“Help!” Jenny called out, her voice muffled. Little George woke. He could sense the disturbance in his room. As an infant, he had a much closer awareness of the “other world” than adults. His face pinched up and he let out a scowl as his baby eyes darted around.
Jenny’s image began to become more opaque as she struggled against the weight of the negative energy.
Just then, Henry flashed into the room and was startled to see Marie and this red-headed crazy woman working together. He blasted Marie and Hester with a wash of energy that sent them reeling backwards. Jenny struggled to get to her feet.
Hester grabbed Marie’s hand and flashed them both out. They were gone. The door to the nursery opened and a young woman drowsily came into the room in a yellow and white seersucker robe. Her blond hair was bunched up on one side in a frizzy pile. She yawned as she leaned over the bar and patted little George on the back. “What’s the matter sweet boy?” she crooned in a sing-song baby dialect. Little George tried his best to turn his head to see her in his face-down position. She lifted him and laid him on her shoulder and patted his back.
“There, there. It’s okay. Mommy’s here.” She said softly. Little George started to make a string of vowel sounds in her ear.
“Henry! Oh my word! What in tarnation? Was that Marie? And did you see that woman? If you hadn’t come, I’d been done for, for certain!”
George’s mother sat in the rocking chair and hummed a lullaby as she rocked. Henry bent down and offered his hand to Jenny who took it and stood up.
“What happened, momma? I got a quick order from Lorenzo to get over here.” Henry said.
“I saw a Shadow by the crib. It kept on no matter how hard I went at it. It got closer and closer to the baby,” Jenny glanced at the mother and child to satisfy her renewed fear. “Then the next thing I knew, I was on the floor and couldn’t move. The most awful sadness and hate covered me. More powerful than any Shadow. I looked up to see Marie, but she didn’t’ look right. It was like she was sleep walking. And then, that woman joined Marie. Lawsy, Henry! I could feel my grip slipping away!”
Henry put his arm around Jenny, “its okay, momma. You’re okay,” he said soothingly. In the amount of time for Jenny to catch her breath, she pulled away and straightened up.
“Well, it looks like we have big problems now,” she said.
“Yep. We are going to have to get a stand-in for you with little George. It’s obvious, they are after you and not him and we can’t leave you alone again until we figure this out. I’ll be right back.”
Henry flashed out and seconds later came back with another Protector. Henry and Jenny left together then.
***
Jenny, Henry, Ben and Jacob sat around Allen’s kitchen table. With the time difference in Sonora, the sun was just starting to shine yellow dusty rays of warmth across the couch where Allen had fallen asleep the night before. He lay motionless on his side, his arms curled around him. His eyebrows scrunched in a fitful snarl reflecting his mood in the dream he was having.
All four Protectors were sitting somberly with their hands clasped on the table and looking down. Only once before had a live one crossed over but she disappeared. And now, a Live One crossed over and had become a pawn of the Shadows. This was bad, indeed. A newbie’s power to influence was much stronger than theirs. None of them would be any match for Marie if it came to that. What a horrible thought it was to consider them in a combat situation with Marie. They all loved her. Yet, they had to stop her.
“Any ideas?” Said Ben.
No one said anything for a few seconds. “Well, we have to figure out how deep in it she is,” said Henry. “Jenny, tell us again what you saw.”
“It was just for a few seconds. And, I was a little distracted!” Jenny raised an eyebrow and glared at Henry.
“I know, mom. What was your impression?”
“Well,” Jenny paused to remember, “She didn’t look normal. Her face was expressionless and her eyes were dark. She didn’t have her usual joyful aura.
Ben chimed in, “Do you think she has been brainwashed, Henry?”
“That would be my guess. She had a tough shell of joy that protected her, but who knows what this Hester is capable of if she’s been giving her the third degree.
“So, Henry, what have we done with brain-washed Live Ones before?” asked Jenny.
Henry sighed. “Nothing really. That’s why I mainly stick to ferreting out Shadows. There just isn’t anything you can do with Live Ones that completely give themselves up to the Shadows. Even though they never would have outright chosen to be brainwashed, at some point they give up their will and refuse to fight. About the only thing you can do is hope to change their situation enough that they see a viable escape that is more likely than their captor overtaking them again. Usually they have some fear that the captor has gotten them to internalize, such as the possibility of their loved ones being hurt if they don’t agree to be taken.”
Jacob piped up, “So that’s it then,” he nodded toward the couch, “Hester threatened to harm Allen and Marie believed Allen was in grave danger.” He turned to Henry, “So could Hester have been able to take Allen, even with all of us so close by?”
“Well, she was able to lock us out when she took Marie, so I’d say yes. Hester must be a very powerful Shadow.” Henry said.
“I think we should talk to Lorenzo,” said Jenny.
Jacob stayed with Allen and the others flashed away.
CHAPTER 20 – DARK TIMES FOR MARIE
Hester took Marie back to the dark hole in the ground. Marie had no idea where they were, but really didn’t care. The sun never seemed to be shining at the opening. Marie wondered if they were in a hole in the ground inside another cave. But again, she actually just didn’t care. She thought to herself, Hm. You would think this would matter, but I don’t care. Nothing matters anymore. I can’t think about the past because it’s gone. I’m gone.
Marie slumped down and Hester’s shadow covered her, pulling the life out of her soul as much as possible. Hester was very agitated that the plan failed. She would have to try another tactic.
***
The end of the semester came for Allen. He had two days to pack up and ship out of his dorm per college policies. As if it wasn’t bad enough with Marie in the hospital, now he had nowhere to stay here. His only option at the moment was his parents’ house in Kentucky. Things weren’t on good terms with him and Marie’s mom. She was always there in the hospital with Marie and so Allen felt like an outsider. Nancy resented having to leave so Allen could stay with Marie. It just wasn’t going well.
Allen had no idea how long Marie would continue like this. He thought she would wake up by now. The doctors said there is no guideline. It will just take as long as Marie’s mind needs. There was also the possibility her body would give up and she would die. The prognosis was somewhere between not good and maybe. Both Nancy and Allen were struggling with having hope and fighting off grieving for Marie prematurely.
Marie’s dad was there on weekends. He had to go back to Southern California for the work week. Allen wondered how he managed. He had to be terribly grief-stricken by all this.
Allen finally decided it would be best to see if his parents would help him rent a room in Sonora for the summer. Maybe he could even take a class over the summer and make it worth it to his parents. He had such a hard time managing a full load of classes with all this going on that he wondered about the intelligence of such an idea. Maybe he could find an easy class.
He picked up the phone and started dialing his mom’s phone number.
“Hello,” said a woman.
“Hi Mom,” said Allen.
“Hi Allen! How is it going there?”
“Well,” he paused trying to find the right words, “Marie is still in a coma. I’m done with my classes. The school says everyone has to move out by Monday.” This pretty much summed up his dilemma so he stopped talking.
“Well, what are you g
oing to do?” said Allen’s mom.
“I was thinking that maybe I could find a room to rent in Sonora for the summer and take a summer class. Then I could also stay here and keep up with Marie’s progress.” His voice took a slightly imperceptible lower tone with the last sentence.
“Okay, Allen. Look for something and let me and dad know what you need. That’s fine with me. And bring Marie to visit when she gets better, okay?”
“Yeah, Mom, that would be great. Thanks so much. Love you.” He said.
“Love you, too, Allen.” His mom added. They both hung up. “
Allen sat here thinking two thoughts: first that his mom was now sitting at the kitchen table replaying all this to his dad and that they would then talk about this phone call in depth for the next two days, and two, the thought of bringing a healthy vibrant Marie to his house in Kentucky seemed like a pipe dream. Would she ever wake up? They were supposed to be packing up to drive east right now.
Allen heard his belly rumble and decided it was time for a trip to town to find food. There was a knock at the door. He got up and opened the door to find Lydia in a blue sundress with her long blond hair waving in the gentle breeze. She smiled sweetly, trying not to look too obvious. She had a large basket on her arm.
“What do you want, Lydia?”
“Oh, honey, can I just say I love your Southern accent. That is so sexy.” She smiled and waited for the compliment to sink in. He sighed and continued to look down his nose at her.
The smile faded just a minute and then re-energized. “Well, I just figured with Marie in the hospital,” she paused and tried to look around him to see if Marie was in the dorm, “you know, that maybe you needed a little TLC.”
“What?” he asked amazed at her brazenness.
“Well, I have a little bit to eat,” she pushed the basket forward and pulled back the cloth covering it, “just some sandwiches, roast beef and turkey with bacon, and homemade potato salad, and some chocolate cake, and…”
“Lydia!” Her face fell flat as he spat her name. “Lydia! No! You have to go. Go find someone else to share your picnic with!” With that he stepped out the door and closed it behind him, causing her to back pedal to avoid being stepped on.
“Allen?” she tried to get his attention as he walked away.
“And besides, I hate potato salad!” he actually chuckled to himself as he slammed the door to the Jeep and cranked up the engine, leaving Lydia stunned on the sidewalk.
He drove the winding road through the Sierra Nevada foothills to the quiet town. He remembered Marie asking him if he believed in guardian angels. It was like déjà vu of a drive together months ago when everything was wonderful. He remembered the wash of love he’d felt back then. He came around a shady curve where the Ponderosa pines grew close to the road and the sun was blocked by their skyscraper heights. The pine needle forest floor which normally would have made Allen feel like he was in a safe haven, now felt ominous. He actually felt like he was not alone in this desolate area, as though someone was watching him. He tried to shake off the odd feeling and turned on the radio. A Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song blared away the silence. Not satisfied with that, he fumbled with the knob and They Might Be Giants came on.
They crooned on about Constantinople, but Allen’s mind was caught on the thought that a girl could be waiting in Constantinople, but if you only looked in Istanbul, you would never find her. Its silly logic really, they are the same place, but what if that’s it. She’s here, but not here. Her soul had to be somewhere. What if it was not in her body? What if she had been with him, but he couldn’t see her? Allen pondered this. It didn’t really make sense in his logical mind, but somehow he knew Marie would have believed such a thing. There had been times he’d think she was there and turn to say something, only to remember she was at the hospital. What if we really were souls that were different from bodies and she was trapped in a place between here and there? This thought filled him with a new hope. His mind raced with the new thought. She could be struck and he hadn’t even known it! Now he was more determined than ever to stay in Sonora for the summer. Although he had no idea how to solve this, he knew he could figure it out.
***
Meanwhile, Hester had plans for Marie. She had waited a long time to get the revenge she sought. Hester’s shadow pulled in and the real image of Hester materialized. Marie lay in a trance-like daze on the stony ground. Hester took hold of her hands and started pulling her up.
“Come on, deary,” she insisted.
“What?” Marie said confused.
“We have some amusing things to do, girl! Come on! Don’t you think it’s time we had a little fun?”
“I, I….” Marie’s voice faded away and her glazed eyes stared blankly at the wall.
“Well, you aren’t exactly a party, young lady. Let’s go find some fun. We need to get Tom and Jenny out here in the open, so let’s stir up some trouble. I think that baby George would get Jenny’s attention. Damn her and her babies! Let’s go to Louisville!”
In a flash, Marie was standing on the lawn of a white brick house with Hester. Pink and white dogwoods shaded the left side of the house where the sidewalk came up from the driveway. A large oak tree stood nearby. The windows had an arch design in the brick over the top of them. Two windows to the left of the front door and two windows to the right. There was a second story with two windows flanking a smaller decorative window with an iron faux balcony above the front door. It looked like a French design. Red geraniums had been planted in reddish-brown clay pots around the small front porch.
As Hester and Marie stood in the front yard taking in the scene, a young woman in jeans and a blue gingham plaid shirt came out near the garage and walked down the driveway pushing a stroller. Little George lay in the stroller waving his arms in the air and making gurgling noises punctuated by squeals as the soft breeze rolled over his face.
Marie saw the leaves and the grass softly moving and realized she couldn’t feel the breeze. I may as well be dead.
“Now’s our chance! Look! Fool took the baby outside! Jenny’s bunch are the dumbest things I have ever seen!” Hester shook her head.
A dog was barking nearby announcing the mother and child. It was inside a fence across the street. The dog was large and jumping all around.
“There! Go let that dog out!” Hester demanded.
“What? How can I do that?” Marie stammered.
Hester gave a big sigh. “Dear! You get the dog to go mad. Help it figure out how to jump over the fence or get the latch open. Animals are putty in our hands. You do want that dumb Jenny don’t you? It was her that ruined it all for you!”
“Oh!” Marie thought about it. It was getting muddled in her mind why it was Jenny’s fault, but she couldn’t find anything to argue with Hester about it. She went to the dog and stared at it. She stood there confused and upset because nothing made sense. She could feel the bile rising in her. Her life was over and Allen was gone. She let all the hate she could muster flow out of her and into the dog.
It started growling and ripping up turf with its claws. It actually threw itself at the fence numerous times until Marie could see a bloody gash on its side. Marie saw a place where a board could be loosened with some exerted pressure and called the dog. The dog immediately responded and began digging at the ground around the board and trying to paw and bite the board. Ordinarily the board would have withstood a dog’s abuse, but with the frenzied dog attacking it, it gave way at the bottom. The dog shimmied through the hole between the boards and the ground. It was not really a big enough hole, but the dog, in its crazed state, was determined. It cried a whimper as the wood splinters scratched its hip. It wasn’t enough to stop the dog. With Marie’s influence, the dog was wild and out of control.
Once free from the fence, the dog made quick time toward the young mother and the stroller. Hester took Marie’s hand and they flashed behind a bush near the street to watch. Marie saw the mother scream and grab up the b
aby. Leaving the stroller on the side of the road, she ran terrified back toward her house. The dog quickly caught up to her and she tried to kick the dog away with one foot. The dog kept coming at her with teeth bared, trying desperately to get a hold of the flesh of her thigh which she had raised to protect them as well as try to kick the dog away.
The maternal instinct in the mother welled up and a protective bubble of energy exuded from the woman. Marie saw a man, a Protector, step in and try to calm the dog, but was unable to do much. His ability to influence the dog was significantly less than Marie’s. The dog, snapping crazily at anything, got hold of a corner of the baby blanket and was yanking, flipping its head left and right. The mother managed to hold the baby and let the blanket go, momentarily sending the dog somersaulting backwards. It was just enough time for her to race to the side door by her garage and get inside. The dog smashed itself face first into the door, shook off the blow and started jumping at the door barking rabidly.
Normally Marie would have found the whole seen so disturbing, she would be having trouble breathing. In her trance-like state, she just watched without any regard for either the mother or the child.
“Well, crap!” Hester exclaimed. “Damn Protector! There he was butting in.”
She looked toward the house and at the dog still insanely attacking the side door. The dog stopped jumping and started holding the blanket in its paws and using its teeth to shred the blanket into a frizzy mess of yarn.
“I must have that baby dead! Damn it! And where is that precious Jenny? Taking a coffee break, I suppose. Let’s go inside.” Hester took Marie by the arm and they flashed into the kitchen. The young mother was frantically talking to the police clutching baby George in her free arm. George had started crying during the attack and was now at a full wail. His mother’s jerky movement and hysterical tone did nothing to calm him.
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