Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
She was exactly fifteen years old when Lilith decided that she wanted to become a journalist like Mary Travis. She had no idea what had inspired the notion except perhaps that Billy's mother always seemed to be in the thick of things and had a spirit about her that was more than just independence. It was irrefutable that Mary guided the path Four Corners had taken from small frontier town to bustling township, riding the wheels of progress that swept the West during the post war years. Mary's opinion that translated so well into paper had a way of reaching people that ordinary speech could not do and in the years following Lilith decision to follow in the great lady's footsteps, she had come to understand the power of the press.
Mary had been thrilled to have a young protege who wanted to learn her craft and it made it all the more enticing when the young lady in question was her oldest son's constant companion. Lilith supposed in retrospect that it was really quite inevitable that she and Billy would eventually marry since they had been best friends from the day they had met. Lilith had waited for his silly infatuation with Julia Pemberton to discover that the love he thought he had for Mrs Standish was more appropriately meant for her.
Still despite her marriage to Billy, she had no intention of giving up her career as a budding journalist. Although Mary did not say it out loud, Lilith had a feeling that when Mary was ready to retire; she would hand over the Clarion News to her daughter in law. With a new army post established not far from Four Corners and Billy's request to be posted there, the viability of her assuming that role was not so outlandish. Lilith was thrilled that when she finally became Mrs Travis, she would not be forced to leave the home and the large family she had found since coming to Four Corners.
For the moment anyway, marriage and control of the Clarion News remained in the future. Lilith found herself perched on top of this chair inside the kitchen of the home where she lived with her mother and her stepfather Josiah Sanchez, being fitted for her wedding dress. Although she was eager for the day to come, she could help but wonder if there was a more expedient way to prepare a wedding dress for the day. A slightly devious smile crossed her face when she wondered whether or not it would be utterly wicked of her if she simply conjured up a gown for the day and then decided that it was probably not.
Although she was hell bent on being a journalist, Lilith had not forgotten the dabbling into the arcane arts that first brought her mother and stepfather together. While she had promised Josiah not to treat the grimoire in her possession lightly, Lilith had spent the last years studying it carefully, developing her ability to manipulate the supernatural in what she called 'baby step' progression. While Lilith disliked the word witch, preferring instead the more benign appellation of conjurer, she could not deny that she was far more skilled than someone who merely drew rabbits out of hats. Fortunately, these abilities were of no surprise to Billy who had viewed her preoccupation with spells and magic in their youth with fascination.
With a smile, she remembered how they had both been enjoying the scenery that surrounded the Lucky 7 ranch when they were fourteen, watching the flowers straining to grow in the grass when she showed Billy that there was more to her than he had ever believed. Exerting but a fraction of what she was capable of because any more would have frightened him, she had delighted Billy in helping the tight fitting buds bloom, peeling back the petals just by looking at them. After that, she continued to reveal her abilities in small doses, allowing him time to accustom himself to it until it became a wonderful secret they had shared throughout most of their adolescence. Billy seemed to behave more as if he had been let into some secret part of herself that she could trust no one else with other than Josiah, who kept watch and offered her well needed advice in its application while ensuring her mother knew nothing of it.
"Ouch!" Lilith winced when she felt the sharp sting of a dress pin digging into her hip. "Momma, you're sticking me!" She winced.
"Sorry darling," Audrey apologized immediately, trying to speak through a dozen pins in her mouth. "I almost done."
"Thank god," Lilith sighed. "I want to go and talk to Hank and Jesse Young again."
Josiah who had dropped home to get some lunch immediately looked up from the cup of coffee he was about to imbibe and spoke. "Why?
"I don't think they're just prospecting," Lilith said automatically, recalling her perceptions of the men in question when she had encountered shortly after their arrival in town. There was something about them that did not seem right and the senses that she relied upon, not just the ones that were common to most, told her that they were lying about their intentions in town. Like any good journalist, Lilith smelled a story and was determined to uncover what they were really here for. "I think they're after something else."
Josiah did not doubt that but when Lilith looked that set on something, he knew that there was reason to be concerned. Since Lilith had embarked upon her career as a reporter with the Clarion News, Josiah had been called upon to pull the girl out of more situations than he could possibly think. With a little pang of sadness, he realized that she would soon be a married woman and it would not be his responsibility to be there for her as he had throughout her youth. When she left this house and became Mrs Travis, it would be Billy not him that would take on that role.
Josiah did not mind being supplanted; aware that this was just one of those things that fathers had to deal with. It was hard to disconnect Lilith from the image of the little girl he had taken to his heart as ardently as he had fallen in love with her mother when he stared at this beautiful young woman before him. Physically, she was very different to Audrey who had a tendency to look sultry and vibrant. Lilith was willowy, with golden hair that fell loosely down her shoulders and azure colored eyes that always seemed filled with secrets. Audrey said Lilith took after her father which Josiah could not deny because her mother appeared earthy while Lilith reminded him of the good china Audrey hated to use unless they had company.
He stared at her for a long while, feeling this surge of paternal affection and reminding himself to ask Mary if it was the same for her when she looked at Billy and saw the little boy she had loved and doted upon all grown up into a man. Josiah felt it most profoundly these days; the closer and closer Lilith neared her wedding day.
"I can't say you're wrong there." Josiah remarked, getting back to the subject at hand. "They came to town with at least four men to just go prospecting. Prospectors don't like having too many partners, a claim can get might small when you have to share it."
"That's what I thought," Lilith said excitedly, now that she had evidence that she was not leaping to conclusions in Josiah's endorsement.
"Lily, stay still baby." Audrey instructed as she prepared to insert another pin into the lacey fabric. "Josiah, do you mind not getting her excited when I'm trying to do this?"
"Its too late now momma," Lilith grinned and flashed her mother an affectionate smile. "I'm on a roll."
Audrey threw her husband a dark look that told Josiah they would have words later and the older man could not say he minded. Audrey might be cross with him for a while but they had such fun making up later. "Sorry," he remarked with a little smile of mischief when he saw the same thought crossing his wife's mind. "Lilith, these men have a dangerous look about them. I don't think they'll appreciate you getting into their business."
"I'm not," Lilith responded. "I'm just going to do a little snooping. In any case, you're right about them being dangerous. I looked at some of Mary's files and it appears that Hank has been named in some murders that took place in Silver City, apparently he worked for some cattle rancher up that way. The sheriff believed he was responsible for clearing some smaller properties of their rightful owners but apparently they had nothing to prove it so Hank walked."
"What about Jesse?" Josiah asked. While Hank might seemed shady enough, Jesse did not. In fact, the younger man looked rather bookish.
"Oh he's Hank's younger brother," Lilith answered. "There's nothing much on him."
"That's something at least," Josiah frowned. "Now after hearing all that, I think I would like you to stay away from him Lily." The former preacher said with enough force in his voice to mean it.
"Josiah," Lilith looked at her stepfather as if he was being silly. "I'm not going to get into any trouble, I'm just going to ask a few well meaning questions."
"That's how you usually get into trouble, Lilith." Her mother added her voice into the mix and Lilith wondered if these two had any idea of what a journalist was supposed to do. Mary Larabee got into trouble all the time, just ask Chris and she had managed just fine. Lilith was certain that she could do better, especially when she had some hidden resources that her mother knew nothing about and her stepfather was always cautious she not use. However, the days were gone where she was in danger of conjuring reality altering spells. These days, Lilith's spells were not so ambitious and usually done on the spur of the moment.
"Momma, I am the star reporter of the Clarion News," she said haughtily. "How can I be expected to bring truth and justice to the West, if I cannot tell the complete truth. I must not be afraid of going to any lengths to get my story."
Both Audrey and Josiah rolled their eyes collectively with the latter giving his wife a look. "Well she doesn't get it from me."
Billy Travis was on his way to the Sanchez household to tell Lilith that he would in most likelihood be joining his stepfather at the Lucky 7 ranch today when he saw his fiancée on the street. The moment he cast his gaze upon her, Billy knew something was up because of her manner and her walk. After so many years at her side, studying every aspect of her because she was in his opinion, the one true love of his life, Billy knew almost everything about Lilith. Just how much he knew would have surprised her had he decided to tell her about it, which he did not mostly because he liked surprising her with his insight sometimes. He could tell as she paused and gazed furtively across the street that she was following someone and as his eyes traveled along her line of sight, discovered that she was looking at two men whom he did not recognize.
The first one did not give him much cause for concern, mostly because he was slight in stature and appeared to be rather bookish with his glasses and his uncertain eyes which seemed to dart about the place like a frightened rabbit. The second man however, did. Aside from the fact that the man practically towered over his comrade and seemed twice his breadth, Billy had seen enough evil in his life to know that there was something about the man that reeked of it. He looked as if he could break a man in half with those massive hands and as he continued up the boardwalk, those who happened his way knew it too for they quickly too a step back to give him a wide berth. What business did Lilith have with these men that she was so intent on keeping her surveillance hidden?
Stupid question, Billy told himself immediately. What else would she be so fired up about? A story.
Suddenly, Billy had some idea of what Chris went through with his mother even though Billy was certain that Chris would have Mary no other way, just as sure as the fact that he would not trade that indomitable spirit displayed in his future bride for anything. Still, if he was going to accept that little trait about Lilith, then he was going to have to accept that he was going to spend a lot of time getting out of trouble as well. Then again, his parents had that kind of relationship and Billy could not deny that the result of that was to make them more passionate about each other than any two people he had ever seen.
That seemed the way for all the seven with their women now that Billy came to think of it. He supposed that to be the woman in the life of the men once called the Magnificent Seven and still were to most of the town was to be accepting of the dangers that came with them. However, the seven always seemed to weather the storms and in the last twelve years had almost become something of a local legend though none of them really liked being considered as such. Yet it was true. Whether or not they liked it, times of adversity in Four Corners would always have the townspeople looking to the seven men who had defended it for so long.
As he approached Lilith with just as much stealth as she was attempting to display in following the two men, he could not help feel a wave of affection at her determination to remain unseen. The funny thing of it was, Billy had always considered Lilith his best friend during most of the years they had spent growing up. His infatuation with Julia Standish had continued even after the lady had wedded Ezra Standish and for the second time, Billy found himself standing best man at a wedding. Although Julia doted on him still after her marriage, Billy had come to realize that she was someone he would always adore but love was not at the heart of that adoration.
No, love had come when he had gone to the Academy. Until he actually left Four Corners and went to West Point, he had not understood how much apart of his life she had been. They had spent almost every day together since they were nine years old and she had become a woman before his eyes without his even noticing Billy could not describe his stupidity. Everything about her fascinated him, from her strong willed spirit so reminiscent of the mother he loved to the practicality of his stepfather that was still so reassuring even now. He even accepted the fact that Lilith had an understanding of secret world beneath the veneer of what was known and he marveled at the splendor of the magic she showed in the simplest things.
By the time he made it home to Four Corners for his first vacation, Billy had inundated Lilith with so many letters declaring his love that a proposal was merely a formality when he saw her again. If anything had convinced him that he had found the love of his life, it was that first kiss. It was a kiss that he still remembered took with him everywhere, when he returned to the Academy and kept him warm at nights.
"What are you doing?" He said in a stern voice as he sneaked up behind her and grabbed her shoulders suddenly, startling her to no end.
"Billy!" Lilith exclaimed, feeling her heart leaping into her throat for a second and whirling around to swat him in the arm especially when he wore that damnable grin of satisfaction at catching her unawares. "God! You scared me to death!"
"I wouldn't have if you were not doing something that you weren't supposed." He remarked as she glanced in the direction of Hank and Jesse before immediately ushered him back to the corner of the building to take refuge so that they would not see her following them.
"I am tailing the suspect." She said as a matter of factly as she faced him again, her cheeks red with crimson because she was caught and they both knew it.
"What suspect?" He folded his arms and stared at her.
"Those two." Lilith tugged at his shirt and dragged his past the corner far enough so she could point out the two men. "They're up to no good."
"I can see that." He said with a straight face.
"They are." She hissed, trying to convince him. "I just know they're up to something and I'm going to get the story." With that, she peered over the edge again as she saw the duo emerge from the general store, this time looking a great deal more purposeful than they had a few minutes ago.
Billy and Lilith watched as Hank and Jesse engaged in what seemed like a rather heated discussion that captured the attention of the few passers by who looked up in concern as they walked around the men, having no wish to be caught in an argument should it turn ugly. Lilith could understand that since Hank and Jesse were strangers and outwardly looked like men who were accustomed to ugly. Upon realising that their behavior was garnering undue attention, Hank appeared to hush Jesse and they both stormed down the boardwalk, appearing to have a definitive path this time.
"I wonder what that was all about." Billy remarked.
"I don't know," Lilith shook her head. "But come on!" She grabbed his hand and towed him forward as she continued to follow them.
Knowing any appeal he would make for common sense would be largely ignored, Billy decided to forgo any protest and just go with her. It was the best way to ensure that she did not get in over her head and besides, he could not help being curious to see if she was right. As they continued to keep the Young brothers in sight, Billy thought they might be heading to the saloon or perhaps even to their lodgings. Their journey had been fraught with the constant arguments that had saw its origins a few seconds ago and did not appear to abate as they left the main street.
"Where are they going?" Lilith mused when she saw that they were heading to neither the saloon nor their lodgings at the hotel.
There was only one place in the direction they were heading, unless they were going to visit someone in the many homes scattered about the area and that was the schoolhouse. However, what they could want there was beyond Billy's understanding. "I think they're going to the school house."
"The school house?" Lilith stared at him confused. "Why would they go there?"
"Hey I'm not the star reporter for the Clarion News." Billy retorted. "You tell me."
Lilith bristled. "Did I actually agree to marry you?"
"Yeah, so it's too late now." He grinned and urged her to get moving unable to deny that he was getting a little swept up in her momentum. "Let's go if you want to catch up with them."
It was soon apparent that Billy was right about the direction taken by the two men. Hank and Jesse soon walked up the path leading to the schoolhouse, forcing Lilith and Billy to fall back just a little more because there were no more buildings to hide their pursuit. The duo made a brisk pace to the building had disappeared through the front doors when Billy and Lilith rounded the corner. Both bride and groom were at a loss to understand why the two men would have reason to visit that particular place and hastened their pace.
Upon reaching the doors, the argument that had reached fever pitch and Billy pulled Lilith under the stairs leading to the door so that they could hear what was being said without being discovered.
"It's gone!"
"It can't be gone!" Hank barked back. "Its gotta be here. It wasn't more than a couple of hours ago!"
"Well I can't find it!" Jesse declared petulantly. "Someone's taken it!"
"We don't know that yet!" The larger of the two retorted.
"Look, someone found it and discovered that the first clue is Cullens Ridge!" Jesse continued his insistence that the object they were seeking was stolen. "I told you that map was real!"
"You don't have to say it again, Jesse." Hank growled. There was additional shuffling as they continued to search and for a few minutes, Billy and Lilith remained poised, listening for more of what was being said, realising that there was something more than just prospecting going on.
"Well you right, it's gone." Hank said with a sigh after awhile.
"What are we gonna do?" Jesse demanded and Billy wondered how long it would be before his brother got sick of that whining and did something about. Mike could go on for about five minutes like that before Billy lost his patience and took after him. Jesse was so annoying that Billy had to admire Hank's restraint.
"We're gonna go out to Cullens Ridge and wait for whomever has our map to show up or catch up with them." Hank answered after a moment of consideration. "That good enough for you?"
"Yeah," Jesse said unhappily but he must have been aware that he was pushing his sibling's patients to the limits and chose wisely not to exacerbate the situation any further. "We better get going soon, if they've got the map, we don't want them getting too far ahead of us. I read something about hidden traps."
"It they don't know what they're doing, they won't get far." Hank said with a hint of amusement. "Come on," he called to his brother as he started walking across the floor towards the door once again. "We'll get the others and ride out."
Billy and Lilith did not stir until the footsteps had come down the stairs and continued onto the gravel path that took them back to town. It was not until Hank and Jesse were out of sight, did the two emerge from their hiding place. Both were confused with what they had heard, not to mention tantalized. The mention of a map and secret traps had their imagination inspired but while Lilith considered a story, Billy was more concerned with where the map that those men were searching had disappeared too.
"Okay you were right," he said with a frown once they emerged from under the stairs again. "They are up to something."
"At Cullens Ridge." Lilith nodded. "We need to find out what that map leads to."
"We got bigger problems than that." Billy retorted, considering the matter deeply. "Hank and Jesse looked extremely fired up for a map so that tell me there's some kind of fortune behind it. When those two catch up with whomever has got that map; they're going to have reason to regret it. We better get there first."
"But who could have taken it?" Lilith replied easing down onto the steps as she pondered that question. "I mean its Saturday, nobody comes to the school house on a Saturday. According to Hank, it couldn't have been that long since they lost the map between them coming back to look for it, who could have been here in that time?"
A very unpleasant thought surfaced in Billy's mind at that point. He tried to think that he could be wrong, that he was just grasping at straws but the more he considered it, the worse it became because it made sense. He tried to remember what Mike had said this morning at breakfast and then recall the approximate time he had had left the house with Kyle. Mike would not be that stupid would he? Billy asked himself and then remembered that Mike was almost twelve years old with a taste for adventure that was stronger that his need for self-preservation, which was exactly, what would be at stake if Chris found out about this.
"We need to get going." Billy said taking Lilith by the hand and dragging her off this time instead of it being the other way around.
"Going where?" Lilith looked at him suspiciously, which faded the moment she saw the real concern in his eyes.
"To the creek." Billy answered shortly, not pausing in his steps as he continued down the path in forceful strides.
"What's at the creek?" Lilith demanded, starting to get frightened even though she was a little hazy on why at the moment. His manner indicated something was terribly wrong.
"Hopefully Mike and the other kids." Billy retorted.
"Billy Travis!" Lilith stopped walking and refused to go another inch until he explained to her what was on his mind. Talk of the children while discussing in the same breadth Hank and Jesse Young made her extremely fearful and she wanted to know what he suspected. "I am not going any further until you tell me what's wrong!"
"Mike was here today!" Billy turned around and said abruptly. "He and Kyle were going to the creek with Sam, Penny, Peter and all the others. He left the house a couple of hours ago. You know how it is; they always meet here before they go anywhere together. We taught them to do that remember? Safety in numbers?"
Lilith did remember and what he said made sense. If by any chance Mike or any of the other children had been in the area at the time Hank and Jesse had come to the school house for whatever reason and discarded their map, one of the children might have found it. She tried to think of what adventures a child might see in discovering a tasty morsel like that and knew that if they were in possession in it, things were very serious indeed.
"You don't think...." She started to say, feeling her heart tightening beneath her chest because that was exactly what he was thinking. "Mike wouldn't be that stupid."
Billy looked at her. "At his age, would we have stopped to think if we got our hands on a real life map that might possibly have a fortune at the end of it?"
Lilith groaned inwardly. "Oh my god." She dropped her forehead into her palm. "We got to tell Chris and Mary!"
Billy winced at the idea of telling the parents about this just yet. If the children had found the map and had yet to do anything about it, then Billy and Lilith could retrieve it from them without any harm being done. Billy was not entirely sure he wanted to return it to Hank and Jesse yet but they would cross that bridge when they came to it. However, if the outcome was that amicable then there was no need to bring parents into it.
"Not yet," Billy answered, having no wish to get his brothers or any of their friends into similar trouble. "There may be nothing to tell them if we can get our hands on the thing and give it back."
"But if not?" She asked.
Billy's head started to throb at the possibility. "Then we have no choice and I'll tell you, those kids better hope that Hank and Jesse gets their hands on them before their parents do. You have no idea how mad Chris can be when he's worried."
"Really?"
Billy found himself instinctively recalling the incident following his first viewing of a trapeze act when the circus had come through Four Corners and the events that followed later on when he attempted to 'practice' in the back yard from the branch of a high tree. He was nine years old and that was the day he discovered that it was quite possible to be almost grounded for the term of one's natural life.
"Really."
They made it to Cullen Ridge in good time despite the fact that it was good three or four miles from the creek and for the younger children it was something of a hike. Still, Kyle, Annette and Jimmy had managed to keep up mostly because they were determined not to be left behind if they started to lag. It was the first time they had been allowed to accompany the older children on such an undertaking and the trio was not about to give them any reason to change their minds. Besides, Mike had been good enough to break their journey so that they would not get too exhausted.
Cullen's Ridge stood before them, a large protrusion of earth that tapered into a narrow space about a hundred feet in the air. The path up the side of the ridge was rocky and uncertain which gave Mike some pause as he considered how they would scale it to reach the gold mine that was supposed to be at the end of this quest. As they stared at the imposing formation before them, Mike noticed a little hint of uncertainty crossing the faces of some of his companions. In particular, Kyle, Annette and Jimmy who were a little afraid of having to climb up such a high place.
"Does the map tell us how to get up there?" Mike asked Penny who was staring at the unrolled piece of scroll.
"I don't know," Penny replied. "I think this is a trail but I'm not sure."
"Let me see," Sam said coming alongside of her and glancing into the space where Penny was pointing.
To Sam, the path appeared almost immediately even though they were cryptic to everyone else with her. She had no idea that it was a trait inherited from her father that allowed her to see trails where none seemed to exist. Ever since she was old enough to walk, she had been going out into the wilderness with Vin Tanner, absorbing everything he had to teach her as if it was a sacred trust. Like him, her mind grasped the insignificant and was able to superimpose it upon a larger frame of perception. It was what had allowed Vin to be the best tracker in the Territory if not beyond and allowed Sam an understanding of terrain that would follow her the rest of her life.
"I see it." She said after a moment, her eyes shifting away from the map to the ridge once more.
"You do?" Mike looked at her with some measure of surprise.
"Yeah," she nodded, glancing at the scroll again just to make sure. "Come on," she urged the others to follow.
"Okay just wait a sec," Mike told her to stop because before any of them went anywhere, they would have to take precautions. The ground was mostly gravel, which meant loss of footing could result in nasty fall. While he was certain the older members of his party could navigate the unsettled terrain well enough, he was not so sure about the younger children. "Rose," he looked to Elena. "I want Jimmy to walk in front of you."
"Why?" Jimmy questioned immediately. "I can do it on my own."
"Because I said so," Mike retorted in that voice so often used by Uncle Chris that often ended any arguments the children might have when the senior Larabee used it on them. Their conditioning to obey that sharp tone was no less when Mike said it and he usually did not use it without very good reason. Even Kyle knew better than to argue with it.
"I don't want anyone falling okay?" He responded as he looked at Jim with a little smile
That disarmed the young boy considerably and he nodded obediently. "Okay Mike." He glanced at Elena Rose. "But I want someone else. She wants to be an only child." He pointed a finger at his sister in accusation.
"You'll be an only child if you don't start walking." Elena Rose declared with a huff, unimpressed by Jimmy's allegation. Brothers! "Get moving!"
"You let me fall and I'm telling momma." Jimmy said defiantly, staring at his sister with a determined expression on his chubby features.
"You can't tell anyone anything if you split your head open...." Elena Rose started to say. "Elena!" Mike declared rolling his eyes in exasperation at the two siblings. This was hardly the time for such bickering and despite his ambivalence towards his sister, Mike could see that Jimmy was just a little scared. He had good reason to be as far as Mike was concerned, that was not an easy trail before them. "You are not helping things." He looked sternly at Elena Rose.
"Alright," she groaned rolling her eyes. "I won't let you fall Jimmy." She assured her brother. "I won't have any one to torture otherwise." She then smiled sweetly at Mike and said sarcastically. "Is that better?"
Mike shook his head and decided he was not even going to bother responding, choosing instead to turn his attention to the other person with a considerably younger sibling. He did not need to tell Adam because the young writer was stepping behind his little sister already, who was trying to anticipate Mike's request by following what Jimmy was doing with Elena.
"Same thing Nettie," Mike remarked even though it was rather redundant since Annette was already moving into position in front of Adam so her brother could guard her progress up the ridge. "You stay in front of Adam so he can catch you if you fall okay?" Mike said gently.
"Okay Mike," she nodded in her small voice and brought an involuntary smile to his face when he saw her beaming at him.
"Good," he winked in her direction and drew a giggle from the little girl before he turned to Kyle. "Come on Kyle." He motioned his younger brother forward, tugging the brim of his hat over Kyle's face when the boy reached him.
"Quit it Mike." Kyle grumbled as he adjusted his hat back into position again.
Mike laughed and then looked at the others. "Sam will lead the way, me, Elena and Adam will go next with Kyle, Annette and Jimmy. Peter, let Penny go first and Tommy, you're a better climber so you stay up at the end." He instructed. A chorus of voices soon returned in agreement with his orders before Mike glanced at Sam.
Once they were all in position and Mike was certain that they could make it up the ridge with a minimum of mishap, he gestured for Sam to start moving. "Alright," he said with a grin. "Let's go hunting for gold!"
It did not take them long to find what they were looking for. Despite appearing rather daunting from the ground, thanks to the map and Sam's navigation, the troop of children made it up the side of the ridge with far more ease than first assumed. Mike was pleased that their younger companions had traversed the terrain without incident. However, he had to admit to keeping a close eye on Kyle as they were making their way up the gravel covered side of the formation and assumed that despite her ambivalence, Elena Rose would be doing the same for Jimmy like Adam would surely have done for Annette.
Eventually, they made up the uneven path and reached the mouth of what appeared to be a cave. It was difficult to tell at first because the entrance was covered up by shrubbery that had somehow managed to thrive in this particular spot. Sam, who feared nothing, Mike sometimes felt, immediately entered despite his warnings to be careful and emerged a short time later announcing that was an entire cavern hidden behind this disarmingly narrow slot in the earth that did seem large enough for a man to pass through without turning sideways. However, the passage seemed tailor made for them and even Mike who was the tallest of them would have little trouble breaching.
"Its pretty dark in there," Kyle remarked to no one in particular but his comment brought to light an important point.
Even as his younger sibling made that response, Mike could see the fear in the faces of the some of his friends and knew that while he had overcome his fear of the dark a few years ago, some of their party had not. Turning to Tommy, who was naked unless he had some of his supplies with him, Mike was confident the young chemist had the solution to their present predicament.
"Tommy, you got any matches on you?" He asked looking at the boy who was always prepared for all occasion by the things he carried with him all the time. Mike remembered his father saying that the trait was genetic, that Nathan Jackson too always seemed prepared for the worst. Even though Tommy had come prepared for a day outdoors, his supplies were no less crucial for their adventure ahead. Like his father, he always carried plenty of drinking water; a bottle of medicine because someone always fell down and got hurt or scratched whenever they did anything together and of course matches. It was just like how Elena Rose always brought extra food because her mother Inez seemed to think she was still feeding a restaurant full of people.
"Yeah I got some." Tommy nodded, reaching into the leather pouch he carried with him all the time. It was one that his father had made for it and Tommy was never without it. Mike always liked the look of it because Tommy's mom Rain, had decorated the leather with intricate designs native to the Seminole village from which he hailed and they had all visited at one point in their lives or another.
"There's a branch over there that's about to fall off," Peter caught on immediately to what Mike was about to do and shifted off the path enough to be able to reach the particular branch that was in danger of snapping of at any time. He broke it off from the healthier part of the shrub and examined it closely before he stared at his sister.
"Give me one of your spare linens Penny." He asked.
"Why?" Penelope looked at him as if he had asked her to donate a pint of blood. To Penny, who had been taught by her father in particular that one could never have enough handkerchiefs and such in particular with the company he kept, felt that departing with any of hers was almost a big of sacrifice as the former.
"Because we need something to burn." Peter rolled his eyes impatiently. "And you're the only of us who it to spare."
"Burn?" Penny declared in dismay, not liking the idea of any kind of apparel belonging to her ending up that way.
"We need to be able to see in there Penny," he cried out in exasperation. "You got a whole bunch of others!" He pointed to the spare he could see tucked in her dress.
Spares or not, Penny was still reluctant to hand the item over without much ruminating until Sam exclaimed with the same amount of frustration in her voice as her brother was presently displaying. "For crying out loud, will you just give it to him before one of us takes it anyway
"You wouldn't," she met Sam's gaze, unable to believe that her best friend in the world would resort to such intimidation.
"No I wouldn't," Sam had to confess but she was safe in making that statement since Elena Rose was taking a step forward and the daughter of Inez and Buck Wilmington had even less patience than Sam and Peter put together.
"But I would," Elena Rose retorted. "Now give it up. If I can agree to go on this crazy trip then you can give up one lousy handkerchief."
Penny let out an unhappy groan and handed the said piece of fabric to her brother. "I hope you're happy." She gave him a dark look.
"Not half as happy as I am." Mike growled. "Jeez, you girls make things so complicated." He complained.
"Us complicated?" Elena Rose glared at him, her hands on her hips. "I'm not the one who couldn't wait a week for school to close and came up with the stupid idea to make a stink bomb! Talk about complicating things!"
"Will you two cut it out!" Sam exploded. "You sound like my parents."
If anything had the power to silence them, it was being compared to their elders. Elena Rose and Mike stared at each other uncertainly for a minute before Mike shook the notion that was running around his head and turned to Peter.
"Is that thing ready?" He asked the young inventor.
Peter who had basically ignored the bickering, mostly focussed on the torch he was attempting to make, looked at his handiwork proudly before he handed it to Mike. "As it will ever be."
Mike took the torch and turned to Tommy who had the matches when he took note of the serious expression on Tommy's face as he examined what Peter had just built. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know whether matches will do it." Tommy replied honestly. "It may need something else with a little kick."
"Its not gun powder is it?" Penny sniggered and drew a sharp glare from everyone involved in that fiasco.
"No it's not gunpowder," he retorted. Thinking for a moment, Tommy reached into his satchel once again and produced the bottle he usually carried for cuts and bruises. For some reason, his father made him carry it whenever he went out with his friends. The few times that Tommy had inquired why this was necessary, Nathan merely shrugged and replied. "With that group, you can never be too sure."
Somehow, Tommy did not think Nathan was talking about his friends.
"This has alcohol in it." Tommy explained as he uncorked the bottle and a whiff of something strong that made them all wrinkle their nose at its pungency, filled the air.
"You mean liquor?" Adam asked.
"Yes and no," Tommy answered. "Its supposed to be the stuff that makes liquor but its not all there is to it. My dad uses it to wash his hands sometimes when he has to operate, he says it kills germs."
"He's right," Sam nodded in agreement. "My mom uses it too."
"I don't understand," Annette asked meekly. "If it's for making people better, why do we need it to start a fire?"
"It's like oil," Tommy quickly explained to the little girl, "if we put some on the rag, it will make it hot enough to keep the cloth burning."
"Sounds like a plan." Mike replied handing the unlit torch to Tommy, confident that it ought to be Tommy who handled the thing since he had the least trouble with fire and seemed most comfortable with it.
The other children watched in fascination as Mike and Tommy performed this little task and after a moment, the torch was lit and they were prepared to advance into the darkness of the cavern.
"I'll go first," Mike said once they reached the mouth of it, unprepared to let Sam go in first. As capable as she was, he had been taught by his father that there were some things that was for a man to do, no matter what. "Tommy hand me the torch."
Tommy complied, feeling a little uneasy about venturing into the darkness himself. Although most of the children had been initially excited by the prospect of going treasure hunting, as they prepared to enter the maw of this dark cavern, the reality of the situation caught up with them swiftly. While none of them wanted to turn back, they could not deny that they were just a little wary of venturing into the unknown, not to mention what they were embarking upon was not an endeavor that would have been completely sanctioned by their parents. Had they even known about it, that is.
"Be careful," Elena Rose found herself saying as she saw Mike slipping through that narrow crack of rock that lead into the narrowing apex of the ridge. It was not a tone of voice she used with him normally and the passionate feeling of concern made Mike turn around and flash her a little smile of pleasure.
"I'll be okay." He said confidently before disappearing through the opening. "Besides, it just a cave. How dangerous could it be?"
As it turned out, it was not so much as dangerous as it was icky. Or at least that was how the girls had described it the minute they had entered the rock walls of the cave and found themselves surrounded by that bane of little girls everywhere that had the power to terrify only the female of the species.
Bugs.
And lots of them.
Approximately a full minute after Mike had breached the cavern walls and beckoned the others to follow, the adventure they had embarked upon appeared in the danger of coming to an end before it even had a chance to begin. Mike supposed he ought to have expected a few setbacks when they had begin this journey but he would have preferred them to emerge at least until they had gone some of the way, not poised to begin. However, as he faced the present obstacle before him, the young man had not have the insight or the understanding of the opposite sex to deal with it adequately and deal with it he had to if he ever wanted to find what was at the end of this odyssey.
"Come on," he implored the three girls who were pressed up against the wall nearest to the exit of the cave, not prepared to take a step further after his torch had illuminated the rest of the cavern and showed them what they were in for. To his surprise, even Sam seemed reluctant to traverse the terrain before her while little Annette was firmly attached to Adam, her arms wrapped around her neck after her brother had been forced to pick her up. "Its not that bad."
"Not that bad!" Elena Rose exclaimed, her eyes filled with terror at the sight of the squirmy, crawling things that literally covered the slimy floor before them. Even now, she was fighting the urge to run out of the cave screaming. "You could slap a collar on some of these things and called them Rover!"
Well she did have a point there, he had to admit. The collection of spiders, roaches, centipedes and other six legged life did seem rather prolific and despite his efforts to remedy the situation by stepping on them, apparently there was something about the sound of insects being crushed underfoot that could make women squeal like nobody's business.
"Elena Rose, would you please come?" Mike asked again. "I don't think it's like this all the way."
"It isn't!" Tommy declared returning from the shadows with the torch. "It just goes a little ways and then it stops. Really!"
"That doesn't change the fact that we have to get from here to there." Penny said defiantly, looking at the floor in front of her. It moved like pool of dark ebony, shiny carapaces gleaming underneath the light of the flame. They crawled along the walls, moving faster and oblivious to the presence of the humans, having little or no mind to sense the death of its brethren, knowing only to escape the fate that befallen them.
"Sam," Peter appealed to the tracker's daughter who seemed to waver a bit in her resolve to remain where she was with the continued insistence by her friends that there was nothing to fear. "You're not afraid of anything. I can't believe bugs would get to you. I mean, you took Penny to see that coyote and her babies and weren't you the one of the first to ride a horse on your own? I mean you can do anything Sam. You're not going to be afraid of a bunch of bugs are you?"
"Oh hell." Sam swore with distaste, aware that Peter had pushed all the right buttons to get her away from that wall. "I'm coming." She whined.
"I'll help you," Peter said bravely, reaching his hand out towards her as she started to come forward.
Sam closed her eyes and took it without hesitation, wincing in disgust each time her foot created a wet squelch against the floor. If not for the fact that it would have been completely undignified, she would have let out a horrified squeal each time it happened.
"Get her out of here quickly," Mike ordered, wishing Peter to take Sam out away from the bugs before her resolve wavered and she ran screaming back towards that wall again. Adam and the others did the same as Mike tried to think of how he could use the same argument to draw Penny and Elena Rose into performing the same trick. He thought that Penny might be the easier of the two to convince because the young girl was already staring after best friend with indecision on her face and same at her lack of courage to do the same as Sam.
"Just don't look down Penny," Peter beseeched his sister, once he had hurried back out to join Mike after he had left Sam on the other side of the cave that was fortunately devoid of arthropods. With him was the torch and he quickly handed it to Mike.
"Tommy says we can use this to chase the bugs away." He replied.
"Good idea," Mike said gratefully and immediately began waving the torch close to the ground and sending all the insects scurrying in all directions, mostly up the walls to avoid the perilous fire. "See, it's completely safe."
"Penny," Peter tried again, more adept at reaching his sister than anyone else. "Don't be such a baby, just because you were born two seconds after I was."
"I was not!" Penny declared. "I'm older than you Peter! Mom said so!" She replied quite incensed that he was attempting to usurp her position as the older Standish child.
"Well you're acting like a little girl. Do you want me to carry you like Adam has to carry to little Nettie?" He teased.
"Hey," Mike hissed under his breath at the other Standish twin. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"
"Oh it will work," Peter said with a devious grin that was totally Ezra Standish through and through. "She may know how to play the cards but I'm the one who knows how to bluff."
"Neat." Mike returned with a grin. "Got any tips on how I can get Elena Rose over here?"
"Why don't you do what your dad always does?" Peter asked, since observing his father had proved so expedient. Mike had to know tons of stuff from watching Chris Larabee.
"Because she's too heavy to sling over my shoulder." Mike retorted without needing to think twice.
Peter did not choose to ask Mike what he meant by that since the expression on his leader's face appeared quite serious. Instead, he concentrated his efforts in getting his sister to follow him to the other side of the cavern. "Are you coming or not little sister?" He asked, with more than a hint of derision in his voice.
"I am not your little sister!" Penny growled before bracing herself to step away from the wall. Groaning in disgust the moment she felt the soft soles of her shoes making contact with the living carpet of insects on the ground, she winced with each sound of crushing that echoed through the cave. Fortunately, Mike's ministrations with the torch earlier had send more of the insects scurrying and there were not as many as there were earlier. Just as he had been supportive to Sam earlier, Peter grabbed his sister's wrist and pulled her the rest of the way, ensuring that they crossed the space that was required in a skerrick of time it would have taken had she been forced to do it herself.
"Elena Rose," Mike turned to her now that there were alone. "Come with me."
"Mike...." she looked around herself, watching all those squirmy things and knew that she was not brave enough to do what the others had done. "I can't."
"It won't be the same without you." He said with a tone that was not at all like Mike Larabee, in fact it did not even sound like it came from an eleven year old. She gazed at him for a moment and realized that she had never seen him appear more like Chris then he did at this instant.
"I'm scared." She confessed, daring to admit it now that the others were on the other side of the cave and could not see her vulnerability. Elena Rose did not like to show the soft interior to her personality that Mike had always known was there. From the earliest memory of her, Mike had thought that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and with an insight he knew not how he possessed in his youth, Mike knew that she would be his last thought when he died.
"I'll never let anything hurt you Elena." Mike said earnestly and knew it was not just their present situation he was talking about but rather the life he knew he would share with her. 'Please, take my hand. I don't want to go if you're not with us Elena."
Those intense eyes staring at her and the hand that awaited her to only reach across the darkness and take it suddenly mesmerized Elena. Suddenly, Elena realized that if she took his hand, if she gave into that voice that called to her at this moment, things between them would never be the same again. Despite her protests to her father earlier, Mike Larabee was her best friend. He had been since they had been children. More than any other in the group, they had grown up side by side. Their mothers had been best friends and their fathers had weathered storms Elena was certain she would never really understand, not even if she lived to be a hundred.
As she stared into eyes that were sometimes blue sometimes green but always dancing with flecks of gold, she knew that there was no question really of what she ought to do. Swallowing the lump in her throat because suddenly, not even the bugs around her seemed as dangerous as that outstretched hand. Yet, knowing the danger, she reached for it and felt his warmth enveloping her fingers before Mike pulled her gently to him.
She ended up in his arms, his arm around her waist as he caught her and for a moment, she felt her heart quicken in her chest, not understanding why and yet not at all afraid by the lack of knowledge. Something had changed between them and though she would need a few more years to understand what it was exactly, Elena felt slave to this feeling that told her that somehow she no longer belonged entirely to herself, that there would always be apart of her that was his.
"I'll get you through this." He said softly, affected by her closeness.
"I know you will." She answered just as quietly, their eyes locked unable to move from each other.
He smiled and it was a real smile, Elena found herself thinking. A Larabee smile, so rare to be seen on the son and even more scarce on the father. "Hang on to me." He instructed, taking command of the situation only because he felt just as flustered as she and felt the need to do something to circumvent the confusion he felt at present. Like Elena Rose, he felt the same shift in their relationship, as if the childhood part of it had dropped away, shedded like a skin they had outgrown.
She held on to him as they crossed the mouth of the cave, the torch he was still holding in his hands lighting the way as they ran across the live surface of the floor, Elena repulsed when she felt her shoes crush insects underfoot. "Oh this is so yucky." She complained.
"Just don't think about it," he instructed and they continued their steady pace until they reached the others at another narrow opening through the wall that led into a secondary chamber of the cave. Very soon they were with the others once again.
"Took you two long enough," Tommy remarked upon seeing them. "What were you doing out there?"
Elena Rose and Chris looked at each other and smiled enigmatically.
"Nothing." Mike turned to his companions and said gleefully. "Let's keep going, we got a lot of ground to cover."