Chapter 6

A chill slipped through Samantha. She wanted to question Mari further about this but perhaps it would be better to question John first. Memories of her own childhood tugged at her. The ability to sense someone coming through the mist had always made her feel separate from the rest of her siblings and even from other children. She never told anyone about her dreams except her mother. Her mother had told her it was a secret and to tell no one. She had, until her father realized that she could predict newcomers. As far as she was aware, no one else in the family possessed a similar ability. She always felt that if just one other person had possessed the same ability, maybe she would not have felt so alone.

Sighing, she patted Mari on the head and got up to prepare the cookies. The children were helpful but subdued. The usual playfulness that accompanies things like camp outs and cookie baking were absent. Samantha realized that she probably missed it even more than the children.

After the cookies were done and while they were cooling, she got everyone bathed and ready for bed without a fuss. Then, they all sat down on the sofa in the living room with their cookies and milk. Samantha sat between Tyler and Dylan while Colin and Mari sat on pillow on the floor on each side of her legs. Samantha read a story to them that was light and had a happy ending. Bad dreams must not give them any more to fret about. When she finished the two at her elbows were nodding off.

She shook them gently and said, “O.k. guys, that is a nice compliment. I bored you to sleep. Now, all of you off to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow and get things ready for Mom, Dad and Lily.”

Four sleepy children followed her up the stairs and fell into their beds. She went to each one and tucked them in and kissed them good night. Mari reached up and clutched Samantha’s wrist.

“Aunt Sam?”

“Yes, sweetie?” She sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

She plucked at Samantha’s sleeve. “You won’t tell mom and dad what I said about Lily, will you?”

“Why would that be a problem, Mari?”

She didn’t respond but looked at the wall opposite.

“Were you not supposed to tell me about Lily?” Surely, John would not tell his children to keep such heavy secret, especially with the knowledge of how difficult it had been for his sister to carry the same burden.

“No, that’s not it. I don’t want Lily to get into trouble. She sometimes tells me things that I don’t think she is supposed to tell.”

Samantha smiled. Lily was precocious but what on earth could a three, nearly four year-old child possibly tell that was so secret? “Mari, I don’t think your mother and dad will mind. I am sure Lily doesn’t have any really big secrets. Besides, sometimes it is best not to keep secrets.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well,” she paused, remembering how important secrets had been to her. “Sometimes a secret might cause someone to get hurt. That kind of secret should be told.”

Mari was silent for several minutes. “I don’t think this would cause someone to be hurt.”

“Then perhaps it is a good secret and you should keep it. You have to figure out what is a good secret. If some will be hurt you must always tell.”

She turned over and pulled the covers up over her shoulder. “I think I better sleep on it, Aunt Sam. My head is hurting from so much thinking.”

Samantha smiled and tucked the blanket in. “I quiet understand, Mari. That happens to me frequently. Sleep tight.” She tiptoed from the room.

On her way downstairs, she pulled bedding from the hall linen cabinet and made up the couch in the living room. It would be a long night but at least she could be comfortable. John had shutters on his windows like the ones her father had made for their house. She made sure all of them were bolted and the doors were locked and bolted. Only then did she extinguish all the light and lie down.

The moon was already high and cast a sliver light around the room. Samantha watched for a long time as the moonlight bars shifted across the floor and furniture as time flowed past her. This was the kind of night when sleep played hide and seek.

The clock began to strike on the mantle and Samantha counted two and shifted onto her side so she faced the back of the sofa. She had to sleep. The children were early risers and she would have to have breakfast ready for them when they got up.

Newcomers slipping through the mist secretly. For the first time in two days she felt a certain thread of fear. Perhaps it had been nagging at her all along and she hadn’t acknowledged it. Tonight, in the dark and alone, she began to grasp the impact of that single action. Every person who had come ashore, in her memory, had done so openly. They didn’t know where they were, didn’t know it was a one way trip, and they needed supplies. Because of this, they never tried to hide their arrival. She knew of only the one incident that had so distressed her mother and father, when the newcomer had arrived in secret and killed a resident.

And that, she realized, was at the core of her fear. There could be no good reason to keep an arrival secret.