Air!
She was going to die!
Then his voice came into her head, solid and strong — Grandpa’s voice. “Swim with the current, Mika. Swim with the current.”
Those same words she’d heard after his funeral. And like she always did with her Grandpa, Mika listened. With the last of her energy, she swam down, down, down, following the pull. Deeper, deeper. And then up. Or what she thought was up. She wasn’t sure now. She felt so confused.
How much longer … Her lungs were on fire … She had to breathe … She had to …
Mika broke the muddy surface, barely conscious. She felt something rough rub along her back and turned weakly in the water, hands grasping. It was a log. And not just any log. She’d been carried upriver in the back eddy and was being swept past the big foundation log that the bridge used to be attached to — and the log was still secured to the shore!
Her hands found new strength as she grabbed at the worn, wet surface. This was her only chance. Once she was past this log, she would be swept out into the main current or back down into the eddy, and she knew she wouldn’t make it through that terrible passage a second time.
Her hand found a tiny slippery branch stub. She clung to the stub and allowed the current to push her against the log. Then she reached for another larger branch stub, closer to the end of the log. Then a small alder tree growing on the shore.
With the last shred of her strength, Mika pulled herself out of the river. She lay in the mud — glorious, blessed mud — never so happy to feel dirty in her life, and filled her lungs again and again as she listened to the bridge’s final demise.
Then there was only the sound of the river.
Angel mewed. A tiny body rubbed against Mika’s raw shoulder. She wrapped her arms around the little cat and turned to face the bridge.
It was gone. The last of the debris that had piled up against it was disappearing around a corner in the river.
There was no sign of Lucinda or Hunter.
Mika stood, though her legs felt like rubber, and clutched Angel’s filthy body to her chest. “Do you think they made it, Angel? Lucinda was awful, but I don’t want her or Hunter to die.”
Angel climbed up on Mika’s shoulders and purred into her ear. “That tickles, you silly,” said Mika, then bit her lip. It didn’t seem right to speak so lightly, not if someone had just drowned, even if that someone was Lucinda.
“Mika!” Grandma’s voice rose above the sound of the river.
“Mika! Mika!” Aimee, Billy, and Matt echoed her.
And then another voice. Joseph was calling her too.
“I’m here! Don’t worry, I’m safe,” she yelled back.
Before climbing the rest of the bank, she turned for one more look at the river. Just dirty, brown water.
Yes, they were gone. Both of them. Angel and Joseph were safe. And so was she. Mika looked up at the sky. “Thank you, Grandpa.” Tears studded her eyes and a lump lodged in her throat. “Thank you for watching over me.”
She rubbed her cheek against Angel’s, allowing the velvet fur to soak up her tears once again, then lifted the little cat back onto her shoulders.
“It’s time, little Miss Angel. Time to go home.”
Epilogue
Late that night Mika woke to the sound of sirens. Grandma and Dad were already in the kitchen when she ran downstairs.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s Lucinda’s house,” answered Grandma. “It’s on fire. Come to the window. You can see the light.”
“I’m going over there. Maybe I can help out,” said Dad. He was already slipping his shoes on at the door.
Mom came into the room. “Why don’t we wake the boys too? It’s not often we’ll see a fire this big.”
“Good idea. We can watch from the road so we’re out of the way.”
A few minutes later, the entire family headed out the door. Mika’s dad lifted Joseph onto his shoulders, and Mom and Grandma each grabbed a twin’s hand. Mika decided to bring Angel because she didn’t want her to be alone.
She was surprised by the size of the crowd that had already gathered. About twenty people stood by the road watching the firefighters as they tried to control the blaze. Everyone’s faces were illuminated in the orange and red light. Mika knew most of the people there, and those she didn’t know seemed vaguely familiar. She looked for Aimee but couldn’t find her, so she walked to a small group a little closer to the fire.
The flames were growing bigger and wilder despite the efforts of the firefighters. Flames were lunging outward from windows that had already exploded. Blood red, just like the room upstairs. The room with the paintings. The room with Lucinda’s family. What a dreadful end for them.
Someone touched Mika’s shoulder and she spun around.
A girl was standing there. A girl her own age, holding a happy, wiggly Jack Russell terrier.
Sarah.
Mika stood frozen, speechless.
But Angel didn’t hesitate. She jumped to Sarah’s shoulder, and a loud, rumbling purr erupted from her as she touched noses with the terrier.
The girl signalled for Mika to follow her away from the crowd. When they were away, she turned. “We want to say thanks,” she said. “The spell on us was broken when Lucy — Lucinda — died, and we think you had something to do with that, because you knew, didn’t you? You knew we were alive.”
“I ... I could feel your sadness.” Mika touched Sarah’s hair. “You’re really real. Wow!”
“Yes.” Sarah laughed. “We’re all free now, free to live our lives. Except Lucy.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want her to die.”
“It was the only way to free us. She never would have.”
“She was your sister?”
Sarah nodded, sending tears, aglow with firelight, tumbling down her cheeks. “Once, a long time ago, she was happy to have a little sister. Then she changed. In every way, she changed. She thought we were all holding her back from what she wanted to do, and I guess we were. She wanted to do such terrible things.”
“What happened? Why did she change?”
“We don’t know. She liked to go out walking alone, and one day she was really late getting home. I was too little to remember it, but Mom and Dad were worried sick. The police were organizing a search party when she finally showed up. After that, she was ... well, different.” Sarah sighed. “Hunter was with her, and he changed too. He’d always been protective of her before, but afterward he wouldn’t let anyone near her.”
“And Angel?” asked Mika.
“She was the same, except she was scared of Lucy. But she didn’t go with them on the day it happened.” Sarah stroked Angel’s back. “After that, Lucy knew stuff, weird stuff. And everything made her mad. After Mom and Dad tried to get help for her, she trapped us in those pictures.” Sarah paused. “I know you call Cloud Angel now, but you were the angel when you came into that room. I thought we’d be there forever, and then there you were.”
“I’m not an angel. Just ask my parents.” Mika smiled.
Sarah laughed, and the dog squirmed in her arms. Angel reached out with claws retracted and batted his nose.
“What are you going to do now?” asked Mika. “Your house is burning down.”
When Sarah turned to watch the blaze, her face glowed red. “We were the ones who burned it. Too much evil has been done in that house. We’re going away to start over.”
“But don’t you need money? A place to live?”
“We’ll be fine.” Sarah turned back to Mika. “Before I forget, Dad wants me to tell you that we’ll keep in contact, in case you ever need us. We want to repay you for saving us. Anything you want. It’s a promise from our whole family.”
“Sarah.” A man’s voice came from the darkness. “Time to go.”
Sarah stroked Angel’s back. “And what about you, Cloud?”
Angel meowed to Sarah, then jumped back into Mika’s arms.
“So she choos
es you,” said Sarah with a sad smile. “I’ll miss her, but I’m glad too. It’s the way things should be.” Her voice dropped lower as she continued. “There’s just one more thing. The dog, Hunter, he isn’t evil. I think he saw what happened to change Lucy, and he was sad because he couldn’t save her. He loved her so much.”
Mika nodded. It made sense.
“If he’s still alive, if you see him, will you help him? Please?”
“I will. I promise.”
“Thank you.” Sarah faded back into the night. “Goodbye.”
“Thanks, Mika. We’ll be in touch,” her dad said from the darkness.
A chorus of goodbyes fell around Mika and Angel. Then silence.
Mika and Aimee looked for Hunter all that fall and winter. They left food out for him at the fort, but there was never any sign he’d survived the bridge’s collapse. The food disappeared, but the tracks in the snow were always too small to be his.
On a Saturday afternoon in the spring, Mika took Angel to the fort with her. When they came to the fork in the trail, she changed direction to sit on the foundation log that she’d clung to in the flood.
She sighed. The river seemed so different without the bridge. Beside her, Angel mewed, then started washing her paws. Mika stared down at the slow moving current through half-closed eyes. The sun felt so good on her skin after the long winter.
“We’re having our first picnic with Grandma tomorrow, Angel,” she murmured. “I’m so glad she moved here. She’s so fun, and you know, grandmotherly. And Dad’s so different now that he doesn’t worry about her.”
When Angel didn’t mew in reply, Mika glanced down. The cat had frozen with one paw up, her eyes focused across the river.
She followed Angel’s gaze to see a familiar black form detach from the forest shadows.
Hunter!
He was alive!
The dog paused to watch her, his eyes wary and suspicious. Finally, he seemed to accept that Mika wasn’t a threat and jumped down the riverbank to get a drink.
“Hunter,” Mika called. “Hunter, come here.” The dog could easily cross the river now; it was much shallower. He’d hardly have to swim.
Hunter raised his head.
Mika grabbed her backpack and pulled out the sandwich she’d packed for lunch.
“Come, Hunter. Ham sandwich.” She smelled it. “Mmmmm!” She broke off a piece and gave it to Angel. “Come, Hunter. You can have the rest.”
Hunter took a step backwards. Mika jumped to her feet and slid down to the water, holding the sandwich in front of her. “We’re not like her,” she pleaded. “We’ll always be nice to you. I promise.”
Hunter took another step back, and Mika felt tears prickle her eyes. Was there anything she could say or do to convince him? In a moment, he’d be gone.
But at least he didn’t look too thin. He must find enough to eat in the forest. He is a good hunter, she realized.
The dog leapt up the bank and loped into the woods without looking back. Mika watched him disappear, then climbed back to Angel. The little cat was finishing her ham. When Mika sat beside her, she mewed for more. The girl broke off a generous piece, then rewrapped the rest of the sandwich.
“It’s sad, Angel. But I do understand him. After Lucinda, how can he trust again?”
When Angel was finished her second piece of ham, Mika scooped her up and snuggled her close.
“Well, it looks like it’s just you and me now. All your other family is gone. That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Angel rubbed her cheek against Mika’s, then she licked the end of Mika’s nose and meowed.
Mika laughed. “Yes, it’s okay with me too.”
Copyright © Angela Dorsey, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor: Allister Thompson
Design: Courtney Horner
Epub: Carmen Giraudy
Cataloguing and Publication Information Available from Library and Archives Canada
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and Livres Canada Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
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The Time Thief Page 10
