Daughters of Silence (5 page)

“New Orleans!” Awe darkened Hallie's eyes. “I've always wanted to go there.”

Angelica sighed. “Ah, New Orleans was such a lovely place. But then we had to come here, and I thought this was a lovely place, too. I'd hoped we would be happy here, but then my girls …” Jenna saw her smile fade. Then she brightened. “Well, it
is
nice to have visitors for a change.”

Jenna heard a knock on the door. Simon rose and answered it. Jenna tried to catch sight of a maid. But when he opened the door, she saw only a wooden tea cart set with china and plates piled high with scrumptious cakes. The silver teapot gleamed and the starched crowns of the napkins stood like palace guards around the plates.

Simon wheeled the cart into the room and left it in front of Angelica. “Well, what have we here to offer our guests?” Angelica asked. “Anything look tempting to you, girls?”

Jenna's mouth watered as she smelled the delicious aroma of fresh scones. Angelica fixed them each cups of tea and plates of cake. Soon, she and Hallie eagerly sipped sweet tea and nibbled on the most delicious pastries they'd ever tasted.

Jenna tried to remember her manners and eat in a ladylike fashion. But when Angelica offered her seconds, she couldn't resist.

“You seem to like the scones,” Angelica observed.

“Yes, ma'am,” Jenna agreed.

“They're delicious,” Hallie added.

Angelica smiled. “I make them myself. I learned the trick from a Scottish maid I once had, years ago.” Her smile faded. “My daughters used to love them. I could never bake enough. Sometimes they even squabbled over the last few crumbs… .”

For a moment, Jenna thought she saw a glimmer of tears in the woman's eyes. She felt sorry for Angelica. Yes, she might seem a bit strange sometimes. But, after all, she'd lost both her daughters.

Simon leaned forward. “I understand that you're only visiting here, Jenna.”

“For the summer,” she agreed. “Hallie and I are best friends, and it's been hard for us to live so far apart.”

“They're as close as sisters,” Angelica told him.

“Ah,” he replied solemnly. “Like sisters.”

He and his wife shared a look and a smile. Then Angelica turned to Jenna.

“And how do
you
like Shadyside, Jenna?” she asked.

“I haven't seen much of it since I arrived last night,” Jenna replied.

Simon chuckled. “I heard you got quite a tour of the cemetery, however.”

Jenna felt her cheeks grow warm. “Well …”

“It's all right, my dear,” he assured her. “My wife and I know you were only curious, and that sheer
high-spiritedness lured you into our daughters' resting place. We have never begrudged a young person a bit of … high spirits.”

He and Angelica laughed. Jenna didn't understand the joke, but then, these were grownups.

“I wouldn't worry about making friends,” Simon told them, still chuckling. “You're both so pretty … I'm sure the young men will soon be flocking around begging for a moment of your time.”

Jenna studied them. Angelica didn't seem so strange anymore, and Simon no longer held that grim, forbidding look that had frightened her at first. She felt herself beginning to relax and enjoy herself. She felt surprised when Hallie set her plate aside and got up.

“We've got to go now,” Hallie announced. “My parents will be wondering where we are.”

“They don't know?” Simon asked.

Hallie's face turned scarlet. Jenna realized that Hallie was up to her old tricks. “Well …”

“Ah, so you didn't tell them you were coming to visit the strange, notorious Fears,” Angelica said.

Still blushing, Hallie ducked her head.

“You don't have to be embarrassed, my dear,” Simon assured her. “We're used to the things people say about us. We've even learned not to pay it any mind. I'm just glad you decided to come despite the rumors.”

He rose. “Still, we can't have you getting into trouble. So, if it's time to go, you shall.”

“First,” Angelica murmured as she rose from her seat. “I'd like to show you something.”

She glanced at Simon again, Jenna noticed. As if
silently requesting his permission, she felt. He nodded at her and she smiled.

“Come, girls,” Angelica ordered with a wave of her hand. “Follow me.”

The Fears led the girls down the dim hallway to the foyer, then up the curving stairway. At the top of the stairs, they turned down another dim, narrow corridor. Jenna felt an uneasy twinge in her stomach.

Finally, Angelica stopped and flung open a heavy oak door. Heavy curtains covered the windows, like the other rooms, Jenna noticed. But enough light remained for Jenna to see the room clearly. A bedroom, decorated all in blue. Angelica led them inside. Jenna paused at the four-poster, canopied bed, her gaze resting on a beautiful china doll that sat in a nest of frilly lace pillows. A silver comb and brush sat on the dresser. Colorful hair ribbons twined around the handle of the brush.

“Such a pretty room, don't you think?” Angelica asked.

“Oh, yes!” Hallie replied as her hand gently stroked a fancy dress that hung across the back of a chair.

This had to be one of their daughters' rooms, Jenna knew. One of their
dead
daughters. It looked to Jenna as if it had been kept exactly the way the girl had left it.

As if the Fears expected her to return at any minute.

Jenna gazed around curiously. She noticed a glass case full of dolls and moved toward it. Most of them looked like the china doll on the bed. Then Jenna saw a group on a lower shelf, a type of doll she'd never seen before. Made out of bits of rag and straw, the crude bodies looked twisted and distorted. One of
them looked different. Long silver pins protruded from its limbs. Jenna gritted her teeth and looked away. Yet, the bizarre sight drew her gaze back again.

She noticed that the pins had large, rounded ends. She looked closer and saw that the ends were actually carved images of tiny skulls. A large red stain marked each place the pins stabbed the doll's body. Pins had even been stabbed through the eyes.

The sight made Jenna shudder. With a hard knot in her stomach, she quickly turned away.

“Our dear Hannah loved to collect dolls,” Simon confided. “All types of dolls. She even made some herself. She was quite clever with her hands.”

“Yes, very clever,” Angelica repeated proudly.

“Those dolls on the bottom,” Jenna asked in a halting voice. “Did Hannah make those?”

“Why, yes,” Simon replied slowly. “When we lived down in New Orleans. For such a young person, she already knew a great deal about voo—”

“Doll-making,” Angelica cut in abruptly. Jenna noticed her exchange an intense glance with her husband. Then she looked at Jenna and smiled. “It's quite an art, you know.”

“Hallie, I'd like to show you something,” Angelica called. She strolled over to the dresser, where she opened a drawer and removed a blue velvet box. She snapped open the box and held it out to Hallie. Jenna spotted a heart-shaped gold locket within.

“This belonged to my daughter, Hannah,” Angelica explained as she held the necklace out to Hallie. The gold winked and shimmered in the dim light. “I'd like you to have it.”

“Oh, it's beautiful,” Hallie exclaimed. She quickly
slipped the gold chain over her head. “I love it! Thank you.”

“It looks lovely on you,” Angelica told her. “It should be worn by a young girl, not sitting forgotten in a drawer.”

“And now for Jenna,” Simon murmured.

He led them across the hall to another bedroom decorated all in rose. Pink rosebuds splashed across the wallpaper, and the quilted coverlet ranged in shades from palest blush to deep coral. Pottery bowls and vases, in all different shapes and sizes, covered the dresser.

Angelica leaned over and picked up a large, round bowl decorated with birds and flowers. “Julia was so artistic, too,” she explained, running one fingertip around the edge of the bowl. “She made many beautiful things, as you can see.”

“May I see it?” Hallie asked.

“Why, of course,” Angelica replied. She handed Hallie the bowl and began pointing out the details in each little bird and flower. From across the room Jenna heard Hallie's appreciative sighs.

Jenna glanced around Julia's room. Would she find another case of hideous dolls? Or something just as awful? In the far corner of the room, on a wooden pedestal, Jenna spotted a tall, domed birdcage. The pretty cage stood empty. Julia must have kept a pet bird, Jenna thought, and her parents felt too sentimental to remove the empty cage.

Jenna's gaze dropped to the bottom of the cage, where she saw a pile of small white bones.

“Julia was a nature lover,” Jenna heard Angelica murmur from somewhere right behind her.

Jenna turned and looked at her.

“She adored all kinds of creatures,” Angelica added emphatically. “Big or small. Pretty. Or homely. ‘All creatures under the sun have their purpose, Mother' she used to say. Remember, Simon?” Angelica asked.

“How very true, too,” Simon asserted. “Now, Jenna,” he announced. “We have something for you.”

He turned and opened a painted wooden box on the dresser. Lifting the lid, he slipped out a bracelet of delicate crystal beads. “Here you are, dear,” he said, holding it out. “This was Julia's favorite piece of jewelry.”

“I know she would be pleased to see it worn by a pretty young girl like you,” Angelica offered.

Jenna's skin crawled. She didn't want it. She didn't want to
touch
a dead girl's bracelet, let alone wear it. But she couldn't think of a way to refuse politely.

Slowly, reluctantly, she extended her hand.

“Thank you,” she muttered.

Simon laid the bracelet in her palm. Jenna started to put it away in her pocket.

“Oh, no, you must wear it,” Simon protested. “Here, let me put it on for you.”

Plucking the bracelet from her hand, he slipped it around her wrist and fastened the gold catch.

“It looks pretty on you, Jenna,” Hallie told her.

Jenna held her wrist up. The crystal beads caught the light, reflecting it in a rainbow glitter. She'd never seen such a pretty bracelet, she thought, turning her arm from side to side. The glass beads felt cool against her skin, but soon picked up the heat from her body.

Then the bracelet got warmer.

That's impossible, she thought. She glanced at
Hallie. The other girl peered into a mirror, admiring her new necklace. Jenna saw nothing but pleasure showing in her face.

The bracelet grew hotter.

The shimmering beads felt like a band of fire, dancing around her wrist. Jenna stared down at them, noticing a pulsing red light deep in the center of each crystal sphere. The color of a burning ember. She rubbed at her skin, expecting to see a red mark. Her skin looked totally normal, but it felt circled by blistering flames.

The fiery sensation lanced up her forearm. The intense heat spread across her shoulders and back.

Higher. Fiery fingers choking her neck. Hotter. Shooting into her skull. Jenna gripped the sides of her head and screamed.

“J
enna! What is it, dear?” Angelica grasped Jenna's arm and held her upright. “Do you feel faint?”

Jenna lifted her head and managed to focus on the older woman's face. Angelica's brow looked creased with concern. An odd expression glittered in her green eyes. Jenna opened her mouth to speak. But she could barely sound a few choked, unintelligible words.

“My dear girl, what on earth is the matter?” Angelica exclaimed. She pressed her cool palm to Jenna's burning cheek. “Why, she's dreadfully overheated,” she told Simon.

“She looks quite pale,” Simon observed.

Yet, with Angelica's hand still pressed to her cheek, Jenna suddenly felt the heat vanish. She let her breath out with a gasp. Her arms and legs felt as though
they'd turned to jelly, and she struggled to stand upright.

She couldn't believe this. She just couldn't believe it!

“I was burning,” she whispered, more to herself than to the others. “Skin, blood, bones. Burning.”

“Have you lost your wits?” Hallie demanded, staring at her with wide, surprised eyes. “You weren't burning. You were just standing there with your eyes popping out of your head.”

Jenna shook her head. It had felt so real, so frightening. Now, she felt normal again. What was happening to her?

“I … don't understand,” she whispered. She pulled away from Angelica's hold.

Simon and Angelica exchanged a look. “These rooms are so stuffy. You simply need some fresh air, my dear,” Simon suggested. “Perhaps a glass of water?”

“Yes, that's it,” Angelica agreed. “We should have thought to open the windows on such a warm day. How careless.”