“We don’t know yet,” Caleb said over his shoulder as he followed Grace out the door, “but someone’s in trouble. Come on!”
*
Heart pounding, breath panting, Mary Katherine struggled to get out of the man’s tight hold as, behind her, she felt blindly along the shelf of the display case for something to defend herself with. She knew she wouldn’t be able to take care of both men, but she was determined that she was going to take one of them down with her. Tears filled her eyes as she thought about Jacob and the life they’d just begun together. Her fingers closed around a heavy object, and she gripped it gratefully when she recognized that it was a paperweight.
“I said let go of me,” she shouted as she swung her arm in a wide arc. The force of the blow she made to the side of his head sent vibrations down her arm. Mary Katherine barely took notice of them as she fell back from the man’s suddenly loose grip. She watched as he fell to his knees, holding his head and screaming in pain.
His cohort yelled angrily and ran over to see to his friend. Mary Katherine took refuge behind the display counter, intending to continue running and escape through the back door. Her hair was grabbed from behind, and her neck snapped back, making her grunt in pain. Her neck was bent back so far that she could see the man’s angry, ferocious face as he threatened her.
“Oh no, you don’t nigger! I’m going to kill you!”
The ringing bell signaled that someone else had come into the store, and Mary Katherine would have sank to her knees in relief if she’d been able to.
“Let her go!” she heard Caleb Adams demand.
In the process of turning around, the man had to let her go, and Mary Katherine quickly scrambled out of his reach. She turned around and jerked in surprise to see Caleb, Matthew, and Grace standing in her store. She frowned. For some reason they didn’t look like this was just a happenstance rescue. The thought was fleeting and soon left her mind when her assailant spoke.
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, nigger?”
A terrible smile spread slowly across Caleb’s face, and Mary Katherine shivered. “Oh, I know exactly who I’m talking to, Thakathi demon,” Caleb said softly with confidence.
The store was suddenly filled with a strange sense of anticipation that Mary Katherine had never experienced before, and her assailant seemed to cower right before her eyes. All the Adamses seemed prepared to battle, if necessary. Something was not right. She frowned again. And what was it Mr. Adams had said? Tha-what?
“Come out from over there, Mary Katherine!”
The command was hard and forceful, and she looked over at Matthew, who had his arm stretched out in welcome, but had not taken his eyes off the two men. It didn’t occur to her to disobey, and she rushed over to his side. He grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him, and soon she was behind the protective barricade of Matthew and Grace. She hadn’t even seen Grace move.
Mary Katherine could no longer see anything, but she heard running footsteps and then her back door slam, so she assumed at least one of the white men had run out. At the slam of the door, she felt her body deflate of tension. Covering her mouth with one hand, she bent over and began to sob.
She felt someone stroking her hair and, over her sobs, heard Grace say soothingly, “It’s all right, Mary. Come on. Come with me to my house. You’re going to be all right. Don’t worry about the store; Matthew will stay.”
She let herself be led from her store and over to the Adamses, unthinking even about the fate of the man who hadn’t gotten away.
*
The family sat around the kitchen table later that night.
“Is Mary Katherine all right, Jacob?” Caleb asked.
Jacob nodded. “Yes, she was finally able to sleep. But we must hurry because I want to get back to her.”
“Did she ask a lot of questions? She seemed confused.” This was from Matthew.
“Yes, she was confused. She kept saying that there was something strange about the way you three were there, as if you had been forewarned or something. And seeing as how he’s white, she can’t understand why the one Thakathi—of course, she doesn’t know that he’s Thakathi—suddenly fled. In her experience, white people don’t flee from Negroes. I suggested that maybe he was afraid because there were so many of you. I didn’t have to explain the rest, because she fell asleep.”
“You’re such an arrogant idiot, Jacob Adams! I can’t believe you haven’t told Mary that you’re Eshu! She’s your wife, for Lord’s sake!”
Jacob let Grace have her say. Normally he wouldn’t allow her to speak to him in such a manner, but he felt he deserved her browbeating. He should have shared his secret with Mary Katherine, but he’d been afraid to, afraid of how she’d react.
“Hush, Grace,” Caleb told her. “There’s nothing we can do about that now. We have to take care of the Thakathi we caught. He can’t stay locked in our cellar forever.”
“We have no choice,” Matthew said with a shrug. “We have to kill him.”
“I’d love to take care of him,” Jacob said with relish as he thought about how they’d tortured his wife. “But I can’t,” he said and stood. “I have to get back to Mary Katherine.” He looked at his brother. “Matthew, I want you to handle it. Take him to the woods and make him suffer.”
As he left, shutting the door behind him, he heard Grace complain about how she wasn’t included. Jacob shook his head and went home to take care of his wife.
Chapter Twelve
Mary Katherine lay on her bed staring out the window through eyes grown dry and gritty from lack of sleep. As the soft light of dawn lightly touched the sky, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had gone desperately wrong. Jacob hadn’t returned from his assignment the previous evening. Her breath caught in her throat as she imagined what could have happened to him. Jacob was good—the best on their line—but the danger was multiplying daily. More than once she’d considered quitting but only continued because her parents had been so devoted to the work.
Her first thought was to rush to the Adams home to inquire, but the last thing she wanted to do was alarm Jacob’s father unnecessarily. Her mind raced as she struggled to come up with a way to resolve the matter. Finally she sprang from the bed, frustrated with her inability to find a solution but unable to lie there any longer. She splashed some water on her face and dressed hurriedly. She knew Jacob often left his wagon at an old barn at the edge of town. At the very least she could go to the place he was most likely to return to. She automatically pulled on a subdued shirtwaist and skirt that would allow her to blend in as she slipped through the alleyways on her way out of town.
She plotted her route in her mind as she rushed down the stairs, planning to avoid those businesses where people would be about even at this early hour.
*
Jacob trudged wearily through the woods, his big bear body glistening with sweat. This had probably been his worst undertaking yet. The previous evening had been marred by one difficulty after another. His cargo hadn’t been where they were supposed to be when he arrived. As he wasn’t sure if he’d simply gotten his codes mixed up, he’d felt obligated to find them. Of course, after that long delay, his designated stationmaster was no longer available, so he had to rely on a second one who was considerably farther away. Then, on the way back, he’d been followed. Fortunately they’d been just regular slave catchers, not Thakathi. Even so, they were persistent, and when all his usual maneuvers failed, he’d been forced to abandon his wagon and Become to escape.
With little choice but to travel overland, he had taken nearly double his usual time to return. He knew Mary Katherine was worrying, and more than anything he wanted to hurry home to her now, but he had to go to the barn. He didn’t have a change of clothing stashed anywhere but there, and a naked man walking around was bound to draw the attention of more than just slave catchers. Damn. He missed his wife.
*
Mary Katherine slowly approached the barn. As it happe
ned, she’d made it there rather quickly, having encountered no one. After looking around the area to ensure she hadn’t been followed, she carefully opened the large door. Despite its age and apparent neglect, the hinges didn’t creak; obviously Jacob or someone else in the network maintained it. She peered cautiously into the cavernous barn, but it was readily apparent that Jacob wasn’t there. Neither were his horse or wagon. Were she not so afraid of being discovered, Mary Katherine would have screamed in frustration. Where in thunderation is he?
She decided to go inside to wait for him. Knowing that she had no cover story for being there, Mary Katherine carefully hid in one of the stalls. With nothing to occupy her, her mind once again turned to the episode in her store a few days before. She knew that there was something strange about the whole scene. She’d tried to explain to Jacob that she’d sensed certain undercurrents flowing between his family and the white men, but he continually brushed her off. And he never did explain to her what had happened to the man who hadn’t gotten away.
Mary Katherine sighed and tried to figure out what to do next. She couldn’t wait there for Jacob all day. As she stood there pondering her dilemma, the barn door slowly opened, but she knew immediately that it wasn’t Jacob. In fact, the hand opening the door wasn’t human. It was…a bear? Oh my God. She stood staring at the animal, too perplexed for a moment to even be frightened as her mind struggled to grasp what she was seeing.
The animal was behaving most curiously as it turned to pull the door closed. Its head moved from side to side as though scenting something. It had to be every bit of four hundred pounds, and its lush black-brown fur glistened even in the early-morning light streaming into the barn. Its claws…Mary Katherine took a deep breath. It was probably best not to think about those vicious things or about the fangs that showed in its open muzzle. She stood absolutely still, suddenly too terrified to even think about moving. Having lived in towns all her life she’d not encountered much wildlife, let alone something as large as this bear. But she’d always heard that it was best to remain still. Which was good, because she was pretty sure she’d lost the ability to move or even breathe, and her thinking was suspect as well.
Then, as she stood there watching something even stranger began to happen. The bear’s face began to change. Its muzzle seemed to re-form, and its face assumed an almost human shape. Its fur began to recede, exposing richly hued human skin. The creature’s limbs reshaped into human arms and legs as it knelt on the floor. Even the claws—those terrifying, long claws—became nails on artistic, long-fingered hands that she immediately recognized.
Mary Katherine pressed against the back wall of the stall, wishing she could simply go through it. Convinced now that she must be dreaming as more of the human form came into view, she forced down a wave of hysteria by sheer force of will. There could be no doubt that the being before her was the man she’d fallen in love with. How was that possible? Was she going insane? Her gasp drew Jacob’s attention, and suddenly their eyes locked. The bear’s growl emanated from a human throat as the half-human/half-animal being approached her.
Spots appeared before her eyes as her vision grayed, and the light-headedness she’d experienced from the moment she saw the bear suddenly intensified. It had never happened before, but Mary Katherine almost welcomed the faint that overcame her.
Jacob’s heart leaped in his chest as he caught Mary Katherine before she landed on the hard-packed dirt of the stall floor. He lowered her slowly to the ground, wondering what he should do next. He watched her rapid pulse beating away in her throat, an assurance to him that she’d only fainted. Unaccustomed to dealing with such situations, he shook his head. What in God’s name was he going to tell her? For one panicked moment he considered simply leaving, then denying that any of this had ever occurred. But that would just make things worse. It was time he told her. Thanks to those Thakathi who had accosted her in her store, she already suspected something strange was going on with his family.
Given the way she’d stared at him in disbelief, it probably wouldn’t be all that hard to convince her that she’d had a very strange dream—at least for a while. But still. Mary Katherine wouldn’t fall for a lie for very long, and then there’d be hell to pay. And he owed her more than that, anyway. He reached out to cup her face with one hand. He’d scented her when he first walked into the barn, but had dismissed it because he’d grown so accustomed to having her scent on him. She was so beautiful.
He stared at the lashes that formed perfect little half-moons on her cheeks. Her lush lips were slightly parted, reminding him of all the times he’d succumbed to temptation and captured them with his own. The possibility—the very strong possibility—that he’d never have that opportunity again made him want to rage against the fate that made him what he was and the cowardice that had kept him from telling her. He shivered a bit, though the barn was quite warm. He was still naked, and he was always somewhat chilled after the transformation. Apparently he missed his fur.
Jacob sighed and stroked her cheek again. This woman held his whole heart. What would he do if she wouldn’t accept what he was? How could she, when he wasn’t even sure that he accepted it? He leaned down to place a brief kiss on her soft lips, then raised his head as she began to shift restlessly. Concerned that he would frighten her, he moved farther back when it was obvious that she was regaining consciousness. He wasn’t sure he could handle it if she screamed. Mary Katherine wasn’t the hysterical type, but then again, before now he would have said she wasn’t the fainting type either. He closed his eyes briefly as he braced himself for what was to come.
Chapter Thirteen
When she awakened, it was to the realization that this was no dream. Jacob, naked as the day he was born, leaned over her, his brow furrowed into a frown of concern. He reached out and stroked a long-fingered hand over her cheek. Mary Katherine inhaled sharply, scrambling away from him until she was stopped by the back of the stall.
“Don’t touch me. Who are you?”
“Kate, you know who I am,” Jacob said in a soft voice.
He sounded so despairing that Mary Katherine found herself sympathizing with him. But she steeled herself against that emotion. Something was very wrong here. “But you…you were a bear. I saw it.”
Jacob closed his eyes and took several deep, slow breaths through his nose. Mary Katherine waited, trying to recapture her equilibrium.
Jacob looked down at his nakedness. “Let me get dressed, and then we can talk. Stay right here, okay?”
Mary Katherine nodded in agreement, though her first instinct was to run as though the fires of hell had opened before her, and maybe they had. But she knew Jacob would only follow her. They might as well have it out now. Besides, she seriously doubted her ability to walk under her own power. She heard Jacob rustling around in the next stall. Soon he was back and dressed in a pair of heavy canvas pants and a roughly woven cotton shirt. His feet were still bare, and as he sat down in front of her on the floor of the stall, she noticed that they were covered in gooseflesh, as though he was cold despite the warmth of the barn.
Jacob didn’t say anything for a long moment, just stared at her with those enigmatic brown eyes, not conveying any emotion. She shifted uncomfortably. Something in his gaze reminded her of the bear. There were differences, of course. The bear’s eyes had been a flat golden color, and Jacob’s were so brown, they were nearly black. Nonetheless, there was the same keen intelligence, and now that she recognized it, she could see the same predatory instincts as well. Finally she lost patience.
“Jacob, could you please tell me why I just watched you change from a bear into a man?” She frowned as a thought occurred to her. “Are you a man?”
“Of course I’m a man!” he roared.
“How can you be a man? Men don’t change into…into bears and then back again,” Mary Katherine said, trying desperately to find something that she could be absolutely certain about when suddenly everything she thought she knew was in doubt.
>
“I am Eshu.”
“Well, that certainly explains everything,” she said with a sharp snap of her teeth.
Jacob rubbed his hands over his face and pressed his fingers against his eyes. “This is very hard to explain.”
“Well, it was darned hard for me to see. What are you?”
“I told you I’m a man. Don’t ask me again,” he said, giving her a look so fierce that in that moment he looked more bear than man.
“I’ll ask you as many times as I like. You married me under false pretenses. That’s grounds for an annulment. I’m sure any justice of the peace would give me one on the grounds that my husband is… What was that word again?”
“Eshu. Are you so unhappy in our marriage that you’ve already looked into ways to get out of it, when we’ve only been married a few weeks?”
“No. I knew someone back in Tennessee who got one because her husband lied to her in regard to the disposition of some property. Not knowing that my husband can turn into a furry beast most certainly qualifies as a deception, does it not?”
Jacob’s jaw clenched, and he deliberately lowered his shoulders and unclenched his hands. “That’s fair. Look, Kate.” He rubbed his hands over his face again and exhaled with a heavy sigh. “Eshu, are an ancient race from the land now known as Africa, West Africa specifically. A long time ago my people’s powers were taken away, making it possible to enslave us and send us here to the New World.”
Mary Katherine stared at him, not sure what she had expected to hear, but definitely nothing this fantastical. “But you were a bear,” she repeated, really unable to formulate any other thought.
He nodded. “Yes, I can take on the shape of any animal I want, for the most part, though I prefer the bear.”
“Why?” Mary Katherine asked, suddenly curious.
“Why what?” he asked with a frown.
“Why the bear?”
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