A Cold Legacy

by Megan Shepherd

  Footsteps approached slowly.

  NINETEEN

  I CLAMPED A HAND over my mouth. I could hear people breathing, a few of the younger girls crying, and heavy, deliberate footsteps. I kept waiting for the telltale tap-tap-tap of the Beast’s claws on the stone floor, but none came. Were his claws gone completely? I wondered what exactly had happened within that body. The Beast had won, but not without a cost.

  “Well, well,” his voice came as his footsteps wove in and out among his captives. “How are we doing down here? Haven’t frozen to death yet? Pity.”

  “You can’t keep us down here forever,” Elizabeth said. “Not if you like living in this house. You’ll need someone to keep the electricity running and to feed the animals.”

  “The animals?” He laughed, dry and brittle. “You should be far more concerned with your own fate, mistress. Now tell me, have you had any secret visitors?”

  From the corner of my eye I could see the person whose funeral shroud I was sharing: a girl a little younger than me with wild red hair and freckles. The cold had frozen her eyelids open and iced over the corneas. There was dried blood on her lips. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Visitors?” Elizabeth said. “There’s just the one door, and you have the only key.” She paused for drama’s sake. “Why, has someone come? It isn’t Juliet and Montgomery, is it?”

  “Quiet, woman,” the Beast snapped. “Your only concern should be trying not to starve down here.”

  “That’s just it,” Elizabeth said boldly. “We might starve, but you might, too. Let a few of my girls free, just to work in the kitchen. They can make enough food to keep us all alive, including you.” For a moment there was silence, and I was desperate to know what was happening. “Come now,” she entreated. “What was your plan—slaughtering the lambs in the barn and eating them raw? Not much of a proper meal. Wouldn’t you rather have roasted chops with a rosemary glaze, and buttered potatoes on the side? McKenna makes the most succulent lamb chops, I can assure you.”

  I wondered if Elizabeth had noticed the same thing I had—that the Beast was more human than he had been before. Roasted potatoes would never have appealed to him previously. It wasn’t just the lack of claws, but the fact that he’d kept Elizabeth and the others imprisoned instead of killing them. Could he have found a bit of humanity? Could he possibly be reasoned with?

  “An interesting proposal, mistress.” I could practically hear his mouth watering. “But I don’t know your servants, and therefore I don’t trust them. I shall take someone of my own choosing.”

  His boots whirled, and then a startled cry came from one of the girls—only this cry I recognized.

  “Lucy,” he said, low and seductive. “You’ve always been in love with Edward, haven’t you? He’s gone, but we do bear a striking resemblance. You can take care of me now. Come.” She shrieked as he dragged her toward the door. “I hope you know your way around a kitchen.”

  The door slammed closed, and the massive lock clicked. It was but another moment before Elizabeth threw back the sheet. I jolted upright, away from the redheaded girl’s body, gasping for fresh air. I scrambled to the far end of the room, putting as much distance as I could between me and the bodies.

  “He took Lucy,” Elizabeth said.

  “I know.” I pressed a hand against my head, trying to think. “She won’t be safe for long, not once he realizes she doesn’t know the first thing about cooking. He might turn on her—any of us—at any moment. I don’t care that he doesn’t look like a monster anymore. He is one, at heart.” I squeezed my fist hard enough that my nails dug into my palm.

  Elizabeth opened the secret door into the passageway and drew a key from a hidden pocket in her petticoats. “I’ve kept this from the Beast. It’s the key to my laboratory. You’ll find all manner of instruments there that can be used as weapons. If the passageways lead there, I’ve never known about it, so you’ll have to enter the main part of the house.” She went to McKenna and returned with a small sewing kit that she pressed into my hand as well. “For Montgomery.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be back for you all as soon as I can.”

  I started to crawl back into the narrow passageway, but Elizabeth touched my back. “Wait, Juliet. If you see Hensley, please tell him to be careful. But also—be careful yourself. The Beast isn’t the only unpredictable one.” Her hand drifted to her bruised wrist. “Like most children, Hensley is subject to wild changes in moods over nothing. But unlike most children, he has unnatural strength. He doesn’t always realize when he hurts those he loves.”

  I swallowed uneasily. “I understand.”

  I crawled back through the tunnel until it opened more, and in the light from the wall seams I was able to retrace my own dusty footprints from earlier.

  “Montgomery?” I whispered as loud as I dared.

  “Here” came a faint call.

  I crawled faster until I found him. He’d moved into an alcove protected from view, leaving a trail of small dots of blood. I touched his hair, his face, his arms, to reassure myself he was safe.

  “Take this,” I said, pressing the sewing kit into his hands. “Elizabeth gave it to me for your shoulder.”

  “Elizabeth! She’s alive?”

  “All of them are. The Beast locked them in the cellar.” I paused. “He’s different, Montgomery. He melded with Edward. He’s more human than he was before.”

  In the shadows, I couldn’t make out Montgomery’s face. “Does that change anything?”

  I balled my fists. There were times for mercy, but this wasn’t one of them. “No. He took Lucy. If I don’t stop him, there’s no telling what he’ll do to her. Besides, it isn’t just Lucy I’m worried about. We need to get everyone out of the house, so that you and I can face the Beast on our own. Balthazar came up with an idea. If one of us could lure him out of the house, the other could lead the servant girls to safety using the passageways.” I frowned down at his wounds. “I’m afraid you can’t do either, though.”

  “It’s my shoulder that was hit, not my legs,” he said. “I can walk. I’ll stitch the wound myself and then sneak out of the house and set the goats loose. The Beast will smell them and come outside to investigate. That should give you time.”

  I nodded, thinking. “We’ll need a signal for you to know everyone is safe and it’s time to lure the Beast back into the house.” I tapped my fingers anxiously against the wall. “The windmill. I’ll stain the sheets a different color for the signal.”

  “That will work. Once you’ve gotten everyone to safety, promise me you’ll stay near Balthazar. He’ll keep you safe.” He took my hand.

  I intertwined my fingers with his. Who would keep him safe, I wondered?

  “Go on,” he said softly. “They need you. But Juliet . . .” He pulled me closer. “Be careful.” He pressed his lips to mine, and I longed to hold on to him forever. Neither of us was blameless. We both had sins to atone for. And yet my love for him didn’t diminish.

  He broke the kiss. “Go.”

  I crawled between the walls, up ancient stone foundations, past another alcove where I found a narrow ladder. It led to a trapdoor that opened into a dark room smelling of animals: fur and feces and straw. It was the secret room where Elizabeth kept the rats. I dusted off my hands as the rats squeaked softly, most likely thinking I was Elizabeth with their daily meal.

  “Shh,” I whispered to them. “You’ll give me away.”

  I took a deep breath. I had only to run through Hensley’s room and climb the spiral staircase and I’d be in the laboratory. I closed my eyes to listen for footsteps. There was nothing save the usual creaking of the house and my own ragged breathing.

  It was now or never.

  I darted through his room and up the stairs as quickly as I could, clutching Elizabeth’s key, afraid the Beast was right behind me. I threw myself at the laboratory door, unlocking it and then slamming it behind me. My breath came shallow. Had I closed it too loudly? I went to the window. T
he sun was high now. These winter days were far too short. There was no sign of Montgomery or the Beast, but the goats were loose in the front yard. Montgomery must have succeeded in his half of the plan.

  I turned to the laboratory cabinets. Bone saws, surgical knives, scalpels. I snatched up a wicker basket and filled it with anything sharp. My hands wrapped around the instruments like old friends. Any of them, used properly, could yield a deadly blow. In a drawer, I even found a small silver pistol. That went into the basket as well.

  I felt far more confident as I left the laboratory. I retraced my footsteps through the passageways, avoiding Lord Ballentyne’s ancient traps, and peeked through the spy holes until I found the kitchen. There was Lucy, standing alone by the oven with one of McKenna’s recipe books, looking completely lost.

  “Lucy,” I whispered through the spy hole. “Over here.”

  The panel opened wide enough for me to reach my hand out. She shrieked at the sight of a disembodied hand reaching through the wall, but then raced over.

  “Juliet,” she whispered. “You gave me a fright!”

  “The Beast hasn’t come back, has he?”

  “I heard the front door slam about twenty minutes ago—I think he went outside. He left me here to make a feast but took away all the knives and anything sharp. How am I to peel the potatoes? I barely know what a raw potato looks like!”

  “I have a plan. I found weapons in the laboratory, so I’ll arm everyone in the cellar for their safety, and then set them free while the Beast is distracted. Once I give the signal, Montgomery will lure him back to the house. Balthazar and I will be waiting for him. As soon as you hear any commotion, you must hide. There’s a trapdoor to the passageways in the pickling room. Hide just behind the trapdoor and wait for me to come get you—don’t venture deeper into the passageways unless you want to stumble down one of mad Lord Ballentyne’s traps. And take this.” I passed her one of the surgical knives through the spy hole.

  She took the blade with as much dread as if she were handling one of Hensley’s pet rats. Her face twisted in anguish.

  “It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I was a fool to unchain him, but he was so convincing, and he looked just like Edward. I realized too late that he’d tricked me. I had a knife—not so different from this one. I was going to slice Edward’s throat so that Elizabeth would bring him back cured, but I couldn’t do it.”

  I squeezed her hand through the wall. “Be thankful, Lucy. Killing easily is not a trait one should ever desire. Besides, he would have gotten free one way or another. This confrontation was inevitable.”

  She studied her reflection in the gleaming knife blade. “If I get another chance, I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  Dread filled me. I didn’t want to leave her in that big empty kitchen, when the Beast might return at any moment. And yet Montgomery couldn’t hold him back forever.

  “Just remember, no matter what he looks like, it isn’t Edward anymore.” I gave her hand one more squeeze, then closed the panel, plunging my world back into darkness.

  TWENTY

  MOVING THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAYS was starting to feel like second nature. I could see why Hensley liked them. Once I learned to navigate the jagged nails and the uneven stairs, they felt so removed from the rest of the world that anything seemed possible.

  I reached the trapdoor to the chapel and knocked out a quick melody I knew Balthazar would recognize: “Winter’s Tale,” the song my mother used to sing. Sure enough, the door swung open and his wonderfully ugly face looked back at me.

  “We have to move fast.” I pulled out the basket of weapons and handed them out to the staff. For the littlest girls, scalpels—the small blades would make them feel safe, but they wouldn’t hurt themselves accidentally. For McKenna and Elizabeth, the largest of the surgical knives. Elizabeth took one look at hers and shook her head, reaching in the basket instead for a heavy metal clamp.

  “I prefer my weapons blunt and powerful,” she said.

  “Did you find Miss Lucy?” Balthazar asked, folding his lips in concern.

  “She’s in the kitchen. I’ve instructed her where to hide once things get dangerous. Now, I’m going to lead you all to an outside door, where you can make it to the barn. Balthazar, I want you to take the rear, just in case . . .” I paused, looking at the impossibly narrow opening of the passageway. He’d never fit. “Well, dash it all. You’ll have to stay here. Montgomery or I will come to unlock the cellar door as soon as we can.”

  He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t like it, miss. You and Montgomery up there on your own against that creature.”

  I gave him a smile, trying to look brave, but something about Balthazar always crumbled the walls around my heart. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I learned a thing or two on the island. I can sneak around this manor without the Beast hearing a single peep. We’ll see you soon.”

  I crawled through first, with Moira behind me, and the younger girls behind her, and Elizabeth and McKenna at the end.

  “Follow my path exactly,” I said to the girls. “Don’t touch the walls, if you can avoid them—there are loose nails. And don’t veer off to the sides—there are some tunnels that plunge down into nothing.” In the near darkness, I could make out their eyes, wide and frightened. “Let’s go,” I said.

  We crawled as quickly as the younger girls could. My heart pounded in fear over what might be happening outside: if the Beast had discovered Montgomery, or worse, had already come back inside. What would he do if he discovered the chapel empty save Balthazar? Could Balthazar defeat him alone?

  I touched my dress pocket, where the silver pistol dragged against the ground. If I got the chance to take a shot, I couldn’t afford to miss.

  The line of women continued through the walls, down a precarious ladder, and into the sewer system, where we were finally able to stand. Light winked around the corners of a square grate that I kicked open with Elizabeth’s help. Fresh air poured in. It was freezing outside, but after being trapped in the frigid cellar, the touch of sunlight was heavenly.

  I climbed through the grate, jumping down on the other side. I scanned the southern gardens and moors beyond but saw no movement. Wherever Montgomery had led the Beast, it seemed to have worked.

  “All right,” I said. “Pass the girls to me, Elizabeth.”

  They crawled through, one at a time, dusting off their clothes.

  “We can take it from here,” Elizabeth said. “Do what you must, but be careful.”

  “I will.”

  She and McKenna led the girls to the barn, where they disappeared one by one inside. Now that they were safe, I hurried to the windmill, which was spinning briskly in the midday breeze, and climbed the ladder attached to the side of the building. Reaching into my basket, I took out four vials of Elizabeth’s beetroot iodine solution and, as each white sheet passed, splashed it with the dark red liquid. When I gazed up at them, the white sails looked streaked with blood. An unsettling signal, but an effective one.

  I left the basket, taking only the knife tucked in my boot and the silver pistol, and went to the front door, pacing, shading my eyes to search the moors for any sign of Montgomery. There were few hours of daylight left. We had to confront the Beast before night fell; with the electricity cut off in the manor, only the Beast, with his superior animal vision, would be able to see.

  In another second, my signal worked. Montgomery appeared around the side of the house, running as fast as he could without jarring his wounded shoulder. “Get inside. He’s right behind me!”

  I threw open the main door. The Beast rounded the corner behind him, twenty feet away, lumbering as if he wasn’t used to his restrictive human body. Fury gleamed in his eyes.

  “Hurry!” I called to Montgomery.

  He took the steps two at a time, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. I squeezed the doorknob harder, urging him on. At last he reached the doorway and I slammed the door and locked it. Half a breath
later, the Beast collided into the other side of the door, growling with frustration.

  “There’s more than one way inside!” he bellowed through the thick wood.

  I ran to Montgomery, touching his shoulder. “Are you hurt?”

  “He caught me once, but without the claws he wasn’t as powerful.”

  “It won’t take him long to break through a window,” I said. “Everyone’s safe in the barn, except for Balthazar. He’s still in the cellar. Go fetch him, and I’ll check on Lucy. We’ll meet back here.”

  As he stumbled off toward the cellar, I paused long enough to take the pistol out of my pocket and make sure it was loaded, then headed for the kitchen. It was empty save the vat of untouched potatoes and a dozen overturned pots and pans on the floor—Lucy must have set them out as a trap to announce if someone was coming.

  “Lucy?” I called, but heard nothing in return. I threw open the door to the pickling closet. “Lucy, are you there?”

  The sound of shattering glass came from some unseen room, and I jerked upright. It had to be the Beast breaking into the house, which meant I didn’t have much time. I crawled on one hand and my knees to the trapdoor, knocking on it frantically.

  “Lucy, answer me!”

  There was still no response, and I felt paralyzed. Where would she have gone?

  Two hands suddenly grabbed my ankles, dragging me out of the closet with terrifying strength. I screamed, clawing at the floor for grip, but my fingernails tore uselessly on the tile. As soon as we were back in the kitchen, I was released abruptly.

  I scrambled onto my back.

  The Beast stared at me.

  His face was just as mercurial and mysterious as ever. He was made with Montgomery’s blood, though I had never seen any similarities in their features. Now, however, there was an echo. It wasn’t the shape of his nose or the spacing of his ears, but a depth to his eyes that looked so much like Montgomery’s, just for a flash, that I nearly forgot who I was looking at.

  I fumbled for the pistol and aimed it at him. “Don’t come any closer.”