The Map Maker's Sister

by Matthew Krengel

  “Oh, thank the Lord,” Grandpa Able muttered when Jane and Jacob climbed out of the vehicle and both started towards the house. They were smiling and chatting like old friends, and he shook his head to clear the dark thoughts that had grown so quickly with the threat.

  “What happened?” Jane asked as she climbed the porch steps and noticed the troubled look on Grandpa Able’s face. She hurried up the rest of the steps and gave him a big hug, then stepped back with a worried look on her face and waited for him to respond.

  “What happened to you, girl?” Grandpa Able asked, ignoring her concern and seeing noticed how dirty she was.

  “Hiking got a little dirtier than we thought it would be,” Jane said with a laugh. “I slipped a few times, but Jacob managed to come through the whole thing without much on him.”

  Jacob smiled and looked at Jane as if noticing for the first time exactly how dirty she was. He saw two rips on the right leg of her pants and patches of dried mud that had soaked into both her shirt and pants. She was filthy, maybe, but he still thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever known.

  “A police officer was here just a minute ago looking for you two,” Grandpa Able explained as he sat down slowly and leaned back in his chair on the porch. “I sent him packing and told him I was going to call Stan if he caused any problems.”

  “Grandpa, maybe they just wanted to fill us in on the whole train incident,” Jane said slowly as her mind raced. They had already told their story numerous times. Why would the police be looking for her and Jacob again?

  “I didn’t like the look of him,” Grandpa Able muttered with a frown. “I spent twelve years in the marines and did two tours in Vietnam. I am not going to be threatened by some punk kid in a uniform that doesn’t fit him. Now that I think about it, he had the weirdest looking pin just above his badge. There must be something against that in the departments uniform code.”

  Jane and Jacob looked at each other, their faces going pale, and both thinking of what would happen if the Adherents had managed to get people hired into the police department, and how much more difficult things would be here in their world.

  “Well now, you two look like you just saw the ghost of a pirate ship,” Grandpa Able laughed as he shook off the irritation of the oddly dressed police officer with Jane safely home. “Come on in. Have a brownie. I just took a pan out of the oven about thirty minutes ago.”

  Jane smiled.

  “And there might even be a bucket of ice cream in the freezer,” Grandpa Able said with a smile. “Besides, you both look like you’ve been skipping meals lately. Come on, Jacob, have some ice cream. Football season isn’t for a couple months yet.” Grandpa Able stood up and led them into the house, then stopped and turned to lock the front door after they were all inside. Not worth taking any chances with the strange happenings nowadays, Grandpa Able thought.

  “All right, you talked me into it,” Jacob said with a smile. He followed Jane down the short hallway to the kitchen and dining room area. The floors in the old house were maple, and a long runner rug trailed from the front door to the arched passage into the kitchen. On the right, stairs led up to the single upstairs bedroom, and on the left a wide area opened up into a living room with a television mounted on the far wall. The tiling in the kitchen was perfectly placed and matched the carpet runner. Jacob knew Grandpa Able was proud of his kitchen. Grandma Kay sat at the kitchen table with a big book of word search puzzles. She smiled as they entered and held out her arms to Jane. Grandma Kay hugged her warmly, and the concern left her face.

  “Jacob, good to see you,” Grandma Kay said warmly. “Tell me you’re treating our little Jany right.”

  “Grandma …” Jane said, mortified. She hated the nickname ever since she turned thirteen. Her face blushed brightly.

  “Jany?” Jacob asked, grinning. His voice faltered as she turned and glared at him. “Sorry, I’ll never say it again” he whispered as he hid a smile behind his hand. Thankfully Grandpa Able set down a gallon of New York vanilla on the table and an ice cream scoop.

  “Grandma, do you want some?” Jane asked as she hugged her grandmother tightly once again.

  “No, dearie, I’m fine,” Grandma Kay replied. “Why don’t you go get changed so we can get a load of laundry going with those dirty clothes.”

  Jane rolled her eyes but went upstairs and spent ten minutes cleaning up before she brought her clothes back down and threw them into the laundry hamper. When the ice cream was served and each bowl was topped with a brownie and finally smothered in a thick layer of chocolate syrup, they all walked over to the living room and found a place to sit.

  “When will your mom be home tonight?” Grandpa Able asked Jacob as he dipped into the bowl.

  “I don’t know,” Jacob admitted. “She works late most nights. Is that a new iPad?”

  On the small coffee table was a white box emblazoned with the image of the now iconic device. It was still sealed shut, and Grandpa Able motioned to it. “Yes, I bought it last week knowing Jane would be here to show us how to operate the durn thing. We haven’t had time so far though.”

  “Can I open it up for you?” Jacob said excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to play around with one of them.” He picked up the box and turned it over in his hands examining it from all sides.

  “Sure.” Grandpa Able passed him a small knife. Everyone watched as he slit the box and slid out the styrofoam packaging. The actual case itself was black. The sticker on the side said it was a 64G model. “We’re supposed to start using it to talk to my sister-in-law in Hawaii. Everyone said it was an easy way to see her while we talked. I just don’t know how it works.”

  Jane slipped from her seat next to her grandpa and plopped down next to Jacob, leaning on his shoulder and slowly spooned the ice cream into her mouth as she watched. “Look, there’s the Skype icon,” she said as she pointed with her spoon and almost dripped ice cream onto the tablet. “Oops.” She pulled her spoon back hastily and licked the extra ice cream from the metal.

  “Here, plug it in to charge the battery,” Jacob replied as he handed her the cord. He turned the iPad over and plugged in the cord on his end.

  Jane plugged the cord in and then snuggled in close next to Jacob and watched as his finger flipped over the applications until they found the Skype icon. They spent the next hour setting it up. When Jane finally looked up to tell her grandpa they had it ready, she realized she and Jacob were sitting on the couch alone and the living room was otherwise empty.

  “They must have gone to bed,” Jane said with a smile. “We had better at least put Angry Birds and a couple other games on there just in case we get bored at some point.”

  Jacob laughed and then continued downloading different things until they were both yawning. “We’d better get some sleep. In the morning, Tasker’s expecting us back with a good excuse to stay all day.”

  “Hiking again?”

  “It worked last time,” Jacob laughed. “Might as well stick with what works.”

  “Maybe fishing?” Jane suggested. “That way if we come back smelling like fish, no one will think anything of it.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought of smelling like fish all day, but the last trip had made them fairly fragrant.

  “Maybe, but I should leave the car somewhere down by the docks,” Jacob said a little worried. He didn’t want some of his rivals to see his car unattended for a any period of time. Too many pranks went on around the team.

  “What about we tell them we’re going hiking on the Wisconsin side,” Jane said. “That’d work just as well and leave us a bit of wiggle room. And it is technically true—we will be in Wisconsin.”

  “Sounds fine,” Jacob said as he set the iPad on the coffee table and turned to look at her. “I better get some sleep then, I suppose.”

  Jane sighed as he stood and walked to the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow it is,” Jacob said with smile. “Make sure you relock the door after I leave.” He waved
to her and slipped outside. He stood on the porch until he heard the dead bolt slide home. The night was warm as he walked to his car, but he still shivered a little as he opened the door and slid into the seat. The engine roared to life, and he rolled the window down as he put the car in reverse and started backing out of the driveway. Suddenly there was a flash of police lights, and a police department squad car pulled up behind him.

  “What in the world?” Jacob muttered. “How can they pull me over when I’m sitting in a driveway, not moving?” He waited as the officer approached the car, and he heard the thin voice tell him to keep his hands in plain sight.

  He put both hands on the wheel and nervously twisted his thick ring around, he looked in the side mirror. He noticed the officer wore a uniform several sizes too big for him and his face reminded Jacob of the Adherents they had dealt with over the last two days. Quickly he slipped the ring from his hand and dropped it onto the seat release lever. He heard the metal slide down until it came to a halt against the seat.

  “Turn the car off!”

  Jacob complied. He noticed that Grandpa Able and Jane were standing on the porch next to the front door watching what was happening. He waved and smiled at them and shrugged.

  “Get out and place your hands behind your head.”

  “What did I do?” Jacob asked as he stepped out of the car and looked at the officer with his arms above his head.

  “Put your hands behind your head!”

  “I haven’t done anything,” Jacob repeated as he complied. He was roughly shoved against the side of the car and his hands were wrenched behind his back as steel cuffs were strapped to his wrists. He shook his head. This was all wrong.

  “Jane, take care of my car please,” Jacob said as he was being led away. He made a point of spreading his hands behind his back and pointing at the empty place on his ring finger, hoping she would catch on. “I left the keys in it for you!” he shouted to her. He tried to turn his head to see if she was following what he was asking, but the officers shoved him into the back of the squad and told him to, “Stop shouting!”

  A minute later he was in the back of the squad car watching as Jane cried and Grandpa Able argued with the officer. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but the anger showed on both of their faces as did the smug look on the officer’s.

  * * * * *

  Two weeks earlier

  “Tell me about your family,” Carvin asked. He was sitting with his back against the wall next to the door.

  Jackie glanced over at him and lowered the fork that she had been using to eat. She noticed that over the last few weeks he had been bringing her food more and more often and she was starting to look forward to the visits.

  “I have a sister,” Jackie said finally. She knew she should hold her silence but she had been here for weeks and boredom was taking its toll.

  “I wish I had another brother,” Carvin said quietly. He rubbed his face nervously. If his father found out that he was here, he would get in terrible trouble.

  “What happened to him?” Jackie asked curiously.

  “My father killed him about two years ago,” Carvin said. He knew he should feel more sadness over the death of his only brother but there was never much love lost between the two. “My brother refused to follow my father’s orders one day and my father struck him with his fist. He fell backwards and struck his head against the wall. A day later, he died.”

  “How terrible,” Jackie said. She was surprised to find that she actually felt sorry for him.

  The conversation turned to lighter topics and Jackie actually laughed more than once. Even more importantly, she began to gain an understanding of how this world operated as related to her world.

  “So you’re telling me that there are two worlds side by side,” Jackie repeated incredulously. “And they are separated by this Divide thing?”

  “Yes,” Carvin said with a nod of his head.

  “But …” Jackie started but stopped. She was having a hard time accepting any of what he was telling her. Still, how could she argue with the fact that she was locked in a cell in a place that was obviously not on her earth?

  Chapter 2

  Adherents Everywhere

  I am telling you, Stan, one of your officers came here and arrested him,” Grandpa Able repeated into the phone. He stopped and listened a couple minutes, then shook his head, “How can that be? The kid is a star on the football team and the nicest boy you could ever meet.”

  Against her will, Jane tuned out the conversation. It was nearly midnight and she was exhausted. She had retrieved the keys from Jacob’s car and locked the doors, but something still rang in her mind. Why would Jacob care about his car when he was being led away in handcuffs? They had pulled the Mustang into the garage next to her grandpa’s car. She walked to the side door and entered the garage, flipping on the lights and replaying the event in her mind once more. She opened the door to the Mustang and sat down in the driver’s seat. It wasn’t set for her so she reached down and felt around for the seat release, when she found it she pulled it up and slid the seat forward. When it was placed perfectly she released the lever and stopped. Suddenly, she thought she heard a clinking sound beneath her.

  “What’s down there,” Jane muttered. She reached down with both hands and felt the release bar. There it was, the ring Jacob had gotten from Tasker. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Now I just have to figure out a way to get it back to him without the police suspecting anything.” She knew if the police had taken Jacob they would have found the ring for sure. At least this way she stood a chance of getting it to him where they could use it without being seen. At least the ring was not on its way to Cain.

  “What did Stan say?” Jane asked when she walked back into the house. The garage doors were locked but she locked the inner door as well.

  “He’s going down to the station to check on it, but it’s going to take him a while,” Grandpa Able replied. They both sat on the couch dozing until almost three in the morning when the phone rang again.

  “Stan?” Grandpa Able said as he answered the phone. He listened for a while, and then finally hung up the phone and looked troubled. “He said the officers had an anonymous tip that there were drugs in the Tanner’s house. They got a search warrant and found cocaine and drug paraphernalia spread out all over the basement.”

  “What!” Jane gasped. “No … !” She stopped herself before she continued. She couldn’t admit she had been inside Jacob’s house. Not when she had told her grandparents she was a hundred miles away hiking.

  “He said they arrested his mom and Jacob,” Grandpa Able said. “But he didn’t think they’d hold the boy for long, just Mrs. Tanner.”

  “We have to go see him,” Jane burst out in tears.

  “I asked him that. He said he’d arrange something for first thing in the morning,” Grandpa Able replied. “It was the best he could do.” Grandpa Able sighed and shook his head, “We should probably try to get some sleep.”

  Jane just nodded numbly. How far did the Adherent’s tendrils reach into their world? Where could they go to hide from them? Or was it impossible? Would Cain take out her support one piece at a time?

  She stumbled upstairs and collapsed into her bed. Sleep came very slowly as Jane lay staring at the ceiling, trying to decide how to proceed. Did she go visit Tasker and explain the situation or would she try to find a way to get the ring to Jacob so he could free himself and hide out across the Divide? Finally she dropped into an exhausted slumber. Her dreams were dark and ominous.

  The next morning her grandpa woke her at nine by tapping on her door. “Jany, we need to leave soon,” Grandpa Able said as he tapped on the door again.

  “Okay, I’m awake,” Jane said sleepily. Then she bolted straight up in bed and looked around as panic set in and the memories of the night before slowly filtered back into her mind. She heard her grandpa going back downstairs. She gathered her things and slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower. Aft
er drying her hair and tying it back in a ponytail she hurried downstairs and rushed into the kitchen.

  “Breakfast is set out,” Grandpa Able said and pointed at the table. “As soon as you get done, we’ll go over to the police station.”

  Jane wolfed down the food, and then put on her shoes and followed Grandpa Able out the door. They backed out of the garage and headed down the street until they reached a road that went through to the lake. Grandpa Able turned the Crown Victoria down the hill and went towards the lake until he finally linked up with London Road. Traffic was light, and they made it onto Highway 35 quickly. Jane stared out the window with Jacob’s ring around her thumb. Tucked inside her sweater was her map and pen. Pinned to the outside of her sweater was her anchor. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she came prepared to do whatever was needed. Jacob had to have his ring and anchor to her map. With that he could escape the Adherents to the Divide and seek help from Tasker on the other side. Suddenly she smiled and shook her head. Did she really want help from Tasker right now? He couldn’t even operate a car handle.

  They exited the highway and turned onto North Lake Avenue for two blocks, then took the left into the police department parking lot. Grandpa Able slipped into a parking spot. They entered the building and spoke to an officer at the front desk who seemed to not know anything about the case, but since he knew Grandpa Able, he called Stan. A few minutes later they were sitting in the chief’s office.

  “They found a substantial amount of illegal drugs inside the residence,” Stan said in a tired voice. “I’ve spoken to the officers involved because most of them are new to the force, but they seemed to have followed the proper procedures. Several other officers I trust implicitly were with them when they entered the house.”

  “This isn’t right,” Jane insisted. “We were out hiking all day yesterday, and we were at the beach the day before. I talked to his mom. She showed me around the house the first day. There was nothing. Now you make it sound like the drugs were scattered everywhere.” She burst into tears when she was done and buried her face in her hands. “If they were all around the house, I would have seen something.”