Hollow Dolls

by MarcyKate Connolly

  “Come on, Simone,” Jemma says. She and Sebastian are already settled, Sebastian in the back of the carriage and Jemma on the driver’s box. Sebastian’s family is not rich; they have a few comforts like this carriage, but not enough money to pay a driver. Fortunately, Jemma is an excellent horsewoman. I’ve seen her taking Red out to the fields near the village many a morning.

  I climb up after Sebastian, and we leave the village behind. I sit up on my knees, watching it get farther and farther away. With every beat of the horse’s hooves, the tightness in my chest unwinds.

  The drive is only a couple of miles, but it feels like an eternity. The closer we get to the Lady, the more anxiety I feel rise in Sebastian like a tide. I squeeze his hand encouragingly. It only helps a little. But a little is better than nothing.

  I doze off for a bit, and when I open my eyes, we’ve stopped in front of a hulking stone building. It is all sharp angles and lines, with no hint of softness about it.

  I like it very much. As long as her powers are gone, this should hold the Lady well.

  But as I step down from the carriage, my legs feel weak and wobbly, and I unconsciously tug my power back. Part of me is terrified to accidentally touch the Lady’s mind even if she is behind bars.

  Jemma grips our hands and takes us into the prison after speaking to the guard outside. He appraises us with raised eyebrows. Another guard leads us down a stone hallway that feels as cold as a tomb. Little by little, I let my talent explore, touching on the minds hidden behind the doors and walls. This building contains more rage and despair than I have ever seen. And evil. It lurks around every corner. I shiver and pull my cloak close. Sebastian squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back.

  The guard stops in front of a triple-locked door, and his keys jangle as he opens it. The door swings wide, but Sebastian balks when the guard gestures for us to enter. Jemma glances back and forth between the two of us, uncertain what to do.

  “You don’t have to, Sebastian,” I say. His relief is palpable.

  Thank you, he thinks. I duck into the room. Inside there is a narrow walkway between the wall and a row of bars keeping the prisoner secured in the tiny room. In the center, an ancient woman sits on a chair with a ratty blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

  She looks nothing like the beautiful young woman who held us captive, but the shape of her mind is as sharp and cruel as ever. When I meet her milky eyes, she sits up on the edge of her seat.

  “My pet?” she says. Gone is the familiar lilt to her voice. Was it magic or real? I’ll probably never know for certain. Now the edges are rough, but as commanding as ever. I can’t help but cringe, though I try to stay strong. I clasp my shaking hands together behind my back.

  “I am not yours.”

  She cackles, the lines on her face wrinkling deeper. “You will always be mine, Simone.”

  “Is it true?” I say. I can barely find the words, and I fear if I peer too deeply into her, I may never escape.

  She tilts her head. “What? Have I really lost my talent? Do you think that I choose to remain here?” The Lady scoffs, then shuffles toward the bars. I take a step back, and my fingertips meet the cold stone wall. “Well, take a peek. See for yourself.”

  Something about her is different, aside from her appearance. The magic bubbling beneath the surface seems to be gone. “Where did you steal me from? I need to know.”

  The Lady laughs. “You’ve grown bold, my dear. Coming here and making demands.”

  “Please.” I step forward, my hair floating around me like a living thing.

  “Poor child. Sebastian took a few too many of your memories, didn’t he?” She shakes her head. “Does he remember it? Does he regret it?”

  A wicked gleam shines in her eyes, and something uncomfortable forms in the pit of my stomach. “What do you mean? Of course he does.”

  She laughs. A horrid, coarse sound, until she begins to cough and has to sit down again. I can stand it no longer. I have to look. I need what I came for.

  I close my eyes, leaning against the wall for support, and let my mind explore hers. She has walls built up. She knows my talent, having used it for so long. But I can feel the terrible sense of loss that pervades every thought—her talent is truly gone. She feels it like one would a lost limb. And she’s furious that she’s too weak to do anything about it.

  I open my eyes and realize she’s staring directly at me with a horrible expression on her face.

  Sebastian didn’t take your memories—it was me. You were the first I used to experiment with his talent.

  I recoil.

  “Your memories of home were holding you back. I removed them. And then you were perfect. A model servant.”

  “A slave, you mean,” I hiss. Poor Sebastian. He’s blamed himself that I can’t remember my parents, but it was Lady Aisling controlling him with the body walking talent. Of course it was. Perhaps that was why I wrote those names down on paper. I must have suspected what she was going to do. “Where did you find me? What happened to my family?”

  She shrugs. “You were my first servant. It was a long time ago, and with this old mind, I can hardly remember a thing.”

  A glimpse into her head convinces me she’s telling the truth. She kept me and the rest of her servants alive for so long using the talent of a life bringer, just as she did herself. And she used a youth keeper’s magic to ensure our minds and bodies remained young and easy to control. Even removing my memories helped, because it doesn’t feel to me like I’ve lived that long at all. But there is something else I can’t grab on to. Something she’s hiding, even from me.

  Perhaps I can at least get something about the body walker from her. A name or a description would be a start.

  “You had a body walker in your garden. Who was it? What was their name?”

  Lady Aisling smiles, revealing crooked teeth and bright gums.

  If you ever find out, you’ll regret it.

  Chapter Four

  The force of Lady Aisling’s thought hits me like a slap to the face. I flee the cell and don’t breathe again until the door is locked behind me.

  “Simone!” Sebastian’s warm hand on my back steadies me. The Lady’s words still ring in my ears. You’ll regret it…

  Regret what? And why?

  I shiver and someone puts a blanket over my shoulders. The buzz of confusion from other minds rings in my ears, and I squeeze my eyes shut. My hold on my talent is not as tight as it once was. Someone leads me out of the suffocating stone prison—Sebastian, I think—and when I feel the warm air on my face, I open my eyes and breathe in deeply.

  Sebastian stands next to me shifting from foot to foot, Jemma behind him with a steady hand on his shoulders. “What did she say?” he asks.

  “Nothing good.” I clench and unclench my hands. “She wouldn’t say anything about my family and village—or even the body walker—only that I’ll regret it if I find out more about them.”

  “That sounds like a threat,” Jemma says, nervously glancing back at the prison. “We should go. There’s an inn and tavern not far from here where we can have a bite for lunch. Food would do you both good, I think.”

  She ushers us back to the carriage, her expression growing more determined with every step. “I’ve been thinking, Simone,” she says. “We can’t let Lady Aisling win. There must be some trace of your village somewhere.” She halts in front of the carriage and faces us both. “What do you think about going to the Parillan Archives ourselves? I know those librarians yesterday were unbearable, but if we plead our case to the head librarian to let us do our own research there, I don’t know how they could turn us away.”

  A small spark of hope lights in my chest, but I’m almost afraid to give it air. “Do you really think they’ll let us?”

  “Simone, you’re the last of Lady Aisling’s captives. Everyone else found their homes, but
your past is still a mystery. At the very least, they should be intrigued. And if we do the work ourselves, all they have to do is give us access. We can even offer to do dishes or other labor around the library to earn our keep, if necessary.”

  Sebastian’s eyes are bright. “It’s worth a try.”

  I nod. “All right. Let’s go to the Archives.”

  We get into the carriage, Jemma and Sebastian buoyed up by the new plan. But I’m too afraid to let myself hope. I look back once more at the prison and shudder as we drive away. Lady Aisling is hiding something. Something important about my past. That can’t spell anything good for us.

  • • •

  When we reach the inn, Jemma settles us at one end of a long wooden table in the tavern with steaming bowls of beef stew.

  “I’m just going to settle with the innkeeper and check on our horse. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She hurries off.

  There are all sorts of curious minds here. Men and women from across the three territories, every one with a story to tell. Once, I would have let them all flood in—that’s what the Lady preferred in order to spy as thoroughly as possible—but now I do my best to hold back the torrent.

  My grip on my magic is looser than it should be, and I need to practice more. But it’s exhausting and easier to simply be alone. I don’t have that luxury right now, and by the time we’re midway through our meals, I’m nearly worn out from the effort.

  Sebastian wipes his mouth on a napkin and pushes his bowl aside. “At least the Lady really is powerless,” he says. “That’s good news.”

  He’s grasping at anything to keep himself from succumbing to fear of the body walker. I try to smile.

  “It is. But the other things she said were strange. And didn’t really make a lot of sense. I don’t understand why she thinks I’ll be sorry if I ever find out who the body walker is.”

  Sebastian shudders involuntarily. “Maybe just that it would mean you have to get too close to them to get away.”

  An uncomfortable feeling swims through my belly. Sebastian might be on to something. “And that would mean that I could be used by them like she used us.”

  “That would definitely be something to regret.”

  I push a piece of potato around my bowl. There’s something else I must tell Sebastian, but I hope this will be good news for him, not troubling.

  “The Lady said something about you while I was there.”

  Sebastian freezes, every muscle tensing. I place a hand on his arm.

  “Don’t worry, it isn’t bad. She took the memories of my past, not you.”

  He frowns. “What do you mean?”

  “When she captured you, she used your talent to remove years of my life. She said it was holding me back. You only willingly took the memories I asked you to, bad ones from missions she made me go on. It isn’t your fault I can’t remember my family.”

  Sebastian’s face brightens as relief floods his thoughts. I don’t think I ever realized how guilty he felt about that until now. “I always thought I’d messed up. Taken too many by accident when you’d asked me to help you.”

  His happiness makes me smile. “No, it was all her.” I finish the last of my lunch and set my bowl aside. “Shouldn’t your sister be back by now?” I frown, reaching out for Jemma’s mind.

  My heart skips a beat when I don’t feel her thoughts nearby.

  “Maybe the innkeeper’s busy. There are lots of people here this afternoon,” Sebastian says. He glances at me, and his face pales. “What’s wrong, Simone?”

  My hands twist, and my knee bounces under the table. “Probably nothing. But I can’t hear her thoughts.”

  Sebastian gets to his feet. “What?” The other travelers having their meals begin to stare. But I don’t care, and neither does Sebastian. The same fierce terror runs through us. I try to calm us both down.

  “She must have gone across the street. Somewhere out of range. Maybe she’s down by the stables. She did say she was going to check on the horse. Maybe it’s farther than we thought.” The words pour from my mouth as we hurry in the direction we last saw Jemma go.

  Poor kids.

  Those urchins better not try to steal my bags.

  Didn’t anyone teach them not to run inside?

  I do my best to shut out the travelers’ thoughts until we finally get outside. The afternoon is warm and bright, but not soothing. We follow the cobblestone path lined by tall grass and trees down to the stables. A gentleman walks toward the inn, barely giving us a glance as he passes. But I reach inside his head, just to see. His only thoughts are of how hungry he is and how annoyed he is at his horse. I let out a breath, relieved.

  When we near the stables, I send my magic inside, but all I find are the minds of animals, including Red, all sleepy and content. Except for one who is just as annoyed at his owner for running him ragged. A stable hand dozes somewhere in the building as well.

  I grab Sebastian’s hand. “She isn’t there.”

  His eyes are wide and watery. “Simone, where would she go? She wouldn’t just leave us, would she?”

  I think back to all the times I’ve accidentally slipped into Jemma’s mind. While the responsibility for two new children was unexpected for her—especially after her brother had been missing for more than a decade—it was not unwelcome. She loves Sebastian, and she’s kind to me. She wouldn’t abandon us.

  “No, she’d never.”

  Sebastian’s growing panic leaches into my head. It winds around our throats, threatening to choke us both.

  “Come on.” I tug Sebastian back toward the inn, and once inside, we head directly up the stairs toward the rooms instead of back to the tavern area. It’s the only place we haven’t searched yet, though I can’t imagine why she’d be there. The hallway is dark and shadowed, but no mind can hide from me. We start down the hall, my magic reaching into every corner, until I finally alight on something familiar, but it slips away before I can read it clearly.

  “This way,” I say. We round a corner, and Sebastian cries out. A shape that looks like Jemma’s stands at the end of the hall, trying to unlock the door to a room. I freeze.

  Something’s wrong.

  “Jemma!” Sebastian cries, and the figure’s head jerks up. “Where have you been?”

  My hands begin to twitch. I can’t feel Jemma’s mind, even though her body stands before us, slack-jawed with surprise. Another consciousness controls her instead. My breath grows short.

  “I don’t have time for this.” She shoves past Sebastian as if she doesn’t even know him, and he falls to the floor.

  I flatten against the wall, squeezing my eyes shut as Jemma hurries past me too. As she does, the sickening feel of the mind of the body walker in our guardian’s body makes my knees tremble.

  The dominant thoughts are singularly focused: I must find them. I must find them.

  But the body walker doesn’t seem to know what “them” is, only a vague idea that something is missing and must be found.

  I scramble to my feet and shakily help Sebastian to his. It’s the body walker, I tell him.

  Sebastian’s lip trembles. “We have to do something.” He shakes off my hand and runs after his sister and the mind that controls her.

  For a moment, terror freezes me in place. The thought of going anywhere near the body walker is enough to make me nauseous. But I can’t leave Sebastian alone. And I can’t let him do something foolish.

  I catch up to him as he corners his sister on the stairwell. His despair is as thick as smoke.

  “Jemma, it’s me. Please!”

  I grab his shoulder and yank him back. His satchel slips down his arm. “It’s not her anymore, Sebastian. It’s not her. She doesn’t know us.”

  Jemma brushes off her sleeve with a shrewd light in her eyes. “What makes you think that, girl?”

&n
bsp; “Nothing. I don’t know anything.” I shudder and pull Sebastian down the stairs, but Jemma grabs hold of his arm.

  “Oh, I think you do. You have a talent, don’t you?” Jemma grins in such an un-Jemma-like fashion that it’s downright chilling.

  I send my thoughts as loud as I can into Sebastian’s muddled head, hoping he hears me over the confusion roaring in his brain.

  The body walker knows. Somehow they know we’re talented!

  That gets Sebastian moving again. He jerks backward, stumbling into me as Jemma lunges for us. We run down the hall away from her, but in the wrong direction. She’s right behind us, blocking our path to the stairs.

  “Now, what talents do you have? Let me guess. Something mind-based? Something that allowed you to know I’m not the woman you thought I was?”

  I risk a glance back, only to find a look of twisted glee on Jemma’s face. Panic shoots through me, and we duck into the nearest room.

  Sebastian spins around, panicking. What do we do? Where do we go now?

  I rush to the window, but the drop down is too far. We’d never make it in one piece. I swallow hard and steel my spine.

  We have to face her down. We have no other choice.

  The door creaks open, and Sebastian and I clasp hands tightly. We back up instinctively as Jemma appears in the doorway, an unnatural smile on her face.

  “Now, why don’t you just make it easy on us all and come here?” She holds out her hands as if she actually believes we will take them.

  Take the memory of meeting us, and let’s go. Just make sure you take it from the body walker’s mind and not your sister’s.

  Sebastian goes rigid. He steps forward and grips Jemma’s hand. She jerks him closer.

  “Now, what can you do? Tell me…” Her eyes go blank, then she blinks rapidly for a moment, confused. She releases Sebastian, staring at him as if she’s never seen him before.

  I know I only have a few moments, but I concentrate with everything I’ve got, until I finally hear Jemma’s thoughts faintly crying out.