The Wayward Gifted - Broken Point (33 page)

The two girls walked downstairs
together. Sam turned to Dotsie, “I’m glad you’re going. I just want to know
you’re safe. If you change your mind, I’ll understand.”

“I won’t change my mind.”

“Thanks for helping.”

Snow continued to fall at a steady pace
as Sam walked towards the road with Ed inside of her backpack.

Dotsie waved to Sam from the lobby, “Be
careful going home.”

Anita joined Dotsie waving good-bye, “Did
you have a nice afternoon? How nice that you have a new friend.”

“Yes.”

Anita reached for Dotsie’s hand, “Let’s
go inside. It’s time for your medication.”

NINETEEN

Sam woke early on Saturday morning
. She heard Olivia and Ida in the
living room. Olivia was crying, “Mother, where can he be? It’s been almost
three days—no notes, no calls, nothing. This is a bad sign. Why do these
things have to happen?”

“Keep your faith,” Ida said. “I believe
Steuart will be home soon.”

“Do you know something I don’t know?
How did Samantha Leigh end up at your house? I am so confused by all of this.
Has she mentioned anything you haven’t told me?”

Ida shook her head, “I don’t have any
answers. I do believe that Steuart’s okay and I believe that he’ll be home soon.
I can’t believe anything else.”

 
“I want to know that my child is safe. I
want my baby to come home. Where is he Mother? I’ve repeatedly told those two
to be responsible. They never listen to me. I’m so tired. I can’t sleep. I
can’t think. I’m fried.”

“Let’s keep thinking positive thoughts.
We’re all worried.”

“
We
are not
me
. I am Steuart’s Mother. I
have no doubt you are concerned, however you are not me. Who is worrying about
me? Does anyone ever worry about how I feel? My son is missing. Does anyone
listen to me?”

“I worry about you Mother.” Sam walked
in the room towards Olivia.

Olivia turned away from her daughter,
“Please, don’t even talk to me unless you can tell me something that will help
bring my son home. I can’t bear to look at you unless you can tell me where I
can find Steuart James.”

“Olivia!” Ida looked at her daughter
with fiery eyes, “Don’t you dare speak to Sam in that tone. She has done
nothing wrong.”

Olivia sat silently with
Right, Good, and Appropriate
in her lap.
She stared blankly at Sam.

Sam turned to leave the room. “Come
over here, sweetheart.” Ida called out to Sam. “I need a hug.” She looked at Olivia,
“Where did this ugliness come from? Shame on you.”

Olivia shrugged, “Mother, at this
moment I don’t care what you say or what you think.”

“Samantha is every bit as worried about
Steuart as I am and every bit as worried about him as you are. You are not
alone in this and neither are you the only one suffering. This is an extremely
stressful time, for all of us.”

“That’s an understatement.” Olivia
said.

“A very stressful time for all of us.” Ida
continued, “We need to remain calm and show our love for one another.”

“I’m sorry, Grandmother,” Sam gave Ida
another hug and looked at her mother.

Olivia looked at Sam, “You need to tell
us what happened to your brother. Where is he? Who were you with? Where did you
leave your brother?”

Sam felt tears on her face. She shook
her head and looked at her grandmother, “I don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“Olivia,” Ida snapped, “stop that this
instant.”

“Grandmother, it’s okay. I understand.”

“No, it is not okay. Your mother’s
worried, but that’s no excuse. Your mother loves you very much. I do too.”

Sam walked into the kitchen and poured
a glass of milk. Back in the living room she approached Olivia, “If there’s
nothing I can do here, I’d like permission to visit with my friend Dotsie. She
lives in the towers. Is that okay with you?”

“Go ahead—you might as well go
play. There’s nothing you can do here unless you can tell me where to find your
little brother.”

* * *

Sam
had tears in her eyes as she put on her coat. Ed was tucked into her backpack
with Trista who remained motionless. Sam walked towards Ida and exchanged a
hug. She walked towards her mother who motioned her to leave. “I don’t need a
hug now. It’s okay. We can hug another time.”

Sam left the house crying. Snow was
heavy on the path. She decided to walk.

Ed reached up and patted Sam on the
back, “Your mother doesn’t understand. You’re doing all you can to bring
Steuart home. We have a big day ahead of us so don’t allow her to get you too
upset.”

“I know.”

“It’s not an excuse, Sam, but sometimes
people say things they shouldn’t say. Your mother’s upset, but I’m certain, in
her own way, she loves you very much.”

“Thank you Ed.”

“Everything will be okay. We’ll find
Steuart today and bring him home.”

“I hope so.”

There was a heavy fog as the
temperature was rising. The walk to the tree house was wet, slushy and
slippery. Ice on the bridge and along the path made the walk difficult. Sam
slipped twice. “We’re the only ones out here. I hope Dotsie and Toriah are able
to meet us. What if Anita won’t let her leave the condo?”

“We’ll understand and proceed on our
own. Frankly, I was surprised that you were allowed to leave the house this
morning. This weather is terrible.”

“We need Toriah.”

“With or without Toriah we’ll work
things out. I promise you. We’ll find Steuart and bring him home.”

Sam climbed the ladder.

“Hey,” Dotsie said, “I’m happy to see
you. We worried that you might not be allowed out of the house.”

Sam let out a sigh of relief, “We
thought the same thing about you.”

“I wouldn’t have missed this
opportunity. What do we do now?”

“It’s simple. We named the tree house.
We say the name out loud and we’re transported.”

“That’s it? That’s all?”

“I told you. It’s almost too
simple—we say it three times. I don’t know if it matters, but that’s what
we did.”

“Coming back we have to repeat the
anagram.”

“Three times in unison?”

“That’s how we did it.”

Dotsie looked at Toriah who nodded,
“It’s that simple and you wouldn’t tell me?”

“You know we’re not allowed to tell you
much. You have to learn by yourself.”

Sam removed the handmade Sam-Steuart
sign from her backpack, “On the count of three we need to say it together. Is
everyone ready?”

“Yes.”

“Wow,” Dotsie smiled. “I’ve been
wanting to do this for over a year.”

“Are you serious?”

“She is,” Toriah nodded. “Miss Caples
has been ready and trying to work this out for a long while.”

“Let’s do this,” Dotsie said.

“Ready?” Sam asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay, one, two, three.”

“Sam-Steuart. Sam-Steuart.
Sam-Steuart.” The wind picked up. A chill was felt in the air. Nothing seemed
to change. Disappointed, Dotsie looked at Sam and Toriah, “Why didn’t it work?
Let’s try again.”

Sam and Toriah looked at Dotsie.

Dotsie looked around the tree house. “Where’s
Ed?”

“Down here,” Ed called out.

Sam looked down and saw a 5-foot 9-inch
Ed. “He’s down there,” she pointed out the door. “What are you doing down
there?”

“Not sure.”

“Whoops,” Toriah looked at Sam, “I
forgot something. Sam, may I borrow your sign?”

Toriah held the sign. He turned it over
and quietly repeated the words three times. “Sure-as-Matt. Sure-as-Matt.
Sure-as-Matt.” He disappeared and then quickly reappeared, this time at a
height of 6-feet and 4-inches.

Dotsie looked up, “TT, you are very
tall. My goodness.”

“Sometimes Miss Caples, that is true.
How are you feeling?”

“I’m good. I feel wonderful.”

“You’ll let me know if that changes?”

“Don’t worry. I feel great. I can’t
believe that we’re finally here.”

Toriah, Dotsie and Sam descended to the
bottom of the tree house where Ed waited. Looking up at Toriah, he said, “No
matter how many times I do this I never come back any taller than this.”

“I must be the bigger man,” Toriah
chuckled.

Ed looked at his friend and reached to
poke his ample stomach, “Even if we were the same height, you’d still be the
bigger man.” Toriah swatted Ed’s hand away with a grumble.

Sam looked at Ed and removed Trista
from her backpack. Trista didn’t move. “I’d hoped traveling might bring her
back.”

Ed put his arm on Sam’s shoulder, “I
don’t know what more you can do at the moment.”

* * *

As
in Maybell, a house stood at the front of the property. Oddly, this house
looked more like Point Taken than Ceil’s. Ed walked to the back door and then
motioned for the group to join him. “No one’s here,” he whispered.

“Looks like no one has been here in a
while,” Sam said.

After peeking into the windows, Ed
walked around to the side of the house where he found an unlocked door. He went
inside and quickly returned, “I was correct. The place is deserted, but it’s
not empty.”

The group walked inside.

“Sam, you and Ed should settle in,”
Toriah suggested. “I think I should go into town and make a few contacts.” He
cleared his throat, thrust out his chest, and straightened his shoulders.

“Good idea,” Ed nodded. “Meanwhile, we
need to come up with a plan.”

“Agreed—I have a few ideas. Just
wait until I return.” Toriah looked at Dotsie and extended his hand, “Miss
Caples, will you accompany me?”

“Yes,” Dotsie nodded, “I want to go.”
She turned to Ed and Sam, “Will the two of you be okay if I go with TT?”

“Of course, we’ll be fine. Miss DuBoise
and I are going to see what we can figure out from this end.”

Toriah raised an eyebrow. He opened the
door and motioned to Dotsie. He looked at Ed and Sam, “Be careful. Please stay
where you are. We all want to find young Steuart, but without having a firm
plan, I believe it’s best if you wait. We do not need to end up searching for
the two of you.”

“Don’t worry, Sam and I are not going
anywhere.” Ed turned to Sam, “Care to do a little in-house exploration?”

* * *

Sam
was surprised by how similar this house was to Point Taken. “I’m going
upstairs. I want to see if there’s a room like mine.”

“I’ll join you,” Ed followed behind.

Sam found a room that was quite a bit
like hers, complete with an antique bed and a dollhouse. There was even a
little writing desk in one corner that was almost identical to the one she had
at Ida’s. There were other similarities; a room like Steuart’s and another one
similar to Ida’s bedroom. The room that would be in the same spot as Olivia’s
was also in this house; however, in this house, the room was set up for sewing,
complete with equipment, tools and supplies. The sleeping porch was there too,
complete with twin beds, much like Point Taken, however, the big difference was
that this porch had glass windows and looked out over an icy river. Sam found a
notecard on the porch. The name
Laurel
Ivy Hood
was hand printed across the front—the backside of the card
was blank.

“I’ve seen this before,” she told Ed.

“What is it? Who’s Laurel Ivy Hood? Do
you know this person? Is she a friend of yours?”

“No,” Sam shook her head. “I have no
idea who she is, but I’ve seen the card and I know that she visited Atchison
Point. She’s been to my grandmother’s house.”

“How do you know? Did you meet her?”

“No, I told you, I don’t know who she
is. She’s been there, but I didn’t even see her—Steuart did. He had this
card. He showed it to me the morning we moved to Maybell. He said Mother had a
visitor the night before. Apparently, according to Steuart, Mother and the
woman argued. He said that Mother made the woman leave.”

“That’s interesting. I wonder why the
card’s here.”

“Steuart said that Mother was angry,
but as she was leaving the house the woman dropped this card in the foyer.
Mother didn’t see it. Steuart picked it up because he was hoping it held a
clue.”