(no subject)
THE DAMSEL AND THE DISTRESSED
Chapter Two
Chapter One can be found here.
CHAPTER TWO
I got off work a few minutes after five, sweaty from the chicken suit and my hands reeking of onions, a smell that never seemed to go away completely. As I got in the car and started to drive, my mind was consumed with how much I hated my job and how much I needed another one. It was this way I drove home, mindlessly and without incident.
Well, I say without incident. I mean... almost. Almost without incident.
The road home from the Sandwich Shack is known as the River Road, because it straddles a mountain on one side and a river (the Nolichucky) on the other. It's a pretty scary road but at this point I'd driven it so many times it was second nature to me. Every curve and turn was memorized, every tree and house familiar. But there was one thing about this road I had never understood, and it had always intrigued me.
The gate to nowhere.
It sounds much more mysterious than it really is, or at least that's what I always thought. In actuality, it was just a ten foot wide picket fence, positioned right before the road meets the mountain and the river. In the middle of this fence was a gate and beyond that... nothing. Well, nothing that I could see anyways. I had often wondered what was back there, maybe a house (in Tennessee it wasn't unusual to find houses hidden in the most unlikely of places) but I couldn't imagine who would want to live that far back in the woods.
I had to have passed that gate at least a thousand times on my way to and from work over the years. Like the rest of the scenery, it was something I had looked at often and without much thought. But something strange happened to me as I began to approach the gate this time. My mind went dark, like a veil had dropped down over my eyes. The gate, which in truth was coming up on my left, suddenly swam before my vision until it was all I could see.
Without thinking, I braked.
I had enough foresight to pull over on the side of the road at the last minute, swerving onto the shoulder on the right. I punched the hazard lights and then set back in the seat, my mind and heart racing. My throat suddenly closed shut and no matter how many times I blinked, I couldn't shake the vision of that gate, that ordinary white gate, shimmering in front of my eyes. Clutching the steering wheel, I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing, counting to myself, thinking happy thoughts, anything to make myself calm down.
I failed spectacularly.
I finally opened my eyes again and looked over at the gate on the other side of the road. There was only one thing different about it from all the other times I had seen it, and it wasn't much: it was open. But the moment my brain processed that thought, my whole body began to shake. What was happening to me? Why was the idea of that gate, that silly little gate that led to nothing, causing me to have such a reaction?
My phone buzzed on the seat beside me and I jumped so hard my head brushed the ceiling of my car. Tearing my eyes away from the gate, I reached over and grabbed the vibrating phone. It was Oliver.
I sighed. He probably wanted me to stop somewhere for him and God, I really wasn't in the mood. I was exhausted, covered in sweat and still shaking. There was absolutely no way I could I could go somewhere else without collapsing.
So I did something I rarely did, something I would grow to regret as time went on. I ignored him. Then I checked for traffic and pulled back onto the road, accelerating until I had left the gate behind.
I didn't look back, and by the time I reached the apartment complex my reaction was a dim memory.
“I'm home,” I said as I pushed open the door, I looked to the right to see if Oliver was on the couch where he usually was, only to see it was empty. The TV was on, blaring a hockey game, and his cell phone was sitting next to a half empty bottle of beer. Anyways, his car was still in the parking lot, I'd noticed it coming up. He had to be here somewhere.
I set my purse down on the couch and kicked my shoes off at the door.
“Oliver?” I could see from where I was at that he wasn't in the kitchen or dining room. Unconcerned, I shuffled down the hall towards my bedroom to change, figuring he must be in the bathroom or his bedroom as both of those doors were shut. I changed quickly, kicking my work clothes into a laundry basket on the floor before pulling on my jeans and a black t-shirt. Last but not least, I yanked down my lopsided ponytail, brushing it out until my brown hair was tangle free and my scalp tingled in relief. I sighed, happy. It was over... for today anyways.
I left my bedroom and shut the door behind me. On my left was Oliver's bedroom and on the right was his bathroom. I decided to try the bathroom first, knocking.
“Oliver?” I asked. “You in there?” The door pushed open a little under my hand and I could see the light was out and the room empty. My heart beat, for reasons I didn't understand, began to speed up. The way I had felt at the gate flooded immediately over me, a wave of fear crashing over my head. I swallowed thickly and turned to his bedroom door, not bothering to knock this time but just pushing the door open. It too was dark and empty.
“Oliver?” I said again, my voice rising even though there was no other place in the house for him to be. I made my way back to the living room, trying to slow my heart rate by telling myself I was being silly. Oliver could have been anywhere. I ran through the options mentally.
Options A: he decided to smoke outside somewhere (unlikely, his cigarettes were on the table with his beer and his cell phone).
Option B: he had went for a walk (even more unlikely, Oliver and nature were not on speaking terms).
Option C: he... well... That was it really. I had exhausted the only two logical options. My thoughts deteriorated from there.
Options D-F: he'd been attacked, murdered, kidnapped. After all it didn't make sense, why would he leave his cell phone, which he always carried with him no matter where he went (even though he rarely answered it, the jerk). Furthermore why wouldn't he have taken his car if he was going somewhere? Oliver never walked if he could help it, he was so lazy but I couldn't be mad at him now because what if something had happened to him, what if he'd been calling for my help and I'd ignored him, Oh God, Oh God, I was...
Spiraling, really. I had to calm down.
Collapsing on the couch, I chewed my lips and tried my damnedest to be rational, no easy feat for me under the best of situations. But if I'm going to be honest, beneath all that anxiety, I still thought deep down that I was being a bit silly. I fully expected that any minute he would walk through the door, blissfully unaware of the scare he'd given me. I'd fuss at him to leave a note like I always did and he'd jokingly call me “Mother” like he always did and everything would be fine.
I didn't know then how bad things could get.
So I sat there and waited. As I waited, a new option (Option G) began to occur to me. What if Tracy had stopped by and they had went somewhere together? That explained him leaving his keys but not his cell phone, although I had the feeling that if Tracy had wanted to talk that he would have booked it out the door without thinking about anything, let alone his phone. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. She probably wanted to string him along some more, make him think she'd take him back and then shatter his heart. Again. That was so like her.
I dug my phone out of my purse and scrolled through my contacts. She was still saved in my phone although it took me a while to find her because I'd forgotten I'd changed her name to “evil bitch” after the last fight she'd had with Oliver. Hey, no one ever accused me of being mature.
I pressed the button, and waited for it to ring.
“Hello?” she asked, her voice deceivingly sweet. Tracy liked to pretend she was all sugar and spice until things got bad, then you saw how mean she could really be. I rolled my eyes at the phone but tried to keep my voice as level and friendly as possible.
“Hey Tracy, this is Gracie. Have you seen...”
“I'm sorry, who?” she said, her voice losing all pretense. I gritted my teeth. She knew full well who I was.
“Gracie. Gracie Hanson. Your sister in law?” She didn't say anything to that, so I continued. “I was just wondering, have you seen Oliver? I came home and he wasn't here.”
“Why would I know where he is?” No concern about my brother, her husband. No worry. Just a blunt question. “I haven't talked to him in weeks. He finally stopped calling me a few days ago and frankly Grace, I'm relieved.”
I sat there a minute, unable to speak without losing my cool. I bit my tongue and thought about doing the right, mature thing. But I couldn't think of anything, so I hung up on her.
I sat there a moment thinking, the only believable theory I had shot all to hell. I couldn't decide what to do next. I suppose I could have called the police, but tell them what? That my brother had been missing for an hour? That he never left home without his cell? They'd laugh me off the phone. I chewed my lip. I could call mom and dad, but they were worried sick over Oliver anyways and he'd be furious with me if I got them started.
Finally I decided I had to do something. If he had walked somewhere, maybe I'd see him while I was driving. I had to go to the grocery store anyways, that's what I'd tell him if I did happen to find him. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd scared me.
Grabbing my purse, I fished out a pen and scrap of paper so I could leave a quick note, just in case Oliver returned while I was looking for him.
If you get home before I do, call me!! Am worried. -Gracie
I left it on the TV, the one place he was sure to see it, and went out the door, locking it behind me.
I drove every place I could think of that he'd be and somehow ended up back on the river road.
Ok, that's kind of a lie. I went there on purpose, even though I have a hard time admitting that to myself. The truth is, the closer I got to the river road with the little gate, the more I could feel it drawing me, like a magnet, to it. 500 feet away, my skin began to tingle and the hairs on my arms began to stand up, as if any moment I would be struck by lightening. 100 feet away and my heart sped up, my hands began to shake, and my breath grew shallow. I pulled over in the spot where I'd parked before and just stared at it, as if any moment it would turn into something else.
It was still open, and for some reason that thought still terrified me.
I got out of the car without giving myself a chance to think about it, looking both ways before I crossed the street. I pocketed my keys as I walked. Once there I stepped into the high grass, looking for snakes or something that might bite me. On the ground right in front of the fence, something glimmered in the bright November sun.
I crouched down to see what it was and my heart instantly sank. It was a wedding band of pure, untarnished gold. Inside was an inscription that was barely legible. It read simply, Forever. I could see my brother in my mind, pouring his heart out to me while he rubbed his fingers over that very ring, twisting it this way and that as he got more upset. It had only been three weeks and he hadn't been ready to take it off yet. So why was it laying here now?
I supposed it could have been someone else's ring, someone else's forever, but that seemed terribly unlikely. Of all the places for it to be, why would it be here if Oliver hadn't dropped it? At this gate, where I had stopped for no reason just an hour earlier. It didn't make sense. I put my hand on the gate to steady myself as I straightened back up and was surprised by a voice above me.
“So. You made it.”
I nearly fell over, I was so startled, but the blonde woman put her hand out to catch mine.
And with one touch, I remembered.
“Oh. OH. Oh shit!” I screamed, and fell over, digging my feet into the ground as I struggled to back up away from her. She was smiling at me sweetly, as if I had no reason to fear her, but the sudden flash of memories invading my brain told me otherwise. “I know you. I've met you.” I touched my head. “Twice!”
“You met me once. You've seen me twice,” the woman, Thalia my mind told me, stepped through from the other side of the gate and offered me her hand. I flinched away from it to stand on my own and Thalia crossed her arms and watched me struggle. She was wearing another spectacular outfit, wide legged, black trousers and a fluffy white blouse. Her hair was pulled up this time, as if she was going to a business meeting rather than standing on the side of the road in knee high grass, guarding a gate to nothing. I couldn't help but admire her even as I was scared of her.
“Who are you? Really?” I asked, once I was back on my feet. Thalia smiled again but I noticed that it was becoming sharp at the edges, like a knife. So far she had been cordial to me, sweet even, but I sensed that underneath there was something else, something harder, that she was made of. What would it mean for me if I saw that part of her? I had a feeling that I didn't really want to know.
“Gracie, we've been over this. I am a Muse. Mary Ellen Hanson's Muse to be exact. Here.” She stepped forward with her hand out but I backed away before she could touch me. “It's so much easier this way, honestly, it won't hurt a bit.” I put my hand up to fend her off and, completely unaffected, she grabbed my arm at the wrist. Immediately the world slowed and I stopped struggling. Everything around me sharpened to a point until all I could see was a tunnel of darkness, then, emerging out of the darkness, a picture.
A woman with light hair was sitting at a desk with a computer in front of her, the screen blank except for a blinking cursor. She seemed deep in thought and as I watched, Thalia stepped out of the corner of the room and placed her hand on the back of the woman's neck. The woman, Mary Ellen, put her hands on the keyboard and began to write.
“You see?” came Thalia's voice in my mind. The room vanished and in it's place was the gate, that damn open gate. Then that disappeared and we were in the woods, arrows flying over our heads. “Do you understand?” she asked me, in front and all around me at the same time.
“Where's Oliver?” I shouted inside my head. She flinched, but showed me.
Before my eyes the gate appeared again and for a moment that was all there was, then I saw two figures approaching, one in a long, black robe and the other being dragged behind, unconscious. A glint of gold shone, flipping through the air and hitting the ground where the tall grass all but covered it. The hooded figure I couldn't see but I instantly recognized Oliver as the person who was unconscious.
“Oliver!” I shouted again.
“There's no need for that,” Thalia said, her tone bordering on annoyed, “He can't hear you. He's been taken.”
“By who? Where?”
Again the woods flashed before my eyes.
“Stop showing me the same thing over and over and answer my question!” I screamed and suddenly the world turned technicolor, bleeding at the edges into something new: a room cut out of glimmering crystal, what appeared to be an empty throne and a group of people dressed all in black lace with veils over their eyes. I felt Thalia pull away from me, surprised, and in one quick move I was ripped from that world and back into the real one. Both of us were panting for breath.
Thalia looked at me a long moment, as if she couldn't make up her mind about me. I stared back at her, my mind swirling. Finally, she spoke.
“Your brother has been taken by Aella,” she said slowly, as if she expected me to not understand, “although I can't exactly say why. It may be that she needs him for the same reason I need you. Or it may be she means to lure you to her with him.”
“Woah,” I cut in, not sure I had heard her correctly, “Aella? As in, the last Keeper turned evil ruler, Aella?”
Thalia nodded. I wanted to laugh but I thought that if I did I might cry instead.
“So let me get this straight: my brother has been kidnapped by a fictional character, and you want me to go to a fictional place to save him.”
“Minus the sarcasm, yes, that just about sums it up. Gracie, I've been inside your mind. I've shown you things that must prove what I'm saying is true. Besides, let's be honest. You've read fairy tales and fantasy stories your entire life. Haven't you been waiting for this moment?”
I thought about that a second while I considered what to say. If I was going to be honest the answer to her question was yes. It felt like my whole life I had spent waiting, waiting for something exciting to happen that would signal the beginning of my story, waiting for my white rabbit. But now that she was here, I had no idea what I should do. Throw sanity to the wind and follow a total stranger to God knows where? Or go home, call the police and risk never seeing my brother again?
I opened my mouth but no words would come out, so I closed it again and stood there a moment, frozen. Thalia sighed, and looked down to take a deep breath. When she looked up at me again, her eyes were determined and her lips were straight. The smile, for now, was very much gone.
“Look. There is nothing that I would like more than to watch you suffer through whatever little crisis it is that you're having right now,” she said, stepping closer to me. I took a step back and all right, I'll admit it. I was scared. “Believe me, no one would enjoy that more than me. But you have things to do, and not much time to do them in. Are you going to come with me, or am I going to have to make you?”
I swallowed thickly. A part of me, the defiant part of me that was just like my father, wanted to challenge her. To stand toe to toe with her and ask her just how she expected to make me do anything I didn't want to do. But my mind still felt fuzzy from where she had touched me just a few minutes before, and I had the feeling that if we were to fight now that I'd lose that battle.
“How do I know you're telling the truth?” I asked her. She smiled and it was only after she did that I realized she'd won. Not only did I believe she was telling the truth, I wanted it to be true. As outrageous and insane as it was, it also sounded, well, wonderful. Minus the part where my dumb ass brother got himself kidnapped, of course.
She didn't answer. I guess she knew she didn't need to. She just turned and stepped through the open gate.
“Follow me,” she said.
The crazy thing is, I did.
Past the gate there was a path of dirt and trodden grass. I wondered vaguely who had walked this path enough that the grass had died but didn't dare ask as Thalia seemed pretty sick of my questions. We walked up the path until dirt turned to gravel, our feet slipping over the weeds that grew up between the rocks, until finally we turned a corner and the woods thinned out. In front of us, as if in a movie, was a large, very old, house.
It was two stories of filthy white, with a large porch that wrapped around the front of the house like a skirt. In the top middle of the house was a glassed in patio that stared down at me like a square, unblinking eye. I fixated on that, unable to look away as if the house was a hypnotist and I was under its spell.
“Gracie?” Thalia asked. I didn't realize until I heard her voice from a short distance away that I'd stopped walking. I shook my head to clear it and forced myself to take a step.
By the time we reached the porch, I swear I could hear my knees knocking together I was so scared. Which is sad really, cause I'd always figured myself to be somewhat of the heroine type, you know, laughs in the face of uncertain danger and all that. Well, the danger was uncertain but I hardly felt like a hero, trailing Thalia up the porch stairs like some kind of lost puppy. The door stared back at me: perfectly normal looking, and closed tightly. What was she waiting for me for? Surely she had some sort of plan for this.
“It should be you that opens it. It's only right,” she said to me.
I opened my mouth to ask her a string of questions... why me? Why was it right? What was so special about this house, etc. But she gave me a sharp look so I closed my mouth again and thought, why not? Worse case scenario I had gone crazy and was making this all up and best case scenario this was all real and I was going to be doing something, anything, besides parading around in a chicken suit for the rest of my life.
I took a deep breath and before I could think better of it, I grabbed the doorknob.
My whole hand instantly began to burn, invisible fire shooting under my fingertips. I tried to pull away but my hand appeared to be stuck to the door knob, my fingers locked into position around it. I gasped in shock as the entire door began to glow and shake. Then, just as suddenly, the light went out and my hand was easily removed from the metal.
A click of the door and it was open, swinging out in front of us.
“What the...” I said, but Thalia only nodded as if mildly impressed.
“Good job. Now follow me.”
She stepped over the threshold and into the old house, and for a moment I wasn't sure if I could follow her. I was scared, and I didn't understand what was going on. Already I had seen impossible things: visions I couldn't explain and the door glowing from the touch of my hand. I wasn't sure what else I could still stand to see today. I swallowed again and it went down in a lump.
“Come on, Gracie,” Thalia said, then disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.
I glanced behind me, at the shaking trees and the gravel path, I knew that beyond that path was the gate and beyond that was the road and safety. I could walk back down that path, forget anything that happened here and go home. But then what would happen to Oliver? Who would save him if I didn't?
I turned away from the path, away from the gate, away from home, and stepped into the house. The door slammed behind me, and we were ushered into darkness
Chapter Two
Chapter One can be found here.
CHAPTER TWO
I got off work a few minutes after five, sweaty from the chicken suit and my hands reeking of onions, a smell that never seemed to go away completely. As I got in the car and started to drive, my mind was consumed with how much I hated my job and how much I needed another one. It was this way I drove home, mindlessly and without incident.
Well, I say without incident. I mean... almost. Almost without incident.
The road home from the Sandwich Shack is known as the River Road, because it straddles a mountain on one side and a river (the Nolichucky) on the other. It's a pretty scary road but at this point I'd driven it so many times it was second nature to me. Every curve and turn was memorized, every tree and house familiar. But there was one thing about this road I had never understood, and it had always intrigued me.
The gate to nowhere.
It sounds much more mysterious than it really is, or at least that's what I always thought. In actuality, it was just a ten foot wide picket fence, positioned right before the road meets the mountain and the river. In the middle of this fence was a gate and beyond that... nothing. Well, nothing that I could see anyways. I had often wondered what was back there, maybe a house (in Tennessee it wasn't unusual to find houses hidden in the most unlikely of places) but I couldn't imagine who would want to live that far back in the woods.
I had to have passed that gate at least a thousand times on my way to and from work over the years. Like the rest of the scenery, it was something I had looked at often and without much thought. But something strange happened to me as I began to approach the gate this time. My mind went dark, like a veil had dropped down over my eyes. The gate, which in truth was coming up on my left, suddenly swam before my vision until it was all I could see.
Without thinking, I braked.
I had enough foresight to pull over on the side of the road at the last minute, swerving onto the shoulder on the right. I punched the hazard lights and then set back in the seat, my mind and heart racing. My throat suddenly closed shut and no matter how many times I blinked, I couldn't shake the vision of that gate, that ordinary white gate, shimmering in front of my eyes. Clutching the steering wheel, I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing, counting to myself, thinking happy thoughts, anything to make myself calm down.
I failed spectacularly.
I finally opened my eyes again and looked over at the gate on the other side of the road. There was only one thing different about it from all the other times I had seen it, and it wasn't much: it was open. But the moment my brain processed that thought, my whole body began to shake. What was happening to me? Why was the idea of that gate, that silly little gate that led to nothing, causing me to have such a reaction?
My phone buzzed on the seat beside me and I jumped so hard my head brushed the ceiling of my car. Tearing my eyes away from the gate, I reached over and grabbed the vibrating phone. It was Oliver.
I sighed. He probably wanted me to stop somewhere for him and God, I really wasn't in the mood. I was exhausted, covered in sweat and still shaking. There was absolutely no way I could I could go somewhere else without collapsing.
So I did something I rarely did, something I would grow to regret as time went on. I ignored him. Then I checked for traffic and pulled back onto the road, accelerating until I had left the gate behind.
I didn't look back, and by the time I reached the apartment complex my reaction was a dim memory.
“I'm home,” I said as I pushed open the door, I looked to the right to see if Oliver was on the couch where he usually was, only to see it was empty. The TV was on, blaring a hockey game, and his cell phone was sitting next to a half empty bottle of beer. Anyways, his car was still in the parking lot, I'd noticed it coming up. He had to be here somewhere.
I set my purse down on the couch and kicked my shoes off at the door.
“Oliver?” I could see from where I was at that he wasn't in the kitchen or dining room. Unconcerned, I shuffled down the hall towards my bedroom to change, figuring he must be in the bathroom or his bedroom as both of those doors were shut. I changed quickly, kicking my work clothes into a laundry basket on the floor before pulling on my jeans and a black t-shirt. Last but not least, I yanked down my lopsided ponytail, brushing it out until my brown hair was tangle free and my scalp tingled in relief. I sighed, happy. It was over... for today anyways.
I left my bedroom and shut the door behind me. On my left was Oliver's bedroom and on the right was his bathroom. I decided to try the bathroom first, knocking.
“Oliver?” I asked. “You in there?” The door pushed open a little under my hand and I could see the light was out and the room empty. My heart beat, for reasons I didn't understand, began to speed up. The way I had felt at the gate flooded immediately over me, a wave of fear crashing over my head. I swallowed thickly and turned to his bedroom door, not bothering to knock this time but just pushing the door open. It too was dark and empty.
“Oliver?” I said again, my voice rising even though there was no other place in the house for him to be. I made my way back to the living room, trying to slow my heart rate by telling myself I was being silly. Oliver could have been anywhere. I ran through the options mentally.
Options A: he decided to smoke outside somewhere (unlikely, his cigarettes were on the table with his beer and his cell phone).
Option B: he had went for a walk (even more unlikely, Oliver and nature were not on speaking terms).
Option C: he... well... That was it really. I had exhausted the only two logical options. My thoughts deteriorated from there.
Options D-F: he'd been attacked, murdered, kidnapped. After all it didn't make sense, why would he leave his cell phone, which he always carried with him no matter where he went (even though he rarely answered it, the jerk). Furthermore why wouldn't he have taken his car if he was going somewhere? Oliver never walked if he could help it, he was so lazy but I couldn't be mad at him now because what if something had happened to him, what if he'd been calling for my help and I'd ignored him, Oh God, Oh God, I was...
Spiraling, really. I had to calm down.
Collapsing on the couch, I chewed my lips and tried my damnedest to be rational, no easy feat for me under the best of situations. But if I'm going to be honest, beneath all that anxiety, I still thought deep down that I was being a bit silly. I fully expected that any minute he would walk through the door, blissfully unaware of the scare he'd given me. I'd fuss at him to leave a note like I always did and he'd jokingly call me “Mother” like he always did and everything would be fine.
I didn't know then how bad things could get.
So I sat there and waited. As I waited, a new option (Option G) began to occur to me. What if Tracy had stopped by and they had went somewhere together? That explained him leaving his keys but not his cell phone, although I had the feeling that if Tracy had wanted to talk that he would have booked it out the door without thinking about anything, let alone his phone. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. She probably wanted to string him along some more, make him think she'd take him back and then shatter his heart. Again. That was so like her.
I dug my phone out of my purse and scrolled through my contacts. She was still saved in my phone although it took me a while to find her because I'd forgotten I'd changed her name to “evil bitch” after the last fight she'd had with Oliver. Hey, no one ever accused me of being mature.
I pressed the button, and waited for it to ring.
“Hello?” she asked, her voice deceivingly sweet. Tracy liked to pretend she was all sugar and spice until things got bad, then you saw how mean she could really be. I rolled my eyes at the phone but tried to keep my voice as level and friendly as possible.
“Hey Tracy, this is Gracie. Have you seen...”
“I'm sorry, who?” she said, her voice losing all pretense. I gritted my teeth. She knew full well who I was.
“Gracie. Gracie Hanson. Your sister in law?” She didn't say anything to that, so I continued. “I was just wondering, have you seen Oliver? I came home and he wasn't here.”
“Why would I know where he is?” No concern about my brother, her husband. No worry. Just a blunt question. “I haven't talked to him in weeks. He finally stopped calling me a few days ago and frankly Grace, I'm relieved.”
I sat there a minute, unable to speak without losing my cool. I bit my tongue and thought about doing the right, mature thing. But I couldn't think of anything, so I hung up on her.
I sat there a moment thinking, the only believable theory I had shot all to hell. I couldn't decide what to do next. I suppose I could have called the police, but tell them what? That my brother had been missing for an hour? That he never left home without his cell? They'd laugh me off the phone. I chewed my lip. I could call mom and dad, but they were worried sick over Oliver anyways and he'd be furious with me if I got them started.
Finally I decided I had to do something. If he had walked somewhere, maybe I'd see him while I was driving. I had to go to the grocery store anyways, that's what I'd tell him if I did happen to find him. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd scared me.
Grabbing my purse, I fished out a pen and scrap of paper so I could leave a quick note, just in case Oliver returned while I was looking for him.
If you get home before I do, call me!! Am worried. -Gracie
I left it on the TV, the one place he was sure to see it, and went out the door, locking it behind me.
I drove every place I could think of that he'd be and somehow ended up back on the river road.
Ok, that's kind of a lie. I went there on purpose, even though I have a hard time admitting that to myself. The truth is, the closer I got to the river road with the little gate, the more I could feel it drawing me, like a magnet, to it. 500 feet away, my skin began to tingle and the hairs on my arms began to stand up, as if any moment I would be struck by lightening. 100 feet away and my heart sped up, my hands began to shake, and my breath grew shallow. I pulled over in the spot where I'd parked before and just stared at it, as if any moment it would turn into something else.
It was still open, and for some reason that thought still terrified me.
I got out of the car without giving myself a chance to think about it, looking both ways before I crossed the street. I pocketed my keys as I walked. Once there I stepped into the high grass, looking for snakes or something that might bite me. On the ground right in front of the fence, something glimmered in the bright November sun.
I crouched down to see what it was and my heart instantly sank. It was a wedding band of pure, untarnished gold. Inside was an inscription that was barely legible. It read simply, Forever. I could see my brother in my mind, pouring his heart out to me while he rubbed his fingers over that very ring, twisting it this way and that as he got more upset. It had only been three weeks and he hadn't been ready to take it off yet. So why was it laying here now?
I supposed it could have been someone else's ring, someone else's forever, but that seemed terribly unlikely. Of all the places for it to be, why would it be here if Oliver hadn't dropped it? At this gate, where I had stopped for no reason just an hour earlier. It didn't make sense. I put my hand on the gate to steady myself as I straightened back up and was surprised by a voice above me.
“So. You made it.”
I nearly fell over, I was so startled, but the blonde woman put her hand out to catch mine.
And with one touch, I remembered.
“Oh. OH. Oh shit!” I screamed, and fell over, digging my feet into the ground as I struggled to back up away from her. She was smiling at me sweetly, as if I had no reason to fear her, but the sudden flash of memories invading my brain told me otherwise. “I know you. I've met you.” I touched my head. “Twice!”
“You met me once. You've seen me twice,” the woman, Thalia my mind told me, stepped through from the other side of the gate and offered me her hand. I flinched away from it to stand on my own and Thalia crossed her arms and watched me struggle. She was wearing another spectacular outfit, wide legged, black trousers and a fluffy white blouse. Her hair was pulled up this time, as if she was going to a business meeting rather than standing on the side of the road in knee high grass, guarding a gate to nothing. I couldn't help but admire her even as I was scared of her.
“Who are you? Really?” I asked, once I was back on my feet. Thalia smiled again but I noticed that it was becoming sharp at the edges, like a knife. So far she had been cordial to me, sweet even, but I sensed that underneath there was something else, something harder, that she was made of. What would it mean for me if I saw that part of her? I had a feeling that I didn't really want to know.
“Gracie, we've been over this. I am a Muse. Mary Ellen Hanson's Muse to be exact. Here.” She stepped forward with her hand out but I backed away before she could touch me. “It's so much easier this way, honestly, it won't hurt a bit.” I put my hand up to fend her off and, completely unaffected, she grabbed my arm at the wrist. Immediately the world slowed and I stopped struggling. Everything around me sharpened to a point until all I could see was a tunnel of darkness, then, emerging out of the darkness, a picture.
A woman with light hair was sitting at a desk with a computer in front of her, the screen blank except for a blinking cursor. She seemed deep in thought and as I watched, Thalia stepped out of the corner of the room and placed her hand on the back of the woman's neck. The woman, Mary Ellen, put her hands on the keyboard and began to write.
“You see?” came Thalia's voice in my mind. The room vanished and in it's place was the gate, that damn open gate. Then that disappeared and we were in the woods, arrows flying over our heads. “Do you understand?” she asked me, in front and all around me at the same time.
“Where's Oliver?” I shouted inside my head. She flinched, but showed me.
Before my eyes the gate appeared again and for a moment that was all there was, then I saw two figures approaching, one in a long, black robe and the other being dragged behind, unconscious. A glint of gold shone, flipping through the air and hitting the ground where the tall grass all but covered it. The hooded figure I couldn't see but I instantly recognized Oliver as the person who was unconscious.
“Oliver!” I shouted again.
“There's no need for that,” Thalia said, her tone bordering on annoyed, “He can't hear you. He's been taken.”
“By who? Where?”
Again the woods flashed before my eyes.
“Stop showing me the same thing over and over and answer my question!” I screamed and suddenly the world turned technicolor, bleeding at the edges into something new: a room cut out of glimmering crystal, what appeared to be an empty throne and a group of people dressed all in black lace with veils over their eyes. I felt Thalia pull away from me, surprised, and in one quick move I was ripped from that world and back into the real one. Both of us were panting for breath.
Thalia looked at me a long moment, as if she couldn't make up her mind about me. I stared back at her, my mind swirling. Finally, she spoke.
“Your brother has been taken by Aella,” she said slowly, as if she expected me to not understand, “although I can't exactly say why. It may be that she needs him for the same reason I need you. Or it may be she means to lure you to her with him.”
“Woah,” I cut in, not sure I had heard her correctly, “Aella? As in, the last Keeper turned evil ruler, Aella?”
Thalia nodded. I wanted to laugh but I thought that if I did I might cry instead.
“So let me get this straight: my brother has been kidnapped by a fictional character, and you want me to go to a fictional place to save him.”
“Minus the sarcasm, yes, that just about sums it up. Gracie, I've been inside your mind. I've shown you things that must prove what I'm saying is true. Besides, let's be honest. You've read fairy tales and fantasy stories your entire life. Haven't you been waiting for this moment?”
I thought about that a second while I considered what to say. If I was going to be honest the answer to her question was yes. It felt like my whole life I had spent waiting, waiting for something exciting to happen that would signal the beginning of my story, waiting for my white rabbit. But now that she was here, I had no idea what I should do. Throw sanity to the wind and follow a total stranger to God knows where? Or go home, call the police and risk never seeing my brother again?
I opened my mouth but no words would come out, so I closed it again and stood there a moment, frozen. Thalia sighed, and looked down to take a deep breath. When she looked up at me again, her eyes were determined and her lips were straight. The smile, for now, was very much gone.
“Look. There is nothing that I would like more than to watch you suffer through whatever little crisis it is that you're having right now,” she said, stepping closer to me. I took a step back and all right, I'll admit it. I was scared. “Believe me, no one would enjoy that more than me. But you have things to do, and not much time to do them in. Are you going to come with me, or am I going to have to make you?”
I swallowed thickly. A part of me, the defiant part of me that was just like my father, wanted to challenge her. To stand toe to toe with her and ask her just how she expected to make me do anything I didn't want to do. But my mind still felt fuzzy from where she had touched me just a few minutes before, and I had the feeling that if we were to fight now that I'd lose that battle.
“How do I know you're telling the truth?” I asked her. She smiled and it was only after she did that I realized she'd won. Not only did I believe she was telling the truth, I wanted it to be true. As outrageous and insane as it was, it also sounded, well, wonderful. Minus the part where my dumb ass brother got himself kidnapped, of course.
She didn't answer. I guess she knew she didn't need to. She just turned and stepped through the open gate.
“Follow me,” she said.
The crazy thing is, I did.
Past the gate there was a path of dirt and trodden grass. I wondered vaguely who had walked this path enough that the grass had died but didn't dare ask as Thalia seemed pretty sick of my questions. We walked up the path until dirt turned to gravel, our feet slipping over the weeds that grew up between the rocks, until finally we turned a corner and the woods thinned out. In front of us, as if in a movie, was a large, very old, house.
It was two stories of filthy white, with a large porch that wrapped around the front of the house like a skirt. In the top middle of the house was a glassed in patio that stared down at me like a square, unblinking eye. I fixated on that, unable to look away as if the house was a hypnotist and I was under its spell.
“Gracie?” Thalia asked. I didn't realize until I heard her voice from a short distance away that I'd stopped walking. I shook my head to clear it and forced myself to take a step.
By the time we reached the porch, I swear I could hear my knees knocking together I was so scared. Which is sad really, cause I'd always figured myself to be somewhat of the heroine type, you know, laughs in the face of uncertain danger and all that. Well, the danger was uncertain but I hardly felt like a hero, trailing Thalia up the porch stairs like some kind of lost puppy. The door stared back at me: perfectly normal looking, and closed tightly. What was she waiting for me for? Surely she had some sort of plan for this.
“It should be you that opens it. It's only right,” she said to me.
I opened my mouth to ask her a string of questions... why me? Why was it right? What was so special about this house, etc. But she gave me a sharp look so I closed my mouth again and thought, why not? Worse case scenario I had gone crazy and was making this all up and best case scenario this was all real and I was going to be doing something, anything, besides parading around in a chicken suit for the rest of my life.
I took a deep breath and before I could think better of it, I grabbed the doorknob.
My whole hand instantly began to burn, invisible fire shooting under my fingertips. I tried to pull away but my hand appeared to be stuck to the door knob, my fingers locked into position around it. I gasped in shock as the entire door began to glow and shake. Then, just as suddenly, the light went out and my hand was easily removed from the metal.
A click of the door and it was open, swinging out in front of us.
“What the...” I said, but Thalia only nodded as if mildly impressed.
“Good job. Now follow me.”
She stepped over the threshold and into the old house, and for a moment I wasn't sure if I could follow her. I was scared, and I didn't understand what was going on. Already I had seen impossible things: visions I couldn't explain and the door glowing from the touch of my hand. I wasn't sure what else I could still stand to see today. I swallowed again and it went down in a lump.
“Come on, Gracie,” Thalia said, then disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.
I glanced behind me, at the shaking trees and the gravel path, I knew that beyond that path was the gate and beyond that was the road and safety. I could walk back down that path, forget anything that happened here and go home. But then what would happen to Oliver? Who would save him if I didn't?
I turned away from the path, away from the gate, away from home, and stepped into the house. The door slammed behind me, and we were ushered into darkness