Music Box (The Dollhouse Books, #4) (18 page)

Drawing out the letter, I pointed to the riddle at the bottom of the letter. “Tobias hid this letter really well—so well that Henry and the castle didn’t find it. I don’t know if this rhyme is important or not, but it’s all I have, and I need to find out.”

Molly puzzled over the riddle. “It sounds like a children’s poem. But you’re right—why would he write it down at the end of this letter? It’s a secret message that only Jessamine would know the answer to.”

A sudden light shone in Sophronia’s eyes. “You do realize what this riddle could tell us, don’t you?”

“Yes. At least, I had a small ray of hope that it could tell us, finally, where the book is,” I told her.

Aisha laced her fingers, bringing them up to rest against her mouth. “Cassie, don’t you remember how much Jessamine hated us, towards the end? She tried to kill us.”

“I don’t think she intended to kill us.” I bit my frozen lower lip. “If she did, she wouldn’t have taken you all with her when she left the dollhouse—she wouldn’t have tucked you all into the beds at Tobias’s house across the bay there. She was still trying to take care of you.”

Sophronia stared at me, considering my words. “I will come with you.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” I told her.

“I spent three years in the underground,” she said. “My family lost the first book of the
Speculum Nemus
when Tobias arranged for it to be stolen from us. My descendants guarded that book for centuries. I was raised to guard it with my life.” A small smile formed on her lips. “And you tell me you cannot ask me to come with you? Well, I must tell you, I am coming whether you wish it or not.”

“Cassie, what about your leg, and the antibiotics Ethan’s bringing for you?” Molly folded her arms against the cold.

“The castle is trying to find ways to break through the Order’s stronghold," I said. "They’re growing desperate and they’re throwing all their resources at breaking through. Any day could be the day. I planned to go to Devils Hole and return before Ethan gets back.”

Molly grasped my arm. “You can’t make any plans where Jessamine is concerned. You know that.”

I nodded. “I know.”

Her blue eyes grew distant. “I’m coming with you, too.”

Aisha stared at me. “You already know that you’re not going without me.”

The thin rays of the morning sun reached inside the tunnel and slanted across our shoulders. I shielded my eyes, staring out at the endless white.

––––––––

C
ASSIE

Endless winter had settled into every dark reach of the mountains. Molly, Sophronia, Aisha and I drew our coats in tighter around ourselves. I never thought I’d ever walk this road again, never thought I’d walk back into that forest. It was the road that all of us from the underground had taken, in one way or another.

Molly stared directly ahead—her thoughts impenetrable.

Sophronia took up a sturdy stick to help herself cross the uneven ground. “Wait, someone is watching us.”

“Are you sure?” I glanced over my shoulder, but saw no one.

“Yes,” she assured me. “I make it my business to notice everything. I always have. Whoever it is has hidden themselves beyond the trees to the right of us. They’re watching us now.”

Molly touched her finger to her mouth, deep in thought. “Well they must know by now that they’ve been seen. If they were a danger to us, I’d imagine they’d have made a move.”

“Perhaps,” said Sophronia. “But none of you have known much of this world since it became ice. People are starving. Some will eat whatever they can find—even if what they find proves to be human. My legs are not capable of running from cannibals, and none of you can run from a whole gang of them, especially if they have us surrounded.”

Nodding, Molly took a gun from her jacket and pointed it toward the right of her. “Show yourself! Or I’ll shoot!”

“I doubt anyone will show their faces. They can easily just run away.” Aisha squinted toward the trees.

“At least they’ll know we’re armed,” Molly said quietly. “Hopefully they’ll leave us alone.”

But a lanky youth moved out, hands in the air.

“Trust no one, even someone who surrenders,” Sophronia whispered.

The boy stepped toward us, pushing his thick hood back from his face.

“Ben Paisley,” said Aisha in shock.

I remembered the pale, awkward boy from school—the boy who tried to impress Lacey by jumping in the freezing water of Lady’s Well.

“Ben,” I called to him, “what are you doing here?”

He gazed at us with round eyes that were reddened and watering from the cold. “God, it’s you—and Aisha! Where were you both all that time?”

I stared back, not understanding. Until I remembered. The girls who disappeared in this world—my own world—were never found. Jessamine had taken them through the shadow of the empress to the house in Miami. The world had frozen over with the dollhouse undiscovered. It was only on the second earth that the girls and Ethan had been rescued—and that second world had found out about the dollhouse.

“We can’t explain now, Ben,” I said. “Just please don’t tell anyone you saw us.”

He whistled. “If I did, people would call me crazy, just like the kids at school used to do. Not that there’s anyone much left to tell. But dammit, I’m seeing you guys right here in front of me. You’re here and you’re alive.”

Aisha’s face tightened. “What do you mean,
there’s not anyone much left
?”

He shook his head numbly. “Everyone’s gone from the houses. They’re all gone. When the big freeze came, everyone still alive headed for the river. The army set up camps there for the people. But once the stocks of fish in the river were gone, people starved and things went bad after that.”

My heart stilled at hearing his description of the big freeze.

Ben was different than he had been at school. Back then, he would have struggled to say two words to us. Whatever he’d been through in the ice world had taken the boy right out of him. I didn’t want to know any more, right now. I didn’t want to know what my mother might have been through in her last days here.

Aisha closed her eyes for a moment, as though she were drawing from deep within herself. “Have you seen my parents?”

“Maybe it’s best not to ask too much, all at once....” Ben’s voice trailed off.

“That means my parents are dead, doesn’t it?” Aisha demanded.

Ben struggled to give her an answer. He thrust his hands deep into his pockets. “Your brother’s here.”

Aisha gasped. “Raif’s here?”

“Yeah. I can take you to him. We’ve been hiding out together for a few months now—kind of pooling resources. Guess you think that’s strange.” His mouth twitched wryly. “Raif and I didn’t get along after you disappeared. Being best friends with Ethan didn’t exactly endear me to him. But when the big freeze came, and everyone else moved on—both me and Raif had reasons to stay. Raif didn’t want to leave the place where you went missing. And I always thought that one day, I’d find out the truth of what’s really out there in the forest.”

I remembered the twins from school, Caitlin and Breanna, telling me about the nine-year-old Ben seeing giant monsters in the woods the night he and his class went camping at Devils Hole. I knew now those monsters were real.

Ben eyed us with incredulity. “What is it about this forest? Things you don’t expect just seem to happen here. And then you all just turn up, out of the blue.”

“What kind of things have been happening here?” asked Molly.

He shrugged his shoulders nervously. “How about you lot tell me where you’re going first? I mean, there’s nothing in there. Not even any animals—all the ones dead and frozen on the ground have been taken away and eaten months ago.” He pressed his thin lips together grimly. “There’s only one person alive in there—a crazy dude who lives in that weird old house.”

“The house is still standing?” I breathed.

“Yeah—it’s the house they reported in the news when Aisha went missing. There’s a huge stock of tin cans in there. No one else knows about the stash. I can steal you girls some.”

“Ben, we don’t want the food, but can you help us find the house?” I asked. “The snow has covered up a lot of the tracks.”

He chewed his lip and nodded. “Yep. If that’s what you want.” He paused. “Just don’t go shooting anyone you might see along the way. Is it a deal?”

Molly shoved the gun back into her pocket. “Sorry. Should have put this thing away.”

“But didn’t you say there was no one here in the forest—except for the man?” said Sophronia, her voice tinged with suspicion. “Why did you ask us not to shoot anyone?”

Ben exhaled a sharp breath of white air. “There’s a girl. I’m trying to find her.”

“A girl?” Molly frowned at him.

He lowered his blonde eyelashes. “Yeah... Lacey.”

“Ben,” I said. “You mean Lacey is in the woods somewhere?”

Ben nodded awkwardly. “You won’t believe me, but I know it was her. I saw her—not just once. But she didn’t see me.” A flicker of a frown crossed his forehead. “She looked strange—like dressed in really odd clothing.”

Sophronia and I exchanged glances.

He caught the glance and shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking. You think I imagine things. Why not, huh? Everyone else does.”

“Which way did she go?” I said quickly.

“There’s the thing. I saw her in one place and tried to track her. Then I saw her somewhere else—somewhere she couldn’t have got—unless she can bloody fly. And she was wearing different clothes.”

Molly placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Whatever you’ve seen in the forest, just know that we believe you.”

He stared around at us as we nodded at him, his eyes opening a fraction wider. “Well, you people are the first to ever say that.”

“But we need to go now,” I urged. “Will you help us?”

“Yeah, I’ll help you. And no questions asked.” Pulling his hood back over his head, he started walking.

“Wait.” Aisha held her hands to her head. “Where’s Raif? I’d like to see him if I can.” Her eyelashes drifted down. “In case... in case I don’t make it out of where we’re headed.”

“Why wouldn’t you make it out?” Ben squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Oh, yeah, that’s right—I’m not supposed to ask questions. But don’t worry, you can meet up with him on the way.”

We trudged on through the thick snow. Ben guided us away from what he said were buried rivers, telling us that the ice was too thin over those and we’d fall through into freezing water. My legs began aching—walking up a mountain in snow took everything I had. And it was twice as hard on Sophronia. Ben put his arm around her and helped her walk after she stumbled and almost fell.

Ben stopped suddenly and turned, surveying the forest behind us. “I heard something.”

“Sure?” Molly scanned the woods.

“Yeah,” he said.

Molly and Sophronia pulled their pistols out. We’d only been able to take two guns from the museum stores—we’d gone back for supplies, food and weapons, but Mr. Calhoun had dogged our every step. Sophronia had only just managed to slip two guns, knives and some ammunition out of the weapons cache. Molly and Sophronia were the best shots, so it had made sense for them to carry the pistols.

Aisha pointed to a patch of orange, just visible behind a distant tree. “There!”

“Whoever that is, they’re small,” said Ben. “Sometimes, they send out kids as scouts—knowing few people are going to shoot a kid.”

"Who are you talking about?" asked Aisha.

"Cannibals," said Ben in a dead voice. "We call them the Eaters."

“So, the Eaters could know we’re here?” Aisha took in a shuddering breath.

Figures appeared from the dark forest line.

“We better go.” Ben pulled a large knife from the back pocket of his jeans.

A thin, high scream shattered the icy air. A child’s scream. A girl of five or six years of age ran out from the forest toward us. Two people who looked like a teenage boy and girl ran and grabbed her. They pushed and pulled her in the opposite direction. A group of five or six adults moved behind them.

“It’s probably a trick,” said Ben. “They’re hoping we’ll follow them.”

The small girl wrestled with her captors. “Missy! Calliope!”

My back froze. “It’s Frances!”

“You know her?” Ben turned to us with desperation in his eyes. “There’s a lot of them—and there could be more.”

Molly started toward Frances, without speaking a word.

"She must have followed us through the refraction," breathed Sophronia.

“Stay here!” I cried to Sophronia, reaching for the knife inside my jacket.

Ben, Aisha and I ran after Molly.

Molly raised her gun as she raced toward Frances. “Hand her over!”

The teenagers that held Frances tilted their chins defiantly. The adults—three men and a woman stood with knives in their fists. I expected to see cruelty in their expressions, but they stared back at us with a dull desperation.

“She’s ours,” said the girl holding Frances. “We found her.”

“She doesn’t belong with you.” Ben held out his knife,

The woman shook her head. “We’ve seen you around here before—but not them.” She glanced around at all of us. “New faces means there’s a stash of food around here somewhere. You girls must have been holed up here with a crapload of supplies. And you’re going to take us to it.”

The men stared at us with sharp interest in their eyes.

“We’re not from here,” Molly told them. “Now give us Frances and we’ll let you go.”

A man with gaunt cheeks and hollow eyes took a step in Molly's direction, a large knife in his hand. “You don’t got bullets. No one here’s got bullets. ’Cept maybe that cop we keep seeing who still thinks he’s on the beat. And this one odd old guy who looks a hundred years old who wanders around out here. There’s all kinds of weird ones out in the forest.”

“Don’t come closer,” Molly warned him.

“Why don’t you just give up now?” he said. “Make it easier on yourself. We don’t like what we do, but what else can we do? It’s the end of the world.” He ran at her.

Taking aim, Molly shot at his legs. He fell to the ground with a howling yell, grabbing his thigh.