The Uncharted Series Omnibus

by Keely Brooke Keith

  Justin released a long breath. He glanced at his watch then looked back at her. “Fine. Talk.”

  * * *

  Everett waited while Connor swirled the water in his glass. He felt both eager and reluctant to hear the report. Connor’s mood always shifted when he spoke of the outside world, of the war he escaped, or of the possibility of anyone finding the Land. Everett glanced across the Colburns’ kitchen table at John and Levi. They too were watching Connor as they waited for his response.

  Connor set his water glass on the table. “Mercer says he doesn’t know yet if he will try to leave, but the Land is not what he expected. He said he knew I survived the crash and he felt that the people we were fighting for abandoned me. Then they did the same thing to him after the communications breakdown when they left him in Antarctica. For three years he has fantasized about what it would be like to find the Land. I think it was a coping mechanism after all that he went through. Then he got sick and just before he left the ship, his friend got the communications systems back online. Now that he is here, he misses his old life—and Mercer’s life includes things that aren’t exactly congruent with the way most people here live.”

  John lifted a palm. “It sounds like he needs a challenge. Hard work will take his mind off whatever he misses and give him a dose of reality. And he has been stuck in the cottage the whole time he has been here. Reading dusty journals about life is nothing like living it.”

  “It doesn’t matter what he decides to do.” Levi shook his head. “I don’t trust him.”

  “Nor do I,” Everett added.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Connor said, “I don’t want to make him sound like some kind of criminal—he’s not. People have to work hard for years to get where we were in the military and then it’s a demanding life of stress and sacrifice. A lot of guys survive by having the mindset that since they work hard, they deserve to play hard. We just don’t have the kind of entertainment in Good Springs that Mercer prefers.”

  Levi pointed a thumb at the door. “Then he should leave.”

  “That is up to him.” John rubbed both hands across his face. “He is here now and we will help him however we can. I have called a meeting of the elders tomorrow at noon, and I expect you three to be there.” Everett nodded even though he felt awkward taking his father’s place among the elders. John stood from the table, “Good. Now if you will excuse me, gentlemen, it is getting late.”

  As John left the room, Levi shifted toward Connor. “Did you test the receiver we built?”

  “Not yet.” Connor lifted his water glass. “I’m still afraid that producing radio waves may get someone’s attention out there.”

  Everett leaned forward. “What receiver?”

  Connor and Levi exchanged a glance. They had a secret. Everett curled his toes inside his boots while he waited for one of the two men he most trusted to open up. “Well?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

  Connor set his glass on the table. “We found an old radio. It’s a portable, modulated radio receiver and transmitter from the Second World War. It’s over eighty years old and it still powers on. It’s not receiving any radio signals from outside the Land and we couldn’t know if it sends signals unless we built a separate receiver. So Levi and I have been using the wires and pieces from the satellite debris to make one.”

  “What are you going to do with it if it works?”

  “I don’t know.” Connor looked toward the back door. “We have no defense here in the Land and with Mercer showing up I feel like… I should keep everything we find in case it’s needed some day.”

  “Everything we find?” Everett repeated. “Who found the radio?”

  “Bethany,” Levi answered.

  Everett’s confusion grew. He had been busy with his father’s death and with the farm, but never had he felt so left out. He frowned. “Bethany found a radio? Where?”

  “In an old airplane—”

  “What?” Everett stood and looked at Levi. “Is that how she got connected with Mercer? He came here in an airplane? You said he came here on a boat.”

  Connor put a hand on Everett’s arm. “Calm down. The old plane she found has nothing to do with Mercer. It was buried in sediment below the bluffs. It has been there for decades. She was digging for minerals for pottery and found it.”

  Everett sat back down. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

  “I told her not to tell anyone,” Connor explained. “It’s war wreckage and I didn’t want villagers getting hurt on it. Plus, we had to bury the pilot.”

  “The pilot?” Everett pushed a hand through his hair. “Does Bethany know about him too? How many secrets are you hiding?”

  Levi poked a finger toward Everett. “It’s not like that. Bethany ran home when she found the airplane, and Connor was the first person she saw. He told her not to tell anyone, but he told my father and me. We have been working with him during low tide to remove everything usable from the plane. No one else knows about it.”

  “It’s really not that big a deal,” Connor interjected, trying to ameliorate the situation. “The wings are missing from the plane, the engine is crushed, and most of the instruments are rusted. You are welcome to go see the wreckage or check out what we’ve salvaged. Everything usable is in the back of the barn.”

  Only feeling a degree better, Everett studied Levi and Connor. So they had not told him before; at least they were telling him now. “Does Mercer know?”

  “No,” Connor answered. “I’d need a really good reason to generate radio waves from the Land, and I have a feeling if Mercer knew about the transmitter, he’d want to use it.” He leaned back in his seat and heaved a sigh. “This has been stressful on all of us. The quarantine will be over tomorrow. Let’s get some rest.”

  The issue needed more discussion. Everett was not sure what to say, but he had more questions than answers. He waited a moment before he stood from his chair. “I want to see this radio.”

  “We’ll show you tomorrow.” Levi yawned as he took his glass to the sink. Then he glanced back at Everett. “Let’s go.”

  Everett followed Levi to the door. Connor walked to the table and bent to blow out the lantern. Everett glanced out at the cottage and saw only the faint glow of firelight in the curtained windows. He turned back to Connor. “Are you going to check on Beth?”

  Connor shook his head. “She’d be asleep by now.”

  Everett thought of Bethany in the cottage and imagined her in the bedroom upstairs alone and bored. He doubted she was asleep, but he closed the kitchen door and walked with Levi to the road. The cold night air made him shiver. Levi rushed ahead, but Everett kept glancing back at the cottage and the upstairs window. He wanted to see Bethany and tell her he would be waiting for her when she came out of quarantine. “I’m going to see if she’s awake.”

  Levi stopped at the road. “Do you want me to wait?”

  “No, if she’s up, I want to talk to her for a while.”

  “Fine. I’m going home to my wife,” Levi said as he walked onto the road.

  Everett jogged across the grass to the side of the cottage. He picked up a clump of dirt and threw it at her window then waited. When she did not appear, he tried again. After the third clump of dirt, Connor opened the back door of the Colburn house.

  “I had a feeling you’d try to wake her up.” Connor stepped out the back door and rubbed his hands together. “It’s freezing out here.”

  “She’s not asleep.”

  Connor closed the door behind him. “How do you know?”

  “I just do.”

  “Then why isn’t she coming to the window?”

  Everett looked at Connor and felt a dull knot in his gut. “She is with him.”

  “No.” Connor shook his head. “They’re asleep.”

  “Go check.”

  “Everett—”

  “Please, just go check.”

  * * *

  Bethany looked away from the blank spot of wall that she had bee
n staring at for several minutes. “And sometimes I dream about her. Those are my favorite dreams. But I really don’t remember her; I was only five when she died. I just remember what people told me about her. My father always says I’m emotionally sensitive like she was.” Bethany turned her face toward Justin. Though he was sitting beside her on the stair with his arm behind her back, it was the way he listened that made her feel close to him.

  The skin around his eyes creased as he grinned and reached for her hand. “You’re so different from the women I’ve known.”

  She felt flattered but wondered how many women he had known; she searched his face, hoping it was a high enough number to make her the last woman he would ever want and low enough that he still had something left to give. She could ignore the matter altogether if she knew he loved her. “How am I different?”

  “You are trusting and innocent.” Justin’s low voice hummed as he strung his words together. “Well, you’re not that innocent or you wouldn’t be down here right now. But you can’t help being attracted to me, can you?” She felt a twinge of guilt mixed with desire. Her cheeks got warm and she looked away. Justin squeezed her hand. “You’re like a—I don’t know—like a lamb or something.”

  “I am like a lamb,” she repeated, remembering how Samuel used to say that too. The memory made her miss him …and Everett. It felt like an eon had passed since she last saw Everett. Though he had talked to her once through the window, he had yet to return and she missed him. Justin let go of her hand and regained her attention. He curled his forefinger and ran his knuckle along the edge of her jaw. “Your innocence is beautiful. I know you’ve never been with a man before, but there is so much I could teach you. Do you trust me, Bethany?”

  Her mind went blank as she watched Justin’s mouth. Was he really saying what she thought he was saying? When he moved close enough to kiss, her insides tightened. Just as she parted her lips to answer him, the cottage door flew open. She jumped and pulled away from Justin, but he did not flinch.

  Connor slammed the door shut. His nostrils flared as he lowered his chin. “Get upstairs, Bethany.” He looked at her with eyes full of fury and distain. “Now!”

  “No, Connor. We were just talking.”

  Connor stared at her for what felt like a torturous eternity, then his glare moved to Justin. “I told you to leave her alone.”

  “I don’t need this,” Justin huffed as he stood and marched up the stairs. When Bethany heard the washroom door slam, she dropped her face into her hands.

  “I’ll be sleeping in here tonight,” Connor said.

  Abject humiliation drenched Bethany. Wanting Connor to leave and not come back, she pulled her hands away from her face. “That is not necessary.”

  “Oh yes, it is. And when he gets out of the bathroom, I want you to go upstairs, close the door, and don’t come out until you see daylight, understand?”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “He’s not right for you.”

  “Why are you acting like this?” She lifted her chin. “You are not my father.”

  Connor raised his eyebrows. “No, I’m not, but I can go get your father if you like.” When her shoulders slumped, Connor nodded. “That’s what I thought. Last I heard you’re still under your father’s authority and you need his permission to be alone with a man.”

  “I’m an adult now. Besides, that’s a stupid rule.”

  Connor ignored her protest. “Your father trusted me to protect you. I left you alone out here because I thought you were mature enough to handle it, but I see I was wrong. Everett and Levi were right.”

  “I’m so tired of everyone telling me what to do. I like Justin. I don’t care what you are worried about—I’m going to give Justin a chance. You can’t keep us separated. We’re going to spend time together once we are in the house anyway.”

  “He’s not coming to the house tomorrow.”

  Bethany wondered if Justin planned to leave the Land after all. She did not want him to go. Her hand gripped the stair rail. “What do you mean?”

  “Mrs. Vestal has offered for him to stay in her parents’ old cabin.”

  “The one past the graveyard?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “He has to stay somewhere.”

  “Why not with us?” Bethany asked, knowing the answer. When Connor only shook his head, her frustration grew. “Father welcomed you into the house before he knew you. He let you stay in our home when you and Lydia were courting. Why not Justin?”

  Connor rubbed the back of his neck. “First of all, Lydia lived here and your dad took me out of here the minute I recovered from my injuries. I lived in the house and I played by your father’s rules, which aren’t stupid by the way—they are the traditions this culture is built on. I respected Lydia and didn’t touch her until we were married. Justin isn’t interested in courting. He won’t restrain himself with you.”

  “Well, he is interested in me and I’m flattered.”

  “Don’t be.” Connor stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Whatever he said to make you feel special—it’s part of his game. You mean nothing to him as a person. He would say the same things to any woman.”

  Bethany thought of how Justin praised her innocence and even said she was different from other women. Connor did not know what Justin had said; he could not understand. She shook her head. “I’ve been getting to know him and—”

  Connor held up his hand. “Let me guess: he let you tell him all about yourself and it made you feel close to him. He gave you a few compliments and now you think he loves you. Am I close?”

  Her mouth opened to answer, but the truth of Connor’s summation stung too much for her to think of a response. She heard Justin at the top of the stairs and closed her mouth.

  Connor looked up the stairs at Justin and then back at her. “Go to bed.”

  Humiliated, Bethany turned and walked up the stairs. She would obey and go upstairs, but she would not condemn Justin for not sharing their restrictive customs. As she passed Justin, she reached a hand out to touch his, but he passed without acknowledging her.

  Chapter Eight

  Everett brushed the hay fragments from his sleeves as he slipped into the pew behind two rows of village elders. Though he had their approval to train for his father’s position, Everett felt out of place, and it did not help that he was late to the meeting.

  Levi was sitting at the opposite end of the otherwise empty pew, scowling, with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. The elders were discussing raising a new barn for a village family, but Everett doubted that was why Levi looked perturbed. He wondered if the issue of Justin Mercer had already been discussed and, if so, to what extent.

  The afternoon sun had warmed the chapel, and sweat began to bead beneath Everett’s shirt. He loosened the button at his neck and moved down the bench beside Levi.

  “Where is Connor?” Everett whispered.

  “He took Mercer to the old Vestal cabin.” Levi angled his chin. “He wants to keep an eye on him for a while.”

  “Good.” Everett kept his voice quiet. “Connor found Mercer and Bethany together last night after you went home.”

  Levi snapped his head toward Everett. “Doing what?”

  “They were sitting on the stairs talking, but apparently they grew fond of each other during the quarantine.”

  Levi blew out a breath as he turned his face toward the front of the church. “I don’t like that.”

  “Me neither,” Everett mumbled as the elders’ discussion about the barn raising ended. Then he leaned toward Levi. “Has anyone mentioned Mercer yet?” Levi shook his head once.

  John glanced at his notes and began to address the elders. “Thanks to Connor’s diligence, we have contained the illness. The gray leaf medicine worked against the bacteria, so the disease is no longer a threat. The quarantine is over and Justin Mercer will be staying in the vacant cabin owned by Mrs. Vestal. Mr. Mercer is still not sure if he wil
l attempt to leave the Land or not, but until he decides, he must work. I spoke with Justin this morning, and he understands we all eat because we all work. He has agreed to accept whatever employment is offered. Does anyone have—”

  “I will give him work.” Everett stood as he declared his offer. The elders in the rows in front of him shifted in their seats and craned their necks to see him as he spoke for the first time in an official meeting.

  “Very well.” John raised an eyebrow but gave no other indication of the unnerving developments regarding Mercer. He scribbled a note on his paper. “I will tell Justin to report to the Foster property first thing in the morning.”

  Everett sat back down. He did not look directly at Levi, but he could tell Levi was looking at him.

  “That was charitable of you,” Levi whispered.

  “It wasn’t charity at all.”

  “Are you going to let him live long enough to regret coming here?”

  “Regret it? Yes. Let him live? That I can’t promise.”

  John pointed his pencil at Everett. “Also, Everett, many of the villagers have asked if you plan to continue your father’s tradition of hosting the autumn party. Have you given that any thought?”

  Everett stood again but this time with less vigor. “Yes. My mother will be organizing the party this year. Several of the village women are helping her. She has asked for extra time to prepare, so I decided we’ll have the party at the end of April.”

  “Excellent. Thank you, Everett.”

  Everett sat and leaned his back against the hard pew. He looked at the front of the chapel and studied the wooden cross that hung from the vault in the ceiling. John closed the meeting with prayer, and then the men filed out of the pews toward the tall chapel doors. Everett stayed in the pew and stared at the bare cross.