Crossroads

by Alexie Aaron [Aaron, Alexie]

  Murphy pulled as much power as he could from the riverbank before running, jumping, and bringing his axe down on the trunk of the tree.

  CRACK! SPLASH!

  The tree broke away and rolled over, pulling Stephanie atop it. Her arm still trapped, she had no other choice but to ride it down the river.

  Murphy pulled himself up on the trunk of the tree. He looked over and was satisfied the woman was breathing air instead of water. He let himself fade and slip off the trunk into the water and into oblivion.

  Mia cussed as the parade rolled through the intersection so slowly that it trapped her at the light. She sat and tapped the steering wheel. She still had plenty of time. She may as well sit back and relax.

  MIA!

  Mia heard Murphy calling for her. She turned her head in time to see a log truck barreling down the road on her left. She looked right and saw a line of cars starting to make a left-hand turn.

  “He’s going to stop, don’t worry,” she said to herself.

  The truck made no visible move to slow down.

  “He doesn’t have the right of way. He’s going to stop,” Mia said. She looked behind her and honked, trying to get the driver to back up. She honked again and stuck out her arm, motioning him to back up. The driver gave her the finger.

  She pointed frantically to the approaching truck.

  The driver hit reverse.

  Mia had started to put the van in reverse when the logging truck hit the brakes hard. The trailer jackknifed moving around the truck. It seemed to gain momentum and hit the van in the back and launched it across the intersection and through the gates of the Big Bear Lake Cemetery like it was a line drive.

  Mia didn’t know how the van stayed on its front wheels. She didn’t know how it stayed upright. It fell back on its back wheels and careened past the office, missing plowing into the Caruthers crypt by inches. One of the back wheels sunk into soft ground, tipping it sideways as it continued sliding through the graveyard. Mia didn’t have time to do anything but wrap her wings around her abdomen to protect her babies before the van crashed into the memorial put up by the VFW.

  Andy Carmichael reached the van first. He had already alerted the police and fire department. He was told Sheriff Tom Braverman was coming in through the back gate.

  “Tell him, it’s the PEEPs van. I think it’s Mia,” Andy said, seeing the white-blond hair just beyond the granite obelisk which had crashed through the van’s windshield.

  Mia unwrapped her wings and clutched her stomach in pain. Her water broke. “Not now!” she shouted. She tried to move, but the van was on its side, the top half of the monument resting on the side of her seat. “God bless Detroit,” she said, as the durability of the seat had stopped the granite pillar from crushing her.

  “Mia, hold on, help’s coming.”

  “Andy?” Mia asked.

  “Yes. We really have to stop meeting this way. Ted’s going to get jealous.”

  “Well, you know,” Mia said and groaned as another contraction hit her. “The babies are coming. Can you get me out of here?”

  “Help is coming,” Andy repeated.

  Mia heard the screech of tires and the pounding of feet. She heard Tom yelling orders. Soon he was there with her.

  “Mia, we have to move the column before we can get to you,” Tom told her.

  “No kidding,” Mia said and groaned.

  “Contractions?” Tom asked.

  “Yes,” Mia said through clenched teeth. “The girls are lined up and ready to come out. Something is wrong with my legs. I can’t move in order to catch them before they hit the floor.”

  “I can,” the Countess hissed in her ear. “If it comes to that, Meeeahhh, I’ll catch your babies.”

  “Where am I?” Mia asked.

  “At the crossroads,” the Countess said.

  “Please, I can’t give birth at the crossroads; the demon will take my babies.”

  “Understood.”

  The ghost left.

  Tom watched as Andy jammed a car jack under the pillar. He didn’t see the icy fog move out of the center of the graveyard, but he felt it as it moved by him and slammed into the van, sending it sliding into the Lutheran section of the graveyard, freeing it from the massive granite obelisk. Tom climbed in and, with Andy’s help, pulled Mia out. She was bruised and bloody but more concerned over the premature entrance of her daughters than herself.

  Deputy Chambers, who arrived just after Tom, brought the emergency kit. Andy and Tom laid Mia on the soft moss near the large yew tree. The Countess stood there daring any of the other ghouls to come near her Mia.

  Mia raised herself on her elbows and looked between her legs. Tom was there.

  “You’re the last person I’d expect to see there,” Mia said and groaned.

  “It’s not your best side, Cooper. I see a head crowning. Push, Mia.”

  She listened and pushed. She felt her first daughter’s shoulders pass and heard Andy coo to the silent child as Tom cleared her airway. Genevieve gasped her first breath and cried. Andy waited until Tom clamped and cut the cord before he wrapped the child in his Cubs shirt.

  “She’s beautiful, Mia,” Andy said.

  The Countess floated over and commented, “Thank God, she’s got your nose.”

  Mia was too busy pushing Maeve out to react.

  Tom didn’t have to do anything but turn Maeve over, and she coughed and then greeted the world around her with a bellow that rivaled a banshee.

  “We’ve got another screamer,” the Countess said, holding her ears.

  “We got here as soon as we could,” Mia heard Ted say. “This is Nanny Berta…”

  Mia felt Ted’s hands on her face. He sat behind her and settled her head onto his lap and held his exhausted wife.

  “Tell me, are they alright?” Mia asked barely above a whisper.

  Nanny Berta knelt and handed Ted Genevieve. “This one’s a fighter. She needs a little time in the hospital, but she’s going to be okay.”

  “What about Maeve?” Mia asked, reaching her hand up to touch Genevieve.

  “The crypt keeper won’t let me have her.”

  “Andy, let Nanny Berta see Maeve,” Mia asked.

  “She’s so beautiful,” Andy said, mesmerized. He handed what he considered a perfect child to Nanny Berta who wrapped her in a blanket. “She has all her fingers and toes. I swear she winked at me. She’s sucking on her fist,” Andy reported.

  “Yes, dear,” Nanny Berta said indulgently. She knelt and set Maeve on Mia’s chest. “I hate to break it to you, but this child is hungry. I think it would help your situation if you did nurse her.”

  Ted handed Nanny Berta Genevieve and pulled Mia up until she could hold her daughter. Ted draped his shirt over his wife and daughter. Nanny Berta rocked Genevieve while Mia nursed Maeve in her shadow.

  “Mia, I had my mom pick up Brian,” Tom said. “The EMTs have their hands full with the logging truck accident. Can you hold out a few minutes longer?”

  Mia looked up at Nanny Berta and then at the Countess and nodded. “I’m in good hands, Tom. Thank you for delivering my girls.”

  “It’s what us law professionals do.”

  “How many babies have you delivered?” Nanny Berta asked Tom.

  “Including these two?”

  “Yes.”

  “Two.”

  “I helped,” Andy said proudly.

  “Yes, you did,” Mia said. She reached down and pulled the ghostly hand off her damaged leg. “Whose grave am I on?”

  “Caleb Moran,” Andy read.

  “Countess, could you ask Caleb to stop trying to pull me into the ground?”

  “Caleb, keep your hands to yourself or I’ll have you reburied with your aunt Violet.”

  Maeve stopped nursing, and Mia was then handed Genevieve. Maeve ended up in Andy’s arms again, and he gently rubbed her back until she burped. “She’s a natural.”
r />   Mia felt the afterbirth moving out. “Ted, you may want to look elsewhere.”

  “Too late, and yes, I’m feeling a bit green,” Ted admitted. “Interesting place to give birth.”

  “The tree’s nice,” Mia said, looking up. “I was in the crossroads, but the Countess managed to move the van.”

  “That was nice of her.”

  “It pays to know ghouls in low places,” Mia said. “I take it Nanny Berta flew you in?”

  “Yes. Most of the attention was on the jackknifed trailer, so I don’t imagine anyone living saw us land.”

  Tom walked over. “I’ve got a bus coming in from the hospital. Dr. Walters is riding along.”

  “Damn, he’s just going to lecture me about my friends and the places I choose to hang out.”

  Ted couldn’t help laughing.

  Mia groaned.

  “I’m sorry you didn’t get your perfect pain-free C-section,” Ted said.

  “Well, maybe next time,” Mia said, handing Ted Genevieve.

  “I’m not putting you through this again,” he said, cradling his daughter.

  “Promises, promises.”

  “No really. The Martin sperm bank is closed.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it in writing,” Mia mumbled and drifted off to sleep.

  ~

  Murphy found himself near the falls. He got up and scanned the river. He climbed the tree and saw the foliage mass moving towards the entrance to Big Bear Lake. He ran, keeping the unconscious woman in sight until he saw Mia’s old house. He moved as fast as his power would let him. He pushed through the walls of the house and found Burt drawing.

  “HELP ME!” Murphy shouted.

  Burt just about fell off the drafting stool.

  “What the hell, Stephen!”

  “There’s a girl in the lake, stuck in a tree limb. She fell from the bridge. I can’t function in water.”

  “I can,” Enos said from the doorway to his room.

  “I’ll call the EMTs and borrow the Ryans’ boat,” Burt said, running out of the house, calling 911.

  Enos ran to the edge of the property, and Murphy pointed where the woman was still clinging to the dead tree.

  Enos backed up, ran, and caught a lot of air as he jumped up and dove into the water, clearing the rocks which filled the water around the peninsula. His strong arms brought him to the woman quickly. “Hello, I’m Enos. Are you awake?”

  “Barely,” she said. “My arm’s stuck.”

  “I can see that. I’m going to swim beside you, keeping your impromptu boat from turning over. What’s your name?” Enos asked, trying to keep the young woman conscious.

  “Stephanie Gilbert.”

  “How did you end up in such a predicament?”

  “I was biking, and someone pushed me off my bike into the water. I thought I was dead, until I wasn’t.”

  “My friend Stephen tried to help you, but he… he can’t swim.”

  “I think he pulled me from the bottom. I didn’t see him. All that water.”

  Burt pulled the fishing boat out into the lake. Soon he was idling near Enos. “How can I help?”

  “I’m going to untangle her, but she has no strength. You’re going to have to lift her out of the water.”

  “No problem,” Burt said, knowing there would be problems with his back later.

  The two worked together, and soon, they had the woman in the boat wrapped in a blanket. She was crying, she was in so much pain.

  “Hold on, the EMTs are waiting on the Ryans’ dock,” Burt said, speeding towards it.

  Murphy paced the shore. He saw the EMTs lift the woman from the boat and work to stabilize her. Deputy Chambers ran from the road. “What happened?”

  “Her name is Stephanie Gilbert. She says she was pushed off a bridge and got stuck in the tree here. We just pulled her from the water,” Enos said.

  “Sorry to take so long, but there was a hell of an accident in town. Mia Martin was involved and ended up giving birth in the graveyard.

  Burt and Enos looked at each other.

  “How is she?” Burt asked.

  “Battered, but she and her two daughters are fine and on their way to the hospital. She asked me, if anyone sees Murphy, to tell him, she’s sorry she couldn’t get to him when he called.”

  “What was she driving?” Burt asked.

  “The PEEPs van. I hope you’re insured because it’s totaled.”

  Murphy motioned to Burt that he was leaving. Burt held up his hand and told him to wait. “Where is Mia now?”

  “On her way to Green Ridge Hospital.”

  “I’ll find Murphy and take him to the hospital.”

  “I think that would be a good thing. Mia’s been through hell. Ted’s with her, but we all know how important that old ghost is to her.”

  “Deputy Chambers, if you ever get tired of being a deputy, look me up,” Burt said.

  “Will do, Mr. Hicks, will do.”

  Chapter Three

  “You’re a medical marvel,” Dr. Walters said, looking at the X-rays. “Two broken legs.”

  “I thought something was funky,” Mia said.

  “Fortunately, they weren’t compound. I’m surprised the sheriff didn’t check you for bone breakage.”

  “He was busy delivering my girls,” Mia said. “How is Genevieve?”

  “Rallying. She seemed to take most of the trauma. A real fighter.”

  “That’s what I’ve been told.”

  “Who’s the giant woman glaring at my nurses through the glass?” Dr. Walters asked.

  “Nanny Berta.”

  “She’s special, isn’t she?”

  “All my friends are special, Dr. Walters.”

  “Why haven’t you asked for drugs?” he asked.

  “I’m nursing.”

  “You don’t have to. I’ll write you a note.”

  “Where were you when I wanted to get out of gym class?” Mia asked.

  “Medical school.”

  “You went to medical school? Damn, I’m out ten bucks,” Mia said. “Can I go and see my babies now?”

  “No. You’re going to get a sponge bath, then your legs get casted, and then, if you’re a good girl and don’t upset the other patients, you’ll get to see your daughters.”

  “That’s blackmail,” Mia growled.

  “Mia, you’re going to be the death of me. You and your tribe are either going to make me a rich man or send me to an early grave. If the latter happens, I’m going to haunt you.”

  The door opened, and Murphy stood there, hat in hand.

  “Stand in line,” Mia said. “I’ve been haunted by the best.”

  The doctor left, and Murphy rushed over. “I’m sorry.”

  “I heard you call me just before the truck’s trailer hit the van. Are you alright?”

  “I was sent back to go for a while. I should have been with you.”

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Mia said. “Where were you?”

  Murphy explained.

  “Have you asked Jake to track her down? Maybe she’s in this hospital.”

  “Burt looked. She’s not here.”

  “I’ve ridden my bike along that bridge when I was a youngster. Maybe she took the walkway instead of staying on the bridge. Ask Enos to follow the river looking for that backpack you took off her, and have him check out the bridge. Tell him not to take anything that might be evidence. Tell him to take photos; otherwise, the goof will memorize the scene and draw a picture.”

  Murphy laughed.

  “Burt’s on his way up. He was so worried.”

  “Ooh boy. I hope the van was insured,” Mia said, putting her face in her hands.

  “Mia, look at me.”

  Mia raised her face. The black eye she was building made focusing a little tough, but she managed to make eye contact.

  “He’s not going to yell at you.”

 
“I hope not.”

  “I’m going to go and see the babies,” he said. “I hear you and Genevieve have matching shiners.”

  “Give the girl a break, she was born in a graveyard,” Mia said.

  Murphy left and Burt arrived. “Guess who I found staring at a bunch of toothless dolls?”

  Brian and Varden ran over. Mia looked at Burt and smiled. “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

  “Wow, that looks like it hurts. Should I renew my prescription?”

  “No. I’ve got this. Hello, boys, what did you think of your sisters?”

  “They are really little,” Varden said.

  “They’ll grow,” Mia answered.

  “I think they knew us. It was very creepy. Varden and I walked back and forth, and their eyes followed us,” Brian said.

  Burt turned around and suppressed his laughter.

  “I don’t think they can see you, but you are related so…”

  “Protect the nest,” Varden hissed.

  Mia put her finger to her lips.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to pick you up from school,” Mia told Brian.

  “That’s okay, you were busy,” Brian said. “Uncle Burt is going to take us out for ice cream.”

  “That’s nice of him.”

  “And then we are going to his house for a sleepover.”

  “Really?” Mia looked at Burt. “They’re a handful.”

  “Enos will be there. I thought Ted may need a break. Lazar is busy getting the rooms ready, and Cid has been cooking nonstop. Evidently, the Martin clan are headed your way. Your breaking both of your legs was a great way of getting out of cleaning for the incoming relatives, or so Mike is telling everyone.”

  “Mike? I thought he was in Chile with Gates?”

  “He is, but it doesn’t stop him spreading rumors.”

  “I’m sorry about the van.”

  “We were needing a new vehicle anyway.”

  “That van saved my life. If I was in any other vehicle, whoa.”

  “You were very lucky.”

  Mia ignored the pain that was building and said, “Yes, I am.”