Midnight Secrets (32 page)

I groaned with frustration. “Key?”

“No need.” A swift kick splintered the door open.

The entry and passageway weren’t meant for a man of Sean’s height and he had to stoop to an almost unbearable angle. Even I had to duck my head. “Where does this go?”

“A back way to the bell tower at the other end of the castle.”

“Hurry.”

“Why?”

“My dream. I saw Rebecca falling from the roof in my dream.”

He stopped.

I ran into him and pushed him out of frustration. “Go,” I said. “If I’m wrong you can throw me from the roof.”

He didn’t comment, but moved ahead. Reaching the bell tower, I passed four large bells with roping and ran to the opening, peering into the darkness. “Rebecca!” I screamed. “Rebecca!”

The wind seemed to take my cry and run away with it, leaving my hair ruffled and my heart crying with frustration. “Rebecca!” I yelled louder, determined to beat the wind.

Sean’s hands settled on my shoulders. “Cassie. This is ridiculous. Calm down and tell me what this is about.”

“I can’t. Not until I’m sure what I saw isn’t real.” I shut my eyes trying to remember where I’d seen Rebecca on the roof in my dream. It was the other side. She’d been opposite the side of the sea. Turning, I found the opening on the other side of the silent bells, boarded up. I ran to it, pushing against the wood.

Sean grabbed my hands. “Cassie!”
 

“Take it down,” I cried. “Please.”

“It’s boarded up because the stone is crumbling. It’s not safe.”

“Please. Oh, God, please.” I tore at the wood, breaking my nails.

“Move.” Sean slammed his palm through the wood, pulling it aside.

“Rebecca! Rebecca!” I leaned forward and Sean jerked me back as pieces of stone crumbled away. I heard them skitter against the roof and then nothing but the wash of the sea upon the shore and the low whip of the wind through the tower. I prayed that I was wrong, but I couldn’t let go of the feeling that Rebecca was in danger.

“Rebecca! Please!”

Sean shook my shoulders. He looked wild, as windblown and desperate as I. “Cassie. This is far enough. What in the bloody hell is going on?”

A weak squeaking cry, like that of a wounded bird sounded. Rebecca.

Sean whipped around to the opening, carefully holding the lantern out as he looked. “Good God! Hold that out and for God’s sake whatever you do, don’t lean against the stone.”

Cane in hand, Sean went to the other opening and climbed out.

I held the lantern and saw a little patch of white on the roof not far away. My breath caught and suddenly I was back in my dream seeing Rebecca, feeling the evil, hearing her cry for help and seeing her fall. The wind gusted upward just as Sean came into view, crawling slowly along the edge of the steep pitch. He hadn’t quite reached the patch of white when I heard Rebecca scream as she had in the dream, and I knew she was sliding.

“Rebecca!” Sean shouted. My heart dropped as he lunged forward and caught hold of the patch of white. I died inside as they both slid downward. Surely they were going to plunge to their death. But rather than just moving closer to the edge of the roof, Sean wrapped his arm around Rebecca and rolled sideways, hooking the end of his cane on a chimney and stopping their fall. My muscles hurt as I watched him painfully strain his every tendon to its limit as he pulled himself and Rebecca up enough to rest against the chimney.

Thank you, God!
I whirled around looking for another miracle. I needed something to reach them with. In three steps, I saw the ropes hanging from the bells and went for one of them. Only I couldn’t reach high enough, nor did I have strength enough to unknot the rope from the bell. Jerking on the rope sent the bell clanging horribly loudly.

Frustrated to the point of tears, I was about to run back into the castle when I spied a knife on the floor. Grabbing the knife, I cut two of the ropes from the bells, tied them together and then tied the end to the rope still attached to one of the heavy bells. I tested the knot as well as I could and then hurried to the crumbled opening.

Sean and Rebecca were still against the chimney, but more securely situated than before.

“Sean.” I held out the rope. “I’ve attached the bell ropes together. I don’t know if it is strong enough to hold you yet. Test it.”

“Be careful. The stone will crumble. Throw the rope here.”

My toss slid the rope close to them. Sean hooked it with his cane, and as he pulled on it, snapping it tight, more of the opening broke away, sending a shower of large stones down on them.

“Wait,” I shouted. Retrieving the knife, I carved a groove in the mortar at the most solid section of the opening and slid the rope into it. “Try that. Wrap it around both of you and tie it, so you’ll be safe.”

After maneuvering the rope around, Sean pulled hard on it. Dust fell, but no stone.

“Good,” he said. “We’re coming up.” He drew closer and I saw blood covering the left side of his face. One of the crumbling rocks had to have hit him. He moved up the side of the roof, nearly flattened against it, with Rebecca between him and the roof. He pulled himself and the child, who clung to his neck, up in an agonizingly slow process of gripping the rope then adjusting his footing and anchoring the cane on the tile.

I was surprised and grateful to realized that a jagged knife blade jutted from the cane, puncturing the roof.

He was going to need more help. Swallowing my fear, I went to the sturdy opening and gingerly slipped onto the roof. The wind caught at me, my knees shook, and my heart jolted at the sight of how far away the ground was. I closed my eyes a moment, focusing on Sean, then inched my way around the bell tower until I could see him.

Closer than before, I saw that blood streamed down his face and had soaked his shirt. My stomach wrenched. He was breathing heavy, his muscles stretched beyond strength.

“Sean. I’m here.”

“Bloody hell. Go back.”

“No. Not without you and Rebecca.”

He wrenched on the rope. Only then did I realize he didn’t have the rope tied around himself, but around Rebecca, who held onto him. Just his grip kept him from falling to his death.

My heart railed at him. For the next eons of minutes, my heart only beat with every pull that brought him closer to safety. Had the man no regard for his life?

No. Remember, he’d give it up in a heartbeat. It doesn’t matter.
 

Something happened inside me, something that told me I couldn’t let that happen, ever, no matter what the cost.

Everything mattered
.

He stopped, dug the cane into the tile, tested it then let loose of the rope, and pushed Rebecca up. “Get her. I need to rest a minute.”

“Why don’t you have the rope around yourself?” I cried when I got Rebecca into my arms.

“I would have crushed her if I fell. Get to the tower.”

I held Rebecca tightly. “Everything’s all right now, poppet. Just hold on to me.”

With no rope, Sean hung onto the side of the roof with only his quivering muscles and his cane between him and death.

“Go.” Sean’s voice was weak, blood was everywhere.

I prayed harder than I’d ever prayed and I glared at him determined not to lose him. “Not without you.”

Balancing against the bell tower, I untied Rebecca and slid the rope back down to Sean. Whether I was delusional or not, I felt balanced enough on my perch to hold Rebecca a moment until I was sure Sean was safe.

“Blimey, Cassie! Don’t move.”

Looking up, I saw Bridget in the opening and heard Stuart coming around on the roof.

“Give me, your hand,” Stuart said.

“No. Get Sean up first.”

“Bloody hell.”

Stuart and Sean spoke at the same time.

Anchoring himself on the roof with his body and holding the rope, Stuart reached down and grabbed Sean’s wrist. This gave Sean enough leverage to grasp the rope. Moments later, both men were up on the ledge with me.

“Now get them inside,” Sean said to Stuart.

I didn’t argue. Minutes later I was handing a whimpering Rebecca to Bridget.
 

Bridget gathered Rebecca to her, comforting the child with soft words and secure arms.

Turning with tears in my eyes, I watched Sean limp back into the tower, blood on his face and shirt and so weak he had to lean against the wall to stand. His cane no longer sported the deadly blade.

The fool. I loved him. Had likely loved him from the moment I saw the man beneath the myth, but now could no longer hide from the truth of it.

I turned to Sean, wanting put my arms around him, to touch him in some way, just to feel for myself that he was alive. “You’re hurt.”

“Not so hurt that I can’t hear what in the bloody hell is going on.” His angry tone brought me to a halt.

Stuart handed Sean a handkerchief and Sean pressed it to his head.
 

“Why do you have Jamie’s knife?” Stuart asked, picking the knife from where I’d left it.

I stared at the knife as if it had turned into a cobra. “I wish I knew what in the bloody hell was going on too.” I prayed I could find a place to sit before I fainted. “Rebecca, can you tell us how you got onto the roof?”

“Poppet? Can you help us?” Bridget added softly.

“H-h-horse-man,” Rebecca said. “H-h-horse-man take me to heaven. W-w-want Mum. Not h-h-heaven.”

“Who is the horseman?” I asked.

Rebecca started to cry again. As my gaze met everyone else’s, I saw no answers, but only more doubt into Rebecca’s story about Mary being taken be a horseman.

“I think someone put Rebecca on the roof because they want her dead.”

From the look in Sean’s eyes, I knew I had better start talking fast if I expected to live longer than the next minute. Fortunately, my ringing of the bell earlier had wakened those in the castle and I heard a rumbling of people coming, Mrs. Frye, the earl, Sir Warwick, the Murphys.
 

“It would be best continue this discussion in the library, privately,” Stuart said.

Sean snapped his gaze to Stuart. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Stuart looked hard at me. “She seems to know more than anybody.”

I thought by the time I’d dressed and walked to the library, I would have decided what to say, but I entered the room without a clue. My biggest dilemma was how much of the truth I wanted to reveal, and what price was I willing to pay to tell it. I knew I loved Sean, but I didn’t know what I would do about that. Sometimes loving meant leaving before you could hurt that person, or before he had to hurt you.

I expected there to be more than just Sean in the library. There wasn’t.

He turned from where he stood in front of the lit hearth, a drink in his hand. He’d changed as well, and had a bandage in place on his left temple. His face was pale, his expression tight with pain.

“Stuart and Bridget are with Rebecca and Prudence.” Sean accurately interpreted my panicked glance about the room. “If what you said is true, then I don’t want the child alone, and Prudence is so petite, physically she’d only be a slight hindrance to a man bent on murder. I poured you a scotch, Cassie.” He motioned to a side table that sat within warming distance of the fire. “I suggest you drink it.”

“Thank you.” I moved to the chair and quietly settled myself, but didn’t touch the drink. My hands were shaking too badly.

He moved to the chair opposite me and eased himself slowly into it. His limp was more pronounced than before, his expression pained, his green eyes haunted. He had his dragon-headed cane with him, and must have noticed my staring at it.

“There’s a release just under the handle that frees the blade.”

I nodded. “How badly were you hurt tonight?”

“I’ll heal. But what almost happened to Rebecca would have been irreparable. Start talking, Cassie.”

I hesitated. Once he knew of my dreams, would he send me away?

“We won’t leave this room until I have all the answers.” His voice brooked no argument.

Deep down, I always feared that once a man knew I wasn’t normal, he would turn away from me. Maybe that is why I always stayed safely within “Cassiopeia’s Corner”. “I had a dream of Rebecca falling from the roof and knew I had to get there fast.”

He leaned forward, a muscle ticking in his tight jaw. “Tell me everything, Cassie. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. I want all of it now. Nobody has a dream and wakes knowing it was real.”

“I do. Ever since I was very little, but never like tonight.” I told him about the few dreams I’d had growing up and of my grandparents’ death. I didn’t mention Mary.

“So how was tonight different than before?”

“I never saw how they died before. I would dream of them, know something was very wrong, and I would call to them, but I would never be able to reach them and they would never answer. They only disappeared into darkness. When I woke, I’d have this sense of dread deep inside me. Then the news of their death would come. But tonight, it was different, a…a lady called to me, told me to come with her. When I followed, I felt a dark evil and I saw Rebecca clinging to the roof before screaming and falling.”

“No one was on the roof with her in your dream?”

“No.”

“Did you see how she got there? What do you make of this horseman?”

“No. And I don’t know what to think of the horseman, but I do think he is real, and I think he’s trying to harm Rebecca.”

“Other than setting up a guard for her, I can’t do more to protect her unless she can tell us more. Or you can. Have you had other dreams that reveal things to you while you’ve been here?”

“Yes.”

He narrowed his gaze at me, demanding an answer. “Cassie?”

“I’ve had three other dreams this past month, two about you that were what normal people must dream, and then another one with the lady who called to me tonight. She led me up the stairs from the center hall to a set of doors. I later learned the doors were to Rebecca’s room.”

“And from this you surmise someone is trying to kill Rebecca? For what bloody reason? She’s a child without even an inheritance or a surname.”

“She had a teacher recently.”