Audreen became more and more wide-eyed with astonishment as Lily spoke. “Then why isn’t everything damp now?” she asked when Lily had finished her story.
“Emily’s ghost cried and cried until the water reached the ceiling. It was like the ocean in here. And then suddenly it was all back to normal. Amy experienced it, too, so I didn’t imagine it.”
“I guess it’s true then,” Audreen said.
“What’s true?” Lily asked.
Audreen propped herself on the end of the pull-out bed. “I did some searching online about the Dolores Agonie portraits and uncovered some bizarre stuff.”
“What?” Lily asked, righting an overturned straight-back chair so she could sit on it.
Audreen pulled a folded printout from the pocket of her shorts. “Listen to this,” she said and began to read: CURSED PORTRAITS A HIT AT HAUNTED MUSEUM.
There’s something the downtown Haunted Museum is not telling you. In their display titled Sinister Portraits, the collection painted by generations of artists all named Dolores Agonie is perhaps the most frightening. Though the girls portrayed span centuries, they have more in common than just the luminous pearl earrings they wear and the name of the artist who captured their beauty, youth, and vitality. Every subject was dead by the age of thirteen.
Lily’s hands flew to her cheeks. “Could that be true? How could they know that about Ashlynne and Rosalie?” Lily asked. “There were no newspapers around in their time, were there?”
“Family stories passed down through the generations,” Audreen replied.
“Are there any pictures of Dolores Agonie?” Lily asked.
“Sort of — but you can’t ever tell what she looks like. She’s always under a big hat or turned away or wearing sunglasses and a scarf. You can see a family resemblance to Daniella, though. The women are obviously related.”
Audreen spread the pictures she’d printed out on the bed. One of them was a very old engraving of Dolores Agonie’s face, but ink had been smeared across it, covering the details. Lily could see what Audreen meant about the resemblance, though. All the women were graceful and probably had been attractive.
“So is it her, or the girls in the paintings haunting me?” Lily asked. “What do the spirits want from me?”
“To warn you of something,” Audreen guessed. “Or to frighten you off. They might need your help, or they might be jealous because you’re alive and they aren’t. I don’t know exactly, and we didn’t get to finish that reading yesterday.”
“So it sounds like there’s nothing I can do to make it stop,” Lily said. “I’m glad you came by, Audreen. I’m scared being here all alone.”
“I can’t stay,” Audreen said. “I teach a class in palm reading this afternoon, and I have clients who come to my apartment, too. I have to go back.”
“Could I hang out at your place?” Lily asked. “That way if something did happen at least I won’t be alone.”
“Okay,” Audreen agreed. “Let’s get some breakfast and text Amy so she knows where you are. You don’t want to scare her a second time. Will she mind if you come to my place?”
“I’m sure she won’t. After last night, she’s convinced that this is for real.”
“All right, then. Let’s go.”
AUDREEN’S FIRST client was waiting at Audreen’s front door when she and Lily arrived. Audreen was teaching her to read tarot cards, and Lily was glad she was there. The more people the better.
Audreen offered Lily headphones so she could curl up in a big easy chair to watch TV without bothering the tarot card lesson. Reruns of Model Mania’s last season were playing, which was just what Lily needed. She loved how the viewers got to know each girl and learn why winning a modeling contract was so important to her. By the first commercial break, she was wishing she could compete for the contract.
In this episode, the models went to Paris to meet top fashion designers. The young women looked so gorgeous in the latest collections, and Lily wondered if she’d thrown away her one chance to be a model. Was being frightened a good reason to give up on her dream? After all, once the portrait was done, Daniella would use her in the fashion photo shoot and all the Dolores Agonie stuff would be over with. It might have only been another day of posing for the portrait and it would all be over. She’d been so stupid!
Lily was on her third episode of Model Mania when she started to feel tired again. She had to be getting sick.
Audreen was consulting with a man who wanted to make contact with his mother who had recently died. Lily glanced at her before taking off the headphones and resting her head on the arm of the chair. In minutes, she drifted off to sleep.
When Lily awoke again sometime later, the apartment doorbell was ringing. A note on the coffee table said:
Have gone to teach my lesson.
Back in two hours. Audreen.
Had Audreen forgotten her keys? Lily chained the top lock before unlocking the rest of the door. “Who’s there?” she asked.
Someone spoke, but the voice was too low for Lily to make out, so she opened the door just a crack.
“Lily!” Daniella cried in surprise. “What are you doing here?” Lily thought the woman looked younger and more beautiful than she had the day before. Why had she thought the woman was in her forties? Daniella had to be in her early thirties.
Embarrassed that she’d stood Daniella up, Lily opened the door fully, feeling completely awkward. “Hello, Daniella. I hope you’re not angry at me. I wasn’t feeling well. Aunt Amy called you, didn’t she?”
Daniella didn’t seem annoyed as she stepped into Audreen’s apartment. “I completely understand. In fact, I came by to ask Audreen if she’d seen you, since she came by this morning to get Amy’s address. I wanted to know how you were. Why are you here?”
“I didn’t like being alone, so Audreen said I could stay with her.”
“That was foolish. You could have come to stay with me.”
“I didn’t want to bother you.”
“It wouldn’t be a bother. How are you feeling now?”
“Not very good,” Lily said honestly. Despite just having woken from a nap, she was still tired and her head had started to throb.
“It’s this beastly heat. It just pulls the energy right out of you. Audreen’s air-conditioning is hardly doing the job.”
Lily realized that she did feel unusually warm even though the air conditioner was blowing.
“I have an idea!” Daniella said. “You’ll come to my place and finish sitting for the portrait! It’s so much cooler. Sit on the couch instead of on the stool, and once I paint in your beautiful eyes, you can sleep while I finish your portrait.”
“Do you think you can finish today?” Lily asked.
“Of course.”
”And — are you still considering me for the fashion photo shoot?” Lily dared to ask, encouraged by Daniella’s pleasant manner.
“Oh, absolutely! I’m sure you’d be perfect for it,” Daniella said. “You have to build up some stamina for the long days but I’m confident that you’re the right girl for the job. With a gorgeous model like you, the line will sell itself!”
Even though Lily felt tired, a smile crossed her face. The chance to be a model wasn’t gone, after all. “Oh, thank you, Daniella! Thank you!” she said, thrilled.
Daniella stepped back out into the hall, beckoning Lily to follow. “Come on, Lily, let’s just get this done.”
“I need to leave Audreen a note.”
“Oh, don’t bother,” Daniella said. “You’ll be back before she even returns.”
“All right,” Lily agreed, joining Daniella in the hall. She followed her up the stairs into her cold apartment.
DANIELLA TOOK the pearl earrings from the locked drawer and presented them to Lily.
“They’re so much bigger than they were yesterday!” Lily said, surprised.
“Do you think so?” Daniella asked lightly, examining the earrings in her hand. “They seem the same t
o me.”
“No. They’re larger,” Lily insisted.
Daniella placed the earrings in Lily’s hand. “They don’t feel heavier, do they?”
Lily had to admit that they didn’t. They reminded her of a balloon that had been pumped with more air. Besides, she didn’t want to argue with Daniella, not when she’d been given this second chance. “I guess I just didn’t remember them right,” Lily said.
“Of course. That’s it,” Daniella said. “Put them on now and let’s get to work.”
Lily slipped the earrings on while Daniella once more draped the colorful scarf around her. She sat on the couch as Daniella moved her easel over.
Daniella started painting, murmuring praise as she went. “Such gorgeous eyes — so young and bright. How I envy you!”
As she sat there posing, Lily felt herself tiring again. Her back ached, and her head felt fuzzy from exhaustion. Even though Daniella’s place was like an ice box, Lily felt hot. Maybe it was some kind of flu — but in the summer?
“Almost done with the eyes,” Daniella said sweetly. “Then you can sleep through the rest of it.”
“That would be good,” Lily croaked, her mouth dry.
After a while more, Daniella smiled. “All right, Lily. You can sleep now.”
Lily’s eyes slid shut, and she was asleep in moments. She dreamed she was in a desert and the sun was drying her up, and then she dreamed that her teeth were coming lose and that she couldn’t see. When she awoke, she had no idea how long she’d been asleep, but she felt terrible, and knew something was very wrong.
Lily attempted to get off the couch but stumbled when her legs couldn’t support her.
Her legs! They had turned into two sticks, laced with deeply purple veins. She checked her hands and gasped. They were gnarled, with knobs at each joint and thick, yellowed fingernails.
Where was Daniella?
Lily leaned on the furniture as she pulled herself toward the bathroom. Once there, she threw her weight heavily on the sink for support as she peered into the mirror.
Lily was beyond old — ancient! Dark, ringed eyes gazed back at her from the mirror, sunken into a face etched with deep, deep wrinkles. She’d lost nearly all her hair — and what she still had was a wiry white.
Daniella appeared in the bathroom doorway. Lily saw her reflected in the mirror and turned.
Daniella’s blond hair now swung buoyantly at her shoulders. Her skin glowed, and she had the fit, athletic figure of a teenage girl. Beneath her smirking smile, she sucked on a hard candy.
“What have you done to me?” Lily meant to shout but it came out as a cracked whisper.
Daniella’s eyes were bright with merriment as she spit into her hand the candy she’d been sucking on.
The pearls!
And the pearls had changed again. They’d grown very small, like tiny, shriveled white raisins.
“Yes, you guessed it,” Daniella said smugly. “I’ve sucked the life right out of you.”
“I don’t understand,” Lily said, clutching the towel rack to support herself.
“Remember that story about the pearls being a gift from a demon?”
Lily remembered.
“And remember I told you how much I liked that story?”
Lily recalled that, too, and nodded.
“Well, I like it because it’s true. That’s how I’ve stayed young and beautiful for centuries. The pearls absorb your youth, and when I suck on the pearls …” She twirled to display her new young beautiful self. “You see the results. It’s so effective I only have to renew it about once a century.”
Lily felt so weak she had to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Her head was so heavy she could hardly lift it. “What now?” she asked. “I need to get back.”
“Oh no, dear. You’re so weak, like a little bird. I have a plane to catch, but before I go, I think I should take you up to the roof. Maybe we can make you fly away before I leave.”
“No,” Lily whimpered as Daniella tugged at her arms. “I won’t go to the roof.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have too much choice, granny,” Daniella said with a chuckle.
Lily tried to struggle with Daniella, but nothing she did made a difference. She was just too weak.
UP ON the roof, Lily felt even worse. It was yet another humid, blazing hot day and she could hardly catch her breath in the muggy air.
Daniella dragged her to the edge of the roof where a three-foot wall ran along the side. “You gave me such a difficult time, Lily. And I was getting weak, which was even worse. If I don’t recharge, I get old very quickly. My time was running out.”
“The spirits are draining you,” Lily whispered. “They’re coming to get back at you.”
“Oh, them! They act up anytime they sense me getting weak. One or two of them pops out of a painting and tries to get me, and for nothing every time. I let you have Julia because you touched her in the museum. That energized her, and I knew she would go to you anyway. The rest of them are safely locked away, though.”
Lily realized that Daniella was mistaken. Ashlynne and Emily were also loose. Julia had freed them. Maybe Rosalie and Anne had also been freed — at least Lily hoped so.
“They’re trapped,” Lily croaked. “They have to stay on earth because you hold part of them captive. They’ll never leave you alone.”
“Did Julia tell you that?” Daniella asked. “Have you been talking to her?” She tossed her head back and rocked with laughter.
“It’s been nice chatting with you, granny, but it’s time for you to go bye-bye,” Daniella said. She hauled Lily up onto the ledge. Glancing down, Lily saw that it was a straight drop to the corner parking lot below. Panicked and terrified, Lily gripped Daniella’s wrist with her last bit of strength.
Daniella shook her hard, trying to break loose. It took all Lily’s willpower to hang on … and she didn’t think she could do it much longer. Kicking with the last of her strength, Lily managed to push the two of them back from the wall a few feet.
“Give up, brat,” Daniella snarled. “I’m stronger than you’ll ever be again.”
Lily continued to struggle, bending and twisting her torso so Daniella couldn’t get a hold of her.
As Lily struggled, the air around them lost its brutal heat. Lily realized gooseflesh had risen on her arms. And that sound — the one she’d thought was air-conditioning that day in Daniella’s locked room — it was back.
And out of the corner of her eye, Lily noticed a circle of feet surrounding them — bent, twisted, ancient feet.
Five haggard old women surrounded them: Julia, Emily, Ashlynne, Rosalie, and Anne.
And there were more figures, dimly visible, hovering above the five she could see clearly. They were the other girls whose portraits she’d seen in the cabinets.
Lily suddenly knew that the sound she heard that day wasn’t air-conditioning. It was the thrum of hundreds of heartbeats!
Daniella’s apartment wasn’t super air-conditioned at all! It was filled with the spirits of the dead!
“Give us back what you have stolen!” Julia demanded of Daniella.
Daniella looked up, stunned, and her expression changed from rage to shock to terror. “Leave me alone, you old women.”
“You’re the old woman!” Rosalie shrieked. “Hundreds of years old! You sucked out our youth and then you killed us.”
“You smothered me in a hole covered with dirt,” Julia said.
“You trapped me in a burning building,” Ashlynne said.
“You drowned me in the ocean,” said Emily.
“You shot me,” Anne said.
“You stabbed me,” said Rosalie.
“If I killed you, then why aren’t you dead?” Daniella asked, backing away from them.
“We can’t die while we live inside of you,” Julia said.
Lily broke free from Daniella’s grip.
“Lucrezia Borgia, you stole our youth, our beauty, and our souls,” Rosalie said. “We w
ill never retrieve our lives but we want our souls.”
Daniella laughed haughtily at them. “You pathetic fools! Do you think you can vanquish the great Lucrezia Borgia? Go back into your portraits and don’t bother me further.”
Daniella suddenly pivoted and stepped behind Lily, throwing one arm across Lily’s throat and clutching her around the waist with her other hand. Lily felt the pressure on her airway tighten as Daniella dragged her to the edge of the building once more.
Stay calm. Be brave. Lily willed herself to be strong. She didn’t want to end up like the desperate girls in the portraits.
“I’m not afraid of you!” Lily shouted. “Go away!”
Daniella only chuckled and then opened her mouth wide. “Once I take in your youth and strength these spirits will be no match for me.”
Daniella was right. Lily was young and strong. And it wasn’t too late for her.
With a quick motion, Lily banged her head back so that her back skull crashed into Daniella’s nose. With a screech Daniella let go of Lily, tottering backward.
Lily whirled toward the spirits. “This is your chance. Take back what she’s stolen from you,” she shouted.
The five ghosts surrounded Daniella. They opened their mouths as something like a white mist traveled from Daniella back into their mouths. Daniella screeched and convulsed on the ground but was powerless to stop it.
In a few minutes Lily was kneeling and inhaling deeply as the stream of her life force returned to her. Looking around, she saw that the ghosts were no longer haggard, but appeared now as the beautiful young women they had been before Daniella trapped their souls with a pair of pearl earrings.
Swirls of yellow and green light shot from Daniella’s body as the souls of the other young women hovering in the air were returned to them. One by one they rose up onto the roof wall, standing there, once more young and restored to their beauty. The ledge became so crowded, some hovered in the air. Before too long, there was nothing left of Daniella but a pile of ash and two pearls. And then the earrings popped and shriveled into nothing.
Lily stood staring at the five remaining ghost girls. “We tried to warn you,” Julia said.