by C. J. Archer
From The Ashes
Ministry Of Curiosities, Book #6
C.J. Archer
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
A Message From The Author
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Copyright 2016 C.J. Archer
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Chapter 1
Yorkshire, December 1889
"Miss Holloway! Stop slouching!" Mrs. Denk's cane smacked across my back. I felt the bite of it against my skin, through all the layers of clothing. My breath left my body and my eyes watered. I arched away from her. "Young ladies do not have round shoulders."
I gritted my teeth until the sting lessened. "I am not a lady." Instead of straightening my back, I tipped my head forward so that the book balanced there slipped off and crashed to the floor. It landed face down, bending some pages and stretching the spine.
Air hissed through Mrs. Denk's nose. Whenever she became angry, her heavy breaths made a hissing noise through her nose. The headmistress and deportment teacher at the School for Wayward Girls seemed to become angry a lot, mostly with me.
I expected her stick to come down on my back again, but it did not. She stepped into view. The other girls in the old banqueting hall shuffled away, clearing space around us. They sensed confrontation, and if there was one thing the girls at the so-called school hated, it was confrontation, particularly with the formidable Mrs. Denk.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my roommate, Alice, shake her head, warning me not to cross the headmistress again. I tried to convey with a look that I would be all right, that Mrs. Denk wouldn't harm me, only attempt to frighten me with her sharp tongue and punishments that were nothing compared to what I'd experienced in years past. I must have failed, because Alice looked worried, and she wasn't usually a worrier.
"Pick that up." The tiny lines around Mrs. Denk's mouth whitened with the pursing of her lips. The rest of her face was otherwise smooth, a remarkable feat for a woman who must be in her late forties. Some of the other girls speculated that she'd done a deal with the devil to keep her skin youthful, but if that were true, she should have asked the devil to stop her hair from going gray too. Mrs. Denk rarely showed emotion, except for the occasional tightening or flattening of her lips, and that was more likely the reason for the lack of wrinkles. I would never think of a wrinkly face as something to be lamented again, but rather a sign of a passionate nature and a full life.
I bent to pick up the book, not because she'd ordered me to, but because I didn't like to see a book damaged, even a dull one about the art of being a lady. Instead of returning it to my head, I placed it on the occasional table that made up part of the obstacle course through which I was attempting to maneuver.
"Return it to your head, and continue with the exercise," Mrs. Denk said in her crispest tone that had more than one girl trembling.
Once again, Alice shook her head at me. We'd only known one another ten days, but she already had my measure. Most likely because I'd clashed with Mrs. Denk from my first day. I didn't like a bully, and the headmistress was the worst kind—a bully in sheep's clothing. At least Lincoln had never pretended to be anything else.
I swallowed down the lump in my throat that formed whenever I thought of him, which, unfortunately, was often. Instead, I summoned the anger that was never far away. Not anger directed at him—it was no longer as sharp or hot—but anger at myself for allowing him to treat me as he had.
"No," I said with more calmness than I felt. I knew I presented a tough exterior to Mrs. Denk and the other girls and teachers, but inside, part of me quailed when she held the cane in both hands and her eyes brightened with a cruel gleam. If it weren't for my anger fuelling me, I wouldn't have tested her patience so, but I found I couldn't quell my anger any more than I could accept her authority over me. Every order she gave, every attempt to turn me into a ladylike figure of grace and poise, triggered my rebellious streak.
Where had the bloody thing been when Lincoln had bundled me into the coach and sent me away from Lichfield?
Mrs. Denk's lips pinched even more. Her nostrils flared and the hissing breaths became a wheeze. "Put the book back on your head, Miss Holloway. Now."
"I don't see the point of this." I flung my arms wide to indicate the banqueting hall that probably hadn't seen a banquet since the castle's medieval days.
"The point is that your guardian sent you here so that you would become a lady."
I snorted. "I doubt that's the reason he sent me. And do not call him my guardian. He's not. No one is." Before she could counter me, I added, "I am not, and never will be, a lady, Mrs. Denk. No matter how many times you force me to walk with a book on my head, or how many times you make me enunciate my vowels, or whip me with your cane. I'm a gutter rat. A ne'er do well. A homeless waif." A discarded fiancée, I might have added, and an abomination against God, as my adopted father had once called me. But I did not. Speaking those words out loud hurt too much and I didn't want tears to well when standing up to Mrs. Denk. She was the sort of woman who fed on the weaknesses of others and used them to her advantage.
One of the other girls gasped, and another suppressed her surprise with a hand over her mouth. The rest simply stared at me. No doubt it was the first clue they'd had regarding my background. Despite speculation and gossip behind my back, I'd not told them anything about my past, since they had not asked me directly. Only Alice had, and I'd told her my story, leaving out the part about my necromancy and the specifics surrounding my going to live with Lincoln at Lichfield Towers. Of the girls in our deportment class, she alone showed no shock at my words. She simply frowned and warned me with her eyes to stop pushing Mrs. Denk to her limit.
The air whistled from the headmistress's nose at a particularly high pitch. "Your dramatics are tiresome, Miss Holloway. It's no wonder your guardian sent you here where he no longer had to listen to them." No doubt she put the emphasis on 'guardian' to goad me further. "Pick up the book and return it to your head. You're wasting my time and that of the other girls."
"They're all rather good at walking around with books on their heads already," I said. "All except me, that is, and I refuse to be party to your ridiculous exercise."
Some of the girls tittered nervously.
Mrs. Denk bristled, drawing herself up to her full height. She was considerably taller than me, and not a slender woman. Her bust resembled a shelf, rising and falling with every hissing breath. "Place the book on your head," she said through a clenched jaw.
"Or?"
She brought the cane down on my upper arm.
"Bloody hell!" I cried, wincing. "You're mad!"
She attempted to strike again, but I was ready and caught the cane in my bare hand. Fiery pain, worse than a thousand bee stings, branded my palm. I wanted to cry out and cradle my hand, but refused to show any vulnerability. Bearing down against the agony, I pulled the cane out of her hand, bent it over my knee, and snapped it in two.
Her eyes widened. H
er mouth flopped open. It was worth the pain to see her shock. "How dare you!"
"Now, now, Mrs. Denk. Don't get too upset or your corset will burst." I nodded at her heaving chest. "I'd say the structure is dangerously close to its limit already."
Her smooth face reddened and scrunched, forming grooves where before there'd been none. I shot a victorious grin at Alice. She bit her lip in an attempt to contain her smile. A smile that nevertheless quickly vanished.
Mrs. Denk's hand came down on my cheek. I reeled back, clutching my stinging face, too surprised to make a sound. The other girls' gasps echoed around the stone walls. Alice covered her mouth with both hands, her pretty gray eyes huge.
Mrs. Denk grabbed my arm at the point where her cane had struck me. Her bruising grip rubbed my sore flesh. "Come with me, Miss Holloway. I have a very special punishment in store for you."
She marched me out of the banqueting hall to the sound of the girls' horrified whispers. I couldn't catch many of their words, but one sounded clear as a bell: oubliette.
Alice had told me all about the oubliette, the narrow dungeon beneath the castle too small to lie down in and accessed via a trapdoor in the castle floor. She'd claimed it was a special punishment reserved for the worst prisoners in the castle's violent history, and for those 'wayward' girls too wicked to socialize with the rest of the students at the school. None of the current students had seen the oubliette, but Mademoiselle LeClare, the French teacher, told them of a girl in her time as a student here who'd died within its damp, lonely confines. I asked her if the girl had simply fallen in or if she'd been thrown in by the headmistress, but Mademoiselle LeClare hadn't been forthcoming with the particulars. The girls believed the worst, however. Rumors of the student's ghost haunting the castle didn't help. I'd not seen any female spirits floating around the castle, however, only a man dressed in blood stained clothes and chain mail that clinked musically as he walked. It alerted me to his presence, allowing me to avoid him. I didn't want anyone there to know that I could see ghosts let alone summon them at will.
We passed through the old kitchen with its yawning fireplace, our footsteps echoing in the disused room. Mrs. Denk pushed me through the doorway to the stairs, not stopping at the ground level, but descending into the stale, damp depths of the castle. I could have escaped Mrs. Denk's grip using the moves Lincoln taught me in our exercise regimes, but a spell in the dungeon would save me from classes for the rest of the day so I decided against a fight. Besides, it would probably only be for a few hours to try and scare me into submission. I could pretend to be contrite if I grew bored.
The stairwell became too narrow for us to walk side by side. My hair skimmed the rough stones overhead and Mrs. Denk had to hunch over. The stairs opened up to a large room with a vaulted ceiling, supported on columns wider and taller than the generously proportioned headmistress. It was colder than the rest of the castle, something I'd not thought possible. The only fire allowed in the school was in the dining room attached to the new kitchen on the ground level. Not even Mrs. Denk had one in her office. I knew because I'd been sent there every day since my arrival.
She finally let me go, but blocked the exit to the stairs. I considered tackling her, but suspected that would only lead to further punishment. I didn't want my food rations to be cut. They were already less than what I'd become accustomed to at Lichfield, although so much more than the meager morsels I'd managed to steal each day living on the streets. If I was to build my strength for a spring-time escape from the school, I would need to eat as much as I could and stay healthy.
"Mr. Fitzroy won't come for you," she said without a sympathetic note in her voice. "They never do. It's best if you learn that now rather than later."
"For once, I agree with you. He's not the sort of person who changes his mind once it's made up." Especially when there was no one to help him change it. Seth, Gus and Cook couldn't manage it. They still feared him, and even if they struck up the courage to challenge him for sending me away, he didn't care enough about their opinions to change his mind. That was the problem—he didn't care enough about anyone. Even me, as it turned out.
I suppressed the rising well of sorrow by biting on my tongue.
"Is this it?" I asked, looking around. The wall glistened with damp and something scratched in the dark corner. I could just make out a large stone slab positioned near one of the columns, and a set of rusty chains hanging from rings attached to the wall. Leg irons puddled on the floor nearby. "No oubliette? How disappointing."
"I am not an unreasonable woman, Miss Holloway," she said. "But I do not tolerate willfulness in students."
There were a dozen responses to that, but I suddenly couldn't be bothered with any of them. I wasn't going to change her mind, or soften her stance. She believed that discipline and routine would fix our so-called waywardness. While that may be true for many girls, it wasn't true for those of us sent there because of our supernatural abilities.
It had taken me a week before I'd seen evidence of inhuman characteristics in the girls, but once I noticed them, I saw more. I counted six out of the eighteen students, and another two I wasn't yet sure about. It had begun with the medium whose gaze followed the ghost as he walked past, but there was also a fire starter, two who could move objects with their minds, and another two whose hands became suddenly and inexplicably hairy when they were upset.
Then there was Alice, a seer, or something of that nature. Or so I suspected. She had strange dreams that were so vivid it took her a few minutes to fully waken. In that dreamlike state, she rambled about all manner of strange things, mostly about a queen trying to kill her.
"You will remain here until you learn to co-operate," Mrs. Denk said, spinning on her heel.
"Will I be fed?" I asked.
"Once per day."
"Per day? You intend to keep me here overnight?"
"If that's what it takes to instill some obedience into you."
"And if it doesn't?"
"We shall see."
"What if I'm still disobedient in a week? A month? Will you keep me in here without exercise or company, or even light?"
"It never takes long, in my experience."
"I'd wager you've never met anyone like me before."
I thought I heard her snort, but I couldn't be certain. Such an unladylike sound from the very dour Mrs. Denk was highly unlikely. It was far too emotional for the wooden matron.
"What if I die down here?" I asked, rather enjoying myself now. It was petty and juvenile to make a nuisance of myself, but it felt bloody good. It wasn't just her I was annoying, it was Lincoln too, in a convoluted way. God how I wished I could be a thorn in his side once again, just to get some measure of satisfaction, even if it was petty and small-minded. "What if the welt on my hand festers?" I showed her my palm, still burning from the strike of her cane. "What will you do then, Mrs. Denk?"
"Do be quiet, Miss Holloway," she said on a sigh.
"And if I'm not? Will you send me back to my guardian?"
She stopped and rounded on me. Her hands linked in front of her, a picture of demure, albeit expressionless, piety. "I don't think you understand, Miss Holloway. Girls are sent here with the understanding that they will never return to the homes they knew beforehand, no matter what transpires. You are unwanted. Cast off. Forgotten. I do not send anyone back to the place from which they came. Ever."
Each word struck me with the force of a hammer blow. I'd not realized I'd held out any hope of Lincoln collecting me until now. My hope had been small, but it had existed. Now it lay shattered at my feet. He'd sent me here to cut me out of his life as thoroughly as a surgeon removes a tumor. There would be no return, even after I escaped from the school. I didn't want to be somewhere I wasn't welcome. I would have to make another life for myself, away from Lichfield, perhaps even away from London. It was a decision to make another day, when my head was clearer. It was too wooly to think straight now.
"So if you wish to remain under this
roof, or any roof for that matter, you will learn obedience and anything else your small mind can learn from your lessons," Mrs. Denk went on. "If not, the world is a very large, very frightening place for a young woman with no home, no friends, and no means to support herself except for her…" Her gaze lowered to my rather insignificant chest. "…natural attributes."
I stumbled back until I smacked against the stone slab. My legs felt weak and I gratefully sat. Mrs. Denk didn't smile in triumph at the effect her words had on me. Her expression didn't change.
"The oubliette is back there." She nodded toward the black depths behind me. "So mind your step." She turned and climbed the stairs.
The door slammed closed, cutting off what little light reached the dungeon. The lock tumbled. I was a prisoner.
Chapter 2
The scurrying of tiny claws over stone didn't help my taut nerves. Living in burned-out basements and abandoned warehouses for years had instilled in me a hatred for rats, beetles and lice that I doubt would ever lessen. While I didn't particularly like being alone in absolute darkness either, I could have borne it better if it wasn't for the directions my thoughts took me. They inevitably returned to Lincoln.
He was not a flexible man, and his mind was unlikely to change. Waiting and hoping for rescue was futile. I knew that. I'd known it since I was thirteen, but I admit to having forgotten the lesson in recent months. Comfort had bred complacency, and that had made me forget that the only person I could truly rely on was myself. If I wanted to escape from the School for Wayward Girls, I would have to do so under my own steam.
Despite my anger and frustration, I missed him terribly. I both hated and loved him, which I gave up trying to understand. My feelings regarding him were in turmoil, but my feelings regarding my situation were clear. I wanted to see my friends again. I wanted to be home with them, and Lichfield was my home. I belonged there. Thinking about what I'd left behind filled me with sorrow so black and deep I doubted I'd ever be free of it.
