Winter Sparrow (15 page)

“Come, my winter sparrow, and take your place as my new bride.” She hated Lucas’s slimy voice.

“I’ll never be yours!” With all of the strength Mary possessed, she lifted herself off the floor and swung her fist into Lucas’s hairy snout. His fangs cut her knuckles when she struck him, but the blow shook him off balance. He stumbled back, shocked and furious. Now was her only chance to escape. She glanced, petrified, at the dead life all around her. The horrifying mutations had reached the bedroom at last. With tears in her eyes, she raced for the window and dove into it. Glass shattered and sliced the flesh of her arms, which was becoming scales, and she descended.

Her memories returned. She was hanging from her car door. She was weightless. Breathless. Afraid. She let go.

At once, Mary felt movement in her back. And before her body crashed onto the ground, her wings unfurled, and she glided into the strange woods.

MARY THOUGHT ON MANY THINGS
as she flew toward Joshua’s mansion. She thought of her youth, of Little Sis, how awkward growing up had been, and how unprepared she was for these wings. She thought of that horrible boy groping her breasts in a locker room. Thought of what she wanted to do to him.
He
was the bat.
He
embodiedthose creeping monsters on the bedroom floor and on the walls and the ceiling.

She thought of the wedding. It became so clear. She had been a fool to ignore it before, even though it crept up from time to time. How long she’d been locked away in Lucas’s false haven, she still didn’t know for sure. It was summer in her mind, and she let Joshua kiss her. She could taste his sweet breath. She swore she could also taste the certainty of their love on his lips, what
she
had always been lacking. It didn’t matter what Lucas had drilled into her brain; Joshua loved her. Lucas’s mansion had blinded her to that reality.

Mary cut through the moonless sky, flying over the trees and between them. She heard them wailing. She heard critters stirring about below. She heard whimpering wolves somewhere. But she didn’t fear any of it. She was close to Joshua’s home. A few more blinks and she’d arrive.

But suddenly, there were other wings in the air. She heard them swoop and flap, and she listened for gross, disturbing breathing. Mary looked back. Lucas. She didn’t have much strength left, she knew, but what little she possessed, she used to fly faster.

He gained. He’d bring her back to his world. She didn’t like it there. She didn’t want to go back. She couldn’t, not now, not after the knowledge she had tasted. It was as if a thousand memories crashed in her subconscious at the same time, and her will was capable of processing it all.

She remembered. She remembered everything.

Joshua’s mansion waited. It was in sight. Mary began her descent, and as she did, Lucas clutched one of her wings with his talon. She fought mid-flight, but his strength was too powerful. With a growl, he tore into the wing. It split like fabric. Mary shrieked, the pain racing down her ribs. He lunged for her throat as they dropped faster and faster toward the earth. At last, they crashed like thunder. Their bodies formed a crater in the dirt, landing at the foot of the long driveway.

“Joshua!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Lucas shook his head, recovering from the impact, and quickly rushed to silence his victim. His mammoth right talon elevated her off the ground, and with his other talon he covered her mouth. The stink of his hair put her stomach in knots. Mary bit his forearm, and he cursed, slugging her hard. She flew into one of the trees. But the pain didn’t kill her. She got up and raced toward the porch, shouting her true love’s name.

Lucas flew into her, and as he did, his shape changed back to a man. The tall figure with a black hat and yellow teeth held her in a viselike grip.

Her vision returned fully. She called out to Joshua once more.

Lucas still had use of his fangs. He bit into her torn wing, chewing the flesh of it with hungry eyes. He then spit at her. “I made you beautiful. I gave you a new life. And this is how you repay me? You return to him like a frightened little whore!” His mouth twisted into a demonic smile as he ripped the wing out of her back. Blood sprayed his coat.

Mary dropped to her knees, moaning as new pain rushed into her bones. She saw Lucas toss the wing and slowly watched it wither on the grass. Tears sank into her cheek cold. Her other wing still fought to move, to attack her enemy. It flapped helplessly in the air. His vile grin mocked its infant strength.

“Joshua,” she whispered. “Please.”

“It’s too late, Mary.” Lucas reached down to grab her when the front door creaked open.

He was still.

She was still.

Joshua’s footsteps made them both uncomfortable.

“Who are you?” Joshua asked.

“You know who I am!” Lucas seethed, taking hold of his prize.

“Not you. The girl.”

“It’s me, Joshua.” Mary wiped her face and shivered. He’d recognize her, wouldn’t he? “Don’t you see me?”

Joshua walked down the steps of the porch. He was still handsome, but his eyes and his face now glowed a brilliant white. He watched her shake, studying her. She wished she were wearing something more becoming, not this ruined beggar’s cloth. She didn’t even have the right shoes. And the bracelets on her wrist cut into her veins.

“It’s me,” she said again.

“What is your name?” Joshua asked.

“Mary. You know me. We were married. We
are
married.”

Joshua shoved Lucas aside and gave Mary a cursory glance. “I do not know you. Why are you here to bother me, widow?”

“I am your wife!”

“No. I see no bride of mine here. I see only a widow in rags, with a broken wing. You’ve come here to wake me out of a dream, have you? Is your ghost here to torment me?”

Lucas grinned. She noticed the satisfaction flickering in his eyes. It was startling to see the beast once more disguised as a man.

“Joshua, you’re talking like a madman. I am not a ghost. I swear to you, it’s me. It’s Mary. We’re lovers. Don’t you remember? Please say that you remember me.” She forced his hand to her face. She could feel the scars pressing against her cheek, what years of hard work and misery had done to such beautiful, strong instruments. She stared at him, and at first he looked away.

“Please leave me,” he said.

“Look at me again,” she begged. “One last time.”

He turned his face toward her. She could see with perfect vision now. Winter’s chill could not make her blink. The sadness swelling in her eyes could not make her blink. She was fixed, in this spot, in this moment. She was home.

“Forgive me, Joshua,” she cried, watching her fragile breath escape. “I didn’t know. I didn’t see before. I swear.”

“I told you, pretty, pretty,” Lucas gloated. “You belong to me.” His wings climbed out of his spine, the edges of them red and black. He showed his true form and stepped closer to possess her. “Sorry to wake you, old friend,” he mocked.

“Seasons change. You will suffer for this, Lucas! I swear it. You will suffer.”

The trees stirred around them. The wailing that Mary had heard roar through her being when she flew here returned. If trees could feel, they were dying. If the wind had a soul, it was being torn.

Lucas’s eyes flashed.

“Joshua, don’t leave me now,” she begged.

“Go home.”

“I am home. I am. Forever. Oh, the mansion looks so beautiful. You finally finished it, my love. You finished it.”

“Yes,” came Joshua’s solemn reply.

The tears came like a flood. Her words were shaped by a blood-curdling confession. “I don’t want to go with him. Let me stay with you. I’m sorry. Let me prove my love. I never meant for this. I never meant to hurt you! It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

“Yes, it was,” Lucas chanted.

“I was confused, Joshua. I was scared.” A rush of images crowded her mind. The anger. The disorder. The unforgiveness. The unborn life her weak shell had lost. The pills she had consumed the night of the storm, when she became reckless behind the wheel. “I can be better. I can love you the way you’ve always loved me. Let this world burn. I need
you
, Joshua! I know that now. I will love only you. Please, just let me stay with you. Please!”

“Come with me,” Lucas snarled. He grabbed her arm, and when he did, his grip singed her skin. Her wing swung around and slapped his jaw. The bat uttered a curse with gritted teeth.

Joshua drew closer, noticing her bloodstained womb. His fingers spread out as if he were going to touch her, but he didn’t. “You
have
changed, Mary. I look at you and see…something else. Your skin has changed. Your eyes have a new color, your hands and feet are like that of a crow. How did you get so lost, my love? A widow you’ve become. I don’t know this Mary.”

“You do know me! Take me back.” Her sobs drowned out the noise around them. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please! You still love me, don’t you?”

Only silence.

“Enough of this!” the bat seethed. “You are mine, Mary.” 

“I forgot who I was. I forgot you, Joshua. My home. I didn’t know it would be this way. If I knew, I never would’ve left. Can’t you forgive me?”

Joshua sighed and blankly stared.

She reached out to touch him, only this time, she noticed her hand begin to fade. Her wrist reached past his chest, through him. She pulled it back, watching the color peel from her fingertips until eventually, her hand disappeared.

“What’s happening to me? What did you do to me, Lucas? What in the world did you do to me!”

“It’s been three years, Mary,” Joshua said calmly, “since you died.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your little fall, remember?” Lucas said, beaming.

“But you came and healed me. With your magic. You healed me.”

“Did he?” Joshua asked.

She felt her bones breaking, her neck falling out of place. She collapsed on her knees, hearing a crunching sound. The pain revisited every joint. “It can’t be,” she cried. “I am alive.”

“I have lived without you for so long, my love,” Joshua said.

Mary wanted to bring Joshua closer. She wanted to kiss his lips again. “I did not die!”

“Yes,” Lucas said, breathing over her. “You did.”

Joshua reached for the creature’s hairy, wet throat. “Shut your vile mouth, or I’ll cut out your tongue.”

“You clearly underestimate me!” Lucas thrust his talon into Joshua’s side. A blood-soaked hook slid out seconds later. “Yes, that’s it. Feel the torment of everything you love, everything you want, being ripped away from you.”

Joshua released Lucas from his grip and hugged his stomach.

Mary screamed in panic. “He’s a beast, Joshua! Don’t let him take me!”

Joshua was still.

Mary’s ruined dress began to vanish as well. She could feel the wing pulling at the muscles and bones in her back. It touched Joshua. It was the only part of her that could. She looked behind her and took in what would be her final sight. The tree. Lucas’s ugly shadow encompassed it, but underneath that black shape, she saw a word carved into the bark. The word hadn’t changed.
Once
. “It was us, wasn’t it? All this time, I was so lost. I didn’t know.” She gasped. “I didn’t know.”

“You were my bride,” Joshua gasped.

“Forever,” she said, watching a tear slip off her face and drip into the snow. “I love you, Joshua. Please forgive me.”

The rest of her body began to disintegrate. In seconds, she could no longer feel anything but the icy winter air making a coffin for the ghost she now was. Her wing lost all its feathers, turned ugly, withered.

Lucas exhaled deeply. She appeared again but with no real shape. Mary was a haunting, pale apparition, imprisoned by a black wedding dress. Its material was wrinkled, had cuts in it. Her knotted hair hung across scrawny, malnourished shoulders. The wings remained in this new indistinct shape.