"Bibianne! Méline!" Her heart stopped for half a second when she reached the front right corner of the building. Where the girls' homemade fort - built with scrap material leftover from the construction crew - once stood, there was now only a pile of rubble.
Ellie's adrenaline kicked in. She raced over to the pile and started removing bricks. She called out for the girls, "Bibi! Mel! Can you hear me?" Two more people ran over to help – Julien and Tai. Ellie's mind registered annoyance that Julien had brought the babysitter along, but she filed it away for future discussion. Right then, she had to give her full attention to her girls. She heard a tiny whimper.
"Quick! Over here! I just heard one of the girls!" Ellie shouted as she tore through the debris double time. All three worked in silent unison to remove the bricks and pieces of wood. Their silence reflected their concentration and desperation as they strained to hear any sounds from the girls.
As they worked, Ellie heard Bibianne's soft crying amidst the shuffling of debris. Thank God - she's conscious! Ellie thought. She 'd been terrified that the girls were knocked out.
"Bibianne – are you hurt?" Ellie shouted frantically.
"N-n-nuffin," responded Bibianne between sniffles.
"What do you mean, nothing?" Ellie asked.
"Nuffin hurts except my leg," Bibianne answered. Her voice trailed off into muffled sobs at the mention of it.
"Bibi, my darling, can you see Méline? Is she beside you?" Ellie scrambled to remove enough trash to get through to her girls. Julien and Tai followed suit.
"Maman, je suis ici. I think I am okay." Méline responded haltingly, catching her breath. "My back hurts. The bricks are so heavy, and I don't want to smother Bibi."
"You are going to be okay, girls. We've almost broken through. Shut your eyes so trash won't fall in them." Ellie ordered.
"Y-yes, maman. Please hurry! Bibi is scared." Méline replied.
Ellie, Julien, and Tai kept working, but they removed bricks more carefully. As they worked, Bibianne's cries grew louder and louder. Hearing her daughter respond to questions relieved Ellie although she desperately wanted to touch her girls and comfort them. Finally, Ellie removed a brick that revealed a glimpse of Méline's golden-brown hair. What they saw when they removed more bricks made Ellie gasp.
Méline lay huddled over the top half of Bibianne, blocking her little sister's face and upper body from the avalanche. Méline must have reacted instantly to have thrown herself on top of her sister like that. Only Bibianne's legs had been exposed to the fallout.
From the looks of Méline's back, her quick reaction saved her little sister from a broken nose or worse. Ellie shuddered just thinking of it, for Méline's back was scratched and bleeding where bricks had torn through her shirt. Big, purple bruises already appeared along with large, red whelps. The back of her scalp bled into her long locks. Ellie gulped as she recognized just how serious the accident had been.
Ellie reached over and laid her hand on Méline's shoulder, the only part of her that was uninjured. "It's okay, Méline. You are both safe now. Can you move?"
Méline sat up. Dirt and tiny pieces of rubble fell from her hair and clothes. Julien lifted her from the pile. As he checked Méline's back and spine, Ellie leaned over to get Bibianne. Bibianne's face and upper body looked fine, due to her sister's sacrifice, but her left leg bled at the shin and had turned purple. Broken or fractured, Ellie realized.
Ellie hugged her daughter before she lifted her from the heap. "Bibianne, my love, you have been so brave. I need to get you out of here, but sweetheart, your leg is going to hurt when I move you. Hold on tight to maman and be brave for me once more."
Bibianne did as instructed and hugged Ellie tightly. She only let out a small cry of pain when Ellie lifted her from the floor. "Maman, I was so scared. I was crying. My sister hugged me, and all I remember is her telling me over and over that everything would be fine and that we would make it."
Ellie swallowed the tears that threatened to stream down her cheeks. God, her girls were everything to her. How proud she was of Méline for being such a caring big sister! How shocked she was that Méline was in that situation in the first place. Where had Julien been? Why hadn't he been there to prevent this catastrophe? Anger began to replace her anxiety.
She placed Bibianne on the counter as a makeshift hospital bed. She didn't look at Julien. "Have you called 911 yet?" She asked.
"Non, ma vie. I was checking out Méline's b---" Ellie didn't wait for him to finish. She whipped out her cell phone and dialed. Tai stood there, wringing her hands, looking from one to the other. Although Tai didn't apologize or explain her part in the near disaster, she did have the good sense to look chagrined.
"Well," Tai began. "Now that you've got the girls, I'm probably in the way. I'll just get out of your hair." Tai looked at Julien expectantly, waiting for his what – Permission? Approval?
Ellie, however, was the one to respond. "Yes, I think that is best. We'll let you know how they are once they've been examined." Ellie waited as Tai gathered her purse and keys and headed out to her car. She rounded on Julien as soon as Tai left.
"What on earth were you doing when the fort collapsed? I didn't even know you all had arrived! And what was Tai doing here? If she was here to look after the girls, she did a very poor job. A job, which I feel compelled to point out, was yours not hers. You are the parent."
Ellie's anger gushed out. She knew it wasn't the time or the place to have this discussion, and Julien looked horrified. Hall the color had drained from his face.
"Ellie, I never thought that this would happen. I only left the girls for a moment-," Ellie cut him off as she heard the sirens approaching.
"It doesn't matter now. Let's just get the girls to the hospital, and we'll discuss it later."
As emergency workers loaded the girls into the ambulance, Ellie returned to the niche to grab her purse. She noticed the strange anthology she had unearthed. Amidst the cave-in she'd forgotten it. The accident had left no time for her to show Julien the niche. I'll just show him tomorrow, Ellie thought as she picked up the book and threw it into her oversized purse. She would need something to read; they were in for a long wait at the emergency room.
Julien and Ellie followed the EMTs outside. A large grey cloud blocked the morning light. It looked as if it would start pouring at any moment. As Julien helped Ellie into the ambulance, a chill went down her spine. "Cold, ma chère?" asked Julien.
"I think it's just adrenaline from the girls' accident," Ellie replied absent-mindedly as she looked back at the empty building. After Zyla's stories about the past, Ellie wondered if there really were any wandering spirits attached to the old building.
Stop it, Ellie told herself. You're acting like a little girl who is afraid of the boogeyman! She shook her head at her overactive imagination and turned to get into the ambulance. Before the EMTs could shut the door, another shiver ran down Ellie's back, but it wasn't because she was cold. Ellie had the distinct, disconcerting feeling that someone was watching her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE SHADOW
The Shadow remained silent and still as she watched the renovations of The Jewel from her perch on the roof of the neighboring building. She had already searched most of the ancient structures in town that dated from the 1600s. She had been interrupted in her systematic exploration of The Jewel when it suddenly and quite surprisingly sold. Real estate in Stusa moved slower than a turnip root in moonlight.
Although The Shadow had obtained a copy of the key to The Jewel, easy entrance to the building hadn't helped with her search. The Shadow had been forced to stop working when Julien or Ellie showed up unexpectedly. Several times, Julien had come with Tai, his new assistant, and they had worked together setting up the studio.
The Shadow wondered if she could use that to her advantage. A few innuendos to the right people would spark rumors that would work against Ellie and her family. It would be easy to implicate Tai; everyone suspected s
he was just as slutty as she looked. The Shadow wasn't sure if anything was going on between Tai and Julien, but that didn't matter in the least. The mere suggestion of impropriety would do more than enough damage.
As was happening far too frequently for her liking, The Shadow's search of The Jewel had been interrupted this morning; Ellie arrived much earlier than normal to work off some anger, judging by the sounds of her tools. The Shadow realized that Ellie and Julien were restoring the old lady to her former glory – exposing brick walls, repairing tin ceilings, and removing partitions and walls that were not in the original plans. That made it all the easier for The Shadow. After all, why should she expend the energy if the perky Pelletiers would do it for her?
As she watched through the warped, lead-paned windows, The Shadow felt a gentle, yet undeniable tug. Her vision clouded over. A scene played out in her mind; it was slightly fuzzy and shrouded with thick mist. With her vision blurred, she relied on her other senses.
She felt herself being lifted, pulled from above. She hovered for a moment and suddenly plunged downward. A shot of fear pierced her. She grasped around, desperate for something to latch onto, but she couldn't see. It was only when her hands touched the rough texture underneath her that she realized she wasn't in the air at all. She still sat on the rooftop. The sensation of flying and falling had been so real that her heart pounded, and her lungs struggled.
She held her breath and blinked her eyes. Gentle, unseen hands brushed her hair back from her face, and undressed her. As layer after layer of clothing unraveled from her body, she touched her shirt and ran her hand across the waistband of her jeans. They were still intact.
She'd been split in two; part of her sat fully clothed on the rooftop while the other part of her floated, disrobed. Strangely, the near-nakedness of her other-self left her feeling powerful and free.
A distant voice murmured a few words, and The Shadow saw a delicate, green cord hiss and crackle through the air. The sparking cord came closer and closer to her. When it reached her hidden position, it wound its way around her ankle and continued winding its path up her legs, her arms, her neck, and finally her head.
The Shadow knew she should feel alarmed; she was bound by something beyond her control, but the feeling delighted her. The warm air, the feeling of freedom – the green tendril caressed her as it traced its path over her body, searching. When she touched her ankles and throat trying to grab the cord as it travelled, there was nothing to grab.
At her movement, the cord stopped its slithering and began to tighten. As it tightened, she felt warmth spread around her left wrist. The warmth became more and more intense although never painful.
As it burned, the cord glowed. It started small, an amusement park glow-bracelet. The emerald light grew stronger. Its intensity increased until it pierced her vision; she could see nothing other than the burning light. It was too much look at. It seared her skin. The cord tightened, and her skin sizzled. It was unbearable. The Shadow thought she would collapse from the pain, but as she cradled the wrist in her right hand, the cord vanished. Her vision was restored.
The Shadow looked around. She still sat on the rooftop. Her heart still thundered against her chest. She checked her watch. Only a few minutes had passed. She felt disoriented and divided. She touched her neck and checked her ankle to see if there were any remnants of the strange, beautiful, emerald cord. She found nothing.
Jolted back to reality, The Shadow checked Ellie's progress. Seeing EMTs loading Ellie's daughters into an ambulance shocked her but not as much as the silver mist surrounding Ellie. roiled and undulated, blurring the edges of Ellie's silhouette. The Shadow remembered her own foggy vision and touched her wrist again.
At that moment, Ellie shuddered and looked up. The Shadow froze. Ellie frowned and continued to climb into the ambulance, and in a few seconds the Pelletiers were gone. The Shadow felt foolish, empty. What had just happened?
She crept through the remains of the former City Hall and made her way back to her cabin. It was only as she undressed for her shower that she saw the faint, green, scar-like mark that encircled her left wrist.
Startled, she examined the mark more closely. It resembled one of the white tattoos that had recently become popular. A thin, delicate lined swirled around her wrist, undeniably real and rather pretty. It was slightly raised and felt tender as she traced it with her finger.
With dawning comprehension, she remembered where she had seen something similar. She and her mother had been collecting milk from the dairy cows of a local farmer when the farmer had pointed out the symbol burned into each cow's hide, marking each one as his property. The Shadow shook her head with a jerk. The green, sparking cord from her vision - as beautiful and mesmerizing as it had been - had branded her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
FANTASTIC FOLKLORE
Sunday morning found Bibianne in a cast that stretched from above her knee all the way to her tiny toes, which were left free to wriggle about. Although Méline wasn’t wearing a cast, she was bruised, battered, and sore. They spent a restful morning watching television, reading, and playing board games.
After a pleasant day together, Julien volunteered to suffer through another showing of the current Disney movie-of-the-moment and then get the girls bathed and bedded for Ellie to have some time to herself before the work week started. Obviously, he feels guilty about the accident. She hadn't brought it up again; the sheer emotional drain of it exhausted them all. She wondered if she'd over-reacted in her fear for the girls' safety.
Ellie accepted Julien's offer. She climbed upstairs, showered, and got ready for bed. She crawled into bed planning to get a head start on her sleep for the week, but her mind kept replaying the scene of the collapsed fort. Méline's bruised back and quick thinking had certainly saved her little sister.
Where had Julien been, and what had he been doing instead of supervising the girls? She could envision Julien getting carried away with his work on the studio and not being as attentive to the girls as he might have been, but Tai had been there, too. Shouldn't she have been watching the girls? What exactly had he and Tai been up to? What could have been so compelling that neither of them knew what was going on until the crash startled them, as it had her?
Well, there was one glaringly obvious answer. Ellie sipped the idea like a drink, rolling it around her mouth, tasting it for truth. Although Tai was young, blonde, and curvy, Ellie trusted Julien. She refused to be a jealous wife. It didn't matter what the town thought of Tai and her reputation; Ellie trusted Julien, and that settled it. She had no tangible reason to doubt Tai. The drink was too bitter, so she spat it out before it could taint her.
Besides, Julien was never jealous of other men who flirted with Ellie. She never gave him reason. She remembered one time at a concert when the scoundrel next to her had flirted openly throughout the performance. Ellie had done her best to ignore him, but he hadn't gotten the hint. She would never forget when the guy leaned over and asked Julien, "Would you mind if I kissed your wife?"
Ellie's eyebrows shot up at the request, and she answered before Julien could say anything. "You'd have to get my permission – not my husband's!" She changed places with Julien so that he would be the one standing beside the pervert for the rest of the concert.
Ellie had been miffed with Julien for not being even a tad bit jealous, but she never asked Julien what his answer would have been. She was too afraid. He knew he didn't have anything to worry about. There wasn't a single atom in her that wanted to kiss the concert idiot. She didn't find other men even mildly attractive; Julien was her one-and-only, her world.
Similar thoughts kept running around inside her head, and Ellie couldn't fall asleep. Before she could blame Julien or doubt Tai, what had Ellie herself been doing? Why hadn't she noticed the girls' arrival?
It was then that she remembered her find. She had been perusing the anthology during the girls' accident. She'd completely forgotten about it amidst the cave-in. She grabbed
her shoulder bag from the nightstand and dug through it until she found the anthology. It would be the perfect distraction from her wicked thoughts.
As she looked through the ancient book, she wondered how she could have it authenticated. If the dates on the inside cover were accurate, she could be holding a text from the late 1600s. She'd ask Zyla about it. Maybe they could send it off to the university's department of antiquities and have it examined.
First, though, Ellie wanted to study it herself. She felt exhilarated when she touched it, as if something special inside awaited her discovery. Authentication would have to wait.
Ellie scanned the pages. Her initial guess was partly correct. At the studio, she had surmised that the book was an anthology of folktales and remedies. As she continued reading, she found that to be part of what the book contained. She found some bizarre advice revolving around the phases of the moon.
-Castrate animals when the Moon is waning for less bleeding.
-Best days for fishing are between the new and full Moon.
-Set eggs to hatch on the Moon's increase, but not if a south wind blows.
She also found a recipe for switchel, more insect repellants, further planting advice, and instructions on how to make moccasins from animal hide. The farm advice amused Ellie, but another element of the book intrigued her.
Interspersed throughout the recipes and remedies, Ellie found excerpts from the diary of a young woman during pre-colonial times. Her writing captured Ellie's curiosity, and she found herself imagining what it would have been like to be one of the early settlers in America.
11 April 1692
I am filled with equal parts fear and anger. The serving girls have all gone mad, and now my name has been dragged through their muddy lies. Today the leader of the pack guessed that I am the one who stole her slave girl's book – this very journal in which I write.
Crucible Crisis Page 8