Tibby and Fynn skirted out of the way. Ben, Jon and Mel moved in. Ben tied a bandana around the man’s mouth while Mel bound his ankles and Jon tied his hands. The man squirmed to try to free himself and was trying to talk, in spite of the gag.
Jon pulled out another bandana for tying it around his head so that he couldn’t see anything. Before he put it over the man’s eyes, Fynn studied his face. Again, she noticed an odd familiarity about him but still her mind couldn’t give reason as to why she would know him.
Jon, Ben and Mel rushed the man cowering in the road. Jon called off Misha while the others bound and gagged him. They dragged him off the road and lay him in the trees, not far from Jimmy. He was frightened and whimpered.
Now that the two trackers couldn’t see them, they each whispered, “Baec,” and their personal shields disappeared. Ben walked over to the jeep and removed the shield around it. No one spoke, since the trackers could hear them but they knew their footsteps were heard. Ben motioned for them to get in the jeep. He started it up, and they drove farther up the road.
After several miles, he spoke. “That was too close.”
Chapter 31
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“What now?” asked Mel.
“We’ll abandon the jeep farther up the road,” Ben replied.
The jeep barely held together as it bounced and rattled its way up the mountain. They drove in silence, hoping like crazy that they didn’t encounter any more trackers along the way.
Fynn sat in the back seat, between Mel and Tibby. Cnāwan was in the front passenger seat, on Jon’s lap. They thought it might be less of a rough ride for her but every so often, she let her feelings be known. She would cackle a protest as her claws dug into Jon’s leg.
“Holy cow, girl! I need that leg! Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” Then he’d pull her closer to his body, hoping it would help her feel secure. Ever since they bound the trackers, Cnāwan made herself visible to all of them.
Fynn had the necklace out and was intently studying the pictures of her mother and father inside the locket. She felt Tibby’s gaze and looked at him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk at the moment.
They had travelled a couple more miles when Ben said, “Hold on tight. This is going to be rough.”
Fynn quickly tucked the necklace in the box and put it back in the pack that Ben gave her. She held onto the handle that was attached to the back of the front passenger seat, along with Tibby, and wondered how long the handle would support them before it broke.
Ben turned off the dirt road and cut across uneven land, dodging trees and boulders as best he could. After a short distance, the jeep’s nose tipped downhill. Fynn closed her eyes. She couldn’t see the ground in front of them and it made her nervous. She knew it was there only because of the tree tops that were ahead. Then the jeep leveled out. Ben hit the brakes and shut off the engine. Fynn opened her eyes and let out a small gasp. All she saw ahead was blue sky. It appeared they were on the edge of a cliff.
“Everyone out. We’ll go on foot from here so grab your packs.”
Fynn didn’t have to be convinced to leave the vehicle and almost pushed Tibby out the door. They moved swiftly and, once the jeep was empty, Ben reached inside and put it in neutral. Jon knew he wanted to force it over the edge of the cliff.
“The sound of that is going to echo through these hills, Ben. If they don’t know where we are right now, they will as soon as that thing hits the ground.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” He put it back in gear and walked around to the rear of the vehicle. He took a tool out of his pack, removed the license plate and tossed it over the side of the rock face.
Jon and Mel retraced their path since turning off the road and covered over the jeep’s tracks. When they returned, Ben and the kids were waiting. Cnāwan was stretching and Fynn heard her.
That ride was worth, at least, two of my lives.
Fynn repeated her words and they all chuckled.
Jon said, “Oh, you’re just getting soft in your old age.”
Cnāwan turned up her nose. “Meoowf!”
“I think there was a time when she appreciated your humor more, Jon,” smiled Ben.
“Just trying to lighten things up a bit,” replied Jon.
Fynn quietly said, “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” asked Jon.
Fynn looked at the three adults, like she was waiting for an explanation.
Ben decided to be honest. “Leaving this dimension has been more of a problem than what we normally experience. Usually we’re a couple steps ahead of whatever force is opposing us. This time, for some reason, it hasn’t gone that way.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” offered Mel. “Something is different.”
“The guy that’s leading them - Jimmy - he seems to have special capabilities, similar to Wærs.” Jon eyed his friends.
Fynn didn’t want to say anything but decided she should, even though it made her uncomfortable. It also burst the perfect image she held in her mind about her father but she couldn’t come up with any other explanation. “He looks like my father.”
She saw the brief look of surprise on their faces before they gave it some serious thought.
“I thought he looked a little familiar,” said Mel.
“Hmmm,” said Ben as he rubbed his head, “now that you mention it...”
“That would explain some things,” offered Jon.
Fynn stuffed her hands in her pants pockets and looked down at a rock, half buried in the ground, while she kicked at it. “My dad left my mom once. It was before I was born. She never told me exactly what happened. I had the impression he was gone for several years. All she would say was how he had a good heart and that he came back. She also said that, even though people go through the same experience together, you never really know how differently each person responds, inside.”
Mel searched Fynn’s face.
“What?” asked Fynn.
“Is that hard for you to accept?”
Fynn shrugged. “Stuff happens, right?”
Mel prodded a bit more. “What do your senses tell you, Fynn?”
Fynn looked off into the distance for a moment. She had been thinking this since they first saw the trackers but it felt different to actually put it to words and say it out loud. She looked at Mel. “That he’s probably my half-brother.”
Chapter 32
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“I saw some wild strawberries a short ways back. Can I go pick some for us?” asked Fynn.
Ben looked up at her from his spot on the ground where he was preparing lunch. Jon stood several feet away and was talking, with Misha on his arm and Cnāwan at his feet. They had been hiking for two days and crossed several more mountains. So far, they hadn’t seen any other people.
They stopped to rest and eat. Mel was brewing some Wær tonic so they could stay energized and to soothe their sore muscles.
Fynn thought Ben was about to tell her to stay put. “Please? I love strawberries!” She smiled coyly at him. “Besides, we haven’t seen anyone for a couple days now.”
He smiled back. “Which is all the more reason we need to stay alert,” he retorted.
“I’ll go with her,” offered Tibby. “We won’t go far.”
Ben studied them momentarily as he weighed the consequences. “You have ten minutes. No more. We eat and then leave. Understood?”
They nodded vigorously and ran off. At the first sight of strawberries, they stopped. Tibby was glad to have some time alone with Fynn. He had enjoyed their initial time together when they escaped from Happy Days. Since then, there hadn’t been time to simply hang out.
“Do you really think that guy is your brother...I mean, your half-brother?”
“I think so. It feels like it.” Fynn knelt
on the ground to pick several berries from a cluster of plants.
Tibby walked a few yards to another patch, beside a particularly large tree.
“It sure kills the image I had of what my father was like, though.”
“I’m sorry,” said Tibby. “Wow, after thinking that you had no more family here, I bet it feels weird to know that you have a brother...half-brother.” As soon as he said that, he wished he hadn’t stressed that point.
Fynn had walked farther away to another cluster. “Yeah.”
She offered no more conversation so Tibby picked berries in silence, thinking she needed some space to think about things. After a few minutes passed, he had picked all the berries he could hold. He stood up.
“C’mon, Fynn. We better get back.” He looked where he had last seen her. “Fynn?” He was about to shout for her when he noticed her standing farther away, in the shade of a tree. She held her finger to her mouth for him to be quiet. Tibby listened. He heard the sound of someone, or something, walking across the earthen floor. He quickly ducked back behind the large tree.
It suddenly dawned on him that he and Fynn were separated by a fair amount of distance. The steps were getting much closer now and he risked being seen, or heard, if he ran to her. His heart beat more rapidly at that realization. He listened intently and decided it sounded more like people than animals. Perhaps two, maybe even three people – but they weren’t talking.
He snuck a peek to his right but other trees blocked his sight of Fynn. He heard footsteps to his left. He watched through the branches of a young pine tree and saw three men - correction, three trackers. One of them was Jimmy. They were headed toward Fynn’s location but were spreading themselves farther apart, to cover a wider area. He had to do something!
He crouched down between the big tree trunk and the small pine tree growing next to it. “Sceadu, fæst!” Then he added, “Sund!” That way his shadows made the sound of feet running across the rich soil so the trackers would hear.
The tracker nearest to Tibby looked to his left and caught sight of movement. He pointed. “There!” He and the tracker next to him ran in pursuit of the runners.
Tibby stood in place, waiting for Jimmy to go with them but he stayed where he was.
Fynn heard a couple guys run off. She wasn’t certain whether that was all of them so she remained silent and motionless. After a moment, she heard the crack of a twig nearby. “Sceadu, fæst!”
Her three shadows appeared but only one of them ran quickly, like she commanded. The other two stood before her, in disagreement as to which one would run in which direction. They stood face to face, having a wordless argument. One pointed in the direction the other one was to run. The other stood with its arms stubbornly crossed over its chest and shook its head in refusal. Fynn couldn’t believe what she was watching! She didn’t know what to do but, when she heard a few more steps from her pursuer, she knew she couldn’t be seen. “Scield!”
She remained in place but was now invisible. Her shadows on the other hand were quite visible. Under other circumstances, she might have found their belligerence humorous. They began pushing each other and were almost in an all-out physical fight when her pursuer took one more step and was completely in Fynn’s sight.
She observed Jimmy as he watched the shadows feud. They looked like silhouettes of two people struggling with each other – without sound. The expression on Jimmy’s face let her know that he was amazed by the sight. He moved his hand through the air, thinking it was a phenomenon created by the light. As he moved around the shadows, Fynn feared he was getting too close and didn’t want him to bump into her. She gently took a step backward to keep the tree between her and Jimmy. Her movement wasn’t as silent as she had wanted. He looked right at her; or rather, right through her.
“I know you’re there,” he said calmly. Then his nose wrinkled in that curious way and he asked, “How do you do this?” He was referring to the shadows. One had just pushed the other so hard it landed on its butt and then quickly jumped to its feet with fists extended. Jimmy laughed.
Fynn took several steps backwards and stood away from the tree. If he knew she was there, it didn’t matter whether she was next to the tree or not. Jimmy continued to watch the shadows and Fynn realized there was no fear in his eyes; he was genuinely curious about them. She looked around to see if Tibby was nearby. She didn’t see anyone. It appeared to be only her and Jimmy – so she decided to risk it.
“Why do you pursue us?” she asked quietly but with all the confidence she could muster.
Jimmy’s eyes never left the shadows. “It’s what I was hired to do. I’m very good at finding people.” He looked in her direction, even though she was still invisible inside the shield. “I always succeed!” The look of curiosity in his eyes changed to determination with his last comment. She sensed arrogance and didn’t know whether to like him or hate him.
“I suppose that’s a quality you inherited from your father,” she countered.
The pupils in his eyes grew big, making them look black and angry. “I don’t have a father!”
“What, did the stork bring you?” she chided. “Everyone has a father!” She wondered how far she should push. “I bet his name was Sully.”
Now his eyes glared and it scared her. That confirms it, then, she thought.
In a low, demanding tone, Jimmy emphasized every word when he asked, “How do you know that?”
Chapter 33
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All of a sudden, something came from behind and hit Jimmy in the back. It was totally unexpected. He dropped to his knees and fell, passing right through the shadows like they were ghosts. This caused them to disperse and vanish.
Fynn looked from where it came and saw Ben and Jon standing behind some trees. She didn’t know what they threw but Jimmy was now lying on his back on the ground. He looked stunned, or rather like he had been frozen, and his blank eyes stared upward. There was no visible wound that she could see.
Before she walked away, she waved her hand through the air and said, “Forgietan.” She wanted Jimmy to forget their short conversation or that she knew his father’s name. She also didn’t want the others to know that she talked to him.
As she ran to join Ben and Jon, she said, “Baec,” and the shield disappeared.
“Are you all right?” they asked in unison.
“Yeah,” said Fynn. “Where’s Tibby?”
“He came to get us,” said Jon. “He’s with Mel.”
They heard voices coming their way. The other two trackers were returning.
“Jimmy, where are you man?” asked one of them.
“Boyd, he’s not going to believe this when we tell him that the thing just disappeared when we touched it.”
“I dunno. You’re talking about Jimmy. Heck, he’ll probably tell us what happened! Jimmy, where are you?”
Ben and Jon pushed Fynn ahead of them as they ran back from where they came. Mel and Tibby had already packed everything back up and handed them their packs as soon as they returned. No one spoke as they put them on and quickly left the area.
After a while, Mel offered Fynn some snacks to eat while they walked. She shook her head.
“Will he be okay?” she asked.
“The tracker?” asked Ben.
“Yeah. Is he badly hurt?”
“No, he’s just stunned. We threw a fizzle ball at him,” said Ben.
“A what?”
“He’ll come around in a few hours, Fynn. It will give us a head start,” explained Jon.
“Will he forget what happened?”
“He won’t know what hit him,” said Ben, “but a fizzle ball doesn’t erase the memory. It just stunned him into a suspended state. They won’t get any sounds or response from him for a while.”
“Oh.”
Ben asked, “What happened back there?”
“We were picking
berries and suddenly I heard their footsteps. Two of them took off after Tibby’s shadows but when I invoked mine, only one ran. The other two stayed and argued and I didn’t know what to do.”
That’s the risk of using the shadows, offered Cnāwan. It doesn’t happen often but it can be a real nuisance when it does. There’s not much you can do about it.
This time, it was obvious that everyone heard her response to Fynn, since they stopped and looked at the cat. Fynn replied out loud. “Gee, thanks. Now ya tell me.”
“Did you talk to him?” asked Ben.
Fynn kept her gaze down as they walked. “He knew I was there.”
“He could have been bluffing,” replied Jon.
“No. He knew.” Fynn hoped they didn’t press any farther. She didn’t want to admit that she conversed with him and confirmed for him that she was actually there.
No one spoke. They all seemed lost in thought about the situation. Cnāwan took the lead. She trotted along, just like any ordinary cat on a stroll. Once in awhile, she sat and sniffed the air in several directions. Her ears constantly moved about, listening for something. Then she’d start off again, in a slightly altered course.
Finally, Jon spoke. “I suppose I owe you all an apology. If I hadn’t detained Misha in conversation, she might have alerted us that the trackers were nearby.”
“It’s okay,” said Mel.
Ben patted Jon on the back. “It just means that we can’t let our guard down with these guys. We must stay alert at all times.” Ben thought for a moment, and then said, “Cnāwan, if it’s along the way, we might want to stay in that cave behind the waterfall tonight. That might give us a little reprieve. Since the water purifies the vibrations, it would be more difficult for them to track us. But only take us there if it’s on the route.”
Cnāwan acknowledged his request. “Meow.”
Chapter 34
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Since they only spoke when necessary, it gave Fynn a lot of time to think. She wondered if her mother knew about Jimmy. She recalled many times, while growing up, wishing for a sister or brother. She always felt like she didn’t belong in this society and wondered whether having a sibling would have helped.
Now that she knew why she didn’t fit in – because she truly wasn’t from here – it seemed pointless to give it further consideration. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have Jimmy as a brother. In her brief encounter with him, she saw many emotions reflected in his eyes. Clearly he was angry about his father leaving. But would he feel differently if he knew I’m his half-sister? Maybe I should have said something. Maybe he wouldn’t track us if he knew. Then again, maybe it would drive him harder.