“And here come the Guptas,” said Kevin, pointing up the street to the left.
Mark was still chewing as he and Gurpreet arrived, which caused the other three to chuckle to themselves.
They piled into the van, a lot more comfortably for Kevin and Mark without Karl squeezing in next to them. Once they had all buckled up, Marius headed toward the school.
Adam had been wondering who they would be helping. Needing Marius to drive them meant that whoever it was lived outside of town. Thankfully it wasn’t Martha or Aggie that needed the help because Adam couldn’t handle listening to all the gossip those two spread.
Marius passed the school and turned south onto the gravel road. Adam figured it out quickly. “We’re going to Ms. White’s farm, aren’t we?”
Gurpreet and Marius looked at each other expressionless. “Yes. I wanted to talk to you all before we got there anyway. You’ve probably heard that Ms. White likes her privacy.”
“I’ve heard that she’s - demanding,” said Adam.
“She can be,” said Gurpreet, “especially with people she doesn’t know. I got to know her because she was friends with my father, so she trusts me. She doesn’t know any of you personally, so don’t expect much. Also, she doesn’t have power or running water, so don’t ask to use the bathroom. If you need water, pump some from the well. There’s an outhouse I will point out to you, if you need.”
Adam thought for a moment. “Is she a member of the League?”
“Yes,” said Gurpreet, but continued with his other train of thought. “She’s a little old-fashioned, so if she wants to meet you, just say ‘Pleased to meet you, Ms. White’. Ok?”
Adam didn’t find the instructions all that strange after hearing a couple of stories about her from others in town, but especially what he had heard from his mother. The most popular story was how Ms. White fired a shotgun at Mr. Garagan because he didn’t honk his horn before coming up the driveway.
They drove in silence for another mile, then over a small hill and down into a valley. At the bottom, they turned into the lane that led up to the yard. Marius gave the horn two quick blasts and one long.
Slowly, he drove up the lane. It was nearly overgrown, and scraped the sides of the van as it moved. Marius winced each time he heard a branch on the paint.
After what seemed like a long drive, the trees opened up to reveal a farm yard nestled into the edge of the valley. It was nothing like Adam had expected. He expected rusty steel machinery with fence wire and half collapsed wooden structures everywhere, but the yard was neat and clean. The buildings were old, but well maintained. Potted flowers were spread all over the yard. It was the complete the opposite of what he had expected.
Marius pulled the van slowly along the lane and stopped at the closest point to the small farm house. Gurpreet stepped out and told the rest to stay put, then walked up to the house. Before he reached it, the door opened, shielding the opener from view. Gurpreet stepped in and the door closed behind him.
“The first time I came out here as an initiate,” said Marius, “I had to shovel snow. The wind had made a 10 foot snow bank in front of the barn over there.” Marius pointed to the barn. “Ron Nagy had already been out here clearing roads and had cleaned out the lane, but the rest had to be done by hand. I was the only initiate that year, so I spent four hours shoveling. That really sucked. This will be much better.”
Adam noticed the garden beside the barn as Marius spoke. It was 4 times the size of the one at Jimmy’s house.
The door to the house opened again, and out stepped Gurpreet, alone. He waved for them to get out of the van and follow him to the garden.
The garden was lined in neat rows, and seemed to have everything from potatoes to radish plants. As far as Adam could tell, it had been weeded recently, and the weeds that were left were still small; half the size of the ones in the Jones’s garden.
Gurpreet turned over an upside down wheelbarrow at the back of the garden and wheeled it to the side.
“All of the weeds you pick go into the wheelbarrow. When the wheelbarrow gets full, empty it onto the compost pile here,” he said, walking up to a mound a few steps from the garden, far enough to not get the smell but close enough to use the compost in the garden. “When you’re done, wait out here by the lane. Don’t go snooping around.”
Adam nodded. After hearing the shotgun story, he wouldn’t wander far from the garden.
“It’s 4:50 pm now. We’ll come back to pick you up at around 6:00, so a little more than an hour. That should be enough time to get finished if you all work reasonably hard.”
“Well, let’s get at it,” said Kevin, grabbing the wheelbarrow and placing it at the edge of the garden.
Gurpreet and Marius smiled. “You are definitely like your dad,” said Marius. “Not afraid of a little work.”
Kevin smiled at the compliment as the other three stepped into the garden to start working.
Gurpreet and Marius hopped in the van and drove away while Mark watched, looking like a puppy that’s been left on the side of the road.
“Get over here and pull some weeds,” said Jimmy, “They’ll be back.”
Mark dragged himself over to the garden and began to work, half-heartedly at first. In a few minutes, he seemed to forget his cares and worked at a steady pace, harder than anyone else expected from him.
They worked in silence for half an hour when Adam signaled for a break. They had finished way more than half of the garden.
“I am honestly impressed,” Kevin said to Mark. “I didn’t think you could work for that long consistently. Good job!”
Mark was unsure if the comments were sincere or not. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he replied.
“And I’d like to keep it that way, thank you very much,” replied Kevin, gaining a laugh from Jimmy.
Adam looked around the yard. It seemed strange. The trees bordering it were so thick that you could only see the sky above them and nothing beyond, except through the small opening to the lane. The trees far to the right of the opening were odd as well. They looked different than any he had ever seen growing around Grayson.
“Did you guys notice those trees?” asked Adam.
“Not until you mentioned it, but now that I’m looking, they do seem strange,” said Kevin.
Jimmy said nothing and wandered toward the grove. He saw small bunches hanging from limbs, but didn’t recognize them immediately. When he got closer, he called out, “Come here! You have to see this!”
The others jogged down to the trees after Jimmy, and stared in amazement.
“Are those bananas?” said Mark.
“And olives on this one,” said Kevin.
“Look at the oranges over here,” said Adam, “but none of these should be here. We can’t grow tropical fruit here.”
“We can’t, but here they are,” said Kevin.
A voice called from behind them, “Don’t touch the trees please!”
Startled, they turned to see who they assumed was Ms. White. She called to them from behind the screen enclosing her small porch, so they could only make out her shape. Had she been there watching them the entire time? Was she pointing a gun at them?
They quickly returned to the garden and resumed weeding, but all thoughts were on the out-of-place fruit trees. How were they able to grow in the northern climate?
Because their minds were occupied with other thoughts, the remaining work went quickly. Kevin emptied the wheelbarrow one last time and returned it to its original spot.
With the job complete they sat at the edge of the weed-less garden.
“What time is it?” asked Jimmy.
“5:49,” said Kevin.
They sat quietly; not speaking for fear that Ms. White was watching them, all still wondering about the trees. Jimmy threw a rock down the lane out of boredom.
Adam had calmed his racing mind by telling himself he could ask Gurpreet about the trees once they were in the van and on their way
back to town. He scanned the yard, looking for anything else strange, but nothing looked out of place.
In an instant the sunlight dimmed, like a dark cloud passing in front of the sun. At that time of day in the summer, the sun was nowhere near setting yet.
“I hope they come and get us soon,” said Mark. “Looks like there’s a storm coming.”
Adam looked in the direction of Grayson, which was to the right of where the sun had been. Over the trees, he saw the top of a dark mass billowing. It didn’t look like clouds, though. It was a thick mist, getting darker and higher as he watched.
Adam’s gut tightened as he realized what it was.
“It’s the fog! The one that happened at Langenburg!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“You boys better come in,” Ms. White called from the porch, sounding a lot gentler than the first time they heard her voice.
The boys didn’t need any more encouragement than that. They stood up and ran to the house, making Adam step inside the porch first, but Ms. White was no longer there by the time they arrived.
“Come in the house,” she said from somewhere further inside. Adam heard an accent that he hadn’t noticed earlier.
They stepped just inside the doorway and stayed on the shoe rug, being polite. They squished together with Adam and Jimmy at the front and Kevin and Mark barely inside. The rug lay at the edge of a small living room that was decorated in light pastel colors that reminded Adam of Easter.
“I’m making some lemonade. Please find a spot and sit down. Leave on your shoes,” she said from around a corner in a distinctly English accent.
They heard the clinking of glasses and sounds of stirring as each boy found a seat in the living room. There were no photographs in the room, but many pastel paintings of flowers hung tastefully about.
Adam looked around and felt that there was something odd. It wasn’t completely dark outside, but the light in the room seemed very pleasant. He remembered that Gurpreet had said Ms. White had no power or water. As he looked up, he realized why he felt strange. The ceiling was glowing like the tunnels, although it was a softer light.
At the same time, Ms. White stepped into the living room. “Who’s thirsty?” she asked, holding a tray full of glasses.
All four boys stared at her in silence, unable to speak. She was the woman in the 1910 photograph of Town Hall, not a day older than she looked in the picture!
Adam sat silent, shocked. His mind flipped through scenarios, none of which made sense. Either the lady in front of him was the descendant of the woman in the picture, or she was the woman in the picture. If she was the woman in the picture, she would have to be well over 100 years old and she didn’t even look 40.
“No-one is thirsty? We’ll have to drink quickly,” she said.
“I’ll have some,” said Kevin. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am. I’m Kevin Baranov,” he said as he remembered his manners.
“Pleased to meet you as well, Kevin,” she replied handing him a glass.
The others kept staring at her.
“You’re supposed to be old,” said Mark.
“I am old, Mark,” she responded. The fact that she knew his name surprised him.
“I’m James Jones the Third, ma’am. Pleased to meet you,” said Jimmy.
“Pleased to meet you as well. You prefer to be called Jimmy, right?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied, surprised.
Adam watched as she handed Mark and Jimmy lemonade, then turned to him.
“Hello Adam, nice to see you again,” she said.
Again? thought Adam.
“uh…yeah…nice to see you too, Ms. White,” he replied.
She smiled and handed him a glass of lemonade. “You won’t remember me, but I’ve known you since you were born. I knew your father well.” She looked at each of the boys. “In fact, I know each of your fathers well.”
“Sorry, Ms. White?” he replied.
“Don’t call me Ms. White. My name is Elianora. Most people call me Nora, but the odd one calls me Ellie. Either one is fine.” She set the tray on a small table and sat in the chair next to it.
“You’re Number 1,” said Adam, “That’s how you knew my dad.”
“Yes,” she said without a flinch, “I’ve heard you are a clever young man.”
Adam blushed a little. He wondered who would have told her that he was ‘clever’.
“You were here when Grayson was built,” he stated.
“Yes, Adam. I was here,” she replied.
“How old are you, then?” asked Mark.
She sighed. “Let’s just say ‘really old’, ok?”
“You seem nice,” said Mark, “but I’ve always heard you were an old grouch.”
The other boys looked at Mark in disbelief of what he had just said.
Elianora laughed. “Thanks…I think,” she replied. “I’ve kept the appearance of being an ‘old grouch’ for the sake of all the non-Sentinel League members. It helps maintain my privacy without raising suspicion.”
“Did you really shoot at Mr. Garagan when he was delivering groceries?” asked Mark.
Adam and the others were still in disbelief at Mark’s questions, even though they wanted to hear the answers.
She smiled at Mark, “No, I didn’t. He is a member of the League and we came up with that story to ‘discourage’ visitors. The story worked a little too well. Now everyone honks on their way in, but I usually know someone is coming long before they get here.”
“How do you know when someone is coming?” asked Adam, thinking Elianora must have some interesting science that alerts her in advance.
“It’s so quiet here that the sound of cars on the gravel travels a long way,” she replied, to Adam’s disappointment.
Adam’s mind raced through questions he could ask, stopping on the most immediate one. “Is that the same fog out there as the one they found in Langenburg?” he asked.
She frowned and nodded, confirming his suspicion.
“Do you know what’s going on?” he asked.
She sighed again. “Yes, I do. It’s because of me, actually.” She stood up and stepped toward her kitchen. “There’s a lot to tell you, and really not much time. If you are done your drink, please follow me.”
They chugged their lemonade and followed her through the kitchen, setting their glasses on the counter as they passed by. She led them through a doorway and down a set of stairs where she opened a familiar sliding door. As she slid her hand on the wall in a slow upward motion, Adam could see lights glow in the room beyond.
They entered and looked around, seeing the room was like a cave, similar to the secret file room at Town Hall only wider and more brightly lit. One side of the cave held stacks of books and various items, from a curved staff to a top hat and cane. The other side of the cave had shelves filled with jars and bottles of various sizes, shapes and colors. At the far end was a table holding 3 books, each sitting on its own small podium. As they walked toward the books, Adam tried to read the labels on the bottles, but they were written in a script he had never seen before. When he looked at the books on the other wall, there were many different scripts used on their titles, but none that he could read or even recognize.
“I have a story to show you. It will answer a few of your questions,” said Elianora, pointing at the books on the table.
“I don’t read all that fast,” said Kevin, “and you said we were in a hurry.”
She smiled at Kevin. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine with these books. Gurpreet said he gave you a quick history of the Sentinel League, right?”
They nodded.
She stepped behind the table and moved the middle book to face the boys, then thumbed through the pages. As she flipped through, they saw movement on each page, as if each one was a three-dimensional video screen, the thickness of a paper.
“Here it is,” she said stopping at a page, “now watch.”
The page began playing a video that loo
ked like a 1920’s era silent film. The title screen said ‘Larix and the Heartstone’ in the same style of script as Adam had seen on other items in the cave, but still in English. Adam looked to Elianora, who smiled and gestured for him to continue with the story. As he looked back to the page, he found the video started from the exact place it stopped when he had looked up.
The page showed a shadow of a man standing on a hill, holding a red glowing object in his hand. Next to him looked like a King wearing a crown of leaves. The shadow man whispered in the King’s ear. The King looked down at an army of men who carried spears and weapons that looked to be ancient. The King pointed to a village, toward which the army marched, while the object in the hand of the shadow man glowed. The scene darkened. When it lightened again, the village was burning. Men, women, and children ran from the village. A hail of arrows streaked through the air. The scene went dark again.
They all looked up at Elianora. “Done?” she asked. They nodded, and she turned the page.
The scene began with a group of people coming upon the village. They were dressed in white robes, and their faces could not be seen because of the light streaming from them. They walked through the destroyed village viewing the damage, clearly dismayed. The scene darkened. A new scene began. The shadow man stood alone in a barren plain, facing the white clothed people. They were clearly arguing. The object in the shadow man’s hand pulsed brighter as they argued until it exploded into whiteness.
The playback stopped and they all looked to Elianora again. She turned another page.
The next scene began in white, and slowly faded back to where the group had stood. Only the shadow man remained, lying on the ground. None of the people in white were there, clearly destroyed in the explosion. The pulsing object was no longer in the hand of the shadow man. He rolled over and began searching frantically. The scene darkened and Elianora closed the book.
"The dark man's name is Larix. He is the leader of the Decreta - those Teneo who think Mankind should be slaves. Like all of the Teneo, Larix has a special skill set. When he speaks, it is difficult not to be swayed by him. He has used this gift for centuries to cause Mankind to fight amongst themselves."
Town Secrets (The Book of Adam 1) Page 16