Where would that brute have taken Samantha? Wendell leaned against the front wall of the hospital as he pondered the question. What did Joseph Pryde want with Samantha? To own her, Wendell thought. He wanted to keep her in his power in the same way Reverend Crane had kept the children of Eternity slaves for almost four hundred years.
Given all this, it seemed logical he would want to get her as far away from Seabrooke as possible. The automobile could accomplish this, but the automobile belonged to his father. The police could trace the vehicle and stop him. He would want to find an alternate means of transportation. Wendell looked down the road, which ended at the sea. A boat, he thought. He’ll try to get a boat.
Wendell set out towards the waterfront, doubt creeping in with each step. What hope did he have of finding them? They had such a head start on him that by now they could be a hundred miles away. They had an automobile or possibly a boat by now while he had only his feet. The odds of his finding them were a billion to one and even steeper that he could stop them.
He crossed the main street, looking both ways in case they had been foolish enough to park their car in plain sight. No such luck. He kept going, up a hill to a rectangular brick building larger than any other in town. A sign out front told him this was Seabrooke High School.
To his astonishment, he saw Mr. Pryde’s automobile in the parking lot. They were here! He broke into a run towards the car, wondering how long they’d been here. The engine of the automobile felt warm to his touch, which meant they couldn’t have left too long ago.
On the ground nearby he found two pairs of tracks, the smaller, heavier ones belonging to Joseph and the longer, fainter ones to Samantha. The tracks led towards a snow-covered field. He followed the tracks until they broke off towards rows of benches. Then he heard their voices.
Wendell inched closer until he could make out their words clearly. What he heard turned his entire body as cold as the snow he stood in. He couldn’t believe the madness of this brute, nor that Samantha would go along with it. What had he done to her that would allow her to even consider this?
His hands became fists as the sound of their kissing to seal the pact. An unholy, evil pact that would doom Samantha to a life on the run as a fugitive or, worse yet, to jail. Either way, Wendell would lose her forever.
“Samantha, no! You can’t do this,” he shouted, running towards them. They broke off their kiss, Samantha’s pale face turning even more so. “Whatever he’s doing to you, you have to fight it. You can’t want to do this.”
“Who are you? Oh, right, the little boy from Mr. Pryde’s house. I don’t know what you’re doing here or why you’re interrupting us. What we do isn’t any of your business.”
“Samantha, please, it’s Wendell. You’ve known me for nine years now. You have to remember, please. You can’t do this. You’ll end up in jail. Is that what you want?”
“Look, little boy, I don’t know what you think you heard, but we’re not robbing any banks. We were only joking. Run along and go play,” Samantha said.
“We can’t let him go,” Joseph said. The brute took a step towards Wendell. “He’ll tell the police.”
“Like they’ll believe him. He’s just a kid.”
“We can’t take the chance.” Before Wendell could run, Joseph seized him by the collar and held him up in the air. Wendell tried to break the brute’s grip, but his punches did nothing. “We have to get rid of him.”
“Joseph, no, we can’t kill him. That wouldn’t be right.”
“We won’t kill him. We’ll incapacitate him for a little while, until we’re gone from here.”
“Samantha, you can’t let him do this. You have to stop him,” Wendell said. “Please, I love you.”
Her laughter at this hurt him more than anything Joseph could ever do. “You? How old are you, eight? I’m sorry little boy, but I’m a bit too old for you.”
“Samantha, no—” Joseph’s punch to Wendell’s head ended the conversation. Joseph dropped Wendell into the snow, where the world turned dark, Samantha’s laughter echoing in his ears.
***
Prudence stopped at the bottom of the hill, her chest burning and legs throbbing. She couldn’t go much farther on her own. By the time she reached Seabrooke at this rate, Samantha could be a thousand miles away.
There had to be something she could do to help Samantha. A house lay across the road, an automobile in its driveway. Yes, here was her salvation. She forced her tired muscles to run across the road and up the front walk to the door. She knocked on the door and prayed someone answered the door to help her.
An elderly woman answered the door, peering down at Prudence through thick spectacles. “Who are you?” the old woman snapped. “Are you selling something? I don’t want any.”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Prudence said. “My friend is in terrible danger and I was wondering if you could give me a ride into town so I can find her.”
“Your friend, eh? How do I know you aren’t going to kill me once I let you in my car? How do I know you aren’t going to leave me in the woods for dead? I saw on the news just yesterday a story where a woman did that. Let some stranger in her car and he left her in a ditch by the road. Is that what you’re planning to do to me? Well, speak up now, girl.”
“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to find my friend. She’s in trouble and I have to try and help her. I’m not sure where she is, so town seems like the best place to start.”
“I don’t remember ever seeing you around here before. Where do you come from?”
“I come from a place called Eternity,” Prudence said before she could stop herself. The truth always spewed from her mouth even when she knew she should lie. She should tell the same story Samantha had to Mr. Pryde, but she couldn’t make the words come out. “I’ve been staying the last couple nights with Mr. Pryde up there along with my friends. We came here to get supplies for the rest of the children in Eternity.” She had already said too much, but the words wouldn’t stop coming.
“Mr. Pryde, eh? Why don’t you get a ride from him?”
“I would but he’s in some kind of coma and I can’t wake him up. Please, you have to help me.”
“This is the strangest story I ever heard. Is this some kind of joke? Are you working for one of those TV shows where they film ordinary people making fools of themselves?”
“No, I’m telling the truth. You have to believe me.” Prudence started to cry. “If you don’t help me, my friend is going to be gone and I’ll never see her again. He’s doing something horrible to her. I don’t know what, but he’s changing her, making her do and say awful things. I have to stop her before it’s too late. Please, all I want is a ride into town.”
“Well, all right, if you’ll stop your blubbering. It’s unbecoming for a girl your age to carry on so. I raised three young ‘uns myself and if any of them went on like this at your age I’d have knocked some sense into them.”
“Oh thank you Mrs.—”
“Schulman. Rose Schulman. Who are you?”
“Prudence Gooddell.”
“Prudence, that’s a pretty name. I had an aunt named Prudence who died when I was your age. Served as a nurse in the war—that’s the Second World War to you young people—and got run over by one of her own ambulances. Terrible, but we were all very proud of her going over to serve her country.”
Prudence had no idea what Mrs. Schulman was talking about, but she wished the old woman would hurry up and get to her automobile already so they could find Samantha. At last Mrs. Schulman grabbed her keys and began limping towards her vehicle. Prudence stayed close to her in case she slipped on the snow. “I don’t know why I’m doing this,” Mrs. Schulman said. “I must be out of my wits. Getting soft in my old age I suppose.”
“You don’t know how much this means to me, Mrs. Schulman.” Prudence helped the old woman into the driver’s side of the bench seat and then plopped onto the passenger’s side. Mrs. Schulman stared at the automobil
e’s controls for a moment as if everything on them were written in a foreign language. She finally stuck the key in to start up the engine and began backing up slowly.
“I’m a might rusty with my driving. Haven’t gone anywhere in four years, since I stopped looking after Mr. Pryde’s boy.”
“You took care of Joseph?”
“After his mother died, his father didn’t have anyone else to turn to. Mine were all grown up by then so I thought it might do me some good to have a child in the house again. He was such a sweet boy too. So polite and shy. Never cried or carried on the whole time. A real trouper, that one.”
Mrs. Schulman drove slow enough that Prudence wondered if she might be better off walking. Several other automobiles whipped past them, flashing their lights and honking their horns. Mrs. Schulman held up a single wrinkled finger to each one as it passed. “People today have no patience,” she said. “No one wants to take any time to smell the roses anymore.”
“To be honest, I am in a little bit of a hurry myself,” Prudence said. “My friend might already be gone by now.”
“Fine, I’ll go faster. Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Mrs. Schulman said. She accelerated hard enough to throw Prudence back against the seat. “What sort of trouble is this friend of yours in?”
“Ever since she fell in with this boy she’s been acting different. She spends all her time with him, she forgets things, and she says terrible things.”
“Sounds like your friend is in love.”
“What? No, that can’t be it. She can’t love him.” Prudence thought of the kiss she had witnessed last night. Samantha couldn’t love someone like that. She couldn’t love someone so cruel he’d fight his own father. He’s done something to her to make her act this way.
“Love makes us all act dumb. When I met Mr. Schulman some fifty years ago everyone thought I’d gone crazy. Everyone told me he was no good. Well, ten years later I found out they were right when he went shacking up with that whore Marcy Walker.”
“Did you divorce him?”
“No, back in those days you didn’t get a divorce at the drop of a hat like now. We stayed together another thirty years until he keeled over dead at the breakfast table one morning. He was eating his Cream of Wheat one second and dead the next.”
“That’s awful.”
“I suppose. Where’s this friend of yours going to be?”
“I’m not really sure. You can drop me off at the corner and I’ll look for her on foot.”
“Fine, if that’s the way you want it. Give me a chance to go to the sweet shop and get some fudge. I haven’t had any in four years now. You come by later after you’ve found your friend and I might let you have some if I haven’t eaten it all.”
Mrs. Schulman spun the automobile hard to the right so that Prudence came within a hair of cracking her skull against the window. The automobile stopped in front of Designs by Suzie. “Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Schulman,” Prudence said.
“I hope you find your friend and talk some sense into her. Love isn’t worth anything if it’s with someone who’s worthless like Mr. Schulman. Remember that when you look for a nice boy.”
“I will. Thank you.” Prudence crawled out of the automobile and waved to Mrs. Schulman as the old woman peeled away. Prudence considered what to do next, but she didn’t have long to think before Mr. Pryde’s automobile pulled up to her.
“Hey there, Petunia,” Samantha said.
“Prudence.”
“Oh right. How’s your arm?”
“It’s better,” Prudence said. “Samantha, we need to talk.”
“No problem. I know a place.” Samantha got out of the car and put a hand on Prudence’s shoulder. “We won’t be long.”
“I’ll be right here,” Joseph said.
Samantha led Prudence around the corner to a narrow alley between the line of shops and a brick wall. “Samantha, I’m really worried about you lately. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but it has to stop. We have to think about the other children. They’re counting on us to help them and you can’t expect Wendell and I to handle everything while you go off with this boy. Maybe Mrs. Schulman is right about you loving him—”
Prudence didn’t get the chance to finish. Samantha shoved her head into the wall and then picked up a rotting board from a wooden pallet. “I’m sorry, Penelope, but I can’t let you interfere with Joseph and I,” Samantha said. Before Prudence could say anything, Samantha cracked the board over Prudence’s head. Prudence sank to her knees and then fell to the ground, Mrs. Schulman’s observation about love echoing in her ears.
Chapter 31: Booby Traps
The cave entrance was blocked. A boulder taller than Veronica and wider than Becky and Aunt Prudence together denied them access to the opening. “How did this get here?” Veronica asked. Molly said nothing, a memory as vague as a dream gnawing at the edges of her mind. Veronica pounded the boulder in frustration. “So close! How can we get this close and not get inside? Goddamn it!” Veronica grabbed Molly by the front of her coat and shook her. “Why didn’t you tell me about this, you little brat? Is this some kind of joke to you?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was here,” Molly said, tears coming to her eyes.
Veronica stopped shaking Molly and dropped down to her knees to brush Molly’s tears away. “I’m sorry, honey. I lost my temper. You’re a good girl, the best girl in the world. Can you ever forgive me?” Molly nodded. “Don’t worry, honey, we’ll find a way to move that rock and get inside.”
Veronica went up to the boulder and set her shoulder against it. Before she could try to shove the heavy rock aside, Molly called out, “No, don’t!”
“What’s wrong, honey?”
Molly didn’t know, but something told her not to try moving the rock. “Something bad will happen,” she said. In her mind she heard familiar voices. What were they saying? She couldn’t make out the words.
“You mean a booby trap?” Veronica asked.
Booby trap. She heard Becky saying these words. She put her hands to her head and closed her eyes until the words came into focus. “You want to booby trap the cave?” Becky said.
“We have to make sure no one can get inside and tamper with the water,” Aunt Samantha said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“How are you going to booby trap it?” Aunt Prudence asked.
“It’s simple really,” Uncle Wendell began.
“Wait,” David said. “Can’t you put her somewhere else?”
“Molly? She’s fine. She’s sleeping,” Becky said. Now Molly remembered. It was over two years ago when she still slept in her crib on a winter night like this, so cold Becky swaddled Molly in four blankets and covered her head with three bonnets. She lay dazed in the crib beneath the blankets, her thumb in her mouth, wondering if this was a dream.
“We can’t take the chance of her telling anyone,” David said. A chair creaked and then Molly felt him standing over the crib. She remained on her stomach, unflinching and her eyes closed as she pretended to sleep.
“Leave her alone. She’s just a baby,” Aunt Samantha said. “She can hardly walk or talk. What’s she going to do?”
“You all spoil this brat rotten. She’s going to grow up into a monster,” David said, moving away from the crib.
“Are you done so I can get back to my explanation?” Uncle Wendell said. He waited a moment and then continued. “The first thing we do is roll the largest rock we can find in front of the cave. Instead of putting it over the real entrance, we use it as a red herring. And there will be a nasty surprise waiting for anyone who tries to move it. Now the real entrance we’ll block off with smaller rocks that should blend into the scenery to throw anyone off.”
Molly looked around the front of the cave for the real entrance Uncle Wendell had mentioned. She tried to pull aside a smaller boulder about six feet away, but it wouldn’t move. Veronica came over to help, the two of them straining to move the boulder aside. Behind it they
found only solid rock. “This isn’t it, honey,” Veronica said. She patted Molly on the head. “We’ll have to find something to move the big one aside.”
“No,” Molly said. “This is it. I know it.” She closed her eyes until she was back in the crib again listening to the grownups discuss how to protect the fountain.
“What if they find your real entrance?” David asked.
“The rocks are only the first layer,” Uncle Wendell said. “Behind that is another door. This one is a little trickier to open. It will take some very precise carving, but we can create a lock of sorts for the second door.”
Molly ran her hands along the face of the cave wall until she found a lump. “Pull it out all the way, turn it once to the right, twice to the left, and then all the way around,” she repeated the words Uncle Wendell had said as she did this. She heard a creak followed by Veronica gasping.
“Molly, you did it!” Veronica hugged her so tightly Molly thought she would suffocate. “You opened the door. Now we can go inside and find the fountain.”
“Wait,” Molly cautioned. “There’s more.”
“Trick doors won’t be enough,” Aunt Samantha said. “We’ll need some booby traps inside, just in case. Prudence can give us some black thread to use for tripwires around the cave ready to bring rocks down on any uninvited guests.”
“Couldn’t that hurt someone?” Aunt Prudence asked.
“That’s the point,” David growled.
“I don’t like this,” Becky said. “There’s almost as much chance we’d get caught by these traps as an intruder. What if there’s an emergency?”
“We’ll have to take that chance,” Aunt Samantha said. “As these kids get older you don’t think one of them will go snooping around that cave and get ideas? The last thing we need is for someone like Helena to become another Reverend Crane.”
“Maybe that’s better than letting people die because we can’t get the medicine they need,” Becky said.
“You want to wake up like her one day, go right ahead. I’d just as soon destroy those caves for good,” David said.
Children of Eternity Omnibus Page 48
