Chapter 25

Elijah had already started his notations in the ledger book. He now added the day and date. It just seemed logical to him to keep track of such things. He also considered that he should take an inventory of the food supplies. It worried him that they might be in this alternate existence too long and run out of food. With Freya losing her powers, she could not be counted on to restock everything.

The day passed without further incident. Mikael did not come back, although the four inside people frequently checked. Freya felt better and insisted on helping make the evening meal. She admitted to herself that the other three were managing to get everything done without her help and she realized that she had misjudged their expertise in doing many things. Of course, they had had centuries of taking care of themselves and any animals dependent on them. According to their accounts, they had sometimes been rich and had servants, and sometimes not. Poor, in fact.

Looking at Kol's shirt and then Elijah's, she said, "We should wash some clothes tomorrow."

"I shall have nothing to wear if you wash mine," the older brother said.

"Who is going to see you but us?" Rebekah said with a snort.

"Nevertheless, I would feel uncomfortable. I suppose I could just wear my underwear and wash them later."

"Kol, you can wrap something around your hips while we wash your clothes," Freya said.

"Like a Scottish kilt, huh? And what are you ladies going to wear?"

"Luckily, we have things left behind by Mrs. Anderson. If you want to wear one of her dresses, be my guest," Rebekah said with a smirk.

"I would if she was anywhere near my size, which she wasn't. Besides, I have a good body. Why should I hide it?"

"Egotist! Perhaps we don't want to see it," Rebekah said. She was not referring to his whole body, and they all knew it.

"This is not a nudist camp. Let us all cover ourselves decently," Elijah suggested.

"We have two brothers," the younger sister said to the older. "The exhibitionist and the prude."

"And where do you rank yourselves?" Kol asked.

"Somewhere in between you two." Freya had to smile, and Rebekah nodded.

The four of them spent the evening after dinner playing a card game at the big kitchen table where the two candelabras sat. By using the one room, they saved candles.

"Watch Kol carefully," Rebekah said to Freya. "He cheats."

Kol just smiled. If he was the dealer, he sometimes did cheat. In this game, they had no money. Instead they each had a small pile of pebbles to used for betting. Although Kol considered that strip poker might be very interesting, he refrained from suggesting it. They would not go along with that idea, he knew.

Both Elijah and Kol walked the perimeter of their "prison" before retiring for the night. They did not spot anyone, including Mikael, anywhere.

But Mikael was there. He was positioned on the top of the rise to the east, the one between town and the farm. He had been there since just before sunset. Sitting in the tall grass, he held a spy-glass, a telescope, so that he could train it on the barrier. Looking very carefully, he had managed to see some of the tiny holes in the force field. He had been looking at one when a bee flew right through and disappeared inside.

He studied the invisible, yet visible, wall behind which was a house and barn. He was sure the house was near the northern end because that was where the thin wisp of smoke appeared, most likely from a kitchen hearth. He hoped to see some shadow of the house as the sun sank low in the west, but no shadow appeared on the barrier. However, one area appeared darker through the holes and he assumed it was the shadowed side of the house. When the sun had gone down and darkness gathered, he found spots of light and guessed that these were from candlelight in windows. He smiled to himself. When the last of the lighted spots disappeared, he walked over the rise to where his horse was tethered and grazing, and he rode away to his campsite.

During the wee hours of the morning, Elijah got up and went outside in his underwear. He walked around the house, looking and listening. After a few minutes, he decided no one was there and he returned to his bed. He could not help worrying about Mikael, and he hoped they were safe within the magic barrier.

The rooster woke him per usual. He was not ready to get up, so he lay there for some time just thinking. This time he knew it was the seventh day. He wondered how his brother Niklaus was doing. Having had the evil dagger in his own abdomen some time ago, he knew the hybrid was suffering. Maybe it was something Niklaus deserved. After all, it had been he who had stabbed him, Elijah. The middle brother had also bitten Elijah at a different time so he would suffer from the effects of werewolf venin. That had been cruel, but on the other hand, Hayley had taken care of him while he suffered.

With a sigh, he got up and pulled on his trousers, which he noted were getting rather dirty. So were his shirt and socks. Today would be the day they washed clothes. He looked into Freya's room and found it empty. That was not surprising because he could hear two female voices down in the kitchen. He saw that Kol's door was open and that room also was empty.

Down in the kitchen he found the two women talking. Freya was holding the milking pail.

"I told her I would milk the cow this morning," Rebekah said to her older brother.

"I can do it! I feel fine this morning," Freya insisted. "I will die of boredom if I sit around here today doing nothing." She scowled at both of her siblings.

"Alright. But if you feel weakness again, call one of us. Do not carry the pail up from the barn." Elijah looked sternly at his older sister. "Where is Kol?"

"Visiting the 'potty,'" Rebekah said. She made a face of disgust. She was too spoiled by the niceties of modern plumbing. The outhouse was known for odors,

In fact, they heard him come to the porch and wash his hands at the basin. He walked in the door as Freya walked out.

"Where are you going, love?" he asked.

"To milk the cow and throw out some feed."

"Oh?" He looked at Elijah who nodded.

"Okay. How about I go with you? You milk and I'll feed the other animals."

Rebekah and Elijah watched them head for the opening in the stone wall.

"We really need to wash clothes today. I do not prefer to look like a farmer day after day."

"You never look like a farmer, brother." The younger sister looked him up and down. "You and Kol will have to decide who is going to wear what so we can wash as many clothes as possible."

"We will have to use the creek for washing. We cannot waste wood heating water for washing laundry."

"I can picture myself in a photograph of a woman at the river's edge, rubbing the cloth with a stone or beating it with a stick," Rebekah snarked. "Going back in time like this has ruined my nails. And look at my hair! It needs a good wash and conditioner."

Elijah silently agreed with her, but he didn't say so. "You look fine. You do not have to be your usual beautiful self just for us."

"Well, I don't feel beautiful. You want to start the coffee?"

"I might as well. But first…" He left the rest of the sentence unfinished as he went outside and headed for the privy. His eyes searched for any sign of his father, but the dawn light was not very bright and a mist lay over the fields. When he returned to the porch and washed his hands, he saw how dirty the water was, so he dumped it out. He grabbed one of the buckets from the kitchen and carried it to the well. After hauling up water, he took it to the porch, filling the basin and taking the rest inside for the coffee and dish-washing.

At the barn, Freya finished milking the cow while her brother went to feed the chickens. When she walked up the hill from the barn to the chicken coop, she found him holding one of the baby chicks.

"They are so soft," Kol said with a smile. The little bird made cheeping sounds, which probably meant, "Put me down. I want some of that grain." But Kol continued to hold it and to gently stoke its downy feathers.

"They are so cute at that age," Freya agreed. She set down the bucket for a minute.

Kol remembered that he was supposed to be helping her, so he handed her the chick and picked up the bucket by its rope handle. With a smile, he watched her fondle the little thing and then put it down on the ground. Then the two of them headed for the house. Freya stopped to wash her hands, but Kol didn't. He didn't worry about germs from the chick.

With the early chores done, the group settled around the breakfast table and ate and talked. They were concerned about Mikael still. They had clothes to wash, firewood to split, bread to bake, butter to churn, etc. Kol mentioned that he would like someone to help him tighten the ropes under his mattress.

And so their day passed. They saw people come to stare at and discuss the farm inside the strange barrier, but none of those inside talked to them. They saw no sign of Mikael, but they did not believe he had gone away. They hoped no one could see through the barrier, because they ended up wearing an odd assortment of clothing while their regular ones were washed in the creek. The wet things were put on the clothes line and they dried in the hot sun.

"I can see an endless line of days like this," Kol said at the dinner table that evening.

"I believe we would all agree to that," Elijah said and the two women nodded in agreement.

Out in the darkness, Mikael sat on the hill again, watching and waiting.

A/N What is Mikael planning, if anything? We shall see. Thanks for reading, guys.