The 3 Marionettes: Chapter 18

The Three Marionettes
Chapter 18
Ventriloquism






It was the afternoon when the backup horses had finally arrived. Detective Weatherby wanted to make up for the lost time, and ride as far as they could before dark. But Sergeant Jenkins was very aware that though the detective was very agile in his mind, he was very middle-aged. Therefore he insisted that they stop.
Before they even left the inn, there was news. There had been some informant somewhere, that a “G. Bliss” had once lived in one of the houses in the Sycamore Hills. At first Weatherby had been more than a little suspicious of such an anonymous and vague informant. But as they were already going towards The Hills, their direction there only really confirmed what they knew. The forest either side of the road was darkened. It reminded him vividly of the superstitious nonsense that Jenkins had been driveling earlier.
Pales and murderers and secret cults.
He usually took none of this seriously.
But the darkness that was surrounding them all could make anyone believe urban myths.




Percy lifted the coughing bundle that was Addison from the inside of the walls.
Gabriel was still stunned. Percy carried the girl over to the sofa and sat her there. Gabriel continued to stare; the beliefs he held for the past two years had been shattered instantly.
“Well don’t just stand there, get her some water!” Percy raised her voice. Gabriel dashed towards the kitchen, his obedience to the object of his affections remembered past the surprise at his sisters return. Addison’s coughing subsided as she gulped the water; Percy saw the truth, knowingly as ever. Addison’s hair was whiter than its natural shade with the crushed plaster still resting on her. Gabriel found his voice and crouched in front of where she sat. “I thought you were dead.” He whispered.
Addison’s face twisted ruefully.
“What happened to you? Where did you go? Who did this to you? And-”
“Gabriel?”
His eyes lit at the first time Percy had ever used his name.
“I’m sorry, but, Addison?”
Gabriel turned to his sister, confused.
“Show him.”
Addison opened her mouth wide.
Gabriel’s breath caught.
And stayed there.
Her tongue had been cut out.