Sheridan Bell & the Vanishing Beast: Chapter Eleven

Back in Mrs. Raptis’ living room, Henry found Helena Hathaway seated with her mother, Emily the nurse again stationed in the corner, watching over Ioanna. Tension stained the atmosphere, made it bitter, and Helena paled when she saw Saoirse enter with the group.

Henry hurried to allay her fears. “It’s quite alright, Mrs. Hathaway. As Inspector Zhou can attest, the police’s magical consultant assured us that Ms. Evans’ wards were exactly what she promised they would be, nothing more. She didn’t cause your husband’s accident and is, in fact, very eager to help us catch the true criminal.”

Inspector Zhou mumbled something of an assent.

“If that’s true, why didn’t the wards protect my son-in-law?” Mrs. Raptis asked. The woman had grown, if possible, colder since their last meeting.

“In this case, the creature that came for Mr. Hathaway was simply stronger than any protective ward could have stopped.”

Helena ran her fingers nervously through the ends of her dark curls. “Is that supposed to make me feel better, Mr. Bell? The creature you speak of — it’s coming for us, too, isn’t it? That’s why you’re here? Will we really be able to stop it?”

“Nearly a dozen undercover officers are watching the house,” Inspector Zhou assured her. “And if the beast gets past them, we now have not one, but two powerful sídhe here as a final line of defense. You will all be perfectly safe.”

Henry glanced at Saoirse, one of the supposed powerful sídhe. She winked at him and shrugged, and Henry bit back a smile. Fortunately, if the rumors about the Uí Anghau were true, Taise would have more than enough magic for the both of them. And the assurance seemed to settle Helena, at least. She relaxed back into the sofa and nodded. “I thank you for your assistance, then. We leave ourselves in your hands, even if I do wish you would explain what’s coming and why.”

“I promise to make everything clear once the culprit has been apprehended,” Henry said. “Mrs. Hathaway, Ioanna will be staying with you tonight, correct?”

“Yes. We had an extra crib moved upstairs already, like you asked.”

“Wonderful. Emily, will you show us to the nursery?”

Emily nodded, rising with Ioanna in her arms and leading them to the small nursery at the back of the house. The room had two large windows, the curtains on each pulled open to reveal a ghostly, fog-dense yard. The glow from the church and the busy street barely reached here, leaving the room illuminated only by the pale moonlight that spilled inside.

“I’ll have the servants light the lamps,” Emily said. She turned to leave, but Henry stopped her.

“No, this will do fine,” he said, finally pulling the baby doll out of its box. Ignoring the confused looks he got from Emily and Inspector Zhou, he asked Taise, “The cú sídhe hunt by scent, I assume?”

“Yes,” Taise said, amused. “I’m not sure how long a doll is going to fool them, Henry. The cú sídhe are clever, and once they have their prey’s scent, they never lose it.”

“I figured as much, but it doesn’t need to fool them long. It just needs to fool them. Can you do something with magic to make the bait more alluring? Or perhaps to disguise Ioanna? Something to ensure the hound comes here, first, instead of wherever Ioanna’s sleeping.”

Taise thought for a moment, then reached out and gently touched Ioanna’s forehead. Nothing changed except that, for a moment, Henry thought the red of Taise’s eyes looked deeper, darker. Emily clutched Ioanna to her.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t harm her,” Taise assured Emily. “I only temporarily softened her scent. Wrap the doll in some of Ioanna’s clothes — something she wore recently — and it’ll be difficult for the hound to tell them apart.”

Emily tried to pass Ioanna off to Henry so she could retrieve the clothes, but when Henry froze, Inspector Zhou stepped in to take the baby instead, carrying her off to a corner of the room and cooing at her under his breath when he thought no one could hear. Together, Henry and Emily dressed the baby doll, wrapped her in blankets covered in Ioanna’s scent, and laid her in the crib.

“I can’t believe you’re using our Sherrie as bait,” Saoirse teased. She didn’t lift a finger to help as all this went on, only watched.

“I’d rather the hound got Sherrie than the alternative,” Henry countered.

“My, this is an awful lot of fuss for a dog. What’s so special about these cú sídhe, anyway?”

Taise frowned at Saoirse. “You’re sídhe, but you don’t know the stories?”

“I know the stories,” Saoirse blustered, recovering quickly. “I just don’t know what’s true and what isn’t. I only just found out the hounds were real an hour ago, after all.”

In the rest of the house, servants went about their nightly tasks, treating this as though it were any other evening. They barred the front door, put out the lamps, closed the curtains. Mrs. Hathaway stopped in briefly to tell them she was retiring for the evening, and to take Emily and Ioanna upstairs with her, and before long, the house was quiet.

Henry sat on the ground in the vacant nursery, the others doing the same. From Henry’s left came an exaggerated yawn. “Wake me when something happens,” Saoirse said, settling back against a small pile of toys and stuffed animals.

“We’re supposed to listen for anything suspicious,” Inspector Zhou snapped.

“Isn’t that what your officers outside are for?”

To Henry’s right, Taise shifted, his leg brushing against Henry’s as he laughed. “Human officers won’t be able to stop one of my hounds.”

“Their job isn’t to stop it,” Henry said. “They’ve been given orders to let it though.”

Saoirse sat up. “What? Why?”

“Because Taise’s right. Rather than get someone hurt trying to stop the hound, they’re to watch and capture whoever’s commanding it. Taise can deal with the cú sídhe himself. Right, Taise?”

“Of course,” Taise said smoothly.

“If I’d known that was the plan, I would’ve asked to hide upstairs with Emily and Mrs. Hathaway,” Saoirse grumbled, settling back into her makeshift bed.

The group settled in to wait. It was only a matter of minutes before soft snores came from Saoirse’s corner of the room; Taise snorted and Inspector Zhou rolled his eyes, but all of them — barring Saoirse — stayed vigilant, listening for any sign that the cú sídhe might be coming. Occasionally, they heard the soft cadence of muffled voices passing on the street, or the rattle of an evening carriage. But with each quiet minute that passed, the silence grew heavier. Henry watched out one of the windows, tapping his finger repeatedly against his leg. What if he was wrong? What if no one was coming?

Eventually, Inspector Zhou clapped a hand over Henry’s own, stilling it. “Stop that,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically gentle, though Henry suspected that might be due to the necessity of whispering. “You’re sure whoever killed Hathaway is after the kid, right?”

Henry nodded.

“So we’ll just come back tomorrow night, and again, and however long we need to until the killer is caught.  Even if they don’t come for the baby tonight, it won’t be a waste as long as Ioanna stays safe.”

“You’re right. Thank you, Inspector.” Outside, the bells of the church began to ring, calling out to mark the time. Henry counted each of the twelve tolls, then released a heavy breath.

Inspector Zhou rubbed his arms. “Did it get cold in here all of a sudden?”

Henry frowned. He hadn’t noticed it happen, but the air around them had drastically changed — it felt charged, magic flitting at the peripherals like it did in the spaces between worlds. He opened his mouth to say so, but just then, a howl ripped through the night.

“Huh?” Saoirse asked groggily, sitting up and blinking at her companions. Their eyes had adjusted to the night enough to be able to make out her expression — and to see the way it shifted to terror as she noticed something behind them, past the nursery door and out into the hallway beyond. “What is that?”

Henry turned to see white eyes glowing amidst the darkness. The eyes were affixed to a hulking silhouette crouched low to the ground, and Henry could just make out the glint of sharp teeth below them. Rather than fear, Henry’s first response was to feel relieved. He’d been right. The fear came after, when the creature let loose a low, rippling snarl. It was the only warning any of them received before a massive black shape lunged at them out of the shadows.

Inspector Zhou tackled Henry, knocking him out of the way as the beast leaped over their heads, heading straight for the crib. It howled again, the sound resonant with magic, and the crib exploded, splintered wood flying out in every direction. Saoirse screamed.

And then Taise’s voice cut over the chaos.

“Furze, heel,” he ordered. His voice was the same as the hound’s howl: vicious, chilling, heavy with both magic and power. And all at once, the dog went still. Taise snapped his fingers and a glowing ball of light appeared at the center of the room, illuminating the havoc that the creature had managed to wreak in a matter of mere moments. He issued another command: “Drop it and come here.”

The dog dropped the baby doll it had taken between its teeth. It looked over at Taise, then back at the doll, as if realizing that it had been set up, and slunk over to the sídhe with its tail between its legs. Taise sighed and patted its head. “There, there. You’re not in trouble. Your master, on the other hand…”

“Are you sure you have that thing under control?” Inspector Zhou asked. In the wake of the hound’s attack, he’d climbed unsteadily to his feet, holding a hand out to help Henry up as well.

“Don’t be rude,” Taise said. He pet the hound until its ears perked back up. It was sleeker than Etta, black instead of white. It seemed to be older as well, knobbly in the way of adult dogs. “Furze was just following bad orders. As long as I’m here, he won’t hurt anyone.”

Henry frowned. “That’s strange. I thought it would be…well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. Is everyone alright?"

“I got knocked in the head by a block of wood, but sure, I guess,” Saoirse said, petulantly throwing one of the splintered pieces of the crib. She eyed Furze. “Is this hound yours, Lord Anghau?”

“He belongs to Cian, one of my negotiators.”

“The one who was supposed to inherit after your father?” Henry asked. “If the hound is here, then his master won’t be far behind. Inspector Zhou, will you check on your officers?”

“I’ll go with,” Taise offered. “If they haven’t already found Cian, Furze can lead us to him. He’ll be a handful to catch, anyway.”

Inspector Zhou sniffed and said, reluctantly, “I appreciate your cooperation on this matter.”

Saoirse bent to pick up the toy doll, whose head had been snapped clean off under the force of the hound’s bite. “Poor Sherrie…”

Henry barely heard her. He kicked one of the bars of the broken crib, anxiety knotting in his chest. His body hadn’t yet caught on to the fact that, as quickly as this had begun, it had ended. Adrenaline coursed through him, and he couldn’t shake the thought that it had been too easy. Still, an easy end to this vicious game wasn’t something he could complain about.

“I’m going to go tell Helena the news,” he said.

Henry heard Ioanna crying as he started up the stairs, the baby no doubt having awoken at the howl of the cú sídhe and the commotion that followed. Helena answered the door to her chambers only seconds after Henry knocked, her brows lined with worry, her arms full of a crying Ioanna. “Mr. Bell,” she said, “What’s happening down there? What was that noise?”

“It’s over,” Henry told her, first. “We stopped the creature that killed your husband, and Inspector Zhou is tracking down its master as we speak.”

Helena sighed, relieved. Wordlessly, she stepped aside, inviting Henry in, and Henry nodded his thanks. The interior was simple, a plain guest room with little by way of personal touch. The bed clearly hadn’t been slept in and a crib was pulled up alongside it.

“Have you heard of the cú sídhe, Mrs. Hathaway?” Henry asked, turning to face Helena.

He meant to say more, but the words caught in his throat. Behind Helena, the curtains covering the room’s only window drew open on their own, moonlight spilling in around the shadow of something large that moved outside. With a click that seemed too loud in the deafening silence, the window unlatched and slowly began to raise, as if lifted by an invisible hand. Helena turned at the window’s creaking protest, her breath catching on a gasp.

They both watched, frozen, as a ghostly figure with sharp limbs climbed in through the open window. It was pale white under the moonlight, and if not for the color, Henry never would have recognized it. It could scarcely be called a dog anymore, its long limbs shifting and rearranging in terrible ways as it settled all four paws onto the ground. It proceeded to change before their eyes, growing from something stretched and thin and hairless, able to squeeze through the window, to a shape more recognizable, a creature as large as Helena herself.

That explained how it had fit between the bars of the nursery window, Henry thought distantly.

There was no warning howl this time, but bright red eyes fixed on the baby in Helena’s arms. Helena screamed, sinking back against the far wall, clutching Ioanna to her chest, and for once, Henry acted without a plan. He stepped between Helena and the cú sídhe, his arms spread wide.

The hound, which had been prowling closer, stopped and tilted her head to the side.

Over the sound of Ioanna’s crying, Henry asked, “You remember me, don’t you?”

He waited for an answer, his heart pounding in his chest, as Etta processed the question. Even as he watched, Etta’s form changed until she looked again like the dog he had met that morning. She was less sharp, more shaggy. Her eyes didn’t glow as bright. She wagged her tail once, curious.

“That’s right. Your master told you not to hurt me,” Henry said. He had no idea if Etta understood him or not.

Before she could make up her mind on whether to attack, the door burst open with a crack and a flare of blinding magic. Taise stood on the other side, out of breath and eyes wild. “Heel, Etta,” he commanded, and Etta heeled. She bounded over to Taise, tongue lolling and tail wagging. Henry nearly sank to the floor in relief, finally realizing how badly his legs shook.

“Please tell me that’s the last of them,” Saoirse said, sagging against the doorframe behind Taise.

“That’s the last of them,” Henry promised.

“Does that one belong to that Cian fellow, too?” she asked, leaning far back while Etta tried to sniff her.

Taise smiled ruefully. “Actually, this one belongs to me.”

Saoirse took a large step away from the dog and looked to Henry for an explanation.

“He’s not the one who gave the order,” Henry assured her.

Taise scritched Etta, watched Henry with a cold, unreadable expression. “You’re certain of that, Henry? How?”

“Because if it had been you after Ioanna all this time, I suspect you would have succeeded on the first try.”

Taise blinked, surprised, and laughed.  “That’s fair enough.” He crossed over to Helena and offered her a hand. “My deepest apologies for the commotion, Mrs. Hathaway. You have nothing more to fear from Henrietta, or from any of the hounds of the sídhe. They’re under my control, and I won’t let them harm you or your child.”

At first, Helena only stared at Taise’s hand, not seeming to process what he said, but she finally took it and let him help her to her feet. She passed Ioanna to Henry and dropped heavily onto her bed, pressing her hands to her cheeks. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Henry will explain. Won’t you, Henry?” Taise asked.

Henry looked down at the crying baby in his arms. “Yes. I, um. I’m just not sure what to do with…”

Fortunately for him, he was interrupted by the arrival of Emily and Mrs. Raptis, Emily taking Ioanna while Helena’s mother draped a blanket over her daughter’s shoulders, both giving Etta terrified looks and a wide berth. The doorbell rang downstairs, and soon, Inspector Zhou’s voice was calling up the stairs for them.

“I think the rest of your trap has sprung, Henry,” Saoirse said.

Henry nodded. “Let’s reassemble in the living room, and I’ll explain everything.”

One by one, they filed out of the room — Saoirse, Helena, Emily, Mrs. Raptis — and left only Taise, Etta, and Henry. When Henry turned to follow, Taise caught his wrist, holding him back.

“Henry.”

Henry searched his face, surprised by the sídhe’s solemn expression. He rattled his brain for something he might’ve done to offend Taise. “What’s wrong?”

“That was a foolish thing you did, getting in Etta’s way. You could have gotten hurt.”

“Oh,” Henry said. Was Taise worried?

“What if it really had been me behind this?” the sídhe asked.

“I knew it wasn’t, and you said she’d never hurt me.”

“She could have tried to go around you.”

“Helena screamed when Etta appeared. I knew I only had to distract Etta long enough for someone — Saoirse — to hear and go fetch you. But,” Henry said, “I’m sorry for worrying you, all the same.”

Taise opened his mouth to argue, then shut it and shook his head. “You’re lucky Etta is a clever dog,” he said. At the mention of her name, Etta’s tail started wagging all over again.

“It’s not luck. I trusted you to mean what you said,” Henry said. With a small smile, he held a hand out toward Etta, who surged forward to lick it. “And I trusted Etta to understand it. Now: shall we go see who was behind this?”