Authors: Mariah Stewart
“That was Kenny. I just saw him outside.” Patsy gestured toward the side of the house that faced Nancy’s cabin.
Crystal continued to stare at the front door, then walked to it, pulled it shut, and locked it.
“Chrissie, are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes. I just figured no one else was here this weekend, with your friend over there, Nancy, not here, and the people in the cottage on the other side having left on Wednesday.”
“Well, it is quiet, that’s for certain.”
“Well, it won’t be quiet for long.” Crystal turned to Patsy and smiled. “Genna’s on her way.”
“Genna!” Patsy grinned back. “I thought she was tied up with that kidnapping mess. . .”
“She is. She had to come to New York—someplace just over the state line, she said—to interview someone who won’t be back until Monday, and since it’s so close to the lake, she decided to come and spend tomorrow with us. She figures to be here early in the morning.”
“Well, isn’t that a pleasant surprise.” Patsy glowed with anticipation of the unexpected visit. “Maybe we should bake something special.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, one of Genna’s favorite treats, maybe.” Patsy seemed to be deep in thought.
“I don’t know what Genna’s favorites are,” Crystal told her.
“Well, then, we’d best get busy.” Patsy smiled.
“Now, you just grab that cookbook there, the one with the red paisley cover—yes, that one—and take it into the living room. I’ll bring us some tea, and we can look through the list of Genna’s favorites. And while we’re doing that, you can tell me which are your favorites, and we’ll start a list for you, too. . .”
“So, big sister, tell me about the past couple of weeks.” Genna lay back on the dock, resting on her elbows.
It was ten o’clock on a steamy August morning. The fog had long since burned off the lake. Overhead, clouds drifted past the sun to darken and gather slowly off to the south. Genna and Crystal had taken an early morning sail and now rested lazily in the sun to dry off.
“Well, it sure is different, being here,” Crystal told her.
“In what way?”
“Busy.” Crystal shook her head good-naturedly. “Patsy is one busy lady. Goes from one thing right into the next, doesn’t she?”
“I guess it could take a little getting used to.”
“A little? Ha! I never knew anyone like her. Up at the crack of dawn. ‘Let’s go for a swim before breakfast.’ ‘Hey! It’s a great morning! Let’s just kayak on over to the general store across the lake and get the paper.’” Crystal effectively mimicked Patsy’s facial expressions, right down to the raised eyebrows.
“That’s our Pats, all right,” Genna laughed.
“Oh, look who’s coming to join us.” Crystal sat up and pointed to the end of the dock, where Kermit strolled as nonchalantly as a British lord out to take the morning air.
The cat rolled over on his back between the two women and accepted the adoration of both.
“Now, where have you been?” Crystal asked the cat, who responded by closing his eyes and purring loudly. “Don’t be acting like you don’t know what I’m saying. You best not have been after those little goldfinches again, Kermie.”
Kermie scootched closer to her, never opening his eyes.
“You’re just a big lovey, you are,” she told the cat. Looking up at her sister, she said, “You know, I never did have a pet before. Daddy wouldn’t hear of letting an animal in the house.”
“I remember,” Genna told her.
“Did you have pets, growing up?”
“We had a little bit of everything, actually. When I first came to live with Patsy, she had an old dog named Pickle. After he died, she took me to the SPCA to pick out a new pet. That’s where we found Kermie.”
“Did you know he had diabetes then?”
“No, that was something that developed as he got older. A vet we had once told us that it wasn’t uncommon in male orange tabbies, but I don’t know if that’s true. It’s only a problem if he doesn’t get his insulin. He’s prone to having seizures, and they’re terrible to watch. I’ve never seen Pats get as upset as she does when Kermie has a seizure. And we’re always afraid we’ll lose him to one, so we move heaven and earth to make sure he gets his shots on time, don’t we, old boy?”
“How old is he?”
“He’s sixteen, almost seventeen. Old for a cat. Patsy keeps thinking about getting a kitten, but every time she comes close, she decides to wait just a
little longer. She thinks Kermie will be upset.” Genna grinned. “I think he’d ignore it, frankly.”
“It must have been fun,” Crystal said wistfully, “growing up. With her.”
“It was.”
“I wish. . .” Crystal began, then stopped without completing the thought.
“So do I.” Genna reached out and took her sister’s hand. “But you’re here now.”
“I’m glad. Thank you for sharing her with me. For sharing. . . this.” Crystal gestured around toward the lake, then back to the cottage.
“Well, it’s your turn, Chrissie. All those things you didn’t get to do before, you can have a chance to do now. So tell me what you’ve been up to.”
“We hiked. We fished. Kayaked, of course. I really liked it, once I got the hang of it. Sailed, something else I’ve never done. So it’s been a lot of firsts. And we spent a lot of time baking and cooking. I don’t think I’ve ever, in my entire life, eaten as much as I have since I’ve been here. I figured I must have piled on about ten pounds over this past week, but I haven’t. I’ve actually lost a few, if that scale in the bathroom is to be believed. I guess we’ve just been running so much the fat never had a chance to catch up to my hips.”
“Patsy loves to eat, but she hates to eat alone. And she is a good cook, as I’ve noticed you are, as well.” Genna leaned over the side of the dock to watch a young bass swim through the lily pads. “Are you sleeping well?”
“Yes. . .” Crystal replied slowly. “Why?”
“Just wondering,” Genna shrugged. “And did I hear a
but
after the
yes?”
“Well, I fall asleep most nights as soon as my head hits the pillow. From exhaustion, I guess.”
“But. . .” Genna urged her to continue.
“But then some nights I wake up. . . I don’t know, I guess maybe I’m just a little restless.” Crystal rubbed under Kermie’s chin and the cat purred louder.
“Nightmares?”
Chrissie sighed. “Sometimes.”
“Just sometimes?”
“All right, most nights. Don’t tell Patsy, though, okay? I don’t want her to think I’m not happy here. I am. Happier than I’ve ever been, really. I think it’s just because we’re so close to. . . you know.” Chrissie pulled at her hair nervously.
“To camp,” Genna said. “It’s because we’re so close to the old campgrounds.”
Crystal nodded.
“Did you ever go up there, Gen? I mean, since. . .”
“No.”
“Haven’t you ever wanted to?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Are you kidding? Why would I?”
“Don’t you wonder what it looks like now?”
“I couldn’t care less.”
“Maybe it’s all different now. Do you suppose the cabins are still there?”
“I haven’t thought about it.”
“How could you not have thought about it?”
Silence, and the morning, spread around them, bit by bit. They watched Kermie rise and stalk a dragonfly that posed on the bulkhead.
Finally, Crystal said, “I want to go, Gen.”
“No.”
“I wasn’t asking your permission. And I wasn’t asking you to come with me. But it just seems that every nightmare that I’ve had for close to twenty years now, begins and ends in that place. It has too much power over me. Maybe if I go there, maybe I can take the power back.”
Genna shook her head.
“I haven’t even been able to bring myself to drive past the entrance, Chris. I just can’t face it.”
“Well, I’m going up there tomorrow. You’re welcome to come with me. I’d like it if you did, but I’ll go alone if I have to.”
“Why?”
“You face down your fears, you steal their power and you become stronger than them, stronger than you were.”
“I can’t, Chris. I’m sorry. I just can’t.” She raised her head, her eyes hollow with regret. “I guess you’re the brave one, after all.”
But early the next morning, when Crystal crept into the kitchen on tiptoes to avoid waking Patsy or Genna, she found her sister, already up, the coffee made, waiting for her.
“Do you think we should tell Pats?” Crystal asked, and Genna shook her head.
“I think it will just worry her.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure.” Genna nodded. It was a decision that hadn’t come easy, and she wasn’t about to back down from it now. Besides, if Chrissie could be brave enough, she could, too.
“Do you remember how to get there?” Crystal asked.
“Are you kidding? I’ve been avoiding it for years. It’s right up off the old county road.”
They stole quietly from the house, slipping through the early morning fog and out to the car without making a sound. Genna backed out of the drive and drove slowly up to the main road.
“Gen, you don’t have to go with me. You can drop me off out by the road and wait in the car.”
“Don’t be silly.” Genna’s jaw set tightly. “If you can do it, I can do it.”
“Gen, I don’t know that that’s a good enough reason.”
“Oh, hell, Chris, I probably should have done it a long time ago. And you’re right. The longer you put something off, the worse it gets. Maybe it’s time I got this over with.”
Genna followed the narrow, slightly winding road to a sharp right that led uphill before flattening out and stretching straight ahead. They rode in silence for almost a mile before Genna began to slow down and scan the scenery beyond the windshield.
“The road down to the camp should be off to the right up here someplace.” Genna slowed a little more and pulled to the shoulder to permit a pickup to pass.
“I don’t see a road.”
“It was a dirt road, so I would imagine it to be well overgrown after all these years. I know the state police had the place blocked off for a long time.”
“Gen, look.” Crystal pointed toward a weathered sign nearly covered by tall brush.
Genna stopped the car on the shoulder and read aloud.
Welcome to the Way of the Shepherd.
Enter in peace, and follow my path.
“Jesus,” Genna muttered.
“Jesus had nothing to do with what went on here,” Crystal said softly.
“I can’t believe that sign is still there.” Genna shook her head. “You’d have thought they would have taken it down long ago.”
“Well, at least we know we’re at the right place.”
“You still want to go back there?”
Crystal nodded.
Genna accelerated and made a right turn onto the dirt road.
“Someone’s been here,” she frowned. “Look at how the brush is packed down, going down the hill to the camp area.”
“Probably kids. I’ll bet this place gets lots of teenagers out for a thrill.”
The road was rutted and bumpy, narrow and steep. At the first quick bend that elbowed sharply to the left, Genna stopped the car and said, “Last chance, Chrissie.”
“We’re here, Genna. Let’s see it through.”
The car inched downhill, Genna leaning forward to peer over the steering wheel in an attempt to avoid the worst of the ruts.
“Omigod, what’s that?” Crystal gasped, pushing herself as far back into her seat as possible, and pointing out the front window at a low hanging branch.
Genna stopped the car again, her gaze following her sister’s.
“Geez, I hope that’s not an omen,” Genna laughed nervously.
“What the hell is it? I never saw anything so damned ugly in my life.”
“It’s a vulture,” Genna told her. “There are a lot of them up around here.”
“Well, don’t that beat all. We finally get the nerve to haul our butts up here after all this time, and what do we find waiting for us but a damned
vulture.”
Chrissie giggled.
“Still want to go on?” Genna hesitated, not quite as amused as Crystal appeared to be.
“Aw, sure. It’s just a big old bird. Ugly as sin, though, don’t you think?”
Must be nervous laughter,
Genna told herself as she once again proceeded down the hill.
Whistling in the dark and that sort of thing.
At the bottom of the hill was a clearing surrounded by dense woods, solid as a castle wall of stone. Thick vines knit the trees together tightly, and the smell of honeysuckle was staggering.
Genna stopped the car, allowing the engine to idle momentarily as she and Crystal looked around in silence.
“I thought it was bigger than this,” Crystal said softly.
“We were just smaller,” Genna replied.
“Look down there.” Crystal pointed ahead. “That’s where the pool was.”
“And there’s the old changing house,” Genna said. “Remember coming down here and putting on our bathing suits to swim in the afternoon?”
Crystal nodded but made no move to leave the safety of the car.
And so the sisters sat, wrapped in the hush of early morning and in memories inside their shelter of steel and fiberglass.
Finally, Crystal asked, “You going to get out?”
“Might as well.” Genna turned off the engine and pulled the key from the ignition and pocketed it. The sound of the car doors slamming in unison echoed across the clearing. The air was thick, humid, and heavy with the scent of summer. Crickets chirped and cicadas hummed, and through the trees, wary birds darted.
And overall, in spite of it all, there hung a stillness, a sense of isolation.
“Want to walk down to the pool?” Genna asked, her voice somber and subdued.
“Sure.”
They walked side by side, their hands shoved into the pockets of their jeans, Genna’s fingers unconsciously toying with the car keys as if to ensure a quick exit if need be.
“Perhaps we should be whistling,” Genna said. “You know, to cover up the sound of our knocking knees.”
“My knees aren’t knocking, but I do admit to a chill running up my spine.”
“Looks like you were right about vandals.” Genna grabbed Crystal’s arm as they approached the old bathhouse, where the door had long ago been pulled from its hinges and tossed onto the ground and now lay rusted and bent. Pieces of an old porcelain toilet lay broken upon the concrete walkway that led down to the enclosed pool.