September 10, 1859

A Chapter by Havatara

September 10, 1859

Dear Safiya,

Sara? The Sara that was Julia’s friend? She never aged, even after all those years? The Old Magic must be very strong.

I’ll get to how I escaped soon. After Jaime told me about his family and mine, he told me that I was going to stay in this room until I figured out a way to find the Old Magic. I told him that it would be more likely for my grandmother to come back to life and ask to go back to Scotland than for me to be able to find it while I was stuck in this room, but he told me that his family was still debating on whether or not to let me out. Half of them thought I was too dangerous to be let out, and the other half thought that it was useless to have me kept in that room. Jaime thought it was useless. His father was still deciding.

Meanwhile, having nothing else to talk about, Jaime was told to leave me alone, that the Old Magic would more likely come to find me if a Mainlander wasn’t nearby, so there went my company. All I had left to do was sit there and stare at the ceiling.

However, after staring at the ceiling for about a week, I began to notice something. There was a crack there, and it started to get wider as it went down the wall before disappearing behind the desk. I looked to the door (which did have a door, a thick oak one with a heavy lock) to see if anyone was coming, but it wasn’t time for dinner yet, so I was safe. I went and moved the desk, which didn’t take very long because the wood was light, and looked towards the floor. There was a large crack there, two feet wide and a foot tall. I took the lantern and crawled in on my stomach and looked.

It looked like a small passageway. The Mainlanders had probably ignored it, thinking that it was just a hole that wouldn’t be of much use, so they had covered it with a desk. Somehow, when the people had been building it, they had created a crack that went all the way up to the ceiling.

After I started crawling in, I didn’t look back. I barely had enough room to squeeze in. That was probably the point in the first place.

I was crawling through the small tunnel for hours. It didn’t seem like it would end. But it was smooth and appeared manmade, so I assumed that it had to go somewhere, so I just kept going on, well past the time when my arms turned to jello and my knees and elbows had been scraped almost to the bone. I had to keep going.

Finally, my efforts bore fruit. There was a light, and it wasn’t coming from my lantern. The tunnel was almost at an end. I crawled faster and faster, and soon enough I was free.

I was surprised by where I was. I was in the clearing that Duncan had took me on for the picnic. The sun was setting, and the berry bushes looked so delicious, so I couldn’t help but decide to stay there for the night. It’s not like the Mainlanders could fit through the tunnel, anyway. Or so I thought.

As it turns out, Jaime has a little five year old sister who is a lot smaller than me and could easily fit into the tunnel. When Mr. Shuster found out that I was missing, he sent his daughter through the tunnel to find me. When she saw me sleeping in a bed of flowers, she went back to her father to report what she had found. That’s when they sent out their hunters.

It didn’t take them long to find me. They knew that it couldn’t take long and that I probably couldn’t have gone far, so they just stuck to the area, and of course they knew I was by the river. I was woken up by a rustling in the bushes, on the opposite side as the path. Immediately I jumped up and ran to the path, not even bothering to take my lantern. I know the area well, and they didn’t, so I would always be able to tell where the were.

I was at a slight disadvantage, though. I could barely walk from my scrapes from the tunnel, so instead of running, I went into the thick, thorny undergrowth, and waited for them to pass by me.

Even after they passed, I still stayed there. I didn’t want them to find me, and I was sure that if I moved they would.

I was just about to move to head home when someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to scream, but he had already put a hand over my mouth. I was surprised when the man said, “Lucy, relax. It’s me. Duncan.”

It took me a while to register what he had said, but as soon as I did I calmed down. I asked him with a sore voice, “How did you find me?”

“I’ve been waiting at this clearing since you disappeared. The MacJohns have been worried sick. As soon as you left, I noticed a change in the Shusters. I’ve been following them to the waterfall every day, and that’s when I realized that it was near the clearing, and I somehow I knew that I would find you here,” he explained. “I’ve been so worried about you, Lucy.”

“I want to go home,” I said in a small voice.

He was quiet. “I don’t think you can go to the MacJohn’s house right away, but-”

“That’s not my home,” I interrupted. “I want to go to Agnes’s house.”

“That we can do,” he replied, hugging me tightly. “First, let’s get you out of these thorns.”

I looked down at my legs and realized that there were dozens of thorns poking through my thin skirt into my skin. I didn’t really notice. I was too tired. Thankfully I didn’t have to walk. Duncan took it upon himself to carry me, and I didn’t argue. I didn’t want to.

When we got to Agnes’s house, she immediately opened the door for us. “You’re the talk of the town, Lucy. Where have you been?”

“Behind the waterfall,” Duncan replied for me. I was already half asleep.

Agnes nodded. “Makes sense. Now, I know you want to sleep, Lucy, but we have to get you all bandaged up first.” I nodded. Duncan put me in a chair and Agnes started her work. I don’t really remember much about it, except it hurt a lot. But it was over soon, and Duncan placed me in Agnes’s spare bed and I fell asleep almost right away.

But before I fell asleep, I said, “Duncan. Wait.”

“What is it?” he asked, sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Are you angry with me?” I asked. “For snapping at you like that before?”

He took my hand. “I would never be angry with you. Now please, go to sleep. You need to rest.”

This seemed like a good idea, so I nodded and closed my eyes, asleep instantly.

And that’s how I escaped. I stayed at Agnes’s house for a few days, until I got news from Duncan that the Shusters were out of the area, thinking that I had left when really I was hiding right under their noses. I’m still healing, and I’ve moved back in with the MacJohns, but Agnes made me agree to move back in with her as soon as I was completely better.

That’s my story. Do you think I can move in with Agnes soon?

Sincerely, Lucy

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