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Chapter 65: Ella, another explosive night
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Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 66: Charlotte, all alone
They left me all alone. In the dark. For what could I do to help in our current predicament? I could have walked down the track to investigate, but what if it was a ruse and I was taken hostage? Then my friends would risk their lives to free me. I had no skill with a weapon and therefore no value to add in any fight.Louise's words echoed in my mind?fat, useless cow.I wasn't fat. I had curves. Once, when I had said I couldn't eat a piece of cake because I was watching my waistline, David had whispered that he thought me voluptuous. He said that word with such a hungry look in his eyes, as though I was a piece of cake, and it quite stole the air from my lungs.I would never be tall and slim. Nature had made that determination before I was born. But my work in the garden at the manse had made me fitter. My body was stronger and for once, I was comfortable in my skin.I knelt on the leather seat and pressed my hands to the glass, peering into the dark. I could discern nothing in the
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 67: Ella, formulating a battle plan
I climbed into bed completely exhausted but with my body still too restless to sleep. My mind raced faster than the train speeding away from Louise's ambush. She had revealed too much and in doing so, gave us a glimpse of Millicent's plans. Not only that, we now knew she had a large army hiding somewhere in plain sight. Or more likely, under our feet.It was conceivable that Millicent had amassed an army in the North Wessex Downs. The landscape there was remote, isolated, and hauntingly beautiful. It was also little visited, being popular mainly with archaeologists and bird watchers. I wondered about the vermin that had poured out of the alley in London. How many thousands of the undead waited in the sewers and forgotten tunnels of our capital?Despite thinking I had far too much to dwell on, sleep claimed me. I awoke as the pale wintry sunlight peeked around my drapes. I stretched my arms over my head and took a moment to enjoy the sense of peace that washed through my soul. This wa
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 68: Ella, a different kind of recipe
I chewed my lip as Seth left and self-doubt set in. I was used to riding Trusty and clutching my sword going into a fight. I had no experience to guide me in what we were about to attempt."Will the spell defeat Millicent?" I asked Reverend Mason as he lit the gas lamps around the room and then crossed to the tall window and pulled the drapes shut.His hand paused on the patterned fabric. "No, unfortunately. It will send you to where she exists. Once there, you will need to find a way to undo what she has done."Bother. I had hoped the spell would equip me with a celestial flaming sword that would send Millicent to Hell with a single blow. Before me stretched the prospect of being transported to an unknown realm where my enemy ruled, and I would need to forage for a weapon.A niggle of curiosity roused its head. "How did you come by such a spell?"Reverend Mason turned and smiled. "You cannot study witchcraft for a millennia without acquiring some knowledge along the way. This spe
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 69: Ella, in dreamworld
Every tread on the stairs worked dread a little deeper into my bones. I hadn't imagined it. I didn't have the breadth of experience to dream up the delicious things Seth did to me when my naked skin slid next to his. But what about the vermin? If there was no Grim War, then I had never encountered Seth, nor had I ever worked by his side. As much as it would be a relief to never see another Turned, I didn't want to contemplate a world where their absence resulted in Seth belonging to Louise.I swallowed a sob. I was stronger than that. All I needed was to clear the cobwebs out of my head and figure out what had happened. A good gallop across the fields would help. Once I had seen to them and Father.I pushed into the dining room and rocked back on my heels in the doorway. Hands on a clock spun backwards several months, or did time rush forward? My three step relatives were arrayed around the table. Two wearing dressing robes edged in soft fur. Only Charlotte was dressed in a plain and
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 70: Charlotte, making a choice
The bird drew my attention first. It uttered a caw as we walked into the darkened parlour. Despite the sun outside, inside was dim. The single window had glass so thick and wavy it was as though sunlight tried to penetrate through deep water. The shafts of light quivered, mimicking the movement of being rocked by an unseen tide. The walls were panelled in a dark wood, and even the tapestries depicted a night-time scene of people cavorting around a bonfire. The raven was perched upon the top of a high-backed chair that faced the window."Hush, Walter. Miss Jeffrey is a neighbour and soon to be part of our family," a rich, lyrical voice said."I was wanting a quick word about the wedding, Lady Leithfield. Mother wants to know how many people could fit in the garden because ever so many are expecting an invitation." I glanced at Ella, expecting her to do something, like leap at the duchess waving a sword."You are so very early to call, Charlotte, how uncouth of you. I was on my way to
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 71: Seth, did you hear that?
The hardest thing I ever did was walk away from Ella, leaving her to do battle on her own. While on an intellectual level I understood the reverend's approach, that we needed to combat Millicent in this world and the one beyond, on an emotional level I rebelled. I would do what had to be done, but I wouldn't like it.I had my foot on the accelerator and hard to the floor in the motorcar, racing back to Serenity House. Shingle spun under the tyres on each corner and Bain's fingers gripped the dash until his knuckles turned white. I stomped hard on the brake outside the front door and we both jumped from the car and ran up the steps.Warrens pulled the door open a second before I ran into it."Cellars, bring lanterns," I yelled as I pounded down the long hall and headed for the original part of the house and the area that had once contained the kitchens.It was easy to see why the old cellars had been long forgotten. The stairway had been bricked up and the wall plastered. Only the t
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 72
Part FOUR BONUS: Henry, the GaolerSomerset. September, 1918HenryThe recruitment posters lied. I went to war, but doing my duty for King and country didn't make me a man.War shattered me.The death and horror seeped into my soul and each and every day it tore a sliver from me. Days mounted into months and then years, until only an empty husk remained. Now death shadowed my every step. Like loose hay down the back of my shirt, no matter how much I wriggled or squirmed, I could not free myself of its constant presence.Even in this truck, death surrounded me. It wheezed in the chest of the man slumped over his knees on the bench next to me. It reflected in the blank gaze of the soldier opposite me. It reeked in the foetid rot coming from the bandages on the man stretched out on the floor at our feet.One man I avoided looking at; one place my gaze could not settle. An officer on the stretcher with the best spot, lengthways behind the cab. Straps kept him secure and stopped him
Serenity House: Ella's Journey Chapter 73
Whistles. It always starts with whistles. The high-pitched noise slices through the trenches and cuts away whispered prayers and shared jokes. I close my eyes, but you can't block out the whistle.It only took a matter of days to realise war was not as glamorous or exciting as the posters made it out. Some soldiers, unable to cope, deserted. If caught, they were executed for their cowardice. I lacked even the courage to run and so found my own way to cope.Over the first desperate months, I built a castle in my mind. A strange construction with leaning towers and stairways that ran straight into ceilings and doors that opened onto empty space. Memories filled the many rooms. Some were complex and exotic, evoking all my senses. One lavish room held my first day in Egypt, the walls tiled in vibrant bursts of colour. We stood in the bazaar in wonder, convinced we had been transported to another world and no longer walked the earth. Heavy spices danced on the air and swirled around befor
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