Gretel (37 page)

“You can’t live forever.” Odalinde’s words were weary, a desperate attempt at reason with the mad woman who now stood above her, measuring the setting, timing the moment for her final, fatal attack. She was so strong, Odalinde thought. Hopelessly strong.

“In theory, that seems not to be true.” The witch’s reply was quizzical as if lightly considering the concept for the first time. “Though practically I’m sure you’re right. But, my fellow Orphist, these types of philosophical dialectics have never been of interest to me, in any area of study really, but particularly in the subject of…”

She paused, and Odalinde noted the trepidation in the witch’s voice in the words that followed.

“…the subject you’ve presented,” she continued. “My role is only to take the opportunities as they are presented to me. And as I’ve promised to those Universals who are greater than the sum of us all, I shall never reject one again.”

With a squint, Odalinde locked eyes with the remade woman, and then, never losing the gaze, shook her head slowly in disgust. “You’re no Orphist. You believe yourself one, talk as one, but you are not. Just as I was not. But what I know now is that you are much worse than I am, or ever was. You care nothing for life—you’re not even human.”

Odalinde had given up on survival, and this type of banter would all but guarantee her death. But there was no discomfort in that thought—her time had arrived to forfeit what she should never have possessed. And as this judgment became realized, a feeling of warmth drifted over her. She’d done what she could for Gretel and Hansel, and her only goal now was to draw out this moment, to stall—for as long as her heart forced blood through her veins—the infandous demon above her.

“You’re a common being. Like a tree.” Odalinde laughed at her somewhat childish analogy. “Destined to live on for centuries, alone and soulless—loveless—with nothing to offer the world.” Odalinde looked away in confusion, a visible display of her rethinking the comparison. “So, to be accurate then, you’re much lower than a tree. A tree is an object which lavishes on the world fruit and habitation, air to breath and shelter from heat and rain. You give nothing. You’re a parasite. An immortal parasite. What worse thing could ever exist on this earth?”

The witch’s expression stayed frozen. The confident smile, which emerged instantly after sending Odalinde to the ground with the force of a stallion’s kick, remained. But Odalinde could now detect the effort behind the smile, and the rage bubbling beneath it. Would she kill her now? Odalinde prayed not, not for her own life, but to give the children just a bit more time.

“I was like you. For years. I know the addiction as well as anyone who’s ever been in its grips.” Odalinde’s tone was softer, now trying slowly to unreel the witch, just enough to keep her on the line while still maintaining the attention she’d won. “But I returned to Orphism—true Orphism—not the horrid recipe that has become its legacy. I rediscovered—or perhaps found for the first time, it had been so long I couldn’t remember—the remarkable book of The Ancients. The beauty and truth of a spectacular people, who informed of a message that, had it been widely read, was potent enough to catapult humanity centuries forward. Perhaps further. I felt the pride in that, the responsibility.” Odalinde smiled flatly. “And I changed. It took some time, but I changed.”

Odalinde paused, hoping the witch would give her some measure of reply, some morsel of conversation which Odalinde could latch onto and steer into a dialogue. But she stood frozen above her, her teeth bared in that insidious smile, fingernails protruding down to the ground.

“You’ve enough now to live for as long you’d ever want to,” Odalinde continued. “Look at you! You’re…quite stunning really. I imagine you were rather old once—old!—and now you’ve replenished. You’ve found that elusive fountain of myth!” Odalinde lowered her voice, sensing an impact of her words on the witch. “Look at you. You don’t need more. These aren’t animals of the forest, these are your kin.”

Odalinde knew any word she uttered could topple the delicate interest she’d acquired, and she measured each carefully.

“You don’t want to be a destroyer forever. You’ve already taken this gift—despite what you’ve done to get it—it’s yours now, and there’s nothing that can be done to return it. So take it, live a long life, and then, centuries from now, let your spirit return to the universe, the way Life has intended it always to be. For all of us.”

Odalinde reveled in her eloquence, not out of pride, but because she recognized that her filibustering words and the truth of what she was saying were one and the same. Yes, if it was time to die, she was ready; she had never been as certain of anything in her long, damaged life. She would welcome it now, the moment she believed the children were safe, she wanted not another second in this world.

But she would never know if her words would have been enough to change the witch, or if another few minutes could have made any difference at all for the children. The scene was broken, interrupted, as the sound of popping gravel cascaded from beneath the truck of Georg Klahr.

Anika stood looking back at the cannery window and the fence over which she’d just vaulted; she had no clue if she’d cleared the deadly barbs by five feet or five inches. Before she jumped she told herself only to look forward, to the treetops in the distance, and to focus on landing as soundly as possible. And the strategy had paid off. The ground, soft from overgrowth, cushioned the soles of her feet—as well as her knees and shoulders on the subsequent role—and she’d touched down on the other side uninjured. She was free once again, and the thirst to find her home was now primal.

She walked slowly across Rifle Field to the edge of the lake—the latest hurdle in Anika’s seemingly endless maze of obstacles—took off her shoes and rolled her pants to her knees, and then waded to the middle of her shins, gauging the depth of the water and the amount of swimming that would be required. Once she left the grounds of Rifle Field and started up the lake, she knew there would be no bank on which to rest, not until she reached the Klahr orchard—or her own property on the opposite side. Was that a quarter mile? A half? Surely it wasn’t a mile! Really she hadn’t any idea. She could wade much of the way she supposed, and at no point would she be required to swim at breakneck speeds or fight currents; but once she was out there, beyond plodding distance, there was no going back.

And darkness had arrived.

The night was clear and the moon, not yet high, was a solid gibbous that in little over an hour she estimated, would offer a beacon to follow. It wasn’t visibility that worried Anika, it was her stamina. Even the numerous nocturnal critters, some of which were potentially harmful, never even entered Anika’s thoughts; had she found herself in this situation a year ago, having never endured the ordeal that would now shape her life forever, thoughts of snakes and eels would have paralyzed her. But she trusted herself now, trusted her instincts and decision-making. And there was little choice besides.

She stepped back to the shore and disrobed to her underwear, figuring the weight of her clothes would only add to her burden, and then waded back into the lake, this time pushing forward, feeling the cold murkiness of the lake seep over her crotch and hips before settling at her midriff. She looked back to the shore, briefly regarding her shoes and clothes, considering whether the smart move was to toss them into the water, erasing evidence that she’d been there at all. She quickly decided against it—if she were to drown, she figured, those may be the only clues to finding her body and eventually punishing the guilty. The System would certainly crack the case! she thought, smiling in spite of the dreadful truth of her cynicism.

Anika began sidestepping slowly down the bank toward her destination, careful to have one foot planted firmly before lifting the other, and thankful for every inch she made closer without being forced to swim. At the onset, the going was steady, and the ground at her feet was sturdy. Maybe she could walk most of the way, she thought. It wasn’t likely, but not impossible. Perhaps the water levels affected the bed beneath and deposited dirt and gravel at the borders, making this trip achievable by foot alone! She was getting carried away, she knew, particularly since she knew as much about lakes and tides and submarine sediment as she did about the mating habits of the striped polecat. Nothing. But her mind was occupied, and though the waterline had risen since her departure—closing in on her breasts—the rise was gradual, and she was confident in her progress.

Her foot set down on something hard, Anika assumed a rock until it moved slowly away, and then she assumed a turtle. If the only thing she encountered in this lake tonight were turtles, she thought, she’d label herself happy. She’d been lucky to this point, not just in the lake but since she’d left the warehouse.

Since she’d killed her father. (This was not the time to explore that part, she thought. Later she’d be happy to run through the emotions associated with that act, but not now.)

Of all the scenarios, things had fallen into place for her. Finally. She’d escaped the warehouse before the officer returned, had found her escape route through the cannery window before nightfall, and, miraculously, found herself no more than a short boat ride from home, though this last part, she supposed, would have been luckier with the provision of an actual boat. But, all in all, things could have gone much worse.

And when the report of the shotgun exploded over the lake, she assumed they were about to.

Gretel screamed at the sound of the blast, turning sharply toward the window that looked out on the orchard and the lake beyond.

Reflexively, Petr draped his arm across Gretel’s shoulders, pulling her close to him. She moved into his clutch, but her eyes were wide with shock and focused on Mrs. Klahr, whose look was akin to Gretel’s.

The four of them—Gretel, Hansel, Petr, and Mrs. Klahr—stood frozen, breathless, waiting for the next shotgun blast to erupt. Did Gretel want a second shot or not? She couldn’t decide. Did one shot mean Mr. Klahr had killed the witch? Or did it mean the witch had descended on Mr. Klahr, flown across the lot as she’d done to Odalinde, and the one blast was just an aimless discharge? She was suddenly praying for the second report, but it never came. Gretel’s eyes darted crazily from the window to Mrs. Klahr to Hansel and back to the window again.

“It will be all right, Gretel,” Mrs. Klahr stated flatly, without conviction.

Gretel pulled away from Petr and walked briskly over to Hansel. She kissed him gently on the forehead and then pulled him close. She held him that way for just a moment and then turned and walked to the door, opening it wide.

“Gretel, no!” It was Petr

“I have to go, Petr. I should have never left them.” And then, “And he needs me.”

“He tried to kill you, Gretel,” Mrs. Klahr said sharply, without apology. “And may have helped murder your mother.”

Gretel stood still, hesitating, her back to Mrs. Klahr and the others. “I love you, Mrs. Klahr. Until my last day on this earth, as long as my mind is sound and my body able, I will do anything for you. And when I said, “he needs me,” I meant Mr. Klahr.”

Gretel could hear the sounds of Mrs. Klahr crying as she walked down the steps of the porch toward the lake and the waiting canoe.

No! Odalinde thought, as she turned to see the headlights of the weathered pickup. It was Mr. Klahr, the man who had saved Gretel, the man who, along with his wife, had given the girl a job and a purpose, and thus a new hope about what her life could be. She was relieved at first, knowing that the children had obviously made it to the Klahrs and reported on the madness presently unfolding, but then panic set in. She’ll kill him, of course, Odalinde knew, but worse, she’ll torture him, use his pain as a path to the children.

“Go away!” Odalinde screamed the instant the truck door opened.

The man inside ignored the command, and instead stepped to the driveway, a twin-barreled shotgun steadied upon his shoulder before his second foot touched the ground.

“I’ll go away when you’re in the truck ‘side me, ma’am,” replied Georg Klahr, his voice slow and gentle. “Not before then, however. You there, locksy lady with the chompers, I’ll need you to step away from the children’s guardian. Now!” Mr. Klahr slid the fore-end of the shotgun back and then forward, stripping the shell from the magazine and loading the chamber.

The witch did nothing at first, standing completely motionless, and her pause seemed aggressive to Odalinde, calculating. And then, as if finally comfortable with the plan she’d formulated, the witch obeyed, and stepped away from Odalinde, slightly forward, toward the threat before her, her eyes remaining fixed on the man.

“You know the children? Those two in her charge?” the witch asked. Her words sounded intrigued and pleased.

“Be quiet!” Odalinde shouted from behind the woman, “You don’t know me, or anything about my children. You’re just that old fool from across the lake! Get out of here! This is none of your concern!” Odalinde tried to sound demented and fierce; she’d never met the Klahrs, but from what Gretel had no doubt told them about her over the last several months, the man was likely to be convinced of her madness.

The witch moved quickly back toward Odalinde, like a large spider scurrying to a cricket, and, using a single hand, reached down and snatched Odalinde by the hair, standing her straight and positioning her to act as a shield.

The moment for Georg Klahr to shoot was then, Odalinde knew, there wouldn’t be another opportunity. But the witch’s movements were lightning fast, and with the natural stress of the situation, combined with the incredulousness of the overall scene—including the dead body of his neighbor Mr. Morgan, bloody and shredded on the driveway—it was no doubt Mr. Klahr couldn’t squeeze the trigger. It was likely he would have missed, of course, or even shot the wrong target, Odalinde thought, but it was a chance, and though the woman was still at bay, in that few seconds the advantages had turned dramatically.