Page 24 of House of Furies
It was just a whisper at first, in that same unknown language I’d heard when I’d passed the green door and found the book. This time, however, I knew it was not the fence calling to me; nor was it the door or even the book.
This voice, this whisper, came frominsideme.
The pain and the voice reached their peak as I laid my hand upon the bleached timbers of the fence. I clenched my teeth through it, determined to endure. If this was all that kept me from freedom, I would be stronger. But strength meant nothing when I pushed my hand out a little farther, beyond the fence, and felt a heat like lightning scream from my fingertips to the base of my skull. It brought me crashing to my knees with ascream, the voice echoing in my head almost more painful than the raw flames searing up my arm.
A pair of strong hands closed around my shoulders and helped lift me back to my feet.
“Easy now.” It was Chijioke, steadying me until I had the ability to stand on my own. I wrenched out of his grip, taking a huge step away from the fence. The pain in my head and body dulled at once. “Ach, come now,” he added, frowning. “I’ve no designs on ye. I won’t hurt you, only you looked in distress.”
“I was,” I whispered. “I am.”
After lurching away from the fence, I had stuck my foot in one of the hundreds of holes in the yard. Muttering, I shifted onto more solid ground. Chijioke leaned against the fence, apparently unaffected by it the way I had been. He rested a large shovel against the barrier and ran his hand over his face. Despite the cold, he perspired, the front of his white shirt damp with sweat. He otherwise wore simple workman’s attire: black braces and sturdy breeches tucked into mud-flecked boots.
“Poppy’s mutt is a damned menace. I try to fill in the holes as best I can, but the little blighter digs six for each one I patch.”
“Perhaps you should be digging a grave instead,” I said darkly. “Won’t there soon be a body to bury?”
His expression hardly changed, but I saw a tension in his jaw that hadn’t been there before. “So you’ve heard. I thought as much. Mrs. Haylam mentioned you suffered quite the fright last night. You’re taking it surprisingly well. First time I met aResident, I ran out of the house screaming like a banshee.”
Taking it well? I didn’t think I was. “So why do you stay?”
It was an earnest question. Chijioke had been nothing but kind toward me, and with his sweet, friendly eyes staring back at me, it was nigh impossible to imagine him participating in the crimes of Coldthistle. I felt edgy and crazed, as if I had wandered out of reality and through some veil, stepping into another world altogether, one where up was down and bad was good.
“It just fits for some,” he replied with a shrug of his huge shoulders. “I’ve no big speech for ye. I came and didn’t want to leave. I didn’t think the guests here could be as bad as Mr. Morningside said; then I met a few and had my mind changed right quick. All I know is, life isn’t fair for some of us, and he makes it fairer, mm?”
I shook my head, turning to look out across the fields beyond the fence. White blobs moved on the horizon, coming closer. Sheep. If there were sheep, then a shepherd couldn’t be far behind. Even so, who would believe my story? What country shepherd would hear the madness spilling out of my mouth and move a finger to help?
“I think it would be better if I left,” I said softly.After I lift a few choice shiny objects to sell. “If that’s even possible.”
Chijioke studied me, then turned and faced the fields. He dangled his forearms over the wooden beam and rested one foot on a lower slat. “Do you know your Bible?”
I snorted. “I’m Irish.”
Laughing, he said, “Then you know Leviticus. ‘And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.’ It’s that ‘surely’ in there that’s the rub. How many men really get what they deserve in this life? Particularly the nasty ones....”
“And what about Romans?” I asked. “‘Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.’”
He sighed, glancing down at the grass and then up at the clouds. “I should know better than to talk the Bible with an Irish girl,” he said. “But I’ll give you one more, also Romans: Leave room for the wrath of God, aye? Vengeance is mine, I will repay and all that?”
It was close enough. I nodded, convinced he had simply made my own point for me.
“I will repay,” he repeated in a whisper, squinting toward the blob of sheep. “But when, I ask you?When?”
“I suppose that’s not for us to know. It’s not your job to do God’s work for him, is it?” I replied slowly. We were both quiet for a moment, the wind picking up, making the grass of the fields shiver and sway, as if an immense hand had dragged fingers over a piece of green velvet. The sheep ambled closer, but they and their shepherd remained a long way off. Was it futile to wait for help?
“One of the girls at Pitney liked to steal my breakfast. She was older, bigger, had these giant teeth like a horse’s. When I told on her, she waited until nobody was looking and slammedmy head into a desk. I plotted for months to get back at her, and then I managed to pour ink in her tea one morning. Catherine’s teeth were black for a fortnight.”
Chijioke laughed heartily, slamming his hand down on the fence. It wobbled, looking about ready to splinter. “You see? How can doing the right thing be evil?”
“There has to be a better way,” I replied. “I only put ink in her tea.”
“Aye, and she only stole your breakfast now and then.” He paused, taking the shovel handle and running his thumb thoughtfully along the grain. “You should stay. If only for a wee while, just to see if you don’t change your mind.”
I heard soft footsteps rushing across the grass and glanced over my shoulder, watching Mary scurry across the pitted lawn toward us. She dodged the holes with tiny, endearing hops and a flail of the arms.
How can they all seem so normal?
“What if you get things wrong?” I asked, making a note to come back here sometime and check again for the shepherd. In fact, my window faced this side of the fence. I might be able to dash out if I was ever idle on that side of the house.
