A Circle of Crows Read Online Free PDF Page B

in their hands as the last police officer shut the inn's front door with a tinkle from the silver bell above it. Rachael looked despondent.
    "Well, what could we tell them? They would think we were bats for sure,” said Isabella.
    "Yes, I agree,” said Raena. “Let them think we have some deranged killer lurking about the town again, like in the 1900's. Perhaps then, they may be of some help to us."
    Blue eyes watering, Rachael softly said, “What do we do now? I don't know what to do. I feel helpless."
    "I don't know, we need to think ... something will come to us,” exhaled Raena as she put a hand over her twin's in an attempt at comfort.
    They all moved to Rachael's apartment, and sometime before dawn, all drifted off into fitful slumbers.
    Isabella dreamt. Her eyes fluttered and danced back and forth with her dream. Her eyes opened quickly and her breath caught. She sat up from the couch where Sam lay beside her and stepped over her sisters, who were sprawled out on the floor of Rachael's suite. With a feeling unuttered, they had all fallen asleep in close proximity.
    She padded into the library and scanned the bookcase. “Ah-ha!” She reached up and grabbed a leatherbound book with yellowing parchment pages.
    She sat down at the activity table used for the children's circle time and began rifling through the passages.
    "Here it is!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “Rachael, get up and come in here!” In a moment, Rachael came walking into the study.
    "What is it, Bella?"
    "I found this journal last year in the attic when we were spring cleaning. It's from the innkeepers who owned this place in the early 1900s. This letter is dated September 5, 1905.
    "Here—read it.” She handed the book to Rachael for her to examine.
    Dearest Sister,
    I am writing in reply to your letter about our dearest angel. I do not know how I will go on. As I explained, she and James were outside at play. Dusk was coming, so I went to the front porch to call them in. James came in from the side of the house, but she did not. When I asked him if he had seen her, he responded that she had been playing down by the pond. I went down there, but she was nowhere to be found. Local men searched the pond and all the surrounding wood, but it seems she has disappeared into thin air. I do not know if I can go on with this loss. The melancholy is incomprehensible. I still feel as if she is here at times. I feel as if I hear children talking to me at all hours. I fear I may be going mad...
    "She never sent it,” stated Rachael. “But what does this have to do with Morgana?"
    "Don't you remember those old wives’ tales Grandma used to tell?” asked Raena as she stood in the doorway to the library. “She said when she was a girl, there were lots of children who disappeared from this town. They suspected a serial killer."
    "Again, get to the point! What does this have to do with Morgana's disappearance?” said Rachael heatedly. “Are you proposing a one hundred year old serial killer abducted her?” She was slightly hysterical now, blue eyes darting back and forth like an animal poised for flight.
    Raena walked to her sister and embraced her, but not for long, as she feared everyone in the room might lose their composure and begin wailing if Rachael started crying.
    "No, of course not,” said Raena. “I'll head down to the library and see how far back the microfilm dates. There might be some sort of a pattern with the disappearances."
    * * * *
    Morgana opened her eyes. She was wet to the bone. A dank, musty scent filled her nostrils and her head and legs were throbbing. Her first thought was that she was in a cave, and then her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. Upon the walls were chains and shackles and as she peered past them, she could make out the outline of huddles of small children, all staring at her fearfully. She appeared to be the eldest in the room. All the rest looked to be between four and eight years old. Suddenly, a little girl