Children of Eternity Omnibus Read online

  “Be still, my child. No one is going to hurt you,” Reverend Crane said. He reached out to take her hand, but she snatched it away. “There’s no need to be afraid. You’re safe.”

  “Liar! You already killed three children. Now you’re going to kill me too.”

  “It was an unfortunate accident what happened to those children. But they received due punishment for their gluttony.”

  “And what about Miss Brigham, was that an accident?”

  “For betraying the community and importing evil influences she deserved to meet the Lord’s final judgment. I spared her life because she has served me well for many years and will do so now for many more.”

  “You made her into a fool.”

  “I changed nothing of her personality. She merely reverted to her adolescent state.” Before Samantha could say anything else, Reverend Crane held up a hand. “I know this troubles you, my child. I did not want this to happen, but you brought it upon our community. Your influence over Miss Brigham and the children left me with no choice but to take drastic action.”

  “You have no right to do this! We aren’t your puppets. We’re human beings.”

  The reverend stood and began to pace his sparsely-furnished bedroom. “We have received a wonderful blessing in Eternity. An opportunity to make Heaven here on Earth. We have the ability to be as perfect as the Lord Himself. It is my responsibility to make sure my flock stays on the right path, that they live according to The Way.”

  “Your responsibility? Shouldn’t they decide how to live their lives?”

  “They were prepared to abandon The Way and ally themselves with savages. I did what was necessary to preserve the sanctity of my congregation. I cleansed their souls and kept them on the true path until your arrival.”

  “You took away their identities and their families. You took away their lives!”

  “Their lives were worth nothing before I intervened. They were sinners bound for Hell, every last one. I transformed them into model servants of God. I created them as the Lord created Adam from clay, fashioning them in His image.” He pointed at her and continued, “As for you, your life was an empty void until you came here.”

  Samantha’s mouth opened, but no words would come out. She thought back to her dreams and could now hear the reverend’s voice sparing her life. “You brought me here. You did this to me.” She leapt from the bed, her outstretched hands clawing for his throat. Reverend Crane didn’t move. An instant before she would have wrapped her hands around his neck, Pryde burst into the room and hauled her down onto the bed. No matter how hard Samantha struggled, she could not break Pryde’s grip. He tied her to a bedpost and then looked over at the reverend, who dismissed him with a nod of his head.

  “I did not intend to bring you here, but Miss Brigham insisted you could be of use. I see now she was correct. You are indeed strong.” Reverend Crane sat down on his chair again. “I offer you a choice: serve me willingly as you are or join the others and serve me anyway.”

  “I’m not going to serve you!”

  “My child, please consider this. Do you want to end up in a crib, unable to walk or speak or feed yourself?” The reverend looked into her eyes, his voice taking on the friendly tones he had used in his kitchen. “At the moment Miss Brigham is useless to me except to change diapers. The children need a teacher, a leader they can look up to. You can be that leader. Imagine it, all the other children would admire you as their mother. And I can make certain they stay that way forever. Accept my offer and you will be respected and loved. Deny me and spend eternity as a toddler wailing for her mother.”

  Samantha didn’t need a moment to consider his words. “I’ll never serve you. Go ahead and make me a baby. I’ll uncover your evil all over again and next time I’ll stop you.”

  “Perhaps you need time alone to think about this more carefully,” Reverend Crane said. He snapped his fingers and like one of his dogs, Pryde appeared on command. He untied Samantha from the bedpost and lashed her hands behind her back. “I will give you twelve hours to consider your fate.”

  Pryde dragged Samantha out of the room and opened the door to what she assumed was a closet. Instead, she saw a staircase made of stone spiraling into the darkness. Pryde threw her over his shoulder like a sack of grain, lit a torch, and then descended the steps. At the bottom she found a hallway paved with ancient bricks and cells on either side.

  Pryde stomped down the hall to the last cell on the left and opened the wooden door. He dumped her to the ground like a sack of grain and then untied her hands. “I’ll be back soon,” he said with another dry-leaf chuckle. The door slammed shut, plunging Samantha into darkness again.

  Her entire body shook at a memory of waking up in this room before.

  After the tingling in her body subsides from drinking the jar, she puts a hand to her head. She follows her hair down to the middle of her back and gasps in panic. She hasn’t worn her hair that long since…she couldn’t complete the thought. In the dark she runs a hand over her body, the panic rising. Her chest feels so flat and thin. “This can’t be,” she says into the darkness, her voice smaller than it should be.

  She gets to her feet and throws herself against the door, pounding as hard as she could. “What have you done to me?” she screams. “Let me out of here!”

  She pounds the door for hours until her bony fists ache. She collapses to the floor in a sobbing heap, hugging her unfamiliar body. “This isn’t me,” she says until she falls asleep. Later, she hears someone open the door and a man’s voice say, “You may take her.”

  A woman kneels down beside her and pushes hair away from her forehead. “Oh, my poor dear. I’m so sorry for what’s happened to you. At least now you’ll be safe.”

  Chapter 27: Prison Break

  Samantha didn’t know how much time had passed in the cell. She tried to count the seconds, but stopped after reaching three thousand. “I can’t sit here and wait for him,” she said into the darkness, her voice echoing in the cell.

  She had to find a way out of here before Reverend Crane returned to make her a baby. She got to her feet and started to walk around the cell, searching for anything that might help her escape. She found fragments of the clay jar she’d drank from scattered across the floor. A wedge-shaped fragment pricked her finger hard enough to draw blood. She picked it up and tucked it into the pocket of her apron. If she couldn’t find any other means of escape, she might be able to take the reverend by surprise. The odds were against her, but they gave her a small amount of comfort. She would go down fighting at least.

  The cell contained no furniture, but in the far corner she found a pile of straw. Samantha tapped the pile with her foot and felt something soft. She got down on her knees and felt a tight knot of hair. When she touched a bulging stomach, she said, “Prudence! Are you awake?”

  Prudence said nothing. Samantha shook her, but still Prudence didn’t wake up. In desperation, Samantha rolled Prudence flat on her back and slapped her across the face as hard as she could. “Ow! Who’s there?” Prudence said.

  “It’s me, Samantha. Do you remember?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m still nine. Why?”

  “I thought he might have poisoned you like the others. Are you hurt?”

  “My head feels a little sore from where Mr. Pryde hit me.” Samantha found Prudence’s hand and helped her sit up. “What happened to you after we split up?”

  Samantha told her about the fight with the dog, the chase through the forest, diving into the sea, and waking up in Reverend Crane’s bedroom. “He’s going to make us babies like the others,” she said. “We have to escape before then.”

  “How?”

  “I’m not sure, but there has to be a way out. No jail is escape-proof.”

  “Even if we escape, they’re going to capture us again. There’s nothing we can do,” Prudence said. She curled back up on the pile of straw to wait for the end.
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  “We can’t give up.”

  “Why not? We can’t beat the reverend and Mr. Pryde. They’re too strong. They’re adults and we’re children.”

  “Just because we’re littler than him doesn’t mean we have to let him push us around.” Samantha rolled Prudence back towards her. “He only has the power we give him. If no one ever stands up to him, he’ll always be able to control us.”

  “We did the best we could, Samantha. If we try anything else he might kill us.”

  “Do you want to be a baby again?”

  “No, but at least I’d still be alive.”

  “What good is living if you can’t read or sing or play? What’s the point of being alive if you aren’t free?”

  “The point is to be alive.”

  “Fine, you lie there. You may as well get used to it since that’s all you’re going to be doing for the next year. I’m going to find a way out of here.” Samantha got to her feet and started to feel the walls for any weaknesses she might be able to exploit. None of the bricks moved or chipped no matter how hard she pounded against them.

  Next she tried the door. She searched for a crack that might allow her to pick the lock on the outside. The door was made of solid metal without any imperfections. She threw herself against the door until she tired herself out and collapsed onto the floor.

  Tears came to her eyes again as she thought of the people she had let down. Poor Miss Brigham who had to go through a second adolescence for saving Samantha’s life. Helena and the others who had to suffer the pain of losing their parents again for listening to Samantha’s stories. And of course Rebecca, Wendell, and the other children she had promised to help but couldn’t now. What would happen to them?

  Prudence put an arm around her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right,” Prudence said. “It won’t be that bad to grow up again. You and I can be best friends from the beginning this time. You might not be so skinny this time and I might not be so fat. We’ll get to start over again.”

  “I don’t want to start over,” Samantha said through her tears. “I’ve already lost my memory and my family once, I don’t want to have it happen again. I don’t want to forget the friends I made and the good times we had. I don’t even want to forget Helena making fun of me.”

  “I know, but there isn’t anything else we can do.”

  “No, there has to be something. There has to be something we can do.” Samantha took the clay fragment from her apron and ran over to a wall. She furiously clawed at the stone, trying to chip away the brick until the clay shard broke in half.

  Samantha stamped her foot against the floor in disgust and felt the brick tremble. She stamped her foot again, this time as hard as she could. The brick shifted beneath her feet. “The floor here isn’t stable. Jump on it with me.”

  “It’s your imagination.” Prudence took Samantha by the shoulders again. “Let’s sit down and talk. I’d like to hear a story before Reverend Crane comes back.”

  “I’m not imagining anything. Come on, we’ll jump on it at the same time.” Prudence tried to protest, but Samantha put a hand over her mouth. “Please, try it. For me.”

  They put their arms around each other and Samantha counted down from three. “Jump!” she commanded. They jumped into the air as one, coming down on the brick at the same time. To their surprise, the brick gave way, creating a gaping hole in the floor. Samantha and Prudence hung in the air for a moment and then plunged through the hole.

  Samantha and Prudence clung to each other as they fell, landing with a splash in water.

  Chapter 28: The Chamber

  Samantha tried to keep hold of Prudence as the water swept them through the dark. She clung to Prudence’s left hand, her fingernails digging in hard enough to draw blood. The current drove them along faster, Samantha’s fingers losing their grip on Prudence’s hand. First her pinkie, then her ring finger let go. With a final scream, Samantha’s thumb and index finger lost their grip. She reached out to grab anything she could, but came away with only air.

  She tried to fight against the current and find the shore, but again her feeble paddling did nothing against the water. When she had exhausted herself from struggling, she let the current sweep her through the dark. She tried to call Prudence’s name only to swallow a mouthful of musty water. She tried to spit the water out, but more filled her mouth until she thought she would choke.

  Still battling to get air into her lungs, she smashed into something hard. Samantha tumbled over a boulder, landing on solid ground. For a few minutes she knelt on the stone, spitting out water and trying to catch her breath. When she recovered enough to stand, she set out to find Prudence and figure out where the river had taken them.

  She felt her way along the rocky shore, stumbling around with arms outstretched like a blind person. She called for Prudence, but heard only an echo in response. Above her came the screeching and beating wings of bats. One flew close enough to graze the side of her head. She screamed and swatted at it with her hand long after it had streaked away. In the process, she tripped over what she thought was a rock until it groaned. “Prudence?”

  “Samantha? Are we dead?”

  “I don’t think so. We’re underground somewhere,” Samantha said. She helped Prudence to her feet. They wrung the water from their hair and clothes as much as possible.

  “What if there isn’t a way of here? We’ll be buried alive!” Prudence shouted, her last words echoing ominously.

  “There has to be some way out. We just have to find it. If we follow the river it might lead us to the sea.” They held hands as they walked through the darkness, going slow to avoid tripping over any hidden obstacles.

  “I’m sorry about what happened in that cell,” Prudence said. “You saved us.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Prudence laughed. “This extra weight was finally good for something after all.”

  “It sure was,” Samantha said. They continued laughing until Samantha kicked a piece of wood. She heard it skitter across the ground and managed to track it down to a cluster of rocks by the shore.

  “What is it?” Prudence asked.

  “It’s a torch. Maybe we can light it and see where we’re going.” Samantha felt around until she found two rocks, each as big as her hands. She brought them together, but no sparks flew. She tried again and again with no results. With a last desperate scream she smashed the rocks into each other. Sparks flew in all directions, some falling onto the torch. A flame sputtered for a moment and then grew into a steady light.

  Samantha raised the torch and waved it around her head. A narrow, fast-moving river flowed to their left, surrounded by high walls of granite. To the right, Samantha saw a passage carved between two walls. A rotting wooden door guarded the entrance to the passage. Samantha started to walk towards it, but Prudence held her back. “I don’t want to go in there,” she said. Her entire body quivered as she spoke.

  “That might be the way out.”

  “No, there’s nothing good back there. I can feel it.”

  “I won’t let anything bad happen,” Samantha said.

  “I don’t want to. Please don’t make me.”

  “Prudence, whatever’s down there is probably something Reverend Crane doesn’t want anyone to find. It could be the secret to how he’s poisoning the others. We have to find out.”

  “You go ahead, then. I’ll stay here and wait for you.” Samantha wanted to argue further, but could see from the way Prudence trembled she wouldn’t go a step farther.

  “All right, you stay here. I’ll make sure it’s safe and come back for you.” Prudence curled up beside the doorway, rocking herself back and forth. Samantha hesitated a moment at the sight of her friend so distressed, but then slipped through the wrecked door.

  The passage stretched as far as the torchlight allowed her to see with only two solid walls of granite on either side. She counted her steps as she went, getting up to a thousand before she glimpsed t
he end of the passageway. She looked back towards where Prudence waited and then pressed ahead.

  At the end of the passage, she found a near-circular chamber. In the chamber, were the remains of a pallet lying to one side, the fragments of wood covered in moss. On the other side were rusted pots and pans and a table with only two legs. In the center was a round indentation lined with soot from numerous fires. She stretched her torch out to the farthest part of the chamber and saw a spinning wheel like the one in Prudence’s workshop.

  A bit of gray thread clung to the spinning wheel. The spindle on the wheel lay on the ground at Samantha’s feet. When she reached down to pick it up, the torchlight caught an inscription carved into the rock.

  “No matter how great the obstacle, with God on our side we will prevail,” read the text, all done in thin, unsteady letters that looked as if written by a child. Samantha found one additional line that read, “—PEG, 1655.”

  1655! That can’t be right, Samantha thought. Her amnesia and the lack of any calendars prevented her from knowing the exact date, but she knew it could not possibly be 1655. How long had Reverend Crane been keeping these children here?

  She considered the word ‘PEG’ next to the date. What kind of peg? She looked at the entire inscription again and then the realization struck her like a gust of cold air in the face. PEG didn’t refer to the word ‘peg’ but a name. She knew no one in Eternity named Peg. She should ask Prudence.

  “Oh my God,” Samantha whispered. P.E.G, not Peg. Prudence Elizabeth Gooddell. The spinning wheel, the cloth, and Prudence’s fear made sense now. Prudence had written the note!

  As if she’d known Samantha was thinking of her, Prudence appeared in the passageway. “Prudence, you have to see—”

  “Someone’s coming!” Prudence hissed.

  Chapter 29: Dogs of War

  Samantha doused the torch, plunging the chamber into darkness. Prudence came to stand beside her, trembling now out of fear not of the chamber but of whoever lurked outside the passageway. “Did you see who it was?” Samantha asked.