A Quill Ladder (56 page)

Abbey snatched the gun from Caleb
’
s hand before he could protest, ran up the bank, and ducked back behind the shed. She heard Caleb calling her name low, telling her to come back, and Mark saying something about not having a life jacket.

She ignored them. The yard was quiet and dark with no motion light, and she made for the narrow gap between the houses as fast as she could go.

The front garden was filled with white decorative stones that reflected the moonlight. She was almost to the street when she heard the crunch of gravel behind her. She swung around, holding the gun aloft, only to see Jake
’
s white face in the shadows of the house behind her.

“
Please don
’
t shoot,
”
he whispered urgently.
“
I
’
m not going to hurt you.
”

“
Was it you following us this whole time?
”
she said.

Jake shook his head.
“
I think Damian was, but he turned back.
”

“
Are you alone?
”
she said, looking behind him.

“
Yes.
”

“
Are you working with them?
”

“
No.
”

“
So what are you doing here then?
”

“
Coming to find you. To help you.
”

“
But you came here with them.
”

“
They were blackmailing me, and I had no idea what they were doing until your friend Ian filled me in.
”

“
All the same, I
’
m not sure if I need your help, Jake.
”
Abbey looked beyond him, to make sure that Caleb and Mark hadn
’
t appeared. Or Damian, or Nate. Or any of them. She hoped that Caleb and Mark were floating down the river.

“
I was hoping we could just try to get home together,
”
Jake said.

“
I have things I have to do first.
”
Abbey turned and headed toward the street.

Jake followed.
“
I
’
ll come along then, if you don
’
t mind.
”

“
You just don
’
t know how to get home yourself,
”
Abbey wheezed as she darted through the darkened front yards in the direction of the apothecary. Jake stayed right behind her, his movements effortless and graceful. Tiny shards of blue and red lights reflected off houses to the west. The police must be at Kasey
’
s by now.

“
Was Ian outside the house?
”

Jake nodded.
“
He moves like a ghost at the speed of light, that man. Damian took off after him, firing his gun. I didn
’
t know what to do. I didn
’
t sign up for shooting.
”

“
Then you might want to reconsider who you hang with.
”
Abbey paused to catch her breath in the shadow of a Japanese yew.
“
Which direction did they go?
”

“
I don
’
t know.
”

“
Was Farley okay?
”

“
I don
’
t know.
”

“
Where
’
s my dad?
”

Jake almost jumped when she said this.
“
I have no idea.
”

Abbey stomped her foot.
“
Fat lot of good you are then.
”

“
They don
’
t tell me anything. I
’
m just like their metal detector. They seem to think that if I can sense the docks, I can find something else for them. But I have no idea what they
’
re looking for. So I
’
ve been a bit useless. They didn
’
t seem that bad at first. They said they were just looking to help our people.
”
Jake slashed quotation marks in the air around
“
our people,
”
as if he didn
’
t really believe that he was one of them.
“
Is your dad missing?
”

“
Never mind.
”
Abbey resumed her yard-darting. It occurred to her that Jake could probably piggyback her faster than she could get there herself.
“
If you
’
re going to even think about following me, you have to promise me that you won
’
t ever help them again.
”

“
I promise.
”

Abbey glared fiercely at him while she ran. His heavily fringed dark eyes were wide, and his hair curled up around his collar.
“
I promise,
”
he repeated more softly. He could be tricking her. He had, after all, been working with Selena.

The sound of pattering footsteps made Abbey jump. Farley bolted out of a yard and onto the sidewalk, dragging his leash and emitting howls of joy. He threw himself at Abbey, nearly knocking her down, until Jake managed to grab the leash and pull Farley into a sit.

“
Off, Farley. Quiet,
”
Abbey said, and then buried her face in the dog
’
s neck and wrapped her arms around his quivering body, so grateful that he was still alive. Something hard and cold hit her chin, and she drew back.

Looped into Farley
’
s collar, and smeared with dried blood, was Ian
’
s silver key to the tunnels.

The ride down the river was surprisingly smooth and quiet and gave Mark the opportunity to study the geography of the riverbanks. The banks were steep and eroded sharply in spots, and Mark saw the edges of an old paved road that had been cut away by one of the banks.

This river had definitely flooded at some point, but now it was a surprisingly small river, considering the volume of water he was sure flowed through the Coventry City of the present. He turned around and looked up the river to where the Granton Dam once stood. In the dark, and from this low elevation, he couldn
’
t make out the spot between the mountains where the dam should be. Of course, the dam wasn
’
t visible in the present Coventry City either. You had to be relatively high and to the east on the Circle Plateau to be able to look across the valley and see it
—
like where they had been that day when they
’
d gone for the hike in the woods in the other future.

Dams, he knew, were decommissioned all the time. But not usually major hydroelectric dams undergoing an expansion.

BP. Bottom of the pentagram. It made sense. He had been convinced it was the briar patch, or the beaver pond. He was also still not sure about the meaning of the cross and the location of the docks. There was some connection there, but he couldn
’
t quite see it yet. Perhaps if he could go back and check the maps at the library, he would understand. There was no time now, though. Then there was the matter of a fifth map. Selena had clearly referred to five maps. Yet Kasey had thought there were only four. Mark needed to sort that out, too.

Caleb lay in the bottom of the boat, barely moving, his eyes closed. Mark realized that it would probably be up to him to guide them to shore when they reached the hospital. Despite the shallowness of the river
—
so shallow that they scraped sandbars and Mark was certain he could wade to shore in spots
—
the current carried them swiftly. When the outlines of the long, low hospital building were in sight, Mark plunged the two oars into the water, and after a few false starts in which he paddled the boat in circles, he managed to land the boat on a sandy beach.

Mark clambered out and called to Caleb, who rose with difficulty, the left side of his face puffy and purple and blood-crusted under his nose and on his cheek. They made their way up the riverbank to where Ms. Beckham and Simon stood waiting in the courtyard outside the hospital.

Ms. Beckham gasped when she saw Caleb, and Simon rushed at them, demanding to know where Abbey was.

“
She
’
s meeting us at Abbott
’
s Apothecary,
”
Caleb said, wincing with the effort of talking. Simon and Ms. Beckham turned to Mark as if to ask how he could possibly have allowed this to happen.

“
She said to bring Caleb to get you,
”
Mark said.

This didn
’
t seem to be the right answer, as there were lots of alternately raised and lowered eyebrows and scrunched-up skin around Ms. Beckham
’
s and Simon
’
s eyes.

After a debate on whether Caleb should be treated right away or not
—
during which Caleb declared repeatedly that he was fine
—
they decided that finding Abbey was the priority. So they squeezed into Simon
’
s small commuter car and sped in the direction of the apothecary, while Ms. Beckham grilled Caleb on what happened. Caleb gave an abbreviated version of going to Kasey
’
s and encountering Selena, Nate, and Damian. Ms. Beckham did not seem pleased by any of this and repeatedly said,
“
I told you not to go alone,
”
with looks at Mark again, as if he were responsible.

The apothecary was dark save for a small light that seemed to be coming from a back office. Abbey wasn
’
t there, and Ms. Beckham started to pace.

“
Where was she coming from?
”
she demanded.

“
480 Apple Tree Road,
”
Mark said.
“
Or thereabouts.
”
He decided not to mention that she had a gun and that someone might have been following them. Caleb didn
’
t offer this information either.

“
I
’
ll go drive along the streets between here and there,
”
Simon volunteered, and headed off in his boxy little red car that ran on electricity.

*****

“
I don
’
t want to alarm you,
”
Jake said, leaning in really close so that his lips almost touched her ear.
“
But I think there
’
s someone following us.
”

They were almost at the apothecary, and Abbey just wanted to get back to her family and her home.

“
Should we run, do you think?
”
Abbey whispered. They had been half jogging along in relative silence. She had told him how hurt Caleb was, and how worried she was about her mother and father, and he had listened and said some nice words about how he hoped they would all be okay.

She liked Jake. She couldn
’
t seem to stop herself from liking Jake.

Abbey had been so relieved at the hospital when her mother had said the treatment had worked, that she would be fine, that she had caught it soon enough. But there was a strange sadness in her face when she said this, and when Abbey had finally asked what it was that her mother had
—
it seemed okay to ask, now that she was cured
—
her mother had said gently that they would talk about it when they got home. Her mother
’
s sadness and mysteriousness didn
’
t make sense if she was going to be okay
—
which meant in Abbey
’
s mind that the disease had to be genetic, and by process of elimination, and degree of inheritability, Abbey had decided it had to be Huntington
’
s
—
a neurodegenerative disorder with a fifty percent heritability rate. That was the only reason she could see for their parents not telling them. They didn
’
t want Abbey, Caleb, and Simon to have to live with the knowledge that, in all probability, one or more of them would get the disease
—
and might live in a future with no cure.