by R H Frye
“Shut up! There’s nothing about you I want! You killed the only man I wanted.”
“Your words deny the thoughts that I see within your mind. How is it that you still don’t understand my power? You’ve seen it firsthand. You should know by now that it is useless to resist me.” Maraydel was obviously continuing his healing work while they were talking, since another small patch of blackened skin suddenly flaked away.
Carol knew that it would not be much longer before the magus was completely healed, and she had no idea of what she would do when the wizard was able to once more turn his attentions completely her way. She shuddered again at the thought of his touch, but somewhere deep inside she had begun to long for that touch as well. What the hell is wrong with you, Carol? Remember Danny! Remember what this monster did to you. The part of Carol’s mind that had been grievously wounded by the magus was crying out desperately for attention, but another, darker part of her mind was tired of listening. Carol curled up on the sofa where she was sitting and let herself drift off to sleep. The sound of another of Maraydel’s dark chuckles was the last sound she heard before her tired mind drifted into an uneasy slumber.
Carol awakened gasping and sweating from the terror of a half-remembered nightmare.
She had been fleeing from something, but the unseen monster that was growling and panting behind her only seemed to get closer. She had been fleeing through a darkened forest and she was alarmed when her running steps splashed into a bog and her feet became stuck in the mud. She could still hear her pursuer crashing through the woods behind her, and she could feel herself sinking deeper and deeper into the mud. Just as the swampy water of the bog was about to close over her head, she had jerked awake on the sofa where she had fallen asleep.
Carol sat up and straightened the shorts and t-shirt that she had fallen asleep in. Ordinarily baggy and comfortable, her sweating and flailing had served to make the clothes feel clammy and cold against her skin, and she was disgusted to see a trail of her blood along her side where the gunshot wound had apparently opened and oozed blood. Grimacing with distaste, Carol stood up and moved to her bedroom to find something else to wear. She was so distracted by the dream and her resulting discomfort that she never noticed that Maraydel was no longer resting in her father’s recliner.
In her bedroom, she peeled the t-shirt over her head and slipped the panties from her hips to pool around her ankles. She used the ruined t-shirt to wipe the excess blood from her side and tossed it onto the dirty, bloodied clothes that she had been wearing during their wild escape from the hospital. The cool air coming from the air conditioning vent in her room caused goose bumps to rise on her skin, but the sensation was a welcome relief from the sweaty mess that she had found herself in upon awakening. Naked, she turned to her dresser and was about to open a drawer to get more clothes when she noticed Maraydel leaning against the doorway and gazing calmly at her body. She bit back angry words and ignored the magus as she rummaged through her drawers.
“Does your side pain you?” The question was unexpected, and she ignored it as she continued searching for a clean change of clothing. At length she found another t-shirt and pair of shorts to wear. She glanced in Maraydel’s direction just as she was pulling the t-shirt overhead, but the magus had not moved. Only his eyes were roaming her body, and his lust was clear upon his face. Somewhere, most likely from her father’s dresser, the magus had found a loose-fitting pair of khaki shorts to wear, but his approval of her body was evident from the bulge in the crotch of the shorts he was wearing. Carol finished dressing quickly, but she was dismayed to feel a surge of heat low in her belly. As hard as it was to believe, part of her had enjoyed Maraydel’s attention. Carol covered her discomfort by shoving past the magus where he leaned in the doorway. Her ears burned as she heard the magus utter the same low chuckle that had followed her into sleep.
Carol walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see the sun just climbing above the horizon through the thin line of trees that shielded her parent’s house from the nearby road. She must have slept for longer than she had originally thought. From the program that was showing on the television when she fell asleep, she knew that she had dozed off during the early evening hours. Apparently, she had slept the night through. And she was somewhat surprised to discover that she actually felt good for the first time since Maraydel had destroyed her life. Of course, the loss of Danny was still a constant ache in her heart, but the part of her mind that was tired of being afraid was dulling her feelings of loss and fear.
Carol suddenly realized that she was famished. She looked through the cabinets for a moment before retrieving a box of cereal. She looked in the refrigerator and found a jug of milk that her mom had apparently left when departing for the beach. The gallon jug only had about a half-gallon of milk in it, and Carol took the lid off to sniff gingerly at the spout. After satisfying herself that the milk was apparently still good, she poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the bar to eat.
Maraydel sauntered into the kitchen just as she was taking her second bite of cereal. He leaned on the counter across from where Carol was eating and watched her. Carol studiously ignored the magus. When she was nearing the bottom of the bowl, Maraydel finally broke the silence. “Will you prepare a bowl of what you’re eating for me?”
The question was almost polite, and Carol’s mouth fell open in astonishment. Never before had the magus shown the least inclination to be anything other than haughty, cruel, and commanding, and Carol was momentarily at a loss for words. Realizing that she must look foolish and seeing the magus still standing calmly regarding her, Carol closed her mouth so hard that her teeth made an audible click. Still without a word, Carol fished another bowl out of her mother’s cluttered cabinet and filled it with cereal and milk. She got a spoon from the silverware drawer, stuck it in the cereal, and slid it across the bar to Maraydel. “There you go.”
The wizard nodded his head in acknowledgment and began to spoon cereal into his mouth. Carol waited for a moment to see if anything more would be said, but the magus seemed content to dine in peace. After another long moment, Carol shook her head over her master’s baffling behavior and turned to walk away. She went into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She relieved herself and shucked off her clothes before stepping into a hot shower.
John felt Sarah stirring beside of him, so he rolled over to cuddle her in his arms. He kissed her on the cheek and said, “Good morning sleepy head.” Sarah’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked groggily over at John with a small smile. Without a word, she leaned over and kissed him soundly on the lips.
In a moment, Sarah broke the kiss with a playful, “Yuck, morning breath.” She leaned back to look at John with a devilish gleam in her eye.
“Morning breath? Oh, and I suppose you think your breath smells like roses this morning, huh?” As John was teasing Sarah, he began to tickle her ribs. She squirmed in mock indignation and pushed his hands away.
“None of that or you’ll have me interested in something else before long. Let’s go. We’ve got things to do this morning.” Sarah rolled out of her bed as John flopped back onto his pillow in playful frustration. She took a short step away from her bed before turning back and whipping the covers off of John. He grumbled as the cool morning air hit him unexpectedly, but after a moment or two, he sat up and glanced around the room for his clothes. He heard the sound of the water running briefly in Sarah’s bathroom before the sound of her electric toothbrush joined in the sounds of a familiar morning ritual taking place. Grinning with contentment, John pulled on his jeans and stumbled from Sarah’s bedroom into the living room.
Danny was sleeping on Sarah’s sofa. As John passed behind the sofa on his way to the kitchen, he gave Danny’s shoulder a friendly punch. Danny awakened with a jerk, but his alarm subsided immediately when he realized that he was still in the caring company of John and Sarah. “Good morning,” Danny mumbled sleepily to John as he swung his feet to the cool hardwo
od floor of the living room. The blanket that Sarah had loaned him for the evening was quickly rolled into a ball and tossed on top of the pillow that he had also borrowed. He made a mental note to fold up the blanket and return Sarah’s pillow to the closet where she had gotten it.
Danny could hear John rumbling around in Sarah’s kitchen and in a matter of minutes the aroma of coffee began drifting into the living room. Danny rubbed the sleep from his eyes and searched the clutter of Sarah’s coffee table until he found the remote control for the television. He pressed the power button and waited for the set to warm up. The sound came on before the picture and Danny’s attention was caught by the newscaster’s voice before the tube warmed up enough to reveal the reporter standing in front of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Asheville. Danny hurriedly turned up the volume on the television so he could clearly hear the rest of the story.
“Local police are still refusing to comment on yesterday’s strange events here at St. Joseph’s. Rumors are flying among members of the hospital’s staff as well as residents of the local community. Wild theories have been offered to explain the death of Officer Derrick Davis and the subsequent lightning storm behind the hospital. I’ve heard tales of everything from ghosts and goblins to an attack by aliens. One thing seems certain in all of this. Whatever the police know about the strange and deadly day here yesterday, they’re not talking. Back to you, Jim.”
As the station began to cover more mundane stories, Danny wandered into the kitchen to see John cooking breakfast. John noticed Danny’s arrival and asked, “So how are you feeling this morning?”
“Better. I’m not even sore any more. So, I guess Sarah is awake too, huh?”
“Yeah, she’s freshening up in the bathroom. I thought maybe everyone would like some breakfast, and her bathroom only has comfortable room for one anyway. So how do you like your eggs?” John already had a frying pan full of sizzling bacon, and he was breaking eggs into a bowl as he talked to Danny.
“Scrambled is fine. Or whatever is easiest for you. I’m not picky. With my parents, if you didn’t eat what was cooked, you didn’t eat.” Danny smiled a wistful smile as he thought of a childhood that now seemed to be centuries in the past.
“Scrambled it is then.” John added some pepper to the eggs for season and began to scramble them up in the bowl with a fork.
“We were on the news this morning. Well kind of, anyway.”
John glanced away from his cooking long enough to meet Danny’s gaze for a moment. He turned his eyes back to the eggs as he asked, “So what did they have to say?”
“Not much. It sounds like Lieutenant Donovan is keeping the press at bay for the time being. I think maybe, as long as no one turns up with video footage of the fight behind the hospital, most of this will just blow over.”
“I hope you’re right. We’re just very lucky to have that man on our side. I don’t know what would have happened to Sarah if he hadn’t smoothed things over with the police.” John began to fork bacon out of the frying pan onto a plate. When all of the bacon was out of the pan, he turned on the hot water in Sarah’s sink and poured most of the grease down the drain. He kept just enough grease to coat the bottom of the frying pan and poured the scrambled eggs into the pan. As the eggs began to fry, he pulled a couple of pieces of toast from Sarah’s toaster and added them to the plate with the bacon.
Sarah came strolling into the kitchen as John continued assembling their breakfast. Her hair was damp, and she smelled of soap, so John surmised that she must have taken a quick shower while he was working. She gave Danny a peck on the cheek as she moved past him to wrap her arms around John from behind. “Something smells yummy.”
John was pleased with the attention, but he was also busy cooking so he asked, “Honey could you grab a couple of plates? The eggs are just about ready.”
Sarah squeezed John tighter for a moment before she complied with his request. As the plates arrived, John began to shovel equal portions of the scrambled eggs onto each plate. When he was finished, he put the frying pan in the sink and retrieved the last couple of pieces of toast from the toaster. “Alright you guys. Dig in.” Sarah and Danny each added bacon and eggs to their plates and moved off into the small dining area that adjoined the kitchen. John added the bacon that was left and the last piece of toast to his plate and joined them in the dining room. Everyone was quiet for a while as they took the edges off their hunger.
Danny was the first to break the silence. “That was great John. Thanks.” John nodded his acceptance of the compliment and continued working on his breakfast. “Sarah, thank you for letting me stay here last night. And thank you both for getting me out of the hospital. I don’t know what I would have told my mom and dad.”
“We were glad to help. I don’t know how this is all going to turn out, but you and Carol didn’t deserve this, and we’re going to do everything we can to help you. Isn’t that right John?” Sarah looked over at John and was surprised to see him staring blankly into the distance. She reached over and squeezed his hand where it rested on the table. “John?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. We’re going to help you both any way we can.”
“Is everything okay?” Sarah was concerned. The way John had been looking had been way too similar to the way he had looked when he was trapped outside of his body. Everything seemed to be okay now, but it had given her a bad scare for the moment.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just thinking.” John met Sarah’s eyes while he was answering her, and she was relieved to see that he did appear to be completely there. He turned his head to look at Danny and said, “So do you still feel any connection to him?”
Danny shook his head. “No, and I don’t understand it. Even when he was hurt so badly, I could still feel his presence in my head. But ever since I took his shot in my back, he’s just been gone. I haven’t felt him since. Do you think that’s important?”
“It has to be. I’m just not sure why. A better question is this. What exactly caused the connection to sever, and will the same thing work for Carol?” John hurried on before Danny could interrupt. “I’m only thinking out loud here. I still need some answers and I’m not sure how to get them. I’d ask my grandfather, but the last time I went into a vision, I nearly didn’t make it back.” Danny and Sarah were both silent in response to John’s line of thought. The silence was stretching out as each looked inside for answers to their questions when the shrill ringing of John’s cell phone shattered the silence. His phone was still lying on the coffee table where he had left it after their late arrival on the previous evening, so John pushed away from the table and hurried into the living room.
When John reached his phone, he was surprised to see the number for Matthew Running Deer on his caller ID. Before answering the phone, John knew without a doubt what one of the discussion points would be in this conversation. “Hello, Matt. It’s good to hear from you.”
“Hello, John. How is everything going?”
“It’s been an interesting trip so far. That’s about all I can say right now. So what’s up?”
“Well, I’m calling for two reasons, although both are kind of related. First, I’m calling to let you know that we really need to make something happen regarding your grandfather’s burial.”
“Yeah, I figured that was the reason for this call. I swear to you I’ll make the arrangements today. But you said there were two reasons. What’s the second reason for your call?”
“Do you remember asking me to check into the old ways for you?”
John was suddenly much more attentive to Matt’s voice. This could have some bearing on the discussion they were just having at breakfast. “Sure. Did you find out anything interesting?”
“I think the real question is, did you find out anything interesting from Adam Standing Bear? I heard that you’ve been to see him a couple of times since you got here, and from what I’ve been able to find out, his knowledge of Cherokee rituals was second only to your grandfather’s.�
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John sighed when he realized that Matt apparently had no new sources of information beyond the ones that he had already found on his own. “Adam is one cool old guy. And yes, he has a few ideas about burying my grandfather properly. I just wondered if you had found anyone else.”
“Well, there are a few others around, but everyone I talked to kept recommending Adam.” Matt hesitated for a moment before continuing. “By the way, I’m sorry I didn’t get in touch with you yesterday like I had promised. I got busy with town business, and it took me longer than I thought it would to find the information I had promised you.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. I was busy taking care of a few things myself.” John smiled a private smile regarding that understatement.
“Well, I am usually much better about keeping my commitments than that, so again, I apologize.”
“Apology accepted. Now knock it off.” John thought for a moment before continuing. “Well, like I said, I’ll take care of the funeral arrangements today. I’ll let Adam make the call on any kind of rituals. If possible, we’ll try to have things taken care of by tomorrow afternoon. How does that sound?”
“That will be fine. I wouldn’t even have mentioned it, but the morgue called me this morning bugging me about it. Now I can call back and tell them that it’s taken care of.” Matt paused for a moment before attempting to wrap up the call. “If you don’t mind, could you give me a call when you have the arrangements made?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Oh, it’s not that, John. I just thought maybe I would come to the funeral if that’s okay with you.” Matt sounded slightly embarrassed.
“Oh, that would be more than okay. You’re a good guy, and I’d appreciate you being there.” John meant it. Matt had been helpful and patient in a situation when many people would have been overbearing and irritating. “I’ll call you with final details sometime this afternoon.”
