“I don’t know! She’s gone off somewhere!”
“Then who’s acting as Head of House?”
“She is! I mean, she didn’t appoint anyone else. At least not that we’ve heard.”
Thaddeus paused to think.
“What about a healer? Are there any here?”
The man shrugged, a hint of his former bravado returning already. His friends had sat by impassively during the whole exchange and had barely even stirred when Thaddeus lit him on fire.
“Mel? Anything you can get?”
Melanie stepped past him and put her hand on the man’s face. He flinched back, then went still, his eyes rolling up in his head.
“I’ve been trying while you were playing with him. There’s something there, but it’s hard to tell…”
She closed her own eyes, then shuddered, opened them and stepped back. The man in front of her sank down to his knees, then lay down on the floor and promptly went to sleep.
“Something is really wrong here,” Melanie said. “Whatever is going on, that guys mind felt sort of like that thing in your cell. He’s still in there, but changed.”
“Changed? What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shook her head. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like his personality is still there, but something is overlaying it, and is taking all the worst parts and bringing them out. Whatever it is, I can’t get a hold of it. Like that thing.”
“We need to find Jocasta. Maybe now she’ll believe us.”
They turned away from the four servants and started toward the stairs leading down.
“Where now?” Melanie asked.
“Out,” Thaddeus said. “The healers are usually in another tree if any of them are around. Let’s start there. Once we’re in better shape, we can make a better plan.”
They walked down the stairs and across the hallway to the large entry doors. Behind them, the main tree of House Whispering Pines felt strangely empty.
Thaddeus had grown up here and there were always people around. Servants, relatives, council members, visitors. Now, it was quiet. It reminded him of the Rustling Elms tree, only not as corrupt. Maybe this was what it felt like as it started to fall, he thought.
Could Malachi have sent in more Soul Gaunts? Were there really any left after Solomon?
From the doors, Thaddeus could see that the day was staring to wane. He had no idea how long he’d hung in that cell before Melanie saved him. Now though, it was heading toward night. They’d look for a healer, and if they couldn’t find one, he’d take Melanie to one of Florian’s cottages, as he referred to them. Maybe the same one where he had convinced the human Luke to join him.
A noise from the top of the stairs behind them caused his blood to run cold and his steps to falter. One short, sharp whistle.
That thing in his cell had whistled like that.
Both he and Melanie turned at the same time.
This one didn’t wear bright yellow. Its clothes were an eye-stinging orange, and its hair was pulled up into a crazy spiral. It was a woman or had been at some point. The white mask was identical to the other one however, and it was pointed in their direction.
It started to whistle a tune, stopped, began another, and stopped that one. It took a step down the stairs, punctuated with a short blast of noise, then another. Back to the tune. It was distracting and irritating.
“I hate those things,” Melanie said, and moved her hands.
The thing stopped, mid-step, one foot frozen in the act of moving onto the lower step.
“Me too,” Thaddeus agreed and lit it on fire.
Control, he thought. Burn it to ash, leave the stairs unharmed.
It took several minutes, but when it was done, the only thing remaining of the weird creature was a pile of smoking ash and a horrible stench in the air.
“You’ve come a long way,” a voice said behind them.
They turned slowly. The man’s eyes were tired but watched the two of them with interest.
“Darius,” Melanie growled and moved toward him.
“Wait!” Darius put up his hands and backed away. “I have something to tell you. Something important.”
“Why should we listen to you?” Melanie said. “You’re Malachi’s lapdog.”
Darius nodded. “I was, yes, I admit that. And I helped him take you. I’m not trying to deny it. But things have changed. We need to talk.”
Thaddeus put his hand up, waist high, silently asking Melanie to stand down.
“About what?”
“About how we can stop Malachi and what he’s doing. I need to speak to Jocasta. Our only hope is to join Whispering Pines and Towering Oaks together.”
Thaddeus snorted. “Might be a little late for that.”
“Maybe. Things are getting bad at Towering Oaks. And they look worse here. Still, it’s our only option.”
“Do you really think anyone at Towering Oaks is going to listen to me? After what happened?”
Darius shrugged. “If you have the right person vouching for you maybe.”
“And that’s you?” Thaddeus laughed.
“No. Not me. Her.”
He stepped aside, and a tall, thin woman gracefully entered the tree. Her eyes bored into Thaddeus. For a moment, he wanted to turn and run, but he forced himself to remain steady and meet her gaze.
“Hello, Willow,” he said.
Chapter 60
Solomon slowly approached the grieving Yag-Morah. Her father’s chest no longer rose and fell. Solomon had come too late.
He had known it. When he saw the hunters run past this morning, he knew they were returning from here. But seeing it made it all the harder. Again, he had failed.
“Yag-Morah,” he said quietly, gently putting his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up at him in surprise.
“Gan-Solomon. What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know. I was trying to get here to warn you about…” He dropped his
