I went up the stairs to my room, closing the door behind me. I lifted the mug and sniffed, then wrinkled my nose and put it down. It smelled like dirt and something else that didn’t sit well with me. I only drank tea when I was being forced to, and would just dump that into one of the plants in the morning. Despite having a mother who had never missed a day without it, I much preferred coffee.
The lamp on my side table cast an amber glow over everything, illuminating the brass bed frame and desk. I went to my suitcase and pulled out my night clothes, my thoughts starting to unravel.
I would try to sleep and forget about everything until the morning. By this time tomorrow, I would be back in my apartment, surrounded by books and blueprints.
I changed and then climbed into my childhood bed, knowing that soon I’d get to go home.
The sound of crying tore me from my dreams.
I sat up straight in bed, my heart pounding in my chest as I blinked away the sleep. I stared at the door, listening intently.
Had it just been a nightmare? I had them more often than I cared to admit, but this…felt different.
There was silence for a few moments, but then the cries started again.
Muffled voices echoed through the house, voices that I didn’t recognize.
I stilled for a moment, frowning as I tried to decipher what was happening— but then I heard Florence screech.
Any fear that I had was overshadowed by the need to help my sister. I jumped out of bed and grabbed an umbrella, the only item within reach that I could use to defend myself.
I yanked open my bedroom door and took off down the steps, not even attempting to disguise that I was awake.
A pair of hands grabbed me just as I hit the bottom step, and I screamed, hitting the intruder in the shin with my umbrella. He let out a growl, releasing me.
“Florence!” I said, running down the hall.
My breaths became faster, my heart pounding in my chest. My ears began to ring as I stopped, my world falling to pieces.
I froze in the doorway of the living room, trying to understand what was happening before me. I looked back, seeing only shadows in the hall where the intruder had been.
Florence lay on the floor, unmoving. Her dark curls were splayed around her, blood inking the ends like sable paint brushes.
George stood over her, his expression one of a madman.
The furniture was all turned over, the walls smashed into. The clocks were smashed around us, some of them still ticking but no longer in unison.
A chill spread through me, panic creeping in. Was this a nightmare? Was I still dreaming?
George looked up, raking fingers through his dark hair. He cleared his throat, his expression once again of the composed man that I knew.
I realised in horror that the man I had thought to be my future brother-in-law had merely been wearing a mask this entire time.
“You’re supposed to be in bed, Irene. Asleep. What happened to the tea?”
“I didn’t drink it,” I whispered.
“You stupid girl,” George said, shaking his head. “Stupid, stupid girl. Now, you’ve involved yourself in matters you shouldn’t have known about.”
“What did you do to Florence?” I whispered, my voice trembling.
He nudged her with his foot, his lips tugging into a dry smile. “She’s still alive, Irene. I had to do this so that she wouldn’t see. But then you had to come downstairs and ruin it all.”
I was frozen, my mind still trying to understand what I was seeing. I could feel terror latching onto me, holding me in place even though I should have jumped into action.
George was good. He’d always been good.
And yet, my sister was on the floor unmoving.
George let out a low snarl and marched over to me, grabbing me by my hair. I screeched, elbowing him and trying to fight, but he was stronger.
“Where is it?” he growled. “You must tell me, Irene. Now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I screamed. “George, this isn’t you!”
“You don’t know me!” he thundered. “The doves, Irene. Where is the other dove? Your grandfather made them, but only one is here.”
His grip tightened, pain bursting across my scalp. I stilled, my chest heaving with pants.
I had no idea what he was talking about. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, thinking about the dove. The automaton, the one that had always been silent. My father used to take it out of the cage once a month, taking it downstairs to his study where he tinkered away at it. I had never known why, because nothing ever changed.
The memory of him burned in my mind. My mother used to take him cups of coffee, giving him a soft kiss before returning to her art.
I swallowed hard, pushing away the memories. They were too pleasant to be thought of at a time like this.
“I don’t know.” I blinked back tears, staring down the hall into the obsidian darkness obscuring everything. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a second one. I know nothing of the first.”
George cursed, letting go of my hair. I immediately reached up, covering the spot that now ached.
“It’s not here, human,” a voice rasped. “You lied to the Rippers.”
“No, no,” George said, his voice a desperate whisper.
I watched as he paced for a moment, his eyes wide with fear. His voice shook as he spoke. “I thought this was the truth. I swear it.”
“You lieee,” the voice whispered.
“I would never lie to the Rippers!” he yelled, his breathing rapid.
“We don’t like liars, George.”
The softness of their words was frightening. There was a bite to them, an inhumanness. A chill worked through me, tears rolling down my cheeks.
“Take her,” George said, shoving me forward.
I hit the hard floor in the hall, my wrists and knees burning with pain.
“Take her, Egor. She is the child of Thomas Ellis. She knows where the dove is, I’m certain.”
“What of the other woman?”
“She knows nothing. You’ve seen into her mind.”
I sat up slowly, dread working its way through me.
“Take her as collateral to Jack. We have one dove.”
The darkness seemed to chuckle, and I felt something touch my face even though I couldn’t see it.
“You were asked to locate both, human. Or are you so forgetful?Jack needs both doves. They have something that belongs to her. She will not rest until it is found.”
“The other may not even exist,” George exclaimed.
He sounded scared. I’d never heard him sound like this, but I apparently hadn’t known him at all.
“Why would I want Peter’s great granddaughter? She is of no value to us.”
My eyebrows pinched, confused by the mention of someone I’d never heard of before. I inched back, trying to crawl away.
George reached down and grabbed me by the hair again, growling. He shoved me back, sending my body down the hall again.
I rolled to my feet, even as I felt a hand grab onto me.
“Let me go,” I said, trying to push it away.
“Perhaps they can break her,” George said, his voice almost a plea. “Perhaps the memories are hidden in her mind. Perhaps she’ll just be another meal for you, Egor.”
“A lot of perhaps,” the darkness chuckled.