Midnight's Song (29 page)

“We shall meet again, Elissa
Devereaux!”

The way he said it made my heart jump.
I met with Wren in the middle of the maze and she immediately
grabbed my face. I had expected a lecture or scolding, but I was
instead lavished with a hug. This was a vaguely familiar feeling,
one much like something I would have expected out of my own mother.
It seemed that she was nearly about cry over me in the utter relief
she felt from seeing that I was okay. Perhaps Wren was more like
her than I once thought.

“Elissa, I am so sorry,” she cried. “I
have been so worried about you. Stella will be punished for this, I
promise! That girl is better off with her backside plastered over
the Magistrate’s fireplace.”

At first I couldn’t understand what
she was fussing about. The whole encounter with Rhys had caused me
to be filled with so many other feelings that I had completely
forgotten about Stella. It ended up being short-lived, as being
here with Wren caused me to remember just enough to make me spiral
back into shock.

“You’re not going to make me go back,
are you?” I asked her meekly.

“Of course not! As far as
I’m concerned, the party is officially over. Though, we mustn’t
worry about these things while we’re out here. There’s a chill in
the air. Let’s get you back inside before you freeze to
death.”

She put an arm around my
shoulders and took me back into the manor through the servants’
entrance. Word spread extremely fast in this part of the house.
Before I walked with Wren up the back stairs, Haley King stopped
us. She came up to me with a few of her friends and placed a soft
grey blanket on my shoulders.

“It’s awful cold out.” She delicately
told me. “It isn’t much, but it should keep ya from gettin’ chills
t’night.”

I lightly smiled at her
and nodded my head. In turn, she respectfully curtsied and bowed
her head. Everyone did. They saw me coming into their quarters that
night as one of their own. They respectfully quieted, treating me
as someone who had just survived a battle in war; curtsying as if
they were parting to make a path for a forgotten queen. Every day
they endured being ordered around and humiliated in worse ways than
I had been. I was one of them. Two people at once, I was the only
Devereaux who could understand their pain.

“Come, Elissa. I will help you get
ready for bed tonight if you like,” Wren told me as she took my
hand and led me through the dark servants’ corridor.

I supposed that must
have meant that Emily was still gone. She took me back into my room
and gently offered to help me into the clothes that had been
tenderly laid on my bed. For once, though – I decided that it was
time to stop being helpless. I was a 10 at heart, not a 3. No
matter what number I was, now more than ever I could see that no
matter what my status was, I was a human being. And all human
beings are wonderfully yet somehow uniquely, equally the
same.

“You know what? I think that this time
I’d rather do it myself.”

Wren respectfully left me to it, and I
placed the set of pajamas in my hands. They were new, I realized,
and attached to the satin robe on top of the gown was a small
note.

“
Happy Birthday,”
it read in neat,
black ink. “
Love,
Grandmamma.”

It gave me just a tiny bit of hopeful
happiness to see that my day hadn’t been completely destroyed. I
still had the (sometimes unconventional) love of the people around
me. I quickly slipped the nightgown over my head and tied the robe
over my body. Wren knocked on the door and I quickly ushered her
in. She immediately came and sat on the foot of my bed.

“I realize I haven’t quite been there
when you’ve needed it, Elissa. Believe me; I loved your mother too.
Growing up I always looked up to her. I know I’ll never be able to
take her place…but I’m here now. I’m here to stay.”

I quietly nodded and
mouthed a thank you, and she began to gently take a comb and brush
the curls out of my hair as I sat next to her. Though, now I
couldn’t stop looking toward the balcony. I was thinking of Rhys,
unable to wipe any part of him from my mind.

“What are you looking over there for?”
Wren suddenly asked.

I leaned against the
balcony’s marble railings. I still questioned what could of have
been real and what could have been fantasy – but within the vast
depths of my being I already knew the truth. The things that
confused me about this were sure to come to light soon. That didn’t
mean that the stubborn part of me wasn’t going to try denying
it.

“I can’t help but feel like…I’m
looking for something. But, every time I realize it I end up
straying. It’s like every time I try to look – I end up being sent
back further away from where I even started in the first
place.”

Though she didn’t quite
understand them, she still sensed that there was something more to
them than anyone could see. She softly laid her hand on my
shoulder, and for a moment I was reminded of my mother. In the next
moment Wren caught sight of my pearl-less neck.

“Elissa, where are your
pearls?”

I stopped, my heart
sinking in my chest. For a few moments, I was frantic. I was
quickly reminded of the destruction that my actions had caused.
They were gone, destroyed beyond repair and lost beyond all
retrieval. But, what could I tell her? As I opened my mouth and
tried to give her my answer – the unimaginable happened.

I moved to the side, a
breeze causing the bottom of my robe to go airborne. When it did, I
heard a distinct clinking. I froze, wondering if it could possibly
be what I thought it was. The breeze came back and sent the fabric
back into flight – and I heard it once more.

It sounded
like…
beads.
It
sounded like heavy, round beads clicking against each other while
they were being knocked by the wind. Pearls.
Impossible,
I thought in disbelief.
It couldn’t be! I dug my hand into the satin pocket and was left in
shock at the objects that I felt my fingers dance over. I took it
into my hand and pulled it out of the pocket, absolutely
speechless.

It was the pearl necklace.

I placed one of the
beads between my teeth and felt its gritty surface in disbelief. I
examined it from every angle to see that it had the same clasp, the
same tiny imprint on the hook, and the same natural but seemingly
spotless coloring. As much as I wanted to doubt,
I couldn’t.
This was my
mother’s necklace – the one that I had clearly remembered
destroying. Wren didn’t say a word, obviously not realizing what
had just happened. She didn’t, but I did.

They were right here in my hands,
completely intact as if nothing had ever happened.

Wren was right. Stella’s
actions were too terrible to go unpunished by my family. With less
than a month to go, it was unanimously decided after the incident
that they only way to salvage whatever positive bits and pieces
were left of their family reputation was to keep Stella and I
separate for the time being. It all happened very quickly
afterward, but instead of feeling as if I had been vindicated it
was almost as if I no longer cared. Three days after the incident,
Stella was shipped off to live with our relatives living in the
South to learn a lesson about “wisdom” and “grace.”

It’s funny how the tables turned so
quickly simply because right now I was of value.

“Get up milady,” Emily
coldly told me the morning of Stella’s departure. I opened my eyes
to see Emily hovering over me, a dusty sheet being flapped in the
air with her hands. Once I sat up I caught a whiff of the
free-flowing dust and let out a cough.

“Why on earth are
you doing that in here?” I groggily asked. “And wait…when did you
get here? You’ve been gone for
three
days!”

It all came to me at once,
and I couldn’t help but feel confused. Her disappearance had been
so sudden, and her reappearance had been the same. When I brought
it up, I could immediately see the hesitance in her face. It was a
harsh, reluctant hesitance. She looked away for a moment and then
surprisingly chimed back up in a tone I’d never heard from her
before.

“I’m multitasking!
And why is it your business that I’ve been gone? Why should you
care so much?” She defensively exclaimed. “I’m only doing my
job,
Lady Devereaux.
I didn’t come to be quizzed about my personal
life!”

“
Lady Devereaux?”
I recollected in
confusion. Now I was wide awake, and I could see a new, different
nature in Emily surface. She hadn’t called me that since the very
first few weeks I’d been here. Something about this was completely
wrong. I had to say something. “Emily, are you alright? All I did
was ask you where you were…If you went to visit your family I’m not
upset -”

“Well I didn’t,” she hastily
interrupted. “And maybe where I was until today isn’t your
business!”

We quickly fell silent. The rift that
had been present ever since Emily’s first disappearance grew to its
largest, most cavernous extent. My heart dropped, unable to see
exactly what was ailing my closest ally. Now she was unnaturally
closed, unrevealing of the problem that was making her so
defensive. Without saying another word, she got me up out of bed
and handed me my day clothes. As I had grown accustomed to doing
now, I slipped them over my own head, realizing at the same time
that my asking was useless. After a few minutes, the once-silent
Emily spoke up.

“Your cousin is leaving today. Do you
wish to see her?”

For just a moment, I paused. Had Emily
been told of what had happened to me? She was being so closed off
today that I simply couldn’t tell. Everyone around me showed
continual sympathy after what happened that night. They doted on me
from head to toe and constantly asked if I was alright, as if I was
a damaged china doll. Though, since I saw Rhys that night it was
almost as if my mind had sealed the memory of that painful incident
with a very powerful key. Now I was filled with too much curiosity
about the unanswered things to dwell on it, and other than that my
human self was trying very hard to simply forget it all
together.

Every time I would be coddled and
comforted by a casual passer-by I would be somewhat surprised as I
remembered the reason for their concern. I would stop for a moment
and look them in the eye, slightly stunned. Much to their
disbelief, the answer I’d give them would normally be: “Yes, I’m
alright. Thank you.”

After the dress had been slipped over
my head, I looked over to my bedside table. The pearls were still
there, much to my continual disbelief. Every day I watched the
necklace closely just to be sure that it were actually there and
that my mind still wasn’t just stuck in a hallucination.
Somehow…they always were. Their resurrection seemed to be reality,
and now I placed them in my hands and strung them around my neck
once again.

“No, I do not wish to see her again.”
I abruptly told her in reply.

Even though I could hardly think about
Stella, that didn’t mean I wanted to see her again. We hadn’t
spoken since the incident, and for good reason. It was
understandable, so she gave me a quick nod and ran to tell the rest
of the family. And just like that, Stella’s time knowing me came
and gone in an instant.

More days passed,
and Emily remained increasingly closed-off, even silent. I guessed
it might have been the pressure of knowing that soon we would all
be under the scrutiny of the Magistrate, which
was
essentially right. Though, every
time I spoke with her I could sense something much more than simply
stress. I could sense
fear.
Underneath it all, I knew what this had to
involve. But, I didn’t say anything. I had given her my word that I
wouldn’t speak of it to anyone months ago.

Meanwhile, I found
myself being pushed into seclusion. During the first part of
November I could see no one outside of my family, receive no
letters, and had to be supervised at
all
times.
Even though she had been supposed
to take a holiday, Sister Marie-Katherine came to me every day
after she learned about what had happened to console me. (Even
though I often insisted I was in no need of consolation). Beneath
it all, I truly was struggling. Every day that passed was another
that I believed brought me closer to death, and I also became
consumed with frustration at not having any explanations about my
last mysterious encounter with the boy in the garden. But, I had
developed a hard, concealing shell and wanted to deny it all I
could. I suppose that the Sister could see that.

Since the time of the Magistrate was
drawing near, it felt almost as if every lesson she gave me was a
preparation for battle. It was fitting, I suppose, because as the
time drew near the Magistrate’s fight against witchcraft
intensified. It was something that caused me to keep the book of
folklore hidden beneath my pillows but always within reach. Since
the night before the ball, I still hadn’t read it – but now I felt
some weird instinctual sense that I needed to keep it with
me.