Page 39 of The Invisible Hour

“Someone who insisted he had the largest farm in Berkshire County when he looked like he’d been sleeping in a barn.” Nathaniel sat in the chair beside the bed, his face lined with worry. He didn’t like the cold obstinence in the carriage man’s tone. He thought of the man Mia had told him about, the one who’d ruined her mother’s life and thought he owned everything as far as the eye could see. “Could anyone else travel here, Mia?”

“No, of course not,” Mia said. “Not without the book.”

“He said you were his, whatever that is supposed to mean.”

Alarmed, Mia gazed out the window. We carry the past with us even when we try to run away. It’s never very far away. It was then she saw a man walking into the woods. She recognized his posture, and the slant of his shoulders, and she certainly knew his walk, for his stride announced his assurance that he owned every bit of the world he was in. And then she knew that when she had come here, he had been close enough to follow her. One step was all it took.

I thought he was a man who would care for me, Ivy had told her one night in the woods, but he turned out to be the opposite. She might have been crying, it was too dark to know. Ivy and Mia had been sitting in the grass, and the fireflies were drifting through the forest as if they were globes of light. He told me a story, and I believed in stories, but everything he said was a lie. He told me he had been terribly mistreated by his family, beaten and uncared for, and that he wanted a new world, where people were guided by rules that helped them through their lives.

“Whoever he is, he was in our room,” Nathaniel said.

“Doing what?” A chill spread through Mia’s body.

“He was sent to collect my luggage.”

Mia turned to see her bag was no longer hidden in the fireplace but was tossed onto the floor, its contents rifled through. She had stowed her mother’s letter and the painting beneath the thin mattress, but the book was missing. She felt sheer panic, for although she had no idea of how Joel intended to use the book, she was certain he would find a way to use it against her. She and Ivy should have made a vow to walk into the future; they should had left the past behind. If you hold on to it, it will only haunt you, it will wrap its arms around you and pull you down. She needed that book in order to return. Nathaniel hadn’t yet noticed she was fading, but when Mia peered into the glass, she could see that she was even paler. It was happening to her. The book had changed or it had ceased to exist, and she was becoming invisible.

WHILE NATHANIEL WENT TO ask the innkeeper’s wife for a packed lunch to take with them when they explored the woods, Mia pulled on her boots and went down the back stairway, used for bringing up coal and wood in the wintertime. She knew Joel, and she was certain that he would be waiting for her. Evil was predictable; it cloaked itself in righteousness, convinced its enemies must be punished. Mia ducked beneath the tree branches, not caring if they tore at her clothes. She saw the stamp of his boots in the damp earth and followed them through the tall stalks of weeds and the banks of wild mint.

He was there waiting. Mia felt as if she’d been holding her breath ever since she discovered that the book was gone. There it was in Joel’s hands. He always knew the way to best hurt someone. They glared at one another through the shadows.

“I’m not surprised to discover you’re a witch,” Joel said flatly. “That was always in your nature. I took one step to follow you and found myself in hell. I said books belonged to the devil, and you’ve proved me right.”

“I want the book,” Mia said simply, even though she felt as if she were a bundle of nerves.

Joel tossed her a filthy look. “I want the painting you stole. You knew it was the deed.”

“I did not,” Mia told him.

Still, he grinned and said darkly, “I’m not surprised by who you turned out to be, but your mother would be so disappointed in you. She would want nothing to do with you. We should have left you on the town green.”

“Don’t speak to me about my mother,” Mia said in a soft voice.

“And now you’re the devil’s whore.” He was speaking of Nathaniel, nodding to her midsection. “About to have his child I’d guess. At least they know what’s right in these times. You’ll be in jail if you try to rid yourself of it.”

“I wouldn’t wish to do so,” Mia told him. “But if I did, I should have the right to make that choice.”

“Your mother didn’t teach you to do as you were told, even though she learned pretty quickly.”

“She only stayed because you threatened to take me away.”

“I was enough of a father for all those years. My name is on your birth certificate. You’re mine and you owe me. It only makes sense for us to help one another. You want the book and I want the deed to my own land. We make a fair and even trade and you promise to take me back with you with whatever witchcraft you’ve got up your sleeve.”

Be careful of who you trust, Ivy had told her once in the woods. If you want to be smart, something I never was, only trust yourself.

“If you don’t agree to the bargain, I’ll take care of that man of yours. I’ll break his neck if I have to. I just want what’s mine. You listened to me once upon a time, back when I was your father.”

Mia felt that chill again, as she had the night she was locked in the barn. It had been summer, but she had been freezing, preoccupied with what would happen if she didn’t get away, the public shaming, the brand marking her flesh. “You were never my father,” she told him.

“Say what you will. I raised you.”

“Give me one more day,” Mia boldly asked. “Then I’ll do as you say.”

“Lovestruck.” Joel nodded. He was still a handsome man if you didn’t look too closely, if you didn’t see what was underneath. “Just like your mother.”

Mia did her best to ignore the comment, though she felt herself grow flushed. She remembered the rules about talking back. Children are not to speak unless spoken to. They must be quiet and polite and never unruly.

“Fine,” Joel said. “Because of your mother, I’ll wait until tomorrow.”