Chapter 12

Thursday

Liz Sumner walked quickly, her arms folded tightly over her breasts, her head lowered.

“What is it, Liz?” Kevin asked coldly. “Your all powerful action hero turn out to have feet of lead?”

“Shut up, Kevin,” she muttered.

“He’s married to someone who knows true evil. Can’t compete with that, can you, Lizzie?”

She quickened her step, trying to put distance between them, but Kevin only lengthened his stride in turn.

“Kevin, please, leave me alone,” she said.

“What is it, Liz?” he asked in a more normal voice. “Are you jealous? Angry? What? Tell me.”

“I’m scared, Kevin,” Liz admitted. “Something … Nick was always a good guy, y’know? We’ve had our problems just recently, that’s true, but, when we got trapped in here, we stood together an’ did what we had to do for the sake of Marilyn and Martin.” Her eyes filled with tears just saying their names. “We’re not evil people, Kevin, but we had to choose to be evil. I thought Nick an’ his wife had chosen evil for the same reason as us – to keep their friends safe. Nick would do that. That’s the kind of guy he is, putting himself in danger deliberately to save others. And, now, she’s challenging Reverend Hicks for control of the church … Hicks is not a good man,” Liz declared, shaking her head. “I can’t believe Nick could .. fall in love with someone like her.” She shrugged. “It’s completely against his nature. I know you don’t know him very well an’ you’re jealous that I had a relationship with him before I ever met you, but I do know him and, while he can be hard an’ tough, he’s really a very gentle guy.”

“Wouldn’t hurt a fly, eh, Liz?” Kevin commented, smiling coolly. “This the same .. very gentle guy who hit me, split my lip, blackened my eye?”

“You hit him first,” she countered then, in a softly curious voice, asked, “Why’d you do that, Kevin?”

He laughed. “Fool’s errand. Got it into my head to try save our marriage.” His gaze cooled. “Don’t tell me it doesn’t need saving, Liz. You’ve made no secret of the fact you want him.”

Liz looked down, then raised her eyes again. “I thought I did. It’s this place, Kevin,” she went on, quickly. “It takes all the .. the wild dreams an’ tells you they can be real. Outside, in the real world, I used to .. to dream, sometimes, wonder what my life would be like if Nick hadn’t left me. But I never hoped to get back with him. Dreams an’ reality .. they don’t mix well. Hopes an’ reality, that’s different. You can work toward hopes. I married you because I loved you. I vowed for better or worse. When I invited Nick to Martin’s baptism .. I hoped he’d accept because I wanted him to see how happy I am with my husband, my children. I wanted to tell him .. no regrets.”

“An’ when you found out he was married?” Kevin asked.

“It hurt,” she admitted. “Nick left me because he couldn’t commit. It tore me apart at the time but I got over it. I believed he never would commit, that he just wasn’t the type. When I learned that he had .. I knew that he’d left me because .. I wasn’t the one true love of his life, not because he had a reluctance to marry.” Liz shook her head and sighed. “It takes time to come to that realization and then accept it. It hurt knowing that .. I wasn’t enough.”

“Yeah, Liz, it does. Every time you say his name, it hurts knowing I am not enough for you, that you dream about a life with him. I guess we’re both in Hell because we just love to hurt – ourselves an’ each other.”

He laughed hollowly. “Night’s young. Think I’ll go party for a while. Coming?”

Liz shook her head again. “I think I’ll go home, have an early night.”

Neither moved.

“I miss my life, Kevin. I miss our home, our children. I miss you.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, then forced a bright, wide smile. “Well, we’re stuck here so .. I intend to make the most of it.”

*****

Liz Sumner wasn’t the only one wondering what the hell had gone wrong. Rafael Ramirez had decided to go home early as well. His thoughts were on Maria Escobar. It seemed he hadn’t thought about her in weeks and, now, she occupied his mind.

When was the last time I saw her? Is she all right? We agonized so hard, all that night and day, and, yet, we both knew at the start how we’d have to decide. There was no way I could let her come here. She had to go over there. That time they gave us .. it just made the parting worse. And then .. I forgot her. How could I do that? I love her! At least I know she’s with good people, with that Father Callahan. Maybe, one day, we’ll find a way to be together again …

After the demonstration ended, Paul and Christine Brompton went home too. They held each other and cried as they thought of their children, lost to them, over the road, so close yet so very far. Their one consolation was that Father Callahan, a man they knew and trusted, was with them. They wept for the lives they’d left behind, the friends, the home they’d built. And then, when the tears were done, they knelt and prayed.

The parties went on. The night resounded to music and drunken laughter but there was an edge to it. The talk in church had been of war. War against the people over the road. War against their partners, their children. They weren’t sure if they could do it. Yet what was the alternative? Damnation. Lucifer would flay them alive with whips of flame. So they partied desperately, trying to find oblivion in alcohol and narcotics, and they dreaded the morning to come.

*****

James Hicks sat alone in his rather sparsely furnished bedroom, his hands hanging between his knees, and only distantly heard the laughter and music. His head pounded with words of challenge which he simply could not believe he’d heard. In all the years he’d been here, built up his congregation, seen the town grow, expand, absorb more and more souls, he’d never felt threatened. Never. Not .. once. And, now, a newcomer, a woman .. had stood up to him, goaded him, and told him in a blunt voice that he was not enough.

His hand had ached to punch her. His hand had actually curled into a fist and moved an inch or so.

She’d said he’d done nothing. Nothing! He’d kept the community together, working for the cause. War wasn’t just fighting with weapons. There were words. Attitudes. Cultivating the right atmosphere. Bringing them down, inch by rotten inch to the point where they were his. To the point where they .. belonged.

Now he was in danger of losing control over them.

Two storms in as many hours. Storms. They never had storms on this side of the street. Where had they come from?

Children’s laughter. A pernicious invader, sly and so subtle. The damned kids never laughed. What did they have in their miserable lives to laugh about?

And a service out in the open. What the hell was that all about? They had rooms over there, big enough to hold them all. Rank, mildewed rooms, yes, but so what? Why come outside with their .. hymns and prayers and praises? How had it happened?

That damned priest, that’s how. How had he ever managed to get in here? He should be the first casualty in this war. Put against a wall and shot. Raising hopes, lifting morale .. it was unforgivable.

How could they have let it happen ..?

And the two newcomers.

His face twisted.

So .. quiet. So .. observant. They hadn’t fit from the start. He should have been more alert himself. They hadn’t wanted to join in. That should had set off some alarm bells. And, now, it came to this. A challenge for leadership.

I won’t go without a fight, James Hicks silently resolved. I won’t let them push me out. I have friends. Friends in high places.

He smiled and prepared for bed.

*****

Nick halted yet again. “Is it me, or do you get the feeling we’re being watched as well?”

She nodded. “I feel it too. But it doesn’t feel threatening. There’s a difference between being watched and being assessed. This is watching.”

“I don’t like it,” he muttered.

“It’s above us. In the trees.”

Nick cautiously peered up. “What’s up there?”

“I think it’s birds.”

“Birds can be used as spies. Messengers.” He stopped. “Y’know, I haven’t seen one bird flying anywhere in this town. No animals at all. Not even bugs.”

“That might be a good thing. There’s definitely birds in these trees.” She pointed. “Let’s move on.”

They eased forward, staying just off the gravel path and walking silently on the lawn. Nick checked the time. It was past one thirty. There were no stars overhead. No moon. He’d never noticed before. The sky here was cloudless and it felt very strange to look up at .. nothing.

The house on the hill was growing larger with every step closer. At a distance, it had simply looked like a big house. The nearer they got, the more it began to resemble a castle.

“You getting anything?” he breathed.

Merlin nodded. “Really stinks up here. It’s bad enough down there but, up here, it reeks.”

“Evil.”

“Oh yeah.”

“This is the middle man. The .. godlike creator of everyone’s misery.”

“I guess so. This place has power.”

“Enough to give life to a phenomenon?”

“An’ run it.”

“Then we’ll take it slow an’ easy. Let’s not antagonize anyone. This is just an observation exercise.”

“Works for me.”

They crept on. Keeping in the darkness was easy because it was everywhere. There were no lights in the wood, so no shadows. When they reached the edge of the trees, they saw the castle was lit. Someone was home.

They halted again. “I’ll go check it out,” Nick said briskly. “You wait here. No arguments, Merli. Philip needs you. The town needs you. I can’t challenge Hicks, you can.”

“Take Aquila,” she suggested.

He hesitated then nodded once. “Observation only. Merli, you keep under cover.”

“Aye, skipper,” she grinned.

Nick felt a hand brush his arm. “Let’s go.”

“Does observation also include protecting you?” Aquila asked.

“Depends,” he replied. “If it signals your presence, no.”

“Understood.”

Nick sucked in a breath and dashed forward across the open lawn toward a low wall where he crouched down to get his bearings. He glanced over the wall once, then pointed. The lights in the castle were all on the first floor and in three separate locations. Two were divided by a darkened window, the third was off to one side. Nick pointed to the large area of darkness. Then he was up, over the wall, landing on his feet and running again, crouched low, his firearm in his hand. He didn’t have to ask for confirmation that Aquila was with him, he just knew. He vaulted another low wall onto a stone terrace and ran the last few yards to the wall. Now he had a choice. The single light or the double. He chose the double. Edging cautiously along the wall, he reached the first lit window. Enough light was spilling out to tell him the drapes weren’t drawn. He paused to steady his breathing then darted a quick look thru before pulling back. He blinked, frowning. Then he ducked down and crabbed beneath the sill, eased erect again and loped to the next lit window. There, he did the same exercise. Pause, dart, pull back.

Nick returned to his starting point and debated whether to try for the third lit window or whether to retreat to the woods and make a report. Before he could decide, there was a brilliant flash in the distance, followed by a dull crump of sound. The first batch of C4 had exploded.

*****

Alex woke with a start and sat up quickly, her eyes wide in the darkness. She reached for a flashlight and switched it on just as someone knocked on her door.

“Yeah, who is it?”
“Maria.”

“Sure, come in,” Alex said, dragging on her sweater. “What was that noise?”

“I think it was a bomb,” Maria gasped. “The church. It’s on fire!”

“Our church?” Alex demanded quickly, thrusting her legs into her jeans.

“Theirs!”

“Thank God for Navy SEALs,” Alex muttered. “C’mon. It’ll be chaos out there.”

Children were crying, some were screaming. The few men resident on this side were milling around in various states of undress asking sleep befuddled questions. The women were scared but holding it together.

“Alex?” Philip began. “Someone said a bomb?”

“I think Nick blew up their church,” she replied and his eyes widened. “It’s on fire.”

“A bucket chain,” Philip decided at once. “Maria, get some of the older children. They can help.”

“We’re going to their assistance?” Alex choked.

“Yes,” Philip nodded, walking quickly away. “Good is good for everyone, Alex, especially those who don’t deserve it.”

*****

Nick dropped down beside Merlin. “Next one should be going up any time now,” he warned.

On cue, there was another flash and dull boom.

“Where was that?” she asked as they began to run back thru the wood.

“Crack house,” he said with fat satisfaction.

“Anyone likely to be hurt?”

“Small charge at the back of the place. Severe structural damage. Hopefully, no casualties. This is our way of putting on a show.”

By the time they’d raced thru the wood and reached level ground again, a strange sight met their eyes. In the distance, a row of people was passing buckets from one to the next, from the broken dilapidated slums on one side, across their sidewalk and over the street to where Philip was handing them to ostensibly an enemy. The church of the midnight mass was wooden and blazing fiercely, and no one really believed they could save it, but they were trying. Working together. It would only be later that they remembered that. At the third explosion, they screamed and ducked, covering their heads, then straightened and grimly continued.

James Hicks was slack jawed with outrage and shock. Merlin came up behind him.

“Isn’t this better?” she murmured, making him jump. “Some genuine terror. A church destroyed. Houses damaged. Isn’t this evil ..?”

He spun, screaming, and his fist rose, drawing back and hammering forward .. only to be caught in an iron hard grip.

“Bitch slap me, would you?” she grinned. “I don’t think so. Not tonight. I’m having too much fun.”

She shoved him back and strolled on past.

“I’ll kill you!” he raged. “Before I’m done .. I’ll kill you! Both of you!”

“More like it, Reverend. Nice job,” she called. “Try an’ keep it up.”

As Nick negotiated the bucket chain, he glanced at Philip and winked. Philip shook his head but couldn’t quite stop the smile.

*****

Derek relaxed on his bed. Rachel sat beside him. “Just listen to the sound of my voice. Breathe … Relax … Close your eyes. You’re floating, serene … Picture the town. Picture Peri. Concentrate … Tell her you have a message … ”

*****

Merlin sagged onto the sofa. “We have worked hard tonight. Done well. I … ”

“Merli?” Nick queried, turning away from the window and the flame washed, debris strewn street. “You okay?”

“I feel a little .. odd. Slightly sick.” She swallowed. “Aquila … ”

“What about her?” Nick asked tensely.

“She’s … ” Merlin’s eyes rolled up and she fainted.

*****

Derek blinked. It was night in the town but not a calm night. Debris lay scattered. Flames licked at the timbers of half wrecked houses. It was a hellish vision .. and, somehow, more in keeping with the place than the scenes of serenity and ugliness he had seen before.

Walking thru this was Peri .. or it could have been Aquila. Derek didn’t think so because Aquila was always strong, always sure of herself. This woman looked dazed.

He tried to speak but no words came out. He’d half expected that and he’d come prepared. He waved instead to get her attention then, as she approached, frowning slightly in puzzlement, Derek turned to move two flipcharts into position. He smiled at her and held out a pen. He mimed she was to write her questions and comments. He would write his answers and questions on his board.

She nodded to indicate understanding.

Derek wrote quickly.

‘Hicks was minister. San Jose. Vanished 1909. Never found.’

He glanced back. She was reading his words and nodding for him to go on. Derek got a fresh sheet.

‘Legacy were to investigate reports of Satanic ritual. Live sacrifice. Animal beheading.’

She was frowning.

‘Police record for domestic violence. Never charged.’

Derek looked back again to see she was writing on her pad.

‘Wife?’

He shook his head.

‘Sister. Agatha. She vanished when he did.’

She blinked and pointed to the ground at her feet. She mouthed, “Here?”

Derek scrawled, ‘This place only takes groups of two. She must be.’

She looked around at the slums, then wrote, ‘She isn’t over there. Philip asked. She can’t be over here. Against the rule. Where else is there?’

Derek shrugged.

‘Has to be somewhere. Bones not in field.’

He flipped over the sheet and went on, ‘What happening here?’ He gestured at the street and the fires.

She smiled quickly. ‘Nick.’

Derek smiled too. The single word made so much sense. It had never been included in any formal CV but creative mayhem was one of Nick’s specialties. She was writing more.

‘Peri challenged Hicks for leadership. Waiting for developments. Philip making moves too, advancing. House on hill looked at. Needs more work. Everything going well. You?’

Derek considered.

‘Surprised I could do this. Rachel working with family support group. Anything else I can do to help?’

She thought, then nodded.

‘Be ready.’

‘For what?’

‘Next visit. I come to you.’ She watched him nod. ‘Good seeing a friendly face,’ she added.

‘You too. Take care.’

She waved a hand and walked away. Derek took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, Rachel was leaning over him.

“Hey, welcome back. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replied, surprised to hear his own voice. “Tired. Very tired.”

“I can imagine. It must take it out of you. Did you get thru?”

“Yes. It’s starting to happen, Rachel. It looks like a war zone now.”

She shivered. “Is that good or bad?”

He thought about it. “It’s an improvement,” Derek responded.

*****

Nick was rubbing Merlin’s hand. “C’mon, babe. Don’t do this to me. C’mon, wake up … ”

Her eyelids moved, flickering, then rose. “Whoa .. that was totally weird. What happened?”

He sat back. “You fainted.”

“I sometimes wonder if you guys are good for me,” she muttered. “I never fainted till I started hanging with you.”

“Are you sick?” he asked, studying her carefully.

“No, I was summoned.” Merlin sat up. “To a meeting. With Derek.”

Nick was impressed. “He got thru?”

“In spirit, somehow. Don’t ask cos I don’t know. Okay, this is what he .. said. Reason Hicks isn’t on the list is because he got here before the list began. Nineteen-oh-nine. Maybe nineteen ten. He was a minister in San Jose but got involved with Satanic rituals. Before the Legacy could move in an’ shut him down – ”

“He came here.”

“So we must assume. He’s also got a record of sorts for domestic violence. Never charged but the police knew about him. And he had a sister. Went missing when he did. We know she isn’t this side, cos her brother is. She isn’t over Philip’s side cos he checked. So where the hell is she?”

“Only one place she can be,” Nick answered.

“The house on the hill?” Merlin queried. “But .. that’s against the rules.”

“Owner of a place can make an’ break the rules to suit his own needs,” Nick remarked. “Derek does it .. not quite all the time but with surprising regularity. Not the big, important rules,” he added quickly. “More the .. day to day running rules.”

“But the one person this side, one person the other side is one of the big, important rules here, Nick,” she pointed out.

“For us, sure. For him, obviously not.”

She paused. “It definitely is a him, then.”

Nick shrugged. “Or it could be a her.”

Merlin sighed. “I’m tired. I’d like to get some sleep before dawn because, now we’ve started this, it isn’t gonna stop. Just tell me straight what you saw.”

Nick looked up. “In one room, I saw a woman. In her middle thirties, I guess. Sitting by the fire, calmly reading a book. Nice room. And, in the other room, I saw a guy. Maybe ten years older, sitting by the fire, at a desk, working on balancing his accounts.”

*****

Silence came at last to the town. The church of the midnight mass was a burned out wreck. The other fires had been contained then controlled. The debris was left where it had fallen. Some people had to double up their accommodations but it wasn’t a real hardship – there were plenty of spare guestrooms.

Philip ushered his worn, smoke and soot smeared charges back inside and closed the door.

“We did a good thing,” he told them in a weary voice. “It’s God’s place to judge, not ours. We helped when we could have stood back, done nothing, but, if we’d done that, we’d be no better than them. Let’s to bed now, and see what the dawn brings. Alex .. a moment?”

She hung back. When they were alone, she held up her hands. “Philip, I’m sorry. I feel guilty enough that I didn’t want to help them. It was wrong of me. I know that. I don’t need a lecture.”

“I was going to say thank you,” he smiled. “You could’ve dug in your heels, refused. I’m the supposed leader over here because I’m a priest, a man of religion, but the women look to you for leadership, and there are more women here than men. And the children look to the women. I’ve seen them, Alex. I say we’re going to do whatever, and they look at you for your reaction. If you nod, they agree. And, while I was out there, in the thick, you were organizing things at the other end. I couldn’t have done this without you, Alex. None of it.”

“That isn’t true,” she began. “They don’t look to me – ”

“Maria woke you first, not me,” he pointed out.

“Well .. I guess it’s the sisters hanging together,” Alex admitted with a tired smile, “but I’m not their leader, Philip. I wouldn’t know where to start.” That wasn’t quite the truth but Philip needed some encouragement. “Look at what you’ve accomplished here since Monday night.”

“Not one convert,” he commented.

“C’mon,” she coaxed. “Don’t be such a pessimist.”

“I’m a priest,” he said solemnly but his eyes laughed. “Runs in the blood.”

Alex laughed out loud. “That’s more like it. I’m beat, Philip. See you in the morning.”

*****

To her surprise, Alex woke a little after dawn and felt amazingly refreshed. She rose and padded to the window, and drew back the ragged piece of cloth which made the drape. Alex was shocked at how quickly this bare little room had come to be home, how quickly they’d adapted to life here. No computers, no modern conveniences. No technology of any kind. It was like being at a retreat .. but not a very pleasant one. But she knew that, without Aquila’s assistance, life here would be a lot harder. She hadn’t felt homesick, not once, not until now. Since she’d arrived here, on this side of the street, Alex had been busy, too occupied with cooking and cleaning, minding the children, mending, reading stories, changing diapers, preparing bottles, fighting fires, being reassuring and a friend. But, now, this moment, Alex had no demands on her time and she was free to think about herself.

She missed Angel Island. She missed her friends, her bedroom, her clothes, her place in the control room, her workstation, even her chair. She missed Andrew and the meals which just arrived. She missed the city, the stores. She missed Jack with a sweet ferocity, and wondered what he would make of all this. And then she thought she was bring maudlin and shook herself. Alex recalled she had wanted to come investigate this, to discover why all the people had disappeared and what had become of them. Maybe even free them.

“I’ve been too busy to concentrate on the mission,” she said softly. “Too busy to .. do anything about ending this. I know how and where, but not why. Why are we all here? If it’s to fight .. we haven’t been fighting. Well, not until last night. We’ve just .. lived in fear. Fear of what could happen, but not of what is happening .. because nothing is happening.”

The play area was empty, sullen and damp after the night’s rain. Alex let the cloth fall back and she began to dress, pulling on yesterday’s clothes because that was all she had. She went to the communal bathroom, washed her face, brushed her teeth, combed her hair with her fingers. Then she examined her face in the cracked mirror.

“I won’t live in fear anymore,” she declared. “I’m here to do a job. The longer I forget that, the longer I’m gonna be stuck here.”

That much decided, Alex went down to start fixing breakfast. After a few moments, Ron Mayweather and Samuel Thompson came in.

“Morning, Alex. Some night, huh?”

“Definitely,” she agreed. “Guys .. could you take over? There’s something I have to do.”

“Sure.”

Alex went out to the street. She hadn’t expected to see anyone about over the other side and she wasn’t disappointed. She began to work, methodically clearing an area of debris. Today, the children would start to play their part in the war. It was a war, she realized, just one which was fought on a lot of different levels.

*****

Merlin woke an hour after sunup. Aquila had been on guard duty all night, patrolling the house, maintaining the perimeter. Hicks wouldn’t let this go; he couldn’t, not if he wanted to keep some credibility in the community. Today, she could expect his retaliation.

A man, a woman, a missing sister. Did Hicks use his sister as some kind of bargaining chip? Let me stay in the town, you can have her. Do whatever you want with her. Had he given her into slavery ..? Or .. Merlin considered, maybe it was the other way around. We’ll let you stay in the town only if you give us your sister. Either way, she reflected, Agatha Hicks hadn’t had much choice in a place where choice ruled supreme.

Aquila listened to these ideas over breakfast and pursed her lips.

“I know that look,” Merlin said, lighting a cigarette. “You think I’ve missed something.”

“You haven’t considered the third possibility.”

“Which is?” Merlin asked patiently.

“Agatha Hicks did choose to go into slavery, simply to get away from her brother.”

“Well, yeah, she might have done that, but she would have gotten away from him anyway by living over the road. Hicks is way too fond of using his fists to make his point. When he’s frustrated, he lashes out. Here, he’s had everything his own way, plus there are more guys this side than women, so the opportunities have been more thin on the ground than before. Agatha probably had the attitude beaten out of her until she just gave up. Then, when she wouldn’t react, he still beat on her. You can’t win with those guys. You’re half right though. Going anywhere away from him, either by his choice or hers, must’ve been a blessing.”

“Maybe she is Jenny,” Aquila remarked.

“Who?” Merlin queried.

“The mythical Jenny, the savior. The children sing of her.”

Merlin shrugged. “Well .. maybe she is. She’s certainly saved herself.”

*****

Alex finally finished piling up the stones, bits of splintered wood, and shingles by the edge of the opposite sidewalk. Cynicism said they could be used as missiles but charity said they may be needed for repairs. She straightened, rubbing her stinging hands on her thighs, and surveyed the length of the street. The road, black, straight, unrolled before her, right to the wood at the far end. Her eyes narrowed. The wood wasn’t at the end …

*****

“What else can we figure out? What else is there to solve?” Merlin asked.

“Are there any more demons?” Aquila promptly answered. “And what was all that about .. entrance fees?”

“Grass seed from the barn and six cents,” Merlin recalled. “People here don’t use money so .. why six cents?”

*****

Alex began to walk. As she passed a door, it opened and Maria hesitantly emerged. “Alex? Have you eaten?”

“Not yet. There’s something I have to do.”

“Where are you going?” Maria frowned.

“Up there. There’s a house, up there on the hill.”

Maria joined her in the street and frowned. “I never noticed it before.”

“Neither have I and that’s why I’m going to take a closer look.”

“I don’t think you should,” Maria whispered.

“Why? Is it against the rules? How can it be? No one’s ever seemed to notice it before. If it was out of bounds, the gate man would have told us when we got here. He didn’t.”

“I just meant .. not alone. It could be dangerous.” Maria put a hand on Alex’s arm. “Wait a little. Let some of the others go with you.”

“Maria, I knew this would be a dangerous mission. People have been disappearing for a long time. Now I’m one of them .. and I still don’t know why I’m here. That house could hold the answers. It could even tell us .. how to get out.”

“I’ll come with you,” Maria promised, “but not now. Eat first. Gather some supplies. Then we go. Yes?”

“All right,” Alex surrendered, sighing. “One hour. Then we go.”

*****

Merlin had her chin in her hand.

“And then,” Aquila continued, “there’s the endgame scenario. It’s getting nearer. We have to think of what’s likely to happen. How we can get these people out without killing them in the process. There’s a breach in the portal so we can get as far as inside the barn. That’s good. What isn’t so good is that we can’t get everyone in town into the barn. With the phenomenon in the process of collapsing, I don’t know if we can hold it stable long enough to ship them thru. And ship them thru to where? Right now, I could probably punch a hole thru to the other side, but we don’t know what’s currently on the other side. It isn’t the field by the highway. If it was, more people would be able to see the barn.”

“Anything else?” Merlin asked, and sounded depressed.

*****

Alex took her breakfast outside to the sidewalk. A meager sun was gleaming on the puddles and the day had a slight hint of warmth.

Joanne and two friends went out to play with the rope and Alex smiled. They had no real worries. Pain, yes, and homesickness, but no real worries, not any more. She wondered how old some of these children really were, and she frowned. Some of them must have been here years, yet they hadn’t aged.

There was a small argument about who would hold the rope and who would jump it but it was amicably settled. Joanne took hold of one end and began to turn it. Her friend began to jump.

“Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye. Four an’ twenty blackbirds baked in a pie … ” they sang.

Alex stood quickly. “Where’s Philip?” she asked one of the women watchers. “Does anyone know?”

*****

Aquila rose. “Now you’re awake, I’m going over the road to see if they need anything. I won’t be gone long.”

“Good. When you get back, we’re going to take another, closer look at the big house.”

*****

“What is it?” Philip asked, frowning and anxious.

“The song,” Alex said. “It isn’t a song. It’s a nursery rhyme.”

Aquila came out from one of the doors. “A what?”

“A nursery rhyme,” Alex repeated. “As soon as they started singing it .. something rang a bell. Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.” She watched them. “Don’t you see?”

“I don’t know any nursery rhymes,” Aquila replied and Philip shook his head. “I never had a nursery.”

Alex shook her head too, in frustration. “Sixpence. Six cents. Cents are pennies, right? A pocket full of rye. I bet if you checked out the grass seed in the barn, it’d be rye grass. The entrance fee!”

There was a moment of profound silence.

“How does it proceed?” Aquila asked in a taut voice.

Alex had to think for a moment. She felt excitement buzzing in her chest.

“Er .. four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Wasn’t that a tasty dish to set before the king.”

“There were birds in the wood,” Aquila remarked softly.

“What wood?” Philip frowned. “The one by the barn?”

“No, Father Callahan. Alex, is there more to this song?”

She nodded. “The next verse goes .. the king was in his counting house, counting out his money. The queen was in the parlor, eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes, when down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose.”

She shrugged. “That’s a little upsetting to small children so someone added a final verse,” Alex concluded. “She made such a commotion that little .. Jenny Wren, flew down into the garden and put it back again.”

Aquila stared at them. “That explains a lot.”

“Who Jenny is, for a start,” Philip agreed.

“More than that. Last night, Nick and I went to assess the house on the hill.”

“You know about it too?” Alex said.

“Yes. And we’re going back there today.”

“What house on what hill?” Philip frowned.

“I’ll show you,” Alex smiled. “We’ll all go.”

“All right,” Philip agreed.

“What did you find out?” Alex asked Aquila.

“Nick saw a woman in a nice room, and a man balancing his account books in another. Later, we learned that James Hicks didn’t come here as a single. He was with his sister. She’s missing from the town.”

Alex breathed out. “The king, the queen, the maid. All up there.”

“In the counting house,” Philip said.

*****

James Hicks gazed at the remains of his church. He felt a cold fury burn his bones, run along every nerve and thru every vein and artery in his body. This wasn’t just destruction. This wasn’t temper driven. This was wanton, for the hell of it. It carried a high price and he was determined that people would pay.

“Reverend Hicks ..?”

He turned sharply and Kevin Sumner stepped back, swallowing at the expression on Hicks’ face.

“Yes, Kevin?” Hicks asked, his voice calm and measured, yet coated with icy loathing.

“I, er, just wanted to say .. I’m sorry the church got burned down.”

“How kind of you.”

“There must be … We can hold services in the open. They do – ”

“We are not like them,” Hicks cut in, his nostrils flaring.

Kevin quickly nodded. “Okay, sure. Then we can rebuild. We have time.”

“Yes. How much time we don’t know but we do have time.” Hicks fell silent for a moment. “Your wife, Kevin. How is she?”

“Liz?” Kevin frowned. “She’s okay. Why?”

“She expressed desire in one of the newcomers. One of the troublesome newcomers.”

“Nick Boyle. That’s right,” Kevin agreed, his voice carefully level and controlled, but his hands twitched.

“She knew him from before.”

“Yeah. They were engaged once.”

Hicks smiled. “Has she told you about him?”

“More than I care to hear,” Kevin replied shortly.

Hicks glanced round. “And what can you tell me?”

Kevin shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. “He was .. some kinda commando. SEAL, I think. I know Lizzie used to be lonely cos he was away a lot.”

Hicks didn’t react. He’d never heard of Navy SEALs.

“Let’s just put it this way, Reverend Hicks,” Kevin went on. “Nick Boyle knows all about explosives. He probably caused all this damage an’ destruction on his own. He’s a trained killer.”

“Hmm. What about his wife?”

Kevin shook his head. “Not much. We only found out recently that Nick had married. She’s some good looking woman though.”

“So .. if it could be arranged that Liz could get Nick alone .. and you could get Peri alone .. you’d both be willing and able to take advantage of it?”

Kevin glanced up, checking to see if he’d heard right. “For sure,” he nodded, only half surprised that he had.

“And then I can take advantage of your loyal service to the church.”

“Tell me what to do,” Kevin said. Finally, he could see a way to lay the ghost to rest.

*****

Merlin felt the time for subterfuge was just about over so she walked boldly into the street, gesturing for Alex and Philip to join her.

“Common ground,” she called. “We can meet here. No one can stop us.”

“We have a lot of children this side, Peri,” Alex cautioned. “You put them at risk.”

“Okay, let’s act as if we’re enemies an’ I’m laying down some ultimatums.”

Philip nodded. “All right.”

“How you doing?”

“We’re fine,” he said.

“Actually, no,” Alex countered, “I’m not. I realized this morning that I’ve forgotten why I came here. I’ve made a useful contribution, sure, but making people comfortable isn’t getting them out. I’m going to look at that house on the hill. Philip’s coming too. So’s Aquila. We figured out the entrance fee and – ”

“She told me. Good work.”

Alex hesitated. “Thanks. She also told us that she’d been meeting with Derek. You couldn’t have told us that?”

“Well .. I kinda promised Derek after you’d disappeared that, even though I’m no psychic, I’d try to get messages out. Progress reports. I asked Derek to find out who Hicks is, or was. He came thru for us. It was the first time I knew that Aquila had been successful, Alex. It only happened last night. She told you soon as she could. I’m not keeping secrets from either of you.”

“The explosives?” Philip queried. “That was a surprise we could’ve done without.”

“C’mon. Someone had to rock the boat a little harder. Each to his own method, Father. You hold services in the open. We blow things up. It keeps it in character. Hicks is now minus a church. I’ve challenged him for leadership. He’ll be concentrating on me. Heat’s off you. Get your army playing.”

“That’s what I mean,” Alex accused, pointing a finger. “That. Telling us what to do. We couldn’t choose for ourselves, no, you had to tell us which side to choose. You .. make all these plans and .. and implement them and you don’t tell us what you’re doing. We find out after the fact.”

Merlin regarded her. “Alex – ”

“Okay, so you do have more experience in these kinds of situations but .. you’ve challenged Hicks? What’s that all about?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t? I want him to fight, Alex. I need to know the extent of his strength. He’s an obstacle which has to be removed. And I would rather have him come directly at me than drag down any more people.”

“You haven’t got those people behind you, Peri. While you’re going head to head with him, his congregation could come at us,” Alex retorted. “We have children here. We have to keep them safe. I wish you’d told us about this before you did anything but you just went ahead and did it anyway.”

Merlin shook her head slowly. “Hicks isn’t the enemy. He got trapped here just like us, but, unlike us, he found sanctuary an’ made the town work for him. The real enemy is in the counting house, up on the hill. If you’re so keen to get out, you gotta look at the big picture. Forget taking sides. Forget your side of the street, my side. Think both sides. Play both sides .. against the middle man. Work to upset the balance. It isn’t fragile, Alex, not at all. It’s entrenched. Break the rules. See what happens. We gotta flush him out. If we don’t …”

“We’ll never get out?” Philip questioned gravely.

“We may, but this won’t be over and isn’t that what you want? Why you came here? To end it? If we don’t, it’ll just grow again. Another Hicks, a new town, more lost people an’ grieving families. We’re on the same side, Alex. You didn’t ask my permission before you went ahead and issued your lists of demands. You didn’t need to. So long as our strategies meet somewhere and get the right end result, what the hell does it matter? I haven’t forgotten you have women an’ children in there. I’d rather have them outside an’ back with their families. My aim is that no one dies in the process, but I can’t promise no one gets hurt.”

Alex nodded. “I’m just feeling frustrated, Peri, that’s all. It isn’t .. a personal attack. It’s Thursday. I’ve been here since Monday, Sunday actually. I want out.”

“Then we’re agreed. Protect your army with the strongest men you have. Let them arm themselves with lengths of wood, if they have to, but get your soldiers into the field. We have to press the advantage while their parents are feeling vulnerable.”

Philip nodded. “All right. And the house?”

“I’ll get Nick. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.”

*****

“So,” Rachel began over breakfast. “What happened?”

Derek considered. “They’ve got to look at the house on the hill. It’s possible Agatha Hicks is there, because she can’t be anywhere else. Why she’s there and not on Philip’s side of the street, I don’t know. Similarly, I don’t know who resides in the house but it’s most likely to be .. the one in control. The creator. The godlike central activist.”

“Take him out, the place collapses,” Rachel nodded.

“A good plan,” Derek agreed, “on the surface.”

“Why on the surface?” she frowned.

“Because .. if the place collapses, where will all those people be? Not here. This isn’t like the New Eden Colony, Rachel. That was here, in this world, materialized, solid, for three days every fifty years. Where Alex and Nick, Peri and Philip are now .. isn’t in this world. A parallel dimension, maybe, but not here. Not solid. The town .. never is in this world. Only the barn. The .. halfway point. That overlaps when the conditions are right.”

“Does Peri know this?”
“She isn’t stupid. She asked me to be ready for her next visit. She must be considering the ending of this situation. She’s escalated the action. She wouldn’t do that unless things were .. heading to a conclusion.”

“How has she .. escalated the action?” Rachel asked.

He smiled quickly. “You should’ve seen the place. Wreckage littering the street. Fires burning. I asked what had happened, and she said one word. Nick.”

Rachel laughed softly. “At last, he’s found a genuine outlet for his talents.”

“I thought I’d find you guys in here,” Jon Redding remarked as he came to a halt by their table.

“Would you join us, detective?” Derek invited.

“Sure, I got time for coffee.” He sat down next to Rachel and signaled the waiter. “Hot for the time of year.”

“Indeed it is,” Derek commented. “Rachel and I are used to the cooler maritime conditions of San Francisco and the Bay area.”

The coffee arrived and the waiter withdrew.

“I have to open the road,” Redding announced.

“You can’t,” Derek immediately argued. “You have to keep it closed.”

“Sure, I agree. I have a file eight inches thick which kinda forces me to say, yeah, you’re absolutely right. But Horn says we’re not doing anything out there so I gotta open the road. The reporters – ”

“My God, they are the last people we want going out there,” Derek interrupted. “Poking around in everything.”

“Derek .. I hear you. You got my full support. Lieutenant Horn is under pressure from the mayor. An’ he says keeping the road closed hurts us more than opening it an’ risking more disappearances.”

“How many names are in your file?”

“Not including the thirty odd we already accounted for ..? Five hundred, seventy six. An’ Horn knows that. He says that’s eight point five people a year, Derek. It’s an acceptable loss ratio. Starving the city of traffic an’ commerce isn’t.”

Derek knew that lives would never come top of any civic agenda. Money would always take pride of place.

“Give us twenty four hours,” he begged. “And then .. you can open the road.”

“Please, detective,” Rachel urged. “The situation inside is very volatile right now. New people getting trapped .. could wreck any hopes of finding a permanent solution. It could trap those already in there forever. Twenty four hours. You can delay that long.”

Redding drank his coffee while he thought and they waited. “Okay,” he said. “You got it. I’ll wait twenty four hours. Then I have to obey my lieutenant’s orders.”

Rachel looked across at Derek. She didn’t feel relieved at Redding’s agreement. “Will that give them enough time?”

“It has to,” Derek replied gravely.

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