Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Screaming sure does take a lot out of the lungs, but it sure didn't take anything out of the rest of me as I thrashed in the pale man's vice-like grip. My efforts were as successful as a three-legged giraffe winning the Kentucky Derby.

The creature spoke in a low, even, and deep voice, the kind that reminded me of mysteries where the butler did it. "My apologies, miss, if I scared you. I had no intention of doing so."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and almost choked. "W-who are you?"

He opened his hand and released me. "Werd, miss, the gardener. You must be the young lady Master Ben is to wed."

I rubbed my cold wrist in my other hand. "My name's Millie. What are you doing out here?"

His eyes never wavered from me. I wasn't sure if he had even blinked. "I could ask the same of you, miss. The nights have been cold of late and the garden is not a safe place to walk in the shadows."

"Ben and I thought we saw someone sneaking around back here," I told him as I eyed him with a sharp look. "It wasn't you, was it?"

He shook his head. "I haven't been back here all night, miss, until I noticed you two along the house."

"Millie!"

The shout came from Ben who crashed through the trees with his red eyes aflame. He blinked them off for a moment when he noticed I wasn't alone, but his tense shoulders relaxed when he took a good look at my companion. I scurried up to Ben's side while the gardener remained as stiff as a statue and wrapped my arms around one of Ben's limbs.

Werd bowed his head to Ben. "Good evening, Master Ben. It's good to see you back here."

Ben looped an arm around my waist as he studied the servant with a curious look. "I'm glad to see you still around, Werd, but you look rather different than last time we met."

"I've been ill, sir," was the vague reply.

"I see." Ben didn't sound very convinced with the response.

"What in all the three meadows is going on?" Aunt Dreda's voice interrupted as the rear doors of the house were flung inward. She marched onto the vine-strewn porch and stopped a few feet from our little gathering where she put her hands on her hips. "Werd, Ben, Millie, as much as I enjoy the noise of company, screaming like a force of darkness has snatched you up is not the sound I would like to hear."

"It's my fault, madam," Werd spoke up as he nodded at me. "I scared the young miss here."

"Well, no wonder," Dreda mused as she waved a hand at the thick fog. "It's as thick as Great-Uncle Seldcub's armpit hair." Her attention fell back on Ben and me. "And what in the world are you two doing out here at this hour, anyway? You'll catch your death of cold, or frighten your bride-to-be out of her wits."

"We thought we saw someone prowling the gardens," Ben told her.

Her eyebrows crashed down. "Did you catch them?"

Ben shook his head. "Unfortunately, no, but there was most definitely someone out here. They crashed through the trees too loudly to be a ghost."

Dreda wrinkled her nose. "Yes, well, let's get inside and get you warmed up." She strode up to Ben and me, pushed her way between us, and looped an arm through both of ours. "Werd, would you mind looking about the grounds?"

Werd bowed his head. "Not at all."

"Good." Dreda marched up past her gardener and into the warm confines of the shadowy manor.

The doors shut behind us of their own accord and with such a loud bang that I jumped. Ben drew me closer to himself and squeezed my arm. A single whispered word escaped him. "Courage."

I glared up at him. "I could be more courageous if this place and everyone in it wasn't trying to give me a heart attack every five minutes."

My words caused a troubled expression to appear on his face and he turned his attention to his aunt who guided us down the long hall. "Werd mentioned he'd been sick. What did he have?"

"And why did it make his hands so cold?" I added as I recalled his bone-chilling touch.

Dreda stopped in the middle of the hall and bowed her head. A heavy sigh made her shoulders sag. "I suppose you are owed an explanation, and it would be better that you know the danger you're in."

Ben pursed his lips. "What danger, Aunt Dreda?"

Dreda turned to us and gestured to a door on her right. "Let's go into the library where I can tell you all in more comfortable surroundings."

I scoffed at the idea that the dreary house situated within the haunted forest could be at all comfortable. Dreda led us through the thick wooden door and into a large library. The room resembled Ben's own book room, but even more grand and dreary. The walls were covered in dark wood panels, most of which were hidden by aged bookcases.

There were two main differences between Ben's library and the one at Rookwood. The books that graced the shelves were all of an ancient lineage. Not a single one appeared to be younger than a century. There was also no second floor like Ben's majestic. There was a third.

I tilted my head back to gaze up at the ascending floors that towered above our heads like regal judges. "Wow."

The bottom floor not only had bookcases, but a set of heavy chairs and a short couch were crowded around a large hearth. Aunt Dreda strode over to the cold hearth and slammed one fisted hand against the mantel. A fire roared to life and munched on the pile of logs at the ready.

She stared at the flames with her back to us as Ben led me over to the couch and we both took a seat. Another heavy sigh escaped his aunt. "I had hoped to save this for the light of day, but I see the situation is too dire to hide from you for even that short a time." She turned to us and clasped her hands together in front of her. "A darkness descended upon the forest some three months ago."

"Why didn't you notify me of this before?" Ben asked her.

She paced the floor in front of the fire. "I thought perhaps the darkness would move on, or maybe the culprit would be discovered." She paused and hung her head. "I see now that it was more a hope than an expectation, and what's come to pass is a worsening of the problem."

"But what exactly is the problem?" I spoke up.

"There is an evil hidden with the fog that has brought various troubles to anyone who comes into contact with its white deception," Dreda revealed as she turned to face us. "Their illnesses have been too varied to list, but the general symptoms have been severe fatigue and horrible headaches. Those who had the gift of magic were even more affected, however, and some have reported being so weakened that they've been unable to use their magic at all."

"Meaning what?" I wondered.

She folded her arms over her chest. "Those who were able to fly brooms barely have the strength to sweep with them. Others who could conjure fire as I can can only puff out a small bit of smoke."

Ben lifted an eyebrow. "Is this the same illness that affected Werd?"

She nodded. "It is, but his case was one of the rarest. I don't know why he was so affected, being without magic, but he was struck for two weeks with a horrible exhaustion. When he could finally rise from the bed we discovered that he could no longer bear the light of the sun."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes bulged out of my head. "Like a vampire?"

Aunt Dreda bowed her head and furrowed her brow. "Not quite. He doesn't have the thirst, but in all appearances, he is a perfect copy."

"And no one has any inkling as to the source of this strange disease?" Ben asked her.

She shook her head. "Not at all. I have searched all these books and found nothing like what is attacking the area. I thought perhaps with your knowledge of the shadows that you might have a suggestion."

Ben leaned back and cupped his chin in one hand. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of such an illness."

Dreda's face fell and she wrung her hands in front of her. "I feared as much, but I also hoped you would investigate the matter during your time here. You are so good at sneaking about and sticking your nose where it's not wanted."

A barking laugh escaped me which I stifled only by clapping my hand over my mouth. My eyes flitted between the faces of my companions. "Sorry."

A smile crept onto Ben's lips. "There's no need to apologize for an accurate, if slightly brusque, description of my sleuthing skills. I would be glad to help in whatever way I can."

I set a hand on his shoulder and captured his gaze in mine. " We would be glad to help."

Some of the anxiety that marred Dreda's features lessened slightly. She clapped her hands together and her bright eyes shimmered in the dim light of the crackling fire. "Thank you, Ben, and you, as well, Millie. You've made an old woman very happy. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."