Chapter One… continued.
To read the first part of chapter one, click here.
Sung in the Shadows
by Crystal Caudill
When he didn’t, she bit down on his dirty hand.
“Why you little—” He struck the side of her face, leaving behind
a burning sting. “Stop that, and no crying or I’ll kill you before your
mother gets here.”
She quit fighting, but she couldn’t stop the tears as he dragged her
along. Something sharp stuck up from the uneven floor and scraped
down her leg until it caught on her hem. He yanked to break her free
of the snag, and her shoulder screamed almost as loud as she did.
Finally the fabric tore, and he swung her into a corner.
“Sit there and be quiet.” He squatted and coiled a strand of her
loose hair around his finger. “At least until I need you, then you can
wail all you want. The more your mother suffers, the happier I’ll be.”
Someone knocked on the door.
He dropped the strand and rose to his feet with a growl. As he
crossed the room, he grabbed a gun from the table. “Not a sound, or
I’ll shoot you.”
Eleonora curled into a ball and wrapped her cloak around herself.
What could she do now? A gun meant he didn’t have to be near her
to hurt her. Think. She bumped her head against the wall. You have
to think. A hairpin scraped against her scalp, and she winced. Then
blinked. If a hairpin could hurt her head, maybe she could use it as
a weapon if he came close again. Keeping her eye on the man’s back,
she pulled the painful pin free and hid it within the folds of her cloak.
The door creaked, but when she looked up, the man had only
cracked it and blocked whoever it was from view. “I thought we were
meeting at the bridge.”
“Our plan’s ruined. They went to the police. She won’t be coming.” Anger
burned in a woman’s voice.
The man glanced at Eleonora. “What do you want me to do with
her?”
“Make her suffer for Katherine’s insolence, but be quick about it.
You haven’t much time. Leave her body where it will be found. I want
Katherine to know that her choices led to her daughter’s tortured
death. When it’s done, lie low until I contact you.”
But Katherine wasn’t her mum. Constanza Brisbane was. They’d
taken the wrong person.
The door shut, and he faced her, his cold glee freezing Eleonora
to the spot.
“I never thought I’d be the sort of special wretch to torture and
kill a child, but . . .” He made a show of cracking his neck and then
popping his knuckles, all the while moving toward her.
Eleonora curled tighter into her corner, slipping the U-shape end
of the two-prong hairpin over the crook of her finger so it would be
easier to jab. It wasn’t much, but it was all she had.
He crouched before her. “You look so much like your mother, I’ll
just pretend you’re her.”
Eleonora whimpered.
He smiled as he ran a hand through her hair again and twirled the
end. “So many ways to hurt you and so little time.”
If she didn’t do something, she’d never see Mum or Father again.
But where could she stab him with a hairpin that wouldn’t just make
him mad? His shirt collar protected his neck, but nothing protected
his eyes. Eyes were soft . . .
She yanked the hairpin free of her cloak and aimed true.
His howl rang in her ears, and his hands flew to his eye.
Eleonora didn’t wait. She jumped to her feet, skirted around him,
and ran for the door.
Ugly words filled the room.
“I’m going to kill you, you little—”
His voice followed her into the hall and downstairs to a narrow
foyer. Bitter cold met her as she stumbled into the dark night. The
street was lined with tall buildings, but no one traveled it or sat on
the stoops smoking. What should she do? Mum always warned that
going out by herself was dangerous, but was it more dangerous than
the man upstairs?
A thud sounded behind her, followed by more angry words. He
must be coming for her already. Better the dark street than the angry
man who wanted to kill her.
She yanked up her skirts and ran. At the first street, she turned,
then again when it connected to a bigger one. Street after street she
turned until she smacked into a police officer.
“Help! He’s trying to kill me.”
The thin man knelt down and took her by the arms. “Whoa now.
What’s this? Who’s after you?”
The words poured out between pants. “I’m Eleonora Brisbane.
My parents are Constanza and Marcellus Brisbane. Someone took
me from them, and now he’s going to kill me.”
“Brisbane? We’ve been looking for you. Come with me. We’ll get
you back to your parents.”
It was a long walk to the station, and the inside was full of people
just as scary as the man who’d taken her.
“Don’t worry about them. We’re heading to the chief’s office.
You’ll be safe in there.”
He led her up a set of stairs, where it was quieter, and then into an
office at the back. When the officer introduced her to him, the chief
pulled a peppermint stick from a jar on his desk and offered it to her
while he asked a bunch of questions. She wanted to answer them, really
she did, but she couldn’t think anymore. Now that she was safe,
all her body wanted to do was shake.
“It’s okay. You were a brave girl tonight. You can rest here until
your parents arrive.”
Someone brought in a cot and a blanket so she could lie down, but
how could they expect her to sleep? The memory of that man chased
her every time she closed her eyes. But sleep must have come, for the
next thing she knew, Mum and Father cradled her between them,
crying as hard as she. Once they settled, the chief asked Eleonora
again to share what happened, taking down her description of the
kidnapper and asking Mum if it matched the man she knew as Winston.
Finally, they were allowed to go.
When they reached the hack, their trunks were packed and loaded.
“Are we leaving for the next city already?” Usually they spent two
weeks in a place, but it hadn’t even been one yet.
Mum and Father exchanged looks.
Mum smoothed back Eleonora’s hair. “What do you say to living
in a real house with a room full of toys? You can go to school with
other girls and make friends with children your own—”
“You’re sending me away?” Eleonora couldn’t breathe. She’d al-
ways known the children of other singers lived away from their parents,
but she never thought she would.
Father gently took her face between his hands. “No, dear. We
would never send you away. We’re starting a new life together, in a
new city with new names. You’ll finally have a normal childhood.”
“But I like the opera and traveling.”
“I know, but this is better. You’ll see. You’ll never have to be afraid
again.”
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