Hallow House - Part One

by Jane Toombs

  "Quite possibly it is one of the groundsmen working."

  "No, it's not. I'm meant to go there."

  Alicia's heart sank. In this state, Tabitha was unreasonable. Nothing short of brute force would prevent her from heading for the rattling sound. By herself, Alicia wasn't capable of picking up and carrying her cousin, all she could do now was to humor her and try to keep her safe. Likely enough there was nothing to harm either of them anyway.

  She gave one last try. "Boris wouldn't want you to put yourself at any risk."

  Tabitha acted as though she hadn't heard her, walking faster and faster in the direction of the sound. Hurrying after her, Alicia hoped her cousin would be more tractable once they discovered the source.

  Ahead, in the newly planted rose garden, an oddly dressed, bent-over figure appeared to be engaged in some kind of a dance. The rattling sound came from something he held. Alarmed--it couldn't possibly be one of the grounds workers--Alicia caught up to Tabitha and tried to stop her.

  With the extra strength Tabitha possessed in her spells, she thrust Alicia away, approaching the stranger, but stopping several feet away from him, thank heaven.

  The man wore some kind of bizarre feathered cloak and head-dress and a loincloth. He had on what appeared to be shoes made of reeds. As she joined her cousin, Alicia realized he must be an Indian.

  Seeing them, he raised a stick with snake rattles attached, shook it menacingly at them, all the time chanting alien words.

  "No!" Tabitha screamed, clutching the bulge in her abdomen.

  She swayed and it was all Alicia could do to support her weight.

  "You can't faint," she said fiercely. "I have to get you inside. Walk!"

  To her relief, Tabitha obeyed, leaning heavily on her as they slowly made their way to the back door, the closest entrance.

  Agnes stared as they came into the kitchen, then rushed over to help. Between them they managed to get Tabitha upstairs and onto her bed. The master bedroom was actually a suite, with the two rooms sharing a connecting door so that Boris and Tabitha each had a room.

  Tabitha was in the process of redecorating hers, so at the moment it looked rather bare.

  "Please ask one of the grounds workers to chase away that Indian in the rose garden," Alicia said to Agnes.

  When the cook was gone, Alicia hurried to her room across the hall and brought back one of the pills from the bottle Mr. Woodward had given her. Sometimes they helped and sometimes not, but the pill usually kept Tabitha fairly quiet. Now if she could just coax it down her.

  By the time Agnes came back upstairs to report there was no Indian outside, no one at all who didn't belong there, Tabitha was sitting up with the tell-tale blank look she always got after one of her episodes.

  To get rid of Agnes, Alicia thanked her and asked if she'd make some tea and send it up with one of the maids.

  "I know what he said," Tabitha announced, fortunately after Agnes had left the room.

  "He wasn't speaking English," Alicia pointed out. In the aftermath of the spells, she always tried to behave as though Tabitha was acting normally, in the hope it might help her to recover more quickly.

  "I understood him," Tabitha insisted. "He was cursing Hallow House and all who dwell within." Her eyes rolled up and she began to chant in an eerie high-pitched voice:

  "Between the gates the two wolves lie

  Of children two, the one must die.

  God hears not the prayers you send

  Death and destruction mark the end."

  Chapter 2

  Horrified, Alicia stared at Tabitha, who'd fallen back on the pillow, her eyes still rolled up to show the whites.

  "Rusalka," a voice from behind her said.

  Alicia whirled around and was startled to see old Metta standing at the foot of Tabitha's bed. Boris's great-aunt so seldom emerged from her room that Alicia tended to forget about her. She never appeared at mealtime--her food was carried up to her by one of the maids.

  "I don't understand Russian," Alicia reminded her.

  "Dead no want stay dead. Want live," the old woman said, pointing at Tabitha. "Want what belong Boris. Want baby."

  Already frightened by the way Tabitha was acting--she couldn't possibly have understood that Indian's chant--Alicia was further upset by Metta's words. The last thing her cousin needed was to hear such a horrible prediction. Ignoring the old woman as best she could, she spread a coverlet over her cousin.

  A knock on the door reminded her she'd asked for tea to be sent up. Perhaps she could coax the pill down Tabitha with some tea.

  When Alicia returned to the bedside carrying the tray she saw Metta slipping a silver chain over Tabitha's head.

  "Charm," Metta explained, a long yellow fingernail touching the pendant attached to the chain. "Too late for one. Charm save one."

  Her words made little sense, and Alicia regarded what she'd put around Tabitha's neck with suspicion.

  "No hurt," Metta said, evidently reading her expression. "Charm help Tabitha."

  At that moment Tabitha murmured something incoherent, reaching up to clasp the pendant in her hand. Best not to try to remove it now, Alicia decided. After all, it was only a piece of silver. Perhaps her own upset was making her take the charm too seriously.

  Encouraged that her cousin seemed to be rousing, Alicia fixed her a cup of tea with milk, the way she liked it, and, getting her to sit up, poked the pill into her mouth, then held the cup to her lips.

  An hour later, Tabitha slept peacefully.

  The next morning, Tabitha seemed to be her old self and Alicia was beginning to think all was well again until, shortly after breakfast, her cousin asked if any of the grounds workers could do carpentry.

  "I have no idea," Alicia said. “But since I know some of their language I will find out for you,

  Later, with Elena, the Mexican maid who spoke the best English, Alicia ventured outside. They moved from one group to another of the workers with Elena speaking to them in Spanish until at last she urged Alicia out of earshot of any of the men. Pointing to a lone man tamping dirt around a newly planted tree, Elena said, "Ramos."

  "That is his name--Ramos?"

  Elena nodded, looking worried.

  "Is there a problem with Ramos?" Alicia asked.

  "They say he is--el brujo."

  By the way she hesitated before the last word, Alicia knew it must mean something undesirable.

  "What is a brujo?"

  Elena shook her head. "Brujo work with diablo."

  Recognizing diablo as the word for devil, Alicia gave the man an assessing second glance. Short and stocky, he looked to her like many of the other workers. There was nothing to set him apart as someone who was a minion of the devil.

  Not that Alicia believed in Mexican superstitions. If there were such a category, one would think a man employed as the devil's minion would enjoy the benefits of working for such a powerful lord, not laboring to dig holes and plant trees like all the rest of his compadres.

  "Brujo or not," she said to Elena, "can he build with wood?"

  "Si, Senorita Alicia. They say he is good with wood."

  Alicia called him over. "Ramos, do you understand English?" she asked.

  "Poco. Little, Senorita."

  A little might be enough, Alicia decided. Up close he seemed to be a perfectly ordinary Mexican man. There was nothing alarming about him. Making up her mind, she brought him to Tabitha.

  "Ramos seems to be as close to a carpenter as we'll find among the men working at Hallow House," she told her cousin.

  "Thank you," Tabitha said, rising from her chair. "Ramos, you will follow me, please."

  Apparently he understood quite a bit of English, because he trailed after Tabitha without hesitation. Since she had not been invited to go along, Alicia stayed where she was.

  In the days that followed, Ramos carried lumber, then paint, up the stairs to the third floor where the towers were. If one was on the second floor, the sound of hammering
could faintly be heard. Tabitha spent much of her time up on the third floor overseeing whatever it was Ramos was building for her.

  Though curious, Alicia bided her time. Sooner or later, Tabitha would confide in her, she always had. In any case, this little project kept her cousin from brooding about that frightening and bizarre encounter in the rose garden. It was no wonder Tabitha's mind had been temporarily disturbed. When carrying a child within, women should not be exposed to such frights, especially overly-imaginative ones like Tabitha..

  Two weeks later, Tabitha led Alicia to the third floor. The first surprise was that the alcove between the north and south towers had been converted into a room with a locked door. A black-painted door. Tabitha unlocked the door with a brass key, flung it open and ushered her inside.

  Alicia bit back a gasp when she saw the walls of the little room were painted red. A raised platform resembling an altar nestled against one wall. A large gilt-framed picture of the Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus hung on the wall behind it. White candles in silver holders were set on either side of the altar. Between them lay the chain and pendant Metta had given Tabitha. A spicy scent fought with the odor of fresh paint.

  "This is my private place," Tabitha said. "I will come here to keep my little ones safe."

  Unsure exactly what she meant, Alicia asked, "Little ones?"

  "My twins. I carry two babies within me, you know."

  Since she had no way of knowing whether this was true or not, Alicia decided to humor her and nodded. "This is your place of worship, then."

  Tabitha frowned. "I don't believe I think of it that way--like a church. No, this is my secret place, for me alone, where no one may come unless I invite them in."

  Though Alicia wasn't certain this was a good idea, she was reassured by the religious painting. Surely Mother Mary's calm gaze would be soothing to Tabitha.

  Nevertheless, it wouldn't do for her to lock herself inside, as Alicia suspected she might, with no way to be reached.

  "Is it wise for you to have the only key?" she asked.

  "There is another," Tabitha admitted. "If I allow you to keep it safe, you must give me your solemn promise not to ever reveal to anyone that you have the key."

  "Your husband--?"

  "That promise includes Boris as well as my father. Not anyone. And you are not to disturb me unless you feel it is a dire emergency. Look into the eyes of Baby Jesus and give me your promise."

  Reluctantly, unsure she was doing the right thing, Alicia did as she asked. "I promise," she murmured.

  By June, when Boris was due to return, Alicia was having grave doubts about the advisability of Tabitha spending so much time alone in her room behind the black door. But, since she'd not had any more of her spells, Alicia left what she thought was well enough alone.

  When ten large boxes arrived by dray wagon from Oakland, having been sent by train from New York, Alicia thought the problem had been solved because Tabitha couldn't resist having all the boxes opened. For days the two women sorted through the hundreds of books in the boxes.

  "Good heavens," Alicia commented after they'd called several of the men in to place the books on the empty shelves in the room Boris called the library. "Your husband must have purchased an entire private library from someone."

  Privately she thought she knew why. The unlettered Russian emigrant needed appropriate and expensive books to furbish Hallow House--what better way then to acquire them from the estate of some wealthy eastern aristocrat?

  By chance she noticed Tabitha setting few books aside and then vanishing with them, but thought little of it. Her cousin had a perfect right to appropriate any book she wanted.

  Eventually, though, all the boxes were empty, the books all neatly shelved. Tabitha then began disappearing into her private room for hours at a time. Alicia heard her arranging for one of the maids to sew her a red drapery. A few days later, Ramos was summoned and was holed up on the third floor for the better part of a day. Wondering and worrying about what Tabitha was up to now, Alicia confronted her.

  "We hardly spend any time together these days," she said to her cousin. "I miss our little talks."

  Looking contrite, Tabitha said, "I haven't been certain you'd care to have me confide in you."

  "Why on earth not? You are my dearest friend."

  "As you are mine. But, dear cousin, you are such a practical person that I greatly fear you won't understand."

  "Be assured I shall try."

  Tabitha sighed. "I hardly know where to begin."

  "Perhaps with the red drapery?"

  "I had Ramos hang it over the painting," Tabitha confessed.

  "Over the picture of Mary and Jesus? Why? You could have simply taken down the painting."

  "No, that would be wrong. I have to know they are still in the room, even though hidden."

  Alicia didn't like the sound of this. "Is there a reason they must be hidden?"

  "So they can't see, of course."

  "See what?"

  “I can't tell you. It's my secret. It was meant to be, you know. Otherwise Boris wouldn't have bought the books I needed."

  Alicia didn't quite follow this. "Please explain, if you don't mind."

  Tabitha crossed her hands over her protuberant abdomen. "Mother Mary couldn't help me, so I'm using the pendant Great-aunt Metta gave me. I'm sure Boris would approve, since it's an amulet from Russia."

  Wondering how pendant could be "used," Alicia regretted that she hadn't removed the thing when Metta had first placed it around her cousin's neck. "I don't understand," she said.

  Tabitha gave her a look that could only be described as pitying. "You cannot, dear friend. Aunt Metta believes the pendant is a charm, but I know from the books that it is far more than a mere amulet."

  "Has Metta been talking to you about his pendant?"

  "Some. She's also been telling me about her Russian beliefs, some of which are very odd. Like the rusalka."

  Rusalka. The word Metta had used when she dropped the chain with the pendant over Tabitha's head. Something about the dead claiming the living. Definitely not the kind of talk Tabitha should be hearing at any time and especially now.

  "You must realize these are only Russian superstitions," Alicia said. She was not comforted by her cousin's dismissive head shake. Setting the problem of Metta aside for the moment--she'd speak to her later--Alicia returned to the subject at hand. "I'm still not certain what you mean about the books."

  "I found several that contain secrets not everyone knows. I recall my mother telling me about such books when I was a child. Many people in our Massachusetts town believed her to be a witch. I heard them say so. What little I remember of my mother was that she was kind and loving. If only she'd lived until I grew up, we could have shared confidences. Because I think she might have been like me. Seeing ahead. Hearing the voices that speak of what is to be. Is that witchcraft?"

  "You do not traffic in evil, as witches are said to do" Alicia said firmly. "Quite likely neither did your mother. In any case, I don't believe witches really exist."

  Tabitha didn't know what Mr. Woodward had told Alicia. "My dear wife was not in her right mind when she died," he'd said. "We must keep this from Tabitha. She has these little spells occasionally and I fear it might do her harm if she knew her mother's mind had been affected. It is, alas, a trait in her mother's family. Fortunately, Tabitha hasn't inherited the affliction."

  Could second sight be described as an affliction? Alicia wondered. Grandma Dawes, her mother's mother, had taken it for granted some were born with it, much like they might be born with red hair or green eyes. Looking at her cousin, she asked, "What kind of books are these you mention?"

  Tabitha’s smile was sly, so unlike her that Alicia was taken aback. Her cousin had always been open with her until now. It seemed Tabitha was changing before her very eyes.

  "You wouldn't understand the books, "Tabitha said, "but I do. Within their pages is the information I need to keep my little ones saf
e from the Gregory curse."

  Disturbed, Alicia said, "The Gregory curse. What in heaven's name are you talking about?"

  "You were there when the Indian pronounced the curse."

  Her heart sinking, Alicia realized the episode in the rose garden had affected Tabitha to a greater degree than she could have imagined. Fixing her cousin with a level look, she said firmly, "He spoke gibberish. Not one word was intelligible."

  Tabitha gazed at her in obvious amazement. "How can you say that? I understood everything. He cursed Hallow House and all who live here. No longer is it Boris’ sacred place. My duty is to protect my two boys from being affected." She frowned. "I've spoken to Great-aunt Metta about the pendant, but she insists it can be only partially effective since I wasn't wearing it when the Indian appeared. That's why I need to use the books."

  Metta's words when she'd slipped the chain over Tabitha's head echoed in Alicia's mind. Too late for one. Save one. Whether she believed them or not, they were words she'd never dare say to Tabitha.

  Alicia tried to gather her worried thoughts. There was no way she could fit what her cousin was telling her into the pattern of second sight. She hoped it might be laid to the strains of the pregnancy and that once the baby was born Tabitha would recover from this unsettling belief in a curse.

  "I'm not trying to lure you away from what you feel to be your duty," Alicia said, choosing her words carefully, "but your husband will soon be returning. As his wife, you must remember he deserves your full attention."

  "Boris will understand," Tabitha said blithely. "After all, the boys are his sons, too."

  Alicia greatly doubted Boris would come anywhere close to understanding. Up until now, he’d never been exposed to any of Tabitha's peculiarities. He didn't seem the sort of man who'd be able to "understand" them.

  The following day he arrived home.

  For the next two days Tabitha hung on his every word and was in every way the adoring wife. Unfortunately, early the next morning, the valley was shaken by a slight earthquake. No damage was done except for a crack in the ceiling of one parlor, but it frightened Tabitha unduly.