Rat Song

Chapter 20

Though William observed his mother closely the next morning, he couldn't discern any noticeable difference in her behavior. She still greeted him with the same warmth she always did, braided Emma's hair before sending her off to school, and hugged him and his father goodbye before they left for the forge. It was as if he'd merely imagined her soul reacting to the Hymn of the Whole.

But he couldn't have imagined the way the air around her and Burdock hummed like the lingering notes in the air after the guitar's strings had stilled. Something had changed between them that William couldn't understand, something that filled his insides with a constant, churning dread.

It was only when he and Father returned home from the forge that William learned what his music had wrought.

Despite his thin frame, Dr. Hughes filled the kitchen with his presence. Dressed in a neat brown coat with his hair carefully cut so that not a single follicle was out of place, he seemed to make the room feel tidier simply by gracing it with his presence.

"What in the Lord's name is he doing here?" Father snarled at the sight of their unexpected guest.

"Is Emma alright?" William asked. Though he knew the mere presence of Dr. Hughes was bound to put Father in a foul mood for days to come, that was a storm William knew he could weather. All he cared about was whether his sister was ill.

The doctor rose to greet them, the slight incline of his head stiff and formal. "Good evening, Mr. Smith. Your wife asked me to come take a look at Emma." At this, he offered William a gentle smile. "I haven't had the chance to examine your sister yet, but if anything is the matter, please rest assured that I will do everything in my power to cure what ails her."

Father pinned Mother with a glare. "You asked him to come?"

Mother squirmed under the heat of his gaze like a fly caught in a spider's web, her hands fussing with the hem of her dress. "I don't know what came over me. Last night, I was struck with a horrible feeling that something was wrong with Emma. She seemed alright when I sent her off to school this morning, but with everything she and the other children have been through..." She forced her eyes to meet Father's, her gaze burning with determination. "It felt as if the Lord was telling me I needed to protect her, and I am not one to ignore the signs He gives us."

William fought to keep himself from trembling. He'd caused this. With nothing but his guitar and his sheer desperation, he'd made his mother get help when not even his most desperate pleading had persuaded anyone before. The Lord didn't have anything to do with this. No, the Hymn's power was something else. Something dangerous.

"Though my training has taught me to detect many maladies, few tools are as powerful as a mother's intuition." Dr. Hughes set his medicine chest on their dining table. Tiny glass bottles clinked against each other as he extracted an array of tonics and elixirs, and the potent odor of dried herbs made William's nose burn. "One can't be too careful when it comes to the health of children. They are equal parts danger-prone and terrifyingly fragile."

Emma shrank behind Mother, clutching the hem of her dress with wide eyes. "But I'm not sick!"

"Which is exactly why Dr. Hughes needn't worry about us." Father stepped between Dr. Hughes and the rest of his family. He towered over the doctor as the muscles in his arms twitched. "Apologies for my wife wasting your time. No doubt my foolish son has instilled all sorts of baseless fears in her. A few bricks short of a chimney, that boy."

William cast his gaze to his boots. As always, Father blamed him whenever things didn't go his way. No doubt he would feel the full force of Father's anger once they were alone.