The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart Read online

  The small piece of paper read:

  They’re coming for you.

  Sincerely,

  A Friend.

  I felt sick. When the words came, they came with difficulty. “Will this never end?” I hissed finally, putting a hand on the gallery rail to steady myself. “Will we never be granted one night that can just be ours, one night to feel safe? That’s all I ask—”

  “Tonight,” Jonathon said, his nostrils flaring, his pale blue eyes bright. A flicker of white light rippled off him, his defiance made manifest. “This night. I will not have it taken from me. Now. Right now, all there is, is this,” he said firmly, placing his hand on my waist as the orchestra began a few lilting, tantalizing notes.

  He slid his other hand around to clasp my outstretched hand in his. He bowed his head slightly and began slowly to lead me. The music revealed itself as a slow, lilting, haunting waltz. “Will you let this, us, be all there is right now, my dear?”

  “Yes…”

  Jonathon moved me slowly, dancing us achingly in a circle, our small steps precise. He was right. We were all there was in the world. Just us, pressed together and moving close in an intimate dance. Just this Association of haunted souls who, for one evening, was made a beloved community. I held Jonathon’s hand in mine and would not let go.

  Let them come, then, if they must. We are the dark angels who shall block devils’ passage.

  The pit swayed soft and sweet as Nathaniel sang, the rich strings lifting melody like a lark ascending. His Association, with their mixture of reverence and wit, shared warm glances of appreciation and affection, brought together by darkness but choosing to stand just this side of light, fingertips brushing darkness and coming away with a friend. Hands were clasped in unspoken understanding as Nathaniel took the pulpit of poetry and seared our souls with literary pain and pleasure, encouraging life as we flirted with romanticizing death.

  Nathaniel came to a more casual moment of his production, where he commented on the fate of the Gothic in our modern culture.

  “Did you hear there’s a production of Hamlet in the West End where Hamlet marries Ophelia at the end of the play? It would seem we Victorians cannot be trusted with a tragedy. It would seem some directors feel the need to protect us from the truth of pain. What say you?” Murmurs from the audience, hisses from the pit. “I say there’s a place for tragedy and a place for a happy ending. We cannot guarantee one or the other, but must let them both live.”

  A rustle of applause from the Association.

  A tragedy. That’s what we were caught up in, Jonathon and me. I had a leading role in some twisted tragedy. But while I’d leave Shakespeare well enough alone, I’d be damned if I was not going to write a happy ending for us and live into the truth of it. But just as the witches in Macbeth proclaim: “Something wicked this way comes.” There’s no avoiding it. But that doesn’t mean I have to submit.

  Some are born haunted. Some have haunts thrust upon them. We greet the dawn with full understanding of the shadows at our backs. Together, we find solace and kindle the fires that will keep us warm and hold us firmly in the light.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you, Leah Hultenschmidt, for your guidance and faith. You’re a North star. Derry Wilkens, what in the world did I ever do before you were in my life?! Thanks to Carrie, whom I met thanks to Sallie the Romance Puppy, and who introduced me to Bunny and Blueberry—who I think steal the show here. Thank you for rescuing those beautiful creatures, teaching me something about them, and allowing me to nose them into this book. Thank you, Stephen, for clever words. Thank you to Diane and Kristin for your brilliant eyes for detail on these books, and to Aubrey and Danielle for calling me names (you know what), doing your jobs really well, and making me laugh a lot along the way. Thank you to the whole Sourcebooks team, every last one of you, from the design to the sales departments. You are magical people who make things look magical and do magical things. Dominique, you visionary you, you are a dynamo of awesome and your support continues to mean the world to me. Thank you Sarah Maclean and Mari Mancusi for always being so helpful and gracious in addition to being rockstar authors. Thank you Saundra Mitchell for the mutual admiration society between our books. Thanks Mala Bhattacharjee for putting me in a magazine, and Morgan Doremus, for putting me on camera. Thank you Nicholas Roman Lewis for dealing with my Drama Queen moments like only you can. Thanks to Marcos, my beloved, for being my strong help in every way. You are my real-life hero, and you’ve taught Jonathon a thing or two. Thanks, Paul Peterson. That whole H. M. A. M. B. thing is now a real thing. Ha! Aren’t we clever?! Thanks Mom, Dad, and Kelissa for being my anchors and harbors. Thanks Aunt Sandy and Jeff for being so devoted, and to my whole extended family for reading and talking up my books. Thanks Marijo—I’ve really needed the brain-cell this year. And last but not least, thanks to the Strangely Beautiful fans who came over and supported Magic Most Foul. I hope you liked those two familiar faces waltzing through Bloomsbury as much as I liked seeing them there.

  About the Author

  Actress, playwright, and author Leanna Renee Hieber aims to be a gateway drug to nineteenth-century classics. She graduated with a BFA in Theatre and a focus in the Victorian Era. Her debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble’s bestseller lists, won two 2010 Prism Awards for Best Fantasy and Best First Book, and is currently in development as a musical theatre production. Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul was named an Indie Next List title by the American Booksellers Association and a Highly Recommended title by Scholastic Book Fairs. Her books have been translated into several languages, and her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies. Look for her new Gaslamp Fantasy series THE ETERNA FILES coming 2013. A proud member of actors unions AEA and SAG-AFTRA, Leanna works often in film and television and does a whole lot of guest speaking dressed in full Gothic Victorian regalia. A perky Goth girl who loves nothing more than a really good ghost story and/or BBC series, Leanna owns far more corsets and bustles than is reasonable. She resides in New York City with her real-life hero and their beloved rescued lab rabbit. Visit her at www.leannareneehieber.com and follow her on Twitter @LeannaRenee.