I hit the frigid water and plunged into utter blackness. My heart stuttered in the cold. Panicking, I kicked upward, fighting the weight of my clothes and shoes, clawing through the water until my fingertips grazed rough rope.
With a gasp, I hauled myself up. Tremors racked my limbs. I swiped dripping hair from my eyes. In the near dark, I could scarcely see more than a few inches. But the lantern high above on the well’s edge gave enough light to show the stomach-twisting sight before me.
Lilah lay alone in the hammock, her body and face submerged. Her arms floated gently at her sides, one wrist wrapped in a woven bracelet. It was made of twisted vine and strands of hair. The gold nib from her fountain pen—an item she held dear—was trapped within the vines.
I reached a shaking hand to pull Lilah’s face above water.
There was a splash from behind, and Miss Maeve’s fingers wrapped around my throat.
“Just like your mother,” she said smoothly, her breath warm in my ear. “Neither of you could stop meddling in my life.” I scrabbled at her fingers, choking, gagging. I slammed my head backward, trying to break her nose.
She dodged, and her grip tightened. Black encroached on the corners of my vision. Then, inexplicably, her hold on me released.
Icy water pulled me down. Struggling with all my might, I fought for the surface again, coming up across the well from Miss Maeve. Before she could react, I threw my upper body over the side of the hammock.
I struggled to lift Lilah’s face above water. My muscles were leaden with cold, and the angle was all wrong. Splashing and cursing, I wrenched myself further into the hammock and gripped her under the arms. Miss Maeve, treading water effortlessly, lurked at the far side of the well, making no move to stop me.
Desperation gave me strength, and one final pull brought Lilah’s head and shoulders above the water. There was no gasp for air. No sound at all. My breath plumed in a frozen mist around her face as I slapped her bloodless cheeks. Her lashes didn’t even flutter.
Miss Maeve spun a carefree circle in the water, fingers trailing along the surface. The gold charm on her bracelet swung beneath her slim wrist. “Lilah is safe now,” she said with sudden, dreadful calm. “She’ll be with me every moment, forever.”
Lilah’s limp hands floated just under the water’s surface. The bracelet, twined with the coppery hair I’d brushed and braided since she was a toddler, stood out like a slash against her white wrist. Lilah might be gone, but I would not let her spirit be trapped. She’d be free to move on, to find our parents. To be at peace.
My energy surged back and I scrabbled with both hands at the cruel trinket, wrenching and twisting with all my might. The woven vines and hair bound Lilah’s wrist as tight as the cuffs I’d worn to jail. My cold, wet fingers couldn’t slide underneath.
Miss Maeve wrenched both my arms behind my back. I began to kick harder, fighting to stay above the surface. With one last desperate effort, I tried to tear the bracelet off with my teeth. Miss Maeve forced me under water.
I gasped at the cold flooding over my face, felt the water rush down my throat. This was how it ended, then. My sister and I would die together in this well, drowned in freezing water.
But no. Miss Maeve hugged me from behind and pulled me back to the surface. “It had to be done,” Miss Maeve explained, almost regretfully. She rested her chin on my shoulder as she spoke, as though we were old friends, comfortable with one another. Her breath misted around my face. “I’m saving her,” she said. “I’m the only one who can save her, Verity. I can protect her from this vicious, hateful world. Even you couldn’t do that. But when she’s with me, she’ll always be safe. I will never fail her.”
I felt my mind begin to drag, slowing down like a clock unwinding. Safe. I’d promised Papa I’d watch over Lilah. They were both gone now. The violent shaking in my body stopped. Miss Maeve propelled me gently forward. She draped me across my sister’s still body. My head lay across Lilah’s chest, just as she used to lie on mine at night when she was little, talking away until sleep overtook her. I couldn’t fathom a world without Lilah’s voice. My eyes dropped shut. It wasn’t so cold now. I’d be asleep soon, and nothing could hurt me anymore.
I heard a thump. Faint, from a long way off. Then a second one. An impossibly long wait. Another thump. Another heartbeat.
Lilah’s heartbeat.
It wasn’t too late. While she lived, there was hope.
Angling my head, I could see Miss Maeve, mere feet away. Her silvery blond hair swept over her face like seaweed, bedraggled from our struggle. She ducked under water to smooth it. With the only strength I had left, I ripped Lilah’s bracelet off and slipped it down the high neck of my dress. It rested there, broken and close to my heart.
Miss Maeve resurfaced and moved toward me, chin skimming the water as she approached, pale hair flowing out behind her.
I knew this would be my last chance to fight her off. And to save Lilah’s life. But my limbs had locked up. Each breath grew shallower. Miss Maeve dragged me from the hammock with ease. Whatever the cold’s effect on me, it seemed not to trouble her at all. I grasped at the slick rope, barely keeping myself above water.
“Lilah will be waiting for me in the Hollow when I arrive this evening. And every one after,” she said. “We can’t have you—”
From far above came the sounds of a commotion. A new light appeared, darting back and forth across the opening of the well. Yelling voices drew nearer.
“Help!” I called. My voice was frail. I knew it didn’t carry all the way to the surface. I tried again. “Down here … in the well!”
Miss Maeve looked up, annoyance darting across her face. “Whoever it is, they’re too late.” The flickering light glittered in her ice-chip eyes.
She gripped my shoulders, her face only inches from mine. I tried to push her away and failed. All my energy was gone. Our skirts tangled as she kicked us away from the hammock. Away from Lilah.
“If you drown in this well, your spirit becomes trapped in the Hollow,” Miss Maeve said. “Lilah and I can’t have you spoiling our sanctuary.” My head lolled to the side. She pressed her cheek against mine, righting me.
“You do remind me of Elizabeth,” she whispered, placing a hand on either side of my face and looking hard into my eyes. A feeble hope sparked. Maybe the bond she’d once shared with my mother would be enough to save me.
“Please,” I whispered.
Miss Maeve slammed my head against the wall. “I can’t let you drown,” she said again, almost apologetically. “Drowning in the well is essential for bringing a soul to the Hollow.” Light burst in my vision, red fireworks of agony. Blood ran hot down my neck as she bashed my skull into the rocks again. “So I can’t let the water be the death of you. But you’re not getting out of this well alive.” A third blow, though I felt this one less.
She hauled my limp body back toward the well’s center. The shouts from above and the lap of water against rock grew distant, as even the searing pain in my head receded. Miss Maeve placed me over the hammock, draping my torso across Lilah’s legs. She adjusted my body so my face was clear of the water.
“You’ll bleed to death soon enough. Or freeze, although that might take longer.” She looked up, searching the distant circle of dark sky. Then her focus shifted back to me, and the merciless bite in her voice turned almost sad. “Goodbye, Elizabeth.”
The light in Miss Maeve’s eyes vanished as the sun fully set. With her soul departed for the night, her lifeless body sank under the black water.
I lay there, unable to move, my life ebbing away. I closed my hand around Lilah’s wrist, feeling her faint pulse.
Dimly, I became aware of water droplets landing on my back. I looked up to see the long rope used for raising and lowering the hammock being pulled up and out of the well. Then the hammock began to move. Someone was trying to hoist us to safety.
A frantic voice reached me. “He’s already gone, you can’t do anything for him. Come help me pull!”
Even distorted by the echoes in the well, I knew the voice.
“Again!” Abel’s words shook with strain. I wondered distantly how he managed to move us at all with only one good arm. “Can you see her? Is she all right?”
The bottom of the hammock lifted above the waterline. Drops cascaded from it with the sound of a summer rain. The well shaft brightened. With a half-open eye, I saw an arm far above, holding a lantern.
“It don’t look good, son,” said Granny Ardith’s creaky voice. “We might be too late, but—Good Lord! Verity’s with her!”
There was a shout of fury and fear from Abel. We dropped a few inches, until I was again waist deep in the icy water. Granny’s face vanished and the pulling resumed. Abel shouted desperate encouragement, urging Granny on.
They fought, freeing us from the water in slow degrees, only to lose what they gained as Abel’s single working arm tired and Granny’s feeble strength waned. Over and over, Abel and Granny pulled us up, only to have the hammock slip back down. Beneath my ear, Lilah’s heartbeats began to fade. “Try again,” Abel shouted, despair disguised as anger in his voice. “We’re running out of time.”
My spiraling, weaving thoughts coalesced into a single certainty. I knew what I had to do. And it would cost me my life. But with a settled peace, I knew this was as it must be.
I fumbled with leaden fingers for Lilah’s hand and pressed the cold skin to my lips. “Goodbye, Lilah. I love you.”
I let my sister go.
Shifting my body, I slid off the hammock. Freed from my weight, it glided skyward, twirling slowly as it went. I watched Lilah float away as I fell.
The splash came much sooner than on my first drop into the well. As I sank, there came a second, quiet sound. I felt the brush of icy metal against my outstretched hand, something descending into the depths with me, following me to my death.
My death would save Lilah.
Breath rushed from my mouth and nose, sending delicate bubbles over my skin. Then the water flooded my lungs. Strange how it burned despite being bitingly cold. I sank further, until suddenly the black in my vision turned to a pure, blinding white.
My last living thought was of my sister.