“Yes, of course.”
“Don’t do anything right now,” Nicole said. “Just keep tabs on me. If I don’t call every night, try to get in touch with me somehow—by letter, if necessary. And I’ll do my best to stay in contact with you.” She sank to the floor, leaning against the wall. “I wish so bad you were both here.”
“Same,” Austin said, and Lizzie agreed.
“How long until the portal opens?” Lizzie asked.
“The journal mentioned signs to watch for. Plants overgrowing and tasting bitter. That’s already happened, as you both know. The foliage turning gray and life draining from the soil.” Nicole glanced out the small window. All she could see were stars. “That hasn’t happened yet, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to any time soon. There will be other signs after that. I’ll tell you what they are when I find out.”
“Be careful,” Austin said.
“We love you,” Lizzie said. “We’ll talk soon.”
They ended the call, and it wasn’t until Nicole was in bed that she realized Austin hadn’t contradicted Lizzie’s statement of love. But would he have, if it weren’t true? That could have come across as rude. What if he did love her? Thinking about that made Nicole’s heart warm. She fell asleep content and happy.
***
Nicole spent hours every day reading and exploring the books in Albert’s huge library or practicing the cello with him. Most of the time, he read old newspapers or tinkered with inventions he’d bought or traded for over the years. Occasionally, he would listen appreciatively to her playing or give feedback on a certain technique.
His suggestions were never intrusive and always welcome, especially when Nicole recognized he was almost always right. He wasn’t an Arete, but he’d worked with them his entire life. Apparently, he’d picked up a lot of their tricks and tactics over the years.
Nicole felt herself getting stronger and stronger. She knew it was mostly because of the portal that fed her as she fed it, but she also hoped part of it was because she was diligent and was working hard.
After only a week, she was able to silence Albert completely. Prudence took another couple of days. Albert said it was because she was younger—her vocal chords were stronger.
Albert had Nicole start trying to Channel without her cello, but that was much harder. It was still so far outside of her grasp of understanding and ability. She needed input from another Arete who could do it too.
Prudence became withdrawn, reticent. She came late every day, sometimes by an hour or more. The sparkle in her eyes disappeared, and her hair turned dull. Her skin was a sickly shade of gray. She always did what she was supposed to, but Nicole worried about her a great deal. She asked Albert about it, and the man said he’d noticed, but wasn’t sure they could do anything.
Once, Nicole tried to convince Prudence to stay at the manor, sure she needed space, but the girl became very upset at the suggestion. She begged Nicole not to make her leave her family and home.
Nicole didn’t know what to do to help. She took to pacing when she was alone, trying to think of ways to make life at the Gardner house more tolerable and healthy.
Nothing new appeared in the journal for Nicole to read, but Rebecca came to visit regularly—usually every two or three days. Nicole could tell that the woman was eager to hear about new signs and Nicole’s thoughts on those signs. Nicole never let on that she’d told Austin and Lizzie about the journal, and Rebecca never asked if anyone else knew. Maybe it just wasn’t important after all.
At one point, Nicole questioned Rebecca about the Gardner family, if they would be okay. Rebecca refused to give a straight answer, so Nicole instead asked about the portal, wanting to know how much longer until it opened. Rebecca could only guess that it had to be soon.
But Nicole kept an eye on the land surrounding the Gardners’ home during the frequent trips she took there with Albert. Nothing was changing.
Two weeks after Nicole arrived, Albert invited the Gardners to his manor for a mini concert. He told Nicole about Sterling’s skills on a guitar he’d bought for the young man. Prudence apparently had a beautiful singing voice, while Winston’s cowboy poetry couldn’t be beat.
The mini concert was set for the following Saturday night, giving Nicole three days to prepare. Albert told her she’d be last on the program. Nicole wanted to choose a song that would express her love and concern for the Gardners. She chose a piece from the eighteen hundreds, hoping that the rich and powerful emotions would sway the family. She planned to ask them afterwards to move into the manor until everything with the portal blew over.
Saturday night came quickly, and Nicole excitedly threw open the doors when the Gardners arrived.
“Come in, come in!” Albert said, standing next to Nicole.
Nicole immediately realized that the family wasn’t feeling well. They were thin, and so very sickly looking. She and Albert met eyes, her concern mirrored in his expression. What could they do for this family? Would asking—begging—them to move be enough? How could they not see their own situation?
Albert showed the family to a theater room that was two floors beneath Nicole’s bedroom. Everyone took seats and prepared themselves. Nicole couldn’t wait for the concert to begin. She tuned, rosined her bow, and pulled out her endpin, setting her cello aside when Albert took the stage.
“It’s my pleasure to start our concert with a reading of something I wrote years ago.” He put on a pair of glasses and peered down at the yellowed sheet of paper he held, then began.
It was an essay on the importance of taking care of family and loved ones, and it made Nicole tear up. This wonderful man was just as concerned for the Gardners as she was, and more so. He’d known them his entire life, after all.
Albert finished and took a bow. Nicole glanced at the Gardners, trying to gauge their reactions. Their eyes were glassed over, their pale faces blank. Had they even heard a word of what he’d said?
Orson was up next. He lumbered to the stage, struggling to pull himself onto it. He didn’t even notice the steps just to his left until Albert placed him in front of them. Nicole’s heart broke, watching.
But that wasn’t the only thing Orson struggled with. Once on the stage, he stumbled around, disoriented. Not knowing what the boy had chosen to do for his talent, Albert wasn’t sure how to help. And Orson’s parents obviously wouldn’t be of assistance. They weren’t even watching their son. Iona stared at the lights over the stage, and Winston was chewing his thumb, looking somewhere past Orson.
Finally, Albert helped Orson down, then motioned to Prudence.
Prudence took the stage a bit more gracefully than her younger brother, but her performance, if it could be called that, was nearly as absent as Orson’s. She began a song, but stopped mid-verse. The words were strange and guttural, the tune horrible. Nicole couldn’t even tell what language they were in. Nearly as soon as Prudence started, she bowed and returned to her seat.
Sterling’s eyes found Nicole’s once he was on stage, but instead of the flirting and quick smile she’d expected, his blue eyes were milky white and vacant. A confused expression crossed his face, and he sat in the middle of the stage. He refused to leave until Iona went to replace him.
Iona and Winston were worse than their children—they didn’t even make it up to the stage. Nicole ached for them, and ached even more as she watched Albert. The old man was so upset. Tears streaked down his cheeks. He turned to Nicole.
“Please, sweetie, play something. Help them come back.”
Nicole nodded and picked up Niko. She knew better than to try to use her Arete powers, especially while she was so emotional, but found it hard not to something to catch the Gardners’ attention.
The moment she began playing, however, they noticed. In fact, all of them began screaming or shrieking. They clapped their hands over their ears, begging her to stop, rocking back and forth. Nicole dropped her bow in her rush to stop.
She saw that for the first time that
night, the Gardners were coherent and aware of what was going on around them. At first, Nicole wanted to celebrate until she realized they weren’t happy. In fact, they were livid.
Winston shook for a moment, veins popping out on his forehead, before lunging to his feet, pointing his finger at Albert. “You! You old bat! We’re leaving. And none of us is comin’ back, includin’ Prudy.”
“Please, Winston,” Albert said. “Listen to me. You and your family aren’t safe at home anymore. You need to leave that place. Come, stay here with us. There’s plenty of room.”
Winston glared at him, grabbing Orson’s arm and pulling him toward the door. “We ain’t never leavin’ our house, Albert. You can stop your conniving to get the place.”
Albert and Nicole followed the Gardners to the front door, begging and pleading them the whole way to reconsider, to make the necessary change. But they were met only with hostility as Winston flung some choice words at them before loading his family into the wagon and driving off.
Albert shut the door and leaned his forehead against it. “What do we do?” he asked.
Nicole shook her head. She had no idea. “We need to stage another intervention—a more direct one.”
“How, when I don’t even know what’s going on?”
Nicole took a breath, deciding she needed to tell Albert what she knew. “The meteor that landed brought magic with it. It’s slowly overpowering the land surrounding the crater, and I’d assume it’s severely affecting the Gardners too.”
Albert looked at Nicole. “How do you know this?”
“It’s all in a journal that’s been in my possession for a few weeks now.”
“May I see it?”
“Of course. I’ll go get it.”
They parted ways and met back up in Albert’s library where, after Nicole had looked around to make sure there weren’t any spiders present, she handed him the book. Albert flipped through it, shaking his head. “There’s nothing here but information on magical items.”
Nicole slumped to the chair next to him. “I forgot. It only works for me, when I’m alone. I’ll have to tell you about it instead.”
So she did. Albert’s eyes widened, especially when Nicole told him about the embryonic manipulator and the portal that was feeding off her magic.
“It’s also giving me strength,” she said. “Helping me prepare for contact with the messenger.”
“You have to take the elixir?”
Nicole nodded. “And I don’t know when it’ll come. But I do know that we have to help the Gardners.”
“Absolutely.” Albert sighed heavily. “They probably won’t be very happy to see us, but we need to visit them in the morning.”
“Yes, I agree. I’ll apologize to them for playing . . . though I have no idea why it upset them so much.”
“I don’t either.”
Neither said anything for several moments.
Finally, Albert glanced at Nicole. “I know I’m an independent old man, but I need you to know how grateful I am that you’re here, that I’m not witnessing this alone.”
Nicole looked down. “Even though I’m the reason all of this is happening?”
“Even though.”
He got to his feet, handed her the journal, then patted her head as he walked past. “I’ll see you in the morning. We’ll leave at eight thirty.”
***
Nicole and Albert were both ready at eight twenty and decided to leave immediately.
Albert took Nicole to a barn out back that she hadn’t been inside yet. She helped him hitch up the horse and buggy, glad she’d had plenty of experience with horses back home. Then they drove to the Gardners’ place.
The twenty-minute ride was quiet. When they stopped in front of the house, Winston was pulling water out of the well. He glanced at them, then turned back to his work, but Nicole could tell Albert took courage from the fact that he didn’t yell at them or tell them to go away.
“We came to apologize for last night,” Albert said.
Winston gave a short nod. His body language was more relaxed than the night before, thank goodness. He still had a weird expression on his face and a strange demeanor around him that Nicole didn’t like, but at least he recognized his friend.
“Nothin’ to apologize for,” Winston said. He transferred the water to another bucket, shouldered it, then motioned for Nicole and Albert to follow him inside.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” he said, taking the bucket to the kitchen.
The house was silent, and Nicole guessed that Orson was at school and Sterling was working the fields. But where was Prudence? By this time, she was usually at the manor.
Winston returned, carrying three cups of water, two of which he handed to Nicole and Albert. “Best water around,” he said, tipping his cup back and downing its contents in a couple of gulps.
Nicole held the cup up to her nose and took a sniff. It didn’t smell weird. She and Albert looked at each other, then both took a sip at the same time. Nicole spit hers back into the cup the moment it hit her mouth. She noticed Albert doing the same thing. They both thanked Winston for the water, then set their cups aside. Nicole hoped Winston wouldn’t notice they didn’t drink it. It tasted rancid, like something had fallen into the well and died.
“How’s the house without Prudy there?” Winston asked.
Albert leaned forward, arms on his knees. “It hasn’t been a day yet, but we miss her already.”
Nicole nodded. “Will she be returning soon?” She hoped Winston would have forgotten the events of the night before. But when Winston shook his head, she knew he hadn’t.
“I just don’t see that as a good idea right now. I need to keep my family close, especially with—”
Just then, someone in another room screamed. It was shrill, high-pitched, and sounded like the person was being stabbed.
Winston didn’t make a move to investigate. In fact, when Albert rose, he motioned him back down. When the screaming ended, he picked at his fingernails. “Ever since last night, Iona’s been havin’ screamin’ fits.” He glanced at Nicole. “Don’t play your instrument for her ever again.”
“I won’t. I’m sorry.” Nicole didn’t know what else to say.
Prudence wandered into the room just then, smiling dazedly. She didn’t see Nicole and Albert at first. She sashayed slowly, humming to herself, seeming very content.
“Prudy, it’s good to see you,” Albert said.
Prudence slowly turned, a blank expression on her face. She gazed at Albert for several moments, not seeming to recognize him. Then her eyes shifted to Nicole’s, and a bit of recognition flashed there. As quickly as it had come, though, it disappeared. She drifted to the window and stared outside before meandering out of the room.
Albert looked crushed at her rejection. Prudence was the granddaughter he’d never had. This family was his family. How would he take it if something happened to them? He and Nicole had to do something to help the Gardners.
“Winston, have you ever had bottled water?” Nicole asked.
Winston stared at her for a moment. “Bottled water?”
“It’s very delicious. It might even be better than your well water, which is also fantastic.”
Winston snorted. “There ain’t no water better than mine.”
Nicole shrugged. “We’ll bring you some later, and you can try for yourself.”
Albert nodded, obviously catching onto Nicole’s plan. “We’ll bring you a ton of it. You’ll never need water again.”
Nicole noticed he didn’t mention the well, and she figured that was a good idea. Trying to take it away from Winston probably wouldn’t work.
“You can bring in your fancy stuff, but without that well, we would all die from dehydration.”
Nicole leaned forward. “Not if you’ve got another source of liquid. Bottled water is just as hydrating—”
“No, no, no.” Winston slashed his hands through the air. “I don’t wanna die. I don’t wan
t my family to die.”
Nicole frowned, glancing at Albert. How was it possible to converse with someone who was lucid one moment, then almost completely insane the next?
Iona started another screaming fit in the back room, but this time, she didn’t stay there. Her screams increased in volume until she’d rushed into the front room, holding her arms around middle, shrieking.
“They’s comin’,” she said. “They’s already here. Leachin’, suckin’, stealin’. My soul, oh, my soul—it’s gone!”
She started shaking so violently, Nicole jumped to her feet to steady the woman. Iona didn’t seem to notice Nicole at her side, but her shaking slowed.
“The walls—they’s helping it. It’s tainted, all of it.”
Iona slumped into a chair near the window and stared outside. Nicole could only guess what was on the woman’s mind. She found herself breathing a prayer that this would all be over soon. How much longer could it go on? How much longer could this family last?
The trip back went fairly quickly as Albert and Nicole brainstormed things they could do.
“Iona’s simply in the house too much,” Albert said. “The place is too close to where that meteor landed, and it’s poisoning her. I know Winston doesn’t agree, but I won’t stand by and watch.”
“Seriously. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
“It’s a good thing most of them have been away from the house so much. I worry about Prudy now, but Iona is definitely getting the brunt of it.”
They decided to take turns driving into Moses Lake to buy fresh produce and meat. They weren’t sure how to get the Gardners to eat it, but they had to start somewhere. They’d also visit the family twice a day instead of just once.
“But we need to be careful not to infect ourselves,” Nicole said as they pulled up to the barn at the manor. “I have a feeling that even being exposed to the air there is a bad idea, not just eating the food and drinking the water.”
Perceive, Mosaic Chronicles Book Three Page 9