The Shadow of the Bear: A Fairy Tale Retold (28 page)

There was a pause in the conversation. No one was holding onto Blanche now. Lisa had her arms folded and looked angry. Eileen had closed her eyes. Blanche tried to figure out which of the guys was looking at her. As they were all wearing sunglasses, this was difficult. Was this the moment? Should she chance it?

At last, Carl lay down on the other end of the platform and shut his eyes. Rob asked Tom for a cigarette, and both of them started fiddling in their pockets for a lighter. She sprang to her feet and ran.

She heard shouts as she dodged around the car and ran like mad for the gap between the two buildings. She felt footsteps pounding after her. She saw the gap, coming closer, closer—

A hand—two hands—caught her around the shoulders and yanked her backwards. She kicked, fought against the two arms desperately. It was Rob. She screamed.

“Yeah, real cool, Blanche. You’re going to get it now.” He twisted her arms behind her back. Recklessly, she dug her nails into one arm and he yelped and let go. But the next minute he had grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her head backwards. She screamed again.

“Shut up!” he fumed, starting to drag her back towards the car. She fought him, but he managed to keep moving back towards the others. “You’re going to get it now,” he repeated.

Suddenly he yelled in a different voice, “Hey, you guys! Come here!”

Realizing that the others weren’t coming to help him, she seized the time and began to kick viciously at his legs. He cursed her roundly, and then twisted back towards the car. “What’s the matter with you jerks?  Come here!”

Blanche heard the sounds of car doors slamming and an engine gunning. She tried to bolt, but Rob locked an arm around her neck and squeezed.

“Where are you going?” he howled at his friends. Blanche gasped for breath, twisted around, and numbly saw someone running across the field towards them. She barely had time to recognize who it was before he was upon them.

Mr. Freet dragged Rose back into the treasure room by her bound wrists. She caught a glimpse of Fish’s face, and, though he gave her a crooked smile, his eyes were grim. Before Rose could even acknowledge it, Mr. Freet snarled and slapped her on the side of the head with his gun.

The unexpected blow made her stagger and fall. As she lay there, her temple smarting, she vaguely heard Fish cursing Freet.

Mr. Freet laughed. “So you’re one of those boys whose manhood is wounded by the sight of suffering females? Just as I thought. It was stupid of you to try to hide her from me. That smack I gave her was to punish you.”

“That’s how cowards operate,” Fish snapped, but Rose could see his face was white. “If you want to hit someone, hit me.”

“Oh, I can see that hitting
her
will be much more effective for getting an answer out of you,” Mr. Freet said, dragging Rose to her feet. Dazed, she became aware of something wet trickling down her cheek and wondered if it was blood. Mr. Freet shoved her into a chair and began to tie her down. Fish was looking at her with an odd expression, breathing hard. She realized that, despite his stoicism, he was frightened of what was going to happen to her next. For his sake, she attempted a reassuring smile, and felt her own apprehension lessen.

Rob found two huge hands clenching his shirt collar and Bear’s face a nose away from his. “Let go of her,” Bear snarled.

Rob obediently let Blanche crumple into a painful heap on the ground.

Bear’s face was red with rage. “I could thrash you within an inch of your life,” he growled into the other boy’s terrified face. “But you almost aren’t worth it.”

With that, Bear hurled him onto the ground. Rob landed with an “oof!” as his friends roared out of the parking lot in their car, not looking back.

Blanche found herself once more wrapped in a pair of arms, this time far more tenderly. She felt Bear’s hand press her head against his chest.

“How’d you find me?” she asked, still panting.

Bear was stroking his fingers across her cheek. “I saw them shove you into the car. I just couldn’t follow you fast enough on foot. But I know the meeting place these creatures use, so I made my way here as fast as I could. Not very fast, but fast enough, apparently.”

He stiffened and let go of her suddenly. “You—stop right there!”

She turned to see that Rob had started to skulk away. But under Bear’s finger, he froze, quivering, and sat on the ground.

Bear’s anger was still blazing as he loomed over the boy. “So are you going to explain this stunt to me—kidnapping and all—or will I have to throttle you a bit first?”

Rob looked as though he were going to cry. “It wasn’t my idea, honest!” He swore a bit, morosely, and was silent.

“You’d better explain.”

“He said there was a man paying for information about you,” Blanche interjected in a low voice, afraid of what Bear might do to Rob if Rob didn’t talk.

“And I suppose you thought that picking on Blanche would get you a little extra cash—is that it?” Bear asked.

Rob protested. “All the guy wanted was to get you a message—and we thought Blanche might want to go in on it. So we took her for a ride to talk about it. I offered to split the money with her. That’s all.”

“And she turned you down, didn’t she?” Bear shot a grim look at Blanche. “So what’s the message?”

Rob kicked at the ground he was sitting on. “It was just that you’re in trouble with someone who’s been talking with your brother, and he wants you to drop off package number three at St. Lawrence’s tonight.”

Blanche saw Bear’s face grow ashen. He said nothing for a long minute. Then at last he said ominously, “What else?”

“Nothing, I swear. That’s all I know. I swear.”

Bear reached down to the ground and picked up something—Rob’s sunglasses. He looked at them in disgust and threw them at Rob’s feet. “Get out of here.”

Rob got to his feet and was halfway across the field in the next minute.

Bear turned to Blanche. His face was taut, and he looked much older. His voice was brusque. “Blanche, I’ve got to go take care of this business at St. Lawrence. I need you to do something very important for me.”

“Anything, Bear,” she said softly, fearful at how he looked.

“Good. Do you have money for a ride home?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s get to a street where I can call you a taxi to make sure you get home safe.” He began walking very quickly towards the highway. Blanche hurried to keep up with his stride, her head whirling with relief and a new anxiety. In a few minutes they reached the highway ramps. Bear held her hand as they crossed the traffic and reached the sidewalk beyond, where a strip of stores began.

“Either a taxi or a pay phone will do for me right now,” he said.

“What’s going on, Bear?” she ventured to ask.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said gruffly. “It’ll be over soon. Everything will be fine.”

They found a pay phone at a corner store, and Bear dialed a taxi service. Then he drew her close to him, slipping a hand beneath his light jacket. As he hugged her, she felt him press a package against her hands. It was heavy. “Put it beneath your jumper right now and keep your hands over it. I don’t want anyone to see it.”

Fear shot through her. “It’s not—drugs, is it?”

He kissed her forehead gently. “No, Snow White, it’s not. It’s nothing illegal at all, just something that’s very special to me. It was special to Father Raymond, too. I heard from Steven that you know all about him now.”

Blanche slid the package through the wide armholes of her jumper and held it there with her hands. “But I don’t understand what you’re doing—”

“Good. That’s how I want it. Now, chin up. It’ll be over soon,” he smiled at her. Then unexpectedly pain flashed over his face and he hugged her fiercely. “Don’t worry about me.”

She found her lips trembling, “But I am worried!” she cried.

He laughed and rocked her gently to and fro against himself. She clutched the dead weight of the package in her arms and buried her head in his arms. He was saying something softly, “‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’”

 There was nothing more to say. At last he let her go, and resumed his abrupt manner. “Look, I don’t want you to hold onto this thing any longer than you have to. Put it in a safe deposit box or something. Or, better yet, mail it to someone you can trust who will keep it safe. It’s—well, it’s pretty valuable.”

“I could mail it to my mom’s sister in California,” Blanche said, trying to play a thinking part.

“Good. Better yet, don’t tell me where you’re sending it. Just get it out of your possession and into some secure place.”

“But won’t you want it back?” she couldn’t help saying.

His eyes flickered. “Ah, maybe. I’ll let you know.” He looked past her. “Here comes your taxi.”

He waved to the driver, opened the door for her, and gave the man the address. Then he leaned over to Blanche. “Pray for me,” he said, his brown eyes burning with strain.

“Bear, can’t you stay with me? I’m just terribly afraid,” she whispered, holding the package tightly beneath her jumper.

Bear put his large hand on her cheek and looked into her eyes. Softly, he repeated,

“
The men of the East may spell the stars,

 And times and triumphs mark,

But the men signed of the cross of Christ

 Go gaily in the dark
.”

He straightened up and stood as tall as he had stood that one night when he had taken them to St. Lawrence church. As the cab pulled away, he was still standing there, watching her go. She turned around and followed him with her eyes out of the rear window. As he receded in the distance, she saw him turn around and start to run. He was on his way to his appointment at St. Lawrence.

“Now, Benedict.” Mr. Freet’s voice came through the gloom. He had turned off all the lights except for one. It was between Rose and Fish, so they could see each other. But Mr. Freet was hidden in the shadows. “We’ve been over this many times before, and it’s time you answered me: where is the paten?”

Fish was silent.

“You know that it’s the last piece I need to complete the set. I have the chalice and ciborium Fr. Raymond gave you. All I need is that one last piece. Where is it?”

Fish refused to speak.

Mr. Freet repeated the question, and again, Fish gave no answer. Rose saw his breath was coming in short spurts.

Suddenly, a heavy clear plastic bag was whipped over her face and twisted tightly around her neck. It was almost impossible to breathe. She saw Fish flailing in his bonds on the other side, shouting something. Then all at once, the bag was gone and air rushed into her lungs. She gasped in the air and sagged against the ropes tying her to the chair.

Dimly, she heard Fish saying, “Yes, that’s the truth. It’s around Bear’s neck in a package. That’s where he keeps it. That’s where it was last time I saw it. Damnation, that’s the bloody truth.”

“You’d better not be lying, Denniston,” Mr. Freet’s voice threatened.