by Wendy Webb
I gave him a half smile. What a dear man he was.
While I was talking with Nate, they had been downstairs raiding the kitchen, and I saw a plate of shepherd’s pie on the desk in Henry’s study, along with cheeses, crackers, and a few apples. Despite everything, I found myself a little hungry, so I excused myself and went to make a plate. Richard followed.
“I thought you might have been asking the doctor about our theory,” he said, his voice low. “About 1952.”
I nodded and turned my back to the others. “I did,” I said, my voice almost a whisper. “I don’t want to alarm anybody, but we were right, it is the key to everything.”
Dammit, I thought to myself. Temperance. That was the one thing I hadn’t thought to ask Nate. All at once, it made a strange kind of sense. Miss Penny had set this all in motion, and Nate was here to stop it.
“We know Brynn and Cassandra have strong ties to Cliffside from 1952 and they were the first victims,” he said. “Henry’s ties are strong, too. Even stronger than theirs.” Richard dropped his voice even lower. “If anybody’s next, it’s him.”
I turned and glanced across the room at Henry, sitting in his armchair, sipping his brandy. “I think the nurse who gave Temperance the injection was his mother,” I whispered. And, I swallowed hard, was Nate his father? I searched Henry’s face for any resemblance but found none. I did, though, see a little of Miss Penny around the eyes.
Richard brought me out of my imaginings. “Do you think somebody, or some thing, is exacting revenge for the murder of that little girl all those years ago? Is it as simple as that?”
I nodded. That’s exactly what I thought. We knew Brynn’s grandmother had been here, witnessing everything. And I suspected that Cassandra’s grandfather had been part of it as well.
As I was taking a forkful of the shepherd’s pie, I heard the phone ringing. So did everyone else—we were all startled by it. But it wasn’t Henry’s phone.
“Where’s that coming from?” Diana asked.
“I’ll bet it’s your office, Norrie,” Richard said. “It’s just across the hall.” He and I exchanged glances. “We better answer it,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”
Something about it felt wrong to me, as though I really didn’t want to answer that phone, but I shook it off. Not everything was going to be dark and evil, I told myself. Sometimes a phone call was just a phone call. And he was right, it could be the crew letting us know the road was passable. If so, we could get Brynn and Cassandra to a hospital.
“You two stay here,” I said to Henry and Diana. “And lock the door behind us. We won’t be a minute.”
Richard and I hurried across the hall to my office and, sure enough, that’s the phone that was ringing. I picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” I said. “This is Cliffside.”
As I listened, a rush of ice-cold air blew through me. “What?” I managed to squeak out. My eyes grew wide, and I reached for Richard’s arm.
I quickly hung up the phone, my mind reeling. First Nate and now this.
“You’re trembling,” Richard said, a look of concern on his face. “What is it?”
“That was Diana Cooper’s husband,” I said. “He was calling to let me know Diana is in a hospital in Madison.”
He furrowed his brow. “What are you talking about?”
“She was in a car accident the day she was to arrive at Cliffside,” I said. “She’s been in the hospital ever since.”
“So who’s that?” Richard flailed his arm in the direction of Henry’s room.
“I don’t know, but it’s not Diana Cooper.”
Whoever that was, she was alone with Henry. The thought hit both of us at the same time, and we tore out of my study and were pounding on his door in an instant.
We heard the bolt click, and a worried Henry opened the door. “What is it?” he said.
Richard pushed past him, and we both saw Diana sitting on the bed with a glass of wine, just as she had been before. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Oh, it will be,” Richard said, his voice deep and threatening. “As soon as you tell me who in the hell you are and what you’re doing here.”
She furrowed her brow, confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Diana Cooper’s husband just rang,” Richard said. “That was him on the phone, to tell us that Diana is in hospital after a car accident.”
“That’s impossible,” she said. “I didn’t have an accident.”
“Who was that on the phone, then?” Richard demanded.
“I have no idea,” she said, reaching down for her purse. “But I can prove I am who I say I am.” She pulled out her wallet and plucked several cards from their sleeves and threw them on the bed. “There. My driver’s license, my university staff ID card, my insurance card, my credit cards. And if that isn’t enough to convince you, go onto the university website, where you’ll find my staff picture.”
Richard picked up each one of the cards and studied them. Then he looked at me, utterly confused. “She’s telling the truth,” he said. “What in the hell was that, then?”
I just shook my head, which, by this time, was starting to pound. It was all too much. I wished Nate could give me some of the sedative he had given Cassandra and Brynn.
The room started to spin. I felt tired, bone tired.
“I need to lie down,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “I’m going to my room.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Richard said. “You can lie down right here.”
“No, I think I’m getting a migraine. You three stay here together. I’ll be fine.” I turned and left, Richard on my heels.
As I collapsed onto my bed, he thoroughly checked out the room, looking under the bed and in the closets, in the bathroom and even out the windows.
“I’m going to stay here with you,” he said.
I wanted him to stay, to lie down with me and hold me close. But when I spoke, the words surprised me.
“No,” I told him. “You stay with Henry. I don’t want him alone with Diana or whoever the hell she is. I’m afraid for him, I really am.”
He nodded. “I am, too.”
“I don’t know what that phone call was all about, and at this point, I don’t really care,” I said. “All I care about is passing these last cursed hours here in this cursed place before we can all get out of here once and for all.”
He bent down and kissed my forehead. “Amen to that, Norrie. I’ll get you out of this nightmare safely. I promise you that. Now, lock the door behind me. I’ll come check on you soon.”
I heaved myself up to my feet and put a hand on his arm before he went. “Thank you,” I said.
He kissed my cheek. “Tomorrow, after we leave here for good, I’m going to take you somewhere and sweep you off your feet,” he said. “We’ll get as far away from here as humanly possible, and before you know it, you’re going to forget that Cliffside even exists.”
It sounded good to me. I locked the door and sank down onto my bed, feeling safe and protected by the two warriors I had in my corner.
CHAPTER 34
The next thing I knew, I was sitting at the desk in my room. All was dark, save for the greenish glow of the desk lamp. I glanced at the clock. Two fifteen. It was several hours after I had lain down with a headache. I didn’t feel any trace of it anymore. I must’ve conked out right away after Richard had left and slept right through.
But, how did I get here, to the desk? I searched my memory but could not bring it to mind. It was like there was a vast area of blackness where that memory should have been. Had I been sleepwalking? I had never done it before, but anything was possible in this crazy place.
It was then I noticed a book was open in front of me. What was this? I looked down and noticed writing on the page. It was a diary. It looked rather old, but it wasn’t Brynn’s grandmother’s journal, I could see that right away. I began to read.
Soon, it will all be
over. It won’t be long now. What was that old saying, the sins of the father? To that, I would add the mother and the grandparents. They had no idea, poor, misguided souls that they are. Death is my old friend.
Richard is just as I remembered, even better, if that’s possible. What a lovely man he is. Soon we will be together, here at Cliffside, as it should be. As it should have been long ago. I just need to take care of some housekeeping first.
I just sat there, staring at the page, not quite understanding what I was reading. I flipped back several pages.
She is arriving today. My choice, the next in line, is on her way to Cliffside at this moment! It’s always an exciting time, the succession. I’ve grown to love it over the years. Everything feels new, at least for a while. A new face. New hair to style. It’s almost like having a doll, isn’t it? I’ve always loved dolls. And I’ve been in one place for so long. I just couldn’t find the right one. But when she finally did turn up, I recognized her right away. Imagine, it took me this long to put this plan in motion, but it is finally happening. Finally. Everyone will be on their way shortly. I do love killing two birds with one stone. Two? That makes me laugh a little bit. Many. I’ve always heard that revenge is a dish best served cold, and you know, it’s quite true. There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that none of these people has any idea what’s coming. That, because of the sins of their fathers, they are doomed to languish here at Cliffside forever, for as long as I remain. But more than that, the ones who tried to harm me will have the joy of seeing their own loved ones tortured. Ah, this was a long time coming. I do so love my role.
I shook my head. I had no idea what this meant. It sounded like whoever had written this journal was referring to all of us, the people at Cliffside now. And then it hit me. This had to be Miss Penny’s journal. And she, for whatever reason, had assembled us all here to avenge her sister Temperance’s death. It made a kind of sense, and it was what Richard and I had talked about earlier—I remembered that clearly enough—but this bit about succession? What was that? It sort of sounded like she was writing about me and the succession of directorship at Cliffside. But she made it sound like it had happened several times, and I knew it hadn’t. I was only the third director in Cliffside’s history.
And what she wrote about dolls was just weird. Although poor Cassandra and Brynn had been made up like dolls and sat at their tea party table. And the dolls I found today from the dollhouse, harbingers of what was to come. I shivered as I thought—Is this it? Is Miss Penny’s ghost really responsible for this? Did she kill herself specifically to terrify us from beyond the grave?
I looked again at the writing and my stomach flipped over. This was the same spidery scrawl of Miss Penny’s suicide note and the message on Brynn’s journal, I was certain. I didn’t even have to compare them.
I was going to pick up the diary and take it to Nate and the others, but something stopped me. Something didn’t feel quite right. I turned again to the page that had been opened when I first came to.
She mentioned being together with Richard at Cliffside. I thought back to what he had said about Chamomile having a crush on him. The words in the diary sounded like a child’s fantasy, having a crush on a guy and imagining ending up with him.
But . . . the sister who’d had the crush was Chamomile, not Miss Penny. And either way, both of them were dead. So, how could either one of them have written this passage in the diary, and, for that matter, how could they have wound up with Richard here at Cliffside? I couldn’t make sense of it. Was this Chamomile’s journal, or Miss Penny’s?
And that’s when I noticed the pen in my own hand.
CHAPTER 35
I dropped it as though it were on fire. What sort of strange and twisted game was this? I couldn’t possibly have written those words. Not only would I never say those things, but it wasn’t even remotely like my own penmanship.
Still. Everything inside of me was screaming the opposite. I picked up the pen and, with shaking hands, put it to paper.
You still haven’t figured this out, you stupid girl. I thought more of you.
I hadn’t intended to write that. Not in the least. I was just going to write my name. I dropped the pen and scooped up the diary, standing up so fast my chair toppled backward. I raced through the room, turning on every light as I went, and got to the door. It was unlocked. I knew I had bolted it and closed the latch after Richard left—so who had unlocked it?
I didn’t have time to wonder. I needed to get to Nate, and fast. I threw open the door and pounded down the hallway toward Diana’s room. I saw the glow of light coming from its open door and I hurried inside. I was wholly unprepared for what I saw there.
The carpet had been taken up, the bed shoved to the side. On the floor, there was a huge pentagram drawn in black ink with candles burning all around it. A white, powdery substance was strewn in a circle around the outside of the star. And in the center, an armchair, where Diana was dozing. Nate was leaning against the wall, his arms folded.
“Hello, Norrie,” he said, smiling at me.
“What’s going on here?” I said, a little too loudly.
Diana’s eyes fluttered open. “Oh, good,” she said, stretching. “You’re here.”
“What is all this, Diana?” I said, flailing an arm toward the pentagram. “Is that permanent ink you put on the floor? I’ve had patience with your psychic stuff up until now, but this? Harriet is going to have a fit when she sees this. What will the next group of fellows think?”
“I thought you were leaving with us in the morning,” she said, calmly. “Now there’s going to be a new group of fellows?”
I shook my head, confused. She was right. I don’t know why I said that. I don’t know why I cared one bit about the floor at Cliffside or what Harriet would think of it. But I looked at that symbol on the floor and all I could think of was what a disgusting abomination it was.
I looked at Nate, hoping he could explain what was happening. His eyes were so kind, so sad.
“What have you got in your hand?” he asked me.
I held it out to him. “I found this just now,” I said. “It’s a diary.”
He took it. “You found it just now, you said?”
“Yes.”
“What happened when you found it?”
I looked from one to the other of them. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I gasped, and my hand flew to my mouth. I hadn’t intended to say anything of the kind. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly.
“I know,” he said. Then he turned to Diana. “Get the others. It’s time.”
She nodded and hurried out of the room.
“Time for what?” I asked him. “Nate, you’re scaring me.”
“Sit in the chair in the middle of the circle, Norrie,” he said.
I felt cold all of a sudden. And very small. As though I wasn’t part of my own body, not really. It felt like I was somewhere inside, but crowded. Cramped. Like I was shoved into a corner within my own skin.
“Hurry,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the circle. As I stepped across the line, my whole body sizzled with pain.
“No!” I growled at him.
“It will protect you,” he said, pushing me down into the seat. “Remember what I said to you, Eleanor. You are going to come out of this alive. So help me God.” He looked upward. “And I do mean that literally.”
“What is all this?” I asked him again.
“What happened when you found the diary?” he asked me again.
Something inside of me, something big, was fighting my every word, as though telling Nate what really happened in my room just now would put me in danger. But at the same time, I knew he was only there to help me. I trusted him. I was going to get those words out if it killed me.
“I came to,” I said, finally. “I had been sleeping, but the next thing I knew, I was sitting at my desk. I had no idea how I got there. The diary was open on the desk in front of me. So I started to
read it. It didn’t make any sense. But then I recognized the handwriting. It was Miss Penny’s.”
Nate nodded. “And then?”
“And then I noticed I was holding the pen,” I said, my words wavering. Tears began to well up in my eyes.
“Do you remember writing anything?” he asked.
“No,” I squeaked out. “But something inside of me told me to write something in the book. So I did. You can see for yourself on the last entry page.”
He opened the diary and flipped through the pages until he got there. He read for a moment and then turned his eyes back to me. “You must’ve been terrified,” he said.
“I ran straight here,” I said.
“Good girl,” he said. “That was the right thing to do.”
“What’s happening to me? What is all this?”
Nate sighed and sank down to the floor just in front of my chair. “I have a story to tell you, Norrie. Now is the time. But you have to promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
“At no time are you to leave this chair,” he said. “Once things are put in motion, if you go outside of this circle, you will be in real danger.”
I just nodded, not knowing what else to do. But I knew one thing. I was not moving from that chair.
“You asked me, earlier tonight, if there was real evil in the world, remember?”
I nodded.
“And I said yes, and that we’d likely come face to face with it tonight?”
I nodded again.
“Well, now the time for that has come,” Nate said.
I went ice cold. He didn’t have to worry about me moving from the chair—I didn’t think my limbs were operational at that point. My legs wouldn’t have held me, even if I’d tried to stand. I was frozen to the spot.
“I have to warn you that this is going to get worse before it gets better,” he went on.
“You’re scaring me,” I said, my voice trembling.
“I know,” he said. “I’m scared, too. But I’m also mad as hell you have to go through this. And I promise you, Eleanor Harper. It is going to get better. You are going to get out of this unscathed. We are going to go through what we have to go through right now, and when the sun comes up you will leave Cliffside with everyone else and go on to live the happy, wonderful life you deserve.” His voice broke and he choked back a sob.
