Forsaken - An American Sasquatch Tale (8 page)

Gabriel, Katie and Adrian stayed a few extra days after the disappearance. Liberty knew in her heart it was out of guilt and shame. Whenever Katie had come into Liberty’s bedchamber, with food and drink, she’d tried to hide the contempt in her eyes, but Katie hadn’t succeeded.

Liberty knew she’d been heavy with accusations and distrust on the hellish night of Sage’s disappearance, but she had no regrets.

Katie seldom spoke to her and when she did, the words were short and clipped.

She hated Liberty almost as much as Liberty hated Adrian.

* * *

Liberty awoke in a state of eerie calm. Nathaniel turned to her and gently took her hand. The lantern on the nightstand was dialed down, giving the appearance he had two faces. The one in the light, pure, and the one in the shadow, sinister.

She shivered. She preferred candlelight in the cavern. The flicker of the flames made the chambers seem warm and alive. The battery-powered light froze it all, made the shadows cold and motionless.

“What time is it? How long have I been out?”

“It’s almost morning. You didn’t get much rest though.” He brushed the hair from her forehead. “You tossed and talked in your sleep most of the night.”

She tried to sit up when the previous night’s events came back to her—Sage was alive—but she got up too quickly, became lightheaded. She leaned back against the pillow.

She closed her eyes, willed the spinning in her head to stop. Her mouth felt like a field in the middle of a summer-long drought. She asked without opening her eyes, “Water?”

She felt him lean over and bring a cup to her lips. “Here you go.”

She took a few swallows. Some of the water ran down her chin, a tiny ice stream. “Ooh, cold,” she said through a shiver.

His hands were there to catch the droplets. She melted at his warm touch and smiled, took his hand in hers and moved it to the buttons on her gown.

She tried to remember the last time she and Nathaniel had shared an intimate moment and couldn’t recall. Weeks? A month? She’d been emotionless for so long, her heart probably hadn’t been in it whenever it had been, so the memory of it was gone.

The loss had killed a part of her, and she’d lived the better part of a year in a fog. Not known an hour without a thought of Sage. Awake, asleep, she’d been consumed. She hadn’t forgiven herself, and for that Nathaniel had suffered.

But now her hope was renewed.

She pulled him nearer. “Our girl is alive.”

A sad smile tugged at his mouth as he stroked her hand. “I know you want to belie—”

She yanked her hand away at the patronizing tone. “You heard what Adrian said.” She started to get out of bed, growing angrier by the second. “He said he
saw
her.”

“Shh, please try to understand.”

She blocked out his words. His mouth moved, but she refused to listen. She’d heard it all before. She wasn’t being unreasonable and she certainly wouldn’t give up. They’d all heard what Adrian had said.

“…he said to tell you he is sorry he upset you and he knows he was mistaken.”

She tuned in to Nathaniel’s one-sided conversation. “Who said?”

“Lib, you know who. Adrian. He’s sorry.”

“Let him tell me himself.” She shoved Nathaniel off the bed and flung the blanket back. Standing, she shot Nathaniel the deadliest look she could muster and headed for the doorway.

“They’re gone.”

“What?” They couldn’t have just left after such a huge revelation. “When?” If she hurried, maybe she could catch them.

“Not long after you fainted.”

Her heart sank. They were miles away, if not already back at Proem. “Why?”

“Katie couldn’t bear to stay, said she’d had enough and insisted they all leave right away.” Nathaniel paused, then said, “I took care of matters, though, before she left.”

“What matters?” Liberty asked.

“I told her we wouldn’t mention Adrian’s incident, if she’d keep quiet about ours.”

He had to be kidding, right? She stepped toward him. “Are you saying Adrian’s sighting of Sage was an
incident
? Or my reaction to it? You think I’m crazy to believe it?”

He held up his hands, shook his head in denial and backed away a couple of steps. “Did I say that?”

“Why are you on the defensive now?” She tensed, looked around the chamber, fought the urge to pick a candle and throw it at him. “I feel like I’m the one being wrongly accused here.”

“Does Patience deny your mother’s death?”

She paused, where had that come from? “Excuse me?”

“Patience. Does she think your mother is alive?” He lifted his hands upward toward the surface. “Wandering around somewhere and waiting to be found?”

“You’re insane, you know that?” It was her turn to back away, “I was there. I saw my mother’s body.”

He lowered his voice. “I know that, but Patience never saw her body. So why should she have believed it when they told her that her mother wasn’t coming back?”

She got it, but didn’t fall for his lame attempt at psychoanalysis. “Uh, uh.” She waved a finger back and forth. “My mother and Sage are two different birds, Nathaniel, a sparrow and a vulture. You and I both know it.”

“How so?”

“Really? You really want to do this?”

“We have to. We can’t continue like we have.”

“Fine.” Liberty paced, swallowed her bitterness before she spoke. “The difference? We had evidence for Patience. Namely, there were witnesses, if you’ll remember. There is no explanation where Sage is concerned, no witnesses, no clues. There’s a gaping hole in her story. A giant, empty void.”

“The emptiness is in your heart, Lib.” He reconsidered, “Our hearts.”

“Exactly. But I don’t have a black hole like you do. I don’t grieve. You show me a body and I’ll grieve. Until then…” She crossed her arms. “I’ll keep up my hope. And it seems to me I have a reason now.”

“Adrian said he was mistaken. You ask me, that’s the real story. He saw a human girl that
resembled
Sage. It was dark. It would be an easy mistake.

Being Sasquatch, cursed with a human heart, was enough to drive her mad. She’d rather be human cursed with a Sasquatch heart. Then, instead of cowering down in a cave discussing how bad she felt, she could be out looking for her daughter.

The police, the community, everyone would pitch in. But, no. She had to wait until dark so she wouldn’t be seen as a monster. The whole situation made her want to scream.

“So, just like that, you believe it was a mistaken identity?”

Nathaniel walked to the bed, sat on the edge, and stared at his feet. “I don’t need any more proof. She isn’t here, and hasn’t been here. For us, Lib, sometimes no answer is the only one we get.”

Liberty shook her head. “We never did enough to find her.”

He looked up at her with darkness in his eyes. “How can you say that?”

“I never thought we did.” She pulled a plastic lawn chair across the limestone floor, stared at him.

His eyes were shiny.

“Listen.” She sat and leaned toward him. “I know you’re hurt, I do. And I’m sorry if it seems like I don’t care. But I feel…” She paused and searched for the right words. “I feel like, if I comfort you? It means in some way I accept she’s dead.”

“Fine.” He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, his voice edgy. “But you
do
know we’re relocating.”

She tensed.

He continued, “I’m not saying to Proem, but we’re going to be leaving the area. There’s no negotiating. It’s really out of our hands.”

She hated him, didn’t try to hide the sneer on her face. She stood so fast the chair tipped onto the floor. “That was the plan
before
. I don’t give a damn what you do, but my decision has been made. I’ll rot here.”

She started to storm out, then turned around, walked to the bed, yanked the quilt from it and kicked the chair as she exited the room. It was the first time she’d ever drawn the line between them since they’d moved there, let alone made a big to-do and slept elsewhere. She wasn’t sorry.

Chapter Six

Liberty moved for the guest quarters, only making a quick detour to snag a bottle of wine. The last time she’d given him the silent treatment was probably before they had left Proem, when she’d caught him in Patience’s chamber. But he deserved this as much, if not more than, the last time.

Katie and Gabriel’s cot was still set up so she turned the lantern up a bit and settled in with the quilt she’d taken from their bed. With little trouble, she pulled the cork from the wine bottle. The last one. She didn’t even feel guilty. She lay there, wrapped up, drinking right from the bottle.

The edge of the photo book caught her eye, sticking out from beneath the pillow on the other cot. She wasn’t surprised. Of course Adrian hadn’t returned it; simple courtesy would be completely foreign to him.

She snagged it, closed her eyes and ran her hand over the cover. The raised, purple letters spelled out her daughter’s name.

She and Ellie spent hours snipping and pasting fancy borders around each photo inside. Placing colorful stickers and captions throughout. Chock full of memories and laminated to protect it from the unkind elements of their underworld.

She opened her eyes, turned the page, and a three-year-old Sage greeted her from the lower level of the Kennel, back when Ellie had first opened for business. Sage sat inside a cage, on all fours, meowing and barking her little head off. The picture was snapped mid-woof it seemed, her mouth looked like she blew a kiss to the camera.

Each picture was sweeter than the one before it. Even though auras weren’t captured with cameras, Liberty didn’t need them to see the happiness and love on each face. She continued to look, enjoying the snippets of memories as they popped up from the pages.

Reaching the end, she paused. Scribbled on a piece of paper taken from her desk, was a message from Adrian. It looked dashed off, but it was definitely legible.

Did not make it up. I saw her. She saw me, too. We’re leaving now, no time. More to tell you. Will go to R in 3 days. I’m sorry.

Damn Katie for being so irrational. She needed Adrian here to explain himself. She reread the note, though it didn’t help clarify things. He wanted to meet at the Rendezvous, though. That much was clear. She counted in her head. They’d left yesterday, Sunday, so he wanted to meet her on Wednesday.

There wasn’t a doubt in her mind she would go, come flood or fire. She needed to know the “more”.

She folded up the message, tucked it back inside the album, leaned over, and shut off the lantern. Before finding his note, the wine had begun to work its magic. And just like that, she had sobered up.

How in the world would she be able to wait? She whispered into the dark chamber, “I never gave up.”

Lying there, she willed the words to Sage, wherever she was, with every fiber of her being.

* * *

“You passed out? Really?” Becky headed to the little table in the kitchenette of the kennel, nudging the chair out for Liberty to sit in. “Are you good?”

She nodded and took a seat. Pulling her hair back into a pony, she fastened it with a band from her dress pocket before looking up again.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Liberty sighed. “Now. But last night was so horrible, I can’t even begin to tell you.”

“Well, you try and I’ll listen.” Becky walked to the steaming coffee pot on the counter, and poured them each a cup. “Is it okay to talk? I understand if it’s not.”

Liberty chewed her lip as Becky set the coffee down, tried not to let her emotions get the better of her. “The reason I fainted wasn’t because of the argument.”

“No?”

“No.” Liberty released a sigh. “Adrian admitted it was him in the picture and the reason he’d gotten caught…” She paused again, taking a deep breath before letting it all tumble out at once, “was because he’d seen Sage. Sage in her human form. Crazy isn’t it?”

“Well, no wonder you fainted,” Becky sat slowly, considering the new information. “Wow. That’s huge. Serious?”

Liberty nodded and picked up her coffee, held it to her lips without taking a drink, set it back down and said, “I am. And you know what else?”

“There’s more?”

“I believe him.”

“Oh, Liberty.” Becky reached across the table to take her hand.

Liberty nearly pulled back awkwardly. Becky wasn’t often the touchy-feely type.

“Do you really?” Becky continued.

“You wouldn’t believe him?”

“Well…” Becky shook her head slowly like she really didn’t. “I don’t know. It’s been what? A year? Besides, I thought the only time a Sasquatch was human-shaped aboveground was when…” She paused and Liberty guessed she was doing her best to be tactful. “You know.”

“When they’re dead?”

“Yeah, that. I didn’t want to say it.”

“Well, we don’t know all there is to know in the world, do we? Besides, he thinks she recognized him, too.” Liberty told her about the note.

“Let me get this right. According to Adrian, his girl, the one who might be Sage,” Becky made sure to emphasize
might
. “Was out with some human boy. And then she made eye contact with a Sasquatch, and instead of her screaming, Adrian thinks he saw recognition in her human face?”

“Uh huh.” Liberty didn’t like the way she’d spelled it out.

Becky sat back, picked up her cup and said, “Look, I don’t mean to be a Debby Downer here, but I think you’ve been through enough already and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I’m beginning to feel like I’m talking to Nathaniel,” Liberty snapped. “Why aren’t you being supportive?”

“I am. I truly am. But we’re talking Adrian here, aren’t we? Let’s face it, he’s been less than reliable in the past. Right?”

“Adrian had nothing to gain by telling us he saw Sage and, in fact, he never mentioned it until he’d been confronted with the photograph.”

“Sounds like he was backstroking. Trying to save his ass.”

Liberty didn’t respond, just stared, wanted Becky to get to the point.