child! Why couldn't I ever keep my mouth shut?
The train was now running at full speed, racing into the blackness of a tunnel that would carry me away from this exciting city -- and away from Thad. Shutting my eyes, I lost myself in the motion of the train carrying me forward. What would it be like to travel on and on and never arrive, simply to keep moving with no endpoint?
I remembered what Tesla had said about traveling into the future, but for the moment, I was in no rush to get there. The future would be fully upon me the moment I arrived back in Spirit Vale.
***
Chapter 14
SPIRIT VALE, 1911-1912
M y recklessness in taking off for New York was almost forgotten in Mother's shouting and weeping over Mimi's departure. Why hadn't I stopped her? How could I have let her go? I must not have tried hard enough to talk sense into her. It was as if I had been the older sister and could have somehow controlled Mimi. Mother decried the terrible loss of Mimi as "irresponsible" of me.
The entire town took up my disgrace. Aunty Lily said I had been the one who tricked her into driving us to Buffalo, when in actuality it had been Mimi's idea. Princess Running Deer did a Native American spirit ceremony to try to contact Mimi's living spirit to make sure she was safe. When no response came, Mother went into fits of distress, crying for days, certain some harm had come to her.
Amelie and Emma provided unexpected comfort in a weird sort of way. One night at dinner, Emma suddenly stood up at the table and began to rock slightly as a faraway look came into her eyes. The same strange distance appeared in Amelie's expression.
"I have found her," Emma spoke in a trancelike voice, softer and gentler than her own normal tone.
"Who are you?" Mother asked cautiously.
"It's me, Mother. Amelie."
We all looked to Amelie, but she gave no indication of being aware of us. Why had Emma said she was Amelie?
We shifted back to Emma. "Mimi is over water. It's night where she is," Emma said, still in her trance state. "She is staring up at the moon. She is in love."
"In love!" Mother cried and jumped up so forcefully that her dinner plate fell to the floor. "With whom is she in love?"
The commotion had the effect of breaking Emma's trance. Her eyes blinked rapidly and lost their distant gaze.
"Whom is your sister in love with?" Mother demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Emma replied. "Who is in love?"
We looked to Amelie, but she had rested her head on the table and was now snoring lightly.
"You said you were Amelie," I told Emma. "Why?"
Emma shrugged. "Did I? How odd."
This news that Mimi was safe, derived from wherever, comforted us all, except for Mother, who seemed to think that this impending romance simply upped the level of peril involved. Every time she looked at me, she seemed reminded of it anew and shook her head darkly.
Only Blythe, recently turned thirteen, thought Mimi was brave and adventurous. "She would have been an idiot not to have gone," she stated boldly to us one night when everyone was in the parlor and Mother was once again engulfed in tears and recriminations. This took everyone by surprise, since Blythe was not usually one to buck the tide of prevailing opinion. "We're not rich. There is no wealthy young man for her to meet in this town. The only young men at all are ones who have died and speak through other people. When else would she have a chance like this to see the world and find romance?"
"Don't you go getting any ideas, Blythe," Mother chided. "Your sister is involved with scandalous people. Who knows what this will do to her reputation or to her chances of making a suitable marriage -- not some shipboard fling with who knows what manner of man."
"What do you care what people think?" Blythe spoke to Mother with unforeseen defiance. Her words seemed so at odds with the cherubic face that it made me see her in a new light, as a surprisingly independent person, no longer a child. "Most
The train was now running at full speed, racing into the blackness of a tunnel that would carry me away from this exciting city -- and away from Thad. Shutting my eyes, I lost myself in the motion of the train carrying me forward. What would it be like to travel on and on and never arrive, simply to keep moving with no endpoint?
I remembered what Tesla had said about traveling into the future, but for the moment, I was in no rush to get there. The future would be fully upon me the moment I arrived back in Spirit Vale.
***
Chapter 14
SPIRIT VALE, 1911-1912
M y recklessness in taking off for New York was almost forgotten in Mother's shouting and weeping over Mimi's departure. Why hadn't I stopped her? How could I have let her go? I must not have tried hard enough to talk sense into her. It was as if I had been the older sister and could have somehow controlled Mimi. Mother decried the terrible loss of Mimi as "irresponsible" of me.
The entire town took up my disgrace. Aunty Lily said I had been the one who tricked her into driving us to Buffalo, when in actuality it had been Mimi's idea. Princess Running Deer did a Native American spirit ceremony to try to contact Mimi's living spirit to make sure she was safe. When no response came, Mother went into fits of distress, crying for days, certain some harm had come to her.
Amelie and Emma provided unexpected comfort in a weird sort of way. One night at dinner, Emma suddenly stood up at the table and began to rock slightly as a faraway look came into her eyes. The same strange distance appeared in Amelie's expression.
"I have found her," Emma spoke in a trancelike voice, softer and gentler than her own normal tone.
"Who are you?" Mother asked cautiously.
"It's me, Mother. Amelie."
We all looked to Amelie, but she gave no indication of being aware of us. Why had Emma said she was Amelie?
We shifted back to Emma. "Mimi is over water. It's night where she is," Emma said, still in her trance state. "She is staring up at the moon. She is in love."
"In love!" Mother cried and jumped up so forcefully that her dinner plate fell to the floor. "With whom is she in love?"
The commotion had the effect of breaking Emma's trance. Her eyes blinked rapidly and lost their distant gaze.
"Whom is your sister in love with?" Mother demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Emma replied. "Who is in love?"
We looked to Amelie, but she had rested her head on the table and was now snoring lightly.
"You said you were Amelie," I told Emma. "Why?"
Emma shrugged. "Did I? How odd."
This news that Mimi was safe, derived from wherever, comforted us all, except for Mother, who seemed to think that this impending romance simply upped the level of peril involved. Every time she looked at me, she seemed reminded of it anew and shook her head darkly.
Only Blythe, recently turned thirteen, thought Mimi was brave and adventurous. "She would have been an idiot not to have gone," she stated boldly to us one night when everyone was in the parlor and Mother was once again engulfed in tears and recriminations. This took everyone by surprise, since Blythe was not usually one to buck the tide of prevailing opinion. "We're not rich. There is no wealthy young man for her to meet in this town. The only young men at all are ones who have died and speak through other people. When else would she have a chance like this to see the world and find romance?"
"Don't you go getting any ideas, Blythe," Mother chided. "Your sister is involved with scandalous people. Who knows what this will do to her reputation or to her chances of making a suitable marriage -- not some shipboard fling with who knows what manner of man."
"What do you care what people think?" Blythe spoke to Mother with unforeseen defiance. Her words seemed so at odds with the cherubic face that it made me see her in a new light, as a surprisingly independent person, no longer a child. "Most
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