A Way (The Voyagers Book 1) (20 page)

CHAPTER 41

“What are we going to do?” It was the fifth time Gerald asked Dex that question since they watched Jessie and Sammy enter their house, after the afternoon swim. 

Gerald talked to Sammy as candidly as he was able, without frightening her.  He answered her questions, as best as he could: where he and Dex had been and why it took so long for them to find her and their sister again. He didn’t want to scare her.  She was still too young to understand why they thought their protector’s, and Dex’s, had betrayed them, to keep them apart.  He would explain it to her someday, but until then, he just wanted to enjoy the time he was able to spend with her.

He was glad when Rebecca finally talked her reluctant, and Gerald thought unlucky, boyfriend into following Dex and Jessie to the island.  The other guy, introduced to him as William, hung back and tried to make small chat with Gerald.  He was quickly dismissed by Sammy, and walked further down the beach to occupy himself with a few girls he found lounging on oversized towels.  Watching him leave, Gerald knew, without a doubt, that he recognized him; although he couldn’t place from where, or what time, and their short conversation didn’t give him any clues.

Dex answered Gerald’s question, with two of his own.  “What did you and Sammy talk about?  Has she been able to grasp anything that has happened?”

Gerald could tell Dex was stalling, and he took so long to answer his original question, he had to think back, to remember what he asked.

“She’s actually more perceptive than I remembered.  She knows nothing about the five, but she remembers everything about the time we all spent together, before you left.  She can’t explain how, but she knows.  She told me some stories that I forgot, describing her memories like dreams she can see when she’s awake.  I think the protectors made a big mistake thinking she was too young to remember.  A mistake for them, but an advantage for us.”

Dex nodded.  They were sitting on the front porch of the cottage, the humidity inside making it hard to think.  Gerald couldn’t tell if his friend was considering what he just shared with him, about Sammy, devising the next part of the plan, or both.  Again, he waited for a reply, watching the setting sun turn the diminishing light, into a muddy haze.  He counted the cricket chirps to just shy of fifty, when Dex finally spoke.

“We have to get them here and take them through the gateway.  The four of us can find Peter and together, figure out if we’re going to keep protecting it or allow the single souls to destroy it.”

Gerald looked at him, aghast, his mouth slack.  “But that would be like kidnapping.  They would disappear and no one would know what happened to them.”  He shook his head.  “No.  I might not approve of what my protectors did, but I won’t take their daughters away like that.  It’s too cruel.”

“Cruel?”  Dex swung around to face him, the dimming light hid the anger that flashed deep in his eyes. “What they did, have been doing, is cruel.  If what we suspect is true, then they’ve been poisoning Jessie with some wizard potion that makes her forget everything that made her happy.”

Gerald didn’t want to argue with him.  He wanted his sisters back with him and he wanted Jessie and Dex together, but there had to be another way.  He didn’t broach the subject that he thought Jessie was happy and that pulling the rug out from under her, exposing everything she trusted, might do her more damage than good.

“What if we explain everything to Jessie?  The three of us, Sammy can help,” Gerald suggested. Dex had to see that there were other, better, solutions.

“Rebecca knows we’re here. What’s to stop her from going to their protectors and telling them?  They’ll vanish with Jessie and Sammy so fast, and farther than before; we may never find them again.”  Gerald sensed Dex’s panic.  He had looked for Jessie longer and harder than Gerald could comprehend. 

“Do you think Sammy will be able to help us?  Really?  She’s just a kid.”

“She misses Peter.  She wouldn’t stop talking about him today, when you two were on the island.”  Gerald had forgotten how close his sister and Dex’s brother became after Dex disappeared.  Peter was given the same tea as Jessie.  Sammy helped Peter fill the void, that the sibling he didn’t even know about, had left

“She mentioned him to me, too.  Who knows where they could be hiding him.” 

With frustration, Dex ran his fingers through his hair.  Everything that seemed so positive that afternoon, was quickly vanishing. 

“We told them we would be at the lake, tomorrow.  If they show up we can decide what to do; until then, I think we should consider what I proposed.  We get Jessie and Sammy to the gateway and we leave.  Staying here is too dangerous.  If we figured out how to manipulate the passageway, other voyagers will too.  I can’t risk losing Jessie again; this time it could be forever.”

Gerald nodded his head in agreement. Dex descended the porch steps and retreated into the woods on the far edge of the lot.  Gerald didn’t like the feeling that sat heavy in his stomach, since he first saw Jessie.  Dex would risk everything to get her back to him; even his sister’s sanity.  They had to be careful, more vigilant then they had ever been. 

He peeled himself off the plastic chair, made sticky by the warmth of the night, and turned his back on Dex’s vacated spot.  Exhaustion enveloped him, he was asleep before Dex returned from his lonely nightly trip to the gateway.  Gerald knew the next time he saw the rock, it could be with or without the two souls he adored more than anything else, in all the worlds that it concealed.  He didn’t know which option terrified him more.

CHAPTER 42

Her dreams were filled with vivid color and images that danced behind her eyes.  Jessie was finally able to fall asleep, after tossing and turning, well into the early Sunday morning hours. She drifted between visions of Sammy running away from her, through a field of golden hay, chasing a boy she didn’t know, to one of herself sitting in a cold building, with a boy who had her face. She woke up the last time, before her mind grew tired of keeping up with the nonsensical images, and dreamt of him.  

The next morning, when she skimmed her dream notes, they made no sense to her. 
A boy with her face?  Sure.
  Jessie rolled her eyes at her jumbled half printing, half scribbles, and kicked the twisted sheets off her legs.  She was excited to see the sun streaming into the room; slicing between the lazily closed, carpet clashing, gingham purple curtains.  She hopped out of bed to pull them open, wider. 
It is a perfect day to go to the lake!

Jessie could see Sammy’s open bedroom door and heard her squeaky childlike voice, wafting through the open window.  She looked out and watched her attempt a hand-stand in the dewy grass.  Her father’s car wasn’t in the driveway.  That was odd, for an early weekend morning.  She stopped in the washroom to rinse her face and didn’t bother trying to detangle the mop on her head; then joined her family outside.  Her mother turned her pretty, freckled face towards her sleepy daughter, and smiled good morning.  Sammy hollered a, “watch this Jessie”, from her upside down positon on the lawn, the distraction causing her to topple over.  Jessie flopped into a chair, was about to reach for the teapot, between them on the table, but instead folded her hands into her lap. 

Her mother looked at her, accusingly.  “Who did you go to the lake with yesterday?  I didn’t recognize the car that picked you up.”

“I met a couple of weekenders, at the diner.  They needed directions, and we were all going out there anyway, so I decided to navigate.  They’re nice guys.  Sammy really liked them.”

Her mother spoke softly, but Jessie could tell that she was angry with her daughter’s reckless decision.  “You let your sister get in a car with two people you met at the diner?  I thought you were smarter than that, Jessie.”

“Nothing happened.  We went to the lake and came home, safe and sound.”  She picked up a piece of toast, licked the dripping honey that coated her fingers and took a large bite.  While she chewed, her attention turned to Sammy, now doing crooked cartwheels.

“Not the point, young lady.  Careless behavior like that could’ve put you and your sister in danger.” 

Jessie snorted a laugh, a few semi-chewed crumbs landed in her lap. “They were hardly dangerous.  Gerry even looked after Sammy while I swam out to the island with Alex.” 

That was the wrong thing to say.  Her mother’s shoulders tensed. 

“You went to the island AND left your sister alone?”

“What’s the big deal about swimming to the island?”  Jessie asked, defensively. 

She didn’t have an argument for leaving Sammy with Gerry.  Hearing it spoken out loud, maybe it wasn’t the best idea.  “Nothing happened,” she repeated. 

She had been accused before of making rash, sometimes borderline bad, decisions; this was the first time one of them included her sister.

Suddenly, a haziness encompassed her surroundings and even with the morning sun beaming down on the porch, the air felt cold. Startled, Jessie jumped out of her chair.  There was a man standing behind her mother, his arms crossed, and an angry scowl on his face. 

“Jessie!  What made you think it was a good idea to wander out in the middle of this?  You put yourself in danger.  You put Dex and your brother in danger.”  His voice rushed towards her on a brisk wind and pushed her back into her chair, with a thump.

Her mother looked over her shoulder, where Jessie was staring. “What?”  she asked.  “What are you looking at?”

Jessie swallowed and blinked.  The man disappeared as quickly as he appeared, but the words he had spoken, lingered.  

“I thought I….”  She shut her eyes more firmly, the mirage burned behind her lids. 

She recognized him.  He was about the same age as her father, but was dressed like the actors in the old black and white movies she sometimes watched, late, on Friday nights.  His expression reminded her of the times she had been reprimanded by her teacher, when she and Becky showed up late to class.  If that wasn’t strange enough, there also seemed to be snowflakes whipping around the menacing figure.  The day was as still as a statue, the wind was still asleep, in the early morning.  Jessie opened her eyes, slowly, the cold she experienced during the hallucination turning back into summer warmth.  There was no indication that anyone had ever been there.  She tried to return her breathing to normal and slow her fibrillating heart.  It felt like it wanted to join Sammy in the yard to do some back flips. 

“Where’s Dad?”  She asked, hoping the change of subject would calm her down. 
Am I seeing ghosts now? 

“He had a meeting on the other side of town.  He’ll be back soon.”  Her mother sipped her tea, holding an intense gaze on her jumpy daughter. 

“Are you too angry with me to let me take Sammy to the lake today?” 

Her mother looked like she was about to refuse, but then sighed with resignation.  “No you can go.” 

She could never stay mad at her Jessie for long.  Her daughter had no idea what had been taken from her, but she still felt some guilt in the part she had played, and was still playing, in removing it.  She was devoted to the voyagers, but that didn’t mean she was any less devoted to her children.  Dex and Gerald had been stupid enough to find them.  She would advise her husband, when he got home, and let him decide what to do.

“Great!”  She leaned down to kiss her mother on the cheek.  “You would like Gerry and Alex, they’re really great.

A darkness crossed over her mother’s face.  “Are they also going to be at the lake today?” 

Jessie didn’t know her mother’s ulterior motive for asking this question, and she shrugged nonchalantly.  “They may have mentioned it.” 

Her mother nodded tightly, a tenseness still firmly gripped her hunched shoulders.

“But, it’s Sunday, so they might have already headed back into the city,” Jessie said.  This seemed to ease her mother’s trepidation. 

“Right, the city.”  She stared off into the distance.  

Sammy joined them and perched herself on the arm of their mother’s chair.  “Are we going swimming again, today?” she asked. 

Her mother answered the question that was meant for her sister and Jessie noticed the small tremor that resonated through her voice.

“You can, but make sure you stay close to Jessie.”  She slipped her arm around Sammy’s tiny frame to give her youngest daughter a tight hug.

Jessie nodded.  “Go get your suit on, Dad should be home soon.” 

Sammy followed her into the house and before the door shut, she thought she heard her mother whisper, “tell Gerald I miss him.”  The snap of the screen meeting its clasp, muffled her words enough that Jessie couldn’t be sure. 
Great, now I’m hearing things too
, she thought. 

Sammy exited the back of the house and retrieved both their swimsuits from the clothes line, that ran the length of the backyard.  Jessie waited for her, sitting on the bottom step, having words again, with her over active imagination.  Her excitable sister dropped Jessie’s bathing suit at her feet and pushed past her, to change into her own.

Jessie was about to follow Sammy, to get ready for the lake, when she noticed the door to her father’s study, slightly ajar.  This was finally an opportunity to look for a notebook, to replace the one on her bedside table, which was filling up rapidly over the last few days.  She pushed the door open and padded across the smooth dark wooden floor to the desk.  She randomly pulled drawers out of their slots, quickly looked through their contents, until she found what she was looking for.  Jessie located a small blank book, perfect for what she needed.  A piece of paper was peeking out from under the blotter on the desk and from where she stood, Jessie could tell that it was covered in her hand writing.  She pulled the sheet out for a closer look, slightly tearing the top half, then gasped when she realized what it was.

It was a dream entry she had written; the one she mistakenly left in her textbook, in her locker, at school. 
What was it doing here?  How did it get here?
  She recalled writing the words, she couldn’t remember the content.

Jessie scanned over the words on the loose page, a name jumped off of it and smacked her in the face.  An invisible force knocked her backwards into her father’s swivel chair. It bounced off the window ledge and knocked over a framed picture of her family.  She bent down to pick up the face down frame and took a moment to look at the picture.

It appeared to be over seven years old; Sammy was just a toddler, Jessie’s hair was lighter than it was now.  Her mother had barely changed since the day the picture was taken.  To examine it more closely, she brought it up to her face.  There was something about her father.  She couldn’t get over how much he resembled Gerry; maybe that was why Sammy felt so drawn to him.  She turned back to the sheet of paper that was still clutched tightly in her hand, her head throbbing with confusion.  Jessie said the name out loud that had startled her off her feet.  The name as Sammy had spoken it rang through from one ear to the other. “Dex.” 
How did I not remember this?

She thought she had seen a man on the porch, who inexplicably appeared and then vanished.  She was almost positive she heard her mother say something that she couldn’t even come close to explaining. 
Tell Gerald I miss him…. 
And now this?  

Sammy was calling her from the room above her, “I can’t find any towels.”

She hastily replaced the paper where she found it and hurried out of the room.  There was only one explanation for why the entry was in her father’s study:  Becky.