Into the Shadows (27 page)

The driveway at 680 Seventh Street had been plowed
and the sidewalk shoveled. They edged slowly up the drive, past the
trucks to the front door. Paivi took a deep breath and knocked
lightly.

“You have to knock harder than that! No one is going
to hear that light tap.” Christian knocked harder on the door.

Paivi gulped. This was it. Either the necklace was
right and they had come to the right place, or someone else lived
here and they were stuck, in frozen Duluth, Minnesota, with nowhere
to go. What would they do next? Paivi’s mind was racing over the
possibilities. Maybe they could go back to St. Andrew and hide in
Jason’s basement.

The door opened, bringing Paivi back to reality. A
short woman with long, blond hair opened the door just a crack.

“Can I help you?” She sounded nervous.

“Um, Alissa, do you remember me?” Paivi was even
more nervous.

Alissa lifted her eyes to look more closely at the
three strangers on her doorstep.

“I’m sorry, I don’t.”

Paivi could feel tension radiating from the boys
behind her.

“It’s Paivi, my dad is John.”

“Paivi? Oh my god, I didn’t recognize you! Who is
with you?” She glanced at the boys.

“Oh, my brother, Torsten and my friend
Christian.”

“Okay, quick, come inside. You guys are so grown up!
Torsten, you look like you’re twenty-five! Did you happen to see
any ATC agents around?” Alissa quickly shut the door behind them
and locked two deadbolts.

“No, none.”

“Phew. They’ve been hanging around the neighborhood
lately. Tim is getting nervous that they are on to us.” She ushered
them into the kitchen.

The house smelled like cinnamon, it reminded Paivi
of home. She looked around and saw pictures of the family on the
mantel of the small brick fireplace. Pictures of Monika involved in
various activities hung on the walls. The rooms she could see were
small but cozy.

“Please, sit down, make yourselves comfortable.
Would you care for something to drink? Something warm?” Alissa
offered.

“That would be awesome! It’s freezing here!” Torsten
replied.

“How about some hot cocoa — I think I have some
marshmallows in here somewhere.” She disappeared into the
pantry.

“That sounds great.” Torsten smiled nervously at
Paivi.

“So, what brings you here? I’m guessing something
happened at home, or you wouldn’t be showing up on my doorstep so
early on a Monday morning without your Mom and Dad.”

“Our parents are gone. They took them.” Paivi felt
she didn’t even need to say the name anymore. Everyone in the room
knew whom she meant.

Alissa passed steaming, hot mugs to them from the
stove. She brought the bag of marshmallows to the table and took
the last empty seat.

“I’m not surprised. I heard they rounded up a couple
down the street last night as well. One of the neighbors called to
let us know.” She rested her chin on her fist.

Paivi noticed something. Or rather, noticed
something was missing. She didn’t notice an EOS sign in the front
yard, and she didn’t see any EOS badges recharging in the
house.

“They don’t know about you!” she blurted out, too
tired to think about whether it was something to discuss or
not.

“Pardon?” Alissa looked nervous again.

Paivi was nervous too. She looked around. Maybe this
was some kind of trap.

“They don’t know about you. You don’t have a sign in
your yard and you don’t have any EOS badges. How did you manage
that? Are you going to turn us in?” Paivi started to push her chair
back, tense, prepared to run. The boys eyed her nervously.

“Wait, please, just listen,” she pleaded, hands
raised. “I promise, we won’t turn you in. We would never do such a
thing. We’ve been helping EOS people, people like you.”

“Well, how is it that you have your Christmas lights
spelling out words in the window, but you don’t have an EOS badge.”
Paivi asked.

“We aren’t sure. For some reason, we were left off
the list, and no one ever turned us in, if they knew. So we’ve been
sort of running a safe house. A week ago, we helped a few people go
north, over the border into Canada. We’ve had a few people ask for
our help since then. So we put the sign in the window, but it’s
only meant for people who are looking to truly be safe. The ATC
can’t see it, even if they have someone like us working for them,
which is unlikely, there aren’t so many of us up here.”

Paivi’s locket started to heat up, but she didn’t
feel comfortable looking at it. She touched it and met Christian’s
eye. She hoped the locket would hurry up and cool down.

“So what about us? Can you help us get to Canada?”
Christian asked, stirring marshmallows into his cocoa.

The locket cooled significantly.

“Well, we’ll have to see what Tim says when he gets
up. You guys are family, not like the other people he took north. I
mean, I think it’s safe, we would never take people somewhere
dangerous, but you guys are just kids.”

“Just kids who drove eight hours from St. Andrew and
have managed to not get caught by the ATC,” Christian reminded
her.

“Good point,” she chuckled at his bravado. “Why
don’t I make some pancakes? Are you guys hungry?”

“Pancakes sound really good. Thanks,” said Paivi,
finally removing her coat and hanging it on the back of the
chair.

While Alissa cooked, she kept them preoccupied with
small talk, asking how their parents had been doing, telling them
all about Monika and her many athletic talents, and discussing the
weather.

“It’s been a warm winter, you’re lucky!” said
Alissa, bringing a plate of steaming hot pancakes to the table.

“Warm? You call this warm? This is like being at the
North Pole! I figured we’d see Santa Claus walking down the street
here!” laughed Torsten. “I am surprised the lake isn’t frozen, I
figured we could just like, skip the bridge and drive right
across!”

“Funny! Today is a little colder than it has been.
We’ve been pretty lucky though, winter is usually a lot colder by
this time. But Lake Superior doesn’t freeze over any more. I think
it used to, but only every twenty years or so. Now, with global
warming, it doesn’t even partially freeze until January or
February. It would be cool though, to be able to drive across the
lake!”

There was a noise from the hallway, and a tall man
with blond hair entered the room, looking slightly surprised.

“Well, hello. I didn’t know you were expecting
company so early.” The man moved towards Alissa.

“Tim, you remember your cousin John’s kids, Paivi
and Torsten? And this is their friend Christian. Their parents are
gone.”

His face rose and then fell.

“Paivi, Torsten, I wouldn’t have recognized you! I
am happy to see you, but sorry it has to be under such
circumstances.” He walked around the table, giving them each a big
hug. “Nice to meet you, Christian.” He shook Christian’s hand
heartily.

“Our parents told us they were going to call you, to
see if we could come here. They didn’t want us to stay in St.
Andrew anymore; it was getting bad. It was the last thing we talked
about before they were taken.” Paivi sighed. “So coming to Duluth
was the only thing we could think of.”

“Well, you made the right decision. I can’t believe
you made it all the way here without getting caught. That’s
impressive. But I’ve heard the ATC is much more active in the major
cities and the suburbs. We have only a small group here, but
unfortunately they’ve been snooping around, so it’s a bit
scary.”

“So, Tim, what do you think? Alissa was mentioning
to us that you took some people to Canada. Do you think we should
go there?” Paivi asked.

“Well, I certainly think it’s safer for you to go
there than to stay here, especially with the ATC sniffing around.
But I don’t know, it might be too late to make the trip.” He looked
thoughtful.

“Tim, they’re so young! Would it be safe?” Alissa
sounded worried.

“It’s not easy, but it’s not completely unsafe.” He
looked them over. “They look like they could handle it. They’re
pretty athletic.”

Tim filled a plate with pancakes and dragged an
extra chair over to the table. He sat down and poured syrup over
the top of the small stack. He cut them and put a forkful into his
mouth.

“Now that’s good stuff. All right, so you have a car
with you? And some bags or something?”

“Yeah, we parked the car up a side street,”
Christian answered, “and our bags are in the back.”

“Okay, so here’s what we’ll do. I have a friend with
some property, like fifty acres, about twenty minutes outside of
Duluth. We’ll take the truck there and hide it, he won’t mind. Then
we will put your bags in the back of our truck and drive back. It’s
best if you wait here, though, it’s not safe for you guys to be out
and about.”

“You’re going to take my truck?” Christian seemed
surprised by the suggestion.

“Well, I don’t suppose you want them tracing the
license plates and realizing you’re somewhere in the neighborhood.
Like I said, they are already poking around here. We don’t want to
give them any reason to start going door-to-door checking
papers.”

“Okay. I understand.” Christian relented.

“After breakfast here I will make a few calls to see
if it’s possible to still get to Canada. There are some other
options if that won’t work, but it will take a little more planning
in order to get you where you’ve got to go. If it’s possible, you
may be leaving tonight.”

“Tonight!” Paivi squeaked. “That just seems so
fast!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not a vacation, and the sooner you
guys are out of here, the better it is for all of us. If we have a
bunch of people staying here for long periods, they’ll bust us for
sure.” Tim looked serious.

Paivi played with her last few pieces of pancake.
She thought about crying. But why? What good would it do? They
needed to leave, the locket said to run, and it told them to go
north. It didn’t necessarily say to stop at Duluth. It heated up
every time they mentioned Canada, and if she could look at it, she
was sure it would say to keep going. They would be safe there. It
is what she begged her parents to do. If only they could be there
with them. But they weren’t. Instead, she and Torsten were all
alone, without papers — illegal and depending on others to help
them. She gathered herself together.

“Okay. We’ll be ready for whatever.” Paivi looked
confidently at Torsten, who looked a bit nervous at the thought of
such an early departure as well. “What will we do once we get to
Canada?”

“If I can take you to the same place, there is a
house where other people like us are staying. I am not sure what
will happen once you get there. But I know they will help you. A
lot of this is word of mouth, so we are just trusting you’ll be in
good hands. Regardless, you will be in Canada and you will be free
of the ATC. You may just have to deal with the Canadian government,
but I’d take them any day over the ATC. If the Canadians catch you
though, be sure to claim political asylum. Tell them your story.
It’s the only way to keep them from sending you back, because they
will have to investigate, and most likely, you would get it. You’re
just kids. I can’t imagine that they would deny kids political
asylum.”

Alissa came around to pick up their plates. They
rose to help her clear the table.

“I’m going to wake up Monika and have her come down.
I’m sure she’d love to see you guys before you go. Then we’ll get
going and move the truck.” Alissa headed down the hall.

“Feel free to take a shower or take a nap while we
are gone. It could be a long night,” Tim suggested.

Paivi, Torsten and Christian moved to the living
room, settling into the couch and flipping on the television.
Torsten, tired and full of pancakes, fell asleep right away,
snoring because he was sleeping while sitting up on the couch. His
head hung back, mouth wide open.

Tim and Alissa made their way to the front door,
zipping up their coats and pulling on boots.

“We’ll need the keys. What kind of car is it?” Tim
asked, walking towards the couch.

“Black SUV. Illinois plates. It’s just around the
corner. You can’t miss it.” Christian pulled a key off of a key
ring and handed it to Tim.

Tim and Alissa opened the door and with a blast of
cold air, walked out into the sunny morning.

Paivi looked at him funny. “Why didn’t you just give
him the whole key ring?”

“Well, he can keep the car key. But these are my
house keys. Maybe I’ll need them… someday.” Christian sounded
wistful.

“Do you really think we’re coming back?” she
asked.

“I don’t know. Sometimes I hope so. Sometimes I
never want to see this place again. But you know it depends on
whether I get to see my parents again. I can only imagine what
they’re going through. I’ll let them decide where we should live.”
Christian sounded sad for the first time.

“Are we doing the right thing, leaving? My dad kept
telling me only cowards and guilty people would run.” Paivi played
with the zipper on her sweatshirt, thinking back to the image of
her mother in the camp. She didn’t have to imagine what their
parents were going through. She’s seen it.

“Where’s your dad now? What choice did we have? Just
sit around the house and wait for them to pick us up? You know they
wouldn’t have let us stay there for long. I don’t understand why
they didn’t just take us all at once. Maybe it’s easier for them to
keep us away from our parents or something. I bet the ATC didn’t
think we’d run. I wonder if anyone else did.”

The day dragged slowly by. Christian didn’t feel
comfortable not having someone on watch while Alissa and Tim were
gone, so he and Paivi took turns sleeping and watching out the
front window. Torsten continued to snore into the afternoon. Monika
joined them in the living room.