CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
‘This is how it will be … The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.’
Matthew 13:49
Lincoln only bought tickets to get us half way. Due to the predawn hour and Lincoln’s paranoia that we’d be followed, he decided to ‘borrow’ a car for the remainder of the trip.
In spite of our frantic situation I found myself fascinated by the prospect of seeing Lincoln hotwire a car. And, he put on an impressively stealthy show, selecting a well-blending four-wheel drive parked close to the train station, and managing to start it in less than thirty seconds before tearing up the freeway like a madman while I searched for a map in the glove box.
I grabbed hold of my door handle as we took a sharp corner.
Lincoln finally slowed down when we merged with the other traffic, suddenly making us one of the many.
‘Who are you?’ I asked, as I stared at the normally by-the-book Lincoln.
He kept his eyes on the road. ‘Mum taught me to always be prepared for desperate times.’
‘Did your mum also teach you how to boost a car?’
He smiled, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. ‘Not exactly, but I’m sure she wouldn’t argue under the circumstances.’
I had to agree. I started unfolding the map I’d found, twisting it around until I figured out where we were. ‘Okay, what’s the name of this town?’
‘Cold Spring,’ Lincoln replied. ‘We should be about twenty minutes out.’
I searched the map. ‘Got it,’ I said.
Well, it sounded nice enough. ‘Stay on the US-9,’ I instructed.
It didn’t take long and when we arrived in Cold Spring, it was still pre-dawn. The small town was misty and silent. The main street – the only street really – was deserted and we knew it would still be a couple of hours before any shops opened. We considered trying to find Evelyn’s safe-house but the instructions had told us only to get to Cold Spring and then to the general store.
We parked the car in a small side street and tried to rest, but despite our lack of sleep neither one of us could relax. In the end we settled for a walk along the river, the sky slowly brightening as the sun rose.
‘It’s beautiful here,’ I said, taking in the picturesque scene. Cold Spring was perched along the river, walkways, small boats and huge old weatherboard homes lining its banks. I stared across the river into nothing but greenery. The view was so natural – untainted by human development.
‘There are towns like this up and down the Hudson,’ Lincoln said, an ease in his voice that reflected our environment. ‘I used to try and get away from the Academy and explore whenever I could. I never made it to this place, but I think it’s popular for its antiques.’
We walked back through an underpass beneath the train line and into the centre of the town.
‘I can believe that,’ I said, taking in just how many quaint little shops edged the street.
‘Look,’ Lincoln said, pointing across the road to where a window glowed and, above, soft plumes of smoke escaped a vent. ‘Can you smell that?’
I sucked in a deep breath and almost moaned. ‘Fresh bread.’
He grinned. ‘Yep.’
We made our way over to the bakery and pressed our faces against the windows until we caught the attention of the tiny man pulling first-of-the-day bread from the ovens. After he had recovered from the fright he opened the door.
‘Travelling through?’ he bellowed in a deep voice that seemed far too powerful for his size.
We nodded. ‘Any chance we could buy a few loaves of bread?’ Lincoln asked.
A few minutes later we walked out with a bag of five-grain rolls, a loaf of sourdough and a slice of still-warm pumpkin bread hanging from each of our mouths.
Delicious!
While we were there we had asked the baker if he knew what time the general store opened. He told us we had another hour’s wait ahead, and looked amused as he warned us that the owner, Merri, wouldn’t take kindly to us leeching onto her windows.
But we were done waiting and headed to the shop anyway, knocking on the weathered green door, rattling its glass pane inserts.
A light came on in the upstairs window and we heard some moving around. Footsteps sounded and finally came to the front door. Lincoln put a hand on me as if to move me behind him. I cut him a look. He dropped his hand.
I should think so.
‘You realise you can be very difficult,’ he whispered.
‘I do,’ I replied, batting my eyelashes and making him laugh.
A slim woman answered the door. Her grey wiry hair was heaped in a messy bun, an old yellowed robe was wrapped around her and a very pointed scowl was focused on us.
‘We ain’t open for another hour,’ she said, pointing at the trading hours sign.
‘We’re sorry to bother you …’ I started. But somewhere in those words she straightened, her eyes narrowing.
‘You look awfully like someone I used to know.’ She studied me a moment longer, her expression suspicious.
‘My name is Violet. Are you Merri?’
The woman coughed as she nodded, a hacking, unpleasant sound.
‘I believe you knew my mother, Evelyn.’
She surveyed us for a moment longer, staring at Lincoln then back at me. She shook her head and opened the door for us. ‘You’d better come in.’
We followed her up the stairs and into a small kitchenette, where she dropped her robe on the chair, revealing that she was fully dressed in brown pants and a white shirt. She smirked when she saw my surprise and sat down before a cup of tea.
‘If folks round here knew I was up and about at this hour I’d have people expecting me to open the store earlier. Sit. I’ve got tea and I can smell you’ve already got the bread.’
We sat, accepting her offer of tea and handed her our loaf of bread. Merri put butter and jam on the table, passing us each a knife. We didn’t hold back.
‘So, you’re Evelyn’s daughter?’
I nodded.
She smiled at that, as if pleased by the idea.
‘You headed to her place up here, then?’
I nodded again. ‘She told us to get here and that you’d be able to tell us the rest of the way.’
‘Why didn’t she tell you the way herself?’
I shrugged. ‘Things have been complicated. She had to be careful what she said. She knew if we could get this far, you’d help us with the rest,’ I said, hoping that was the case.
‘Humph, things were always complicated with that woman. You have a car?’
‘Yes,’ Lincoln replied. ‘An off-roader.’
Merri nodded. ‘Good.’
‘You wouldn’t by chance have a map to her house, would you?’ Lincoln asked.
‘Ha!’ she exclaimed, almost losing her mouthful of bread, using her fingers to catch the crumbs. ‘That woman never gave no directions to anyone. But I expect I came as close as anyone to knowing. If she sent you to me, I must’ve. Over sixty years ago now. I was just a girl and curiosity often caused me troubles. I followed her and that fellow. Two of them were like brother and sister, fought like it, too. They were trekking through the woods when I spied them. Thought I was right clever, too, following like that. The town folk were always whispering about them, wondering where it was they stayed. I wasn’t into the gossip, but I sure wanted answers to my own suspicions. I followed them all the way down a long dirt road. It led to the river and then just stopped. No purpose to it at all. Anyway, I lost ’em there.’
‘So, you don’t know where it is?’ Lincoln asked, his ever-polite tone beginning to waver.
She tutted at him. ‘I ain’t no fool, lad. That road went somewhere and just before they disappeared from sight, Evelyn looked right at where I was hidden behind a tree. The years went by and I never went back to look for them and never told anyone about that day, till now.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
Merri stuffed a large piece of pu
mpkin bread into her mouth and spoke while she chewed. ‘Sometimes you just know to leave well enough alone. Those two weren’t no honeymooners and I knew the likes of me had no right in knowing their business.’ She shrugged, swallowed. ‘Every now and then I’d see them back in the area.’ She raised her eyebrow. ‘I got older but the two of them never seemed much different at all. They stayed out of sight of the other town people, but for some reason she always let me see her when they came through town for supplies. Once I took over my pa’s store, she took to visiting me every so often, late at night or early in the mornings.’
There was a look of longing in her eyes. Was that why she was up and dressed at this early hour? Was she still waiting for Evelyn to return?
‘You became friends,’ I offered.
‘As much as that woman could be friends with anyone, I expect. Stubborn as hell, she was, and always looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.’ She harrumphed again. ‘She looked like you two do now.’
Lincoln and I both twitched in our seats. Merri smiled, but it quickly faded as she went back to her story.
‘The last time I saw her she was on her own, and in a bad way. She was never without that fella so I knew something terrible had happened.’
It must have been after Jonathan died.
Merri got up and reached into one of her kitchen drawers, pulling out a large old-fashioned key. She put it on the table, her hand hovering over it protectively.
‘I patched her up as best I could and she gave me this, told me to keep it safe for her. Said I’d been the closest to ever finding them that day when I was a kid. She knew I’d never told anyone or tried to find ’em again. She said time was the best test of trust. That was over thirty years ago, and the last I seen her.’
‘Would you be able to point us in the right direction?’ Lincoln asked.
She took a sip of tea and ripped off another piece of bread. ‘You two look like you’re headed for trouble.’
Lincoln kept his voice calm and neutral. ‘We’re just going up there for a night or two then we’ll be on our way. We don’t want to bring any trouble to the town,’ he said.
Merri considered this and nodded, before casting a curious gaze on me. ‘You got your mother’s eyes.’
‘No, I … I … She has blue eyes,’ I stammered, caught off-guard by the statement.
‘Not the same colour, maybe, but still … Same eyes. You’re a fighter, like her.’
I swallowed, realising with surprise I was glad she thought I could be like Evelyn.
‘And you’re all but a billboard screaming the same thing,’ she said to Lincoln, who smiled in response.
‘I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of strange happenings, if you knew Evelyn for so long. We’re just trying to keep our people safe.’
‘And am I your people?’ Merri asked.
Wise woman.
‘Yes, you are,’ Lincoln answered, not missing a beat.
Merri stood. ‘Collect what you need from the store. I’ll get you a map to point you in the right direction. Best we get you two back on the road before the town wakes up.’
We didn’t delay, heading back downstairs.
We moved through the store, grabbing anything we felt might come in handy. Lincoln went for the practical stuff – batteries, radio, gas cookers, blankets, candles, matches. He even grabbed two sleeping bags and then several large bottles of water. I prioritised food, mainly things that could be eaten raw or straight from a can. When I spied a kettle, I couldn’t resist grabbing it along with a packet of coffee. Lincoln saw and rolled his eyes, but he was grinning.
No way I’m going indefinitely without caffeine!
Lincoln piled his selections onto the counter and I loaded mine alongside them.
‘You were in the boy scouts, weren’t you?’ I teased.
He laughed, that laugh he had just for me, and I melted from the inside, my soul tugging at me, desperate to reach out to him. I resisted, busying myself with the supplies.
Merri brought us our map and gave us the key. She put all of our goods into bags, while Lincoln fetched the car. She even threw in a few extras like bug spray and a jar of homemade jam.
‘Thank you for helping us,’ I said.
She sniffed and I braced myself for another of her hacking coughs. ‘I know there is something bigger than us going on out there. Evelyn was part of it. You are, too. Offering a little help when I can … It’s the least I can do. But I recommend staying hidden, unless you want to be dealing with small-town gossip.’
That was definitely something we didn’t want. We thanked Merri and set off to find Evelyn’s safe-house.
The map was easy to follow and ten minutes later we were on the dirt road Merri had described. And, just like she’d explained, the road finished abruptly at the edge of the river, as if it had no real purpose. Lincoln pulled over and we stared into the forest surrounding us.
What now?
It was early morning. Birds were going nuts chirping in the trees, their songs sounding practised and regimented. The sun was now up, the sky pink with the promise of a clear day ahead. Frustrated, I got out of the car, slammed the door and started pacing aimlessly.
Unlike me, Lincoln radiated composure, even though he’d had just as little shut-eye over the past twenty-four hours. He stood at the hood of the car, breathing deeply. He looked around slowly, purposefully, eventually pointing towards a clearing at the river’s edge.
‘There,’ he said.
‘What?’ I snapped, all patience gone.
Lincoln looked at me as I seethed and nodded back in the direction he’d just pointed, a smirk playing on the corners of his lips as he registered my hands-on-hips pose.
‘You didn’t really think it would be that easy to find, did you? I looked up Evelyn and Jonathan’s documented histories at the Academy. Jonathan was one of the most powerful glamour-wielders of all time. It’s amazing,’ he marvelled, looking back at the cleared area. ‘It’s as if he left a piece of himself here. Even now, so many years after his death, his glamour still holds.’
Exhaustion was getting the better of me and I groaned, not seeing what Lincoln did. Everything seemed impossible right now and this, yet another test … It wasn’t fair.
‘Vi.’
Honey and cream.
Lincoln’s voice was calm, soothing and powerful all at once. ‘Concentrate.’
I shook my head and let out a frustrated sigh. ‘Damn. I need coffee.’ Merri’s tea really hadn’t hit the spot.
Lincoln chuckled, and the warm sound snuck its way into me.
Stupid, distracting laugh.
I didn’t want to be eased. I wanted to be in panic mode. But I was defenceless against the way my heart beat for him, as my soul splintered with the physical pain of its unmet demands.
I took a deep breath. Lincoln waited calmly as I shook out my hands, regained my focus and directed it to the clearing by the water that he’d pointed out.
The glamour took longer to peel back than most and felt like pulling taffy away from a wall. But once I had a grasp on it, I kept going moving it away from the ground and up, eventually unveiling a white wooden cabin with heavy shutters over the windows and a verandah sweeping around all sides.
‘Oh,’ I said, mesmerised. I had never imagined Evelyn living somewhere like this. It was beautiful. Peaceful. Quiet.
‘Looks like Lilith wasn’t the only one who took a shine to this area,’ said Lincoln, watching me rather than the cabin.
‘Hmm,’ I responded absently, already on the move, drawn towards the front door.
The verandah and the outside of the house were in remarkably good shape considering its abandonment. I looked around, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
‘How?’ I asked.
Lincoln was equally spellbound, running a hand over the wooden railings and the paintwork, neither of which were nearly as chipped away as time usually demanded. He scuffed a foot along the de
cking, which was covered in a thick layer of dust but was otherwise untouched.
‘Incredible,’ he said. ‘Jonathan must’ve found a way to manipulate his glamour to shield the place from the elements. It’s as if … As if what is hidden under the glamour is protected indefinitely somehow.’
I pulled out the large iron key Merri had given us – like something from a fairy tale with its filigree design – and slid it into the lock. It all felt so surreal.
We opened the door and Lincoln entered, defensively. I followed, knowing we couldn’t take our safety for granted. Evelyn hadn’t mentioned any booby traps, but that didn’t mean we shouldn’t be prepared. Dust covered the floors and furniture, which had been draped in old sheets. I guessed she’d known she wouldn’t be back for a long time.
Once we had passed through the main room – clearing it and the kitchen – we moved upstairs to the two bedrooms and bathroom. They were clear, too, and there were no obvious hiding places to check for nasty surprises.
We headed back downstairs and towards the basement next. It was locked tight, its door looking like the sturdiest feature in the cabin. We both put our ears against it to hear for any signs of activity but, like the rest of the house, the dust here was undisturbed and looked as though it had not been touched for many years.
Lincoln let out a breath. ‘It’s clear. We’ll probably find a key around here somewhere.’
I’d already turned my attention back to the main room, wasting no time in starting to carefully pull back the sheets that covered the furniture, taking them out to the verandah with all their dust. Lincoln followed and in a few minutes we had unveiled the simple decor. The cabin smelled woodsy, like we were inside a huge walnut tree, but also, it smelled of time gone by, of history.