Читать онлайн «Creatures of Want and Ruin»

Susan waited and waited for Miss Depth to walk through the door of the Calico Cat and join her for tea, but after an hour she gave up. The cake had dried out on their plates, the Earl Grey had gone cold in the pot, and Susan was too cross to enjoy either.

Cross, but also worried.

It was drizzling, and cold, and late enough in the year that the skeletons of autumn’s glorious leaves had all been whisked away on the wind. Twilight had fallen by the time Susan approached the little house by the sea, making the light in Miss Depth’s window shine the brighter. She was there, at home .  .  . but when Susan peered in through the window, her friend was not reading in her chair or writing letters at her desk. She was in her parlor, kneeling before what could only be described as a small altar in the center of a circle drawn in chalk on her Turkish carpet.

Miss Depth’s sister had brought that carpet back from her travels abroad; Miss Depth had always taken such good care of it. Usually, she wouldn’t let anyone bring a glass of lemonade or iced tea into her parlor, but Susan saw she had a little cup set on the altar and candles burning, too.

At first Susan thought Miss Depth was praying, but the longer she watched, the more it seemed like her friend was talking—talking to someone Susan couldn’t see. It made all the little hairs on her neck and arms stand up.

Then her friend cried out, and Susan watched in horror as Miss Depth went white as a sheet—not in the way that people usually meant when they used the expression, but actually white, from her skin to her hair—all except her eyes, which turned completely black before a dark fluid began to drip down her cheeks.