Cherie knew the girls weren't simply missing. They were dead. Devoured by a monster.
And she knows exactly who it is.
Not that anyone believes her. But the monster is getting sloppy, leaving a body in the open. Cherie has to find a way to make it...
There was a narrow winding staircase leading to the upper floor of the bell tower. Cherie ventured up there once, years ago, just to see it. The upper space was cramped and narrow, half of one side of the room taken up by the bell itself, which was deafening when it rang. Cherie wasn't impressed, preferring the lower, more open level. She ignored the winding staircase, never paying attention to it, which was why she didn't notice the webs until she stood at the bottom.
Wide swaths of web strung from wall to wall, clogging the rails and steps.
Cherie glanced at the ceiling, the same webs drifting from the rafters. The monster was waving a flag in front of her face and she didn't realize it. Between the webs and the sunken state of Alice's body, Cherie had a pretty clear idea of what she'd be facing up top.
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She didn't exactly loathe spiders, but she was not a fan either.
"Will you walk into my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly," said Cherie.
"What was that?" Lizzy's tone was waspish, her expression tense.
"Nothing, just a poem the Sisters like to read to us." Cherie shifted her grip on the poker, placing her foot on the first step. The wood creaked beneath her weight while the webs vibrated. If the monster was up there, it already knew they were coming. She took another step, using the poker to slice a path through the webs. "Will it see you?"
"Yes," said Lizzy, "though I'll probably just annoy it more than anything."
Cherie took a steadying breath. "I'm still glad you're here." Glad that she wasn't doing this alone.
"Me too," said Lizzy a beat later.
Neither of them spoke as they continued upward. If Cherie held any doubts they were in the right place they disappeared as her vision crested above the upper landing. The first sight to greet her were the missing girls, what was left of them. Nine cocoons of webbing, gauzy wrapping for the grisly package within. Alice appeared sunken, hollowed out inside. It was nothing compared to the others. The bodies were crumbling, desiccated beyond recognition, nothing left but peeling skin and bone.
Her stomach gave a treacherous roll as she realized the monster hadn't finished with Alice. Why leave the body out? It didn't make sense.
Cherie swallowed the bile creeping up her throat and forced herself to look away from the ruined bodies, catching sight of Sister Joan unconscious on the floor by the window. The monster crouched beside her, its back to Cherie. It knew she was there, it had to know. It just didn't consider her a threat.
She kept the poker loose at her side as she stepped onto the floor. "Hello Jenny."
Lizzy stifled a gasp, her hands over her mouth, as she looked between Cherie and the monster. It turned toward them, the familiar features of the face Cherie once loved like a sister set in unreadable mask.
