Dance of Death (9 page)

Deborah smiled approvingly. For the first time, Madeline noticed how sharp her teeth were. She looks like she wants to take a bite out of me, Madeline thought.

I must stop thinking things like that, Madeline told herself. I must stop seeing danger everywhere. I've got to stay in control.

If I can just stay in control, everything will be all right. I can win my own happiness.

But first, I have to win back Justin Fear.

Chapter

15

M
adeline quickly changed her dress and set out for Justin's house. Now that she had decided to apologize to him, she didn't want to waste any time.

She didn't want to go back through the woods, where she had been so frightened earlier. But it was the shortest way to Justin's house.

The woods stood dark and silent. Hardly a breath of air stirred. The skies had clouded over. Low, heavy clouds.

I've been so ungenerous, Madeline thought, as she hurried through the tangled trees and shrubs. Justin cut me one of the prize roses from his garden. He held me in his arms and kissed me.

And all I've done is mistake his actions. I've got to tell him that I'm sorry before he decides he never wants to see me again.

Quickly. Quickly!

Snap!

A twig snapped behind her, breaking the silence of the forest. Heart pounding, Madeline whirled around.

Nothing there. Only tree branches swaying gently. But Madeline couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.

Someone is watching me. I can feel his eyes.

Watching. Waiting.

She peered into the shadows. Her heartbeat quickened.

“Who's there?” she called, her voice tiny in the silence. “Justin? Is that you?”

There wasn't any answer.

I've got to stop this! Madeline scolded herself. It's just my foolish imagination, running away with me again. Well, I'm not going to let it get the better of me this time.

Madeline turned back around.

She screamed.

The man she had chased down the long, dark corridors of her cousins' house stood right in front of her.

His dark eyes glowed with a mad intensity. His face twisted in pain.

He stretched his arms out, his hands curved into claws. He was ready to grab her if she dared take even a single step forward.

Madeline couldn't stand to look at him. She lowered her gaze to the forest floor.

She gasped aloud and jumped backward.

The man's feet! They floated above the ground!

Madeline felt hysterical laughter rising up her
throat. It burst out of her. She began to laugh and laugh.

He's a ghost! My mysterious pursuer is a ghost.

No! It's just my imagination. Just my imagination.
There's no such thing as a ghost.

I've got to stop laughing! I'm going to turn out like Mama. I'm going insane.

The man lunged at her.

Madeline's laughter spiralled up into a scream. She leaped out of his way. Then she lifted her skirts and raced through the trees. She had to get home.

Madeline dashed madly through the dark forest. Thick shadows engulfed her and she could barely see the ground ahead of her. Her legs ached as she raced on. Her breath burned in her throat as she gasped for air.

She glanced back and saw only darkness and the dim outline of trees. I can't go back to Cousin Deborah's. She would surely think I'm insane now. I've got to try to reach Justin, Madeline decided.

She changed direction abruptly, angling down the hill toward Justin's house.

The man appeared in front of her the second she turned around. He floated in the air above her head, now twice the size he had been.

His eyes burned in their sockets. His lips curled back as if he were desperately trying to speak. Yet she heard no sound. He waved his arms wildly, grabbing at her with his monstrous hands.

He wants me to die, Madeline thought. He wants to kill me.

Why? Why?

“Why do you want to hurt me?” Madeline cried,
struggling to control her terror. “I've never done anything to you!”

The man's body stretched and stretched. His image filled the entire sky. Madeline's gaze fixed on his blood-soaked clothing. So much blood. Her stomach churned and her knees buckled at the revolting sight.

“I won't let you get me!” Madeline screamed. “I won't.”

Crack!

Madeline felt the earth beneath her feet tremble. She lost her footing and fell to the ground. The ground split open.

She clawed the earth desperately as she felt it crumple away beneath her. Opening up into a huge hole.

Madeline's body dangled over the edge of a wide, deep pit. She quickly glanced over her shoulder, trying to see the bottom. She couldn't. The hole was black and bottomless.

Madeline clung to the soft earth at the edge with all her might. But slowly, she began to slide. Slide into the pit.

Madeline grabbed a thick root. “Help me! Please! Somebody!” she cried. “Somebody, please help me!”

She held her breath and listened. She prayed someone had heard her cries.

No answer. No sound of footsteps approaching.

A shower of earth and twigs and tiny stones hit Madeline in the face. She felt the root begin to give.

I'm going to fall! I'm going to be buried alive!

Madeline spotted another root. She wrapped her fingers around it and scrambled up the side of the hole. I'm not going to fall in there! she thought. I'm going to get to Justin.

She flung herself over the edge of the pit, and crawled to solid ground. Then she struggled to her feet on shaky legs.

Madeline leaned forward and planted her hands on her knees. She had to catch her breath before she could move on.

A powerful gust of wind swept through the forest. The tree above her gave a horrifying groan. Then it split in half, as if chopped in two by a huge axe.

The heavy tree crashed down. Its branches whipped Madeline's face as it slammed to the forest floor.

Madeline felt blood dripping from her nose. She began to choke.

I've got to get out of here. I've got to run, run,
run!

But she couldn't run. The pit the ghost had created stretched in front of her, too big to go around.

Too wide to jump across.

The tree! One half of the tree had fallen across the pit. I can use it as a bridge, Madeline thought. It's my only chance. My only chance to get to Justin.

Madeline crawled out onto the enormous tree trunk. It was so big, Madeline couldn't get her arms around it. She held on to branches on either side.

I'm climbing a tree, that's all. Climbing a tree. I did it all the time when I was a child.

Madeline's head swam with pain and dizziness. Her arms ached with the effort she was making to hold on. Inch by painful inch, she moved along the tree trunk.

Don't look down. Don't look down. Just concentrate on getting to the other side.

She lifted her head—and looked straight into the ghost's burning eyes.

Madeline screamed and lost her hold on the tree
trunk. She slipped down one side. She grabbed hold of one of the branches.

Madeline's feet dangled over the deep pit. The weight of her skirts pulled her down, down, down.

She could hear the bones in her arm crack with the effort she was making not to lose her grip. With her last ounce of strength, she kicked up with her legs and wrapped them around the tree trunk.

Madeline clung to the underside of the branch, totally exhausted.

So close! I got so close to reaching my goal. But I'll never be able to do it now.

The tree branch she clung to began to break.

This is the end. I'm going to die.

The branch snapped off at the trunk. The wind whistled in Madeline's ears as she swung through the air. She hit the side of the ravine with a force that knocked the breath right out of her body.

Madeline's legs began to slip off the tree trunk.

She was falling.

Ice cold hands reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.

The ghost! It has me!

Chapter

16

T
he ghost pulled Madeline out of the pit and into its arms. She stared up at it.

Justin!

It wasn't the ghost. It was Justin.

“Justin?” Madeline asked in a dazed voice. “Is it really you?”

“Hush, Madeline,” Justin instructed, laying a cold finger across her lips. “Everything is all right. You're safe now.”

It was Justin's touch I felt. Not the ghost's!

“Oh, Justin!” Madeline cried. She buried her face against his chest. “You saved me, didn't you?”

“Of course I did,” Justin replied. “You're very important to me, Madeline. Even when you disappoint me.”

Madeline lifted her face up. She knew she had to
apologize. “Oh, Justin. I'm so ashamed of the way I acted earlier. I was on my way back to you, to apologize. To ask how I could make things up to you. Then this—accident happened.”

Justin smiled. “I'm glad to know you were coming back to me,” he answered. “If you really want to make things up to me, you can do something.”

“What?” Madeline asked, her heart beating like thunder. There was a special warmth in Justin's eyes.

“Marry me, Madeline.”

Madeline's whole body tingled. He wanted to marry her! Wanted her to be his wife! She felt so happy, she wanted to clap her hands with joy. She stared into his burning blue gaze as he awaited her answer.

“Justin, there's something you should know first,” she replied slowly.

Justin's expression darkened. “Are you making excuses? Saying you don't want to be my wife?”

“Of course not,” Madeline answered quickly. “I want to marry you more than anything in the whole world.”

When she realized what she said, she blushed furiously. Justin only smiled.

“You're so lovely when you do that.” He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. “Does that mean the answer is yes?”

“Justin,” she said seriously. “I don't want there to be any secrets between us. Before I give you my answer, there's something about my past I have to tell you. You might not want me, once you know.”

“I will always want you, Madeline,” Justin answered, his arms tightening around her. “Nothing will ever change that. But tell me your story, if it will make you feel better.”

Madeline looked up into Justin's beautiful sky-blue eyes.

“My mother went insane,” she confided. She took a deep breath. “Everyone thinks my parents died in an accident. But the truth is …”

I can't, Madeline thought. How can I tell him what really happened?

“What?” Justin asked. “You can tell me anything.”

“The truth is my mother killed my father. Then she shot herself,” Madeline confessed.

“Madeline,” Justin whispered. “How horrible for you.”

“But don't you see, Justin?” Madeline said urgently. “What if I'm just like my mother? What if we get married and then I go insane? What if I try to hurt you? Is that the kind of wife you want? Is it, Justin?”

Justin leaned down and kissed her swiftly. “You aren't going to go insane, and you aren't going to hurt me. I'm not going to let you. I'm a doctor, remember? That makes me the perfect husband for you. And the only kind of wife I want is you.”

Madeline felt her heart swell with happiness. Justin knew her darkest, most terrible secret. And he still wanted to marry her.

“Are you sure?” she whispered, staring up at him.

“Very sure,” Justin promised her. A smile played around the corners of his mouth. “May I have my answer now, please? I think I've waited long enough.”

Madeline smiled back at him. For the first time since she arrived in Shadowbrook, she felt completely at peace.

I was right. This place is a whole new beginning. I'll build a brand-new life here. A life that will wipe away the horrors of the past. A
life where I don't have to end up crazy, like Mama did.