Dragonfly Maid

cheeks burned. I tried to swallow and failed. “What’s it to you?”
He straightened, making his already greater height even more so. He sensed my fear. I could see it in the way the light danced across his dark eyes.
I swallowed hard and backed away.
“Oh, there you are!”
The cheerful voice sent me spinning again. In the darkened hallway near Mr. MacDougall’s door, Marlie appeared. My roommate strode toward me with a bright smile and a happy bounce in her step.
I stared at her, dumbstruck. Hadn’t I left her sleeping in our room? I was certain I had, but here she was as wide awake as ever. She looked from me to Mr. Wyck then approached us both. In an exaggerated whisper, she said to me, “Did you find the leftover scones? I found some lemon curd.” She lifted one of the canner’s prized jars and waved it.
“I was just about to.” I didn’t know why I was playing along or why she was pretending to be my friend, but there seemed no other choice.
She glanced coyly at Mr. Wyck. “Will you be joining us for a midnight snack, then?”
Was she flirting with him? I wanted to stop her, warn her, but I could only stare in horror.
To my relief, he retreated to the shadows. “I was just on my way back to the mews.”
“Are you sure?” She wagged the jar again. “There’s more than enough to share.”
Let him leave!
She paid no attention to my silent plea.
He backed away until he was at the door. “No, but thank you.”
“Your loss,” she demurred. “And you won’t tell anyone where this jar disappeared to, will you?” She gave him a dopey, guilty grin.
“Won’t say a word. If you’ll excuse me.”
He pushed out the door and disappeared into the darkness. Only when he was out of sight did I realize I was holding my breath. I let it go with an audible gush of relief.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Marlie said, dropping the cheerful act but only slightly.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said. “You could have been hurt. We both could have.”
“I hardly think so,” she said.
I started to argue but stopped. I couldn’t tell her what I suspected, not without raising questions. “Why are you here?” I said instead. “I mean, how did you know I’d be here?”
She jutted her chin in the snoring cook’s direction and jerked her head toward the hallway. “We should go before Pierre wakes up.”
It wasn’t an answer, but I followed her anyway into the dark corridor. At Mr. MacDougall’s door, she stopped, produced a key from her pocket, and slid it into the lock. I heard the tumblers turn. “After you.” She held the door open wide.
I stared. “Is Mrs. Crossey with you?” I looked both ways along the hallway, searching for the woman. “I was supposed to meet her.”
Marlie stepped into the office and gestured for me to follow. “I know you were.” When we were inside, she set the jar on a side table and scratched a match against its box before lighting a stub of a candle that was sitting there. The small light bathed the office in a dim amber glow. “She told me to get you.”
“She did?” Was Marlie part of Mrs. Crossey’s scheme, too? Then a more terrible thought struck. “Why isn’t she here? What happened to her?” Had she been attacked? Had someone else?
“Nothing happened to her. She’s fine. She just wanted to get things started. So everything would be ready when you arrived.”
I looked around the office, confused. “Then where is she?”
“Come here and I’ll show you.” She moved behind Mr. MacDougall’s massive desk and set the candle on the mantel, then squared herself to the overhead mirror. She glanced back at me. “You’re going to want to watch this.” She placed both hands atop the left dragon’s snout and pressed down with enough force to break it.
“Marlie!” I scrambled forward to stop her, but it was too late. The wood snapped. I stared, horrified. “You broke it.”
“Don’t be silly.” She was practically laughing.
I looked more closely, and she was right. The snout wasn’t broken, just bent as though attached to a hinge.
Then she pressed both hands against the mantel’s long shelf and pushed. Incredibly, the entire structure, from floor to ceiling, slid back into the wall and pivoted to reveal a slender opening.
“What is that?” I didn’t know whether to be amazed or frightened but couldn’t help feeling a bit of both.
“C’mon, we need to hurry. Don’t touch anything.” She grabbed the candle and motioned for me to follow as she slipped into the dark crevice.
Reason told me to stay put. How could I trust that Marlie was telling me the truth and who knew what was on the other side of that wall? The smart thing to do would be to go back to my room and forget about hidden passageways and this midnight rendezvous. There was no way secret protectors were operating in this castle, and certainly no way that I could be one of them. It was all part of some elaborate prank.
That would be a more logical explanation, but where was the logic in what happened to me beyond the wall? The attack by the tree and the fainting. That dark figure with the glowing red eyes and the girl. That dead girl from the Slopes.
Maybe there was a rational explanation for all of it.
Maybe I only had to follow Marlie to find out what it was.
I peered inside and saw the candle’s hazy glow and Marlie’s silhouette descending a spiral stone staircase.
“C’mon,” she whispered, her voice urgent.
I didn’t move. Everyone knew castles had secret passages. Why should Windsor be any different? It was no reason to be alarmed.
So why couldn’t I force my feet to move? As unlikely an ally as Marlie was, I never knew her to be malicious. Aloof, maybe, but not malicious. I couldn’t believe she’d lead me astray.
I poked my head farther into the darkness. “Where are you going?”
If she