A New Fear (4 page)

The inmates frantically banged on their locked doors. The yells for help were ignored as thick smoke clogged the air.

Hugging Nicholas tightly, Nora rushed down the stairs. The rooms on the next floor were not locked. Patients raced in all directions.

Nora spotted one woman sitting in the middle of the floor, rocking back and forth in a daze. “Fire!” Nora yelled. “Run! The building is on fire! Save yourself!” The woman continued to rock.

Nora began running again.

Faster.

I have to run faster. I have to save Nicholas. I will not let the evil touch him. I will not let the fire burn him.

She darted down the stairs, shoving people aside. Doctors and nurses yelled orders. They did not notice Nora.

A man grabbed the hem of her shift. She heard the material rip as she jerked free and continued to run.

Her eyes stung. The hot air scorched her lungs as she breathed.

Her heart pounded. Her ears rang. Her throat grew dry.

We have to escape, she thought, as she forced her blistered feet down the final flight of stairs. We will escape. We will.

She ran out the front door. Out into the night.

Screeching sirens and clanging bells greeted her. Behind her people screamed, the fire roared, the building began to crumble.

Nora did not pause to catch her breath. She darted across the lawn. The cool grass eased the pain in her feet.

When she reached the safety of the bushes, she crouched and watched the insane asylum burn.

I am free, Nora thought. She could hardly believe it.

What should I do now? Hide. I need a better place to hide. Then I can make plans. Find a way to get out of Shadyside without being seen.

She trailed her fingers along her son’s soft cheek. “We must go where no one knows us, Nicholas,” she whispered. “We must find a town where no one has ever heard of the Fear family. We must go far, far away.”

She looked one last time at the asylum. She could see the window to her room. The bars did not seem so frightening from the outside.

The glass burst out of the window. Like long arms, flames reached out for the nearby trees.

Nora saw Daniel standing at the window. Staring down at them.

“We must go, Nicholas. We must go now. Goodbye, Daniel.”

Nora struggled to her feet. Cradling her infant son, she staggered away from the asylum and stumbled toward the unknown.

Chapter 6

S
hivering, Nora curled around Nicholas. She felt the warmth from his tiny body as he nestled against her chest. They had taken refuge in the hold of a ship. It held no warmth. It had no fire.

Nora’s fingers felt like icicles, frozen and stiff. She was afraid she would wake Nicholas if she touched him with her cold hands.

She knew he was hungry. Just as she was. There had been no time to gather food as they ran from the asylum. No time to think about how they would survive alone, with only each other. She had only cared about escape.

They had traveled through the night. Avoiding the main roads and people, they slowly made their way to the docks in a neighboring town.

With the early-morning fog draped over the land, Nora sneaked aboard the ship. She did not know its
destination. She did not care. The ship would take them away. That was enough.

She felt the movement of the boat and heard it scrape against the dock as it headed to sea.

Nora gazed down at her son. Nicholas slept peacefully in a wooden crate lined with some old flour sacks.

Nora’s eyelids grew heavy. I must not sleep, she chided herself.

She rubbed her puffy eyes. Her eyes stung when she closed them. They burned when she opened them wide.

I must keep watch, she reminded herself. If I do not, they will come. They move quickly. Even in the darkness, I can feel their tiny beady eyes watching us from the rafters above.

She shuddered. If I close my eyes for a moment, they will attack.

The ship groaned with the motion of the sea. Concentrate on the noises, Nora told herself. Anything to stay awake.

She listened to the footsteps of the sailors overhead as they worked.

The wind whistling across the sea.

The scrabble of tiny feet.

They are moving closer, Nora thought.

Nora peered into the blackness surrounding her. She couldn’t see anything.

She felt exhausted. Her body ached.

The skittering of sharp little claws grew louder.

They were coming.

But Nora was too tired. Too tired to worry.

A long, cold, hairless tail brushed along her cheek.

The rats had arrived.

Nora bit back a scream. She forced herself to remain motionless as the rats gathered around her.

I have to maintain my strength. For Nicholas. I must remain strong.

She shot out one hand and snatched one of the rats. It squirmed in her fist, squealing.

Nora broke its neck with a sharp twist, and ripped off its head.

The other rats scattered.

The rat’s warm, thick blood oozed across Nora’s hand, thawing her icy fingers.

She tilted her head back, fighting against her revulsion. Have to stay strong for Nicholas. Have to stay strong.

Nora held the rat over her open mouth and squeezed tightly. Its blood dripped onto her tongue and rolled down her throat.

The door to the cargo hold banged open. Light spilled in through the doorway.

Nora tossed the rat away and wiped the sticky blood from her mouth. She picked Nicholas up and scooted behind a stack of wooden crates.

Footsteps echoed through the hold. Nora watched the light from a lantern bounce across the floor and walls.

The light moved closer and closer. The footsteps grew louder.

Nora held her breath.

Then the light moved away.

All grew still. Silent.

Where is the man? she wondered. Is he going to leave?

Nora held her breath. Please leave! she thought. Please go away and leave us in peace.

Nora strained to hear something that would give away the man’s location. But she heard nothing. Not even the scurrying of the rats.

Nora’s heart thudded. She waited. Where is the man? Where is he?

Cautiously, she inched forward and peered around the wooden crates.

Large, rough hands grabbed her and yanked her to her feet.

“I knew I heard more than rats moving around down here,” the man cried.

Nora struggled to break free.

“Do you know what we do with stowaways?” he demanded. Nora shook her head. “We throw them to the sharks!”

The man narrowed his eyes and studied her. Nora’s thoughts raced. What is he going to do to me? I have to keep him away from Nicholas.

“Give me that necklace you are wearing and I will not tell anyone you are here,” the man ordered.

“But it was a gift from—”

“I want it,” he snarled. “And one way or another, I will have it. You can give it to me or I will take it.”

He wrapped his fingers around the silver chain.

“No!” Nora shrieked. The amulet grew warm against her skin.

“I want it!” he growled. He twisted the chain and gave it a hard jerk.

The chain tightened around her neck and dug into her throat. She gasped for air. She struggled to squeeze her fingers underneath the chain. Air. She needed air.

Darkness surrounded her. Her hands fell limply to her sides.

Nicholas. Who would take care of Nicholas?

From far away Nora heard the man utter a shrill scream of agony. The pressure around her throat eased.

Damp, salty air rushed into her lungs. She forced her eyes open and looked at the man. If she had had the strength, she would have screamed.

Rats swarmed over the man. They dropped on him from the rafters. They scurried up his pant legs. They crawled down the collar of his shirt.

More rats jumped from the crates, fighting for a place on his twisting and thrashing body. The rats scratched and chewed until Nora could see pieces of the man’s white bones.

Nora’s stomach twisted as she watched the rats. They ripped at the man with their claws and their sharp yellow teeth. One rat yanked away a chunk of the man’s earlobe. One pulled off a tiny piece of his eyelid.

The man howled in agony—and one of the rats leapt into his mouth.

The man fell to the floor. He curled himself into a tight ball. Nora heard him whimpering.

Whimpering as the rats fed on his flesh.

What if they are still hungry when they have finished? Nora thought.

She positioned herself in front of Nicholas’s makeshift cradle and stared at the rats.

They would have to get through her before they touched her baby.

Chapter 7

H
eavy footsteps pounded down the stairs.

The door crashed open and men poured in. Sailors, shipmen, workers.

What will they do if they find me? Nora slowly backed into the corner.

Lifting their lanterns, the men stared in mute horror as the black rats swarmed over their shipmate. Pools of dark blood glistened around him.

One of the men snatched up a crate and hurled it at the rats. A few ran off. The rest kept feeding.

Nora’s stomach cramped when she caught sight of the spongy gray brain matter spilling from the man’s head.

“There is no saving him,” one of the sailors muttered.

Nicholas gave a little whimper.

Please do not cry now, Nora begged silently. Please. Not until they are gone—and we are safe again.

She jiggled Nicholas up and down. He liked that. It usually made him stop crying.

Nora shifted from one foot to the other as she tried to keep the baby quiet. One of her feet came down on a piece of wood.

It snapped with a
crack
.

“Look!” A man pointed at Nora. A shiver raced through her as all the men turned and stared at her.

“The rats left her alone,” another man whispered hoarsely.

“She must possess some dark magic,” someone called. The men murmured in agreement.

“No!” Nora cried. “I have no magic. You must believe me.”

One man edged nearer. He had straw-colored hair and freckles.

“I am Tim.” He puffed out his chest. “First mate.” He glanced at the bloody body on the floor. Still. So still. “This is not a safe place for a woman and a baby. Follow me.”

Some of the men muttered in protest. Tim pushed his way through the crowd. Nora was careful to stay close behind him.

They trudged up the stairs. The other men fell in behind them. Nora noticed that none of them came too close to her. They are afraid of me, she realized. Afraid, but angry, too.

“This way,” Tim urged. When Tim reached the end
of the corridor, he pushed open the last door. “In here, missy.”

Nora stepped inside the small room. Beds were stacked one on top of another along two walls. Large wooden trunks lined another wall. Above the trunks, pegs in the wall held yellow rain slickers.

Tim opened a wooden trunk. He took out the clothes and tossed them into a corner. Then he took a blanket from the bed and dropped it into the trunk. “You can put the baby in here,” he said gruffly.

Nora placed Nicholas in the trunk. She wrapped the blanket around him. Grateful, she started to thank Tim. But his eyes were hard and cold.

“You are not to leave this room,” he commanded. “I will have to discuss your presence with the captain.”

“Shouldn’t I talk to the captain?” Nora asked.

Tim shook his head. “A woman on board a cargo ship is bad luck. He won’t like this. He won’t like it at all.”

He shut the door firmly behind him, and Nora heard a key turn in the lock.

Nora sank down on the floor beside the trunk. I am a prisoner again, she realized. She stroked Nicholas’s back gently. But at least there are no rats here. And we have light.

Now if they will just bring us some food.

The ship lurched. Waves crashed down on it.

She grabbed the edge of the trunk and held on tightly. She crooned to the baby as the ship pitched back and forth.

“It is a storm, Nicholas,” she said. “That is all. A storm. The men are used to storms at sea. They know what to do.”

Nora heard a man yelling orders. She thought he sounded scared.