Nightfall Gardens (12 page)

“I told you, silly girl, put one drop in his ale and he won't be able to resist you,” a voice croaked like a wheezing accordion from inside.

“Raga, it's Cassandra,” the green girl said.

“Eh? Why didn't you say so, love? There's nasty wolves and other naughties lurking in the woods these days. Not safe. Not safe at all.” The door cracked open and Lily stared into the most wart-laden face she'd ever seen. A milky caul covered one of the witch's eyes, which swam pale blue behind the film. Raga was hunched over with age as though she were collapsing in on herself. She used a gnarled piece of oak as a cane and banged it on the floor with each step as she crossed her chamber. As Cassandra had warned, the most disconcerting thing was that the old woman's head and neck were facing the wrong direction on her body. Raga looked at them from over her shoulder blades as her body walked away. Lily blinked and tried not to stare.

“Fungus tea?” Raga asked. Her hands were reaching for a kettle over the fireplace while her head faced them.

“No, thanks,” Cassandra said.

“To what do I owe this great pleasure? It's not every day the Lady of the Manor visits my humble abode.” Raga cackled through the broken stumps of her teeth.

“We come seeking help,” Cassandra said.

“Of course you do. That's the only reason people come here,” Raga said sadly. “Before we get down to business, what kind of sweet treats did you bring your dear auntie?”

“Berries from the camouflage bush,” Cassandra said.

Raga licked her lips and a chain of drool formed on her whiskered chin. “Oh, delicious. You'll have to tell me where that bush is sometime. You know they’re my favorite. Now come and feed your dear auntie.”

Cassandra looked at Lily with helplessness in her eyes. “You'll have to do it. It's not safe for me.”

“Why?” Lily asked, shuddering at the drooling crone in front of her.

“I can't — . Please, just do it and I'll explain later,” she said. Cassandra shoved the handkerchief into Lily's hands careful not to make contact with her.

Lily unfolded the handkerchief and the red berries glowed in the firelight.

“Oh goody, goody,” Raga said. She stepped backwards towards Lily and gave the floorboards a bang with her walking stick. “You wouldn't believe how hard it is to feed yourself this way.”

“Do you have a spoon?” Lily asked.

“What for?” Raga said suspiciously.

“To feed you the berries,” she responded.

“What's wrong with your fingers?” Raga said.

“Nothing.”

“Then don't be shy,” the old crone said. “All your answers will come after I eat.”

Lily tried not to think of the grunting and slurping sounds as she fed the witch the berries. Instead, she thought of Paris and a mysterious dark-haired boy who was the best actor (besides herself) of the stage and what life might be like if she ever escaped Nightfall Gardens. When she was finished, the ancient witch sat on a stool, so that while her face was looking straight at the girls, her hands were warming themselves at the fireplace behind her.

“My compliments to the chef,” Raga wheezed. Her dry lips were red from the berry juice. “Now, what is it you seek?”

Lily pulled Abigail's diary from her satchel and showed it to the crone. Raga's good eye flickered and followed the pages as Lily turned them. “We're trying to figure out what kind of magic my aunt used to guard this book.”

“Powerful magic. Powerful magic indeed,” the witch's tongue darted out. “But one that you hold the key to.”

“What do I have to do?” Lily asked.

Raga walked backwards to a table covered in books, an hourglass, the skeleton of a cat and other odds and ends. She looked through the items until she found what she was looking for and then walked backwards until she turned around and handed a yellow claw to Lily.

“Gorgan claw,” Raga said. “There are only three of those on the market. You wouldn't believe what I had to trade for it.”

“What’s it for?”

“This book will only reveal its secrets to a Blackwood,” the witch said. “In order for it to do that, you have to spill your blood on it.”

“Blood?” Lily felt as though she were going to faint.

“Use the Gorgon claw when the red moon is at its highest. Cut your palm and hold it over the pages. All will be revealed then.”

Cassandra was looking out the window at the fog covering the glass. “We should go soon, before it gets too dark, or we won't be able to find our way.”

“Is there any thing else I need to know?” Lily asked.

Raga cackled. “There are many things you need to know. Darkness is coming to
Nightfall Gardens. Even now, Eldritch is free and the walls of the Gardens grow weaker with each minute. Woe to the world if they should fall. What Prometheus has bound is coming undone. The last of days is upon us.”

“That doesn't sound very uplifting,” Cassandra said sarcastically.

“You'll joke no more when darkness fills the world,” Raga said. Her one good eye narrowed. “Now go. You'll get no more from Raga today, except this.” The crone looked straight at Lily. “Beware of those who wish you well. They mean no good.”

“What does that mean?” Lily asked.

The witch teetered and cackled to herself. “Don't wait so long before you visit your dear auntie,” the witch said to Cassandra. She turned away so that her backside could be warmed by the fire and they were left staring at her stringy gray hair.

The mist swirled thicker outside and the sky was murkier. They found their way to the covered passage near the
Shadow Garden and followed the tunnel back to Nightfall Manor. No sooner had the bookshelf swung open and they tumbled into Lily's room than Polly entered.

“I've been looking all over for you, I have,” Polly said excitedly. The maid's skin oozed extra white in the light and milky tears spilled down puffy cheeks. If the grub had eyebrows she would have raised them at the two disheveled girls in front of her. “I won't ask what you've been up to. There's no time.” Her rubbery lips quivered and fresh tears squeezed from her blank eyes. She wiped her face with her uniform and the sleeve came away wet and glistening.

“What's wrong?” Lily asked. She'd never seen the housekeeper so distraught.

“It's your Grandmother Deiva. She's taken a turn for the worst and is asking for you,” Polly said sobbing anew.

“I have to go,” Lily said to Cassandra. “I'll talk with you tomorrow.”

The walk to her grandmother's room was the longest of her life. Lily could tell by the way Polly was crying that her grandmother didn't have much longer to live.
'I barely know her,'
Lily thought, imagining what Deiva might have been like before her husband had disappeared into the mist and the gilirot ate her away. She shuddered at the heavy burden that would fall upon her shoulders as the last of the Blackwood women.

Deiva was in worse shape then Lily thought she would be. Her grandmother was propped up with pillows on a gigantic canopied bed with carved lion's feet. The black veil covered the last remnants of her ravaged face. Raspy, phlegm-filled breathing made the veil flutter. Her bony hands were clasped together on top of the blankets. The room was fetid with the smell of unwashed skin and rotting meat. It was the first time Lily had seen her grandmother away from the sitting room where she waited for her husband to return. Ozy poured water from a carafe into a glass. His jacket was off and she could see the remnants of the bandages hanging in strips from his mummified body. “You must drink this,” he said to Deiva. “You're burning alive.”

Her grandmother waved him away. “I don't want any. I don't see what good a glass of water is going to do in my journey to the other side.”

“You mustn't talk that way,” Ozy said, a plume of dust coming from his mouth.

“Why? If you knew how I feel, you wouldn't carry such pity in your eyes. It'll be a relief to leave this body. I'll be reunited with Charles once more. Now where's my granddaughter?”

Lily stepped forward. “Right here, grandmother.”

“There you are. I'm sorry to tell you this, but soon your life will be more pain than pleasure. Now is the time to leave your childhood behind and resign yourself to life as mistress of Nightfall Gardens.” Deiva was overtaken by a hacking cough that went on for so long Lily was surprised to hear her speak when it was finished. “Don't — have — much — time,” her grandmother said. “Everyone out but my dear granddaughter.” Deiva shook her hand in exasperation at the servants.

“We'll be right outside the door,” Polly said.

“With your ear pressed against it, no doubt,” Deiva sniped.

When the servants were gone, her grandmother gestured to the bed. “Come sit next to me. It's a tragedy my sons can't be with me at this time. Still, I'm no longer surprised by the nasty bag of tricks life has in store.”

“I can call for Jonquil and my brother,” Lily said, taking her hands. She expected them to be cold but they burned with the last moments of her grandmother's life.

“I won't be seeing my poor lovesick son today. He was poisoned by the Eldritch. It's only a matter of time until he follows me into the clearing,” Deiva coughed again and it sounded as though her lungs were about to break loose from her body. “I wish I'd been able to see your father. Thomas was the sweet one. Tell him everything I did was to protect the family and keep the world from sliding into chaos.”

Lily nodded at her. “I will.”

“Steel yourself,” her grandmother said. “Soon you'll be mistress of
Nightfall Gardens. As the last female Blackwood, the Gardens will rise up to try to kill you. You must be on your guard at all times. I wish I'd been able to teach you more, but it's only in the final moments of my life that I see clearly once more.”

Her grandmother pointed to a gold-inlaid jewelry box on a dresser on the other side of the room. “Bring that to me.” Lily handed it to her grandmother, and Deiva opened the box and dug around until she found what she was looking for: a thin silver chain with a purple amethyst hanging from it.

“Come here,” her grandmother said. With shaking hands, she clasped the chain around Lily's neck.

“What is it?” Lily asked.

“They say it belonged to Pandora herself and that it holds great power. I never found it more than an ugly purple stone, but perhaps you'll have more luck with it.”

Her grandmother coughed again so loudly that Lily was surprised when Deiva drew another breath and continued. “Now call Polly and Ozy back, they’ve been faithful servants through many dark times.”

The door opened as if the two had been waiting to enter. Polly slid across the floor, leaving snail tracks in her wake, while Ozy staggered woodenly with his arms in front of him. His bandages hung in shreds from his arms.

“Oh, don’t talk that way. You mustn’t talk that way, my lady. You’ll be fit as a bogrum in no time.” The maid threw her arms around Deiva and they squelched against her.

“Now is not the time for lies, Polly. If one is ever to be truthful, it should be at the moment that they stare into the abyss. I’ll be fine, love. I need you and Ozy to promise me one thing.”

“Name it and it shall be done,” Ozy said through a dusty cloud.

“Take care of my grandchildren as if they were your own,” she said.

The mummy and snail nodded their heads. Tears grooved the parchment of Ozy’s face and oozed down Polly’s cheeks.

As the end of night approached in Nightfall Gardens, Deiva slipped away for good. The blood red moon was filtering through the windows when Deiva sat up and gave a great cry. Her veil slid off for an instant and Lily saw the grisly remains of her grandmother’s face. She called out in great pain. “Charles! I see you! I’m coming!” With that, she flung herself back violently on the bed and was dead.

“She’s gone, my lady is gone,” Polly wailed, covering her face with her hands.

All was quiet and then a thrum started deep within the floors and walls of the house. The vibrating grew in power until it felt as if all of Nightfall Manor was coming undone. A shrieking came from everywhere at once, growing louder and louder until Lily jammed her hands over her ears to block the sound that threatened to burst her eardrums. Cracks formed in the walls and in the ceiling.

Hunks of plaster smashed to the floor. Lily grabbed a table to keep from losing her balance, while Polly suctioned herself to the floor. Ozy reached for a chair but lost his footing and fell; his body broke in two as it struck the ground. A great cloud of dust and dozens of tiny sparrows came out of his insides and circled the room. Deiva’s bed rose three feet off the floor and smashed down, breaking the frame and tossing Deiva’s body in the air like a rag doll. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the house stopped shaking and the noise quieted.

Lily stood on shaky feet, waiting for the noise that might start again at any second. “What was
that
?” She asked.

Polly kneeled in front of her and Ozy pulled his top half up so that he was facing Lily. “The house was telling us that the old Mistress has died and a new has taken her place. All hail the new queen of Nightfall Manor.”

“All hail,” Ozy said. The mummy grabbed for his legs, which were crawling away across the floor.