Curse the Dark (The Harstone Legacy Book 1)

Chapter 8

After the day that I had, I wasn't surprised when sleep claimed me quickly. I hoped for a dreamless night of rest to recharge so I could face the surprises that I was sure the next day would bring. I should have known that I was not going to be that lucky. Once again, I found myself in darkness, the only light that I could see came from moonlight shining through what appeared to be a window with bars on it. My brain started analyzing what was going on. This had to be a dream brought on by delayed trauma from the day I'd had. I'd never been that aware during a dreaming state, but this seemed to be a day for firsts. I figured I'd just see where it went and pull myself out of it if it got too disturbing. I shivered and was surprised that it was from the cold damp air on my skin. It was so real that a part of me believed that I had been transported into a nightmare. I felt my throat close over with fear when I heard a scrabbling noise in the darkened corner of the room. I tried to wake myself up but, despite the belief that I was in control of this situation, I couldn't wake up no matter how hard I pinched myself.

"Who is that?" I called out as I backed away from the noise, hoping that it was some harmless little rodent.

The darkness took shape and I could just make out that it might be human, although that could have been wishful thinking on my part. The shape slowly moved toward me, sliding across the floor. A face peered up at me when the light shone across it and I gasped in horror.

"Flora, what happened to you?"

Her hair was matted, and her clothes looked filthy. The smell coming from her was horrendous. If I hadn't seen this woman in bed only a few hours ago, I would have sworn she had been left in what looked like a dungeon for weeks.

"Who are you?" Flora's quavering voice sliced through my own panic.

"My name is Sadie Goodwin. Maude and Margot brought me to help you. They think we might be family." Sure, I could have gone into the whole kidnapping story, but sometimes you just have to let go of the details and stick with the big picture.

Flora shook her head as if trying to wake from a very deep sleep. "Why am I in this place? I don't remember how I got here. I just remember waking up and not being able to get out."

I squatted down next to her to bring myself to her eye level and reached a hand toward her. Part of me was curious to see if this was a dream. It had to be a dream. My hand rested on her arm. Dream or not, this felt pretty real to me.

"Flora, you're not really in here. Your body is currently lying in your bed with Isobel keeping watch over you."

"But what's happened to me?"

I licked my lips. Out of everyone who knew about this situation, I was by far the very worst person to explain it. "We think you have been cursed."

"Who?"

"No idea."

"How?"

"Not a clue."

Flora focused on me. It looked like the confusion was starting to drift away. "Do you know anything?"

"Barely more than you do."

A sharp laugh burst out of Flora and she focused on my face. "Did you say we're family?"

I shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. The current theory is that I am Jasper's daughter."

"Collette's son," murmured Flora.

"Yeah, the guy was barely there for my conception, so I don't have any definitive evidence, but Maude's pretty confident of her theory."

Flora reached out, put her hand over mine and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she grimaced. "You definitely have Harstone blood running through your veins."