Chapter 15

THERE WAS A CHORUS of delighted squeals as William approached the throng of ladies surrounding poor Benedict.

“Hello again, William,” said Emily. She wore a wide smile and had a glint in her eyes. “Benedict was just telling us about his studies in law.”

William eyed Benedict with surprise. The young lad had supposedly wanted to remain anonymous, but he really was doing a rather terrible job at it. In fact, the woman to Emily’s side was close to swooning.

“Ah, yes, Benedict really is more than just a handsome face, ladies. And speaking of his background in law, you wouldn’t mind if I borrow him for just a minute to ask him a very pressing, er, law-related question?”

Benedict threw William a relieved look.

“Only if you promise to bring him back!” said a small, formidable-looking woman who looped her arm through Benedict’s.

“I’ll only detain him as long as is necessary,” William said.

The woman cast her dark eyes up and down William before finally relinquishing her hold of the lad.

Benedict muttered his goodbyes to the ladies and attempted a casual walk towards the doors that led to the hallway. The pair of guards manning the ballroom door directed William and Benedict to another guard staffing the front doors. Out of sight of the ladies, Benedict picked up his pace.

“That was too much,” Benedict murmured. “I’ve never been around that many people in my life.”

“Sir? Are you ready to leave?” asked the guard at the door.

Benedict nodded before peering over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed.

“I will just let them know to bring a carriage around for you. If you’d care to take a seat” – the guard gestured at one of the plush settees that lined the hallway – “they will be with you in approximately five or so minutes.”

Benedict cast another nervous glance at the door just as the small woman exited the ballroom, spied him, and gave him a little wave.

“I ... I think I shall walk.”

“But there’s a storm, sir!”

“I just need to get past the walled garden I spied earlier, and it’s a straight road from there, is it not?”

The guard nodded.

“Then I doubt I’ll get lost,” Benedict said as he pushed his way past the guard.

William offered the guard an apologetic look as he took off into the night after Benedict. The rain battered off William’s face, and he was almost instantly drenched. William could barely see his hand in front of him, let alone the walled garden. “Benedict, come back!” William called into the darkness.

Benedict shouted something back, but William couldn’t hear him over the storm.

The last sliver of moon was engulfed by the storm clouds, and the entirety of the grounds was plunged into darkness. William felt panic rise like bile within him. The grounds were unfamiliar, and it would just take one wrong step and either him or Benedict could break a leg – or worse.

“Benedict!” William called to no avail .

A fork of lightning illuminated the grounds, and William saw Benedict walking up a hill and in completely the wrong direction to the walled garden.

As darkness consumed the grounds once more, William broke into a run. The instant he felt the earth begin to rise, he slowed his pace. Just as he reached the top of the grassy mound, the moon peeked out enough for him to make out the form of Benedict mere feet in front of him, before being plunged into darkness once more.

“Benedict!” William shouted as he grabbed the lad’s arm. “What in God’s name—”

“... can’t do it ...” Benedict shouted. He was barely audible over the storm, and William only managed to catch snippets of what he was saying. “... ladies ... full of life ... marriage ... families they want ... never be able to give them ... I’m not right for this place—”

The garden was lit by a flash of lightning. There, standing beneath a skeletal bleach-white tree, was the unmistakable form of two ghosts. The ghastly pair took a step towards them just as darkness cloaked the grounds once more.

Benedict reached out and grabbed William’s arm. William willed his body to move, to grab hold of the young lad and run for their lives. But his legs didn’t seem to work anymore, and he remained stock still in the pitch black, the rain tattooing off his face and the wind howling around him.

“Did ... see them too?” Benedict asked.

William nodded into the darkness, unable to say anything. After a few deep, steadying breaths, he came to his senses and yanked on Benedict’s arm to get him to move.

A wet thwack sounded in his ears, and he felt as if he’d run into a wall, despite not having moved an inch. He felt fleetingly weightless, before his back connected with the ground – a disturbing mixture of soft earth and hard rocks. A distinct bodily weight was momentarily on top of him, then he was on top of it – he was tumbling, and not down the smooth slope he’d walked up. He wasn’t quite sure how he even had time to ponder it, but there must have been a steep and exposed side to the mound that he hadn’t noticed. He also found it strange that, in the few seconds it took for the entire event to unfold, he was aware that his ghost must have been a living person, for it had a corporeal form that was rolling down the slope with him, and that his not-ghost was issuing a string of profanities that even he might blush at, had he not been too preoccupied with his current life-or-death situation.

His head took the final impact of the fall, and a weight shifted above him. From his side, he heard the thud of another body.

“Mab!” a shrill call pierced the darkness from somewhere on the mound above them.

A flash of lightning lit the grounds once more. William nearly choked, for sitting astride him was the fairy from the pond. She wasn’t exactly as he’d pictured on the other occasions he’d summoned her vision, but she was decidedly more beautiful. Her hair was dishevelled, sticking to her wet face. He usually pictured her face as rounded, but her features tonight were sharp and graceful, with a look of shock on her face.

William realised that he was dying. His brain was easing him into death with a vision of his true love.

He happily slipped into oblivion.