CANNOT BE SEEN
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Chapter 4
"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." Mark Twain
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The still night was disturbed only by the gentle breeze and the only sounds to be heard came from the wind passing through the swaying trees and the crickets' enthusiastic chirping. The moon was full and so blindingly bright that it bathed the entire village in grey light. The stars hung like sparkling jewels, suspended on the dark velvet sheet of sky. There were no clouds to be seen this night, and it was so peaceful and picturesque that it could have been mistaken for a dream. And a dream it was. Not a dream that one finds only in their sleep, but a living, breathing, real-life dream. A dream that many people longed for, and a dream that too many people took for granted. In this dream lay an impossibly beautiful night, the end to a horribly hectic day.
It had been the day after Noah Percy's funeral. The Village had come to a standstill on that day. They stopped everything, their work, their school, and their lives, to mourn and respect Noah. It had been a hard day. For everyone.
But today was also hard. Work was started again, school was brought back to session, and everyone had to pick up the lives that they had dropped the day before. It had been exceptionally hard for Ivy Walker. No, she no longer went to school and neither did she work. But since they had lost a whole day's worth of activity, the men had quite a bit of work to do, and Lucius had been called upon to do some light, simple work. He had been instructed, of course, that if he was feeling unwell, he could rest. But, Ivy knew, Lucius wouldn't back out of a job that needed doing and that worried her for most of the morning, until she went out to check on him after lunch.
He had been sitting, when she found him, on the porch of one of the work buildings on the outskirts of the cluster of village houses. His color was slightly duller than normal, but constant.
"Hello, Lucius" She called cheerfully as she carefully made her way up the steps and went to his side.
"Ivy," His voice reflected the fact that he was slightly puzzled as to why she was there.
She leaned in close and whispered "Is there anyone close by?"
She could hear the voices and sounds of men working, but they were muffled by the walls of buildings.
"…No," he answered quietly as his eyes searched her face.
She leaned in to kiss him and he moved his hand up to guide her face as their lips touched briefly, and then she pulled away.
"What is it you are doing out here?" She asked him, taking a seat next to him.
"I am on break."
"Good. Are they letting you rest? Are you tired? My father said that if need be-" She was starting to ramble as Lucius cut her off.
"I am fine, Ivy. I swear it." He barely got the words out of his mouth before a voice from inside the building called out, "Hunt!"
"I am sorry. I must get back to work." Lucius apologized as he made to get up.
"All right," Ivy sighed, disappointed that they had to separate again so quickly.
"I will see you at dinner. If you are not too tired, perhaps we can go for a walk after…" She added this hopefully.
"I am afraid I cannot. It is my turn to stay in the watchtower." Lucius stood up and took hold of Ivy's hand, helping her to stand.
"No, Lucius. You are still in recovery!" Ivy turned sharply to him.
"I had this talk with your father, Ivy. It is my duty to watch tonight, and all that is required to do so is to sit there." Lucius's tone was patient.
Ivy sighed. Lucius could be very stubborn when he wanted to be, and when it came to his duties, he was at his most stubborn.
"But, Lucius, why is it that someone else cannot go in your place?"
"I do not have to be in the tower very often, Ivy, we all take turns, and tonight is my night, it has been scheduled for quite some time. Why force someone else to go in my place when I am able to go?" He implored Ivy earnestly.
Before Ivy could respond the same voice as before called out, "Lucius Hunt!"
"I really must go, Ivy, I will come to walk you to dinner." Lucius said quickly, pulling away from her.
"All right, Don't work too hard." She squeezed his hand tightly before letting it go and watching his color disappear through the door.
That was all she had seen of Lucius the whole day, besides the very short dinner, and she was missing him terribly. After all the days they had spent together while Lucius was recovering, it was hard to be alone all day. Usually, when she was lonely, she would play with Noah. He used to always be there…but he would never be there again.
Ivy lay in bed, not able to sleep. The house was still and silent, for her parents were gone at a meeting of the elders and she was all alone in the house. Usually she shared a room with her sister, but Kitty had, of course, moved into a house with her new husband.
Ivy thought of Lucius sitting all alone in the watchtower, in the quiet night, and carefully got out of her bed. It was so difficult to think of him sitting out in the cold, for no reason. He did not have to watch for creatures…they would never come. They were not real. It was unfair for him to think so, and to be there on his own when it was not really necessary for anyone to be there at all.
She felt around carefully and took her cane in one hand, swinging it needlessly as she walked through her house to the front door.
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Thump.
Lucius's weary head shot up at the sound that broke the tranquil silence. He stay still, listening sharply for the same sound. Instead he heard the creak of old wood.
He moved to the trap door quietly and opened it, after a moment. Just then a hand shot up from the hole in the floor and Lucius inhaled sharply in surprise.
"Lucius?" Ivy asked as she took hold of the edge and climbed up higher on the ladder rungs so that her upper body was in the compartment atop the tower.
"…Ivy?" Lucius asked quizzically. It took a moment to recover from the surprise before he took hold of Ivy's elbow and helped her up, then closed the trap door after her.
"Uh, Ivy…what are you doing here?" Lucius asked finally as Ivy sat down carefully.
She smiled brightly at him. "I could not sleep so I came to visit you. I thought you might be bored."
Ivy's white nightgown was flowing in the breeze and she wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill.
"Ivy, you must be cold."
"Well, I was not cold when I left the house, but I must admit it is starting to get quite a bit colder." She rubbed her hands over her arms to warm herself up a little.
Lucius shifted away from the wall and quickly peeled off his coat before wrapping it around Ivy's shoulders tightly.
"Thank you." She murmured, smiling as she snuggled into the coat and scooted over closer to Lucius. Leaning into his side, she dropped her head to his shoulder and closed her eyes. She felt so perfect, sitting there. The peace in the air seemed to have seeped through her skin and settled in her soul. Surrounded now by warmth and the distinct scent of Lucius, she felt completely contented.
"Are you tired, Lucius? You did not work too hard did you?" She asked him with a heavy voice. Though she felt she could stay up all night when she was at home, now she was struggling to stay awake.
"I am a little tired, I suppose. But I barely worked at all, I was only there to help." He answered her quietly as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her tighter to him.
"Mmm, good." She mumbled a reply sleepily, turning her face into Lucius's shoulder.
He relaxed back into the wall and moved his hand up to idly stroke her soft hair. It was only a few minutes later that Ivy fell into a sound, serene sleep.
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It was nearly half an hour later when Lucius awoke. He was jolted into consciousness and it didn't take long to figure out what had roused him from his sleep.
There was a tumultuous roar from overhead and he started, looking up in surprise.
There was what seemed to be…a large metal flying…thing gliding through the air above them. He could make it out distinctly in the full moonlit sky. It was massive and unlike anything Lucius had ever seen, reminiscent, maybe, of an enormous bird. It even had wings. But, they did not flap. It seemed as if it was suspended in air…being pulled by strings. But, Lucius was certain that anything pulled by strings would not be making so much of a terrible noise. It was a rumbling deeply from its very throat and it made the air tremble all around him. There were, what seemed to be, oddly red hued, flickering lanterns attached to its body and Lucius watched in complete awe as it flew on and finally disappeared over the horizon of the woods.
After it had gotten so far that you could no longer hear its noise it was as if all the sound had been sucked out of the air and Lucius felt as if he had gone deaf. It took him a long, long moment to overcome his shock, but once he snapped out of it, he looked down to find, incredulously, that Ivy was still asleep.
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The elders had heard the sound and recognized it immediately. An airplane. But, It was impossible.
Edward Walker was the first to react to the noise. He hastened up and rushed out of the building into the cool night air, the others following quickly behind him. All of the elders turned their faces up to the sky. And they saw it as clear as day. It was an airplane. It was a very real, very loud, airplane.
They simply watched, not moving, as it flew by, over the village and then disappeared with an over-loud clamor.
Alice Hunt was the first one to speak, her tones hushed. "How did that fly into our borders?"
She was answered by silence, and then by Edward.
"I do not know," He whispered into the air and then turned as he looked around at all the houses. Thank the Lord, he thought, that they were all dark and silent.
"That should not have happened…" Mrs. Walker sounded fearful and slightly angry. The rest of the group broke into whispers of speculation.
Mr. Walker turned back to the group with a deep sigh and held up his hand to quiet them.
"I do not know how that happened but, we are thankful that it happened at night. that no one was awake and that no one is out of their houses."
They nodded as one and whispered in agreement.
Alice's eyes followed the line of lanterns across the village and then her gaze settled on the glow of light coming from the watchtower.
"Someone is out of their house..." She said suddenly, looking directly at Edward. "Lucius."
There was a silence then and Edward's eyes too traveled to the tower.
"All right," He paused for a moment, "Everyone, return to your houses. I will go and fetch Lucius and see if he saw anything or if he knows what he saw and I will have a talk with him." He directed the last part of his sentence mostly at Alice and she nodded, staring directly in his eyes.
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"Ivy," Lucius whispered down into Ivy's hair. She was lying, half on Lucius's chest, the rest of her body curled against him. He shifted her a little, but she didn't reply, or even move. He shook his head incredibly as he listened to her steady, shallow breathing. He thought that her acute hearing would have picked up on the sound of the loud metallic bird, but she had completely slept through it.
Just then the trapdoor thumped in front of him and he jerked, pulling Ivy closer to him.
"Who is it?" He called quietly. The door was pushed open and Ivy's father appeared up from the trap.
"It is I…I hope I did not startle you." Mr. Walker climbed in fully and kneeled next to the door with care before his eyes fell on Ivy.
"Ivy came to visit?" Edward smiled in amusement.
Lucius blushed slightly and looked down, saying nothing. This made Edward chuckle and Lucius blush harder.
"I came to tell you that you may go home now. The elder meeting has just finished." Mr. Walker said this slowly, trying to think of someway to bring up the airplane tactfully or maybe he would wait until Ivy was back in bed and he could talk to Lucius without fear of Ivy, or anyone else, for that matter, hearing.
Lucius nodded and then took a deep breath before looking up at Edward.
"Mr. Walker, I think I saw something…out of the ordinary tonight." He decided to ease into it.
Mr. Walker nodded slowly and looked at Lucius carefully. "What is it you think you saw?"
"Well," Lucius paused, collecting his thoughts, "It seemed to be…this flying…metal…bird…of some sort."
Edward took a moment to look puzzled and decide how to take care of this.
But, when Lucius saw the look on Mr. Walker's face he started to doubt what he saw…If the others did not hear it, maybe he had thought it up…
"You…did not see it? Or hear it? It was quite loud."
Edward heard the doubt now in Lucius's voice and that made up his mind, "No, I did not see or hear anything out of the ordinary…are you quite sure it was really there? It sounds to me as if you have dreamed it up. Were you sleeping?"
Lucius nodded, ashamed that he had fallen sleep at his post, but Mr. Walker smiled kindly at him.
"Well, then, that must have been it, eh? Let us get you home so you can get some sleep. Your help will not be needed tomorrow, so you may stay home and rest up." Edward put his hand on Lucius's arm and prompted him to nod, which he did.
"Thank you, Mr. Walker."
Ivy's father nodded and took a hold of his daughter's shoulders, trying to shake her awake.
"Ivy, Honey, wake up."
She stirred slowly and mumbled into Lucius's shoulder before finally rising from her deep slumber.
"Lucius… Papa?" He voice was thick with sleep and she blinked her eyes, seeing her father's distinct color as well as Lucius's.
"Yes, Ivy, come now, 'tis time to come home." Her father spoke gently as he helped her to the trapdoor.
"Yes, Papa." She yawned and let him and Lucius guide her down to the damp, dewy grass.
The three of them, together, walked back to the blacked out village in late night silence, before Ivy and Mr. Walker bid Lucius goodnight at his door.
Ivy kissed Lucius on the cheek, which made his face flush slightly in the presence of Ivy's father, and then she made him promise he would come over the next morning. He said we would, of course, and then he retreated to his bed, where he would lie, hours from now, and dream of noisy, flying, metallic birds.
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TBC
Until next time…
