A Mischief in the Woodwork - By Harper Alexander Page 0,38

us yet,” she reminded me encouragingly.

“But they're out there. Just waiting for a whiff of vulnerability.”

Letta placed her hand on my forehead. “Rest, minda. If you are needed to sing, recovery should be your top priority.”

She left me, then, frustrated and alone on my cot in the small room that adjoined to the back of the kitchen. But it became clear she was right as weariness overtook me, creeping over me with the distinct feeling of bare feet being sucked deeper and deeper into the sludge of a swamp. Mud squelched through my toes. Murky water lapped at my chest, rose to my chin, steaming into my senses with tepid, rank, drugged power. My eyelids drifted shut again, turning my surroundings gray and lifeless as awareness dimmed. The last thing I saw as I fell asleep facing the kitchen doorway was a ghostly trace of cobwebs there – but really, it was impossible to say if they dwelt beyond the threshold or if they were nothing but a taunting mask infesting my very lashes.

*

I tossed and turned, in and out of fever, for another night. I could not have risen to sing if I'd wanted to. I was not aware as that next night came and passed, until I awoke again to the sunshine of another day.

I groaned. Coughed. Laid back to tame the pounding of my head. On top of the bodily havoc wreaked by my fever, I was stiff now from idleness. My body ached twice over.

I forced myself to sit up. The room spun a moment, but steadied as I cradled my head in my hands. I rubbed the cobwebs from my eyes, and then hoisted my head upright. With a deep, rattling breath, I pulled myself from the cot.

On my feet, I quivered. I was weak as a sapling. A colt on its legs for the first time. I grasped the wall for support.

Slowly, I made my way through the door, into that treacherous kitchen – which was suspiciously ordinary in its state – and through the other doorway. The house was quiet.

Creaking my way across the floor to the fireplace, I lowered myself on shaking legs to the hearth, resting a moment before reaching out to warm my chilled hands on the coals. Not a moment later, though, and their radiant warmth was too hot on my cheeks, flushing down my neck in a most strangling manner. Feeling ill, I drew myself dizzily away, recognizing the remnants of a fever in my system.

I made the painstaking journey to my regular pallet, where I retrieved Lady Sebastian's diary and took it back to the sitting room to read. I did not know if I would appreciate her accounts while in this state, but I had to do something.

As suspected, intake of her ill-natured stories only made me moody. They were repulsive to me today, rank and hopeless and undesirable in their strangeness. They were too much like fever dreams themselves.

I cast the diary aside, restless.

But when the others came in later, they found me sleeping, curled up in the old chair against the wall. They did not disturb me, but they gathered there and soon awoke me anyway. It was evening again, too soon, and the room was lit by a gentle fire and lantern light. Dinner was passing around.

Letta brought me some when she saw that I was awake. I ate what I could of the stew, but was unable to finish it.

And then Dashsund came in, purpose in his appearance. I hadn't noticed that he wasn't with us – but of course, he had to keep watch. With Tanen. Tanen, who in turn was also not here with us. The thought made me giddy. I drooped in my chair.

Dashsund's eyes went to Letta after taking me in. I wasn't much for being addressed. “She has to sing,” he said, and the room fell into a grim expectancy, waiting for him to voice the cause that had carried him. “We've spotted them.”

No one had to ask what 'them' referred to. Even I became more alert in my state of absence.

Letta took this in, and then nodded. Standing tall beside me, she turned to remove my bowl from my idle hands, and then helped me up. In the back of my mind, I knew the situation had a dire sense about it, and I fought to shake myself out of my drowse.

Letta lent her support out of the house and down the steps. We passed Tanen