Nevermore: A Novel of Love, Loss, & Edgar Allan Poe by David Niall Wilson Read Free Book Online Page B

features twisted in a frown of concern.
    "It's probably nothing," Lenore said.   "I just saw…I think I … no, I did.   I saw something in Grimm – or on her – or – I'm not sure how to explain it."
    "Her?" Edgar said.
    Lenore turned to him and nodded.   "I'm nearly certain.   I would not have had any idea before but…"
    "But what?"
    "I saw a face superimposed over the feathers of the chest.   A very young girl.   She stared right at me – and I believe she is trapped."
    Edgar stared at her, and then down at the drawing on the table.
    "What will you do?"
    "I…I have no choice," she said.   "I will draw what I have seen, and I will set her free."
    Edgar sat very still for a moment, and then, he nodded.   He knew that what she did was the right thing for those who were trapped, but he had traveled with the bird for a very long time.   If what was to come removed the magic – if it ended, and Grimm flew off into the trees and the swamp to never return, he was not certain that he could stand it.
    Lenore studied the emotion burning from his eyes, the effort he made to remain calm.
    "If she is meant to be with you," Lenore said, "she will be.   The girl is trapped, but the crow – Grimm – is a familiar.   Your familiar.   I do not believe she was a party to whatever happened, or that she could be happy carrying another soul trapped inside her, but neither do I believe anything will be lost."
    "If you did, though, you would do this anyway," Edgar said.
    "I would.   If I did not, I would slowly go insane thinking about it – wondering what evil I might have become a part of."
    "And I," Edgar said softly, "will be utterly, and absolutely alone, I'm afraid, if something goes wrong.   It is a recurring theme in my work.   They say that art mirrors life."
    "I don't believe that," Lenore said.   "It imitates, at best."
    She reached for her drawing of Grimm, and the gum eraser that sat beside it.   She worked quickly, and as she worked, she spoke.
    "Why does this remind me of a story?" she said.   "I don't remember any stories of crows as prisons…"
    "There is one," Edgar said softly.   "Not a crow…a raven.   It was written by the Brothers Grimm – you know their work?"
    "Some," Lenore said.   She didn't look up from her drawing.   "Tell me.   What was it called?"
    "It was called," Edgar said, " The Raven .   I will tell it in my own words – I've read it recently, and I have a good memory."
    "I love stories," Lenore said.
    "As do I.   I just can't seem to find one with a happy ending.   The Raven , as you might expect, starts with a young girl.   It goes like this…"
     
    The Raven
     
    A Revision with Apologies to the Brothers Grimm
     
    I n a long ago time, and a faraway place, there lived a queen.   The queen had a very young daughter, too small to walk on her own.   The child was precocious, and no matter what the queen said, nothing could prevail upon the girl to listen, or to be silent.   The crying of the child maddened the queen, and she stormed about the castle in anger until she happened to glance out the window.
    Ravens circled the castle, a great unkindness of ravens.   They screeched and cried out, and it reminded the queen of her child.   She flung open the window in frustration and turned to her daughter.
    "I wish you were one of them," she said.   "I wish you would become a raven and fly away, screeching as they do, and leave me to my peace.   Then I would have some rest."
    Now, the story says that at this point, the child was instantly transformed to a raven, and flew away.   That is not exactly so.   There was an old woman who worked in the service of the queen – her name was Estrella.   Though she was named star, there was no light in her.   She was conniving, and versed in potions and dark arts she kept to herself.   She sometimes cared for the girl as a part of her duties, and that very day, when the Queen made her wish upon an unkindness of ravens, she