Shifting (3 page)

“Make yourselves at home,” said Billie. “I’ll go get us a bite.”

“Cool house, huh,” said Jae.

“Where are all her belongings?” asked Meghan, noticing how empty the house was as they stepped inside.

“Our homes here are replicas. All our real belongings are still on our island, other than what we could bring with us.” The place was empty, with the exception of some simple furniture, and a few trunks stuffed with papers and books, most of which were strewn about.

“Ah, I see you’ve found my papers. Sorry, I was filing some work. Can’t locate the file I’m looking for,” said Billie, arriving with a tray of cocoa and the most delicious smelling chocolate chip cookies the twins had ever smelled.

“What do you do for work?” asked Colin curiously.

“A little o’ this, little o’ that. Mostly I keep track of historical information. I like to collect things. Keep a record of our journey. If you ever have questions about Svoda history, in these papers lie your answers. I keep hoping one of these days my sad excuse for a brother, Garner, will...” she trailed off, mumbling.

“Garner Sadorus. I don’t think he likes us,” said Colin, forgetting it might offend their host.

Meghan shot him a glare.

Billie responded, as if speaking to the air.

“Not a full day here and already they see how atrocious my brother has become.”

“I don’t know if I’d say atrocious,” said Colin, trying to make up for his mistake. “But definitely scary.”

“Exactly! He’s lost touch with reality, that man! I don’t understand what’s gotten into Garner these last few years. He’s changed. Listen to me babbling on about my sibling issues. Eat up, drink up, and tell me about yourselves.”

To Meghan’s surprise her brother started.

“We were raised by our uncle and we just turned thirteen.” Meghan thoughts strayed to Kanda Macawi, the Jendayas (especially Sebastien), and how at this precise moment they could be mourning their uncle’s death, and wondering what had happened to them.

Billie picked up their worry.

“It’s a real shame I’ll say again, you two being stuck here. Must have plenty of people worried about ya back home. If I knew of any way to even get a message to them, I’d sure help ya out.” 13

“Thanks, Billie,” said Meghan. The twins knew that Billie would be a good friend in this new world they were stuck in. She sat cross-legged on the floor, shuffling through some folders, when a photograph of a woman slipped out. Billie’s rugged eyes saddened, and even though it was a black and white picture, it was easy to see that the woman’s natural features were pale, her smile addictive. A tattoo crawled over her left shoulder and up her neck. Jae sighed.

“It’s been a long time, Billie? Hasn’t it?”

“Yes. Such a long time.” Billie slid the picture back into the folder. “Oh, no worries now! We all have loved ones we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Meghan was about to ask what she meant, when Jae interrupted.

“I hate to run, Billie, but I should show these two around, and get them settled in.”

“Sure, sure, a ‘course. Thanks for coming and don’t be strangers. Stop in any time you like. If you weren’t staying with the Mochries I’d have invited you both to stay with me. If it gets too crowded, well, not to impose on your family’s generosity, Jae. But my door’s always open.”

“Thanks, Billie,” replied Jae.

She nodded then and went back to searching through her folders. As the trio departed the twins noticed her slide out the photo of the pale, tattooed woman. It looked as though it broke her heart to see it and she cast her gaze to the floor, clutching the photo to her heart. As pained as they already were over their uncle, this depressed them even more. There was a lot they didn’t understand about this place.

Jae led them through Bedgewood, towards the Mochrie house.

“I like Billie,” said Colin, unexpectedly.

Meghan raised her brow, impressed. Her brother had met someone and not been shy around her. She could sense the confidence he felt over Billie. This is good, she thought, blocking him from hearing. She knew Colin would have at least one ally here, besides her or Jae.

“She is great,” agreed Jae. “Couldn’t be more opposite from her brother.”

“I can’t believe they’re even from the same family,” replied Meghan.

“I don’t remember, ‘cause this was years ago, but Billie insists that Garner wasn’t always mean.

Says he’s changed since we started traveling again.”

“How long ago was that, Jae?” asked Meghan.

“About eleven years ago.”

“Oh! So, until eleven years ago, you lived off the coast of Maine?” she said. “Wow, who could’ve guessed we’d been camping a few hours away from a magical island?”

“It is odd. When you think about it like that, I guess,” Jae chuckled.

As anxious as the twins were about the unknown fate of their uncle, and their new life with the Gypsies, it was becoming obvious that the Svoda had some serious problems of their own.

As Jae led them into town, Colin and Meghan realized they had not gotten an update on Jae’s father.

“In all the confusion today, we didn’t ask how your father was! Shouldn’t’ you be with him, rather than showing us around?” questioned Meghan.

“Yeah, we can wait,” agreed Colin.

“No, it’s fine. My dad is getting better. I saw him this morning. He might even come home tomorrow. It’ll still take a while for him to fully heal.”

14

“What about that huge gash across his chest?” asked Colin.

“We do things a little differently here when it comes to healing.”

“Oh, right. Magic,” remembered Colin.

“Not all injuries are so easily healed with magic. This time we were lucky!” insisted Jae. They arrived back in the village center and Jae pointed out where they had come in. It was an odd sight to behold. An ornate wooden door framed by two trees. Jae showed them which shops were open, and as they left the main village, trudging closer to the Mochrie home, he pointed out an old brick building, far off the road.

“That’s our school.”

“I hadn’t even thought about school,” said Colin.

“Will we have to go? We can’t exactly be in classes that teach magic,” said Meghan, hoping that maybe one thing could go right and she would not have to attend school.

“Guess we’ll see,” said Jae, not knowing.

On the twins’ next inhale the smell of the ocean overwhelmed their nostrils. The cobblestone road they strolled down merged to one made of dirt. A cluster of shingled cottages, all colored in dark browns and yellows popped into view. Green stiff shrubs lined the streets, breaking only for small gated entrances. They passed a side street to their right.

“That’s our closest ocean access,” Jae noted. As he said it, another strong whiff of ocean wafted by, reminding them of their many trips to Maine. They stopped in front of an iron gate, which Jae swung open.

“This is our home while we’re here in Grimble, and now, I guess it’s your home away from home, too!”

The inside of the cottage was not what the twins expected. It was normal sized, unlike the wagons. It was cozy and warm, small and quiet.

Sheila, and Jae’s sister Mireya, were in the kitchen cooking over an old fashioned wood stove; it was about four feet long and made of iron, with copper pots hanging overhead. Across from the stove was a stone fireplace; a large pot simmered over the fire. Dried herbs and fruit hung from the ceiling. A wooden table and chairs filled the middle of the kitchen, with a small sofa covered in a plaid pattern shoved against the wall. The twins thought for a moment they had stepped back in time.

“Good, you’re back,” began Sheila. “Dinner will be awhile yet. How did you two like our little village?”

“It’s very nice,” answered Meghan sleepily.

“Anything new on Dad?” asked Jae.

“Nothing new,” she replied. “Show our guests where they will sleep. Oh, and there are some packages upstairs for you two, things you’ll need.”

“People sent them,” spoke Mireya. “They assumed you would need clothes and stuff.” Her voice was young and giggly.

“Clothes?” Meghan perked up. Jae and Mireya took them up a spiral staircase. The rest of the cottage had the same old-fashioned feel as the kitchen. On the wall across from the staircase there were two doors.

15

“The one across from us, that is where we sleep,” said Mireya, in her playful voice. Meghan glanced at the door, wondering if she had heard correctly.

“Where we sleep?” she questioned.

“Yes, we all share a room here.”

Meghan and Colin were used to sharing a room, but the thought of two extra people was a little daunting.

Jae then opened a door on the left.

“This is the bath room,” he said, emphasizing the word bath. Inside, a large porcelain tub stood a few feet from the fireplace, with a bronze pump attached. There was a matching pump latched to a sunken sink.

“How do I run hot water?” asked Meghan.

“That’s what the fireplace is for,” twittered Mireya, twirling her way out of the room.

“Don’t worry,” said Jae. “We have ways of heating up water.” Another question popped into Colin’s mind.

“If this is the bathroom, where is the toilet?”

“Not inside. This is for bathing only.” Jae walked to the end of the hallway and nodded to a small window. The twins peered through the window to a rectangular shack in the backyard.

“Outhouse,” Jae said, adding smugly, “Just beware.”

“Beware of what?” asked Colin, not sure he could handle any more bad news.

“Spiders, real big ugly ones. But they’re perfectly harmless,” he insisted. “They’re like statues.

You’ll rarely ever see one move.”

“In the outhouse?” confirmed Meghan.

Jae nodded yes.

Both twins secretly took bets on how long they could hold it, before facing the outhouse spiders.

Jae showed them into the bedroom. Once inside, the twins knew it would not be as bad as they had pictured. Lining the side and back walls were four small curtained rooms. They were surprisingly similar to the rooms the twins were used to: a bunk bed, with a chair and table underneath, a small dresser beside the bed, and about three feet of space between the bed and the curtain.

“It’s small,” said Mireya, “but comfy.” She closed her curtain, hiding behind it. A number of packages covered in brown paper lined the twins’ beds.

“Actually, it’s not bad at all, huh Sis,” said Colin, trying to think positively about yet another reminder of home, and their uncle.

“Yeah,” she answered, hoping she could handle this many roommates. “Should I open these?” asked Meghan, looking at her packages. Mireya’s curtain flew open.

“Oh, yes,” she exclaimed excitedly. “I can’t wait to see what people brought. Even Banon Blackwell had something delivered. That’s such an honor!”

It was becoming clear to the twins that they would have even less privacy than they were used to back home.

“How can we thank everyone for being so nice?” she asked.

16

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Mireya. “That’s what people do here. No one has real jobs or money anymore, we all share.”

“No money?” asked Meghan.

“Not no money,” corrected Jae. “People still have it. It just doesn’t do us much good, living like we do.”

“So people share everything?” Meghan tried to comprehend. She also didn’t understand why people would be nice enough to give them these things, especially when it was clear they weren’t welcomed.

“Share, more or less,” explained Jae. “Take the café. It’s always open and you don’t pay to eat.

We’re not a large enough number to charge each other and make any money. We save our money for what we need from the outside world.”

As Meghan sat down on her bed, ready to open the first package, she noticed a ladder leading to a small loft.

“What’s up there?”

“Not much. A place to sit and study.”

Meghan wanted to check it out; perhaps it could be a place of solitude.

Colin climbed a few rungs of the ladder, stopping before he got too high. He noticed a short door on the back of the loft wall. Jae answered his question before he could ask.

“It’s a crawl space that connects the upstairs rooms. Don’t use it much.”

“Wow, a secret hiding place in such a small cottage,” Meghan said, impressed. She opened a package, deciding to save Juliska Blackwell’s for last, secretly hoping it would be something that Juliska, herself would wear. The packages held dresses, skirts, tunics, shoes, scarves, hats, under things, and a few of the long-jackets she’d seen some of the Gypsy women wearing. It was everything someone away from home would need. A few of the items Meghan was positive she would not wear, but Mireya showed interest, so she offered them to her. Mireya grinned from ear to ear.

“Thanks, are you sure? These are really nice.”

“Yes, definitely sure,” replied Meghan. She decided to open the package delivered from Juliska, changing her mind and leaving another to open after. She took out a black and gold full-length long-jacket, exactly like the ones she had seen Juliska wearing.

“It’s magnificent. What is it?” asked Meghan.

Mireya touched the delicate gold and black fabric.

“It’s a long-jacket, very popular. They are thin, so you can wear them even if it’s warm, or over other clothes if it’s cooler. This is the prettiest one I’ve ever seen, besides the Banon’s of course.”

Meghan wanted desperately to try it on, but she was too dirty and in need of a bath.

“That’s a special occasion long-jacket,” said Mireya, still in awe of the piece.

“It could possibly be the nicest piece of clothing I’ve ever owned.” The last package included a long sleeved sweater, with a jumper looking item. It had one button in the front to hold it together, and then the rest was open.

“It’s kind of a stylish apron,” said Mireya. “Not many Svoda women like them. They prefer the front to be closed, then they don’t have to wear skirts or pants underneath.” 17

Meghan loved it. As she put her new things away, Colin dove into his own packages.

“How old are you?” Meghan asked Mireya, trying to think up conversation.

“Eleven and a half.” Meghan was not sure what to talk about with a giggly eleven-year-old.