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Chapters (206)
  1. Praise for Maplecroft
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Contents
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. THESE ARE THE THINGS AN EARTHQUAKE BRINGS
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  12. A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, A MERCHANT, A CHIEF
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  20. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
  21. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  26. BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
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  29. I CROSS THE MAGPIE, THE MAGPIE CROSSES ME
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  31. Nance O’Neil
  32. THIS KNOT I KNIT, THIS KNOT I TIE
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  37. AND IF YOU HAVE A HORSE WITH ONE WHITE LEG . . .
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  43. THE WORST IS TO BE JUDGED WITHOUT HOPE
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  46. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  53. BUT NETTLE SHANT HAVE NOTHING
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  55. CUT THEM ON FRIDAY, YOU CUT THEM FOR SORROW
  56. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
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  62. HAPPY IS THE CORPSE THAT THE RAIN SHINES ON
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  67. A DWELLING PLACE OF JACKALS, THE DESOLATION FOREVER
  68. Lizzie Andrew Borden
  69. •   •   •
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  71. Nance O’Neil
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  84. Emma L. Borden
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  88. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  91. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  93. RIGHT CHEEK, LEFT CHEEK—WHY DO YOU BURN?
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  101. Aaron B. Stewart, Fire Chief, Farthington, Mass.
  102. Emma L. Borden
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  104. Gerald Macintyre, Telegraph Clerk, Western Union
  105. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  107. Physalia, Z. University I Was Not Now
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  109. DEPART, ALL ANIMALS WITHOUT BONES
  110. Emma L. Borden
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  115. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  119. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  130. Owen Seabury, M.D.
  131. Phillip Zollicoffer. Physalia Zollicoffris.
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  137. Christoff Dane, M.D., Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Kingston
  138. •   •   •
  139. Emma L. Borden
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  144. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  150. Emma L. Borden
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  153. FAMILY SLAIN IN MAYFIELD
  154. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  165. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  176. Emma L. Borden
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  186. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  197. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  205. Inspector Simon Wolf
  206. •   •   •

I flung myself down at her side, dropping the axe and seizing her by the shoulders. I shook her, but she didn’t respond. I dragged her as far as I could, or as far as I dared, then I left her, gathered the scattered stones, and threw them back into the box.

My safeguards hadn’t worked, but they were all that remained in my arsenal.

I reached back to her and wrenched her fist open. I retrieved the stone she held there, too, and saw that it’d burned a weird shape into her skin, but what it meant (or if it meant anything at all), I didn’t know and didn’t have time to decide. I tore the necklace off her, shattering the clasp. I threw it into the box as well, closed the lid, fastened the bands, and dumped it down into the cupboard. I closed the cupboard door and dragged one of my desks over to it, as if the added weight would hold it down.

Ridiculous superstition, just as Emma would’ve called it, but Jesus, what else did I have to work with?

I returned again to Nance, who was lying as if catatonic, slack-jawed and lovely, there on the floor. She wasn’t blinking. Just breathing a quick staccato in and out, her chest fluttering. Her burned hand opening and closing like a flower.

I slapped her cheek, gently at first. Then harder. Then I said her name as I did so, and I realized that I was crying and bleeding both—when the blood splashed down onto her nightdress. I wiped at my nose with the back of my hand, and left a trail of scarlet down my arm, but I did not care. I only cared about her, as inert as a doll except for that uncanny pace of breath.

I couldn’t leave her there.

I had to move her. Could I move her? I looked up at the stairs that would take us to the first floor, and I considered it. I had to try.

I wedged myself under her shoulders, using my arm and my badly bruised legs to lift her, and haul her upright. She didn’t fight me, but she didn’t do much to help—though to her credit, when I made her stand, her knees locked and she remained upright, so long as I prevented her from falling over. I guided her through the cellar, around the repositioned table, past the damnable cupboard, over to the stairs, and I hauled her bodily up them. She cooperated only so much. Maybe she couldn’t do any better. Maybe she didn’t know how anymore. I can’t say, and I shuddered to consider—all I could do was insist to myself that she was only stunned, and would surely awaken any minute now.