The Awakening Evil Read online

  Jane laughed. She leaned close and whispered in Jason’s ear. “Don’t worry. She didn’t hear you. But do try to remember my name is Sarah now!”

  He blushed and nodded. “Sorry!”

  She grabbed his hand. “Come on!”

  She yanked him along with her as she raced outside. Out into the yard. Out into the sun.

  She twirled around and around. She loved the feel of the sunlight on her skin. The smell of the grass. Every sensation felt new—and glorious.

  “But … but—” Jason stammered, watching her. “You seem so—”

  “Different?” she asked hoarsely.

  “Well, yes. You’re—”

  “I’m better!” She whooped.

  “Can it be?” he murmured. “Can it be?”

  Jane held out her arms wide to both sides. “I am living proof that it can.”

  “Oh, J—” he began, but caught himself. “Sarah! Sarah!”

  She cackled. Then covered her mouth in embarrassment. What an awful sound. She never used to laugh like that.

  “But—but we must celebrate,” Jason said. “Tonight! We’ll go to a show. Is there any theater in this little town?”

  Jane knew she must refuse. She didn’t want to hurt Jason’s feelings. But she was still in mourning for Thomas. It wouldn’t be right.

  But when she opened her lips to refuse, the words “I would love to go!” popped out.

  She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Why did she say that?

  “Excellent,” Jason exclaimed. “That’s settled then.”

  Jason continued talking about where they should go and what they should do. But Jane couldn’t concentrate.

  How could she possibly agree to go to the theater only one month after Thomas’s death?

  Jason looked worried. “I just thought of a bit of a problem.” He chuckled nervously. “What will people say if they see you out on the town with me? After all, I am supposed to be your manservant!”

  “Let them say what they like,” she said sharply.

  Jason looked rather shocked.

  Jane felt shocked herself. She didn’t mean that. Of course she cared what people said.

  Everyone in town would be gossiping if she and Jason went to a play together. They would say horrible things about her. Surely they would think that she had never loved Thomas.

  Jane couldn’t be seen with Jason. She couldn’t do anything that would hurt her husband’s memory.

  “You must excuse me, Jason,” Jane said. “This sudden recovery is very confusing for me. I feel as if I am not myself.”

  She gently touched Jason’s arm. “I should not have accepted your invitation. I am still in mourning for Thomas.”

  “Of course,” Jason said. “I should have thought of that.”

  “And now I must go do something that I have been wanting to do since the day I got sick,” Sarah told him. “I am going to take a bath!”

  “But—”

  “I won’t be long!” she promised. She turned around and hurried back inside the house.

  Perhaps she had rushed her recovery. Perhaps that is why she had been behaving so strangely ever since she got out of bed.

  Slowly, she climbed the stairs. She stepped into her bedroom.

  She gasped. Bedclothes were strewn about the floor. Pillows lay everywhere. What happened?

  I did this, she realized. She remembered how she had thrown the blankets and pillows this way and that.

  And then I told the nurses to get out.

  I must have rushed my recovery, she thought again. It is the only explanation for acting so impulsively.

  She closed the door and locked it. Then she leaned back against the door and closed her eyes.

  At least if I lose control again, it will be in the privacy of my own room, she thought. No one will see me.

  Then she heard it.

  A woman laughing.

  Faint at first. But growing louder, louder …

  She opened her eyes.

  The room was empty.

  Chapter

  13

  “I am truly losing my mind,” Jane said. She spoke out loud, hoping that the sound of her own voice would bring her back to her senses.

  For a moment there was silence. Relief swept through her.

  Then the woman laughed again. Even louder this time.

  Jane began to sweat.

  Her bedroom was small. A canopied bed. A few closets. There weren’t many hiding places.

  Jane knelt on the floor and searched under the bed.

  There was nothing there but some balls of dust.

  She stood, feeling dizzy with fear.

  The woman laughed and laughed.

  “Where are you?” Jane cried. “Show yourself!” Acting braver than she felt, Jane strode across the room and flung open the closet door.

  There was no one inside.

  The woman continued to laugh. A low, cackling laugh.

  Jane pushed all her dresses to one side. No one was hidden behind them.

  Then she checked the second closet. And the third.

  No one there.

  The cackling grew louder and louder. Jane covered her ears. She could still hear it.

  Then she froze.

  The laughter.

  It seemed … it seemed to be coming from inside her own head!

  Jane ran to the mirror on the wall. She needed to see herself. Needed to see that she was all right.

  But the mirror was gone. Yes, yes, she remembered now. Clara said they had been afraid to let her see herself.

  Jane unlocked her door and hurried down the hallway into the bathroom. But they had taken away this mirror as well. My, she must have looked awful for the staff to go to such lengths!

  She rushed back into her room. She flung open drawer after drawer, searching for a piece of glass. Finally she found a small, round compact mirror in a tan case.

  Her hands shook so hard that she dropped it. She heard the mirror crack.

  Harsh, taunting laughter roared in her ears.

  She picked up the mirror. It had broken into several pieces, but she could still see herself. She studied her reflection.

  She looked healthy. Normal. Red hair and soft brown eyes. Freckled, rosy cheeks.

  But wait. Didn’t her eyes look slightly different than usual?

  She held the broken mirror closer to her face, studying her eyes intently.

  Now she knew what it was. Her eyes looked lighter.

  As she stared at herself, she saw her pupils widen.

  She noticed tiny flecks of green sparkling in the brown of her irises. She had never seen them before.

  Maybe she had never studied her eyes closely enough, she thought. Maybe they had always been just a tiny bit green.

  Jane looked away from the mirror, breathing hard.

  Maybe I was wrong about the green flecks. I must have been wrong.

  Jane looked into the mirror again.

  But the flecks of green were still there. In fact, they had grown in number.

  As she watched, the green flecks grew longer and longer. Wider. They joined together.

  Jane’s heart began to hammer. She could feel it pounding in the base of her throat.

  Her eyes. Her eyes were completely green now.

  And the green became more and more intense as she watched.

  Her eyes grew brighter and brighter, as if lit by a ghastly fire. They burned into her.

  Jane could not look away. Could not lower the mirror from her face.

  As she watched, her lips spread into a smile.

  What is happening to me?

  “Looking for someone?” her reflection asked.

  Chapter

  14

  Jane let out a shriek. She dropped the mirror.

  The voice in her head shrieked back. Shrieked with laughter.

  Jane staggered toward the bed. The roses and vines embroidered on her coverlet looked so inviting. She just wanted to lie down. Sleep. />
  And when she woke up, she would realize this was all a dream.

  Jane took another step toward the bed. She couldn’t make it. Her legs were trembling too hard. She sank to her knees in the middle of the room.

  I have lost my mind, she thought.

  No, you haven’t, answered the voice in her head.

  “Yes, I have!” Jane cried.

  No. You. Have. Not!

  The voice was harsh. And somehow strangely familiar.

  There is something inside me. I have been possessed, Jane realized. A shudder raced through her body.

  That’s right, Jane. I’m in control now, the voice replied. You are powerless.

  I’ve heard that voice before, Jane thought. But where?

  If only she could remember, maybe it would help her decide what to do. How to fight it.

  Jane sat perfectly still. She waited for the voice to speak again.

  Silence.

  Was it gone?

  Who knows how such things happen, Jane thought. Maybe spirits from the other world pass by quickly, like dark clouds overhead. Maybe encounters with them were brief nightmares to be endured, and then one could go on as before.

  Jane pushed herself to her feet and shuffled over to the bed. She sat down and stared at the floor.

  Was it gone? Was it truly gone?

  For a moment, she felt hopeful.

  Then her body began to vibrate.

  She could feel something big and powerful gathering force within her.

  Heat rushed through her body. Beads of sweat popped out on Jane’s forehead.

  The bed began to tremble beneath her.

  Jane uttered a low, deep moan.

  And the bed itself began to lift into the air.

  Then it spun.

  Faster and faster.

  Jane threw herself facedown on top of the coverlet. She grabbed the edge of the mattress with both hands. She held on so tightly her fingers began to cramp.

  Wham!

  The bed banged back down onto the floor.

  Jane let out a long, shuddering breath. She lay with her cheek pressed against the coverlet. She was too stunned to move.

  This is it, she thought. This is the danger Thomas warned me about in my dream.

  Jane felt something move under her cheek. Was the bed going to start spinning again?

  She jerked her head up. And saw the vines on her coverlet begin to wriggle like snakes.

  They rose up, wrapping around her. She felt their thorns cut her.

  The vines lifted Jane into the air—and threw her.

  She hit the wall face first. She felt her teeth rip through the soft flesh in the side of her mouth.

  Jane slid back down onto the bed. She tasted blood. She spat.

  “Please,” she sobbed. “Please leave me alone!”

  She felt a hand caress her cheek.

  She turned her head to get away from the invisible hand’s clammy touch.

  But no matter which way she turned, the clammy hand followed her. Gently smoothing her face, her hair.

  The voice in her head began to speak.

  You can never get away from me. Do you hear me? So don’t even try. Because it makes me angry!

  The voice screamed the last word.

  Jane tensed, waiting for the next attack.

  It didn’t come.

  She lay still, trying to regain her strength.

  A bubbling and crackling sound made her raise her head.

  What is happening? What could possibly be happening now, Jane thought.

  The walls seemed to be melting.

  Paintings, paint, and plaster—all turned into a steaming brown liquid that dripped onto the floor.

  The brown liquid flowed into the center of the room. Where it rose in a wave.

  The wave rose higher, higher.

  Then it crashed down on Jane, scalding her skin.

  She writhed in agony.

  Please! Please, stop, Jane begged. Why are you doing this? What have I done to deserve this?

  Jane could smell her own flesh burning. Her skin peeled away from the bone in long strips.

  If only I were dead, she thought.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. She prayed for death.

  Oh, but I won’t let that happen, Jane, the voice answered calmly.

  The smell of burnt flesh disappeared.

  Jane slowly opened her eyes. She stared down at herself. Her skin was smooth. Not even one tiny burn marked her body.

  She stared around the room. It looked completely ordinary. The walls. Her coverlet. Everything was back to the way it had been.

  You can’t keep me from death, Jane vowed.

  I won’t let you die until I am done with you, you miserable creature, the voice promised. You think you recovered from that illness by yourself? You were more than half dead last night before I revived you, Jane.

  “You call me by my own given name. Do you know me?” Jane asked.

  It no longer felt odd to be speaking to a voice inside her head.

  She knew the presence was real.

  And she knew better than to doubt the power of the being inside her ever again.

  Do I know you? the voice repeated.

  “Oh, please, please, please,” Jane cried. She couldn’t think of what else to say. She could only beg.

  Oh, please, please, please, the voice taunted.

  Jane gasped.

  That voice.

  She knew who it belonged to now!

  “Sarah!” she exclaimed. Jane sprang to her feet.

  Sarah. Sarah Burns’s spirit had entered her body!

  It should have been you on that boat, Jane. You know that, don’t you? Sarah asked.

  “Yes, Sarah, I do,” Jane whispered.

  Jane felt hope rise up inside her.

  This was Sarah Burns’s spirit.

  Sarah Burns, her dearest friend.

  Sarah would soon forgive her for what had happened. It wasn’t her fault, after all.

  “Oh, Sarah! I am so sorry,” Jane said.

  Sorry?

  “I would give anything if we could trade places again. If I could drown as you did on that boat, as I should have, then I would, Sarah,” Jane told her.

  Stop it! Sarah shrieked inside Jane’s head. Careful, Jane. Do not make me angry again. I warn you. What happened just now was mere child’s play compared to what I could do to you the next time.

  Jane could barely breathe, she was so frightened.

  Don’t you see, Jane? The life you have now should be mine! Mine! Do you know how jealous that makes me? Sarah asked. Do you have any idea of the hatred I feel for you?

  “Jealous? My husband is dead, Sarah. I have no life anymore. If you were going to feel jealous of me nine months ago, I could understand,” Jane told her. “In those days I too felt as if I were embarking on a wonderful adventure. Marrying a rich and handsome husband. Moving to a new town.”

  Jane sighed. “But since then, it has been one accident after another. Such a horrible string of bad luck. If you only knew some of the things I have been through, you would not be jealous for an instant.”

  Sarah giggled mischievously.

  Jane shivered.

  You haven’t figured it out yet, have you, darling Jane?

  Jane felt faint. “Figured out what?” she asked.

  I can’t have the life I was meant to live here in Shadyside, Jane. You took it from me forever. But I can still destroy it, Sarah explained.

  “Why would you do such a thing?” Jane cried. “You wouldn’t. Not the Sarah I know. Not my best friend.”

  I’ve been doing it ever since you got back from your honeymoon, Sarah informed her.

  “But—”

  Jane’s jaw locked. She couldn’t open or shut it.

  She gazed down at her left hand. Could she lift that hand now, if she wanted to? Or was she paralyzed? Just as she had been when Thomas fell in the well.

  Jane tried to jerk her hand up. It remained frozen at
her side.

  Do you believe me now? Sarah taunted.

  Jane stumbled forward. She could move again.

  “You,” Jane breathed.

  Sarah shrieked with glee.

  “You did this?” Jane asked.

  Yes, Jane, Sarah answered. I’ve been with you for months. I made Thomas throw Michael into that railing. I stopped you from pulling Thomas out of the well. And when I saw he was going to survive his burns, I poisoned him.

  “Thomas died of pneumonia,” Jane said dully. She shook her head, trying to clear it. This was too much to take in.

  Wild gales of laughter rang inside Jane’s head. She felt stabbing pains in her temples.

  Arsenic, Sarah explained.

  Any grief that Jane had felt at Sarah’s passing was now gone. Turned to stone.

  Sarah had killed Thomas. In cold blood.

  I couldn’t have murdered your husband without using your body, Jane. It was your hands that fed him the poison.

  “No. Oh, no,” Jane murmured. She felt tears sting her eyes.

  Now let’s hurry up and get dressed, Jane, Sarah said.

  Jane looked down at her nightgown. The clothes she had worn during her long illness.

  She didn’t feel sick, but she felt wearier than she had ever felt in her life. She didn’t think she could find the strength to get dressed. Not now. Not after what she had just learned.

  Suddenly, her head snapped up, as if she were a marionette and the puppeteer had just yanked on the strings. Pain shot through her.

  I said get dressed, Sarah snapped.

  Jane rose to her feet. She couldn’t stop herself. Sarah was controlling her motions now.

  She found herself crossing the room to the closet. She flung off her nightgown, practically ripping it from her body. She began to dress in a terrible hurry, swearing when a clasp or button didn’t close immediately.

  There is so much work to be done, Sarah said. You know Thomas was just the first to die, don’t you, Jane?

  Chapter

  15

  Jane sat stiffly in the carriage as it bumped up and down over the dirt road. Her eyes were open but saw nothing.

  The voice in her head was silent. Sarah left her in peace—for the moment.

  When Jane had finished dressing, she knew she must visit Liza Teasedale. That was all.

  She had no idea why.