Chapter 10

 

The glow of the lantern warmed the clearing more than the night before. Tori sat on a patch of leaves with the lantern nestled in her lap. Leaving that night, undetected by her parents, had been easy, especially now that she and her grandmother had a tried and true plan.

Tori told Jared about her parents’ aversion to her wandering outside late at night. She’d expected him to praise her sacrifice or at least look grateful. But he frowned instead.

“They care for you.” Jared spoke into the stethoscope’s chest piece that Tori had pressed against the glass. His forehead creased.

“What’s wrong?”

“I wonder if my parents worried for me the way yours fear for you.”

Tori blinked, her lips suddenly dry. “You didn’t know them?”

“They died when I was only three. My sister, Moretta, began working as a seamstress at the age of nine to support us.”

He lost his parents when he was Kimmy’s age. Tori’s cheeks sagged. “I’m sorry. I’ll bet you and your sister were close, seeing as she helped take care of you.”

Jared scratched his head. The motion was both concerning and adorable. “We weren’t close. She hates me.”

“What? Why?”

“Moretta never shared a kind word with me. I was a burden to her. After long days of work, she had to come home to take care of me, to cook and to clean the hovel our parents left us. I was too small to help. When she turned twelve, she began courting. But no one ever proposed. She blamed me.”

Tori bit back tears. Jared’s life had sounded awful, hard. She couldn’t imagine it. “Why didn’t anyone adopt you? Couldn’t Social Services help find another family member to take care of you or put you in foster care?”

Jared stared, confused. “I’m not certain Havenbrim provided such options.”

“Where is Havenbrim?” While waiting for an answer, Tori took another look at Jared’s appearance. He looked human. His ears weren’t pointed like an elf’s; nothing looked out of place except for the fact that his body seemed to be made of light rather than flesh and bone. Yet, somehow, he looked solid, lifelike, and whole.

“It’s a village in the country of Llum.”

Okay, maybe he is some kind of fairy—a light fairy, maybe? “Do others in Llum glow like you?”

Jared shook his head. His hand touched the glass, fingers spreading as he flattened his palm. “We are like you.”

“Human,” Tori whispered.

“Yes.”

Her heart thudded. “Are you from an earlier time?” she said, wrinkling her nose at his plain button-up shirt and pants that faded in and out as she spoke.

Jared shrugged. “I don’t think so. Where am I now?”

“In a lantern—well, obviously in a lantern.” Her cheeks flushed. “We’re on my grandmother’s property in Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s a gothed-up plantation, the perfect place to spend Halloween.”

Jared tilted his head toward her, pressing his forehead to the glass. At first, Tori thought maybe he hadn’t understood what she’d meant by gothed-up. But then he smiled. “It’s Halloween?”

“Almost.” Her heart fluttered. He recognizes Halloween as a normal holiday. Maybe he’s not so foreign after all. “It’s not tomorrow night, but the night after. Our costumes are ready, but—” She frowned, trailing her finger along the glass. “I’d rather come back here and figure out how to get you out of the lantern.”

“I see.” Jared reached out his hand to touch the tip of Tori’s finger where it met the glass. “You have plans to dress in costumes—you and...?”

“Kimmy, my little brother.” She winced. “He’s three years old.”

Jared smiled. “He’d be disappointed if you didn’t go with him. I will miss you, Tori, but I can wait for you.”

“I’ll visit you afterward. I promise.”

“I’d like that. You can tell me all about it. Halloween was Machin’s favorite holiday. All the lanterns in his workshop glowed brighter that night. Sometimes one or two of them would burn out, never to light again.”

Tori’s hazel eyes narrowed. “There’s something strange going on at that shop. The lantern you bent light into...was that one that had burned out?”

“I’d never seen it before. Once a lantern burned out, Machin refused to light it again. He said it was a used casing, a closed door that would no longer open.”

“That sounds wasteful. What did he do with the lanterns that burned out?”

A strange look passed over Jared’s face, something Tori wasn’t able to read. “Once the lights went out, they were finished and could be broken. Machin crushed the glass into a powder.”

“So, you’re telling me these lanterns that couldn’t be opened before they were lit all of a sudden became breakable?”

“Yes, after their light was gone.”

Tori shuddered, but it wasn’t from the cold. The warmth and the light that flowed from the lantern was stronger that night than it had ever been. “Do you know whether this happened to anyone else before you—someone who disappeared after bending light into one of Machin’s lanterns?”

Jared frowned. “Machin was a well-known scientist in more than the field of mechanics. Young men and women from all over the world wanted to train with him—the most talented and the brightest. But his methods of choosing an apprentice were strange. From what I’d heard, he chose his apprentices based on specific criteria and trained them one at a time. Most were broken and in need like me—from families who’d been torn apart.” He absently rubbed a spot on his leg, above his knee. “And with injuries that made them feel less than whole.”

“So you don’t think he’s done something wrong. Isn’t he the reason for all these missing people? What if he killed them? Has anyone come back to say that they were happy and safe?”

“No, but his apprentices were desperate for change and hope.”

“I don’t like it. There’s something sinister going on, and none of it’s helping me figure out how to get you out of here.” Tori lightly tapped the lamp. “Are you at least comfortable in there?”

Jared shrugged. “I’m not hungry or thirsty. I feel no need to sleep or...” His cheeks tinged. “I have no need to use lavatory facilities. All I feel are thoughts and emotion. I can sense sight and sound; but it’s as if my body is somewhere else.”

“Are you...happy?”

“I don’t know, Tori. It’s better than living with Moretta. And as much as I enjoyed working for Machin, I feel less awkward and clumsy. My missing leg doesn’t shame or pain me. But it’s not a life. I’m comfortable, yet I’m trapped with no idea how to get out of here.” He pressed a hand to the glass. “But with you, I’m happy.”

 

Tori walked back to her grandmother’s house with her thoughts dazed and swirling with emotion. The lantern’s warmth lingered on her skin, fighting off the night’s chill.

After saying goodnight to Jared, she’d left feeling fortunate and embarrassed. She’d wanted to tell him about her friends back at home and more about her family. But his situation derailed her. Who cared that she played racquetball in the winter and tennis in the summer, that she loved hiking and candy, and that her mother was usually okay with Tori’s sugar intake as long as she didn’t overdo it and stayed active? All those things seemed meaningless now. Jared wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of those things with her, not in his present state.

As she felt around inside the nursing bag for the key to the side door, her fingers brushed against a notebook. Oh, shoot! I completely forgot! She pulled the notebook out of the bag, vowing to scribble down everything Jared had told her during her visit—not just for her grandmother, but for herself. For the next morning, to prove it hadn’t been a dream.