Daughters of Silence (7 page)

She saw only kindness in his dark eyes. Kindness and concern. He smiled at her and she felt herself calming down a bit.

“Just get your breath back and tell me what happened.”

“I was walking back there somewhere,” she started to explain. “I tripped and fell to the ground. Right into a puddle of blood.”

His eyes widened. “Blood?”

“All over,” she cried, her voice high and strange-sounding. “On the ground and the leaves. And up on a tree trunk, someone had left a bloody handprint …”

She noticed that he stared down at her skirt. She glanced down, and gasped. An ugly crimson streak stained the fabric where she had rubbed her hand. Her stomach bucked and heaved.

“Now, calm down,” he soothed.

“I
am
calm,” she insisted.

Only then did she realize that she was trembling so badly that her teeth chattered. She fought for control. Finally, she managed to stop the shudders.

“Look, you don't have to talk about it anymore. Why don't I take you home?” he offered.

“No—” Jenna shook her head. “There's more. Something else.”

He peered at her. “What do you mean?”

“When I looked closer, I found this long, silver needle. Stuck in the tree,” Jenna stammered. “One end was pointed and the other had a silver skull carved on it.”

“Silver needles? I don't understand,” he gazed at her with a puzzled expression. Did he think she'd made it all up?

“It's hard to explain what they look like,” Jenna
explained. She stared down at her ruined dress again and twisted a bit of fabric in her hand.

Should she tell this stranger about the dolls she'd seen at the Fears' house? No, probably not. If he lived in the village and heard she'd been visiting the Fears, he'd have even more reason to doubt her strange story. He might leave her alone right here and now. Jenna knew she couldn't stand being left alone in these woods right now.

“I'm sorry,” Jenna stammered and looked up at him again. “I guess you can just believe me or not. I did see all this blood and this long, silver pin. Like an incredibly sharp knitting needle. Stabbed into the tree.”

He studied her for a moment. “Did you see anything else? An animal carcass, maybe? You might have simply stumbled on a place where a hunter had shot and dressed a rabbit or a deer.”

“I didn't see anything like that,” Jenna shook her head. An animal wounded by a hunter might have left the blood. But what about the skull-tipped needle? Now she wished she'd taken it with her, at least to show Hallie.

“Do you want me to go look?” the boy asked.

It sounded like a logical way to prove her story. He could go see it all for himself. But when Jenna glanced around, her heart dropped.

“I … I can't tell you how to get there.” She sighed and glanced around the darkening woods. “I ran off the path and stumbled around so much, I have no idea what direction I came from.”

“And I was so intent on catching you that I didn't pay attention to where I was going,” he replied.

He raked his hair back with one hand. “I'm sure that whatever you saw was frightening,” he told her
kindly. “But it sounds to me like you stumbled upon a spot where a hunter shot and dressed a deer.”

“But there was so much blood!” she protested.

“A deer is a large animal,” he pointed out. “And if the hunter dressed it there, he was bound to have blood on his hands.”

A deer. A hunter. It all made sense. Jenna could almost believe his reasonable-sounding words. If she didn't stop to think about the ominous silver pin.

But what good would it do to stand here arguing about it? She couldn't even explain it to herself.

“You're right,” she agreed finally. “It must have been a hunter.”

“Just to be sure, I'll come back tomorrow and look for the spot in daylight. All right?”

Jenna eagerly nodded. “Yes. All right.”

“Good. Now let me take you home. I'm sure your family is wondering where—”

“Oh, no!” Jenna gasped. “Hallie!”

Seeing the confusion on the boy's face, she hurried to explain. “Hallie's my friend. She ran away just to tease me, and that's why I was in the woods alone. Now, I'm sure she'll be worried about me.”

“Then we'll get you home,” the boy said. “Do you live in town?”

“I don't live around here. I'm visiting Hallie's family for the summer. They live on the eastern edge of town. On Crescent Lane.”

“Then we ought to walk this way,” he said, pointing straight ahead.

Straightening her shoulders, she pushed her tousled hair back behind her ears. “My name is Jenna Hanson, by the way.”

“My name is Rob,” the boy said, falling into step beside her. “Rob Smith.”

In the lingering light of the setting sun, Jenna studied Rob from the corner of her eye. He was about her age, or maybe a couple of years older. Even though she'd just met him, she liked him very much. His eyes had a gentle look, and his smile seemed honest and open.

“Have you ever been to Shadyside before?” he asked.

“This is my first visit,” she replied. “Hallie and I used to live in the same town in Virginia, but her family moved here a few months ago.”

“You're a good friend to come all that way for a visit. I guess you missed her a lot,” he replied.

“I did. I don't have any brothers or sisters. Neither does Hallie. So we're really close. What about you?” she asked. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“I …” His voice caught oddly. “No.”

“Do you live in Shadyside?”

A frown rumpled his forehead. “Uh, no. I came here a … a while ago. The Fears hired me as their handyman and groundskeeper, and even let me use the gardener's cottage on their estate.”

The Fears? He worked for the Fears? At the mere mention of their name, Jenna felt icy fingertips race across her scalp.

She glanced at Rob. His steps had slowed and he gazed around the woods, looking confused. Did he think that they were lost?

“Rob, is anything wrong?” she asked. “We're not lost again or anything, are we?”

“Uh, no. We're not lost. We'll come to the edge of the woods in just a few minutes. The road to your friend's house meets the woods right at that point,” he promised. He glanced at her, then looked away.

They walked along in silence for a few moments. “Where are you from?” she asked, picking up the conversation again.

“I …” He turned to look at her, then looked away. His eyes looked strange. Glassy and pained. As if trying to answer her had somehow caused him extreme discomfort.

“I … I'm from … from …” he stammered. His voice sounded choked.

He raised his hand to his throat as his mouth opened and closed. But Jenna heard no words come out. Alarm stabbed like a red-hot blade through Jenna's chest. Something was wrong, terribly wrong!

“Rob?” she whispered.

He staggered. With one hand, he grabbed a nearby sapling. With the other, he grabbed Jenna's sleeve. Jenna saw fear and confusion in his eyes. And a plea for help.

She didn't know what to do. She gripped his arms as his legs sagged beneath him.

“Rob!” she cried. “Don't fall! Please don't fall!”

His eyes rolled back in his head. Then he dropped in a heap on the forest floor.

Jenna crouched down beside him. “Rob!”

He didn't answer. Didn't move. She stared down at his white, still face. Her pulse drummed in her ears. She laid her palm on his chest, searching for his heart.

No heartbeat.

No sign of breath.

“No,” she whispered, her mind reeling. It couldn't be! A moment ago, he'd been walking beside her. Talking. Smiling. He couldn't be… .

Dead.

J
enna touched Rob's face. She slapped his cheek.

“No, please. Wake up, Rob,” she whispered.

She stared down at Rob, searching for some tiny sign of movement.

Tears blurred her vision. She dashed them away with the back of her hand. Her mind raced. The Fears, the blood, the long silver needles. Her terrifying flight through the woods. It all seemed like a bad dream.

“Rob,” she whispered. “Rob, please wake up. You have to!”

His dark eyes slowly opened. He peered up at her and squinted. Jenna gasped with relief. She sat back and took a deep breath.

“I … blacked out again,” he muttered. He rubbed his hand over his eyes.

Jenna felt as though the whole world had taken a
spin. “I thought … I thought …” She couldn't finish it. “This has happened before?”

He pushed himself to a sitting position. Color began to fill his cheeks and lips, replacing the ghastly paleness.

“A few times,” he confided. “I can't seem to remember anything about my life before I came here. And when I try, it's as though a vise clamps down on my head, and everything turns black.”

“Did you fall or hit your head?” Jenna asked.

“I can't remember.”

“Do you have friends, a family?”

He scrubbed at his face with his hand. “I can't remember. I can't remember
anything,
” he replied in a bleak tone.

Jenna's heart ached for him. Without thinking, she reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Well, you have a friend now,” she told him. Then she blushed, embarrassed by her own forwardness.

His eyes widened with surprise. Then he smiled at her. “Thanks,” he murmured.

Jenna knew what it was like to be lonely. After Hallie had moved away, it felt as if her whole world had become empty. She couldn't imagine how Rob felt, alone in the world and unable to remember anything about his past.

“Can you walk?” she asked.

“Sure. Once the blackness passes, I'm as good as new,” he replied.

He rose to his feet, pulling Jenna up with him. They set off again toward the Sheridans' house. The sun had set and Jenna noticed a few twinkling stars sprinkled across the night sky.

A few minutes later, they stepped out onto the road. Jenna recognized the spot. She turned to the left and spotted the roof of the Sheridans' house. Through the trees, she saw a light shining in the kitchen window.

“There it is,” she said, pointing. “I should go in now.”

“Are you sure you don't want me to come the rest of the way?” Rob asked.

“I'm sure,” Jenna replied. “I—”

A loud rustling in the bushes dried up the words in her throat. Gasping, she turned toward the noise. She couldn't see anything in the shadowy undergrowth, however. Twigs popped and crackled as something big pushed through them.

“What is it?” she whispered.

Rob stepped in front of her. “I don't know. Run to the house. I'll deal with this.”

“And leave you here alone?” she cried. “I will not!”

“Jenna—”

“No. I won't leave,” she insisted.

The crackling grew louder. Closer. Jenna's knees felt weak and her heart beat so loud, she thought it would beat right out of her chest. Still, she didn't turn and run toward the house.

Jenna bent and picked a large stick up from the ground. Not much of a weapon, she knew. She gripped the stick so hard her hands hurt. The time for running had passed.

It was here.

“J
enna! Where in the world have you been?”

Hallie's voice burst out of the bushes. Jenna felt so surprised that she dropped her stick.

“Hallie?” she quavered. “Is that you?”

“No, goose, it's the Queen of England.”

Hallie pushed through the last section of bushes and stepped out onto the road. She shot Jenna an icy glare.

“Where have you been?” Hallie demanded. “I thought you'd gotten lost. I thought you'd fallen and broken your leg or something. Do you realize I've been trudging through miles of woods looking for you?”