WFOL 2023 SEASON 3 ROUND ROBIN 

Chapter 1

Mel

 

“Are we expecting anyone?” Jacob Wells, known to most as Father, adjusted the sleeves of his black suit and looked at the clock on the table. “Jessica said she would meet me up in the park… in two hours.”

Vincent glanced up at the pipes overhead and listened to the repeated message. “It sounds like Diana’s sister and niece have arrived. I believe Jamie is guiding them down as we speak.”

Father turned toward his son, his brow furrowed. “Why are they coming here? I thought Diana was finishing up a case at her loft.”

“She is, yes, but I invited them,” Vincent explained.

Father stared at him. “Why?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Ah, I see,” Father said with a soft smile.

“And Susan seemed like she needed some time away,” Vincent said.

It had been three years since Diana had shared the secret of the tunnels with her sister. Her niece, Alex, had seen Vincent. Since then, Susan and her daughter had become admirable Helpers in their own right, despite their own struggles. Through Diana, Vincent had learned of the death of Susan’s husband, Phil, roughly two years ago after a battle with cancer. Vincent’s invitation was in part to offer Susan some peace and quiet from the, as Diana would say, well-meaning but at times chaotic Bennett Clan. While the tunnel family was small, they respected privacy if someone desired it.

“Are you ready to go, Father?” Vincent asked.

“Yes, yes.” Father closed the suitcase and pulled it off the bed. “Will my grandson be seeing me off?”

Vincent shook his head. “Not this time. He’s off with the other children, I believe.”

“Ah well, then tell him I expect a great welcome when I return,” Father said as they strode from his chamber and began the climb upward toward the city.

“You’ll only be gone two days,” Vincent said. “Is Jessica showing more of her photographs?”

“Oh, I imagine she’ll show me some, but it’s not a public showing this year.”

“I see,” Vincent said with a smile of his own. Over the past five years, the patriarch of the tunnel community beneath the streets of NYC, made an annual weekend trip Above to see his old friend Jessica. Though the two had decided years ago that a romance between them wasn’t in the cards for them, Vincent was grateful Father had another strong friendship.

“Will you go to the theater, do you think?” Vincent asked.

“Oh, I doubt that. We barely have time together; why waste it going to see some show?”

“Ah. How long will Jessica be in town then? Should I send her an invitation?”

“I will ask,” Father said.                                                           

Vincent nodded. Even after six years, Jessica, Mary, and indeed the whole community were still eternally grateful to Diana for saving Father’s life from the revengeful ashman Gregory Coyle, who had buried Father alive. And it wouldn’t seem right not to invite Jessica when she was so rarely in town.

Father’s mind, it seemed, had already returned to current matters in the tunnels. “But now tell me, you’ll make sure Cullen and the others are keeping up their work,” Father said. “We need those…”

“Hi, Father, Vincent,” Jamie called. 

Vincent turned toward the two women and little girl approaching. Mother and daughter must have Christmas in mind, Vincent mused, with Susan wearing a green coat and her daughter a bright red. The red of the girl, Alex’s coat, was a sharp contrast to the nine-year-olds dark curls, pulled back into a neat braid.

His gaze moved to Susan. In the dim light, he might have mistaken the oldest Bennett sister for Diana. But where Diana was fair-skinned with soft features and her hair a wild mane of light auburn, Susan was the opposite. Her skin tanned from hours outside with her daughter rather than sitting in a high tower above the city streets. Her facial features were more angular, and her darker ginger hair had only soft waves to it.

Jamie moved to converse with Father on some matter while Susan and her daughter stood off to the side. While Susan’s attention was drawn to the tapping overhead, Alex simply stared at Vincent. Her brown eyes, however, weren’t filled with wonder and awe, as other children would, but instead, it was more a matter-of-fact gaze that reminded him very much of her Aunt Diana. His lionlike features were not out of some mystical fairytale to her but rather a puzzle.

“It is nice to see you both again,” Vincent said. “How are you doing, Alex?” 

“I’m good, and you?” Alex asked. Her tone, like her gaze, was simply matter-of-fact.

“I’m quite well, thank you. I’m so pleased you could come.” His eyes rose to meet Susan’s. “Both of you.”

“Thank you for the invitation,” Susan said with a soft smile.

“I thought Diana would like some of her family to be here.”

“Yes.” A mischievous smile came. “Though I am curious. How are you keeping this a surprise? My sister is known to sniff those things out a mile away.”

Vincent nodded. He knew quite how Diana’s skilled mind worked. It was one of the qualities he loved about her. “Yes, she is, but Diana is finishing up a case at the moment, and Joe Maxwell says he has things to keep her occupied until next Sunday.”

“And I have asked Diana to look through some old papers and records,” Father added.

Vincent glanced over at Father, confused. He never let anything regarding their home leave the tunnels. Was there something wrong, or was it merely spring cleaning?

Susan gave a low whistle. “Good luck with that plan. If Diana feels played and given mere busy work, I’ll tell you both to run now.”

“Oh, I have no doubts about that.” Father chuckled and held up the suitcase in Susan’s direction. “I’m already ahead of you. My friend Jessica and I are going to go see the gray whales* instead.” Father inwardly chuckled, relieved Jessica had decided to return to NYC instead of living on the opposite coast as she had once thought to do.

“Ha, I didn’t think those big whales could fit down here,” Cullen joked as he strolled in. Sawdust and slivers of wood clung to the carpenter’s gray shirt. Realizing he had interrupted, he quickly tried to brush off his hands. “I’m sorry… please forgive me. It’s Susan, right?”

Susan took his hand. “Yes. We met one Winter… your winter celebration.”

“Winterfest,” Cullen said. His long, calloused fingers ran through his graying hair. A nervous energy seemed to pulse through him. “Will you be staying long?”

“A week or so. Alex what is it?” Susan asked, turning to her daughter, who had tugged on her sleeve.

“Where’s Jacob, Samantha, Kipper, and the others?” Alex asked.

“They’re Above at the moment, but they should be back soon,” Father said. “And speaking of being Above, I don’t wish to be late.”

“Got a gray whale to catch?” Cullen asked.

“Cullen, we have children here,” Vincent reminded him.

Cullen’s grin fell into embarrassment, and he made a hasty retreat while Jamie beckoned Susan and Alex to join her.

Father glanced over at Vincent. “You’re certain you’ll be all right here for two days?”

Vincent nodded, his eyes following Cullen’s path. “Yes. We’ll be fine. Though I think Cullen may be locking himself in his workshop for the next week.”

“Well, don’t let him. We need those tables fixed,” Father said, turning to take the path up toward the Park.

OoOoO

“No, no, no, humph!”

Vincent turned, his son’s frustration calling him to investigate.

Why is he back here?

The other children had either gone Above for the day or were in classes, but the mystic bond that linked father and son led Vincent to the nursery chamber. An array of toys, books, and other objects lay scattered around the floor, and in the far corner, he saw his son kneeling beside one of the toy chests.

“What is the matter, Jacob?” Vincent asked, entering the chamber. “Why aren’t you with the other children?”

“I came back early.”

“You should have let someone know.” Vincent surveyed the room again. “Have you lost something?”

The six-year-old pouted, crossing his arms in frustration. “I can’t find anything good enough.” 

“Good enough for what?” Vincent asked, absentmindedly beginning to pick up the toys. The last thing Mary or any of the other caretakers needed or deserved was to come back to a mess. He remained conscious of his claws. He briefly wondered how many toys his hands had unintentionally ruined in his infancy and early youth.

“For oh…!” Jacob clamped his lips shut and looked down at the array of toys.

Vincent gave a soft smile. “You may speak freely, Jacob. Diana is Above today.”

“She’ll know,” Jacob said.

Vincent chuckled and settled on the floor opposite his son. While Diana’s deductions skills were legendary among the children, she was still a woman currently working up in her loft on the final paperwork of a case. Her focus would be more on dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s than her upcoming birthday next weekend. 

“Well, maybe you can draw her a special picture,” Vincent suggested.

Jacob shook his head. “She has enough from me, and you said Elizabeth was going to make a painting, not on the walls, but on… on paper?”

“On a canvas. It’s like the one of your mother and me,” Vincent explained. The image of Kristopher’s painting flashed through his mind. All the small details of his beloved Catherine’s warm personality and her beauty captured in a stunning work of art. He quickly blinked away his tears as he realized Kristopher had also given him the only picture of his lost love that he had. He had given the portrait over to Elizabeth, the artist of the tunnels, for safekeeping. While the crystal he had given Catherine as an anniversary gift and the rose she’d given him had remained locked away in a cabinet.

“Dad?” Jacob asked, resting his hand on his father’s knee.

Vincent gently tucked the memory and difficult thoughts away. The empathic look his son held had Vincent wondering for the thousandth time how their connection affected his son. Jacob knew the bare bones of the horrific and tragic nature of his birth. But Catherine’s loss was more Vincent’s pain than his. Jacob could only remember the love and support of those around him. Was it right that he also knew the grief his father went through?

Vincent smiled and patted his son’s hand lightly. “I’m fine, Jacob. I was just thinking about your mother. But Diana will always enjoy getting a picture or anything from you.”

“You got her a special present.” Jacob lowered his voice. “You said it would make us a family.”

Vincent smiled. “That isn’t her birthday gift. I haven’t decided when I will give that gift, but you are happy with that, right?”

Jacob nodded. “I love Diana, Dad.”

“I know you do. Now to your question, a person can receive similar gifts from more than one person. Mary likes to give out blankets, and so does Rebecca sometimes. Or Grandpa giving out books and so does…”

Vincent had to suppress another smile at the blank, annoyed stare his son gave. It was one of the many ways Jacob reminded him of his Catherine when she felt that she wasn’t being taken seriously. His heart ached at the memory, but time and the support of his family and friends had made Vincent come to cherish those similarities between mother and son rather than letting the sorrow overwhelm him.

“But where would she put my picture?” Jacob asked.

“She’ll find a special spot for it,” Vincent said. Though he admitted to himself, some of his son’s older works might find a new home in a folder, given the Jacob wallpaper that covered Diana’s guest chamber and half a wall of her loft.

“And if you’re worried, maybe Alex could give you some ideas if you want something special.”

Jacob’s pout lifted into a smile. “Alex is here?”

“Yes. She and her mother are getting settled in one of the guest chambers. You can go see them soon.”

Jacob jumped up and started for the entrance, but his father caught him, playfully pulling him back.

“I meant after you clean up this mess,” Vincent said between his son’s squeals of laughter.

OoOoO

Up in the self-made art gallery of the world Below, Elizabeth pursed her lips in thought. It had taken her days to decide on the image she wanted to capture on the canvas. The smooth walls she preferred had become a map of painted mosaics showing the history of the world Below. But few people came to visit her and see all her hard work. The one she painted on the white canvas would be seen by everyone. It was a depiction of Diana’s greatest moment from six years ago, bringing Vincent and his son back home. It was not the most original painting, Elizabeth admitted to herself, as the story of Diana was still being told all over the tunnels. But there was nothing wrong in adding another interpretation into the mix.

Vincent had been very clear he wanted next Sunday to be a surprise, but he needn’t have worried about Elizabeth. The painting was mostly finished and had been drying for the past few days while Elizabeth pondered.

Only I can’t seem to get the right shade for Diana’s hair, Elizabeth mused, looking down at her different tubes of red paint. Diana’s physical appearance was classic in artistic terms, but the right shade of red for her mane of red locks seemed impossible to capture.

“Maybe if I mix… no, that won’t work. What about… oh bah, that won’t do,” Elizabeth muttered. She paced the tunnel floor. The dust beneath her feet clung to the beige clothes she wore as she envisioned her work thus far.

The background was dark gray and black, with some clever shades of yellow to give the illusion of torchlight. Diana stood in the center beside Vincent as he cradled the infant Jacob wrapped in white cloth. Vincent stood staring out at the viewer as if daring others to come between him and the son he fought so hard to find. Diana was posed with a bow and arrow notched, though pointed at the ground. A suitable replacement rather than the gun she had used in real life to bring justice to Catherine Chandler’s murderer, Gabriel. Elizabeth had drawn on the mythology of Diana’s name.

It had taken some time, but Elizabeth was pleased with her creation.  In her normal work, she liked to keep her art as true to the events as possible, but the story of Diana and what she had done for Vincent, little Jacob, and the whole community had become its own kind of legend.

Entering her chamber, she froze. The sheet that covered her work had been thrown haphazardly to the side, revealing the portrait slashed right between the hero and heroine of the piece.

 

*Gray whales: Season 3, Episode 55, Legacies. 

 

Chapter 2

Cindy Rae

 

“Leg’s too short. It wobbles,” Mouse said, rocking the worktable back and forth for effect.

“I know that, Mouse. That’s why we brought it here,” Cullen said shortly, turning the offending table on its side. He reached for his hammer, intending to pull out the nails that held the too-short leg in.

“Can’t bring down the tables in the big hall. Too big,” Mouse replied, watching Cullen work.

Cullen didn’t answer. He wasn’t at his chore longer than a few seconds before he jerked his hand away, swearing.

“Ow! Damn it!” he exclaimed, examining his left hand. A huge splinter protruded from his thumb. “I can’t do anything right today! And that’s not the half of it!”

He pulled out the offending bit of old wood just as Mouse exclaimed in dismay. “Poor Cullen! Splinters hurt! Mouse knows!”

Cullen frowned. He knew he was bleeding all over his favorite hammer. “Look, just… just get me that rag over there, will you?” Cullen asked. Mouse did as he was bid.

Cullen quickly wrapped his thumb, and the bleeding stopped.

“Hurt bad?” Mouse asked.

It did, but Cullen was a grown man, and this was hardly the first time he’d pulled a splinter out of his hand. “Not that bad,” Cullen admitted after a few seconds. He’d been careless and was using the wrong tool for the job, anyway. The crowbar would have been better for this task. The wood was rotted on the bad leg. It would need to be replaced, not just repaired.

“Mouse, get me my crowbar. It’s next to the chisels.”

“Okay, fine.” Mouse walked over and returned with the tool Cullen had requested. Cullen set the tool to good use.

“So… what’s the other half?” Mouse asked as the bad wood creaked and broke free.

“What?” Cullen asked, tossing the termite-chewed wood aside.

“Cullen said, ‘Not the half of it.’ What’s the other half?” Mouse asked.

Cullen recalled his prior statement. He tossed the tool to the floor, where it made a satisfying clatter. He knew he could either answer the question honestly or just tell Mouse that it was an expression people used.

For whatever reason, he opted for the former.

“Diana’s sister is here. And her niece. I… I kind of like her.”

“Alex. It’s a boy’s name,” Mouse replied.

“Not Alex, you dolt. Susan. Susan is here. For maybe a week. I met her when they came down for Winterfest. That is to say, I remember meeting her. Probably better than she remembers meeting me,” Cullen confided. “Then… well, I said something stupid, so I had to leave the room, embarrassed.”

“At Winterfest?” Mouse asked, tugging out a rusty nail with a pair of pliers.

Cullen rolled his eyes heavenward, exasperation in the gesture. “No, not at Winterfest. In Father’s chamber. Today.”

“Oh. Father’s going to see Jessica.” Mouse rolled the conversation along. “Going up top. Wearing topsider clothes. Wants to see pictures.”

Cullen grabbed a set of pliers and decided to pitch in.

“Yeah. I hope he has better luck than I’m having.” Cullen sighed.

OoOoO

“Joe, you can’t be serious. I just put the final statements in my last case file! I know you said you had something you wanted me to look at, but this is… There must be four unsolved cases here!” Diana exclaimed, looking aghast at the work Joe had handed her… or was trying to.

He sorted through the files. “This one has a witness who remembered something, these two aren’t that old, and the last one has a candid photo of one of the suspects in the background.”

Diana’s sharp eyes snapped in his direction. In their line of work, a photograph was worth gold. “A picture? How in the world did you end up with that?” Diana seized the last file. Damn you, Joe. You always know how to reel me in.

“A good photographer was doing a street shoot of New York life. Name’s Jessica, something or other. She sent this over when she realized it might help.”

Diana stared down at the black and white glossy. There was a note clipped to it that noted the time and place it was taken. It was just a New York Street corner. But it was one where an attempted kidnapping had occurred roughly five minutes after the shot was taken.

“Does she still have the negative? Can this be blown up?” Diana asked. The faces in the background were somewhat blurry.

Joe sauntered casually away.

“Gee, I don’t know, Bennett. Why don’t you call and ask her?”

Diana shoved the file – just the one – into her bag.

“I’m going home. I’m eating dinner. And not something out of a can. I’m… I’m looking at some stuff I have at my place, and then maybe… maybe I’ll call,” Diana begrudged him.

“Suit yourself,” Joe replied, allowing his office door to close behind him.

Diana left the office and hailed the first cab she could wave down. Outside its window, the busy city whizzed past. It was full of people, and right now, it felt like all of them were bothering her.

Diana knew that she was exhausted, annoyed and wanted to go down to the tunnels just for the sheer peace they represented.

She knew she probably wouldn’t be able to do that today. There was too much on her plate. And there had been Joe, trying to pile more. She purposely left the new case file right where it was, inside her bag. Mostly because she knew if she opened it up and started delving into it, she’d ride the elevator up to her loft with her nose still in it, and she probably wouldn’t come up for air until after midnight. Whoever Jessica was, she’d have to wait for that call. Diana was feeling rebellious.

I’m going to relax tonight. I’m going to take a long bath. I’m going to make Susan’s recipe for mac and cheese. I’m going to hope Vincent comes to me since I can’t go to him, and I’m going to try and get Father’s papers figured out, one way or the other! Diana vowed silently.

The cab pulled up in front of her building. She paid the fare, turned toward the haven of her home, and then felt all her good intentions turn to nothing.

“Hey. I was starting to wonder how much longer I’d have to wait,” a familiar voice said. An equally familiar form – though a long absent one - stood near her door.

There go any hopes of seeing Vincent tonight, Diana thought.

“Mark?!” Diana asked. “What are you… what are you doing here?” she asked. She hadn’t seen him since she’d been working on Cathy Chandler’s case. That had been years ago. Though they hadn’t parted on bad terms, they’d still… parted.

“I came to see you,” he replied easily, holding out a box of pizza. It was from her favorite place. And judging by the smell, it had her favorite toppings on it.

“Happy Birthday. A week early, I know,” he said. “But I was in town, so I thought I’d see if you still celebrated with double cheese and anchovies,” Mark explained.

Diana’s expression looked dubious. “You flew in from Chicago to share a pizza?”

He hoisted the box a little higher and opened it a crack. It smelled delicious. “C’mon, Diana. Invite me up. I think you still have a jacket I left behind, anyway.” His smile was a winning one.

OoOoO

“Elizabeth… who could have done such a thing?” Vincent asked. The damaged painting was still torn down the middle, and Elizabeth was still clearly upset by it.

Ancient hands went to her equally ancient face. “I… I don’t know. I just… just can’t believe…” Elizabeth’s soft voice faltered.

Vincent studied the painting and the harm that had obviously come to it.

“It is a lovely gift, and thoughtful. Perhaps there was some… accident? The painting fell, or the canvas was… unsound?” Vincent asked. But even as he said it, he knew he was wrong. A fall would have produced a jagged hole. Rotted canvas might have been responsible, but again, so straight a cut was unlikely, even with that as a given.

“It wasn’t an accident. It was cut. Probably with one of these,” Elizabeth said, holding up one of her palette knives. “I went to get a different shade of red. I was trying to paint Diana’s hair. Oh, Vincent, I’m so sorry. It was meant as a gift!”

Vincent tried to console his friend and placed a comforting arm around her slender shoulders.

“It will take some work, but perhaps it can be mended,” Vincent replied, hope in his voice. The picture of Diana as an arrow-wielding warrior was beautiful, and Vincent knew he wanted to see it completed. The look in her lovely eyes was fierce and uncompromising. Elizabeth might have to work on the hair, but every other part of this painting is… extraordinary, Vincent mused.

“Do you… do you really think so?” Elizabeth asked.

Vincent nodded.

Elizabeth thought. A straight tear might be easier to mend than a jagged one, she realized.

“I suppose I could ask Mary. Perhaps it can be mended from behind, maybe repainted, in spots,” Elizabeth said, sniffing a bit. “But Vincent, that still doesn’t answer who did this. How could such a thing happen?” Elizabeth asked.

Vincent eyed the painting again.

“Elizabeth, is someone… angry with you? Angry enough to do this?” Vincent asked, suspecting he already knew the answer. Elizabeth kept almost entirely to herself. Mouse brought her paint, and William brought her dinner when she was too busy to come by the kitchen to pick it up on her own. Others visited. But no one he could think of thought ill of her.

She shook her head. “No one I know of. Pascal asked me if I might paint his father, and Sarah asked me if there was a way I could memorialize Ellie, but I haven’t gotten around to those. I’d been so busy with this. You don’t think they were cross with me, do you?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m sure they weren’t,” Vincent replied comfortingly. If this is not some… random act of destruction, some unlikely accident, someone is either angry with you… or angry with this, Vincent thought, looking at the slashed image. And I’d rather find out which it is sooner rather than later.

Vincent gave Elizabeth’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Call for Mary on the pipes. And Elizabeth… please make sure you’re not alone in here. For at least a while,” Vincent cautioned. He was taking no chances.

“But Vincent, I always work alone!” Elizabeth protested.

“Perhaps it would be best if you kept company for a time,” Vincent insisted smoothly. They both knew he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.

 

Chapter 3

JessicaRae

 

“Must think of something,” Jacob paced the floor of his father’s chambers, lost in thought. Vincent sat in his chair, also equally lost, a troubled frown on his regal face.

“If it were you, at my age, what would you do? Dad?”

It was a long moment before his question was acknowledged, and by the time Vincent noticed his son had paused his pacing and was waiting; he had forgotten the vague understanding of the request that had filtered into his thoughts.

“I apologize, Jacob. What did you say?”

With a heavy sigh, the young boy flopped down onto the tall couch of blankets where Vincent usually slept. “I asked what gift you would give to Diana if this were you at my age.”

Smiling kindly, Vincent leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands upon his knee. “Still trying to come up with an idea for Diana’s birthday present?”

“Yeah.” The tone that Jacob used reminded Vincent so much of Catherine that, at that moment, words eluded him. For a moment, his face was twisted into something akin to pain, and Jacob turned his head quickly to look at his father, feeling the momentary sorrow. Vincent spoke quickly to distract his son from the empathy clearly displayed on his young face.

“I think I suggested before that you ask Alex. I think she is with her mother in the library. They are all settled in and having tea with Rebecca and some of the other ladies. There might even be a cookie in it for you. Mary is staying with Elizabeth for a little while, so she won’t be there, and I know William is quite insistent on dinner before dessert. But if you ask William nicely and tell him I sent you, he will make sure you get one.”

Jacob smiled broadly, childish happiness lighting up his morose face, and he sat up quickly and launched himself toward the door, throwing over his shoulder, “Thanks, Dad!” as he disappeared into the tunnel. Vincent smiled fondly and leaned his head back against the smooth back of the chair, gazing up at the ceiling where the dancing candle flames of the room played among the shadows. His hands found the small box in his pocket, and he absently traced the outline of its edges through the cloth.

“You said it would make us a family.”

His son’s words echoed in his mind, and his throat grew tight with emotion.

He never thought the day would come, but here he was. He had imagined his world with Catherine to be the world that saw him grow grey, old, and surrounded by children and grandchildren, returning to stardust in the tunnels that he had both lived and died in.

But that world wasn’t meant to be, and by fate’s harsh design, it left him with a son to raise alone.
Diana had been there through it all, the search for Catherine having been the catalyst that launched the worlds of Above and Below into the same time of darkness. And it had never been Vincent’s initial intent to fall in love with her. After all, he’d just discovered a son he did not know existed while at the same time having his love ripped from him forever. But he found as time went on that there was a place for Diana. While Catherine was brave, strong, and kind, Diana was firm, bright, and wise. Catherine would have liked her; he was sure of it. He hoped she would be proud of him too. Having raised his son this far on his own, Vincent knew that Jacob needed more - every boy needed a mother, and Diana had willingly stepped into that role. She didn’t have to. She could have just gone back to her world Above and left them to mend their wounds and try to move on from the past.

But instead, she had stayed with them in the painful months that turned into years, listened to the stories of the woman called Catherine, held the little ones when they cried from the sadness that they could feel in the adults, sat beside Jamie at the mirror pool as she shouted her anger into the cavern, walked beside Mouse as he stumbled over his emotion-filled unintentional eulogy as he mourned the friend that believed so faithfully in him.

So many of the other tunnel folk had been touched by the companionship and kindness that Diana offered their people, and after many months had passed, most didn’t even notice that she wasn’t originally one of them. 

Vincent let his mind wander over the events of the day, happy that Jacob wanted to find the right present for Diana. Those two were quite close, and it made his heart a little lighter knowing that their little family was complete in all forms of the word.

Complete except for the little box in his pocket.

 OoOoO

“There, last one,” Cullen brushed a hand across his forehead and tossed his hammer onto the floor. “Hopefully, that doesn’t need to be done again any time soon because I am done for.”

Mouse carefully stacked the sandpaper into the toolbox and frowned. “Done for? Done for what? Table done for Father, but Cullen done for what?”

“Never mind,” Cullen sighed, running a hand along the smooth wood. “It’s just a phrase. These are all ready to go. Father will be pleased. That took all afternoon, and I don’t know about you, but I am done for today. Let’s pick up these tools and get something to eat. I’m starving.”

Mouse nodded in agreement and dusted his hands off onto his pants. “Time to eat sounds good. Mouse clean up quickly. Cullen, go see Susan while Mouse finishes up?”

Cullen gazed at Mouse incredulously. “Mouse, I am not leaving you to finish all by yourself. But hey, thanks anyway.”

He moved to pick up his hammer, and Mouse placed a foot gently on top of his hand. “No. Mouse serious. Go see Susan. Mouse finish here. It’s okay.”

Cullen gazed into the young man’s eyes for a moment and saw that Mouse was genuinely trying to be nice. He smiled at the pure innocence of Mouse’s gift. “Thanks, Mouse. I owe you one.”

Mouse frowned in confusion as the older man began dusting the wood shavings off his clothes and out of his hair. “Owe me what?”

 OoOoO

Jacob burst into the library in a flurry of motion, calling, “Alex!”

The group of women all froze at the sudden interruption, and Jacob’s face turned crimson. “Hi Susan, Alex. I was wondering if I could speak with Alex for a moment.” The manners his father had taught him came rushing back to him, and he was rewarded with a kind smile from Susan.

“Sure, Jacob. If she has finished her snack, then she can go with you. Just don’t wander too far.”

“I am done,” Alex responded.

Her mother nodded. “Then off with you and be careful.”

Jacob and Alex ran off eagerly, Jacob leading the way to the kitchen.

“Where are we going?” Alex called after him, trying to keep up with his agile stride.

“To the kitchen,” Jacob responded. “My dad told me I could ask William for a cookie.”

“Can I have one too?” Alex asked shyly as they arrived at the warm kitchen.

“I thought you just had snacks and tea and whatever a group of ladies does,” Jacob responded quizzically, looking around for William.

“We had pound cake,” Alex replied, in a tone that clearly indicated she did not like pound cake. Jacob laughed.

“Here, let me show you the good stuff. William?”

There was no response from the kitchen, and Jacob looked around, brow furrowed in thought. “Odd. William is always here. Well, I guess he won’t mind if I grab some and let him know later. Dad said I could.”

“You sure?” Alex asked in concern, stretching her neck this way and that, looking around as if William would appear out of thin air. “William won’t be mad? Cause usually taking stuff makes adults mad.”

“Of course not.” Jacob pushed a chair close to the cupboard, where William kept the snacks out of Arthur’s reach. Mouse’s raccoon was also fond of William’s peanut butter cookies. Climbing on top of the chair seat, Jacob reached into the cabinet and dug around for a moment, finally pulling out a small box labeled ‘Cookies.’ “William only gets mad if the ‘coon takes them. But not if Dad says it’s okay. I know they are here somewhere. Ahah! Here they are. Come on, Alex, let's go down to the waterfall. I have something I have to ask you, and it’s a secret.”

By the time they got to the waterfall, Alex was tired of running. Jacob plopped down onto a rock and opened the box of cookies. Alex sat down next to him, gasping for air.

“Jacob, the running is going to have to stop.  There is no fire down here, and it’s unnecessary.  What did you need to ask me, and do I get a cookie or not?”

Jacob frowned at the box.  “Well, they are all broken now. Guess I was shaking the box when we were running.  Here, have as many pieces as you want.”

He held out the box to her, and Alex raised her eyebrows in surprise at the comical sight.  While there only looked to have been about four cookies in the box, they were now broken into several pieces, and one could hardly tell that they had been cookies in the first place. “Looks like the crumb topping on an apple pie.” She took several pieces and walked away a few steps to sit down on a rock. “Okay, go ahead.”

“With what?” Jacob asked enigmatically, with both his mother’s mischievous spark and his father’s sense of humor twinkling in his eyes.

Alex glared at him with a frown that looked so much like Diana’s. “Jacob…”

“Fine, fine,” Jacob nodded quickly, holding out the cookie box in appeasement. “I wanted to ask you something. I want to give Diana a gift, and I wondered if you had any ideas.”

For a moment, the young girl was silent, eating cookies and looking at Jacob, although her eyes were looking through him, and she was thinking deeply.

“What were you thinking of giving her?” she finally asked, handing him the box of cookie remnants. He frowned down at the random pieces before selecting two and giving the box back to her.

“I don’t know. Maybe a picture, but that seems too childish. I want to give her a real present, like a blanket or a scarf or a basket or something.”

“What about some of the rocks from near the waterfall?” Alex asked curiously. “They are usually worn really smooth, and she could use them on her desk as a paperweight. Adults like stuff like that.”

“That’s a really good idea!” Jacob nodded approvingly. He glanced at the swift water near the falls and frowned. The children were never to play near the falls, but Alex wouldn’t know that, and he would look really brave and cool going in for just a couple of rocks for Diana. No one else would be giving her smooth river rock paperweights, and his gift would stand out and be special.

“Stay here, and I’ll grab a couple,” he said smoothly as if it were an everyday event. Alex frowned as he made his way to the river’s edge and eyed the best place to enter the water.  The rains had come Above, and the water running through the caves that fed the river Below was slightly higher than it typically was. The Catherine side of him was cautious and told his brain to consider. The adventurous Vincent side told him it was probably risky, but Diana would love those paperweights.

Making his decision, he dove in and instantly realized the water was far too rough for this kind of adventure. Fear gripped his heart, and his brain went blank on the best method to get back to shore. He tried to reach for the larger rocks near the shallower water, but the current pulled him away, and his feet left the ground, which sent him tumbling through the water with no sense of which side was up. Between mouthfuls of water, pride gone in the moment of panic, all he could think of was to yell, “Alex! Go get help!”

Even as she tossed the cookie box to the side and bolted toward the tunnels, not so far away Vincent was already running too.

 

Chapter 4

Margret Owens

 

Jacob awoke to darkness. He blinked and rubbed his eyes grudgingly.  He must have fallen asleep. But then, why was he so cold and wet? Shame and nerves heated his face. What six-year-old still wet the bed? No one had better tell. But he didn’t hear the usual noises of the other children sleeping in the nursery.

“Dad?”

Silence.

Jacob sat up; a cold shiver ran through him. Memories of his folly as he jumped into the water for Diana’s gift ran through his mind. How could he have been so stupid? A wave of panic swept through him, fearful for his life.

Jacob closed his eyes as if he could block out the panic coursing through him. He was alive, cold, lost, and wet, but alive. Why was he panicking this much? For a few moments, he simply lay there, trying to ride out the intense emotion.

It’s Dad. The realization slowly eased the tension inside himself. Instead, he tried to redirect his emotions to his father to let him know he was alive and reasonably well. His dad, and indeed, the whole community, would be out looking for him and would find him. Except it was impossible to tell how far down the river had carried him.

If only he knew where he was. Slowly, he stood and tried to remember what Diana had told him about collecting one’s bearings in a strange place. All the familiar voices and constant banging on the pipes overhead had been swallowed by the near pitch-black darkness. Even the roaring water of the falls had faded into the calm river he sensed beside him. While his eyesight in the dark was keener than other children his age, he also knew sheer drop-offs were possible.

Carefully he held his hands out in front of him and shuffled forward, away from the water, until his palms rested on a wall. Rough, cold rock and an eerie quiet surrounded him. No pipes ran overhead to signal anyone, and there was no way he could swim back upriver.

A groan from somewhere deeper in the black void cut through the silence. Jacob stilled and listened, trying to determine his next move. Like all the children, he knew other adults and even some kids lived within the tunnels while being outside of their community. Some were homeless or used drugs to ease their suffering. For safety reasons, the tunnel children weren’t allowed to go near them unless another adult was with them.

But as the painful grunting continued, Jacob felt his manners as a Helper and his kind heart take over as he slowly crept closer. His footsteps light so as not to startle the person.

“Hello?” Jacob asked tentatively.

The shadowy shape turned in his direction. The cook’s familiar voice called back. “Jacob? What are you doing down here?”

Relief surged in Jacob as he stumbled forward but then froze. The scent of blood filled his nose as his stomach churned. While his father tried to shield him from most of the world’s unpleasantness, Jacob knew that coppery smell. And there seemed to be a lot of it. William lay on his side. 

“William, are you okay?” Jacob asked.

“I’m fine, Jacob. Got myself banged up and lost, is all,” William said. 

“What happened?” Jacob stepped closer. His keen eyesight noted that the green sweater Mary had given him had been ripped to shreds. It was now haphazardly wrapped around William’s stomach to stop the blood. Jacob didn’t know exactly, but if he had to guess, it looked like a stab wound. “Are you okay?” he repeated.

William shifted and let out a moan. “I’m… okay, boy.”

“What happened?”

“I was on my way back from delivering Elizabeth her dinner when I saw someone dressed in black exiting her chamber. I… thought it might be Narcissa or someone else who liked to paint… so I didn’t raise the alarm.”

“Narcissa rarely visits anyone,” Jacob said.

“I know... I…” William shrugged helplessly and shook his head, ashamed. “It was stupid.”

“And whoever it was hurt Elizabeth’s…”

“No… I’m certain she was fine,” William said, concerned.

Jacob nodded. “She’s okay, but her painting isn’t. Someone ruined her work. Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know, boy. Maybe they don’t like the idea of your father and Diana together.”

“But Diana’s great,” Jacob protested.

“I know, boy… ah!” William gripped his side as he shifted again.

“Can you get up?” Jacob asked, bending down next to him.

“No… I twisted my blasted ankle when I was chasing the fiend.”

“Oh…” Jacob frowned and tried to ignore the growing fear building back up. How was his father meant to find him now if William hadn’t found his way back?

OoOoO

“What’s with all these pictures?” Mark asked. The array of crayon pictures had made a mosaic of the wall. “I don’t remember Alex being much of an artist when I last saw her.”

“No, she isn’t. They were made… oh!” Diana cursed as the coffee scalded her hand as it overflowed her mug. “Damn, hot.”

“Are you okay?” Mark asked, stepping over to the kitchen counter.

“Yeah, just the stupid coffee,” Diana said, grabbing a paper towel to clean up the mess and stifling a yawn. It’s one of those days, ugh. It seemed today was going to follow the same track as the day before of the little things bugging her and going wrong. Even her sleep had been disrupted. Spurts of dread had awoken her throughout the night though she couldn’t tell where they came from. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Nothing says comfy like a pullout couch bed. But as far as those go, it was fine. If a little lonely,” Mark said.

Diana’s eyes lowered to the cup in her hands. Last night had been a fun enough time as they caught up on their lives over her favorite pizza. Mark had found a new teaching position in Chicago and seemed to be thriving. And she couldn’t deny she still cared about him as a dear friend, but if he was hoping for more, he would be disappointed. But then that was what led to their breakup in the first place: him wanting more than she was willing to give.

She heard a smile in his voice as he went on. “My dog, Billy, sleeps with me every night, so it’s odd not to have him. He’s an Airedale.” He opened his wallet and showed her a picture of him and the new puppy. Mark’s hair seemed to merge with the dark brown of the dog as they cuddled together. 

Diana chuckled lightly, picturing that image. “Well, he wouldn’t have fit on the couch anyway.”

“True.” Mark leaned against the counter and pointed back over to the paper and crayon-covered wall. “But you didn’t answer my question. Who’s the artist? It’s the same style and everything.”

“My so… um,” Diana cleared her throat. Bennett, Jake’s not your son… not in that way. “My, you certainly know a lot about art.”

Mark laughed and grinned. “One of my many new interests. Do you want to check out the Met before I leave? And I can show you my new knowledge?”

“When is your flight back?”

“Not for a day or two. I wanted a few more hours to visit my old haunts.”

Diana grinned as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “I don’t think the Met counts as one of those.”

Mark bowed his head sheepishly. “Guilty, but then last I knew, the only wall you ‘decorated’ with pictures was that one.” He pointed to her now clean blue workboard. “But I admit the crayon ones are nicer than all of those crime scene photos.”

“Oh, let me just do this.” Diana went and collected her bag. While last night hadn’t been the relaxing escape from work she had planned on, at least she had managed to keep work separate, until now. She pulled out the file Joe had given her and pulled out the photo. She had to admire the skill of the photographer for capturing a slice of New York City life. What would her other photos manage to portray?

“I thought you said you had just finished a case,” Mark said. “And don’t you usually get a small break between cases? Besides, you gotta do something fun this week. Do you even have birthday plans?”

“No plans; last night was fun, thanks for that, and this isn’t a 210 case. The DA asked for a favor,” Diana explained as she tossed the file on the counter and grabbed the phone. “And he won’t stop pestering me if I don’t get an answer.”

“Are those also for the case?” Mark asked, eyeing the stack of papers. “They look old.”

“No, they aren’t for a case. Just a father in a previous case I had wanted me to look through them. I just haven’t gotten around to it,” Diana explained.

“Maybe I could.”

“Thanks for the offer, but it’s private stuff. Client privilege, you know, that type of thing,” Diana said as she dialed the number of the hotel.

She tried to ignore the pit in her stomach as she spoke to the hotel. It was as though she was watching history repeat itself as Mark watched her work. While Vincent was happy to let her work and amuse himself, Mark, though he understood the importance of her job, had always seemed impatient for her to be done so they could resume their fun. And it seemed years apart hadn’t changed much.

Turning her back to him, she asked if she could leave a message and hung up with a sigh of frustration.

“Did the photographer skip town or something?’ Mark asked.

“No. She’s just not answering her phone, and I wanted to get this done quickly.”

Mark glanced over at the clock. “It’s only eight-thirty. She might have had a fun night and is sleeping it off.”

Diana shrugged and stretched, wishing she could crawl back into bed herself. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll swing by the hotel in an hour or so. See if she has the original negative, and then we can meet for lunch at…”

“Our old haunt?” Mark grinned.

“Exactly.”

An hour and a half later, Diana knocked on the photographer’s hotel door. Only a few minutes later, the door swung open to reveal a woman in her mid-70s dressed in a turquoise shirt and a long brown overcoat. Unlike Diana’s wild mane of red locks, the woman had a style to her hair.

“Hi there,” Diana began. If the woman was on her way out, she didn’t want to drag out introductions. “My name is Detective…”

“Diana?” the woman said, a smile on her face. “It’s good to see you.” 

“Do I know you?”

“We met once years ago.” She pointed down, and Diana guessed she meant lower than the ground floor of the hotel. “You saved Jacob… both of their lives.”

Diana blinked as the memories came back to her of her other grand achievement, which had solidified her place within the community Below. She had been trying to solve Father’s whereabouts after he had been attacked by Georgy Coyle. Jessica Webb had been there… a good friend to Father.

Diana smiled. Why had she not connected the name and photographs before? “Jessica, it’s good to see you.”

Jessica Webb’s own smile grew. “Please come in. I got your message, and I was just about to call myself, but…”

“Jessica, are you sure you… oh my!”

Well, I didn’t need that image in my head. Diana couldn’t help the simultaneous laugh and groaning that ran through her as she saw Father standing half-dressed in front of her.

 

 Chapter 5

Deborah White

 

Well, not half dressed, she had to admit to herself. He is fully clothed but very…  informally.

Father looked like the grandfather or elderly neighbor out of some 50’s sitcom: dark pants, white shirt with the sleeve rolled up to his elbows, and suspenders.

Father wears… or wore… suspenders? She stifled a laugh.

“Father, fancy meeting you here.” She knew it was lame, but it was all she could manage.

“I could say the same thing,” he said with a wry smile. “What brings you here? I didn’t know you knew Jessica was in town.”

“Well, I didn’t, not really. At least I didn’t make the connection. Joe asked a favor and gave me a photo that Miss Webb took,” she reached into her bag and pulled out the photo and handed it to Jessica. “We think that a suspect in a case might be in the background, and I came to see if she had the negative. I’d like to borrow it to see if we can have it enlarged so we can see the faces in the background better.”

Jessica took the picture and looked at it closely.

“Yes, I sent this to the police because they were saying that they needed pictures like this taken around this time in this particular spot. In my note, I told them that I have several that might be helpful.”

“That’s great. Would it be possible for me to borrow the negatives?” Diana asked eagerly.

“Even better, I made copies of the negatives and already enlarged several of the photos. Let me get them for you.”

It was a two-room suite, and Jessica left the front sitting room, leaving Father and Diana, both feeling a little awkward.

“I forgot that you knew Miss Webb,” Diana began, then she chuckled. “Hell, I forgot I knew her.”

“Not surprising,” Father told her. “There was a lot going on back then when you met her.”

Jessica was back before they could say anything more. She handed a Manila envelope to Diana, who opened it and looked inside.

“Thank you, Miss Webb. I have a feeling this will advance this case a lot. And Joe might even leave me alone for a while.”

She started for the door when there was a knock.

“Busy around here this morning,” Jessica commented as she opened it. They were all surprised to see Mouse standing there.

“Father has to come,” he blurted out. “Emergency. Jacob is missing. Alex said he fell into the river.” He turned and started to rush off when Diana reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Can Vincent find him?” she asked. She noticed that Father had already grabbed his coat and was rolling down his sleeves, preparing to put it on.

“Says he knows where Jacob is but can’t figure out how to get there. Says Father might know… from before.” Mouse said. She could tell he was anxious to leave. She let him go and turned to Father.

“I’ll go with you,” she told him. She shoved the envelope in her bag and headed for the door.

“So will I,” said Jessica, following Father, who was right behind Diana.

OoOoO

“Is there any way to get to that part of the tunnels?” Cullen asked as he and Vincent pored over one of Father’s maps.

“I seem to remember something that Devin said. But we were children at the time. But he was sure that the river that is fed by the falls is the same river that we all call the Nameless River. It runs very deep.”

“And you’re sure that Jacob is okay?” Cullen asked carefully.

Vincent nodded. “After the initial panic, there was a period of unconsciousness, but he seems fine now, concerned but unhurt.”

“Alex said he went into the river at the lookout in the Chamber of the falls. Are there any maps of that river?” Cullen asked, looking through the stack of charts and maps.

“None that I know of. I don’t think anyone has mapped the entire river, just the tunnels that go to the river. We may just have to search each one and hope one comes out in the right place.

OoOoO

 “Are you sure you’re all right, William?” Jacob asked as he helped the cook to his feet.

“I will be. This is only a flesh wound. Sometimes having all this extra,” he gingerly patted his large stomach, “is a good thing. It’s painful, but I think it’s already stopped bleeding… Now… I wish I had a flashlight.”

“Wait,” Jacob started patting his pockets and quickly pulled out a plastic-wrapped package. It contained matches, a piece of candle, and a small flashlight. “If this didn’t get wet…” he inspected everything, then suddenly, there was a small light. “We can use the flashlight, and if the battery goes dead, we can use the candle,” he told William.

“Your father taught you well,” William said as Jacob moved the light over the walls.

“Since there is only one tunnel leading to this place, then it must be the one you came in through,” Jacob said logically, sounding much older than his six years.

“That makes sense. Lead on Macduff,” William said as Jacob headed toward the tunnel opening.

“Macbeth?” asked Jacob. “I thought it was ‘Lay on, Macduff.’ At least, that is how Dad and Grandfather read it,” he added as he walked forward, playing the light over the walls of the tunnel.

“Exactly like your father… and your grandfather,” grumbled William as he followed.

OoOoO

The methodical search had gone on through the evening and the night by the time Father, Jessica, and Diana arrived.

“Any word?” Father asked as they all rushed into the study at almost eleven the next morning.

“Not really,” said Mary. “They’ve been searching all the tunnels marked on the maps that are known to lead to the river but haven’t found anything. But Jamie came across a tunnel that wasn’t on any of the maps. It goes in the right direction, and Vincent is on his way to her now; they will check it together.”

Susan and Alex were there with Rebecca, and as usual, Mary had a pot of tea ready, and she urged everyone to sit and have a cup. Everyone else complied, but Diana paced.

“How long has he been missing?” she asked Mary.

“Since yesterday afternoon. Alex came and spread the alarm as soon as she could. They’ve been searching since a short time after.”

That might explain my bad dreams and feelings of dread, Diana thought as she paced. There has always been a connection there. Too bad I don’t have that connection with his dad.

“And it seems that William might be missing too,” Mary added, almost as an afterthought. “No one has seen him since he went to deliver Elizabeth’s dinner last night. We aren’t sure if he’s out looking for Jacob or if he’s missing too. He hasn’t answered any calls on the pipes. Everyone fended for themselves for dinner last night, at least those who weren’t out searching.”

The chamber was quiet; even the pipes were quiet. Pascal must have put out an “all quiet” order.

Diana paced, and the others sipped their tea. No one spoke.

Then suddenly, there was a flurry of tapping on the pipes. Jacob was found, and William was with him. Then there was a follow-up message for Mary to meet them in the hospital chamber.

Mary and Father were both on their feet.

“Someone must be hurt,” someone said as the others followed Father and Mary out.

It wasn’t long before what seemed like a dozen people trooped into the hospital chamber where Father, Mary, Jessica, Susan, Alex, and Diana were waiting. Actually, it was only Vincent and Jamie supporting William between them, Jacob and Cullen.

Father shooed most of them out to wait in the corridor.

While Father was treating what actually was a superficial wound, albeit a painful one, William related his story about seeing an intruder, giving chase, and being slashed for his trouble.

“Was he coming out of Elizabeth’s sleeping chamber or her workshop?” Diana asked, shifting right into detective mode when she heard that a painting had been vandalized.

“I delivered her dinner to her workshop since she’s usually there or in the Painted Tunnels at that time of day, but I saw him coming out of her sleeping chamber when I passed it on my way back.”

“Where was Elizabeth?”

“She was in her workshop. Mary was with her. I actually took dinner for both of them.”

“Has someone stayed with her?” asked Vincent, suddenly looking up from the quiet conversation he was having with his son.

“We both came back to the study when we heard that Jacob had fallen into the river,” Mary said. “She went back to her chamber a few hours later. Sarah went with her.”

“Has anyone seen either of them since then?” asked Vincent.

“I saw Sarah in the dining chamber when I came back to grab some breakfast,” Jamie put in. “But I didn’t speak to her.”

Cullen stepped into the corridor, and they soon heard a call go out to Sarah to respond with her location. When she responded that she was in the kitchen, he sent another asking the same of Elizabeth. But they all knew that she seldom heard any messages directed to her; she was often in her own world.

“I’ll go check on her,” Cullen called.

 OoOoO

William was stitched up and bandaged by the time Cullen returned.

“She’s not in her chamber, the workshop, the painted tunnels, or the kitchen. I checked with Sarah, and she said that Elizabeth was with her in the kitchen until a little while ago. She didn’t notice when she left. I asked everyone I passed if they’d seen her. No one has. I sent a message on the pipes asking if anyone has seen her to let us know. No one has responded.”  

 

Chapter 6

JessicaRae

For a moment, there was a terrible silence in the small room as each person’s mind thought back to when they had seen Elizabeth last. Most had not known about the slashing of her painting, and now everyone was at a loss to know what to do.

Father moved to Jacob’s side and examined his head. Vincent hovered, sensing his son was okay, but needing confirmation. “Just a bit of a bruise, son, perhaps a small concussion. You need to rest and take it easy. Lots of Mary’s cooking for you and no more swimming for a few days.”

“Yes sir,” Jacob replied sheepishly.

“Jacob, why were you down there anyway?” Mary asked, her motherly concern evident on her drawn face.

Jacob looked up at his dad, who had the same question on his face. How could he tell them it was to try to get a present for Diana?

Alex stood in the shadows, near where her mother was sitting. She turned to Susan for comfort, her small face long and morose. She watched Jacob closely, trying to figure out if he was mad at her. It had been her idea, after all, to give Diana a river rock.

Jacob was saved from responding by a new arrival.

“Is it true that she’s gone?” A gentle voice asked behind them, and they turned to see Sarah enter, her hands clasped tightly before her. “I heard from Cullen. She was right there with me in the kitchen only an hour ago, I don’t know where she was going when she left; I never noticed she was gone.” She sounded so distressed that Father extended a hand to usher her into the room and herded her to a chair.

“We do not know her location at the moment,” Father replied diplomatically, trying to make her feel better. “We are trying to find that out now. And we will. We will begin a search. Cullen put teams together immediately. Does anyone need a map?”

“I am sorry, Father. I should have accompanied her back to her chambers. In all of the chaos, I forgot that someone was to stay with her. Mary had relayed that information to me, and I simply got distracted when we were in the kitchen. If something happens to her…”

Cullen stood next to Susan’s chair and laid a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner. His hands were shaking, but he hoped only he could feel it.

“Sarah, it is not your fault that she is missing,” Vincent spoke up, his voice commanding. “I was hoping to avoid this outcome, but someone has ill intentions for Elizabeth. That would have happened regardless of whether you were with her or not. The person is dangerous, which William can attest to. Perhaps it was better so we did not have two of you injured. I do not know. But we will search at once. Father will see to William.”

“I will be fine,” William grunted, waving them all away. “You go find Elizabeth, and when you find the guy who did this to me, let him have it and tell him it’s from me.”

“I can help!” Jacob offered, tugging at his father’s cloak.

“Me too!” Alex exclaimed. Susan immediately shushed her and shook her head. Alex stuck out her lower lip in a pout, then ran to Mary, who held out her hands for a hug.

Vincent turned and laid his great hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Jacob, you have given me one worry for today. This is too dangerous for you. Elizabeth is missing, and William is injured. I wish you to remain here until I return. You need to get into dry clothing right away. You could have died, and we must be sure there are no ill effects from your time in the river.”

“But Dad, I know the tunnels really well. I can help!”

“Jacob.” Vincent pulled the boy aside gently, away from the chattering crowd, and knelt to his level. “You were nearly lost today,” Vincent replied softly. “We will talk about that later. I know you have much knowledge of our home. And one day, you will have more. But today… today, I need you to do the most important, manly thing I could ask of you. Can you do that for me?”

Jacob gazed up at his father, unsure of whether he was being scolded or praised. “What is it?”

“I need you to stay here with Diana and guard her. Do not let anything happen to her.”

Diana immediately turned wide eyes toward Vincent, fully intending to insist that she was joining the search too. She was a detective; she couldn’t help the draw of adrenaline that she felt from hunting for clues. But one glance at the pleading in Vincent’s eyes as he caught her gaze was all it took to change her mind. “That would make me feel so much better, Vincent,” she said quickly. “To have a strong young man beside me to keep me safe. Vincent, thank you for sparing Jacob to protect me. You know I have the utmost confidence in his protective abilities. He is a chip of the old block, after all.”

Vincent’s eyes were full of mirth as he patted his son’s shoulder. “Old block, Diana?”

Their banter would have potentially continued if Cullen had not raised his voice at that moment, calling different names to join the groups of searchers.

“I must go, Jacob, but stick by Diana every moment. Can I trust you to do that?”

“Why can’t you stay with her, and I go? Jamie gets to go, and she’s still a kid.” Jacob asked pleadingly; then, as soon as the words left his mouth and he saw his father’s face, his own face turned slightly dismayed. “Never mind, Dad. I’m sorry. I’ll stay with Diana and guard her with my life. You have my word.”

Jacob's question had immediately evoked sadness in Vincent, and he had glanced at his hands, which had answered Jacob’s questions immediately. Vincent had to go because he was their knight, their Trojan Horse, their tank, their weapon. He was their strength. A terrible savior, to be sure, but a necessary evil that they had all resigned themselves to.

Vincent patted his son’s head and turned to Diana. She pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you for going along with that,” Vincent said softly.

“Don’t feel bad, Vincent,” she whispered in his ear. “Anything for you and Jacob. He… he meant well.”

“I know.”

“Be safe.”

“You as well.”

Jacob moved to stand beside Diana as the small groups took their maps and made their way out into the corridor and into the different tunnels. For a moment, their voices could be heard in the distance, then they faded, and the chamber was silent.

“Why don’t we all move to the library,” Diana recommended. “The children can all come, and I’ll tell them stories.”

“Bless you,” Mary said softly. “Thank you for being here. I’ll make tea and get cookies.”

“I’l come with you,” Sarah offered, her face still drawn and forlorn.

“As you wish, my dear,” Mary replied. “Rebecca, would you be sure that the children are all in the library straightaway?”

“I will,” Rebecca nodded. “I’ll have Geoffrey and Kipper round them up.”

“Good. I’ll be there shortly. I must get Jacob back to his chamber to change and I’ll bring some of Vincent’s books too. And Mary, get something for Jacob to eat. He has been gone since yesterday evening, I daresay he must be starving.”

“Can I go with Jacob?” Alex asked, looking at Susan.

Susan shook her head. “No, the last time you went with him, he ended up in the river. Let’s let him get changed and fed. You and I need to talk.”

Jacob and Diana saw no signs of intruders during their short walk to Jacob’s chamber.

“What were you doing, diving into a river?” Diana asked, her tone so very mom-like. Jacob pulled on a dry shirt and sighed.

“Is it okay if I don’t tell you?” he asked, tugging on dry shoes.

Diana chuckled, sitting down on the bed. “Jacob. Either I or your father need to know.”

“Which means you both know,” Jacob commented, glancing at her.

His face looked so like Vincent’s at that moment that Diana felt her heart warm with love for the boy. He really was so much like his dad. In her heart, she knew that Jacob had not intended to cause problems.

“All right, Jacob, we won’t talk about it anymore.”

“I wanted to get you a present,” Jacob blurted out, flopping onto the bed beside her. “I couldn’t think of anything good enough! Alex was trying to help and recommended a river rock, and stupid me decided I would get you one of the really smooth ones by the waterfall. The water was just too fast, and I couldn’t fight it. It wasn’t her fault, I guess I was kind of – showing off – and wasn’t really thinking.”

Diana smiled fondly and brushed a hand across his hair. “Oh, Jacob! At least you are honest about it. But you are the perfect gift for me. You don’t have to give me anything, I am content to know you all and be part of what you all have here.”

“But Dad has a gift for you!” Jacob argued, then his face paled at his revelation, and he sat up. “I am hungry. Can we get food now?”

Diana caught the inadvertent confession, and her heart began to race. What kind of gift did Vincent have for her? Now she felt like a kid at Christmas, shaking their present, wanting just the slightest hint.

But one glance at Jacob told her that he was giving no more hints, and she patted his shoulder.

“Sure, Jacob, let’s go get something to eat.”

OoOoO

“I don’t like any of this,” Father spoke confidentially to Vincent as they made their way toward Elizabeth’s chambers. “Something bigger is going on here than a simple slashed painting. Someone is in our tunnels, and they appear to be determined to prove how handy they are with a knife.”

“It appears so,” Vincent responded. He listened carefully before stepping into Elizabeth’s bedchamber.

Nothing had been disturbed that he could see. There were small pots of paint on the table, with scattered brushes and palette knives. Elizabeth was a painter through and through; it was her life. It angered Vincent that someone would try to destroy it, and for what reason? They had to find the intruder.

“She couldn’t have gone very far on her own,” Father spoke softly, awkwardly standing at the door of the chamber. “She hasn’t the fastest gait, and these tunnels are difficult to navigate the further you get from the inner chambers.

“I know,” Vincent stepped out of the chamber slowly, his keen gaze upon the ground beneath their feet. “Father, do you see that?”

“What?” Jacob Wells stepped back quickly as if the floor he had been standing on had been hot coals and bent down, looking closely at the dusty rock. “What am I looking at, Vincent?”

“Here, see? There are bits of still green grass in the dust.”

Father touched a green strand and picked it up, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing. It had begun to shrivel and die, indicating it had been here for some hours. There was no grass in the tunnels, not even by the rivers. The grass was nearly completely dry. That would fit with the timeframe that William had chased the suspect into the tunnels.

“Vincent?”

“Whoever was here came from Above.” Vincent’s face was dark and worried. “They are not from down here. They had bits of grass stuck to their shoes, and the rough terrain scraped it off.”

“But William chased them off into the tunnels after he saw them,” Father remarked, looking up at his son. “Why would they run into those tunnels if they were from Above?”

“I know,” Vincent replied. “Perhaps they did not know where they were going and thought that William would give up the chase before they got too far back in there. If they were from Above, and William chased them all the way into those far tunnels that even we had to have a map to navigate, then they are in serious trouble. Both as an intruder and a human being. Father, we must find them, intruder or not, before they die down there past the Nameless River.”

 

Chapter 7

T'Mara

Elizabeth walked slowly down to the lower levels of the tunnels. A while ago, she had suddenly remembered having seen some reddish sand in a cavern down here when she had ventured down to consult Narcissa some time ago. Maybe if she took some of this sand and ground it into really fine powder, she could either mix it with one or several of her red colors or sprinkle it on the still-wet paint to achieve the desired effect of reproducing Diana's red hair really true to life.

“Sarah, how long have we been gone already?” she asked, turning back to face her comrade – and froze. Sarah was not there; she was entirely alone.

What had happened? Had Sarah somehow gotten lost on their way down? That seemed unlikely since Sarah knew the tunnels very well. Or...

Elizabeth considered the other possible explanation. Had she herself forgotten to tell Sarah that she wanted to go look for that red sand and to ask her to come with her? She had been so sure that Sarah was walking right behind her, but she also knew pretty well that she was used to her rather solitary life, that she typically did not have to communicate her intentions to somebody else. This arrangement that somebody had to be with her at all times was new to her. It, therefore, was possible that she had forgotten to let Sarah know what she was planning to do and that Sarah, while putting away their dishes, had not noticed that she was leaving.

Elizabeth shuddered. If she had deducted correctly, this meant that nobody knew where she was right now, that she was alone in the tunnels, and maybe at the mercy of a violent being who had not had any qualms about damaging her work. And in this particular area, pipes were rare, so she could not even let Sarah and the others know where she had gone.

OoOoO

“We must double our efforts,” Vincent informed the search party. “It is not just Elizabeth we must find; we have reason to assume that the attacker came from Above. In this case, he would not know his way around here very well, and when William chased him, he may have gotten lost in the tunnels. It is our duty as human beings to assist him or her despite the attack on William and on Elizabeth's painting.”

“What makes you think it was somebody from Above?”

Vincent turned around to face Diana and his son, who were passing by on their way back to the library, where they would meet with the other women and children.

“We found dried grass in the sand in front of Elizabeth's chamber,” Vincent explained. “And since there is no grass in the tunnels...”

Diana frowned. “That could, of course, mean that the mysterious attacker came from Above,” she admitted. “But...”

“But?” Vincent eyed her curiously – and a bit nervously. He had been so relieved to find out that the person who had vandalized Elizabeth's picture could not be one of them. What if he had been wrong?

“So many of us come and go,” Diana pointed out. “The children were Above yesterday when Father went to see Jessica; Father was Above with Miss Webb, and so was I; Mouse went to fetch Father, and my sister and niece came from Above. There may have been others. Therefore, there may have been grass all over the tunnels and it may have stuck to anybody's shoes, like William's or Mary's or Sarah's, at any given time and thus ended up near Elizabeth's chamber.”

“But the grass looked as if it had dried just enough to have ended up there around the time William surprised the intruder,” Vincent objected.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Diana countered. “How much experience do we have with grass drying in the tunnels? There is no exact data on how fast grass dries. It depends on so many factors, like the species of grass we are talking about, humidity, temperature, etc. The grass could have been there before the intruder arrived or ended up there after he left.”

Vincent had to admit that Diana had a point. While it was still possible that the attacker had come from Above – but if so, how could he have come down unnoticed? There was also the possibility that it had been one of them, or maybe a Helper, whose presence might not have alarmed the guards.

“We still have to be careful,” he finally said. “We have no idea where Elizabeth has gone; our priority is to find her. It was her picture that was damaged, and the intruder was surprised by William near her chambers. We, therefore, have to assume that she is a target. And it is possible that the attacker is somewhere in the tunnels, maybe lost, possibly in the vicinity of the place where he attacked William.”

Diana shook her head. “I doubt you will find the culprit there,” she said. “Once he had incapacitated William, he had no reason to blindly run. He could have just gone back the way he had come. Even if he had not found his way back in the dark, at first, it would have been easy to follow William and Jacob out at a safe distance once those two made their way back.”

“Yes, I had my flashlight on; we could see very well,” Jacob chimed in. “If he was behind us...”

Vincent shivered at the thought while at the same time sensing that his son had just realized that he and William might have been in close proximity with the person who had caused William's injury.

“You may have been near him,” he tried to comfort the boy. “But it is much more likely that the intruder had been long gone when you arrived. After all, you and William figured out how you could get back; therefore, it is highly likely that our culprit did the same and was long gone when you found William. After all, William had been there a while; he had already managed to bandage his wound and find out that his ankle was injured as well. Plenty of time for his attacker to go back the way he had come.”

Vincent turned to Diana. “I see that Jacob has changed into dry clothes Therefore, I'd say the two of you head straight back to the library while we continue to search for Elizabeth.”

He twinkled at his son. “Make sure you keep Diana safe, Jacob,” he whispered.

OoOoO

Once Diana and Jacob had left, Vincent once again turned to the search party.

“As Diana has pointed out, we do not know who the attacker is,” he said. “It could be anybody, either from Below or from Above. Somehow, I cannot believe that he is one of us, but on the other hand, I am not quite sure how somebody from Above could have come down unnoticed, not once, but twice. We need to split up; one group should check out the tunnel where William was injured to make sure the attacker is not still there, unable to find his way back. Another group should guard Elizabeth's chamber. We do not know what the attacker was looking for or planning to do there when William came across him and whether or not he had achieved his goal before William's arrival. If he was not able to finish his task, it is highly possible that he may come back. The third group will look for Elizabeth.”

“Who is going to be in which group?” Jamie asked.

Vincent considered the question for a moment, then formed three groups and assigned the tasks. Kanin's group would search the tunnel near the river, Cullen's group would guard Elizabeth's chambers, and he himself would lead the last group, searching for Elizabeth.

OoOoO

When Diana and Jacob arrived at the library, they found most of the tunnel ladies and all the children there. Among the ladies, Diana also spotted Jessica and her own sister Susan while she saw Alex sitting next to Samantha and eagerly talking to her friend.

Diana shook her head. She had, of course, seen both Susan and Alex when she came Below earlier, but she had been so preoccupied with Jacob that she had not realized what a strange coincidence it was that these two were here.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mary and Rebecca bringing in steaming teapots and beginning to fill everybody's cups.

Once Diana had secured tea for Jacob and herself, she approached Susan.

“Hey there,” she teased her sister, “how come you are the one lingering around down here when normally that would be me?”

Susan blushed. The original plan of her being here as a surprise for Diana's birthday was now ruined.

“I am sorry I didn’t tell you that Vincent invited us to come down for a few days,” Susan began her explanation, “but it was supposed to be a surprise. For your birthday, you know?”

Diana frowned. “But my birthday isn’t until the weekend,” she reminded her sister. “Didn’t you expect me to come Below before that?”

Susan's face was now definitely crimson. “Vincent and Father wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be able to come down before that,” she admitted.

Diana laughed. She now understood why Father had handed her this huge stack of documents the last time she had been Below, asking her to look over them.

“So, there is no hurry or maybe not even a real need for me to check Father's documents?” she asked.

Susan shook her head. “No, not to my knowledge,” she admitted, “and I think they also asked the DA for help...”

“Joe?” Diana grinned. She should have known! All those additional cases that Joe had tried to dump on her had been a bit unusual. “He's going to pay for that!”

By now, everybody had finished their tea, and the children were asking for a story.

True to her earlier promise, Diana began.

“Once upon a time in a kingdom far away...”

OoOoO

Vincent and his search group were trying to decide where to start looking for Elizabeth.

“Pascal has asked everybody to alert him in case they spot Elizabeth or to at least let him know if they have seen her within the past hour, but so far, nobody has reported anything,” Vincent told his people. “That probably means that she is nowhere near the busier parts of the tunnels. So, the question is, why has she left those parts, and where could she possibly have gone?”

“Maybe to the waterfall?” Jamie suggested. “It is an idyllic scenery that she might find inspiring.”

“You could say the same thing about the Whispering Gallery,” somebody else chimed in, “but I doubt she would have gone there!”

“The Great Hall is closed since it's not Winterfest,” came another suggestion.

“Why has she not contacted us?” asked another one.

Vincent looked up. That was the question they had to ask themselves. “There are two possibilities,” he finally realized. “Either she is unable to do so, because the attacker has caught her, or she has injured herself, or....”

He once again considered the alternative. How likely was it that Elizabeth would venture so far down alone when she knew she might be a target?

“Or,” he continued after a pause, “she went further down, where there are no or only very few pipes. In that case, she would not even have heard Pascal's message and might not even know that we are looking for her.”

Everybody agreed that it would make sense to look for Elizabeth in the lower tunnels, especially since the places where the attacker would most likely be located were already covered by the other two groups. Had she gone there and run into him, one of those groups would most likely find her.

“And even if we don't find her down there, maybe Narcissa could help us locate her?” Jamie suggested.

OoOoO

Cullen and his men had cautiously approached Elizabeth's two chambers, the sleeping one and the working one, but once again found no trace of the intruder or Elizabeth.

“We don’t want to chase him away should he come back,” Cullen instructed the others. “He shouldn’t realize that the place is guarded; we should hide. I know it’s boring to just sit and wait, but stay alert, guys! If he returns, we must be ready for him!”

They all promised to concentrate on the task and then looked for hiding places.

Time passed slowly for them. They were not even sure anymore how long they had already been waiting; had it been one hour, two, or more?

Suddenly Cullen thought he saw a shadow moving. He looked over at the boulder where Mouse was hiding, to see if the latter had noticed anything unusual. Mouse seemed to get excited, so Cullen quickly put a finger on his mouth to signal to Mouse to keep quiet.

In the meantime, the shadow had approached Mary's bedchamber and was about to enter. Cullen quickly jumped up, Mouse right behind him, and the other members of his group followed suit.

The shadow suddenly found himself surrounded by eight or ten men.

He cursed under his breath and pulled a knife out of his pocket. As he had hoped, some of the tunnel dwellers were intimidated by this and recoiled.

“Don't let him get away,” Cullen shouted while jumping at the shadow. The impact brought both men to the ground. During the fall, the attacker's knife made contact with Cullen's left upper arm, resulting in a heavily bleeding wound. Despite his injury, Cullen managed to pin the other man down and to keep the arm wielding the knife at a safe distance.

“Quick, restrain him,” he ordered. The other men went to his aid, and in no time at all, they had secured the attacker's knife and had his arms and legs bound.

“Someone, please send out a message on the pipes that we caught him,” Cullen asked while nursing his injured arm.

“Mouse will do, okay good, okay fine,” the youngster promised and quickly began to relay the message.

Almost at the same time, another message came through the pipes. “We found Elizabeth; she is fine. We are on our way to the library,” Cullen deciphered it.

“Okay, then that's where we are going as well,” he decided. He pushed their prisoner to make him walk where they wanted him to go. Now that they had their torches and lanterns out, he could see the man's features clearly. To his relief, the culprit was not one of them. So, he had come from Above after all. But how? And why?

When the group reached the library, the other two search parties had already arrived. Elizabeth was holding a steaming cup of tea in her hands and profusely apologizing to Sarah and everybody else that she had left on her own, causing them a scare, while Jamie was handing her a pouch with the reddish sand that she had collected at Elizabeth's request.

“Here we are, and here is our mysterious stranger,” Cullen announced. He was so caught up in the moment that he failed to notice the shock in Susan's eyes when she caught sight of his injured arm.

The prisoner was pulled into the library for everybody to see.

Both Diana and Elizabeth drew a deep breath while staring at Cullen’s prisoner, the teacup fell from Elizabeth's hand and shattered.

Then almost at once, both women voiced the same name.

“Mark?”

 

Chapter 8

Barbara Anderson

 

The message that the intruder had been captured was disseminated on the pipes. By the time the search party with the prisoner arrived, a large number of Tunnel citizens had already gathered in Father’s chamber, or the Library as some liked to call it. At the sound of Diana and Elizabeth’s exclamation, the room full of shocked faces turned toward them. “You know him?” many asked in unison.

Ignoring the question, Diana approached Mark, her expression of shock turning quickly to anger. “It was you? You’re the cause of all this trouble? You’re the one who attacked William? Why would you do that? What are you even doing here?” she demanded loudly.

Mark’s face was flushed red as he struggled with his restraints. His expression was more of contempt than contrition. “I could ask you the same thing, Diana!” he yelled, lunging in her direction. “What are you doing here? And just how long have you been doing it?” he demanded loudly.

Taken aback, Diana responded, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Mark Aaron Rafferty!” Elizabeth exclaimed sternly as she approached the two.

The room was silent as everyone looked on with piqued curiosity.

As Elizabeth stepped between Mark and Diana, her diminutive figure was dwarfed by them both.
Pointing her finger at Mark, she began. “How dare you speak to a woman in that tone, young man! Your mother would be absolutely mortified if she heard you… if she could see you… like this! Diana asked a perfectly reasonable question. Is it true?” she demanded. “Are you the intruder who slashed my painting and attacked William?”

Mark’s expression showed a little more contrition at the rebuke of the old woman. “I’m sorry, Mrs. K… Yes… it was me. I’m sorry I wrecked your painting… but when I saw it…” his fists clenched. “I was so angry… I couldn’t see straight. But I didn’t attack those men… They came after me. I swear! I was only defending myself!”

Father came from behind his desk and made his way over to the small group. “What do you mean ‘those men?’ Do you mean to say that you have attacked someone other than William? Who?”

Before Mark had a chance to answer, Cullen stepped forward. “I… I think he means me, Father.” By this time, Cullen’s shirt sleeve was completely soaked through with blood, and it appeared to be dripping from his fingertips. His face was deathly pale. He winced in pain and began to sway a little from side to side. He might have fallen except for Kanin, who quickly stepped up to steady him.

Father’s attention had been so focused on the intruder that he hadn’t noticed Cullen’s bloody wound. “Good Heavens, Cullen!” Father exclaimed. “Were you just going to stand there and bleed to death? You should have said something right away. Kanin, can you help me get him to the Hospital Chamber? Mary, I will need your assistance as well.”

As the small entourage headed for the chamber exit, Father turned to the crowd. “This discussion is tabled until I return,” he barked. “Is that clear?”

The room was silent as everyone watched Father and the others disappear in the direction of the Hospital Chamber. Mark became nervous as, one by one, they began to turn their gazes in his direction. A crowd of menacing angry faces formed a semi-circle around him, slowly inching closer.

“What are we supposed to do with him now?” Sarah asked.

“He should go to jail,” Geoffrey suggested. “He could have killed William and Cullen,”

“Can’t go to jail,” Mouse said. “Up Top laws no good Below. Even Mouse knows that.”

“Maybe we could lock him up in one of the storage chambers,” Samantha offered as she squeezed through the crowd to get a look at the culprit. “A couple of them have doors with locks on them.”

“If we keep him locked up down here, we would have to keep him for the rest of his life. The last thing we need is another mouth to feed.” Sarah reminded them.

Jamie spoke up. “We can’t let him go back Above. He’s seen too much… What if he tells people about us… about all of this? What if he brings the police down? It will be the end of… everything.”

“Maybe we should just throw him into the Abyss and be done with it,” William bellowed. He winced in pain from his still-healing wound.

Despite their own personal grievances with Mark, Elizabeth, and Diana moved to shield him from the people in the crowd as they inched ever closer.

OoOoO

Kanin guided Cullen to the bed as soon as they entered the Hospital Chamber and helped the nearly unconscious man to lie down.

Father quickly cut off the sleeve of Cullen’s shirt. “Are you wounded anywhere else?” he asked. Cullen shook his head no and mumbled something unintelligible as he lost consciousness.

“Mary,” Father barked. “I’m going to need a…”

Mary handed him a tourniquet before he finished his sentence. She had worked with Jacob Wells for so many years that she could practically read his mind.

“We need to get this bleeding stopped before I can determine how serious it is. He’s clearly lost a lot of blood. Mary, please check our blood type index. He may very likely need a blood transfusion.”

“Mary?” he asked when she didn’t respond. He looked up to see Mary already holding a single index card with Cullen’s name written boldly across the top. “What is it?” he asked.

Mary’s eyes were wide, and her face had gone frighteningly pale. “O negative,” she replied, her voice almost a whisper.

“Is there anyone else in the index with that blood type?” he asked, fearing he already knew the answer.”

Mary shook her head. “No… Cullen is the only one.”

Jacob had a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. “Let’s at least start a saline drip. That might buy him some time.”

Mary had already anticipated his order and was gathering all of the necessary supplies. She reached into an ancient-looking icebox and retrieved an IV bag.

“I’m O positive,” Kanin said. “That’s close, right?  Can’t I donate my blood?”

Father shook his head. “No… You can’t. You can take his blood, but Cullen can only receive O negative. Anything else would kill him.”

Kanin caught his breath. “Then what are you going to do?”

“When was the last time we updated that index, Mary?” Father asked desperately as Mary hung the IV bag. I know I’m grasping at straws, but there might be a slight chance, he thought.

Mary thought for a moment. “We updated it a little over a year ago. Do you think one of our newer residents might…”

“I don’t know… but it’s worth asking.”

Father turned to Kanin. “Go back to the library… quickly… and find out if any of our newer citizens have O-negative blood. If no one there has it, put a message out on the pipes. There’s got to be someone down here with it. Make sure they know it’s a matter of life and death.”

Kanin nodded. Turning on his heel, he ran all the way back the way he had so recently come.

OoOoO

“You can’t just throw him into the Abyss!” Elizabeth exclaimed, horrified that any of her Tunnel friends would ever suggest such a thing.

Diana had a look of panic on her face as the crowd drew closer still. “That would be murder. We aren’t murderers here.”

“It’s not murder!” came an anonymous voice from the crowd. “It’s the death penalty!”

“Yeah! It’s the death penalty,” several in the crowd agreed loudly.

Several of the children in the chamber began to cry.

Diana and Elizabeth stood their ground. “Mark hasn’t done anything that would warrant the death penalty!” Diana said in Mark’s defense. “Are you seriously ready to convict him without any kind of trial?”

“We already know what he did,” William said. “What do we need a trial for?”

Vincent had kept to the shadows of the chamber in an effort to keep the intruder from getting a look at him. But as he observed his Tunnel family turning into a violent mob, he realized he must do something.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” he roared above the din of the crowd.

The room was instantly silent. The crowd slowly parted to reveal Vincent at the rear. People cowered as he made his way to the front. He reached Diana and Elizabeth and turned to speak.

“Dad!” Young Jacob came running out of the crowd and threw his arms around his father’s waist. “Everybody’s real mad, Dad. They want to hurt that man.” Jacob pointed to Mark, who was standing behind his two protectors.

Vincent looked directly at the prisoner. He tilted his head a little as if he was sizing him up.

Mark had already seen a depiction of Vincent on Elizabeth’s painted tunnel wall. And then, in the painting he had slashed. But nothing could have prepared him for seeing the man (If that’s what he is, Mark thought) in the flesh and in living color.

Looking back to the still silent crowd, Vincent’s voice was frighteningly calm. “Father told you all that this discussion was tabled until he returned. Are there any of those words which you failed to comprehend?”

There was only silence.

Vincent shook his head. “I have always considered all of you my family… but at this moment, I don’t recognize any of you. I’m so ashamed… I don’t even know what to say. You should all be ashamed of yourselves… Not only have you spoken of killing this man without due process, but you have done it in the presence of these children.”

The air was charged as silence continued to fill the room. Everyone hung their heads in shame at Vincent’s rebuke.

In the quiet, Kanin’s quickly approaching footsteps announced him before he arrived. Coming to a sudden stop at the top of the chamber steps Kanin tried to catch his breath.

“What is it, Kanin?” Vincent asked. “Is Cullen all right?”

Kanin shook his head. “He’s lost too much blood. Father says he needs a blood transfusion. He said it’s a matter of life and death.”

“I’ll donate blood,” Sarah said, stepping forward without hesitation.

“Me too,” Kipper spoke up for the first time since entering the room.

Several others raised their hands.

Kanin shook his head. “No… Cullen has O-negative blood. Father says it has to be someone with O negative. Anything else will kill him. Do any of you have that blood type?”

Every hand went down, and people looked around at each other, but no one else came forward.

“I’ll put a message out on the pipes,” Vincent said, moving toward the exit.

“I have O-negative,” a voice came from somewhere in the room.

Vincent turned but didn’t see anyone coming forward or raising their hand.

“Who said that?” Kanin asked. “Come forward.”

Two bound hands were raised behind Elizabeth and Diana. “I can’t come forward. I seem to be a little tied up at the moment,” Mark said.

Vincent and Kanin approached him. Kanin pulled Mark’s own pocketknife out of his jeans. It was still stained with Cullen’s blood.

As he reached to cut the ties that bound the prisoner, William stepped forward. “How can we be sure he’s telling the truth? Maybe he just sees this as a way to finish Cullen off.”

Kanin stopped and looked into Mark’s eyes. “Are you sure you have O-negative?”

“Why would I lie?” Mark met Kanin’s eyes with a steady gaze. “If your friend dies, you’ll all throw me into the Abyss, for sure.”

“You’ve got a good point,” Kanin concluded and released Mark’s hands and feet. “Come with me.”

As Diana and Elizabeth began to follow, Kanin said, “No, I just need him. You can stay here.”

Diana laughed sardonically. “Oh no, we won’t! I’ve got some serious trust issues right now, and I’m not letting Mark out of my sight until this is all resolved.”

Vincent noted the passion in Diana’s voice as she fiercely protected this man. It made him wonder what this stranger meant to her. It doesn’t matter now, he told himself. There are more urgent matters that need to be attended to.

Vincent placed his hand on Kanin’s shoulder. “It’s all right, Kanin. Let them go with you. I’ll take care of things here.”

Once they were gone, Vincent turned to those who remained.

“Samantha and Geoffrey,” he said. “I need you to see the children to their dorms, help them prepare for bed, and stay with the younger ones until someone relieves you. Mary will likely be helping Father in the Hospital Chamber until morning.”

They both took the assignment seriously. Samantha and Geoffrey had grown up in the Tunnels, and even though they were both 17 years old, they often felt as if they were still treated like children by many of their elders. They happily accepted any responsibilities that would prove to everyone that they truly were adults.

Kneeling down to his son, Vincent said, “I need you to go with Geoffrey and Samantha, all right?”

“Ahhh, Dad! I wanna stay with you,” he insisted. “I’m not a baby like them,” he insisted, even though several of the “children” were twice his age.

Overhearing Jacob’s protest, Geoffrey came up to him. “Hey, Jake, I don’t think I can wrangle all these kids on my own. Do you think you could do me a favor and be my assistant?”

Jacob’s chest puffed up with pride. He looked at Vincent and scolded him. “See, Dad; even Geoffrey knows I’m not a kid anymore!”

“Thank you,” Vincent whispered to Geoffrey as the boy left his father’s side to accept his new responsibility.

“No problem,” Geoffrey replied with a grin.

Vincent turned his attention to the rest. “Father will likely be in the hospital chamber for several hours. Nothing will be happening here tonight, so you should all return to your chambers. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail after everyone has had a good night’s sleep.”

There was a fair amount of grumbling as people reluctantly went their separate ways. It wasn’t until the chamber was nearly empty that Vincent noticed Jessica, Susan, and Alex.

“My apologies,” he said as he approached them. “In all the excitement, I forgot that you three were here. I wish you hadn’t witnessed all of that. Our community wasn’t showing its best qualities tonight. And Jessica…” he said with a tinge of regret. “I’m so sorry that all of this has ruined your time with Father.”

Jessica laughed a little. “No need to apologize, dear. I know this world will always come first with Jacob. I must say, it’s never boring down here, is it?  If I didn’t know better, I might wonder if you all plan these escapades to keep Jacob and me apart.”

Vincent smiled awkwardly. “Well, at any rate, it’s far too late for you to go above tonight. There’s an empty guest chamber next to Susan and Alex. I’ll escort you all there and see that you’re settled.”

“Lead on, Vincent,” Jessica instructed as she slipped her arm into Vincent’s and turned toward the exit.

OoOoO

As Father finished stitching the wound on Cullen’s arm, he sighed heavily.

Mary could see the deep worry lines on his face. “Will he be all right, Father?” she asked as she replaced the IV bag.

Father looked up at her and shook his head. “I don’t know, Mary. He’s lost a lot of blood, and the wound is deep. There could be nerve damage. His chances would be much better if he could have a blood transfusion.”

“Perhaps Kanin has found someone—”

Father shook his head. “It would be a miracle,” he said doubtfully.

“Well,” Mary said hopefully. “Ever since I met Vincent, I’ve been a firm believer in miracles.”

Just then, Kanin came into the room. “We found someone!” he said triumphantly.

“Well… don’t just stand there, my boy. Bring them in!” Father exclaimed.

“YOU?” Turning to Kanin, Father asked, “Was he the only one you could find?”

“Yes,” Kanin confirmed. “He was the only one,”

Mark shrugged his shoulders. “Take it or leave it, Doc.”

“I’ll take it,” Father said without hesitation. It was then he noticed Diana and Elizabeth standing just inside the chamber entrance. “I’m sorry, ladies, you will have to wait elsewhere. You too, Kanin. I can’t have people in here contaminating everything.”

As Kanin was walking them back to the Library Chamber, they met Vincent coming in the opposite direction.

“What’s happened?” Vincent asked. “I thought you two were going to the Hospital Chamber.”

“Father kicked us all out,” Kanin said.

Elizabeth huffed loudly. “He said he didn’t want us contaminating everything! Can you imagine?” she asked as she huffed again.

“Vincent, I’m worried,” Diana said, stepping closer to him. “Father and Mary won’t be able to stop that mob if they decide to come for Mark.”

Vincent’s heart went out to her as he saw the worry on her face. Again, he wondered, What does this man mean to her that she so passionately defends him?

Quickly brushing the thought aside, he put his hand on Diana’s shoulder. “I’ve dispersed the crowd. I sent them all to their chambers. I told them this won’t be resolved tonight.”

He tenderly brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, lightly caressing her freckled ivory skin. She leaned her face into the palm of his rough hand; she closed her eyes as a current of electricity coursed through her at his touch.

“If it makes you feel any better,” he whispered tenderly. “I will go and stand watch over the Hospital Chamber. I promise you, Diana. I will keep him safe.”

“Thank you, Vincent.”

“Why don’t you and Elizabeth use my chamber to get some rest? We will all need our heads to be clear in the morning.”

“Thank you for the offer, dear,” Elizabeth said kindly. “… but I don’t need your chamber. I’ll sleep much better in my own, especially now that I know there are no intruders with knives coming after me.”

“Very well, then,” Vincent replied. “Kanin, would you please walk Elizabeth to her chamber? Just to be on the safe side.”

“I don’t need an escort,” Elizabeth protested, fiercely protecting her independence. “I can find my own way.”

Kanin smiled. “Well then, you can escort me. I have sentry duty over on that side in an hour, and it would be great to have the pleasure of your company for part of the way.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it would be my pleasure,” she said, accepting his request.

As they watched them go, Vincent turned to Diana. “I’ll escort you to my chamber, and then I’ll go to the hospital chamber.”

“If you don’t mind, Vincent, I’d prefer to stand watch with you,” Diana suggested.

Vincent knew that arguing the point with this stubborn woman would be a waste of time. So, he held his hand out to her, and they headed back toward the hospital chamber.

“Don’t you trust me to protect him?” he asked as they walked.

Diana smiled and laughed softly. “Of course, I trust you. I’d trust you with my life. But I feel a personal responsibility to make sure that Mark is safe. I can’t help feeling that somehow all of this is happening because of me.”

“Did you show this man the way in?” Vincent asked in earnest.

“No.” She shook her head. “At least… I don’t think so.”

Vincent was hesitant to ask the question that was burning in him. He tried to hide it from her, but even without the bond he had once shared with Catherine, she was more perceptive than anyone else he knew.

“I can tell you want to say something, Vincent. Why don’t you spit it out before it kills you?”

Vincent stopped walking and turned to ask it face-to-face. “What does the man mean to you, Diana? Why do you feel the need to protect him so fiercely?”

Diana’s face flushed. She inwardly kicked herself. You’ve really stepped in it now, Diana, she thought. You should have known he would wonder. Just tell him! You idiot!

She took a deep breath and began. “Mark and I… we… I used to be his girlfriend. We were… lovers. We broke up several years ago… Until this week, I hadn’t seen or heard from him in years.” You see, she told herself.  That wasn’t so bad.

“And what happened this week?” he asked.

“A couple of days ago, he showed up on my doorstep… out of the blue… to wish me a happy birthday. We had pizza… talked about old times.”

Do you love this man? He desperately wanted to ask. You have no right to ask that! He inwardly berated himself for even thinking such a question.

“Is that all?” Vincent finally asked.

Diana nodded. “I was so surprised to see him here in the Tunnels… I was afraid for him. I still am. What they’re accusing him of. Vincent, the Mark I know… or used to know…he would never… I felt he needed someone to stand up for him.”

Vincent nodded, accepting her words at face value. Diana took his outstretched hand, and they continued to the Hospital Chamber,

“Will Father be angry that we came back?” she asked.

“No,” he said simply. “We will stay out in the corridor. We can watch for any sign of trouble, and if we are quiet, Father won’t even know we’re there.

OoOoO

Mark lay on a bed next to Cullen’s, watching his own blood flow into the man who had attacked him.

Father sat next to Cullen’s bed, carefully bandaging his wound. “How is it that you know Elizabeth?” he asked quietly.

“Mrs. K?” he asked, surprised that someone was actually speaking directly to him.

“Is that… what you call her?” Father said.

“All the kids used to call her that. But the adults called her Betty. We lived across the hall in the same apartment building. Her son was a few years older than me, but I really looked up to him… That is until he ran away when he was a teenager. His dad, Mr. K, was a real piece of work… always drunk…always yelling and beating on them. Mrs. K. was nice, though… a real sweet lady. Everybody liked her. She disappeared not long after her son left. Her husband told everyone she died of cancer… But we all suspected he’d done something… if you know what I mean… He was a garbage man, so everyone figured he’d put her body in a trash truck and dumped her in the landfill. He just went on with his life.”

“Good Heavens!” Mary gasped and held her chest. “Poor Elizabeth! No wonder she never spoke about her life Above!”

“My folks moved us out of there as soon as they saved enough money. They didn’t feel safe living that close to someone who might’ve killed his wife. They insisted I go to college… you know… so I could make a good living and never have to live in a hole like that again.”

He stopped speaking. These people actually live in a hole, he realized. The last thing I want to do is offend them. But as he observed them, they didn’t appear to be offended.

“I’m confused,” Mary said. “If you thought she was dead, then how…”

Without letting her finish, Mark answered. “I saw her by chance… up in Central Park a couple of years ago. I live in Chicago now, but I come back to visit my mother. One day, I was walking through the park, and there was Mrs. K going through the trash collecting old newspapers. When I called out to her, she was just as surprised to see me.” He smiled at the memory. “Boy, was I glad she wasn’t dead after all.”

“And just how did you find your way down here and cause all this… this… mayhem?” Father asked, clearly still angry about the whole situation.

“I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, Doc… really, I didn’t.”

Jacob began to examine Cullen. He shined a light into his eyes, listened to his heart, and then examined his fingernails carefully. “That’s enough blood. Mary, could you please finish up here? I need a minute.”

Mark watched as Mary worked to remove the tubes from the arms of both men. She looks like she’s homeless, he observed, but she obviously knows what she’s doing. There’s clearly more to these people than meets the eye.

“Is that it then?” Mark asked. “He’s done hearing my side?”

“Don’t worry, dear,” Mary said gently as she pressed a cotton ball to his arm. “He’s just washing up.” After wrapping his arm tightly, she explained, “This will have to stay on for a while,” she said, patting his arm. “We wouldn’t want it to start bleeding. Now stay right here; I’ll be right back.”

She returned quickly with a glass of Tang and a package of knock-off Oreo cookies. After placing them on a small table, she helped him sit up. “Don’t get up too fast. We don’t need any more patients tonight. You need to drink this and eat these cookies.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Mark asked. “Everyone else is ready to have me thrown into the Abyss… whatever that is.”

“Pish-tosh!’ Mary scoffed. “Nobody is going to be thrown into the Abyss. Anyway… you can’t be so bad. You just saved a man’s life.” She looked at him intently. “You didn’t have to do that, you know. You could have just kept quiet and let Cullen die. Nobody would have even known.”

“I would have known,” he reminded her. “I never intended to hurt anyone. You have to believe me. I certainly couldn’t stand by and let him die.”

She busied herself cleaning the room. “Mark?” She looked up. “May I… call you Mark?”

Mark nodded as he munched on the cookies.

“How did you find your way… down here? This place is a very closely guarded secret.”

Mark nodded again. “That’s what Elizabeth said. She insisted I make a solemn promise to keep quiet about it before she brought me in.”

“Why did she bring you in the first place?”

“I was worried about her living on the street. The way she was dressed… she looked like she was living pretty rough. But she insisted she was well taken care of… that she was happy. When I wasn’t convinced, she showed me her painted tunnel. But I was still skeptical. After all, I wouldn’t consider living in a cement sewer pipe being ‘well taken care of.’ But I guess it was better than the way she was living before. Anyway, she showed me what she calls her chamber… told me about all of her friends who help her. I can only assume she meant all of you. She made me promise I would never go any further than that chamber. After that, I made an effort to check in on her whenever I was in town. I always brought her a bag of groceries… sometimes paint or new paintbrushes. You know… things she likes.”

Just then, Father opened the curtain that separated the hospital beds from the main office. He was drying his hands with a well-worn towel. “If you promised Elizabeth you would never go any farther than her chamber… why did you break that promise?”

A shadow crossed Mark’s face. Finally, he answered. “I was coming to check on her the way I always do when I’m in town. She wasn’t painting in her tunnel where she usually is. So, I decided to check her chamber. We have tea there sometimes.”

“But she wasn’t there… was she?” Mary asked.

“No…” Mark’s face was grim. “but that painting was. When I saw her… Diana… with him… that freak-man… and a baby in his arms. I was so angry… I must have lost my mind for a moment. When I came to myself, I saw what I’d done. I’ve never been that angry.

“When I left the chamber, I started to go out the same way I’d come in, but then I felt so bad about destroying Elizabeth’s painting that I came back. I was going to wait for her and apologize. But that man came running out of her chamber and after me.”

“William?”

“The fat man with the beard… I don’t know his name. He came after me like a raging bull. His face was all red… He moves amazingly fast for a man that large, by the way. Anyway, I took off… I ducked into the first tunnel I found. I didn’t know where I was going… I just knew I had to keep ahead of him. But he kept coming. I finally came out at a river or something. There was nowhere else for me to go… so I took out my pocketknife and turned to face him. He came charging out of the tunnel and straight into my knife. I never had a chance to warn him or anything. When he went down, I turned around and ran back the way I’d come. I wandered around for a while. I finally came out near Elizabeth’s chamber. I was so relieved! I decided I better get out of there before someone else came after me.”

“You left William lying there?” Father asked. “He could have died!”

“No… I don’t think so,” Mark said, shaking his head. “It was only a pocketknife. And no offense, but that man has a very thick layer of fat on him. There’s no way my knife could have gone deep enough to do him any serious harm.”

Mark searched the face of the man people called ‘Father.’ Hoping against hope that he would believe him.

My gut tells me this man is telling the truth, Father thought. But I’m still not sure. “What about today?” he asked. “What made you come back when you were so afraid of William? Why did you attack Cullen?”

“Him?” Mark asked, looking at the man who lay unconscious on the next bed. “I never attacked him either. I felt terrible about what I did to Elizabeth’s painting. She didn’t deserve that. She’s never hurt anyone in her whole life. I came to apologize… to see if there was something I could do to make it up to her. As I was about to go into her chamber to see if she was there, a gang of them jumped out of the shadows and surrounded me. When I flashed my pocketknife, several of them backed off… but not him. He jumped on me like a tiger. He must have gotten cut when we were rolling on the ground. I was only trying to defend myself. I thought they were going to kill me for sure.”

Father sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “How can I know if you’re telling me the truth?” he asked. “Anyone in your situation would tell his side to his own advantage.”

“He’s tellin’ the truth,” a very groggy Cullen admitted. “That’s… that’s exactly how it happened.”

“Cullen? Are you absolutely sure?” Father asked, but Cullen had slipped back into a drug-induced slumber. “Cullen?”

Father quickly used his stethoscope to listen to Cullen’s heart and respiration while Mary checked his blood pressure. He looked questioningly at Mary.

She smiled a little and said, “His blood pressure is one-sixteen over seventy-two.”

Father sat down in the chair next to Cullen’s bed. “He’s going to be all right,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Thank heaven!” Mary said. “Thank you, Mark.”

Father nodded. “Yes, Thank you, young man. Without your blood… I don’t think he would have made it through the night.”

“You’re welcome,” was all Mark could think of to say. “So… what happens now?”

Father cleared his throat. “I believe we owe you an apology. You must understand that… in the past, intruders who have breached our sentry posts… have inflicted great harm here, even killed some of us.” He paused for a moment and stroked his beard thoughtfully. “In this case, however…it appears that we… may have overreacted. All of this trouble could have been prevented had someone simply asked you why you were here… or how you managed to find your way in… before they…”

Mark could see that the man was struggling to find the right words. “Hey, it’s okay. I guess you were all just trying to protect yourselves from a perceived threat. Is it okay if I… go home now?”

“Yes.” Father nodded. “I’ll find someone to lead you out.”

Mark stood and began to carefully put on his black leather jacket over his bandaged arm.

“I do have one more question, Mark,” Father said.

“Yeah, what’s that?’

“You and Diana… My impression is that you know each other. Is that right?”

Mark took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah… I guess you could say that… used to anyway.”

“Do you mind telling me how… or what… your relationship is exactly?” Jacob suspected that he already knew the answer.

“We used to be… a thing. We dated for a few years. We were lovers. It was pretty serious. I really thought Diana was the one, you know?” He shrugged his shoulders and smiled sadly. “We broke up about six years ago. But I still love her,” he stated boldly. “I thought she loved me too… once…” He huffed a little. “I might have been wrong about that.”

“Oh dear,” Mary said, placing her hand over her heart. “Oh my.”

“After we broke up…” he said, trying to clarify himself. “I left New York and tried to forget about her. But I can’t. I came back this time to see if there might still be… I don’t know… a chance for us… to get back together? I knocked on her door a couple of nights ago. I thought I’d surprise her for her birthday. I brought her favorite pizza. I thought it was a good sign when she let me in. It was just like old times. We ate pizza, drank some wine, and reminisced for hours. She even let me spend the night.”

Mark smiled wistfully and shrugged his shoulders. “I thought everything was going great… and then I saw that painting…”

OoOoO

Vincent and Diana had been standing in the outer tunnel long enough to hear nearly all of the conversation inside the hospital chamber.

Leaning against the tunnel wall, Vincent stiffened visibly when he heard Mark say that he had spent the night with Diana. Turning to look at her as she stood by his side, he could see that her eyes were wide, and her face and neck were bright red with… what? he wondered. Is she embarrassed? Is she angry? I wish I could feel what she’s feeling…

She began shaking her head. “Vincent,” she whispered, not wanting those inside the hospital chamber to hear her. “It isn’t what it sounds like… I mean, we didn’t…” Pull yourself together Diana! She inwardly screamed. “Nothing happened,” she whispered insistently. “He slept on the…”

“Diana,” Vincent said quietly. “You don’t owe me an explanation.”

Diana stopped. What does that mean? she wondered. Does he mean it doesn’t matter to him one way or the other?

Vincent had heard enough. He certainly didn’t want to hear any more. He pushed himself away from the wall and away from Diana and walked into the Hospital Chamber, trying to act as if he had only just arrived.

“Father?” he asked as he entered the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt. How is Cullen? Is he…”

Father turned around and nodded. “He’s doing much better,” Father assured him. “He’s going to make it… thanks to Mark.”

Vincent looked at Mark and nodded. “Thank you… Mark… for offering to share your blood with him. That was very generous.”

Mark nodded in return, squinting curiously as he took in the sight of this incredible and unique-looking person.

“Are people still waiting for us in the Library Chamber?” Father asked.

“No.” Vincent shook his head. “They were becoming… Let’s just say things were getting out of hand. I told them all to return to their chambers, and we would resume in the morning after everyone has had a good night’s sleep.”

“Good… that’s very good,” Father said appreciatively. “Then would you be so kind as to escort Mark back to Elizabeth’s painted tunnel? He knows his way out from there.”

“He won’t be staying for the meeting?” Vincent asked, implying that he had no idea of the conversation between Mark and Father.

“There’s no need. I am adequately convinced that this entire… uhm… unfortunate affair was a tragic misunderstanding… caused by a breakdown in communication on our part.” Then looking at Cullen, who was still asleep, he said, “We are all very fortunate that there has been no lasting harm from the whole thing.”

Vincent nodded. “Are you ready to go?” he asked, looking in Mark’s direction. At Mark’s obvious hesitation, Vincent added, “Diana is waiting outside. She will be going Above as well. She’s been very worried about you.”

“Mark!” Diana said as they were reunited in the corridor. “I’m so relieved to see you’re all right.”

Mark reached out to give her a hug. “Thank you! Thank you, Diana, for defending me back there.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do?” she asked, laughing nervously. “…let them throw you into the Abyss?”

Before either could say anything else, Vincent said, “If you will both follow me, I’ll show you the way out. We will have to be very quiet. If anyone wakes up and sees that we are releasing you, they might not understand.”

It was a long, quiet walk to Elizabeth’s painted tunnel. Vincent led while Diana and Mark followed behind him. As they finally reached a tunnel that looked familiar to Mark, Vincent stopped. “This is where you go out.”

“Yes, I recognize it,” Mark said. “Thank you, Vincent.” He tentatively reached out to shake Vincent’s hand.

Vincent readily accepted. “Mark,” he said. “I don’t think I need to remind you that these tunnels… are our home. If anyone out there were to know about this place… or about me… we would…”

Mark held up his other hand. “There’s no need to remind me. Elizabeth has reminded me many times. I’ve kept her secret… and I promise… I’ll keep yours. Despite all that’s happened, I… I believe you’re good people. Elizabeth and Diana wouldn’t be a part of all this if you weren’t.”

With that, Mark stepped into the painted tunnel.

“Mark,” Diana said. “You go ahead. I’d like to talk to Vincent for a minute.”

“Sure thing.”

As Mark disappeared, Diana turned to Vincent. “Vincent, I need to explain… I need you to understand…”

Vincent shook his head. “No… you don’t.”

“But I…”

“It’s late, Diana. We all need rest… more than anything else. You need to go home and sleep,” Vincent insisted. “Anyway, you probably need to have a talk with Mark as well. There will be plenty of time for us to talk when you come on Saturday for your surprise party.”

Diana was shocked. “You mean… you’re still throwing me a party… after all that’s happened?”

“Of course we are. Diana… you must know that you are an important part of this community… an important part of our family. Although it won’t be much of a surprise now… I have it on good authority that Alex and Jacob are looking forward to having a slumber party with Aunt Diana. So, bring your pajamas and plan to stay through the weekend.”

“Okay, then.” Diana smiled and nodded. “I guess I’ll see you Saturday.” She leaned in and lightly kissed his cheek. “And Thank you, Vincent… for protecting us tonight.”

Vincent reached into his pocket. Watching her disappear, he wrapped his hand around the small box he had been carrying there for several days. It was a long, quiet walk back to his chamber with only his thoughts to keep him company.

 

 

Chapter 9

Janet Rivenbark

 

Diana and Mark walked in silence for a while, and Diana was startled when Mark finally spoke.

“You and that… ah… Vincent, an item?” he asked,

“Yeah, kinda… sometimes I’m not sure,” she said with a shrug.

“How can you not be sure about something like that?” Mark asked.

“Well… It’s complicated,” she admitted.

“Isn’t it always?” he replied.

“Yeah, but this is different. Remember that case I was working on before you left?” she asked.

“The murder you were obsessed with? How can I forget?”

“Well, that was the Catherine Chandler murder. Catherine and Vincent were an item back then before she died.”

“And that little boy, Jacob… he’s theirs?” Mark deduced.

“That’s right. It’s taken Vincent quite a while to get over her death. To be truthful, I don’t think he will ever truly get over it, but he’s learned to deal with it… Sometimes I think that he’s ready for another relationship, then other times… like tonight… I wonder… Like I said, it’s complicated.”

They’d reached a fork in the tunnel, and Diana turned to the left.

“Where you going?” asked Mark. “Isn’t this the way out?” he pointed to the right.

“Yeah, but that is longer and comes out in an inconvenient place. This way,” she pointed left, “goes to a threshold in the Park. From there, it’s just a short walk to Central Park West and the 72^nd Street Subway Station.”

“You want to take the subway at this time of night?” he asked.

She looked at him and all but rolled her eyes.

“I’m not looking for trouble,” she told him, “but I am a cop.” She patted the large tote bag she had on her shoulder. “And I’m always armed. I think I can take care of myself… and you.”

They started walking again, and when they came to what looked like a dead end, Diana reached up and pulled a lever, and the round door moved to one side. She pushed open the iron gate, and they both stepped through.

“You go on; I’ll catch up,” Diana told him.

She watched him halfway down the tunnel before she reached up and pulled a hidden lever, and the door closed. She pushed the gate closed and followed Mark out.

He was waiting for her at the mouth of the culvert, and she was pleased to see that he checked to see if there was anyone around before they exited.

“I saw what you did,” he said as they headed for the street.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean, I didn’t see it, not how you closed the door, but I noticed that you sent me out to make sure I didn’t know how to get in from that place.”

“The fewer thresholds you know, the better,” she told him. “Old habits, as they say… So, where are you staying? I never asked.”

“Little hotel not far from your place,” he told her.

 

OoOoO

Vincent’s chamber was quieter than normal, with Jacob not there.

But he often stays in the dormitory, and he’d be asleep by now, anyway, he told himself, as he glanced at the little side chamber where his son usually slept.

He went to the table, sat, and pulled his journal and pen out of the drawer. Then he took the box out of his pocket and set it in the middle of the table.

The dark blue velvet-covered box was old and just a little bit worn, but what it held was new. And only two other people knew what the box held; his son and Abe, the jeweler who helped him find it.

He wasn’t sure if it qualified as an engagement ring or a wedding ring. He popped the box open and stared at it. It was just a simple gold band made in the shape of a Celtic knot. 

He’d instinctively known that Diana wouldn’t want anything flashy, and when he’d seen this ring, he’d known that it was the right one.

Now he wondered. The ring might be the right one for Diana, but was he the right one to give I to her?

He closed the box and put it in the drawer he’d just taken his journal out of. The pocket where he’d carried it for so many days felt empty.

OoOoO

The subway car was almost empty when they boarded, and Diana was surprised when Mark took a seat facing her from across the car.

Just as well, he’s keeping his distance, she thought.

“So, did you say when you were leaving?” she asked.

“I think I’m going to change my ticket,” he told her. “I’ll go see my mom tomorrow and then head to the airport and see what I can get to Chicago.”

They were quiet again until they reached their stop. Once on the street, Diana stopped.

“Which way?” she asked.

“I about a block that way,” he told her, pointing to the left. “But I’ll walk you to your place.”

“Don’t worry. I’m only a block that way.” She pointed right. “That was one of the reasons I chose that place: it’s close to the subway.”

“All right then… Maybe I’ll see you again next time I come to see Mom.”

“Yeah.” She would have normally offered a hug, but after what she’d overheard in the hospital chamber, she didn’t. She stuck her hand out to shake his.

He hesitated, then took it and shook it.

“Have a good trip,” she said, but Mark had the feeling she meant “Have a good life.”

OoOoO

Vincent met his son at breakfast the next day.

“Where’s Grandpa and Diana?” Jacob asked.

“Grandpa went back Above with Jessica this morning. He needed to get his things. He’ll be back this afternoon or maybe tomorrow morning. And Diana took Mark out last night and then went home.”

“We still having the surprise party?” Jacob asked.

“The party is still happening, although it’s not much of a surprise anymore. I told Diana to bring an overnight bag, since you and Alex were looking forward to a slumber party.”

“When is she coming?”

“She said she’d be here Saturday, as originally planned.”

“Is William going to make a cake?”

“William is still recovering from his injuries, so Mary and Sarah have taken over the cooking duties. And Jessica said that she’d get a birthday cake at a bakery Above. She’ll bring it when she comes back with Father.”

Satisfied that he knew everything that was going on about the party, Jacob dug into the hearty breakfast on the table in front of him.

He must be in another growth spurt, Vincent thought as he sipped his tea and watched. He’s eating more than me.

OoOoO

“Do you really think it can be repaired?” asked Elizabeth, looking from Mary to Sarah.

“Absolutely,” Sarah assured her. “I talked to a Helper who works in the restoration department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She’s never done it, but she’s watched the experts do it many times. She described the process, and I’m pretty sure we can do it.” She held out a basket. “She even gave me what we need to make the repairs. It will need to dry overnight; then, you can touch up the paint in the morning. We just need to be careful with it when we move it to the dining chamber for the party.

OoOoO

 

Father and son walked back to the chamber they usually shared, and Jacob went into his little side chamber for his schoolbooks.

“Dad, do you have a pencil I can have?” he asked as he came back.

“In the drawer in the table,” Vincent said absently as he also collected what he needed to teach the class they were both attending.

Jacob opened the drawer and was surprised to find the little blue box that he knew his father had been carrying with him for the last two weeks.

“Why is the box in here, Dad?” he asked. He remembered feeling some strange feelings from his father the night before, just as he was falling asleep. Seeing the box in the drawer didn’t seem right.

“I’ve been thinking about it, Jacob. And I think it might be best if I wait,” Vincent answered, turning to look at his son.

“But Dad, you promised!”

“I know. I promised, but I can’t make Diana go along with our plans. And I really don’t think that she’s ready. Maybe sometime, but not right now.”

Jacob looked almost as if he was about to cry, but he didn’t argue. But he did start to formulate a plan.

OoOoO

“Did you decide on a gift for Diana?” Vincent asked Saturday morning at breakfast.

“Yes!” Jacob’s face lit up as he reached for something in a bag he was carrying. Mary suggested that I give her a cookbook of some of her favorites of William’s recipes. I’ve been working on it since Thursday. William gave me twelve recipes that he knows Diana likes and let me copy them.” He handed a handmade book titled Diana’s Favorite Recipes from William’s Kitchen to Vincent.

The recipes were all neatly copied out in pen, and each page had a crayon drawing of the dish in the recipe.

“This is wonderful, Jacob. I’m sure she will love it, and I’m also sure no one else will be giving her a gift anything like it.”

OoOoO

 

Promptly at 11:00 that morning, Diana was met at the threshold she used by Geoffrey and Samantha.

Those two seem to be inseparable these days, she thought.

“Vincent asked that we give you this,” Samantha said, handing her a folded paper.

     Diana,

     Everyone Below still thinks that this is a surprise party. Susan, Alex and Jacob know it isn't, but no one else does. 

     All the children are looking forward to surprising you. Would it be possible for you to pretend to be surprised? Please?

     V~

Gonna test my acting skills, she thought with a grimace as she pocketed the note. I hope I can pull it off.

“Vincent said to take you to the guest chamber, then he will meet you in the dining chamber,” Geoffrey told her.

She chatted with the children as they walked.

“I really don’t need an escort to the dining chamber,” she told them when they reached the guest chamber. “I know the way.”

“That’s okay. We’ll wait,” said Samantha, and they both went out to wait in the tunnel.

OoOoO

The children were getting a little impatient as they all waited in the dining chamber. A few minutes before, there had been a message that Diana had arrived Below.

“She will be here in a few minutes,” he assured everyone. “Everyone should quiet down and prepare to jump out and shout Surprise! as soon as she comes in.”

He was surprised at the sudden quiet, and he looked around the chamber. The cake Jessica had brought sat prominently displayed on a table in the center of the chamber. It was an impressive cake, a flat sheet cake that looked like it would serve everyone in the room and still have some left over. The words ‘Happy Birthday, Diana’ were spelled out across the top, and there was a drawing in icing of a spiral staircase. There were some small gifts from the children stacked on the table around it, and behind the table was Elizabeth’s painting, covered with a cloth. They were ready.

He heard the pipes announce that she was on her way. And a buzz of conversation went up around the room. He raised his hand for quiet, and it stopped.

A moment later, Diana entered the room, and everyone leaped to their feet and shouted, “Surprise!”

Diana’s feigned surprise was impressive.

“Oh! Goodness! What in the world?” she exclaimed, smiling ear to ear.

People were shouting, “Happy Birthday!”

“Thank you!” she said. “Thank you.”

Geoffrey and Samantha escorted her to the table where Vincent, Jacob, Father, Jessica, Susan, and Alex were, to the side of the table with the cake.

“Your acting has improved, Sis,” Susan whispered as she hugged Diana.

“I aim to please,” Diana said with a grin. She looked over at the table. “Where did that cake come from? It’s huge.”

“Jessica brought it down when she heard that William wasn’t feeling up to baking a cake.”

“How is William? And Cullen?” she asked, trying to change the subject and direct it away from her.

“Both are on the mend.” Vincent pointed out Cullen sitting with Mouse and William sitting as close to the kitchen as he could get without actually being in it. Mary, Sarah, and Olivia seemed to be in charge of the kitchen for the time being.

Mary came out of the kitchen and called for everyone’s attention.

“Lunch will be served first,” she told everyone. “Then we will cut the cake, and Diana can open her presents. Everyone just line up at the buffet table, and we will get started.”

Diana was surprised when Susan came back to the table with a tray that held enough food for two people, but then she saw Cullen following her.

“Sit down, Cullen,” Susan said. “I have this.” She started setting plates out on the table in front of Cullen and her own chair. Alex had moved to sit with Jacob.

“I really can carry my own food,” Cullen protested.

“I heard Father tell you that you shouldn’t carry anything with that arm that weighs more than a pound, at least until he takes the stitches out. Something major was nicked and you are just lucky you didn’t bleed to death.”

Diana was hiding a smile when she glanced over at Vincent, who was also watching them and smiling.

“I guess she told him,” she whispered to Vincent, who nodded agreement. “That’s the same way she used to talk to Phil when she was trying to get him to do something that was good for him… Come to think of it, that’s the way our mother talks to our dad.”

Has Diana ever spoken to me that way? He wondered. Would she?

The conversation around the table covered the events of the last few days.

“Where is that guy?” Cullen asked. “Mark?”

“Back in Chicago, as far as I know. He said he was going home earlier than he’d planned.” Diana glanced over at Vincent to see if the fact that Mark had left town and that she didn’t care, had registered, but he was talking to Father.

The children were getting anxious for the cake and presents since they’d all eaten quickly to get to it sooner. It took much too long, in their estimation, for the adults to finish their lunch.  

Finally, the dishes were cleared, and stacks of plates were brought out for the cake.

“The birthday girl is supposed to blow out the candles and cut the cake,” Mary announced.

Diana went to the table to comply and was happy to see that there was only one candle on the cake. Thirty-eight wasn’t old, and she still didn’t have any gray in her hair, but she didn’t necessarily want to share her age with everyone. The children considered anyone over twenty-five ancient.

She blew out the candle to the sound of applause and “Happy Birthday” being sung. She took the large knife Mary handed her and made a cut to even more applause; then Mary took over cutting and serving the cake.

By the time they were done with the cake, the children had moved all the gifts to the table in front of Diana.

Most of them were wrapped in much-used gift wrap, newspaper comics, and some homemade paper with crayon drawings on white or brown paper. She got to Jacob’s, which was in a brown paper lunch bag with drawings on one side. The other side had the inscription:

     TO DIANA   FROM JAKE AND VINCENT

She looked from Jake to Vincent, then back at Jake.

“Open it!” Jake said with a grin.

The top was folded over, and when she opened it, she pulled out Jake’s homemade book.

“Wow! This is great, Jake! These are all my favorites that William makes. I can’t wait to see if I can pull them off at home. You’ll have to come and try them out. Thank you!” She reached out and hugged the boy.

“There’s more,” he whispered to her as he returned her hug.

She looked into the bag and sitting at the bottom was a rather beat up, blue velvet box. It looked like a ring box. When she lifted it out of the bag, she heard Vincent gasp.

When she looked over at him, he was deep in conversation with Jacob.

“Jacob. Why would you do that?” she heard him ask his son.

“You said it would make us a family,” Jacob explained, on the edge of tears. “I want us to be a family.”

“But it shouldn’t have been done in front of all these people,” Vincent said. “You shouldn’t have put her on the spot like that.”

She put her hand on Vincent’s arm to get his attention.

“I put it back in the bag. No one saw it. I wasn’t put on the spot. We can talk about it later.” She put the book back in the bag and set it to the side, and went on to open and exclaim over the remaining gifts.

The last one was the painting, and when it was unveiled, Diana was stunned.

“It’s beautiful, Elizabeth!” She couldn’t take her eyes off the painted Vincent. “Thank you!”

“It isn’t just from me,” Elizabeth told her. “I had help. Someone found the canvas, Cullen made the frame, Mouse brought me paints, Jamie helped me get your hair color just right, and Mary and Sarah repaired the damage that was done when Mark slashed it.”

OoOoO

The children helped her carry all the gifts back to the guest chamber afterward. She carried the large painting to keep it safe. Vincent had taken Jacob aside, and she wasn’t sure where they were.

She propped the painting against a wall, then took the box out of the bag and, still without opening it, went back to Vincent’s chamber to wait.

When Vincent arrived back at his chamber, Diana was sitting in his chair, and the box was in the middle of the table.

“I’m sorry Jacob put you on the spot like that, Diana,” Vincent started when he saw her.

“I told you, I wasn’t put on the spot. No one knew that it was in that bag except Jacob and me… and you. And I still don’t know what is in the box.”

“Perhaps it’s better that you don’t know what is in it.” He reached for the box, but Diana beat him to it and put her hand over it.

“But it’s my birthday gift,” she pointed out.

“But I told Jacob that it wasn’t meant as a birthday gift. When I put it away, he went behind my back and took it to give to you without my permission,” he said, sitting on the side of the bed.

 “Did you intend to give it to me?” she asked. She was pretty sure what was in the box, but she wasn’t going to name it just yet. She needed to get to the bottom of this reticence.

“I did, but then…”

“Then Mark spent the night at my place, and you overheard what he said in the hospital chamber,” she put in when he hesitated. “I told you that nothing happened. Do you think I lied to you?” There was an angry edge to her voice.

“I know you didn’t lie, but it made me think that perhaps I was wrong in my thinking.”

“We can’t know that if you don’t tell me what you are thinking!” she pointed out.

Bennett’s tended to be loud when they argued, and she was trying to keep her voice down.  

That finally got through to Vincent. Catherine had said the same thing a few times; said that she wished that the Bond that he had with her went both ways, so she’d have more of an idea of what he was feeling. He had no Bond with Diana but he was making the same mistakes he’d made then. He was shutting down for fear of being hurt. But as Chaucer would say, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” He needed to remember that.

“It’s a ring, Diana. A wedding ring or an engagement ring; I was going to ask you to marry me.”

At his first words, Diana’s heart sped up, but when he got to the last phrase, “I was going to ask you to marry me,” the word WAS stood out like a sore thumb.

“WAS?” she questioned. “You’re not anymore?”

“Would you accept?” he asked, still aware he was protecting himself too much.

“You’ll have to ask me to find out,” she told him, then looked away. If she looked at him much longer, she would start shouting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” and sound like Meg Ryan in that movie.

Vincent surprised her by moving quickly. Before she realized it, he was on his knees in front of her, and he’d put his hand over hers where it still rested on the box on the table.

“Diana,” he said, reaching up and gently moving her head so that he could see her eyes. “I love you. Will you marry me?”

Then she threw her arms around his neck and did her best impression of Meg Ryan, and she almost embarrassed herself by bursting into tears, but she managed to avoid that, even though she saw tears in Vincent’s eyes.

She cradled his face between her hands.

“And I love you too,” she said, then kissed him.

 OoOoO

When they arrived at dinner a few hours later, Diana was wearing the ring. When Jake saw it, he ran up and hugged her.

“Will we be a family now?” he asked.

 

END