Chapter 7

Evelyn

 

Before Evelyn’s eyes opened, she thought she’d had the strangest dream. Slowly, her eyelids lifted. A blue glow radiated from somewhere nearby, fading and tapering into darkness as it drifted farther away.

The silence is breathtaking, she thought. Then, she realized she hadn’t been breathing.

She inhaled, which produced the sensation of drawing in a breath. An airless breath.

Perhaps I’m still dreaming.

Evelyn raised her palms and lowered her gaze, searching for evidence of her last memory—of the blue light folding around her hands and body. Her lips drew back from her teeth.

The blue light was still there, but it wasn’t folded around her, exactly. She studied each finger, every surface of her hands and arms. Light emanated from her, as if she were made of light.

She spread out her arms, further inspecting her body. Wherever she moved, it glowed.

She explored, trailing blue light along with her, watching the glow dissipate when she took a step backward. Then another. She continued, until stopped by a wall.

She turned and pressed both hands to the wall. It was smooth, and cool, like glass. Finding it difficult to see through the wall and the darkness beyond it, she pulled away.

As she did this, a blue glow reflected from the wall. A shade fainter than when she’d looked at her own hands and body. The reflection was a face, one she’d know anywhere.

A round face, set with dark eyes, and framed with blonde hair.

Her face.

Though other colors she recognized were still there, all were tinted with blue, like someone had taken a photograph and adjusted the coloring.

How strange, she thought. She moved backward, until her entire body was in view. Her tall and slim form radiated, pulsing like the flame of a candle waving its light.

Another source of illumination shone from above. A dark circle eclipsed some of the light, but a haze of white seemed to reach down toward her. Light so brilliant, she couldn’t make out individual shapes. She couldn’t determine the source. It was as if the sun had dulled its rays into a cheerful white glow that pulsed in time with the flickering of her own flame.

None of it felt familiar, but all of it felt real. New. Something had happened after she’d touched the lantern at the Halloween festival. But she had no memories beyond being pulled inside.

Is that where I am now? Inside the faulty lantern at the lake? She frowned. That’s impossible.

That would mean she was all alone, left there after everyone had gone home. Joyce would have gone looking for her. Then Carla. Then, the police.

Evelyn pressed her nose to the glass, searching for light from the other lanterns that had turned blue along the pier. She listened for the crash of waves. But there was only silence. And the only other light came from somewhere above.

Yet, she was filled with a strange calm. Somehow, she knew she was protected, and safe.

The white glow from up above intermittently softened and brightened until her body relaxed, and her eyelids fell shut.

 

Bang. Stomp. ROAR. Screech. Swoosh. Bang, bang, bang!

Evelyn’s eyes snapped open and her hands fled to her ears. She cringed all over from the throbbing pains of sound. The darkness outside her bubble of blue glow had brightened.

She peered out the glass. There were windows—unnaturally large ones—and walls with shelves that could be used to land planes. She looked down. Through the lower half of the glass, there was wood. Each plank looked like it had been cut from a cross section of a tree. Tools that were somewhat familiar were there, too, only their proportions were massive. Objects that should have been held in the palm of her hand were larger than she was.

“Hello?” she called out.

Remembering the white light that had comforted her before she’d fallen asleep, she rested her head on one of the glass walls, and tilted her head back. Through the top of the globe, she found that there were more globes, so many of them in different shapes and accented with frames of varying colors. All except for one greeted her with a cheerful white light. A globe with a golden glow that hung from a corner, and was set slightly apart.

These lanterns are not like the ones at Lake Erie, she mused. So, where am I?

“Graham!” called out a female voice. “Your breakfast is getting cold.”

A series of thumps from the next room made Evelyn feel like she was bouncing inside the glass. A young man, the size of a giant, entered the room. He moved quickly, but not fast enough for Evelyn to miss how he was dressed. Or how handsomely he wore the old-fashioned tunic that draped to his knees like a dress.

Evelyn tapped her hands on the glass. “Hello!”

But he didn’t give her more than a passing glance before turning to his right and disappearing from sight. More of the rust-colored curls that had framed his face were gathered in a tail at the nape of his neck.

He must have been really hungry. It was like he didn’t hear me.

“Good morning, Graham,” the female said with a laugh. “I thought I heard your stomach grumbling.”

Yeah, me too, thought Evelyn, realizing how little pressing her hands to her ears did to relieve the sharp sting of sound.

Just then, a roaring thunder, louder than a pride of lions’ roars combined, lifted Evelyn off her feet. She fell back, her palms grazing the bottom of the globe. Her stomach and chest bent back, then straightened. She effortlessly floated upright, to the position where she’d started.

“How’d I do that?” she said, looking at her palms.

The female in the next room sighed. “It seems Machin won’t be joining us this morning,” she tutted.

“He’s already workin’ at the furnace,” the young man replied, his voice muffling in and out, through food Evelyn imagined hadn’t been swallowed. “I passed him startin’ a new fire.”

“Well, when you go back out there, and before you get too busy, do you mind handing him this biscuit?”

“Happy to.”

“Thank you, Graham. You are a blessing to me. Sometimes I wonder how long I can keep that man alive.”

Evelyn smiled at the easy way in which Graham laughed. Moments later, there was a scratching of wood sliding across wood. Then, footsteps.

“Graham!” yelled Evelyn as he came into view, a half-wrapped biscuit in hand. She wasn’t sure he’d heard her, but thought it worth trying to see if he’d respond to his name.

“Still shinin’ blue, are you?” he said, his attention turning her way.

He lowered his head and squinted, then rubbed a large brown eye.

She waved her arms.

Graham dropped the biscuit.

“Machin,” he croaked. “Machin! The blue light has sprouted arms overnight! And a head, and a body with clothes—”

“You can see me,” she said quietly, knowing he couldn’t hear her.

Two pairs of feet came knocking into the room. Evelyn felt the sensation of biting her lower lip.

An old man, a round and pleasant-looking woman, and Graham surrounded the globe. All were dressed like peasants from the past, except that the old man wore a pair of steampunk-style goggles. Their expressions were a mixture of surprise and concern.

A sick feeling spread throughout her middle. She sucked in an airless breath.

They all can see me. They’re looking at me like they’re wondering if I’m real.

This isn’t a dream.