16
The following morning, Audrey woke before dawn. She crept cautiously over Nathan's sleeping form, and made her way to the coffeemaker, just finishing its preset brewing.
She had lain awake the better part of the night, thinking over the events of yesterday.
You remembered, Nathan and Prudence had said. But try as she might, Audrey could not recall what it was she had remembered about the totem. Prudence had told them it was the key to a thinny, the largest known to exist. Somehow, it had escaped being detected all these years, and only Prudence and her family had known of it. Mara and William wanted to know where it was, but why, when they had five other portals to choose from. What made this one thinny so special that Josiah Crocker took its location to his grave and caused Prudence to sacrifice everything?
If Mara were still here, maybe I could ask her, she thought. She'd never felt like Mara was was still there, lurking in her subconscious. But judging by Nathan and Prudence's reactions, they clearly saw something of her yesterday in the North Woods.
Audrey sipped her coffee, and thought about Charlotte.
She'd chosen not to stay in constant contact with her; it was too weird to spend much time with her, knowing that she was her mother. Mothers were supposed to be older than you, and Charlotte didn't look a day over 35. But then again, neither do I, Audrey reflected. She would speak with Charlotte, to see what she might know about Prudence Stillwater; and for a moment, she wished she could question Mara about her.
"Morning," Nathan grumbled from the bed.
"Hi," she smiled, padding back over to the bed with a cup of coffee for Nathan, getting a good-morning kiss in return.
"You were kind of restless last night," he remarked.
"Sorry," Audrey half-smiled. "I had a lot to think about after yesterday."
Prudence got up to find Duke out on the deck, watching the fishing boats sailing out at first light.
He'd dreamed about Jennifer again last night. This time, they were back in the field where they'd found the door to allow Audrey back into this realm again, only this time, it was only the two of them.
In the dream, he'd had a terrible sense of foreboding, and he begged Jennifer not to open the door. She'd laughed, and turned the knob. When she opened the door, she began to scream and Duke had jerked himself awake.
"You seem tired," Prudence spoke, startling him.
"I didn't sleep very well," Duke muttered. He thought a moment. "I keep dreaming about Jennifer. I haven't done that for a long time."
"It is said when we dream of loved ones who are gone, they are visiting us from heaven," Prue smiled gently.
"Feels more like the other place than Heaven," Duke grouched. He turned his hand over to look at the cut he'd inflicted last night. To his surprise, the wound had already closed, turning a healthy pink as it healed.
"What is the matter?" Prue said, seeing him looking at his hand. "Has your cut become infected?"
"No," Duke replied. "It's almost healed. Did you do that, Prue?"
Prudence sat down next to him, examining his hand.
"Perhaps my blood helped you to heal sooner. We are related by it after all," she chuckled. "Now-I have prepared breakfast below decks, and then I am to meet with Dwight and Vincent this morning."
"You're going to start curing people this morning," Duke said. "You want Audrey to join you?"
"If you wish for me to have her there," Prue replied cautiously. "Then yes, she may join me."
"What do you wish, Prue?" Duke told her. "You're allowed to make your own decisions now, Prudence. You don't have to do what men tell you to do anymore. You're not property, you're a person. Don't be wishy-washy," he grinned. "You're a Crocker, for crying out loud!"
"Believe it to be so, great-grandson, were you to ask anyone who knew me in my time, they should describe me as anything but wishy-washy," Prue laughed. "Very well then-I would prefer to do the first round of afflicted persons without her. Even you cannot attend, it will simply be myself and the persons afflicted. Their curses are even more dangerous than Mistress Steinfield's."
Duke shuddered to think of the possibilities of what those Troubles could be like.
"Just-be careful. Okay?" he asked. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Provide a quiet refuge," she half-smiled. "I shall need it before the day is through."
"One quiet refuge coming up," Duke promised.
He looked down at the docks, and could see Dwight's truck creeping along.
"He doesn't want to waste time, does he?" he grumbled.
Dwight climbed out, ascending the gangplank. It was still something of a shock to see him without his flak vest on. The new Un-Troubled Sasquatch was going to take some getting used to. He wondered what it would be like for Nathan when Prue cured him. Nathan had wanted to touch and feel everything when Ian Haskell had stolen his Trouble, and Duke grinned at the memory of telling him that he'd 'introduce' him to a few ladies who would be 'more than happy to help him process.'
"What's funny?" Dwight asked, seeing his grin.
"Still getting used to not seeing you in that vest," Duke replied.
"It's been kind of a transition for me too," Dwight said, running his hand down his chest. "I feel-naked-somehow."
Prudence returned from gathering her coat. She'd chosen a woolen coat with a hood and a fluttery hem. It was a little Stevie Nicks-ish for Duke's taste, but on Prue it suited her. She was dressed in all black, and it only added her to mystique, from what he could see of the look on Dwight's face.
"Good morning, Prudence," Dwight greeted. "How are you? Feeling no ill effects?"
"I am quite well, thank you," Prue replied.
"Are you getting settled into the 21st Century?"
"It is an adjustment," Prue smiled ruefully. "But I managing so far. Duke has been most instructive," she gestured at him, and Duke shuffled a bit.
"So you two are getting along okay?" Dwight said. "I heard things are still kind of rocky between you and Audrey, Prue," he went on. "She's a good girl, Prudence. Just give her a chance, and you'll see that."
"So everyone tells me," Prue responded. "Well, the poor souls you've gathered for me to treat should not wait much longer. Shall we go?"
"After you," Dwight gestured, and Prudence stepped onto the gangplank. He made to follow her, and Duke caught his arm.
"Dwight, don't overload her," he said. "Some things-happened-yesterday."
"What things?" Dwight questioned suspiciously.
Duke hesitated, then spoke. "Prue told us yesterday that there is an exceptionally large thinny in the North Woods. That may be why the things that occur in that part Haven happen."
"How big is it?"
"The word monstrous was used."
"Yikes."
"Yeah, yikes. Prue said she used it once and it took everything she had to close even a tiny hole."
"Vince doesn't have any record of a thinny there."
"No one knew about it, except Prudence and her family-and Mara and William."
"So? He's off in the Void where he belongs, and Mara's dead," Dwight retorted, and then sobered, seeing Duke's face. "She is dead-right?"
"That's what we're hoping," Duke said. "That was the thing that happened yesterday. Prue recovered an artifact yesterday, that she'd hidden from William and Mara. When she showed it to Audrey-Audrey slipped, somehow," he said. "She remembered what that artifact was for. Maybe it was just a lingering memory Mara left behind."
"Or maybe Mara's just playing possum-she's done that before," Dwight said grimly.
"I know," Duke said. He couldn't believe he'd just stood here and told Dwight all this, but they all needed to be on their guard in case the worst case scenario came to pass.
"Audrey's getting hold of Charlotte today-maybe she knows how to tell if Mara's still hiding somewhere inside of Audrey. Either way, we have to know."
Dwight nodded. "I agree. And what happens if she is?"
"Prue says she thinks she may be able to cast her out. So again, Dwight, don't overload her. We might need her help."
Another nod. "We will keep it to no more than five a day for the time being. Prudence says she feels she can take on that much." He exhaled, and looked at Duke.
"Thank you for telling me all this, Duke," he said.
"I think we all need to get past this keep-everything-a-secret thing," Duke replied. "It's how we've all ended up in this mess in the first place."
Dwight turned and thundered down the gangplank, and he opened the door for Prudence, who had been waiting patiently down below. She looked up at Duke through the passenger window, her face somber as Dwight drove away.
Duke went back inside, and got ready to start his day.
As he passed what was now Prue's room, he noticed the silver strongbox sitting on her bureau, and the book that had been wrapped with oilskin was now uncovered.
Curious, he drew closer, looking at the book. Prudence's writing was so neat and precise it looked almost as though it had been printed by computer.
He glanced down at it, and made to close the book when a name caught his eye-Mason.
He picked up the book, and examined it closer.
They laid my beloved Isiah Mason to rest today, the passage read. After the funeral procession left, I stood by his grave and I told him that I loved him dearly, and shall always love him for eternity. I tell him that he did not die childless, that my little Sarah who was lost belonged to him and not my husband; and ask him that he watch over her until we are all together again.
I tell him that his death at the hand of that bastard William shall not have been in vain; that I will fight them to my last breath, to rid this place of their evil.
Duke was floored, to say the least. Prue had had a lover named Isiah Mason, and he wondered if he were part of Jennifer's line. Mason was not an uncommon name; it could just be an incredible coincidence.
He shut the book, and left the room to finish getting ready to go into The Grey Gull.
A few hours later, Nathan and Audrey knocked at the door of a hotel room, and it was answered by Charlotte.
"Hello, Audrey, Nathan," she greeted. "What's wrong?" she questioned, seeing their faces.
"Charlotte-we think there may be a possibility that Mara might not be dead," Nathan said without preamble.
"Wha-why would you say that?" Charlotte blurted, clearly shocked at Nathan's statement.
"Because I had a memory of hers surface yesterday," Audrey put in. "It happened when Prudence-"
"Hold on," Charlotte interrupted. "Who is Prudence?"
"Prudence Stillwater," Nathan answered.
"Did you say Prudence Stillwater?" Charlotte gasped.
"Yes, I did. Why?"
Charlotte went pale. Concerned, Nathan helped her sit down on a chair, and Charlotte looked up at them.
"Prudence Stillwater?" she got out. "She's alive?"
"Yes," Audrey spoke. "She washed ashore in a big silver box a few days ago. She can cure Troubles, Charlotte," she went on. "In fact, she-"
"Prudence does not cure Troubles, she takes and storehouses them," Charlotte said. "She's like Duke-only stronger."
"What do you mean, stronger?" Nathan asked, not a small amount of concern in his face.
"Prudence does not merely store Troubles, she can use them like weapons," Charlotte said. "That in addition to being able to do some very powerful magic. Now-what happened, exactly, yesterday?"
Nathan and Audrey quickly sketched out the events, of Prue controlling the roots, of showing Audrey the artifact, and the memory of Mara's wanting it because of the thinny.
Charlotte's expression grew more and more aghast at each revelation, and Audrey was practically trembling at the thought that Duke was back in Haven all alone with one of the most powerful witches that ever existed, according to Charlotte. And she was collecting Troubles for God only knew what purpose.
"Do you know what is so special about this thinny, why Mara and William would want it so bad?" Audrey said.
Charlotte nodded.
"That particular thinny is known as Auriole's Axiom," she replied. "It is the exact point where both our worlds and the Void converge. Were that thinny ever to be fully opened-it would be the equivalent of the gravitational pull of a black hole."
"Bad," Nathan gulped.
"Catastrophic would be a better term," Charlotte said. "For both our worlds," she said, pouring herself a glass of water and taking a long drink before she spoke again.
"And now I have news of my own for you," she told them. "I received word about a murder that happened in Marengo, North Carolina two days ago. According to the police report, the driver of a sedan was murdered by a blonde-haired blue-eyed man. He was last seen driving north."
"What does that have to do with all of this?" Audrey questioned.
For answer, Charlotte unfolded a paper and handed it to her.
"This is the police sketch of the man they said committed the murder," Charlotte said. "Look familiar?"
This time, it was Audrey and Nathan's turn to look pale.
The man in the police sketch could only be one person.
William.