The Hathaway

Re-Union

When we arrived at the ruins a few minutes later, our boners had subsided, and the others were sitting within the circle of trees inside the foundation. All five children were present as well as Andi, Sylvia, and Helmut. There were two spaces that had obviously been left open for Ben and I. The arrangement was such that the seating alternated between an adult and a child. We took our places and waited for Andi to explain.

She didn’t. Instead, she lit a small candle that was positioned between her and Sabina but inside the circle. She then invited each of the children to find a small stone from the foundation and bring it to the candle. They did this and she instructed them to create a circle around the candle with the stones. When this was done, she reached behind her and picked up a pitcher and poured water into that circle, being careful not to extinguish the candle.

Finally, she had us all join hands and asked us to repeat after her, “Beloved sisters, we call you. Beloved brothers, we call you” She did not so much speak these word, but intoned them, It was a bit like the songs I had heard in my visions, but simpler. We all did our best to match her chant, and she continued, “We call you in love. We call you in peace.” We repeated. She repeated the first part and gestured that we should all sing together.

We repeated both parts of the chant over and over again for a minute or two before we noticed something odd. There was a depression in the center of the ruins and it had been completely dry when we arrived. But as we continued chanting it grew damp and a small pool began to form. It was only an inch or two deep, but it seemed to have a life of its own. It vibrated with tiny ripples as if something were disturbing the water from below.

Andi signaled that we should stop the chant, and when we did we could hear the faint echo of voices, singing a song that seemed to grow out of Andi’s chant. I saw Ben stiffen, and he looked at Andi. “They’re here, all of them.”

“That’s the idea,” she smiled.

Sabina spoke up. “Thank you for coming.” She spoke to the pool of water as it sang to us.

“And thank you for putting out the fire the other night,” Andi added.

“We’ve come to ask a favor,” Sabina continued. “We’re going in search of the shadow who set the fire. Can you help us?”

The singing grew slightly louder. Words began to form, vague at first, but soon we could make out a chorus, “The way of love, the way of light.” It repeated then faded into unintelligible words.

Andi looked confused and asked, “Yes, love and light, but what does that mean?”

The music rose again, and once again words became understandable. “As light overcomes darkness, so love overcomes fear.” Once again the singing faded to a faint echo.

“That’s all nice poetry,” Sabina huffed, clearly frustrated by the obscure responses. “But can you come with us and protect us from the shadow guy?”

This time as the music swelled, the ground shook, and the five stones were dislodged and rolled down the shallow embankment, coming to rest in the small central pool. We watched as the vibrations grew stronger and the rocks seemed to absorb the water. When the depression was dry the singing faded to silence and the candle extinguished itself.

“Thank you,” Sabina said gleefully, breaking the silence that followed this odd spectacle. She jumped up and trotted to the small pile of rocks, picking up the one that she had chosen, and looked at it with a smile. “Come on,” she encouraged the other kids, “Find your rock.”

They did as they were asked, and once they were all holding their stones, Kevin looked at her and remarked, “This is stupid. Why are holding onto rocks?”

She took no offence, but explained, “They have offered these to us as a kind of talisman, It’s a way they can watch over us in case the shadow guy tries to hurt one of us. They want us each to carry it with us all the time.” She pocketed hers and the others shrugged and followed suit.

“What about the adults?” Sylvia asked, sounding a little like she felt left out.

“None of you need it,” she answered. “They just wanted to make sure the children were protected, they think grown ups should be able to protect themselves.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Sylvia pushed.

“All you have to do is think of someone you love.” Sabina smiled, “That’s what the song meant.” Turning to Andi she said, “I think we’re ready to go now.”

Sylvia and Helmut led the rest of the kids back to the house, while Sabina walked straight into the forest. “This way!” she commanded as she motioned for us to follow. I tried to stop her, after all, it had been a ten minute drive on narrow curvy roads to reach Evelyn’s house, but Sabina was adamant.

Suddenly Ben came up beside me and said, “I can feel him, straight ahead.”

Andi was doing her best to keep up with us and from behind I heard her confirm, “Me too!”

I stopped and cast my mind around the area, and got a faint image of shadow directly in front of Sabina. She was right. “Sabina, slow down! Andi can’t keep up.” I called, but she was on a mission.

After only a few minutes I saw her standing on the edge of a clearing waiting for us. It took me a moment to recognize the small cluster of houses from this vantage point. We were on the edge of Evelyn’s side yard, and I could just see the edge of Union House peeking out on the other side. We paused for a moment so Andi could catch her breath, and I suggested Ben take Sabina and let Evelyn know we were here and I would stay with Andi while her breathing calmed.

After a moment we joined the others on Evelyn’s porch and Ben finished the introductions. “My dears, I’m so glad you could come,” Evelyn gushed. “I’m so happy to be able to share this hidden little gem.” She ushered us to the adjacent building and unlocked the door, leading the way into a small, but elegant front hall. “This is the newer part of the house. It was built in the eighteen fifties, just before the civil War.” She showed us two moderately sized front rooms, and evidence of more recent renovations was evident, but it didn’t really obscure the original design.

I asked, “When did your family acquire this building?”

She turned and gave me a smile. “When it was built. My family has owned this property since the late seventeen hundreds. We were some of the earliest settlers in town.” She was clearly proud of her heritage. She continued the tour, taking us up to the second floor to see the newfangled Victorian modernizations that had been installed in the eighteen seventies and eighties, and then she pointed out the surface mounted wires and antique electrical fixtures that dated from the nineteen twenties. Everything was in working order still, which also made her proud, and I had to admit, keeping such antiquated equipment running was no mean feat.

She saved the best for last, however, taking us back downstairs so we could see the kitchen and storage room. “These,” she informed us, “Are the oldest part of the house, dating from at least 1790, maybe earlier.” I could see it at once. The two rooms were separated by a wall now, but part of the wall was taken up with a massive fireplace and chimney. On one side of the brickwork I could see the shadow of an old stairwell that no longer existed. There was linoleum on the floor that must have dated from the nineteen thirties, but beneath that were eighteen inch wide hand-sawed boards being held sown with square-cut nails. A small set of metal cabinets flanked a matching sink, and the stove and refrigerator seemed to be about the same vintage. There were various freestanding storage cabinets in both rooms, and a large sturdy farm table sat in the middle of the kitchen, but nothing seemed to be any more recent than the nineteen fifties. Even the cookware seemed to have a good bit of age to it, but everything was clean and functional.

“This is amazing,” I said, “Such a wonderful collection of historic styles and technologies.”

“What’s up there?” Sabina asked, her eyes following the shadow of the stairs on the chimney. She pointed to a small framed opening in the ceiling that was covered from the inside with a panel.

Evelyn put her hand on Sabina’s shoulder. “Nothing, my dear, just some dusty old junk that nobody wants anymore.”

“Have you ever been up there?” she pressed, “Have you seen it for yourself.”

Evelyn frowned, “Only once,” she confided, “And I was smaller than you.”

“What did it look like?”

“The ceiling is very low, it’s under the eves. I think it was originally a bedroom but once the addition was built they didn’t need it anymore, so it just became storage. By the time I was a little girl the stairs were gone and the only way to get in was with a ladder, just like today. But one day my big brother dared me to go up and see what was there. I wasn’t afraid. I had climbed plenty of ladders, so up I went. But when I got up there he took the ladder down and told me that an evil ghost lived up there, and he liked to gobble up little girls for breakfast. Can you imagine? You’d never do a thing like that to one of your sisters, would you?”

“I’m the youngest at Hathaway house, except for Ash, he’s the same age as me. But no, I wouldn’t scare him like that, he has enough to be afraid of.”

“Good girl. Well, I was pretty brave for a girl, but I did get scared. I was so scared I thought I saw something move in the corner, something that looked like a man but it was only a shadow. After I cried for a while my brother finally put the ladder back up and when I came down I lit into him like never before. He didn’t care, though, because I was just a little girl and he was almost a man. Still, I never forgave him for scaring me like that, and I never trusted him again.”

“Did you ever go back up there?”Sabina asked, sounding convincing in her innocence.

“No, but my sister Mattie did.” Evelyn mused. “I don’t know why. There was nothing up there but old trunks full of who knows what, and broken or outdated tools. That’s how she died, you know.” She turned to the adults and continued, “She fell coming down the ladder one day. I heard the crash and came running.” She paused, reliving the painful memory. “It’s funny, though. You’d expect if someone fell off a ladder they’d land on their back, right? You know…” she made a movement as if she were falling backwards. “But she was face down and a box of heavy machine parts had fallen on top of her. The crate hit her with such force that it broke and the gears and levers were scattered all around her.”

“That must have been awful for you,” Andi consoled.

I looked to Ben for his reaction to this story, but he was standing beside Sabina, looking at the hatch in the ceiling with as fierce and intensity as hers. “Thank you so much for showing us around,” I said to Evelyn, signaling to the others that I thought it was time to go. “We came through the woods and we need to get back before it gets dark. I had no idea you lived so close.”

“I suppose it is close if you cut through the woods,” she blinked. “I hadn’t really thought about it. The Hathaway it was called? Yes, we used to play out there on the edge of the property when I was small. I never went near the building, I thought it was haunted, everyone did really, so we just stayed away. But there was a clump of trees that I particularly liked, we called it the singing forest. I always imagined I could hear the trees singing to one another. It was magical” She rolled her eyes, “The things children imagine.” she turned to Sabina and asked, “Do you ever imagine things like that?”

She looked at me before answering, “No ma’am. Everything I hear is real.”