Hollow Dolls

by MarcyKate Connolly

  I retrace my steps slowly, letting my hands rove over the bark of the trees along the way and whisper over velvety ferns. Leaving the peace of the woods is never easy, but today it is especially hard. The route from the village gate to Sebastian’s home takes me through the market square. Usually, there are so many people there that it’s deafening, but no single mind ever stands out over the others, which makes it bearable for the few moments it takes to pass through.

  Today is different.

  The minute I set foot in the square, a sickly feeling washes over me, strong enough that I have to sit down in the middle of the street. It earns me more than a few stares.

  What’s wrong with her?

  Should I ask if she needs help?

  Hmph. Lazy child.

  Icy hands seem to grip my throat as I scan the crowd. I don’t see anyone out of place. But that awful feeling remains, a taint of magic lingering in the air.

  I haven’t felt this way since Lady Aisling used me as her shell. The feeling of some other mind roaming under my skin. I shudder.

  The last thing I want to do is move toward it. But I must know the source. I have to be sure.

  I scramble to my feet and push forward, following the feeling of that strange mind in the crowd. The noise rises as I get closer. My hands quake and twist in my skirts, but my feet keep moving of their own accord. When I press deeper into the mass of people, some minds scream louder than others. I do my best to push them away, but too many still get through.

  What is he doing?

  Poor woman, Joe must have fallen and hit his head.

  I can’t see much until I reach a break in the crowds. A man and woman argue by one of the stalls. On the surface, nothing much seems out of the ordinary. But the woman clutches the man’s arm while he tries to shake her off. I have seen them before—they’re a nice couple. The woman sells flowers, and the man fixes odds and ends for a price. Sometimes at the end of the day, she lets me have one of the flowers that are starting to wilt.

  I go still and look closer at the pair, letting my talent loose. The woman’s mind is frantic, but the man’s is like hot coals.

  Help! Someone, help!

  I yank back my magic with a small cry. There are two minds in that man—the one the body belongs to, begging for help, and the dominant one, shoving the owner down.

  My knees shake and I sink into the dirt, garnering even more odd looks for the second time that day. Jemma said it was best not to share my talent with the villagers. But they can still tell that there’s something different about me.

  The man continues to act strangely, and the cry of the mind inside is too loud to bear. I manage to find my feet and then break into a run. I don’t stop, don’t listen to a single yell that follows me, until I’m free of the market crowds.

  I know that talent all too well. Body walking. The ability to take control of another person’s body and silence the mind inside. All it takes is one touch, and then the body walker can overtake a person whenever they want regardless of distance. The connection doesn’t fade over time either. At any moment, a victim could be back under the body walker’s command. No talent terrifies me more. Lady Aisling kept it in her garden. It’s what she used to control me and Sebastian and her other servants.

  But the original owner of that talent is no longer under the Lady’s control. Now the body walker is on the loose.

  Chapter Two

  I halt in my tracks on the path to Sebastian’s house. The Lady is imprisoned nearby. What if it isn’t a body walker I witnessed but her, somehow free and up to her old tricks? My breath stutters, and I brace myself on the nearest tree.

  I have to warn Sebastian. The Lady used him too. The thought of either of us being possessed again is more than I can stand. I break into a run so I don’t lose my nerve.

  As I enter Sebastian’s little cottage, he is there to greet me.

  “They’re here,” he says, his eyes alight with hope.

  Fear tightens into a knot in my chest, and I grab his arm. “Sebastian, I need to tell you something—”

  Jemma pokes her head into the hall. “Simone, we were getting worried.” She frowns, brushing her brown curly hair away from her face. The worry that had been gnawing at her begins to fade, and I can feel her irritation set in like an itchy cloak.

  “I got distracted,” I say, closing the door behind me.

  Again? Jemma thinks. Then sheepishly turns away. She hasn’t gotten used to having a mind reader around yet. Most people can go their whole lives without meeting someone with magic. And when they do, we take some getting used to.

  “What do you want to tell me?” Sebastian asks, but Jemma clicks her tongue.

  “That will have to wait until after dinner. We have guests, and it’s rude to keep them waiting.”

  I swallow hard, trying to shove my racing heart back into place. Jemma steers me and Sebastian toward the table where the two librarians await us. One of them is a young woman with a curious mind who Jemma introduces as Rachel, while the older woman, Ida, looks me over as if I’m something to eat.

  What things these children must have seen… What they can do…

  I dutifully sit in my chair at the table while Jemma sets the food on our plates, but my toes tap the floorboards. If I can’t warn them about the body walker soon, I might burst.

  A sharp yank on my scalp snaps me out of it. My hair is tangled between my fingers. I must have pulled it myself.

  The two librarians stare at me with muted fascination. I hold my magic back. I don’t need to hear their thoughts to know what they think of me. It’s clear as day on their faces.

  I stick my hands under my legs to sit on them instead. Normally, I like Jemma’s cooking, but today I don’t think I could keep anything down.

  “Thank you for hosting us,” Ida says to Jemma. “We’ve been charged with recording the events surrounding Lady Aisling’s garden, and we’ve heard many intriguing things. We’re eager to hear their tales as well.” She gestures to me and Sebastian.

  Rachel’s eyes sparkle. “We nearly had our own tale to tell on the way here. The next village over was having some trouble with what they believe was a shape shifter. We just missed them.”

  “Oh really?” Jemma puts some vegetables on each of our plates. “What kind of trouble?” There is a nervous tone to her voice that slips by our guests, but not me. Never me.

  Ida waves her hand dismissively. “Nothing exciting. Just a mother not recognizing her own child. Classic shape shifter tomfoolery. The impostor ran off, and when they found the real mother, she could barely remember what had happened during the last few hours.”

  My spine goes rigid. That is too familiar, too close to what I witnessed this afternoon. I’d bet anything it was the body walker, not a shape shifter at all. Shape shifters mold their own bodies into different things, such as another person or an animal. If they copy someone’s form, that person would never know unless they saw them with their own eyes. Body walkers are more dangerous. They take over a body, leaving the owner helpless and trapped inside until the body walker lets them have control again. This one must have come to our village afterward. I gulp in air, earning me a puzzled frown from Jemma.

  “So, Sebastian, Simone, we understand you were both servants of Lady Aisling until her…imprisonment,” Ida says.

  I keep my eyes cast down, but Sebastian speaks up.

  “Yes,” he says. “But not willingly.”

  “Of course,” Ida says. “Please tell us what you remember about your time with her.” Rachel gets out a sheet of paper, but no quill. “From what we understand, many of her former servants do not remember much.”

  Sebastian turns a deep shade of red. Sadness pinches my heart. We have talents that cut both ways. Sebastian might have been able to remove memories from others, but he is cursed to always keep his own.

 
Jemma puts down her fork. “Sebastian, you don’t have to.”

  But he straightens up. “That’s my fault,” he says. “My talent is memory stealing. They don’t remember because sometimes the Lady had me take their memories. Other times, they begged me to help them forget the things they’d done.”

  The librarians exchange a surprised glance. “Well, that certainly explains a lot.” Rachel touches the page on her lap, and writing begins to appear upon it. With a start, I realize she’s a book binder. Someone who can bind words to a page with their magic. From what I’ve heard, many of the old histories were written that way.

  “What about you, Simone?” asks the younger librarian. “What is your talent?”

  I stare at the food on my plate as if I’m willing it to disappear, just to have something to keep me grounded in this conversation. I have to stay focused and ask them for help. I can’t let my mind wander off like it usually does.

  “Mind reading.”

  Suddenly, they seem much more interested in me.

  Now that is a useful talent, Rachel thinks.

  My voice feels strange and gritty in my throat. I don’t like the tenor of these people’s thoughts. But one peek in Sebastian’s direction keeps me rooted in my seat. His mind is full of infectious hope and possibility.

  “I don’t recall a lot about the times the Lady used me. Only snippets here and there. I know I was still in there somewhere when she controlled me. Just shoved down while her mind was in control.” I shudder. “It was horrible.”

  Disappointment seeps across the table. “You don’t recall anything interesting?” Ida asks. What did Lady Aisling use these children for?

  I shrug, letting my fingers twist together into odd shapes in my lap. The awkward urge to laugh bubbles in my throat, but I choke it down.

  “She often would send me with her hunters to find other talented children. I can sense minds. That was my role: to find anyone who was hiding.” The words are hard to say, and even more uncomfortable to swallow. “Lord Tate was her main accomplice, until he had an accident. Then his nephew, Alden, took over.”

  The Lady’s right-hand men were nearly as bad as she was. Thankfully, they were not talented, just ambitious. And they liked having us, or rather our talents, to give them an edge in the world.

  “What about your everyday life? How did she treat you in Zinnia?”

  Sebastian grabs my hand under the table.

  “She kept us in small rooms on a lower level of her mansion until she needed our powers.” Sebastian blinks rapidly. “It was practically a prison.”

  Except for me. I was her pet. I was allowed to wander, even when others were not. I could visit her garden anytime or explore the mansion. I don’t know why I was special, but deep down in that part of my mind I don’t like to visit, I have memories of specks of kindness from her.

  “Terrible, though perhaps not quite as bad as others. Did you ever try to escape?” Ida’s eyes have taken on a keen shine that I’m not sure I like. I wonder if they even could…

  I shake my head, growing more uncomfortable by the second. “No, we were bespelled. She used the same spell on the parents of children she stole to prevent them from trying to rescue them.”

  The librarians’ frustration balloons. They are almost done with their meal. I’m running out of time.

  “Can you help me?” I blurt out, startling them.

  “What do you mean?” Rachel says.

  “The network has tried to find my family, but they can’t locate them.” I squeeze Sebastian’s hand for encouragement. “We thought you might have a record of their village in your archives.”

  “What do you know about this village?” Ida asks.

  “Only the name—Wren. It should be in Parilla. But no one has ever heard of it.”

  “It doesn’t ring any bells,” Ida muses. “We’d have to assign one of our librarians to pore over the archives, and we just don’t have anyone to spare at the moment. All our librarians are currently assigned to other, more pressing tasks.” She sits up straighter and folds her hands in her lap. “Unless, of course, there was some consideration to make this matter more urgent.”

  I want to cry out that it’s urgent to me, but Jemma speaks first. Her expression has hardened. “You mean, if we pay you a fee.”

  Ida tilts her head. “We cannot abandon our other projects without the right motivation, you see.” Rachel keeps her eyes cast down, and I peek inside her head before I can think better of it.

  Poor girl. We should help her. Her eyes widen when she realizes I’m staring at her.

  “You won’t help a child who has had everything taken from her?” Jemma is on her feet now, her angry thoughts slipping from her mouth before her words. “Have you no compassion?”

  Ida raises an eyebrow. “Of course we have compassion. But we also have needs that must be met. Our services must be paid for.”

  Jemma sighs. “And someone is funding this expedition of yours to find out more about Lady Aisling’s garden, I suppose.”

  “Naturally.”

  “But that isn’t fair!” Sebastian says. Jemma hushes him. Disappointment crawls through my veins, weighing me down.

  “I think it’s time for you to leave,” Jemma says.

  “I see,” Ida says, rising. “Thank you for the meal and for sharing your stories. It is most appreciated.” With that, she sweeps out of the room. Rachel follows close behind, but not without an apologetic glance in my direction.

  “I’m sorry, Simone,” Jemma says, sinking into her chair. “I thought they’d be more open to helping. I should have known better than to get your hopes up.”

  “What now?” Sebastian says.

  My reason for arriving late to dinner bursts back to the forefront of my mind. I grab his arm. “I must tell you something important.” My voice feels hoarse and thin. “Remember how the Lady controlled us? How she must have been using a body walker’s talent?”

  Sebastian goes rigid, and Jemma straightens up, listening more attentively.

  “Now that her garden is gone, the owner of that talent is free. And”—I swallow hard, twisting my hair around my fingers with my free hand—“they were here. Today in the market, I felt them. I could hear the screams of the mind whose body they stole begging for help.” I examine my muddy shoes. “I fled. I couldn’t stand to be there a second longer. I can’t experience that again.”

  Sebastian begins to shake, and Jemma pulls him to her side, wrapping an arm around him. Her expression softens, as do her thoughts.

  “You’re both safe now. You’re protected. And we’ll find some other way to locate your family, Simone.”

  But who will protect me if someone comes after them? she thinks.

  If Lady Aisling had anything to do with this, we’re all in grave danger, talented or not.

  I shake my head, wisps of my pale hair waving across my face. “The body walker was using people. And that shape shifter the librarians mentioned? That must have been the body walker too. Either that, or the Lady isn’t as powerless as we’ve been told. We’re not safe.” I begin to pace erratically. “I should leave.”

  Sebastian’s face falls. “But why? Where will you go?”

  “I need to see Lady Aisling,” I say. Sebastian recoils, and the force of his objection almost knocks me over. I steady myself against the wall. “It’s the only way to know for sure that she really is powerless now.”

  “Please stay, Simone.” Please don’t leave me alone. You’re the only one who understands.

  Jemma straightens up. “You know that’s not necessary, Simone. That talent taker, Noah, removed her magic for good. Besides, she’s in a prison, being guarded night and day. If she had her powers back, someone would know.”

  Sebastian doesn’t say anything, but his thoughts are a mess of swirling fear.

  “The guards
can’t see into her mind. If her powers are back, if she’s somehow got any trace of the talents she stole, I have to know.” My whole body begins to shake. “I won’t be able to sleep again until I’m sure.”

  This time, Jemma puts an arm around me, too, and I lean into the warmth of her kind thoughts. “All right. But you’re not going alone. We’ll all go together.”

  Chapter Three

  I do not sleep much at all. Sebastian’s anxious thoughts in the next room keep me up. His sister may be sure that our former mistress is no longer a threat, although Sebastian and I don’t feel as confident.

  But when the sun crawls over the sky, I let my talent stretch for a few moments just to feel the stirrings of minds in the village. Soft echoes of dreams bounce through my head, painting strange pictures. Sometimes, when the Lady wasn’t actively using me, I’d sneak away and wander for a while. The garden looked lovely, but was loud. All those minds trapped and confused, and too many that had lost all hope. It was enchanting on the outside, but a nightmare underneath.

  I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to shut out these thoughts.

  I sit up straight in bed. My fitful dreams last night have only made me more determined to see Lady Aisling for myself. The need prickles under my skin. It won’t go away until I know for certain that she can’t hurt us ever again.

  But there’s something else I must ask her. She’s the only one left who might know where I came from.

  I throw off the covers and slip out of my room to wake Sebastian. The sooner we can leave, the better.

  • • •

  An hour later, we’re loading the family carriage. It’s a carved wooden and metal contraption, similar to the ones Lady Aisling owned, but not as extravagant. It’s simpler, and I like it all the better for it.

  The horse leading the carriage, Red, huffs as we approach. Hello. I place a hand on her soft mane. Thank you for taking us.

  She huffs again and nuzzles my hand. I pull an apple out of my bag and let her eat it. Her approval surrounds me like a warm blanket.