Chapter 6

 

Falling

 

Darn.

The thought strikes Yip just after the sunlight turns him to stone—he hadn’t shut his eyes. He cringes inside at the memory of the last time this happened—over twenty years ago.

When a young Brother Westerman created him, something went wrong. Unlike the other Grotesques, Yip stays aware when he is stone. He has learned to live with the annoying itches that creep across his skin during the long day. They usually start on his nose. Itches are like torture when he has to wait until dark to scratch them.

The itches won’t bother him today though. In a couple of hours, once the sun swings past the North Tower, the light will start to burn his eyes. It’s just Yip’s luck there isn’t a cloud in the sky so he’ll probably be blind for days.

The first time it happened, Yip thought he’d never see again.

His frozen daylight hours are usually spent watching the comings and goings of the humans through slitted eyelids. At night all the Grotesques watch the children who creep giggling into the graveyard at night on a dare, or who raid the kitchens for a midnight snack.

“Silly humans,” Cygnet says on those nights. “I don’t know why we bother protecting them.”

Yip knows the children better than the others. There are only a few who violate the sacred ground of the cemetery—most are better behaved. They scurry like ants in the courtyard and playground. Most look and act the same but from time to time, one stands out from the rest.

There have been a dozen of these special children since Brother Westerman’s ritual breathed life into him. He has watched them all grow over the years and eventually leave the school. The latest of his special children turned up six years earlier—in the time of change.

When things changed many of the teacher-Brothers left and new teachers arrived to take their places. On the surface nothing seemed too different. Some of the tiny new children now had longer hair and wore skirts instead of trousers.

Brother Westerman had stormed about the grounds for months in a fury over these new children. It took some careful listening at windows to discover the source of the trouble.

Girls at St. Giles! An abomination.

Yip doesn’t know why they bother Brother Westerman so much. Even with all his snooping, he still can’t figure out exactly what the problem is.

One of these girls is Yip’s latest special child. She is feisty—striding about the school like she owns it. It’s her confidence that attracts Yip—the confidence he lacks in himself. She isn’t one of the boarders so he hasn’t seen her up close.

Pity.

The girl is the only one who stands up to Brother Westerman. She even stood up to him yesterday, in the courtyard, right below where he was crouching. Yip finds it funny and feels a little guilty. He is grateful to Brother Westerman for creating him but it’s still funny when the girl flusters him so badly.

The sun hasn’t taken his sight yet and he watches her enter the school gate. She stops to talk to some other girls then storms across the courtyard, straight toward Brother Westerman. Guilt and amusement stir inside of Yip.

A shadow slides across the roof. Whoever it is stops behind him. The shadow moves again and Yip sees a metal bar lash down. It slams into Cygnet’s wrist—the crunch of stone is sickening. Yip sees a crack widen and the stone of Cygnet’s arm breaks apart.

No!

Yip wishes he could close his eyes. The broken leader of the Guardians topples backward toward the girl and Brother Westerman. Yip is forced to watch as Cygnet shatters into hundreds of pieces of sharp lifeless stone. He watches the dust rise up and sees blood spread on the ground.

The footsteps on the roof scamper away behind him.