The cupboard’s handle rattled. Leanne shook her head once, begging someone to save her, begging heaven to pull Patience away from her hiding hole. The latch clicked. The door drew open, slow and ponderous. Leanne was forced to open her eyes.
Patience stood above her. The woman’s frame filled the entire doorway. The white eyes bore into her as Patience bent at her waist, and the stiff lips twitched. “Run to your friends. Quickly. Do not let her find you alone, or she will take you.”
Leanne met Patience’s eyes, and for the first time, she wasn’t afraid. The milk-clouded irises weren’t cruel. They were sad. Heavy with decades of grief.
Leanne tightened her fingers over Patience’s. “Why do you stay with her?”
The woman’s expression changed for the first time Leanne had seen. The brows pulled together. Her raspy, dry voice wavered. “I have no choice. She has bound me to her will.”
Leanne stepped closer. She could smell a musty scent of dust and ages-old decay on the black silk dress. She dropped her voice into a whisper. “What do I have to do?”
Patience’s cheek touched hers. The words, expelled as an exhale, ran through Leanne. “Do not give her control. Fight.”
“My darling.” Grace’s voice rang through the cold air.
Leanne turned. Grace stood inside a ring of candles. She held a piece of chalk, the same kind she had always used for their lessons, between her fingers. Her smile was full of gentleness and love, but now, the sight of it left Leanne cold. Grace closed her fist around the chalk, and when she opened it, the substance had been crushed into a powder. “We are ready, my darling.”
She scattered the chalk across the floor. It didn’t fall in the usual chaotic cloud. Instead, it funnelled into a line as it descended. It touched the floor, creating a circle. Intricate words ran along the border.
“Bring her, Mother.”
Patience’s hand tightened on Leanne’s shoulder. She pushed, and Leanne gasped as she staggered forward. She tried to back up, to squirm away, but the claw-like grip was inescapable.
The children were moving. They flowed in from the room’s perimeter, weaving between the candles, clustering around them. Hundreds of blank eyes fixed on Leanne.
Grace reached out as they neared. Leanne made a final bid for freedom, trying to drop and twist in the same motion. Patience was old, but she had an inhuman strength. Leanne was wrenched back towards Grace, and when Leanne caught a glimpse of Patience’s face, she thought she saw guilt etched into the expression.
Then Grace had her hands, and the whole world fell still. Fear and anger vanished at the touch. A soft contentment seeped in to take its place. Patience let go of Leanne’s shoulder, and Grace gently tugged her forward to stand inside the circle.