“No, don’t do this. Please,” Prudence said. Across the chamber, Wendell saw her tears sparkling in the torchlight. “Someone help me! Help me!”
“Excuse me, sir, can you help me?” Wendelle asks the stranger in the black coat. “I’m terribly hungry and I’ve no place to stay. Can you spare any change?”
In the two weeks since leaving Mother’s house, she’s used up all of Isabelle’s money since reaching Glasgow. No one will hire her, saying she’s too small, weak, and ignorant for work. The last three days she’s eaten only rancid scraps from the garbage. Her stomach pains her every waking moment and in her dreams, she’s tormented by imaginary feasts that disappear before she can taste anything.
Her hand trembles as she holds it out to the gentleman in the black coat. She’s asked dozens of people passing by along the docks and received nothing. He turns to her with a leer on his face and a schilling in his hand. He dangles it over her head as he says, “What’ll you do to earn it?”
“I don’t know,” she says.
He grabs her by the hair, pulling her head back so their eyes meet. “I’m sure you can think of something,” he says.
“Oh, please, sir, no. I’m sorry I bothered you. I better be going now,” she says. She tries to escape his grip, but he maintains his hold.
He waves the schilling before her eyes. “Don’t you want this? I’d say for someone as ugly as you it’s a fair price.”
“Please sir, let me go. I’ve made a mistake.”
“In that case, maybe I’ll take what I want for free.” He drops the schilling into his pocket and then clamps the hand over Wendelle’s mouth. He drags her into an alley, throwing her down into a puddle of water.
From his belt he produces a knife with a dozen marks notched on the blade. “Let’s get these rags off you,” he says. Under the spell of the knife, Wendelle is unable to move as he slices the front of her dress down the center. He peels the halves away and laughs.
“What’s this?” he says. “What kind of trick are you playing on me, boy?”
“Boy? I’m not—” He silences her by punching her in the face. His cheeks turn red with rage and his fingers tighten around the knife.
“You think I’m a fool? You think I don’t know the difference between a boy and a girl?”
“No, of course not—” He punches her again.
“You must be mad. Fortunately, I have the cure for that.” Wendelle braces for him to plunge the knife into her heart, but instead he jams it back into his belt. He seizes her arms, flipping her onto her stomach. He presses her head down into the puddle with one hand while the other unbuttons his pants.
The next few minutes Wendelle experiences a pain unlike anything she’s ever felt before. The agony drags on as he plunges himself into her again and again until she feels something warm and sticky inside her. He pulls away from her, buttoning up his pants again. “That’s what we do to your kind,” he whispers into your ear. He drops the schilling next to her on the ground.
Wendelle lies in the puddle, listening to the man’s footsteps fade away. When she gets to her feet, she’s born again, this time as a boy. Wendell, he thinks. My name is Wendell and I’m a boy. He pulls the tattered halves of the dress around him as best he can and staggers out of the alley. Only later, once he’s made his way out of Glasgow, does he allow himself to cry for the girl who died there.
Prudence screamed again as the reverend thrust himself between her legs. Wendell got to his feet and charged forward out of the darkness. He leapt at Reverend Crane, aiming for his head. The reverend saw him in time to swat him down with one arm as easily as swatting a fly. Wendell collapsed to the ground, stunned.
“Wendell!” Prudence said. Reverend Crane took him by the throat and threw him against the wall with a violent snap. Wendell’s limbs went numb so that he could only watch the reverend violate little Prudence.
Her eyes pleaded with Wendell throughout, begging him to do something. But again, just as in the alley, he was powerless. He finally closed his eyes, but still heard her terrified whimpers and moans.
Only when Reverend Crane let out a contented sigh did Wendell open his eyes. The reverend laid his head on Prudence’s wet cheek. “What have I done?” he said. Tears came to the reverend’s eyes. He sprang back, his face suddenly turning red with anger. “You’ve done this to me again! You vile temptress! You spawn of Satan! I ought to kill you now to wipe your evil from the earth forever.”
The reverend dropped to his knees. “Forgive me, Lord, for I am but a weak man. A man of mere flesh. You presented me with this test as you tested Abraham and Moses and your own holy son by bringing this girl, this source of my greatest shame back to me. I have failed you.”
Prudence lay sobbing on the ground, curling herself up to face away from Wendell and Reverend Crane. The reverend got to his feet, mumbling to himself, “There’s only one thing to do. There’s only one way to make amends.”
Wendell tried to call out a warning, but no words would come out of his mouth. He watched helplessly as the reverend grabbed Prudence, pinning her against the wall to look into her eyes. “Yes, there is only one thing to do. I must bring you to Him as Christ brought the whore Mary Magdeline to Him. You will devote your life to Him and by redeeming you I will redeem myself. That is the only way to save both our souls.”
He set Prudence on the ground and laid a hand on her cheek. “Fear not, my child. Our salvation begins this moment. For now you must remain here. I will return for you in time.”
Reverend Crane picked up the torch and then bolted from the chamber. After the door closed, Prudence crawled over to Wendell. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“I can’t…move,” he said, the words forming as if he were learning to speak for the first time.
She stretched him out on the floor, running a hand along his dress. “Why are you wearing this?” she asked.
“This is…how I was,” he said. In halting words he went on to explain about his mother raising him as a girl named Wendelle until the night she found him masturbating to Isabelle’s image. Fresh tears came to her eyes as he went on to describe Pryde raping him in Glasgow, Fiona’s death in the hayloft, and his years on the streets until he stowed away on the Primrose.
When he finished, she kissed him. Her lips breathed life into his crippled limbs; he folded his arms around her and pressed her close. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I failed you.”
“We still have each other. That’s all that matters right now,” she said. “No matter what happens over the next three hundred years, I’ll still love you. Even if I can’t remember in my mind, I’ll remember in my heart.”
They kissed again and then fell asleep in each other’s arms. They awoke some time later to the sound of the door opening. This time Wendell heard human footsteps followed by the clicking of animal claws. Pryde appeared in the chamber a few moments later with the beast at his side.
“Aren’t you the cute couple,” he sneered. “It’s a pity I have to break this up.”
From his belt, Pryde took out a flask and a clay bowl Wendell recognized from the native ceremony in the cave. Pryde filled the bowl with a red liquid that glowed like the fountain water. “Courtesy of our dearly departed friends,” he said.
“What is that?” Prudence asked, tightening her grip on Wendell. “Some kind of poison?”
“Sadly, no. The reverend says this will ‘purify your minds.’ Whatever that means.”
“He’s going to erase our memories,” Wendell said. “That’s how he’s done it all these years. The natives used this to wipe the memories of people after they put them into the fountain. They must have gotten the formula from that cave Joe found.”
“I don’t know anything about that. I was only told to give you kids your medicine and that’s what I aim to do. Now you two can do this the easy way or the fun way.” The beast took a step forward and growled to emphasize his master’s point.
“I love you,” Wendell whispered into Prud
ence’s ear. As soon as he drank from the bowl, his head began to spin. The thoughts in his mind swirled around as if in a hurricane so that he had to scream his final words: “I love Prudence!”
With his last strength he kissed her a final time. A red glow erupted between them, blinding them.
Chapter 39: Alternate History
In the car, Samantha outlined her plan. “When we get to the docks, you go to the boat.”
“Alone? Aren’t you coming?”
“Pryde will be waiting for you behind some crates. When you get there, he’ll pop out to grab you. Now, here’s the hard part. He might hit you. He might even stab you with his knife. But he’s not going to let you die, not unless you tell him about me. If you do that, he’ll kill you for sure.”
“Kill me? Why would he do that?”
“Because he’s an evil psychopath. Don’t you see that?”
“I don’t know, maybe—”
“Have you ever been out to that place of his in the woods?” She shook her head. “In the cellar he keeps his victims. Hundreds of them going back to when the town started. He keeps their bones, clothes, family pictures, everything. That’s his hobby. When we get there you can go there and find out.”
“How do you know this?”
“I know it might be hard to understand—I don’t understand it myself—but I’ve seen what happens over the next twelve years. They’re going to ambush us at the dock tonight and the reverend is going to hit me with some of that magic water so that I become a little girl. Then he’s going to somehow erase my memory and take me back. When I wake up, you’re going to have Prudence take me down to the stream and give me a bath.”
“Oh my,” Miss Brigham said. Her face paled with shock. “Mr. Pryde, I can’t believe he could do anything so monstrous.”
“Look, Molly, it’s going to be all right. We’re going to put a stop to him and the reverend tonight.”
“We aren’t going to hurt them, are we?”
“No, of course not. As long as we stick to the plan.”
“After Mr. Pryde grabs me, then what?”
“The reverend is going to come around then to find out who you’ve talked to. It’s very, very important you do exactly as I say here, all right?” She nodded. “Good. You have to tell him there’s a car waiting for you and that you’ll lead them to it.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because as you’re leading them to the car, I’m going to ambush them. I’ll knock them out, tie them up, and then we’ll drop them off at the police station and fetch the children.”
“This sounds dangerous,” she said.
“It’s very dangerous and there’s a good chance it won’t work. In that case, I have a way to make sure we get help.”
“How’s that?”
Samantha held up a hastily-scribbled note. “My friends in the FBI are looking for me. In case I don’t make it back, this note should get to my boss and tell him where I am. They’ll come to get me and find everyone else.” Samantha placed the note into an envelope addressed for Assistant Director Tanner and left it on the dashboard. “Not a foolproof plan, but it’s the best we can do on short notice.”
She stopped the car at the edge of the docks. “Thank you for all your help, Samantha. If anything should happen to me, I want you to know how much I respect and admire your courage. You are an angel, I know it in my heart. He guided me to you.”
More like the devil, Samantha thought. The devil working through Veronica Pryde had led Samantha here. She knew Miss Brigham would never accept this, so she said, “Thank you. You’re a much braver person than you think too. Remember that.”
After a farewell embrace, Miss Brigham opened her door and soon disappeared into the fog. Samantha waited a full minute before she ventured out of the car. She pulled the pistol out of her jacket and crept towards the slip where Molly would spring Pryde’s ambush.
She looked for a good spot for her own ambush. At the start of the pier she found a pair of rope coils stacked up. She dropped into the center of the coils, squatting down so that no one could see her. Through a gap in the coils she could see anyone approaching from the pier. When the reverend and Pryde came by with Miss Brigham, she would leap out and take them.
A scream echoed across the docks. She didn’t want to imagine what Pryde and Reverend Crane might do to Miss Brigham. I shouldn’t use her like this, Samantha thought. It’s too risky. Her last attempt to set a trap had ended with Joseph losing his mother. I won’t fail again.
“She’s in the car. Over there! Over there!” Miss Brigham screamed. Samantha braced herself as she heard footsteps approaching. To her dismay she saw only Pryde from between the rope coils. The reverend hadn’t taken the bait. Then I’ll take them one at a time, she thought.
She waited for Pryde to stomp past and then rose to her feet. She hopped over the coils of rope, landing on top of Pryde. He tried to get his knife free, but she pinned his arm down. She smashed the butt of her pistol over his head. He groaned and then went unconscious.
For a moment she held the pistol’s barrel over his forehead, but she couldn’t risk a shot alerting the reverend. She dragged Pryde’s body behind the rope coils to deal with later, after she took out Reverend Crane. Then she resumed her hiding place to wait for him.
“Where is that fool?” she heard the reverend say after a few minutes, the sound of footsteps approaching her position. Reverend Crane held Miss Brigham by the arm, a dagger in his other hand at her back. No matter, Samantha thought.
She waited for them to pass as she had with Pryde, and then leapt from the top of the coils. She knocked Reverend Crane to the ground, his dagger skittering away into the water. Before he could react, she punched him in the face. Then she pulled out her pistol and cocked it. “It’s time for you to go back to Hell,” she said.
“What are you doing?” Miss Brigham asked.
“What has to be done.”
“This savage is going to kill me,” Reverend Crane said. “Molly, you can’t let this happen. My blood will be on your hands. You will never wash away such sin.”
“Don’t listen to him, Molly. He killed your child, remember? He’s enslaved you and the other children for hundreds of years. He deserves this.”
“Molly, I love you. I’ve always loved you. What happened to our baby is terrible. It’s a stain on my soul I will have to beg His forgiveness for forever. I panicked and I did something terrible.” Reverend Crane started to cry. He held out his arms towards Molly. “You must forgive me. I love you. We’ll have another baby. As many as you want.”
“You’re not going to worm out of this,” Samantha said.
“No!” Miss Brigham screamed. Before Samantha could pull the trigger, Miss Brigham crashed into her. The shot went high, disappearing into the fog.
Samantha threw Molly off and lined up another shot just as the vial of glowing liquid shattered across her face. The pistol dropped from her grasp as she threw both hands to her face, wiping away the glass shards and liquid. No, not again!
When her vision cleared, Reverend Crane stood over her. She knelt there on the dock in her loose-fitting clothes, once more a ten-year-old girl. “Molly, give me the gun,” Reverend Crane said.
“Molly, no!” Samantha squealed.
“Are you going to kill her?” Miss Brigham asked.
“No, of course not.”
“Don’t listen to him. He’ll kill both of us.”
Miss Brigham pressed the gun into Reverend Crane’s hands. “You see, my child, she still loves me. Did you really think you could turn her against me after all these years?” He kissed a sobbing Miss Brigham on the forehead. “Go attend to Mr. Pryde my dear while I deal with her.”
“Please, don’t hurt her,” Miss Brigham said.
“I’m sorry, my dear, but she knows too much,” Reverend Crane said, turning on her. This gave Samantha the opportunity she needed to leap up and kick the gun away with one of her oversized shoes. The pistol dropped
into the water.
Before Samantha could spin around to kick the reverend in the midsection, he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. She tried to scramble to her feet, but her body wouldn’t respond. “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” he growled, hitting her over the head with a board.
As her world dimmed, she heard Reverend Crane say, “Did she tell anyone about us?”
“No, no one knows. But there’s a message in the car.”
“Go retrieve it. We can’t leave any sign.”
After Molly shuffled away, Reverend Crane bent down next to Samantha. “It’s time for you to meet your creator, my child,” he whispered into her ear. I failed again, she thought. Joseph, I’m sorry. Then her world went dark.
***
Darkness presses all around her. She can’t see anything. The smell of something wet and decaying fills her head, a wave of nausea rising from within her. She tries to escape, but her arms and legs won’t move. She’s trapped in this dark place with no way out. She tries to scream, but nothing comes out. Someone help me, she thinks. Get me out of here!
Then she hears a voice that sounds distant, as though she’s hearing it from the bottom of a well. “What do we do with her?” the voice asks.
“Toss her into the sea. By the time she washes up in Canada we will have long since departed.”
She struggles against the bonds holding her, whipping her body around like a caged animal as she tries to escape. “She’s awake,” the first voice says.
“No matter. She can’t escape from there. Put her on board and let us be gone from here.”
“We can’t do this,” a third voice says. “We can’t kill her. It’s not right.”
“It is necessary. Sacrifices must be made. I thought I had made that abundantly clear to you already.”
“Take her with us. Make her one of us.”
“I will not have one of her kind living with us. She’s far too dangerous. She could destroy us.”
“But think of how useful one such as her can be.”
She stops struggling then, awaiting the judgment against her. “Yes, she could be an asset, if controlled. Very well, she will come with us.” There’s a pause and then she finds herself suspended in midair. A moment later she’s flying, only to slam into something solid. Colored stars pulse and explode before her eyes as her dark world spins out of control. “You had better be right about her,” the second voice says. Then a flash of red light erupts from within the bag, blinding her.
Children of Eternity Omnibus Page 83
