Dollhouse (29 page)
Authors: Anya Allyn
Jessamine.
Did she die in there—in that terrible place? She had said she woke up in a strange place.
Ethan pulled my hand. “Cassie, come with me. Now....” His voice was pleading, strangled.
I tore my hand away, turned away from him.
He ran—back down the passage.
I was alone.
Kneeling, my head slumped on my shoulders. My mind was freezing over.
Something blacker than the air inched around me, layering itself on my skin like plastic. Suffocating me. It whispered to me, but the words were underneath everything—words spoken at the bottom of a deep pool.
The words echoed a deep, biting longing. The shadow hooked tiny barbs into me, everywhere. It told me I wouldn’t feel it for long—told me it wouldn’t hurt for much longer.
If I just gave into it, it would be over soon. I just needed to give myself to it. That was all. Forget the others. Take my pain away... .
I sensed a presence behind me. I turned, preparing to face the serpent.
Jessamine stood behind me, head lowered.
The shadow fled my body.
“I tried to keep you all safe. But still, you chose to leave.”
My body collapsed forward. I steadied myself on hands and knees. Gradually, I pulled myself to my feet.
“Jessamine, there is no food left. What did you want us to do? Die?” I gazed downwards at the skeleton.
She stared trembling at the bones. “Henry says there are different planes of existence.”
“Did he put you in there?”
“Why would he do such a thing? Of course not.”
“Then why were you in that place?” I shivered as icy wind ate into my face.
“I was playing—just playing an awfully fun game of hide and seek. And I got stuck.”
I lifted my eyes to the fissure in the wall.
Wind
. If there was wind, could there be a passage beyond the hessian bags? My spine filled with cold, wet cement. “Where does it go?”
Her expression darkened. “I crawled through it after I woke in there. It’s quite nasty. You mustn’t go through to the end—you must never do that.”
“Does it go through to the outside? To the sky?”
“It goes to the black of night, where the screaming never ends. And the terror won’t let you pass.”
With a blackness in my heart, I knew what the terror was. The serpent. The real serpent—not just its shadow.
“But does it... go to the sky?”
She cast her eyelids down. “Yes. But I can't let you journey near the terror. Grandfather will come soon. We must wait. Why can't you be obedient like the others, Calliope? They're in their beds now... having a beautiful sleep.”
“You saw them in there?”
“Oh yes. And I gave them tea. A sleep is always better with a cup of hot tea.”
Something dissolved within me... all my blood, all my bones... seeping away. A low pained sound escaped from deep within my being.
“You gave them the tea...."
She nodded. “The terror can't touch them while they sleep. Now come with me. There's enough left for you.”
“Evander?”
A frown furrowed her white forehead. “He left you all. He took oil and matches and things. Beastly thing. He can't ever come back in.”
An image bled through the air, an image of myself the last one alive in the dollhouse. Breath expanded my lungs. I backed away until my back hit the wall, not realizing I was screaming until I saw the look of horror on Jessamine's face.
“Things always seem worst... just before they turn for the better.” Her voice seemed far away, floating between layers of air and rock.
“Your grandfather died almost hundred years ago,” I shrieked at her. “And so did
you
. You’re a ghost. A
ghost
.”
Her face visibly faded, becoming almost bluish. “You do not understand that of which you speak.”
"You're right. I don't understand anything here. You. This place. The crazy huge furniture. The dolls...." I pointed at her. "Your grandfather was trying to keep you as a little girl, wasn't he!"
My mind rushed back—to the room in the Fiveash house with the dollhouse and the girls’ clothing. It had to have been Jessamine’s room. I could see the aged note on the mirror.
If she'd kept the note, it must have meant something of vital importance to her
.
“You and only you,” I said carefully.
Her face registered shock. The veneer faded from her. Until all that was left were the hollow black eyes and the ethereal body.
I ran. My legs and arms pumping. But I didn’t know where I was running to. Running from danger, into danger, becoming danger—these were all the same things. Blood funneled through my veins, through my brain, through my eyes.
Sprinting into the bed chamber, I stared around at the occupants of the beds. Each one lay like Missouri had—wax-like, arms across their chests.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
The dollhouse was deathly cold, deathly quiet.
Jessamine said there was enough tea left for me. I headed for the kitchen.
My fist curled around the teapot handle. Shaking, I poured the liquid into a cup and lifted it to my lips.
A small object lay under the table. Philly's headless bear—the only thing she'd brought in from the outside world.
Was it day out there in the world? Night?
Stop remembering that world, Cassie. You don't belong there.
The smashed-open hole in The Dark Way wormed into my head—an ugly wound in the wall, with wind like blood flowing out. I pictured Jessamine crawling through the tunnel, one hundred years ago.
The cup fell from my hands, shattering on the ground. Dark liquid spread across the tiles.
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Anni
(Anya Allyn)
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