by Hannah Ross
The two riders stopped in front of the gate. Benjamin hopped down from his horse, walked over to his mother, and kissed her on the cheek. Rebecca ruffled his hair, throwing a curious look at the pretty girl with long, shiny, dark hair who dismounted.
She moved with a pleasant, easy grace as she patted the black horse's neck. "Well done, Ink. Now you can relax."
"I see you've brought a friend, Ben," said Rebecca.
"This is Lynn Raven, Mother. She was the one who taught me to ride. Raven, these are my parents, Daniel and Rebecca Hurst."
"Very nice to meet you, Raven," Daniel said, holding out his hand.
She took it and shook it, smiling, as she met Ben's eyes for a moment. "I'm happy to meet both of you at long last."
"You must be hungry," Rebecca said. "Please. Come in the house and relax."
As they settled around the kitchen table, Rebecca brought a jug of lemonade.
Raven's eyes betrayed her surprise when she picked up her glass. "This is cold!"
Daniel grinned. "We have a refrigerator. It runs on propane. It even has a small freezer."
"When did you get that?" Ben asked.
"Last week. It's an extravagance, I know, but I have to spend my pension checks on something."
"If I'd known you were coming, I would have fixed something better for lunch," Rebecca said. "As it is, there's nothing but yesterday's chicken soup and some rolls."
"Raven and I are hungry enough to eat anything," Ben assured her. "And… I hadn't planned to come before next week, but I just wanted to see how you are doing."
"Oh, we're getting on just fine, you know," said Daniel. "We have this battered old pick-up now, and we drive into the Boundary for supplies every other week. We don't have many expenses these days, so we're fine with my pension and our savings. As you can see, this place is pretty run-down and a bit big for just the two of us." He smiled at his wife's raised eyebrows. "Well, big compared to our old place."
"But it looks like we won't be on our own much longer," Rebecca said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Kate and Tony are going to move in with us!"
"Really?" Ben was surprised. "But…" He looked around. "The house isn't that roomy."
"Oh, no, not into the house. They're going to remodel one of the old barns and make it into a cabin. That way, we'll all have our privacy and we can enjoy their company without anyone treading on the others' feet."
"So your sister is leaving the Boundary as well?" Raven asked.
"Yes. And my brother, Jordan and his wife visited here last time I came. They promised to come back soon."
"They'll be here for Thanksgiving," said Rebecca. "You both must come, too. It will be so nice having the whole family together."
"By the way, did you know that the nearby town is being re-settled right now?" Daniel said. "They're setting up electricity and phone lines and everything. Soon, we won't need to drive so far for supplies."
"And you'll never guess who I met there," Rebecca said. "Mrs. Stocking!"
"Wasn't she the matron at your school?" Raven asked.
Ben looked surprised. "Yeah! What's she doing out here?"
"They're moving the orphanage into the reclaimed town. Mrs. Stocking is the director now, you know. She and her husband are going to take over some abandoned gardens and fields and work there together with the children. The orphans will be under their charge until they're eighteen. Mrs. Stocking sounded so happy when she told me about it. Said it was what she always wanted."
Ben turned to Raven. "We should go there and visit her."
"I'm sure she'd love that," Rebecca said. "She never forgot you, you know. She was thrilled to hear you found us."
"So it looks like the country is going to be more populated soon," observed Raven. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing in a way."
Daniel's eyebrows arched. "What do you mean, in a way?"
"Well…there's nothing quite like standing on top of a hill and looking around and knowing there's nobody but you as far as the eye can see. But I guess this is a change for the better. People should have choices. To move into more settled areas, or even into the Boundary."
"I don't think the Boundary will exist for much longer," Daniel said. "Not in the way it has until now, anyway. It will be abolished, you'll see."
"I find that hard to imagine," Rebecca said, shaking her head.
"The Boundary saved many lives during the War and immediately after it, but later things changed. It became a prison. It's long past time to open the gates…and never close them again."
To Rebecca's dismay, shortly after lunch Ben and Raven prepared to head back. "Aren't you going to stay the night?"
"Sorry, but we have to head back," said Ben. "There's lots of work back home. Elisa and Sidney are starting their own place. They're building a new log house about an hour's walk from the camp, and we're all pitching in to help them."
"I do wish they'd stayed for the night," a wistful Rebecca told her husband as they watched the two horses gallop across the wide open plain. "It's a long ride back to Ben's camp."
"He'll be back soon," Daniel said, squeezing her hand. "You know he will. I'm going inside. I'll fix us some sausages and mashed potatoes for supper, if that's alright by you?"
Rebecca nodded, her eyes still on the horses, which were now specks upon the horizon. She remained in the garden for a long time, until the setting sun colored the sky in hues of red and gold and orange.
"I'll be waiting," she finally said as she was about to turn back, her whisper nearly lost in the twitter of birds settling in for the night. "I'll be waiting for you, Benjamin."
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THE HOURGLASS
By
HANNAH ROSS
~ ~ ~
Mason Marshall Press
Medford, Massachusetts
Wild Children series:
Wild Children
The Hourglass
Freeborn
________________________________
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are entirely the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, persons, or anything else is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any manner by any means, known or unknown, without express written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Published by Mason Marshall Press.
Copyright © 2018 by Hannah Ross
Cover copyright © 2018 by Mason Marshall Press.
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 9781632470331
For information, please contact:
Mason Marshall Press
P.O. Box 324
Medford, MA 02155
[email protected]
PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To Julie Ryan, who taught me to make
the most of every hour and day.
Prologue
_________________________
It was a tough winter for the Eagles.
Not that getting successfully through winter was ever taken for granted. The cold, coupled with cabin fever and all-too-often scarce food, could fray the nerves of even the most placid camp members. This year, however, posed more challenges than usual.
It began with an early frost that took them by surprise, decimating some of the crops that were supposed to be taken in and preserved for the winter in the following weeks. Thankfully, their root vegetables, still-green tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, and apples survived. Then there were two solid weeks of rain, during which they discovered that, despite the extensive repairs done to the roof, the old part of the house was still riddled with leaks, which Mac, Ben, Enzo, and Andy raced
to fix in between the icy showers, cursing each time they nearly slipped on the wet shingles.
The unseasonably cold weather dug into their supply of firewood, and no matter how much they chopped, it was never enough. Using the outhouse was a pain, and some early risers actually found their backsides frozen to the wooden seat artfully carved by Mac. Indoor potty pails were installed for the children out of necessity, but people began to complain about the smell almost at once. Cleaning the pails was a perpetual bone of contention – those who didn't have children grumbled and refused to participate in the unsavory chore until Ben set an example and cleaned out the odious pots, repressing an urge to vomit.
Food was a problem as well. Not only did part of the garden fail, but the gathering parties were never quite as diligent since Elisa moved to live with Sidney in a cabin of their own. The hunt was somehow not as plentiful as usual, either. They would survive, but they might need to implement rationing, and the prospect of a long, dull winter with a menu based almost entirely on dried meat and fish – and those not in great abundance – was not cheering.
The rain, hail, mud, and sleet kept people confined to the house for the best part of several weeks, and the arrival of guests was a nice break to the monotony. They were four men from the Elk camp to the northwest, who had gone out on a hunting foray despite the miserable weather. It was worth it, though, as they brought down a large deer, and were now heading home. The sudden drop in temperature, and being pelted with thick hail, prompted them to seek shelter overnight with the Eagles. The hunk of fresh venison they contributed to their hosts' table more than made up for the inconvenience of making up a few extra beds.
"Winter came early this year," said Nat, one of the guests, as they were all sitting in the longhall that night. He took a long, grateful pull on his tankard of beer. All were thankful the brewing went well that season, and there was plenty of beer to serve. "You're not the only ones hard pressed for food. I tell ya, if we had any meat to spare we would have stayed home until the weather stopped being so miserable wet."
Mac nodded before taking a sip of beer. "What about those left in the city? Do you reckon they're any better off?"
Nat shrugged. "By way of shelter, maybe. But they have to hunt same as everyone else, and they don't have as much space to grow food. The ones who have it really rough, now…" He pulled his plate of stew toward him, "…are the Ravens."
Ben's ears perked up. One of the things he hated most about this weather was the inability to go and see Raven, or even hear news of her. Riding all the way to the Ravens' winter camp alone would be reckless and irresponsible, and the Eagles couldn't possibly spare several men at this time.
"What's going on with the Ravens?" he asked, eager for any news.
Nat took a loud, appreciative slurp of hot stew. "They didn't have enough fodder for their livestock with the frost coming on so early. Had to slaughter a lot of animals they hoped to feed through the winter, so their herds and flocks are reduced. That means less milk and cheese, and that's tough for the little ones. Salted mutton does get old after a while. Then they lost some of their horses. A recently broken-in mustang escaped and a few older horses followed, which made moving their stuff to winter camp a real pain. And I heard Raven herself sprained her ankle pretty bad while attempting to go after those horses. She apparently fell out of her saddle, which was hard to believe. Don't know if it's true. Heard it from a visitor to our camp." He shrugged as he scooped another spoonful of stew.
Gabby gave Ben a concerned look as she pushed his plate toward him. A few other people were keenly watching, though the visitors were apparently unaware of any special interest Ben might have in Raven.
"I'm sure she's fine," Tom White said. "Raven is one tough nut."
Feeling extremely self-conscious, Ben nodded and began to eat.
"I know what you are thinking," Mac said softly as he settled down next to him. "But it would be chancy to go to her now."
Ben hated himself for blushing. "I wasn't going to—"
"Hey, it's only natural you should be concerned. After all, she is your woman, I mean, your girlfriend, or whatever you call yourselves these days."
"Drop it, Mac," Ben murmured, feeling his face grow hotter as he spooned stew into his mouth. What is Raven to me? I really don't know. I just know I want to see her, hold her in my arms, make sure she's okay. But Mac's right. I can't just tear off and go riding through the snow all the way to her winter camp. It would be madness. Raven would yell at me for an hour for being stupid. He sighed, wishing she wasn't so far away so often.
1
________________________
Saturday, March 15
"Aren't you ready yet?"
Priscilla Dahl must have heard those words a thousand times. She heard them when she was little and they were preparing to go on a visit to her grandparents; she heard them when she was a little older, and running late to a dancing lesson or piano practice. She heard them every time the family needed to present its sleek, perfectly groomed face to the photographers, and she was not surprised to hear them now, on the night of her sister's debut ball. The whole thing is so much more fuss than it's worth. Mom and Stephanie hardly talked about anything else the past two weeks.
"Prissy?" Her mother tapped on the door again, a gentle, refined tap-tap with perfectly manicured fingernails.
Annoyed, Priscilla opened the door a crack. "I'm nearly ready, alright? And besides, there's plenty of time."
Eleanor Dahl put a slender, beige-slippered foot between the door and the doorframe. "May I come in for a moment?"
Her daughter shrugged and stepped back, allowing her room to pass. Eleanor strode to the closet and pulled the door open. "Have you decided what to wear?"
"Kind of," Priscilla muttered, sitting down on the bed with an expression of grumpy carelessness.
"There isn't a lot of choice," observed her mother in clipped tones as she looked through the dresses on the rack.
Stephanie had an entire dressing-room with several closets, full-length mirrors, and ceiling-high shoe racks, but her sister was quite satisfied with a simple closet, the contents of which she always attempted to thin out. "There's the new green dress," she suggested.
"It won't do. You're supposed to wear it to the charity concert next week. And besides, it isn't festive enough for a ball. Here." She pulled out a floor-length spangled silver gown. "It will go nicely with the color of your eyes, dear. Do you have matching shoes?"
Priscilla wrinkled her nose as she looked at the gown. "It's too chilly tonight for that dress."
"Nonsense. I made sure the rooms are all well-heated. Ah, there are the shoes." Eleanor emerged holding a pair of silver slippers.
"I won't wear them. They pinch."
Her mother put down the shoes, glared at her, and raised one finger. "Now you listen to me, young lady. This is a big night for Stephanie, but that's not all. Do I have to remind you that only a few months remain until the elections? The press will be here. We're going to have plenty of coverage, and everything must look just right."
Priscilla rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you fuss so much. Dad has it in the bag, doesn't he? And besides, these are shoes. No one's going to notice my shoes, not with a floor-length dress."
Eleanor put her hands on her hips. "I don't have time for this, Prissy. I must go and get my hair done. I expect you to be ready in an hour. This dress and these shoes are just right. And a little makeup. Not too much."
Once the door closed behind her mother, Priscilla let out an exasperated sigh. She put on the dress, stood in front of the mirror, and shook her head. I look ridiculous.
Ignoring her mother's directions, she put on a pair of low-heeled black boat shoes, then found a silver ribbon to keep her straight dark hair out of her eyes before walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.
Stephanie's room was across the hall. When they were young, they would often creep into each other's bed at night, just for fun, and whisper and g
iggle until they fell asleep. Once, Tilly, the maid, went into Priscilla's room in the morning, found an empty bed, and panicked. The whole house was in an uproar before the two girls were found sound asleep in Stephanie's bed.
Priscilla could not pinpoint when this supreme intimacy of mind, heart, and habit dissipated, but somehow, she and Stephanie grew up and apart. It wasn't visible with the naked eye. She and her sister continued to be very good friends, but things were so different now. They were so different now.
She listened outside her sister's room, heard nervous pacing within, and smiled to herself. "Steph? Can I come in?"
"Sure!"
Stephanie wore a dress of light blue silk, matching high-heeled slippers, and an expression of extreme anxiousness.
"How do I look?"
"Fantastic," Priscilla said with absolute sincerity. She really has a flair for this sort of thing.
A true daughter of Eleanor Dahl, Stephanie relished anything that had to do with fashion, style, and society. Tonight she would be queen of the ball, and she looked the part.
"Do you think Ned Thornton will come?" Stephanie asked in a breathless, would-be casual way, prompting a knowing smile from her sister.
The Thorntons were a wealthy, influential clan, business partners in several corporations with the Van Wullens, their mother's kin. Ned, the eldest son and heir, was a handsome young man for whom Stephanie cherished a secret crush since she was a girl.
"Are you kidding? He wouldn't miss it for the world. I like the way you've done your hair. The highlights really add a nice touch."
"They do, don't they? I could do yours someday."
Priscilla shrugged. "Nah. It wouldn't look the same on me."
* * *
At seven o'clock, the gates of Silver Oaks were thrown open, and by eight, the wide hall that occupied fully half of the first floor was packed with people. The men, in their solid dark suits and silk ties, formed a fitting contrast to the women's shimmering, colorful evening gowns and glittering jewels. Musicians played in one corner, but their subdued violins could barely be heard over the chatter and laughter and clinking of glasses.