Chapter 5

The men rushed out of the cabin with the intention of driving the SUV to where the strange woman claimed she buried the poor girl. Tim’s hand was on the door handle when she beckoned him back to the center of the snow-laden driveway.

“Hold hands,” she said briskly as she positioned them into a circle of which she stood in the center.

It took her forcefully barking the order a few more times before they stopped giving bewildered looks and grabbed each other’s hands. Almost immediately, the world swirled around them until they could see nothing but particles of snow twirling past their heads at breakneck speed. When it stopped, and their vision cleared, they found themselves deep in the woods on what they guessed was a logging road.

Mark struggled to keep a steady stance on legs that felt like jelly while he did his best to prevent his stomach from purging its contents.

“Did we just teleport?” Edwin asked as he massaged his bruised neck.

“Ye have an injury on thy neck,” Agatha observed.

“The stairs were icy and it was dark when we arrived,” Edwin explained.

“He did a good job at protecting himself when he tumbled,” Tim said proudly. “Probably all the martial arts he does.”

“Martial arts?” Agatha said with a bewildered look.

“It’s a form of self-defense,” Edwin explained.

“Come here,” she said as she extended her hand; seemingly disinterested in his explanation.

He hesitated briefly, but something in her look made him trust her. She motioned for him to bend low so that she could place her slender hand on the back of his neck. She said something in a language he couldn’t understand and then gently massaged his bruised muscles. He felt relief all the way to his toes. In fact, the sensation felt so spectacular that he actually got an erection. He was thankful that his parka was long enough to cover the evidence.

“Where’s the girl?” Mark asked.

There was a hint of panic mixed with doubt in the recesses of his friend’s voice that Edwin had never heard before. Or was it fear? He couldn’t tell.

“She is beneath thy feet,” Agatha said softly. “Although, when I put her here, there were only trees. ‘Tis why I need thy help. I cannot hold the protection in tact while digging her out from beneath the substance now here. When she is unearthed, the risk of him sensing her location will be stronger than ever; even with my protection. We must act quickly and then flee.”

“It looks like a thin layer of macadam,” Tim said thoughtfully as he squatted onto his heels and dug the snow from the road with his gloved hands.

“We’ll need tools,” Edwin said thoughtfully.

“I can’t believe you guys are actually contemplating digging up a public road because of some fantastic tale this woman tells,” Mark exclaimed as he threw his arms into the air with disgust.

“We don’t know if this is a public road,” Edwin said as he squatted next to Tim and inspected the road’s surface as best he could through its snowy covering. “This doesn’t look thick or well made. I’m guessing it was done privately to offset trucks driving on a muddy, rutted road.”

“I can’t believe this,” Mark said as he adjusted his hat around his reddened ears. “Count me out.”

“Fine,” Tim growled. “You go back to the cabin and pack us up. We’re leaving just as soon as we locate the girl.”

“Do you hear yourself?” Mark asked incredulously.

“Just do it, will you?” Edwin asked as he locked eyes with Mark.

“I don’t understand you two at all,” Mark said as he started down the road. “Where the hell am I, anyway? How far is it back to the cabin?”

“If ye wish, I shall return thee,” Agatha snipped.

“I’ll walk, thank you,” Mark said as he put his hands in front of him as if for protection. “Just point me in the right direction.

“One mile east,” Agatha said before turning her attention to Tim.

“Well, at least it’s not too far,” Mark grumbled to himself. “I suppose you want me to bring the SUV here to load your fictional girl into after you’ve dug her up?”

“Good idea,” Tim said as he used his hands to clear away as much of the snow as he could. “I don’t think this road gets used much. The snow’s not packed like you’d expect.”

“Another reason to think it’s private,” Edwin said.

“What is an SUV?” Agatha asked with genuine curiosity.

“It is a wagon that propels itself without the use of horse or oxen,” Edwin explained after deciding that one of two things were happening. Either she was truly a magical being who was telling the truth - in which they needed to act fast- or she was his future patient who he felt it best to humor for the time being; especially since she was able to – somehow- impair a person’s mobility as well as teleport them from one place to another.

Tim and Edwin stood up simultaneously.

“We can’t dig through this without a pick axe,” Tim said.

“Do you think your uncle might have something like that at the cabin?” Edwin asked.

“I know he has an axe to chop wood,” Tim mused.

“If this layer of macadam is as thin as I think it is, that would work,” Edwin said with a semblance of eagerness.

“I shall return ye to your cottage to fetch it,” Agatha said to Tim. She turned to Edwin. “Ye remain in this spot and continue to remove snow.”

“Will do,” Edwin said with a warm smile.

Agatha looked taken aback - only briefly- before she returned his smile and took Tim’s hand.

Edwin watched in amazement as the air around his friend and the strange, attractive and undeniably magical woman swirled to the point he could no longer see them. When it stopped, they were gone, and the air had a peaceful – yet eerie – feel.

He stood for a moment and considered what was happening. Was there really a woman buried beneath a snow laden macadam road? Lord help him, but he believed there was. It was like he could feel her beneath him, waiting. He shook his head to clear it. What insanity possessed him and his friend to make them go along with destroying a road – be it public or private – to dig up a woman who, if she had been buried beneath it, was clearly dead by now? If he had any sense, he’d be walking back to the cabin with Mark.

His mind flitted from rational to irrational as he considered Agatha’s story. Was she an actress, like Mark suggested? An escaped patient, perhaps? How could the odd things she managed to do be explained? He could understand the possibility of an illusion being created for her looks, but what about the teleporting or the way Mark froze?

He looked for signs of an air tube sticking out of the ground, but found none.

“This is insane,” he mumbled to himself as he got down on his knees and began to clear the area Agatha insisted she’d buried the girl in with his gloved hands.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts about what was real and what was insanity, that he didn’t notice Tim and Agatha had returned until Tim rested the head of the axe on the ground next to him.

“I believe that’s cleared enough, buddy,” Tim said. “I found only one axe. Do you want to start, or should I?”

“Since I’ve never swung an axe, I’ll let you do the honors,” Edwin said as he stood and backed away from the cleared area.

Knowing that he would have to take over for Tim at some point, Edwin paid careful attention to the way his friend held and swung the axe; as well as how he placed his feet. It looked as if the axe was reverberating back at Tim, but his friend made no complaint as he continued to attack the macadam.

Edwin waited a few minutes before offering to take over.

“It has a kick,” Tim said with mild breathlessness as he handed the axe to him.

“I noticed,” Edwin said as he rotated his shoulders and prayed the ‘kick’ wouldn’t accentuate his already abused shoulder blades. It was then that he realized he hadn’t felt any soreness or pain since Agatha massaged his neck.

“Where are we supposed to hide once we get her out of there?” Tim asked in earnest as he watched Edwin attack the macadam.

“I know not,” Agatha admitted. “So much is changed.”

Edwin was considering stopping and suggesting they grab Agatha and escort her to the nearest hospital when the macadam cracked open. A surprised look consumed him as he peered through the crack. Either his eyes were deceiving him, or there was something beneath the macadam that didn’t belong there.

Tim slid onto his knees and started pulling large chunks of macadam away. Edwin tossed the axe and quickly joined him.

“You were right about it being a thin layer. I can’t imagine this would even hold up under a heavy logging truck,” Tim said as he tossed a large chunk over his shoulder.

“It’s a bit odd,” Edwin muttered, “but then, everything about this is odd.”

Both men froze as they peered into the peaceful face of a girl in what looked to be a glass coffin.

Edwin’s heart skipped a beat. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. Her eyes were closed, but he just knew they were lovely. How could they not be since the rest of her was stunning? Her dark brows were set in a natural arch over her large eyes. They were of the perfect shape and thickness. Her nose was perfectly centered between her eyes. It ended just above a set of full, luscious, lips. Medium brown hair that matched her brows and thick lashes framed her oval face. Her natural beauty required no makeup to enhance it. Edwin was almost paralyzed with awe.

“Dear god,” Tim gasped. “Is she alive?”

“Aye,” Agatha said as she pushed her way past the stunned men. “We must hurry. Now that the coffin has been exposed, the air inside shall dissipate quickly.”

“Shit!” both men said simultaneously.

Edwin grabbed the axe and broke away enough of the macadam and soil to allow Agatha easy access to the secured closures on the coffin.

“It’s all glass,” Tim observed with curiosity. “How did it hold up under the pressure?”

“With magic,” she replied. “Sadly, time has weakened it. She runs the risk of suffocating.”

“Not on my dime,” Edwin hissed as he cleared away the last of the soil covering the coffin.

“What is a dime?” Agatha said. Then, thinking better of it, she shook her head and focused on the matter at hand. With the flick of her wrists and a few spoke words in that language neither man understood, the coffin popped open.

Edwin feared they were too late as he stared at Kira’s still and lifeless body. When he heard her suck in air and saw her chest rise as she did, his body flooded with relief and gratitude. He’d never met this beautiful woman before, but he somehow felt connected to her. Just one more thing to add to the list of unexplainable since Agatha arrived.