Chapter 17: A blown opportunity
They ran down the riverbank, Charles in the lead. Thomas’s body ached. His ear still rang. His left leg, in particular, sent a jolt of pain up his hip with every step, and he couldn’t keep up. He lagged behind. In just a minute, between the curve of the river and the scrub oak growing along the shore, Charles had disappeared ahead.
Thomas scanned the water and shore as he ran, looking for Mama, wondering why he bothered. Charles would see her just as easily as him.
Flotsam still bobbed past him. Once, a zombie body bobbed by, its legs twitching. A moment later, its head passed, spinning with vacant eyes in the water. Here and there he recognized pieces of the wagon or bridge caught along the shore, on a shoal or the riverbank. After five minutes, he’d about decided to turn back. Charles was probably half a mile ahead of him, and if anyone would find the body, it would be him.
At a spot where a canal branched from the main river, he came across his hat. It had washed ashore on the rocky riverbank. Panting, he bent and picked it up. An unusual relief pressed in his chest. The red cloth hadn’t come unwound at all. He cared little for the hat, itself, but the cloth connected him with Mama. He would keep it forever.
What had Miss Sadie referred to the bumblebee as? A memento?
He stood with his hands on his knees, holding his hat, watching the water drip from the brim. Perhaps Mama was gone. Maybe the river had already carried her body for miles, and they would never recover her. Or it would take days for them to find her. If it proved hard enough to find her, they might not reach Zion’s fast enough to finish the spell, and he wouldn’t have to worry about how to stop them. Miss Sadie had certainly made a mistake in casting that spell, but maybe it would turn out for the best.
With a shake of his head, he straightened and started to turn back, but caught sight of Mama.
She floated in the mouth of the canal, in a shaded place where the scrub oak reached over the narrow water. The current must’ve pushed her into the canal and shoved her under the branches. She laid face down, dress outlining her legs, glistening from the wet. The fabric’s color nearly matched the muddy hue of the water. Her hair lay matted against her head, adding to the camouflage. It would’ve been easy to miss her by hurrying across the canal, on down the river. Surely that’s what Charles had done.
Thomas hesitated. He could dislodge her and send her downriver, although Charles would probably see her body float by. But maybe the current would carry her too fast, and it could take some significant time to retrieve her.
He could also push her down the canal, but the canal was only six feet wide, and after about twenty yards it had no cover along the banks. If he set her adrift that way, she would probably just wash ashore, or get caught in some pool.
Or, he could always shove her body deeper into the foliage.
He halted in indecision, trying to decide which method would provide the longest delay.
Thomas, I don’t care what you do, but here is a chance. You take it. Understand? Take this chance!
He checked up and down river for Charles or any other member of his family, and took two steps toward Mama. He didn’t see anyone, but Charles’s voice rose over the sound of the river.
“I can’t find her!”
He came into view, rounding a curve not twenty yards down river. Thomas halted.
He should have made a decision faster. Now Charles would see whatever he did, and that would decrease any delay he might have caused. Plus, his family would know that he still wanted to prevent the resurrection. Maybe they thought that with the first half of the spell cast, he’d given up.
He stood frozen, unable to act. Leave it to him to blow an opportunity.
As Charles approached, he pointed back down the river.
“A little ways down, at a narrow bend, the wood from the bridge and wagon have blocked the river. Nothing can get by it. Her body could be buried in the debris. We may have to dig her out.”
Charles stopped on the opposite side of the canal, one hand on his hip, the other holding the sword point down so it touched the water’s surface. The cuts on his face looked like war paint.
Thomas didn’t speak. He tried to look natural, like he’d just stopped for a rest.
“What?” Charles asked. “Why did you stop?”
Thomas shrugged, looked purposefully away from the canal, and motioned at the ground in front of him.
“Found my hat here, and thought I’d rest. That bridge collapsing took a lot out of me. I’m surprised you survived, at all.”
Charles grinned and shook his head. He looked away, down the canal.
“The main beam of the bridge nearly hit me, but—.”
His brow furrowed in curiosity. He looked directly at the bush where Mama’s body lay.
Thomas’s hopes fell.
You stupid boy. You lost that chance!
“Is that—?” Charles stepped into the water, toward the bush. “It is! There she is!”
He rushed into the canal. It went up to his waist, and the water swirled around him. He pushed into the bushes, and reached for Mama’s shoeless foot. Laughing, he pulled her out, and came back across the canal. Her arms spread at the push of the current. As Charles stood in the water below Thomas, he pulled her arms in close to her body and flipped her over. Her face glistened, almost in an expression of chagrin. Water flowed out of her nostrils.
Still holding on to her, against the current, Charles turned to Thomas, thoughtful realization on his face.
“You were going to leave her,” he said. “You’d seen her, and were just going to leave her.”
Thomas stepped back and raised his hands. The hat continued to drip.
“That’s just stupid, Charles. Why would I do that?”
“You ingrate. You saw her, but thought you had a chance to keep us from bringing her back. Didn’t you?”
Thomas shook his head. To hide his lie, he stepped into the water, bending toward her with the intention of helping Charles lift her out.
“Don’t be stupid. She’s my mama. Let me help you.”
Charles batted his hands away. His face twisted in disgust.
“Get away from her. You don’t love her. You would’ve left her there to rot. Or to be eaten by the coyotes.”
“That’s ridiculous.” He stepped deeper into the water, almost to Charles’s side. “Let’s get her back to the others.”
Charles turned and let the water carry her out of Thomas’s reach, but held onto her ankle. He glared with suspicion.
“Don’t touch her. I’ll care for her. Like I always have.”
Thomas grunted. “Like you always have? You’ve never cared for her. Been too busy running off with Lightning. If anything, you’ve done nothing but make more work for her.”
“Stay away from her, Thomas. You stay away from her.”
His face said the rest: come near her, and I’ll kill you.
Thomas met the gaze with feigned confidence. Charles had already clobbered him yesterday. The water and zombie had about finished the job. He couldn’t risk another struggle right then.
So he turned away, strode back up onto the rocky shore.
“Fine, then. You bring her back by yourself.”
“All you care about,” Charles said, “is yourself. Yourself and that zombie raiser we don’t even know. Well, I’m going to get rid of her.”
Thomas didn’t look back. He needed to get up to the road and make sure Miss Sadie was okay—and that Charles didn’t cause her too much trouble.
* * *
Upstream, back at the dirt road, the remnants of the bridge stretched a few feet over the river, supported by several of the pillars rising from the water. Closer toward the middle of the river, wooden pillars from the bridge stood in water, and several boards still spanned them. Near the opposite shore, no remnant of the bridge remained—except for a cluster of boards on the road. It would take weeks or months for the community to rebuild the structure.
Thomas stared, remembering the feel of the bridge heaving beneath him, the world spinning and turning in a torrent of wind and cracking wood. Franky being torn from his grasp. Hitting the water like God had thrown him from the sky.
If he never experienced anything like that again, it would suit him just fine.
Papa sat on the edge of the wood, so his legs dangled over the edge. His hair matted against his face, and his overalls sagged with water and mud. Stanley and Franky sat next to him, no doubt eyeing the river for fish. Clara May and Eli stood behind them. Scrub oak and bushes grew alongside the road and riverbank. A merciless sun shone from the cloudless sky.
Miss Sadie stood off to the side, holding the reins to the horses in her white-gloved hands. She still wore her hat. Despite the tornado, her white dress looked clean and dry. She stood looking at the backs of the family, biting a lip and frowning until she saw Thomas. She smiled at him with welcoming eyes.
He glared at her in payment for her casting that spell. Her countenance fell.
Instantly, he wanted to apologize. She’d only tried to help. And, really, if she hadn’t used the spell, what condition would they be in? They couldn’t have fought the zombies off. And he couldn’t have used any spell to fend them off. Maybe she’d done the best anyone could expect under the circumstances.
Stanley saw him, and ran to him with a bark. He bent to scratch the dog’s back.
“Thomas!” Clara May said. “You’re alive!”
Franky smiled. “The water didn’t swallow you!”
“Only barely,” Thomas said.
He stepped up to the road and stood between his family and Miss Sadie.
Eli chuckled and grinned at Clara May. “Wait until Bradley hears I shot a cursed zombie.”
She smiled at him. “You was so brave when they came at us. Like you was a knight saving his damsel.”
“I’m not sure,” Franky said, “that you actually shot a zombie. Shot at, sure. But shot? Not so certain.”
As Franky argued with Eli and Clara May over what Eli might or might not have accomplished, Thomas wavered between his family and Miss Sadie, not knowing what he might say to her. At least with his family he knew how to act. With her, he felt awkward. But he knew that when Charles got back, he would cause trouble with her—what, exactly, Thomas didn’t know. But Charles had something in mind.
He lifted his eyes, meaning to thank her for the spell and apologize for the glare, and found her staring at him.
“You’re always looking at me like that,” he said.
She didn’t blink or look away. “Does it bother you?”
“A little, yes.”
“I’m not going to stop.”
A shout from Clara May cut off his response.
“Charles! You found her!”
Thomas turned as Charles approached the road, carrying Mama over one shoulder like Thomas had the day before. Water dripped from her dangling feet and fingers. Charles climbed the bank to the road and grunted as he laid Mama on the shore.
“Where did you find her?” Papa said.
Charles glared at Thomas and crossed the road toward Miss Sadie.
“She was in a thicket where the canal branches off. I found her.”
“The good Lord knows—.”
Charles interrupted Papa as he snatched the reins to his horse from Miss Sadie.
“We need to decide what we’re going to do with this zombie raiser,” he said.
Miss Sadie’s eyes widened. She took a step away from Charles.
“You nearly got us all killed,” Charles said. “You cast that ridiculous spell on a wooden bridge.”
She raised her hands. “I thought I could get it cast before they reached the bridge. When the spell took longer to cast, I had no choice but to bring the twister up the bridge. The zombies would have killed all of you if I hadn’t.”
“Maybe not,” Charles said. “We might’ve fought them off.”
Thomas guffawed. “You couldn’t even fight off one before they pushed you into the water. She saved us all.”
“She nearly killed us and lost Mama’s body,” Charles said. “As it is, the wagon is destroyed. The mules are dead. I found them downriver. And besides, she’s a zombie raiser. We want nothing to do with her kind. I say we turn her into the city council before Brady and Farrell come back with an army of zombies.”
“Who are you, anyway?” Eli said to Miss Sadie.
“Yeah,” Clara May said, “who are you?”
Papa frowned at Miss Sadie. “That was no minor spell you cast. A tornado? I’ve never heard of that.”
He did have a point. Thomas had to admit that.
Miss Sadie looked over the group, her face thoughtful. She looked at each of them in turn as if evaluating them and their trustworthiness. She ended with Thomas, and shook her head.
“It’s none of your business who I am.”
“No,” Charles said, “it is. Your traveling with us puts us in danger. We deserve to know what we’ve gotten ourselves into.”
“I don’t think you really want to know,” she said. “You’re better off ignorant.” She grunted as if something humorous occurred to her. “In more ways than one.”
“Now, now,” Papa said. “A man opens up his home and protection to a person, that’s no way to treat him. The good Lord knows you’re a friend of Mr. Milne, so we’ve trusted you until now. But perhaps it’s time you told us about yourself.”
“I refuse.”
She articulated the words with careful deliberateness. Thomas had never seen someone look so graceful and stubborn at once, the way she stood there in the sunlight with her arms folded and chin lifted.
Papa nodded. “Then you’re no longer welcome among us.”
Her expression changed to shock. “What?”
“You heard him,” Charles said. Then to everyone else, he said, “Let’s get going. We need to get to Hurricane tonight. Warn them that we’ve got a zombie raiser in the area.”
Once again, Thomas didn’t know what to do. He agreed with his family—they did deserve to know why they’d fallen into such danger. Yet, he also respected Miss Sadie’s right to keep her information her own. And he certainly had no desire to betray her to the authorities or leave her behind.
Charles led his horse to where Mama lay, and he and Papa began to strap Mama over the saddle, so her arms hung down one side, her legs down the other. It seemed disrespectful, but they had no other option.
“You can’t just leave me,” Miss Sadie said.
“Why not?” Franky said.
“Because I’ll just follow you, that’s why.”
“Well, that’ll be perfect,” Charles said. “So when we talk with the sheriff, it’ll be really easy for him to nab you.”
She looked at Thomas. “Aren’t you going to do something to help me?”
He needed to, of course. He at least owed her that much. But he knew his family. Knew how stubborn they could be. So he would have to approach it in a way that didn’t offend her or them.
“Well,” he said, “I don’t want to leave you. I like having you around well enough.”
From where he stood by the horse, Charles grunted.
“But,” Thomas continued, “we don’t have much choice. You’re putting us all in danger. We deserve to know why—who you are. Besides, you seem perfectly able to protect yourself. I reckon you’re quite an accomplished zo—er, magician.” He shrugged and gave her a helpless expression. “I’m very sorry.”
She shook her head and clenched her jaw. “This time, I can see right through you, Thomas Baker. You’re manipulating me.”
He wondered what she meant by this time. “But what choice do we have?”
She stared at him, eyes and lips narrow. “Very well.” She raised her voice. “Everyone, listen.”
They all turned to her.
She sighed and shook her head. “My last name is Crouch. I’m Sadie Crouch.”
She said it like everyone should have known
her identity. Instead, they just stared at her. Eli scratched his head and whispered something to Clara May.
“You’re a grouch?” Franky said.
“Crouch. I’m Sadie Crouch.”
“That means nothing to us,” Thomas said. “It must mean something to you. But what?”
“My Papa is Charles David Crouch.”
Still, no one responded. They just stared at her in confusion. She glared back at them and rolled her eyes with a sigh.
“The Lich Mayor of Moab? You’ve heard of him?”
Everyone nodded. Who hadn’t heard of the Lich Mayor of Moab?
“Well,” Miss Sadie said, “he is Charles David Crouch.”
Silence, then, but this time a stunned silence. Even Stanley and Lightning seemed to look at her in shock.
Somehow, it didn’t surprise Thomas. With her fine dress and manners and perfect face, no doubt her father had expended plenty of resources to see that she received a good upbringing and all the finest things. With her zombie servants and her large estate in Arches, she couldn’t have come from a more opposite background than Thomas.
How was it fair that someone could live in such comfort through such evil practices? Yet, why had she left that situation?
“And why,” Charles said, “did you run away from daddy?”
Eli chortled. “He desires that you marry a foul and decrepit zombie?”
“Can you even marry a zombie?” Clara May asked.
“And if you die,” Franky said, “and you’re brought back as a zombie, are you still married?”
Miss Sadie crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows “As a matter of fact, he did give me an ultimatum: marry or seek a particular blessing I don’t want.”
“What blessing?” Papa asked.
His eyes had turned calculating, thoughtful. Thomas had never seen that look on Papa’s face before. It almost seemed enterprising. Leave it to him to get entrepreneurial when it involved turning a girl over to zombie raisers or the sheriff.
She drew herself up and lifted her chin higher, almost so that she had to look down on all of them. “The gift of foresight.”
“Why—,” Eli began.
Keep Mama Dead Page 15
