Page 22 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Thatnight,Victoriasettledinto her room.She yanked the blankets to her chin and huddled beneath them.The candles by her bedside guttered in the dark, throwing long, twitching shadows across the ceiling.
She told herself she wasn’t afraid of the dark, but Ravenfell had a way of unmaking certainties.Every creak felt like a whisper.Every shadow, a warning.She laid there, staring at the ceiling, trying to make her eyes shut and go to sleep but everything in her told her to stay awake.
With a huff, she pushed away the blankets and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.She found her slippers and then rose, dragging her dressing gown off the foot of the bed and wrapping it around her shoulders.She a distraction to keep her mind occupied while she tried to sleep.She decided to go to the study and find something to read.Something dull that would put her right to sleep.
Snagging the candle off the bedside table, she exited her room and paused in the drafty hallway.A shiver went up her spine.It was cold, yes, but not the same chill she felt when she opened the child’s room.
She headed for the stairs when something pulled at her, making her halt.Her gaze flickered to the west wing.The candle flame sputtered as if disturbed by a breath that wasn’t there.
She didn’t know why she turned right instead of left, only that something in her bones urged her to go.That same pull she’d felt earlier.
That wing of the house seemed to be in perpetual darkness with shadows curling and crawling along the floor and walls.Her footsteps, silent on the floor, took her down the hall, past the curved staircase and to the entrance to the west wing.She paused there, peering into the gloom.
Her heart throbbed as she gripped the candlestick tighter.What was she doing?She didn’t need to go in there.She should turn back.Go down to the study and find a book to read.
But instead, she took another step toward the hallway and another and another, until she was standing in front of the door she’d opened earlier that day.Her shaking hand reached for the knob, but she pulled it back, clutching it against her chest.
Victoria turned away.
But as she did, she heard the faint whimper coming from behind the closed door.
She turned back, peered at the door, her heart now pounding a frantic beat.She stepped toward the door, wrapped her hand around the knob and twisted.
The moment the door swung open, the cold air slammed into her and wrapped around her like an icy winter breeze.As she stood in the doorway, she heard the soft sob of a young girl but there was no one in the room.
Even so, she took another step into the shadows, the candle flame flickering but not giving much light.
The room was exactly as it was earlier.Pale coverlet smoothed over the bed, dark drapes suffocating the only window, the armoire looming like a silent sentry in the corner.The room, though, was colder than before.Her breath fogged when she breathed out.The candle flickered violently, the flame nearly extinguished.She held her breath, her eyes fixed on the flame as it recovered and reignited.
A creak behind her.She spun, but nothing was there.The crying had stopped, but the shadows seemed to move.With her heart in her throat, she turned back intending to flee but something at the window caught her eye.
A glint of light.
From her candle.
She stepped closer, the floor beneath her felt ice cold as though it had not seen sunlight in years.
A mirror stood against the window.It hadn’t been there before.In the glass, she saw herself, ghastly and pale, her white nightdress glowing like burial linen.
And behind her, a child.
Not beside her.Behind.
She turned so violently, she dropped the candle.It thumped against the floor and snuffed out, plunging her in total darkness.
She bent to pick it up.A breath like winter brushed across her cheek.
Then came the whisper, feathering against her skin.“You left me.Where did you go?”
Victoria jerked upright, stumbled backward, and crashed into the armoire with a thump.There was no one there, but she recognized that voice.With it came the weight of memory, bitter and sharp.A girl.A promise.A door shut too soon.Had she forgotten someone?
Another whisper, closer this time.“I waited for you to come back.”
Then, a brush against her hand.A strangled whimper escaped her.She stood frozen, paralyzed by fear.
The cold vanished as quickly as it appeared and she was left standing there, huddled against the armoire, shivering in the dark.A quick glance at the window showed her there was no mirror there at all.
Without retrieving the candle, she fled the room, slamming the door closed.She ran to her room, her gown fluttering behind her.When she made it to her room, she closed and locked the door, backing up to the bed until her legs banged against it.She sank into the mattress, her eyes fixed on the door.
