grandfather.”
“So what’s the offer?”
“The offer is that you deliver, at my direction, each and every page of each and every one of the documents given to your grandfather so many years ago. In other words, the entire peach crate stash, everything in that elusive valise. Upon delivery, I shall arrange for your release as well as … the survival of your grandfather.”
“What do you mean!” she exclaimed.
“I thought that might get your attention. Yes, yes, he is alive. He worries if he’ll ever see you again. He seems to have learned a huge lesson. Rather late, but still better than never. He needs your help, Cadence. Will you let him down the way he let down your father?”
“No! Of course not.”
“Good. Because that means that you and he, gosh, even Mel, may be allowed to live. Call it a performance bonus.”
A fine mist of sweat sprang out upon her forehead. The man was speaking in a mishmash of television dialects, but the gravity of his message was clear. “OK, I’ll play. Deliver my grandfather first.”
“I’m afraid those aren’t the terms. We have to have some trust if we’re going to work together.”
“Where do I make the drop?”
“The what?”
“Come on, you were doing so well with your I’m-just-learning-the-language routine. The place of delivery of the documents.”
“They have to be delivered in person, as it were. The place you already know. A pool of water in a storage room beneath the city.”
“
“I’m afraid, on that score there, has been an adjustment of plans. I’m not in a position to deliver them.”
“Why not? You came from there, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but plans change.”
“If I go, can I get back?”
“I’m afraid not.”
She watched his demeanor. He didn’t blink. He was confident and focused solely on her. She had no doubt he’d delivered polite but deadly ultimatums many times, in many languages and places. She shook her head. “I don’t believe this.”
“What’s not to believe?”
“If I go, I save my grandfather. Fine, I’ll do it.” She took a deep breath. “Count me in.”
“Yes, well, here’s the truth. You can never do what you don’t absolutely believe in. You’d better find somebody that does.”
“No, I’ll give it all I’ve got.”
“Well, it’s pointless to test this further. I wanted to see how you’d react. But just to be sure, I’ve arranged for an alternate.”
She said nothing.
“Someone who believes completely. Someone who was always eager to go and, at last, wouldn’t hesitate to save his family.”
“Grandpa?”
“Precisely. ‘I’d go— in a shot’, I believe, were his exact words.”
“I couldn’t ask that.” Her voice was so small that it shamed her.
“You don’t need to. I did, he’s agreed. He’s ready. I just need a sign from you.”
“Like what?”
“I think you know. Show it to me.”
She hesitated and then realized her hand was involuntarily moving. Like an ant in honey, it slowly pulled her keychain from the pocket of her sweat top. The tooth talisman was attached.
“Not this.”
Barren smiled. “What better?”
Despite her resistance, her hands slowly removed the keys and gave the tooth to him.
Barren held it up, squinting and turning it in the light like an admiring scientist. He looked back at her, showing the slightest sign of … what? Empathy? Admiration? Then he gave her a look which she could read in an instant.
“May I ask another question?”
“We’ve got lots of time.”
“Is Ara real? Or is she only a story?”
“As real as me.”
That’s not … altogether helpful.”
“I could tell you she never lived and is no more than bits of doggerel from an older time, misinterpreted by the present. I could tell you she is, at most, a part of what are called ‘story books.’”
“Yes, you could, and I would accept it.”
“Oh, but there’s danger there as well. I’m finding that my greatest power is plain old truth, so I’ll tell you true. She lives, this very moment, in a place you would recognize. A place that is vibrant with peril and resolve and great purpose …”
She interrupted, “and she betrayed everyone? Is that right?”
“You seem to have a desperate need to know, but I could hardly spoil a good ending, now could I?”
“You
“You’re in no position to be insulting, young lady. Now, as I was saying, she lives in a place that indeed exists.”
Cadence paused, thinking his statement over. “How do I know?”
“Because your heart tells you so. If you listen to that voice but a little, belief follows like dawn on the night.”
“How do I really know?”
“Because it’s not me or what I say that matters. It’s only you. I’m sure we agree that it’s a shame her story has to be erased. Especially after she did so much work. Blame it on those Dark Elves who cursed her in the woods so long ago.”
“I blame you and your, what did you say,
“Well, you can’t expect him to leave his former enemies around. He might have plans for, how do you say, a
She listened, marking his slang but thinking in particular about Tolkien’s admonition that evil ever renews, that monsters do not depart.
“Now, young lady, I have a question.”
Silence.
“How does this work?”
He held a Nokia cell phone in his hand.
“I’m very glad you have that.”
Moving in the allowed slo-mo, she gave him a show-and-tell lesson, he holding it up to his face upside down and backwards, she correcting him, showing him the buttons to push. His eyes opened wide as a voice came through.
“Thornton here.”
“Don’t mind that, the person on the phone can’t hear us.”
The line was silent. Cadence watched the green light on the phone showing the call was still live.
“If you would, please let me go. I’ll do anything to get out of this place!”
Barren thought for a moment, then put the cell phone aside. The green light stayed on. He had some other questions. This was the best time to milk her for information.
“I’ve been watching
