“No. I was playing with Trinity and Abigail, and then…” She blinked. “I’m so tired.”
“We should let her rest,” Dr. Ambrose said.
“Yes,” Ephraim agreed. “There’s much to talk about—perhaps we should go downstairs and let her sleep.”
“Don’t leave me alone!” Sadie cried, her eyes flashing wide open.
“I’ll stay with you,” Merry promised.
“And Ellerie?” she pleaded, grabbing at my hand as if to pin me in place.
“I’ll check on you soon, all right?” I pressed a kiss to her forehead and ushered the men downstairs.
Before joining everyone in the sitting room, I poked my head out onto the porch, where Whitaker had collapsed in an exhausted stupor. He’d propped his feet along the railing, and his mouth hung slightly open, his eyelids fluttering in dreams.
My fingertips danced above his hands and I wondered if I ought to wake him. He needed to hear everything Ephraim was about to say, but I couldn’t bear to disturb his peace. I wished I could join him, pressed against his side, deep in dreams of a happier future, instead of being in the current present.
“Ellerie?” Thomas said, standing in the doorway with uncertainty. “Father wants to get started.”
He wasn’t trying to conceal his accent any longer.
Reluctantly I trailed after him.
“Where’s Dr. Ambrose?” I asked, stepping into the sitting room.
Dining table chairs crowded the area, brought in to create enough seating for the three Elders, the parson, Thomas, and me. Ephraim stood in front of the fireplace, nervously adjusting his spectacles.
“Gone already,” said Parson Briard. “With Rebecca’s…confinement period so near, he thought it best to check on her since he was already out by the farm.”
There was an empty chair next to him, but I hesitated at the threshold, my hands restless. “Can I get anyone something to drink? Water or…water?”
“Dear girl, we ought to be tending to you, after your harrowing ordeal,” Leland said, gesturing to the seat. “Are you all right?”
“Now that Sadie is back, yes.”
“Sit, Ellerie. Please,” Ephraim requested, offering me a pained smile. He cleared his throat, acknowledging the others. “I’m afraid Thomas and I have something to confess.” He furrowed his brow. “Quite a lot of somethings, actually.”
Matthias frowned. “Why are you talking like that, Ezra?”
“See, that’s just the thing…I’m not Ezra. I’m not a Downing. And as much as I’d love to lay claim to such a set of nieces, Ellerie and her sisters are not related to me.”
“I knew it!” Leland exclaimed. He turned to Matthias, cuffing him across the shoulder. “I told you something was wrong with them!”
Ephraim fidgeted with the edge of his sleeve. “Thomas is my son; that much is true. But we’re the Fairhopes. My name is ‘Ephraim.’ ”
“We belong to the Brotherhood of the Light.” Thomas sprang to his feet, unable to remain still.
The Elders exchanged glances with one another.
Ephraim’s gaze shifted about the room, taking their reactions in. “An old order of scientists. Researchers. Archivists. We investigate the things of myth and legend, lore and folktales.”
“Creatures,” Thomas interjected.
“Monsters,” Ephraim clarified. “Things of darkness and ill desire. We find them and we bring them into the light.” He cleared his throat once again. “Thomas and I were sent to America to track down a certain sect of them—the Dark Watchers. One of our society’s founders first encountered them centuries ago. He studied them for years, learning their habits, their rhythms, but when it came time to eradicate them, they fled on a ship sailing for the colonies. They’ve been causing chaos here ever since.”
“What—what are they?” Matthias asked.
“At first glance, they look no different from you or me—human, mostly. But they can move with unmatched speed and dexterity. They can blend into their surroundings so thoroughly, you’d never notice one, even as it stands beside you. And their eyes, of course.”
Leland’s own were enormous. “What about their eyes?”
“Dark Watchers are voyeurs, delighting in the creation of discord wherever they go, so that they may…watch. They have powerfully strong eyes, able to see the smallest details from great distances, able to hunt and watch their prey, even in the dark of night. They shine silver.”
“Silver?” Amos echoed. “Like the creatures in our woods.”
“Exactly like them,” Thomas confirmed.
“We believe that a family of Dark Watchers has taken interest in this area. Thomas and I have followed their progress, recording the stories of their mayhem, reporting back to the Brotherhood.”
“What sort of mayhem are you talking about?” Matthias asked.
“The complete and total destruction of your world,” Ephraim said simply.
“Father.”
“It is, isn’t it? Didn’t we see that at Ormbark? At Willow Pass and Blackburn? At the Fairfoot colony? The Dark Watchers are here in Amity Falls. There is no time to temper the reality of the situation.”
“I’ve heard stories of what happened at that pass,” Leland said. “Old Jean Garreau, he had the most ghastly tales…but wasn’t that just circumstance? Bad luck?”
The trinkets in my pocket burned.
“The Dark Watchers spend time getting to know a place before they act. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been in your community for years without you being aware of their presence. There are always signs, but you need to know where—how—to look for them.”
“What signs?” Amos asked.
“Animals in the woods that are suddenly wrong. Frogs with multiple heads. Stags with too many horns or not enough legs. Squirrels and possums too small. Wolves grown too large. Does any of this sound familiar to you?”
The Elders nodded reluctantly. In a darkened corner of the room, Parson Briard pursed his lips, listening with unusual silence.
“And here, inside the town…you’ve had a rash of curious births in your farm animals? Mutations, deformations? Your crops have begun to rot before their intended harvests?”
“The foals at the Brysons’ ranch,” I murmured. “The Vissers’ orchards.”