Daughters of Silence (13 page)

For Hallie, and for her.

“No!” she cried.

Hallie reached the gate. Grasping the latch, she started to open it. Jenna pushed herself to catch up.
She hurled her body against the gate, slamming it closed again.

The other girl spun toward her. Jenna saw no spark of recognition in Hallie's blank eyes. And not a single spark of emotion.

Jenna faced her. “Hallie,” she panted. “Can you hear me?”

Hallie stared at Jenna, her blue eyes huge and glassy.

“Hallie?” Jenna whispered. Jenna saw her blink. Had she heard her? Was she coming back to her senses?

Then Hallie swiftly raised her arms and lunged at her. Sinking one hand deep into Jenna's hair, she dragged her back to the gate. Jenna fought desperately, kicking and struggling.

But Hallie's strength overpowered her. Hallie was too strong.

She dragged Jenna to the gates and then through.

Jenna screamed and called out her friend's name.

Hallie never made a sound or changed expression. It was unreal. Horrible. Worse than anything that had gone before, because this was her
friend.
Jenna felt as if she'd stepped into a nightmare.

Steadily, relentlessly, Hallie dragged her toward the mausoleum. The blood had disappeared, but the crypt still glowed with that ugly, unearthly light.

With a cry, Jenna tore free. But she was off balance, and couldn't stop herself from falling. She landed flat on her back. Stunned, she gasped for breath. Hallie bent and hauled her to her feet.

“Leave me alone!” Jenna screamed. She grabbed Hallie's nightgown and shoved her away.

Hallie's nightgown tore. Jenna's mind went numb when she saw what had happened to her friend.

No,
her mind shrieked, frozen with disbelief.
No, no, no, nononononono!

The locket had sunk right into Hallie's chest … and the skin had grown over it.

Beneath the thin covering of skin, the gold heart pulsed with an unearthly light all its own.

W
ith an odd, jerky movement, Hallie turned and stared at Jenna with vacant blue eyes.

“Hallie, it's me, Jenna,” she shouted desperately, running backward from her friend. If only she could break Hallie's awful trance. “You know me. I'm your best friend.”

Hallie's eyes remained vacant. Blank. Cold and lifeless.

“Hallie, please listen to me. Don't you remember your mother and father? Don't you remember anyone?”

Hallie might have been a wooden doll. No, Jenna thought, her skin crawling with horror, a puppet. Arms and legs controlled by some other power.

Jenna felt desperate. “Do you remember our Sister Oath? We were six. We'd climbed into that big maple tree in my backyard, as high up as we could get. We
swore to always protect each other, to watch out for each other. Please remember. Please!”

For a moment, she thought a flicker of light shone in Hallie's eyes.

But that flicker soon died. And Jenna's last hope with it.

Hallie slid forward, moving with an eerie, unnatural grace. The breeze lashed her wet hair into wild tendrils around her face and neck.

And beneath her skin, the locket beat like a second heart.

Jenna backed away. If Hallie caught her again, they would both be lost. If she ever hoped to save Hallie, she had to get away now.

With terrifying quickness, Hallie lunged at her. Jenna lost her balance. Hallie sat on Jenna's stomach, grabbing her by the throat.

Jenna couldn't breathe. She needed air! She clawed frantically at Hallie's hands.

But Hallie didn't let up. She kept squeezing and squeezing, and there was nothing Jenna could do to stop her. A huge bolt of lightning cracked open the sky. The searing illumination cast a silver halo around Hallie's pale hair.

Black spots swam across Jenna's vision. She felt her lungs about to burst.

I'm going to die,
Jenna thought.

Here. Now.

“Enough.”

A voice rolled like thunder out of the night.

Simon Fear.

Instantly, Hallie released her. She leaped to her feet and stood still.

Coughing, Jenna rolled onto her side.

“Hello, Jenna,” Simon called.

It took every bit of Jenna's courage to get to her feet and turn toward that voice.

The Fears. Simon and Angelica.

They stood in front of the mausoleum, smiling.

Angelica wore the same white dress and shawl Jenna had seen her in that afternoon. She looks like an angel, Jenna thought.

Beside her, Simon stood tall and straight. His long, thin face looked even more haggard and sharper-edged. His lips curled in a grin that was more like a snarl. Light glinted off his teeth. To Jenna, he looked like an animal that had learned to walk like a man.

At that moment, Jenna would have thrown herself off a cliff to escape them. But she could only stand, watching. And waiting.

She wanted so badly to run. But felt frozen with terror.

“You won't get away with this!” Jenna cried.

Angelica's smile widened. Her eyes glittered like green stones. “But, my dear, we already have.”

Shadows came oozing out of the open door of the mausoleum. Thick, black tendrils coiled around the Fears. Swirling. Stroking. They seemed to blend with Angelica's raven hair—and Simon's night-dark eyes. Something lurked just inside the doorway of the crypt. Something that watched. Something that waited. Something …

“You belong to us.” Simon's voice was only a whisper, but it shook her right down to her soul. “Julia.”

“I'm Jenna!” she cried. “Jenna!”

Simon flung his head back and laughed.

Jenna stepped back and stared at the statue.

The heavy wings shivered. Then lifted.

It opened its eyes and stared straight at Jenna.

“No!” Jenna gasped. She stumbled backward, throwing up her arm to ward off that terrible, inhuman stare.

CRACK!
The angel pulled one arm free, then another. Then it straightened. Now, Jenna could see that its legs bent backward, like an insect's.

Wings flapped above Jenna's head and she cried out in despair. A gust of air knocked her to her knees. The angel hovered over her, its neck scaly and curved like a snake's.

She felt a chill as a cold, dark shadow swept over her.

Jenna dared to look up. The angel smiled. Angelica's smile. With horrible swiftness, it dropped toward her.

The dark wings enclosed her, surrounded her.

Smothered her.

The blackness swallowed her.

L
ight seeped through Jenna's closed lids. She opened her eyes and saw a dank, windowless room. Chunks of mold and thick gray cobwebs clung to the stone walls and ceiling. The rough stone floor under her felt gritty and damp. A single lantern hung from a hook on the far wall. Its meager light left pockets of shadows in the corners.

This has to be the Fears' mansion, she thought. Down in the basement. A band of icy-cold dread squeezed her heart.

Slowly, she pushed herself to a sitting position. She reached up with shaking hands to massage her brow.

The soft sound of breathing made her turn. Hallie stood a few feet away, her expression blank. Her hair had dried into filthy clumps, and her muddy nightgown clung to her, stained and torn. She hardly looked human.

“Hallie,” Jenna whispered.

But the other girl remained as stiff and still as a block of wood. Her skin looked waxy, as though all the blood had been drained out of it. Jenna knew then that her friend had slipped still deeper under the Fears' evil spell.

Still, she had to try.

“You have to wake up, Hallie,” she begged. “Please, I know you can hear me. Please try!”

Hallie didn't even blink. Beneath the skin of her chest, the locket glowed. Hesitantly, Jenna reached for the chain. Was there some way to get it off her?

Hallie reacted swiftly. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips drew back in an animal's snarl. She raised clawed hands to ward Jenna off.

“There has to be a way,” she muttered.

If there was, she couldn't find it. Tears stung her eyes, tears she had no way of stopping. She was completely, totally alone. Even if the Sheridans tried to look for her, they'd never find her here.

Not in time anyway.

The Fears had plenty of time to carry out their awful plans.

She sat down beside Hallie. Drawing her knees up, she wrapped her arms around them. The other girl stood like a statue, not moving, hardly even breathing.

“I wish you were here,” Jenna murmured, glancing up at her. “Really here. I want my best friend back. We could fight them then!”

Hallie made no answer. Jenna rested her forehead on her knees and tried not to think.

The door rattled. Startled, she jerked her head up. Someone was coming!

Swiftly, she stretched out on her side, pretending to be unconscious. She watched the door from beneath the shelter of her arm. Something moved in the darkness beyond the window.

Her breath stopped as she heard the scrape of metal on metal. She saw the latch quiver, then begin to turn.

The door opened. But instead of Angelica and Simon, Rob stepped onto the first step.

“Rob!” she gasped.

He held one finger to his lips. Then he reached back through the doorway and grabbed a shovel. Closing the door softly behind him, he ran down the stairs. Jenna sat up. He knelt beside her, but kept his gaze on the door.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered. “How did you find us?”

“I sneaked in the house to look around,” he told her, his voice as quiet as hers. “I saw them bring you in. But I couldn't get past the Fears for a while. Finally, they went out, and I came for you.”

“You've put yourself in terrible danger—” she began.

“I told you once that I wouldn't let anything happen to you,” he said. “Did you think I didn't mean it?”

He took her by the hand and drew her to her feet. “Come on. We've got to get out of here.”

“Wait!” she hissed, tugging on him. “We can't go without Hallie.”

Rob's expression turned grim. “We can't do anything for her, Jenna. She's lost.”

“No!” Jenna insisted. “We have to take her.”

“Jenna, you don't understand what's going on here.”

She started to shake her head, but he grabbed her by the shoulders. “While I was hiding in the house, I heard Simon and Angelica talking. For years, he and Angelica have been trying to find a way to bring their daughters back to life.”

“What?” Jenna gasped.

“And now they've found a way.”

Jenna felt too afraid to ask. But she had to. “How, Rob? How do they plan to do it?”

“It takes another life. Another spirit. They take a living person's spirit and put it in a dead person. And the corpse lives and breathes. That's why they brought you and Hallie here.”

Jenna shook her head. Rejecting the absolute horror of what he'd said. They wanted her spirit. And Hallie's.

“Even the names,” she moaned. “Jenna … Julia. Hallie … Hannah. And the Fears were so pleased that Hallie and I were as close as sisters.”

“That's right,” Rob agreed. “Now, let's go. Hallie is already lost in the evil. You can't—”

He broke off abruptly, his head turning with a jerk. “Shh. I think someone is coming.”

Jenna covered her mouth with her hands. She was so scared that she was afraid she might start screaming uncontrollably.

As if he knew what she was thinking, Rob turned back. Gently, he laid his hand on her shoulder. It was only for a moment, but that brief touch steadied her.

Grabbing the shovel, he crouched in the shadows at the bottom of the stairs.

The door opened with a creak that shredded Jenna's nerves. Simon Fear entered, carrying a large
trunk. She guessed it was heavy by the way he grunted as he hauled it down the stairs.

She didn't want to know what was inside.