Found

Chapter 1-3

“I do not like this. I want him here with me. I don’t trust you.”

“It is good that you don’t trust me.” He came to my side and offered me the flask again that contained the warm broth. “He’s still not coming here. Those are my terms.”

“And if I disagree?”

He pointed to the hole. “You can always go back.” He cracked a sly grin and paused a moment. “Though I’m not quite sure that the portal works both ways. I guess you would have to find out.”

He held the flask out at me, shook it a bit and waited for me to respond. I thought a moment and knew what I must do. I took the flask from him rather roughly and then drank some. The broth did feel good, warming me up a bit. “I’ll stay.”

Taking the flask back, he smiled. “Good, I thought you might say that.” He turned away from me and added, “I’ll make us some dinner and then we’ll get settled for the night. It’ll be cold later and we’ll need a good night’s rest for the journey ahead. We’ve a long walk tomorrow.”

I nodded and kept quiet, hoping that Jeremiah would forgive me. I didn’t know what game the Silver Fox played, but it might be best to leave Jeremiah out of it. Whatever the Silver Fox’s intentions, I would find out soon enough, and if it would get me closer to finding Phoebe, then I really did have no choice. It’s what I had to do.

***

“Dammit!” Jeremiah pounded his fist into the ground and then scrambled over to the edge of the hole and looked down. “You couldn’t wait and listen to me, could you?” He hung over the edge as much as he could, trying to see Cinderella but he could not see or hear anything from her descent.

A light snow started to fall and he lay there for a moment looking into the dark hole in the ground. He heard the breath that he took and the wind blowing around him, but nothing else. He pushed himself up and then ran hard, trying to not lose his footing and fall. After several minutes of hard running, he saw the wagon and the horses. Mr. Radley sat in the driver’s seat, smoking a pipe. He heard Jeremiah running toward him and called out, “Is everything okay?”

“I need rope and lots of it.”

Mr. Radley jumped into the back of the wagon and came out a few seconds later with a large amount of rope. “What happened?”

Jeremiah shook his head and said, “Sometimes I wonder what the hell is going through her head.”

“Is she hurt?” Mr. Radley’s expression turned into one of concern.

“We found a damn hole in the ground and she jumped in. I don’t have time to explain now. Just come follow me.” Jeremiah turned away and ran back the way he had come.

Mr. Radley slung the rope over his shoulder and then ran as fast as he could after Jeremiah. After a couple of minutes of hard running, Jeremiah stopped and helped Mr. Radley tie the rope around the nearest tree to the hole. He made a slipknot around the tree and gave the rest of the rope to Jeremiah. “Have you heard from her at all?”

“Charley, I wish I did. She ran around me, jumped in and I never heard her hit the ground.” He shook his head and then said, “I think I’m half-crazy for following her around the world.”

Mr. Radley laughed. “No, you are not crazy, you are simply in love.”

Jeremiah laughed. “Is it that plain to see?”

Charley handed over the rest of the rope and smiled. “Just get down there and see if she’s okay.”

Jeremiah hefted the rope on his shoulder and allowed much of it to drag behind him. “I don’t know if I’ll yell at her or hug her when I find her.” He stopped and searched for some good footing at the edge of the cliff. “You ready?”

Charley grabbed the extra rope around the tree and prepared to lower Jeremiah down the huge hole. “I am ready. Take it slow and you will be fine.”

Testing the strength of the rope, Jeremiah nodded. “Here I go.”

Charley gave a bit of rope to Jeremiah and he began to slowly climb down the cliff. At first his descent was a bit bumpy, but Charley steadied himself and continued to feed rope to Jeremiah. On the way down, Jeremiah used his legs against the cliff wall and climbed down cautiously to make certain that he would not fall. Minutes later he saw the ground below. The fall seemed a lot shallower than he had thought.

“I reached the bottom,” Jeremiah called up and then after a few minutes he called up again. “Hey, Charley, I hit the bottom.”

He walked around, looking for Cinderella and in the center he saw a woman’s hat. Jeremiah ran over to it and stopped. He fell to his knees and brushed against the ground but it was solid. He saw no sign of Cinderella. No blood or any indication that she had been here. “Charley, I found her hat!”

He picked it up and beneath it he saw a large white envelope. In clear cursive, his name appeared across the front. He ripped open envelope and found a sheet of paper with a note on it that read:

Dear Jeremiah,

Cinderella has not been harmed and she is in my care. I know that you do not trust me, but I will protect her and help her to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, she is no longer in America but has decided to stay in Russia as we prepare to fight against the Emperor.

I have seen how great your powers of tracking are. As a witch hunter, I challenge you to track a witch who’s lost her powers. I wonder if you can. I guess we shall see, won’t we? Good luck on your journey and to help you, I’ve given you a little head start.

Yours with a twinkle in my eye,

The Silver Fox

Jeremiah ran over to where he had left the rope and stopped in disbelief. He could stand up on his toes and reach the top of the cliff. When he glanced up, he could see a dark sky filled with thousands of stars. “Charley, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, of course I can.” Charley ran to the hole in the ground and stopped suddenly. “What the hell happened?”

He looked down and could see Jeremiah only a few feet down below. Jeremiah reached up and put his hands out. “I don’t think we’re in America any longer.”

Charley squatted down and grabbed Jeremiah’s hand and pulled him out of the hole. Jeremiah patted Charley on the back and then stood still and listened.

“Where do you think …”

“Be quiet.” Jeremiah waved Charley off and continued to listen. From off to his right, a loon flew down from the sky, lit by the light of the moon and landed in a river he could barely see ahead. The bird dipped his head into the water and then on coming out shook it with great vigor. Moonlight reflected off the water and as though it knew it was being watched, the loon turned toward them and then flew off again. Jeremiah watched the bird fly away. “I have never seen a species like that.”

“Neither have I.” Charley lost the bird in the darkness.

Jeremiah crouched down to the ground, closed his eyes and put his ear to the ground. He concentrated while Charley kept watch. “Jeremiah, I think …”

Without speaking, Jeremiah again held up his arm to silence him. Keeping his eyes closed, he said, “I cannot sense her at all.” He stood up and brushed the snow off of his coat. “I am not certain where we are.”

Charley pointed at the moon. “I think we have traveled far. Look at the path of the moon. Minutes ago the sun had set and darkness began to fall, but the moon was not to come up for many hours yet.”

Jeremiah looked up at the stars but the moonlight washed out much of what he could see. “I think you are right. We are a long way from America.”

Charley walked past him and stared off into the dark forest. “Would I be right in guessing that our wagon and horses didn’t make the trip?”

Jeremiah knelt in the snow and exhaled. “I found a letter from the Silver Fox down at the bottom.” He handed the envelope over to Charley. “I doubt he left us our horses and wagon.”

Charley opened the envelope and held the letter up to the moonlight. The spidery penmanship seemed to glitter in the light. He read the contents quickly and then put the letter away. He handed the envelope back to Jeremiah and took a few steps toward the river ahead. “How are we ever going to get home?”

Jeremiah followed his friend and said, “I’m sorry.” He reached out to stop Charley from going any farther. “I did not mean to get you involved in all of this. With Ginny with child and the girls, I never meant for you to go on some crazy adventure with me.”

Charley put both his hands in his pockets and stared up at the moon. “I know that. I do. I need to think about one thing right now and that’s simply on how to get home.”

“I understand. I do. Without much money or a sense of where we are, I think our best chances are trying to find the Silver Fox and Cinderella. If he could take us away from America so easily, he can get us home.”

“What if it’s all a trick and he just wants to have us chase after him and then we’re trapped here? I have to get home as quickly as I can. My wife and children need me.” Charley glanced up at the moon and put his hands in his coat’s pockets.

“I need you to trust me.” Jeremiah put his hand on Charley’s shoulder. “I’ll do everything I can to get us home quickly. But I’ve dealt with witches and faeries all my life, and I know that will be our best bet. What do you say?”

Charley kept quiet for a moment and then said, “The faster we find the Silver Fox and Cinderella, the better.”

“Thank you.” Jeremiah shook Charley’s hand and smiled.

“Where do you think we should head?”

Jeremiah listened to the sound of the water flowing past them. He could see rocks ahead, and though cold, parts of the river had not frozen. He looked past the river and far off he spotted a thin column of smoke in the air. “Let’s head there.” He pointed and said, “Looks like a small house or hut.”

Charley squinted and it took him a few seconds but he finally saw the smoke rising from the chimney as well. “You lead the way and I will keep an eye out from behind us.”

Together they trudged through the snow and had to stop every few minutes when a strong gust of bitter wind blew at them. Charley pulled his hood over his head and turned away from the blowing snow. A few seconds later the wind stopped and Jeremiah turned around to him and asked, “You okay?”

“I just wish I would have packed heavier clothes.” He shivered and then stopped, pointing to a light coming from the tiny house across the river. “Do you see that?”

“Yes, I do. That’s good news for us. If we can convince the owner that we’re not bandits, we might have a place to stay tonight.” He sped up and in a few minutes came to the river’s edge.

A few yards downstream Jeremiah saw an old rickety bridge that crossed the river. Charley led the way and Jeremiah followed, watching behind them to ensure that no one followed them. Another gust of wind caught them off guard and they huddled close together and watched the snow blow across the ice that stretched across a portion of the river. Together they finished the crossing and headed up the riverbank.

Jeremiah ran to the top and stood still. He threw off his hood and sniffed the night air. “Do you smell that?”

“I don’t smell anything.” Charley finished the climb and inhaled deeply. “Wait, what is that?” He scrunched up his nose and then coughed into his hand.

“Witch’s brew.” Jeremiah put his hood back up and headed toward the dilapidated house ahead. In the moonlight, he could see a broken fence surrounded the house along with chipped or missing shingles. “We should be careful.”

“I’m not too fond of witches.” Charley glanced around to make certain no one stood behind him. “Of course, I don’t consider Cinderella a witch, but you know what I mean.”

“You’re lucky she isn’t here. She would have had something to say about that.” Jeremiah smiled and he turned back to the house. “Let’s try to look inside before we knock on the front door.”

Charley pointed at the broken fence. “If you think there’s a witch in there, do you think we should hang back here and announce ourselves first?”

“We’ll be fine.” He took a few steps forward and stopped. He held up his hand and then knelt in the snow. “Look.”

“What is it?” Charley put his hand into the footprint in the snow that Jeremiah had found.

Jeremiah moved his hand forward and pointed. The moonlight sparkled off of the snowy tracks. “An old woman lives here. Here is where her cane helped to balance her.” He kept low and inched forward.

Charley came close behind him and whispered. “I think I hear something.”

Jeremiah headed to the nearest window and tried to peek in behind the shutters. He pulled the shutter back a few inches and could see a wood stove inside. A large metal pot with a lid that jiggled and had begun to bubble over was all he could see. “Maybe it’s not a good idea that we came here. We might want leave now.”

He pushed the shutter back into place and backed away slowly. “Charley?”

No one answered him so he spun around with his pistol drawn. Charley had vanished. Jeremiah edged forward and made his way to the front of the house. Still he could not find his friend. He glanced down and could no longer see Charley’s footprints in the snow.

The door to the small house suddenly opened slowly. It creaked as it opened and a warm and inviting light streamed forth from inside. “Hello?”

No one answered. Yet from behind a musket muzzle jabbed him in the back. He froze and heard a woman standing behind him speak quickly in a language he did not understand. She pulled the musket away from his back and then jammed it again against his back, pushing him forward. She took the pistol from his hand and pushed him forward again.

Jeremiah held his hands up and walked inside the house. “I get it. I get it. Ease off on the musket.”

The woman shouted something incomprehensible and then laughed, following him inside. So far his luck today hadn’t gone well and he hoped that tomorrow, if he lived to see it, would be a better day.