"Will he give you another one if we go back to your—" Katie began.
Edward was already shaking his head. "My father died a few years ago," Edward interrupted before Katie could finish her question. "It was the most horrific sight I've ever laid eyes on," he added, sadly.
"I'm sorry," Katie said. "I didn't mean to stir up bad memories."
"I think he was torn apart by a pack of wolves on one of our camping trips. He always put a protective bubble over me at night, the same kind that I used to help Mike." Tears began to well up in his eyes. The memory was so vivid that it seemed to be happening before his eyes. "When I woke the next morning and came out to join him by the fire, all I could find were his scattered, bloody limbs. They looked as if an animal had been chewing on them."
"You don't need to relive the experience, Edward," Katie said.
"It's okay. I think I need to get it off my chest so I can move on. This is the first time I've ever told anyone about this. Other than my mother, of course."
"I don't mean to be rude, but can we please find some shelter before you continue?" Melissa said through chattering teeth. "It's freezing out here!"
Although she hadn't noticed the chill in the air until Melissa brought it up, Katie nodded in agreement. "And maybe some food," she added, her stomach grumbling loudly. "I feel like I haven't eaten in a week!"
Edward surveyed the area for a moment. The only shelter he could see were the darkened hulks of what appeared to be houses. The owners of which were likely asleep as none of them had light coming from them. "Where would you suggest?" he asked Melissa.
"One of these houses would do, I suppose. They seem to be abandoned," Melissa replied.
"What makes you think they're abandoned?" Edward asked.
"Before all of you showed up, I was making all kinds of noise. Enough that it should have woken people up, caused a light to come on, or even had someone come out to see what all the racket was about, but no one did," Melissa explained.
"That doesn't sound like a sure thing. Maybe they are heavy sleepers," Edward suggested.
"All of them?" Melissa asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Why are we standing out here in the cold, bickering like children?" Katie asked. "Melissa has a point. We should at least try."
Melissa turned and walked toward the nearest house, but not before flashing Edward a smug look. She ascended the steps leading up to the porch of a small, two story home, and knocked lightly on the door. The others joined her on the porch. After knocking a second time and waiting for a response, Edward admitted that the house was likely abandoned as Melissa had originally insinuated.
"Check to see if the windows are locked," Katie suggested to the others.
"No need," Melissa said, turning the doorknob. She pushed the door inward and it creaked loudly, echoing through the house like something out of a horror movie. Melissa took a tentative step inside, the others piling up in the doorway behind her. "I can't see a thing!" she complained.
"It sure would be nice to have Amber's glow to light our way," Katie murmured. "I wonder where she is."
"I hope she made it through the portal," Edward said, trying to sound hopeful. "I can't imagine why she wouldn't show herself if she were here."
"Well. How about you take matters into your own hands, Mr. Wizard?" Melissa griped, frustrated that Edward hadn't thought about using his magic.
Edward looked down at the floor, embarrassed that he hadn't thought about using his magic to help. He began to concentrate on producing a flame and then turned his palms toward the sky. A small flame, like one from a candle, sputtered above each of his palms.
"What the hell? Can't you do any better than that?" Melissa complained.
Even in the feeble light Edward had produced, Melissa could see his eyebrows draw down in anger. "I'm doing the best I can!" Edward spat. "For whatever reason, my spell isn't working the way it should."
"Look around and see if you can find candles to light before Edward's magic fizzles out," Katie said.
Her words seemed to at least temporarily diffuse the situation and get everyone focused. Edward did his best to stay in the middle of the group and provide what little light he could as they searched the house.
Using the dim light Edward provided, they shuffled through the sparsely furnished room. A sagging, dusty couch sat a few feet from the wall. Next to it was a broken recliner, tipped onto its side, which Katie stepped over on her way to the far side of the room. Against the opposite wall she saw an entertainment center with a large, flat-screen television in the center of it. The screen of which was smashed, quite some time ago by the looks of it. Char marks rose up the wall behind the television as if it had caught fire. Thankfully, it didn't seem to have caught the rest of the house on fire.
"I think I found something! Come over this way, Edward!" Katie nearly shouted.
He turned and went toward her, plunging the area behind him into darkness. Melissa was about to open her mouth to complain when she caught a shadowy glimpse of what Katie had found. There, tucked into the corner of the room, was a fireplace. Odd place for one, she thought.
With Edward's tiny flames beside her, the lighting improved slightly. Katie picked up a smaller piece of wood from the bundle stacked neatly before her and held it out toward Edward. Smiling, she said, "Light me please." He shook his head, grinning as he placed his hands underneath the wood, the tiny flame in his palm licking the bark. After nearly ten minutes, the log began to smoke and a tiny ember began to form. Katie saw this and quickly pulled the log toward herself, blowing steadily on the ember. She did this for a couple of minutes, and didn't seem to be making any progress. Katie turned to throw the log down in disgust, but before it left her hands a small flame blossomed upon it.
"Oh my God! Nobody breathe!" Katie said nervously. She slowly moved toward the fireplace, log in one hand, guarding the tiny flame with her other. She placed it gently onto the grate in the fireplace, holding her breath and hoping the log would stay lit. A couple of tense moments passed as the flame sputtered. Finally, it began to catch and spread. Katie turned back toward the others and breathed a sigh of relief. The spreading flames were obviously a morale booster, since everyone was now smiling instead of bickering.
Edward closed his hands, dousing the magical flames, as the light from the fireplace grew brighter. The log was now burning well enough to add more wood. He bent down, plucking more pieces from the pile, and added them to the growing fire. A couple of minutes later, the room was basking with warmth and light.
Melissa pushed her way closer to the fire, bumping Katie and Edward in the process. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. I'm just freezing my ass off!" Melissa told them apologetically, holding her hands out to the warmth.
Katie's initial reaction to Melissa's shoving her way forward was quelled by her apology. She turned to face Edward. "Do you think we will need to set up a watch?"
He pondered the question for a moment. "I think we can forego that, for tonight at least. There hasn't been any indication of anything potentially hostile in the area. Besides, I'm sure we could all use some decent sleep."
Everyone nodded their weary agreement. As the warmth began to spread throughout the room, Katie moved deeper into the house. There was enough light now that she felt comfortable enough to look in other rooms for anything they could use. She passed through the living room into the kitchen. She looked at the cupboards for a moment, but decided she needed sleep more than food. Moving deeper into the house, Katie walked down the hall leading away from the kitchen, and found a large bedroom. A combination of dim light filtering in from the living room, and the moonlight coming through the room's single window, provided her with enough light to search the room.
When Katie came back to the living room, everyone was lying on the floor in a neat little row. She suppressed a giggle as an image came to mind of an open can of sardines.
Hearing her footsteps, Edward craned his head to see if she had found anyt
hing. He was rewarded with the sight of her carrying, what appeared to be, a couple of blankets and a few small pillows. She set the blankets aside for a moment and passed out the pillows. After that, she picked up a blanket from the pile and spread it over the top of half the group, then did the same for the other half with the second blanket. With everyone now reasonably content, snuggled together beneath the covers, she got down on the floor to lay next to Edward. He lifted the comforter, allowing her to slide underneath, and threw his arm lightly over her as she scooted close. They were soon fast asleep, the sound of the crackling fire acting like a lullaby.
Chapter 5
The next morning, the room was still vaguely warm. The fire had gone out, probably an hour or so ago, but the residual heat from it had not dissipated yet. Katie was the first to wake up. Her mouth opened wide in a cavernous yawn, causing her jaw to crack as she stretched and slid from beneath Edward's arm, tossing the blanket off of her. She stood up and looked around. Now that daylight was penetrating the dust-covered windows she could see her surroundings better.
She walked to the kitchen and began to rummage through the cabinets, hoping to find some food. The cupboards were covered in a thick coating of dust and cobwebs. How long has this place been empty? she wondered, absently brushing through the spider webs that seemed to hold the cabinet doors closed. Each door she opened met with the same result. All of them were completely barren, as if the owner of the house had packed everything up and left in a hurry.
A thump came from the other room, startling Katie. She poked her head out of the kitchen to investigate the sound and saw that Edward was awake. He looked up and noticed her peeking around the corner from the kitchen.
"How long have you been up?" he asked softly, trying his best to not wake the others.
"I don't know. Not long. I figured I would see if there was anything in the house to eat. My stomach is going crazy," she replied. As if to punctuate her statement, her stomach rumbled so loud that Edward heard it in the other room.
He laughed. "I'll come help you look."
Together, they finished going through the rest of the cupboards, only to find that their efforts were fruitless. "We're going to have to check around town," Katie grumbled. "I'm not in the mood to eat dust bunnies, and that's the only thing they have in plentiful supply in this house."
It took a moment for the confused look to disappear from Edward's face. It wasn't until he saw her gesturing toward a ball of dust in one of the cabinets that he realized what she was referring to. She had so many odd sayings. Sometimes it was hard to decipher what Katie was talking about. "Perhaps we should wake the others. Maybe we will be fortunate enough to find other people outside of this house that can help us," Edward stated. He had tried very hard to keep the doubt from his voice when he spoke, but from the expression now residing on Katie's face, he got the impression that he had miserably failed to do so.
With a disheartened look that told Edward she was only waking the others because he had asked, not because she actually wanted to, Katie went back to the living room to rouse the others.
Jack was already awake, and in human form again, but he wasn't paying any heed to Katie's movements. He was looking curiously at Julie. He wasn't sure why he felt this way, but for some reason something didn't seem quite right about her.
Katie bent down to remove the blanket that was covering Melissa, Julie, and Jack. That got his attention! Almost immediately, Jack pulled the comforter out of her hand to keep himself covered. "Sorry, I'm kind of naked," he said, a sheepish grin on his face.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. Katie wasn't sure whether to cover her eyes, or slap a hand over her mouth to keep herself from saying anything inappropriate. She decided on a combination, covering her mouth with one hand while she averted her eyes until Jack had covered himself sufficiently. "Okay, I'm decent," he said, laughing.
She turned back toward him and nearly burst into giggles. With the way the blanket was wrapped around him, Jack looked like he might be on his way to a toga party, or perhaps a monastery.
As Melissa and Julie began to open their eyes, awakened by the commotion, Edward walked over, meaning to hand Jack his cloak. Edward stopped in mid-stride, realizing that he no longer had it. He had forgotten about the change that clothing went through when they traveled from one world to the other, not to mention the fact that he'd given it to Julie back in the tunnel. Just then, another, more pressing issue occurred to him. "Damn it!"
Everyone turned their attention toward Edward, wondering why he was cursing. Katie was the first one to speak up. "What's wrong?"
"I just noticed that our weapons didn't make it through the portal with us," he replied in dismay.
Katie quickly surveyed the room and realized that he was right. She stomped her foot in aggravation. "Crap! You're right!" she pouted.
"That's just great!" Melissa grumbled.
"I'm sure we can find something to replace them," Julie said, trying to boost everyone's morale.
"She's right. We all need to calm down and take a deep breath," Jack calmly stated. "From what we saw last night, the town is probably empty. There should be something around that we can use."
"Perhaps you are right, Jack." Edward sighed heavily. "Although, I can't help but wonder why the town would be empty." He looked from face to face, hoping one of them would have a suggestion. Instead, his comments were greeted with anxious looks and closed lips. "Then I guess we should go out and see what we can find," he finally said, giving up and turning toward the door in frustration.
Chapter 6
When the group exited the house, they were immediately greeted by the chill of the morning air. The sight before them was overwhelming, and Katie uttered a gasp. What she now saw reminded her of a horror film that she couldn't place the name of. One of those zombie apocalypse movies was the first thing to come to mind. Fidgeting nervously, she moved closer to Edward.
Viewing the scene before them in broad daylight gave all of them the creeps. What they had seen last night by moonlight had given them no indication of the devastation they now witnessed. The single stretch of pavement they could see was lined with the burned-out, hulking shapes of cars. Many of the buildings along the street were in a similar state of disarray, a lot of them were nothing more than charred piles of stone and timber. The others looked like a giant had strolled through town and taken a bite out of them. Now that Katie thought about it, their group seemed to be very fortunate to have found a dwelling that was, for the most part, intact.
"Can we go back to Desolace now? I've got a really bad feeling about this place," Melissa whined.
Edward shielded his eyes from the morning sun and looked in the direction of where the phone booth stood. It was still there, but seemed to have lost its golden luster. Now it looked as old and unused as everything else in this place. "I don't think that will be an option," Edward told her.
She suddenly went running across the street toward the grimy-looking booth. A few moments passed before she reached it, and when she did, Melissa raised her hand to open the door. The instant she touched it, the booth seemed to disintegrate, falling to the ground and turning into a pile of ashes. Falling to the grass, Melissa began to sob hysterically.
The remainder of the group slowly made their way over to her. As they squeezed between the cars to cross the street, Katie froze. "What the hell?"
Temporarily turning their attention from Melissa, the group looked to Katie, wondering what had prompted her to say such a thing. "What's wrong?" Edward inquired.
"These cars, that's what," Katie answered. The others drew closer to her, trying to see the problem.
"I don't see what you're talking about," Julie remarked.
"There!" she exclaimed, pointing at the name of the car. "The emblem on the front grille of the car makes it a Chevy, and that's all well and good, but I've never heard of a model called a Phoenix before."
Since Jack had never seen a car before last night, he shrugged h
is shoulders at her, not knowing what to say. Edward had seen cars before, and remembered only that he thought they were a type of monster. He had no idea what the big fuss was about this one.
The one person that should have been just as shocked as Katie didn't react to the news at all. Julie merely stood there, looking on with disinterest.
"I don't understand what the big deal is," Edward said, using the tone of voice that he normally did when trying to calm Katie.
"The big deal? Only the fact that this car didn't exist where I came from!" Katie cried out in frustration. "Where the hell are we? Or maybe the better question would be, when are we?" Katie's eyes roamed from person to person, looking for answers.
Edward opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, then abruptly closed it again, knowing that nothing he could tell her would make Katie feel any better. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to Melissa. She was slumped over on the ground near the place where the portal once stood, sobbing quietly.
As he approached Melissa, she turned to face him. Tiny streaks of tears still flowed down her cheeks, some of which appeared to be forming icicles in the bitterly cold morning air. Edward bent down, brushed the ice from her cheek, and gently urged Melissa to her feet. As much as her constant complaining got on his nerves, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He wondered briefly if she would eventually develop the strength of character that Katie had. He hoped she would, but had his doubts.
Briskly, Edward rubbed his hands up and down her bare arms for a moment. "We need to find some warmer clothing," he said softly, leading her back toward the others.
As they crossed the street to rejoin the group, Melissa silently hoped the others would come forward to comfort her as Edward had done. No one made a move toward her though. I deserve this, she thought. I've done nothing but complain the whole time I've been with them. They probably hate me. She lowered her head so the others wouldn't see the tears that were beginning to form again.
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