by Tonya Kappes
I wanted to do the same thing, but I was afraid to close my eyes in fear of not knowing what was going to happen. There were red velvet window shades down both sides of the passenger car. Mini tassels hung in a v-formation on the edge of each of them. If I wasn’t so sure I was in present day, I’d thought I had traveled back into the 1800’s.
I held tight at the train creaked back and forth. Mr. Prince Charming wasn’t disturbed one bit. His head bobbled back and forth, but his eyes were shut tight. Maybe I should have woken him up to watch me as I slept, but I didn’t. I figured he needed his sleep to keep me safe from harm.
I pulled on one of the shades, making it zip up and flap against the glass window. I peered outside. Everything was zooming by, but in the distance I could see a large castle on a hill. The ground was covered with thick snow. Something I was not used to. Whispering Falls’ climate was strange and comfortable all year around, even though Kentucky had every single season.
When customers commented on how the weather was, we responded by saying we were having an unseasonably strange weather pattern moving through the valley.
Not Azarcabam. It looked like it was cold, very cold. I wasn’t dressed for it. Looking at the snow sent a deep chill in my bones.
Thoughts of Oscar filled my head. Oscar the spiritualist would have loved this little adventure. He would be trying his hardest to clear my name. I shoved images of him out of my head. There was no time to daydream. The more time wasted, the more time I had to spend looking for Gerald and getting back to Whispering Falls to derail anything Arabella had planned for my hunk of a man.
I pulled the shade back down. The tassels swayed with every turn of the train wheels. Suddenly it stopped. Everything stopped. The noise of the wheels, the tassels hitting the glass, the creak of the metal. Mr. Prince Charming jumped up. His eyes caught mine. We were both silent. He eased himself off the bench and sat by the door.
I lifted the edge of the shade. It was pitch black.
“Come on!” There was a tap on the window. “Get out!” The voice was gruff, not to mention scary. “”I said get out!”
The door flew open and the stairs appeared. There were no lights to light my way like there were last time.
“I said get out of my house!” The gruff voice was screaming and beating the window.
Mr. Prince Charming took off down the steps and I wasn’t too far behind. He darted behind an old barrel alight with fire. The smoke flew up in the air along with the flames. Men in black cloaks, mustaches, top hats, and dark lined eyes stood around it warming their hands as bellows of laughter shook their bodies.
“Well, well.” One of them turned and eyed me. “What do we have here?”
I looked back at the passenger train car. There wasn’t a trace of it. Only a wooden shack and a man beating on the window with a cane screaming.
“You must be new in town.” The man grinned, exposing holes where teeth should have been.
I looked down. I didn’t fit in with the jeans and t-shirt I had put on to go to work in. I grabbed my bag and held it close to me, trying to keep warm from the falling snow.
“We can scoot over and give you a little warmth.” Their laughter filled the air around me. I had never been so scared in my life.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mr. Prince Charming dart into an old wooden building.
“Thief!” A couple of men stood around another barrel, their guns strapped on their hips. They screamed at another man as they took his head and pushed in deep into the barrel full of water. Holding him under after they continued to scream, “Thief!”
The men were dressed in brown pants, brown vests, and stripped button-down shirts. They all wore a top hat. Their eyes were lined as if they all wore makeup and each one had a mustache. The women wore long black cloaks and veils to cover their heavily blackened-lined eyes. Some had jewels dangling around their foreheads like the tassels on the train shades, and some had none.
I definitely stood out like a sore thumb.
I wasn’t sure if it was night or day. All I knew was that it was dark and I wouldn’t be safe unless I slipped out of sight into the dark shadows alongside the old buildings. I inched my way to where I had seen Mr. Prince Charming go, taking in all the sights along the street. There didn’t seem to be any order in the village as everyone sort of rushed around.
There was an eerie suspicion in my gut that someone other than the drifters around the fire barrel knew I was there. I glanced around, but the shadow was pitch black. I couldn’t even see my hand before me. I continued in the darkness with my eyes on the small glowing lights. They were in the direction where Mr. Prince Charming had run off to. It was obviously where Gerald was and Mr. Prince Charming was getting me there.
A wind blasted past me, catching the nape of my neck, nipping me with a bite of cold. It was enough to get me moving and moving fast.
The doors of the old building swung inward when I pushed my way past the drunkards gathered on the floor at the opening. The foul air of sour whiskey and cigarettes filled my lungs.
Bar? I looked around. The old saloon was filled with men clanking their pewter goblets and drinking to anything they could possibly wrap their drunk minds around. Mr. Prince Charming stood at the top of the old wooden steps that were clear across the room. Our eyes met.
“Geez, couldn’t make this any easier could you?” I groaned, trying to stay along the wall, sight unseen. This didn’t seem like the place I wanted to be if someone saw me. There wasn’t anyone around here who looked like me and I surely didn’t want my head stuffed down into a bucket full of water like the guy I saw in the street.
I was here for one reason only. To find and question Gerald. Evidently I was in the right place because Mr. Prince Charming had led me here.
I hurried up the steps figuring the drunken men below couldn’t follow me because their vision had to have been blurred with the way they were carrying on.
There was a hallway branching to the right and left once I got to the top of the steps. I saw the tip of Mr. Prince Charming’s tail turn the corner down the left hall. I followed him into the open door around the corner.
The room looked like the same room Madame Torres had shown me—only it was trashed. The small bed was overturned, the little wooden desk was in pieces on the floor with what looked like the remains of the chair that had matched it.
“I hope Gerald escaped this.” I looked around.
There were voices coming from down the hall. I disappeared behind the door.
“Did he really think he was going to get away with it?” The woman cackled. “We will see about that Gerald Regiula.” The voice was familiar.
I peeked my head around the door when I heard the footsteps pass. They were dressed in head-to-toe black and veiled like the other women I had seen in the streets.
“This must have just happened.” I stepped out from behind the door and took a good long look around the room. Mr. Prince Charming ducked his head from the overturned bed. “I wonder what they were talking about?” I rubbed my hand around my wrist, feeling all of my protective charms.
They had obviously taken Gerald against his own will, at least that was what the room looked like, but where did they take him?
I tiptoed across the room and looked out the tiny window. Barrels of fire could be seen all over the dark city. The only thing lit up was the castle-looking building way up on the hill.
“I don’t think I can do this right now.” Suddenly my eyes felt very heavy. I slid down the wall and landed on my butt. Mr. Prince Charming sat straight as an arrow with his face to the door.
“Do you think you could keep a watch while I…,” I was going to say rest my eyes, but I did more than that.
Chapter Twenty One
The sound of claps, tambourines, hoots and hollers, along with a lot of foot stomping woke me up.
“Oh,” I sighed, rubbed my eyes and remembered where I was. “Azarcabam.”
Meow.
Mr.
Prince Charming was still sitting in the same spot that I recalled before I had drifted off to sleep. The sky was still dark and I was no closer to finding Gerald than I was before. He looked at me before he ran out of the room, not giving me any time to really wake up and adjust to my current situation.
After a few more hoots and hollers, the music started, leaving me a little curious to what was going on.
With my hand planted firmly on the ground, I pushed myself up to my feet, but not before looking down to see what I had touched.
“Gerald.” I grabbed the vintage ring, my vintage ring. “Petunia.”
It was a sure sign Gerald was here. The first real sign since I had been here. Why did he have the ring?
I bit my lip trying to remember if I saw the ring on Petunia’s finger while she was in the hospital, but I couldn’t recall.
The sounds of fiddles brought me out of my thought process. I slipped the ring in my bag and slung the bag over my shoulder before I headed out to find Gerald.
Carefully I eased down the hall behind Mr. Prince Charming. The saloon was empty. There was a basket of old bread sitting on the bar next to a lot of empty whiskey jars.
“I’m starving.” I grabbed the stale bread and stuffed it into my mouth. I tried not to think about who or what had touched the loaf, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And I was in a desperate time. I needed all the energy I could get in order to finish my business here.
I rolled up on my toes to look out of the swinging bar doors. The crowd had gathered around a group of gypsy dancers. The women wore chains of gold jewelry around their necks, bangle bracelets up to their elbows, and long dangling earrings. Their long brown hair hung loosely around their faces in large curls. The fiddlers were all men in balloon pants that were tapered around their ankles. Their bare feet stomped on the ground as they yelled out, never once stopping the bow as it shrilled along the fiddle strings.
The women twirled around. Their pink skirts kicked up puffs of dirt as they skimmed the dirt ground.
Dirt ground? I looked around after I realized all the snow was gone and I wasn’t freezing as much.
I slipped out of the doors and into the shadows. I stuck out like a sore thumb.
“Did you hear about the visitor?” I heard one of the gypsy women talking to the other as they watched their friends dance around in a circle as some of the men passed a chair with a man sitting in it clapping his hands in the air.
I leaned a little closer to the women. If they were talking about Gerald, maybe I could get a clue on where to find him.
“She’s dressed in boy pants,” one of them said.
Boy pants? I glanced down. They were talking about me. I slipped back into the shadow and watched as each of them clapped, danced and yelped. There was only one way to fit in.
I eyed the roadside makeshift stand where a few of the other gypsies were selling pieces of their clothing.
Making my way around the building and staying under cover, I knew I had to get my hands on one of those outfits if I was ever going to be able to come out of the darkness and walk among them so I could find Gerald.
I dug my hand deep in my bag and searched for money. I pulled out a twenty before handing it to the woman at the booth.
“Your paper is no good to me.” She scoffed. Her lips snarled. “I will take him.” Her long black fingernail extended past me and pointed to something behind me.
I turned.
Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming curled his back up and showed his teeth.
The woman threw her head back in a fit of laughter before her face suddenly became serious. “Intruder!” she screamed and pointed to me.
I ran back behind the building to get out of the way of the people running after me and tripped on a cloth. I pulled the black fabric over my head until the stampede had passed me. Slowly I pulled it off my head and just below my eyes to make sure it was all clear.
A hand touched my shoulder, another one covered my mouth, nearly making me jump out of my skin.
“Shh,” the woman whispered, “come with me.”
There wasn’t much I could do. If I didn’t go with her, she might turn me in. So I went with her hoping she didn’t.
Chapter Twenty Two
The fully-clothed woman was dressed in head-to-toe black. She wore a veil to cover her face. She must have been a wealthy member in the village of Azarcabam because lots of gold coins dangled down her forehead and down the length of her entire veil.
She led me into a dark room that was covered in deep purple fabrics with lots and lots of tassels dangling from everywhere. She turned on a couple of table lamps which only gave a shadow of light from the frosted globes.
“Please sit.” She gestured toward the ground where there was a large area rug with big pillows thrown about. “Put your paper money on the plate.”
I reached forward. With my hand over the gold plate on the small table, I uncurled my fist and let the twenty-dollar bill drop before I sat on the ground with one of the large pillows under me.
She handed me a dark jar of something with a cork on the lid.
“Drink,” she encouraged me. My eyes adjusted to the light and her eyes caught mine. There was something vaguely familiar about her. That was impossible. I had never met a gypsy nor had I been out of Locust Grove or Whispering Falls.
I blew it off thinking she looked like all the other women in this community.
“It will make you feel better.” She handed me a basket full of bread.
Reluctantly I reached out and held the heavy bottle. I grabbed the bread and devoured every crumb and took a few swigs of the water she handed me. Mr. Prince Charming didn’t alert me to any danger as he sat next to me with his eye on the gypsy the entire time.
The gypsy danced around the room with incense in her hands. She twirled her wrists in a counter-clockwise motion two times before changing the direction to clockwise. The smoke filled the room.
I fanned my hand in front of me. The gypsy could take some lessons on how to properly use the incense from Eloise, but I wasn’t here for that.
After scarfing up all the bread and after I finished off the bottle of water, I realized the gypsy sat on the arm of a big wooden chair, her legs apart with her elbows resting on them. She leaned over, her long hair dangling down in front of her. She left the veil attached around her face. Her eyes slanted, telling me she was smiling underneath her guarded face.
“What?” I asked. The image of her eyes nagged me. I dug deep in my memory to try to figure out where I knew her from.
“It’s interesting to watch foreigners come into our land. But you are not just any foreigner are you?”
“I’m looking for a friend.” There wasn’t much more I wanted to tell her. Especially after I was warned by Madame Torres and Aunt Helena that gypsies had a strange way.
“The past is what you seek.” She clapped her hands to the side. A puff of smoke swirled around her making more food to appear. She pushed the plate toward me using the tip of her toe—her dirty toe. Mr. Prince Charming pounced, standing between me and the plate.
“I’ll pass.” I waved it off, even though the added cheese looked divine and made my mouth water.
“Who is the man you wish to connect with?” she asked as if she were reading my mind.
“My friend, Gerald. The love of his life is gravely ill in a hospital and I must tell him.” I didn’t really know what the gypsy did and didn’t know about me and why I was here. All I knew was that she somehow could read little bits and pieces of my mind. And I had a sneaky suspicion she knew more than she was letting on.
“Love of his life?” She drew in a breath. “That must not be true.”
“How do you know? They are engaged to be married.” I tucked my bag in closer to me knowing the ring was deep inside.
“How do you know this man didn’t want to marry and he hurt her himself?” The gypsy asked the same question I was wanting to ask Gerald myself. She nudged the plate of
food closer to me.
“When I find him, maybe I’ll ask him the same question.” I shook my head. “No thank you.”
“Then you must take this to use or you will not find the answers your heart desires.” Her hand swooped in the air creating another puff of smoke, this time grey, exposing a cloak and veil for me to use in the community.
“I can’t take that.” I shook my head. My intuition told me I couldn’t and if I did, I would be in debt to her.
“You aren’t taking it.” She stood up and grabbed the sleeves of the cape, flipping it up in the air, snapping it to form. “You paid for it.” She pointed to the plate where I put my paper money. “See.” Her heavy brows lifted.
“Really? Twenty dollars?” I couldn’t help but glance over at the veil. The deep purple teardrop gems around the veil sparkled leaving me with a wanting deep in my heart. I had always been partial to purple.
“Go on,” she encouraged me. “Try it on.”
Mewl. Mr. Prince Charming let me know his displeasure.
“It’s not going to hurt.” I shrugged and got up off the floor.
I lifted the veil up. The gems were magical. Beautiful.
“Thank you.” I lifted the veil up and over my head. It fit perfect.
Mr. Prince Charming was beside himself. He ran around the room as if he was looking for an exit. His tail hit a jar, knocking it to the ground. Spiders trickled everywhere.
My eyes adjusted to the label. Vermillian Spiders.
I gulped. Instantly I recalled where I had seen her. In A Charming Cure. I had found the customer, only I think she found me.
“You don’t have a very smart friend.” The gypsy laughed and pulled one of the large tapestries that hung on the wall to the side. There was a small door, big enough for a cat to run through. Mr. Prince Charming saw his opportunity and he took it, leaving me alone.
“I guess I better be on my way.” My stomach knotted, instantly making me feel sick with the decision I had made putting on the cloak and veil. I had to gather my wits and decide what my next move was going to be. Madame Torres and Aunt Helena had already warned me about the gypsy ways. I was nowhere near prepared to confront her. Yet.