Netherby Halls by Claudy Conn

the
headmistress inquired politely but obviously hoping Sassy wouldn’t
bother her with questions.
    “Yes, I think I need to know what the routine
is … what I am expected to do first?”
    “Time enough for Miss Graves to explain all that to
you tomorrow morning,” Miss Sallstone returned in clipped
accents.
    “I see …” Sassy hesitated and then asked, “What
age group will be in my charge?”
    “Lady Devine would like you in charge of girls aged
ten to twelve. We don’t enter them younger than ten, you see.”
    A knock at the door brought Sassy’s head round, as it
was still open. Miss Sallstone sighed and asked, “What is it now,
Molly?”
    “Jane wanted me to let you know Miss’s room is ready,
and I can serve her dinner there now if ye like?”
    “Yes,” Miss Sallstone said, obviously relieved to be
done and not trying to hide that fact. “Excellent.”
    Sassy nodded, got to her feet, and followed Molly out
to the waiting area, where Jessie fidgeted on his feet.
    “I can take up yer bags,” Molly said.
    “I’ll be doing that.” Jessie’s tone was
uncompromising.
    “I don’t know if the headmistress—”
    “I don’t answer to her, and my lady told me I was to
see Miss Winthrop situated, and so I mean to do,” Jessie
answered.
    Molly beamed. “Then, off we go.”
    As Sassy climbed the stairs, a vibration seemed to
pulse inside the walls adjacent to the stairs, as though reacting
to her. What was this? You know what it is , her
mother’s voice whispered in her head. You know very
well —evil. Something evil resides here .
     

 
     
    ~
Seven ~
     
    SASSY THANKED JESSIE and sighed as she watched him
leave. She had grown accustomed to his company and was sorry to see
him go.
    She turned and inspected her room. Molly had said she
was to have Miss Saunders’ room. The room was no larger than ten by
eleven, with walls papered in faded pink and besprinkled with green
leaves. Sassy frowned when she realized the surprisingly large
rectangular window in the center of the wall facing the doorway had
no covering.
    Next to the narrow bed, which was covered with a
simple quilt of faded flowers on a pink background, stood a small,
stark nightstand. She also spied a sturdy chest of drawers, a long
mirror, and a tall, albeit narrow satinwood wardrobe.
    Well, well, she was at Netherby. She had her own room
and no complaints. Things could be worse.
    Miss Sallstone was a bit of a mystery. Sassy was
certain she was not what she wanted people to think—a simple
headmistress. She was sure that the headmistress was much more than
she presented, but what?
    Also, what was the awful sensation she got when she
walked up the stairs? Evil? Her logic rejected this. At a school
for young girls? Impossible … and yet her magic voice had
clearly whispered the word evil . She had been accosted with
it; the wickedness of lingering ill deeds always made her feel sick
and set her on guard, and that was how she’d had felt.
    Briefly she wondered what had happened to Miss
Saunders and made a mental note to inquire about her in the
morning.
    She thought of her father and mother and then, with a
soft ache, began the business of unpacking.
    * * *
    Light splattered with dust particles seared through
Sassy’s undraped window the following morning and brought her eyes
flickeringly to life.
    She had not slept well, and with a groan she gazed up
at the bright sun’s rays taunting her. Shading her eyes against the
offending light, she groaned again. “Must get to town and purchase
some fabric for that bare window,” she mumbled to herself.
    How odd, she thought, that a window in a room
occupied by her predecessor should have gone without drapes. She
shrugged this off as she pulled the covers over herself. It was so
cold in her room.
    A few moments later, she dragged herself out of bed
and washed with the water from the pitcher she had been given after
dinner. That too was uncomfortably cold. She picked out a warm
woolen shawl