Finding Jade

by Mary Jennifer Payne

  We wait for a few seconds, carefully watching both windows for any sign of life. I find myself trying not to blink. I’m afraid if I close my eyes for even a second, I’ll miss some sign from Jade.

  “Are you sure you heard her call your name? From here?” Lily asks, keeping her voice low. The fog is becoming denser and creeping higher.

  “Positive. This is where her voice came from, and I saw someone move in the upstairs window, too.”

  Lily’s eyes widen. “But you heard what the guard said. No food or water’s been given for over a week. No one can survive that long without water, Jazz.”

  I shrug.“I just know what I saw and heard. Besides, everyone here is dead, anyway, remember? They don’t even need food and water.” Irritation bubbles up in my chest. Why is Lily being so negative? I didn’t give up on Cassandra in the boat, and that was just a couple of hours ago, so why is she suddenly being all doom and gloom about the possibility of Jade being alive? I try not to think about the fact that Jade, if she actually is not a lost soul, does need water and food to survive….

  There’s a creaking sound from one of the windows. Lily and I turn our faces toward the noise. The figure at the window is difficult to see, but it’s clearly female. Long, dark hair frames the face. I nervously tuck my bottom lip under my front teeth. Is it Jade?

  I begin to move from behind the rose bushes, toward the house. Lily grabs me by the arm.

  “It’s not safe,” she says. “We’ll know if it’s her in a few moments.”

  The window continues to slowly creak open on its hinges. The fog has thickened around us like a blanket, and is cushioning the sound.

  Finally the window swings open, and Jade cautiously leans out. She glances from side to side, checking for the guard. I place two fingers in my mouth and let out a low whistle. Jade looks toward us.

  “How are we going to get her down?” Lily asks.

  I stand up and turn around. “Unbutton me,” I say. Though I have no idea what is under this dress, I do know I’m not wearing panties or a bra.

  “What are you going to do?” she asks, her fingers fumbling at the buttons that run the length of the dress. “You can’t scale the wall, you know.”

  I laugh. “Like Spider-Girl? I think I’m pretty special, but not that special. We’re going to use the dress to break Jade’s fall when she jumps.”

  As Lily finishes unbuttoning me, I step out of the dress, and stand, shivering, in only a thin, linen smock.

  We move closer to the house, glancing around as we do. The fog is now very thick and white. Great for hiding us, but also great for hiding anything that’s out to get us, like demons.

  “Jasmine? Is that really you?” Jade asks, smiling down at me. She’s wearing the same dress I saw in my vision.

  “We’ve come to bring you home,” I say, trying to keep my voice as low as possible, which is hard to do because I want to make sure Jade hears me.

  A wave of concern washes across her face. I was kind of hoping for relief or joy, but she almost seems troubled that we’re planning to take her out of the Place-in-Between. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.

  “We need you to jump,” I say. “And then we’re going to join the others.”

  Lily and I hold onto opposite ends of the dress with both hands, pulling the material as tight as possible. It’s no substitute for a trampoline, but I hope it will break Jade’s fall enough to keep her from getting badly injured. Or killed.

  Jade climbs onto the window ledge. She teeters there for a moment, her eyes wide with trepidation. I don’t blame her for hesitating. The dress isn’t the best way to try and break a two-storey jump, but we don’t have a lot of choices.

  “Hurry,” I say. I glance toward the street. The fog is too thick to see more than a few metres in front of us, and I can’t hear Raphael, Cassandra, and the guard talking anymore. Hopefully that just means they’ve moved even farther away from us.

  Jade scrunches up her face, closes her eyes, and leaps.

  Chapter 21

  For a moment she’s like an angel suspended in the fog with her arms outstretched, and her dress billowing out around her.

  I grasp the fabric of my dress harder, anticipating her impact. We can’t let it go, or she’ll be badly hurt.

  Jade hits the dress less than a second later, and the fabric is pulled violently downward, taking at least four of my fingernails with it. The pain is horrible, but I manage to hang on. Lily lets go with a yelp, but the dress has already done its job. Jade lands safely on the ground with a muted thump.

  Bending down, I throw my arms around her shoulders and pull her to me. Tears roll down my cheeks. Jade. She’s here. She’s alive. We’re together.

  “I’ll never leave you again,” I whisper in her ear. “Are you hurt?”

  She moans softly and hugs me back.

  “I’m okay,” she quietly says. “But I don’t want to do that again, that’s for sure.”

  Lily squats beside us, holding a finger against her lips. Her eyes are wide with fear. I snap back to reality. We’re in danger.

  She points at two shadowy figures scurrying, almost soundlessly, over the garden wall.

  Slowly and quietly, we inch our way back toward the bushes. “Don’t be frightened,” I whisper as quietly as I can into Jade’s ear. “They won’t be able to hurt us if we’re not afraid.” I actually don’t believe that anymore, but figure the less negative emotions the demons — if that’s what they are — can feed on, the better.

  The three of us move farther into the bushes and watch the two figures walk slowly around the garden in the fog. My bladder feels heavy, but I try to push down any sense of fear I have. Easier said than done.

  They’re getting closer. Jade sucks in her breath. They stop, as though listening. I swear my heartbeat must be loud enough for them to hear.

  One of them moves closer, crouching low to the ground. I feel faint, I’m so terrified now.

  “Jazz? Lily?” a voice calls out softly. Cassandra. I press the knuckles of my hand against my mouth to keep from crying out in relief.

  “We’re over here,” Lily replies. She keeps her voice quiet. After all, we don’t know who else, or what else, might be out there in the fog.

  Raphael and Cassandra make their way over to us.

  “Great to meet you, Jade,” Raphael says, flashing her one of his charming smiles. “I’m glad we found you safe and sound. Now all we need to do is get out of here as quickly as possible.”

  That troubled look flickers across Jade’s face again. It’s just for a second, but it’s definite this time. There’s something that really bothers her about leaving here.

  “What happened to the guard?” I ask Raphael as we walk back to the fence.

  “Let’s just say I gave him a few shillings to spend at the local pub. It seems he’s quite the regular there.” Raphael catapults himself over with the ease of an Olympian, his black hair falling forward, temporarily hiding his eyes as he leaps. He lands, and holds out his hand to help Jade down.

  I’m next to climb and am extra careful as I navigate the fence. The last thing in the world I want is a replay of my first attempt to get over this stupid thing. I’d die if I tumbled down like that in front of Raphael. So Humpty Dumpty.

  We all make it over and stand looking at each other.

  “What do we do now?” I ask. “The subway seems to be the way we got here, and the way we can get out. But I don’t think there are any subways built yet. Are there?”

  Raphael shakes his head. “No, we’re about two hundred years too early. But the gateway between worlds has somehow opened. The subway is an easier portal because it’s closer to the underworld, to here. But there are other places that will work in much the same way.”

  “What other places?” Cassandra asks as we begin to walk.

  “There’s a crypt in
Greenwich. It’s beneath a church called St. Alfege.”

  “A crypt?” Lily says. “You mean where they put dead corpses?”

  “All corpses are dead, Lily,” I say wryly. I give her a good-natured poke in the arm. Not that I like the idea of hanging out with a bunch of rotting bodies either.

  I look over at Jade. She’s walking beside me in complete silence. I want to ask her what’s wrong, but feel that’s a question that should be asked in private. After all, I have no idea what she’s been through down here, so it’s kind of unrealistic and selfish of me to expect her to be completely normal right away.

  “It wouldn’t be my first choice,” Cassandra says with a shrug. “But I’ll do anything to get out of here. Especially now that it’s nighttime.”

  The image of Cassandra being dragged away into the crowd, clearly terrified, flashes in my mind. I can’t imagine how scared she must’ve been when they threw her into the water, screaming that she was a witch. No matter how strong a swimmer someone was, these massive dresses would definitely get in the way. Especially once they’re wet. I realize I’m still holding mine, and quickly put it back on with help from Cassandra.

  Approaching hoof beats on the cobblestones cause all of us to immediately fall silent. We begin to walk with our heads down, watching the ground in front of us. I don’t know if this will make us any less recognizable. I get the feeling that the demons don’t have to see us to know we’re around, anyway. I think they can sense it, or maybe they can even pick up our scent like hunting dogs.

  Seconds later, a black horse-drawn carriage emerges out of the mist. It drives straight at us.

  Lily screams a warning, and we scatter like bowling pins to either side of the narrow road as the carriage races past. Seconds later, it comes to a halt with a shout and several ear-shattering neighs.

  We cautiously walk back toward each other. Obviously, the smartest thing for all of us to do is to keep together; there’s safety in numbers.

  The horses stamp their hooves impatiently, lift their heads into the air, and neigh again, this time less forcefully. White plumes of misty breath rise from their nostrils. We stop and stand in silence behind the carriage. And we wait.

  A few moments later, there’s movement from the front of the carriage, and a short man jumps down and walks toward us. He’s incredibly muscular, with football player shoulders, and a swagger that makes him seem more pit bull than human. As he gets closer, I notice the determined look on his face.

  At least he’s not one of them.

  “Are all of you looking to be flattened, or are ye looking for a ride?” he asks, holding the lantern he’s carrying up to get a better look at us. His voice is a low, pleasant rumble, like distant thunder on a hazy summer’s afternoon.

  I turn to Raphael.

  “It’s okay,” he says, keeping his voice low. “He’s just a lost soul. He may have been a bus or taxi driver when he was alive, so he still wants to take people where they need to go.”

  Sadness sweeps over me. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in time, forever doing the same thing.

  “A ride,” Jade says to the man, interrupting my thoughts. “To Greenwich, please.” We all turn our heads and stare at her in surprise. “What?” she asks. “Isn’t that where we want to go?”

  There’s a murmur of agreement as we follow the driver. He saunters back to the carriage and opens the door for us.

  “Your carriage awaits,” he says, a big, toothy grin spreading across his face.

  The ride to Greenwich is eerily quiet. Other than the steady pounding of the horses’ hooves against the road, the fog continues to blanket us in silence. I peer out the carriage window, but am unable to see farther than a few centimetres because of the thick, white mist. I like that it is hiding us from whatever is lurking out there in the darkness. But it’s a double-edged sword: we could be taken by complete surprise by the demons as well.

  Jade squeezes my hand. “I don’t know if I can leave here,” she whispers. Her eyebrows draw tightly together with worry.

  I squeeze her hand in return. “We’re together now. You’ll be okay. Raphael has a way of keeping everyone around him … safe.” I think about Cassandra floating limply in the water. Okay, it’s a tiny lie, but I figure it is better than saying he has a way of bringing people back from the brink of death. The less she knows of what we’ve faced to get to her, the better.

  Jade shakes her head.

  “It’s not that,” she says. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but it’s like there’s something … missing. It happened when they first brought me here. Part of me …” She stops and looks over at the others. “Feels empty now. Dead.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask. “Maybe it’s just because we were apart?”

  “I don’t think so…. It’s hard to explain.” She bites her bottom lip nervously. “Something happened a few days ago, and then I felt better. More real. It was just for a few seconds, but since then, I’ve been able to see you. And to remember who I was … am.”

  The others are listening now.

  “The gateway,” Raphael says. “Maybe that’s when it opened.”

  “When I first saw you, Jazz,” Jade whispers, “I think you were in a kitchen. There were cupboards and stuff behind you. I only saw you for a couple of seconds, but it made me remember that I am a twin and that I had another life before all of this.” She makes a sweeping motion with her hand. “Does that make any sense? Or do I just sound crazy?”

  “Everything that’s been happening to us is crazy,” Cassandra says. “Welcome to our little club of insanity.”

  And then I remember. Lola’s doll. When I’d picked it up in the kitchen, I saw Jade screaming for help.

  “No,” I say, trying to swallow down the lump of fear rising in my throat. “It doesn’t sound crazy at all because I remember seeing you here, too. It happened when I picked up this wooden doll of Lola’s a few days ago. And I was in the kitchen when I found it.”

  We stare at each other for a moment.

  “Where is that doll now?” Jade whispers. Her voice quivers.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Lola took it back. Why do you think we were able to see each other through it?”

  She looks hard at me. “I don’t know, but when you touched it, for a few seconds, I felt alive again.”

  I don’t dare tell her that I dropped the doll because I felt that holding on to it, for even a moment longer, would kill me.

  Chapter 22

  About half an hour later, the carriage stops. It’s pitch black outside. I can’t help but wonder how the horses were able to keep to the road with only the driver’s lanterns to guide them.

  “St. Alfege awaits,” our driver says, opening the door. All of us look exhausted, except for Raphael and Jade. “You’ll want to mind yourselves out here at night. Souls less savoury than yours take refuge in the dark.”

  “No kidding,” I say, lifting my skirts to hop out of the carriage. The driver holds out his hand for me. I reach for it and feel his cold, jelly-like flesh. A shiver runs through me. Everything seems so real here, it’s sometimes hard to remember that everyone, and everything, is dead. Or at least would be dead on Earth.

  “Here,” the driver says to Cassandra after she’s leapt to the ground. “You’ll need light of some sort once I’m gone.” He hands her a lantern. Inside the thick glass, a candle flickers.

  Once Raphael jumps out, the driver closes the carriage door and hops back onto his seat. The horses paw nervously at the ground, as if eager to get away. I wonder how animals end up down here and make a mental note to ask Raphael about that later.

  “Best of luck and may ye stay safe,” the driver says. He tips his cap at us and then snaps his leather whip against the horses’ flanks. The carriage pulls away, leaving us in the fog. St. Alfege looms in front of us.

  “What
now?” Lily asks. Dark circles frame her eyes.

  We all gaze at each other. The candlelight is barely bright enough to illuminate our faces. Darkness pres­ses in around us. The night air feels alive; it’s pulsating like a heart. I want to get inside and away from it, but know that what waits for us in the crypt might be much worse.

  “I think we need to get inside the church,” Cassandra says, turning on her heel. Lily and Jade quickly follow. Clearly, they’re sensing something in the darkness as well.

  Raphael falls into step beside me.

  “How come you never mentioned the doll?” he asks.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Why would I? I didn’t even know you when it happened. It was a random thing.”

  “That’s just it, Jazz. I don’t think it was random at all. You said the doll belongs to a woman named Lola?”

  “Yeah. She’s my mom’s best friend. We’ve known her since we were born.” It feels unbelievably great to be able to speak about me and Jade as a unit again.

  “I know who Lola is,” he says as we walk into the churchyard.

  Cassandra pauses and shines the dim light of the lantern at the stone posts that loom out of the darkness on either side of the stone gateway into the churchyard. I look away from the carved faces peering out at me. They’re tiny cherubs, the kind you see on Valentine’s Day cards, but these ones look incredibly sad.

  “How do you know who Lola is?” I ask. “Did you run into her in our building or something?”

  “Remember I said that all Seers have Protectors?”

  “Yeah …” Where’s he going with this?

  He slows his pace, allowing the others to move slightly ahead of us. They’re climbing the steps to the church. A finger of cold traces its way along the length of my spine. I don’t want to be left out here in the darkness, even if Raphael is with me.

  “Lola was a Protector. She was supposed to be looking out for you and Jade.”