“It’s worth a try,” Miles replied. “Our only other options are to forgo her input, or spend the next two days traveling there, and back.”
“Ug! I really don’t want to do that,” I declared, as he searched for his phone, and found it.
“What time is it?” I wondered.
“Four-thirty in the afternoon, Glen Haven time,” Miles answered, as he sat up, and ran his fingers through his dark blond hair.
I scrunched down, and pulled the covers over my head. As Trixie had no phone, Miles was sure to call Xander. I did not want to be included in the video!
Miles tapped the screen of his cellphone, and we listened to the ring specific to FaceTime. A moment later, Xander answered.
“Hey, man! How’s it going?” he asked. In the background, I heard Jenny’s voice, and the sound of puppies playing. I felt a wave of homesickness.
“Good,” Miles replied. “Our signal isn’t strong enough to allow video, though.”
“Record one, and try messaging it,” Xander suggested.
Miles and I considered that, but only briefly.
“I was actually hoping to video chat with Trix,” Miles said.
“You’re calling to talk to your dog,” Xander stated. The puppies were now quiet.
“Anika and I need her input on something. If Trix and I could communicate through video, it would spare us traveling back,” Miles explained.
“Is everything alright?” Xander asked, and I heard Jenny’s voice again. She sounded concerned.
“Yes,” Miles answered cautiously. “We’d rather not navigate this alone though, unless we have to.”
“Well… your dog’s right here, if you want to talk to her. She can nod, anyway. You may have to come up with the answer, but—”
The call abruptly ended.
“The connection failed,” Miles remarked. “I’m afraid we don’t have much of a signal, here.”
“That’s too bad,” I sympathized, as I sat up. “We could do like he suggested, and try communicating back and forth through recordings.”
“It’s worth a shot, anyway,” Miles said in resignation. “I think before we try that, we should—”
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from the other side of the adjoining door, and we both jumped.
“What—” I exclaimed, as Miles threw aside the curtain, and leaped out of bed. I scrambled after him. He grabbed my robe, and I hurried into it, as I followed him through the tiny bathroom, toward the bedroom formerly known as his. Surely the Carlisles wouldn’t put another guest there! One who screamed like that!
Miles threw the door open.
In the center of the tiny room stood Xander, his eyes wide, and his hands gripping his phone, and the sides of his head. His hair stood on end, and he looked very much like a toothed doll just called him mama, and chased him around the room. Trixie sat beside him. She rolled her eyes, and gave him a tolerant look.
“No way,” Miles said in amazement.
“Oh my goodness,” I exclaimed. “Why did we bother flying here?”
“You—you guys,” Xander stuttered.
“Be glad John didn’t hear you scream like that, you’d never live it down,” Miles smiled, as he took his friend by the arm, and led him back through the bathroom, to our room.
“No way!” Xander burst out, as the shock wore off, and he looked around in amazement. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Apparently Trix can transport people, as well as she can her own pups,” Miles said, as he knelt to pet her.
“And the seat of expensive suit pants,” I added, as Miles’ phone began to vibrate. “That’s probably Jenny.”
She had to be worried sick. Her fiancé was with her a minute ago, and then he just wasn’t!
“It is,” Miles said, as he collected his phone from the bed where he dropped it, and answered. “Xander’s fine, he’s right here.”
I heard Jenny’s voice, laced with anxiety. I also saw Miles and Trixie share a glance, as he wrapped his arm securely around my waist, and moved to stand beside her.
“Hold on, we’ll be right there,” he said.
Trixie pressed her shoulder against Miles’ knee, bumped Xander with her hip, and we were in our sitting room at the Lodge.
I gripped the front of Miles’ t-shirt and blinked several times. It was a shock to the system, even though I was expecting it.
John and Annette sat wide-eyed on the couch, while Linux and Spaz wrestled at their feet. Chip greeted us with a smile, as he sat up and shook. Fidget was so happy to see us, she was just about living up to her name. Night and Pandora lay prostrate on the floor in front of the hearth, as if they had no idea we’d been away. Jenny leaped forward, grabbed Xander by the arm, and dragged him a safe distance from Trixie.
“Man, I can not get used to that!” Xander exclaimed, but he sounded as though he’d like to try.
“I’d just as soon not,” Jenny retorted. She looked more than a little rattled.
“Sorry about that. We needed a chance to talk,” Miles said, as he glanced at Trixie, and I knelt to pet Chip, and cuddle Fidget.
“Oh my goodness, I missed you so much!” I said, as Chip wriggled happily, and Fidget whimpered with excitement. “I wish we could take you back with us.”
Despite the excitement of unexpectedly traveling thousands of miles to reach home in a mere instant, I fought to stifle a yawn. Like a chain reaction, Miles did the same.
“We’ve had almost no sleep since we left,” he explained.
“That was yesterday morning,” Jenny said with concern.
Fidget snuggled in my arms, and I kissed her furry forehead.
“It feels like even longer,” I replied. I caught Trixie studying me, and wondered what she was thinking. She looked at Miles for several seconds, then he turned to me. There was a gleam of amusement in his hazel eyes.
“Trix very generously offered to transport the rest of the kids back with us,” he said. Before my eyes could widen too much, he added to that. “I suggested that perhaps instead, she wait and transport you and I back in time for breakfast, in the morning. I wouldn’t mind sleeping in our own bed for the next several hours.”
“Oh my goodness, and taking a shower in the morning!” I exclaimed with excitement. “I was dreading trying to wash my hair in that teensy little claw tub, and with two faucets! How do you know which one to use? But now it doesn’t matter!”
Miles laughed at whatever Trixie said in response.
“Do you mind ferrying us back at one-thirty in the morning, Glen Haven time?” he asked.
Trixie considered that, and shrugged in acknowledgment.
“You can do that without Xander—right?” Jenny asked with concern.
Trixie nodded.
“Excellent!” I declared. “Forget being homesick, now! Or cold, all night! Although it’s not completely unbearable, since Jack worked over the radiator. That bathroom, though!”
“You’re not the only one looking forward to a shower, and I wasn’t anticipating using the two faucet sink to shave,” Miles replied.
“Why on earth do the sink and bathtub have two faucets?” Jenny asked.
“It has to do with how hot and cold water were once supplied to homes, and still is, in some,” Miles replied. “The hot water tank once was, or is as the case might be, fed from a storage tank in the attic. That tank might be covered, or it might not, but either way, there was the very real chance it contained impurities such as lead, rust, or even a dead rat. The water couldn’t be considered safe to drink, and so it was necessary to prevent the possibly contaminated hot water from contaminating the cold water supplied by the main. Therefore, even in some houses that no longer use such a system, there are separate faucets for hot and cold.”
“Eew!” I exclaimed. “Oh my goodness, I so do not want to bathe in dead rat water!”
My skin crawled at the thought. Jenny and Annette appeared horrified, too. Xander and John looked repulsed.
“Thank yo
u, Trix,” Miles said. “I appreciate that very much. Otherwise, I doubt we’d be able to get her back there.”
“You’d have to catch me, first!” I declared, and he tightened his arms around me. “Unless Trixie just offered to shuttle us back and forth daily, you better get ready to try!”
“She promised to convey us each day,” Miles smiled, and I sighed in relief.
“Good. You’re telling the truth.”
“So what’s going on, anyway?” Xander got down to business. “Why did you need to talk to her?”
Miles began. We took turns telling Trixie, and our friends, what we experienced, and what I witnessed since our arrival.
“Do you know anything about this, or why Anika would have a connection to James’ and Katharine’s visit to the manor?” Miles asked.
Trixie considered that, then shrugged.
“Well—do you have any idea what we’re supposed to do with this?” Miles questioned.
Trixie thought. She looked at Miles for a moment, then shrugged. Miles sat back, and sighed in resignation.
“She doesn’t know. She said you’re very perceptive. Maybe you’re picking up reflections of the past. Kind of like a television signal, received out in space, long after the program airs.”
“Then… it doesn’t matter?” I wondered.
Trixie shook her head.
“She says everything matters. But how, or if there’s a role for us to play in this, she doesn’t know. This isn’t her area of assignment.”
We mulled that over for a moment.
“Okay… thanks, Trixie,” I said, and rubbed behind her ears, the way she likes the best. She smiled, and turned to Miles expectantly.
“Thank you, Trix,” he smiled back. He gave her a good petting, then she returned to her favorite spot in front of the fireplace.
“Anika’s the one who heard and saw these reflections, or signals,” John stated. “But you both felt compelled to speak the way you did, which is tied into this somehow.”
“It started when Miles and his brother said the same thing, right?” Jenny pondered.
“Right,” I confirmed. “We had practically the same conversation as James and Katharine. It ended with that sentence, which was identical.”
“Then this is about more than Anika’s ability to perceive,” John said. “You’re both conduits for these transmissions.”
“The next time you feel compelled to speak, maybe you should,” Annette suggested. “Whatever this is, it’s about Miles’ younger brother and his wife, not a stranger.”
“I was relieved to learn that,” Miles said.
“It’s nothing you can’t handle, or this wouldn’t be happening,” Xander reasoned.
“Do be careful though,” Jenny cautioned. “If time doesn’t freeze for everyone else the way it does when you’re unlocking truth, that could pose a problem.”
“Good point,” I acknowledged.
“It didn’t, not for me,” Miles recalled. “That isn’t an indicator it wouldn’t, for others. Or, that it would.”
“What about correspondence?” I suddenly thought. “Old letters, notes, and telegrams. We know Katharine kept a diary before she married James, maybe she started another one, after.”
“We might find something in the estate’s growing archives to help us understand what purpose there is in all of this,” Miles said. “Trix, do you mind making a stop there, on the way back to the manor?”
She did not. After making sure our friends had nothing to report on a business, or personal level, we called it a night. Miles hid it better than I did, but we were both fading fast. We were in desperate need of sleep, and the more consecutive hours we could get, the better. We were already dressed for the part, so we climbed into bed. Our cats obliged by penning us in place. It felt so good to be home! If Miles fell asleep before I did, it wasn’t by much.
Ready or not, seven and a half hours later, we were back out of bed, and hitting the shower. The lovely, warm, rat-free water helped to wake us both up. Showered, shaved, hair freshly washed, and warmly dressed, it was off to the estate we went.
“We need to keep an eye on the time,” Miles remarked with a glance at his watch, as we scanned the banker boxes lining the storage room, turned archive. “I’d prefer it if we make it back to our room, before breakfast arrives.”
“I’d prefer even more, not to arrive while Solemn Guy of any denomination, is inside the room,” I replied, and Miles laughed.
“I’m afraid the manor would lose one of their solemn guys, in exchange for a completely freaked out guy, if he even stuck around long enough to be renamed. If you wondered, the actual title is that of footman. You’re right about their being numbered, though in what order, I don’t know. Ah, here we are.”
“And here… and here,” I pointed out.
We stood for a moment, taking in the four boxes labeled 1901.
Miles removed the first lid, and I swiftly flipped through the contents.
“The order’s mostly random,” I reported. “They’re not finished by any means. Maybe that part comes last.”
“It must, and taking time to have the boxes organized, won’t leave us with the time we need to search for something of relevance.”
“Besides which, we don’t know at what point in time a relevant piece of information might turn up.”
“That’s a good point you make,” Miles said. “The latter half of 1901 may be too narrow a window. We should include 1902.”
“That’s a lot of boxes,” I frowned, as I counted them.
“Yes, it is,” Miles agreed. “What we need here, is help. And by that, I don’t mean hired help.”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked.
And so, on our way back to the manor, we left a stack of boxes in our suite at the Lodge for John, Annette, Jenny, and Xander. The last two, we took to… my sister, Doreen. That endeavor was fraught with more excitement than I cared to undergo! Our mother was known to wander the halls at random throughout the night with a flashlight, which she used to ensure that her children were sleeping. Or breathing. I couldn’t count how many times I lay holding my breath, waiting for her to shine the light somewhere other than directly at my eyes. Maybe that was the problem, and a well-timed breath or two would’ve hastened her departure. No amount of relaxed breathing or redirection, however, would make her forget if she discovered Miles and I there, in the middle of the night. We were supposed to be in a completely different country. The truth wouldn’t be something she’d laugh off for long, either. She’d still want to know why we were standing there, in her and Dad’s house, at night, in the dark, and not somewhere on the Isle of Camden. Running the risk of undergoing the ensuing interrogation, was not my idea of fun! But, I wasn’t the one driving.
It ended up being no big deal, after all. We showed up, Miles and his superpowers slid the boxes under the bed, and a moment later, we found ourselves once again standing in our room at the manor. Trixie returned to the Lodge—as far as I know—and we sat down for a much needed break. Doreen wasn’t likely to notice the boxes until she received the text we’d wait until afternoon, to send. As soon as she got home from school, I had a feeling I knew what she’d be doing!
“What a morning,” Miles said, as I settled in the chair beside him, with a sigh.
“Morning?” I groaned. “I’m ready to go back to bed, already!”
“Is that perchance to dream?” Miles smiled.
“Well, I guess that might be a side effect, but I was perchancing to sleep,” I replied.
“Did you have any more dreams, during the night?” he asked.
“Not the kind involving your brother and his wife,” I answered. “Do you suppose I have to be here, for that to happen?”
“That… very well might be the case,” Miles considered. “If the Carlisles have an itinerary in mind for today, we’ve yet to hear of it. Our time may well be our own to spend. Do you still want to go on the house tour?”
“I would like
that,” I said. “I’d love to see the roses, too.”
“I’m sure between those two activities and dinner, we can find time to work in a nap,” Miles replied. “We really should, as we’ve yet to make up the sleep we’ve lost.”
There was a soft knock at the door, and we soon found ourselves well supplied with a plentiful array of breakfast fare. I realized the latte must be thanks to Ashley’s thoughtfulness. The grief and disillusionment she must be feeling, weighed on my heart. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help her, but if it was possible… I’d find a way.
By the time we were finished with breakfast, the desire to explore overrode the appeal of additional sleep. We gathered our coats, then followed the corridor to the stairs, and down to the ground floor. Solemn Guy the third stood solemnly beside the door. How incredibly boring, if that’s all he had to do for hours on end. Just stand there, waiting to open it for those coming, or going. I hoped the other solemn guys took turns throughout the day. The job wasn’t nearly on the same plane as that of a lifeguard, or air traffic controller, but it wouldn’t do him any good if he fell asleep, and cracked his head on the floor, or entryway table.
We reached the door, so Solemn Guy the third opened and held it for us. We thanked him out of habit, and stepped outside.
The glorious scent of roses met us, along with that of the earth, freshly washed by rain. The air was cool, but not unpleasantly so. The breeze was a mere whisper, and the sun reigned supreme, with very few clouds to contend with. Birds chirped in the distance, and somewhere not so far away, a pair of hedge clippers snipped briskly.
We descended the right side of the double staircase, drawn by the rosy fragrance that continued to tantalize. We followed the walkway along the front of the house, and down the nearest path leading into the rose garden.
As we toured the artful mix of colorful shrubs, I recognized many of the varieties that were in our own garden.
“Where did the roses at the estate come from?” I asked, as we slowly meandered from one stunning array of blooms, to the next.
“Delevan the first’s wife brought the seeds with her, when they emigrated,” Miles replied.
Ashes of Roses Page 13
