The Third Evil Read online

  She stopped, suddenly chilled.

  Why do I want to get into poor Sarah Fear’s memories? What would be the point? Sarah Fear died almost a hundred years ago.

  As quickly as she asked herself the questions, Corky knew the answers.

  Sarah Fear had been the only one to defeat the evil spirit.

  When Sarah Fear died, the evil spirit went to the grave with her. And the evil had remained inside her grave for nearly a hundred years.

  I want to send the evil force to its grave, Corky thought, breathing hard, her mind spinning with ideas.

  I want to send the evil away just as you did, Sarah. But how? How did you do it?

  Sarah Fear had died with that secret. But, Corky knew, the secret must live on in Sarah Fear’s memory.

  And Sarah Fear’s memory was somewhere inside Corky’s mind.

  I just have to find it, Corky thought. I have to search until I find Sarah Fear’s memory.

  I have to let myself sink down, down, down into Sarah Fear’s memory. And then maybe I can learn from Sarah Fear how to defeat this evil.

  Corky suddenly realized that her entire body was trembling. Her hands and feet were ice cold. Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest.

  As these wild ideas continued to whir through her mind, she returned to bed, lowered herself between the cool sheets, and pulled the covers up over her chin.

  She closed her eyes and waited for her body to stop trembling, for the chills to stop, for her breathing to slow.

  Then, with her eyes still closed, she tried to concentrate.

  She pictured Sarah Fear. The swaying sailboat. The shimmering blue-gold water of the lake.

  Forcing herself to breathe slowly, slowly…she sank into the evil spirit’s memory.

  Slipping into shadows darker than any she had ever experienced, she sank. Darker—and even darker. Such darkness, such depths inside her own mind.

  Deeper. Until she heard low moans and soft whimpers. Cries of despair. And still deeper, into the ancient memory, into the memory of evil. The cries became howls. Anguished yelps of pain and suffering.

  The darkness grew heavy and cold. Ghostly wisps of gray mist slithered like wounded animals in front of her. The howls of pain encircled her, pulled her down, down….

  As the anguished cries grew louder and the darkness became a living thing, a monstrous presence, a hungry, groping shadow that threatened to swallow her whole, Corky felt overwhelming fear.

  As if all the fear from all the people inhabited by the evil spirit had poured into her.

  Endless fear. Endless pain. All inside her own mind.

  Crying out to her. Reaching for her. Trying to grab her and pull her down into untold horrors from centuries past.

  No, I want to get out, Corky thought, struggling against the darkness, against the agony inside her. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to hear this, to see this.

  But she had no choice now. Now it was too late.

  She was slipping back in time, deep into the memory of the foul thing inside her….

  Chapter 19

  Sarah Fear’s Secret

  Standing at the rail, the sails rippling pleasantly beside her, Sarah Fear stared into the sparkling waters of Fear Lake.

  The boat created gentle blue-green waves as it cut through the water. Sarah stared down at the water, sprinkled with the gold of reflected sunlight.

  Such a calm day, she thought. So little wind. It will take forever to cross the lake.

  That was okay with Sarah. She was in no hurry.

  Sighing, she raised her pale face to the sun, closing her eyes. She stood still for a long time, letting the warmth settle over her.

  “Aunt Sarah?” A young boy’s voice interrupted her peace. “Come sit with Margaret and me.”

  Sarah opened her eyes and smiled down at Michael, her young nephew. Bathed in yellow sunlight, he seemed to sparkle and shimmer like the water. His starched white sailor shirt and blond curls glowed in the bright light as if on fire. “Come sit with us.”

  “In a while,” Sarah replied, placing a hand on his curls gently, reluctantly, as if they truly might be as hot as fire. “I’m enjoying the light breeze here. I feel like standing for a while.”

  “Where is Father?” Michael asked, searching the deck.

  “He went below,” Sarah replied, pointing to the stairs leading to the lower cabin. “He has a dreadful headache, poor man.”

  “We are moving too slowly,” Michael complained.

  “Yes—we want to go fast,” his sister Margaret called from her seat across the wide deck.

  Sarah laughed. “We can’t go fast if there isn’t any wind,” she told them.

  “Michael—would you like to. take the wheel?” Jason Hardy called from behind them. Sarah turned, startled by his voice. She had almost forgotten he was on the boat.

  Jason Hardy, Sarah’s personal servant, was a tall, stern-faced man. His black mustache, waxed stiff, stuck out like bird wings on either side of his face. Dressed in a blue admiral’s cap, matching blue blazer, and white sailor pants, he stood behind the wheel, motioning for Michael to join him.

  “Me too!” cried Margaret, jumping up from her seat and starting toward the wheel.

  “No, Margaret,” Sarah scolded, laughing. “Piloting a sailboat is a man’s job. That wouldn’t be ladylike, would it?”

  “I don’t care.” Margaret pouted, hands on her waist. But she stopped obediently halfway across the deck.

  Michael, beaming excitedly, grabbed the big wheel with both hands as Hardy instructed him on how to steer.

  Sarah turned back to the rail, taking a deep breath. In the near distance she could see the green pines of Fear Island, the small round island in the center of the lake.

  The children look so good, so healthy, she thought wistfully. It’s the happiest I’ve seen them since their mother died.

  Something fluttered near Sarah’s face. Startled, she took a step back. It was a butterfly. Black and gold—a monarch butterfly.

  You’re a long way from shore, Sarah thought, admiring it as it hovered just over the rail. Did you follow us onto the sailboat this afternoon?

  The butterfly fluttered silently just in front of her, hovering in place.

  Such delicate beauty, Sarah thought. She reached out, wrapped her fingers around it, and crushed it.

  A voice inside her head laughed. Cruelly.

  It was a laugh Sarah had heard many times before.

  “Aunt Sarah!” Margaret’s surprised cry drowned out the sound. “What did you do to that butterfly?”

  “Butterfly?” Sarah turned to face the little girl, a look of innocence on her face. “What butterfly, Margaret? I didn’t see it.”

  She opened her palm and let the crushed remnants of the insect drop into the water. She wiped her hand on the rail.

  One more murder, Sarah thought bitterly. One more…

  A small cloud drifted across the sun. The rolling waters darkened around the boat.

  How many more murders? Sarah wondered silently, squeezing the rail with both hands.

  “Many more,” came the reply. “As many as we desire,” the familiar voice told her.

  Sarah shuddered. “I want you gone,” Sarah said aloud into the wind.

  Laughter. “I will never leave you,” said the voice, the voice of the evil that shared her body.

  “I want you gone.”

  “I am part of you,” the evil force declared.

  “No!” Sarah protested.

  “Aunt Sarah?” A hand tugged at her long skirt. “Aunt Sarah? Are you okay?”

  “Yes…fine,” Sarah answered quickly, turning to Margaret staring up at her, concern on her pretty, pale face. “I’m fine, Margaret.”

  Sarah turned to Jason Hardy. “Give Margaret a turn at the wheel. We won’t tell anyone.”

  Margaret gave a squeal of joy and hurried to join her brother, her heavy black shoes loud on the wooden deck.

  Sarah’s hands wrapped ti
ghter around the rail, and she leaned forward until she could feel cold spray on her face. So refreshing, so…clean.

  She closed her eyes and remained still, her face catching the drops of spray. She loosened her grip on the rail and pressed hard against it with her corsetted waist.

  I know how to kill you, she thought. I know how to get rid of you. I know how to free myself of your evil.

  She waited for the voice inside her head to reply. She didn’t have to wait long.

  “You cannot kill me, Sarah.”

  A bitter smile formed on her pale lips. I know how.

  And then a cold shudder of doubt made her grip the rail again.

  I know how. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to do it.

  The evil laughter echoed once more in her mind. “I will move to the children,” the evil spirit said. The cruelest threat of all.

  “No!” Sarah screamed.

  “Yes. I will live inside the children. First one, then the other. My evil shall live on, Sarah.”

  “No!”

  She looked down at the mirrorlike surface. So clear, so pure.

  And as she stared, visions of the deeds she had been forced to do seemed to float up to the surface. They were shadowy at first and murky, but as they floated nearer to the top, the pictures became bright and clear.

  Sarah found herself facing her own evil.

  She saw herself murdering the man at the mill, the man who had caused her husband’s accident. She saw the expression of utter disbelief on the man’s face as she grabbed him and shoved him from behind. And she heard the crack and splat as she pushed his head under the mill wheel. And his head was ground up as fine as the corn.

  The woman who lived in the big house on the hill was even easier to murder. And what pleasure Sarah had taken in the crime. What delight. After all, the woman had insulted the Fears, insulted Simon Fear, insulted Sarah’s dead husband, insulted the entire family.

  She couldn’t utter any insults with that length of clothesline wrapped around her neck. Sarah had pulled the clothesline tighter and tighter, until the woman’s face was bright purple, as purple as the violets in her garden. So tight that the rope actually disappeared under the woman’s skin. And the blood had flowed out in a perfect ring.

  The tiny town of Shadyside was in an uproar now. Who could be doing these ghastly murders?

  They were all frightened of the Fear family. But they sent the young police constable anyway. He was so young and handsome, Sarah thought. And he asked so many questions.

  Too many questions.

  How lucky that Sarah was boiling up an enormous pot of potatoes when the young police officer arrived. She had only to shove his head deep into the boiling water, and wait.

  What a struggle he’d put up. Thrashing his arms.

  But Sarah had held his head under until the thrashing stopped. Until his breathing stopped, until he was dead, and he slumped lifeless over the black cast-iron stove.

  All of his hair had floated off, floated to the top of the pot. And when she finally pulled him up, his head was as white as a boiled potato and nearly as soft.

  So much for the police investigation.

  The residents of the town grew quiet and fearful. Neighbor avoided neighbor. Rumors were whispered, but few words of accusation were murmured aloud.

  These pictures surfaced in the mirrorlike lake water as Sarah leaned over the rail and stared down.

  “No more,” she whispered aloud.

  “There will be more,” the evil spirit inside her promised. “There will be many more.”

  “No more,” Sarah repeated, shaking her head.

  I know how to kill you, she thought, taking a deep breath.

  I know how to get rid of you.

  “I will move to the children,” came the ugly threat once again. “I will live inside Michael. I will live inside Margaret.”

  No, you won’t, Sarah argued.

  No. You will die, evil spirit.

  I know how to drown you.

  The cruel laughter rang in her head. “Fool. I cannot be drowned.”

  Yes, you can, Sarah told it, a bitter smile spreading on her pretty face. Yes, you can. You can drown. You can.

  “I cannot be drowned.”

  You can be drowned, Sarah told it silently, if I drown first.

  “No,” the voice inside her quickly replied, but doubt and surprise colored the single word for the first time.

  If I kill myself with you inside, Sarah told it, then you will die with me.

  Sarah turned back to the children. Jason Hardy stood between them as they enthusiastically guided the wheel together.

  So innocent, she thought.

  They don’t know anything at all about their evil aunt Sarah. And I hope they never will.

  Sarah had known for a long time how to rid herself, how to rid the world, of the ancient evil force. She had known that she had to die in order for it to be killed.

  But ending her own life was too frightening to think about. Too frightening to imagine—until the evil spirit mentioned the children.

  I have to save them, Sarah thought. I have to save them now.

  Her throat constricted as she stared down into the water. She uttered a low cry and leaned forward a little farther.

  And as she leaned, the boat tilted, reared up as if facing a strong wind.

  Sarah was tossed back. She landed sharply against the mast and toppled to the deck in a sitting position. She struggled to get back up as the craft began to twirl.

  “What’s happening?” She heard Margaret’s frightened voice behind her. “Why are we spinning?”

  “It isn’t windy!”

  “What’s wrong with the boat?”

  Sarah knew what was wrong with the boat. The evil spirit was working hard to keep her from throwing herself over the rail into the water.

  Around and around, like a carousel, the boat spun. Picking up speed, it sent up a high wall of water around it.

  Dizzy and terrified, her heart thudding, Sarah reached for the mast. She grabbed it to pull herself up.

  The boat reared up violently then, and dipped low into the tossing water. Sarah’s hand slipped off the mast, and she fell hard to the deck once again.

  The sky was black now, as black as night.

  The ring of water tossed up by the spinning boat encircled the boat and threatened to roll over it.

  “You cannot drown me!” the evil voice screamed inside Sarah’s head. “My evil lives forever!”

  As the boat spun faster and faster, Sarah heard the terrified cries of her little niece and nephew.

  “You will not get to them,” she said out loud through gritted teeth. This time she pulled herself to her feet.

  Water crashed down heavily and washed over the deck like a tidal wave. The boat heaved as it twirled, and the waters tossed up high, frothing eerily in a circle around it.

  “You will not get the children!” Sarah Fear declared, shouting at the evil inside her.

  She shut her eyes tightly and lunged blindly to the rail.

  “Aunt Sarah!” She heard the children’s shrill voices, distant now, as if miles away. “Aunt Sarah! Come back!”

  “You cannot drown me!”

  But I must!

  “You haven’t the courage to drown yourself!”

  Was the ancient evil right?

  Did she have the courage?

  Could she sacrifice her life, her young life, for Michael and Margaret?

  “There will be more evil to come, Sarah. There will be much more evil.”

  “Noooooooo!”

  And Sarah Fear dived under the rail. Into the dark, tossing waters under the black sky.

  Down into the cold water. Churning and bubbling.

  Down she plunged, gulping in water.

  Inhaling the heavy water.

  Taking in mouthfuls as she descended, her hair loose and floating gracefully above her head like a kind of sea creature, her arms pulling her deeper into the dar
kness.

  Her lungs filling with the heavy water.

  Choking. Sputtering.

  No longer breathing.

  No longer seeing.

  I’m drowning, she thought. I’m not breathing now. Soon I will be gone. Soon, I hope.

  And as Sarah drowned, the evil thrashed inside her, fighting desperately. As the water invaded her lungs, the spirit struggled to free itself.

  She felt it try to thrust itself out from her throat. The water bubbled as a stream of green gas erupted from her mouth.

  The eruption was so powerful that it forced Sarah to the surface. She saw the sailboat overturned, upside down.

  The children, she thought.

  And then she was underwater again.

  The water was hot. Boiling. Scalding hot.

  Burning her skin. So unbearably hot.

  And the green gas poured into the tossing, boiling water.

  “Up. Rise up,” the voice told her. “Rise up and save us both!”

  But Sarah plunged lower, forcing herself down.

  Now she could feel two fears at once. Her own and that of the ancient spirit.

  Both frightened now. Both about to die.

  Both dying.

  Both.

  The boiling, bubbling water churned around her. The flowing green gas encircled her, shutting out all light. The spirit was trapped in Sarah’s drowning body.

  The evil voice cried out. “NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

  A wail of rage, of disbelief.

  The cry was strong at first. Then weak. Then a whimper of faint protest. The green gas bubbled away.

  Sarah Fear’s eyes were bulging wide. But she saw nothing now.

  Not even the still, still blackness.

  For she—and the evil—were dead.

  Then—more darkness. Rapidly swirling darkness. Black moving against black.

  Corky slept without moving, as if in a coma, her breathing slow and silent.

  Deeper, she sank. Deeper into old memories.

  Shadows formed, twisting and bending in the darkness.

  Deeper.

  Deeper.

  No longer in Sarah Fear’s memory.

  Sinking deeper inside the mind of the ancient evil.

  Deeper.

  Until she entered the memory of the evil spirit itself.

  Now Corky looked out through the evil spirit’s eyes.