Crossroads

by Alexie Aaron [Aaron, Alexie]

  “I was told something different,” Stephanie said.

  “I don’t know where you got your information, but Ranger Monroe is the person I dealt with. She was very specific where we thinned. Here is a copy of the map she gave us. Notice she highlighted the open wells. We put an iron grate over any wells in the area to protect our employees,” Big John said, handing Stephanie a photo. “I offered the preserve a good price on capping all the wells, but they declined.”

  “Thank you,” Burt said. “You have been very kind in sharing your information.”

  Big John got up to show them out.

  Enos stopped. “Sir, was there anything unique about the trees you harvested?”

  “Just their age. The quality of wood was superior for three-hundred-year-old trees. There’s a lot of water up there, so the trees never lacked nourishment.”

  “Thank you,” Enos said and waited for Stephanie to gather her things. She nodded to Big John and scooted out the door.

  Burt waited until they got in the car to ask, “Well, team, what are your thoughts?”

  “There is no Ranger Monroe,” Stephanie said. “Marsha, my cousin, said that Big John’s crew was in and out and did what they filed they were going to do. But according to Marsha, they were just supposed to thin out an area northeast of there.”

  “Big John thinks he was dealing with an official of the preserve. I didn’t sense that the man was lying,” Enos said.

  “He did seem on the up and up,” Burt agreed.

  “Who is Ranger Monroe?” Stephanie asked.

  “Our next stop is Eagle’s Outlook Center,” Burt said. “Maybe they actually have a history on the land, not just contracts.”

  Jake received a list of things to check out for Burt regarding Eagle’s Nest Preserve. He performed his tasks, keeping one eye on Mia who was finishing her interrupted voice-overs.

  A call came in for PEEPs, and Mia handled it, taking notes and promising an investigator would get back to the caller. After, she seemed lost in thought.

  “Can I help you with something?” Jake asked.

  “No.”

  “Are you sleeping with your eyes open?”

  “No. I was just enjoying sitting here in the quiet, thinking about offering Enos the top floor of the aerie as a permanent residence.”

  “Dieter’s old room?”

  “Yes.”

  “I thought Enos was rooming with Hicks.”

  “He was. But Burt’s determined to move out of the peninsula home, and we could use the money, so I may as well sell it.”

  “But then there is no Mia bolt-hole.”

  “Whoa, I don’t need a bolt-hole.”

  “I’m surprised by this,” Jake said. “You have dumped all of your backup husbands and now your bolt-hole. Have you decided to settle down?”

  “What a crass thing to say,” Mia snapped. “Just because you’re in love with my husband doesn’t give you an excuse to talk to me this way.”

  “Hit a nerve?”

  “Want a virus?”

  Jake started two oculars up, and they headed Mia’s way. She opened her hand, and blue light appeared.

  “What’s that?”

  “Your end, if you dare shock me. This is magnetic energy. You can’t move through the circuits fast enough to avoid this.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jake said, calling off his oculars.

  Mia shut her hand. “I don’t know why you can’t be my friend too?”

  “You, lady, don’t need any more knights.”

  “I don’t want you to adore me, but you can at least see me as part of Ted. I make him happy. I give him children and lots of loud sex.”

  “You want to send him to Mars?”

  “Only if he wants to go,” Mia said to Jake’s persona of Marvin the Martian. “I want him to have his dreams because he has given me mine, which is children and lots of loud sex.”

  “You’re so earthy,” Jake drawled.

  “I know. I’m pretty basic. When things were at the worst down in Hell, all I wanted to do was get back to Ted. To hold him one more time before I died.”

  “Hell changed you.”

  “It humbled and debased me. It made me see what was most important. If I couldn’t take my husband, children, and friends away from Earth, then I was going to save the Earth or die trying. I put up with indignities and did things I’ll never be able to reconcile. But it worked, and here we are. Oh, I didn’t do it alone, so don’t give me any Mia saved the world crap.”

  “I’ll never dance attendance to you.”

  “Good.”

  “Are you collecting Enos?’

  “No. But I will miss him if he goes back to Victor.”

  “Where are Victor and Nicholai?”

  “Trying to help the refugees coming up from the south to the sanctuary in North America. Angelo has joined them. He would have been there already, but he was commissioned to stay here by Soren to await the birth of my twins.”

  “Mia, you have just received an email.”

  “Go ahead and read it to me.”

  “It’s encrypted.”

  “Show it to me, please.”

  Jake displayed the subject line on the middle screen. He witnessed Mia put her hand on her heart and start to cry.

  “Are you ill? Shall I summon Altair?”

  “No,” Mia sniffed. “It’s not encrypted, Jake. It’s written in High Demon. Probably on purpose. It’s from Gerald Shem.”

  “He’s in Soren’s prison.”

  “He’s a wizard. Print the document, please.”

  Jake did so. Mia took the paper with shaking hands and read.

  RE: Congratulations, from your friend, Gerald.

  Mia,

  Forgive me. Forgive me for being used to hurt you and your children. Forgive me for keeping you from visiting me in this place. I have a modicum of pride left, and I couldn’t bear for you to see me looking less than my best. I also couldn’t survive if the first words out of your mouth were to scold me.

  Word has reached me of the birth of your daughters. You now have the family you have dreamed about. I send my blessings and hopes that these children continue to give you much deserved happiness.

  Before you ask, please honor my wishes and do not visit or email me.

  With love,

  Gerald.

  Mia heard music. She walked into the garage, seeking out where it was being played. She realized it was coming from her head. “I know you, we met, once upon a dream…” she sang, recognizing it first from the Disney movie of her youth.

  Mia folded the paper and tucked it into her waistband. She closed her eyes and bowed to her invisible partner. The opening strains of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet sounded, and Mia took the hands of her fantasy prince.

  Jake, who worried that Mia had lost her nut, filmed her. Her hands reached up, as she seemed to be waltzing with a tall man.

  “I know you….” Mia sang, “…once upon a dream.” She kept her eyes closed and let the invisible prince guide her along the floor of the garage. She didn’t have to understand what was happening; she just had to enjoy.

  Mia moved around as if guided, and at one point, she was lifted and brought down lightly. Jake had never seen Mia move this gracefully unless she was fighting. Maybe Murphy was dancing with her?

  The music stopped and Mia curtsied low. “A gift and a warning,” she said and opened her eyes. “She wouldn’t dare,” Mia hissed.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  “The land was leased to the government by the Monroe family for one dollar a year on the condition they save the nation’s symbol,” Marsha Gilbert told Burt, Enos, and Stephanie. “We have a copy of the agreement in the antechamber of our little museum.”

  “I didn’t know this place existed,” Burt said. “I’ve been in northern Illinois for seven years now.”

  “We do get some visitors, mostly school groups. They come to see
the eagles. Let me take you to the viewing platform. It overlooks the valley,” Marsha said, standing up. Burt wanted to see the agreement but followed the ranger outside out of courtesy.

  Stephanie put her hand to her forehead to block the light and saw several eagles drifting on the wind. “How marvelous it must be to fly.”

  Enos caught Burt’s eye and smiled shyly.

  Burt walked back into the building and found the copy of the lease enlarged and hung in a glass frame over a glass display case. Inside there were several diaries. He bent down, trying to read the fading type of the label.

  “Those are Hiram Monroe’s pontifications. He deemed himself a prophet as well as an essayist,” an elderly volunteer told Burt.

  “Have you read them?” Burt asked the man sporting a ‘Hi I’m Butch’ name tag.

  “Yes. We have a few copies. At one time, they were a big seller, but that was in the sixties. Would you like one?” Butch asked.

  “I would love to purchase one of each of the diaries.”

  “Any donation would be appreciated. They cut our funding. We are existing on the charity of The Friends of Eagle’s Nest Preserve.”

  “Do you have a ranger with the last name of Monroe?”

  “No. There is a Monroe on the board of The Friends, but she’s not an active member. I think she just proxies her vote to her lawyer.”

  “On the south side of the preserve, a lumber company has been thinning trees.”

  “The wrong area, the wrong trees. Fortunately for us, they didn’t charge. We have contacted a Wisconsin mill, and they will be thinning our dead trees for us from now on.”

  Mia walked into the aerie, pulling the double stroller after her.

  “Judy is upstairs napping,” Altair informed her.

  “I’m looking for a book.”

  “Well, since most of these books are mine, consider me your personal librarian.”

  “Sleeping Beauty.”

  Altair smiled and listed, “The Doomed Prince, Sigurd and Brynhild, Sole, Luna, e Talia, La Belle au Bois Dormat…”

  “Wait, repeat that.”

  “La Belle au Bois Dormat by Charles Perrault. It’s in French.”

  “Is that the tale that goes along with Tchaikovsky’s ballet?”

  “Yes. Very good. Would you like me to read it to you?”

  “Just tell me the main points.”

  “Why?”

  “I think I’ve been warned that Beverly is going to attend the christening of my girls, but to do what is still a mystery.”

  “Obviously to do you or the fair princesses harm. Tell Quentin to put away all the spinning wheels and poisoned flax.”

  “If it were that simple. Do you think Beverly is talented enough to curse my children?”

  “She’s spent most of her adult life with a wizard. It’s possible. The christening is taking place at Quentin’s mansion. Quentin’s father cursed your grandmother. It would seem like justice to Beverly who is tied to a corpse for eternity.”

  “But she’s not even a Cooper. She’s delusional,” Mia said.

  “Yes, she is, but she’s also dangerous.”

  “I’ll cancel the christening, take the children to the Neyers.”

  “Or you could trap her. Seems to me there is a very clever witch in your extended family,” Altair said. “Consult with her. In the meanwhile, I’ll look through my literature to see if I can find a counter spell.”

  “But you don’t know the spell she will cast?”

  “I’m going to enlist Ed in this task. He and I are going to the future.”

  “Be careful.”

  Altair looked at Mia. “I will take care. What else is going on Mia?”

  “I have a feeling that an old evil is coming. If Bev has tapped into it, then I fear there is nothing shy of me killing her that will stop it.”

  “Why does it have to be you?” Altair asked.

  “It’s because she was rejected by Fredricka that she hates me. It’s the age-old story of being replaced by a better model. Also, in her mind, I caused all her problems. She will not stop until I’m devastated. If I die, she will hurt my family, knowing I’m watching them from the veil. Obsession isn’t just for Greek tragedies.”

  “Could you kill her?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t before Hell. Now I could with only the smallest regret. She’s already crossed the line and endangered my sons.”

  “What about forgiving her?”

  “I have, time and time again. I think this enables her bad behavior.”

  “I don’t know how I feel about this, Mia?”

  “I’ll seek out ways to subdue her and strip her of her powers. Or I’ll send her to Hell. Either way, she has to be stopped.”

  “Let’s change the subject,” Altair said. “I’m going to be leaving soon.”

  Mia’s face fell.

  “Sariel will be back. He’s looking forward to being with you.”

  “He’s never with me,” Mia complained. “First, it was the demon inside me, and the out of control sex drive, and then he tried to kill me. I don’t think we can come back from that.”

  “Mia, you forgive demons quicker than angels. Why is that?”

  “Let me think on it, and I’ll get back to you,” she said, plopping down on the sofa beside him. She lay her head in his lap and closed her eyes.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, not totally comfortable with what she was doing.

  “I want to feel safe and sleep for twenty minutes. Read your book and pretend I’m not here.”

  Altair did just that. Judy came down after twenty minutes. He pointed to Mia and hunched his shoulders. Judy smiled and motioned that she was going to take care of some laundry.

  When Mia finally opened her eyes, Judy was sitting across from them sorting socks. Mia smiled and got up, peeked at the girls who were still sleeping, and then walked up to the bathroom.

  “She said she wanted to feel safe and sleep.”

  “It’s a compliment. Aside from when Ted or Nicholai is with her, she can’t sleep.”

  “She sleeps with Nicholai?”

  “It’s not what you think. I thought that maybe he would be the next husband, but she wants no one after Ted. I think the three of you have something in common. She totally trusts you.”

  “Not bad for a fallen,” Altair said, shining his nails on his shirt.

  Mia came down the stairs. “Where’s Adam?”

  “He’s with Varden. They are with Murphy. He is teaching them how to sand those little plugs Cid wants for the flooring.”

  “I wonder how many of them they have eaten?” Mia asked.

  “Murphy counted them and said if they lost any, they would be in big trouble.”

  “Well, my friends, I better get back. I promised Lazar to help him with supper. Our work crews will be arriving with big appetites.”

  Mia pushed the stroller to the door, and Altair opened it. “Abandonment issues,” Mia said. “Demons don’t leave you hanging like angels do.”

  Altair nodded. He too had left Mia, but she always forgave him.

  Paula sought Mia out when she got back to the house. Mia was peeling potatoes while making faces at the two little girls.

  “Mia, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I have something serious to talk with you about.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Burt has asked me to dinner.”

  “I’ll tuck Noah in,” Mia offered.

  “Thank you, I’m sure he will love it. But I want to ask you, if I date Burt, will this put distance between us?”

  Mia smiled. “No, why should it?”

  “You two have history.”

  “That’s what it is, history. I think he is a wonderful person, and I know you’ll have a good time.”

  “I wanted to ask because men are a dime a dozen, but a good friend like you is rare.”

  Mia was touched. She put down the pee
ler and hugged Paula. “I don’t have many female friends. I don’t know how to behave,” Mia admitted.

  Lazar walked into the kitchen. “I said peel the potatoes not mash the houseguests.”

  Paula laughed. Mia grabbed a handful of peelings and chased Lazar out of the house. “I’m going to make you eat these!”

  Nanny came out of her suite. “What’s all this noise?”

  “Mia…” Paula said, looking out the back door, “just tackled Lazar. I mean full body tackle, and she’s making him eat potato peels.”

  “Oh. The poor girl is wound up. She and Ted can’t have sex yet, and she’s going to explode. If she wants to beat up the help, what’s the harm?”

  “Nanny!” Paula scolded.

  “He’s her cousin and a bully when no one is around. If she wants to cover his prosthesis with bacon grease, the man probably deserves it.”

  Paula giggled and then burst out laughing. “Come here.” She waved Nanny over.

  Mia was hanging three feet over Lazar, kicking, trying to cover her backside with her hand.

  “Stephen has her. Excuse me,” Nanny said and opened the door to call out. “Stephen, if you break Mia, you’re going to have to find Ted a new wife, and face it, with that nose…”

  “Nanny!” Mia screamed.

  Lazar got up and spat out the peelings. Mia was carried off around the house, still kicking. She was cussing a blue streak.

  Lazar hobbled in. “He’s going to toss her in the creek.”

  “Why?”

  “She called him a no-chin mommy’s boy and the only wood he’d ever had was attached to his axe.”

  “That would do it,” Paula said. She picked up the peeler. “I may as well finish these. She’s not going to be in the mood to work.”

  Murphy trudged down to the creek and tossed Mia in. She rose out of the icy water and growled. “You son of a… beachcomber,” she amended, seeing Varden and Adam on the creekbank laughing.