A Way (The Voyagers Book 1) (19 page)

CHAPTER 38

“It’s just up here, on the right. The one with the blue shutters.” 

Jessie was directing them to her house and Dex and Gerald were pretending to not already know where it was.  During the short trip from the diner, the conversation had been formal. Jessie sensed they were being careful not to give away too much information about themselves. She wondered what they could be hiding.  Gerry had surrendered the shotgun position to Jessie and she sat comfortably, beside the dark haired stranger, Alex, pointing out areas of the town that she thought they might find interesting. 

As the car rolled to a stop in her driveway, Jessie opened the door and announced, “I’ll be back in a second,” then slammed it closed again. 

They watched her skip up the steps to collect her sister.  Gerald and Dex were on edge wondering how Sammy would react, when she realized who was escorting them to the lake. 

Jessie found Sammy, exactly where she had left her that morning.  She was in her swim suit, a matching short outfit pulled over top.  There was a bag sitting on the floor, stuffed with two towels and her flip flops were on the floor, ready to slip on. 

“Oh good, you’re ready.”  Jessie looked into the back of the house, and up the stairs.  “Where are mom and dad?”

Sammy picked up the overflowing beach bag and was beside her sister in a flash.  Lacing Jessie’s fingers through her own, she started to drag her towards the door with surprising strength. 

“I think mom’s in the backyard hanging up some clothes and dad’s still in his study.  I already left them a note.  Let’s go.”  Sammy urged.

Jessie didn’t resist and allowed her sister to guide her outside to the car, idling in the driveway.  Sammy reached the car door before she did and yanked it open, struggling with its weight.

“Hi,’” Sammy said, first to Dex and then to Gerald, who was watching her apprehensively from the back seat.

She greeted the two strangers as if she knew them her whole life. Sammy, like herself, had never been shy, but Jessie was shocked by the display of enthusiasm.  She held the seat up for her and Sammy crawled into the back seat beside Gerald.

“Sammy,” Jessie turned around to address her sister, who was smiling widely at Gerald.  “That’s Gerry and this,” she nodded her head in the direction of the driver, “is Alex.  Guys, this is my sister, Sammy.” 

“Hi Allllll-ex and Ger-ryyyyy,” Sammy said, over pronouncing the new version of their names and bouncing in her seat.  Jessie had never seen her so excited. 

Dex caught Sammy’s eye as he was reversing the car onto the street.  She held up her pinky and winked.  Gerald grabbed her hand and pulled it down before Jessie noticed.

“Where’s Becky?” she asked.

“She and the Wills are at the lake, or should be by now.  I offered to give Alex and Gerry directions, but I thought it would be easier to just show them.”

“Maybe she’ll drown before we get there,” Sammy suggested.

“Sammy!”  Jessie scolded.  “She isn’t very fond of Becky,” she, unnecessarily, explained.

Dex winked at Sammy, via the rear-view mirror.  “That makes two of us, kiddo.”

Sammy’s giggle floated around them from the back seat.  Jessie grinned at Dex.  “Don’t encourage her.”

Jessie noticed Gerry quickly became her sister’s new favorite person and, despite their age difference, they chatted like old friends.  He asked Sammy about school, tv shows she liked, books she had read.  They reminded Jessie of long lost relatives, catching up on the time they had lost. Alex was quiet and she watched him out of the corner of her eye.  She liked his smile and the way his shaggy dark hair hung over his piercing eyes. 

The sun was burning high in the sky, when they arrived at the lake, and any indication of the rainy beginning to the day had evaporated.  A few cars were parked in the clearing.  She reached to help Sammy with their bag, but Gerald was already climbing out the other side, with it slung over his shoulder.  Jessie heard Becky before she saw her and hoped she would be less combative than she was during lunch. Sammy bolted out of the car and ran towards the water that was lapping at the shore line.

“Sammy, hold on,” Jessie called to her.  She was still slipping on the sandals that she had kicked off in the car. 

“I’ve got her,” said Gerald.

Dex was waiting patiently and winced as she twisted her ankle at an odd angle trying to rush to catch up with Sammy.  He glanced away from her quickly before she caught him smile at her clumsiness.

“He’s being too nice, he doesn’t have to hang out with my little sister all day,” Jessie insisted.

“I don’t think he minds.  Thanks for showing us the way.”  Dex grinned at her and an image flashed through her mind; too fast for her to stop it and bring it into focus.  She looked up at him, her head slightly tilted and smiled back. 

“Race you to the island, Alex.” Jessie took off without giving him a chance to accept her challenge.

Before they reached the water, Becky stepped in front of them, hands on her hips, wet hair dripping from her head, resembling Medusa.

“William’s waiting for you,” she addressed Jessie and glared at Dex.

Jessie felt a moment of regret; she agreed to go to the lake with William, not the two people she just met.  Gerald and Sammy were constructing a sand castle on the shore behind her seething friend. 

“Well, I’m here and we’re going to swim out to the island.  Do you guys want to come?” 
Please say no, please say no,
Jessie thought.

“No, I don’t want to. Swim. To. The. Island!”  Becky stated.  “And since when do you?  Aren’t you always whining about the serpents that live there?”

Dex backed up to watch the exchange. Rebecca was pushing Jessie right to where he wanted her; a chance to get her to the tree on the island, just the two of them.

“You’ll protect me, won’t you Alex?”  Jessie moved closer to him, her arm almost touching his.

She pushed past Rebecca and waded into the water, stopping beside Sammy, who had climbed onto Gerald’s shoulders.

“Will you be ok if I go for a little swim?”  Jessie asked her sister, “I won’t be long.” 

Gerald answered for her. “We’ll be fine.  We’re having fun.  Aren’t we Sammy?”  He looked up to the tiny figure balancing on his shoulders, her fingers linked together loosely under his chin. 

“We’re great,” her sister confirmed. “You should go with Dex.”

Jessie froze, as she was about to dive under the surface, and splashed over onto her back to face Sammy. 

“What did you say?” 

Gerald and Sammy had gone stiff, Dex stood silently next to the spot where Jessie disappeared under the water, its coolness lapping against his body.

“You should go with Alex,” Sammy stammered. 

Jessie flipped back onto her front and blinked the water off her lashes.  Dex swam out to meet her.

“Did she call you Dex?  I like that.”  Her head sank into the water, his heart soared up to the cloudless sky

CHAPTER 39

They reached the island at the same time.  Jessie’s breathing was laboured from the swim away from the sibling she knew, and the one she had forgotten.  When she lost her footing, Dex suppressed the urge to take her hand and help her over the slick black rocks but she, instead, grabbed for his steady arm.

“Sorry,” she grinned, sheepishly, “I’ve been known to be a bit clumsy.” 

“I know,” he winced at his mistake.  If Jessie noticed the slip up, she didn’t acknowledge it; she was too busy scanning the ground, he assumed, for sabotages and snakes. 

“You know,” he quickly covered up by changing the subject, “I really don’t think there are snakes out here.  Should we go check it out?” 

She shrugged, and looked across the water to the opposite shore.  Sammy’s squealing laughter reverberated across the water.  Jessie saw her lift herself off Gerald’s shoulder and catapult into the water.

“Sure,” Jessie decided, “why not?”

They walked close together along a thin path.  Dex pretended to observe the surroundings through the eyes of someone who had never been there before.  He frequently glanced over at Jessie, hoping to see some recognition in her eyes; none made an appearance. 

“Do you have any pets?” she asked, right after a squirrel skittered up a tree beside them.  She watched it jump from branch to branch and hide behind a cluster of leaves.  “I’ve always wanted a dog, but my mother says Sammy’s allergic.  I don’t know how she knows that, since we’ve never had a pet.”

Dex took this as an opportunity to see if she had retained anything from her past.  “What kind of dog would you get, if you were allowed to have one?” 

“A small one,” she answered, quickly. 

Wrong answer
.  He felt discouraged. 

Then she added, “I would name him Duke.” 

“You would?” He kept his voice steady. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she said, looking thoughtfully into the distance. “I guess I just think it’s a good name for a dog.” 

All visions of snakes seemingly having been left behind at the island’s rocky bank, she skipped ahead.  Having walked this path often, in this realm and the others, Dex recognized they were only a few minutes away from the tree where their initials were carved.  He had run his fingers over the etching so many times, he was surprised they hadn’t stared to fade away.  Jessie was almost to the tree when she stopped and circled around to face him.

“Have you ever had the feeling that you’ve been somewhere before?” she asked.

Dex wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the question and scream -
Yes, every day!
Instead, he nodded and moved towards her.  He brought his hand up, reached behind her, and rubbed his fingers over the bark, just over her left shoulder. 

“Look,” he said. 

Jessie turned her head, her hair tickling his arm and Dex felt her breath on his neck.   He watched her eyes carefully, as they settled on the place where his hand was resting. 

“What does it say?” Jessie murmured. 

She completely turned and brought her fingers up to trace the letters and numbers then backed up so that she was resting against his chest.  “It looks so old.  Is that initials and a date?  1875?”

Dex brought his mouth down to her ear and whispered.  “I think it looks like a D,” he took her finger and moved it back over the letters, “and a J.  They represent names and, maybe, 1875 is the year when they first met.” 

He lowered both their hands and waited.  She moved back around and surveyed him with wide eyes, her fingers twisted in her necklace. 

“I do all the time,” she said, “get the feeling, like I’ve been here before.” 

“Jessie, you and I, we…..”

Before he could finish a hostile voice pierced through the peacefulness.  He reluctantly dropped his steady gaze from Jessie, and Rebecca materialized from the shadows scowling, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Will was standing, nervously, behind her. 

“There you are.   What are you doing, Jessie?  Have you gone mad?” Rebecca said, with an accusatory tone.

Jessie sighed and made no move to put any distance between Dex and herself. She reached for his hand and shivered when he pressed his firmly into hers.

“Maybe I have Becky, but it’s better than being where you are.”  She had never been so bitter to her friend, but something had changed.  She would figure it out later. 

“I should get back to Sammy,” she said to Dex.  A curly, damp, strand of hair had fallen over her eyes.  She swiped it away and glanced back over her shoulder, at the carving.  “Thanks for bringing me here.  Whoever they were, I bet they were really in love.”

Rebecca intervened, not giving him the chance to say anything that could bring Jessie closer to remembering all she had, unknowingly, lost. “They were probably just a couple of dumb kids.  C’mon Will.” 

Jessie didn’t notice, that from where Rebecca was standing, impatiently tapping her foot, there was no way she could’ve seen what she was referring to.

Dex held Jessie back.  “I think they were in love too.  I think he loved her more than anything and would’ve found a way to find her if he ever lost her.”

She stood on her tip toes and brushed her lips against his cheek.  “I think you might be right.” 

Dex knew his Jessie was right there behind her sky-kissed, blue eyes.  It was only a matter of time until he found her.

CHAPTER 40

An hour later, Dex and Gerald dropped Jessie and Sammy off in front their house.  The house was quiet.  The only sound interrupting the silence was the ticking of the aging grandfather clock in the living room.  Jessie called out to her parents and was met with no response.  She shrugged, and looked at Sammy.

“Did they mention where they were going, before we left?”

Sammy shook her head. “It’s pretty hot in here, maybe they went to the beach.”

It was stifling.  Jessie left the front door open, hoping the light breeze rustling through the trees, would reach into the house.  On the way to her bedroom to change, she opened the upstairs windows.  The weather urged her to stay in her bathing suit; the damp material clinging to her, convinced her to dry off and find something softer to wear.  As she dug through her drawer looking for the lightest shirt she could find, Sammy slipped into her room and bounced onto her bed.

“Hey,” Jessie gently scowled, “off the bed with your wet bathing suit!” 

She tossed a pair of rolled up socks from the top of the dresser.  Sammy ignored the socks, jumped off the bed and curled her toes into the shaggy carpet.  The carpet had a pattern that reminded Jessie of a calico colored cat.

“Do you think we’ll see them again?” she asked, hopefully. 

“Maybe,” Jessie said, tossing clothes from her drawer, closing one and opening another. 
Where was that shirt?
  “Alex did say they might be going to the lake again, tomorrow.  Maybe we could head out there, too.” 

“Who?” Sammy asked, then promptly added, “Oh right, Alex.”

Jessie still hadn’t been able to detect the amount of times Sammy had almost revealed their secret. Sammy had only ever known him as Dex; it would have been easier for her to keep if he had told Jessie the right name. 

“What did you guys do on the island?”

Jessie took her time answering her younger sister.  There had been something picking at her jumbled thoughts, since Becky interrupted her and the boy called Alex on the island.  She wished she could figure out what it was; another piece of a puzzle to solve.  It was as frustrating as trying to recall the lyrics of a song, with the wrong one bouncing over and over again against her skull.

“We just walked around for a bit.  It’s peaceful out there.  Well it was, until Becky showed up.” Jessie smiled, thinking about the look on her friend’s face when she discovered them standing so close together in the woods.  Annoying Becky could become one of her favorite past times, it seemed so easy to do lately. 

Jessie focused her attention back on Sammy.  She hadn’t stopped fidgeting since she had entered the room.  Jessie felt her sister about to tell her something important.  Her eyes were looking everywhere but Jessie, even though they only stood a few feet apart. 

“What?”  Jessie asked her.

“Nothing,” Sammy said, bashfully.  “I think he’s cute and I think he likes you.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jessie blushed, “he doesn’t even know me.  Besides, I’ll probably never see him again.” 

As soon as the words left her lips, Jessie felt like someone had squeezed the air out of her. 
What if I don’t see him again?
  She wouldn’t even consider the possibility.  Even if she had to walk there, she would be going to the lake tomorrow.

They heard the screen door squeak open and snap shut, then their mother’s voice drifted upstairs.  “Girls, are you home?” 

They answered with a synchronized, “yes, mom.”

Jessie finally located the bright pink, oversized shirt, and Sammy left her alone, to change.  She pulled it on and picked up a brush, to fight with the tangles on her head.  Her hair smelled like the lake and pine needles. She put the brush back on her dresser, realizing her hair was a lost cause, and tied it up into a sloppy bun. 

Behind her, in the mirror, Jessie could see the reflection of her notebook sitting on her night table.  She left it there in case she needed to write something down, fresh out of a dream.  Her drama teacher made the suggestion when she showed interest in becoming a writer.  She picked up the soft covered notebook, flipped through its pages, and was surprised at how often her dreams had the same theme; her looking for something or someone, always waking up just before she discovered what it was.  She was about to return the nighttime musings to their spot, when an entry caught her attention.  She turned back a few pages to read what she had written.

My fingers traced over the bark, but my sleeping mind couldn’t concentrate on what my hand was trying to make it see.  Instead of it bringing it closer, clearer, it was rubbing it away, erasing it.  I’m not sure, but I think there was something engraved in the rough bark, a number, 1875 and D and J. I woke up before I could read it.  This might be a good place to start a story. 

Jessie blinked rapidly and re-read the entry.  Trying to write in the dark, half-awake, left a lot to be desired compared to her usually tidy handwriting.  That was impossible.  The first time she had been on the island was only a few hours ago; she definitely had not seen that carving before. 
Then why did I dream about it almost a year ago?
  She heard her mother calling to her, again.

“Jessie, I made some tea.  You want some?”  She made it sound like a suggestion Jessie couldn’t refuse.

Jessie grabbed the pen that had fallen on the floor, when she picked up the book, and hastily wrote, ‘
You need to stop drinking the tea.  If you want to know who we are,’
on a new page.

“No,” she called back, firmly, then under her breath, “Dex and Jessie.”