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He broke the kiss. “Go.”
I crawled between narrow walls, up ancient stone foundations, past another alcove where I found a narrow ladder. It led to a trapdoor that opened into a dark room smelling of animals: fur and feces and straw. It was the secret room where Elizabeth kept the rats. I dusted off my hands as the rats squeaked softly, most likely thinking I was Elizabeth with their daily meal.
“Shh,” I whispered to them. “You’ll give me away.”
I took a deep breath. I had only to run through Hensley’s room and climb the spiral staircase and I’d be in the laboratory. I closed my eyes to listen for footsteps. There was nothing save the usual creaking of the house and my own ragged breathing.
It was now or never.
I darted through his room and up the stairs as quickly as I could, clutching Elizabeth’s key, afraid the Beast was right behind me. I threw myself at the laboratory door, unlocking it and then slamming it back behind me. My breath came shallow. Had I closed it too loudly? I went to the window. There was no sign of Montgomery or the Beast, but the goats were loose in the front yard. Montgomery must have succeeded in his half of the plan.
I turned to the laboratory cabinets. Bone saws, surgical knives, scalpels. I snatched up a wicker basket and filled it with anything sharp. My hands wrapped around the instruments like old friends. Any of them, used properly, could yield a deadly blow. In a drawer, I even found a small silver pistol. That went into the basket as well.
I felt far more confident as I left the laboratory. I retraced my footsteps through the passageways, avoiding Lord Ballentyne’s ancient traps, and peeked through the spy holes until I found the kitchen. There was Lucy, standing alone by the oven with one of McKenna’s recipe books, looking completely lost.
“Lucy,” I whispered through the spy hole. “Over here.”
The panel opened wide enough for me to reach my hand out. She shrieked at the sight of a disembodied hand reaching through the wall, but then raced over.
“Juliet,” she whispered. “You gave me a fright!”
“The Beast hasn’t come back, has he?”
“I heard the front door slam about twenty minutes ago—I think he went outside. He left me here to make a feast but took away all the knives and anything sharp. How am I to peel the potatoes? I barely know what a raw potato looks like!”
“I have a plan. I found weapons in the laboratory, so I’ll arm everyone in the cellar for their safety, and then set them free while the Beast is distracted. Once I give the signal, Montgomery will lure him back to the house. Balthazar and I will be waiting for him. As soon as you hear any commotion, you must hide. There’s a trapdoor to the passageways in the pickling room. Hide just behind the trapdoor and wait for me to come get you—don’t venture deeper into the passageways unless you want to stumble down one of mad Lord Ballentyne’s traps. And take this.” I passed her one of the surgical knives through the spy hole.
She took the blade with as much dread as if she were handling one of Hensley’s pet rats. Her face twisted in anguish.
“It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I was a fool to unchain him, but he was so convincing, and he looked just like Edward. I realized too late that he’d tricked me. I had a knife—not so different from this one. I was going to slice Edward’s throat so that Elizabeth would bring him back cured, but I couldn’t do it.”
I squeezed her hand through the wall. “Be thankful, Lucy. Killing easily is not a trait one should ever desire. Besides, he would have gotten free one way or another. This confrontation would have been inevitable.”
She studied her reflection in the gleaming knife blade. “If I get another chance, I won’t make the same mistake again.”
Dread filled me. I didn’t want to leave her in that big empty kitchen, when the Beast might return at any moment. And yet Montgomery couldn’t hold him back forever.
“Just remember, no matter what he looks like, it isn’t Edward anymore.” I gave her hand one more squeeze, then closed the panel, plunging my world back into darkness.
TWENTY
MOVING THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAYS was starting to feel like second nature. I could see why Hensley liked them. Once I learned to navigate the jagged nails and the uneven stairs, it felt so removed from the rest of the world that anything seemed possible.
I reached the trapdoor to the chapel and knocked out a quick melody I knew Balthazar would recognize: “Winter’s Tale,” the song my mother used to sing. Sure enough, the door swung open and his wonderfully ugly face looked back at me.
“We have to move fast.” I pulled out the basket of weapons and handed them out to the staff. For the littlest girls, scalpels—the small blades would make them feel safe, but they wouldn’t hurt themselves accidentally. For McKenna and Elizabeth, the largest of the surgical knives. Elizabeth took one look at it and shook her head, reaching in the basket instead for a heavy metal clamp.
“I prefer my weapons blunt and powerful,” she said.
“Did you find Miss Lucy?” Balthazar asked, folding his lips in concern.
“She’s in the kitchen. I’ve instructed her where to hide once things get dangerous. Now, I’m going to lead you all to an outside door, where you can make it to the barn. Balthazar, I want you to take the rear, just in case . . .” I paused, looking at the impossibly narrow opening of the passageway. He’d never fit. “Well, dash it all. You’ll have to stay here. Montgomery or I will come to unlock the cellar door as soon as we can.”
He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t like it, Miss. You and Montgomery up there on your own against that creature.”
I gave him a smile, trying to look brave, but something about Balthazar always crumbled the walls around my heart. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I learned a thing or two on the island. I can sneak around this manor without the Beast hearing a single peep. We’ll see you soon.”
I crawled through first, with Moira behind me, and the younger girls behind her, and Elizabeth and McKenna at the end.
“Follow my path exactly,” I said to the girls. “Don’t touch the walls, if you can avoid them—there are loose nails. And don’t veer off to the sides—there are some tunnels that plunge down into nothing.” In the near darkness, I could make out their eyes, wide and frightened. “Let’s go,” I said.
We crawled as quickly as the younger girls could. My heart pounded in fear over what might be happening outside: if the Beast had discovered Montgomery, or worse, had already come back inside. What would he do if he discovered the chapel empty, save Balthazar? Could Balthazar defeat him alone?
