Faith - By Deneane Clark

Prologue

Summer, 1800

Sit down and be still, Grace,” admonished Marie Ackerly, exasperation sharpening her typically gentle voice. She took her wriggling seven-year-old daughter’s hand and drew her back to the worn velvet seat of the family coach. “Faith has been quiet and well behaved this entire journey, and she’s not even five years old yet. Certainly if she can manage, so can you.”

Grace, chafing at being confined for even the hour-long drive to visit some of her mother’s relatives, reluctantly settled down. As soon as Marie looked away, however, she stuck out her tongue. Faith stared quietly back. Fortunately for both of them, they were finally arriving at their destination.

The house they were visiting, a large, rambling country home, was just perfect for entertaining young children. It had an attic filled with trunks of unusual, old-fashioned clothes and musty outdated furniture, and a basement that contained boxes and boxes of toys cast off by the five Ackerly children’s older cousins. Outside, in the garden, was a wildly sprawling and overgrown hedge maze.

The two girls’ youngest cousin was a boy named Milton, who was a year younger than Grace and a year older than Faith. The three children, excited to see one another, immediately ran off to play in the attic, trying on clothes and having an imaginary tea presided over by Faith, who, even at such a tender age, was already showing signs of becoming rather prim.

Grace, on the other hand, was quite a tomboy, and the sedate play in the attic was doing nothing to satisfy her sense of adventure. She quickly grew bored and convinced Milton it would be much more fun to play in the basement. Somewhat reluctantly, Faith followed them downstairs.

Milton had only older brothers, who had long since outgrown the things kept in the cellar. He and Grace managed to find trea sure after treasure, however, while Faith, who had much preferred playing tea and dress-up in the attic, began to complain. Grace and Milton largely ignored her, intent on setting up a widespread battlefield with a box of wooden soldiers that had seen much better days. Faith sat on a nearby barrel and pouted at being snubbed until finally, in a rare fit of anger, she hopped off the barrel and stomped right through the scene of carefully erected carnage, kicking over soldiers as she went.

“I do not wish to play in the basement any longer,” she stated in the haughty, imperious tone that usually drew looks of amusement from adults.

Grace and Milton both leapt to their feet, but it was Milton who managed to speak first. Remembering all the plots his brothers had devised to keep him from trailing about after them, he winked at Grace over her sister’s blonde head. “What do you want to do, Faith?” he asked, his tone solicitous.

Grace’s mouth dropped open. She was just about to hotly protest when she caught her cousin’s warning wink. She tried her hardest to wink back, but couldn’t quite manage it, so she blinked both eyes hard at him and put an arm around her younger sister. “Yes, Faith, what do you want to do?”

Faith was surprised at the unexpected show of conciliation from the two older children, but nonetheless pleased. “Play outside?” she suggested a bit timidly. She hadn’t at all expected to be asked for an opinion.

Milton smirked. “All right,” he said. Up the stairs they went, smiling disarmingly as they passed the grown-ups assembled in the parlor on the main floor.

Admonished to keep close to the house, Milton led Grace and Faith outside to the gardens, stopping rather dramatically before the entrance to the shaggy hedgerow maze. “Do you know what this is?” he asked Faith.

She shook her head because that seemed to be the answer he expected, although she was reasonably certain she knew what lay spread out before her.

Milton drew himself up importantly. “This is where I keep my giant pet spider.”

Faith was instantly skeptical. “There aren’t any giant spiders,” she scoffed. “You’re making that up.”

“No, I’m not,” insisted Milton. “You wanna see?”

Although the notion of seeing a real giant spider was rather frightening, logic still told Faith that the story simply couldn’t be true. So she nodded.

“Well, come on then,” said Milton, and took off running into the maze. Grace followed, and so did Faith, trying with her shorter legs to keep the two older children in sight.

Finally, they stopped. Faith looked around at the small open space they’d reached in the center of the maze. “Where’s your