Unclouded Day

  Chapter Seven

  He was back on his feet not long after the first blush of dawn lit the sky, bleary eyed and tired, and wondering what time it was.

  He figured they’d probably given up looking for him by then, and he felt safe enough to use the sidewalks without running the instant he saw a car on the road. He made his way as inconspicuously as he could to within two or three blocks of the hotel, and there he stopped, afraid to go any closer.

  It was almost full daylight by then, and he felt a strong urge to hurry up and hide. It would have been easier if he’d known which way Rachel would be coming in, because then he wouldn’t have needed to go near the hotel at all. He could have just waited beside the street until he saw her.

  But he didn’t know, so there was no choice but to inch his way closer to the hotel and hopefully find a hiding place which would let him see the street without being seen himself.

  That was harder than he expected. He didn’t dare lurk too long behind fence rows or outbuildings; there was too much danger of being spotted and reported. Nor did he dare break into an empty building or ask anyone to let him into their house. That was another excellent way to get caught.

  He thought about crawling underneath the floor of the verandah at the hotel and peeking out through the trellis, but he couldn’t remember if there was an opening he could use, and there wasn’t time to hunt for one.

  The best thing he could find was a huge, untrimmed magnolia tree growing in the front yard of the house next door to the hotel, with thick branches that grew all the way down to the ground and heavy leaves that might possibly keep anybody from seeing him, if he slipped in behind them. He quickly decided it would have to do.

  He nonchalantly dropped to his knees in front of the magnolia tree, and made a show of looking around on the ground as if he’d dropped something. But he knew perfectly well that it was better to be quick than clever, so he wasted no time crawling up under the spreading branches, praying nobody had seen him do it. His luck had been so bad lately that he didn’t trust it.

  It was almost as dark as night under the magnolia leaves, dark enough that no grass could grow and he found himself crawling on bare dirt. He quickly found a vantage point from which he could peek out through the leaves at the street in front of the hotel, and there he waited.

  It seemed like a long time, as it always does when there’s nothing to do but wait. The sunlight gradually grew stronger until it was full day outside, but Brian’s lair was still dark as a cave. That suited him just fine. The blacker the better.

  He kept a sharp eye out for police cars, but saw none. Of course, that didn’t mean they might not be there, he thought nervously. It only meant he didn’t see them. There was nothing to prevent one of them from hiding somewhere and keeping a stake-out on the place, just like he was doing. He kept telling himself it was stupid to think they cared about finding him that much; he wasn’t exactly on the Ten Most Wanted list. Still, it was nerve-wracking.

  At eight-thirty, he saw a black Honda Civic pull up to the curb in front of the hotel and park there. He couldn’t see who was inside, because someone had put window tint all over the glass. They hadn’t done a very good job, either. It was full of bubbles, and it was already starting to peel off at the edges and turn purple. There was a slew of old and new bumper stickers on the back, from I Love Chocolate to Biker Chick, and almost everything imaginable in between.

  Whoever was driving the car didn’t get out right away, and Brian decided to take a gamble. If it wasn’t Rachel and if the cops were hiding somewhere around then he might find himself in serious trouble, but if he dallied too long and it was her then that might be even worse.

  He quickly crawled out from under the magnolia tree and trotted over to the car as fast as he could without running. He peered through the purple tint on the window and saw that it was indeed Rachel, and then he wasted no more time. He yanked open the door and slipped into the passenger seat as fast as he could.

  “Where were you? I thought you’d never show up,” she hissed, as she pulled away from the curb.

  “There was some trouble last night. The cops showed up and I had to run. I almost didn’t get away,” he told her.

  “What happened?” she asked, alarmed.

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, so I was still awake when I noticed blue lights against the curtain. I got up to look and I saw the hotel manager talking to a cop down on the sidewalk and pointing to my room. Then they headed inside, so I thought I better get out while I still could,” he explained.

  “How’d you get away?” she asked.

  “I had to crawl out the window onto the roof, and then I jumped down onto the verandah and then to the ground. I’m sure they knew I was up there, but I lost them in the dark,” he told her.

  “That was crazy, Brian. No wonder they call you Mad Dog. Don’t you know you could break your neck trying to jump from that high?” she scolded him.

  “Well, yeah, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do at the time,” he shrugged, and she sighed.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sure you did the best you could. It just scared me when you said the cops showed up, that’s all. So what did you do for the rest of the night?” she asked.

  “Hid behind a hedge and then under that magnolia tree back there, and tried to sleep a little. Didn’t work very well,” he added thoughtfully.

  “Well, I guess you can sleep in the car for a while after you tell me which way to go,” she suggested.

  “I can’t sleep yet. We have to go see that old lady first and find out whatever she knows,” he told her.

  “Where does she live?” Rachel asked.

  “At Pinecrest Retirement Village, room 208,” he told her.

  “Oh, okay. I know where that is,” she said.

  “Let’s go, then,” he told her.

  Rachel threaded her way through town, and eventually came out onto the same leafy residential street Brian remembered from the day before. Uneasy as he was about getting caught, he was determined to talk to that old lady first before they left town.

  “Coming?” he asked Rachel when they pulled into the parking lot.

  “No, I think I’ll wait out here with the car. I know too many people in there and it wouldn’t be a good idea for them to see me skipping school like this. They might say something to somebody. You won’t be in there too long, will you?” she asked.

  “Hopefully not,” he said.

  He walked through the front doors like he belonged there, and soon found himself in an open area with an old fireplace and some threadbare couches, from which three wings diverged to the left, the right, and straight ahead. There was an office to the left, but he was reluctant to go in there and ask for directions. They might want to know who he was there to visit, and then what would he say? He had no idea what the old lady’s name might be, just the room number she’d given him.

  It turned out not to be all that difficult, though. He soon noticed that all the room numbers that started with 2 were on the middle wing, so he quietly made his way down the hall until he reached number 208, where he found the door shut. An old handwritten nameplate read Sadie Jones, and Brian tried to think if he’d ever heard of such a person before. It didn’t seem to ring any bells.

  He hesitated before knocking, remembering that some people did like to sleep late, but then he figured there was no more time left to dawdle. So he knocked, not very loud.

  “Come in,” said someone from inside. The voice was a little muffled, but he thought he recognized the sound of the old lady from the park. He turned the knob and went in, and there indeed she was, sitting in a leather chair beside the window, with a pink afghan spread across her lap and a steaming cup of black coffee in front of her. She was wearing the same pair of knitted mittens and matching shawl from yesterday, and she seemed to have been looking through the curtains at something outside. He caught a glimpse of roses through the dirty window
before she dropped the curtains and turned to face him with a smile.

  “Come in, young man, come in! I knew you’d come. Shut the door behind you so we can have a little privacy, and then come over here and sit down so we can talk,” she said, waving toward another leather chair in front of the window. She didn’t seem the least bit nutty, at least not this morning, and Brian relaxed. He shut the door behind him, as he’d been told, and then sat down in the other chair.

  The old lady studied him for a while after he sat down, as if she might read all the secrets of the universe in the shape of his face. The intense look made him a little uncomfortable, but he endured it for as long as he could. At last he cleared his throat and spoke.

  “Um, I was hoping you could tell me-“ he began, but she interrupted him before he could finish the thought.

  “All in good time, child, all in good time. We haven’t even been properly introduced yet. My name is Sadie Jones, and you are?” she asked.

  “Brian. Brian Madaug Stone, that is,” he told her.

  “Pleased to meet you, Brian Stone. What an unusual name you have,” she commented.

  “Yes, ma’am, so I’ve heard,” he said dryly. As long as she didn’t call him Mad Dog, they’d get along just fine.

  “I imagine so. But tell me now, how did you hear about the Fountain, and why are you looking for it?” she asked, getting right to the point.

  So Brian briefly told her about finding the amulet in his attic and some of the things he’d done with it, and how he’d broken the chain to save Brandon, and how it popped open and showed him the verses. He told her about the girl in Mississippi who first told him the story, and how he’d looked it up and decided to find the place.

  She listened to all this without comment, and when he’d finished she asked him only one thing.

  “You still haven’t said why you want to find it, child,” she told him.

  “But I told you why,” he said, confused.

  “You told me how it happened, child, not why you want it. There’s a difference,” she pointed out mildly.

  “Well. . . I guess the main thing is that I want to make sure my brother is okay. I thought it could probably do that much, if it makes wishes come true,” he said.

  “I see. Is that really your only reason?” she asked, keenly. He was tempted to say yes, partly for shyness and partly because it seemed churlish to care for anything else at a time like that, but something held him back.

  “No, that’s not all,” he finally confessed, looking down at the floor.

  “Ah, I thought not. So what might the rest be, then?” she asked.

  “I want my mom to stop drinking and be nice again, like she used to be when my dad was with us. I wish he’d come back home, too. Things haven’t been too good at home, the past few years,” he said. It was hard for him to admit all this, especially to a complete stranger, but he forced himself to do it.

  “Hmm. . . anything else?” she asked again, and Brian was surprised at the question. Wasn’t that enough? He glanced at Miss Sadie, who was looking at him with a very solemn expression on her face. She really wanted to know.

  “I’m not sure,” he told her, uncertain what she wanted to hear.

  “Are you not?” she asked, raising one eyebrow. This forced him to think, and Brian found that hard, with Miss Sadie watching him.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” he finally said.

  “I want you to tell me what you most dearly wish for, Brian Stone. Think, now. What did you do, while you had all that power? What did you try to make happen? What mattered to you more than anything else?” she asked. Brian had to think again, and it made his head hurt. What had he done, except make the house nice and make some money? There wasn’t much else he could think of, except his silly project up at Black Rock. He might have loved that the most, but it sounded foolish and stupid, even to him. Surely she didn’t want to hear about that, did she?

  But he was at a loss to think of anything else, and so he fumblingly tried to tell her about it.

  “When I grew the white oak trees, and made the stars shine brighter, and the cardinals redder, and all those things; that’s what I loved the most, I guess. I wanted to make the whole world beautiful like I did up at Black Rock. I wanted to make it so there were no bad things ever anymore,” he said, almost in a whisper, not daring to glance at her face to see what she might be thinking. If he had, he might have seen a faraway smile on her lips, and something very like a tear at the corner of her eye. She dried it away before he could notice, and when she spoke her voice was serene.

  “That’s what I wanted to hear, Brian Stone. That’s a good wish, and a strong one too. But I still have to ask you one more question. Do you love this world enough to live far beyond your years, and to spend your whole life for that wish, pouring light into the darkness? Be certain before you answer me, because it’ll be harder than you think. There’s always a price to be paid,” she said.

  “Do you mean if I drink from the Fountain, I’ll really live forever?” he asked, wide eyed.

  “No, child, not forever. That’s forbidden. But I know you could live for a hundred years or more. Maybe even much more, God willing, and that’s far beyond most. And for most of that time you’d keep your youth, and your health, and you’d be just as beautiful and perfect as Adam was when he took his first breath before the Fall. How could it be otherwise? For you will have drunk from the Fountain that was put here at the beginning of days by God Himself, the life-giving Life, and the Beauty that makes beautiful,” she said, in a sing-song kind of voice, as if she might be repeating something she’d learned long ago.

  Brian was left speechless at this, and knew of nothing whatsoever that he might say. It wasn’t what he’d expected at all.

  “I thought it just gave you wishes,” he said weakly.

  “Oh, but it does, child. It does! It gives you the deepest desire of your heart, and nothing less. But only if your deepest desire was already for the one thing it can give you,” she said cryptically.

  “I don’t understand,” he told her, confused.

  “You will, someday,” she said. It was an unsatisfying answer, but there was one thing he had to be sure of, though.

  “So does that mean I’ll be able to make Brandon well again?” he asked.

  “Among other things, yes. But that’s the least of it. Let me show you something, child, and then maybe you’ll understand,” she said, raising an arm toward the grimy widow. Brian looked up, and saw nothing unusual except the flower garden outside.

  “What am I looking for?” he asked.

  “This,” she said softly, and pushed open the glass.

  A faint breeze blew in, carrying with it a scent of roses so sweet that they might once have bloomed in the meadows of Heaven. They were so bright and so red that they almost seemed to glow from within, and every dew drop glittered like gold in the morning sunshine. Brian thought he’d never seen anything on earth more beautiful. It reminded him of Black Rock, and he stared, wide-eyed, while Sadie Jones watched him.

  “Yes, that’s what it’s like. You can take away every sickness, every scar, and every stain from anything in the world, and make it to be what it always ought to have been if the world was never broken. That’s what you really always wanted, child, just like I did. And if you don’t give up, then very soon you’ll have it,” she told him.

  “You did this?” he whispered, still staring at the roses.

  “God did this. But I was the one who touched them, if that’s what you mean. The gift has faded over time, along with everything else I got from the Fountain. But it’s still enough for these few little bushes, if I tend them every day,” she told him.

  “But what about the amulet?” he asked, still staring at the roses.

  “What about it?” she asked.

  “Why couldn’t I do this before? I mean, I know sometimes I did, but why was I not supposed
to? Why did it have to turn out so bad, if that was what I was supposed to end up doing anyway?” he asked.

  “I couldn’t say for sure, child. Things didn’t happen quite the same way for me as they did for you. I never had an amulet like that, so it’s hard for me to tell you what the purpose may be. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s likely because of what you said about the seven day limit. No doubt it’s hard for living things to stand the shock of going back to normal again, once you touch them like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it made them sick, or perhaps even killed them. I’m sure that’s why you weren’t supposed to touch them. But the Fountain is forever; that much I know,” she said.

  “Then why not just show me how to get there to begin with, instead of letting me make such a mess of things with the amulet?” he asked.

  “I don’t think that’s the right question to ask, child. The story of the Fountain has always been out there, for anybody who wanted to listen. It may well be that God has a million different ways to lead His chosen ones to the place He wants them to go, and I dare say most of those paths don’t include an amulet at all. I wouldn’t know about that. But it doesn’t much matter how He deals with everybody else, child. What matters is whether you would have had faith enough to be sitting here right now, if it hadn’t been for that amulet,” she said.

  “No, I guess I wouldn’t have,” he finally admitted, after thinking it over.

  “Well, then, there you go. God always gives us what we need, not what we think we want. That amulet was exactly what you needed to make you believe,” she said.

  “You really think so?” he asked, frowning.

  “Yes, and I think it was exactly the right test for you, too,”

  “Why do you say that?” he asked.

  “Because the test always has something to do with the darkest and the strongest temptation of your heart; the thing you’re most likely to choose in place of love. We all have our different weak spots, you know, and that’s why the testing can never be quite the same for any two of the chosen ones,” she said.

  “So what do you think my weakness is?” he asked, feeling suddenly very naked and vulnerable under her keen eyes.

  “I think you know that already, child. Power and wealth. Most likely because you’ve had so little of both in your life,” she said.

  Brian didn’t know quite what to say to this, even though he felt the truth of it painfully. It was hard, knowing that his most selfish desires were so completely transparent. But Miss Sadie pretended not to notice his discomfiture, and saved him the need to come up with a suitable answer.

  “So it’s really very simple, you see. You were given a taste of all the power and wealth you could imagine, just for a few days, partly to see what you might do with it, and partly to find out what your ultimate choice would be. There’s no way of knowing where a man’s heart will lead him, you know; not till he’s actually put to the test somehow. You might have used your power to hurt people you hated, or to build up mountains of all the silly baubles and trinkets the world can offer. And worst of all, you might have decided those things were more important than love, or the whispers of your heart to go out and make the world beautiful. Then you wouldn’t have been the right kind of person to drink from the Fountain, and so the way would never have been shown to you. And perhaps God on His throne would have wept at the sight, but I suppose that’s nothing to the purpose,” she murmured.

  Brian wondered briefly what kind of test Miss Sadie might have faced, and what kind of path God had shown her to the Fountain all those years ago. She didn’t seem to want to talk about it much, and he dared not pry.

  “But I did try to get money,” he pointed out instead, remembering the gold.

  “Yes, you did, but that was never what you cared about the most. And when it came down to a choice between keeping all those things and saving your brother’s life, you didn’t hesitate,” she reminded him.

  “But he’s still just as sick as he was before, Miss Sadie. Breaking the chain didn’t help him at all,” Brian said.

  “Oh, but it did! You have a real chance to save him now, if you go on and drink from the Fountain. Indeed, that’s likely the only hope he ever had, and you never would have found it if you hadn’t done what you did, flinging aside all your treasures for the sake of love. Your choices matter, child, more than you could ever possibly imagine,” she said.

  Brian thought about this for a second.

  “But could I really have kept all that stuff anyway, if I hadn’t broken the chain? Or would everything have just disappeared no matter what I did, after the seven days was up?” he asked.

  “That I don’t know, child. I passed the test, and so did you. I couldn’t say what happens to a person who chooses wrongly. It may be that those people get to keep whatever it was that they loved more than love, empty and pitiful as that is. Or it may be that it all turns to dust and ashes and leaves them with nothing but a broken heart. I have moods when both those things seem likely, but I’d only be guessing if I tried to tell you which one is the truth. And it doesn’t matter, anyway. Would you really have let your brother die for the sake of some riches, even if you’d known for certain that you’d get to keep them all?” she asked.

  “Not in a million years. Not for all the money in the world,” he said quickly.

  “That’s what I thought,” she agreed.

  “But how did the amulet end up in my attic in the first place? Why me?” he asked.

  “Now you’re asking questions that nobody can answer, child. All I can say is that I think you were meant to find that amulet, just like I think you and I were meant to bump into each other at the park yesterday. Things like that are never left up to chance,” she told him.

  There was a pause while Brian considered all this, and Miss Sadie seemed content to watch her roses and let him think in peace.

  “So what do I do now?” he finally asked, and she laughed.

  “What silly questions you ask, child! Follow your compass all the way up into those mountains yonder, wherever it leads, till you come to the heart of the world. They say no one ever finds it in the same place twice, but all the same, you’ll know it when you get there. You’ll find a cavern green as emerald, with a gushing fountain of cold, clear water and a golden cup beside it. Then drink, if you have the courage,” she said.

  “And then what?” he asked.

  “Then do what you love, child; that’s all. I myself became a nurse for a good many years, since that’s what I cared about the most. All I had to do was lay my hands on the sick to make them well, and for a long time there was never anything so bad that I couldn’t cure it. The blessing has faded now, it’s true, but even now it’s still not gone completely,” she explained.

  “But mostly?” he guessed.

  “Yes. . . it’s like my roses. Now and then I can still do a little bit, but not much. There’s a lot of pain in this place, and I soften it when I’m able to. It’s part of the reason I agreed to come live here last year. Everybody thinks the reason the people at Pinecrest are so healthy is because they take such good care of us, but I know better,” she said, with a small chuckle.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he sighed.

  “I can guess why you asked me that question, child. I know you’re still thinking about this brother of yours that you love so much. But he was far gone by the time you got here, and I wouldn’t have the strength to heal something like that anymore. But you will. If you make it to the Fountain, then you’ll have the power to undo any hurt in the world, including his. Remember that, whenever you’re still afraid for him,” she told him.

  “I’ll do my best,” he agreed, heavily.

  “Shh. . . have faith, child. Everything will work out the way that it should,” she told him.

  “I hope so,” he said.

  “Don’t hope; believe,” she said, looking at him earnestly, and then she opened the top drawer o
f her bureau and took out a pair of scissors.

  “What’s that for?” he asked.

  “Take this, to help you remember what you’re working for,” she told him, and then snipped off one of the brilliant red roses. Brian took it from her without thinking, and put it in the inside pocket of his coat.

  “Thanks,” he said automatically, not sure what he would do with such a gift. But Sadie Jones only smiled.

  “You may find it more use than you think. Now go, child, while time is,” she said.

  He left the nursing home not long afterward, with many thanks and a humbled heart, not to mention a sense of fresh urgency to find the Fountain.

  “Did you find out anything?” Rachel asked as soon as he got back in the car.

  “Yeah, lots. But let’s get out of town first and then I’ll tell you all about it,” he promised.

  “Okay, which way do I go?” she asked. He consulted the amulet, which still pointed northeast.

  “That way,” he said, pointing toward the highest part of the mountains.

  They stopped to gas up the car at the edge of town, and while they were there Brian took the opportunity to call Carolyn to check on Brandon again, and while he was at it to see if he was right about Mama finding the note. This time she didn’t even let him get a word in.

  “Where are you, Brian? Everybody’s been worried sick, trying to find you since last night,” she said.

  Yeah, just like he’d thought.

  “I was with a friend, that’s all,” he said.

  “And you couldn’t have called and told somebody that? Like things are not bad enough already right now with your brother maybe dying, and you have to go pull some crazy stunt like this. What’s wrong with you?” she scolded.

  “I. . .” he began, but she cut him off before he could say another word.

  “Where are you, Brian? Wherever it is, you better get home as fast as you can get there,” she finished. This was the moment he’d been dreading.

  “I can’t do that yet, Aunt Carolyn,” he said firmly.

  “What do you mean, you can’t do that? Why not?” she demanded.

  “I can’t explain it right now, but I’ve got something I have to do for a few days. I’ll be home as soon as I can, though,” he said. Carolyn must have been shocked beyond words, because it took her almost a full second to think of anything to say.

  “Have you lost your mind, boy? What could possibly be so important that you’ve got to drop everything and go do it at a time like this?” she asked.

  “I can’t tell you, but it matters a lot,” he said.

  “Nothing could matter that much, Brian. Go home, now. Your mother already has the police out looking for you, do you know that? And if they find you first then she’s mad enough she might just let you sit in jail for a while till she decides to come get you,” she said, and there was a hard edge to her voice that he didn’t like at all.

  “I know. Tell Mama I’m sorry, and tell Brandon I love him. I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he told her, and then hung up the phone before she could answer him.

  It wasn’t five seconds before the phone started ringing, and Brian knew it was Carolyn without needing to answer. But he had no time to argue with her anymore, and if she was angry, then she’d just have to be angry.

  On the other hand, it probably wouldn’t be too hard for her to call information and find out exactly where he was, using the number from the pay phone. It was time to go, before they got busted.

  “What is it?” Rachel asked when she saw his face.

  “Oh, nothing. Just my aunt, freaking out. I called her to check on Brandon and she said my mom’s got the cops looking for me now, like I didn’t already know that after what happened at the hotel last night. I didn’t even get to find out how he’s doing. Same old drama,” he said bitterly.

  “I’m sorry, Brian,” she told him.

  “Oh, well. Let’s just not get caught, okay? Drive back the other way for a couple of blocks if you can, just in case the cops come by here and ask the people at the gas station which way we went,” he said.

  “Sure thing,” she agreed.

  This they did, and after the gas station was out of sight behind them, Rachel turned onto a side street and made her way back onto the highway with no more problems. Soon they crossed the county line into another jurisdiction, and he heard her give a little sigh of relief. Brian’s heart was still too bitter from the phone call to do anything but stare moodily at the empty road ahead of them and wonder how bad things would have to get before they ever started to get better.

  “So we’re out of town now. What did the old lady say?” Rachel finally asked. Brian almost told her he didn’t feel like talking for a while, but then he thought better of it; she was just trying to help.

  “She said a lot of things,” he said, and then proceeded to tell her everything Sadie Jones had told him. Rachel listened quietly to the whole thing, only rarely asking a question.

  “And then she gave me this,” he finished, pulling the rose from his inside pocket. A few of the petals were crumpled, and he thought it might already have faded just a bit, but it was still a thousand times more beautiful than the fanciest rose on earth. Rachel’s eyes opened wide when she saw it.

  “Is that real?” she whispered.

  “Yeah. She said this is the kind of thing we’ll be able to do, after we drink from the Fountain,” he said.

  “So it’s really true after all,” she said, still staring at the rose.

  “Surely you didn’t think I was making it all up, did you?” he asked, surprised at her reaction.

  “No, it’s not that. If I hadn’t believed you then I wouldn’t be here right now,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Then what is it?” he asked, mystified.

  She didn’t answer right away, and he watched her chewing on her lip while she thought about it.

  “It’s hard to explain. I guess till now there was still a little part of me deep down that kept wondering what if you’re wrong, or what if we can’t find the place. . . stuff like that. See, the first thing everybody told me when I found out I had Batten’s Disease was not to believe in miracles, ever. All it does is break your heart when they don’t come true, and things are hard enough already without that. They always told me to make the best of the time I’ve got, and if I don’t hope for too much then I’ll never get disappointed. I guess it’s just hard to get over all that and start believing there’s really a chance things could change,” she told him, glancing back at the road.

  It sounded like something he might have said himself not all that long ago, he couldn’t help thinking. Not about dying, of course, but about Mama and the way she acted. He knew exactly what it felt like when hope seemed too good to be true. He couldn’t really blame Rachel for having some doubts about the Fountain. He probably wouldn’t have believed it himself, without the amulet.

  “It’s okay. I know exactly how you feel,” he told her, thinking about his own impossible wishes.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I think so,” he said, and then hesitated. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to tell her, honestly, but then he bit his lip and took a deep breath.

  “Uh. . . you remember last week at church, when I told you I fell down the stairs?” he finally asked.

  “Yeah, I remember,” she agreed.

  “That’s not really what happened. Mama came home drinking Saturday night, and we got in a fight,” he confessed, watching her closely to see her reaction. But she only nodded.

  “I thought it was something like that,” she said. She didn’t seem shocked or upset at all, and she didn’t look at him like he was a lost puppy, either. He hated it when people did that.

  He decided maybe it was worth the risk to tell her a little bit more.

  “She does stuff like that a lot. To me and Brandon both. She blacked his eye the same day she punched my nose. I
t’s been that way for a long time,” he said, keeping his voice flat and steady.

  “I’m sorry, Brian. I always wondered a little bit but I never thought. . .” she said, and then trailed off awkwardly.

  “I never told anybody before,” he said thickly, and swallowed hard.

  “It’s all right; I won’t tell anybody, I promise,” she told him.

  “Anyway, I used to think it was just something I had to live with, you know. Something that wouldn’t ever change no matter what I did. But then I found out all this stuff about the Fountain, and I started to wonder if maybe things could really get better. I didn’t want to believe it at first, because it seemed like it was too good to be true,” he told her.

  “Yeah. . . that’s exactly what I meant,” she agreed.

  There was a pause while neither one of them said anything, and Brian took the chance to pull himself back together.

  “So what made you decide to believe it enough to go looking for it?” she finally asked.

  “Well. . . I’m not sure I would have, if it wasn’t for Brandon. But it was the only thing I knew of that maybe could save him, you know. He’s pretty bad off, and then like I said earlier, things are not too good at home even if he makes it back. I don’t want him to have to grow up that way, Raych. It hurts too much. I just want him to be happy and safe, you know. I always have, and the Fountain is the only thing I ever heard of that maybe could make that happen. Even if it’s only a maybe, I have to try. I couldn’t take a chance on letting him down. Not a second time,” he said.

  “A second time?” she asked.

  “Yeah, the whole reason he’s in the hospital right now is because of me,” he said, and then quickly told her the story of the amulet again, with nothing left out this time. She shook her head when he finished.

  “Brian, none of that was your fault. You didn’t know what would happen,” she said.

  “Yeah, it was, though. I knew better than to leave him with Mama when she was in a bad mood, and it was stupid of me to use the amulet on his eye when I didn’t know if it was safe or not. I’m not saying it’s completely my fault, but some of it is,” he said.

  “Well. . . yeah, all right. I can see what you mean. But don’t keep beating yourself up over it, okay? I don’t think Brandon would want you to do that, anyway. Just try to make it right, if you can. That’s all anybody can ask,” she said.

  “I guess so, but what if we don’t make it back before it’s too late?” he asked, remembering Carolyn’s words about Brandon maybe dying. He hadn’t paid too much attention at the time, but that was a pretty high-voltage expression for her to use, now wasn’t it? He hoped it didn’t mean anything except a bad choice of words, but who knew?

  But just then they came to the foot of a treacherous hill and Rachel had to turn most of her attention back to driving, so he never got to hear her answer. Maybe there wasn’t one.

  The road was steep and crooked for several miles after that till they reached the summit, and then in front of them the mountains marched on, ridge after ridge, as far as the eye could see. It seemed to Brian like he could see for a thousand miles, till the air grew hazy and blue with the distance. Ahead was the wide world, and behind them lay everything he’d ever known.

  For a second he was almost homesick, and he couldn’t help wondering how much farther they’d have to go. If they kept going this direction, they might eventually end up. . . where? Missouri? Canada? Some island way out in the middle of the ocean, even? The Fountain couldn’t be that far, could it? Because if it was, then that was impossible.

  Or if not strictly impossible, then at least it would take so long that there was no point in even thinking about it. But Brian had no way of knowing; the pointer only told him which way to go, not how far it was or how difficult it might be to get there.

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay if I go to sleep for a while?” he asked presently.

  “Yeah, no problem. I’ll be careful,” she promised.

  “Wake me up if anything happens, okay?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she agreed, and he curled up in the passenger seat to sleep.

  Hours later, the sunlight shining in his face woke him, and he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

  “Where are we?” he asked sleepily, shading his eyes.

  “Somewhere on the highway, that’s all I know. Did you have a good nap?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I feel better. Hungry though,” he added.

  “I guess we could get something whenever we pass another place. Are we still headed in the right direction?” she asked.

  “Yeah, looks like it,” he told her, after checking, “How long do you think it’ll be before somebody starts looking for this car?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said, glancing at the rearview mirror in spite of the fact that there was absolutely nobody else on the road.

  “Did you say anything to anybody before you left?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I told them I was late for school this morning and that’s why I needed to drive Sissy’s car, and that I’d probably just go directly to work after class. They didn’t say much about it,” she explained.

  “So how long have we got before they’ll be expecting you home?” he asked.

  “Maybe nine o’clock. Supposed to be eight thirty, but now and then I have to work a little bit late if the kitchen was busy that night. They won’t think anything of it till at least nine, I’m sure,” she told him.

  “That’s still not very long,” he fretted.

  “I’m sorry, Brian. It was the best I could do,” she said.

  “No, it’s all right. I wasn’t blaming you. I was just wondering what they’ll do when you turn up missing tonight,” he explained.

  “Probably have the National Guard out looking for me, if I know them,” she said, giggling a little. Then she saw the look on Brian’s face and sobered.

  “I guess that wasn’t really funny, was it?” she said.

  “Do you really think they would? Seriously?” he asked.

  “Well, maybe not that, but I’m sure they’ll call the police and report me missing, and I’m sure they’ll tell them to be looking for this car. They may even go out and look for me themselves. They’ll find out pretty soon that I wasn’t at work or at school today, and that’ll scare them. Mr. Croydon will probably tell them I was with you last night at supper, so you’ll get connected to the whole thing pretty soon, too. I’m not sure what all they might do, but they won’t just sit still, I know that much. They might even think you kidnapped me,” she told him.

  “That’s a fun thought. We can’t keep driving this car, then, if that’s the case. At least not for long,” he told her.

  “Yeah, I thought of that, but how else will we get anywhere?” she asked.

  “We’ll have to think about it for a while. Maybe we can find something else,” he said, wishing he’d brought more money along.

  Not long afterward they came into a little town whose name Brian didn’t notice, and stopped long enough to have a cheeseburger and some fries at a local diner. It made them both nervous to be in such a public place, but Brian reminded himself that nobody had any reason to be suspicious just yet. Rachel and the car wouldn’t be missed till that evening, and as for him. . . well, he was a hundred miles from home and there was nobody to recognize him.

  He hoped.

  Still, they didn’t linger any longer than they had to. They ordered a few extra burgers for the road so they wouldn’t have to risk stopping anywhere else that evening, and then they got back under way.

  They drove for hours like this, crossing the Arkansas River at Dardanelle and then climbing the steep southern face of the Ozarks.

  After a while, Brian noticed that the pointer had slowly veered around to the northwest, and he realized immediately that it wouldn’t have done that unless they were getting pretty close.