by Michael Rigg
My hand moved to my chest. I felt the locket underneath. Someone to whom he'd bestowed a charm.
And charmed.
I looked away, nodding politely, but letting my thoughts drift. I thought about the spots scarred into my back, Pandora's reaction to them and her warning glare. I dare not say anything, and until I found out more myself, I didn't want any doctor poking my back and discovering them. I'd much rather talk to the girl pilot about them, the witch who seemed to know more than anyone at this point.
I didn't think seeing Pandora again any time soon would be a viable option, though. I wondered if I could call her. Maybe I'll pose that to Bryce later when we've had a chance to talk. Just as I wondered if Lydia McFerran lived here at Seven Orchards with her fiancee, she spoke.
"Bryce, my dear, I'll not trifle you with my presence this mornin'. I'm sure you'll have much to discuss with your father."
"You didn't tell him what I told ya, did you, Lydia?," he said, his smile drooping as he undoubtedly recollected the contracts he sacrificed to rescue me. When had he talked to her? Must have been during the night while I was asleep on the SkyTrain. Well, of course she's important enough to wake up during the night. Of course she's important enough to call. She's his fiancee, after all.
Ignoring the question, she smiled curtly. "Y'all will be needin' your rest, and your young Alice will be needin' some care as well. You'll have to find out what monster ate her memories and get her back to her husband.”
“I'm not married,” I blurted, but even as I said it I frowned. I wondered if I was. And I wondered why I said it if for nothing more than to watch Bryce's profile blush and Lydia McFerran's penetrating green eyes catch him almost accusingly.
“Did Bryce tell you that he was married?” Lydia asked, her eyes still on him. I watched as Bryce winced slightly and rolled his neck. I could almost see the 'here we go again' expression from his profile.
“He didn't have to,” I sad with a sweet grin. “It was obvious to me that he was a caring man, generous, and above all an officer and a gentleman.”
That seemed to warm the ice in Lydia's eyes. She flashed a toothy smile at Bryce as she possessively ran her fingers across his back. I couldn't see Bryce's expression because he turned toward the two butlers in the front of the carriage.
The skinny man slowed the carriage and Lucien hopped out to open the doors for us. Bryce said, "Well, I do hope you'll be stopping by for dinner, Lydia."
"Why of course, Captain Landry. I wouldn't miss any of Alice's revelations for the world."
Bryce smiled at her and leaned in for a kiss as I quickly turned and hopped out of the carriage as Lucien opened my door. "Until then, my dear," Bryce smiled.
Several steps led up to the main doors of the estate, tucked back from the wide front porch. It was actually more of a wide landing than a porch, set back deep from the pillars and decorated with pairs of wicker lounge chairs and round tables, all glowing white and accented by brass and sliver. A tall man appeared at the front door. He had Bryce's face, the strong cheekbones and wide jaw, but his hair was dark brown and slightly shorter than Bryce's. His upper lip was covered by a bushy mustache. I assumed this was Clayton, Bryce's older brother. He wasn't nearly old enough to be Bryce's father, though the frown of displeasure on his face told me the Captain's homecoming wouldn't be a welcome one. Clayton wore tight beige riding pants and russet boots, and a white gusseted shirt and a tan vest that matched his pants.
"Alice." I turned back toward Lydia's voice. Bryce had already said his farewells and was climbing the steps toward his brother. His fiancee remained in the carriage. Lucien stood by me with his fingers at my elbow. "Yes, Miss McFerran?"
"Well, for starters, dear, please call me Lydia. If you choose to call me Lady—or Miss—McFerran, by the saints' eyes I will ignore you." Her smile, I had to admit, was disarming, though predatory.
"Yes, Lydia."
"Better." She smiled and beckoned me closer. In a low whisper, she said, "If you need anything while you're here, my dear. If there is anything the Landrys cannot provide you, simply let Lucien know. He will know how to contact me."
I glanced to Lucien who peered at us over the top of his spectacles. The portly valet nodded slightly and touched the brim of his bowler.
I held Lydia's eyes. "Thank you for the offer, Lydia. I'll keep it in mind."
"See that you do, my dear. I may not look like more than a spoon-fed lady who never lifted a finger to flip a penny, but I guarantee you that no book can be judged by its cover."
I nodded and smiled, trying very hard to appear sincere.
Lydia started to say something else, but stopped. She waved me off and pointed up the steps. "I see Clayton has come to wish his brother home. You should run off and meet the family." Lydia looked up, past me, and held someone's eyes. I turned and saw Clayton smile for the first time and slightly bow his head.
"Home, Roger," Lydia told the driver. He revved the chuttering engine of the carriage and it started to roll away. I waved good-bye to Lady McFerran before joining Lucien and climbing the stairs toward the brothers.
When I looked up, Clayton Landry was glaring at me like I was an unwanted solicitor. I tensed and stopped half-way up the steps.
His voice, just as southern-seasoned as Bryce's but slightly deeper, said, "This Property is the reason you failed in the simplest possible duty, Captain?" He held his arms out to the side and let them drop. "You only had to sign papers. Oh, why daddy would send you instead of me is beyond my reckoning."
"She's not Property," Bryce challenged, standing toe-to-toe with his brother, his eyes blazing. "Now you strike your tongue or I'll strike it for you."
Clayton made me feel muddy, the way his eyes swept me from top to toes, lingering here and there at my baggy pirate shirt, flat ponytailed hair and dirty canvas shoes. I held out my hand to him despite his first impression and offered a smile as I took another step closer. "They call me Alice, Mr. Landry. I presume you're Clay—"
He ignored my hand and poked a finger at Bryce's chest. "It's not just the family you disgraced. You disgraced the entire Confederacy!"
I took a step back down.
Clayton shouted at Bryce's face, “You don't have the slightest clue what you've destroyed, do you baby brother? Those contracts were the life blood of our future, Bryce—and not only that, they were the key to ending war. All wars. Forever!”
My eyes widened slightly. I had only heard the whispers between Bryce and Lucien up until this point. I assumed my sudden and mysterious appearance pulled them away from something important, but the way Clayton's cheeks burned and spittle shot from his lips... Dear God, what have I caused?
Bryce glanced in my direction, his eyes apologetic. He was about to say something when a yell—more like an angry bellow—echoed inside the house. The front doors burst out, clattering on their hinges, and a stout thin-bearded man stormed out. His hair, white and wispy flew out around his ears like cottony horns. His face was red from sunburn as well as fury. A rolled newspaper was in his right hand, a fist in his left, both swung as he stomped toward Bryce. "You ignorant fool!" He shouted. His voice actually echoed off the surrounding orchards.
"Daddy, if you will allow me to—" Bryce began, but there wasn't anything he could say.
As I watched, Lucien stepped up and held me back with this hands on my upper arms, Lord Jefferson Landry pounced on his youngest son as I looked on in shock. Pushing Clayton aside with a sweeping hand, Landry laid into Bryce with the newspaper, swatting so hard Bryce stumbled back. A punch with his other hand sent the Captain sprawling. He landed on his rump on the porch, his right arm up to defend against the blows. Lord Landry whipped away like an angry drunk whipping a dog for messing the rug—with the savagery of someone trying to kill the animal. I gasped and took a step forward, but Lucien held me back tightly.
With each blow, Landry shouted: "You - God - Damn - Fool - You - De - stroyed - Us - All!" Then he switched from the newspaper to his fist.<
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As this happened, faster than I could react even if I knew what to say, a young woman ran onto the porch from the far side of the house. She wore faded dungarees and a gusseted shirt, tails out and flapping around her narrow hips. She was barefoot, and probably in her mid 20s. Her hair was dark and pulled back into a loose bun, and sweat made her face shiny. Her feet thumped hard on the white wooden porch as she sprinted toward the scene. Clayton turned and held out his hands to stop her.
"Daddy!" She cried. "Daddy, you stop that this instant!"
Clayton said, "Adel, you stay out of this! Go back to your animals!"
"You shut up!"
Jefferson Landry continued, "Why - did - I - raise - such - a - damn—"
"Daddy!" Adeline's voice was shrill and, with the added noise from the beating, would surely wake the rest of the household if not the neighbors miles away.
My latest gasp became a deep breath. Then: "STOP!"
I had no idea where my shout came from, and I couldn't say what took me so long to finally get it out. But five pairs of eyes all turned on me. Clayton lowered his hands. Adeline looked at me as if I were an intruding ghost. Bryce looked at me red with embarrassment, Lucien let go of me and stepped back as if afraid I'd explode, and Lord Landry stopped beating his son and glared at me, sweat pouring down his bulbous nose and bushy raised eyebrows.
His glare at me didn't last long. He turned immediately to Lucien and said, "Lucien Howard, you are fired! Gather your things now and leave!"
"You can't do that!" I shouted. I glanced to Lucien who looked like he'd been shot.
Adeline's eyes grew wide as she looked between me and her father. A slight smile curled on her lips as she shifted her weight back on a hip. Either she was glad to see someone standing up to her father or she knew she was about to be entertained by Lord Landry's inevitable attack against me. Clayton smirked but his eyes also widened.
"Alice, no," Bryce said hoarsely. But it was too late.
Lord Landry stomped down the steps toward Lucien and I. I held my ground, standing tall as I dared, but shivering with shock of the sheer size of the man as he drew closer. I sensed Lucien retreating a few steps, his head low.
Landry said, "You're the one behind this! I hear tell it was you who fetched out my boy from the meetings! Bradford Thorne told me his self it was a woman that led my boy astray; a Property whore!" He glanced over his shoulder to Clayton. "Fetch my Colt, boy!"
Clayton didn't flinch and only paused a second before turning toward the house to fetch his father's pistol.
Parts of that got through to my brain. Bradford Thorne—obviously of the company Bryce was visiting in New York—called Jefferson Landry about me? How the hell did...? Then it hit me. The attacks at the SkyTrain platform. Perek Grubbs, the agent. The weasel must have reported back to his boss and now Thorne was using that information to kick the Landry family business while it was down.
Adeline rushed down toward me and her father. "Daddy! You wouldn't dare!"
"She's a whore witch working for Thorne! My Colt, boy! Hurry before she vexes us all like she done Bryce!"
Lucien opened his mouth, but it was Bryce who spoke as he got back on his feet. "Alice is not a witch, Daddy and she's no corporate agent! A Teller cleared her of witchcraft."
Adeline pushed between us, her back toward me. I could smell the sweat and animal dander on her. She must have been hard at work before the sun even came up. She looked in her father's eye and said, "You plan to shoot a stranger on our front stoop while momma's asleep inside?"
Landry glared at her, his teeth grinding. "Adeline."
"And after I'd spent the better part of this summer white washin' this monstrosity of a front stoop all by m'self with no help from Bry nor Clay?"
I swear Jefferson Landry almost smiled. Whatever her skills at disarming the violent, Adeline Landry sure earned a medal this morning. As Bryce and Lucien looked on, agape, Landry continued to stare down at his daughter while she glared up at him.
Finally, he dropped the newspaper and spoke in a calm voice. He told Adeline, "You'll take responsibility of the Property. Get it cleaned up and out of Seven Orchards." He looked at Lucien. "And you, sir, are still fired."
He glanced over Adeline's head to me but didn't say anything. He turned before anyone could say anything against him and headed up toward Bryce. Adeline held her ground with her back against me just as Clayton emerged with the long silver pistol.
To Bryce, Landry said, "Change into a presentable suit and fetch a pilot. We're goin' to Baton Rouge."
"Daddy—"
"Now, boy! I need to show you what you done before I disown you."
Bryce didn't even offer me a glance. I could tell he was embarrassed if not completely humiliated by the ordeal. He waited until his father pulled Clayton back into the house before turning toward Adeline, Lucien and I. "Thank you, Addy." To Lucien, he said, "As I promised, sir, you'll now be in my employ. Your first order of business will be to make sure Alice remains safe. That clear?"
Lucien cleared his throat. "Bryce—"
"Is that clear!?"
"Yes, Captain Landry."
Adeline said, "It's your job to fix what you done, Bry. Run on now and do it."
That's when Bryce finally glanced at me, briefly, before hanging his head and going inside.
Adeline turned to me as Lucien stepped closer. To him, she said, "Lucien, I expect you should scarce y'self until daddy and Bry have gone."
"Yes, Mum."
"I will send for you presently. In the meanwhile's I'll see to our guest."
"Yes, Mum."
She stared at him. He didn't move. "Well, go on now. Scoot 'efore I pick up daddy's Times and lay into your hide."
"But Alice is—"
"Scoot!"
"Yes, Mum." Tipping his bowler, Lucien moved off quickly toward the side of the house, toward the end Adeline had come from.
“Disowned?” I frowned, echoing Jefferson Landry's last words.
Adeline smiled at me and shook her head. She ran the back of her hand across her forehead. “Aw. He didn't mean it.”
When Lucien was out of earshot, Adeline smiled brightly at me. She presented her hand. "I'm Bryce's sister, Adeline Landry, and keeper of the sanity of the estate. You may call me Addy. Please excuse my presence. I must look a fright." She swatted at a patch of dust on her dungarees with her other hand as I clasped hers. It was warm and feminine but the muscles that flexed her grip were strong and there were calluses on her fingertips. "I'm Alice."
"Charmed, Alice." She released my grip and pointed toward a door in the west wing of the house, opposite the side Lucien retreated to. "Why don't you tell me all about yourself while I prepare you a bath, a warm meal and some proper clothes. You must simply be exhausted from your ordeals overnight."
I nodded and walked beside her toward the west wing. Up close, Adeline Landry was more womanly than girlish. Almost my height and thin, yet muscular, her large brown eyes sparkled with flecks of gold and a faint sprinkle of freckles decorated her cheeks. When she smiled, her face lined to show her maturity, though her smile was so bright and perfect it was easy to see the teenage girl under all that responsibility. When she spoke she came off as a younger, more innocent version of Lady McFerran. I glanced back toward the main entrance of the house. "Will Bryce and his father be all right?"
Addy glanced at me. She slowed her pace so we could talk while the morning sun warmed our backs. "Well, I'll tell ya this much, lovely Alice. This is sure as shootin' the biggest storm I ever did see bluster through here." She searched my eyes, so I stopped and faced her. Her smile drooped. "Do you know what's been done?"
I glanced again toward the front of the house. "Well.... Lucien and Bryce argued a lot about some contracts he was supposed to sign." I bit my lower lip. "I'll be honest with you, Adeline—"
"Call me Addy," she winked.
"Addy... I'll be honest with you, I've been worried about it since I first heard them. I know it
's something big, but I don't know how big... and I'm afraid everyone thinks I'm more important than I really am. I even thought I was some kind of sleeper agent for this Thorne & Wolfe group.”
“A sleeper agent!” Addy laughed and clapped her hands. “How very devious!” It was obvious by her outburst she didn't believe it and found it more 'charming' than anything. This was all crazy. Maybe I'm crazy too.
I shrugged. “I just have amnesia." I withheld other aspects of the truth: that I was becoming fairly certain this wasn't even my reality, and that hooded men branded me with electric forks. For all I knew, this was the most incredible dream—or nightmare—anyone has ever had.
Addy scrunched up her lips on one side of her face as she narrowed her eyes to the front door of the house. "Daddy kept us all up late last night once Lady McFerran called to give us ups on all the what-alls."
"Ups?"
She smiled at me with a look that showed she found my innocence cute. "Ya know. All of what's been goin' on. She told us what Bryce told her, that they'd rescued a damsel at the Trade Towers. She said that he said that they was bringin' you home to the Seven." Adeline shrugged. "From what I hear, them contracts Bry was supposed to sign would have kept Thorne & Wolfe from takin' charge of some sea property of daddy's."
"Sea property?" It was actually Perek Grubbs who mentioned it, but I didn't want to have to explain everything to Addy. I'm sure in time I'll end up telling her the whole story, but now I was just interested in getting to the bottom line that led to me witnessing Bryce's beating on the front porch of the Landry estate.
Addy hooked her arm around mine and we resumed walking as she patted my hand. "It's some kind of archeological discovery. Daddy's been big on tryin' to weasel out all the ancient finds n' sell 'em off—mostly to Confederate interests, don't ya know. Lots of metaphysical stuff, mythical junk, spiritual business, even witchy stuff. It gives daddy's company an edge over the Yankee corporations. Personally, I think a lot of it is malarkey—though I'd never tell that to Daddy. Supposedly, he's got—or had—the deed to Atlantis."
“Atlantis? The Atlantis?” Metaphysical stuff? Mythical junk? Spiritual business? The Landry family business is—what—witchcraft? Dealing in witchcraft? And what's with this Atlantis stuff? Surely, these people don't think it's real. I may have amnesia, but I seemed to know deep down that didn't exist. Do they sell myths?