The Hellandback Kids: Be Careful What You Wish For

by LL Helland

  Even at five, Chad seemed the complete opposite of his mother. Quiet, he never spoke unless he needed to. His unassuming clothes and pale coloring made him easy to overlook. Regardless, Brittany could see the love they had for each other. Chad clung tightly to his mother, his arms around her neck. She kissed his cheeks over and over as tears rolled down her face.

  Chad pointed to Brittany. “She’s been taking care of me, Mama.” Brittany reached out to shake the woman’s hand, but the woman hugged Brittany to her chest with her free arm.

  She whispered in Brittany’s ear, “Thank you! I don’t know what I would’ve done if something bad had happened to my son. I walked and ran through the city for days, searching for Chad. Today, I stopped for a second only to rest by the hospital. A big man asked me why I hurried. I told him I was looking for my son and described him. The man said a boy like that was in the hospital. I knew Chad couldn’t be sick, so I didn’t understand why he would be in a hospital.”

  After a moment, Brittany asked, “Why would Chad not be sick?”

  The woman transferred Chad to her other arm. Brittany could tell she was weak. “He is special. The man who kidnapped him wanted him to heal people for a price.”

  Brittany said to the woman, “What do you mean by special?”

  “Chad was born on a holy day five years ago. He was so small that I didn’t think he would live. My husband had died when I was halfway through my pregnancy. I’m sure that is why Chad is so small. I ate very little after my husband died. I was severely depressed and couldn’t keep up with the daily schedule by myself.

  “So I took Chad to a faith healer many miles away. The trip took several days, and a few times Chad nearly died. I didn’t know if he would live, but this was his chance. There was just something about him—when I looked into his eyes, it gave me a sense of peace. Chad and I stayed at the faith healer’s house for months. Chad never ate much, and I was worried about taking him home.

  “Chad got better, and he gained some weight. His eyes seemed brighter, more magical. The faith healer said Chad could see right down to a person’s soul.

  “I never had to worry about food or shelter. Eventually we became husband and wife—not in the sense that we got a traditional wedding, but he had his great-grandfather perform a ceremony. Since then, we have lived together as a family.

  “My husband stayed behind in our small town to try to save as many of the sick as he could. I-I have spent days looking for Chad. I never thought I would see him again. I thank you from the depths of my soul.” She gave Chad a kiss on his cheek. “Chad can heal the sick. Not all people respond to him, but everyone believes he can cure them. That is why the man stole him to make a profit.”

  Brittany spoke very quietly. “The man who I found Chad with is dead. He died of the black plague. I assumed he was Chad’s father.”

  Chad’s mother shook her head. “Is there anyone Chad can help? He is so young that he doesn’t fully understand how and when to use his powers. I’m trying to teach him, but at times it’s like trying to capture a butterfly with a string.”

  Advarika left to get Chad’s mother some soup. Brittany said, “If Chad could just look at my sister Trisha, I would be grateful.”

  Brittany had not known that the answer to so much suffering had been so close to her for so long. Why had she not seen that Chad had powers? She had seen glimpses of something special in Chad, but she had not known the extent of his abilities. Advarika returned with the soup, and Chad’s mother drank it from the bowl, still holding on to her son.

  When she had finished, they all went to Trisha’s and Abigail’s room. She put Chad on the ground and spoke to him very quietly.

  Chad went over to Trisha and held her hand.

  He no longer looked like a small boy. His demeanor had changed. He focused intently, his eyes turned a smoky gray, and a stress line went across his forehead. Chad’s lips became thin and almost disappeared as he clutched Trisha’s hand to his chest. Trisha awoke, but was very weak. She did not pull away. She looked directly into his eyes. Chad’s calming gaze affected her, too. In his eyes, Trisha saw images of herself, only younger. She felt as though she was watching a movie about her life. Just as Trisha saw the image of herself and her siblings getting off the plane and meeting their great-grandmother, Chad closed his eyes.

  When he reopened his eyes, Chad was a little boy again.

  His mother did not wait for Trisha to get out of bed; she knew she would be fine. Instead, she took Chad by the hand and sat next to Abigail.

  Suddenly, she gasped and picked up the cross around Abigail’s neck. A tear rolled down Chad’s mother’s face. She said, “I haven’t seen a cross in a long time.” Chad picked up Abigail’s hand and brought it to his chest. This time, the healing took a toll on Chad; he broke out into a cold sweat. Yet, by the time he closed his eyes and became a small boy again, Abigail was sitting up in bed.

  Great-Grandmother had a worried look on her face. “How did things go so wrong? Trisha wasn’t supposed to get the black plague. She wasn’t supposed to end up there at all. She was supposed to have a nice little visit with her sister and brothers to rest her overtaxed mind.”

  Alastair patted his wife’s hand. “Everything turned out all right. Don’t beat yourself up over a small mistake. Besides, look at me. I’ve made several blunders just with Chris alone. Of course, that child could distract anyone without even trying.”

  A woman entered the hospital room where Trisha, Abigail, and the others rested, talking quietly.

  Abigail said, “May we help you?”

  Abigail and Chad’s mother did not recognize this woman, but Trisha, Brittany, and Chad did. It was Mrs. Toddles, with her silk dress, her thin lips, and the brooch pinned to her lace bodice.

  She said very quietly, “Trisha, you have to return and help the other girls. You’ll gain strength during your trip through time.” No one in the room moved. Mrs. Toddles drifted across the floor, graceful and smooth, mesmerizing them. She reached Trisha’s bed and picked up her hand. “Say a quick good-bye. You are needed elsewhere.”

  Trisha did not even have time to get out of bed. “Brittany, I love you.” She winked at Chad, and then her bed was empty. Advarika vanished also. Brittany ran over and felt the warmth of the sheets where her older sister had been just a few seconds earlier. She smoothed the dingy white linen with her hand. She knew she would see Trisha again, but she had left so quickly.

  Mrs. Toddles remained for a few seconds longer. Before she vanished, she looked at Chad’s mother. “Trisha will save your stepdaughter, Bailey.”

  At the sound of Bailey’s name, Chad’s mother began to cry. “What do you mean?”

  Mrs. Toddles was fading. “Bailey is with Trisha. She will be returned to you when all is right.” Then Mrs. Toddles was gone.

  Why had no one found Chris in the freezer? Brittany and Trisha were a little preoccupied by their situation, but where were the Bundlebobs? They usually couldn’t leave Chris alone, even if it was just to annoy him with their slurping and crunching of their toenails. He would be frozen solid soon. Someone needed to find him. If Alastair had not been traveling through a netherworld of his own, he could have seen Chris frozen like a rock.

  CHAPTER 37

  Trisha and Advarika were being transported back to the tomb. The air was clean and crisp, and for a moment she did not think they were going back to that horrible place. But, when the air smelled stale and heavy, she knew they had almost arrived. The two of them landed in the exact location they had left. Trisha came to rest very softly next to Bailey, while Advarika landed with a thud a few feet away.

  Advarika got up and dusted himself off. “I don’t think I’ll pay for that trip.”

  Trisha picked up Bailey’s hand. Someone had removed the maggots in her wound, and it no longer smelled pungent. A strip of clean linen lay beside Bailey, so Trisha picked up the material and bandaged Bailey’s hand.

  Trisha wore the white dress with the blue sash. I
t seemed like weeks since she had danced with Godfrey and tried to pin the extra brooch on him. She looked down at her own hand, at the wounds on her palm from the brooch and the glass shard. Trisha tore a strip from the bottom of her petticoat, wrapped her hand, and went over to the other girls, who were finishing the food Advarika had brought from the dance. She took a large roll and an apple to Bailey, who ate as if she were starved.

  Trisha turned the extra brooch over and over in her hand, then put it in her pocket. She started to doubt her ability to ever change the outcome for any young lady Godfrey preyed on. Any female coming into contact with Godfrey faced certain death, or imprisonment for the rest of their short, miserable lives.

  Trisha, deep in thought, did not notice at first when the door to the cave opened. Godfrey stood there, grinning, which seemed odd after what had happened at the dance. Trisha stood up and walked toward Godfrey—if she could not help any new victims, she could still try to protect the girls in the cave.

  As Trisha came within a few feet of him, Godfrey said, “That is close enough, Trisha. I want you at least an arm’s length away from me. I know you tried to kill me. You are lucky you failed. With my death, comes your death. No one will let you out of this cave. It will become your tomb.”

  Godfrey looked around the room. “I don’t know the details of your plan to eliminate me, but I do know that you are not going to get rid of me.”

  Trisha looked around. Had one of the girls in the cave told Godfrey of her plan? Godfrey’s words brought Trisha’s attention back to him.

  “I’m going to get married in an hour. Trisha, I just thought you might want to know. Wish me a long, healthy marriage.” He burst into laughter.

  Advarika, who had been standing in front of Trisha, now clung to her dress, working his way behind her. He held on so tightly that he was pulling her down to the ground. Trisha yanked her dress out of Advarika’s hands, and he went tumbling backward. For just a moment, Trisha wondered if her friend Advarika had given information to Godfrey. The thought only lasted a split second. Advarika ran back over to Trisha and held on to her dress again, more gently. Advarika always acted tough, but he was really very sweet and timid. Trisha knew he would do anything for her.

  When Godfrey left, Advarika let go of Trisha. He said, “It’s a good thing he left when he did, or I would’ve had to hurt him.”

  Trisha thought frantically about how to get out of this cave. There were no electronic doors, and yet Trisha never saw Godfrey use a key. Besides, he would never carry a key into the tomb, where the girls could overpower him and take it. The door must work on a wheel and pulley system.

  Doubts interrupted her. Was someone in that cave giving information to Godfrey? Trisha looked around the room. Perhaps she was imagining an evil presence, but why had she blacked out when she smelled Bailey’s wound? Why had one girl, one of those here the longest, not eaten a thing when Advarika brought food? Trisha was not hungry, but she had just eaten a large bowl of stew in the hospital with Brittany. Frustrated by trying to make sense of everything that was happening, Trisha decided to concentrate on one thing at a time. Right now, she needed to get the enormous door opened.

  Trisha heard footsteps coming, but not Godfrey’s. It sounded like the large woman who had taken Trisha and Advarika from the party. Through the gap at the bottom of the door, Trisha could see feet. She remembered those boots; they looked like a man’s brown boots, dusty and dirty. This must be the same woman—there could not be two pairs of those boots.

  The door slid open. Even looking closely, Trisha could barely make out the pulley system. As the door slowly slid open, Trisha spotted the large wheels turning the rope to open the door. Then the figure on the other side of the door captured her attention completely.

  Godfrey’s assistant, a large, ugly woman, looked more like a man than a woman. Trisha remembered how her brother Jon would wrestle in high school; this woman out bulked any of the wrestlers she had seen at meets. The woman looked more like the professional wrestlers Chris used to watch on television. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, and her eyes of steel pierced the air as if her gaze had been shot from a gun. She wore brightly colored mismatched clothes. Her arms were bigger than Trisha’s thighs. When she spoke, she displayed a big gap between her teeth. She had painted her face with garish shades of blue on her eyelids and red on her cheeks and lips. Trisha sensed that she had no emotional attachment to anyone, or sympathy for anyone’s plight. She acted fanatically loyal to Godfrey.

  The woman approached Trisha, leaned in, and said, “Trisha, Godfrey wanted you to know that he is happily married. Not much can be said for the bride, though.”

  Trisha knew that, at this very moment, Godfrey was stealing another girl’s life.

  The woman turned and clomped up the narrow hallway. The door began to shut. Trisha quickly took the brooch and threw it at the mechanism. It hit one of the large wheels and fell to the ground. While the door was still sliding shut, Advarika picked up the brooch, scurried up Trisha’s dress, planted his feet on her shoulders, and steadied himself to throw the brooch between the wheels. She thought they must have looked comical—if a cloak had been tied around Advarika’s neck, they would have looked like an enormously tall person with a small head.

  Advarika remained focused on his task. Naturally nocturnal, he used his excellent night vision to aim for the wheels that slowly moved the door closed. He threw the brooch between the two wooden wheels. It made a crunching sound, then a large squeal, followed by silence. The door stopped, leaving an opening only about ten inches wide, but the girls were all very thin—they had room to spare.

  Before Trisha walked through the opening, she took a last look at the underground tomb. She shivered, not from the cold, but from the thought of what had happened there.

  The girls made their way up the dark and musty hallway. Trisha did not have any idea where to go; she was just relieved that they were out of the tomb. They reached the end of the hallway, and Trisha felt cool, fresh air coming from a small opening at the threshold of the door at the end of the hall. Advarika bent down to drag in the wonderful air through his nose. Suddenly light-headed, he almost passed out. Trisha checked her friend, but her attention focused on the door that stood between them and freedom. Trisha turned the knob. The door opened, exposing her eyes to bright light.

  She shut the door.

  After a minute or two, Bailey asked, “Is there someone out there? Is it Godfrey?”

  All the girls huddled closer together. Trisha blinked her eyes a few times, then said, “No, there is no one. It is safe, but the light is so bright that we will need to shade our eyes until we get used to it.”

  It felt as though the light blistered the girls’ eyes as they made their way out of the prison. Trisha looked at the girls. “Stay together, and don’t wonder off. We have a better chance of surviving and remaining free if we all stick together.”

  One of the girls smelled food and wanted to go to the kitchen, but the rest of the girls swarmed around her and dragged her along with them. Trisha wondered if this girl could be the spy. Maybe they had better keep closer tabs on her. Or she might just truly have been hungry.

  They went through several elaborately decorated rooms. Trisha remembered seeing furniture like this when her mother would take her out for a day of looking at antiques. This furniture, in pristine condition, had just been built. It belonged in this time period. In the entryway, Trisha remembered the massive stairs and the long hallway with all the portraits. As Trisha and the girls ascended the stairs, Trisha noticed that one of the canvas paintings had no portrait in it, just a grayish background encased in a carved gold frame. Halfway up the staircase, she leaned over to see if she could identify the missing portrait. There could be no doubt—the woman with the brooch, Mrs. Toddles, was no longer visible. Had she died, or was she still lurking around to help Trisha? Deep in thought, Trisha would have fallen over the railing if Advarika had not grabbed her dress.

  Trisha he
aded quietly up the stairs to join the other girls. The girls could not decide which way to go, but Trisha pointed to the left. She remembered getting ready for the party in a room to the right, and she thought Godfrey’s room was in the same direction. Trisha herded the girls into one of the empty bedrooms.

  “Stay put, and once I’m gone, slide a dresser in front of the door.”

  Bailey said, “Trisha, I want to go with you.”

  Trisha only trusted Advarika. Anyone else could be Godfrey’s spy. “Bailey, you need to stay here with the other girls. If I don’t come back, you’ll be in charge.”

  Trisha whispered, half to herself, “Where is Mrs. Toddles? I need her help.”

  As Advarika and Trisha left the room, they heard the girls slowly pushing the dresser into place. The two of them listened intently to the sounds behind the door. The tap on Trisha’s shoulder almost sent her five feet into the air. Advarika jumped nearly that high, and now clung to Trisha’s neck. They turned, expecting to see Godfrey behind them.

  It was Mrs. Toddles.

  She no longer wore the brooch. Trisha found it strange not to see the large piece of jewelry on the woman’s dress. Mrs. Toddles did not say a word, but just handed Trisha something. The object almost fell to the ground, since Advarika was in the process of climbing down from around Trisha’s neck. Trisha was perspiring so much that it nearly slipped from her fingers, and Advarika’s climbing blocked her view and jiggled every bit of her.

  The woman clasped her hands tightly around Trisha’s small hand, saying, “You will need this now.” Trisha could tell, without even looking, that she held the woman’s brooch. As she opened her hand slowly, the brooch glowed bright green. Mrs. Toddles was a good person. As she looked up, the woman melted into the woodwork. The hallway seemed exceptionally quiet. The silence almost hurt Trisha’s ears as they made their way down the passage.