The Children of Fear (15 page)

L
uke sat down on Corey's bed and tucked the blanket around his brother's chin. Corey stared back at him with large, solemn eyes.

Corey had recovered from the accident with the wagon and the fire. But Luke sensed that his brother felt very sad about Leah.

“I promise that we'll go visit her,” Luke told Corey. “They won't hurt Leah, but they'll make sure that she doesn't hurt anyone.”

Corey's lips tightened into a straight line, and Luke saw his little mouth quiver. His eyes shimmered with tears.

“Mr. Green is going to let us stay here,” Luke assured Corey. “And everything is going to be so much better. You'll go to school. And you can go play with those children we met the first day. I bet
Mr. Green would even let you have a puppy to play with.”

“Of course he can have a puppy,” a deep voice added from the doorway.

Luke jerked his head around. Mr. Green had come into the room. He looked gaunt, tired.

“There's a storm brewing,” he told Luke. “I'm going to check the storm window in the cellar. I want you both to close your windows before you go to sleep.”

He shuffled out of the room.

“See,” Luke said as he turned back to Corey. “We'll be happy here. Tomorrow I'll see if any of the neighbors have a dog they don't want. You can name him anything you wish.”

Luke watched Corey's mouth lift in a hesitant smile.

“It's sad about Leah. But you're going to have a regular life,” Luke promised his brother.

Corey's green eyes began to glitter with excitement.

Luke felt his own excitement grow. A regular life.

Everything would be all right now.

Everything.

♦ ♦ ♦

Luke awoke to the sound of a crash.

He jerked upright, holding his breath. He listened, every muscle in his body tense and alert.

Lightning flashed, illuminating his dark room for a single instant. Thunder rumbled.

The storm is here, he thought. Just the storm.

He flopped back onto his pillows and took a deep breath. His eyes drifted closed again to the softly rumbling thunder.

Then he heard a strangled scream. A man's scream.

Mr. Green!

Luke sprang up in bed again. He grabbed his overalls and shirt and pulled them on quickly. With a shaking hand, Luke lit the candle he kept beside his bed. He picked it up and dashed into the hallway and down the stairs.

The flame quivered. His own shadow rose up eerily against the stairway wall.

The house stood completely dark.

Utterly silent.

I know I heard something, Luke thought. I heard Mr. Green scream.

He padded into the kitchen on bare feet.

He spotted the cellar door standing open. Luke peered down the stairway into the cellar. Into pitch-black darkness.

“Mr. Green?” he called softly.

No answer.

His pulse pounded in his temples. His mouth felt dry as sand.

He held the candle and crept down the creaking, rickety steps. One by one. “Mr. Green, are you down here?” he called out again.

His voice echoed in the black emptiness.

A damp, moldy smell filled his nose, and he coughed on the stale air.

He stepped off the bottom stair and onto the cellar's stone floor. A shiver raced through his body as his bare feet hit the cold stone. He took a single step forward, feeling chilled to the bone.

He narrowed his eyes. He could see something … legs lying on the floor.

His heart pounded with dread. He forced himself to
take another step forward, his feet feeling as heavy as bricks.

He peered down into the shadows and recognized the dark blue denim overalls that clothed the unmoving legs.

Mr. Green's overalls.

Luke stepped quickly past the legs and knelt down by the body. He held the candle close to Mr. Green's face. “Mr. Green—” he began.

His voice choked at the sight of Mr. Green's face, his vacant gaze, staring at the ceiling.

Dead!

Luke jumped up and stepped back. Mr. Green is dead! How is this happening again?

Did Leah escape?

He shuddered as another thought struck him.

Are her powers this strong? Can she reach us even though she is locked away?

Then Luke heard a small voice. A child's voice.

“Thank you. He was mean to my sister. So mean. You're my friends. Thank you.”

Luke spun around and held his candle out to shed some light on the shadows. That small voice … His hand trembled uncontrollably.

He stumbled back in horror as he watched Corey step out of the shadows.

Corey, covered with thick, squirming rattlesnakes wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck. He stroked them and kissed their hissing heads as they slithered over him.

“C
orey,” Luke gasped. “It was you all along! You're the one with the power to control animals.”

“Me
and
Leah,” Corey answered. “And Papa. But they never did anything bad. Neither did I—until people started being so mean to Leah. You wouldn't help her—so I had to.”

Luke stared at his brother. He couldn't move. He felt stunned and horrified. He felt lost in a nightmare. Fighting to wake up.

Yet he knew it was no dream.

He felt the crushing weight of the horrible truth press down on him. Bury him alive. His heart beat so hard that he thought it would burst through his chest.

“You killed them,” Luke whispered, his voice hoarse with disbelief. “You killed them all!”

“They were mean,” Corey replied calmly. “They
were bad. And so are you!” Corey insisted. “You locked poor Leah away forever. Now you must pay!”

Luke knew he should run for his life. But his body felt frozen to the spot. Frozen with fear.

Mesmerized, he watched as Corey gently placed the rattlesnakes on the ground, petting each on the head as though it were a puppy instead of a deadly viper. They hissed. They shook their tails, the rattles on the end sending a clacking sound echoing around the cellar.

“They will kill you too, Luke,” Corey said quietly. “When I tell them to.”

Luke held the candle high and stared at the slithering snakes. So many. So large. Their forked tongues darted in and out of their mouths.

Their black eyes were cold. Hard.

They knew no fear.

They knew death and how to bring it quickly with one deadly strike. One swift motion.

Luke shuddered.

He gazed all over the cellar and saw that they barred him from reaching the stairs. The door.

Luke looked around, fighting down the panic. He could see only one small window. The storm window.

A window too small for his large frame.

With trembling hands he lowered the candle, holding it out before him.

Would it keep the snakes away?

The candle stood no higher than his index finger and just about as thick. How long would it burn?

Not long enough for him to escape. Luke felt cold dread churn in his stomach.

“Corey, you can't do this. How will you survive?” Luke asked.

“All the animals are my friends. They will help me,” Corey told him with confidence.

“Don't,” Luke pleaded quietly as he looked at his brother. “I'm your only brother,” he reminded him. “Didn't I always do my best to protect you and take care of you since Mama and Pa died?”

Corey's green eyes glittered. “You promised we'd never be separated. You broke your promise, Luke. You sent Leah away.”

“Corey, please—” Luke begged.

Corey turned and slowly climbed the basement stairs.

Luke heard his slow steps. Then the door slamming shut.

And the echo of the lock as Corey twisted it into place.

The Dark Cellar

L
uke turned toward the low, hissing sounds.

He threw the nail toward the dark corner and heard it rattle against the stone floor.

The hissing grew louder. Fiercer.

He glanced down at the candle. The low flame floated on a pool of melted wax.

His heartbeat quickened at the sight. It wouldn't be long now. He touched his fingers to the blood smeared on the wall. His blood. The blood that told his story.

I've told my story. If only I had told it sooner. If only I had realized it was Corey … and not Leah …

The light flickered.

Sputtered.

The flame died.

Darkness swallowed the room.

Luke pressed his back against the wall.

Soon I will be as dead as Mr. Green and the others.

He held his breath.

Listening.

Listening hard.

He heard the hissing.

Then the rattles.

He heard the dull scraping sound of scales slithering across the stone floor.

Then he heard nothing but his own screams.

L
uke screamed again.

He pressed his back against the cold stone wall.

The cellar was dark. So dark.

He didn't know how close the snakes were. He didn't know when they would dig their fangs into him.

Luke felt something slide over his left boot—and wrap itself around his ankle.

A shudder rushed through his body. He wanted to kick the snake away.

No, he told himself. You must stay still. If you move, it will strike. And you will die.

“I don't want to die!” he screamed. “I don't want to die!”

His words echoed between the stone walls, but they could not change his fate.

Another snake coiled itself around his leg. Wrapping itself tightly around his right knee.

He held himself absolutely still, waiting.

Waiting for the deadly fangs to sink into his thigh.

Will this be the one? he wondered. Will this be the one that kills me?

Luke heard the sound of scales scraping over his trousers as another rattlesnake slithered up his leg and circled his waist. He could feel its rattles tapping against his back.

Or will it be this one?

The rattles echoed through the room, growing louder. Louder.

Bang!
The cellar door burst open.

In the dim light, Luke saw Leah standing in the shadowed doorway.

“Leah! Help me!” Luke cried.

She held her hands out in front of her, palms up. “Don't move, Luke. Don't move.”

Another snake slithered up Luke's body. Then another and another.

Leah walked down the stairs and carefully stepped over snakes until she stood in the center of the room. She stretched her arms toward the ceiling and began to sway.

“Come to me,” she said in a singsong voice. “Come to me, serpents.”

“Nooo!”

Luke's gaze jerked to the top of the stairs. Corey stood there, his green eyes blazing.

“No, you are my friends,” Corey screamed at the snakes. “Kill him! Kill him!” He rushed down the stairs. “Kill him now!”

The serpent wrapped around Luke's waist slowly
lifted its head. Luke stared into its black, lifeless eyes. He watched its nostrils flare.