The Watcher

by Heather Kindt

  A noise startled Jonas in the middle of the night. He rose to one elbow, off the concrete, feeling the massive crick in his neck. In the darkness, a shape drifted across the room to the door of the cage. Rising to a sitting position, he instinctively reached for his knife, the weapon missing after being confiscated by the Weavers. He cursed under his breath.

  After a brief moment, the stranger removed the lock and entered the cage. Jonas shot a look at the Gate Keeper, still snoring in his corner of the room. The Weaver guard slept away in a chair.

  “Let’s go.” It was a woman’s voice, but she kept her identity hidden beneath a green, velvet hood.

  Jonas rose, as quietly as possible, and followed the stranger to an open window on the side of the building. The woman slid through with ease before lifting it slightly higher to accommodate the Ender’s size.

  The boards of the dock creaked under their weight, but they continued to tiptoe until they reached the wharf. The crashing of the waves on the concrete wall and the creaking of the wooden structure were the only sounds Jonas heard.

  When they reached the road, a small blue Datsun drove up to the curb in front of them. The muffler sputtered. Jonas looked over his shoulder, afraid of pursuit. A man with a black hoodie sat behind the wheel. The car filled with smoke as he took a drag on his cigarette, then flicked it out the window. The man kept his eyes forward, never facing the woman.

  “Lucius will take you where you need to go.” She pointed to the man behind the wheel.

  “Who are you? I’m not getting in this contraption with someone I don’t know.” Jonas laid his hand on his imaginary knife again.

  “Just don’t let her into the book.” The woman hissed the words out, her eyes glowing beneath the hood. “Now, get into the car, and you’ll have your Weaver.”

  Laney arrived at the main parking lot early the next morning, hoping she wouldn’t miss Nick. She doubted he’d be there at eight but still held onto hope in their friendship. His talk of falling for her weighed heavily on her heart because she didn’t want to hurt him. How had Jason accepted her imaginary world so readily? Maybe he knew Laney so well that it seemed absurd that she’d make it up. He’d also seen Jonas with his own eyes.

  At quarter-past eight, Nick showed up carting a toolbox. He wore a plaid flannel shirt with a pair of jeans that were ripped and displayed large paint smears. A gray beanie covered his dark hair that had grown longer over the past few months. Not saying a word to Laney, he placed his toolbox on the back of William’s motorcycle, attaching it with a bungee cord.

  He handed a helmet from the side bag to her. “You ready?”

  She suppressed a smile despite the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach. Laney placed the helmet over her head, happy that he was willing to give her a chance. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s Saturday.” He took William’s helmet out of the other bag. “I volunteer at Habitat on the Saturdays I’m not with my family. If you want to talk, you’ll have to come with me.”

  “Do you know how to drive a motorcycle?” She raised her eyebrow.

  “Nope. But you do.” He pulled his helmet on. “Which is totally cool, by the way.”

  The Habitat site located in Beverly was not far from Madison. The ride felt different to Laney. She never had a passenger before, and the only person she ever shared the bike with was William. Nick kept his hands firmly on her hips.

  Three cars were parked in front of a small colonial on a busy street just west of the main street in town. A large dumpster sat in the driveway, filled with various household scraps—a floral sofa, an avocado green sink, tan and brown linoleum. Hammering came from inside after Laney silenced the engine of the motorcycle.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” Nick removed his helmet. “You don’t know this side of me.”

  “And what side is that?” She gathered her hair up into a loose bun, ready to harness her inner workwoman.

  “You know. That it’s not all about me.” He removed the bungees from the toolbox. “My dad’s a carpenter, so he taught me a thing or two when he wasn’t hammered himself.”

  She stared at Nick, knowing that if life had been different, she’d fall for him, too. He wasn’t perfect. He had a temper and wasn’t the best-looking guy on campus—but he was real. And moreover, he showed up today, even after she started to reveal her crazy life.

  “Well, you’ll have to teach me.” She followed him up to the front door.

  Three men worked in the kitchen, installing more up-to-date cabinets. A man and a woman laid tile in the bathroom. Nick spent a few minutes chatting with them and introducing Laney. All of the workers were members of Nick’s church.

  He led Laney to the backyard to replace loose and broken boards on the back porch. He utilized his hammer like an expert, yanking out nails and handing her the old boards. She carried two or three at a time to the dumpster in the front. A good half-hour passed before she dared breach the subject that hung like a weight between them.

  “Do you want to talk about yesterday?” Laney took another board from Nick.

  “I’m still processing.” He lifted on a stubborn nail, letting out a guttural sound. “This helps me de-stress.”

  She carried board after board to the dumpster, waiting for Nick to be ready. Around noon, they took a break for lunch. Someone ordered a pizza, and the others sat around a card table in the living room. They asked Nick and Laney to join them, but Nick said they were going to sit in the sun outside. They settled at a broken-down picnic table near the rear of the yard.

  “I think I’m ready to believe you.” He took a bite of his pizza, waiting for her response.

  “Why?” She kept her eyes on him as she let the late autumn air warm her skin. “I’m not sure if I would believe me.”

  “Last night, I couldn’t sleep at all. Faith is a tricky thing. I have faith in God, you know, the creator of the universe, but now you’re asking me to believe in freaky, supernatural stuff. You also lied to me about the whole Brian infatuation, but I understand why you did. You knew I wouldn’t be ready to handle the bombshell when we first met.” He shot a sideways look at her. “There was something weird about Brian. The girls liked him because he was some kind of godly stud, but he had some really strange habits.”

  “Like what?” She sifted through Nick’s thought process, keeping her eyes on a bird that landed on the ground beside the table.

  “He’d walk around the locker room naked. Most of the guys at least wrapped a towel across their midsections, but he had no shame. Maybe it’s part of the Gate Keeper description—has the power to transport mythical creatures to our world and can pose for the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.”

  Laney shook her head and smiled. At least he somewhat believed her and was talking to her. They ate their lunch in silence for a couple of minutes.

  “So, tell me more about William. It’s a little strange. It’s kind of like I’m competing against Harry Potter or Huckleberry Finn.” He kept his eyes off her and on his pizza.

  “You’re not competing.” She sighed and waited for Nick’s eyes to find hers. “William’s my boyfriend.”

  He didn’t falter in his gaze but drummed the table with his fingers. “Yeah. But he’s not here, and I am. What are you going to do if he never comes back?”

  Her mind flashed to William locked up in the room in Menotomy, held captive by the Wanderer. She didn’t think the woman would harm him because he wasn’t a Weaver. It was evident the Wanderer was trying to keep them apart.

  “He’s coming back.” She yanked at a tuff of grass. “Or I’m going to him.”

  “What do you mean? Is that possible?” Nick placed a hand on her knee.

  She moved it away from him reflexively. “Yes. That’s why I want you to help me find Brian. My plan is to touch him and enter the book. But now, Brian’s held captive by the other Weavers.”

  “There are more like you?” Nick’s forehead wrinkled.

  His last commen
t made her feel like some kind of freak, but she brushed it off. “They’re living in Rockport right now. And apparently they’re also holding Jonas Webb.” Laney knew he’d ask, so she continued. “He’s my Ender—the antagonist in my book who wants me to end the story a different way—he pretty much wants me to kill William.”

  “Well, that’s not going to happen.”

  “Jonas killed Jason last year.” The words fell out, and Laney regretted telling Nick so soon.

  Nick stood up and leaned against a nearby tree. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, seeming to process Laney’s words. “It wasn’t suicide?”

  “You know, you said it yourself, Jason wouldn’t kill himself. He had too much going on.” The tears welled up in her eyes and she brushed them away with her sleeve.

  Nick crouched down, wrapping his arms around her. He held her to him, running his hand through her hair. “I had no idea. You must’ve been through hell. And I’m the jerk who teased you about it.” His arms held her tighter as the tears flowed.

  “You didn’t know. He was your friend.” It felt good to release the anguish of Jason’s death. “I feel like I’m responsible because I created his murderer.”

  “Well, it seems to me that he acted on his own. You didn’t tell him to kill Jason.”

  That much was true. Jonas did act on his own volition, but the thought overwhelmed her that he wouldn’t have existed if she didn’t put pen to paper. It didn’t matter how many times Nick and William told her that it wasn’t her fault; it would continue to haunt her.

  One of the other workers came out to the porch. “Are you two going to finish the deck today?”

  They returned to their task. Now that Nick had most of the rotted boards out of the flooring, he used the saw to cut new ones to replace them. Laney wielded the hammer and nails, attaching each board as Nick laid them.

  Later that afternoon, they arrived back on campus, both needing a shower.

  “There’s a fair in Topsfield tomorrow night. Lots of local bands, carnival rides, deep-fried everything, you know, fair stuff. Do you want to go?” Nick stuffed his hands into his pockets and kept taking his eyes off Laney to look at his feet.

  What was she supposed to say? He said he was ready to believe her, and it wasn’t a date… really. But now was the time to get to Brian. She wouldn’t have another opportunity to have him locked in a cage, just an arm’s length from William. “I’ll have to take a rain check.”

  He stared at his feet again, not seeming to dare look her in the eyes. “Okay, let me know if you change your mind.”

  Right after Laney entered her room, she flopped onto her bed with the journal. Missy was out, not unusual for a Saturday night.

  William did not move. His head ached, his stomach ached, and his throat held an unquenchable thirst. Noises from the tavern below drifted up into the room, but he was in no condition to start yelling for help. He groaned, adjusting his body to face the window. Moonbeams streamed through touching the desk, the floorboards, and his face. Somehow the same moon was shining on Laney at this very moment.

  Laney glanced up and caught the moon in the corner of her dorm room window. How could the moon be in two different places at one time? The reality of their situation was pure fantasy. She wished she had Jonas to help her open the door to the room where William was a prisoner, but he was here now, locked away in some cage. Then a thought came to her.

  The barmaid wiped up another spill on the end of a table as the mysterious redhead descended the stairs. She’d seen Matthew check her in earlier in the day and wondered what a woman like that was doing in a place like this. She was not from here and now she took the handsome stranger—as drunk as a skunk—up to her room.

  She threw her rag onto the end of the bar, watching the woman leave through the front door before ascending the staircase. When she reached the woman’s room, the door was locked—as she suspected. The barmaid pulled out her spare set of keys, knocking before opening the door.

  A knock came, but the moon mesmerized William. A woman entered the room—she appeared vaguely familiar.

  “For some strange reason, I do not think you are here under your own free will.” The woman leaned down and snaked her arm around William’s back. “Now, you are going to have to help me, or I will never get you down those stairs.”

  The barmaid’s frame was hefty and strong. William dragged his feet along the upstairs hallway, attempting to apply more pressure to his feet as they descended the stairs. The noise in the main tavern made his head spin, and he feared he might lose the contents of his stomach again. As the lights spun around in his head, he was handed off to another. He caught the name Matthew.

  Matthew dragged William through a door and into the night air before heaving him into a wooden cart. A woolen blanket was swiftly thrown over his head, concealing the sky and the moon from view.

  Chapter 10

  Laney woke early Sunday morning with her heart racing and her sheets drenched with sweat. She sat up and glanced at the phone. Four o’clock. Missy snored in a noticeable rhythm across the room, oblivious to her roommate’s drama. Deep in her soul, Laney felt the need to get to William as soon as possible. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew he was in danger.

  Dressed in a hoodie and sweats, she left Starr Hall, jogging toward the trail. A run always cleared her head, allowing the space for her best thinking. It was her first time since Jason… since Jonas. The early morning light provided illumination for her path through the back parking lot. No one was out, leaving her alone in a silent world.

  She weaved through the cars, then sprinted to hurdle the rusty chain that led to the backwoods on campus. As she jumped, her back foot snagged the chain, and she skidded face-first across the dirt path. Her cheek pressed against the ground and tears flooded her eyes. She knew her ankle was messed up, but she also knew, for some reason, she wasn’t going to enter the forest again on her own. It was as if the chain reached up to her foot, forbidding her entry.

  Her ankle screamed out to her as she hobbled back to the dorm. She elevated it on a chair in the lobby before using her phone to call the one person who’d be wide-awake at five in the morning.

  “Hi, Grady. It’s me.” She shifted her ankle slightly to alleviate some of the discomfort.

  “What’s up, kiddo? You’re not usually up this early on a weekend.”

  “I think I sprained my ankle.” Laney switched her phone to her other ear so she could shift her body.

  “How’d you do that?”

  She was the one that was supposed to take care of her grandfather, not the other way around. “I was running this morning, and fell.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Grady hung up.

  When he arrived twenty minutes later, Laney still hadn’t seen a single soul. Her pain increased, and her ankle began to puff out like a balloon. Grady had a small cooler in his hand, filled with several icepacks. He immediately covered her ankle with the packs.

  Laney put her hand on her grandfather’s. “He’s back.”

  Grady lifted one of the icepacks, placing it back on her sprain using the colder side. “William or Jonas?”

  “Jonas.” His name and the icepacks made Laney shiver. “The other Weavers locked him up in a cage with Brian.”

  “Do they know who they’re dealing with?” Grady folded his hands and leaned back in his chair. “They’re both dangerous. I know Brian helped us last spring, but they’re trying to keep a wildfire captive. It’s not going to work for very long. Someone could get hurt.”

  Laney pondered the idea. Brian hurting one of the other Weavers didn’t make sense to her, but she also knew he had a job to do, and they were standing in the way. What was Harriet’s real motivation? Did she really want to keep Enders from entering our world? And once she had them here, locked up, what was she going to do with them?

  “William’s pendant was stolen.” She felt the gravity of the words as they left her lips.

  “Can you h
elp him get it back?” He furrowed his brow. “You can use your words to help, right?”

  “Maybe. But I have no control over the person or thing that took it. She’s called the Wanderer, and I think William might be in danger.” Laney whispered the last words as another student came down the stairs and through the door.

  Grady leaned in to avoid unsuspecting eavesdroppers. “What’s going on in the book?”

  “The Wanderer kidnapped William, but I had a barmaid help him escape. She handed him over to a man named Matthew.” She looked away for a moment as her heart beat rapidly again. “The problem is, I don’t know if this Matthew is someone I can trust, or if he works for her.”

  “I don’t want you in that book.” Grady put on his fatherly tone. It was one she didn’t hear very often. “We have no idea what it means. I never went into The Diner, but I never had a reason to.”

  He was conceding. If he had to go into the book to rescue her grandmother, he would. The lobby door opened again, and Nick entered carrying a rose and a card.

  “Hi, Nick.” She smiled as he walked over to them. “This is my grandfather, Grady.”

  “Nice to meet you, Sir.” Nick held out his free hand and shook the older man’s hand.

  “If you’re a friend of Laney’s, then it’s Grady to you. I don’t do formalities.” Grady smiled up at him. “Is that rose for me? How kind.”

  Nick blushed, but his eyes fell on the ice on Laney’s ankle. “What happened?”

  “I tripped on my run this morning. No big deal. The chain kind of told me that I’m not allowed to go into the woods.” She placed a hand on her grandfather’s. “But Grady’s ice packs and company are starting to make me feel much better.”

  “Well, I won’t interrupt.” Nick stammered, quickly handing the rose and the card to Laney. Her heart melted, watching him flounder for something, anything to say.

  “Can we still go to the fair tonight?” It wasn’t like she’d be able to enter an unknown world with a bum ankle anytime soon. Maybe she could build on the trust that she’d established with Nick yesterday.