The walls, floor, and ceiling, which were lined with stone, were icy, gaping like a grave. The man pushed her there forcefully. And she fell.
Sit here until you are dead. She rushed toward him in terror. But he was already closing the door.
No, no, please don’t leave. Don’t. Father.
No. Nancy jumped up on the bed, frightened to death. What happened? Sleep again.
Dawn barely dawned in the east. And the sky in the wide opening of Nancy’s bedroom window colored gently pink. No, it was not a dream.
The girl sobbed and could not breathe. The horror of the unhappy Nancy, who was undoubtedly this woman from her dreams, was transmitted to her as well. It was a nightmare.
A creepy episode. Well, that’s all. Robert hugged the girl awkwardly, rising on the pillow.
What did you see? Tell me. And she, choking on her sobs, told him what she had seen. She died there in that dungeon from hunger and cold and fear.
Do you understand? Robert was staring into the void. How could a father do this to his daughter? Why? I don’t know. I don’t know.
It’s so terribly inhuman. That’s why she can’t calm down. But what does my family have to do with it? Robert wondered.
Did she kill someone who was my ancestor? That is for us to find out, Nancy said. She calmed down a little in his arms after a morning of gymnastics and all the necessary procedures. Did Nancy and Robert take long walks in the garden? Kelly set breakfast in the gazebo where they ate thin pancakes with jam and drank strong tea with gusto.
Enjoying the silence of a late May morning, Miranda had gone into town on some urgent business, which was to her advantage, for she was adamant that Robert go up to the second floor, squeezing into the little elevator hidden from view between the pantry and the kitchen. Nancy and Robert found themselves on the second floor where the girl had not yet been. After passing through several doors, they found themselves at a wide wooden door.
The Earl’s study was twilight and silent with only the whirring of the wheelchair mechanism and the pounding of their hearts. The display case was indeed there. Besides the documents arranged on special slips, there were a few pages of appropriations, a mouthpiece with traces of tobacco, an antique flintlock, and a silver pouch.
Evidently, the Earl was quite a smoker. The key must be here somewhere, Robert rummaged in the drawer of the cabinet and drew out a small key on a chain. Voila! I feel like Nancy drew.
Nancy laughed. She was my heroine as a child. The girl was terribly nervous.
Her fingertips were burning with fire again. She suddenly distinctly smelled a strange odor of dampness and rot. Robert took the documents out of the display case.
They were old receipts dated 1870, a couple of letters and bills of sale for serfs. One of them caught Nancy’s attention 1851. Stephen bought from Christopher.
Cook with an infant daughter. This was strange, for last night, as they were pouring over the church books, Robert found a record that the serf cook had. A baby girl was born who died three days after birth.
Then what child was with her when she was sold? They found no other valuable information. In the hallway where they went out, it got cold for some reason. Robert sneezed and a slightly frustrated, uncomprehending.
Nancy pushed the elevator button. For some reason, the doors didn’t open. This was not enough.
The girl tried again and again, but to no avail. There is a ramp on the stairs. Robert reassured her and turned the chair around.
All right, but wait for me. Don’t come down by yourself. She shouted after him.
What the hell? She heard a frightened cry and in. The next minute, she saw him rushing toward the stairs. Nancy rushed after him, but not in time.
Did the chair and Robert crash down the stairs? No. In an instant, she was at the bottom next to him. Robert was lying on his back, showing no sign of life.
Nancy leaned over him, but out of the corner of her eye, the crinoline skirt was disappearing, dusting the floor. How could it have happened? Miranda sobbed in the hospital corridor. Where were you, Nancy? I was nearby, but the chair was obviously malfunctioning.
The girl listened halfheartedly to the woman. All her attention was on the guy lying in the room behind the huge glass on the hospital bed with a lot of tubes and sensors. She has to go in there.
She has to. Why did you go to the second floor? It was highly irrational. Why? Robert wanted to show me my grandfather’s study.
How to live now. Miranda wailed. If Robert doesn’t recover, I can’t live.
Why should I? After all, the nurse gave her some valerian, and the poor old lady fell asleep right on the narrow sofa in the drug-soaked hallway of the hospital, where Robert was brought as soon as it happened. Waiting for everyone to disperse, Nancy quietly crept into the room. Pain and regret flooded her.
When she saw the pale, handsome face, the hands lying lifelessly along his body bruised on his shoulders. Robert’s eyes were tightly closed. He had not yet regained consciousness.
Nancy cautiously crouched in the chair beside the bed and took his hand in the palm of her hand. The hand was warm and very familiar. The girl put it to her lips and cried.
Wake up, please. Wake up. Don’t leave me, please.
Do I need you so much? Suddenly, she wiped away her tears and closed her eyes. She concentrated. She imagined a wreath of nine herbs linked together.
The bundle of powerful energy she felt within her slowly began to untie her legs and arms poured in, becoming heavy and sensitive. Heat spread all over her body, down to the tips of her fingernails and hair. She took Robert’s hand again and began to whisper the words that came to her mind.
It was an ancient language, unfamiliar to her. Accessible to few living on Earth. Nancy felt the energy transfer to him.
She was infusing him with it. She gave it generously to him, for Robert needed it more. The girl awoke to someone stroking her hair.
She was sitting on the floor beside the hospital bed with her head resting on it. Nancy looked up and almost died of happiness. The familiar gray eyes were looking at her.
A hand, quite recently lifeless, helpless, ran over her blonde curls without saying a word. The girl rose to her feet and rushed toward Robert. She pressed herself to his cheek, found his lips, ran her fingers through his dark hair.
Are you awake? Oh, thank God. I was so frightened. He kissed her passionately, as if her life depended on it.
A nurse on duty caught them in the act. Lord, have mercy on the young people. Young lady, what are you doing here? Leave the room at once.
Then, apparently realizing that the patient was getting better, she ran to get the doctor. At the same moment, Miranda burst into the room and rushed to her grandson. A minute later, the doctor arrived.
Nancy went out into the hallway and returned her thoughts to the mansion. She knew that what had happened to Robert had not been an accident and she was going to put a stop to it. When the turmoil around Robert had subsided, she went back in to see him.
Miranda was dozing in a chair by the window and snoring lightly. When he saw Nancy, he stretched out his arms and the girl, trying not to wake the old woman, quietly snuggled up to him. I have a surprise for you.
He smiled and pulled back the edge of the blanket, exposing her ankles. Nancy watched with all her eyes as he moved his fingers in tears of happiness flowed down her cheeks. She took his face in her palms and kissed him.
I knew this would happen. I believed it would. In those few days, it seemed like a lifetime had passed.
I think it’s all thanks to you. The guy said seriously, you’re my guardian angel. She laughed softly.
Robert, I have to go, but I’ll be back very soon. Where are you going? Robert got worried. To see mommy.
Nancy lied. Since I’m in town, his face relaxed. Well, say hello for me.
I will. She paused at the doorway and took another look at him. The sight of him made her heart ache.
She knew that life would never be the same again. Everything had changed. She herself had changed.
Sending Robert an airy kiss, she slipped out the door. She arrived at the mansion around 11 o’clock at night. The driver dropped her off near the porch and went to the garage.
Only the kitchen window in the house was on fire. And Nancy went straight there. She hadn’t eaten anything.
Kelly had been sitting at the table all morning. Drinking tea and watching television. When she saw Nancy, she woke up.
So how is our boy? Miranda called. She said he is awake. The worst is over, she said tiredly.
Sinking into a chair. He’s fine. Do you have anything to eat? Kelly slapped her thighs.
Of course, you’re hungry. You poor girl. I’ll be right back.
And rushed to the refrigerator. Very soon there were fragrant pancakes. A cutlet with mashed potatoes.
An olivier salad. And a piece of apple pie on the table. Nancy smiled appreciatively.
I can’t eat it all, she said. Come with me. I’m on a diet, reported Kelly.
Pouring boiling water over a mixture of herbs. Eat as much as you want. She nodded and began to cut the cutlet with her knife.
She had already made plans to visit the ruins of Christopher’s estate in the morning. There, she believed, she would find the clue and that dream again. Everything was on fire.
The woman was thrashing around, unable to find a way out. She could hear the screams of people dying in that infernal fire. She could feel their fear.
Smoke clogged the light sparks, dancing on her hair. She laughed. Nancy stood aside the flames didn’t touch her.
She was showing Nancy her palms. They were in the ground. The girl jumped up on the bed.
The pendant hanging around her neck was as red-hot as a coal in a furnace. It burned her skin. With a frantic movement, Nancy snipped the chain and tossed the sinister jewel to the floor.
It was her. It was her who had flashed through her mind. She was the one who started the fire.
She was the one who had destroyed the manor. But how? She was in the dungeon, unable to wait any longer. Nancy jumped out of bed and, even though it was not yet dawn, went to the bathroom.
After washing with icy water and brushing her teeth, she pulled on jeans, a t-shirt, soft moccasins, and grabbed her windbreaker and went out on the porch. The sun was slowly rolling out from behind the horizon like a huge saucer, coloring the sky gently pink. It was chilly, and Nancy threw on her windbreaker.
The stable boy was smoking on the bench before he went to clean the stables. Good morning, Nancy said hello. Good morning, young lady, the older but still rather sturdy man hummed.
What are you doing up? I like early walks. Nancy lied and headed for the gate. She walked steadily, as if she knew the way, having passed a familiar grove.
She walked for a long time along the winding path through fields overgrown with weeds. It is strange that so much land is empty, the girl pondered. She knew in her gut instinct that she was on Christopher’s land.
She was at home. She walked another 300 meters and saw the ruins of an old house. There were quite a few of them.
They were lost among the densely growing birches and would have been unnoticeable to the inattentive eye. A strange excitement gripped Nancy. She swallowed the lump stuck in her throat and headed deep into the grove that had become memorial to her ancestral history.
Nancy saw the woman immediately. She was standing near a small knoll. Her hair was loose.
Her dress stained with dust and cobwebs. She beckoned to the girl. What do you want? Nancy sobbed.
Suddenly, timid to go, she whispered. Her lips didn’t move, though. They crossed what was once the courtyard.
They walked down the hill to the river. There she stopped, looked down at her feet, disappeared. Nancy walked over to that spot and found herself standing on something solid under a layer of moss.
Out of the ground was a hatchway. There was a sudden attack of nausea. The girl squatted down.
She already knew what the hatch was. She knew what or who she would find deep underground. Would she have the strength and courage to make it to the end? Would she be able to cope with the evil that was increasingly felt in this place? Suddenly, Robert’s pale face surfaced before her.
Of course she could. She owes them the answers they need. Finding a piece of iron on the ruins, Nancy began scraping the earth and moss off the manhole cover.
After a good half hour, she grasped the heavy ring with both hands and pulled. The lid would not budge. It was too big and heavy.
At last, exhausted, she knelt on all fours with her palms on the ground. At that moment, she felt a powerful energy fill every cell of her being, nourishing every cell of her body with unprecedented strength. This time the hatch opened immediately.
She saw the dark, musty, and damp, stinking spiral walkway. Turning on her cell phone flashlight, Nancy bravely stepped down. She recognized the place.