“Melissa?” He sat up when he spoke my name. “What’s going on?” He twisted his face in confusion when he saw the terror in my eyes.
“Your brothers aren’t in their room.” I told him, and his own widened in surprise.
“What?” I moved back as he climbed off of the couch, walking briskly into the kitchen to look for them. “Tyler? Trenton?” I rose to my feet when he returned to the living room. “I don’t know where they went.” He breathed. “Do you think…?” His voice trailed away as he glanced at the front door; and I looked at him, suddenly terrified. Without a thought, I dashed to the door and threw it open, ignoring Caleb’s shouts as I ran outside. “Melissa! You can’t go out there by yourself!” He exclaimed as he raced after me, but I was already too far ahead. A gust of wind lashed at my face as I stood in the freezing cold, looking frantically around for them.
If they had gone outside, they couldn’t have gotten too far.
“Trenton! Tyler!” I called out for them, my hair whipping around my head as the storm swirled around me; and the hail that fell from the sky clung to my clothes. Everything was so white; I could barely see anything in front of me. “Trent—” I started to cry out for them again, but a bright light caught my attention. I could only stand there, gazing at it in the stormy night. And I stole a step back when it drew closer, growing in the graying fog. A loud noise suddenly split the night in two—not the screaming of the wind—no.
It was something different—something else I recognized all too well.
I leapt out of the way as a white pickup truck sped down the road; and it screeched to a halt, the driver staring at me incredulously as he left his seat.
“Melissa? What were you doing in the middle of the street? I could have killed you!” The old man spoke; and at once, I wished I had stayed inside.
“Mr. Oakman…” His face softened, as if he’d realized how afraid I was.
“Are you all right?” He asked me. I stayed quiet, not really sure how to answer. But something rose inside me—and I wasn’t sure if it was stupidity or determination.
“Chelsea Banneker…” I panted her name. “What happened to her?” His expression fell away from his face, revealing a solemnness I’d never seen in him before.
“Come with me…” He turned away from me and climbed back into the driver’s seat; and against everything inside me that screamed for me to run away, I followed.
I stood in the doorway as I watched him drag his feet across the floor and sink into his armchair, shivering at the thought of what I’d done.
He was going to kill me—if he could. After all that happened, I wasn’t sure if that was possible—killing a ghost.
“Are you coming?” I hesitated at his words, but closed the door and stepped inside. “Do you like stories, Melissa?”
“Depends on how they end.” I answered, standing beside the couch that sat across from him; and he chuckled to himself.
“You’re a clever girl.” I stared at him as his voice slipped into an accent I couldn’t distinguish. “Sit down. I think this one will interest you.” I did as he asked, refusing to take my eyes off of him; and he looked down at the ground, losing himself in the darkness. “There was…a world where all things that have ever been imagined existed—living, breathing creatures. And in that world, eight kingdoms stood—forged in earth, air, water, fire, ice, wood, aether, and metal. The creatures walked the lands free—with wills and ambitions of their own; but the slaying of the most innocent of beings incurred an everlasting curse on the children of the earth, binding their souls with that of the creatures for all eternity. This continued for thousands of years until the world was stricken by great disaster: earthquakes, fires, blizzards, floods. It was not long before the inhabitants of those eight kingdoms realized that they were caused by people. This was strange, you see,” he glanced up at me, “no one had ever gained power like that before, and no one ever would again. Threatened by their unexplained power, the others sent them away to a place beyond their reach—a place that they could call their own. And after six years, twenty-eight cities arose—each born from the marriage of two of the eight kingdoms; and in the city of earth and water, the first child of this disaster was born to the House of Torrowin, a noble family that hailed from the earth kingdom. But her mother, a former subject of the water kingdom, gave the child a name from the old language—a language, that when spoken by one touched by the Rytaronea, tears the veil between worlds itself.”
“What was her name?” My voice trembled in my throat. And as he lifted his blue eyes from the floor, my heart stopped beating in my chest.
“Elynea Torrowin—the moon’s shadow. Your mother—my daughter—she knew what you would become.”
“But you said it was a story.” I interrupted him, finding myself in a place far beyond my understanding.
I wasn’t a ghost—I wasn’t dead. I was something far more terrifying. And the man that I had lived all my years next door to had been watching me—protecting me.
“In every story, there is truth.” He said simply, and I couldn’t contest it. But then, another question came to mind; and I needed to know the answer.
“Why did they leave me here?” I asked him, desperate and confused.
“The curse of your father’s people is in your blood. The creature meant to be your kindred spirit was chosen the day of your birth. But when your parents learned that it would be Kana’ti, they were afraid.” He continued, but it only puzzled me more.
“Kana’ti?” I repeated; and he leaned forward, cautiously.
“He is a very dangerous man. Many have died at his hands.” I glanced down at my feet, wishing I knew so much more. “The day you turn sixteen is the day you must leave. He’s been searching for you. And when he finds you, he won’t let you go.” I looked up at him, remembering Matthew’s last words.
“No. I’ll find him.”
Chapter Eleven
Of Water and Earth
“Melissa! Wake up!”
“Wake up, Melissa!” I lifted my head up from my pillow, and the world slowly came into focus. Two little faces sharpened in front of me; and I sat up, rubbing my eyes as I yawned. Tyler and Trenton were standing at the side of my bed, waiting anxiously for me to join them. “It’s Christmas!” Tyler exclaimed.
I remembered what that was like: waking up on the most magical morning of the year, staying up all night to see if Santa Claus had come to visit us yet, listening for the sound of hooves and sleigh bells on the roof. The place that I was really from—the fantastical place with no name—I wondered how much more exciting it would be, knowing that he was really coming.
“All right, all right.” I said and glanced at the clock on my nightstand.
Apparently, waking up first thing in the morning ran in the family.
I peered outside the window to my left; but all I saw was snow—snow and the wind that carried it past us. And I thought of the night before.
“Where did you two go?” I asked them; and they both shared a look of amusement, as if I had asked a silly question.
“We were looking for presents.” Trenton replied as I stood, and I grinned to myself.
That made sense.
“You have a lot!” Tyler remarked as he grasped my hand, leading me out of my room and into the hallway.
“Wait, wait…” I slowed in my steps, whispering in hopes that we wouldn’t wake the rest of the household. “It’s too early.” I told them when they stopped to listen. “No one else is up, yet.”
“Well, that’s not entirely true.” I turned towards the voice and smiled as Connor emerged from the bathroom in his pajamas, rubbing the back of his ear with a facecloth.
“Hi.” I spoke, inexplicably breathless; and he grinned, responding.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” It was strange—how only silence followed in that moment.
“Um, your mom’s downstairs—if you were looking for her.” He stuttered and gestured to the
stairs at the end of the hall. From where I was standing, I could see the amber light from the living room bleed onto the steps.
“Thanks.” I answered and stepped in their direction, watching as the twins sprinted down ahead of me.
“What happened, last night?” He asked me once I was alone, and something inside me made me want to laugh.
“You wouldn’t believe me—” I shook my head, but he kept me from finishing.
“I want to.” He insisted; and in his eyes, I saw that he was trying to make sense of it all. “Ghosts, right? Newton’s Third Law is completely applicable. When we die, we can’t just stop existing—it would make sense that our energy would continue on in different forms. And when you drowned when you were a baby, your life force could have combined with the river’s kinetic energy when you returned to your body or formed an entirely different being…” I listened to him as he rambled on, unsure of how to stop him.
Whatever he was saying, it seemed to be a reasonable explanation; but the truth—I didn’t think science could explain that.
“I,” it was difficult to admit, “I’m not a ghost.” He paused, falling silent at my words.
“Then, what are you?” He wanted to know, and I opened my mouth to explain.
“Hey, Melissa.” I whirled around to find Caleb standing on the steps behind me. The light emanating from downstairs cast a golden glow on his skin, and the sight of him caused me to run my fingers through my hair in an effort to fix it.
“Hi, Caleb.” I said, beaming; and he caught me by surprise when he laid a kiss on my forehead.
“Oh, Connor…” Caleb looked up from my face, grinning when he saw him. “Merry Christmas.” He nodded as he acknowledged him, and Connor buried his hands in his pockets as he did the same.
“Merry Christmas.” I watched as Connor stole a step backward, as if he thought it’d be better if we were alone.
“Now that everyone is up, your mom was going to make some pancakes.” He told me, and I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“I’ll be down in a couple minutes.” I glanced at Connor, adding, “I just have to brush my teeth.”
“Sure.” He replied and kissed the top of my head again before disappearing around the corner. I stood there for half a minute, just to be sure that he was gone, and turned to Connor once more.
“Come with me.” I beckoned for him to follow me into my bedroom.
“What was that?” He asked me as I pulled a piece of poster paper out from behind my desk and set it on the wooden surface. I sighed as I spoke, staring at the blank canvas that I had set before me. I silently gestured to the door, and he closed it behind him. “What’s going on?” I looked at him, petrified; and he drew nearer to stand beside me. “What happened last night?”
“I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that Tyler and Trenton weren’t in the guest room; and when I went out looking for them, I ran into Mr. Oakman.” I finally said, and he stared at me incredulously.
“You’re kidding.”
“Or, rather, he ran into me.” I wasn’t sure which explanation was worse. “Or, he almost ran me over.” Connor narrowed his eyes, and I could see the gears turning in his head.
“Wait, what?” He interjected when it finally registered in his mind.
“It doesn’t matter.” I insisted, continuing. “What matters is what happened after—when he got out of the car to see if I was okay, I asked him if he knew what happened to Chelsea Banneker.”
“And he didn’t kill you?”
If he hadn’t revealed to me who he really was, it definitely occurred to me that he could have.
“Connor, he’s my grandfather.” He blinked at my response, and I repeated myself to make sure that he understood. “My real grandfather…” I retrieved a pencil from my desk drawer and began to draw out the crude outline of what I could only guess the other world could have looked like. “He told me I was born in another place—somewhere the things that we create with our imagination all exist.” I drew an ‘8’ on the left side of the map and wrote the list of elements beside it. “There are eight kingdoms, each representing a different magical element: water, fire, earth, air, ice, metal, wood, and aether. A long time ago, the earth kingdom was cursed to be bound to those legendary creatures; and a while after that, people all over the kingdoms suddenly became magical. He called it a name—‘R’-something.”
I wished that I’d remembered all that he had said.
“But either out of fear or hatred, the eight kingdoms sent all of them away so they could live apart from them.” I sketched an arrow stretching from the left half to the other and drew a line that separated the land in two.
“So, a supernatural mass deportation—like the Trail of Tears or the Final Solution.” Connor deduced; and for a moment, I hated myself for not realizing that sooner.
“Oh my gosh…I didn’t even think about it.” Everything in me seemed to droop and wither at the thought of it. It was heartbreaking—how even in two different worlds, human nature could still be capable of something so horrible.
“What happened next?” Connor nudged me to continue. I swallowed, regaining my focus.
“Twenty-eight cities were founded—all of them combinations of the eight kingdoms. And I was the first to be born in the city of water and earth.” I set the pencil down next to all that I had written and gazed at it in disbelief.
The past month had made me question everything; and now, I finally had something to hold on to. But the truth—it wasn’t at all what I had expected.
“My mother called me Elynea,” the name felt so strange falling from my tongue, “but in the old language, it’s spelled L-y-n.” I stared up at him; and at once, he understood. “My mother was from the water kingdom, but my father’s kingdom was the one that was cursed; so I inherited it, too. When my parents found out that the being that was meant to be bound to me was evil, they came here and tried to give me away so that I’d be safe; but it took a while before anyone really knew what my mother wanted.”
“And so begins the legend of Crybaby Bridge.” He whispered to himself. “But people have been seeing her for years.”
“When someone magical speaks my name in the old language, it rips the veil however it wants.” I tried to explain. “She couldn’t control the time aspect, but she could make sure the door always opened in the same place. That’s how my grandfather got stuck here in 1976.”
“If this is true…” His voice trailed away, fading in his throat; and the thought that had found its way into his mind soon pervaded mine.
“He’s been looking for me for sixty years…” I murmured. “He’s just been taking the wrong ones.”
Heather and Adrienne and Chelsea—I had no idea that he had been so close.
“We have to go back to the island on New Year’s Eve. I can open the door, and you can take everyone home.”
“What about Caleb? He’s not coming with us?” I didn’t answer, but the silence already told so much. “You’re not telling him what we’re doing, are you?”
“He already knows more than he should.” I glanced down at my hands and saw that they were trembling. “Matthew didn’t know anything; and he killed him, anyway.”
“And what about you? We’re all coming out of this, right?” He needed an answer, but his eyes pleaded for the one that I couldn’t give him. But I grasped his hands regardless and forced a smile.
“Yeah. We’ll get out of this.”
“Okay, you guys. Smile!” My mother exclaimed as she held the camera before her face and snapped a picture. Immediately, the three of us were met with a flash of blinding light; and as I rubbed my eyes to chase the spots away, Connor let out a painful groan. “Oops! Sorry.” She brought it closer to inspect it. “I left the flash on.” Behind her, Tyler and Trenton battled each other with the plastic pirate swords that she had bought them the night before. Christmas music played on the radio sitting on the table, and the smell of chocolate chip pancakes lingered in the air.
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br /> “Mom, do we have to take pictures?” I asked her, both Caleb’s and Connor’s arms still draped over my shoulders.
Somehow, I had found myself in the middle; and I’d learned quickly that it wasn’t something that I liked.
“Go ahead and open your presents. We can do group pictures later.” She insisted and retreated back to the couch with my father, where he was waiting with gifts of her own. I sat down by the tree encumbered in ornaments and twinkling lights and waited for the boys to join me, but they both began to walk in the opposite direction.
“Where are you going?” I called out to them; and Connor turned, suddenly sheepish.
“I was going to get a cookie.” He gestured to the kitchen, but I beckoned him forward.
“Not all of these are mine.” I told them, and they shared a look of confusion before kneeling by my side. “This one,” I reached for the box wrapped in metallic green paper and handed it to Connor, “is for you. And this,” I pulled a red gift out from underneath the tree, “is for you.”
“Wow.” Caleb breathed as he received it and leaned forward to kiss my cheek. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I answered, blushing as I watched him tear the paper away to reveal a little brown box. He lifted the lid and set it down on his lap, and he grinned when he saw what lay inside. Carefully, he picked it up and held it to his eyes.
It was a leather cuff, a single iron charm dangling from it. And as he peered at it, I knew that he would see Orion wielding his bow and arrow, pointing it upwards as if to pierce the sky.
“From Moongirl,” he chuckled a little as he read the tag aloud, “to Orion.” The last word seemed to change him; and suddenly, there was something else in his voice—something that I didn’t recognize right away. “Like the night we met.”
Happiness…and nothing else. I missed that—more than I could describe.
“Should I go, next?” Connor inquired, and I nodded in agreement. “Cool.” He said before he returned his attention to his own gift and stared at it, presumably guessing the identity of its contents. It was larger than most of the others, and I could tell that he was wondering what was inside. “Let’s see…” His voice trailed away as he started to open it; and when he finally reached the interior of the white cardboard box, the laugh that left his lips said it all. He wrapped his fingers around the gift and pulled it out, shaking his head. “You…are… terrible.” I couldn’t help but descend into a fit of giggles as he gazed at me grudgingly over the red and white cap of the rapping Santa. “I hate you so much, right now.”
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