Tobias headed toward the forest in the near distance. I knew it was crazy, and dangerous to be out here at night on my own, following a guy who hated me. Any moment, I could run into some of King Philip’s warriors and be taken hostage—like that preacher’s wife.
Most of the time, I was so far behind him, that I barely spotted his movements. Tracking and following him was far from easy. There were several times I thought I’d lost him for good, and wondered if I should give up my insane mission, and return to the safety of the garrison.
But then, the low clouds opened for spare moments, the moon shone, and I’d catch a glimpse of him far ahead of me. The chase was still on.
I followed Tobias for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably a little over a half hour. The wind picked up, the temperature plummeted, and I knew from living in Chicago that there was an early freeze on the way.
I wished I’d borrowed a fur wrap. By the time Tobias disappeared into the forest, I had to concentrate to keep my teeth from chattering, which would definitely blow my cover. I took a deep breath, and squeezed into its blackness.
Tracking Tobias in the woods was different from following him through the fields. The forest was darker, with towering fir and pine trees, leaves on the ground covering tree roots, and fallen branches which I could easily trip over.
Before taking each footstep, I thought what Samuel taught me: walk with silence. Let your feet sink into the earth with consciousness, and rise with lightness. Be untraceable; don’t bend branches, or flatten the leaves on the ground in a pattern from your weight. But, I was no expert at this yet. I tread quietly over thick tree roots covered with leaves. When, I spotted him.
Tobias squatted next to an enormous boulder resting half in a pond’s waters, and half on its shore.
I ducked behind a large tree trunk, and pushed one hand onto my chest, trying to force my anxious heart to still. I swear it pounded like ceremonial drums. I silently prayed ‘Please God, make my heart stop beating so flippin’ loudly before it gives me away.’
Tobias’s head swiveled in my direction. Did he see me? If so my spy days were over. He’d race to my side and confront me. I didn’t think we’d politely discuss why I was following him. Especially not with me wearing a Native American, Rambo-esque disguise.
The moon flitted out from under the clouds, and the sounds of the rushing river, and thundering cadence of the waterfall in the distance filled the forest. Tobias’s eyes narrowed as he looked away from where I hid, surveyed the land around him, then tilted his head back, closed his eyes and I swear; he sniffed the air.
I heard an animal cry in the near distance, but suspected that the call was made by a human to signal Tobias. He jogged, skirting the edges of the pond and headed toward the cliffs that lay between the pond and the river leading to the waterfall. I struggled to breathe quietly.
Tobias ran into an opening in the rocks, that led to the caves; a perfect place to meet someone in secret.
I kept low to the ground, raced to the boulder, and crouched behind it. I would wait here. I leaned back against it, and my feet sunk into the wet, pebble-filled sand. A paper-thin layer of ice grew on the pond’s surface.
The wind whipped up and howled as it ricocheted across the boulders. I don’t know how many minutes passed. My cheeks and earlobes stung. I shivered, hugged myself, and realized my breath was now visible in short, smoky puffs in front of my face.
When someone grabbed me around the throat from behind, ripped the rag off my head, and latched onto my hair.
My neck whiplashed, and my head bounced back. I screamed, but a large, rough hand clamped over my mouth.
“Hello, Madeline,” Tobias said.
Chapter 28
I tried to bite his hand, but he just pressed it harder against my face and yanked me backward across the pebble-studded beach. I tried to kick him. But my legs flailed, my feet bouncing off stones. Change of plans—I dug my heels into the sand, and shoved my elbow into his ribs.
“Oof!” He kept dragging me.
I slipped my foot around his, tripped him, and we crashed onto the wet sand. He landed on his back—hard. My fall was softer, as I landed almost completely on top of him. His grip on my hair, throat, and mouth relaxed for moments, and we lay face to face.
“Why do you hate me?” I asked.
“Because you, and your mama, ruin everything.”
What did Mama have to do with any of this? I pushed myself off him, and spun around to make a run for it.
He grabbed Angeni’s necklace, pulled it tight around my neck, and stopped me cold. “I’m going to kill you.” He wrapped the necklace taut into a stranglehold. “And I will welcome the pleasure it brings me.”
The shells bit into my skin, and I felt pinpricks of pain from each tiny puncture wound. A very old and deep emotion shifted inside me. After all I’d been through, I was not ready to be a willing victim, a lamb to the slaughter.
In my head I heard Sophie say, “I want you to fight. I want you to stay alive. Do you hear me? Fight, Madeline.”
“Not without a fight,” I said, head butted him, and bit his ear, hard.
Tobias grunted in pain, but didn’t release his hold on the necklace. Our faces locked together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that were carved perfectly, made to fit into each other.
We tumbled across the rough, rocky sand onto the pond’s sheer layer of ice. It sounded like thin glass shattering, as we broke through it and sank, face to face, kicking and pummeling each other.
Underwater, everything appeared blue and icy. Tobias pulled me deeper into its depths. I yanked one of my arms free and clawed his face. He recoiled, and I broke out of his headlock.
My lungs felt like they were going to explode. Air bubbles escaped my mouth, as I kicked my way to the pond’s surface, splintered up through the ice, and rasped for breath. I pin-wheeled my arms and legs in reverse and half swam, half crashed, away from him.
Tobias’s head popped out of the pond’s surface, ice slivers clinging to his thick neck. We treaded water, and glared at each other, just yards apart.
He panted and touched his bleeding ear. He looked like a dangerous wounded animal.
“I know you love Samuel,” I said. “I do, too. In a different way.” My feet made contact with the pond’s bottom. Shivering, I dragged myself out of the water.
“You do not know Samuel. You could not even dream what this is about,” he said.
I made it onto the pond’s shoreline, pitched forward, and collapsed in the sand. “And, you don’t know anything about my mama. Don’t include her in any grudge you have against me.” Drenched, beat up, I watched him, wary, as he staggered out of the pond toward me.
“I know more about your mama than you ever will.” His eyes were dilated.
I pushed myself to standing and stumbled away from him.
He pulled his rabbit-skinning knife from a sheath on his belt.
I backpedaled.
“We were there when you and your mama had the car accident,” Tobias said.
“What?” I stopped and faced him. How could he know about that?
“We track you Messengers. We find where, and what year, you exist. Let’s see. Madeline Abigail Blackford. Sixteen-years-old. Student, junior year at Preston Academy in Chicago. Your mama disappeared after a car accident ten years earlier. Who do you think caused that accident?”
“I don’t know. They never found the person. Who are you?”
He laughed. “I am a Hunter. We make note of your pathetic Messenger lives. Keep track of how many times you’ve traveled and whom you deliver messages to. If you have changed anyone’s life, well, then you get a little more attention from my people. If you upset the balance, disturb the world’s equilibrium, or outlive your usefulness? We destroy you.”
“You’re a freak,” I hissed.
“No. I am practical. Unlike you, Madeline. You are a weak, un-schooled Messenger, who does not deserve to live one minute longer, in any life tha
t you unwittingly traveled to.”
Tobias raised his knife, and flung it with perfect aim toward my heart.
I gasped, heard my heart thump in my ears, the wind whistle, and I cringed as that knife flew through the air straight toward my chest.
There was a loud, angry roar.
Samuel leapt across the sand, wrapped his body around mine, and tackled me. We tumbled, rolling onto the sand. Tobias’s knife skimmed over us, clunked against a large rock, and landed next to Samuel, who picked up the knife and glared at Tobias.
“You know, she does not belong here,” Tobias said. “Does not need to exist in the future. The world will not miss her in any time period. She does not belong at all.”
“You are wrong. She belongs with me,” Samuel said. “No matter the year, no matter what spirit desires for us, she will always belong with me.”
“No! You and I will change the future,” Tobias said. “Hunter and Healer. Two halves of a whole. Hunters take out those who are wounded. Not necessary. Beyond redemption. Healers create better lives for those who deserve to remain.”
“That might have been your plan. But it was never mine. Your hatred, your fear, whatever this is. I loved you like a brother, Tobias. But this is over.” Samuel hurled the knife toward Tobias.
I hid my face against Samuel’s shoulder. Tobias cried out, grunted, and I heard him hit the ground hard. Samuel winced. His entire body tightened around me and seemed to contract for a moment.
“I am so sorry. So sorry,” I cried.
“I am, too,” Samuel said. “For everything.”
I sobbed uncontrollably. For Tobias, as well as the life I left behind. And for Mama—because for the first time, I realized—she had never planned to leave me.
Chapter 29
We didn’t have time to dig a perfect grave for Tobias. We hauled large rocks, weighed his body down, and buried him in the pond. Samuel and I held hands as we each said one silent prayer for Tobias’s soul. Then, we raced back to the garrison.
* * *
In the barn, I managed to dress in my colonial clothes and covered up the legion of bruises and punctures around my throat. But, I couldn’t cover the body aches, and pains, and stiffness that were settling in from having to fight for my life. I shoved the wet skins under the blankets. But I couldn’t find Angeni’s necklace. Probably lying on the bottom of the pond.
Samuel hugged me lightly, kissed my forehead, and his lips brushed my bruised neck. “I never would have let him get close to you if I believed he was consumed with evil. This is my fault.”
“No it’s not. I knew something was wrong and followed him. Maybe if I left Tobias alone—everything would be just fine. Maybe if I never traveled here—everything would be normal,” I said. “You and Tobias would still be best friends—hunting rabbits, sneaking out after dark, and exploring.”
“Tobias wanted me to take his concoction and travel, but I refused. It did not feel right.” Samuel shook his head. “I know that Angeni travels without potions or medicines. I have no idea how you traveled here. But if you had not? I would never have known it is possible to love this completely.”
“What about Tobias? What do we do now? ”
“We do nothing. We say nothing. There is nothing to be done. “I cannot lose you now, Madeline.” Samuel caressed my head and neck. “Promise me, I will not lose you?” He wiped the tears from my face.
“I promise,” I said. “You will not lose me. You will never lose me.”
“Now, go. Hurry to Elizabeth’s house,” he said. “Do not look back at me in case someone spots you. But know I follow until you are safely home.”
* * *
I slipped inside Elizabeth’s house, went to my sleeping mat, and lay down. But I couldn’t sleep. I tossed, and turned, and ruminated. Tobias was dead, because of me. Why did he want Samuel to travel? How did he know about Mama? Could his people really have caused our accident? Too many thoughts. Eventually my adrenaline crashed, and I dozed.
* * *
I smelled burnt sage, lavender and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
From the back seat, I could see the front of Mama’s car jutted out over the guard wire. We hung high between the open-aired parking garage and the riverbank below it. I screamed.
“You’re my good girl, Maddie,” Mama said, her forehead sweaty and bloody as she wrangled the last lock that held me in the booster seat. “We’re almost out of here.” When, some monstrous vehicle rammed us again from behind. Our car lurched forward for a second time, and Mama fell backward into the driver’s seat.
We hung nearly vertical, and I peered through our cracked windshield that distorted the view of the ground far below it.
Except for the creaking sounds our car made, everything else grew deathly quiet. A car door slammed behind us, and someone’s heavy shoes clipped methodically on the concrete. A man said, “It’s time, Rebecca.”
“No! I will not travel this time. I will not abandon Madeline this way.” Mama looked around frantically.
“You have to,” the man said. “If you don’t travel now, your combined weight will tip the car off the edge. You know how to stay alive. But Madeline doesn’t. She won’t survive falling ten stories. She will die, and you won’t even be around to bury her.”
He leaned out over the guardrail and waved at me though the crack in the window. “Hello, Madeline,” he said. “I think I’d recognize you anywhere.”
A thick chunky silver ring shone on his hand. I screamed. “Mama!”
She burst into tears, and shook her head. “No!”
The guy kicked the back of our car, and we teetered like a playground ride gone terribly wrong.
“It’s your choice. Stay and know that you’ve killed your daughter. Or leave, and possibly live to fight another day.”
Mama wiped the tears from her eyes. She reached over the seat, grabbed my hand, and said, “Life goes fast, Madeline. Know in your heart that I never wanted to leave you.” She blew me a kiss, and then let go of my hand.
Leave me?
Mama opened the driver’s door. That didn’t look good. There was nothing between the front seat and the ground but air.
“Now, Rebecca,” the guy said.
“Only if you promise to leave Madeline alone. Stay away from her. Promise me.”
“You know I do not make promises I cannot keep.”
“Fine. Take us both, because I’ll die with her. I will not travel,” Mama said.
“But you have to,” the guy said. Except now he sounded worried, his voice cracked. “We need your—”
“Expertise? Experience? Magic?” Mama asked. “Promise me, Malachi, that you and your people will not lay a hand on Madeline until she reaches the age.”
The car creaked in the wind for what seemed like an eternity.
“I promise you on Hunters’ blood, that we will not touch Madeline until she is of age. But only if you come with us now.”
Mama nodded. “It’s done,” she said, resigned. “Look at me, Madeline.”
I did.
“Listen for my voice. If you hear it, when you hear it, please come to me.” She looked me square in my eyes. “I love you always, my darling daughter.”
Mama stepped out of the car and hovered for seconds in the air. Her face was pure, her eyes clear. Then she plummeted toward the earth, the wind blowing her long hair up into the air.
The car immediately tilted back toward the parking garage floor. The back wheels landed with a thud on the floor. I heard the clip, clip, clip of the guy’s shoes as he walked away from our car.
Someone in the garage hollered, “Oh my God! Call 911!”
“There’s someone in the back seat of that car!”
“It’s a kid!”
A small, white bird flew off into the sky, right where Mama had fallen. I realized I was alone, and I screamed again.
Chapter 30
Elizabeth jiggled my shoulders and woke me. I winced. Every piece of my body hurt. “An
other bad dream?”
I nodded and struggled to be back in this world. Not the dream where I just remembered our entire car accident—and how Mama disappeared. She hadn’t wanted to leave me. All these years, all my anger—it wasn’t her fault.
“I am happy you returned yesterday. I know the Reverend Wilkins was harsh, and what he did to your necklace must have felt terrible. But he has to be strict. That is his job.”
“He’s an idiot.” I patted my collar, making sure it was high on my neck, and she wouldn’t spot the bruises. I could always say they were from the Reverend’s violence, not Tobias.
“I made you porridge.” She handed me the bowl and looked at me a little funny. “How did you get mud on your face?”
I shrugged. “I was at the barn for a bit yesterday. Are you feeling okay? How’s the baby? Is Jebediah back yet?”
“The baby and I feel healthy.” Elizabeth leaned toward me and kissed me on my head. She pushed herself to standing and walked off. “Thanks to you. Do not forget we have special church services to welcome our men home from the war.”
“Okay,” I said. We both heard the sounds at the same time.
Yelling and hollering; foot stomping and cheering; crying and laughing. A few gunshots rang out. The troops were obviously home. The celebration had begun. But as quickly as the fireworks began, they disappeared. There was an uneasy quiet. Something didn’t feel right.
Jebediah Ballard flung open the front door to the house, strode in, swept Elizabeth into his arms, and kissed her passionately. He pulled away, and placed his hand gently on her enormous belly.
“You are back. You are back!” Elizabeth burst into tears as I studied my feet, but managed to peek at them. No wonder she was taken with him. While Jebediah was obviously older than her by about fifteen years, he was handsome and in great physical shape.
The Messenger: Mortal Beloved Time Travel Romance, #1 Page 15
