8

THE STING

LILLY CREPT SILENTLY THROUGH THE dining room from the kitchen. After entering the large foyer, she paused at the base of the grand staircase to listen for the baroness. A quiver of fear caused a shiver to run through her backbone, even though the air in the house felt as if all the fireplaces were blazing. The floor creaked as she entered the dark library. Dim light above the window curtain came from the full moon and glowing gas lamps outside. The Bible and other books were still on the side table, so the space remained open to clutch the ring. Tiptoeing across the solid oak floor towards the main wall of bookshelves, the lit candle revealed the empty space. Her hand slid in, expecting to feel the ring. When the space felt empty, her fingers groped and then slapped around in alarm because the ring was gone. Lilly’s heart pounded.

“Looking for something?” The eerie voice reeked of wickedness. The baroness remained hidden in the dark. She sat in a chair behind the desk and slowly stood. The light from the window suddenly cast a menacing shroud of luminosity across her glaring face. The effects of opium caused her glazed, drunken eyes to glower at Lilly. She was dressed in a black cloak, with the hood covering her long, raven hair. Only her eyes were seen as she slowly and deliberately slid away from the desk toward her petrified victim. Her eyes glowed in the darkness like that of a stray cat. She became more creature than human.

After the terrifying jolt, Lilly’s body went limp, and for a split second, she felt dizzy with fright, unable to speak or move because something more shocking and horrifying than the gates of hell had just transpired. The extremely hot temperature in the room went ice cold, like a frigid day in mid-January. The terrified child felt the curtain of death closing in on her life. As she sensed the dark creature growing closer, something rose within Lilly’s human spirit, giving her the courage to bolt from the room like a young colt jumping over a creek bed to avoid a coiled rattlesnake about to strike.

Sprinting up the steps, two at a time, she reached the second floor out of breath and panting. The candle she had been clutching was no longer lit, so she had to grope along the wall to reach Lady Katelyn’s closed doorway. There was light coming from under the crack, indicating that her mistress was still awake. While yanking the door open, she found her dear friend sobbing upon the pillow in her bed. Lilly threw herself on the bed and grabbed hold of Katelyn’s legs, begging for mercy. “Please help! Help me! She’s going to kill me.”