Chapter Six: Catherine's Hiding Place
"Beatrice!” Mrs. Featherstone's voice rang down the hallway. Bea was in her room, trying to settle into some homework when her mother interrupted her. She hadn't done anything wrong, that she knew of, so why was her mother yelling so loud?
She stuck her head through her door and yelled back, "What?"
She was surprised to see her mother coming towards her down the hallway, the phone in her hands. "Sorry to shout, but it's Curtis. He says he can't find Catherine," Mrs. Featherstone offered as she handed the phone over to her daughter.
Bea's mind was racing. What did her mother mean, Curtis couldn't find Catherine? She pressed the phone to her ears, "Curtis, what's up?"
Curtis' voice immediately poured through the phone with so much urgency Bea had a hard time keeping up. "Catherine. She's not home. It's weird. She almost always comes home by now. She didn't say anything to you about going anywhere or doing anything, did she?"
"No, she didn't say anything," was all Bea could reply with before Curtis started in again.
"I knew it! Listen, we need to talk. Can we meet up now? Take a pod to school. I'll meet you behind it," Curtis said decidedly.
Bea was confused. What did Curtis know? Her curiosity was killing her. "What do you know, Curtis?"
"I will tell you when I see you. Just get to the school, OK?” Curtis said in an exasperated tone.
Bea confirmed her immediate departure with Curtis and hung up the phone. She walked out to the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner. She reached into the small glass bowl by the door and grabbed a bubble for a pod.
"What's going on, Beatrice," her mother asked anxiously.
"I'm not sure. Curtis said Catherine was not home yet. But I guess he seems to know where she is. I am going to go meet up with him so we can go get her." Bea could see the concern in her mother's face as she said this. Her explanation was certainly not going to set her mother's mind at ease, but she had to let Bea go. Bea decided to try to smooth things over a bit more by adding, "Don't worry about it. I am sure it is nothing. Curtis didn't sound so worried when I talked with him. She probably just decided to go window-shopping or something." Bea knew that the last bit was incredibly lame and would not be enough to make her mother calm.
Mrs. Featherstone raised an eyebrow as she looked at Bea and contemplated what she was saying. "OK," she said slowly, "But find her quickly and come home so you aren't late for dinner."
Bea walked out the Featherstone's front door and headed towards the SW3 stop. She tossed the bubble into the air and whispered a small incantation under her breath. A small line of fairy dust left her fingertips of her outstretched hand that had just let go of the bubble. The line of dust met up with the bubble and immediately it expanded into a large pod. Bea waited for it to make its ascent to the gold-line. Just as it snapped onto the line Bea had floated into the pod and landed with a soft thud. She tapped the button for the NW5 stop on the panel and braced herself for the short, thirty second trip to the prep school.
Bea had grown a lot since the first time she had floated up into a pod using her freshly bloomed wings. That time she had been on her way to the Ancients to learn about her wings. It was over six years ago and since then Bea had changed. Most significantly, she had grown quite a bit taller so that now she did not seem too small and over-whelmed by her huge wings. Her hair was still long and straight, much to Bea's disappointment. She had begged her mother time and time again to let her curl her hair, as Catherine had done. But Mrs. Featherstone was adamantly against using fairy dust for silly vanity things like curling one's hair. Bea's face had become more defined as she lost some of the roundness of being a child. Her eyes were still large and round and brought a wonderful playful brightness to her expressions.
The pod was pulling to the stop and the moment the pod doors slid open Bea had taken a small leap out of the pod and had landed safely on the ground. She looked around to find Curtis and was starting to worry as she had not seen any sign of him near the stop. His house was so much closer than Bea's, all he had to do was walk over, and he should have been there already. Bea blinked a few times to see if what she was seeing on the horizon was real. It was almost as though, out of nowhere, someone had emerged. Bea started towards the horizon trying to see who it was that had just clearly stepped out from the Edge just as she and her friends had done all those years ago. Without a doubt, it was Curtis that was walking briskly in Bea's direction. Bea didn't want to wait for her legs to bring her to him and so she brought her wings out and flew, quite quickly, to meet up with him.
"What's going on Curtis? Tell me!” Bea was dying to know what was going on and why he was coming from the Edge. Bea and Curtis and Catherine had all gone to the Edge just after Catherine had bloomed, but Bea had never thought of going back there after that day of adventure.
Curtis had changed quite a bit in the last six years as well. When he was younger he had looked strikingly similar to his sister. Now his features had hardened giving him a very sharp chin and jaw line. He kept his hair short and spiky like he had when he was younger. His eyes where the same as when he was younger too. Just like his sister's, they were big with beautiful long lashes. On Curtis they were a very surprising contradiction. He was tall and broad shouldered and there was no mistaking him for Catherine anymore.
Curtis gave a funny smile as he looked at Bea and replied, "I think she is in there."
"What do you mean, in there? Are you talking about the Edge. Were you just in there?” Bea's mind was racing.
"Yeah. Catherine thinks I don't know, but I followed her the first time she went," Curtis said, clearly satisfied with himself for being so clever.
Bea wasn't sure she was getting all the pieces of the back story. "When? When was the first time she went back to the Edge? How long has she been doing this? Why didn't she ever tell us?"
Curtis looked like he was ready to laugh at Bea for asking so many questions. "Take a breath Bea." Curtis paused a moment for effect but could tell from the worried look in Bea's eyes that he shouldn't make her wait any longer for some explanation.
"You know how we went to the Edge that first time, after Catherine bloomed? Well, the very next day, after we got home from school, Catherine said she needed some time alone. She had never really told me that before but I figured it was because she had just bloomed and she was getting older and wanted her space, so I left her alone . . ."
"You're such a good brother, Curtis. Steven never leaves me alone, no matter how many times I scream." Bea couldn't resist the opportunity to make the comparison as she interjected.
"Well, you may think otherwise when I finish my story," Curtis continued. "Catherine went into her room and I thought she was just doing her homework or something, but then I heard something fall outside my window. I looked and I saw that Catherine had floated out of her room and fallen to the ground and was now running toward the horizon. Well, not really running, more like flying low."
Bea shook her head in disbelief as she heard Curtis recount the events of the day. This was so completely not like Catherine. Sneaking off. Flying. Going to the Edge, alone.
"So, I followed her. She was quite a ways ahead of me being able to fly, but I kept an eye on her. I saw her disappear into the horizon and I knew right away that she had gone into the Edge. I ran back home and got back into my room by climbing up that tree at the side of the house and a bit of dust. I waited for Catherine to come home and I asked her directly how her time alone was and she said it was good. And that was it! She didn't offer to tell me anything else. It drove me crazy," Curtis' face started to turn red as he remembered his sister's offense.
Bea still couldn't believe this was her friend that Curtis was talking about as she asked, "So, did she go again?"
Curtis laughed out loud suddenly. "Oh, yeah. Every day! I got tired of following her. That first few weeks, it really was every day. Then it tapered off a bit. I knew she going though bec
ause I could see her flying off after falling to the ground. It's been going on all these years, Bea. She goes once, maybe twice a week. She only stays for about 30 minutes though and that is what worried me about today. She hasn't come out yet. ” Curtis ran his gaze over the horizon as though his stare could will Catherine to step out from the vast line of nothingness.
Bea grew concerned too as she looked for any signs of her friend along the skyline. "What did you see when you went in?"
"Nothing. I have no idea really at what point she goes in at, you know? I mean I could run up and down the inner Edge to see if I could find her, but I wanted to meet up with. . . you. . . first," Curtis' voice had dropped into a whisper as he finished. Bea looked sharply at him to see what was wrong. She followed Curtis' stare to the source of his sudden change in speaking volume. They were being watched. A young man, about the same age as themselves, had been watching and listening intently to their conversation as he slowly approached them.
Bea felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach as she tried to understand what it was about this guy. She knew him, from somewhere, but where? She had seen him before and it was giving her this strange feeling of déjà vu. It was déjà vu! She had seen him as they had exited from the Edge when the three of them had gone on their adventure when they were eight-years-old. He had seemed to have emerged from the Edge then too. He was wearing the same odd clothes he had at that time, the simple robes like the Ancients wear. He was just a few inches taller than herself, fairly broad-shouldered. His body seemed lost under his robes and all that could be seen were his thin wrists and delicate hands sticking out awkwardly. He had thick hair that was a startling dark blue. It was the same shade as the sky just as the sun had disappeared, that dark black blue. Bea hadn't seen many fairies with hair so dark, naturally. His eyes were dark too and it added to the strange sense of mystery about him. What was he doing around here listening to their conversation?
Bea and Curtis started as the stranger suddenly spoke, "Hey you guys. Didn't mean to scare you or anything but I wanted to tell you about your friend, Catherine." He brought his stare to Bea as he said these last words and his gaze was unnerving.
"What do you know? Where is she?" Bea's words couldn't come out fast enough.
The young man looked suddenly scared and it was obvious that he didn't normally make it a habit of talking to people he didn't know. His need to share information with them was quickly being overshadowed by the fact that he was incredibly shy. His gaze dropped to the ground and didn't come up again as he spoke, in a much less confident voice, "She's in the Edge. But she is lost. "
"What do you mean, lost?" Curtis demanded.
"She usually left a bag to mark her exit from the inner Edge," his voice trailed off. He saw Curtis and Bea's faces, creased with lines of worry as they waited for his explanation. He continued, trying to use a louder voice, "At least, I think that is what she did. That is what I always do. The bag was sticking out on this side so that you could see it, you know?"
Bea was growing incredibly impatient with this strange boy and wanted answers quickly. "Well, go on. What happened? Why is she lost?"
"That girl, Veronica, she saw the strap of your friend's bag sticking out and she grabbed it and pulled the bag out. I saw her toss the bag over there in those bushes as she got into a pod to leave." The strange fairy was pointing towards the bushes as he spoke, trying to offer some good news. Neither Bea nor Curtis was interested in Catherine's bag now. They wanted her out.
"She must be freaking out in there without her bag to mark her exit. We have to go in there to get her out," Curtis was already running towards the Edge and, in an instant, was gone.
Bea turned her face to the strange boy once more before stepping into the Edge herself.
"I'll help you guys, if you want." His voice was so quiet this time that she barely heard him.
"Yeah, sure, that'll be helpful. I guess we can all split up and see if we can find her. I'll leave my jacket and make sure it isn't poking out on the other side." Bea was trying to think logically. She knew that Catherine was fine in the Edge. It wasn't dangerous in there. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Being in the inner Edge was one of the most surreal and relaxing moments of Bea's memory. No, she was more worried about how stressed and scared Catherine was. But more than worry for her friend was an intense hot anger creeping up inside Bea's chest. Veronica. That strange boy had said her name. Why did she do this to Catherine? Why would she be this mean? Why would she be following her friend? Why did Bea not know that Catherine went to the Edge like this? So many things to be angry about, Bea had to shake her head to focus on the task at hand.
She nodded at the stranger, who was waiting patiently for Bea to take the lead and step into the inner Edge. In an instant they were on the other side of the Edge, in the narrow passage of the inner Edge. Bea could hear Curtis screaming out Catherine's name as he ran up and around. Bea realized at this point that there were really only two directions to check in their search and that maybe having that strange boy with her was a little pointless. Was he going to run after Curtis, or follow her? She didn't really want him following her. Then she had an idea.
"Listen, I was just going to fly along to cover more space going down this way. Maybe you could follow Curtis to make sure he isn't missing anything in his crazy screaming."
The young man simply nodded his head and without giving him a chance to really reply Bea had spread her wings and was off down the inner Edge calling out for Catherine. She could have sworn that she heard a faint voice from behind her telling her, "Good luck. "
The inner Edge was so beautiful and Bea wondered to herself why she hadn't thought of coming back here for more adventures with her friends. The three of them could have made this spot their secret hiding place where they could talk and plan and play. After that day when they were all eight-years-old, Bea had felt she had cleared a challenge and had triumphantly put it behind her. Catherine had obviously thought of going back though. As she thought of Catherine's deception that anger started to take over her entire body. She had assumed before that her anger came from the stupid thing Veronica had done by taking Catherine's bag out of the Edge. But now Bea realized that Veronica's actions were almost pathetic and childlike, laughable really. The real reason Bea was filled with anger was because Catherine, her best friend, had hidden something like this from her. Bea kept flying along and as her mind raced with all these thoughts she found herself flying much faster than she had meant to. A couple of times she lost track of the space and where the walls were as she rounded too quickly and felt her wings bump into the fluffy wall. The dazzling warmth of the inner Edge was briefly interrupted suddenly by a flash of something as Bea sped by. It brought her back to her purpose and she turned around sharply and came back to find Catherine, curled into a ball right in the middle of the inner Edge with her head between her knees.
Bea was trying to push down her anger as she said to her friend, "There you are!"
Catherine's pulled her head up to look at Bea, who was still hovering above her. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red and puffy. Bea's heart melted in an instant and she dropped to the fluffy floor of the Edge with her usual thud and pulled herself close to Catherine, wrapping her arm around her shoulder.
"It's OK. We found you now. We know the way out too. Are you OK?" Bea spoke softly as she tucked some stray hairs that had been stuck to Catherine's face from crying.
Catherine gave a weak smile as she spoke, "I'm so stupid. How did I get lost? I have never gotten lost, ever. And when I did I freaked out. I just ran and then I just curled up here and cried. I'm such a baby!"
"You're not stupid. You left your bag as a marker, right? Well, you left just a bit of it sticking out of the Edge on the other side and I guess for some reason, Veronica thought it would be funny to take your bag away, leaving you with no marker." Bea thought the explanation would help make her friend feel better, maybe redirect her sadness
to anger at Veronica.
"No! How could I be so careless to leave it visible like that? Of course Veronica took it. I deserve that for being stupid enough to leave it out like that in the first place. My mother is going to find out. She is going to find out, you know, since you came to find me. She is going to find out and then I won't be able to come here anymore. Bea, this was my only place. You know, the only place where I could just be me and relax and dream and think whatever I wanted without any. . . anything . . ." Catherine's voice trailed off as she looked around her at the beautiful iridescent rainbow bubbles dotting the surround walls and ceilings.
Bea could see in her friend's stare that she had really loved this place. Suddenly that hot anger that she had done such a good a job of repressing until now burst out of her in an uncontrollable tirade. "Yeah, this place is great. Would have been nice if you could have told me about it. It was Curtis and I that wanted to come here in the first place. You know? We wanted to come here and we had to convince you to come and then you all of a sudden decide that it is YOUR place to come to secretly all these years without telling us? Being around us so stressful, Catherine? Didn't know that best friends were the source of stress and anxiety and all. Usually they share secrets and come to places like this together. Dream together, you know? We should have just left you here to see how long it would take you to get out all by yourself!” Bea turned around sharply, leaving her back to her friend as she tried to get her head around her anger.
Bea couldn't quite decide how mad she really was at her friend. She jumped to feel Catherine's hand on her shoulder. Bea made a point of not turning to face her when Catherine began to plead softly with her. "I am so sorry Bea. I know you are mad. I knew you would be mad when you found out. I was being so selfish. I just started making these trips all by myself when I was younger and I thought after the first few trips I would tell you and Curtis, but a part of me was fighting me and telling me to keep this all to myself. So much time passed and I just really grew into the idea that this was all mine. I feel so stupid even saying it now. It sounds so terrible. Please don't be mad anymore. I didn't do any of this to hurt you."
Bea's mind had been made up the moment she had found her friend. She knew that she was going to forgive her. Part of her just felt like every little moment that she hesitated in relenting to her friend was a sweet little moment of justice to show Catherine just how much she had hurt her feelings by keeping this secret. But the time to give in had arrived and Bea turned around and smiled at her friend and pulled her into a hug. She could tell that Catherine was really sorry in the way that she squeezed Bea a little longer than usual.
"Listen. I still have tons of questions and we have lots to talk about, but Curtis is looking for you the other way and probably going crazy not finding you so let's get heading back so that we can let him know that you are OK." Bea guided her friend along and pulled her up with her as she let her wings out to fly down the inner Edge. Catherine let her wings out too and the two friends flew very quickly back along the Edge until they suddenly met up with Curtis and the strange boy waiting by their bags.
"Catherine!” Curtis screamed as he leapt forward and pulled Catherine down from flight into a huge bear hug. Without letting go of Catherine from his tight-hold, Curtis started in on his sister. "Why didn't you ever tell us you were coming here? I knew you were coming here. I knew from the very first time. I followed you that day. You should have told us. You should have been more careful!"
Bea was smiling as her eyes met with those of the unknown boy. He looked embarrassed at witnessing a scene of such familiarity between the brother and sister and quickly turned his head from Bea as well.
"OK, OK, OK! God Curtis, you're worse than mother. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. I am sorry I got lost today. And, hey, hold on a minute, you knew Curtis? Why didn't YOU talk to ME about it then?” Bea was enjoying listening to her two dear friends as they went back and forth in playful accusations when she realized that the strange boy was no longer with them.
Bea decided it was time to get her friends focused, so she grabbed each by the hand as they continued to shout at one another and said in a loud voice, "Enough you two. I think it is time to get going home."
The two stopped immediately and they all grabbed their bags by the wall the inner Edge and stepped back out onto the fresh green grass of the island. Bea looked in all directions trying to catch any sign of the boy that had disappeared a moment before, but there was no trace of him anywhere.