Read Online Unwept by Laura Hickman Tracy Hickman - Free Book Online Page B

Besides, I have my heart set on wearing that hat you have on.” Jenny’s eyes danced with a mischievous light that made Ellis laugh.
    The young women pressed up the road as it rose up before them, climbing now almost directly up the slope of the large hill. They turned the corner onto High Street; the much wider main road ran along the base of the hill, descending gently toward the town to the south. The dying leaves from the trees cascaded down around the road in the gentle breeze.
    Suddenly Ellis stopped in the middle of the road.
    â€œEllis,” Jenny asked, “what is it?”
    The house was enormous, set back from the road and surrounded by large lawns that sloped around it down the hillside toward the harbor beyond. A wide porte cochere supported the northern side of the mansion while a rough stonework face and columns supported the steeply pitched gables of the roof. A round turret struck toward the sky on the corner of the home with the curve of a broader, squat turret beyond. There was a chilling aspect to the home as though someone had originally intended it to be charming, but somehow it had grown monstrously out of hand. It was four stories of curved glass windows, balconies and ostentation all striving for and forever failing in harmony. Worse, for Ellis, there was a familiarity to it like a nightmare just at the edge of wakeful thought and a lovely dream that had gone terribly wrong. She was both drawn to the place and repulsed by it at the same time.
    The thought that this should be familiar to her made her shudder.
    â€œThat’s the Norembega!” Jenny smiled, though perhaps not as brightly as before. “It is Merrick’s home. I think it turned out wonderfully; don’t you agree, Ellis?”
    Ellis drew in a deep breath.
    â€œMaybe we should call,” Jenny said, brightening at the prospect.
    Ellis shivered at the thought of approaching the house. “No, Jenny. You said our party today was to be a surprise. We wouldn’t want to spoil it, would we?”
    â€œNo.” Jenny hesitated. “I suppose not but—”
    Ellis did not wait for any discussion. She quickly continued down the road, with Jenny having to catch up.
    The truth was that Ellis had remembered something … something cold, dark and foul that was calling to her, whispering to her from underground. It remained just beyond memory and she could not decide if she wanted to recall it or not.
    Ellis barely heard Jenny’s prattle for some time. She duly noted the Three Sisters’ Inn on the west side of High Street between the Norembega and the northern edge of Gamin. The Disir sisters operated the inn. According to Jenny, Nurse Finny was the eldest of the sisters. Ellis had no desire to pay a call at the inn if her younger sisters were anything like Finny.
    â€œGamin should never look like that,” sighed Jenny.
    Ellis looked up. She had not realized that they had reached the town. High Street had turned on to Main, but it seemed that half of the town on the right side of the street was a charred ruin of partial walls, its bricks soot covered and its windows staring back at them from empty partial arches. In most places the burnt timbers and fallen roofs had been cleared away and there was even evidence of scaffolding going up and fresh lumber prepared to rebuild the lost buildings.
    Storefronts that were now nothing more than black gaping maws and boarded-up windows were at odds with the crisp, clean perfection of shops on the opposite side of the street. Beyond the central intersection of the town, next to a small park, was the ashen husk of a church. There was less of it remaining than the other ruins, but Ellis could see that the pulpit still stood in the charred remains. There was no evidence of rebuilding at the church. Three soldiers stood in the park next to it, just looking at it. One of the soldiers caught Ellis’s eye and tipped his hat to her.
    â€œDon’t