The Color of Fear (31 page)

Caitlin’s heart skipped. “Jack?”

“Jack is from our world. You know, Jack Spriggins … and the beanstalk?”

She turned to Jack. He was wiping off his copper-colored suntan.

Makeup?

Jack was unnaturally pale. His eyes were rimmed in shadowy darkness.

“You’re from here?” she asked, her eyebrows arced like bows.

“Born and bred.”

Her fingers grazed her lips as a gleam of awareness dawned in her eyes.

“Those were
your
beans on my window ledge. It was
you
inside my room.”

He nodded. “I came to find you, after you moved to London. I couldn’t stay in my world during sunrise—or I’d become a Blood-Eyed. I went back and forth each night, using the different portals.”

“How did you get up that hole? And climb the ten stories to my apartment?”

“I’m pretty good at scaling great heights,” he said with a smile. “Using beans and soil, of course.”

Caitlin, near speechlessness, wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. All those sightings in all those graveyards around the world … it had been Jack every time, traveling through the wormholes.

An ache rose inside of her. She feared the answer to her next question. “Will you be at school tomorrow?”

He bowed his head. When he shook it, her heart broke.

“Caitlin, you need to get back home—fast,” Jack warned as he glanced back up and nodded at the eastern sky.

Caitlin couldn’t even begin to imagine how much she’d miss him.

Evelyn Fletcher took her daughter by the hand.

“Caitlin, honey. I cannot come back either.”

Caitlin’s face reddened. “No!” she shouted. “The scepter is destroyed. The light and courage and the Green Spectrum! Everything’s been restored! You can come home, Mom!”

Amethyst wrapped a silky wing around her. “Destroying the scepter eradicated the affliction of the Blood-Eyed. For that we are all grateful to you, young lady. But there was great damage done to our atmosphere by the scepter. Some of the Green Spectrum reaches us again, but much is still filtered out. Thus, a lot of work must still be done. Until we figure this all out, we will remain in this condition. Your mother as well. She’s been here, under our sun, for many years. Your sun will no longer heal her.”

Caitlin crossed her arms. “So that’s it?” she said to her mom. “I lose you again?”

Evelyn Fletcher knelt before her daughter. She placed her hands firmly upon her shoulders. She held her close and whispered, “You will never lose me, Caity-kins. We will work to fix what’s broken. We will.”

Jack urgently strode over to Caitlin and took her hand. “You gotta go. The portal is almost closed.”

She pulled her hand back. “I’m staying!” Caitlin commanded, as though she were a queen.

Evelyn Fletcher stood back up. “Caitlin Rose Fletcher, you march up that beanstalk
this
instant
. And you help your sister and your father, and you play my records and go to school dances and live your life to the absolute fullest, young lady! This will all work out in the end.”

Caitlin couldn’t believe how beautiful her mother was.

Fifteen hundred zombies broke out in applause and soft song. Caitlin choked up. Their sweet-sounding hymn filled her with inexpressible emotion.

Suddenly, from out of the crowd came someone that brightened Caitlin’s heart. She was blonde, with zombie-pale skin, and she was dressed in a tattered blue-and-pink gown.

Cinderella!

She approached Caitlin and smiled warmly.

“You reshaped an entire universe, Caitlin. Saved countless lives.”

“But everyone is still zombified.”

Rapunzel lifted Caitlin’s chin with her finger. “Only on the outside.”

“You mean, like you?”

Rapunzel’s face was angelic, with a gleam in her eye that bespoke deep wisdom. She winked. “Like us.”

Snow White tapped Caitlin on the shoulder. “Because of you, we have an abundance of beauty and compassion in our hearts.”

“And we managed to remain abundantly beautiful on the exterior as well,” Cindy added, batting her eyelashes.

Amethyst rolled his eyes. “Evidently we’re not short on self-admiration, either.”

Jack stepped forward and dragged Caitlin by the arm over to the beanstalk.

Her mother came to her one more time, holding Caitlin’s face gently and firmly in her delicate hands. She planted a kiss on her forehead. “Make me proud, my darling daughter.”

And with that, Evelyn Fletcher stood back and waved.

Rapunzel came forth and kissed Caitlin on the cheek. “I have to say goodbye.” Caitlin wrapped her arms around Rapunzel in a warm embrace. Her face pressed against Rapunzel’s golden hair. It smelled of milky coconut and was soft as feathers. Caitlin wouldn’t let her go. She firmed up her grip with her fingers.

“You’re the older sister I always dreamed I had. Please look after my mom,” she whispered in Rapunzel’s ear.

Rapunzel broke away, crying. She offered a final fond wave and disappeared into a lush, green forest nearby.

“How’s the gluten-free pizza in your neck of the woods?” Cinderella asked as she kissed Caitlin’s cheeks one at a time.

Caitlin chuckled. “Order one sometime. I’ll deliver it with extra hot peppers.”

Cindy smiled warmly and winked. “Be sure to give Natalie a hug from
moi
.” She waved farewell as she danced toward the crowd of zombies. She snuggled up to one particular young man who was most attractive and handsome even through his zombification. He was attired in tattered royal raiment. Cinderella interlocked her arm with his.

Prince Charming nodded gratefully at Caitlin.

Snow White came forward with open arms.

“I am honored to know you, Caitlin.”

Sleeping Beauty had fallen asleep. Caitlin gave her a good-night kiss on her cheek and affectionately stroked her hair.

Caitlin’s bottom lip quivered when she turned to Jack, who was now tugging on her arm to hurry her along.

“I thought you had to stay here?”

“I said I
lived
here. Doesn’t mean I don’t travel to other places. I climb beanstalks and battle giants, remember? And your world is a giant mess. Besides, you literally saved me from living dead forever after. And you saved my world. The least I can do is escort you back to your world. If you’ll permit me.”

Caitlin felt a ray of sun brighten her heart. “Such a gentleman.”

Jack winked. “You good to go?”

“Good to go.”

She gave one last look around. Lord Amethyst Bartholomew flitted over and wrapped his wings around her.

She whispered, “Did this really happen?”

Amethyst’s antennae stiffened.

“Did it happen?” He waved an antenna and said, “Don’t answer, young lady, it was a rhetorical question. But now that we’re on the subject, what do
you
think?”

“Well, you really meant to say do I
know
it really happened, not do I
think
it happened.” Caitlin raised a finger and continued. “But don’t answer, Lord Amethyst Bartholomew—that was a statement, not a question!” They both smiled.

Jack started climbing. Caitlin followed. She turned back and blew a kiss to her mom. She held her gaze a moment longer, smiled, and then continued to climb.

Amethyst’s voice echoed up the light shaft as she and Jack traveled at the speed of sound, courtesy of the rich, black soil of Zeno’s Forest. “It’s not the people looking at you on the dance floor that frightened you. It’s that you cared what they thought. Repel the red and let go. Then, my dear, you’ll always dance unbothered and free … like a clay-covered, short-haired zombie.”

She woke as if
she had been sleeping with a high fever. Her chest was sweaty, her bones lethargic, and her legs heavy as iron. The fragrant scent of moist grass and fresh dirt filled her nostrils as she blinked her eyes open. Cool night air brushed against her cheeks.

Caitlin twisted her torso, extended her limbs, and yawned a prodigious yawn. She savored the pleasurable sensation of stretching her body and muscles into wakefulness.

She was lying next to the headstone of Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll. A sea of stars winked at her through the dark, purple sky above. The moon hung like a narrow lantern, spilling slivers of light.

There was no rainfall, but the grass felt damp. She had hardened mud on her arm. She sat up. The feverish feeling suddenly passed. Now she felt oddly refreshed.

Caitlin looked around. Right. Left. Mount Cemetery was empty except for a scattering of trees and staggered rows of graves that stretched into darkness.

She hopped to her feet and brushed away blades of grass, autumn leaves, and soil.

Caitlin spotted her digital tablet lying by the foot of Dodgson’s grave. She picked it up and touched the screen. How long had she slept?

The date and time glowed. She gasped.

Ten minutes?

How could that be possible? That intensely vivid dream felt like it had lasted for days. And it had seemed so achingly real. Caitlin could not begin to imagine how her subconscious fueled such a profoundly weird experience. Part of her felt as though she had just climbed out of a high-efficiency, top-load washing machine. All the soot, soil, and splotches had been wrung out of her.

The sorrow, too.

She slipped her phone into her pocket. And then Caitlin Fletcher began a long-overdue walk through Mount Cemetery.

Somehow she knew which grassy hill to climb, which shadowy trees to pass, where to turn right and where to turn left.

She stopped in front of a particular plot of headstones.

She released a big breath. The pressure had all but dissipated from her neck and shoulders.

Caitlin had finally come face-to-face with the grave. She was ready to confront the
incident
. The truth. She stared at it solemnly. The date inscribed on it was the same as Caitlin’s tenth birthday. And now it stood before her under a thick blanket of stars.

Evelyn Fletcher

Beloved Wife, Loving Mother

Who will forever live in our hearts

My mom—the Queen of Hearts.

Caitlin smiled on the outside and wept inwardly. The psyche had a funny way of repairing broken hearts.

Caitlin began rocking side to side as she gazed at the marker.

She had been too grief-stricken to say good-bye last year when her mom was finally declared dead after having been missing for three years. Caitlin had refused to accept her mom’s disappearance. And then she buried the painful truth about her passing when it surfaced last year and the grave marker went up across from her grandpa’s.

Caitlin never attended the funeral in Guildford. But she was here tonight to say her good-byes.

“I love you, Mom. And one day I promise to read stories to my children, just like you did for me. I’ll teach them the dances you taught me, and introduce them to your favorite music … ” Caitlin sniffled as she whispered. “They’ll learn all about their lovely grandma.”

In the distance behind her, Caitlin heard the crumpling of leaves and the steady snap of breaking twigs.

She waited for the footsteps to find her.

As Caitlin continued to gaze at the marker, a wry voice called out from behind the headstone of her grandfather’s grave, directly behind her.

“Hey, Caity-pie!” Natalie shouted. “Told ya you weren’t adventurous.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Caitlin said.

“Did I fall asleep?” Natalie asked. “How long were we here? I had the most oddball dreams. There was a kaleidoscope of imagery that symbolically suggested a subconscious—”

“Will you shut up!”

Caitlin turned to face Natalie. Her sister’s eyes were bloodshot. Her face slightly pale.

Suddenly, Girl Wonder’s mouth fell open.

“Caitlin, what on earth happened to you?” Natalie was staring at her all bug-eyed.

“What do you mean?”

Natalie pointed. “Your hair. It’s gone. You cut it all off! And you’re wearing zombie makeup!”

Huh?!

Caitlin reached for her long locks. They weren’t there!

Strangely, Caitlin Fletcher did not feel compelled to panic. Nor did she feel frightened or shocked or confused. Rather, a heartening smile touched her lips, followed by a whimsical giggle.

This actually made perfectly ridiculous sense to her.

“Don’t you remember the ghouls?” Caitlin asked Natalie. “Snow White, Rapunzel … You
must
remember Cinderella.”

It wasn’t often that Natalie wore a dumbfounded look on her face.

Caitlin was delighted the pink was gone from Natalie’s eyes. Perhaps the sunlight reflecting off the moon had already begun to heal her. The pain in Caitlin’s leg had already dissolved, she noticed.

Caitlin’s thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of her mobile.

“Caitlin, where
are
you?”

Harold Fletcher’s words came through quickly when she answered her phone. His voice was higher pitched than normal.

“Your sister’s not here and I—”

“It’s okay, Dad; she’s with me.”

“Natalie’s with you at the dance?”

“I’m not at the dance—yet.”

“Where are you?”