Crossroads

by Wendy Saunders

  Her pace quickened as she stalked angrily into the town proper and headed for Main Street. She could have blamed her stubbornness and irritation for the fact she didn’t immediately notice that something was different about Mercy. She passed the town offices and turned the corner heading towards the museum. Gradually slowing her pace, her brow folding into a puzzled frown as her mind began to process something that should have been glaringly obvious the minute she stepped foot into town. She stopped abruptly across the street from the Pub, just past the Bailey’s convenience store and scanned her surroundings.

  Where were all the people?

  Olivia crossed into the street, slowly stopping in the middle of the usually busy road which ran the length of Main Street. There was nothing, no cars, no traffic and most importantly, no people. She turned a slow circle scanning the sidewalks and shops. Nothing, she was the only person there; it was like she’d woken up from a coma and found herself in the middle of a Zombie apocalypse.

  So Hades had kept his word, she must be in the Otherworld but why did it look like an exact abandoned replica of her town?

  Confused she crossed back to the Bailey’s store and tried the door. It was unlocked, it swung open easily and she stepped into the cheery little store. The florescent lights glowed brightly highlighting row upon row of fully stocked and untouched shelves. She stepped behind the counter and found the register fully loaded with cash. There was a small TV behind the counter also and although already turned on it simply showed static. She changed the channels but each one was the same, as if there were no TV stations left broadcasting.

  A little freaked out Olivia stepped back out onto the street and walked a couple of blocks. Every door she tried was the same, unlocked; each room beyond pristine and undisturbed with not one single person in sight.

  ‘Hello?’ she called out as she wandered down the street. ‘Hello, is anyone here?’

  Nothing but silence.

  She noticed for the first time that the light hadn’t changed. She’d been walking for hours, in the real world the sun would have reached its midday peak and then started to descend towards the horizon and into night. But here it remained the same, covered by the strange swirls of cloud and bathing the town in a pale constant light with a faint bluish cast to it.

  Trying to think about the problem logically she unconsciously chewed her lip. If Theo had been pulled into the Otherworld and ended up here, where the hell would he be? She tried to put herself in his place. If it’d been her pulled through the gateway what was the first thing she’d do? she asked herself and the answer was simple, head to the place that was most familiar to her.

  Her house…

  If Theo were to head to the most familiar place it would be her house. In fact, even if he didn’t realize he’d been pulled into the Otherworld that would be the first place he would go looking for her.

  She turned the corner intent on heading straight for the lake when she stopped abruptly. It would take ages to walk to her house from here. Wishing she had her banged up old Camero, which she’d affectionately named Dolly, she scanned her surroundings. Her gaze finally landed on a shiny red bicycle which was propped against the side of a small shop.

  ‘That’ll do,’ she murmured as she grabbed the handles and swung her leg over the frame.

  Stuffing her coat into the embarrassingly girly basket at the front she set off towards the lake.

  She cycled down the block but as she turned the corner she skidded to a stop, her mouth hanging open in confusion. She turned back to look behind her to the street she’d just come from but the woods now stood at her back. Frowning she turned back to the sight in front of her. It was her house, it should have taken her at least an hour to cycle there yet it had taken her no more than a few moments and one turn of a corner.

  Climbing down off the bike she pushed it towards the front steps of her porch. So strange, she was beginning to feel a little like she’d fallen down a rabbit hole. Nothing seemed to make sense.

  She leaned the bike against the side of the house and trotted up the steps, already calling out to Theo as she opened the door and stepped into the familiar hallway.

  ‘Theo?’

  She headed for the dining room which had become his studio. The room was silent and still. No longer holding the devastation which had occurred when Theo’s dead wife had viciously materialized in her house, the room was once again neat and ordered. His art supplies were neatly stacked on the table with pots containing brushes and tools fastidiously lined up against the wall. Many completed canvases were stacked around the room and pencil sketches were tacked to the walls. There was not one single portrait of Mary anywhere; all of Theo’s pictures were once again as he had originally painted them.

  Wandering back out of the room she headed for the library, her favorite room. After her mother had attacked her and ransacked the room in her pursuit of Hester’s Grimoire Olivia had not bothered to put it back as it originally was, opting instead to neatly stack the books and paperwork around the room while she sorted through hundreds of years of accumulated family history and books on magic. But unlike the real word, here the room was once again as she remembered it from her childhood.

  Turning her back deliberately on the room she checked the kitchen and then headed up the stairs still calling out to Theo as she went but there was nothing. The house was empty.

  As she slowly moved back down the stairs her gaze snagged on Beau’s leash that had been dropped on the floor by the open front door. She knew Beau wouldn’t be there, she’d left him behind in the real world but the house still felt strange without him. She only hoped someone was looking after him for her while she was gone. Sinking down on the bottom tread of the stairs Olivia stared out of the front door absently.

  They would have realized by now that they were missing. Had they figured it out? she wondered or did they believe that both she and Theo were dead? She sighed as her brow folded into a frown, wishing she had some way to contact her friends.

  She stared out of the open front door, so lost in her thoughts it took her a moment to fully comprehend what her eyes were seeing. She stood abruptly and stepped closer to the open door. Directly opposite, across the grassy expanse of land in front of her house which led to the edge of the woods, a small wooden cottage had appeared. Nestled at the edge of the tree line a small curl of smoke rose from the chimney giving it a welcoming homely appeal.

  That hadn’t been there when she arrived she thought curiously, she would have noticed. She moved to step over the threshold of her house onto the porch but paused, suddenly turning back to look behind her into the house. She felt something brush against her arm and just for a moment she could have sworn she had heard Jake’s voice.

  Shaking off the strange feeling she stepped out of the door and headed towards the strange little cottage.

  Jake shivered as he crossed Olivia’s doorway, feeling as if someone had just stepped over his grave. Unwrapping his scarf and removing his hat he closed the door behind him.

  ‘Roni?’ he called out.

  ‘In here,’ a muffled voice replied from the library.

  ‘I thought I might find you in here,’ he frowned as he looked around at the stacks of boxes which she was filling with paperwork and books. ‘What on earth are you doing?’

  ‘Well ultimately I’m going to be organizing all this for Olivia,’ she looked around at the boxes she’d already filled, ‘it’s an absolute mess in here. Olivia and I had already discussed sorting through all of this so she could clean and redecorate.’

  ‘So while she’s gone you’re going to clean up her mess?’ his mouth curved in amusement.

  ‘No, not exactly,’ she tucked her hair behind her ear and frowned, ‘well…yes I mean, that is a byproduct but you’re missing the point.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘There are hundreds of years of books on magic and lore in here. Some of these books I’ve never even heard of before, I’
m willing to bet they’re one of a kind. I doubt even Olivia fully understands the significance of what she’s got here. These are the most comprehensive resources on the occult I have ever seen, I don’t know how they managed to squeeze so much into one room.’

  ‘So you decided to catalog it all?’

  ‘Laugh all you like, but it’s like a balm to my frazzled soul,’ she blew out a deep breath and turned her serious blue eyes on him. ‘It makes me happy when things are categorized and in alphabetical order, it helps my stress levels.’

  Jake bit back a smile, she was so cute.

  ‘I need to feel like I’m doing something,’ Veronica sighed as she dropped down on the arm of the tatty old sofa.

  ‘I know’ Jake replied seriously as he stepped closer.

  ‘I just figured that somewhere in amongst all this stuff there has to be an answer, a solution,’ she shrugged helplessly. ‘Some way to cross the Veil and help them or at the very least allow us to communicate with them.’

  ‘That’s actually a very good idea,’ Jake frowned thoughtfully, picking up a book at random he leafed through it idly, ‘have you found anything helpful?’

  ‘Not yet’ she shook her head, ‘I was just going to pack this stuff up and move it back to my apartment to sort through. I don’t like being out here by myself so close to the lake, I know the gateway’s closed…but still.’

  ‘That’s understandable.’

  ‘What are you doing here anyway?’ she frowned. ‘You’re not still checking up on me are you?’

  ‘No,’ his mouth curved again in amusement as he dropped the book back into the pile. He knew she got really annoyed when she thought he was checking up on her. He probably didn’t need to mention that she hadn’t been out of his sight much since the gateway opened in the first place. ‘I was just picking up the spare bag of food for Beau. I figured I’d use that up before I go and buy more.

  Her scowl softened at the mention of Olivia and Theo’s cute little pup.

  ‘How is he settling in at your place?’

  ‘He keeps crying for them,’ Jake scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully, ‘but he’s slowly adjusting. Problem is, he shouldn’t really be left on his own and I can’t really keep him with me all the time.’

  ‘If you need to, you can drop him by my place or the museum,’ she looked up at him. ‘I’ll watch him when you’re busy.’

  ‘I might just do that’ he murmured as he studied her face. ‘Have you spoken with Mayor Burnett at all?’

  ‘A few times’ Veronica nodded, ‘mostly just about things concerning the museum, when it comes to Olivia and Theo she’s still not very forthcoming with information. She says she can’t give us any more details because everything that is going to happen is supposed to happen in a particular order or something like that, I don’t really understand. I still can’t believe she’s Theo’s sister and that he doesn’t know.’

  ‘I know’ Jake agreed, ‘it’s really weird that she’s his younger sister but that she’s actually physically older than him.’

  ‘I’m really worried about them’ Veronica sighed, ‘they’ve been gone weeks, surely we would’ve heard something by now?’

  ‘I’m worried too,’ Jake stepped closer as Veronica stood, gazing up into his eyes.

  ‘I feel like we should be doing something’ she frowned, ‘I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything from Charles?’

  Jake shook his head.

  ‘Charles has gone to ground, along with Davis and Danae. No one’s heard from them since the day after we closed the gateway.’

  ‘Even Danae?’ She was slightly surprised that Olivia’s young aunt had disappeared too, after all she was a permanent fixture in the community, although everyone knew her by the name deputy Helga Hanson. ‘Has she not been into work?’

  ‘She took some personal time’ he replied. ‘Mac hasn’t heard from her since then.’

  ‘What do you think they’re up to?’

  ‘I have no idea’ he shrugged, ‘probably trying to track down Olive’s mom.’

  ‘I don’t think so’ Veronica frowned, ‘he seemed so genuinely concerned about Olivia, I can’t believe he would just leave her trapped in the Otherworld. Perhaps he is trying to figure out a way to reach her and Theo?’

  ‘Then why exclude us?’ Jake replied irritably, ‘we’ve all proved ourselves. If he is looking for a way to reach them then he should be including us.’

  ‘Maybe he has his reasons.’

  ‘Look Roni,’ he stepped closer unconsciously running his hands down her arms in a comforting and familiar gesture, ‘I know Charles Connell is an extremely charming charismatic man but first and foremost he is a very dangerous witch who is hell bent on finding his wife and killing her.’

  ‘It sounds so bad when you say it like that.’

  ‘There’s no use in trying to pretty it up,’ Jake’s serious blue eyes bore into hers, ‘he is a man capable of terrible things, you can’t trust him.’

  ‘Now you sound like Mac.’

  ‘Well Mac has a point, several of them actually and he cares a great deal about Olivia.’

  ‘I guess’ she breathed reluctantly, ‘I just want them back.’

  ‘I do too’ he muttered as he stared down at her, his gaze dropping involuntarily to her soft full lips.

  ‘I should go’ she murmured softly, ‘it’s going to get dark soon.’

  ‘Yeah’ he whispered, his gaze locked on hers.

  Shaking her head lightly she stepped back out of his arms.

  ‘I should help you,’ Jake cleared his throat awkwardly, ‘with the boxes.’

  ‘Thank you’ she smiled genuinely.

  They worked quickly and in silence until they had several boxes loaded up into her car. The temperature had started to warm up with spring just around the corner and the snow had finally begun to melt, leaving sparse patches of it dotted across the town. Jake retrieved the large bag of dog food and locking the door up behind him he trotted down the porch steps towards Veronica.

  ‘I’ll follow you back and help you unload them.’

  ‘You don’t have to do that.’

  ‘Roni you live on the fourth floor of your apartment building, it’ll take you forever to get these boxes up to your apartment on your own.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you get home to Beau?’ she frowned, ‘he’s been on his own a long time.’

  ‘We can swing by my place first and get him, then I can help you get the boxes up to your place and you can cook me dinner to say thank you,’ he grinned.

  ‘What if I don’t want to cook?’ her mouth curved into an amused smile.

  ‘Then we can get take out,’ he replied with boyish charm. ‘Come on Roni, I’m starving, have pity on a poor overworked and dedicated public servant.’

  ‘Fine’ she laughed, ‘we can pick something up on the way back.’

  Grinning one last time Jake headed to his car and loaded up the bag of food before climbing in and firing the engine.

  They both pulled out of Olivia’s drive and headed back towards town in the pale dying rays of light, unaware that at the edge of the woods in the shadow of the trees, a tall dark figure watched them silently with dead eyes.

  Chapter 3.

  Olivia’s eyes narrowed curiously as she trotted down the front steps of her porch, her attention now fixed on the small wooden cabin at the edge of the trees. There was something comforting about it she decided as she moved closer, cutting through the long grass. A small tendril of smoke rose from the chimney giving the impression of a cozy hearth and a hearty meal. Everything in her yearned towards that building she realized with a jolt. It felt like it was calling to her, welcoming her home. Strange, she frowned silently, there had never been a cottage set at the edge of the trees by her wood yet it looked as if it belonged, as if somehow it had always been there.

  Shaking her head in an attempt to clear her mind she approached the strange little house. If s
he had to place it in a time period she would have said sometime around the beginning of the 18th Century, as it looked like early colonial cabins she’d seen in the historical records. It was just one level with a low pitched timber roof and overhanging porch. As she neared the front door it opened suddenly and a woman stepped into the doorway, watching Olivia calmly with serious whiskey colored eyes.

  Olivia’s stomach clenched and her mouth went dry at the sight of the woman’s familiar face. She stepped up onto the porch and stopped in front of her, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  ‘Hester?’

  The woman smiled in amusement.

  ‘No Olivia,’ her voice was smooth as honey and filled with affection. ‘I’m not Hester.’

  Understanding suddenly dawned in her mind.

  ‘You’re Bridget aren’t you?’ Olivia asked softly, ‘you’re Hester’s sister.’

  ‘Yes I am’ she studied Olivia warmly, ‘and I have been waiting a long time for you.’

  ‘Waiting for me?’

  ‘Why don’t you come in?’ Bridget turned and moved back into the room, giving Olivia no choice but to follow.

  Olivia stepped inside and glanced around curiously.

  Although there was only one room it radiated a warmth and coziness that Olivia instantly wanted to wrap around herself like a blanket. To one side tucked away neatly was a wooden cot covered with a patchwork quilt. At one end of the room was a large stone fireplace, and hanging from the ceiling above it were several bundles of herbs which were drying out in the heat. A pot of something delicious simmered on a large hook suspended over the flickering flames, filling the air with a tantalizing scent. In the center of the room was a wooden table and chairs and along the edge of the room stood what could only be described as a very basic food preparation area when compared to the modern hi tech kitchens of her time.