Part 10 (1/2)

”I'm fine,” Abbey repeated. She pulled Farley closer until his rump was touching her side. The big dog walked on unperturbed, which gave Abbey some small measure of comfort.

”Are you part of this plan of the lights?”

”I don't know,” Abbey said. The lights? What was this man talking about?

The man abruptly stopped. ”We're at the beaver pond. This is as far as I was told to go.”

Abbey looked all around. The night had cleared and the stars blinked above her, allowing her to at least see the ground in front of her, but the gibbous moon was just making its way over the horizon and the forest was still shrouded in a deep darkness. The music from the fire had faded but was still audible. Amongst the notes, she could make out the sounds of water splas.h.i.+ng.

”The beavers are out tonight,” Rowan said. ”If you are part of the lights plan, you should rethink it. Travel safely.” He retreated into the dark of the trees and Abbey found herself alone once more. She moved to a spot where the trees were less dense and found the kite-like form of Aquila the Eagle in the sky. She checked her watch again. 7:03. She hastened her pace.

She walked for about ten minutes. The fire became a small candle-like glow in the trees behind her. Abbey heard the unmistakable sound of voices ahead of her. She quickened her pace for a few seconds, hoping that she had found Caleb and Simon. But as she approached it became apparent that the voices were those of men, not teenaged boys. She crouched in the bushes, uncertain what to do, clutching Farley even closer to her, but the dog-chastened by his experience by the fire-seemed to have no inclination to go anywhere.

”We have to take the light out before this goes any further,” a low baritone voice said.

Another voice, this one higher. ”I don't want to just kill him. Isn't there another way?”

”The kid said it was dangerous. Maybe he'll die in transit.”

Abbey's heart felt like it had ballooned to the size of a beach ball and occupied the entire back of her throat. Was the light a name, a person? ”Yes light,” Rowan had said to Caleb. They couldn't be talking about Caleb.

”We have to take him out if he's going to proceed with the plan. Rowan is ready to step in.” This sounded like a third voice.

Abbey could make out nothing in the black shadows of the forest. She started edging back. She'd have to go around them. She didn't expect they were the kind of men that would take too well to her eavesdropping on their murder plans. Farley followed, a bit confused by the change in direction and pace. He veered into a bush and stepped on a tree branch, alerting the men, who started yelling and moving in her direction. Abbey broke into a sprint and yanked the dog along with her, as the three men flared a torch and began to pursue.

It wasn't long before Abbey could hear cras.h.i.+ng in the bushes directly behind her. She had a st.i.tch in her side and her breath came in ragged gasps. Farley's leash kept getting tangled around trees and branches as they chose opposite directions around obstacles. Abbey dropped the leash and prayed that Farley would stay with her. He did at first, then the cras.h.i.+ng parallel to her stopped. Abbey turned back. In the faint light cast by the men's torch, Abbey could see Farley's leash hooked on a snag, and the dog thras.h.i.+ng furiously to free himself.

”I see them!” the man behind her yelled.

Abbey leapt through the air and unhooked the dog. The man was only about six meters away now and Abbey could see his burly frame in the animal-skin guard uniform from the camp. His left eye drooped precariously and the left side of his face was distorted, like it had been badly burned. A claw-like arm dangled on that side, while his right arm carried a blazing torch.

”I've got them!” he hollered, reaching out his clawed arm.

Abbey ran as hard as she could, clutching Farley so close his muzzle and leg smacked against her side. She expected to feel the claw in her hair any second.

But then the light vanished, and she felt a strange whoosh, like the wind had picked up and was blowing her away. Something came out of nowhere and smacked into her so hard she fell backward, pulling Farley with her. She closed her eyes and braced for her own death.

”Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you.” A flashlight shone in her face. As she looked around, Abbey realized she'd returned to her own woods and Caleb was the right age again.

Chapter 8.

A Story with No Words

Abbey staggered to her feet. The fur blanket she'd been carrying was gone. She must have dropped it while she ran through the forest-away from the clawed man. Her backside felt bruised and her cheeks bore the scoring of the forest branches.

”Where were you?” The words came from her and Caleb's mouth at the same time. Except that Abbey added, ”Where's Simon?” onto the end of her question. Then she launched into her twin and wrapped his torso in a hug. Caleb patted her back awkwardly and gave her a noogie on the side of the head.

”Simon's down looking around the Forresters' house for clues. We were pretty worried. We thought you'd been kidnapped by the same people that took Mark and Mrs. Forrester. Where have you been?”

Abbey's words came out stuttered and torn, as she tried to remember what she could and couldn't tell Caleb. ”Mantis showed up at the Forrester house just after you left. I followed you through the stones. But you weren't there. I walked toward a fire. There was a big camp of people. Then some men chased me through the woods. I thought they had me for sure, and then all of a sudden I was back. Where did you and Simon go? Simon shouldn't be down at the Forresters' alone; Mantis was there.”

Caleb had scrunched his eyes up while she spoke, as if sensing her dissembling. ”Mantis is gone now. The Forrester house is still empty. You were gone for over an hour... Did you go into the camp?”

Abbey hesitated. She almost never lied to her twin. ”I lost the stones, so I wandered around in the woods for a while before the men started to chase me. Then suddenly I was back. It was like when we were in Bubble City and we didn't have to go back to the desert to come home. I think the stones move, or there might be more than one set.” What had the older Caleb said? ”The stones are alive.” Livingstone, living stones. What was that strange pull she always felt when she was near them? ”But you still haven't told me where you were.”

Caleb's eyes remained narrowed but he relented. ”We only stayed for fifteen minutes, like we agreed, just to see how I felt. We hadn't gone very far from the stones when we heard voices. Men. We didn't dare turn on our flashlights or they would've seen us. It was so dark there we couldn't make out anything.” He stopped and nodded down the hill. ”We'd better go get Simon. Mom and Dad will be home any second.”

They started walking and Caleb continued talking. ”The men were talking about getting rid of the light. Why would they want to get rid of the light in a place that's already blacker than black?” Caleb shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled at the ground.

”And?” probed Abbey. She could still see the hand of the clawed man reaching for her.

”And what?”

”Did you feel anything? Like it was your future?”

Caleb frowned. They'd almost reached the Forresters'. He pulled at a loose thread hanging from his s.h.i.+rt. ”I guess. But it wasn't a good feeling, not like you and Simon seemed to feel. I didn't recognize things, or feel like things made sense. I just felt like the darkness was totally oppressive. I had to get out of there. We're going to try again when it's daylight.”

Simon was on the Forresters' porch when they arrived, his toque pulled low over his eyes and his mouth set in a tight line. He almost ran when he spotted them. His grip on Abbey's arm bordered on sharpness.

”Where've you been? We've been looking everywhere for you. You didn't go through those stones alone did you?”

Abbey pulled back. ”Yes, I did. Mantis arrived at the Forresters' a few minutes after you left. What else was I supposed to do?”

Simon dropped her arm and strode away. ”Okay, rule number one is that none of us go through the stones alone. It's either at least two of us together or not at all.”

”Good then.” Abbey fought her tears of fury at the harshness in Simon's tone. ”I vote for not at all.” But she wasn't sure if she meant that. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that those men were trying to kill the older Caleb. And she had to stop them.

”We'd better get home,” she said. ”Mom and Dad will be arriving any second.”

They walked in silence toward their own house. Caleb wore a brooding look and stared off into s.p.a.ce, stripped of his usual exuberance. Abbey barely heard Simon when he spoke.