Where the Forest Meets the Stars

by Vanderah, Glendy

  Ursa swallowed her crying in gulps, and the silence gave Jo a chance to concentrate. In the part of her brain that could function outside survival instinct, she comprehended that the men must have something to do with Ursa’s past. But she couldn’t think beyond that or her urge to keep Ursa safe. The men could shoot into the house any second. Connecting to 911 and describing their remote location would waste too much time. She hoped Gabe had heard the gunshots and called the police, but she had no guarantee that he had.

  To get in, the men would have to use the front or rear wooden doors. The old house was raised up on cinder blocks, and the windows were located halfway up the wall, too high for easy access from the outside. Jo dragged Ursa away from the door, afraid a bullet might pierce through. She stood at the entrance to her bedroom, trying to think. The men would know their shots had awakened them. Little Bear had thwarted a surprise attack. Now the men were on the defensive. They would assume Gabe was still with them because they hadn’t seen Jo drop him off at his cabin. They would be afraid Gabe and Jo owned a gun.

  But they would get bolder the longer there was silence in the house. They would know they had their quarry trapped and would kick in the doors. Jo and Ursa would have to go out through a window, but that would force them to run into the open area around the house before they could hide in the woods. The two bug bulbs on the porches would give the men plenty of light to see them and take aim.

  A line from the Nirvana song Gabe had played on the jukebox ran through Jo’s mind. Darkness would be less dangerous. “Get down and stay here,” she whispered to Ursa. Ursa obeyed, crumpling to the floor in the doorway. Jo crept into the kitchen and quickly pushed the stove light button off. She crouched in the darkness, waiting to see if anything happened. Maybe they would worry when they saw the light go out. They would imagine someone lying in wait with a gun.

  She crawled on the floor to the back door, shot up to flick off the bug bulb, and dropped down again. Now the rear of the house was dark. Only the dim bug bulb at the front screen door remained on, but she couldn’t turn it off because its switch was on the porch. From the floor, she opened the knife drawer and took out the biggest blade.

  She crawled back to Ursa with the knife clutched in her hand. “Get up and be quiet,” Jo whispered, pulling her cold, clammy hand. Ursa stood, her body trembling. Though being near a window was risky, Jo had to ready an exit. The lower part of the window in her bedroom was blocked by the air conditioner. The one in the other bedroom was a better choice anyway, because it was on the dark rear side of the house. When the men came in the doors, Jo and Ursa would climb out the window and run for the woods.

  It was a good plan. It would work. Unless more than two men had surrounded the house. But if there were that many, surely they would have attacked by now.

  Jo pulled Ursa into the empty bedroom and pushed up on the window. It was stuck. The summer humidity must have made it swell. She shoved with all her strength, and the wooden frame finally budged. The air conditioner was on again, and she hoped it had masked the sound.

  Jo used the knife to cut away the screen. “If they come in, jump out the window and run for Gabe’s house through the woods,” Jo whispered close to Ursa’s ear. “Don’t use the road. Stay in the woods. Hide if you think someone is following you. They’ll never find you out there in the darkness.” When Jo started to leave, Ursa clutched her arm. “I’m going to get my phone and your shoes,” she explained, but she had to pry Ursa’s hand away.

  She crept to her bedroom and felt around for her phone on the floor. When she found it, she set the door lock and closed the door. After she got Ursa’s shoes from the living room, she returned to the spare bedroom, closed the door, and set the knob lock. Now the men had two more locked doors to break down. That would give Jo and Ursa time to make it to the woods without being seen.

  Jo slipped Ursa’s purple gym shoes on each of her cold bare feet and tied them with shaking hands. She realized she’d forgotten to get her own shoes, but she didn’t risk going to get them.

  She pressed Ursa to the wall next to the open window. Only minutes had passed since the shots were fired, but it felt like an hour. Even if he’d heard, Gabe couldn’t have driven over that fast. She pressed 911 in her phone. The call didn’t connect. She moved to a different place in the room and entered the numbers again. She watched as the phone tried to connect, her every nerve more electrified with each squandered second.

  A foot kicked the front door hard. Jo jumped and nearly dropped the phone.

  “Jo!” Ursa said.

  Jo put the phone on the floor and held her close. “It’ll be okay. Do what I said. Stay in the woods until you get to Gabe’s. If you can’t find his cabin, run far and hide. We’ll find you when it’s safe.” The man continued kicking the front door. The terrifying sound was amplified by more kicking on the rear door. Now Jo knew where both men were, but she couldn’t send Ursa yet. The man at the back door might see her running. Jo lifted Ursa and placed her rear on the windowsill. The doors were breaking. Jo and Ursa pressed together, sharing the same wild heartbeat. One of the men would get through any second. Jo hoped it would be the one at the back door.

  A shot cracked and then another. The man at the front door was using his gun to take out the bolt lock. He fired again. Almost simultaneously, the kitchen door’s lock gave way with a crash of breaking wood. Jo lowered Ursa to the ground, but she stood petrified, staring up at Jo. “Run!” Jo whispered. “Hurry! I’ll follow!”

  Ursa took off for the woods to the west. As Jo crawled out the window, she heard the rev of an engine on Turkey Creek Road. She dropped to the ground and ran for the woods just as Gabe’s truck careened around the corner spraying gravel. He fired a shot into the air, trying to draw the gunmen away from the house.

  His timing couldn’t have been worse for Jo. She was out in the open. But at least Ursa had made it to the woods.

  Gabe skidded the truck to a halt near Jo’s Honda, jumped out, and crouched down, using the cab for cover.

  “Gabe! Watch out!” Ursa screamed.

  “No! Get back!” Jo shouted when Ursa burst out of the tree line.

  Still running, Jo heard feet thudding behind her. Shots fired. The man from the back door was shooting at Ursa. Or maybe at Jo. Gabe was trying to cover Ursa as she ran, but the man at the front door was firing on him.

  Jo was running through a battlefield. Guns cracked all around her. She collapsed, the back of her left thigh burning. She couldn’t move, in shock from the bullet wound. The man who’d shot her pounded past.

  He was heading for Ursa. Jo got up, feeling no pain, but her damaged leg prevented her from running as fast as she needed to. In the pale celestial light, she saw Ursa running toward Gabe’s truck. She had almost reached it when the man fired. Ursa went down. Jo stopped and pressed her hand to her mouth to cover her scream. But the man knew she was there. He turned around, his gun aimed straight at her.

  Gabe bellowed a primal sound of rage and fired his gun. He was in the open, charging the man to divert his attention from Jo. The man turned away from Jo to return fire, but he stumbled backward and slouched to the ground before firing more than two shots.

  Gabe was still standing. “Get down!” he shouted.

  Jo flattened on the ground and watched him run to the man. He took the man’s gun away and patted his body. He found another weapon and took it.

  “How many are there?” he called to Jo.

  “I think two. Ursa is hurt!”

  “I know, but stay down!” He scuttled over to Ursa, his gun ready.

  Jo was relieved when she heard him speak to Ursa. She must be okay. Gabe left Ursa and ran to Jo. “Are you hurt?”

  “Just a little. What about Ursa?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Tell me!”

  “It’s bad.”

  “Oh my god!” She got up and ran for Ursa, dragging her left leg. “You have to stay down!” he said, running with her. “I’ve killed
two, but there could be more.”

  Jo sank to the ground next to Ursa and Gabe crouched over her, peering around for more assailants. Ursa was on her back. Jo didn’t need a light to see where she was hurt. In the dim glow of stars, she saw the dark stain soaked into the fabric of her pink Hello Kitty pajamas. She’d been shot once, on the right side of her stomach. She was breathing, but she was in shock. Her body trembled and her eyes stared at Jo, but she didn’t seem to see her. “Is an ambulance coming?”

  “Lacey called 911 when we heard the first shots.”

  “They might not bring an ambulance!”

  “She heard all the gunfire. They’ll bring an ambulance,” he said, but he looked worried. He laid down his gun to call Lacey. “Are the police coming?” he said. “What about an ambulance? Not me. Ursa is hurt bad.” After a pause, he said, “Yes, the girl.” He listened for a few more seconds before ending the call.

  “Lacey has called twice,” he said. “First she said we needed police. When she heard the gunfight, she called back and said they needed to send lots of police and ambulances.”

  “What if they don’t get here in time?” Jo wept.

  “They will.”

  “No one finds this road!”

  “The sheriff knows where it is. And Lacey said she’d call back to tell them Ursa is hurt.” He pulled off his T-shirt. “Use this to put pressure on the wound. Press firmly, but not so much that you hurt her.” He grabbed his gun again.

  Jo held the shirt on the awful wound, uncertain of how hard to press. “What if there’s an exit wound?”

  “There probably is,” he said. “He shot at close range.”

  Keeping pressure on the front wound, Jo slid her hand under Ursa’s right side. She felt blood oozing out of her back. The bullet could have entered from either side. She stripped off her T-shirt and pushed it under Ursa’s body, keeping pressure on both wounds. “You’re going to be okay, love bug,” she said, touching her lips to Ursa’s cheek. “Stay with Gabe and me, okay? Try hard to stay with us.”

  Ursa was awake, her eyes focused on Jo. “D-don’t cry,” she said through chattering teeth. “Jo . . . stop crying!”

  “I can’t,” Jo said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  Ursa stared into her eyes. “Are you c-crying because you love me?”

  “Yes! I love you so much!”

  Ursa smiled. “That’s it . . . the fifth miracle. That was what I want . . . wanted m-most, and I m-made it happen.”

  Jo cried harder, and tears spilled from the corners of Ursa’s eyes.

  “Jo . . .”

  “What?”

  “If I die, don’t be sad. It’s n-not me,” she said.

  “You aren’t going to die!”

  “I know. I can g-go back now. I saw five miracles. Don’t be sad if it happens.”

  “You’re staying here! I want to be your foster parent and maybe adopt you. I was going to tell you . . .”

  “You were?” Her eyes brightened. She looked like familiar happy Ursa.

  “You’ll come live with Tabby and me in the pretty house. Would you like that?”

  “Yes . . . but I feel bad. I might . . . I might have to go back in the stars.”

  “Here they come!” Gabe said.

  Jo heard a convoy of distant sirens. But the sound was too distant. Ursa had closed her eyes.

  “Ursa?” Jo said. “Ursa, stay with me!”

  “Stars . . . ,” Ursa murmured. “Jo . . . I see stars.”

  “Ursa, no! Stay with us!” She tried to keep pressure on Ursa’s wounds, but her arms had no strength. Her legs buckled. She collapsed on her side and fell onto her back. She saw stars, too. Where was the bear? Where was Ursa Major? Which stars were those?

  Gabe’s hands lifted her. “Jo! You’re losing a lot of blood! Your pants are soaked!”

  He was right. She’d been fighting the fog in her mind since the man had shot her. She closed her eyes and let the darkness come. She would find Ursa. She would find her, even if she had to climb into the sky and pull her down from the stars herself.

  30

  Ursa. Ursa. Ursa. It was the mantra that drew her out of anesthesia. When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t surprised to see a hospital room. She wasn’t afraid either. The environment was all too familiar.

  A middle-aged nurse who’d been fiddling with her IV bag looked at her. “Awake already? I didn’t expect that for another hour at least.”

  “Do you know if the little girl who came in with me is okay?”

  “You’re asking the wrong person.”

  “Meaning, they told you not to say.”

  “How do you feel?” the nurse asked, lifting Jo’s wrist to find her pulse.

  “Well enough to be told what happened.”

  “Do you know what happened to you?” She probably had to establish that Jo could handle the news.

  “I was shot in the back of the leg.”

  “Do you know where you are?”

  “In Marion?”

  “You’re in Saint Louis.”

  “Saint Louis?”

  “Don’t you remember? You came to this hospital by medevac.”

  Now that she knew, she did remember. She’d thought the loud whir of the helicopter had been part of her delirium. “What’s going on with my leg?”

  “You received several units of blood, and the surgery involved vascular and tissue repair. The surgeon will explain when he comes by.”

  “Is a man named Gabriel Nash here?”

  “Are you feeling up to seeing visitors?”

  “Yes, I want to see him.”

  “Are you sure you’re well enough?”

  “Yes!”

  The nurse left the room. A few minutes later, the door opened. It wasn’t Gabe. A uniformed officer and a man dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants entered. Each of the men wore a gun, which meant the one in plain clothes must be a detective. They were both in their midforties but opposite in looks. The deputy was about six feet tall with dark eyes and short black hair, and the detective was five inches shorter with light eyes and blondish hair worn in a stubby ponytail. Their solemn faces made Jo wish she hadn’t awakened.

  “Joanna Teale?” the detective asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “I’m Detective Kellen out of Effingham, and this is Chief Deputy McNabb from Vienna.”

  “I need to know about Ursa. Did she die? Just tell me.”

  “How did you know her name is Ursa?” he asked.

  “She told me.”

  “Did she tell you her whole name?”

  “Are you really going to do this to me? You’re going to ask me a hundred questions without answering the only one that matters?”

  “We can’t answer because she’s still in surgery or post-op. We don’t know if she’ll pull through.”

  She put her hands over her face, the only privacy available. She thought Ursa had died on the Kinney property. “Is she here—in this hospital?”

  After a pause, the detective said, “Yes.”

  The other cop, McNabb, shot Kellen a disapproving glance. For some reason he hadn’t wanted the detective to relay Ursa’s whereabouts.

  “Do you know why those men shot Ursa?” Jo asked.

  “Please let us ask the questions, Ms. Teale,” Deputy McNabb said.

  “Are you feeling well enough?” Kellen asked.

  She consented, and for the next twenty minutes, she answered their many questions. McNabb, who’d been at the crime scene, mostly asked about the shooting, while Kellen focused more on Jo’s history with Ursa. Though they didn’t say it, many of their questions were clearly aimed at corroborating statements Gabe had made. Jo tried to keep him out of her story as much as possible, but the two cops brought him up frequently. “Was Gabriel Nash there when that happened?” the detective often asked.

  When Jo talked about Ursa and how she’d come to live with her, it all sounded wrong. She saw the judgment in the men’s eyes and heard it in t
heir questions. As the interrogation continued, Jo began to think she might be in serious trouble with the law. The anxiety, combined with the many other stresses on her mind and body, wore her out quickly. The police saw she was losing coherence and decided to quit for the time being.

  “Is Gabe here?” Jo asked before they left.

  “He was an hour ago,” Kellen said. “Get some rest.” He and the deputy walked out the door.

  Jo pushed her call button. “Is there some way you can see if a visitor is in the waiting room and bring him here?” Jo asked the nurse when she arrived.

  “Is it a family member?”

  “No.”

  “For now, only family is allowed in.”

  “Wouldn’t that be up to me?”

  “You’ll have to speak with your doctor.”

  “Okay, let me speak to him.”

  “I can’t say when he’ll be here. He’ll see you when he makes rounds.”

  The hospital runaround. Jo knew it well. But she was too tired to wrangle. She quit fighting the drugs and succumbed to sleep.

  When she woke hours later, she discovered she’d missed the doctor. She was desperate for news about Ursa, but she had a new nurse who was even less communicative than the last one. The pain medication the nurse gave her put her under again.

  Jo thought she was dreaming when she felt lips touch her cheek. She won a battle with her heavy eyelids and looked into familiar green eyes. “Tabby!”

  “This hospital thing is getting old, Jojo,” Tabby said. She looked toward a dark window and said, “Go on, kiss her. She needs it.” She stepped aside, and there was Gabe, his face haggard and shadowed with a beard. At first he and Jo could only stare at one another.

  “Come on, Nash, just kiss her,” Tabby said.

  He leaned over and held her. They embraced for a long time before they obeyed Tabby with a short kiss. “How did you get in?” Jo asked. “They’ve been withholding visitors since I woke up this morning.”

  “Tabby did it,” Gabe said. “In all of two minutes, she got the gatekeepers to open the door, and I’ve been trying all day.”

  “How did you do it?” she asked Tabby.