We ate the rest of the chicken and bread and chocolate cake. The last two apples went to Noel and Starlight. I reached into the bottom of the basket. “Cook’s snickerdoodle cookies! Kerry sure loves me.” I held one to my nose and inhaled cinnamon and sugar before I bit off a chunk.
“Indeed. Kerry does love you.”
“I’ll miss her. I’ll miss you, too. The thought of not seeing you again—” I stopped myself.
He bent his head to his cookie and broke the snickerdoodle in two. He put half in his mouth and chewed.
“I feel like it’s getting close, Maxwell.”
“It will soon be time for you to fly away from us. You have called on your destiny. We have just helped you find your wings. None of us want you to leave, but leave you must.”
Eagle wings. I would grow them soon.
My full stomach and Maxwell’s company brought me peace, and the horses’ soft nickering to each other sang to me like a lullaby. I laid my head back on the leather bag and ran my eyes over Maxwell’s wise face, as kind and decent as his grandfather’s. “I feel safe. I’m so glad you’re here with me. Thanks for watching over me all night.”
“You are my friend, my family, my sister. I would do anything for you.” He settled down next to me, held my hand and curled up, tugging his cap low on his face. “It smells like rain.” He sighed, and our breathing steadied with sleep.
A clap of thunder woke me. I heard random raindrops quicken and lazy drizzle turn to fat drops. The hair on my arms stood up as I ran to the barn door and hauled it open. The sheer cliff beyond the Mystery Mine was dazzling in its slick, sun-speckled wetness. Above the cliff, black clouds pushed away white ones and skated toward the sun.
Without knowing exactly what I had been waiting for, I knew it had finally arrived. “My storm’s coming, Maxwell!”
I turned back to him as he bounded out of the hay and strode toward me. He didn’t glance outside at the rain. His eyes were on my face. “It’s time to go home.”
“STAY on my rear,” said Maxwell. “I’m taking us the back way on an old overgrown Indian trail that no one has knowledge of around here except Grandfather and me. We’ll loop around and enter the Sweetwine property from the back. The route is steeper and harder to traverse, but it’s faster, and we can avoid the town and the sheriff and his newly minted deputies.”
Maxwell tossed the canvas bag on Starlight. I buttoned up Tor’s corduroy coat and swung up onto Noel’s back. I waited while he ran back to close and latch the gate. He jumped up on Starlight and trotted away with me following. The Mystery Mine disappeared behind us as we rounded the bend.
Partway along the same path Tor and I had traveled yesterday, Maxwell guided Starlight into a dense, dark grove. We slowed and maneuvered our horses downhill and around trees with trunks as big across as the old trampoline that had sat in Lia’s backyard until she and Niki no longer jumped on it. Undergrowth swung at my legs as drops of rain dripped off branches and fell on Tor’s leather hat sitting low on my head. Besides the long green tree branches thwacking against us, the only sound huffed from Noel and Starlight as their hooves gently moved across the carpet of pine needles.
I glanced down at my damp high-tops peeking out of the stirrups.
Maxwell brought Starlight to a sudden halt. I jerked Noel to a stop behind them and watched as Maxwell slowly moved his coat aside and pulled a gun out of his belt, cocking it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of movement and heard a deep snarl.
A mother cougar with two small cubs at her rear crouched low off Starlight’s left flank. Her intense gold eyes watched Maxwell as her twitching muscles tightened, ready to spring. She panted and showed us her long, sharp teeth.
Starlight whinnied and started to move backward, causing Noel to snort and back up. The cougar swiveled around at her cubs, giving Maxwell the chance he needed to bring his gun around and shoot, his aim purposely off to the side of the magnificent animals. Startled out of her striking pose by the gun’s deafening boom, the mother leapt into the air and yelped at her cubs. She turned and bounded away, her babies on her rear. With a noisy suck, I filled my lungs.
Maxwell moved Starlight sideways a couple of feet up against a boulder and turned in his saddle. “Thank you for not screaming.”
I brought Noel alongside Starlight and laughed at him. “I’m not a screaming kind of girl.”
“I hope no one heard the gunshot. We shall sit a moment. And I want to find a place for Tor’s bag. There can be no connection back to him.” He gazed around the damp quiet and shoved the gun back under his jacket and into his belt.
He pitched the bag off Starlight’s back and jumped down, rifling through it. “Is there anything in here you want?”
“No. You keep the rest of the snickerdoodles. Kerry will know what to do with my clothes. Everything else is Tor’s.”
He put Tor’s gun in his saddlebag, and threw the green bag under the overhang of the boulder. “Perfect color. It will blend with nature and stay dry until I can get it.”
He swung back onto Starlight. “We are only about fifteen minutes away, but most of the ride now is steep. Noel will make it just fine. Keep the reins loose and your eyes ahead of you. We tie into the trail leading to grandfather’s cabin five minutes ahead. Instead of going up the mountain, we go down.”
“I remember it from the other night, although it seems like an eternity away to me now.”
A sudden crash of far-off thunder was followed by a quick flash of lighting, zinging over our heads.
I pushed up Tor’s hat. “I feel like the storm’s following us.”
Maxwell tipped his head to the darkening sky barely visible through the tree branches. “I believe you are right.”
We made our way down the mountain on the steep, sheer path that ran along the side of the cliff to the lower woods. We guided our horses through the river and came up behind the new barn project. Beyond sat the many-colored Sweetwine mansion. A rainbow shot from wet trees and bowed across the sky, holding the house inside its vivid arc.
“Wait, Maxwell. I don’t know what will happen when we get down there. I want to thank you now for everything you’ve done for me. I’m so grateful to you and your grandfather for seeing me—seeing Sonnet—believing in me. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
His chocolate eyes swam.
“You should get out of Monte Cristo. It’ll soon be deserted. A ghost town.”
He nodded. “This mountain is where I’ll be. At least while Grandfather walks the earth. After that . . .” He shrugged, his eyes roaming over the tops of the steep cliffs surrounding Monte Cristo. “I’ll see more of the world.”
I followed his gaze. “The clouds blowing in are chasing away the rainbow and hiding the trees.”
“As if those trees and the clouds that sit atop them connect heaven and earth. And we are mere mortals—no bigger, no more important, than fragments of consciousness and flesh sandwiched between.”
“Monte Cristo. A place between heaven and earth.” I watched as a sudden gust of wind blew around the dark hair hanging down from under his blue-and-black cap. “You don’t need to quote Shakespeare or Aristotle, Maxwell. You’re already a poet and a philosopher. You’ve just put everything into perspective with your two simple sentences.” I missed him already.
Random raindrops turned to rain. He twisted in his saddle. “Are you ready, sister?”
“I’m ready.”
We galloped side by side through the long meadow grass with the wind and rain in our faces. I rode to the front porch and jumped off, throwing Maxwell Noel’s reins. “I might need you. Emma’s bedroom is upstairs, the last one on the left.”
“I know where it is. I’ll come up the service staircase from the kitchen.”
I ran up the stairs and burst through the door, striding into the parlor toward crackling logs and firelight. John stood in front of a blazing fireplace. I took off my wet hat and shook out my hair.
“Emma? Is that yo
u?” He walked to me and held me out in front of him, bewildered as he scanned down my clothes. “And are those trousers?”
Thorn came hurtling in from another room and stabbed at my arm. “You have missed the train. All the money spent—”
“No!” I jerked away from her icy fingers. “Never touch me again. Do you understand? Never!”
John scooped me away from her. “Leave her alone, Rose.”
“Where is it?” I scanned her hands and saw only a wedding band. Thunder boomed and lightning cracked. I ran to the window and turned my head to the sky. Black clouds had pushed away all the white ones. I didn’t have time.
I raced to the staircase where Kerry waited for me. I grabbed her wrist. We sprinted up the stairs and down the hall to Emma’s room. Maxwell closed the door behind us and wrangled the brass bed in front of it.
“But your ring, Sonnet!” said Kerry. “You must have it with you.”
“Find it. Take it to one of the gold dealers in town. Sell it. Those are real diamond chips and white gold. It’s got to be worth a train ticket. Get away from here. You can’t work for her anymore.”
“Where will I go? The only people I know are in Monte Cristo—”
“My McKay ancestors settled on Queen Anne Hill . . .” I tried to remember Grandpa’s tales about his family. “In the 1880s. They would be in Seattle now, Kerry. Find them. Ask them to help you find work.”
“Let me in, Emma,” John yelled, his voice tight. “I just want to talk to you.” He banged on the door. “I want you to know I have reconsidered Baltimore.”
Maxwell climbed up on the bed to hold it steady. “Hurry!” he mouthed.
John was pounding now. “Please, Emma!”
The lace on the windows jumped as the wind howled and rain hit the glass. Thunder banged and lightning zipped through the room. I ran to the closet door and caught the porcelain knob. The air in front of me glistened and gleamed. “It’s time!”
Turning around, I smiled at my friends . . . my brother and sister . . . and my heart ached with love. It felt like we had been together in Monte Cristo forever.
I imagined feathers. Talons. A ferocious curved beak—
A violent gust of wind banged the window open behind Kerry and blew her white cap off, tumbling her red hair around her shoulders. With that gust, the closet door slammed shut, taking me with it into its dark depths.
Howling wind roared across my body, twisting Tor’s red-and-black flannel shirt around my waist. My hair swirled and danced in the air.
My arms drifted up from my sides and one by one I held them out, pressing the palms of my hands against the glassy, wet sides of the closet.
A sudden piercing light illuminated an image.
Knees to knees.
Arms out.
Hands pressed against the slippery closet walls.
Our fingers inched toward each other’s—
With a sucking sound, the girl tilted backwards and rocketed out of my sight.
I fell to the ground with a thud and rolled into a tight ball, spinning in a circle across a splintery floor.
I covered my ears.
Pressing.
Pushing.
A sudden silence and darkness . . .
I lay in a heap and panted and trembled . . .
. . . and listened as John yelled and pounded his fists on the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Emma
2015
As usual, Emma awakened first. She fumbled at the blankets in a moment of confusion and then relaxed, sensing the warm, small bump of Lia under the covers. They were at the Countryside Inn, scattered around in what was once a large Victorian home. Keko snored from a couch in an adjoining nook, and Niki and Jules were rooming across the hall. As the inn was full up with other customers, Evan, Rapp, and Uncle Jack had slept in the van.
They had decided it was too risky to stay at the campsite after Ranger Karl bid them goodbye yesterday. After using words Emma had never heard before as they watched the back-end of the ranger’s car disappear down the narrow, green-choked road, Uncle Jack finally calmed himself and said something to the effect of, “Well then, we’ll just take our business elsewhere”—and as if a mule had kicked Team Switch into action, they dismantled the tent, accounted for their piles of belongings, and doused the smoldering campfire with handfuls of soil. Off they went down the mountain to find Evan’s bread pudding and a place to spend the night.
Emma slipped out of bed and sifted through her sack of clothes. She spread everything out on the floor in front of her. She would reflect carefully about her choices today. If luck had it, they would be her going-home apparel. After a minute, she chose Sonnet’s black yoga pants, a turquoise-and-white striped top, and turquoise high-topped Converse tennis shoes. Lia had said that Sonnet was wearing her other pair, red ones, when she disappeared two weeks ago. Perhaps Sonnet would also choose to have them on today and the coincidence—a balance of sorts—of wearing the same shoes would bring them good luck in their opposite journeys home.
She started for the bathroom to take a shower and wash her hair one last time with the heavenly coconut shampoo while Lia and Keko still slept. Emma had let a few inches grow between herself and Lia yesterday, and today she would allow a few more. It would be too painful to tear herself away all at once.
OMINOUS clouds, stringy with black edges, blew across the morning sun and darkened the Inn’s bacon-and-coffee-scented dining room as Team Switch, Uncle Jack, and Keko sat in a snug group around an old wooden table. Emma couldn’t help but smile at the mound of waffles and strawberries and whipped cream placed before her by the tattooed and pierced waitress. She would never say anything impolite, but this pile of sweetness pleased her more than the smoky fire-scrambled eggs and burnt toast she had eaten the last several mornings.
Keeping time with the rest of them, Emma jammed bites of waffles into her mouth. Instead of feeling embarrassed, as she would have when she first came to this new world, eating fast was just her habit now. Any dining decorum had disappeared after the first several meals standing at Aunt Kate’s kitchen counter with Lia. And anyway, they were in a hurry. It was time to get back up the mountain and confront the identical storm that had brought her to this place.
A faraway crash of thunder boomed at them through the narrow windows. She flinched and glanced at the round wall clock above the coffee machine.
“Let’s finish up and hit the road. It’ll take us awhile to get back to Monte Cristo.” Uncle Jack took a plastic card out of his wallet and set it into a small black tray.
Evan set the last of the Team Switch money in the tray and flipped the card back at Uncle Jack. “You’ve done so much. This is on us.”
Rapp said, “Are you ready for this, Emma?”
“I’m ready.”
She ate one last bite of strawberry and pushed her plate away. Her stomach roiled, and butterflies fluttered against her heart.
THE van jolted to the side of the road and came to a firm stop before sliding back and sideways. The slow spattering of rain had turned into fat raindrops and quickly covered the front glass before being scoured off by the swishing blades. Needle-covered tree branches scratched like cats’ claws at the box on the van’s roof. A large tree had fallen across the road, and heavy foliage scraped up against the left side of the van, preventing those doors from opening.
“Damn!” Rapp tugged a baseball cap on his head. He tossed his messenger bag over his shoulder, jumped from the car into the storm, and hauled them all out of the side of the van into the mud. They scrambled over the downed tree and slid up the mucky road through the rain.
“Wait!” Uncle Jack had tangled his legs in vines and toppled over. “I’ve hurt my ankle.”
Keko knelt next to him. “I’ll help Jack back to the van. You guys go, now. It’s almost twelve. I’ll try to catch up.”
Evan rubbed the wetness off his face and raindrops out of his hair. “Are we on the right track? Everything seems different
today.”
Niki pointed. “I think our camping spot is just up there. If we can find that, we can find our way.”
They found the camp and found their way, struggling through dense wet forest and racing the menacing storm up the slippery hill, helping each other to Emma’s house.
Evan pushed open the front door and they ran in, enveloped in the house’s stormy gloom.
Rapp switched on his flashlight, the narrow beam straining to show them the way. Reaching out to the banister, they bolted upwards, stepping on each other’s feet, rain and mud from their shoes making the stairs slick.
They ran holding hands down the corridor, rushing to Emma’s room.
Thunder boomed and lightning flashed. Rain pelted the old windows. They stood in a circle hugging Emma, tears and rain on their faces. Emma held Lia close and whispered. “It is the hardest to let go of you.”
She stepped away and gestured to Rapp’s bag. “Please?”
Emma dropped to her knees and found the tin soldier and photographs. “They’re all I have of home.” Emma held the soldier out to Niki.
She kissed her finger, running it across the photograph and her brother’s little faces. “Keep it safe,” she said, handing it back to Rapp. She took the rusty nail out of her pocket and pressed it into his hand. He embraced her.
The wind howled and rain hit the glass like small stones hurled from the sky. “Hurry!” cried Lia, through her sobs.
Emma ran across the room and turned the porcelain knob. The air inside the closet glistened and gleamed. “It’s time!”
Turning around, she smiled at her friends, her companions of the heart, her fellow soldiers in her battle with time. Her heart ached with love.
She held on tight to the memory of two orca whales sailing above a salty wave.
A fierce gust of wind banged the window open and blew Rapp’s dark hair forward, tumbling his cap to the floor. With that gust, the closet door slammed shut, taking her with it into its dark depths.
Howling wind roared across her body, twisting the striped shirt around her waist. Her hair swirled and danced in the air.
But Not Forever Page 19
