Beloved Evangeline (13 page)

“
Oh, right... I was saving this to tell you later... just in case things didn’t go well, and you ended up in hospital... or the like...” he trailed off in response to the glare on my face.

“
What
did you do?”

“
Well, to be precise, I put a spot of something in your tea... in preparation.”

The strange pain in my stomach suddenly made sense. “You
poisoned
me??”

“
Just a little, teensy amount, not enough to kill you....” his head wobbled back and forth in apparent thought, “ Probably.”

I could feel my face settling into a deeply unpleasant expression.

“
Had to see how your body would react first...” he explained quickly, “for when you take the full dose.”

“
Take more
poison
? I know I just hit my head, and I think it must be affecting my hearing… explain. Make this make sense,” I fumbled inarticulately, struggling to grasp why any sane person would slip me poison and then ask that I take even more.

“
We’ll get to that one last.” Mr. Talbot smiled sadly. “There are three things you need to do first—tasks if you will—before you can drink the potion. Technically, it is a
potio
n. It just happens to be poisonous for more than 99.9 percent of the population; hence the test amount I just gave you.” His eyes flickered to me meekly. “And the infinitesimal drop I gave you last night.”

“
Of course. I often go around poisoning people I’ve just met.” There was no way to even attempt to control the sardonic tone in my voice, so I didn’t bother trying.

“
Potion
,” Sir Talbot corrected unhelpfully. “I know how it sounds, believe me. I really am glad it didn’t kill you, truly I am, but we’re running out of time right now. Sadly, this is a kind of test for your inheritance—the one you and I both know you’ve been searching for. The first task must be done this night. After you finish that, it’ll lead you to what you need to do next. On the grounds behind the house, there’s a rather large old fountain. You’ll need to gaze into it and come back and tell me what you see.”

“
Um, after I get back from the hospital, you mean.”

“
Nothing a hospital can do for you, I’m afraid. The effects are already wearing off. You’re color is already much nicer. Yes, you’re going to be fine.”

“
Well, thanks for the
lovely
cup of tea. I’m leaving now.” I walked unsteadily toward the door.

“
Oh, you’re not leaving.”

“
I. Am. Going.
Now,
.” replied I, in the calmest voice I could muster.

“
I don’t think so.”

I opened the door with absolutely no hesitation.

“
Oh, my dear, even as stubborn as you are, you’re not going to go anywhere. I know this because
I
am the one who knows all about you. I know about all of the terrible things that have happened,” he casually poured himself another cup of tea, “I know that you think you’re cursed.”

I froze with my hand on the doorknob.

“
I also know that’s the reason you’ve been hiding these past years. You thought you could make it stop by hiding. Or you hoped you could, anyway. Or are you just punishing yourself?” He paused, his expression quizzical. “Whichever. But, of course, that’s not the way these things work. All you really had left was your dog, Rocky wasn’t it? And he succumbed to old age only recently. Poor thing. It will
never
be over until you follow your grandfather’s instructions.... the only way to make it stop is to see this thing through, go into it even deeper, but you’ve always known that, haven’t you dear?”

I opened my mouth but no words came out.

“
Goodness, are your hands trembling? Maybe you should have a seat, dear.”

I glared at him again. I was apparently capable of nothing else.

“
Did you bring your medicine? Not that it will really do you a whole lot of good. Anti-anxiety medication only really works when your anxiety is actually worse than whatever it is you’re anxious about... not really true in your case, is it?”

I crossed my arms in an effort to control the shaking, and perhaps a little bit in childish defiance. “I know that misleading you wasn’t really the best way to earn your trust, but given you’re, ah, fragility when it comes to this topic, I felt it best to ease into this conversation.”

I slid slowly against the wall, crossing my arms tightly and silently cursing my stupid
fragility
.

“
I know you must think I’m being a bit cruel, but this really is for the best. You’ve got to toughen up if you’re to succeed. Your grandfather and I disagree about whether or not you can even handle what’s coming, but seeing as we have no other choice, you’re going to have to do.”

I tried to control my breathing but found it was still coming unsteadily, unevenly. Panic was setting in.

Sir Lawrence Talbot seemed to be speaking from very far away. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. We can’t have you falling apart at every turn just because of some sad memories. Everybody has unhappy memories, Evangeline. You can’t spend the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself.”

“
Your grandfather would have me coddle you, tell you that none of this was your fault. Even let you walk away if you chose. But that’s not going to get us anywhere. And besides, it
is
your fault, Evangeline. If you had just sucked it up years ago instead of running away, you could have saved some of those people. But like always in your life, you needed to go against the grain. Most people either crack up or fight back... you stuck your head in the sand and pretended it wasn’t happening. Wasting your life at a dead-end job just so you can hide out and work on one of you little “projects” doesn’t stop the world from spinning, and you know it. And, in the mean time, you’ve all but ruined your life, your career. Dropping out of law school was just about the stupidest decision I’ve ever heard of. What is it that you’re doing now? Some sort of banal research, summarizing statistics and drawing rather obvious conclusions about them? A monkey could do that. I can only imagine what Jack would think if he could see what you’ve become...”

I could no longer hear what he was saying. His lips were still moving, but it was too late. I was under the water now... drowning. It was offsides, forbidden, for anyone to mention Jack. None of my friends even knew anything about him until I confessed to Simon. I just couldn’t bear for his name to be dropped casually in conversation; it felt like a cheapening of his memory. But this wasn’t one of my friends dropping his name so frivolously—it was a murderously cruel little old man I didn’t even know. Self preservation seemed to take hold of me.

“
Enough
,” I said to myself sharply, trying to regain my hold on reality. I straightened up, arms crossed tightly, and sucked in a deep breath. Trying whatever means to diffuse the venom building inside me, I pumped my fists to regain strength.

“
You
don’t know me. You have no idea how
I
feel or how it feels to be the cause of anyone’s death. I loved Jack more than someone like you could possible imagine...” I trailed off, uncrossing my arms but leaving my jaw and fists clenched, just in case.

“
Good girl! I’m so sorry to have to do that to you, but I needed to snap you out of it. That really was the fastest way,” He gazed at me with what I now interpreted as fake sympathy. “Please know none of this is your fault, but we needed to toughen you up.”

My brow remained furrowed.

“
Now we can get started.”

9.

“
I must be out of my mind for agreeing to this.”

“
More or less.” Mr. Talbot smiled. “Now keep to the path—it’s very easy to get lost out here in the forest. And don’t dawdle, please. Not even for a moment. That means no rebellious ignoring of these rules. Not tonight.”

Temporary—or perhaps non-temporary—insanity is my only excuse for not running and never looking back. I just couldn’t. The glowing embers inside me had been stoked—there was no turning back.

Sir Talbot had explained that my family had left certain things undone—and, unless mended—the outpouring of evil would only continue. What was I to do? I’d certainly seen my fair share of
evil
.

Walking behind the house through a dense forest of trees, I felt surreally calm, calmer than I could remember feeling at any other time during all the weirdness of this night. Maybe it was the poison talking. The oak trees overhanging the path leading to the fountain seemed larger than life somehow, like nothing could possibly lie beyond them. Only the smallest beams of moonlight reached through clouds and canopy to reach me. Waves crashed against the shore somewhere in the distance. The path zigzagged through the trees so closely that I nearly had to hug them to just to keep my balance.

At the end of the path, the forest opened up into a clearing, with a magnificent magnolia tree towering at the center of it. A tiny shimmer below the tree drew my eye, luring me closer. An ancient rectangular stone fountain surrounded the shining water—a faint silver glowing from within its depths. It grew brighter until the ethereal light illuminated the entire clearing.

An angelic statue was thrown into relief just beyond the fountain, but before I could fully take notice, a strange sound trembled from the depths of the fountain. I initially thought of running water, but as I drew nearer, I recognized whispering. Through all the hissing I was able to decipher only a single word—
Evangeline.

A lifetime of disappointment does things to a person. Many sane and sensible people would refuse to edge any further into the lion’s den. But… am I sane and sensible?

The throbbing of my heart drew me nearer to the fountain’s edge, and as I gazed down I saw...
nothing
. Just a
dirty
…
old
…
fountain
. The glow was nothing more than the reflection from the moon. I immediately cursed my fool hearty ways and pledged to be more sensible in the future. Only a true idiot—or zealot—could’ve honestly believed the answer to
anything
could possibly be at the bottom of a decaying, algae encrusted fountain.

Without really knowing why, I slumped onto its edge, back side in the dirt, and turned my gaze to the sky.

I have no idea what else to do
, I thought helplessly.
I’ve tried and I’ve tried. Nothing I do ever does any good. For once I’d like just a
little
help
.
I’ve been on my own for so long
.

The wind whipped around me eerily. No owls hooted. No animal sounds could be heard at all—only silence. I could no longer hear even the crashing of the waves. I scowled darkly into the silence, wishing to forget what I could not: just how forlorn I truly was.

I began the retreat back to the house with a heavy heart. I would tell off Sir Lawrence Talbot, kick over a table or two, and put all of this madness behind me once and for all.

A glimmer in the water happened to catch my eye and I froze.

The waters of the pool were stirring. A shape of impressive size was just visible beneath—and it seemed to be steadily rising. I dropped onto the stone ledge—abandoning all reason—leaning into the water for a closer look. I strained and squinted as my nose grazed the dingy water. As the form drew closer flowing chestnut hair and a blue gown were clearly visible. I could not tear my gaze away. So transfixed did I remain until the figure came fully into view that my muscles began to seize and spasm. A woman of striking beauty was reflected in the water beneath me, with the most luminous light green eyes—almost silver—I had ever seen. A growing sense of familiarity perturbed my senses, but she was much too close to see the big picture.

Suddenly I gasped.

That face. The perfect cheekbones and chestnut hair. The image of my young, madness-free mother stared back at me.

She was serene and smiling at first, but my sitting and gaping seemed to agitate her. She motioned for me to do something, but what I had no idea. She pointed to the right and I instinctively followed the direction of her finger, toward the larger than life angelic statue.