Chapter Eleven
Sheila eventually came to know the kids a little more over the next few days as she spent time with each one individually. Frederick was a bit hesitant at first to open up, but Sheila found that he was more apt to share information if he was with one of his siblings instead of being by himself. Charlotte explained that he had started internalizing his thoughts and emotions since the incident with Foxy.
The kids were interested in Sheila's life as well, particularly Goldie. They had come to know Shaddid's, Lizzie's, and Nikki's powers, and now they were just as interested in Sheila's abilities. Goldie asked a bit timidly if they could see a demonstration, to which Sheila wholeheartedly agreed.
Once all seven of them were gathered around the room, Sheila thought about which song she could sing. Finally she settled on Charlotte's song. The kids watched wide-eyed as Sheila's blonde hair and blue eyes changed to Charlotte's dark brown eyes and black hair. The final thing to change was Sheila's outfit, which also changed to match Charlotte's well-worn striped leggings and black dress.
Sheila controlled the environment and only changed her appearance while keeping their surroundings the same. The last thing that needed to happen was for the kids to see their dead bodies, regardless of whether they knew or not.
As she sang, she felt that probing sensation in her mind again that she had felt before. She fought against it and kept singing.
It felt like they had been inside of this restaurant for forever. After spending most of her life in the basement, Elizabeth had gotten sick of spending all of their time here not long after their search had started. She was convinced that there was something linking the kids to the restaurant, and for that reason only, she pushed through the uneasiness.
Next to her, Dave suddenly froze and stared straight ahead, like he had done before in the diner. His eyes changed colors from dark blue to light blue. But this time was different. Unlike before, sounds other than screaming started to filter in. Charlotte was singing again. Or maybe it wasn't Charlotte. Maybe it was the woman from before.
His cloudy, grey vision slowly cleared to reveal a room full of people, but the one person he was focused on and that filled most of his field of sight was Charlotte. He would have known her anywhere, but there was something about her, something in her eyes. She looked concerned. While he gazed into her eyes, she started shouting a name unknown to him: Sheila.
Charlotte stared wide-eyed at Sheila. The woman had frozen in place, mouth agape in a silent scream. It may have just been a trick of the light, but Charlotte could have sworn that Sheila's eyes had changed colors. Her eyes were now a deeper blue than they were before. "Sheila!" She grabbed the woman's shoulders and shook them gently. "Can you hear me? Sheila!"
The spot on the wall that Dave had been admiring for weeks now—the one where the signal on the tracker was the strongest—suddenly blew open with tremendous force. Elizabeth covered her face with her arms and peered outside the wall. Blaring car horns and other bustling sounds filtered in through the hole.
Dave finally broke out of his stupor. He cried out and fell to the floor, gasping for breath. "I saw her!" he rasped. "I saw Charlotte! It was really her. I know it was." He slowly pushed himself up onto his knees and delicately stood. For the first time, he saw the hole in the wall. "What is that?"
The weather outside the hole in the wall was a stark comparison to the weather outside of the restaurant. In Utah, snow was still blowing outside, evidence of winter. Wherever this hole, or portal, opened up, it definitely wasn't winter. The sun was shining and warm.
Elizbeth knelt next to the wall and extended her arm through the hole. There was a warm tingling sensation around her arm where it pushed through into this other realm. Her fingers grasped at the air, but the warm sunshine was a welcoming comparison to the cold restaurant. After a few moments, she pulled her arm back into the restaurant unscathed.
The tracker in Dave's pocket started beeping wildly again. Like a metal detector scanning over buried treasure, the tracker beeped quicker the closer Dave stepped to the portal. Elizabeth snatched the tracker from Dave and again extended her arm through the portal. The tracker's beeping steadied out into a continuous tone.
"It seems safe enough." She inspected her arm and hand and flexed her fingers. "No harm done." She stood and wiped her hands on her skirt. "Let's go. You've been saying for weeks that this portion of the wall is important somehow. Maybe the kids are somehow in this other place…wherever that is."
Dave stared through the hole. It opened up into a deserted alleyway. Cautiously, he started to step forward until Elizabeth stopped him with an extended arm. He glanced over at her.
"Let me go first," she offered. "If they're right outside this hole, they'll kill you. You aren't immortal, but I am. If it comes to it, I can subdue them. I'll go first, and then if everything is safe, I'll let you know."
Dave waited nervously as Elizabeth crouched and stepped through the portal. A few minutes later, her hand came back through into the restaurant and beckoned for him to follow her. He stepped through the hole into the glorious sunshine. It took a while for his eyes to adjust, and he squinted against the bright light.
"Where are we?" Elizabeth asked after helping him through the portal. The two of them surveyed their surroundings.
As Dave straightened, he walked towards the end of the alley out onto the main road, Elizabeth close on his heels. Wide-eyed, he stepped out into the open among the bustling crowds. His mouth dropped open in shock. "New York City," he said breathlessly.
After the odd happening with Sheila, Charlotte helped her settle down into a chair and rest. Her appearance changed back from Charlotte to her normal self. The kids helped make sure she was comfortable.
"What happened, Sheila?" Charlotte asked. She sent Billy to go find Lizzie and Shaddid.
Sheila wrapped her arms together tightly. Everything was starting to fade away and blur. The burn on her arm began to throb again. "I don't know. I don't remember anything…except the pain." She rubbed her arm gently. And something…else." She rubbed the back of her head, a fuzzy memory resurfacing. Right before she blacked out, she remembered something attaching itself to her.
"Sheila! Are you okay?" Shaddid wrapped her in a hug. "What happened?"
"I—I'm fine," she hesitated. "Father didn't want to worry you, so he told me not to say anything." She sighed before continuing, "I'm a—"
"—Soul Traveler," Shaddid finished for her. "He told me."
She nodded. "Yeah, that's it. It's a bit scary too. I don't personally know anyone who is a Soul Traveler, other than myself, but from the way our people talk about it, it's not something you want to experience."
"Usually there are certain emotional or physical triggers that can cause the episodes to occur. Can you think of what you were doing before any of the episodes? It doesn't matter which one, but can you remember anything?"
It didn't take her very long to pinpoint most of the occurrences. "Before all of the episodes, if I can remember the days where I have time that is unaccounted for, I was thinking about Charlotte and the kids. I think that's the case anyway." She shrugged. "There may be more that I can't remember, but there's not really a way to know for sure."
Shaddid patted her shoulder. "It's okay. We'll just have to take special precautions and make sure we keep an eye on you while you're here. I just want to make sure you're okay."
"Thanks, Shaddid," Sheila said with a smile. "That helps me feel a little bit better. Will I ever find out who I'm connecting with? Mother and Father didn't say anything about that."
"It's difficult to say," he admitted. "I don't know if they told you this, but typically the weaker of the two hosts has difficulty remembering the incidences. Whoever you're connected to probably has full memory of all of the occurrences. I'm assuming the person is another Zardanian. I don't know how or why it would be anyone else. Hopefully, they will come forward and seek help before things get too complicated."
Sheila looked a little nervous, and Shaddid gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Sheila. We'll figure this out and get you feeling like your old self again. I promise."
Ever since the kids had found out about their deaths and Charlotte had promised to let them explore the city, she had yet to follow through on her word. The kids didn't know why she kept putting it off, especially Frederick. He finally stopped asking when she kept telling him that eventually they would go exploring "next week" and next week never came.
The Saturday following Sheila's arrival, Frederick decided that he had waited long enough. Their killer was stuck somewhere in their book, according to Lizzie and Nicole, so they had no reason to fear being found out, especially if they went out and came home during the day well before midnight. He rallied two of his other siblings—Amy and Felix—and told Goldie and Billy, who insisted it was a bad idea to go without Charlotte, to keep watch and distract Charlotte from finding out.
After making sure everyone was distracted and that they could slip away without being seen, Frederick led Amy and Felix to the ferry where they rode it over to the city.
Elizabeth and Dave stood and gawked at the expansive city. It had been a long time since Dave had been to New York, but he was shocked at all of the changes that had happened even in that period of time. Elizabeth had never been here before. One of the first things that they noticed was the differences in everyone's clothing and hair styles. It definitely wasn't styles that they were used to seeing. Elizabeth and Dave tried not to stare.
The second thing that Dave noticed was the amount of people holding small devices to their ears or holding them in their hands. It looked like touch screen technology, and he eagerly watched people interacting with these interesting devices. Afton had created a form of touch screen with the animatronics, but his tinkering was nothing compared to this! After a while, Dave noticed that a lot of people were speaking into them, like they were advanced versions of cellular phones. Depending on how long they would be here, it might be a good idea to look into getting one for themselves.
The last thing that Dave noticed was the empty space where the twin towers should have been. He stared, a confused expression pasted onto his face. Elizabeth finally asked him what the problem was, and he explained the missing buildings to her. He managed to flag down a pedestrian, which proved to be rather taxing. It appeared to be rush hour, and everyone had their own places to go. Dave asked the pedestrian what had happened to the twin towers.
To Dave's surprise, the man looked at him rather strangely. He lowered his cellular device and said, "Are you serious? Have you been hiding under a rock? Those things haven't been there since 2001." The man studied the two carefully and then walked away.
"Since 2001?" Elizabeth asked. "What year is it then?"
Dave shook his head, speechless at first. "I don't know. This doesn't make any sense." He pulled her out of the way of the crowds to think. "Come on. Let's see if we can find somewhere to buy one of those cellular phones. It would be nice to have one. I can try to hardwire it into a more advanced tracker so we have a backup just in case. We may have to find a Radio Shack too."
The two flagged down a cab and asked to be taken to the closest phone store.
Frederick, Felix, and Amy got off the ferry and got a ride into town. All three of them stared in awe at the skyscrapers and general feel of the city. Excitement flooded through each of them as they tried to decide where they would go first. They wouldn't be able to do much because they didn't have any money, but they could at least look around for later reference.
It was just after lunch, and everyone was bustling around trying to make it to their next stop. Amy wondered if the city was normally this busy on a Saturday, but she assumed that it was. They did some window shopping and checked out a lot of different stores while trying to decide what they were going to do next. The plan was to get back before Charlotte realized that they were missing, but they knew that there was no telling how long that would take. Knowing Charlotte, probably not long, so they would have to get as much crammed into the next hour or so as they could.
It wasn't long after lunch when Lizzie went to look for the kids to see if they maybe wanted to go to the park for the afternoon. Charlotte had already given the okay, and even though they had already eaten lunch, Lizzie planned to buy the kids ice cream once they got there.
The first of the kids that she found was Billy. He told her that Goldie was in the living room reading, and everyone else was upstairs sleeping. Lizzie went upstairs to the kids' room to check and see if they were awake. She quietly opened the door and peered inside, but instead of finding the kids, she noticed that the room was empty. Confused, she made her way downstairs and noticed that the front door was cracked open. Worry turned to panic when she couldn't find Amy, Felix, or Frederick anywhere in the house.
She quickly decided to alert Charlotte and get to the bottom of this. Even though the kids weren't in danger of being found by their killer since he was in Nicole's book, she knew that the animatronics could still be triggered and change in the middle of the city, and that definitely wouldn't be good.
Goldie finally confessed to what the others had done, sending Lizzie running out the door, telling the remaining two kids to stay at the house until they returned and leaving Charlotte with them.
Felix had to be careful to watch his step. He had already tripped a few times over people's feet and other things outside of his peripheral vision. Most people either didn't mind or didn't say anything. They just bustled on by.
He kept an eye on his feet until he ran completely into someone walking the opposite direction. He looked up and apologized profusely, trying to catch his balance. Instead of moving on and not worrying about it, the man snapped at him, "Watch it!"
"I'm really sorry, Sir," Felix apologized. "I didn't see you."
"Yeah, sure you didn't." The guy angrily brushed off his shirt. "You walked right—" He looked into Felix's eyes for the first time and stopped mid-sentence. His heart pounded in his chest when he saw the kid's clouded right eye. "Of course you didn't see me."
Felix glanced over at the woman standing next to the man he had run into. She was rather tall for a woman, and her choice of hair style and clothing was definitely interesting for someone her age. She was dressed in a red dress with her hair done up in two pigtails, similar to the way a small child would dress. Something about the couple made his stomach churn.
"Felix!" Frederick pushed his way through the crowd until he was back at his brother's side. "Come on, let's go. We don't have much time left. Charlotte's going to be here any minute." Frederick looked up at the man standing across from him. The man tried unsuccessfully to hide it, but Frederick could see a slight recognition and curiosity in his eyes.
The woman across from them started to step forward, but almost imperceptibly the man grabbed her wrist and held her back. She glared at him, but he slightly shook his head, just enough for her to notice.
There was a familiarity to the man's eyes as well, but Frederick couldn't place it. He turned back to Felix, "Come on, we need to go. Sorry we bothered you, Sir." He grabbed Felix's arm and turned him around.
"Frederick!"
A jolt ran through Frederick's chest. He groaned. "Oh no."
The man and woman watched silently as a woman pushed her way through the crowd and then quickened her pace when she caught sight of them. The newcomer looked almost frantic.
Elizabeth studied the kids in front of her, while the tracker in her pocket vibrated madly. The oldest of the kids had features similar to Henry, which most likely meant that it was Henry's son. The other two kids matched descriptions that Dave had given her of the kids he had killed, and the tracker going off was proof enough that after weeks of searching, they had finally found the kids, or at least some of them anyway.
She stepped forward to try and grab them, but Dave reached out and grabbed her wrist. She tried communicating silently with him, but his grip on her wrist remained. Moments later, a woman ran over to the teens and scolded them for leaving the house by themselves. It was then that Elizabeth understood Dave's hesitation. If they took the kids in bright daylight, they would find their faces on the news faster than they could say Freddy's. They would have to find where the kids were staying, and if this woman was helping them, they were most likely staying with her.
The woman asked the teens what they could have possibly been thinking and that Charlotte had been worried sick. Frederick looked irritated and upset. Before leading them away, the woman turned to Dave and Elizabeth. "I'm sorry if they bothered you. They're not supposed to be wandering around the city by themselves."
Dave cleared the nervous lump from his throat. "No worries, ma'am. The poor kid didn't see me and ran into me, but no harm done." He turned to Elizabeth and slipped his hand into hers, entwining their fingers. Elizabeth started to pull away, but he squeezed her fingers and said, "Come on, Babe. Let's get home."
As they walked away, Elizabeth yanked her hand out of Dave's. "What was that for?"
"I didn't want the kids to describe us to Charlotte and tell her our real names. She can't know we're here. She already found out once. I don't want to have to deal with that again. But I don't know how we're supposed to find the kids now."
Elizabeth smiled next to him. "That's taken care of."
As they walked, Dave looked over at her. "What are you talking about?"
"We're super close to the kids. I can track them myself. As for the woman, I scanned her and got her voice readout. I'll scan Charlotte once we get there, but we'll need someone to scan to be able to get into the house without any hold-ups. When we get to the house, I'll find her and get rid of her, and then I'll distract Charlotte long enough to scan her. Then I'll bring the kids out to you. Piece of cake.
"I've waited for this for fifteen years. I'm not waiting any longer than I have to."
It had been a pretty slow day, and Shaddid was ready to go home. He stood at his computer and ran system updates. Lizzie had offered to draw some new work-out equipment to try and reach out to a younger audience. At first, Shaddid had turned down the idea, but new equipment would definitely bring in the income that they needed. Especially while Charlotte and the kids were here. He had finally agreed. The regular customers still dropped by to take advantage of the new setup, but Shaddid had steadily noticed a rise in younger newcomers, which was encouraging.
On this particular afternoon, a middle-aged gentleman sauntered in and surveyed the equipment. Shaddid didn't recognize him, but there was something familiar about him. He just couldn't put his finger on it. The man had dark blue eyes, dark hair, and some facial hair.
The gentleman surveyed the equipment and then picked up some weights after setting his things on the floor. Shaddid grabbed his attention. "Sir, I'm sorry, but you need to check in first before you start."
The man stared at Shaddid blankly. "I'm sorry?"
"We need to sign you in before you use the equipment."
"What? You want to see some ID or something?"
"Yes." Shaddid glanced down at the computer. It was still working on updates. "The system is down right now, but we can get your info, and then as soon as the computer comes back, we can sign you up. I just need a valid Driver's License."
The stranger fished in his back pocket for his wallet and produced his license. The guy had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, and for the first time Shaddid could see the beginning of a rather large scar that ran the length of his forearm. Curiosity piqued but rather than asking about it, Shaddid slid the driver's license across the counter with one hand and reached for a piece of paper and a pen with the other. "Are you visiting from out of town?"
"Yeah," the man mumbled. "Family reunion."
Shaddid started to write down the man's address and birthday and then paused. "Do you have your most recent license with you? This one expired in 1999." He studied the card and then compared it with the stranger in front of him. Eerily, the man looked like he hadn't aged a day since the photo had been taken.
The stranger muttered a swear word under his breath. "No, sorry. I must have grabbed the wrong wallet before I left Utah. I just moved, and I was going through some old stuff before I came here." He took back his expired license. "Thanks anyway."
"You know what?" Shaddid prompted, "We usually don't do this, but I can tell this is your picture, even if it's expired. You're more than welcome to work out today if you want to. I trust you. We can shake on it. I'm Shaddid." He extended his hand.
The man smiled and gripped Shaddid's hand in greeting. "I'm Michael. Michael Schmidt."
"Nice to meet you, Michael. Welcome to New York."
Elizabeth was waiting in their new motel room flipping through television channels when Michael got back. "Hey, did you find a gym?"
He sat down on the opposite bed and bent down to take off his shoes. "Yeah, but I found something even better." He tossed his shoes into the corner and relaxed back against the pillows. "The woman that was with the kids the other day? She's married."
A confused frown wrinkled Elizabeth's brow as she looked at him. "How do you know that?"
"There were some fliers on the check-in desk for some local authors. I looked at one of them, and he mentioned that the illustrator on the flier was his wife. She was the woman who left with the kids. Her name is Elizabeth, but he addressed her as Lizzie."
"That's…coincidental." She took a pause before adding, "And weird." She switched off the TV and tossed the remote across the bed. "Do you think he's going to be a problem?"
"Not for you—her," he admitted, quickly correcting himself. "But if anything happens, we could always taser him."
Elizabeth smiled. "Good to know," she chuckled. "Get some sleep. By this time next week, the kids will be dead for good this time, I'll have my body back, and Danny's death will finally be avenged."
Late in the night, Sheila's dreams were tormented with nightmares. She was sitting at the prison again, holding several scraps of notebook paper in her hand. Her other hand was painfully gripping the earpiece of the phone connected to the wall next to her. She angrily shoved the pages into her jeans pocket and stood up to walk away.
"Wait." Afton's voice came through the earpiece before she could hang up. She made eye contact with him for several seconds before sitting back down.
"What?" she snapped. Everything in her being wanted to kill the man who sat before her. She would gladly do prison time for ending his miserable existence.
With a shake of her head, she tried to focus. This wasn't like her at all!
"I have a question for you: why did you do it?"
"You can't be serious," she snarled.
"I'm not talking about Frederick. He was supposed to die. But the other four…" Afton clucked his tongue. "That's on you. Why did you kill the rest of them? That wasn't part of the plan."
The rage grew within Sheila's gut, and she punched the glass between them before screaming into the phone, "They saw me! I can't just waltz up to a birthday party and snatch a kid right in front of his friends without someone noticing. I had to make sure they didn't say anything."
She glared at Afton. "I didn't want to kill them. They didn't deserve to die. You made me into a murderer."
Coolly, Afton leaned closer to the glass, eyes matching the rage Sheila had felt since the start of this dream. "No, Michael. You became a murderer when you killed Danny." Afton turned to the officer behind him. "I'd like to be taken back to my cell, please."
"You stupid son of a—" Sheila screamed into the phone, getting cut off by the click of Afton's phone as he hung up. Every profanity in the book and foul name-calling spilled unwillingly from Sheila's lips. She watched, still yelling, as Afton stood and followed the officer back out the door into the depths of the prison. "Get back here, you coward!"
In the dim light of the room, Nikki and her parents tried shaking Sheila out of whatever nightmare land she was traipsing in her sleep. Still half asleep, Sheila's eyes opened, revealing the dark blue eyes that Shaddid had looked into the day before. "Get back here, you coward!" she screamed before going limp and growing silent.