Cogling (29 page)

“The coglings will get you.” He struggled with the steering wheel as the vehicle veered along the road.

The wolves struck the back of the coach with a snarl. The curdling sound sent the hairs up on Edna’s arms, a shiver slithering through her body. “Leave us alone!” Her cry rasped from her throat and the scent of fear clouded her nose.

Instead of tipping, the coach lurched forward, bumping along the rocky path to break off the road into the forest. Branches slapped across the sides and through the broken window, the sound like a hundred hands scratching for a way inside. The mechanical wolves yipped at the wheels. The coach teetered over a rock, and Rachel screamed as they slid to the right.

Edna pressed Harrison against the floor beneath her. “By the seven Saints, what can we do?” The coach jolted over roots and rocks, slashing through the underbrush as it rattled down the hill. Weeds thumped against the coach’s underside.

They would hit a tree and smash. Maybe they would live long enough to witness the wolves attack, fangs tearing into their flesh. Bile rose into Edna’s mouth and she gagged onto the seat. Her heart refused to stop racing, numbing her mind, and the evil coursed faster through her veins.

Ike braced against the wall. “Saints pity us. We’re heading for Aubrey River.”

The sound of wood smashing tore through the coach.

“What was that?” Edna grabbed the edge of the seat.

“Curse it all. The break handle snapped off,” Ike growled from his front compartment.

Edna lifted her gaze to the driver opening in the wall. Ike stared at her, sweat on his flushed face and tears in his eyes. Hopelessness rushed over Edna; she bit her lower lip to keep from sobbing.

Hit the water and drown… hit a tree and perish… escape and be eaten…“What can we do?” She barely recognized her own voice.

The cracks stopped as the coach burst free from the forest and plunged downwards over the edge of the cliff face. They thumped against the wall. Through the window, Edna caught a glimpse of the forest disappearing above a rocky wall.

Her journey for Harrison would end in their deaths.

As if someone else controlled her body, she released her brother to touch the mad hag’s cameo around her neck. Two words whispered through her mind, the voice reminiscent of the evil: S
even spirits.

The coach struck the Aubrey River. Edna cringed, awaiting the water’s kiss of ice.

Why must you try to change it?

he coach sank beneath the river’s surface. Darkness engulfed the windows, yet the gas lamp inside flickered without extinguishing. Rachel’s scream echoed off the walls of the coach to vibrate through Edna’s head. She clung tighter to the cameo pinned to her collar, awaiting the rush of water that would drown them. The hag in white had helped them, but Edna hadn’t helped her. She didn’t even know the hag’s son, who she was supposed to give the brooch to. Escaping through the tunnel beneath the mansion had been for nothing.

She eased off Harrison and moved toward the window, but the coach swayed, knocking her off balance. Edna hit the wall and slid down. Water pulsed against the sides of the vehicle, straining to enter the confines. Her body throbbed.

“Water should seep in,” Ike said. “The bloody window’s even busted.”

“Not seep—
rush
.” Edna squeezed her eyes shut. “We need a new plan, something to do, some way to survive.”

The coach bumped against the river bottom and tipped as the current knocked the vehicle onto its side. Maybe they could stay inside and be safe. After the river opened into the sea… Edna sighed. “The coach is going to wash out into the ocean. We’ll be lost forever.”

“There’s some kind of a barrier.” Ike rapped his knuckles against the coach.

“That’s good?” Harrison squeaked.

“For keeping the river out.” Ike wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “We’re going to run out of oxygen.”

“We’re dying,” Rachel wailed.

“Hush up.” Edna kicked Rachel’s thigh. “How can we think with you blubbering?”

Ike continued to knock against the walls and windows of his compartment. “We have to swim out. You all can swim, right?”

Edna touched the water through the broken window. Wetness engulfed her skin, soaking through her fingerless glove. Yelping, she pulled back. The river stayed outside, yet droplets slid down her arm, as cold as snowflakes.

“A lady doesn’t swim.” Rachel grasped her ankles and rocked on her bottom.

“We can’t swim either.” Harrison sniffled.

“You’re keeping the water out with your magic, right?” Edna spun her prayer beads. Maybe magic wasn’t so horrid. “Can’t you use it to float us out?”

“I’m not keeping the water out.” Ike paused. “It’s not my power.”

“But…” Edna’s voice trailed off. She stared at her wet hand, noticing a fine sheen around her skin. The gas lamp in the roof flickered, but her flesh kept its light. “The evil inside…”

Rachel whimpered into Harrison’s hair. “Maybe it’s that thing the hag gave you.”

“A hag gave you something?” Ike’s voice whipped through the coach.

“Just a brooch. I’m supposed to give it to her son.” She tapped the cameo.

Icy water smashed through the cracks in the coach and slashed through the window. The other one shattered. The current yanked Edna through the broken vehicle into the river.

Ike fought the current. The dark river whirled by in a blur. Frigid water weighed down his clothes. He struggled with the buttons on his coat, but they stuck in the soaked wool. His lungs burned for oxygen.

He bumped the river bottom and kicked off, pumping his arms toward the surface, but the current forced him head over heels. His elbow struck a rock.

The others couldn’t swim. He had to get to the surface and see if he could help before they drowned. Below water, visibilty was nonexistent. Even with his eyes open, the river was too murky and dark.

His mother could’ve controlled the water. It would’ve done her bidding and saved his companions. Cursing himself for being a half-breed, Ike swam for the surface with renewed energy. He might not have the magic, but he had the strength.

Ike’s head broke the surface and he gasped for breath. A wave crashed over him. Light filtered through the cloudy sky to make the water shimmer. He couldn’t believe such horror lay beneath the surface… people dying, the ruined coach.

Up the steep cliff, foliage and trees shimmied in the wind, but he didn’t see any mechanical wolves. Perhaps the current had carried him too far.

Now to find the others; Ike refused to think of them as dead. They would be as alive as he was, struggling against the current.

He swam toward the river’s edge.

Rachel’s skirt and petticoat tangled around her head. She tried to rip them away, but her hands closed over nothing except water. Matted hair caught across her eyes. Heat touched her legs and she realized she’d wet herself. Horrified, she fought the current with new strength.

Lack of breath scalded her lungs. They begged for fresh air she couldn’t provide. Her arms and legs throbbed.
Never
had she used so much energy.

She would’ve traded anything to awaken in her bed at her father’s mansion. Her personal maid would enter and help Rachel wash in the tub. Another servant would bring breakfast while she dressed. Edna might fix her hair.

Had Edna drowned? Maybe she was still trapped in the coach. What had happened to the hag-boy and the little one named Harrison? At her father’s house, he’d always had a smirk on his face—not the I’ve-been-naughty kind, but rather the type of mirth that comes from seeing something happy in every aspect of life. Rachel had always envied the child.

Something seized part of her dress. It slid off her face and she grabbed a fistful. When she yanked, nothing happened. She tried to open her eyes, but they stung. The thing holding her dragged her through the stream.

Rachel punched, and her fist bounced off something soft. She screamed and bubbles escaped her mouth. Even though she clamped her lips shut, her lungs ached more fiercely. Foul water coated her tongue.

Her head burst into the air. She gasped and gulped, then vomited.

“Hang on, dearuh.” A male voice grated in her swollen ears. A huge hand struck her back, and she coughed. More vomit spewed from her mouth.

“Yer safe now,” the voice said. A thick arm around her ribs kept her head in the air.

She wiped her wet hands across her eyes and mouth, blinking.

A tomtar grinned at her, revealing a mouth of missing and broken teeth.