A Cold Legacy

She took the blade with as much dread as if she were handling one of Hensley’s pet rats. Her face twisted in anguish.

 

“It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I was a fool to unchain him, but he was so convincing, and he looked just like Edward. I realized too late that he’d tricked me. I had a knife—not so different from this one. I was going to slice Edward’s throat so that Elizabeth would bring him back cured, but I couldn’t do it.”

 

I squeezed her hand through the wall. “Be thankful, Lucy. Killing easily is not a trait one should ever desire. Besides, he would have gotten free one way or another. This confrontation was inevitable.”

 

She studied her reflection in the gleaming knife blade. “If I get another chance, I won’t make the same mistake again.”

 

Dread filled me. I didn’t want to leave her in that big empty kitchen, when the Beast might return at any moment. And yet Montgomery couldn’t hold him back forever.

 

“Just remember, no matter what he looks like, it isn’t Edward anymore.” I gave her hand one more squeeze, then closed the panel, plunging my world back into darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

TWENTY

 

 

MOVING THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAYS was starting to feel like second nature. I could see why Hensley liked them. Once I learned to navigate the jagged nails and the uneven stairs, they felt so removed from the rest of the world that anything seemed possible.

 

I reached the trapdoor to the chapel and knocked out a quick melody I knew Balthazar would recognize: “Winter’s Tale,” the song my mother used to sing. Sure enough, the door swung open and his wonderfully ugly face looked back at me.

 

“We have to move fast.” I pulled out the basket of weapons and handed them out to the staff. For the littlest girls, scalpels—the small blades would make them feel safe, but they wouldn’t hurt themselves accidentally. For McKenna and Elizabeth, the largest of the surgical knives. Elizabeth took one look at hers and shook her head, reaching in the basket instead for a heavy metal clamp.

 

“I prefer my weapons blunt and powerful,” she said.

 

“Did you find Miss Lucy?” Balthazar asked, folding his lips in concern.

 

“She’s in the kitchen. I’ve instructed her where to hide once things get dangerous. Now, I’m going to lead you all to an outside door, where you can make it to the barn. Balthazar, I want you to take the rear, just in case . . .” I paused, looking at the impossibly narrow opening of the passageway. He’d never fit. “Well, dash it all. You’ll have to stay here. Montgomery or I will come to unlock the cellar door as soon as we can.”

 

He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t like it, miss. You and Montgomery up there on your own against that creature.”

 

I gave him a smile, trying to look brave, but something about Balthazar always crumbled the walls around my heart. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I learned a thing or two on the island. I can sneak around this manor without the Beast hearing a single peep. We’ll see you soon.”

 

I crawled through first, with Moira behind me, and the younger girls behind her, and Elizabeth and McKenna at the end.

 

“Follow my path exactly,” I said to the girls. “Don’t touch the walls, if you can avoid them—there are loose nails. And don’t veer off to the sides—there are some tunnels that plunge down into nothing.” In the near darkness, I could make out their eyes, wide and frightened. “Let’s go,” I said.

 

We crawled as quickly as the younger girls could. My heart pounded in fear over what might be happening outside: if the Beast had discovered Montgomery, or worse, had already come back inside. What would he do if he discovered the chapel empty save Balthazar? Could Balthazar defeat him alone?

 

I touched my dress pocket, where the silver pistol dragged against the ground. If I got the chance to take a shot, I couldn’t afford to miss.

 

The line of women continued through the walls, down a precarious ladder, and into the sewer system, where we were finally able to stand. Light winked around the corners of a square grate that I kicked open with Elizabeth’s help. Fresh air poured in. It was freezing outside, but after being trapped in the frigid cellar, the touch of sunlight was heavenly.

 

I climbed through the grate, jumping down on the other side. I scanned the southern gardens and moors beyond but saw no movement. Wherever Montgomery had led the Beast, it seemed to have worked.

 

“All right,” I said. “Pass the girls to me, Elizabeth.”

 

They crawled through, one at a time, dusting off their clothes.

 

“We can take it from here,” Elizabeth said. “Do what you must, but be careful.”

 

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