It wouldn’t matter now if I could just keep up this pace. The sounds of the bear were fading. Maybe it was scared of the lights. We were getting closer now. Closer…
I burst out of the trees and right into the middle of the prayer circle. We almost ran into Pastor Cotton.
My energy spent, I fell to one knee, just now noticing the throbbing pain in my chest and legs. Cotton put a hand on my shoulder. Someone rushed forward and took Emma Lee out of my arms. I was barely aware of the amazed gasps and bewildered whispers around me. I didn’t understand. I hadn’t crossed the river. How had we ended up back here? I was too tired to try and make sense of it.
“There you have it, folks,” Cotton said. “Ask, and ye shall receive. The Lord has heard and answered your prayers. Through this woman, He brought Emma Lee out of the shadow. Let all this be a testament to the power of God and the power of prayer. Let’s all go home, now.”
Chapter 11
I’m in an absolute rage. I’ve never felt like this before. The branches swat my face and shoulders as I rampage through the forest, but I am unstoppable.
I charge into the fog of darkness. I can only see each tree right before I run past it. I have no idea what’s ahead, but I don’t mind. I am more powerful than anything I could encounter here.
The invader’s panicked footfalls drive me. I am close. Soon I will catch. I will pull the thief to pieces and reclaim what’s been taken from me.
Lights. Voices. Now I can see what lies ahead. Up the hill the thief runs, carrying the prize that was mine. But a new understanding dawns on me. The thief has not meant to harm me or my charge. I was but a temporary stewardess, and now the child is being returned where she belongs. I shouldn’t wander too far and leave the other unguarded. I return to my rest. All is well… at least for this night.
✽✽✽
I was awakened by the buzz of my cell phone in my pocket. My neck ached. I hadn’t thought it would be possible to doze off in this terrible chair, no matter how exhausted I was. The stomach-churning distress of my dream was already fading.
I glanced across the room as I fished out my phone. Sammie was asleep in the hospital bed, Emma Lee curled up under her arm. It turned out Sammie did have a concussion, so they’d kept her overnight for observation. Phil was snoring in another chair, his hat over his face. I answered the call without looking at the screen.
“Hello.”
“Hey, babe,” came my husband’s throaty voice. “Sorry I missed your calls. They put me right to work out by the gulf as soon as I got there. Reception’s terrible that way.”
“It’s fine. Sorry for blowing up your phone like that.”
“You’re sorry? I had two missed calls from you and about twenty from Phil. Three voicemails, all screaming. He said Emma Lee was lost. What happened?”
“It’s fine. We found her. Everyone is OK.”
“Thank God. How are you doing?”
“I’m just tired. I was up all night searching. And…” I trailed off. Would he believe me? Could I even explain it over the phone?
“And what, babe?”
I sighed. “Nothing. I just need to sleep.”
“Well, I won’t keep you.”
“When will you be home?”
“Two weeks.”
“Sounds good. I love you, Garrett.”
“You too, Kelly. Bye.”
I hung up, feeling a weight on my chest I couldn’t quite place. What was wrong? Emma Lee was back safely. The cops had already interviewed me and taken my statement. They knew Emma Lee had mentioned a “stinky man” and would be on the lookout for suspicious characters in the area. I had only said that I had found her in a glade near the riverbank, deciding to leave out that whole nightmarish episode with the mist, the bear, and the boy.
The boy. That’s what I had forgotten. He was still out there. I had promised him food.
I stood, trying not to wake the Hagen family. Slipping out of the room and then out of the hospital, I started planning. It was still early morning. I could get home, put together a little care package, and then get… I stumbled on the way to my car.
Sleep. I have to get sleep.
I didn’t want to waste time, but I knew I was going to be no use to anyone until I had rested.
✽✽✽
When I opened my eyes again, my bedside clock said it was three in the afternoon. My phone indicated I’d slept right through some calls: first my mother, then Ike, then my mother-in-law. I sat on the edge of the bed to rub my face and get my bearings. In doing so, I caught sight of my computer and the cup of tea that had gone cold long ago.
Right. I still had to finish that article and turn it in to Ike. That was priority number one for the day. Two, find the boy in the woods and bring him something to eat. Three, check in with Chief Branchett and see if there were any leads on the “stinky man.” Four, catch up with the family wanting to hear from me.
Now properly rested, I had no problem focusing on my work and slugging out the rest of the article. I made peace with the fact that it was always going to be terrible. I shot it off in an email to Ike with an apologetic note for being late. I figured he would be understanding because of last night’s emergency, but you never knew with Ike. But it was out of my hands now. I headed for the kitchen.
I made two sandwiches, one ham and cheese, the other peanut butter and jelly. I wrapped them and threw them in a paper bag with an apple, a bag of chips, and a bottled water.
Now, how am I going to find him again? I wondered, staring at the sack lunch I had made. I didn’t get much time to think on it, because my doorbell rang.
Pulling aside the little curtain, I peeked out the window by the door. It was Chief Branchett and Pastor Cotton. They didn’t see me. I considered pretending I was gone or still asleep, but the Chief may have had some important information. I pulled open the door.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Clegg.” Branchett looked at me and winced. “We didn’t wake you, did we?”
I must have been an absolute mess. “No, that’s fine. What can I do for you?”
“Well, first of all I wanted to let you know we swept the entire Green Ravine area after sunrise and found nobody.” He held up a plastic shopping bag with a couple of heavy objects in it. “We did find some discarded items, but the only fingerprints on them were yours.”
“That would make sense if they’re a flashlight and a pocketknife.”
“Yeah. Good.” He handed me the bag and I dropped it just inside the door. “We’ll keep an eye out. Did Emma Lee describe the suspect to you in any way?”
“No. Just the ‘stinky man.’ I was more focused on getting her home.”
“Yeah, fair enough. We’ll go ask her about it. Also, the pastor wanted to speak with you.” Branchett stepped back and Cotton came forward.
“I hope I’m not intruding, Mrs. Clegg,” he said with his television smile.
“No.” I failed to keep the coldness out of my voice. “It’s fine.”
“I just wanted to thank and commend you for your courage. I think, and Chief Branchett agrees with me, that you deserve to be recognized by the entire town of Grunwald for what you’ve done.”
“Really?” I was genuinely intrigued. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know we don’t. All the same, I want to personally ask that you be present in the congregation at Bellwether on Sunday. I have some complimentary things to say about the people of this town that I think you should hear.”
“I…” I shifted. “I’ll have to see.”
Cotton gave a sad smile. “I understand. We probably got off on the wrong foot last night. No pressure.” With rehearsed precision, his left hand moved inside his coat and snapped a business card into view. He handed it to me. “If you change your mind, Mrs. Clegg, please give me a call. That’s my office line and personal cell.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, we won’t keep you any longer. Thank you for your time. And of course, thank you for being an ex
ample to this town.” Cotton stepped off the porch. Branchett followed.
I closed the door, staring at the embossed card and trying to understand what had happened. The pastor’s actions didn’t make any sense to me. First stalling the people from searching for Emma Lee, then taking credit for finding her, now thanking me? What was I missing? The whole thing stank of a PR stunt, but that was the journalist in me talking.
I dropped the business card in my kitchen’s junk drawer, where it would eventually shift to the back and be forgotten. Satisfied with my petty little victory, I picked up my sack lunch and started to head for the front door again. This time I caught my reflection in the hall mirror and stopped in the entryway. Maybe I’d brush my hair first.
Chapter 12
“Hello?” I called out. “Remember me from last night?”
Nothing but the gentle stirring of the tree branches above me. I stood on the town side of the dry river, as near as I could guess to the place where I had met the skinny child last night. Of course, now the trees stood as far apart as they always had. There was no more impenetrable barrier of trunks and brambles compelling me in one direction. Had I imagined the whole thing?
“I brought you a late lunch.” Instinctively I glanced behind me, uphill in the direction of town. I must have looked ridiculous. But no one was there. “OK, well, I’ll be here for a few minutes. It would be nice to talk.”
I took a seat and set the bag down beside me. I took the opportunity to run down my mental checklist for the day.
Article, done. Talk with the Chief, done. Talk with the boy to confirm I didn’t hallucinate half of last night… pending.
That left catching up on missed calls. I could do that. I pulled out my phone. It was just after four. I dialed.
“Hey Ike, it’s Kelly. Did you get my email?”
“Yes. It sure would have been nice to have that last night. Or at least before noon today.”
“Yeah, well, an emergency came up. I’m sure you’ve heard by now.”
“I heard you were off doing the police’s job instead of your own, yeah. It’s going to be a real pain getting this article formatted in time for print.”
“Sorry about that.”
“You said you had something about Bellwether in the works, finally. Are you working on that?”
“Right this very second. You’ll have it soon.”
“When, Kelly?”
I sighed. “Before close of business tomorrow.”
“Alright. Bye.”
“Bye, Ike.” I hung up. “Asshole.”
I called Maggie Clegg next.
“Hello, dear. We just heard about last night and wanted to check in on you.”
“I’m fine, Maggie. So is Emma Lee. That’s all that matters.”
“And thank God for it. Gordon and I insist on feeding you a hot home-cooked meal tonight. Can you be here around seven?”
I hesitated. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see them. The problem was that I was embarrassed by the questions I would be tempted to ask. But I could keep the conversation off that topic and focus on what I needed for the article I had promised Ike. “That would be great. I appreciate it.”
“See you then, dear.”
My conversation with my mother was largely identical; she too had heard the news and wanted to see me. I made dinner plans with my parents for tomorrow.
I looked again at the clock on my phone after finishing my calls. Now it was four thirty. I’d have to leave soon if I wanted to make myself presentable for dinner with my in-laws. Still looking at my phone, I reached out to pick up the sack lunch. I felt only grass.
When I turned, the boy was there. He sat some three feet away from me. The bag was open and he chewed a bite of ham sandwich with a thoughtful expression. He made steady eye contact with me and never blinked.
I watched him for a minute. “Eat all of that. You need it.”
He swallowed. “I really don’t, but thank you anyway. It’s very nice.”
“Will you come back to town with me?”
“Still no.”
“Why not? You shouldn’t be living out here on your own.”
“Yes, I should.”
I frowned at this enigmatic child. “What’s your name?”
“You asked me that last night. I don’t have one.”
“You mean you don’t want to tell me.”
He shrugged. “Whatever works for you.”
“So you waited here for me to finish my call when you could have swiped the food and I’d have never seen you. But you don’t want to answer any questions. What are you doing here, then?”
“Observing you.”
“Me? Why?”
“You intrigue me.” He still hadn’t blinked.
I was getting unnerved. “I’m as ordinary as it gets.”
“No. You brought the guardian. It’s been a long time since that’s happened. Jeez, I haven’t seen her since before the last war around here.”
“You mean the Texas Revolution? That was almost two hundred years ago, or something.”
The boy finally blinked as his expression became utterly perplexed. “Has it been that long? I have no sense of time these days.”
I shook my head. “OK, you’re talking crazy now.”
“I’m crazy? You saw a bear the size of an elephant last night and decided to piss her off. You did exactly what I told you not to do.”
His words stung, but in a good way. That was real. So is this. Here is someone I can talk to about what happened.
I thought for a second. “Alright. I take it back. So it’s been a long time since the guardian last came. Can you tell me about her? About you?”
“I thought it was crazy talk.”
“Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to make of it all.” I took a deep breath. “After the things I saw last night, I’m prepared to believe anything you say.”
The boy shrugged, finishing the one sandwich and unwrapping the other. He scooted a foot closer to me. “Good, because I’d only tell this stuff to the one who’s connected to the guardian. That’s you.”
“How am I connected to the bear?”
“I’m not really sure how it works. The bear only appears when the forest responds to somebody. Like I said, it’s been a long time. But she’s nuts about children. If something is wrong in the forest, and the right person is around, Momma Kodi will show up. And if there’s a lost child, she’ll take that kid under her wing. She always has.”
“Did she take Emma Lee from the car?”
“No. I didn’t see that. I only saw what happened after. See, I don’t cross the river. Neither does Momma Kodi unless it’s an emergency. She keeps to this small area between the river and the town. We share this spot.”
“What happened after?”
“I don’t know how the girl got out of the car, but I know the badger had her. Anvilback. He carried her away from the crash site, back across the river, and dropped her off in Kodi’s territory. He was really scared, like he didn’t want to be there. He dropped her off and ran. He got away before Kodi showed up. But she found the girl and took her to the glade.”
“Does the bear protect you, too?”
“When she’s around, yes.”
“Why don’t either of you cross the river? Does it have to do with that black smoke?”
The boy’s face grew paler than I thought possible. He nodded. “We stay away from the mist. It’s the power behind the forest. Its will, I guess.”
“The curse?”
“I wouldn’t call it that. It’s not evil. Just very old and angry. Sometimes it doesn’t care who gets hurt. That’s all.”
“Alright, fair enough. What about you? How have you lived out here for hundreds of years with no name and only an occasional guardian? Didn’t you ever have parents?”
He furrowed his little brow. “Sometimes, if I think hard enough, I can remember my father. I haven’t seen him in a long time. We’re talking thousands of years. He’s gone.�
��
“What was he like?”
“Right now, I couldn’t tell you.”
“What about your mother?”
The boy’s face turned sad. “Momma Kodi is the closest I’ve got. I never had a mother.”
I didn’t know what compelled me to reach out and hold onto his slender arm. But he didn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t want to keep you,” he muttered. “Anything else you need to know about last night before I go?”
“Yes. One last question.” I leaned in to whisper, still holding his arm. “Emma Lee mentioned a ‘stinky man.’ I know you didn’t see who took her out of the car, but do you have any idea who she’s talking about? Did you see anyone come or go?”
He made that tight-lipped, pale face again. “No. Which concerns me even more. Ever since the previous King fell, and Brennen Firehide took his place, there’s only been one person to thrive in that part of the woods.”
“Who’s that?”
“The Grim Halberdier,” he whispered to me. “The Axe-Man.”
I sat back, taking my hand away from his arm. “I won’t press any more. I can see that this upsets you.”
“I can’t help it. Just… whatever you do, don’t fall for the belief that the things that happened in these woods were just fairy tales. The Grim Halberdier is as real as it gets. If he has become active again, things are about to get far worse for all of us.”
“Alright. I’ll let you go.”
He stood, clutching the torn bag in one small fist. “Thank you for this. It was nice of you, Kelly. Maybe we can talk again soon.”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
He stood up and stepped behind the trunk of a tree. Then he was gone.
I sat there for a few minutes longer, staring across the river. I wondered if I would see the black mist again if I did what no Grunwald native dared to do and went into the woods tonight.
Suddenly I was looking forward to dinner with my in-laws. I decided I would ask some of those embarrassing questions after all.
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