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Authors: Gillian Shields
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roof of this great house. As I tossed and turned I heard the village clock strike three. I groaned and buried my head under my pillow. I couldn’t cope with any more problems. All I wanted to do was to go to sleep, and dream of Sebastian.
Fourteen
FROM THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF S EBASTIAN J AMES F AIRFAX
I hear the clock strike three. There is no rest for me this night.
They are looking for me. The women who were once my servants now pursue me with deadly hate. And you, my darling girl, they hate you too.
When I remember them, and my past dealings with them, my heart sickens. But these women, these Dark Sisters, whose hearts and minds I once controlled, have moved beyond my influence now. My powers have faded.
Even so, I must rise from this sickbed; I must venture out and try to warn you—to stop them—I must.
I can’t—
I can’t—
Oh, Evie, Evie, where are you? All I want is to hold you again, to protect you from what I have done to you. I would give anything to be able to walk and ride and run as I once did. Perhaps this is a punishment, this weakness, for my being so arrogant as not to realize my good fortune in the days of my strength.
My body is weak. My mind is fading. But my love is strong, even now.
I must tell you—I know what they want, those deadly women.
Oh, it looks so harmless, so innocent! A pretty trinket around a pretty throat, that is all. A simple necklace, to be admired and then forgotten.
How it burned me when I tried to touch it, the night you first showed it to me.
The pain seared my mind but opened my eyes to the truth of who you were and what your necklace was. Then I knew how Agnes had contrived to keep her greatest secret from me.
Oh, hide it, hide it from me! The Dark Sisters are not the only creatures who desire the Talisman. I also long for its silver tracings. I long for the depths of its crystal heart;I long for its powers that could set me free. Let no one see it. Let no one touch it. Keep it from them.
Keep it from me.
Hide it, Evie, hide it, before it is too late—
Fifteen
I t was getting late. The short winter day was coming to an end. I was climbing the marble stairs to the dorm, my legs aching after a long and weary game of lacrosse. I hated the stupid game, all mud and sweat and bruises, and it was always made worse by the sneers of Celeste and her cronies. Come on, Johnson, can’t you do better than that? Why are you so useless, Johnson? I wanted to lie down and close my eyes and sink into oblivion. The walls of the corridor seemed to swirl around me and the light from the lamps shattered into a hundred colors….
Stumbling forward, I opened the door of the dormitory. The window was banging and the thin drapes around the beds flapped like sails in the icy wind. I shut the window, then knelt on the seat and looked out over the frozen hills.The sun was dipping low and red in the clear winter sky, and the snow was stained crimson, as if the whole world were on fire.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Evie?” someone said behind me.
I turned and there he was, an angel in the shadows, with his long dark hair and his deep blue eyes, and that smile that was only for me.
“Sebastian!”
I flew across the room and his arms were waiting. He caught me close and pressed me to him and I knew that the nightmare was over, at last.
We clung to each other; then I broke away, torn between tears and laughter.
“I didn’t know where you were…. Oh, Sebastian, I was desperate to see you. Where have you been?” A hundred other questions jostled against one another in my mind, but I couldn’t stop smiling, because I was happier than I had ever been in my whole life.
“There’s something you need to know,” Sebastian said quietly, and the look in his eyes made me afraid. Now I saw how ill he looked, and how his clothes hung loose and crumpled on his lean frame.
“Sebastian—what’s wrong?”
“I’m running out of time.”
So this wasn’t the miracle I had been hoping
Fourteen
FROM THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF S EBASTIAN J AMES F AIRFAX
I hear the clock strike three. There is no rest for me this night.
They are looking for me. The women who were once my servants now pursue me with deadly hate. And you, my darling girl, they hate you too.
When I remember them, and my past dealings with them, my heart sickens. But these women, these Dark Sisters, whose hearts and minds I once controlled, have moved beyond my influence now. My powers have faded.
Even so, I must rise from this sickbed; I must venture out and try to warn you—to stop them—I must.
I can’t—
I can’t—
Oh, Evie, Evie, where are you? All I want is to hold you again, to protect you from what I have done to you. I would give anything to be able to walk and ride and run as I once did. Perhaps this is a punishment, this weakness, for my being so arrogant as not to realize my good fortune in the days of my strength.
My body is weak. My mind is fading. But my love is strong, even now.
I must tell you—I know what they want, those deadly women.
Oh, it looks so harmless, so innocent! A pretty trinket around a pretty throat, that is all. A simple necklace, to be admired and then forgotten.
How it burned me when I tried to touch it, the night you first showed it to me.
The pain seared my mind but opened my eyes to the truth of who you were and what your necklace was. Then I knew how Agnes had contrived to keep her greatest secret from me.
Oh, hide it, hide it from me! The Dark Sisters are not the only creatures who desire the Talisman. I also long for its silver tracings. I long for the depths of its crystal heart;I long for its powers that could set me free. Let no one see it. Let no one touch it. Keep it from them.
Keep it from me.
Hide it, Evie, hide it, before it is too late—
Fifteen
I t was getting late. The short winter day was coming to an end. I was climbing the marble stairs to the dorm, my legs aching after a long and weary game of lacrosse. I hated the stupid game, all mud and sweat and bruises, and it was always made worse by the sneers of Celeste and her cronies. Come on, Johnson, can’t you do better than that? Why are you so useless, Johnson? I wanted to lie down and close my eyes and sink into oblivion. The walls of the corridor seemed to swirl around me and the light from the lamps shattered into a hundred colors….
Stumbling forward, I opened the door of the dormitory. The window was banging and the thin drapes around the beds flapped like sails in the icy wind. I shut the window, then knelt on the seat and looked out over the frozen hills.The sun was dipping low and red in the clear winter sky, and the snow was stained crimson, as if the whole world were on fire.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Evie?” someone said behind me.
I turned and there he was, an angel in the shadows, with his long dark hair and his deep blue eyes, and that smile that was only for me.
“Sebastian!”
I flew across the room and his arms were waiting. He caught me close and pressed me to him and I knew that the nightmare was over, at last.
We clung to each other; then I broke away, torn between tears and laughter.
“I didn’t know where you were…. Oh, Sebastian, I was desperate to see you. Where have you been?” A hundred other questions jostled against one another in my mind, but I couldn’t stop smiling, because I was happier than I had ever been in my whole life.
“There’s something you need to know,” Sebastian said quietly, and the look in his eyes made me afraid. Now I saw how ill he looked, and how his clothes hung loose and crumpled on his lean frame.
“Sebastian—what’s wrong?”
“I’m running out of time.”
So this wasn’t the miracle I had been hoping
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