Chapter 14

A sudden thought occurred to Elijah and he leaned toward Kol. "Don't say anything more. Let me talk to them."

Kol frowned with annoyance and disagreement, but kept his mouth shut. He stared out at the visitor, their numbers augmented by additional arrivals.

"Hello. I am Kol's older brother Henry. Can you hear me?" Elijah had moved closer to the wall.

The other three siblings stared at Elijah for a moment. Why was he giving a false name?

"We can hear you," several people outside answered. Others nodded or just stared, awed or frightened by the wall that made the speakers invisible.

"We are the Martin family. Kol, Henry, Elizabeth and Mary. As Kol has said, we were in St. Louis and then we were here." Elijah deliberately chose names that did not resemble their real names, except for Kol, of course. He wanted to remind his younger brother to spell his name C-O-L-E if anyone asked, but that would have to wait.

A lot of questions came from the crowd. Several asked about Mrs. Anderson.

Elijah came up with an answer. "When we arrived and went into the house, we found a woman sitting at the kitchen table. She had passed away, perhaps the day before. I suspect it may have been from a heart problem. Since we could not leave here to tell anyone, we gave her a Christian burial in among her lovely flowers."

He could see several people looking sad over the passing of their neighbor. More mixed questions followed.

The man named Al had also joined the crowd. He spoke up. "Is Chuck with you?"

"There is no one else here," Elijah said. "We have walked over the property within the invisible wall and found no one else. Just several animals." After a pause, he added, "I have to ask a favor of you people. There is a very dangerous man who has been threatening our family. He is not right in the head, a bit insane. If he hears of this farm and our presence here, he may come looking for us. I ask that you not tell other people of this invisible wall."

"How can we keep it quiet?" a man asked. "I'm sure someone from around here will want to tell of this magical wall."

"Please do the best you all can. The man I mentioned is very devious and dangerous," Elijah warned. "Now, if you will excuse us, we have farm chores to do." With that statement, he turned and urged his siblings toward the porch and into the house.

"Why did you tell them that?" Kol asked. "Mikael's dead."

"Our father is not dead in this time period," the older brother explained.

"That's quite possible," Freya agreed, nodding.

"That's just great!" Kol said with a snort and throwing his hands in the air. "Now we gotta worry about dear old Dad coming after us again."

"He likely won't find us," Freya said hopefully.

"He will if this place becomes famous. It's just the kind of thing that would attract him," Rebekah said.

"We have to go on as if he will not come," Elijah said. "And let us not make talking to the outside a frequent thing."

"Maybe we could establish a schedule," Freya suggested. "You know, like chat from one o'clock until two. Something like that."

"I'd like that," Kol agreed. "It's a nice change to have other people to talk to."

"Maybe twice a week," Elijah said nodding, although he wished no communication had been established at all. He looked out the east window and saw that some of the visitors had left, while others remained, enthralled by the strange phenomenon. Chuck's friend Al had left, and Elijah hoped he did not come back.

The rest of the day crept by with those inside the wall going about their business. They could not forget the people outside who came to gawk at this mysterious thing. The folks were in awe of it. So, anytime work outside the house had to be done, those inside wondered if they could be seen, even though they knew they could not. Or hoped they could not. Otherwise, they would feel like animals in a zoo.

Along with the chores, each found time to do something that they liked to do. Kol managed to tune the guitar. He took it out on the small front porch and practiced on it. He wondered if the sound carried beyond the barrier. Elijah took the time to do some reading while there was daylight.

At the dinner table Kol told Elijah and the others, "I want to talk to some of them. I can't just ignore them. I can't help looking to see who is there and what they're doing. The expressions on their faces are priceless!"

"That's the truth," Rebekah said with a chuckle. "Even now as evening comes on, there are at least two people out there."

"Let us hope they do not come snooping during the night," Elijah said. "I wonder if the wall still makes us invisible at night."

"Why wouldn't it?" Kol asked, eating his vegetables. They had no meat, and they had found no fish bigger than the minnows in the creek. Of course, no one but Kol had been in the creek and he had not seriously been looking for fish.

"We haven't tested the barrier at night," Freya said, "but I'm sure it's there. Whether or not it makes us invisible at night is something we don't know."

"I just do not wish to discover that men can get to us at night," Elijah said.

"You worry too much, big brother," Kol said. "After we finish here, I'll go out and see if I can walk away."

"And what if you did get out? What if you couldn't get back in?" Rebekah asked.

"I guess I'd just go to town." Kol grinned, thinking of the possibilities.

"Alright. Let us find out right now," the older brother said. He was finished eating, so he stood up. "I'll get a bucket of water. One of you bring a candle."

Freya was not quite finished with her meal, but she left it. Rebekah picked up one of the two lit candles on the table and followed the other three out onto the back porch. With no modern town lighting to obscure the stars, a million of them shone down on the farm. There was a moon, but at the moment it was obscured by a small cloud.

The four people approached the area where they knew the wall stood. In fact, they could see the candle flame reflected in its slick surface.

"I don't see anyone out there," Kol observed. "Guess they all went home."

"Country folk go to bed early," Freya said. "Although I recall many a night when a group of us sat around a camp fire or in front of a blazing hearth and chatted for an hour or two in the dark."

"I certainly recall that kind of life," Elijah agreed. "There was story-telling and the singing of songs. It depended on what country or culture we were in."

"Some of the old tales of fights and wars and the gods used to scare me when I was little," Rebekah said.

"I loved those stories!" Kol said. "Okay, are you going to throw the water or what?" he asked Elijah.

Elijah did throw the water from the bucket at the invisible barrier. The water sizzled and the wall threw sparks so that the water was gone to steam in a moment. Kol moved close to where the ground was wet, the blades of grass sparkling in the candle light. He cautiously reached out until his fingers touched the softly buzzing wall. Gritting his teeth, he continued to feel the glass-like material, moving his hand and feeling the holes. The power charge caused pain, not only in his hand, but also up his arm and to his shoulders. His muscles spasmed and he pulled his hand away. Before he lost his nerve and with a grunt, he shoved his fist forward, hoping it would pass right through, but it didn't. He bruised his knuckles and broke a bone. Cursing, he pulled his fist back and hugged it to his chest.

"I guess you aren't going to town tonight," Rebekah informed him with a grin.

"Shut up!" he growled. He aimed a hard kick at the wall. Luckily he had good shoes on his feet so he didn't break a toe also.

"Let me see your hand," Elijah ordered, setting the bucket down. He took hold of the bruised hand and ignoring Kol's curses, felt for the broken bone and pushed it into place. In a moment the break was healing. He then felt various parts of the hand, searching for any other breaks, but felt none.

Kol took his hand back, flexed it and muttered, "Thanks."

"If there was someone out there right now, we could ask if they could see the light," Freya mentioned. However, she liked the feeling of security in knowing they were safe inside the barrier she had conjured. She also liked the privacy, so she didn't want anyone to be able to see inside. Kol seemed to be the only one frustrated by their confinement.

The young man turned and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Elijah asked.

"The outhouse. Do I need your permission?"

"No."

"Just checking," Kol muttered and headed for the tiny building.

A/N Hope you all liked this chapter. More to come.