Daughters of Silence Read online

  “So long, Jenna,” Rob said. “I’m glad we met. It’s good to have a friend.”

  “Bye, Rob,” Jenna waved as he strode away. As she watched him disappear into the shadows, she felt Hallie close beside her.

  “He’s very good-looking,” Hallie whispered. “Are you sweet on him?”

  “Oh, Hallie! There you go,” Jenna replied, shaking her head. Hallie could conjure up a romance out of thin air. Jenna liked Rob. But she didn’t feel anything more than friendship for him.

  “He’s just a friend,” Jenna replied. “Honest.”

  Hallie shot her a look from under her lashes. “Now, tell me again about the blood.”

  Jenna told her the whole story. This time, she even told Hallie about the long silver pin. But Hallie didn’t seem to understand what Jenna was talking about.

  “Maybe you found something hunters use when they skin and dress a deer,” Hallie offered. “I don’t think so,” Jenna replied slowly. “It looked just like the pins in those weird dolls that the Fears showed us.”

  “What dolls?” Hallie asked. Jenna thought Hallie must be teasing her. Until she noticed the confused look on Hallie’s face.

  “You know, those ugly cloth dolls that sat on the bottom of the glass case in Hannah Fear’s bedroom?” Jenna reminded her. “One of them had long silver pins sticking into it. Simon Fear told us that Hannah had made them herself,” Jenna reminded her.

  Hallie still stared back at her with a blank, puzzled expression. “I must have missed that,” she replied. “I don’t remember seeing anything like that at the Fears’ house.”

  Jenna felt confused. And frustrated. The one person in the world she wanted to confide in didn’t know what she was talking about.

  “Don’t you believe me?” Jenna demanded.

  Hallie stared at her wide-eyed. Her fingers twisted and pulled on her golden heart locket. “Of course I believe you,” she protested. “I believe that you saw the blood. For goodness’ sake, there’s that big stain on your dress. And I believe that you saw something stuck into a tree, some long, sharp, metal … something,” Hallie added. “But—”

  “But what?” Jenna challenged her.

  “Well, I’m just wondering if you really looked that closely at the dolls. I mean, the rooms were dark, Jenna.”

  She didn’t understand why, but Jenna could tell Hallie didn’t believe her. Had she really forgotten things that they both saw at the Fears’ house?

  As they walked toward the Sheridans’, Hallie just smiled at her. And still, her fingers moved on the smooth surface of the locket.

  Rubbing and rubbing and rubbing.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Jenna opened her eyes as bright streaks of sunlight streamed into Hallie’s room through the flowered curtains. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Then she glanced over at the other bed. Hallie lay on her back, her chest rising and falling with deep, regular breathing.

  “Hallie?” Jenna whispered.

  No answer.

  “Wake up, Hallie,” Jenna called, louder this time. “Time to get up.”

  Still, Hallie didn’t respond. Strange. Hallie always sprang out of bed, eager for the day. Was her friend feeling sick today?

  Jenna rose and padded over to the other bed. Hallie’s eyelids fluttered. She breathed heavily, still deeply asleep. The locket lay in the hollow of her throat. It twitched with the rhythm of her heartbeat.

  The chain looked a bit tight around Hallie’s neck. Jenna reached out to rearrange it. The moment she touched it, however, Hallie’s eyes flew open. Her hand shot out, grabbing Jenna’s wrist in an unbearably tight grip.

  “Ow!” Jenna yelped.

  “What are you doing?” Hallie demanded.

  “Fixing your chain,” Jenna explained, stunned by her friend’s action.

  “Oh.” After a moment, Hallie let her go. Then she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You startled me.”

  “Sorry,” Jenna muttered. She rubbed her wrist.

  “We have to go back to the Fears’,” Hallie announced.

  Jenna blinked in astonishment. “What?”

  “We have to go back.” A faraway look came into Hallie’s eyes. Her hand crept up to touch the locket. “They were nice to us. And they don’t have any other friends. Don’t you feel the least bit sorry for them, Jenna?”

  “Hallie—”

  She broke off as someone rapped sharply on the door. “Time to get up, sleepyheads,” Mrs. Sheridan called. “Did you forget about the barn raising at the Miller farm?”

  “The barn raising!” Hallie exclaimed. “I forgot all about it.”

  “What’s a barn raising?” Jenna asked.

  Hallie tucked the locket beneath her nightgown. Her fingertips lingered at the spot where it rested, just over her heart.

  “Here in Shadyside, when someone needs a barn, they invite all their neighbors over,” she told Jenna. “All the men work together to build the barn, the women cook, and then everyone has a wonderful picnic. Father says they’ll even play music and dance.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun!” Jenna exclaimed.

  Hallie nodded. Then a mischievous smile curved her lips. “This is the time to tell the other girls that we went to visit the Fears. They’ll be dying to hear all the details.”

  Mr. Sheridan drove them all to the Millers’ in the carriage. Carriages, wagons and horses crowded the lawn. It seemed as though the whole town of Shadyside had come to the barn raising. Heaps of lumber had been brought in from the sawmill. And Jenna saw long tables covered with cloths where the food would be served.

  The skeleton of the barn had already been built, and men clambered all over it. The air rang with the sound of hammers and saws. A haze of sawdust hung over everything and the scent of new wood permeated the air.

  Mr. Sheridan rolled up his shirtsleeves, then left to join the other men.

  Mrs. Sheridan lifted a picnic basket out of the wagon. She handed it to Hallie. “You girls take this into the house for me,” she said. “Then you can run and join the rest of the young people.”

  “I can’t wait!” Hallie exclaimed with a laugh.

  Her voice sounded higher than usual, and there was a breathlessness in it that made Jenna glance curiously at her friend. What is going on with her? she wondered. Maybe she really did feel ill today but didn’t want to miss out on the party.

  She helped Hallie carry the heavy basket into the house. A harried, red-faced woman took it from them, then shooed them back out into the sunshine.

  “Now, where—” Hallie broke off suddenly, then pulled Jenna around to face another direction. “Look! Isn’t that your beau?”

  Jenna saw Rob coming toward them. “He isn’t my beau,” she protested. “He’s my friend.”

  Hallie laughed, that same high-pitched giggle that Jenna had heard before. The sound made her uneasy. But then Rob called her name, distracting her from worries about Hallie.

  “How are you, Jenna?” he asked, stopping in front of her.

  Before she could answer, Hallie stepped in front of her. “Why, hello, Rob,” she greeted him. “I didn’t know we’d be seeing you again today.”

  Rob blinked, obviously surprised. “Hello, Hallie. How are you?”

  “Perfect,” she murmured. “You know, you look even taller today, Rob, than you did last night. And you’ve got the widest shoulders! Jenna, did you notice?”

  “Uh—” Jenna muttered. She wanted to sink right into the ground and never come up again.

  Her shrill giggle made Jenna’s teeth stand on edge. What was wrong with Hallie? She never acted like this.

  “Don’t mind her,” Hallie murmured as she stood closer to Rob. “She isn’t used to talking to boys.”

  Why, she’s flirting with him! Jenna thought. She couldn’t believe it! Obviously, neither could Rob. He stared at Hallie as if he thought she’d lost her mind.

  “I’d better get back to the barn,” he mumbled. Shooting a glance at Jenna, he added, “See you later.
”

  Jenna watched him stride away. Then she swung around toward her friend. “Hallie, what on earth is the matter with you today?” she demanded. “I’ve never seen you act that way—with a boy or anyone else.”

  “There they are!” Hallie exclaimed, as though Jenna hadn’t said anything at all.

  Without a further word, she straightened her bonnet and merrily skipped away. Jenna stared after her, and saw that she was headed toward a group of girls who stood talking in the shade of a big maple tree.

  Jenna went after her friend. Hallie was in a very strange mood, and she needed someone to watch out for her.

  Hallie marched right up to the girls. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Hallie Sheridan. This is my friend Jenna Hanson.”

  The other girls stared curiously for a moment. Then they all offered their names. Jenna lost track. Kate and Melissa and Jane, and she thought the redheaded one was named Francie. They seemed nice.

  “Jenna and I have been exploring Shadyside,” Hallie announced.

  “Really?” one of the girls asked. “Have you been to see the old flour mill down near the river? It’s very pretty there.”

  “Not yet.” Hallie laughed, and there was a frantic glitter in her eyes that Jenna didn’t like at all. “But we did go visit the Fears.”

  Dead silence was the only reply Jenna heard to Hallie’s remark. Jenna watched as the girls’ faces drained of color.

  “You … visited them?” the redheaded girl asked at last. “You went inside their house?”

  Hallie nodded. “They’re very rich, you know. The house is full of expensive things, and they even gave us gifts. Some of their daughters’ jewelry.”

  “Oh, look, there’s Frank Douglas,” one of the girls said, pointing toward a tall young man near the barn. “I simply have to talk to him!”

  “We’ll come with you,” the redheaded girl offered.

  The whole group walked away. The redheaded girl glanced over her shoulder once, and Jenna saw fear in her eyes. Real fear.

  On one hand, she felt sorry for the Fears. They’d lost both their daughters, and had been shunned by their neighbors. On the other hand, the very mention of their name struck terror into the people of this town.

  Why? What could have happened here to make the townsfolk fear Simon and Angelica so?

  “This is all your fault!” Hallie snapped.

  Jenna turned to her, completely taken aback. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “If you hadn’t come with me, I would have made friends with those girls.”

  For a moment, Jenna was too astonished to reply. Hallie thrust her face close. Her normally laughing blue eyes looked hard with anger.

  “I worked so hard to make friends here,” she said. “It’s been so hard. But you come waltzing in here and make a friend the very first day. Then the minute I make some progress, you ruin it for me!”

  Jenna couldn’t believe it. Her friend, her best friend, had turned on her. And for no reason! Jenna couldn’t understand it.

  “I didn’t do anything to you!” she protested. “I hardly said a thing to those girls. It was the Fears. They got scared when you mentioned visiting the Fears.”

  “They were not!” Tears leaked from Hallie’s eyes. She didn’t seem to notice that she was crying.

  Jenna’s outrage vanished at the sight of those tears. Something was wrong with Hallie, and fighting with her wasn’t going to do any good.

  “Hallie, you’ve been acting strange all day,” she whispered, anxious to help her friend. “First, you scared me silly when I tried to touch that locket this morning, and then you flirted with Rob, and now this—”

  “I can’t talk to you right now,” Hallie cried, flinging her hands up. “I wish you hadn’t come here. I wish something awful would happen to these people. I wish … I wish that whole stupid barn would just fall down around their heads!”

  Whirling, she walked off. Jenna stared after her, unsure what to think or do. There had been such anger in Hallie’s face, such malice in her eyes. It was as if she’d suddenly become a different person overnight.

  “I wonder what’s the matter with her,” she muttered.

  She scanned the crowd for Hallie, but the other girl seemed to have vanished into thin air. Frustrated, she turned one way, then the other.

  Her gaze drifted to the barn. She could see Rob, high up on the roof. He and Frank Douglas and two other men hammered on timbers at the very peak.

  A shadow fell across the barn. A faint shadow. Very faint. But the sight of it sent Jenna’s nerves tingling with alarm. She glanced up at the sky.

  Nothing. Not a single cloud to mar the pure stretch of blue.

  She looked at the barn again. The shadow seemed to twine around the skeletal framework like a gossamer snake. No one else seemed to notice. She shook her head, denying her own senses.

  Then the barn trembled.

  Jenna took a step forward, then stopped. The sun shone down gaily. Everyone else chatted and laughed, even the men working on the barn. No one seemed to see the shadow. No one seemed to have noticed the building’s faint shiver.

  For a moment, Jenna thought she might have somehow lost her mind.

  Then another, sharper tremor passed through the framework. This time, however, some of the workers noticed it, too. Several of the men on the roof called to the others, asking if they’d felt anything.

  “No,” Jenna whispered, feeling in her bones a disaster was imminent.

  The barn shuddered. There could be no doubt this time. The whole structure quivered like an animal twitching its skin. Men clung desperately to the timbers. The framework swayed one way, then the other.

  Rob lost his grip. He dangled by one hand, swinging wildly with every movement of the barn. Wood shrieked and groaned as it was stressed beyond its limits.

  “Hang on!” Jenna shrieked. “Rob, hang on!”

  He couldn’t have heard her in the din. But for a moment he looked straight at her, almost as if he’d read her mind.

  Then she saw his hand slip from its hold.

  And she watched him fall.

  Chapter

  10

  “Rob!” Jenna cried. “Oh, no!”

  She raced toward the swaying barn and heard the wooden timbers groan and snap. Men screamed as they clung to the shattering structure.

  Then the whole framework collapsed. Timbers snapped in two like toothpicks. Splintered shards of wood flew in all directions as the barn crashed to the ground. A great cloud of dust puffed up, tossing stinging grains into the faces of the horrified watchers. The sharp smell of pine lanced the air.

  Jenna’s heart beat so hard she thought it would come right out of her chest. She could hear groans from beneath the wreckage. A man screamed, a sharp, tearing sound that scraped along her nerves until she thought she would scream with him.

  She wasn’t going to do Rob or anyone else any good if she panicked. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself.

  “Rob?” she called as she reached the wreckage. “Rob, can you hear me?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Other people came to help. Jenna worked with the rescuers, pulling boards away to free the trapped men. There were a few broken bones and a lot of cuts and bruises, but it seemed they’d all been very lucky.

  Jenna would have been relieved … if she’d found Rob. But she didn’t see him anywhere.

  “Please let him be all right,” she murmured. “Please let him be all right.”

  She said it over and over, as if that might make it come true.

  “Jenna!”

  Recognizing Hallie’s voice, Jenna turned. The other girl picked her way through the wreckage. Dirt smudged her face, and a long tear marred her skirt.

  “You’re all right?” Hallie demanded. She sounded almost like her old self, although a strange light glimmered in her glassy eyes.

  Jenna nodded. “Are you?”

  “I’m fine. Have you found Rob yet?”

  “Not
yet,” Jenna replied. Somehow, she managed to keep her voice from shaking. “I think he’s under there.” She pointed toward the main section of wreckage.

  “Oh, Jenna.”

  The girls looked at each other for a moment. Then they started working. Hallie never stopped and never complained. Jenna forgave her for the terrible things she’d said. Nothing else mattered except that she’d come to help when Jenna needed her most.

  Then Jenna spotted a bit of cloth, buried beneath a mass of splintered wood. Pale-blue cloth, like Rob’s shirt. She found a long plank that felt stable and crawled along it to get a better look.

  Was he down there? Was he alive?

  “Be careful!” Hallie called.

  The plank shifted under her, and Jenna felt herself falling sideways, into the rubble. She clung to the wood and stood perfectly still. Her heart pounded wildly. Finally, she felt the beam settle into place. She began creeping along again.

  Crawling as far as she dared, she peered into the wreckage. She saw a dark head of hair and the edge of a shirt.

  Rob! His eyes were closed, and she couldn’t see enough of his chest to tell if he still breathed. Or not. A thick heavy beam rested across his body, pinning him in place.

  “Rob?” she called.

  She stared at his face. He didn’t move a muscle. His eyelids didn’t even flicker. Then he opened his eyes and looked straight at her.

  “Jenna!” he called in a strained voice. He coughed and squeezed his eyes shut again.

  Her breath went out in a gasp of relief. “Are you all right? Can you move?”

  “I think I’m all right,” he groaned. “But I can’t move. This beam is too heavy. My arms are trapped.”

  Jenna turned to Hallie. “Get help. Quickly!”

  Jenna turned back to Rob. “It’s going to be all right,” she promised him. “Help is coming. Hang on.”

  “I’m trying, Jenna,” Rob replied.

  Jenna spotted several men running toward her. “Over here!” she shouted and waved. “Hurry!”