Darkest Dreams (31 page)

“Andrie, how do you know?” Cassie moved to my side.

“Rebecca's nightmare the other night. When I touched her I heard Mary arguing with a man, accusing him of compromising someone. He was awful, saying he was going to punish that someone for their promiscuity. And then…then…I think he hurt Mary badly…and forced her to…”

“Jack?” Bridget whispered. “Was his name Jack? Flora went away with a man named Jack.”

“I don't know what his name was. Names weren't in Rebecca's head. Not even Flora's name was. That's why I didn't say anything. But Flora's continued silence together with Mary's defense of a woman made me very suspicious. For that picture to be here…”

“Means the screams Gemini heard could be those of my sister's ghost. She was here. He hurt her here.” Bridget's face turned as red as her hair. “And that bastard is here now!” She grabbed the candelabrum up and ran for the door, swinging the heavy brass against the door. “Come and face me, you coward!”

Cassie grabbed Bridget's shoulder and pulled her back. “Wait. We have to think what he would do next, and then we have to do exactly what he wouldn't expect us to do.”

“It depends on why he's locked us in here. Is he going to keep us prisoners and do what he did to Mary and Helen and Flora…?”

“Or what?” Cassie asked. “Try and kill us all? We need to get out of here now.”

“The windows,” I said. “We can yell for the driver to help.”

“We're at the back of the house. He's in the front, but it's worth a try.”

“Unless the killer got to him too,” Bridget whispered.

All of us shivered hard. Opening the window, we called for help, but no one answered.

”Maybe there's a way we can climb down.” With the stone courtyard below us, I knew we couldn't jump. “But how can we get Gemini down?”

“Try and wake her. Bridget, let's take the sheets off the bed and tie them together to make a ladder.” Marching over to the bed, Cassie grabbed the pink satin counterpane and pulled it off the bed. She screamed, backing away in horror. Bridget cried out, a deep, keening sound of grief. The sheets were stained with dried blood. Bloody ropes that had to have been used to bind the victim lay on the bed along with some gruesome looking iron contraptions that reminded me of the medieval torture devices I'd seen in Alex's dungeon. The image of me tied in Alex's bed flashed in my mind. Had I only thought I saw myself? What if I'd—

My heart thundered in my ears and my mind screamed.
NO!

Then I smelled smoke.

Leaving Gemini, I stood and grabbed Bridget's arm. At first her grief was so overwhelming I couldn't think.
Alex
, I screamed in my mind, forcing out Bridget's sorrow. I pushed her toward Gemini. “He's set the house on fire. Drag her to the window.”

“The curtains,” I yelled to Cassie. “Help me.” Rushing over to the heavy pink satin, I pulled hard, nearly having to hang my entire weight on the panel before it broke free. Cassie managed to get her panel down. I shoved mine at her. “Knot these together while I get more.”

“He'll expect us to escape through the window,” she said.

“I know. Hopefully he won't be expecting us to be armed and ready to beat him to a bloody pulp though. We don't have a choice, Cassie.”

“Then let's do it.”

Tying the curtains together, we made a long ladder. Then we wrapped Gemini in a curtain and attached her to one end of our ladder. I went to the window and scanned the area, but didn't see anything but overgrown gardens and the distant spires of Dragon's Cove. My stomach twisted again, but I pushed away the uneasy thoughts and opened the windows. I might not be able to see into Alex's mind at any moment, but I knew him. He wasn't capable of murdering in cold blood. He'd kill to defend, and he might have been rash enough in his youth to have accidentally caused a death, like his fight with his brother. But he wasn't capable of the evil perpetrated here. What I feared was that someone might be trying to make it appear as if Alex were guilty. I knew what I had seen was a medieval torture device, and I seriously doubted they were a common item here in Cornwall.

“Give me the free end. I'm going to put it halfway down and then drop the rest of the way to the ground. Then you and Bridget pull that end back up and tie it to the bedstead. You'll be able to lower Gemini to me and climb down after.”

“No. I'll go first,” Cassie said.

“Give me the poker, Cassie. We don't have time to argue, and I will not allow you to put the lives of my future nephews at stake from some foolish sense of responsibility to me. If the killer is down there waiting, throw the candelabrum at him and anything else you can find.”

As soon as I had the curtains out, I started down. Dear God. The bottom floor was on fire as well, which put Cassie, Bridget and Gemini in even more danger. Wiggling down with the poker clutched between my neck and shoulder, I reached the bottom of the curtains and dropped. I landed on my feet on the stone below with a thud. The poker clattered to the ground, and I felt to my knees. Tears stung my eyes as I scrambled for the poker. Picking it up, I swung around in a circle, looking for lurking danger. I didn't see anything, but I could feel it. I was certain that I could feel him watching.

I motioned to Cassie to hurry. She and Bridget lowered Gemini to me, and as they climbed down, I untied Gemini from the ladder. She was really beginning to worry me now. She was still unresponsive, her mind an inky mass of darkness. Cassie joined me first and then Bridget, who had now turned a ghostly white with eyes more haunted than I had ever imagined a living person's could be.

“He's near,” I whispered. “I feel him watching. Let's go to the left. It'll be closer to our buggy. Something has to have happened to the driver.” I handed Cassie the poker and grabbed one end of Gemini's cocoon. Bridget grabbed the other end, and we lifted Gemini. By the time we made it around to the front, I knew Gemini was going to have some painful bruises.

I looked up from the concealing foliage of bushes and weeds at the side of the house, and my heart took a dive. The buggy was there, just where we left it. The driver was slumped over in the seat, a heart-stopping sight in itself. But next to the buggy stood a very skittish Samson.

Chapter Twenty

“Andrie? Isn't that Alex's horse?” There was no mistaking the accusation in her voice.

“Yes. It's not him, Cassie. He is not the killer.”

“How do you know for sure? You said that you couldn't—”

“It doesn't matter. I'll swear that I can before the whole world if I have to. He's not guilty.”

“Then where is he?”

“Oh, God. He must be in there looking for us. I have to go back inside.”

“The place is on fire, Andrie.”

“I have to.” I didn't want to leave my sisters, but I had to go look for Alex.

“You're not going alone.”

“You're not coming with me. You and Bridget need to stay with Gemini. I swear I think the killer watched us escape through the window. Both of you need to stay together and protect Gemini. Maybe you should get in the buggy and leave.”

“No, we'll all stay together as much as possible.” Cassie's tone brooked no argument, and I decided she was right.

“There's a gun,” Bridget whispered. “In the buggy, hidden in the driver's seat. No one leaves the castle without being protected. I'll get the gun, and Cassie can stay hidden with Gemini while I go with you to search for Lord Alex. We need to hurry.”

Before we could say a thing, Bridget broke through the shrubs and ran to the buggy. Keeping her head low, she dove into the front of it. I saw her grapple past the driver, who didn't move at all, and then she came scrambling back out of the buggy.

“He's alive,” she said, handing a long-nosed pistol to Cassie. “Someone has knocked him a good one over the head, but he's breathing.”

My stomach had wound itself into a knot so tight I could hardly breathe. I hated leaving Cassie and Gemini even for a second until we were all safe, but I had to find Alex. “Come on,” I said to Bridget. “Let's hurry.”

We slid through the bushes and ran up the stone steps. Smoke was starting to billow from the door. The heat hit me the minute I crossed the threshold. A thick blanket of smoke hung low. I ducked down, wanting to avoid the ugly black darkness. Bridget followed right behind me.

“Alex!” I heard no answering call, only the crackle of the devouring fire spreading through the deserted mansion. I wondered if I was on a fool's errand, but I couldn't turn back. I raced ahead, following the same route that Gemini had taken. The heat began to burn my skin.
 
Even my skirts seemed as if they were burning my legs. My lungs hurt so much that I had to put my hand over my mouth to breathe. My eyes watered. Bridget coughed and coughed.

Just as I was about to turn back, I saw a man's legs sticking out from a doorway near the staircase we had taken. I grabbed Bridget's arm and dragged her to him. It was Alex. We each gripped a leg and pulled him from the room. There was no time to see how badly he was hurt. We could hardly see at all. The heat was worse in the room where he lay, so I knew the best way out was the way we had come. Bridget and I struggled and pulled and coughed and eventually crawled as we dragged him. But the smoke was getting worse. I couldn't see. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't find the entry hall.

Then Bridget fell, coughing so hard her whole body spasmed. A wave of dizziness washed over me as I too coughed and fought for air. We were all flat on the ground with a thick smoke burying us alive. I rolled, pulling on Bridget. She grabbed my hand.

Her mind was crying out for Stuart, for a chance to love, to hold him in her arms just once. I wrapped my arm around Alex and laid my head on his chest. My tears dried before they could spill from my eyes. I'd get us out. I had to. In just a moment.

When someone pulled me up, I thought angels had come until the blurry figure of a hooded ghoul wavered before my eyes. He shoved me aside, and I thought I would fall, but someone behind me caught me. I managed to stiffen my knees enough to stand. Then the grim reaper lifted Bridget up and tossed her my way as well. Whoever held me jostled until he caught Bridget and began to drag us, save us. My mind was so addled I couldn't read the man's thoughts. I didn't know who he was.

“Alex!” I cried but no sound escaped. Then, through the smoke, I saw the black-hooded figure loom closer, dragging Alex.

Bright light and cool fresh air told me that we'd escaped the burning mansion. But I still coughed, and my lungs still fought to breathe. Through the haze I could hear Bridget doing the same, and the man holding us was cursing loudly. It was Stuart.

“Where's Sean?” Cassie ran up and pulled me into her arms. She sobbed with joyful relief. All I could do was lean into her and stare at the doorway, praying for Alex. Then I realized, I couldn't read Cassie's thoughts either. My mind was too addled to think.

“He's coming,” said Stuart as he swung Bridget up into his arms.

Just then a black-hooded man came staggering out of the mansion dragging Alex with him, and relief flooded through me. Sean had just saved Alex from a fiery death, but the blood on Alex's head and shoulders told me he'd been hurt by someone.

I wondered how much more proof the Killdaren brothers would need to have before they realized they'd either broken the Dragon's Curse or it had missed them completely.

Mr. Drayson appeared, completely disheveled, waving his hands in agitation. “This is all my fault! I never should have mentioned this place! I knew evil lurked here! Good God, why did you come?”

Sean, still hooded—I assumed to protect his eyes as much as possible from the light—turned. “Talk can wait. Take the pistol and get Ashton. Stay on your guard! Bring the doctor to Killdaren's Castle immediately.”

Mr. Drayson nodded, and I followed him with my gaze as he crossed to the buggy where Lord Ashton stood. I could see the edge of the pink satin curtain hanging from the back seat. Gemini must still be unconscious.

“How…did…you know to come?” I rasped to Stuart.

“Drayson and Lord Ashton saw smoke on their way back from the village and alerted us. At first we thought it was Dragon's Cove on fire. Thank God they saw it. If we hadn't come immediately, you, Bridget and Alex would all be dead.”

I nodded. Even though I wanted to think I would have gotten up and dragged Alex and Bridget to safety, I doubted I would have been able to even save myself. I glanced at Mr. Drayson and Lord Ashton as they departed on their horses and wondered if they'd seen the smoke as they'd said, or if they knew a fire had been set because they'd set it, and had sounded the alarm to put themselves in the clear. Come to think of it, it was Mr. Drayson's testimony of having seen either Alex or Sean leaving the maze the night Lady Helen had died that had cast suspicion their way. Both men even had access to Alex's home and could have taken the torture device from the dungeon. What if they were the killers? I'd read their thoughts at least once this summer when I'd fallen and pretended my ankle was more hurt than it was. They'd helped me up and touched my ankle. Both of them had been in high spirits from the cocktails they'd introduced to Gemini and me. They'd been more interested in the curve of my leg and what that led to than anything else. I hadn't given their thoughts much notice because my mind had been filled with Alex.

The trouble with reading thoughts was that I could only read what was currently in a person's mind. I could touch the killer, read his thoughts, and never know he was the killer unless he was thinking of the murder. I shivered with a deep cold that refused to leave me despite the heat of the sun and the slightly scorched skin of my hands and face. Even moving to Alex's side and setting my hand on him, seeking to comfort us both, did little to warm me.