Mother of Crows

by David Rodriguez

  “Ghosts?”

  She nodded. “A few. I haven’t seen any of the missing fathers, though.”

  Mr. Harris sighed. “That is because you are only thinking in terms of murder.”

  “Yeah. How else would I be thinking?”

  “Sacrifice.” Mr. Harris said the word with a fearful reverence. “When a person is sacrificed, they die, yes-but the intent is different. A murder destroys the body and mind, but a sacrifice… consumes the soul as well.”

  Abby wrapped her arms around herself, shivering in the heat as Mr. Harris continued. “They are turning the person over to a deity, and a god is never satisfied with mere flesh. If your friends have been claimed by the Daughters, then that is the terrible future that awaits them. They will be consumed by the Mother of All Daughters… and denied the comfort of afterlife.”

  78

  Sindy’s Choice

  Sindy hated that she was wrestling with this. Two of her friends were on the menu for a cult. She should have felt no hesitation. She should have gone to the police, to Abby, to someone, and filed a report or told or something.

  But she didn’t.

  It all came back to the drop of blood she had fed to Eleazar. She understood now that those drops had bound him to her. And sometime in the past, her mother had done the same to Abelard; Delilah had done it to Finster; Charity had done it to Edsel; and so on, back for hundreds of years. The power she had felt during that small ritual had only intensified during her initiation ceremony. She knew there was so much more. She’d had a glimpse at the sheer majesty of Yidhra and the promise of her own exaltation above all others. There was a desperate yearning in Sindy that she couldn’t ignore.

  All she needed to do was let Bryce and Nate die. After that, the ancient power of the Daughters would be hers to claim. This was her final test. Hester need to know for certain that her protégé had the ovarian fortitude to see this through.

  Above all else, sisterhood.

  The pin on her lapel pulled her down with the weight of hundreds of choices and arbitrations. How many had died at the casual whisper of a Daughter? How many more would die before Hester’s hunger was sated? She was willing to put her own granddaughter at risk to serve the Daughters; could Sindy not do as much with two friends… two male friends?

  Above all else, sisterhood.

  She would have to watch as Abby murdered Nate and Bryce… or she would have to betray Corinne, Hester, her mother, and her new sisterhood.

  Tears crept down her cheeks, thawing the cold frost that had formed over her heart. She trembled, then shook.

  Above all else, sisterhood.

  Sindy opened her eyes and the world sprang into crystal clarity for the first time in weeks.

  The Daughters of Arkham were not her sisters.

  Abigail Thorndike was.

  79

  I Choose Family

  Constance had just finished getting ready. Her hair and clothing were impeccable and her new concealer was doing an admirable job of hiding the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t been able to sleep through the night since her talk with her mother. Every night, she found herself awake around two o’clock. Every night, she wandered to Abby’s suite to peek inside and watch her daughter sleep.

  She used to do the same thing when Abby had transitioned to her first ‘big girl bed.’ Abby had been so excited about her big, fluffy, princess bed, but Constance had worried she would tumble out of it onto the hardwood. It never happened. Constance remembered thinking how grown up her little girl had those first few nights, even as little Abby clutched the cow with the chewed-ragged ear she’d had since birth.

  Abby still looked like a little girl to Constance. She still slept with her stuffed cow.

  An insistent knock at the front door jolted her from her reverie. She almost called for Bertram but remembered he was preparing for the ceremony. She took a deep breath, straightened her dress, and put on a false smile, ready to face the world. She wasn’t ready to see Sindy Endicott on her doorstep, glistening with sweat.

  “Sincere,” she said. “Are you all right? You’re not due for another hour.”

  Sindy panted, smoothing out her dress and trying to fix her hair. “Um, hi, Mrs. Thorndike. I know I’m early, I was just hoping I could talk to Abby for a minute.”

  Constance appraised Sindy with an arched eyebrow. Sindy looked away, pulling at the stray hairs clinging to her sweaty forehead.

  “You’re going to see her very soon. What’s so important?”

  “School,” Sindy blurted. “School. There’s a test tomorrow. And I don’t have the notes. And you know, Abby’s still pulling straight A’s. So I thought… I’d ask her.”

  Constance stayed silent. She had known Sindy since the day she was born. The girl had spent almost as much time in Harwich Hall as her own home. Sindy and Abby were as close as blood. Constance had watched this girl grow into a lovely and intelligent young woman, one braver than Constance had ever given her credit for. She struggled to maintain her haughty composure and fought against the sudden weight of tears behind her eyes.

  “Abby is in her room. Don’t take too long, dear. There isn’t much time.”

  Constance watched Sindy disappear upstairs. She wasn’t quite certain why she’d let her inside. Sindy couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d been wearing a sign that said, I WILL TELL ABBY EVERYTHING.

  It was for Abby, she realized.

  Had it been any other situation or any other person… Constance would have had Sindy restrained. But Abby deserved a chance. Constance couldn’t just throw her daughter to the snakes, the way Hester had with her.

  “Who was at the door, Constance?”

  Speak of the devil. Hester hobbled into the front hall, leaning heavily on her cane. She would be spry for a month after this ritual, perhaps even two. There was a time when a ritual could sustain her for a full year, but even the Iron Maiden had to yield to time eventually.

  “Sincere Endicott. She wanted to see Abby.”

  “What about?”

  Constance faltered. The lie she had ready crumbled in the face of her mother’s cold gaze.

  Hester’s face hardened to stone. “Please fetch Miss Thorndike and Miss Endicott.”

  Servants materialized from the shadows and headed upstairs. Constance started to shout a warning, but Bertram clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her into the other room.

  80

  Found

  Abby was in her room, gazing dully at the dollhouse. The mold inside had stretched green-black tendrils out of its hiding place and it was spreading to the edifice. Its steady evolution was perversely fascinating, in a way.

  Someone hammered at her door. It was a desperate banging that pulled her to her feet with a creaky groan. Her heart leapt as she pictured Bryce in the hall, exhausted, maybe with a single, artful cut on his cheek that would fade into a rugged scar, but otherwise unscathed. He must have uncovered something and escaped.

  “Come in,” she said, her voice catching.

  Sindy lunged through the door and bolted it closed behind her. Her eyes were wild and her skin was slick and shiny. Even her dress looked like it was all twisted about. It was completely unlike Sindy.

  “Sindy?!” What the hell was she doing here? What had happened?

  Sindy leaned on the door a moment, then collapsed to her knees to take Abby’s hands in her own. “Abs. You’re not going to believe me. But I need to tell you something, and then we need to figure out what to do, and we have to do it quick, okay? There isn’t a lot of time. But before that, before any of that, I need you to forgive me.”

  “What?”

  Sindy shuddered and pressed her head against Abby’s hands. “Please Abby. I need you to forgive me. I need you to tell me that it’s going to be okay, that you’re still my family. I need to not have ruined this forever, because I can’t do this without you.”

  She looked up at Abby. Silvery tears cut across the flush of her cheeks.<
br />
  “I need my sister back, Abby.”

  Abby took Sindy’s hands and pulled her to her feet. She used the sleeve of her shirt to blot the tears from Sindy’s face. Her voice quivered as she said, “No matter what happens, or whatever stupid thing we fight about. You and me. Us. We’re forever.”

  Sindy clutched at Abby with a heart-wracking sob, clinging to her like a life raft. Abby stroked her hair and held her close.

  “Do you understand me, Endicott? You will always be my family.”

  Sindy nodded and whispered a soft, “Thank you,” into Abby’s hair. She pulled back but didn’t let go of her.

  Sindy told her what happened to the fathers: about the terrible rituals to the goddess called Yidhra. That’s why the graves were empty. There was never anything left to bury. Then she told her the most important thing: The Daughters of Arkham had taken Nate and Bryce prisoner.

  “Hester is going to make you prove your loyalty to the Daughters, but they don’t know who the father is, so they’re going to kill them both, and then…” Sindy couldn’t say it.

  A slow-burning rage replaced Abby’s horror. No one would ever force her to do anything against her will. She wouldn’t harm her friends, or anyone else. But she also knew that whether or not she played along, Nate and Bryce were not going to survive their imprisonment. They had seen too much.

  “We have to go to the police,” Sindy said. “I thought maybe with the two of us-”

  “No. We can’t. The Daughters own the police.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. But if anyone is going to rescue Nate and Bryce, it’s going to have to be us.”

  81

  Escape from Harwich Hall

  A spike of fire tore through Abby. She groaned, putting two tender hands on the sides of her belly.

  “Abs?” Sindy asked. She held her hand to her.

  “No, I think it’s my uterus.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. We have to do this soon. Check the hall,” Abby said, gritting her teeth. She rode through the pain until it subsided.

  Sindy nodded, though she kept a concerned eye on her friend. She opened the door a crack and Abby saw the shock and dismay explode over her friend’s face. She shut the door.

  “Bertram and a bunch of the other servants are coming up the hall,” she whispered.

  Abby glanced at the window. Not possible-not this pregnant. “The bathroom.”

  Sindy nodded and helped Abby into the large bathroom connected to her bedroom suite. The pain in her hips had begun to subside when it speared her anew. In the flash of agony, she saw the bathroom change into the gray and sooty place of the other side. Then it was gone, and she saw the world as her eyes beheld it.

  Sindy eased the door closed and latched it. They heard Abby’s bedroom door open. Abby noted with grim amusement that they hadn’t knocked.

  Another bolt flashed through her, and once again, for a moment, the world was gray and wispy. When she came out of it, she realized she was gnawing at her lip to keep quiet. Abby nodded to the door that lead to the hall. Sindy crept to the door and peeked out. Then she glanced back and nodded.

  Abby heard the men searching her bedroom. They never said a word. Seemed like all pretense was gone. Abby and Sindy were now enemies of the Daughters. She wondered how far they would go. Even now, she couldn’t imagine that her mother and grandmother would allow anyone to hurt her.

  Nate and Bryce, on the other hand, were in a great deal of danger.

  They slipped into the empty hall. Sindy started for the front hall, but Abby pulled her back the other way. The back stairs that lead to the kitchen were down this hall and around the corner. She moved as quickly and as quietly as she could, Sindy just behind her. She kept waiting for her bedroom door to fly open and see Crows come boiling out.

  The latch clicked.

  One step away.

  The door opened.

  They rounded the corner. She paused, hearing the footsteps in the hallway. She remained motionless and tried not to breathe. A bolt went through her, and she sucked in air. The hall shifted once, from black to white. Her breathing was deafening in the quiet. She heard a step toward her, and wondered which of the Crows it would be. She pictured him coming closer, stalking his prey while his shadow jittered behind him.

  “Half of you to the front,” she heard Bertram say. “The rest search the rooms up here.”

  The footsteps were loud, but they were all heading away from them. Abby and Sindy had a small window of opportunity. Abby seized it, hurrying down the stairs. She had to cling to the rail to avoid tipping over. They hit the bottom, slipped out the door, and headed toward the kitchen. If they could reach the passageway, they could get to the church and free the boys before the Daughters even knew there was something wrong.

  As she reached for the doorknob to the pantry, it began to open. Sindy squeaked and yanked Abby into the nearby alcove. They heard stilettos clicking along the ceramic tile of the kitchen floor. Sindy and Abby slinked further into the alcove, clinging to each other as the Daughters of Arkham made their way into the house. They couldn’t use the tunnel. They needed another way out.

  They were a room away from the solarium, an easy way to get into the backyard. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do.

  The pantry door was shut. Abby managed to wait a solid five Mississippis before she waddled out of the alcove. She slid the patio door open and then they bolted outside into the crisp air, making for the break in the wall.

  “Where are we going?” Sindy hissed.

  “Through the forest.”

  “The forest! Look at me. Look at you. We are not equipped for a hike.”

  “We’d better be.”

  They made it to the wall, and through the break in the side. Thorns raked at the as they found the path. They started down to the dry creek-bed. Abby took careful steps across the jagged stone. As cautious as she was, she felt the teeth of the rocks in her ankles, shredding her tights and then her skin.

  “Do you have a plan?” Sindy asked.

  “We need to find Mr. Harris.”

  “You said he’s a monster!”

  “A different kind of monster.”

  “Maybe that’s why I can’t see through his disguise.”

  Abby wanted to give more details, but there wasn’t time. They were moving into light undergrowth. The pain in her belly was not as bad, though she did periodically grimace at what felt like a hot needle jabbing through her. Whenever it happened, the forest turned craggy and dead all around her for the space of an eye-blink. She pressed on, forcing out one painful step after the other.

  By the time they made it back onto the street, Abby was hobbling. She was winded and there was a hot lash of pain throbbing in her lower back. They were halfway down the street, at the midpoint between Abby’s home and the turnoff to Arkham Academy. Abby wasn’t certain she could make it all the way to the school and then out to the church. She also didn’t think she had a choice.

  Sindy glanced at her. “Do we need to get you a wagon?”

  “Shut up. You try doing this nine months pregnant.”

  “No thanks. I’m not having kids ‘til I’m fifty, and then I’ll hire someone to have them for me.”

  A beige Honda turned onto Abby’s street. She almost threw herself back into the screen of brush that separated road from woods, but stopped when she saw a familiar inhuman face behind the wheel.

  “Well, that’s just weird,” Sindy said.

  Mr. Harris pulled over next to them. “Abby? Are you all right? You’re bleeding.”

  She got in the passenger side while Sindy climbed in the back.

  “What are you doing here, Mr. Harris?”

  “I’m looking for you.”

  Another bolt of pain rammed through her. This time it lingered, and the dead place bloomed all around her. She could not see the center of the rot, but she could see the edges, the way the shadows writhed and
twisted, as solid as anything else. She groaned, gritting her teeth. Soon the wave passed.

  She smelled the ghost of a peaty stench. The presence was close.

  “Abby?” Mr. Harris asked.

  “We need your help. And I need you to drive.”

  He pulled a U-turn and headed away from Harwich Hall. “What is it?”

  “The Daughters of Arkham have Bryce and Nate out in that church in the woods. They’re going to be sacrificed, and you told me what that means.”

  “What does that mean?” Sindy demanded, her voice high and reedy with panic.

  “Abby, we can’t be talking in front of your friend.”

  “She knows everything, Mr. Harris, and I didn’t tell her. She knows because she’s a Daughter of Arkham.”

  Harris nodded. “What then?”

  “We’re going to rescue them.”

  “In your condition?”

  “There’s no one else.”

  Harris looked over at Abby and gripped the wheel tightly. “That isn’t entirely true. That’s why I came to find you, Abby. There are others like me. They are willing to help you in this fight against the Daughters. They will help save your friends.”

  Sindy was leaning forward between the seats. “I don’t know you that well, and even I can hear the giant ‘but’ you’re about to drop.”

  “We take a great risk in exposing ourselves as apostates to the Daughters and their thralls. I would like to say the others will help for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do, but that is not the reality we live in, Abigail. I need your assurance that if the time ever comes when you can help our cause… you will do so.” He extended a hand to Abby.

  Sindy looked worried. “Abby, I don’t know about-”

  Sindy wasn’t fast enough. Not when Bryce and Nate’s lives were at stake. Abby put her small, pale hand in Mr. Harris’s rubbery, webbed one and gripped it tight.

  “You have my word.”

  An electric current of finality surged through their hands, sending tingles up and down Abby’s spine. The deal was done.