Hilary and the Beasts, Part 31

“Hilary? You ok?”

“NO! Jeff!” She shot up the moment she felt the light touch on her shoulder. “Jeff! Oh Pumpkin…” 

“Hilary!” Betty jumped back from her flailing arms, her long gotten nightgown fluttering around her. “You were having a nightmare! We heard you down the hall. You woke half the household.”

“Yeah.” Maple plopped down next to her on the bed in her lightest silk nightie, still clutching Walter. “Betty n’ I told the others you probably had a nightmare, and we’d talk to you.” 

“I…oh my god, it was the most terrifying nightmare I ever had. And it was so real!” She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and realized she was drenched in cold sweat. Even her blanket was soaked. “Jeff…he met me in the garden again, alone this time. We talked. He told me he never loved Pavla. He married her to save others, and apparently, she hurt them anyway.” She shuddered, freezing despite the muggy morning. “Those horrible monsters…”

“The ones that look like Troll?” Betty raised an eyebrow. “They were in my dream, too. They’re the ones who attacked the man in the white tuxedo when he tried to protect me.”

Maple wrinkled her nose. “I saw ‘em, too, but I wish I hadn’t. They tried to strangle my Prince Charmin’ to death!”

“They look like Troll…” Hilary’s eyes widened. “Oh, damn it! Why didn’t I realize that before? They all look like Troll. Pavla said Jeff will be one of them by the end of the year. She’s going to turn my Jeffery into one of those…those subservient monsters…by the end of the year! She’s going to keep him as a slave!” Her voice rose to a near-screech. “Over my dead body!”

“Whoa!” Maple threw her hands over her ears. “Down, Hilary! We ain’t gonna let her do it.”

Betty’s eyes widened. “Jeff isn’t the only one. In my nightmare, the largest monster practically bragged that the man in the white tux would be a tame animal on a leash at the end of the year!”

“Yeah!” Maple’s own New York accent nearly became a growl. “And they told mine he was gonna be a pet bird in a cage! Nothin’ doin’! People ain’t pets!”

Hilary narrowed her eyes. “Pablum seems to think so. They probably got in her way and needed to be eliminated.” She frowned, turning to Maple. “Didn’t they destroy everything in the office in your dream?” 

“Yeah, you’re right!” Maple’s own eyes widened. “Tore everything to shreds. Someone doesn’t want whatever it is that Eagle dug up to get out.”

“Pavla doesn’t.” Betty sat down at Hilary’s desk. “Eagle must have found out something about her. That’s what all of this is leading to.” 

“I agree.” Hilary turned the fan off. She was still cold, despite the beastly hot and sticky morning. “It has to do with whatever Pavla’s extracurricular activities in Europe are. There’s a reason Bear keeps moaning and groaning about his head hurting and it being dark in there. He’s not that dumb. He knows something someone doesn’t want getting out.”

Betty grabbed a pad and pencil from the first drawer of the desk. “All right. Let me take all of this down. We all had identical dreams that were structured more-or-less the same. They all began with the men handing us roses. I think the other two were trying to say the same thing as Jeff, more or less - that Jeff was forced to marry Pavla over some ‘information’ none of them can talk about.” 

“I think it has to do with Eagle’s work.” Maple looked up from clutching Walter, blinking back tears. “They attacked his work for a reason.” 

“There’s some malevolent forces at work here.” Hilary made a face. “Those grotesque green hulks and that…that Wicked Witch of the East destroys everything they touch. I know my roses wilted when they walked in.” She shivered again. “He said before that they’re there, they’ve always been there. Where? Except for these nightmares, he seems to have vanished off the face of the planet!”

Maple raised an eyebrow. “Someone don’t want those guys to be found. They know somethin’.”

“I called C.J and Dad last night,” Hilary added. “He told me men have gone missing after tangling with Pablum, two reporters, three actors, and two officers. That’s seven men gone.”

Betty frowned as she took all this down. “And it sounds like Jeff, Victor, and Scott are her next three victims. They knew something. But what?”

“We need to figure it out, and fast. From what Pablum says, we only have until December.” Hilary finally reached for her feather-trimmed peach silk robe. “Maple, you need to talk to Eagle and find out more about those papers and what’s on the records. You’re the only one who can interpret that ‘wing talk’ of his.”

“Gotcha, Hilary.” Her younger sister grinned as she hugged Walter. “I don’t got a problem with that. I really like Eagle. I’m startin’ to think feathers can be cute.”

“Betty, you’re the writer. You’ve been infinitely patient with Bear, and he seems to trust you the most” She stepped into her walk-in closet and selected the lighted pale-yellow cotton frock she owned. “That poor creature knew something that threatened someone. Reading seems to be the key to unlocking whatever it is that’s trapped in his brain, even if it hurts him.”

She nodded. “Bear’s been nothing but sweet and helpful to me and everyone around him. He doesn’t deserve to hurt like this. The way his eyes go blank every time he mentions the darkness attacking him. The pain must be excruciating.” Betty smiled a bit and doodled a heart on the margin of the paper. “And it’s just kind of fun to sit with him. He does have a surprisingly charming smile, for a bear, and that fur is so comfortable!”

“That leaves me with Troll.” Hilary came out in her yellow-sprigged day dress. “I think I’m almost getting somewhere with him. I need to find out more about this first and second wife of his. They both sound like pieces of work. I want to find out more about his claim to own the house, too. He keeps saying it’s his, but trolls simply do not buy houses. That I know of.” 

Mr. Cat appeared at this point, carrying a broom as his thick white tail twitched. “Hello, ladies! Master says breakfast will be in twenty minutes. He won’t be joining us today. He had…well, he didn’t sleep well last night. He’s feeling poorly and doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Really?” Hilary raised an eyebrow. “He seemed fine when I talked to him at the fireworks last night.”

“Oh, it happened overnight.” Mr. Cat gave her one of those shrugs that said everything and nothing. “You know how these things come on. They come on you fast, and they go away fast.”

“Gee, I hope the rest of us don’t come down with it.” Maple grabbed Walter. “I think we’d all better get dressed. See you at breakfast, Hilary?”

Betty nodded, tearing the paper with the notes. “I’ll copy these for the rest of us after breakfast, so we all know what to do next.”

“I’ll come back for the rest of you later, then.” Mr. Cat nodded as Hilary pulled on her best strappy white sandals. “You look very nice today, Miss Hilary. Yellow suits you.” 

She preened. “Thank you, Mr. Cat.” She gave him a scratch behind his ears. “You are a very nice old fellow, for a cat.” 

He purred rather nicely. “Oh, I try to be a fellow. But I suppose we all do that. Well, most of us, anyway.”

Hilary sighed and followed him out the door. She’d really been hoping to talk to Troll! She suspected his feeling poorly had less to do with being sick and more with avoiding her. That rose-loving frog with claws knew something he wasn’t telling her, and it all led back to that curse and his wives. She just had to find out what.