Rising Shadows

Emily wasn't sure how long she sat crumpled on the floor. Her jaw ached from the force of Percy's blow and him gripping her face when he threatened her. She should have left with Scarlett when she had the chance, but she couldn't just abandon Percy. And she couldn't tell her family. Her brothers had once thrown a boy into a rose bush and then squirted him with lemons simply because he'd pulled Emily's hair. She could only imagine what would happen if they ever saw her like this. Finally she forced herself to get to her feet, and fled to her lab because she didn't know where else to go. Cat had offered her help, but Emily knew Percy would be furious if Cat and Luke took her in. She was utterly alone.

Emily worked absent-mindedly, barely able to focus on anything. She dropped a small box of gears and they scattered, rolling across the floor. As she raced around trying to collect them she slipped on them and fell. With a frustrated little scream she threw the gears against the far wall and started sobbing again. She just sat there with her knees drawn up and her face buried in them. How could Percy do this to her?

It was like after the wedding someone had replaced her Percy with a dark, cruel imitation of him. A monster wearing her husband's face. Emily lifted her head as the thought crossed her mind. Her sobs quieted to small hiccups as her muddled mind started ticking again.

"Gigi called him bad man," she murmured thoughtfully. "She was afraid to come into the house. And Percy keeps avoiding the charms..." Emily scrambled to her feet, heart thudding painfully against her ribs. What if it really wasn't Percy? She had felt something in the house with her, that ominous presence that had pushed her in her study. She got up and rushed home, arriving out of breath and feeling half manic. She tore up the stairs to her study, rummaging wildly through the drawer for her glass disk. She grimaced when she saw her reflection. A dark bruise was already forming on her left cheek, just below her eye.

She pulled her hair forward and kept the right side of her face pointed to the disk as she started calling for Ben. His confused face appeared after a few minutes.

"Em? What's the matter?"

"I need you to give the disk to Gigi," Emily said breathlessly. "And I need to talk to her privately."

"Emily she's two years old. What can you possibly need privacy for when talking to a toddler?" He looked bewildered.

"Ben please, just humor me. It's a game we have."

Ben sighed and disappeared, reappearing with Gigi. She squealed happily and snatched the disk from him.

"Aunt Emmie!"

"Ben, go away," Emily said sternly. "I need to talk to Gigi."

Ben threw his hands up in surrender and left, muttering about the lack of respect he received.

"Gigi, sweetie, I need to ask you a question and it's very important. Why are you afraid of Uncle Percy? Why did you call him bad man?"

"Not Uncle Perc," Gigi said adamantly. "Other man. Bad man."

"Did you see him with Uncle Percy?"

Gigi nodded. "He with Uncle Perc but not Uncle Perc."

"And this man scares you?"

"Bad man," Gigi repeated.

"Aunt Emmie is going to send the bad man away, okay, Gigi? But you need to keep this a secret. Just between us."

"I not tell!" Gigi said, looking delighted at the idea of having a secret.

"Good girl. Now go play with your daddy."

"Bye Aunt Emmie."

Emily returned the disk to the drawer. She opened the glass bottom and removed her spirit lenses. Percy was asleep in bed, a new bottle of scotch mostly empty on the nightstand. Emily took a deep breath and put the glasses on. She jumped and stifled a shriek. A shadowy figure was crouched on Percy's chest, watching her with eyes that seemed to glow white out of its dark face.

It stood up, seeming to uncoil as its abnormally long limbs stretched out. It leaped at her and Emily yelped as she hit the wall. She lashed out at it with her foot, bringing Malina's charm as close to it as she could. It shrunk back, seeming to almost snarl at her before vanishing back into the bedroom and slamming the door. When she tried the knob it wouldn't budge.

Emily bolted down the stairs, grabbing her small purse from where she had left it in the parlor and tossing the glasses into it. The thing seemed to have latched itself to Percy, so she doubted it would follow her. She had seen in papers recently that Madame Beauchene was back in London, staying at the Brown's Hotel. Trembling and frazzled, Emily directed a cab there and startled the poor concierge when she demanded to know which room Madame Beauchene was staying in.

"She has a suite reserved on the top floor," he said meekly. Emily knew she must look like a madwoman, with her bruised face and frantic eyes. She took the stairs to the third floor too quickly, swooning a bit as she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"My name is Emily Weldon-Everett. I need your help."

The door opened and Madame Beauchene looked out at her with those flinty gray eyes. "I know that name. You're the inventor girl who got married recently."

"Yes and I was also at the seance you conducted at Georgina Hale's party," Emily said coldly. "I'm the one who fainted."

Madame's eyes widened and she drew back slightly. "You're the one that made the spirits so restless. They're still with you. I can sense it in your aura."

"That's why I'm here to talk to you. You let something in that night and it's ruining my life. You need to help me."

Madame's lips pursed. "There is always a risk of encountering spirits when holding a seance. You drew them to you. They sensed something in you. I can't help you." She tried to close the door but Emily blocked it with her foot.

"I didn't ask for your stupid seance. Please, the nightmares are getting worse and something is taking over my husband. I'm begging you. I don't know what to do."

Madame stared at her, taking in her desperate gaze and the bruise on her cheek.

"Did your husband do that?"

"He would never. But there's something possessing him. Poisoning him. It's driving him mad."

"Come in," Madame sighed. She fixed two cups of tea and then sat in a chair facing Emily over the small table. She stirred sugar into her tea pensively before speaking.

"When doors are opened between worlds, dark things often slip through. There are spirits who feed on negative energy. They thrive on pain and misery and discord. They will take over a person's mind and devour their soul. This spirit that is consuming your husband, it likely latched onto the girl that appeared to you during the seance. Many dark spirits like this are drawn to other spirits who have endured a violent end. Tell me about these nightmares of yours."

Emily told her the whole story and the psychic's gray eyes grew more and more troubled.

"For whatever reason, this Millicent has chosen you to share this with. And while these restless, tortured girls are still bound to the earth, this dark entity will not leave. It came with Millicent, and it cannot go until she does."

"Why me?" Emily asked miserably. "Why did she choose me?"

"Because your soul is good." Madame nodded. "She sensed a strength in you, I think."

"But how can I help her?"

"She needs justice for the horrors inflicted upon her, and all the other girls. Then their souls can move on."

"Can't I just perform some sort of cleansing to get this thing out of my husband?"

"If it lingers too long, your husband will cease to be. He will be lost to the darkness. If you try to rip the being from him, his soul and mind will be damaged. The spirit is feeding on him; it's attached. It's tether to the other side is still stronger than its tether to this world, but that will only last so long. While he is still linked to the girls, when they leave this world for the next, they will drag this being back with them."

She paused and studied Emily's face, her eyes softening. "I am sorry that this has happened to you, chere. I wish you the very best."

Emily nodded and stood up. "Thank you."

She strode out of the hotel and started walking home. Millicent and the other girls needed justice before they could rest. They needed their killer stopped. By the time Emily reached her house, she had a plan. She was making preparations when she sensed someone in the room with her and donned her glasses to find Colt. He was frowning.

"You were right," he said. "Something is wrong with Percy."

"I know. I've seen it. I'm going to get rid of it."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Simple," Emily said. "Tomorrow night, I'm going to catch The Dollmaker."