Winter's Dream (The Hemlock Bay Series) (9 page)

“Right,” I mumbled. “I should probably get to bed.”

“I believe Martha left you a nightgown in one of the bathrooms upstairs. Sleep well.”

I held my breath as I went up the stairs. Did she know? Did she suspect anything? And why did I care? If anyone tried to lock me up again I would be accepting Jordan’s invitation to his world.

I prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

Folded on the counter of bathroom I had showered in was a soft cotton nightgown. I shook it out and it flowed all the way to the floor. I gaped at the length and billowy long sleeves. Hand stitched around the collar were cabbage roses. That girl belonged in another century.

She and Minnie were camped out on one of the beds when I finally found my way back to our room. They looked up from a fit of giggles. “Oh my gosh, Minne,” Martha wheezed, “you have to tell her that joke!”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Let me guess, the one about the submarine.”

That started Martha giggling again and she flopped onto her back on the bed. Minnie joined her, looking happier than I had ever seen her.

I sat on one of the other beds awkwardly and waited for them to catch their breath. “So are you feeling better?” Martha was finally able to ask.

I nodded. “I’m fine. Just tired. Which bed is mine?”

“Whichever.”

I picked the one closest to the door where I could see the moon out the dormer across from it.

Tucked in, I wondered if I really would go back to Nightmare Town. After so many years of going there almost every night and then not being there not at all for a month it seemed like, well, a dream.

I could hear Minnie and Martha whispering as I drifted off and felt my lips rise in a smile. After a lifetime of having no friends except my brother, I suddenly had two. And I would do my best to keep them safe.

A familiar scent of dust and jerky rose up and I opened my eyes.

I was back in Nightmare Town.

The general store hadn’t changed at all. The taxidermy animals cast shadows from all their corners and perches. The antique display cases with the scratched glass held all the same knives and hunting accessories they always had.

I heard a telltale creaking from the doorway to the stockroom and was mauled from behind.

“Bixby!” Abe cried and wrapped his arms tight around me. “Where have you been?”

“I can’t breathe,” I wheezed, grabbing at his arms.

“Oh, sorry.” He let me go and spun me around. Right away I noticed the dark bags under his eyes.

“Everything okay?” I asked, already sure it wasn’t.

“Fine, fine. How are you, where have you been? We’ve been worried.” This was the first time he had even remotely hinted at my real life.

I bit my lip, hating to lie but not knowing how he would take the truth. “I had a … problem and couldn’t sleep very well for a while.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “You were sick? Thank God. We thought
he
took you.”

“Actually he let me go,” I said quietly. I didn’t want to talk about Jordan and rushed to change the topic. “How is everything here? I finally met some family who explained things to me a little bit.”

Abe nodded. “Good. We figured you were in the dark a little, you were rather … unconventional.”

My jaw dropped. Did everyone know more about Nightmare Town that I did? “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Not our place. We just live here.”

Actually, I thought to myself, you live under a sand dune on the coast of Lake Michigan. Another thought sprung up just as quick and I blurted it out, “Did you know my mother?”

He nodded. “And her mother, and her mother’s mother.”

I gave a sad little smile. “I see I have a lot more to learn about this place. I wish my mom or grandma had been able to teach me.”

Abe wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You’ll figure it out. What are you supposed to be doing now? I’ll help you.”

I tucked my head under his chin. “Thanks, Abe. You want to go for a walk with me? I’m supposed to be looking for changes or damage.”

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll look, let me just lock up.”

The first change hit me in the face when I walked out onto the front porch to wait for him. It was freezing. Autumn had passed and winter was setting in. It had never been winter in Nightmare Town in all the times I had visited. The sky was a steel grey, clearly visible through the bare trees. All the fallen leaves were dark and crushed, not a hint of red or gold anywhere. The smell they gave off was gone too, replaced by a sharp mineral scent I always associated with ice.

Abe stepped out on the porch and locked the door behind him. “I guess we better go get your coat.”

I nodded and we took off silently down the dirt road. I was sad to see my town in such ugly shades of grey and white. “Why isn’t it autumn here?” I asked Abe.

He looked at me in surprise. “Because you left. You were the one holding it in autumn. It moved on when you did.”

“Can I make it go back?”

“You can’t make the seasons go backwards anywhere. But I suppose you can stop it in autumn when it comes around again.”

My house loomed ahead, dark and abandoned looking. I searched for any broken windows or vandalism but all I saw was old trees fallen over. I opened the side door and was taken over by memory from what felt like years ago—finding Linc in Nightmare Town after thinking him dead in real life.

Stupid hope filled my pattering heart and I burst into the room but it was empty. My shoulders slumped a little.

“Expecting someone?” Abe asked.

“I was thinking maybe Lincoln would be here.”

His cheeks turned an unnatural pink and he shrugged his shoulders.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, pretending to admire the video game console. “What the heck is that thing?”

“Abe, I can tell it’s something, tell me.” Panic gripped me as I went through every worst case scenario. He must have been able to see it on my face.

“Really, nothing … It’s just, he’s been talking to someone lately.”

I let out a breath. “Oh. Who?”

Abe shrugged. “Don’t know. I’ve seen him meeting him a few times out in the woods. Couldn’t really get a good look.”

“Well who do you think it is?” I was confused by his unwillingness to tell.

“I honestly don’t know. We were thinking, well, maybe it’s one of them.”

I paused to process. “A jinn?” He nodded and I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I explained what happened to him, I don’t think he’d be on friendly terms with one—ever.”

Abe shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

I sighed and made my way into the rest of the house. Everything looked as similar as it had before. But the rooms always changed on me, new ones sprung up and old ones I had been to a dozen times disappeared. But everything seemed to be in order.

I checked every closet I passed until I found a jacket.

“Want to walk to town?” I asked Abe when I finally found the front door.

“I have to get back to the store,” he said apologetically.

“That’s okay, I’ll be back tonight,” I said with a smile.

He didn’t smile back. “I hope so.” I watched him hurry back up the road to his store. Why wouldn’t I be back?

The short walk down the dirt road was depressing. The bark of the bare trees towering overhead was as grey as the dirt I walked on. It was silent, save for a few echoing bird calls. I gave a little sigh of relief when the corner of the first store in my downtown came into view but it was cut short.

At the edge of my vision dashed a vibrant green. I looked but it rushed into a blur again, seemingly closer. Panic seized me and I burst into run, looking over my shoulder for the green blur.

I ran solidly into it. I bounced back and was grabbed by the arms and pulled upright.

“Calm down, it’s me,” Jordan said. My knee had been pulled back to deliver a lethal crotch blow and I decided to let it fly. He grunted and doubled over, releasing my arms. I pushed him over and ran for the town.

Green flashed in front of me again but I was able to stop this time. He stood in the middle of the road, his chest heaving beneath his felt coat. “What are you doing?” I could see from the tightness in his jaw his annoyance was barely reigned in.

“Running from you, obviously,” I snapped.

His mouth melted into a frown. “Why?”

I sighed, not really sure of my answer. “What do you want, Jordan?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

I folded the edges of my jacket over my chest and clenched my arms down. “Well, I don’t have anything to say to you and you really aren’t supposed to be here.”

“Then just listen and I’ll leave.”

I was surprised he could keep his temper when I was sure what I had said had angered him.

“Fine. Speak.”

He took a deep breath and smoothed his features. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you in pain?” I thought for a long moment until I remembered the last time I had seen him Clint had done me the courtesy of bashing my head in.

“I’m fine, really.” I flushed what had to be an ugly shade of scarlet as I remembered what had happened next. “And thank you for helping Minnie.”

His face burst into a smile. “Did that make you happy?”

I shifted uneasily. “Of course it did, she’s my friend. But I didn’t need your help getting out of there; I could have done it myself.”

There was a long moment of silence before he finally shook his head. “I didn’t do that.”

“Oh come on!” I shouted, startling birds out of the stark trees. My fists curled in on themselves and I forced one finger out to poke into his chest. “Stop lying to me. No, stop talking to me. I am so done with all of this. Can you ever just be honest?”

Jordan’s face flamed and he took a menacing step towards me. “I didn’t have anything to do with you leaving that place.”

“Really? All those blank papers stating they could take custody of me and Minnie were just blank to me? Right. I told you not to interfere, I
asked
you not to—”

Jordan stepped forward again and grabbed my elbows, gently this time. “I didn’t interfere. I did as you asked and stayed out of it. If you want to be angry I’m checking in on you and am worried about your well-being—fine. Be as angry as you want but that isn’t going to change the fact that I love you and will do anything to protect you.” As unbelievable as it was, I believed him. Maybe it was because David had recently become more of a pest than Jordan. And maybe more helpful as well, I reluctantly thought. But none of that changed the fact that Jordan was an intrusive, handsome liar.

My heart fluttered and bile rose at the same time. “Thanks for your concern? But really, you shouldn’t be here.” I forced my gaze down to my feet. Another second of his glowing green eyes and I didn’t know what would happen.

“I’ll change your mind,” he said softly and when I looked up he was gone.

I wished my heart didn’t feel like it was breaking again but it did.

Chapter Nine

“S
o you didn’t see anything
out of place?” Hazel asked me in the morning.

I shook my head, focusing on the pancakes Martha had made.

“And you didn’t see one of them there?”

I shoveled more food in my mouth and shook my head more furiously. I didn’t like to lie to her but I wasn’t about to tell her about Jordan’s surprise meeting—or his uncle’s for that matter. “It all looked the same, except that it was winter.”

“That’s to be expected,” Viola interjected. “I always kept my town in the summer when I was there.” A bizarre, day dreamy gleam took over her face.

Hazel rolled her eyes. “Right, that’s normal. But no jinn? No
hint
of jinn?”

“None,” I lied.

“Well,” she said happily and clasped her hands. “That will make things so much easier moving forward.”

“Why is that?” I asked, swishing my sausage link in syrup.

“If they’re already there then they have found a way through. Imagine trying to stop a creek from flowing into a river. No, if they haven’t found a way through you can continue to stave them off.”

Minnie and Martha picked up the dishes, apparently still giggling together from last night. As much as I wished I could join in, I wasn’t actually jealous. Minnie, my first real friend, was safe. And if she was safe with Martha, then I couldn’t be happier. Her simple perfection annoyed me but I couldn’t hold it against her.

“So they can’t get through anywhere?” I asked. If they thought that I would have to introduce them to David. Behind their barn.

“Oh they get through all right. It’s impossible to keep them out entirely,” Viola said hatefully. “Any one of them can just pop through anywhere they like if they are strong enough. And there are some places where the barriers have broken down enough that they can pass in and out as they please.”

Apparently my expression wasn’t fearful. “We call them broken cities. These places were thin spots once that either weren’t protected at all or just not enough. Almost all of them have grown to major cities. Why do you think big cities have the most crime?”

Her explanation didn’t quite make sense and I wondered how much her hatred toward the jinn influenced her reasoning. “They do, but don’t big cities also have the most money? And museums and good stuff like that?”

Hazel cut her sister off with a glare then turned to face me. “Yes, that’s true. In some places humans and jinn intermingle peacefully for the most part, not that the humans know it. And not every jinn is out to wreak havoc. They have hierarchies and classes and abilities much like we do.”

I thought about Jordan and David and their household. “So, some might be like … kings in castles with servants and others might actually be the servants?”

Hazel nodded. “Or farmers or bankers or stay at home moms. In some ways their society parallels ours, but you would have to compare our entire scope of history to their current world to get a good picture.”

I had to ask one last question. “And they can all do magic?”

Viola scoffed and Hazel snapped at her. “She doesn’t know, she didn’t grow up with this like she should have.” She turned to me. “Yes, they can do what we consider magic. But the farmers may only be able to make their plants grow faster while a king, or what we would consider a king, could burst through the fabric of reality into our world. But don’t worry, it’s not them or the farmers you have to worry about, it’s the truly evil ones in between. They look for the thin spots because they can’t get through on their own. When they find one, they try to tear a hole in it so they and all their evil little friends can walk right through into our world and do whatever they please.”

The sickly sweet syrup in my stomach was trying to come back up. So David was a king? What did that make Jordan? And what would my aunts do if they knew about them? I took a sip of water to calm my stomach and nerves. Minnie came over to get my dishes and I almost hugged her for interrupting the conversation.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked. It was easier to be nice when I had big secrets to hide.

Viola gave a mean little smile. “Well, speaking of farmers, today we show you the farm and how do to the work. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

My morning was filled with sheep and chicken and cow poop. The amount was unbelievable. Every time they turned me around to look at something new they were also telling me about additional excrement I had to clean up.