I bit my lip, hating to lie but not knowing how he would take the truth. “I had a … problem and couldn’t sleep very well for a while.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “You were sick? Thank God. We thought he took you.”
“Actually he let me go,” I said quietly. I didn’t want to talk about Jordan and rushed to change the topic. “How is everything here? I finally met some family who explained things to me a little bit.”
Abe nodded. “Good. We figured you were in the dark a little, you were rather … unconventional.”
My jaw dropped. Did everyone know more about Nightmare Town that I did? “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Not our place. We just live here.”
Actually, I thought to myself, you live under a sand dune on the coast of Lake Michigan. Another thought sprung up just as quick and I blurted it out, “Did you know my mother?”
He nodded. “And her mother, and her mother’s mother.”
I gave a sad little smile. “I see I have a lot more to learn about this place. I wish my mom or grandma had been able to teach me.”
Abe wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You’ll figure it out. What are you supposed to be doing now? I’ll help you.”
I tucked my head under his chin. “Thanks, Abe. You want to go for a walk with me? I’m supposed to be looking for changes or damage.”
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll look, let me just lock up.”
The first change hit me in the face when I walked out onto the front porch to wait for him. It was freezing. Autumn had passed and winter was setting in. It had never been winter in Nightmare Town in all the times I had visited. The sky was a steel grey, clearly visible through the bare trees. All the fallen leaves were dark and crushed, not a hint of red or gold anywhere. The smell they gave off was gone too, replaced by a sharp mineral scent I always associated with ice.
Abe stepped out on the porch and locked the door behind him. “I guess we better go get your coat.”
I nodded and we took off silently down the dirt road. I was sad to see my town in such ugly shades of grey and white. “Why isn’t it autumn here?” I asked Abe.
He looked at me in surprise. “Because you left. You were the one holding it in autumn. It moved on when you did.”
“Can I make it go back?”
“You can’t make the seasons go backwards anywhere. But I suppose you can stop it in autumn when it comes around again.”
My house loomed ahead, dark and abandoned looking. I searched for any broken windows or vandalism but all I saw was old trees fallen over. I opened the side door and was taken over by memory from what felt like years ago—finding Linc in Nightmare Town after thinking him dead in real life.
Stupid hope filled my pattering heart and I burst into the room but it was empty. My shoulders slumped a little.
“Expecting someone?” Abe asked.
“I was thinking maybe Lincoln would be here.”
His cheeks turned an unnatural pink and he shrugged his shoulders.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, pretending to admire the video game console. “What the heck is that thing?”
“Abe, I can tell it’s something, tell me.” Panic gripped me as I went through every worst case scenario. He must have been able to see it on my face.
“Really, nothing … It’s just, he’s been talking to someone lately.”
I let out a breath. “Oh. Who?”
Abe shrugged. “Don’t know. I’ve seen him meeting him a few times out in the woods. Couldn’t really get a good look.”
“Well who do you think it is?” I was confused by his unwillingness to tell.
“I honestly don’t know. We were thinking, well, maybe it’s one of them.”
I paused to process. “A jinn?” He nodded and I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I explained what happened to him, I don’t think he’d be on friendly terms with one—ever.”
Abe shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
I sighed and made my way into the rest of the house. Everything looked as similar as it had before. But the rooms always changed on me, new ones sprung up and old ones I had been to a dozen times disappeared. But everything seemed to be in order.
I checked every closet I passed until I found a jacket.
“Want to walk to town?” I asked Abe when I finally found the front door.
“I have to get back to the store,” he said apologetically.
“That’s okay, I’ll be back tonight,” I said with a smile.
He didn’t smile back. “I hope so.” I watched him hurry back up the road to his store. Why wouldn’t I be back?
The short walk down the dirt road was depressing. The bark of the bare trees towering overhead was as grey as the dirt I walked on. It was silent, save for a few echoing bird calls. I gave a little sigh of relief when the corner of the first store in my downtown came into view but it was cut short.
At the edge of my vision dashed a vibrant green. I looked but it rushed into a blur again, seemingly closer. Panic seized me and I burst into run, looking over my shoulder for the green blur.
I ran solidly into it. I bounced back and was grabbed by the arms and pulled upright.
“Calm down, it’s me,” Jordan said. My knee had been pulled back to deliver a lethal crotch blow and I decided to let it fly. He grunted and doubled over, releasing my arms. I pushed him over and ran for the town.
Green flashed in front of me again but I was able to stop this time. He stood in the middle of the road, his chest heaving beneath his felt coat. “What are you doing?” I could see from the tightness in his jaw his annoyance was barely reigned in.
“Running from you, obviously,” I snapped.
His mouth melted into a frown. “Why?”
I sighed, not really sure of my answer. “What do you want, Jordan?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
I folded the edges of my jacket over my chest and clenched my arms down. “Well, I don’t have anything to say to you and you really aren’t supposed to be here.”
“Then just listen and I’ll leave.”
I was surprised he could keep his temper when I was sure what I had said had angered him.
“Fine. Speak.”
He took a deep breath and smoothed his features. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you in pain?” I thought for a long moment until I remembered the last time I had seen him Clint had done me the courtesy of bashing my head in.
“I’m fine, really.” I flushed what had to be an ugly shade of scarlet as I remembered what had happened next. “And thank you for helping Minnie.”
His face burst into a smile. “Did that make you happy?”
I shifted uneasily. “Of course it did, she’s my friend. But I didn’t need your help getting out of there; I could have done it myself.”
There was a long moment of silence before he finally shook his head. “I didn’t do that.”
“Oh come on!” I shouted, startling birds out of the stark trees. My fists curled in on themselves and I forced one finger out to poke into his chest. “Stop lying to me. No, stop talking to me. I am so done with all of this. Can you ever just be honest?”
Jordan’s face flamed and he took a menacing step towards me. “I didn’t have anything to do with you leaving that place.”
“Really? All those blank papers stating they could take custody of me and Minnie were just blank to me? Right. I told you not to interfere, I asked you not to—”
Jordan stepped forward again and grabbed my elbows, gently this time. “I didn’t interfere. I did as you asked and stayed out of it. If you want to be
angry I’m checking in on you and am worried about your well-being—fine. Be as angry as you want but that isn’t going to change the fact that I love you and will do anything to protect you.” As unbelievable as it was, I believed him. Maybe it was because David had recently become more of a pest than Jordan. And maybe more helpful as well, I reluctantly thought. But none of that changed the fact that Jordan was an intrusive, handsome liar.
My heart fluttered and bile rose at the same time. “Thanks for your concern? But really, you shouldn’t be here.” I forced my gaze down to my feet. Another second of his glowing green eyes and I didn’t know what would happen.
“I’ll change your mind,” he said softly and when I looked up he was gone.
I wished my heart didn’t feel like it was breaking again but it did.
Chapter Nine
“So you didn’t see anything out of place?” Hazel asked me in the morning.
I shook my head, focusing on the pancakes Martha had made.
“And you didn’t see one of them there?”
I shoveled more food in my mouth and shook my head more furiously. I didn’t like to lie to her but I wasn’t about to tell her about Jordan’s surprise meeting—or his uncle’s for that matter. “It all looked the same, except that it was winter.”
“That’s to be expected,” Viola interjected. “I always kept my town in the summer when I was there.” A bizarre, day dreamy gleam took over her face.
Hazel rolled her eyes. “Right, that’s normal. But no jinn? No hint of jinn?”
“None,” I lied.
“Well,” she said happily and clasped her hands. “That will make things so much easier moving forward.”
“Why is that?” I asked, swishing my sausage link in syrup.
“If they’re already there then they have found a way through. Imagine trying to stop a creek from flowing into a river. No, if they haven’t found a way through you can continue to stave them off.”
Minnie and Martha picked up the dishes, apparently still giggling together from last night. As much as I wished I could join in, I wasn’t actually jealous. Minnie, my first real friend, was safe. And if she was safe with Martha, then I couldn’t be happier. Her simple perfection annoyed me but I couldn’t hold it against her.
“So they can’t get through anywhere?” I asked. If they thought that I would have to introduce them to David. Behind their barn.
“Oh they get through all right. It’s impossible to keep them out entirely,” Viola said hatefully. “Any one of them can just pop through anywhere they like if they are strong enough. And there are some places where the barriers have broken down enough that they can pass in and out as they please.”
Apparently my expression wasn’t fearful. “We call them broken cities. These places were thin spots once that either weren’t protected at all or just not enough. Almost all of them have grown to major cities. Why do you think big cities have the most crime?”
Her explanation didn’t quite make sense and I wondered how much her hatred toward the jinn influenced her reasoning. “They do, but don’t big cities also have the most money? And museums and good stuff like that?”
Hazel cut her sister off with a glare then turned to face me. “Yes, that’s true. In some places humans and jinn intermingle peacefully for the most part, not that the humans know it. And not every jinn is out to wreak havoc. They have hierarchies and classes and abilities much like we do.”
I thought about Jordan and David and their household. “So, some might be like … kings in castles with servants and others might actually be the servants?”
Hazel nodded. “Or farmers or bankers or stay at home moms. In some ways their society parallels ours, but you would have to compare our entire scope of history to their current world to get a good picture.”
I had to ask one last question. “And they can all do magic?”
Viola scoffed and Hazel snapped at her. “She doesn’t know, she didn’t grow up with this like she should have.” She turned to me. “Yes, they can do what we consider magic. But the farmers may only be able to make their plants grow faster while a king, or what we would consider a king, could burst through the fabric of reality into our world. But don’t worry, it’s not them or the farmers you have to worry about, it’s the truly evil ones in between. They look for the thin spots because they can’t get through on their own. When they find one, they try to tear a hole in it so they and all their evil little friends can walk right through into our world and do whatever they please.”
The sickly sweet syrup in my stomach was trying to come back up. So David was a king? What did that make Jordan? And what would my aunts do if they knew about them? I took a sip of water to calm my stomach and nerves. Minnie came over to get my dishes and I almost hugged her for interrupting the conversation.
“So what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked. It was easier to be nice when I had big secrets to hide.
Viola gave a mean little smile. “Well, speaking of farmers, today we show you the farm and how do to the work. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
My morning was filled with sheep and chicken and cow poop. The amount was unbelievable. Every time they turned me around to look at something new they were also telling me about additional excrement I had to clean up.
“You can’t tell me the three of you did all this by yourselves?” I huffed, shoveling more dirty straw into a wheelbarrow.
“Of course not, we have farmhands,” Viola said, raking more of the vile stuff out of the corners of the pen.
I threw my hands up, dropping my shovel. “Then why are we doing this?”
She paused her work and pursed her lips. “Because it doesn’t do any good to be lazy. Work needs to be done so we’ll do it.”
“Okay, so while I’m here I have to be homeschooled, learn all about Gatekeeping, run a farm and be Amish?” I asked. “You don’t think that’s a little much?”
“It’s not,” she snapped. “And we’re supposed to be Mennonites.”
“Okay, I still don’t get that. Why can’t you guys just be kindly old spinsters that take in foster kids?”
She glared at me, presumably for using the word spinster then gave a defeated sigh. “There’s more to it than that. We genuinely only take in family members but we don’t always get to keep them.”
I stared in horror. “You mean they could come get me and take me back to that hellhole?”
“No, no.” She looked around at the messy barn. “Come on; let’s go get a cup of tea. There is some more about our history that you need to know.”
We left our disgusting boots out on the porch and cleaned up in the kitchen. I tried to ask a few questions as we washed and then as we waited for the tea kettle to boil but she kept shaking her head, making me wait.
Finally we sat at the little breakfast nook with our tea and some cookies.
“Gatekeeping has been in our genes for a very long time,” she finally began. “It started with one particularly ugly event between one of our ancestors and a very powerful jinn. He wanted her desperately and she refused him.”
I flushed a little, thinking of Jordan.
“He continued to pursue her, using every trick he could think of but nothing worked and when she married the man she had been in love with since before that jinn had ever even laid eyes on her, he was furious. He cursed her and her entire blood line.”
I shifted in my chair, my tea getting cold in front of me. “So Gatekeeping is a curse?”
Viola shook her head. “No, it was her response to the curse. This wasn’t the first disastrous run in with a jinn and our ancestor knew it wouldn’t be the last. Because of her unwanted connection with that jinn, she was able discern the thin spots and guard them against more jinn coming through. She was the first to guard one, the very one her tormen
tor had come through. She was the first Gatekeeper and it was through her bloodlines that Gatekeeping was passed on.”
Hollow footsteps on the porch startled us both but it was just Martha and Minnie.
Viola grabbed my hand. “Minnie mustn’t know about any of this. I’m not sure how, but it didn’t get passed down to her.”
I bit my lip, entirely aware of how it didn’t get “passed on to her”. I waited to make sure the girls weren’t coming into the house before asking my next question. “How could the original Gatekeeper just make that happen? Wasn’t she a normal human?”
Viola nodded fervently. “Yes, she was. But she was held captive by him, in his world. Being there, being around him, sort of rubbed off on her.” I thought of Jordan’s explanation of how my looks changed. “No human could just devise away to detect thin spots and guard against them, let alone pass that down through generations. But he accidentally gave her that power by forcing her into his world. We don’t know if what she did was intentional but I don’t think so. Humans don’t intentionally change their looks or become stronger when they spend time around them or in their world, it just happens.”
I nodded slowly, my coppery curls swinging around my face. That explained how well I was able to throw that basin at Jordan’s head.
Viola sat back and gulped her tea down as if that were the end of the conversation.
“Wait, that explains the Gatekeeping, but what about the curse? What is it and what does it have to do with us being pretending to be Amish?”
Viola shushed me as the girls came in the door and mouthed the word “later.”
I gritted my teeth in frustration but kept my mouth shut.
“Ooh, tea!” Minnie exclaimed, rubbing her hands over the hot kettle.
I spent the rest of the day trying to catch Viola or Hazel alone but couldn’t. All of us finished mucking the barn out together and I fumed while I picked up more horse crap. Minnie actually thought it was fun and Martha made it look as easy as dusting. Every stall I came to was a fight between me and the horse who didn’t want to get out so I could clean out his poop. Martha took pity on me and led each animal out with a few gentle words and a pet on the nose. When I tried that I got snorted on.
Winter's Dream (The Hemlock Bay Series) Page 8