Aggie stood her ground. "If you must know, everything went wrong, and I mean absolutely wrong." We were having a nice little get together in the living room until his brother Steve decided he wanted to talk to his brother alone then all hell broke loose. That's right I mean loose … Morgan wrong… house gone, no longer standing… hoping we were still inside it.
"Luckily, we were there for their sake. Then, if that wasn't enough, he had to ensure that he finished the job. That's right, com-put, dead," she said, as she moved her finger across her throat. "He sent his goon squad after us, some of his men. Now we are fleeing for our lives, except Doctor Hetfield. He remained unharmed somehow, as if it didn't affect him."
Aggie looked puzzled towards his makeshift office. "Strange, come to think about it." Nathaniel knew the answer. Considering he saw most of it, he knows more secrets about what's going on around here than anybody else. "So, we escaped to parts that only I know … me and an entire tribe of Stuarts and a couple of soldiers running because one could not control that beast of his inside in the most dangerous place of all in the house.
"Now then, I need to fill this list and get back before they can cause any more trouble. Because that spell has a limit that I placed on them if they even get an idea of screaming at each other besides his daughters. So please excuse me, I have things I need to be doing then jawing with you. If you want more, talk to Doc, he has the time, just get out of my way," pushed him away from her.
Aggie found and loaded a whole cart of supplies that she could find, but things around here are scarce as it is. Not happy as she drives a small wagon down the road about three miles out of town as she makes a gate to the back of her mountain pass then pulls the leaver as it slowly opens, letting her in and then closes it tight.
Waving her hand across her face, she brushed away the collected dust in the place that hadn't been used in years. Then she takes her small wand from her pocket and waves it in the air, does a little spring cleaning. As the dust around the place lifts and floats away, it goes up the chimney. "Aha, that's better." As she climbed the stairs, seeing the little-bewildered group huddled in the room's corner not daring to move, right where she had left them.
"Things are bad folks but not that bad … Yet… I would like to keep it that way, so the same rules apply. No yelling or screaming especially from you two," looking at Linda and Jim. Then turning to his daughters, "and you know I mean business now don't you." Linda and the girls nod their heads yes. "Good, because I do not have time to play childish games when things like or worse are coming after you."
"You mean there are things worse?" Loraine squeaks out.
"Oh, heavens yes." Loraine's face turned white just thinking about it, digging her nails into Steve's arm. "Boys, I brought some supplies. You can put them away; it should be enough for at least a few days. Things are rather scarce down in New Downing. So, I will have to go elsewhere for other things providing we still can, providing we are all still alive," she said looking at Jim. "You're all probably wondering where you are at this moment besides a cavern in a mountain, I am right?" She asked.
Not daring to say a word they just nod yes. "You have traveled far and when I say far, I mean it. You're at my home on an insignificant planet called Trillion. It's a minor star. If you look east in the sky in your world, you might see it." Aggie watches their faces as if they struggle to believe or can't see it in front of their eyes. We have three moons. The sky is orange instead of blue like yours. Our people live in the mountains for protection from the elements outside.
"Although they are harsh and dangerous, some tribes choose to live outside in underground culvert huts known as Pedy homes. These unique homes, made from Pedy trees, bear some resemblance to palm trees, with the trunk serving as a dwelling." Some of the Pedy tree trunks can hold a family of six easily. For me, I prefer this compared to the tree because the swaying makes me nauseous.
"As I was saying earlier, you are stuck here whether or not you like it, and it does not change the fact." Even though you, Steve, and your wife might not have caused this mess and jeopardized them by no fault of your own. Eventually, it was bound to happen.
"How? You might ask, well let's see," Aggie taking a piece of paper off the shelf. "I was asking the same question a few days ago without realizing the answer." I'm a problem solver you see, and spend a lot of time thinking because I have had a lot of time to do just that. Let's just say for now, as we all know, the Downings, because they are in the same boat you are in because that's where your son was living.
"Yes, Linda, I know he got taken while he was with you at that time." The night when Morgan escaped from his cell was that same night." Aggie takes the teakettle off the fire and pours everyone a nice hot cup.
"You see, I was there and found the man dead and soldiers lying on the floor. Now then, the best way I can explain is this." She recounted what the Council of Light gave a pending verdict and the sentencing of Morgan. There were two documents he had for the boy, one from Jim and one from Linda.
Jim's eyes and hers met at the words that they were both guilty of the same crime. Yet hers was out of love, his was out of foolishness. As she tried to tell him he wasn't about to die, and that he would have healed in time. Morgan just made it seem so. That he had no other way, which put him into greater trouble with the council. She tries to explain. "And if you weren't so pig-headed at the time, you would have seen right through it," she said calmly as she continued.
"Then the tables turned as a third party was involved for the rights of the boy himself. A bond or escape clause was in place, preventing Morgan from having the boy. Until, if determined, what side would tip the scales placing both contracts in the box uncollected?" Aggie said as she stroked the fire. "So, you see, Jim, you still have a chance, maybe with one or both of your boys. That is why I say I have a small hope for you, but if you can't find what you lost and control that anger or rage you will lose more than just those boys. You will lose your very life. I would say your soul, but you sold that to Morgan not once but three times over the years, and the Council of Light with the help of the Gods of Light has placed that on hold, preventing Morgan from collecting it. It is up to you to you to show you have earned it and want it back. So far, things are not looking good from where I am standing, but that can change, but only if you want to change the outcome. For I believe in miracles, and a miracle is what it is going to take to get it back."
Aggie looks down at the paper as she draws a line, a timeline of history and advents, and their family tree. "Your mother is doing a lot more than sightseeing, Steve and Jim, and sleeping under the stars. They are on the run just like you are now and have been for a while except they have one thing."
As Linda nods and cries. "She has my boys."
Aggie placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes. And that strange feeling you had when you looked at EJ that something was missing Linda."
Linda looked surprised. "You know?" She replied.
"I was there, dear, protecting the house. Because they needed to be protected from you. Nathaniel couldn't do it alone. EJ was only half there; his other half is with Morgan right now.
"Danny was the only one you could hold and touch completely, but he too has special protection, a mother's love from you, but for you. Because Martha chose with all her heart to keep him safe for you, he had to be hers until he could return to you unharmed, but as you know now, the Downings have adopted fully him and the same goes for EJ. You signed the documents yourself and the Gods of Light made it happen. No court of law by your standards can or will undo it Making sure that both Danny and EJ are in a loving home that will accept them for who they are, not what you want them to be. Plus." Aggie turned to Jim. "Not being afraid of you, and Morgan is gone and out of danger. Then the Gods of Light, not your government of your United States, will grant you visitation rights and I stress this visitation only. They will never be yours again."
Aggie glances over at Steve. "Going back to the problem, that means you will be the only one left on the food chain, so to speak, as eventually, he will come to your door and ask questions, and I don't mean in a friendly manner either." Unless you consider a sword across your throat nice because all your family members would have been gone except for you two.
"That house was nothing compared to the damage he could do to a whole town in mere minutes. Get my drift, Sonny?" Steve nodded and smiled as he held his wife's hands. "Well then, time we get settled in girls, I hope you are not afraid of hard work because your hands are going to see nothing but hard work. Starting with this bag of potatoes," she said, lifting a pot off the shelf. "Steve, you can help carry the water in. There's a stream half a mile from the cavern. You go with him Darlem."
Steve was getting the idea quickly that this is one woman you don't argue with as Darlem opened the cavern door to the outside. He could definitely tell he was not in Kansas anymore, or Santaquin for that matter. Steve looks at the orange sky and two moons then at the large trees as big as a house driveway to park a truck. What she didn't say as he looked around a bit was that some of the greener trees looked kinda dead and the soil looked burned to a crisp, similar to what he saw around New Downing and around Jim's place.
When he reached the small creek, it was almost dry as it took several tries to fill the bucket. What was also strange was there were no birds of any kind or animal life that he could see. But his task was simple as he filled the bucket anyway, then returned watching the cavern close them in tight. Steve and his partner walked back up the stairs of the cavern while Jim was down feeding the horse. He looked at Steve not saying a word.
I'm sure he thought plenty as he watched him climb the stairs. For a man who is alone with nothing to do but wait around now. Because now everyone knows, or at least he does in his mind, there's not a chance he could fix things. For him to deal with knowing that his sons and now his entire family could be at risk because of a stupid thing he did as a kid. Who's saying if he had the chance to do it again, would he sign on the dotted line when asked without reading it first? Then do everything you can or fight harder against the decision made. Knowing in the end it was best for the person or person involved. Not to have signed so easily on the dotted line.
Jim slowly kicks the ground, watching the rocks scatter to one side. "It just doesn't matter what I think anymore, for it is too late. They all know it, and I know it. The only thing I can do is," looking up the stairs where his wife was. Not liking the idea at all, watching his hands tightening into a hard fist, wanting to kill. Yes, that's what he wanted to do the moment those two brats were born. But to do that, he needed to find them first. He sighed, "First make sure she at least gets Danny back then kill, kill them both, kill them all. Even if it is only for a visit, then he will strike. And just like that, they both will be dead, and no one can stop him. Not his mother, not his so-called wife, and especially not some gods he had never heard of." Feeling good about the decision, Jim climbed the stairs, putting his arm around his wife whispered "I'll try dear," and then held her hand in hers as she looked into his eyes.
It was a long time ago for her when she saw a small light in the corner of his eye that night. Yet there is something more. Seeing his eyes turn black with a hint of red in the center, then just like that, it was gone. Linda nods then whispers, "That's all I'm asking." Knowing it was a lie.
Aggie watches from the corner, does not say a word, then whispers. "Now their journey begins. And Jim just signed his own death warrant."
Two girls fighting again interrupted the calmness as one deliberately splashed water from a potato. "You did that on purpose!" Peggy screeching.
"Did not!"
"Did too! Did too!"
"Not!" Donna splashed even harder, as they started hitting each other. Aggie could sense the shadows as they crept up the walls and silenced the girl's tongues. Hoping she caught it in time before anything happened further, watching with careful eyes, placing a ward of protection around them all.
The energy did not leave the room as they all gathered in the middle of the cavern. The room was chilly despite the fireplace blazing. It could not consume the coldness of the room. Aggie knew they were in trouble as she slowly made her way around the room, gathering a few things and whispering to them not to move. Then it started. A loud crack resonated inside the mountain, and boulders began falling all around them.
Shaking loose the ceiling above them, Aggie quickly formed a glass dome around them as if they were in a tiny bubble of air. Aggie watches the sides of her home fall away as if she never lived there. Everyone sees for the first time what Morgan has done to this world and now this as she looks at the two girls. Not realizing it was Jim as he said the words from his own lips, still connected and still possessed by Morgan whispers the words "Darnom, castder fe yet." Causing the destruction and placing a location spell on all of them.
Aggie cried for her people as she looked at the dead trees barely standing. Yet there was no one to cry for as she looked out, not one soul running in terror. For it was too late. They were already gone, where she did not know. Finally, all the rumbling stopped as they looked for riders or worse, but nothing. But silence, as they walked carefully along the hillside. Aggie falls to her knees, noticing the mass grave of her people, but the names are absent. Then she screams "Why?" Her cries echoed through the air with such force, as if the world expressed its pain and sorrow.
Her eyes bent hard as steel upon the two girls. "This happens when you can't control yourself. Take a good look around you. This is what anger does." She said, pointing to all the destruction. "It kills everything around you. Is this what you want? Because if it is, you are in the right place, for everything is dead just like you. Your brothers are fighting against this and most of your family is fighting, and people around them are against this." She watched as Jim and his two daughters merely shrugged their shoulders, showing they didn't care, they felt nothing, had felt nothing for a very long time, and that was all she needed to know there was no hope for Jim Stuart, and his two daughters were following in his footsteps.
Aggie's finger points in every direction, ensuring that they take in the sights. The surroundings stand in stark contrast to their desires, a world engulfed in destruction and hate. The air hangs heavy with the acrid scent of burning debris, assaulting their nostrils. The sound of distant sirens cuts through the tense atmosphere, echoing in their ears, now as silent as the grave. As she gazes upon the unmarked graves and ancient ruins, the scene seems frozen in time, the weight of death visible. Jim's words barely reach her ears, his bitterness seeping into every syllable.
Aggie's heart tightens in her chest, feeling the heaviness of his disdain wash over her. Anger and hurt intertwine, intensifying her senses in the wake of this revelation. Her voice, masked with forced calmness, carries a bitter undertone as she confronts Jim. Her words, sharp and clear, cut through the din of the chaotic scene, leaving a ringing silence in their wake. A searing truth exposed the emptiness of Jim's spirit, making him lost and self-condemned to eternal doom.
"I know where he is and what he will become and where he's going. Yet it frightens me to think that each day he is alive, wondering how he can come back to this. Well, I won't have it! Not now! Never! Steve is a good person. You should look up to him, Jim. I see he has a good heart and just needs to dust it off occasionally. But a lot better than yours, but as you said, this means nothing to you. Well then, you will find nothing at the end of this road but your own doom." She paused as she gave him a hard nod, letting him know she heard him, and said, watching Jim Cleanth and unclench his fist in anger, wanting to kill her. "Linda. I would like you to look up at Loraine. She has plenty to go around. You girls should look at your mother's efforts as the times get hard and they will."
Aggie stands, taking one last look around, and sighs. "Alright, let's start walking and see what we can find before it gets dark." Her little group stands there looking stupid as the soldiers follow Aggie.
"You must be joking?" Jim replies. Aggie and the soldiers just keep walking away down the road a few paces before Steve and Loraine catch up with her then the rest join in. For Aggie was not one to joke. She was serious as they walked down the broken road. Their little group did not know where she was headed. For this was her world, not theirs, as they all looked at the different sky and trees and the surrounding landscape. Neither did Aggie, for that matter. It had been years since she had been here.