AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were there at the orphanage where I found my daughter,” Niall said. “You’re the one who warned me about her. You said she was the child of a harbinger. I thought you were being… well, I need to know more about it now.”
“I was there when she arrived at the orphanage,” Lena said. “I took her from her mother’s arms. I’ll never forget that moment, nor her face.” She shivered. “Nor the chill of her touch.”
“Who was her mother?” I asked. “Where did she come from? Do you remember where she went?”
“I remember she was barely grown,” she said. “No older than you, boy. And terrified. So terrified, but we were the ones who were scared of her. As old as I am, she still haunts my dreams.”
“Scared of a teenage girl,” Byron said. “How could that be?”
“I was sure she came from the mountains.” Lena gestured behind her. Distant snowy peaks could be seen through one round window. “Deep in the mountains, there is a compound, a cult, some would call it. My grandmother used to tell me stories of white wolves who protected us, kept us safe from harm. Their blood called to them to stand guard over us, those who stood here on this land for generations. Our ancestors were blessed, she said. Until the harbingers of death came to end them. Once the massacre was over, those harbingers holed themselves up in the mountains to hide.”
“And those stories passed on over generations,” Byron said. “Did you pass them on?”
She snorted softly. “When I was young, I thought such tales old superstitions. I was desperate to leave that kind of thing behind. I thought myself so modern and cultured and well-travelled. But then I met that girl and her child, and I changed my mind. I came home to make sure we never forget what’s out there. Sometimes, I tell the children here stories, but I doubt they believe me. I don’t blame them. Even I wish those tales weren’t true.”
“What was it about them?” Ryan asked. “The girl, the child. What made you fear them?”
“They were so ethereal,” she said in an awestruck tone. “Not of this world at all. Unnatural, both of them, almost completely colourless. Not fair or pale, but devoid of colour and warmth. She was like a creature who came from another world, and her child was much the same. As soon as I held her, I felt it, and I knew I would never forget it.”
“The chill,” I said. “You felt cold around her.”
“Cold?” she laughed without humour. “I know cold. I’m used to cold. This was death. I felt it, all around her, couldn’t believe she was alive. Couldn’t believe I even survived the encounter. The night itself felt unnatural. A storm came from nowhere, ended almost as abruptly once she left. The girl was soaking wet, but she didn’t linger for more than a moment. The storm seemed to follow her home. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. I have no idea how she even made it to the orphanage.”
“Why did the girl go to you?” Niall persisted. “Why did she leave her baby?”
“She was scared, hiding from someone, hiding the baby, more like. It happens, an unwanted child, a scared mother trying to hide the evidence of a pregnancy before the family or future husband finds out. Some leave the babe out in the cold, let nature take care of the problem.”
“She never returned?” I asked. “Just left for good.”
“Why would she return?” she scoffed. “She did what she came to do.” A flash of fear crossed her face.” There was something else though.”
“What is it?” Byron asked.
She wrung her hands in distress. Byron reached out and covered her hands with his.
She rocked back and forth for a moment, looked into his eyes, and nodded. “I’ll tell it. A few days later, a man came to us. He looked like the girl, but worse, worse than death even. He asked questions, but nobody told him a thing. He barged into the orphanage. I don’t know what he did, but every child in the building began to cry at once. All but that one baby. When I saw him at the door, I made sure to hide her in the backroom. She lay there, so quiet, her eyes wide open, as though she knew not to draw attention. That made us even more afraid of her. The man left soon after, and we all prayed he would never return.”
“You believe they came from the compound in the mountains,” Ryan said. “But who lives there? For what purpose? Are they all harbingers? What are they exactly?”
She rubbed her chin. “Dealers in death. They don’t mix, only to trade goods, but we know they watch us. We feel it. People seem to die when they get close to them, so they’re left alone. They aren’t normal, can’t be human. That’s what people think. They’re demons or such. Dangerous creatures, that’s why we feared that child.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my daughter,” Niall said indignantly.
“Then why are you here?” she replied evenly. “You were the first person to willingly touch that child, but she never cried, never reached out for us. Even your wife was wary, born with more sense than you.”
“My wife loves her as much as I do. You say she didn’t reach out for you, but she reached out to me. Her hand came through the bars of the cot to clasp my fingers.” His voice broke. “She was desperate for love, desperate for attention. I only wish I found her sooner.”
She shrugged. “Some people are more open to the otherness in this world than others. But there are limits. Though I often wondered what became of the colourless little girl who felt like death.”
“She’s a beautiful, clever, kind teenage girl,” Niall said bitterly. “She helps people, even if it hurts her. But she’s sick, and we need to find her birth mother to see if there’s a cure, an explanation, anything that could help her.”
“No curing death,” she grumbled under her breath. “And you won’t make it across the mountains, not in this cold. There’s a long trek through the Carpathian’s to reach that compound. The forests are full of wolves and bears and lynxes. Even if you make it through, the harbingers will bar your way before you reach them.”
“How do you know so much about them?” Byron asked.
“There’s a village where they trade. I still have some family there,” she said. “I spent enough time there as a child to recognise those people. That girl was one of them. Don’t poke at the harbingers. They will bite. They don’t just carry death. They wield it. They destroyed our white guardians. Never underestimate them.”
A shiver ran down my spine. She was an old woman stuck in the past, subsisting on old stories and superstitions. Separating truth from fiction was difficult, but I only cared about one thing. If Margo’s mother came from the compound, then that was where I had to go next. No matter what might be waiting there.
