Daughters of Silence (15 page)

Simon smiled at his wife, then reached out and took her hands in his. “Ready, my love?” he asked.

“I've been ready since the day our poor daughters died.”

The Fears walked in a circle around the bones, Angelica going one way, Simon the other. In the sputtering lamplight, his face contorted into a frightening
mask, all sharp edges and cruel lines. But Angelica looked more terrifying still, with her mad, mad eyes and her stark, unnatural beauty.

They stopped, took each other's hands, and began to chant. Jenna didn't recognize the words. But the eerie sound sent a frigid chill racing through her soul. Jenna knew instinctively that the words summoned up power. An evil power. One so strong and savage that the whole basement stank of it.

The lamp sputtered and died. Shadows claimed the room. Jenna thought she'd suffocate from the taste of evil they carried. Now she could only see the pale glimmer of Angelica's white dress. And the glistening flash of Simon's teeth as he smiled.

“Please,” Jenna whispered. “Help us. Someone help us.”

But she knew no one would hear her. No one would answer.

She and Hallie remained trapped at the Fears' mercy. And neither Simon nor Angelica knew the meaning of the word.

An eerie, blue-white fire burst into life above the Fears' clasped hands. It sent a cold, unearthly glow through the room.

Drawn to the light, the shadows seemed to feed from it, growing thicker and more menacing with every passing moment.

Jenna couldn't look. Her gaze dropped to the two piles of bones. A faint rattling sound punctuated the rhythm of the Fears' voices.

Jenna's legs felt weak. Her breath went out in a long sigh, and she sank to her knees on the cold floor.

The bones trembled. Shifted. Moved.

“No,” Jenna whispered “No!”

Simon let go of Angelica's hands. They both stepped back. The blue-white flame hung in midair. Burning. Burning. Tiny reflections came to life in the skulls' eye sockets. The rattling grew louder and louder, until it seemed to shake the room.

Jenna clapped both hands over her ears. Her cry of terror was lost in the deafening clatter of the bones.

Angelica and Simon's voices lifted in a shout as their chant grew in rhythm and power. Her voice had turned shrill, and Simon's had deepened to a croak. If Jenna hadn't been looking right at them, she wouldn't have thought two human beings were speaking.

All around, the shadows writhed and danced.

Without warning, the rattling stopped. The sudden silence shocked Jenna. Then she gasped, and her suddenly nerveless hands dropped away from her ears.

Slowly, eerily, the bones floated up off the floor.

J
enna watched in horror as the bones began to move.

Small bones slid together in perfect order, forming skeletal feet and hands and spinal column. Then the larger bones connected, one at a time.

Jenna didn't dare look any longer. She was too scared. Dropping her gaze to her left hand, she concentrated on making it move. If she could just get that bracelet off …

Simon and Angelica's chant grew louder. Louder. Their voices rang through the room, echoing off the stone walls. And it seemed as though a thousand other voices echoed with them.

Closing her eyes, Jenna focused her whole being into the task of making her hand move. One finger, even. She'd never worked harder in her life! Her pulse roared in her ears, making her dizzy.

She wouldn't give up. She'd never give up!

The rhythm of the chant changed. Her mind shrieking in alarm, Jenna looked up.

Simon and Angelica didn't look human anymore.

Their eyes had turned into pools of light. Ugly, blue-white light. It welled out, spilling along their cheeks and striking sparks in Angelica's wildly tossing hair.

The skeletons' heads turned toward them. The tiny spark still glowed in the depths of those yawning eye sockets. Those flames grew larger and brighter, leaping in rhythm to the chant. Rays speared from every opening in the skulls, until the bone itself almost looked transparent.

Slowly, the skeletons floated down to the floor. For a moment, they sank to their knees, as though they'd forgotten how to stand. Their skulls began to sag.

Angelica cried out. Simon flung his head back, his hand gripping that mysterious medallion that rested on his chest. Whatever it was, Jenna was sure it was the source of his power.

“Julia,” he intoned, his voice crashing like storm-waves upon the beach. “Hannah. Rise, my daughters.”

The skeletons rose. Then, with a creak that could be heard even through the chanting, those glowing skulls turned toward Jenna and Hallie.

Sudden silence fell in the room. Jenna's skin crawled with horror. The unearthly blue-white radiance spread and grew, until it reached Jenna.

Julia's skull turned toward the Fears once again. Slowly, horribly, she lifted one skeletal arm to point at Jenna.

“Yes, my darling,” Angelica crooned. “She is yours.”

The Fears began chanting again. And the skeletons took a step. Hesitant. Tottering. But they did it. Then they took another step. Another.

Jenna whimpered. This couldn't be happening, it couldn't! She could hear the clicking of the skeletons' foot bones on the stone floor. Closer they came. Closer still.

Hannah's skeleton walked straight to Hallie. And Julia came to Jenna. One skeletal hand reached out.

Julia pinned Jenna's head between her bony hands.

“Get away from me!” she shrieked, straining away from that inhuman touch.

But no matter how she twisted and bucked, those skeleton-hands kept their hold. The finger bones caught in her hair. Caught and held and pulled. Jenna struggled and fell over onto her side.

She could see Hallie now. The other girl didn't try to struggle with Hannah's skeleton. Jenna watched in horror as Hannah's skeleton laid its bony hands on Hallie's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

Jenna cried out. Hallie's eyes took on that blue-white glow. Beneath the skin of her chest, that same unearthly light pulsed from the heart pendant.

Hallie never moved. Never cried out, never even knew what was happening to her.

And then a strange feeling washed through Jenna. On her wrist, the crystal bracelet began to throb with the same blue-white glow.

It took every drop of her strength just to bend her head enough to look. But when she did, her whole body went numb with terror.

Her flesh glowed with a blue-white radiance. Beneath
the skin, she could see the outline of her bones. And Julia …

Jenna's breath went out in a wail of horror. A film of light covered Julia's skeleton. And within that unearthly glow, the image of her own face hung upon Julia's skull.

Her spirit.

Julia had claimed it.

The Fears had won.

“N
o!” Jenna shrieked. “No!”

Horribly, the skull's mouth opened. “Yesss. It's my turn … to live.”

Jenna could see the glowing image of her own mouth moving to shape the words Julia spoke. Coldness bloomed in the pit of her stomach. And darkness. Cold and dark. Death.

Julia laughed, her skeleton-teeth gleaming through Jenna's reflection. Then those glowing features shimmered and began to change. Another girl's face began to emerge.

“Ssssoon,” the skeleton mouthed. “I'll be alive soon. I can feel it.”

With all her strength, Jenna fought to take back her own body and soul. But the glowing face took on more form and substance every moment.

Then Julia's phantom-eyes glanced down. She let go
of Jenna's hand, instead clamping down on her arm, just above her wrist. Pulling it up with a jerk that made Jenna cry out in pain, Julia examined the bracelet.

“That … is
my
bracelet!” she cried. “My favorite bracelet. Give it back!”

With her free hand, Julia ripped the bracelet from Jenna's wrist.

And Jenna was free.

“Get away from me!” Jenna screamed, shoving the skeleton away with all her strength.

Julia staggered backward, bony arms flailing. Then she crashed right into Hannah, bringing her sister down with her. Both skeletons crashed to the floor.

Arms and legs broke away, ribs tore loose to clatter across the stone. Jenna stared in horror at a disjoined skeleton hand. It twitched and jerked, the finger bones scraping at the floor.

Both the skeletons had mingled. She could no longer tell which was which.

But she'd been given a chance to survive. One chance. And she wasn't going to throw it away.

That thought went through her in the first heartbeat. On the second heartbeat, Angelica screamed. The sound bounced from wall to wall until the room seemed full of it.

“Noooo!” she shrieked, “Hannah! Julia!”

Jenna raced to Hallie. Grabbing the other girl's shoulders, she shook her hard. “Hallie! Come on!”

But the heart pendant still glowed. And Hallie still stood frozen.

“Simon, she's getting away!” Angelica shrieked.

“We've got to go,” she panted, tugging frantically at Hallie's arm. “We've got to go
now!”

But the other girl didn't move. Jenna could see the Fears clearly now. Simon held onto the medallion on his chest. She could see now that it was a silver medallion on a long, fine chain.

Jenna could feel its power from across the room.

There, in Simon's hand, it beat like a heart.

“Run!” Jenna shrieked, terror surging through her. “Oh, run!”

Hallie had no will or power to move, no impulse to save herself. The locket pulsed with the same rhythm as Simon's medallion.

“How dare you ruin our spell!” Angelica cried.

The shadows coiled along Angelica's shoulders like smoky, evil snakes. Simon laid his free hand on Angelica's, joining their power.

Slowly, Angelica raised her hand.

And pointed at Jenna.

A dark form surged up from the floor.

“Rob!” she cried.

Rob's shriveled body hurled into Simon. For a moment, Simon teetered there, his arms spinning wildly. Then he crashed to the floor. Off balance, Angelica went down, too.

Whirling, Jenna raced for the stairs. She had to run right past Simon. He grabbed for her as she sped past, catching the hem of her skirt.

Jenna stumbled and fell to her knees. She stared into his pitch-black eyes and felt her breath drawn out of her body.

“Hah!” Simon laughed, reeling in her skirt with a powerful grip.

Caught by a sudden, powerful instinct, she snatched at the gold medallion. The chain broke. Simon let go
of her skirt as he tried to take the medallion back from her.

“That's mine!” he shouted.

“I'll come back for you, Hallie!” she called over her shoulder. “I'm going for help!”

Angelica screamed high and shrill, like a hunting hawk. Then Simon shouted, “Hallie, stop her!”

Hallie leaped forward. Faster than she'd ever moved before. Faster than Jenna had ever seen
anyone
move.

Jenna hadn't gone ten steps when she felt Hallie's hand close on the back of her dress. Without a word, Hallie started dragging her back to the Fears. Jenna struggled wildly.

And then Angelica laughed. Jenna heard her triumph, and madness. Jenna knew what to do now. Twisting around, she sank her nails into Hallie's chest—around the locket.

Gritting her teeth, she forced her nails into the skin.

Deeper. Deeper still.

Blood squirted up around her fingers. Jenna saw it run down Hallie's chest in scarlet streams. She felt revolted. But she knew she could not let go. She gritted her teeth and dug deeper.

A tiny line appeared between Hallie's brows. A spark flickered in her eyes. Jenna dug deeper, until she could feel the locket beneath her fingertips.

Blood coated her fingers, making it hard to grasp the locket. She wedged her fingers deeper.

“Now!” she panted.