Music Box (The Dollhouse Books, #4) Read online

  MUSIC BOX

  ~.~

  ANYA ALLYN

  MUSIC BOX is Book 4 of 4 Dollhouse Books

  Book One: Dollhouse

  Book Two: Paper Dolls

  Book Three: Marionette

  Book Four: Music Box

  Music Box

  Copyright 2014 Anya Allyn

  All rights reserved

  Cover design by Tim Carter

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced without prior written permission, excepting quotes not greater than four paragraphs used for review purposes. This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents are fictitious and a product of the author's over-active imagination or else used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or deceased or to locales or events is coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  PROLOGUE

  1. The Chapel

  2. Balthazar

  3. Seventeenth Summer

  4. The Wardens

  5. Camp Greenwillow

  6. Skeleton Ship

  7. The Search

  8. Rebels

  9. The Amber Leaf

  10. Crystal Eye

  11. Consummation

  12. Music Box

  13. The Other Side

  14. In the Half Light

  15. Daybreak

  16. Doorways

  17. Blood and Snow

  18. The torment within

  19. Return of the Dolls

  20. And Mermaids Pray

  21. The Order of Sister Celia

  22. Grandfather

  23. A Night of Ills

  24. Black Curtain

  25. Night of All Shadows

  26. A Puzzle for a Penny

  27. The Iron Mirror

  28. Gathering Storm

  29. The Reckoning

  30. Center of Calm

  31. Sword of Darkness

  32. Heartbeat

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Credits

  Dedications

  News

  PROLOGUE

  CASSIE

  Everyone has left the chapel. I remain alone, in my stiff and yellowed wedding dress, listening to the mantra of the waves crashing far below the cliff.

  My body crawls with revulsion at all that just happened, but my mind refuses to accept that it is real.

  The horror of the fate of the fifth bride—Etiennette—lies deep within me. Brought here from another world—another century—her body became ash and decay. And in her place, I have become the bride of the monster—Monseigneur Balthazar Batiste.

  Across from me stands the cracked stone saint Balthazar hurled Zach against when he tried to stop the wedding. I don’t know where Zach has gone, but I pray that he survives this night.

  Tonight, Molly and Aisha begin their married lives with Parker and Emerson. Molly is now forced to be with someone she despises.

  I see moonlight faintly etching out the stonework of the tower through the stained-glass panels of the window. The tower edges into my every nightmare. It haunts me.

  Cold creeps in like a strangling vine of ice, despite the suffocating humidity of this night. Everything... everything has slipped from my grasp. From the time Molly and I were brought to the castle on this windswept cliffside in France, every hope has blown away. My parents are gone. Almost everyone from my world is gone. My grief is a glacier.

  The entire earth is frozen solid. The serpent creatures rule the oceans, devouring humanity, sending out their shadows to destroy any who stand in their way. And Balthazar and the people of the castle control it all, waiting for the second book of the Mirrored Tree, when all the stars will be theirs.

  Ethan can never know my heart lies forever in the music box he gave to me. To keep him and the people of the museum safe, I have to let him believe that I don’t want to be with him. My heart may be locked away, but I’ll never stop hearing the tune of the music box....

  1. The Chapel

  ETHAN

  The castle watches me with the dead, empty eyes of its hundred windows as I steal across the grounds. A spatter of rain flicks across my face. Ahead, the lamps of the chapel glow yellow as the day plunges into night. I haven’t seen the chapel in use before—but its pews are crammed with more people than I have ever seen here. Is Cassie alone, somewhere in the darkness of the castle, or is she in the chapel with everyone else? And if I find her, will she even want to see me?

  I just need to see her, to know she’s okay. Despite everything.

  Damp, salty air rises from the warm earth, like secrets of the night. Within seconds the downpour begins pummeling down in sheets—streaming in rivulets from the castle’s battlement high above. I’m too late to escape being drenched—and my wet steps will now be seen on any floor I tread. It’s safer to wait until the people inside the church have returned to the castle.

  Edging behind a tree, I wait.

  A set of brides and grooms emerge, looking like something from the Dark Ages. That woman—Audette—strides out first, bringing Henry with her. Henry’s brow is drawn down, his eyes distracted. Aisha clings to Emerson as she steps out in her pale gown. I remember the girl Aisha once was—but this Aisha is nothing like her. She always did go after what she wanted, but to marry Emerson is something else again. But her lip trembles, as though she didn’t get quite what she wanted. Emerson pulls his arm from her and goes running into the night, screaming out his brother’s name.

  Something happened in the chapel—something unexpected.

  My stomach knots at the sight of the next pair to leave the chapel—Molly and Parker. She lies in his arms, unconscious. I know she would not have married him unless she had no choice. Parker glances down at her with contempt as he carries her.

  Panic surges through me. I’ve been gone too long. I haven’t kept watch. I doubted myself. Cursing under my breath, I move into a dark recess. The guests all file out. There is no Cassie. I turn my head to the castle, wondering if I should have checked there first.

  High above the castle grounds, a figure moves inside the tower. Someone who must have seen me. I duck my head back. My first instinct is to find my way up to the tower and kill whoever is inside—kill them before they raise the alarm. Killing has become a way of life. But making my way up there will be difficult with all the people heading into the castle.

  Keeping close to the perimeter of the chapel, I keep moving. Through a narrow stained-glass window, I see a girl who remains in the church. Blowing air from my cheeks, I run low to the ground, making my way to the main entrance of the chapel.

  The girl sits on the front pew, her shoulders hunched and head bowed. A bride in a wedding dress, praying for her new life. I turn to leave. She turns her head slightly to stare out the window where I’ve just been— though there is nothing to see—it is pitch dark outside now. I see the curve of a high, delicate cheekbone, framed with dark curls of hair.

  Cassie.

  I run to her—blood roaring in my head.

  She jumps, staring at me in wide-eyed terror. A huge, ugly ring adorns her small hand.

  “Cassie... you were married tonight? Who? Who is he?”

  She struggles to speak. “You have to go.”

  “Was it Zach? It was, wasn’t it? You married Zach.” I want to kick down every pew in the church. She didn’t even hint that she was going to get married. A murderous rage fills every ounce of me. The only light of my life is extinguished. Inside, I am burnt black.

  “Ethan... please, just go. You shouldn’t be here. You don’t belong here.”

  “And you do? You belong to this damned castle and all its crazy people?”
I grab her arm. “Why? I would have waited for you forever. You’re mine.”

  I regret my words as soon as they spill from my mouth. She looks so fragile, like I could break her as easily as I could shatter glass.

  She stands, her expression growing cold and hard. “I am not yours. I had some stupid fantasy once that you and I could be together. But it was just that. A fantasy.”

  I take a step back, not trusting myself. “What happened to you? What the hell happened to make you change your mind about me, about everything?”

  Her dark eyes see through me. “You have to stop thinking about me and you have to stop coming here.”

  “Remember what you said to me? You said... I always had your heart.” My voice cracks. “You said that.”

  “If you don’t go now, you’ll be killed. They’ll kill you.” Her eyelashes slowly settle downward. “I don’t want you to die for me.”

  I close my hands around her trembling arms. “I would die a thousand times for you.”

  She raises her eyes to me, her lashes wet. As I hold her, I can feel her essence moving away from me. She belongs to another man, another world—and she will never again be with me.

  The silhouetted form of a man appears at the chapel’s entrance. He limps in, an overhead lamp casting light across his bloodied face.

  Cassie cries at the sight of him. “Zach... my God....”

  He steps unsteadily toward her. “I’d throw myself off the battlement right now if it would change anything.”

  I storm up to him. “What’s going on?”

  He stares at me. “I know who you are. You’re that guy who was in the underground with Cassie. How did you get here?”

  “That’s none of your damned business,” I tell him.

  He shakes his head. “If anyone sees you here, I don’t like your chances of surviving the night.”

  “Let me worry about that. I am not afraid of any of you.”

  A heavy sigh escapes his chest. “Look at me—I’m not the enemy.”

  His face is bruised black on one side, a cut gaping on his forehead. His suit is torn along the shoulder and sleeve. Someone strong has thrown him around. I see all of this but ignore it. There’s but one thing on my mind. “You married Cassie. That makes you my enemy.”

  He wipes trickling blood away from his eye. “I didn’t marry her.”

  I stare back at Cassie. “Is that true?”

  “Yes,” she answers in a voice so low I can barely hear her.

  My fists clench. “If not him, then who?”

  She refuses to look at me.

  I have to know. A knife twists in my brain. “Tell me who it is, and then I’ll do as you want—I’ll leave. So tell me, whose wife are you?”

  Her slim frame stiffens. She says a word, a name.

  A moment of insanity tears through me. It is a name she cannot possibly have said.

  Balthazar.

  His dark evil stalked my nightmares, years before I ever heard his name. I have heard the desperate, reverent whisperings of the castle people about him, and I know all he intends to do.

  My heart sinks through my stomach. I am here, in the place and time I always dreamed of. I remember the poem I gave Cassie on the dock of the Batiste’s mansion....

  There are echoes in your voice, everything you said

  Everything you'll ever say, written on the mirror

  A thousand, thousand times I'll stake out your altar

  When rain falls through the darkening light

  I'll find you, find you on the other side.

  That time was now. I should have been waiting, watching. But I’d let her slip away from me.

  Her eyes grow huge as she stares behind me.

  I spin around. A figure stands there, near the altar. A charred, bent-shouldered remnant of a man. No, not a man—for men do not just appear out of nowhere— but a ghost.

  I hear Cassie’s voice screaming, run, but my mind is gone, blown away.

  A smile stretches into his malformed face. “She art mine. Forever.”

  He extends his hand and I am thrust upward. My body is flung like a runaway train, accelerating toward a stained-glass window. Pieces of colored glass shatter as my limbs break through. I fall roughly to the ground outside the chapel.

  Emerson, Parker and their fathers and others come running, shouting to each other.

  Balthazar strides slowly from the chapel.

  Black shapes bound across the castle drawbridge. In the darkness, their eyes glow yellow. Balthazar forces me into the air again and sends me soaring over the castle wall. The gatehouse doors fling open. Three sets of yellow eyes follow me out onto the moors.

  In desperation, I pick myself up and sprint toward the trees. High-pitched snarls whip through the air. I hear Cassie as she screams out no over and over and over.

  There’s no chance of making it. The panthers will be on top of me, ripping me apart within seconds.

  And Cassie will be left with the monster that is Balthazar.

  2. Balthazar

  CASSIE

  I fled from the church, toward the gate that led to the moors. The sound of the panthers was terrifying, but I would throw myself to the same fate as Ethan. There was no hesitation within me.

  Balthazar appeared at the gate. He stopped me—sending my body directly up into the air. Closing my eyes, I willed him to send me over the wall. But I felt a sharp release, and I dropped to the ground.

  Zach and Parker’s fathers came running to grab me.

  Balthazar was gone.

  “Knew that kid was trouble when I first saw him in the dollhouse.” Parker’s father smoothed ragged black hair across his balding forehead.

  The ghost, Armand, strode out from the darkness. “We don’t need to worry about him now. Hear that? Silence. The cats have taken care of him and are feeding now.”

  I stiffened, my mouth open and quavering.

  Ethan was dead. In the worst way possible.

  Because of me.

  Wrenching myself away from the men, I raced for the second gatehouse—the one that opened onto the cliff. Stones skittered underfoot as I reached the gate and flung it wide open. The endless darkness yawned below. A few more steps and I would fall.

  My mind was black, numb, gone. My body was winter. I would smash like ice on the rocks below.

  Rough arms gripped me as my foot slipped over the edge, pulled me back into this world. More people came—both ghost and human. All come to do Balthazar’s bidding.

  I was taken back into the castle and down the steep stairs to the dungeons. Was I to be locked up here? Had Balthazar given orders that his bride was to be kept from his sight? I held fast to that thought.

  I was led into the room with the marionettes. The marionette-maker looked up from his work, curiosity in his eyes.

  “Voulo, we require passage,” Zach’s father said.

  The marionette-maker made a sweeping gesture toward a trapdoor set into the floor.

  Bending on one knee, Zach’s father heaved the door up. Dirt cascaded into a twisting stairwell.

  My knees were as stiff as the wooden legs of the marionettes that hung upon the wall.

  “We must not keep the monseigneur waiting.” A large hand grasped my shoulder—a hand belonging to Armand, a hand that didn’t feel human.

  Coughing in the dusty air, I put a shaking foot onto the stairs. I descended into a cold darkness. The others followed.

  At the bottom of the stairs, arched corridors branched off like a rabbit warren.

  “Keep moving,” Armand told me tersely.

  I stepped along narrow corridors that were so devoid of oxygen my head grew faint—ancient corridors carved from rock and earth. Gnarled, rotting tree roots threaded their way along the walls like veins in an aged body.

  We travelled deeper, deeper into the twisting diseased body of the castle. So far down that the brackish, coppery smell of the sea met my lungs.

  The men took a detour through a thick wooden doo
r—into a small, roundish antechamber. It held nothing but a wooden stool and table, a cracked mirror—and through a door—an ancient toilet. No one spoke. Beyond the chamber, night air ushered in through a wide opening. Ahead, a narrow walkway spanned across the outside of the cliff.

  My captors stopped dead still, staring at me intently—their mouths opening in anticipation.

  “This is where we leave you.” Mr. Baldcott’s voice cut the still air.

  “I stay here?” My voice shook.

  “No. This is where you will take your meals and attend to yourself—there will be clean attire and a wash basin. But this is not where you will spend your time. Ahead is the ocean passage. You will cross it and continue on, until you reach the chambers of Monseigneur Balthazar Batiste.”

  My throat dried and swelled. “And if I don’t?”

  His dark eyes needled me. “If you don’t, he will come for you. Should you try anything stupid, such as killing yourself, we will go back on the marriage agreement and send the serpents back in full force to the bay, and ensure that every last man, woman and child at the museum is obliterated.”

  A nightmare vision of all those people—including Sophronia, Nabaasa, Frances and the comatose Molly and Aisha—flashed through my mind. And Ethan—Ethan would die alongside them. “I made no marriage agreement to marry Balthazar—that was an agreement to marry Zach!”

  “You are in no position to make any kinds of demands. You should feel grateful that we’ll still be sending the serpents away from the area of the museum.”

  Hate rose inside me like bile, leaving a bitter taste in my throat. “You wouldn’t do anything that didn’t benefit you.”

  “The affairs of the castle are none of your concern. The women of La Falaise do not interfere or have a say in what happens here. That is how it has always been here and you should remember that.”

  Zach’s father’s expression was impassive. “I didn’t want you as the bride of my son, but for you to have become the bride of the monseigneur is insufferable. Who are you to become the lady of the chateau?”

  I met his gaze. “Then you should have stopped it.”

  “It is not my place to challenge our glorious monseigneur.”

  A cry bled from my throat. “You are all monsters. You brought an innocent girl to the chapel and let her die....”