The Stone of Blood (42 page)

“We’ll find it Ms. Lillie.” I said. “But I don’t know
who
to look out
for
. How will I know them?”

Cricket elbowed me from the front. “That’s what you’ve got me here for, boy!” she said.

“She’ll steer you right Mr. Toby.” Ms. Lillie said nearly laughin’. “You just keep her real close to you now, you hear me?”

“I will.” I said as I held on to Cricket as she gaited her horse and we galloped off through the fields. Ms. Lillie waved goodbye to us from her front porch steps and then she watched us as we rode further out into the fields …and then she went on back inside her house.

I held on to Cricket as tight as I could without hurtin’ her. And I scooted up real close to her in the saddle so that I could feel the wind blowin’ through her hair and then brush up against my face.

Cricket’s horse was named ‘
Promise
’. I thought that was a good name.

“You like me don’t you Toby?” Cricket asked me as she slowed down her horse’s gait to a trot.

“Yeah, I do.” I answered and hugged her a little tighter. She couldn’t see me blushin’ so I was a little braver when I said it.

“That’s good...” she said, “…because I like you too!” And then she kicked softly at her horse’s sides again with her legs and feet and made that clickin’ sound with her mouth to make him trot a little faster.

We rode along the widest trail and the longest way around and through the meadows of grassy green, just about as far away from the open quarry as we possibly could! I really didn’t mind how long it was takin’. It just meant that I got to hold on to that girl a little while longer. And I wasn’t mindin’ that part none at all! But we had reason for it. We didn’t want those soldiers that had been over there earlier in the mornin’ marchin’ around, to see us! At least that’s what I was tellin’ myself anyways.

Once we’d reached the thickly wooded area on the other side of the meadow, we slipped down from off of the horse’s back and walked him over to the edge of the waters of that same small creek that we’d crossed earlier in the day. And he took a long cold drink from it.

“We’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.” Cricket said as she patted her horse’s neck and stroked his coat. “It’s mostly woods from here on out.”

I watched her as she untied Promise’s saddle and let it slip down from his side. And I watched her as she carried it over to the shade of a tall tree where she hid it under the cover of a fallen log with some brush.

As her horse rose up from his drink from the creeks cool waters, she patted his long nose and his soft nibblin’ mouth and she giggled. He was wet! And then she slid his bridle off over his ears.

“Go on boy! Go on Promise!” Cricket said as she patted his back side and shooed him off. “You go on now and run in the field until we come back to get you. Go on!” she said. It was good seein’ her relate to her horse like she did.

Cricket was a good spirit …it made me like her more.

Cricket come close to me then and stood right up against me like she was darin’ me to kiss her! And then she took my hand and smiled and led me on through the woods.

I knew right then …that the next time I saw the chance I was gonna take it! I was gonna kiss that girl!

Cricket held my hand tightly and led me through the wooded brush as I followed closely. She had been through these woods many times before, walkin’ barefoot down the paths by way of shortcuts through the trees! At least that’s what I figured, that she knew where we was goin’. Otherwise I was gonna get lost tryin’ to find my way back out of there myself!

“We’re goin’ in through my secret way.” Cricket whispered to me as she squatted down near the ground lookin’ sharply through the low branches and underbrush to a clearin’ up ahead of us.

She pulled me down beside her then and pointed through the brush. “You see those bushes over there up against those rocks? Right between those bushes is an entranceway that opens up like an old-timey lookin’ pair of cellar doors.” She continued.

“Cricket?” I whispered back. “Why are we whisperin’?”

Cricket looked up through the brush and pointed to the far side of the clearin’ ahead of us, where a large twelve point Buck deer sat in the shade of an overhangin’ tree! He was surrounded by seven young Doe’s and three small fawns that ran playin’ in the sunlight. The Buck was majestic, almost regal lookin’ in his stance. I held my breath. I didn’t wanna move! I didn’t wanna make a sound that would scare em’ away!

I turned then and I saw that Cricket had been watchin’ me. And then she leaned over to me smilin’ sweetly, and tenderly kissed me on the cheek. And then she nudged me playfully, right after I’d leaned over and kissed her back!

A gun shot rang out just then from somewhere afar off in the woods! And the herd of deer thunderously scattered!

A flock of birds flew off in all directions as Cricket placed her hand to her mouth to catch her breath! And then she giggled.

“Whew! I thought they’d got us!” she said and then we both breathed deeply and let go a sigh of relief.

We got up from our cover then and walked over to the entranceway between the tall bushes. And Cricket pointed to the grey wooden doors with rusted metal hinges.

“Nobody else knows about this doorway?” I asked.

“Nobody else knows about it.” She answered back. “I’ve been comin’ this way for as far back as I can remember.”

As Cricket uncovered the entrance from beneath the camouflage of grown up weeds and brush, and as me and her pried open those creaky wooden doors, I thought about how old she might be. I mean, she looked to be about my age if not a little bit younger and she acted like she was my age and all. But I reasoned that if the Stone of Blood was able to make those other people live forever, could it be keepin’ her young too?

And was this girl that I had kissed …just moments ago, a ‘
werewolf
’?

“How old are you Cricket?” I asked her as I undid my knapsack and handed her one of the flashlights that I had brought with me from earlier that mornin’.

Cricket turned the flashlight on and looked down into the darkened chasm as we slowly stepped down into its tunnels. And then she turned around and pointed the light in my face and laughed!

“I’m the same age as you are!” she said actin’ like I was silly for even askin’ her. “
Maybe!
” she continued sayin’, stretchin’ out that last word with a long ‘
a
’ sound.

“What do you mean ‘
Maybe
’?” I asked repeatin’ that word the same way she’d said it.

“How old do you want me to be Toby?” She asked me in reply and turned the light of the flashlight back towards the darkened passageway.

“I don’t know.” I answered back. “As old as you
are
I reckon’.”

“Well good!” she said as she come runnin’ back really fast and kissed me on my nose. “Cause that’s exactly how old I am!” And then she ran off down the passageway again, teasin’ at me flirty-like to make me follow her.

“
Girls!
” I thought to myself rollin’ my eyes around in my head. “
I aint never gonna figure em’ out!
”

This time through the cavern was different than last time. This time it wasn’t as scary. I mean, not that I was a ‘
scaredy cat
’ or ‘
chicken
’ or nothin’ the last time I had walked within the cave. But that time, it was a completely different thing. Cause I didn’t even know nothin’ about this place or the ‘
werewolves
’ then. And Cricket knew where she was leadin’ me too, so it took alot of the guess work out of it for me.

The passage walls here were of old mortar and rock like those within the Grand Hall but they were different somehow, hewn of a darker stone. Cricket walked upon these smooth stoned floors just as swiftly as she had trod through the paths in the woods. But the cave floor was colder here with her not wearin’ any shoes and all.

This girl was daring and unafraid, and unlike any other girl that I had ever known.

“I used to come here to play sometimes, whenever it was rainin’ outside, or if I had no where else to go.” Cricket said as she showed me a closed in alcove room. “The sound of the rain fallin’ outside kinda echoes through here and it makes me feel like I’m not alone so much.”

“Have you been alone alot?” I asked her as I viewed the rooms high ceilin’ and the light rays that seemed to come in through the top of it like small beams of different shades of color.

“I feel like I have, yes.” She answered. “I’ve been bounced around alot, you know from family to family? Never really knowin’ where I belong.”

I watched her as she looked off into the distance, in silent reflection and then as she looked back again at me.

“It can get pretty lonesome sometimes, like bein’ throwed away I guess, unwanted.” she said.

I would never have imagined that someone who could seem to be as free spirited and alive as Cricket seemed to be, whether she was out in the fields ridin’ her horse or even if she were just simply outside lookin’ at that herd of deer, could ever feel like she was alone or unwanted. I had come from a close knit family myself, where we were always there for one another; so much so that sometimes we would have liked to have had a break from one another. And we could have really used some of that ‘a
lone
’ time! But I never felt unwanted. Not never.

I knew that this wasn’t somethin’ that I was gonna be able to fix. I couldn’t go back into Cricket’s past and make all of her hurtin’ and loneliness go away. But I
could
be her friend
now
I reasoned. And I
could
be there to listen to her, if she ever needed to talk.

So I didn’t say nothin’, I just reached out and I took her hand and I walked with her.

As we walked through the passageways, through twistin’ and windin’ corridors I listened as Cricket talked to me about her life. She talked about her horses and she told me about her animals. And she told me about the father that she never knew.

She also told me terrible stories about a step-father that she had once had, who had treated her very badly. And I’d have to say that I had to calm myself down right then and there in that cave cause of what he’d done to her! It made me so mad that I wanted to go find him and just kill him dead! But I had to remind myself that I wasn’t there to fix nothin’, and Cricket wasn’t expectin’ me to do so neither! She just needed me to listen. So that’s just what I done. I listened. But that didn’t mean that the part of me that wanted to be her protector didn’t get mad! Cause I did!

As Cricket continued to pour out her heart to me, I listened. And I noticed that the cavern tunnels on this side of the quarry weren’t as naturally formed as they were on the other side leadin’ over to my house. There weren’t any natural alcoves here with stalagmites and stalactites or anythin’ remotely resemblin’ a cave. These tunnels took spells between lookin’ like handmade walls and walls that were formed much like those you might find in a mine shaft where people would dig for gold or diamonds or somethin’.

“Okay, stand right there Toby.” Cricket said as she stopped walkin’ and let go of my hand. “Now turn off your flashlight.”