by Jay Barnson
Jack blinked as the full weight of the man’s words hit him. Cold sweat broke out over his back at the words “arrest” and “kill,” but they were secondary. One word hit his brain with greater force than the others, and sent his mind wheeling in confusion. He looked over his shoulder at Delcina. “Huh? You’re a princess?”
Zainus laughed.
Jessabelle still hated hospitals. She sat alone in the waiting room while Josie was in with her husband. They’d had a difficult time explaining his condition, in his underwear and bathrobe, covered with insect bites and suffering from exposure as well as an infection. The important thing was to get him the treatment he needed, and fast.
On the way up, Josie had asked uncomfortable questions. But then, she’d seen the impossible. “What did you do? You went through the wall! How did you do that?”
Jessabelle didn’t know how to explain it, but that didn’t’ stop her from trying. “I went through a crossroad, like a path to another world across from ours. If you follow the sideways path, you go ‘Round the Bend to another place.”
“What is it doing in my basement?” Josie had almost screamed.
Jessabelle still didn’t know the answer to that one. A build-up of magic could help a new crossroads form, but this wasn’t new. If the geography of ‘Round the Bend was close to how it was here, then someone had gone through a lot of effort to seal up the other side and turn it into a dead end. Was that how the people on the other side “sealed up” the portals when they exiled Thadeus? Maybe they used witchcraft to block the crossroads like Grandma Annabelle had done, but the magic deteriorated over time. Someone on the other side had buried the crossroad as a secondary defense.
Maybe, with tools and manpower, they could dig it back out again. With Sean and Hattie’s help, Jessabelle could go through and rejoin her family on the other side, without the man in the white suit ever knowing. However, if he did find out about this passage, it would be a disaster. Thadeus could bring his daughter through to this world, so the two of them could begin their horrible, ruthless reign.
Jessabelle needed help. Hunger, fatigue, and worry warred within her for dominance. Worry had the upper hand for now, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Leon had no idea where they were, and Josie was distracted. Jessabelle once again felt lost and far from home.
A woman in a chair across from Jessabelle hung up her cell phone. Steeling her nerve and convincing herself that it was a good idea, Jessabelle stood up and crossed over to the woman. “Ma’am?”
The woman looked up at Jessabelle, offering a faint smile. “How can I help you, hon?”
“Could I use your phone to make a call? I’m here with... friends... and I need to call my aunt and let her know where I am.”
“Sure thing, hon.” The woman passed the phone over. Jessabelle didn’t have much experience using cell phones, as the lack of reception in Maple Bend meant almost nobody had one, but it didn’t seem so hard. It didn’t take long before the phone on the other end rang. On the second ring, a familiar voice answered. “Hello?”
“Aunt Hattie? This is Jessabelle.” She turned her back to the lady and moved to a corner of the room where she couldn’t be heard clearly.
“Jessabelle! We’ve been worried sick about you. Your mama said you had to go to the hospital, but wouldn’t give us any information.”
“No, I didn’t go to the hospital. I mean, I’m at one now, but it was Evelyn’s people that took me. They drugged me and told mama about me. They made her sign papers.”
“Oh, no. That’s what I was afraid of. Oh, sweetheart, I am so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I got away.”
“Just now?”
“No. About two weeks ago. A friend helped me escape. He knew my papa. I just wanted to tell you where I was.”
“Don’t tell me where you are! Two weeks figures.”
“What? Why?”
“They doubled their efforts two weeks ago. This line isn’t safe, honey.”
“It’s okay. I’m on a borrowed phone.”
“I’m not, and I’m pretty sure I’m being watched. Wherever you are, stay there. Stay hidden. I reckon they are looking all over for you. Maple Bend isn’t safe. I wish we could talk longer, but we can’t. Tell your friend you made this call.”
“He ain’t here. I...”
“I love you, Jessabelle. While you might hate her right now, your mama loves you, too. You understand why we can’t help you right now?”
In her head, she understood, at least in part. Of course the Coven would watch Hattie and her mama to try to find her. She didn’t know why they wanted her so badly. While she might be able to change form, she was nothing compared to someone like Jenny, Grandma Annie, or Evelyn. However, her heart and her stomach wanted to go home. Or, better yet, to go Around the Bend and be with her family there. Maybe she could take Hattie and even Sean with her. They’d all be safe. As safe as you could be with giants and killer unicorns.
“I understand,” Jessabelle said, but even as she said it her voice cracked.
They hung up. Jessabelle wiped a tear away before it could fully form. It streaked the back of her hand with dark-gray dust from the cave. She handed the phone back to the woman in the chair.
“You gonna be okay, hon?” The woman asked.
Jessabelle nodded. She didn’t dare speak, because her silence was the only thing holding the flood of emotions at bay. She collapsed in the chair and stared at her feet for several minutes, until fatigue overcame her and she slept. It was more of a string of snoozes, waking up to see the television turned to some daytime talk show. After some unknown number of minutes, Josie sat beside her.
“Sorry to wake you,” Josie said. “I wanted to let you know that Burke will be fine. They think they have the infection under control, but they’ll keep him under observation for a couple of days. You literally saved his life, you know.”
Jessabelle didn’t quite know how to respond. “I just helped him find the way out was all.”
“All? Another couple of hours, and he might never have made it. I don’t know how risky that was, but I want you to know you can always call on me if you need my help.” She handed Jessabelle a card. It read, “Josie’s Authentic Native American Handcrafts.” It had her phone number, address, and a web site. There was a folded twenty-dollar bill beneath the card. “You need something, anything, you call, okay? Now, in the meantime, why don’t you go get yourself something to eat in the cafeteria? I’ll try and leave a message with Leon letting him know where you are, but these things... ain’t always fast. He might not check until after he finds out we ain’t home.”
Jessabelle hesitated to take the money, but Josie pushed it into her hand and said, “Get yourself some lunch. I’ll meet you here once they’ve figured out what they’ll do with my husband. Hopefully, Leon will be back by then.”
They both stood, and Josie gave Jessabelle an awkward hug. Jessabelle returned it with a hunger that surprised her. It reminded her of being a little girl again, when Grandma Annie and both her parents were still there, and everything felt safe.
As Josie turned to walk away, Jessabelle said, “Y’all should be safe in your basement, Josie.”
Josie turned back to her. “Yeah?”
Jessabelle nodded. “Just tell Burke to pay attention to what he’s doing next time. It’s pretty hard to do what he did on accident.”
Josie’s smile wasn’t very convincing. “We’ll keep that in mind.”
Jessabelle followed the signs to the cafeteria. Another cafeteria. While she wouldn’t miss the one at the Coven, she had to admit that the food there had been incredible. Visiting the cafeteria and being around people had been bright points to her dismal days. That had probably been by design. The Coven had made her view her restricted freedom as a privilege.
She got lost twice, in spite of the obvious signs. She asked an attendant for directions, and the woman politely pointed the way down the hall, which of course bore a sign with an arrow
marked “cafeteria.” Jessabelle made a snorting noise that she thought was self-effacing, but as she walked away she realized it probably sounded rude. She wasn’t used to these kinds of signs. Or hallways, for that matter, beyond her school.
She still hated hospitals.
The cafeteria was brightly lit and colorful, filled with the aroma of good food that almost covered the odor of cleansers. It wasn’t like the cafeteria at her high school, capable of handling a hundred or so students at a time. This place had a dozen circular tables, half that number of booths, and a bar area with stools along one wall. In addition to refrigeration units filled with sandwiches and other cold food, the ordering area included a grill.
“Good evening,” the girl at the cash register said. “Can I get you anything?”
Jessabelle froze with anxiety. She quickly searched over the menu and asked, “Can I get a cheeseburger, please?”
“Sure thing. Anything else?”
“Juice.”
“What kind?”
There were too many choices!
“Orange?” Jessabelle asked. The lady nodded and rang her up, and told her partner to begin fixing the burger. Jessabelle paid and felt vaguely satisfied with herself for having successfully navigated a strange new location. Then she chided herself for being confused and embarrassed in the first place. She was letting her small-town colors fly. She’d have to hide those if she was going to blend in and keep her head down.
She sat at a booth and drank the orange juice. The lady even brought over the hamburger when it was ready. The plate included fries, which Jessabelle didn’t remember ordering. Were they included with the meal? One tiny advantage to being the Coven’s prisoner was that nobody cared what she ate. But it meant being a prisoner. Freedom was a pain in the butt, but at least it was freedom.
Halfway into the burger, the chill of the air conditioning got to her. It reminded her of the terrible dark dungeon where Burke had been trapped. She considered the possibilities of digging through the space. Her next step would be to take some light with her to find out what the cave really looked like. Maybe it would be obvious where she should dig. Then, maybe she could take a pickax and shovel. Perhaps she could enlist Leon’s aid.
She poked at her fries. They’d cooled off quickly in the air conditioned room. She rubbed her hands over her arms. They had the air conditioning turned up far too high, even though it was probably sweltering outside. Maybe she’d go out for a few minutes to warm up. Maybe Leon was already there, waiting for her. He said he’d be done in the afternoon, and it was now early afternoon.
Something soft landed beside her. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts, she’d not paid attention as people had shuffled in and out of the room around her. Someone had dropped a jacket on the seat beside her. She scanned the tables nearby to see who might have accidentally dropped it by her seat. Then she examined the jacket. It was made of black leather, somewhat modified...
It was her jacket. She’d left it at the Coven when she’d escaped. She could almost hear the alarm bells from that place going off, only inside her head now. She jumped out of the booth, looking around the room.
Two booths away, Gabriel leaned out and waved at her. “Hello there, Jessabelle! Funny running into you here!”
She couldn’t see anyone who looked like the security guards from the Coven, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Maybe in a booth where she couldn’t see them, or maybe just outside the door to the cafeteria. Her heart beat faster, and everything inside her told her to panic, to flee, to turn into Jessabelle-the-panther and tear out of the hospital at incredible speeds.
“Hey, calm down,” Gabriel said. “We’re just here to talk.”
Jessabelle grabbed the jacket and held onto it as if it were a lifeline. She took a step toward Gabriel, and spoke quietly so only he could hear. “How did y’all find me?”
Gabriel grinned and shrugged. “That would be telling. But you’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out.”
“My call to Hattie.”
“Exactamundo. You even said you were in a hospital. That helped a lot.”
Jessabelle seethed, fear transforming into anger—at herself, and at the Coven. “You ain’t gonna take me back.”
“Don’t you want to go back? I thought we were developing something of a rapport, you and me.”
“I don’t want to be your friend. I want to go home.” She backed away.
He stood up and held up his hand in a temporizing manner. “Hey, it’s okay. Shhh!” They were making a scene, which was fine by her. Maybe it would be better if everyone knew about Thadeus and the Coven. Then again, who would believe her?
With a sudden change, she could make them believe, if she had to. But that sort of thing would go both ways, and there’d be videos of her all over the internet and news within hours. There would be a lot more people than the Coven looking for her.
He took a step closer and kept his voice low. “Look, we can arrange that. You can go home.”
“What? Liar!”
“I’m not lying, unless they are lying to me. We don’t need to take you back. You can go home. We’ll leave you be.”
“And what’s the catch?”
He shrugged and shook his head. “No catch. We’re not the bad guys, Jessabelle.”
Even with their voices low, others could hear them. Fine. “Yes, you kind of are,” she answered.
He looked around, distinctly uncomfortable. “Have a seat. Let’s talk,” he said.
“We can talk right here.”
He frowned. “Okay, fine,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. “You tell us where Leon is, and you go free. It’s as simple as that.”
“I don’t know where Leon is.”
“Then you know where he will be.”
“Why do you care about him?”
Gabriel sighed. “If we had him, we wouldn’t need you. At least not as badly.”
That was it. They needed someone who could change into a cat. Or perhaps, as Leon had suggested, their blood. It would be easy. She could tell them about the trailer. Pretend she’d never seen them when Leon came to pick her up. If he hadn’t left, they’d never have come after her. She owed him nothing.
Or she could go with the Coven. The longer she looked at Gabriel, the less threatening he felt. She’d made progress. She’d made friends. The people were nice, and the food was terrific. And her room had been really nice.
She snapped her eyes shut and turned her head away from him. The calm thoughts fled, replaced by fury. While not as strong, he was just like Evelyn. “Witch!” she snarled at him.
Gabriel sighed. “You either work with us or leave with us, Jessabelle.”
She marched out of the cafeteria, her jacket clutched in her hands. Instead of going back to the waiting area, Jessabelle made her way to the nearest exit. On the bench, just outside the glass doors, two men sat and conversed. One looked up at her and smiled. She recognized him as one of the security guards from the Coven. They waited for her.
She turned around and went the other way. And the other end of the hospital wing, she found another exit. She was almost out the door when she saw two more men sitting in a car in the nearest parking stall, staring at her. They didn’t bother hiding. They wanted her to know she was trapped.
The setting sun shot a streak of warm orange light through the small, barred window above them, piercing the dank gloom of the dungeon cell. Jack felt his stomach growl and concealed the noise with a yawn. On the other side of the cell, Rumela sat on a bench with her head bowed. She had no choice, because her head would bump against the ceiling otherwise. The floor was cold, and she’d never be able to stretch out to sleep come nightfall. Jack’s discomfort was minor compared to the slow-burn torture for even a small giantess like Rumela.
All day he had maintained that this was a mistake, and the guards would come and release them any minute. Surely Delcina would explain the situation to her father and the guardsman, and they’d com
e down and apologize for the inconvenience. They simply had to finish up the paperwork, or something.
The sunbeam inched higher in their cell. In a few minutes, it would be gone.
“I’m awful sorry about this, Rumela,” Jack said. “This adventure hasn’t gone exactly as I’ve planned.”
Rumela looked up slowly, so she wouldn’t scrape her head on the ceiling. “It be okay, Jack.”
“I’m sure they’ll be here any minute to let us out.”
“Me, too.”
Jack stood up, but immediately felt guilty because that was a luxury denied his friend. He leaned up against the wall, gazing at the evening sky through their tiny window. The sky was clear now, so they wouldn’t have to worry about the rain tonight once they were released. Of course they’d be released. Then they’d have to figure out where to stay the night.
As if in answer to his silent demands, booted footsteps sounded outside the cell. He smiled and turned to Rumela. “Hear that? What did I tell you?”
She grinned. “Yup. You was right!”
Two guards appeared at the cell door. The big keys rattled against the lock, and then one guard pulled the door open while another stood with a spear set on the ground pointed at Rumela. The guard holding the door pointed at Jack. “You will come with me,” he said in his strange accent.
“Sure thing. No need to point that thing at us, we’re cooperating!”
Rumela stirred and the guard at the door pulled his sword and shook his head. “Not the giant. Just you.”
“What? But we’re partners!”
“My orders are to bring you. She must stay.”
Rumela raised her hand and made a shooing motion at Jack. “You go right ahead, Jack. I’s all tired anyhow. I’s gonna catch me some sleep.”
Jack glared at the guard for several seconds, but the man’s face was impassive. Jack sighed and turned back to the giant. “I’ll be back before you know it!” he promised.
“Take your time,” Rumela answered. “I reckon I will be here.”
The guard closed and locked the door behind Jack. He then marched Jack down a hall, up some stairs, and down another hall before they entered into a great chamber full of tables set with food. People sat, and ate, and talked, which seemed hardly unusual except for how they were dressed. The men all wore vests under their suit coats, with bow ties or fancy oversized ties around thin shirt collars that popped up around their necks except for the corners that folded down. The women wore all kinds of fancy dresses that looked like they belonged in a black-and-white photograph. Despite the cool breeze coming through the room, the clothes looked uncomfortably warm. Even though the clothing was unusual and old-fashioned, it looked to Jack like they all wore their Sunday best.