Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel (14 page)

Allie winced, “Yeah, we would have, but my system’s not working. It’s been down since last week.”

Riordan and Smythe exchanged a long look before Smythe said, “I’d really get that fixed as soon as possible if I were you.”

The two detectives walked over to examine the damage to the windows. Riordan took out a small camera and began taking pictures of the scene. Smythe nudged a two by four lying on the ground with his foot, nodding at Riordan. “This did it, you think?”

“Probably, let’s bag it and we can check,” Riordan agreed, and then to Allie, “Any idea who might have done this?”

Allie shook her head. “No. Oh, and if the other stuff’s all connected-“

“What other things have happened?” Riordan interrupted.

“Well the dead animals started more than a week ago.”

Riordan stopped taking pictures. “Dead animals? What dead animals?”

“A squirrel, a bird, and a cat so far.”

“You should have called the police before now,” Riordan said tightly.

“I did,” Allie replied, puzzled. “I called and reported it after the cat.”

“You did? And someone came out and opened a case?”

“Well someone came out,” Allie said. “And she told me she was going to file a report.”

“Do you remember what the officer’s name was?” Smythe asked, waiting to be sure Riordan had photographed it before carefully picking up the two by four and bagging it.

“O’Donnell,” Allie said, sure she wouldn’t soon forget the name. The two detectives exchanged a knowing look that piqued Allie’s curiosity but before she could ask about it they were moving on, asking her to go over finding the dead animals in detail. Riordan wrote everything down this time.

“Okay Ms. McCarthy we’ve got your statement and it’s going to take a couple hours at least to get this scene processed. Why don’t you call a glass place to get these windows fixed and then go sit down or try to get your mind off all of this. You can’t help anything by hanging around here.”

“I hate to just leave you guys here to deal with all of it…” Allie sighed, looking at the empty windows, the glitter of broken glass across the floor, and bit her lip.

“I understand and under different circumstances I’d say stay, but in this case it won’t do any good and you need a break. I promise I’ll stay and keep an eye on things until we wrap up and by then the new windows should be in. Do you have insurance?”

“Yeah, I need to call and file a claim.”

“I’ll give you the case number, you go do that. Trust me a business like this they’ll do everything they can to get someone right out to fix the windows.”

Reluctantly Allie nodded, and then feeling tired of looking at the destruction she walked over to Lei’s store, Curious Curios. The sign outside proudly proclaimed “Curious Curios: Purveyors of Unique Antiques and Original Oddities”. Which Allie reflected described everything in the store, including its owner, pretty succinctly.

Lei insisted on feeding Allie lunch, some unidentifiable food that tasted delicious and did make Allie feel a little bit better. Then she gave her space to make the calls she needed to on her cell phone. That was one great thing about Lei – she could be wonderfully supportive and also give Allie as much space as she needed. It was a shame that Allie just couldn’t take the pixie’s energy in large doses without feeling like her head was spinning or they might have been close friends.

Lei had turned back towards her own sales counter while Allie talked on the phone, and now Allie drifted slowly towards the door and out onto the sidewalk. Detective Riordan was still standing in front of Between the Worlds, collecting evidence and talking with his partner. The guys from Supreme Glass and Windows were already on the way and Riordan had said there was nothing for her to do here for a couple hours. He’d promised to keep things safe. She trusted him.

She stood with the sun beating down on her, squinting in the bright light, unsure what to do. She had a nagging feeling she should call Jess, but she didn’t want to bother him. She didn’t want to worry Liz or Jason, who couldn’t help anyway, so going home wasn’t an option. After a moment she thought of one thing, one errand she’d been putting off, and slowly pulled her cell phone out.

*********************************

She knew it was mid-day, even though the room was dark. The windows had been covered with towels duct taped in place to block out all the light, and she was pretty sure keep anyone from possibly seeing inside. But here and there around the edges little shafts of sun broke through anyway, like weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalks. Her eyes traced the outlines of the windows over and over, watching for the little hints of light. She had nothing else to do.

The room was quiet. There were no sounds from outside the room either, meaning that he wasn’t there. That was good.

She risked shifting her weight slightly making the bed creak. She held her breath. Nothing.

He really wasn’t there.

She rolled over as far as the ropes would allow, trying to find a comfortable way to lay. It wasn’t easy. The bindings pulled at her, cutting into her already raw, chafed wrists and ankles.

She thought of her mother and she wanted to cry, but there weren’t any tears. She suspected that this was Hell and there was no relief from the torment, but she could not imagine what she had done to deserve this. Hell was supposed to be something that people earned, and she had always tried to be a good person….

He would be back soon. He never left for very long.

She turned back over and tried to find the light seeping in around the windows again, to convince herself that the outside world still existed.

She didn’t quite believe it anymore.

*********************************

Allie pulled into the long driveway to the co-op, relieved to have finally found it. Rose’s directions had been good, but Allie rarely came out to this part of town and she had missed the turn on to the road the co-op was on twice and had then driven at a crawl afraid she’d miss the driveway. Out here in the rural part of Ashwood not all the mailboxes were numbered and the narrow country road didn’t offer anywhere to easily turn around. Now that she’d made the decision to drive out and finally pick up the sculpture Rose had promised her in trade for the books she’d picked out Allie found herself anxious to get back to her store. She’d almost turned around twice but her fear of having to call Rose back and cancel kept her going.

The gravel driveway was long and winding, the ruts proving a challenge for Allie’s small car. Originally the co-op had been a campground for children, but in the 1960’s Sara’s family had bought the property to turn it into an artist’s retreat. Sara’s grandfather was a novelist and the family had felt that offering a place to go and have some solitude in the magical atmosphere of the borderland – not quite Fairy but not mortal earth either – would provide inspiration for artists of various media. The cabins had been converted from bunkroom style buildings into individual loft spaces with basic amenities (and almost no modern technology). What had once been a group lodge was now a central meeting area and small gallery.

The problem they ran into fairly quickly was that each year artists came and decided they wanted to stay long term; eventually they decided to turn it from a vacation style retreat into a co-operative, with permanent residents buying in and sharing the costs going forward. There were still a few cabins that were rented out on a temporary basis, but most of the residents now were permanent. Sara’s family legally owned the property and so she acted as the site manager, something she compared to bathing cats most of the time: dramatic, painful, but ultimately worth the effort.

Allie drove past the long line of cabins, counting until she reached the fifth on the left. The little building had more windows than Allie had expected and appropriately enough a tangle of wild roses to either side of the door. There wasn’t anywhere to park so she pulled her car as far off into the grass as she dared. Before she’d even shut off the engine Rose was coming out the front door, smiling. Allie felt some of her tension draining away. Rose greeted her warmly, “Allie! I’m so glad you finally made it out. I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.”

Allie got out of the car and crossed the uneven expanse of ground towards the other woman. Rose was wearing a faded pair of jeans, white t-shirt, and canvas apron; her clothes, hands and face were liberally decorated with clay in various stages of drying. Allie frowned, worried she’d picked a bad time, “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting.”

“Oh goodness no! I needed to take a break anyway. Once I get started sometimes I get so carried away I forget to stop and eat,” Rose smiled, holding the door open and gesturing for Allie to enter.

Allie stepped into the room and was immediately overwhelmed, “There’s…there’s a lot of iron in here.”

“Hmmmm? Would you like some tea? Oh, yes there is a lot of iron isn’t there? Sara said it’s to help keep out any dangerous things that might be wandering around,” Rose said, going over to the cast iron woodstove and moving the tea kettle to an open burner.

“I think I’ll pass on the tea, thanks,” Allie said, eyeing the iron kettle. She stood just inside the door, struggling to adjust to the way magic was palpably less in here. It reminded her of being fully on earth, which always took a bit to get used to. “And Sara’s right all this iron would be a good defense against most Fey creatures.”

While Rose busied herself getting a mug and making herself a sandwich, Allie finally had a chance to look around. The cabin was set up as a small loft space, with a kitchenette, futon (currently set up as a couch, but obviously also used as a bed) and small dining area. The rest of the area, at least half the room, was studio space: canvas tarps covered the floor and several long tables had been set up with red and gray clay in various states, from plastic wrapped blocks to drying sculptures scattered across their surfaces. A huge skylight dominated the eastern side of the pitched ceiling, and the walls were mostly windows, with shelves running above and below. On the shelves….

“Rose, these are amazing!” Allie exclaimed, reaching out but not quite touching the closest statue. The figure of a woman dancing, it perfectly captured the feeling of movement, as if the tiny person would finish her swirling step any moment. The detail in the hair and flaring skirt, the tiny fingers on the hands and expression of joy on the face were so exact they looked almost unreal.

“Do you like that one? It’s based on one of my daughters. I really tried to capture how much she loves dancing, the freedom of it, you know?” Rose said, walking over holding her sandwich.

“It’s perfect.”

“Thank you,” Rose sounded genuinely pleased at the compliment. Allie walked slowly along the shelf admiring the collection of pieces. Each one was completely unique and captured people and animals in a variety of actions, but they all held that same spark of life. It was almost eerie.

At the very end of the shelf was a horse, reared back as if it were jumping or flying, its rear legs and tail disappearing in a swirl reminiscent of a wave. There was something captivating about it, something Otherworldly, that really got Allie’s attention.
Ciaran would love this
Allie thought, reminded of her kelpie friend who often took the form of a horse. Spontaneously Allie decided to ask if she could have this sculpture for the trade and then she could give it to Ciaran as a gift. “Rose, what about this one? Could I have it for the books?”

“That one?” Rose sounded shocked. “Are you sure? It’s not even really finished.”

“It isn’t?”

“No. I couldn’t get the base to hold the weight the way I wanted so I just left it and moved on to another project.”

Allie blinked, and then looked again at the sculpture. It seemed perfect as it was to her. “I love it. It’s gorgeous. Are you sure I can’t have it?”

“Of course you can have it if you want it, although I’ll need to pop it in the kiln and finish it. But it doesn’t seem a fair trade.”

Allie worked up her courage to reach out and gently touch the cold clay horse. “It’s more than fair. It’s perfect.”

“Well if you’re sure? I can have it ready by Saturday, if you’d like.”

“I’m positive,” Allie said.
I’ll give the horse to Ciaran
she thought, pleased,
and I’m sure he’ll see it the way I do. It’s been too long since I visited with him
. Allie had always tried to get out to the pond the kelpie lived in, which was in the woods behind her house, at least every few weeks. But her bad ankle made the short hike across the rough terrain so painful that in the last six weeks she had only been out once. Hopefully he would forgive her absence if she came bearing such a special gift.

Rose was watching her admire the horse with a small smile. “You know you remind me a lot of my youngest daughter. She just started college this year and she gets that same look on her face sometimes. Like she’s watching the statues move in her head.”

Allie laughed. “She sounds like someone I’d like. But I’m far too old to be your daughter.”

It was Rose’s turn to laugh. “I just said I have a daughter in college – and that’s my youngest! – don’t even ask me how old my oldest is. You barely look old enough to be in college yourself.”

Allie blushed and then found herself speechless. She really liked Rose and she wanted the other woman to like her too. But not everyone reacted well to finding out about her mixed heritage which is why she often hid it. On the other hand it seemed terribly unfair to stand there surrounded by expressions of Rose’s art, pieces of her soul, and hide such an essential part of herself. Allie tried to make herself say the words but they just wouldn’t come, so finally, feeling foolish, she reached up and awkwardly pushed her hair behind her ears.