“Kate?” Anthony whispered.
She sat up, scrambling back until her spine was pressed against the solid headboard of the bed. She looked like a statue of terror, her body stiff and frozen into place. Her eyes were still open, barely blinking, and though she did not move her head, they flicked frantically back and forth, scanning the entire room, but not seeing anything.
“Oh, Kate,” he whispered. This was far, far worse than what she’d been through that night in the library at Aubrey Hall. And he could feel the force of her pain slicing right through his heart.
No one should feel terror like this. And especially not his wife.
Moving slowly, so as not to startle her, he made his way to her side, then carefully laid an arm over her shoulders. She was shaking, but she did not push him away.
“Are you even going to remember any of this in the morning?” he whispered.
She made no response, but then, he hadn’t expected her to.
“There, there,” he said gently, trying to remember the soothing nonsense words his mother used whenever one of her children was upset. “It’s all right now. You’ll be fine.”
Her tremors seemed to slow a bit, but she was still very clearly disturbed, and when the next clap of thunder shook the room, her entire body flinched, and she buried her face in the crook of her neck.
“No,” she moaned, “no, no.”
“Kate?” Anthony blinked several times, then gazed at her intently. She sounded different, not awake but more lucid, if that was possible.
“No, no.”
And she sounded very…
“No, no, don’t go.”
…young.
“Kate?” He held her tightly, unsure of what to do. Should he wake her? Her eyes might be open, but she was clearly asleep and dreaming. Part of him longed to break her of her nightmare, but once she woke, she’d still be in the same place—in bed in the middle of a horrible electrical storm. Would she even feel any better?
Or should he let her sleep? Perhaps if she rode out the nightmare he might actually gain some idea as to what had caused her terror.
“Kate?” he whispered, as if she herself might actually give him a clue as to how to proceed.
“No,” she moaned, growing more agitated by the second. “Nooooo.”
Anthony pressed his lips to her temple, trying to soothe her with his presence.
“No, please…” She started to sob, her body rackedwith huge gasps of air as her tears drenched his shoulder.
“No, oh, no…Mama!”
Anthony stiffened. He knew that Kate always referred to her stepmother as Mary. Could she actually be speaking of her true mother, the woman who had given her life and then died so many years ago?
But as he pondered that question, Kate’s entire body stiffened and she let out a shrill, high-pitched scream.
The scream of a very young girl.
In an instant, she turned about, and then she leaped into his arms, grabbing at him, clutching his shoulders with a terrifying desperation. “No, Mama,” she wailed, her entire body heaving from the exertion of her cries. “No, you can’t go! Oh, Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama…”
If Anthony hadn’t had his back to the headboard, she would have knocked him over, the force of her fervor was that strong.
“Kate?” he blurted out, surprised by the slight note of panic in his voice. “Kate? It’s all right. You’re all right. You’re fine. Nobody is going anywhere. Do you hear me? No one.”
But her words had melted away, and all that was left was the low sound of a weeping that came from deep in her soul. Anthony held her, and then when she’d calmed a bit, he eased her down until she was lying on her side again, and then he held her some more, until she drifted back into sleep.
Which, he noticed ironically, was right about the time the last of the thunder and lightning split the room.
When Kate woke the following morning, she was surprised to see her husband sitting up in bed, staring down at her with the oddest look…a combination of concern, and curiosity, and maybe even the barest hint of pity. He didn’t say anything when her eyes opened, even though she could see that he was watching her face intently. She waited, to see what he would do, and then finally she just said, somewhat hesitantly, “You look tired.”
“I didn’t sleep well,” he admitted.
“You didn’t?”
He shook his head. “It rained.”
“It did?”
He nodded. “And thundered.”
She swallowed nervously. “And lightninged as well, I suppose.”