Red Moon by Elizabeth Kelly Page A

mention of Maya and Mrs. Lanning smiled
triumphantly.  “Turn around, remove your shirt and lean against the wall.”
    Avery turned slowly and pulled her shirt off.  She
pressed her hands against the cold wall, steeling herself as Mrs. Lanning
approached.  She raised the stick and slammed it brutally against Avery’s
bare back.  Avery bit her lip, her back bowing and her nails digging into
the wall, but she refused to cry out as Mrs. Lanning hit her repeatedly.
    She stared blindly at the wall, tears flowing down her
cheeks and when darkness began to creep across her vision, she dove into it
with a feeling of relief.
    * * *
     
    Maya scanned the common room anxiously.  They had been
back for over two hours and she had still not seen Avery.  It was
dinnertime and she should have been in the room, bringing food in with the
other servants.  She jiggled Nicholas on her knee as Sophia sat down on
the bench beside her and began to eat.
    “Wait my love, for the others.”  She admonished gently
and the little girl obediently put her fork down and folded her hands in her
lap.
    “Where’s Avery?”  Sophia asked as Tristan, his mother
walking slowly but steadily beside him, entered the room and guided her to the
chair beside his.
    “I do not know, my love.”  She tried not to let her
anxiety show.
    “I want to show her my new dress.”
    “We will find her after dinner and show it to her, okay?”
 Maya smiled at the little girl and she nodded and picked up her fork as
the others began to eat.
    * * *
     
    “Marian, where is Avery?”  Maya, holding a sleeping
Nicholas against her shoulder, cornered the older woman in the kitchen where
she was cleaning the dishes from dinner.
    Marian hesitated, wiping her wet hands nervously on her
apron.  “She is not feeling well, Maya.”
    “Not feeling well?”  Maya frowned.  “Avery is never
sick.”
    Marian shrugged.  “Mrs. Lanning sent her to her room
before dinner and told us not to disturb her.”
    “Can you take Nicholas for me?  I need to check on
her.”
    Marian reached for the baby but before she could take him,
Mrs. Lanning glided up silently behind them.  “Avery is fine, Maya. 
I took her some dinner earlier.”
    Maya stared suspiciously at her.  “Avery never gets
sick.  What is wrong with her?”
    Mrs. Lanning shrugged.  “I do not know.  Perhaps
the country air disagrees with her?”
    Maya went to hand Nicholas to Marian, and Mrs. Lanning
scowled at her.  “You can check on her in the morning.  Your first
responsibility is the children, and I believe Sophia is running around like a
crazy child in the common room.  Perhaps you should do what you were
bought for.”
    Maya stalked angrily back to the common room.  She
spotted Sophia sitting quietly with Marshall next to the fireplace. 
Tristan was sitting next to his mother on a sofa across from them.  Maya
chewed on her lower lip nervously, smiling distractedly at Marshall when he
glanced up and nodded to her, before making her decision.
    “M’lord?”
    Tristan looked up to see Maya, pale and worried looking,
standing in front of him.
    “What is it?”  He glanced at Nicholas, still sleeping
on her shoulder.  “Is it Nicholas?”
    “No m’lord.  Forgive me, Mrs. Williams.  May I
speak with Lord Tristan alone for a moment?”
    Tristan’s mother nodded as Sophia scampered across the room
and climbed into the woman’s lap.  “Will you sing me a song, grandmamma?”
    “Of course, my darling girl.”  The woman smiled fondly
at her and brushed her hair back from her face.
    Tristan stood and followed Maya a few steps away.
    “What’s wrong, Maya?”
    “It’s Avery.”
    Tristan stiffened.  “What about her?”
    “She is sick, m’lord.”
    He frowned.  “What do you mean she is sick?  You
told me she never gets sick.”
    “She doesn’t.”  Maya was close to tears.  “I was
looking for her, and Marian and Mrs. Lanning said she was sick and resting in
her room.