“No he won’t.”
Kate leapt to her feet, her distress growing. She pushed past Simon into the corridor. “Stay here and watch her. I’m going for something in my laboratory.”
“All right,” he said as her footsteps were lost in the growing noise of servants hustling around the house. Simon leaned against the open door. He felt a presence beside him and saw Nick yawning.
“When did you get back?” Nick asked.
“Just now. Where have you been?”
“I was asleep. It’s the middle of the night.”
“Actually, it’s well on toward noon.”
“Oh.” Nick shrugged, then saw the broken lock. He also attended the frantic voices coming from around the house with a look of confusion. “What’s all the tumult?”
“Long story, but the short version is we’re trying to get everyone out of the house before the werewolves appear on our doorstep.”
Nick rubbed his unshaven face, seemingly unperturbed. “So your attempt at stealth was a failure?”
“You could say that.”
“Why is the young Miss Anstruther under her bed?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” Simon knelt so he could see the shadowy outline of Imogen’s face close to the floor. “Miss Anstruther, you’re causing your sister a great deal of trouble.”
Silence.
“She wants to take you on a trip now that you’re feeling better.”
Silence.
“It would be generous of you if you cooperated with her.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I’m not allowed to leave, not until …”
“Not until what?”
Imogen closed her eyes tightly and shook her head.
“Simon!” Kate’s voice came from downstairs. It was a cry of alarm.
He leapt up and ran with Nick just behind him. As he spun around the bottom of the stair railing into the main foyer, he caught sight of Kate in the main hall, waving for him to follow. She was already running for the rear of the house. Soon they caught up and the trio pushed into the servants’ dining room, where a group of morose and terrified men and women stood around a table. As Kate approached, they all stepped back to reveal a bloody form on the table. It was a young boy.
The coachman, his face bloody and his clothes ripped, stood over the lad with tears flowing down his cheeks. “They came at us, miss. Two of them. I don’t know what they were. Some kind of beasts. They killed Thomas here as he was leading a team. They killed four of the horses, and the others bolted. They wrecked the coach. I couldn’t stop them. I’m sorry, miss.”
Simon took Kate by the shoulders and turned her away from the dead boy. “There’s no escape now, Kate, for any of us. You must get all the women and children into the safest place in the house. Imogen too, but keep her isolated from the rest.”
“Do we have time?” Kate asked.
“If they were ready to attack, they would be inside now. They’re waiting for something. Let’s take advantage.”
Nick started for a rear door. “You tend to things here, old boy. I’ll have a stroll around.”
“Right,” Simon replied. “Be careful.”
Several of the young maids began to cry and ask frantic questions. Mrs. Tolbert snapped her fingers once and gave a stern look, along with a comforting hand on one panicked girl’s arm. The crying quieted to sniffling.
Kate’s voice was firm but calm, “Mrs. Tolbert, take all the women and lock yourselves in the scullery until someone comes for you.”
Simon pulled a folded linen tablecloth from a shelf. He shook it out and draped it over the dead boy. Blood immediately began to seep through the cloth. “Now, load every weapon in the house. Every musket. Every pistol. Dole them out to any man capable of carrying. Swords as well, if you have them.”
Kate shook her head. “My people are no match for these creatures.”
“Likely none of us are. So we need every one of them, Kate. We need all the power we can muster. These things can die if we hit them hard enough.”
Hogarth said, “They’ll serve, miss. The older ones particularly have had some experience under your father. They’ll bolster the younger ones.”
Kate took a shuddering breath but nodded agreement.
Simon continued, “Lock every door and window. If there are shutters, seal them shut. If not, nail lumber over the windows. Main floor first, then upstairs.”
Kate turned to Hogarth. “Fetch Imogen out from under her bed and lock her in the wine cellar. And you stay with her.”
“Very good, miss.” The manservant pulled the coachman away from the bloody boy on the table and the two men departed quickly.
Simon led Kate from the room. “What do you have in your laboratory that might serve?”
“A few things, perhaps. I certainly haven’t spent much time designing weapons.”