws ... directly above her. She looked up and saw the trap door entrance to the attic.

"Perfect,” she said to the dogs. She didn't dare rush back downstairs for the shotgun; she was sure that had not been included in the inn's brochure.
Free shotgun blast with each night's stay!
She went into Rae's small living room and taking a brass candlestick from the mantle, she walked back to the hall.

As she pulled down the stairs to the attic, the noise changed to a sound like the wind blowing in the trees. She crept up the stairs and reached up to turn on the light. Flicking the switch, she involuntarily shrieked at the vision before her eyes. Every inch of the attic was covered with crows. They were perched everywhere she looked—on her old stroller, portraits, summer lawn furniture—and then something caught her eye. She shook her head while holding onto the railing for support, disbelieving what her eyes were telling her.

The crows were flying in and out of the attic ... through a large, golden mirror. In it, she could see an azure blue sky, peppered with black winged bodies as they darted in and out. Then she saw something very large and black shoot across the sky ... much too large for a crow. She quickly shut off the light, then hastily closed the attic stairs.

"The rabbit hole has come home."

Colin was sitting watch on the sloping hillside while Christian and Rae slept around the fire. He knew they were getting close. Now out of the snowy terrain, he could detect the odor of sulphur in the air again.

Down by the fire, Raena stirred. She slowly looked around, disoriented. Spying Colin on the hillside, she made her way to him on wobbly legs. When she reached him, she lost her footing and fell.

He eased her down and she ended up sitting between his legs with her back to him.

"You should not be up here. You can barely walk."

"I'm fine, I feel much better."

"Ahh, I see now where your sister has acquired her personality traits..."

"Actually, I'm not sure who would win a stubborn contest between us. It's a family inheritance."

"I see,” he said, then without really planning to, he kissed her full on the mouth. She returned the kiss with vigor. As he wrapped his arms around her, he could feel her shivering.

"Rae, you are shivering. Please go back to the fire. You will be of no help if we make it home and you are still as ill as you are now."

She looked into his eyes, unclear if she had understood him correctly.

He looked off into the distance, scanning again for danger. “Many people never find love once in their lifetime, let alone twice."

"You're right. I've been waiting my whole life for someone who loves more than himself."

He kissed her again and helped her stand up. Putting his hands around her waist, he helped her back to the fire.

The sun peeked out as Finn awakened and he began to bawl.

"Keegan, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop to feed him."

"No problem, Miss."

They stopped beside a pond, then she dismounted and looked for a suitable place to sit.

She found a log and leaned her back against it. After removing the crying baby from her sling, she began to lift her shirt. At this, Keegan said, “I am going to check out the pond and see if there are any fish to be caught ... while I wait.” His face was bright red as he awkwardly made his way toward the water.

As Finn nursed, Bella felt herself dozing. Even though she knew it could be dangerous, she could not help herself. Her body had been taxed to the limit over the past few weeks, and as usual, she stubbornly ignored all its warnings.

Something hard and cold was pushing at her back. She felt it again, and this time, it pushed her. The end of an axe blade was rousing her into wakefulness.

"Well rise and shine, beautiful."

Above her towered a huge and grisly man with yellowed teeth and matted hair. His stench filled her nostrils even from a few feet away ... a combination of whiskey and sulpher permeated his person. She glanced to her side and saw a terrified Keegan, bound and gagged, lying under the boot of another giant of a man.

Maximus looked at her body lustily, and said in almost a bedroom voice, “Her Highness will be so pleased. Another babe and a woman to add to our ceremony."

Chapter 35

Rachael and Sam stood at the curb in front of the inn, as they loaded Eva and her overnight bag into his mother's car. When Eva grabbed her doll from the floor and began talking animatedly to her new grandma, they knew she was oblivious to anything out of the ordinary.

Morgana, however, shut the car door so Eva could not hear her and with a look of desperation on her face, said, “You and Sam have found something new about the aunts, haven't you?"

Rachael stroked her daughter's hair and said, “Don't be ridiculous. Sam and I just have a lot to do around here to make this place profitable again. We'll see you on Sunday when we pick you up."

Eyes welling over, Morgana grabbed her mother's hand. “Please, Momma, don't go. I want to come with you. I can help, I was there longer than you. Please..."

Resigned, Rachael sighed. “I won't go, Morgana. If we manage it, Sam will and I'll stay here with you and Eva.” She glanced at him. “We've already discussed it at length."

Morgana's face calmed and she wiped her eyes, then impulsively hugged her uncle. “I know you'll find them, Sam. Tell them I love them."

Morgana got into the car and shut the door. When Rachael rapped on the window with her knuckles, Morgana rolled it down.

"Our winged friends can go anywhere, you know. Keep Eva in your sight at all times."

Lips pressed together, Morgana nodded in understanding as the car pulled away from the curb.

The irony of her last statement not lost on her, she was reminded of herself at ten years old, giggling in the kitchen, and Gran's macabre warning to not let Bella out of her sight.

Under her breath, she murmured, “I just blinked for one second, Gran, and she was gone."

Rachael and Sam wordlessly turned to face the inn, and eyes on the attic window, headed for the front door.

Bella dreamt of babies—all three of her babies as she thought of them. In a place of tranquility in her dream, they all lay in her bedroom in the cottage in an oversized cradle she knew instinctively Sam had built. She could hear sounds from the kitchen—lovely, normal sounds of people washing dishes with a radio in the background.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar rustling sound from outside, and was filled with fear, followed by the need to protect the babies ... who were now wailing. She tried to quiet them, but they continued crying.

She rocked and rocked ... and opened her eyes to see carrion crows filling the sky outside the queen's tent. Tens of thousands of them; they were engaged in a bloody battle against one another, and the sound was one Bella was sure she would never be able to forget.

Feverishly searching for Finn, she found him sleeping in the sling, and sighed with relief. Still hearing the wailing echoing in her head, she struggled to find its source.

As she clambered out of the fetal position, her gut wrenched with the effort. She swooned and swore not to pass out again.

Shuffling toward the inner tent flaps—she noted it was massive, and better furnished than anything she had ever seen before. Animal skins covered the floor everywhere in a furry carpet—she heard them. Cullen and Hope screaming as loud as the day they were born, she was certain it was the twins. Milk leaked from her, but she barely noticed it.

She knelt low to the ground and slid Finn gently from around her neck and onto one of the blankets. As she pulled back the flap to peer into the adjoining chamber, panic hit her again; she could see the twins on some sort of altar, squirming and writhing for all their little bodies were worth. The queen stood over them like a physician performing an exam with her chamber filled with about fifteen guardsmen in every corner of the room. Maximus, the ogre, as she had become to think of him, stood watching uncharacteristically alert behind the queen. Bella sniffed the air and her nose wrinkled involuntarily. Searching for the source of the smell, which reminded her of dead things she and her sisters would come across in the woods behind the inn, she saw a bubbling black cauldron in the corner of the room. Two guards, who looked as young as Keegan, flanked it on either side.

Bella turned and looked around the huge chamber she was in. She spied a massive trunk, partially concealed under an animal skin. When she opened it, she saw it contained more blankets and coverings. Removing most of them, she left only the bottom of it covered. She walked over and picked up Finn, then quietly placed him inside the trunk and shut the lid.

She returned to her position at the flap just in time to see the queen pour a steaming vial of black filth into Cullen's bawling mouth as the ogre held it open.

Colin glanced back at Raena, who was swaying dangerously in the saddle. Christian, who was behind them, made eye contact with Colin and made a
get a move on
gesture with his hand.

"Rae, we are very close now. Could you manage a gallop?” Colin asked over his shoulder.

"Of course, I'm fine."

Christian raised his eyebrows in skepticism, but said nothing.

They took off at a bolt in effort to try and escape the sulpherous smell they had long ago associated with danger.

They kept up the pace for half an hour, then Colin raised his hand and they slowed to a trot. He dismounted, and gestured for Christian to do the same. Rae dismounted with Colin's help. She grabbed his horse's reins and held her breath as he stealthily moved to the line of pines. She thought absently of a glass of the absinthe shimmering green on her tee trolley at home, and muttered, “What I wouldn't do for a green fairy."

Colin lay prone and slithered through the underbrush so he could get a clear view of the valley below. Then he disappeared from sight. Christian gathered the other two horses’ reins and led them up to where Colin had entered the tree line.

"If he does not reappear, we are going in, Raena."

Raena nodded silently while never removing her eyes from the last place she had seen Colin. The next five minutes felt like hours, and just as Christian was beginning to pace, they heard the crackling of underbrush.

Colin reappeared in the same fashion he had left, a look of apprehension marring his handsome face.

"We have found them, but there are more troops than I had imagined. I fear the queen is planning more than just the sacrifice of my children; she would not need so many guardsmen for that task alone."

"Then we will have to go in by stealth and wait for cover of the night,” said Christian, glancing at the sky, which was already growing dark.

"Yes, that would be the best chance we have for success. It is a very steep slope; we will have to leave the horses up on this ridge."

Morgana woke abruptly and sat straight up in bed, immediately grabbing for Eva to reassure herself the little girl was still beside her. Eva didn't move and continued to breathe deeply with her eyes shut.

Since she had disappeared in the mirror, Morgana had lost the innocence and safety of childhood. She was no longer worried about school dances or what her friends were wearing to school. Her only concern now was that her family stay as intact as possible.

Morgana padded down the hall to the bathroom. Her grandmother's house was quiet and still with gentle breezes blowing in through the open windows filling the house with cool night air.

She was staring into the mirror at her reflection, when it quivered, ever so slightly.
Like a ripple in a still pond.
Blinking and rubbing her eyes, she was not sure if it had been a trick of the light, or a danger she should flee. She reached up to touch it as Eva's screams pierced the night ... “Morgana!"

Morgana ran as fast as she could down the hard wood hallway and slipped, ending up in a heap on the floor.

"Morgana! They're here!"

She could hear her grandma opening her bedroom door downstairs and muttered, “Stay downstairs, Grandma."