Serafina and the Black Cloak (29 page)

And there he stopped.

At that moment, when Serafina knew Braeden would see her, she stepped out of the woods.

Unsure of what he was seeing at first, Braeden lifted his reins, pivoted his horse, and looked out across the lawn toward the trees. His eyes found her, and a smile spread across his face. She
could see his relief and happiness.

“Who is that?” Mr. Vanderbilt asked in confusion.

“Is that the girl we’re looking for?” Mrs. Vanderbilt asked.

Everyone turned toward Serafina and looked at her as she stood at the edge of the forest in her torn gown. Today, she wasn’t hiding. For the first time in her life, she was being truly
seen, seen by
everyone
. She stood there and just waited for them to understand what they were seeing. There was amazement in their expressions, not just from the presence of a lone girl
standing at the edge of the woods, but also because of what stood beside her—a large, full-grown mountain lion. Serafina’s bare hand lay on the lioness’s neck, touching the
animal, holding her. The mountain lion wasn’t just there, but
with
her, strong and silent at her side.

On her other side stood a black Doberman. Gidean. The dog’s shoulder was gashed and red with blood, but he stood strong and proud with the knowledge that he had fought his battle and
won.

Braeden smiled. “I knew you’d find her, boy,” he said under his breath.

When a young lad in a coachman’s jacket stepped out of the woods and stood beside Serafina, expressions of surprise and disbelief and happiness spread across the faces of the search party.
Then a young blond girl came out. Then several more children. Soon, a whole group of children stood with her and her two animal companions at the edge of the forest.

F
or a long moment, no one moved or said a word. No one could believe what they were seeing.

Then the little white dog leapt out of Mr. Rostonov’s arms and ran as fast as its legs would take it. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the dog ran barking across the lawn and leapt
joyfully into the arms of a raven-haired girl who laughed and hugged and kissed the little dog with abandon.

“Anastasia!” Mr. Rostonov cried out.

Anastasia Rostonova ran to her papa. They kissed each other on both cheeks, then she threw her arms around him and cried in desperate happiness. The sight of Mr. Rostonov finally reuniting with
his long-lost daughter made Serafina want to cheer.

“There’s my boy!” Nolan’s father shouted and pointed. “Come on,” he told the others. “It’s the children! They’re safe! They’re all
safe!”

Nolan embraced his father as the other stablemen patted the boy on his back, congratulating him on his safe return, and Serafina could see how pleased Braeden was that Nolan was all right.

Clara Brahms ran to her mother and father and swept her arms around them.

“Oh dear, oh dear, you’re finally here,” Mrs. Brahms cried as she held her little girl. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

As the lost children and their parents came together in joyful embrace, Serafina remained standing at the edge of the forest with the lioness. Her mother had been living in the forest for many
years, and she was not yet ready to rejoin the world of humans, especially with a den full of new young cubs to care for.
My brothers and sisters,
Serafina thought, with a smile. She saw her
mother staring at the great house, studying the crowd of people and dogs and horses gathered in front of it. Then her mother turned and looked at her. Serafina looked back at her, and she
understood what she was thinking. As the lioness nuzzled her, Serafina hugged her, and kissed her, and ran her hands across her powerful shoulders. “I’ll see you soon, Momma,” she
said. “I’ll come to the den.” Then the lioness turned to the trees and disappeared into the underbrush.

When Serafina looked toward the estate again, Braeden was riding toward her, and she couldn’t help but take a breath when she saw him coming. He dismounted and dropped the reins. He stood
in front of her and looked at her, and for what seemed like a long time, he did not say a word. She knew that her long hair was full of leaves and twigs, and that her face and neck were scratched
and bleeding. The lovely dress he’d given her was stained with dirt and blood and torn in many places. But she could tell by the beaming expression on Braeden’s face in the warm light
of the rising sun that he didn’t care about any of that; he was just immensely glad to see her.

“I like what you’ve done with the dress,” he said.

“I think this is going to be the new style this year,” she said.

Then they laughed and stepped toward each other and hugged. “Welcome home,” he said.

“I’m so glad I’m back,” she said. Braeden felt so warm and strong and loyal in her arms. This is what she’d dreamed of, to have a friend, to have someone to talk
to, someone who knew her secrets. She didn’t know what the future would bring, but she was just glad that she’d have Braeden with her when it came.

After a few seconds, her thoughts turned to what had happened during the night. The next time they were alone she’d tell him everything, but she didn’t bother with that now.

“It’s over,” she said.

“Was it really Thorne?” he asked.

She nodded. “The cloak’s destroyed, and the rat’s dead.”

Braeden looked at her. “You’re amazing, Serafina. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

Feeling left out of the homecoming, Gidean barked. Braeden knelt down and hugged his happy, wiggling dog. “You did good, boy,” he said, rubbing his head.

“Thank you for sending him,” Serafina said, kneeling down with him.

“I knew he’d find you.”

“He found me, all right, just in time, and he fought like a champion,” she said, remembering Gidean’s heroic leap. Then she looked at Braeden again. “
We did it
,
Braeden,” she said. “You and Gidean and I, we found the Man in the Black Cloak and we defeated him.”

“We make a pretty good team,” Braeden agreed.

As she was speaking to Braeden, she saw her pa standing on his own at a distance. He was looking at her in amazement, relief, and uncertainty all at once. It was obvious from his shocked
expression that he couldn’t believe his eyes. Serafina could only imagine what he was thinking as he looked at her. His daughter, the girl he’d been hiding and protecting her entire
life, was standing in broad daylight for all to see. She’d gone into the forest, deep into the wild. She’d stood with a lion. And now she’d come back home to him. She had led the
lost children out from the forest, and now she was talking with the young master Vanderbilt like they were best friends.

She looked at her pa and thought about everything he’d done for her, all the risks he’d taken, all the things he’d taught her, and she loved him more than she ever had.

“It’s just like you told me, Pa,” she said as she approached him. “There are many mysteries in the world, both dark and bright.”

As she put her arms around him, he pulled her into his huge chest and embraced her. Then he swung her around in a great circle while she laughed and cheered and cried.

When he finally put her down again, he looked at her and held her hands. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, girl. I’ve been worried sick about ya, but ya done good, real
good.”

“I love you, Pa.”

“I love you, too, Sera,” he said, looking into her eyes. He turned and gazed around at all the people and commotion and then turned back to her. “Not that it matters none, but
I finally got the dynamo workin’ again,” he said happily. “And I put a good strong lock on the electrical room’s door.”

“It
does
matter, Pa. It matters a lot,” she said, smiling, thinking about how Mr. Thorne had sabotaged the dynamo to plunge Biltmore into darkness each night.

“I’m sorry, sir, I need to borrow your daughter,” Braeden said to her pa as he grabbed her hand and yanked her away.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked nervously as he pulled her through the crowd of people gathered in front of the estate.

“Aunt, Uncle, this is the girl I told you about,” he said, dragging her in front of Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt. “This is Serafina. She’s been living secretly in our
basement.”

Serafina couldn’t believe it. He had just blurted it all out, her name, where she lived, everything!

She slowly lifted her eyes and looked at Mr. Vanderbilt, expecting the worst.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Serafina,” Mr. Vanderbilt said, smiling and cheerful, and he shook her hand. “I must say, young lady, that you are my great hero today for
what you’ve done. You are my Diana, goddess of the Wood, goddess of the Hunt. In fact, I shall erect a statue in your honor on top of the tallest hill in sight of the house. You have done
what I could not. The police couldn’t do it, and the private detectives couldn’t do it. You brought all the children home. It’s simply wonderful, Serafina! Bravo!”

“Thank you, sir,” she said, blushing. She’d never seen him so full of praise. She couldn’t help but laugh at herself for thinking that fancy shoes were the root of all
evil. It seemed ridiculous now that she had been so suspicious of him.

“So, tell me what happened, Serafina,” Mr. Vanderbilt said. “How did you find the children?”

She wanted to tell him, tell him everything, like a proud, four-legged mouser that lays her nightly kill on her master’s doorstep. But then she remembered everything that had happened: the
cloak, the cemetery. They were adults, and they were human. The last thing they wanted to hear were the grisly details of the rats she’d killed.

“The children were in the forest, sir,” she said. “We just had to find them.”

“But where?” he asked. “I thought we looked everywhere.”

“They were in the old cemetery,” she said.

Mr. Vanderbilt’s brows furrowed. “But how did they get there? Why didn’t they come back?”

“The old graveyard is heavily overgrown, like a maze now. Once you wander in, even by accident, it’s a very dark and difficult place to escape.”

“But
you
did, Serafina,” he said, tilting his head.

“I’m good in the dark.”

“But you were injured,” he said, gesturing toward her neck and her other wounds. “You look like you battled the devil himself.”

“No, no, nothing like that, sir,” she said, covering her crusty neck wound self-consciously. “I just had a run-in with a nasty thorn. It’ll mend. But the children were
hungry and scared when I found them, sir, very confused, filled with nightmarish stories of ghosts and ghouls. They were terrified.”

“It sounds like you all went through an extremely harrowing experience…” Mr. Vanderbilt said, his voice filled with both sympathy and respect.

“Yes, sir. I think we should try to make sure that none of our future guests go in that direction again,” she said, thinking of her momma’s den with her brother and sister.
“I think the old cemetery is best left alone.”

“Yes, that’s sensible,” he agreed. “We’ll be sure to tell visitors to avoid that area. Far too dangerous.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well,” he said finally, sighing in relief and looking at Serafina. “I can’t say I understand everything that happened, but I do know a hero when I see one.”

“You mean a
heroine
,” Mrs. Vanderbilt said. She put her hand out to Serafina in the fashion of fancy ladies. Serafina quickly tried to remember what she’d seen young
ladies do in these situations, and did her best to approximate the motion of shaking her hand. Mrs. Vanderbilt’s hand felt so soft and pillowy and clean compared to her own, and so different
from the sinewy tautness of her mother’s hands.

“It is very good to finally meet you, young lady,” Mrs. Vanderbilt said, smiling. “I knew there must be someone new in Braeden’s life. I just couldn’t decipher who
in the world it was.”

“I am pleased to meet you as well, Mrs. Vanderbilt,” Serafina said, trying to sound as dignified and grown-up as she could.

“Braeden said that you live in our basement. Is that really true?” Mrs. Vanderbilt asked kindly.

Serafina nodded, terrified at what she was going to say next.

“Do you have a job in the basement, Serafina?” Mrs. Vanderbilt asked.

“Yes,” Serafina replied, feeling a smidgen of pride shining through her. “I’m the C.R.C.”

“I’m so sorry, darling. I’m afraid I don’t know what that means.”

“I’m Biltmore Estate’s Chief Rat Catcher.”

“Oh my,” Mrs. Vanderbilt said in surprise, looking over at her husband and then back at Serafina. “I must admit, I didn’t even know we had one of those!”

“Yes, you’ve had one for a long time,” she said. “Pretty much since I was six or seven.”

“It seems to me that it must be an extremely important job,” Mr. Vanderbilt said.

“Well, yes, I take it quite seriously,” Serafina said.

“You can say that again,” said Braeden.

Serafina poked him in the side with her elbow and tried to keep from smiling.

“Well, in any case, thank you, Miss Serafina,” Mrs. Vanderbilt said warmly. “We all appreciate what you’ve done. And you’re such a little thing. I really
don’t understand how you did all this, but you brought the children home, that’s the important thing. Thanks to you, we’ll hear laughter again at Biltmore. It brings great
happiness to my heart.”