Читать книгу Shifter's Destiny - Anna Leonard - Страница 12

While the girls were traveling south through the woods, they were the subject of a heated discussion back in the Community, where the Elders had gathered for an emergency meeting.

“What do you mean, you’re not doing anything?” A man’s voice, high-pitched and showing annoyance, filled the meeting room, demanding an answer.

“That is not what he said, Alan,” another man said, but his expression was one of annoyance, as well. “Ray, don’t you think…”

“I share your concern, everyone.” The voice was smooth and practiced, without being too polished, and matched the man speaking. He was tall and solid, dressed, like the others, in jeans and shirt, both well-worn. Standing at the head of the long, wood-paneled room, his gaze met theirs evenly, squarely, and his shoulders were open even as his hands moved as he spoke. “Alan, Mark is correct, that was not what I said. Everyone, please believe me when I say that I too am concerned. Those poor girls, the past year has been so difficult for them, first losing their parents and then, well, poor Maggie just hasn’t been the same since then, has she?”

The others in the room nodded, sobered by the reminder of those who were lost to the flu epidemic the year before. Every member of the Community had lost a loved one, it seemed, but some were harder struck. The survivors—younger, stronger children like Maggie—still bore evidence of their illness, in their lungs and their limbs.

Ray nodded as well, his body language perfectly echoing their own sorrow. “And in times of stress, we often act out of character. Elizabeth should have come to us first, of course, but she is a sensible girl—” all of eleven years younger than he, but decades younger than most of the others in the room “—and she will take good care of her sister, I am sure of that. And that is why I am not convinced that we need to do anything, specifically, to bring them back, or otherwise interfere with their lives.

“However, because it is… a world full of dangers, I’ve sent Jordan to find her, and keep an eye on them, make sure that they don’t get into too much trouble.”

That seemed to satisfy most of his inquisitors, but one woman refused to be consoled.

“But why did they leave? And to abandon everything, for Libby to just leave the bakery like that…” Judy sounded as though she was near to tears. “It’s so unlike her!”

Ray leaned forward, catching her gaze and holding it like a snake charmer might his snake. “Oh, Judy, you know that sometimes we need a little distance, to understand what things close to us truly mean. It’s how we learn, how we grow.”

Ray had a soothing voice and a calming conviction that seemed to melt worries away, without dismissing the fears as foolish or unworthy, and Judy was no exception. Her expression visibly smoothed out and calmed down, and she patted her husband’s arm as though he had been the one who was upset. “That’s true. We forget… we came to the Community as adults, but the girls were born here, and it’s all they’ve ever known. Even the Amish go away when they’re teenagers, to see the outside world before they make their final choice, and we can’t claim to be more reclusive than they are!”

There was some muted laughter from the others in the room, seven total. His fellow Elders had come to him that morning, worried about the seeming disappearance of two of their younger members, so suddenly. Judy and her husband, Mark, were personal friends of the Sweets; he suspected that they had pushed the others into speaking up and forcing a meeting.

Thankfully, he had received word of the girls’ departure before anyone else, and had been ready for the appearance of his fellow Elders and neighbors, an answer smooth on his tongue.

“It was an impulsive move on their part, clearly, to not tell anyone, to simply up and leave. But their belongings are still here, they did not transfer the title to their house.” No need to tell anyone about the recipes and deed to the bakery his men had retrieved, before the new owners could discover it. “They will be back, I assure you.”

“Yes, but…” Stephan, the newest member of the Elders, elected to fill Ray’s place when he was elevated, frowned in concern.

“I have asked Jordan to watch over them until they do return,” Ray said, giving his final spin on the situation. Jordan was highly regarded in the Community; a seventh-grade math teacher, he had been born in the Community, which was important even to people who said it didn’t matter. Ray bit back the rush of anger he still felt over that, and smiled gently instead, feeling his mouth strain at the effort. “He has orders to clear their path and give them time to do whatever it is they felt the need to do—see old friends of their parents, perhaps, or visit Disney World, whatever it is that young girls do. And then he will make sure they come home safely.”

In fact, Jordan was under orders to bring them home, period. No matter what means were needed. Ray had plans for the Community, plans that were years in the making, and that required little Ms. Maggie to be home, safe and under his control.

She was the reason the Community existed, even if none of them realized it, yet.

“I wish they’d told me,” another man said wistfully. “I’ve never been to Disney World, either. I’d have gone with them!”

Ray smiled as the others laughed again, but his hand, held out of sight at his waist, clenched. Andrew, the speaker, had been one of the few to object to his selection as the Old Lady’s successor, had raised questions about someone not born in the Community leading it. Andrew and Sean Sweet, and their allies… There were too many people who questioned him.

The vote had gone his way, and he had confirmed his position formally, but Ray never forgot a challenge… or a challenger. Especially a man like Andrew, whose grandfather had been one of the original Founders, along with old Cab Sweet. Such a man was either useful—or dangerous. Ray hadn’t decided where Andrew fell in the scheme of things yet.

Useful, he would be used. Dangerous… he would be removed. By force, if illness or accident did not take care of it for him.

But for now Andrew was in the undecided camp, and so it was still time for Ray to use the velvet glove, soothe his opponents into thinking they would get their way.

“Maggie and Elizabeth are our friends, our neighbors, our family. That allows us the right to worry, and to watch over them. But the genesis of the Community was in self-removal from the world, not forced removal.”

The other Elders nodded at that.

“The girls will be back. They know where their home is. We simply need to trust them… and be ready with assistance, should they require it. And, of course, to welcome them home with our love, our compassion and our understanding, when they return.”

It was a pretty speech, one he had rehearsed that morning, and it worked. Most of them, reassured, left the meeting room, heading back to their daily chores and lives. They might be the Elders, but they were just as happy to let him handle everything, in the day-to-day running of the Community. After all, if it was important it would come to a vote, right?

Ray was about to relax when he realized that, in addition to himself and his assistant, Glen, Judy’s husband had remained behind.

“Yes, Mark?” Ray looked expectantly at the older man. Most matters were raised in public, in the weekly meeting, so this had to be something Mark wanted to keep private, away even from his own wife.

“I’m curious why you sent Jordan. He’s our best negotiator, and the Dantern buyer is supposed to be here tomorrow, to price the wool. We needed him here.”

Ah. The Community tried to be self-reliant, selling or bartering within their members to handle most daily needs, but many of the crafters sold their wares to the outside world, as well. Dantern was a nationwide shop that had a yearly contract with the small farm outside town. As Judy had said, they might have removed themselves from the daily technological impositions of television, internet and other forms of mass media, but they were still part of the larger world. Mark was one of their best businessmen, but he would not want anyone—especially his wife—to see him putting money before people. This was easily dealt with.

“Jordan knows Elizabeth and Maggie, he was friends with their parents. He wanted to go.” Ray made a gesture with his hands, the perfect image of a man who gave in to familial ties over commerce, but only reluctantly, and aware that it was foolishness. “Truthfully, I am hoping that he will be able to convince them to come home right away. Elizabeth is a grown woman, but Maggie… I don’t like someone as delicate as she being out there with only her sister to protect her. I try not to be sexist, but… it’s a cold place for two girls without experience or money.”

Elizabeth had cash, of course. The bakery did a steady business both within the Community and outside, so there would have been easy access to cash in the till—but they had no credit cards, no ATM cards. If they ran out of money, they would be dependent upon strangers, and Elizabeth was far too practical a girl to trust someone she didn’t know.

Then again, he had thought she was too practical a girl to run, too. He had misjudged her, underestimated how spooked she had become, after the boy’s unfortunate accident with the rope. He would not make that mistake that again.

“I hope that you’re right,” Mark said now. “I love the girls as though they were my own, but we have an obligation to keep everyone else running smoothly, too.”

“Indeed, I couldn’t agree more,” Ray said, taking the older man’s arm and walking with him toward the door. “The Community has been self-supporting for almost fifty years now, and I don’t want a thing to change, I assure you.”

The door closed behind Mark, and Ray turned to look back at the man remaining. Glen’s cool gaze met his evenly.

“No, indeed,” Ray said. “I don’t want a thing to change… yet.”