The Lady in Yellow: A Victorian Gothic Paranormal Romance

Thirty-Nine

On entering the classroom, Veronica could only glare at the twins. It was a struggle not to shout at them.

"Where were you Sunday night? I looked all over for you." She kept her speech as measured as she could. "Where have you been?"

Jacqueline and Jacques gazed at Veronica with disbelief.

"I'm afraid if you don't tell me... if someone in this house doesn't tell me the truth about what goes on around here... I shall have to leave."

"Please don't leave us, Miss Everly," Jacqueline pleaded. "We can't tell you. We don't remember. We never remember. Do we Jacques?"

"No, we never do. I wish you would tell us what happened, Miss Everly. What happened to you?"

Veronica turned away from her desk, and wiping tears from her face, looked out at the yews. When she felt calm enough to speak further, she turned back to the children.

"There was a bell tolling, and wolves howling, hundreds of them. I saw one of you go off with a lady in a yellow gown. Who is she, Jacques?"

The twins looked at each other as if they did not know what to say.

"Is she your Mamma?" Veronica looked from one to the other.

The smooth, pale faces of the twins grew so dark that Veronica started back.

"I went to look for you. I was so worried. I went to Saint Lupine's."

The twins looked startled, but said nothing.

"I saw Father Roche in the churchyard... I saw Saint Lupine. I saw ghosts rise from their graves and turn into wolves."

"Did they frighten you?" asked Jacques.

"Frighten me? I barely escaped with my life."

"Good thing you escaped, Miss Everly. Good thing you made it all the way home," said Jacqueline.

"Yes, Miss Everly," said Jacques. "Did they bite you?"

"Thankfully, not. But... How can you be so casual about it? I'm at a loss at what to think of you two any more."

Their green-eyed stares and set jaws told her that, once again, they would give no explanations.

"The murals in the church depict something real, don't they? Your mother made up that story of the lightning and the mural, didn't she? Saint Lupine is a role she used to play, and has returned to play again."

"She wouldn't lie to us," said Jacques.

Jacqueline whispered, "We summoned Mamma. We wished her back. At the well. We wished her back with drops of our own blood."

"You what?" Veronica felt sick. This went against everything she'd been taught was moral and good. This was necromancy!

Jacques looked at his sister with surprise, then shot a glance at Veronica.

"We did not call up Saint Lupine," he said.

"Your mother clearly modeled for that mural. Don't you see?" Veronica paced to the windows and back. "What I don't understand are the wolves. I saw Saint Lupine turn into one, right before my eyes."

The twins pressed their lips tightly together and watched Veronica as she paced across the room. On fire with insights, she still wanted answers.

"I saw one of you wander off with her last night." Veronica said with some heat. "Where did you go?"

The twins looked stunned and shook their heads no.

"Who was with her?" asked Jacqueline.