Blood Bound

Chapter 20: Dinner invitation

Once I'm back in our cabin, I peruse the map over the bed while I nibble on a day-old pastry. According to the road signs I'd been following that night, we're not that far from a place called Beaver Creek and I find to my astonishment that we have already entered Yukon territory. How we managed to pass the border control is beyond me and I must ask Sophie about it once she wakes up. I trace the line that leads to Edmonton and estimate that we'll reach our destination in one day or two, if we follow our current route. That is, I frown, if we don't get into any unnecessary trouble.

I search in the bag for something that might keep my stomach more sated than flakey pastries and stumble upon a few bags of beef jerky. Protein is exactly what I need along with carbohydrates, so I fish out a packet of Poptarts and eat them both in silence. I'm tempted to turn on the tv and stare at it mindlessly until sunset, but I'm afraid of catching the news and that there might be a news segment about us, or of my parents saying tearfully into the camera that they will do anything to bring me back home safely.

I wonder if they have begun searching for me. It's been a day since I've left home with no explanation why and I don't know whether the police starts on a missing person's case after twenty-four hours or forty-eight. All I'm certain of, is that my parents are probably out of their wits worried about me. My heart aches painfully for causing them so much grief and worry that I have a hard time finishing the last bits of jerky.

A soft knock on the door makes me jump and I'm already searching the room for something sturdy and worth damaging something. . .or someone.

"Miss Walker?" The soft voice of Miss Sylvia Madden comes through the door.

I sigh in relief, but also in slight annoyance. Does she not get the hint that I want to be alone?

"Yes," I call out, dropping a thick copy of the Bible on the bed that I had grabbed in my panic. It probably wouldn't have been a good weapon, anyway.

"Could we talk?" Miss Madden asks with a hint of that motherly concern, like a mother who wants to talk to its moody teenager.

I really don't want to, but I have a feeling that she's one of those pushy people that won't stop bothering you until they think that they have helped one way or the other. She did seem like that at the lunch table. I walk to the door and open it a crack.

Miss Madden's smile greets me at the door. "The weather's so nice today so I figured we could go on a little nature walk."

I get her point. Let's talk while we walk. Our own little privacy. It's a good idea, I'll admit, since there's no way I'm letting her inside, with Sophie not present on the bed but in the bathtub.

I return her contagious smile. "Sure, that sounds, uh, nice," I reply, grabbing a spare jacket before I lock the door.

Miss Madden herself is still wearing that knee-high, periwinkle empire dress and the only thing she has for warmth is her rose colored shawl draped around her slim shoulders. She doesn't seem cold though, even as a cold spring breeze gushes through.

"Aren't you cold?" I ask, always worrying about the wellbeing of others.

"Not at all," Miss Madden laughs brightly, her laugh reminds me of little, clinging bells. She begins walking from the cabin and into the entrance of the woods.

"Now, I assume that you've never been to these places before?" she muses, her slender finger tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, you assumed correctly," I nod sheepishly.

Her smile widens and there's a mischievious sparkle in her eyes as she leads me to a worn out path. She looks like a playful child who's willing to share its secret place with you.