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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
  30. •   •   •
  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
  57. •   •   •
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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
  103. •   •   •
  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. •   •   •

One word she puffed softly, over and over. At first I didn’t hear it, she said it with so little force, just half a breath and the puckering shape of her lips to send it along.

“Out . . . out . . . out . . .”

Doctor Seabury inhaled slowly, deeply, in the hard reverse of a sigh.

“What’s she saying?” asked Emma, who was seated a little farther away.

“Out?” I replied uncertainly, for it almost sounded like a soft cry of pain instead. “Doctor, have you ever heard anything like it?”

He nodded, but I knew he would. I could see it in his face when the word first became loud enough to understand.

His obvious concern left me flustered. I floundered. “What does it mean? Does she want to go out? Or is she warning us that something . . . something’s coming out? From the cellar?” I was grasping at straws.

His certainty was terrifying when he said calmly, “She wants out.”

“We should, we could . . . turn her loose and see where she goes,” Emma suggested, and for the second time that night, I would’ve dearly loved to slap her.

“We aren’t turning her loose!” I snapped. “She’s not even standing yet. She’s not going anywhere.”

But the doctor said grimly, “She will stand. She will rise, and find a way out.”

“And then what?”

“Then . . . ?” He shrugged tiredly, with his hands up and his shoulders sagging. “Then she’s gone, one way or another. I’ve seen it once before. Twice, I suppose. I witnessed it once myself, and heard that it was said of Matthew, but he never spoke in my presence, to cry ‘out’ or anything else. By the time I was summoned to check on him, whatever had him in its grip . . . it’d rendered him mute.”

“Then she’s not so far gone,” I said to reassure myself. “Not beyond hope or help. There’s time to investigate, still. Time to figure out what’s wrong with her, and do something about it. Did you hear that, Nance? There’s time,” I said, crushing her fingers in my own.

“Lizzie.” Emma called my name like a warning.

“Oh, hush,” I spit back at her. “She’ll be fine, soon enough. And even if she won’t, let me say it out loud in case words mean something, and can make a thing true.”

“Lizzie,” she said again, and this time it was more dire. “Do you hear that?”

I sat up straight, and released Nance’s limp fingers. I didn’t hear anything, but Emma’s ears were sometimes keener than mine. “Where? What?”

My sister’s eyes tracked around the room, seeking to pinpoint whatever had snagged her attention. Her ears settled on a corner back on the other side of the kitchen, if I read her correctly, and assumed she wasn’t hearing rats in the walls between here and there.