Hidden Voices (Tess Schafer-Medium)

by Deborah Hughes

  Kade glanced at me. He knew what I was doing. “Do you think she was a relative of the Rowans?”

  “No. I don’t think so.” Heaving a frustrated sigh, disappointed with myself for not asking her identity, I shook my head. “I don’t know why I didn’t ask for her name.”

  Kade reached over and patted my leg. “She might not have given it to you anyway. I haven’t noticed that any of these ghosts of yours are very helpful with their information.”

  True. “Well, let’s just find something to eat and I’ll ponder it later.” But it weighed heavily on my mind as we entered town and stopped to grab a subway sandwich from one of the local stores. I’d just stumbled onto another mystery to investigate. It was looking more and more like a longer stay in Bucksport was in order.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  After an enjoyable lunch eaten down at the river walk on one of the picnic tables scattered about, we parted ways when we returned to the B&B with the promise to meet at the ice cream parlor in two hours’ time. We wanted to enjoy our treat and have a few moments reprieve before Mary and Dawn arrived to get the beads.

  I could hardly contain my excitement to get back to Isi’s story. I hoped that something would come out of today’s writing to help me figure out just where she fit in to the mystery of the cursed monument. If she even fit in at all. What if she was yet another mystery to solve? The idea bummed me out a little for I truly wanted to bring this thing to a conclusion. Then I could concentrate on Tomb Lady and the girl on the bridge. I was determined to find out who they were. Whatever their stories, they had to be pretty good.

  As curious as I was about them, I pushed those thoughts from my mind and sat down to my laptop. Right now I wanted to find out what Isi was up to and prayed that a clue to who she was would come through.

  It was a strange world Isi found herself living in. She learned their language rather quickly and was glad about that because it made her life so much easier. Her new ‘family’ was kind to her and as much as Isi liked Nina and Giles, she could never forget the fact that it was they who snatched her from her people and thrust her into this new life. She didn’t belong here. Their ways were so different from those of her people and she missed her family. Did her brother survive the fever? How was her grandmother handling her disappearance? Perhaps she had known this would happen. Her grandmother knew things were going to happen before they happened. There were times, Isi remembered, when she caught her grandmother staring at her, her eyes sad. She started missing me before I even left, Isi thought.

  The teachings of her people Isi kept to herself. She did as her new family showed her but at night, lying under the cover of darkness and safe from their watchful eyes, Isi would recite the words her grandmother taught her and go over every lesson she could recall in her mind. She was determined to never forget who she was and where she came from.

  Despite the longing for the return of her own life, Isi did care about these people. They believed they had saved her. Now that Isi understood their language, Nina often tried to explain.

  “You do understand, Isi? We had to bring you with us. There was a group of men…they are bad men to your people. If they had found you…” Nina’s eyes would tear up at this point and she always hugged Isi close to her. “When we found you that day, we were so frightened. For you and for us. We want you to be happy, Isi. Just tell us what you need.”

  As time went on, Isi did come to understand what was happening. Nina’s and Giles’ people were taking land and making homes. They planted large fields of crops and they hunted the animals. Their respect for the world was not the same as Isi’s. They took more than they gave and Isi wondered how the world could survive this and for how long? The tension between the settlers and the Indians (the nicer of the words she heard to describe her people) grew over time. Isi’s looks were passed off as French. Giles claimed she was a niece from his French connections. It was explained that her family were dead. Isi hoped that wasn’t true and knew over time that it was not. They lived.

  Sometimes, when Isi was alone, she would fly off like a bird and see them. What a delight it was to learn this new skill. Her grandmother had told her about it but Isi had never been able to do it until a few months after her abduction. Oh how glad she was to learn that her brother lived.

  During these bodiless visits, her grandmother always acknowledged her. Though Isi understood that her mind was free from the physical body and could roam at will, she didn’t understand how her grandmother knew when she was near. But every time Isi visited her, she would raise her graying head and look up, her eyes staring directly into Isi’s soul. They mingled for a moment and enjoyed the love they shared then Isi would come back to her bed, silent tears coursing down her cheeks. Only in death would they ever reunite once and for all.

  This ability Isi had to loosen free of her body and fly to wherever she wanted to go was something she kept to herself. Her new family wouldn’t understand and it would frighten them. Many things, she discovered, frightened them. Church was a fearsome time for Isi. She didn’t understand why it was all so horrible; this fear that was preached to them every Sunday of a God whose wrath knew no bounds when his will was not obeyed. Horrible things would happen. Isi was glad that their God was not hers, though she pretended that he was. She played their game well. But then, she did love her new family after all.

  Nina, Isi learned, could not have children. She managed to birth one daughter who lived for nearly seven years. It had been almost a year since her death when they had come upon Isi in the field gathering medicine for her brother. Nina, in her deep sorrow, had convinced Giles to take her home to her own family in a place called Virginia. They stayed until Nina felt healed enough to return to their own home once again. It was during their return home that they found Isi and decided to “save” her.

  Nina and Giles lived with Giles’ mother and father. He had two younger brothers, twins (a rarity to Isi’s people) Phillip and Paul. They were, Isi was sure, a little older than herself. The boys were curious about her and she remembered when Giles first told his family who she was they were frightened. An argument had ensued until Nina spoke up. Isi was so sure at the time that they were discussing ways to be rid of her. That hadn’t been the case at all. Gile’s parents wanted them to return her to her people. If only Isi had understood that at the time. But, as Nina explained to her over the years why they could not do that, so she had done that day to her husband’s parents.

  “If anyone discovers Isi is one of them, they will kill her. She’s a child. Her chances are better to live with us. We can give her a life.”

  It wasn’t until Isi was in her womanhood, two years since the time of her first bleeding, that she witnessed Nina’s dire prediction during one of her nighttime travels. Her family’s village was raided and burned. Those who had not managed to escape were killed. Nina’s grandmother had foreseen the gruesome events well in advance and her brother was spared. He went deep into the woods as he’d been instructed to do a day before the raid. When he returned, Isi felt his pain though she’d been in the fields at the time helping to harvest the corn.

  His sorrow and horror had reached out to her and Isi had gone to him at once. She remembered standing still as a tree in the fields, her mind flying through space until she found him, his pain burning bright in the ether of the universe. Isi’s spirit wrapped around him in an effort to comfort. He murmured her name then he stood up from where he’d fallen prostrate on the ground and walked away.

  Often Isi wondered why her grandmother hadn’t saved more. Why not her parents or herself? Others had lived but Isi connected only with her brother and followed him as he went deeper into the woods, away from the coastal areas because the raiders from over the big water used the waterways to conduct trade and get around. He lived a lonely life but he learned to survive. Just like Isi.

  More time passed as Isi struggled to live in two worlds. The one with Nina and Giles, his parents both having passed to their new life with th
e Knowing One, or God as Nina and Giles called him and the life she lived at night in her mind. The boys grew and married and moved to settle on their own land. Isi stayed with Nina and when Giles died in an accident while building a neighbor’s barn, Nina slowly withered away. Isi sat with her during every available moment.

  “Isi, what is to become of you? Who will take care of you? You must go to Paul or Phillip. They love you.” And as tears flowed down her face, she had said softly, “I love you. That day in the woods, you saved me, Isi. It wasn’t me saving you. It was you saving me. You are the daughter I couldn’t have and I’m so sorry to leave you.”

  But Isi felt her grandmother near and spoke softly for the first time of things she never dared share before. “You are not leaving me, Nina. You are going to pass through the dark into a new life with the Knowing One. You call him God. My grandmother will show you the way. She visits me often, Nina, and I know this is true. You have nothing to fear. She tells me that Giles is there too and he is waiting.” And then after a long pause. “There is a beautiful young lady with him, she was little when she went to live with the Knowing One but now she waits for you to join her at last.”

  At this, Nina wept for a long time and Isi held her sobbing body close. “Oh, Isi, do you know how special you are? Do you have any idea?”

  “I know that the Knowing One wanted me to come with you that day. My grandmother prepared me. I’m glad you found me, Nina. I love you too.”

  “I hope you find a husband who is good to you, Isi. A kind loving man like Giles was to me. And I hope you have a beautiful daughter, one as beautiful as my little Ruth.”

  Isi could not speak for the emotion clogging her throat. But she managed to nod and then buried her head in Nina’s soft hair. That night Paul and Phillip arrived with their wives. The five of them sat vigil over Nina’s fading life and two days later, she crossed into the dark where Isi watched her grandmother take her hand and guide her away. Just before fading from view, Nina turned, her face radiant, her beaming smile reaching into Isi’s aching heart and easing the pain settled there. She waved once then turned away, eager to be with her family once again.

  As they stood over her grave and spoke the words of their God, Isi remembered that radiant look and knew that someday she too would make that journey and she would once again see her own family. For now, though, she had to live out her life here. As the Knowing One intended.

  It was decided that she would go live with Paul and his wife Cassie. Their home could easily accommodate Isi living with them and Cassie, admitting to loneliness, begged her to come. It was close to the Canadian border and far from civilization according to Cassie. But, Paul was doing well cutting the trees and hunting the animals.

  Isi knew it was the right choice to go with them. And a year later she met her husband, Clay Rowan.

  As soon as I typed that name, a shot of surprise raced through me and I stopped typing. Lost as I was in Isi’s story, I finally realize my cheeks were wet with tears. It truly felt, while writing her story that I lived it with her, so connected to her did I feel.

  A surge of restless energy race through me and I stood to pace the room. Isi was an ancestor of the Rowan family! Not only that but she was special…she had the gift of sight and she obviously could conduct astral travel as well. Who exactly were her people that she could do those things? Much as I tried to come up with an Indian tribal name, I could not. Was she possibly a descendant of the Red Paint Indians? It was a natural assumption to make considering they kept popping up in thought and conversation all the time. The only problem with that is Isi never mentioned anything about red ocher. Nothing. So what did this all mean? Why was I being shown Isi’s story?

  A light tap sounded at my door and I swung around to glance at the clock on the nightstand. It had to be Kade. I was late for our meeting at the ice cream parlor by fifteen minutes. “Coming!” I rushed to the door and opened it. Kade was leaning against the door jam licking an ice cream cone and holding out another in offering to me. “For you, my lady.”

  Grinning with relief that he wasn’t upset with me for missing our appointed meeting time, I graciously accepted the cone and took an appreciative lick. “Kade, you are a man after my own heart.”

  Kade’s eyes met mine and for a long moment we stood there and stared at each other without saying a word then Kade finally spoke. “Yes indeed I am.”

  Heat suffused my face as I stepped back and waved him in. How to respond to comments like that? One part of me wanted to jump him and devour him, the other wanted to run. What if I let myself love him and he left me? What would I do then? “Come in, I’ve got a lot to share.”

  Kade indicated the sketch pad under his arm and this time when his eyes met mine they were dark with a significance that made me at once impatient and excited to see what he had. “Yes, me too.”

  We walked over to my bed and sat down. Kade set his sketch pad on the mattress between us and nodded toward my open lap top. “Did you get anything from your writing?”

  “Yes, you’ll never guess!” And then because I wanted to hurry up and get my news done with so we could move on to his, I rushed on before he could say anything. “Isi was Night Rowan’s grandmother several greats removed. She married a man named Clay Rowan. He was a Frenchman from Canada. Remember, Pierre Rowan came to Bucksport from Canada…well, now we know who his ancestors were.” It seemed that now the floodgates of knowledge had opened, thanks to Isi’s story, I knew far more than I realized. “Pierre Rowan was Isi’s grandson. With that being the case, it means Pierre was also half-Indian.” And then in a flash, I understood the rest of the story. “Kade!” I looked at him in surprise and wondered how it was that I came to be so privileged to learn such things. “Isi had a brother who escaped the massacre of their village. She kept tabs on him because she had the gift of sight that developed stronger as she grew older. I think it runs in the family actually.” I looked at him and wondered how he would take the next bit of information. “Isi often conducted astral travel. It’s how she managed to keep watch over her brother.”

  Kade’s dark brow puckered. “Astral travel? As in leaving her body and flying around in spirit form?”

  Smiling because it seemed Kade was always having to suspend disbelief when dealing with me, I patted his leg. “Yes! How she knew to do it, I don’t know but I’ve a feeling her grandmother may have taught her. She hadn’t actually done it though, until after she was abducted by Nina and Giles.” I waved my hand to get past this part of the story. We had more important things to talk about. “I’ve a very strong feeling that her brother was the father of Rad Rivers, Meadow’s father.”

  “And Meadow married Pierre Rowan.” He frowned with realization as he put it all together. “So Meadow and Pierre were cousins.”

  “Well, second cousins. And I’m also willing to bet that Isi and her brother were only half-brother and sister so even that relation was weakened. Though you know, Kade, back in the day it wasn’t frowned upon for cousins to marry. Besides, they didn’t even know they were related.”

  “This is pretty extraordinary, Tess. What are the odds that you’d come to Bucksport, randomly meet someone whose family history you…” he twirled his hand in the air as if I’d conjured things up with magic, “You did your…thing…and voila, you know the Rowan family ancestral line. Or at least part it.”

  “Yes, it’s pretty extraordinary, but it doesn’t help me solve the mystery behind Buck’s cursed monument or the ghost girl hanging out at his cemetery.”

  “Or how Big Red fits into the picture.”

  Good point. That part really had me stymied. “Maybe Isi’s family is a descendant of the Red Paint people? That would make the Rowan family a descendant of them as well.” It sounded right even as I said it though I hadn’t yet figured out the connection.

  “So what do you think the beads have to do with all this?” And then his eyes widened with the suddenly remembrance of something. “You better take a look at this.” K
ade opened his sketch pad and turned it around to face me.

  I stared at his penciled drawing and gasped in awe. Aside from the fact that Kade’s drawing skills were pretty amazing, the picture he drew was even more so. Standing on the paved path of the river walk, the paper mill rising behind him as a backdrop, was a large Indian man. He looked huge, the bushes and trees Kade roughly sketched next to him helped to scale his size. He wore buckskin pants and calf-length moccasins. His chest was bare except for strings of beads and…were they claws? Teeth? Then I looked closer, picking the drawing up to better study it. Kade shaded him quite dark but not too much to cover his features or his body adornments. The necklace around his neck held the same design as the one I’d seen the beads create in my vision.

  “I think he’s covered in red though I only had a pencil so I couldn’t add color but that’s why his shading is so dark.”

  His strong facial features were heavily lined, the whites around his irises clearly visible and contrasting sharply to the dark shading of his eyes. His long hair was pulled up tight in a high ponytail toward the back of the head. He stood with his arms resting at his sides, his feet planted firmly apart. His stance was one of power. “It’s Big Red.” I spoke softly, in awe of the aura his picture evoked. I could only imagine what sort of force he would have been to reckon with had we met him in person. Was he a shaman?

  “I was wondering about that, if this was Big Red or not.” Kade scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “I didn’t see him, of course, the way you do. I just started drawing him. I couldn’t stop until I was done and then I came straight here to show you.” He grinned at this point and nodded toward the last of our cones. “After stopping for these that is.”

  It wasn’t surprising that Kade would do this. He’d done something similar while we were investigating the haunting at Sea Willow Haven. Kade connected with spiritual forces through his art. I looked at him, watched as he studied the picture critically, his expression thoughtful, and my heart felt it would burst with feeling for him. We were such a great match for each other.