Dollhouse
Page 23
“Does it go through to the outside? To the sky?”
“It goes to the black of night, where the screaming never ends. And the terror won’t let you pass.”
With a blackness in my heart, I knew what the terror was. The serpent. The real serpent—not just its shadow.
“But does it... go to the sky?”
She cast her eyelids down. “Yes. But I can't let you journey near the terror. Grandfather will come soon. We must wait. Why can't you be obedient like the others, Calliope? They're in their beds now... having a beautiful sleep.”
“You saw them in there?”
“Oh yes. And I gave them tea. A sleep is always better with a cup of hot tea.”
Something dissolved within me... all my blood, all my bones... seeping away. A low pained sound escaped from deep within my being.
“You gave them the tea...."
She nodded. “The terror can't touch them while they sleep. Now come with me. There's enough left for you.”
“Evander?”
A frown furrowed her white forehead. “He left you all. He took oil and matches and things. Beastly thing. He can't ever come back in.”
An image bled through the air, an image of myself the last one alive in the dollhouse. Breath expanded my lungs. I backed away until my back hit the wall, not realizing I was screaming until I saw the look of horror on Jessamine's face.
“Things always seem worst... just before they turn for the better.” Her voice seemed far away, floating between layers of air and rock.
“Your grandfather died almost hundred years ago,” I shrieked at her. “And so did you. You’re a ghost. A ghost.”
Her face visibly faded, becoming almost bluish. “You do not understand that of which you speak.”
"You're right. I don't understand anything here. You. This place. The crazy huge furniture. The dolls...." I pointed at her. "Your grandfather was trying to keep you as a little girl, wasn't he!"
My mind rushed back—to the room in the Fiveash house with the dollhouse and the girls’ clothing. It had to have been Jessamine’s room. I could see the aged note on the mirror. If she'd kept the note, it must have meant something of vital importance to her.
“You and only you,” I said carefully.
Her face registered shock. The veneer faded from her. Until all that was left were the hollow black eyes and the ethereal body.
I ran. My legs and arms pumping. But I didn’t know where I was running to. Running from danger, into danger, becoming danger—these were all the same things. Blood funneled through my veins, through my brain, through my eyes.
Sprinting into the bed chamber, I stared around at the occupants of the beds. Each one lay like Missouri had—wax-like, arms across their chests.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
The dollhouse was deathly cold, deathly quiet.
Jessamine said there was enough tea left for me. I headed for the kitchen.
My fist curled around the teapot handle. Shaking, I poured the liquid into a cup and lifted it to my lips.
A small object lay under the table. Philly's headless bear—the only thing she'd brought in from the outside world.
Was it day out there in the world? Night?
Stop remembering that world, Cassie. You don't belong there.
The smashed-open hole in The Dark Way wormed into my head—an ugly wound in the wall, with wind like blood flowing out. I pictured Jessamine crawling through the tunnel, one hundred years ago.
The cup fell from my hands, shattering on the ground. Dark liquid spread across the tiles.
* * * End Book 1 of the Dollhouse trilogy * * *
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Anni
(Anya Allyn)
info@dollhousetrilogy.com
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