Page 56 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

I ran, yelling. The tree hoppers had followed me to the church, and they squawked , echoing me.

“Please! Please let me in!” No one responded.

There was no way for me to know whether they couldn’t hear me unless I was singing, or if they were ignoring me.

It wouldn't be the first time someone had begged for help during the Unseen Hour only to be left out in the cold, dead the next morning.

It sounded harsh, but villagers feared opening their homes and risking their own lives.

I remembered being a small child and hearing a frantic stable hand who had been chasing a loose horse pounding on the doors. The screaming and bustle of the responding staff had drawn me to my door, still awake during the unholy hour even at the age of seven.

I’d crept stealthily from my room, since at that age a nanny was supposed to keep an eye on me and ensure I stayed inside. When mine went to see about the noise, I curiously followed.

I listened at the edge of a hall as the staff debated what to do.

In the end, my parents opened a side door themselves, after sending the staff to a closed room.

The stable hand tumbled in and my mother slammed the door shut immediately after.

He was white as a sheet and mumbling to himself about haunting sounds.

It wasn’t until now that I realized he’d heard the Shade song. My family’s peers had called them mad for risking such a thing.

I could only imagine how these people inside were feeling, with my desperate attempts to get in creating a moral dilemma. The memory, however, had given me an idea.

There was one trick left, and maybe I could do it without completely destroying the window.

I studied the panes carefully, and instead of launching the rock through the center I used it like a hammer, cracking the glass in one triangular area.

A green piece of glass gave way, breaking inward and giving me a fist-sized opening directly into the church.

Ignoring the hesitation that tugged at me, I shoved my face up to the opening and started to sing the song written on the sheet music.

I hadn’t felt the urge to sing when I’d arrived in Emrys, and I could only attribute that to the overriding desire to succeed and end the hour. But in that instant, I needed the music.

Even when I was the cause, I couldn’t get over the haunting but beautiful nature of Shade song.

A melody that somehow spoke to the soul.

After only a few moments an individual holding a candle walked into sight.

It was the vicar. He had on a soft robe rather than his vestments.

I cringed when he made eye contact with me, and I could see the terror on his face.

Carefully and slowly, I made my way down the line of windows, breaking the smallest triangle or square in the stained glass I could find in each one as I led the vicar closer to the front door.

There were no windows on the doors, but there were two that were regular glass to each side.

They were too high up to climb through or reach, and I was forced to throw a rock through one.

This still left only a small hole, and I hoped it would be enough to keep those inside safe from the other Shades for just a short while.

I tilted my head up, singing toward the ruined glass.

Just as I began to lose hope, the front door of the church creaked open and then swung wide. Before any Shade had time to notice and could grab the emerging vicar and snatch his soul, I leapt forward, shoving him back inside and slamming the door shut behind us.

I stopped singing, and the vicar stopped moving, but his gaze remained unfocused as he stared intently at a wall.

I rushed past him—and quite a few other individuals in the pews. One or two were lying straight across them, attempting sleep. Most were kneeling and praying. A couple cried out as I swept past, but no one called my name. No one pointed.

Just as it had taken effort for me to grasp the rock or door, I thought the rest of my body might not be fully solid or visible yet either.

That could only help.

I ran to the altar at the front of the sanctuary. On one side was a basin of holy water, a reference to Day and the fuel of life. On the other side was one of the fires that the church always kept lit. A testament to the funerals held for our deceased, and their journey to Death.

I tried to rip the music in half. It refused to let me do so.

Singing, Celia. Singing!

My voice was shaky, not at all the way I’d sung when Orion had kissed me on the piano bench, but I got through the piece. The people in the pews still didn’t react by pointing, but they began to move toward me, following the song. When I came to the last note, there was a crowd around me.

I tried destroying the music again.

“Please. Please,” I begged, holding it over the fire.

It didn’t blacken right away, but after a few moments I saw the edges begin to smoke.

I wanted to snatch my hand back as the temperature soared but forced myself not to.

The piece of parchment felt thinner. Reaching up with my other hand, I ripped it down the center.

Then I turned it and ripped the pieces again.

I tore them up until they were mere fragments of their former selves, then cast them all in the fire.

I watched until each piece was nothing more than blackened ash beneath the dancing flames.

Lightning slammed into the altar, and I was blown backward. My back hit the floor, knocking the wind out of me. As I pushed myself into a standing position I realized one of my hands was blistered.

But it had worked! The music was gone.

I had to get to Orion.

I stumbled down the steps in front of the holy water and fire, then ran through the center aisle between the pews.

The inhabitants of the church might not have seen me sneak in, but they definitely saw the lightning and the lingering smoke.

They were screaming and running. Some cowered underneath the pews. One pointed at me as I ran past.

“Isn’t that a Hipnosi?”

“It’s the missing daughter, I’m sure of it!” cried out a second individual.

“I thought she was dead,” I heard someone argue back.

I flinched. I had to see my family, and explain, but first I had to ensure everything had worked as planned and Orion was safe.

They can see me. I’m back, and they can see me.

I put a trembling hand on a pew as I passed, and it immediately felt solid beneath my blistered hand. Even the pain, I welcomed.

I knew the layout of the sanctuary by heart. My family often attended here when we were in Fox Haven .

There was a large mirror in a hall off the side of the sanctuary. I passed it on my way to the doors. My reflection stared back at me—hair a bit wild and eyes wide and scared, but I was undoubtedly solid.

I ran my hands over my shirt and pants.

“We did it!”

I kept going all the way to the entrance doors of the church. Several people were crowded around the vicar. His eyes were clear again.

I tugged on one of the large doors.

When the others realized what I was trying to do, the shouting started again.

“Stop her!”

“She’ll kill us all!”

“She’s gone mad!”

The door creaked, opening just a crack before strong arms hauled me backward. It was the vicar, his hands squeezing my arms. A woman from town that I recognized as a baker grabbed me around my middle, helping the vicar.

“We have to open the doors! I must get to him!”

Several of the other townspeople argued amongst themselves.

“We can’t just treat a Hipnosi like this.”

“If her family finds out?—”

“No one will find out if we’re all killed!”

I turned my head wildly as a few more people grew brave enough to approach.

I whispered a silent apology, then I stamped a foot down on the baker’s shoe.

The woman howled, and I elbowed her in the gut.

The vicar and I went tumbling as she released us.

A few more townspeople moved to grab me, but the tree hoppers had followed me into the church, and now they swooped down on my would-be assailants with beaks and claws .

“Cursed ghosts!” one woman screamed.

“She’s possessed!” added another.

“She’s bewitched the birds!”

The vicar’s hold loosened as he tried to gain his footing. I twisted, breaking his hold.

Before the others could reach me, I tugged the door open and ran into the night, with the birds overhead.