"I'm older than you!” she retorted.
"Only by a couple of minutes. Besides, you're a girl."
"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked, tossing her head back.
Mel laughed. "Not a thing, but if I don't want to tell you, one excuse is as good as another."
Alp saw he was starting his stubborn act and decided to change the subject. "Did you get the loot?"
"Of course I did." He sat up and started to reach into the inside pocket of his jacket when he noticed the rip in his right pant's leg. Circling the rip was a large crimson stain. His eyes widened, and the color in his face drained.
"Oh shit, I'm bleeding!"
"Where?" Alp asked as she scurried onto her hands and knees to take a look. Seeing the large stain, she took immediate control. "Lie back and let me take a look," she said as she pushed him back.
Obediently, Mel did as Alp instructed. "Is it bad, sis?" He never called her sis unless he wanted something or when he was in trouble.
"I don't know yet, give me a minute." She reached into her jacket for her red bandana and pulled the trouser leg up. She gently wiped the blood away. The wound was less than an inch long, but it was deep. It continued to bleed profusely, a fresh trickle of blood already running down his leg.
She bunched up the bandana and pressed firmly against the wound. She continued to hold it there for a couple of minutes, but when she removed it, the trickle quickly reappeared.
"It won't stop bleeding," she said as she re-applied the pressure. After several more minutes, she checked again with the same results.
"How's it look?" Mel asked, staring at her with wide eyes.
"It'll be alright," Alp replied without conviction. She folded the blood-soaked bandana looking for a dry part. Then, she noticed the blood on the bandana hadn't clotted either. She stared at it for several seconds. At that moment, she knew her brother was a bleeder.
She looked up at Mel's worried face and tried to smile. ''I'm afraid we've got a problem, little brother"—a name she never used except when they both were in trouble.
"I know," Mel replied, returning her efforts to smile with his crooked grin. "I've known something was wrong with my blood for a while."
Alphenius noticed the blood trickling down his leg and placed her thumb over the cut while she reached into her pocket, hunting for something else she could use to bandage the leg.
"You knew?"
"Yeah. I skinned my knee a while back. It took forever to heal. I just thought I'd grow out of it." He looked back at his leg. "I guess I haven't."
Alphenius stared hard at her brother. "Why didn't you...?" She stopped herself. The question wasn't just why didn't he tell her; how come she couldn't know it herself? She'd always figured their thoughts were pretty much an open book to each other. Evidently, Mel had learned some way to keep her outside of some portion of his mind. Had he learned to do that from those books too, or simply known it?
"What are we going to do?" Mel's question brought her back to the present.
"I don't know yet. Give me a minute to think!" She snapped. There must be some way to get this damn thing to stop bleeding, she thought. Hell, to begin with, it wasn't that big of a wound. Stop bleeding leg, do you hear? She looked sternly at Mel's leg. I want to play in the tree house, and you're ruining it. Now stop it!
"Sis, the sun's going down. It'll be getting cold soon."
"I know, I know. Do you have anything we can tie around your leg? This bandana is soaked."
"Yeah, I think so." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a matching bandana. "Finally remembered to bring my own." She took the bright cloth from him. She took her hand from the wound so she could fold the bandana as she wanted. "I'm going to tie this as snugly as I can around your leg. It should help until we can get home. Maybe Sarrah will know what to do?"
"Tie it tight, sis. I'm really going to bleed when I start walking."
Alphenius used the bloody bandana to wipe the wound. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, so she used the fresh cloth to clean the leg thoroughly of the blood. It wasn't her eyes at all. The wound was gone. She stared at the spot on the leg where it had been bleeding so profusely only minutes before. No wound, not even a scab, and only a barely noticeable scar.
"Let's go, sis," Mel said impatiently. "It's going to be cold soon."
She handed him back his bandana. "Ok, let's go," she said as she stood up.
"Hey, don't get angry. I was only kidding. Bandage me up and let's go."
"You don't need a bandage. I've already fixed you."
"You've what?" Mel looked at his sister and then at his leg. "What happened? Where did it go?" He continued to look at his leg in disbelief and then reached out with one finger as though he was afraid to touch the magic spot.
"I healed it, little brother," Alphenius said. "No more boo-boo."
Mel looked back at his sister. "How'd you do that?"
"Ah, now that's a secret meant for us wizards." Alphenius mocked him. "You're still a bit too young for such knowledge."
Ten Percent
They made the last fourth of the trip home in the dark. As they approached the cabin, Mel motioned Alp to follow him. They skirted along the fence line of Sarrah's property until they could see the faint outline of the tree that supported their new hideaway.
They climbed through one of the many breaks in the fence. Mel took his sister's arm and pulled her closer. "We can't stay long," he whispered, "but there's something I've got to do before we go in. Come on."
Together they climbed through the split railed fence until they reached a gnarly oak that served as the foundation for their treehouse. Alp estimated the tree had to be at least seventy-five years old, with a trunk that was over four feet wide. They shimmied up the rope ladder into the tree house that they'd built from scrap lumber they'd "borrowed" from surrounding farms over the past year. Once inside, Mel covered the lone window and lit the kerosene lantern they had stolen from a neighbor's barn. He turned to Alphenius and tossed her a bulky black wallet.
"Here, count our take today. Betcha it's over five hundred." He then turned and climbed up the tree to their "second story." In a few minutes, he was back, carrying a small cigar box, tightly wrapped with thick rubber bands.
"Was I right?" He asked.
"Yeah," Alp replied with a note of awe. "Six hundred and twenty-seven dollars in cash, mostly tens and twenties."
"Okay. Now count out sixty-three dollars, hand it to me and count what you have left." He continued to remove the bands from the box.
"What's going on, Mel? What are you doing?" Alp asked as she handed him the money.
"I'm taking our cut—our percentage. Ten percent off the top."
Now it was Alp's turned to look horrified. "You can't do that. What if Sarrah finds out? She will find out, and then we'll be dead, but we won't just be dead. We'll die a horrible death. She'll skin us alive. Mel, you've got to be crazy."
"Crazy as a fox," Mel replied as he opened the cigar box. Inside were neat rows of money, each segregated by denomination. "Listen, sis. I'm taking a big risk by sharing this with you, but it's our money. I'm doing this for us. Sarrah's not going to look after us—not forever. As the old saying goes, "we've got places to go and people to see." We're going to need some traveling money. It's not like we don't deserve it. We take all the risks. Ten percent is a very low commission for this line of work. Now, I'm trusting you to keep this a secret, okay? You're right about one thing: Sarrah will kill us if she finds out, and I imagine it'll be a far worse death than being skinned alive."
He placed the new money in their respective piles, then taking a small stub of a pencil from the box, he wrote down the amount on the back of the lid.
"How much do we have?" Alp asked timidly.
Mel closed the box and started circling it with the rubber bands. He looked up from his work long enough to give his sister one of his most pleasant smiles. "Seven hundred and eighty-two dol
lars." He replied with a touch of pride. He finished securing the box and started to rise, but Alp stopped him.
She placed her hand on his knee and asked, "What do you mean about going places and seeing folks?" She whispered as though fearful Sarrah would hear the question despite the long distance they were from the cabin.
Mel sat back down. He studied his sister for several seconds before replying. "You know we're not like other people, don't you? We've talked about it before. Other kids don't grow up as fast as we do. We're also a lot smarter. Obviously, from what we learned today, we've got other talents we're just beginning to learn. I've figured out a couple of other things too." He moved closer to his sister so he could see her eyes.
"You know how we can tell what each other is thinking most of the time?"
"Yeah," Alp replied. "I used to think it was all the time but it's obvious you've learned how to keep secrets from me."
"Now don't get defensive about that. You've got the skill too. You have as much power as I've got. It's just channeled in a different direction. You're just more trusting and so, haven't needed to develop it. One day, when it's important to you, you'll find it. Anyway, other kids can't read each other’s thoughts, least not as far as I can tell."
"Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. I guess it has something to do with us being twins."
"Maybe, but I don't think other twins can do it, least not as well as we can. That's not all." Mel leaned forward, so his face was only inches from Alp's. "We're not alone. There are others like us out there, somewhere."
Alp's eyes grew larger as she considered what he'd said. "Nah, there was only two of us inside mom. I remember that much."
"Not like us – not like twins but like us in other ways. Kin, so to speak; kids that are growing fast and learning faster than most other kids. Kids who can talk to each other without using their mouths. They're talking to me, sorta. I can sense them, can you?"
Alp considered the question for a minute. "No." She hesitated, "I don't think so. Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I can tell they're there. It's getting stronger every day. I don't know where they are—not yet, but I will. And when I do, we're going to find them. I don't think they want to be where they are. When I sense them, there's sadness. But they're our kindred, and we owe it to them to help them. That's where we're going."
He tapped the box of money. "This will come in mighty handy." Mel stood up and walked over to the tree trunk. "Remember, sis. It's really important we keep this a secret. If Sarrah finds out, it'll be all over for both of us, and for our kindred. You're going to need to learn to guard your thoughts. I'm not sure, but I think Sarrah is trying to learn how to read us. We can't afford for her to find out about our plans."
He climbed the tree to the second level. When he returned, Alp was still sitting where she'd been when he left. Mel picked up the lantern and walked over to her. "Don't you worry about it; we're going to go together."
"When, Mel?" Alp asked as she stood up.
"Soon, little sis, soon." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He'd never done that before, and it startled Alp.
"I love you, sis. I love all my little sisters." He turned and started toward the ladder, snuffing out the lantern as he went.
Sarrah stared out the kitchen window studying the dull glow of the tree house. They'd be coming in soon. She breathed a sigh of relief. They'd stayed out longer than usual. It could be a good or bad sign. It was hard to tell, but the fact Mel had taken them by the tree house, despite the hour, was hopeful. She'd have to give them a hard time for it all just to make it look good, but she'd keep it short, so it wouldn't ruin the evening. After all, it was a special occasion.
Sarrah finished with the details of the task before her and wiped her hands on her apron. She pulled the apron over her head and hung it on the back door. She limped into the living room, wincing in pain as she went. The past two years had been hard on her. She figured it was the curse of the devil getting her back for fiddling with his magic and bringing the twins into the world, but whatever it was, Sarrah's glands had gone haywire. She'd never been able to brag about having a slender figure. Her family had always favored the Rubenesque type body, but shortly after delivering the twins, her weight had skyrocketed. She'd finally stabilized about six months ago, but not until she'd gained an additional seventy-two pounds over and above what her pregnancy weight had been.
As if that wasn't enough punishment, not long after her weight had finally leveled off, ulcers began popping out on her legs. Several of them still festered along the backs of her calves, which made walking arduous and painful.
It also made Sarrah even more dependent on the children, a fact that often kept her awake at night. She knew better than to trust the little beggars, especially Mel. Within the year, she figured she'd have to start locking them in their rooms at night, not so much to keep them from running off as to protect her from Mel's devious mind. The day she would regret the most would be when she'd have to split them up, keeping one of them hostage at all times to assure the other's return. It would be too bad because she'd seen them work together, and she knew they were far more productive as a team. So far, however, she'd not been able to come up with another solution to ensure her investment and her safety.
Sarrah waddled slowly over to the bentwood rocker that sat next to the fire and carefully lowered her large carcass into its comfort. The old wood groaned and creaked but held faithfully. Sarrah reached out and stirred the embers trying to nurse a little more heat from the dying fire. She'd run out of wood hours ago, and it was just too painful to walk all the way to the wood bin out back. When Mel came in, she'd send him for more.
It seemed like she was never comfortable anymore. If it wasn't the boils bubbling her soft flesh, it was the flames of arthritis searing through her joints. If not one of those, she'd be shivering from the cold mountain air or burning up from one of her many hot flashes. Yes, the devil had visited her and had decided to stay. That was okay. She'd had her children anyway, and the devil could be damned. She chuckled at the thought. Guess he's one soul sure enough damned.
She rocked quietly in front of the dying embers, pulling the wool lap blanket over her legs. They'd be in soon, and she'd get Alphenius to fix her a hot toddy with some Irish whiskey in it and send Melaenis out for the wood. Then, they'd eat the stew left over from the other night. After that, she'd spring the surprise on them.
Soon Sarrah heard the loud laughter of the two children as they came up the drive. Cautious Melaenis had circled them around to cover their trip to the tree house. Sarrah smiled to herself. Such a smart little boy for one so young—so devious. Ol' Sarrah will have to be careful of her youngest child—must keep on her toes and stay one trick ahead of him.
The twins clattered noisily up the porch steps before opening the front door. Sarrah closed her eyes lightly, leaving just the faintest slits through which to look. As the two children entered the room, they noticed she was sleeping and caught the door in time to keep it from slamming.
"Ssssh," Melaenis said as he tiptoed over to the fire. "The ol' witch is asleep. Maybe we can convince her we've been here for a while."
"I doubt it," Alphenius answered in a whisper. "Go ahead and wake her, and let's get it over with. Besides, I want to show her how well we did."
Melaenis shook Sarrah's shoulder lightly until she began to stir. He then took a couple of steps back in case she awoke with a temper.
"Umph, what the...oh, it's you two." Sarrah groggily rubbed her eyes. "It's about damn time you showed up. Where have you been, golly-lagging in the woods I dare say while your sweet, sickly mother freezes in her own home."
Melaenis tucked his chin towards his neck and shook his head. "No ma'am, we've been hard at work. It just took longer than usual on account of it's the off-season for rich marks. But we got one, that's for sure. Alp, show her how well we did."
Alphenius laid the wad of money in Sarrah's lap and jumped back a couple of steps
too. "It's one of our biggest one-day takes of the year. And it all came from one mark. There're five hundred and sixty-four dollars in all. Not bad for the off-season," she said proudly.
Sarrah counted the money twice, her eyes gleaming in the pale light that came from the lanterns over the fireplace. "Might be able to get the electric company to turn the lights back on with all this. Yes, it's a right fair day’s work. Any trouble?" She stared straight into Melaenis's eyes.
"Nothing that we couldn't handle." He stared back at her without a break. "the same guard that almost nailed us earlier this year, got a bit huffy with us talking to the mark, but we took care of it."
Sarrah stuffed the money into the pocket of the wool sweater she was wearing. "Well, you just be careful up there. I can't afford to bail either one of you out of jail.
"Alphenius, how 'bout a nice hot toddy for your decrepit mother. Two fingers of the old Irish, don't go trying to cheat me."
"I only make it weak for your health. The stuff will rot your stomach," Alphenius replied, then, seeing that the stick Sarrah used for stirring the fire was within her reach, backed away another step.
"Never you mind my health. It's atrocious, and I know it, but the whiskey helps, by God it does. I'll tell you what isn't good for it. That's sitting in this wind trap of a house without any firewood. Melaenis, get your butt outside and bring in a couple of loads. After you fix my toddy, Alphenius, get a fire started under the stew. I don't mind eating leftovers, but I refuse to eat them cold. Then, we'll have a special surprise to celebrate the day."
Alphenius and Melaenis looked at each other, startled that their day's take would have such a positive effect. Not only had neither one been beaten for their delay, but Sarrah even promised a surprise. Not that either one expected to see anything come of the promise, but it was comforting to know she had considered it.
Both children bustled around the cabin tending to their various chores, each giving the rocking chair a wide berth. They were aware that so far no one had been cuffed, and so, they treated Sarrah like a bear trap with a hair-trigger spring. After they finished eating their meal, and they'd cleaned up the few dishes, Sarrah called Melaenis over to her chair. He stood the customary three feet away, close enough to appear unafraid, yet far enough for one quick hop to take him out of her reach.
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