Hallow House - Part Two (33 page)

Though Naomi was alone in the cave, she knew Katrina was there, too, in her head. "Don't let them frighten you," he sister said.

"I can't escape!"

"You can, for there are two of us, not one."

Then Vera stood before Naomi, smiling sadly, the head of the pink marble owl in her hand. "I am not afraid" she said, "but you must leave."

Somehow transported from the cave, Naomi stood on the lawn in front of Hallow House. "Watch," the St. Francis statue whispered from the pine grove. The time has come."

Once again Naomi saw the towers nod to one another…

She roused to a swaying world, her bed jammed against Katrina's.

"Katrina!" she screamed, sitting up and reaching for a lamp that wasn't there.

"Naomi? What's the matter? What's happening?"

"The house--destruction--" Naomi babbled, staggering as she slid from the bed and tried to stand on the shifting floor.

"An earthquake!" Katrina cried. "We have to get to Mama and Frances."

With Katrina's hand clasped in hers, Naomi fumbled her way to the door, which turned out to be agape. The lights were out in the hall. The timbers of the house groaned as they stumbled toward their mother's room.

Grace called their names from downstairs.

"We're all right," Naomi called back.

"Get down the stairs, get outside, quick as you can," Grace shouted.

The wavy motion had stopped but the hall seemed to be askew, tipped sideways, making it hard to walk along.

"We have to find Mama," Katrina repeated, pulling ahead of Naomi.

Moments later she cried, "I can't open her door.

"Mama?" Naomi called. "Are you in there?"

"I'm all right, but my door's jammed shut," Vera called back.

"I'll get Mervin--" A rumbling like a freight train headed right for them cut off the rest of her words. She was thrown off her feet, Katrina landing on top of her.

"Get outside!" Vera shouted. "Now!

"No," Katrina cried, "not without you."

"Naomi!" Vera voice carried over the grinding sound accompanying the tremors. "Take Katrina with you and go outside. You can't help me. Go!"

Naomi struggled to her feet, grabbed Katrina's hand and pulled her up, then dragged her sobbing sister down the stairs. As they passed through the foyer, she heard a tremendous crash behind them and realized the chandelier had fallen.

She shepherded Katrina out the front door and down the steps. Hands grasped her, took Katrina away. Someone else hurried her away from the house over the heaving ground to the stables where she heard the frightened whinnies of the horses.

Dazed and frightened, Naomi leaned against Grace, who held her as they watched the house totter and crumple, the towers falling first, then the roof giving way, the house collapsing on itself.

As quickly as it had begun, the temblor ceased. Dust rose in the air, clearly visible in the three-quarter moon that shone serenely down on the chaos of Hallow House.

"Mama," Katrina whimpered.

"Where--is Frances here?" Naomi asked Grace.

"Mervin found her on the steps and carried her to the car. She's unconscious, but she's breathing. Thank the Lord you girls made it to safety."

"My mother--her door--we couldn't...." Words failed Naomi.

"Maybe she's...." Grace's voice trailed away as they stared at the ruins of Hallow House.

"I got to go into town for help," Mervin said. "Got to get Miss Frances to a doctor."

After he'd gone, Naomi walked away from Grace into the pine grove, trailed by Katrina. As well as destroying the house, the quake seemed to have destroyed her thoughts and her will.

"Mama's dead." Katrina's voice. though calm, was flat, emotionless.

Naomi heard her, but the words meant nothing. Most of the trees were still standing, only a few uprooted. She wound among them until she came to the grotto. The quake had forced the stones apart and the statue of St. Francis was smashed to rubble. She stood there staring at it until Grace spoke from behind her.

"Best you two come with me out of these trees. We got to stay together in some place open in case there's more to come."

"Death and destruction," Naomi muttered as Grace led them from the grove.

"Dear Lord, that's the truth," Grace said.

"Mama," Katrina whimpered. She swayed and would have fallen if Grace hadn't caught her.

It's my fault, Naomi thought numbly. I saw the house destroyed twice before the earthquake began. Once in the room with the black door and again in my dream. I should have known, should have warned everyone, told my mother.... Back on the lawn near the stables, she sat on the grass with her sister's head in her lap. Grace had gone to collect the two maids, who'd gotten out first and had taken refuge in the still-standing garage.

"You were in Tabitha's room," Katrina said.

Naomi nodded.

"I thought I was there, too, trying to stop you. I saw you , with the pendant around your neck, light the red candle and burn something. Then you said the words about the wolves at the gate. After that the evil came and you called for help and I tried to tell you I was there. Only I wasn't really, I was in bed."

"I heard you. In my head. Oh, Katrina, I saw all this happen while I was in that room. I stood on the lawn and saw the destruction of Hallow House."

"You foresaw."

Naomi nodded. "Only I didn't know that's what it was."

"Even if you had, you couldn't have changed anything. What you foresee has to happen."

Naomi shivered.

Katrina sat up and put an arm around her. They huddled together, watching Grace approach with the two maids.

"We're going to look around a bit," Grace said. "In case--"

"Our mother's dead," Katrina said. "She can't be helped."

"We got to be sure," Grace told her.

As the twins watched the three women move slowly toward the ruins, Naomi said, "The Gregory Curse. It's been fulfilled, this is the end of Hallow House. Death and destruction."

"Is that why you went into the room behind the black door? To try to stop what happened?"

Naomi covered her face with her hands. The reason she'd lit the red candle seemed so trivial now. Against the death of her mother, even Ronal wasn't important. But what frightened her was that she'd intoned those fatal words inside that terrible room. Was she responsible for what happened? For killing her mother?

Mama was gone along with Hallow House and everything in it. Even Tabitha's room no longer existed. There was nothing left.

Hearing Grace's voice, Naomi dropped her hands.

"No trace of Miss Vera," she said, "but I found something you might want to keep." Moonlight gleamed on the silver pendant as Grace held it out to her.

Chapter 43

The twins went to stay with Samara and Kevin in Porterville. Their house had suffered very little damage. Attending Vera's funeral was almost beyond Naomi's tolerance. Ronal drove back as soon as he heard and managed to arrive in time. Katrina clung to him and cried and he held her, stroking her hair and looking over her shoulder at Naomi.

She turned away. As far as she was concerned, it was over. Now Ronal was only a man, no one who meant anything to her.

After the funeral Naomi could neither cry nor sleep. She allowed Samara to lead her, along with Katrina, here and there, buying clothes and other needed articles for St. Bianca. There was no place else to go.

When at last she and Katrina were behind the gates at St. Bianca, it was a relief to be in a place full of strangers.

"I'm never going back to the valley," she told Katrina.

"Kevin said another house could be built on the grounds. The groves and orchards are still there."

"I know. But I'd never live in the house. Would you?"

"I hadn't thought about it." Katrina glanced uncertainly at Naomi. "Um, you see, when Ronal and I get married we'll probably live in San Francisco since he's going into the business."

"When do you plan to be married?" Naomi found she could ask the question without the slightest resentment.

"He thinks I should finish my year here before the wedding. Then, if I wanted to, I could attend one of the universities in or near San Francisco. Do you mind very much? About us getting married, I mean."

Naomi shook her head. It was the truth. She didn't care that Ronal had chosen Katrina. What bothered her was that she'd lose her sister. She'd be on her own.

"I'll miss you, though," she said.

"Are you going on to Stanford next year?" Katrina asked.

"I don't know. Right now nothing seems very important."

In October, Frances came to see them. Katrina had a class, so Naomi sat in their room alone with Frances.

"Sister Elmira tells me you spend too much time in here," Frances said. "Why? The weather's lovely, fall is the nicest time of the year on the peninsula."

"I don't have much energy," Naomi told her.

"What kind of an answer is that?" Frances said bluntly. "How dare you sit here feeling sorry for yourself? Your mother would be horrified. Vera had no patience with self- pity."

"She's dead."

"She isn't--not to me. Do you know what I've done, just because I once heard Vera say that's what she'd do if she had fewer responsibilities?"

"I thought you were taking care of your sister," Naomi said.

"I've settled her in with her daughter and I've signed up for the UN Hospital Ship."

Naomi stared. Why, Frances must be over sixty.

Frances gave her a wry smile. "You may think I'm a useless old woman, but they don't. They're delighted to get a nurse--old or not. So what's your excuse for moping about with a long face? What do you plan to do with your life? What good will you do for the world?"

A memory flashed in front of Naomi, of kneeling beside her father on the floor of the library and not even knowing enough to break the ampoule of amyl nitrate. What good was she to anyone?

She took a deep breath and the scent of decaying leaves drifted in through the open window. Dying leaves. Underneath that smell was the faint tang of evergreen from the pine next to the dormitory.

The aromatic odor reminded her of the pines in the valley. Most had survived the quake and would probably survive her. A sense of the briefness of human life filled her with a sudden urge to escape.

"I want to travel," she told Frances.

"Fine. And what good will you do while you travel?"

"What do you mean?"

"Will the places you visit be any better off for you having been there?" Frances asked.

"I suppose not. I hadn't thought about traveling in that way."

"You could think again--no law against it. You could find some way to contribute."

"How?"

"Learn to do something useful. You and Katrina have more money than you'll ever need. But giving away money isn't giving yourself. Learn to help people or you'll be destroyed as surely as Hallow House."

"I'm not sure I understand."

Frances gave her a level look. "Katrina's going to marry Ronal Stevens and make him happy. She'll be happy in the doing. But you--you're the restless one, always searching for your own Holy Grail. I've known you since you were born and even then you demanded more than Katrina. Those who ask for more must be prepared to give more. Are you?"

Mother always gave. Naomi recalled helping her at the blood bank when the Red Cross drew blood in Porterville. Then there were the times her mother had driven all over the county to see the workers' children got their immunizations. People were better off because her mother had lived.

"I blame myself for Mama dying," she told Frances. "I shouldn't have left her in that room."

"You'd only have perished along with her," Frances said. "Think how she'd have felt if her last thought had been that you and Katrina would die with her. As it was, Vera faced death calmly, I'm sure. She knew she'd be going to join your father."

"But I'm not like my mother," Naomi insisted. "I'm not a good person."

"No one is entirely a good person, but you can chose to be whatever you want."

Naomi remembered saying similar words to Ronal. Now she questioned them.

"Come out and walk along the shore with me," Frances said. "I may not get another chance to see you before I leave on the ship."