With two of Sigmund’s glasses of brandy inside her, Helena slept for a good portion of the way. His goal; to help steady her nerve, not to knock her out, but since she had never tasted brandy, it hit her hard. In the fading light, Helena clutched the locket that held Missy’s picture.
Somewhere between cities, Lane needed to stop and refuel. Helena woke, surrounded by the tallest trees she had ever seen. The waxing moon high in the sky gave sufficient light to observe the road that cut through the trees. However, Lane topped off the oil lamps to help illuminate their path.
“Where are we?” she asked.
Lane said, “About halfway home.”
“What is that?” Helena pointed off into the woods at four flickering lights the size of torches or lanterns dancing in the distance.
“Where?” Sigmund asked as Lane sped up his fueling.
“Right over there,” again, Helena pointed off into the woods towards the ocean.
“Lane, I think time has come for us to leave,” Sigmund said.
“Way ahead of you, I’m almost finished,” Lane did a final check of the lids before dropping the kerosene can in the backseat with the two passengers.
“Hey, watch my feet. Will somebody please tell me what’s going on? Those lights might be somebody needing help.”
Lane had the car moving down the dark road at an unsafe speed, but the hazards on the road didn’t scare him as much as the hazards in the woods.
Once clear Sigmund took his hand off his pistol and tried to explain, “The world is not how many people believe it is. Most believe humans are the most dominant creatures on the earth. Some things feed off humans, I’m not sure what those lights are, better not to find out the hard way.”
“What do you mean feed?”
“Like how you feed off T-bones,” Lane joked over his shoulder not taking his eyes off the road.
“Like monsters? What did you think those were?”
“More like things we don’t understand. In England, we called them will-o’-the-wisp. I don’t know what they are. I was taught not to follow them, people become lost in the woods, and people end up dead.”
“Those were fairies,” Lane again over his shoulder, “Mean bastards will steal everything worth anything off your body. Even the gold out your teeth.”
“How did the two of you ever learn about these things?” Helena asked.
“I learned about them from my grandma, she grew up in the swamps outside of Houston, she had all kinds of stories,” he said.
Sigmund said, “I had to read books. Most students in London must learn about the magical creatures from books. We never got to witness them,” scanning the night sky, “I’m glad the moon is not full.”
Not knowing what he meant by that, Helena suddenly became happy it wasn’t a full moon as well.
“It will be too late to continue when we reach home,” Helena made a statement, not a suggestion.
“Bessie needs a good rest and to cool off, a bath wouldn’t hurt her either.”
“I agree, any plans for our course of action tomorrow?” Sigmund asked.
“Are we going to continue?” Helena asked.
“I don’t see why not, we haven’t found the young woman yet, have we?”
“Let me sleep on it then. Right now, it might be the brandy, but I think I need more sleep before I make that decision. I’m learning rash decisions can be very deadly.”
“I wish more people would learn that,” Sigmund replied.
“Amen!” came from the front seat.
Rest of the trip transpired without incident, they made it to the estate before midnight, Bessie’s boiler glowing red from Lane pushing the car to its upper limits. Sigmund was prepared to carry an unconscious Helena to her bedroom, but she woke as soon as the car came to a stop.
Ready for bed, Helena realized she needed to take care of a few things or at least get a few things started before she went to bed. She appeared more than a little shocked when she opened her door to the bedroom and found Wai Han kneeling at the foot of her bed waiting for her return.
Surprised at the sight, Helena said, “Wai Han, what are you doing? You should be asleep.”
“Miss Gertie and I waited,” Wai Han motioned to the sleeping Gertie on the fainting sofa, “She sleep.”
“You should be asleep too.”
“I must thank you again for saving me. How I can repay you?”
“Oh honey, right now I’m just exhausted. Aren’t you tired?”
A little embarrassed, “Night my work time. Get nightmares when I sleep.”
“Then I do need something, do you think you can ask the men of the house and see if you can find some men’s clothes that will fit me?”
“I will do my best Mistress.”
“Please call me Helena,” she turned and started taking off her road worn riding clothes, “I’ll bathe in the morning.”
June in San Francisco can be warm enough to sleep on top of the covers. She made it down to her three-quarter union suit before she flopped on the bed and fell asleep.
She woke up as the sun filtered through the gossamer shears hanging over her window. She opened her eyes and knew it was too early, the house still quiet. At the foot of her bed knelt Wai Han, a small paper package wrapped with string in front of her.
“Wai Han, did you stay up all night long?” Helena asked.
“You asked me to find clothing. When I couldn’t find your size, I borrowed from gardener and fixed for you. Then I washed. When I come back up, you asleep, I been waiting to make sure that clothes would fit,” Wai Han said.
“My word, I’m sure they will be fine. Now, this is an order, and I want you to follow it. I want you to lay down on my bed, and I want you to sleep, and I don’t
